Do you consider yourself a thrifty person? You may or may not even realize that many of your thrifty habits are actually “green” and good for the environment. Or perhaps, you are interested in becoming more green and thrifty at the same time and are looking for a place to start, well, here is how green thrifty types do it:

1. We recycle A LOT! I don’t just mean we recycle a little bit here and there; we recycle everything we can because anything we can’t recycle or re-use could end up in our trash and the more trash we have the bigger trash bin we need, which means a bigger trash bill and we would rather not throw out money out with the trash.
2. We don’t waste food. We eat leftovers. We put spoiled produce in the compost (yes, lots of us make our own compost which saves on buying compost for our gardens). We use sour milk and overripe bananas to make banana bread. Any food we waste means we needed to buy more or we bought too much and wasted money.
3. We wear things out. Thrifty people don’t want to unnecessarily spend money and we will use things up as much as possible. By using up what we have, we are not purchasing as much new stuff and do not have packaging that ends up in landfills (if it can’t be recycled.)
4. We cook with whole foods. Processed foods cost more per ounce typically than whole foods, plus they are filled with additives and preservatives we don’t want to pay for. Processed foods cost more at home too because they have more packaging again, can increase our trash bill if we can’t recycle it.
5. We combine trips. We try to combine trips in our cars as much as possible so that we are not unnecessarily spending extra money on gas and car upkeep because we are taking multiple trips. If we are out to meet friends for coffee, we might combine it with a trip to the grocery store, post office, bank, and/or lumber yard to run our errands at once.
6. We make our own cleaners instead of buying name brand products. No doubt you have already read the many ways on Northern Cheapskate how we make up our own cleaners and laundry products with products we already have at home, like this homemade natural scrubbing cleaner and DIY eco-friendly dishwasher detergent.  Homemade cleaners reduce packaging waste, are gentler to the planet, and are inexpensive to make.
7. We turn off unused lights. We know that any lights left on mean a high electrical bill, plus conserving energy is good for the environment.
8. We are DIY’ers. Some of us might not think of ourselves as DIY’ers or crafty, but we are. If it means we save money because we save on our heating bill because we made DIY bed warmers or  we have saved money buy making mittens from an old sweater, we will do it.
9. We Grow Our Own Food. Some of us might be quite successful at it, and others maybe not as much. We can all grow some food on our own whether it be planting a big garden, having a small herb garden either outdoors or indoors in pots, or growing alfalfa sprouts with just some seeds, water and a jar.
10. We Use the Library. We use the library for books and DVD’s we would only use once. No need to spend money on something we won’t use over and over again. We even use it for whatever other services our library provides, like free music down loads, online language classes, kids storytime and play areas, conference and meeting rooms, computer access, library book clubs and movie previews, free wi-fi I and many other services that our libraries may provide either at the library or through an online service. Of course, if we are taking a trip to the library we will probably also do it after we bring the kids to an after school activity or as we return from the gym.

These are just some of the green habits thrifty people use to live green and save money.  Are you green and thrifty? What are some things that you do?