Today it’s easy to see our communities and society as a wasteful one. We need a garbage service to come by every week to take our garbage away or we would quickly be buried it with the amount of garbage produced just in one home daily.
Just about everything we do seems to produce trash. We use paper towels and napkins to wipe up everything once and then it goes in the garbage can. We use paper once for communication and then crumple up, often not using the other side. Half our food never gets eaten and ends up rotting, only to add to the garbage can mass as well.
And when more durable items stop working right, we throw those away too. Clothes are no exception, often being replaced in a year when faded or torn in a small spot.
People didn’t used to be this way; only maybe few hundred years ago folks made use of everything again and again until it literally fell apart in fragments, definitely being useless. However, with mass production, throwaway materials became acceptable and commonplace.
So we can thank modernization for a lot of the waste we produce as well as the money we spend on replacements.
The above said, people can save a lot of money not just throwing things away as much as we do. And that doesn’t mean consuming bad food or wearing clothes with holes in them visible to everyone.
Believe or not, reducing our waste can produce not just savings but actual cash in our pockets. Here’s a few ways how.
Plant Old Food
Yes, half the food that starts to go bad is usually fruit and vegetables. Instead of putting in the garbage can, money can be saved in the long-run by planting it and growing more. For every potato brought to a successful plant, four to five more potatoes are usually produced.
Planting is easy to do, soil is cheap, and all one needs is a bit of land once the potted plant starts to grow and expand. And the harvest then saves money in food grown instead of bought.
Reducing Water Waste
We all need water and most neighborhoods are charged money for it. But, crazily enough, many people use brand new water for plants and lawns and throwing just as good waste water that can serve the same purpose.
Instead of throwing waste water down the drain, it can be re-utilized to water yard plants and more every day. By simply diverting the drainage to a bucket and then to the yard with a bit of muscle, hundreds of gallons can be saved a month, reducing one’s water bill as well with less consumption.
Changing to Durable Containers
It’s amazing how much we consume one-time use bags, containers, plates and simply making a conscious effort to use mugs, thermoses, bottles, regular plates and cups, dozens of dollars can be saved avoiding the expense of one-use containers at drive-throughs, fast food restaurants, and for lunch at work.
And this goes hand in hand with bringing food from home, utilizing leftovers, and reducing consumption of fast food, which also produces garbage otherwise.
Got a Dog? Feed Your Pet
While it can be unhealthy to feed a dog just anything, a good amount of food is just fine for your dog to eat and can reduce costs in substituting for dry, processed dog food.
Do a bit of research, learn what is safe for dogs to eat, and divert your trash food to dog food daily. Spot will enjoy the meal and your wallet will enjoy a bit less expense in store-bought dog food costs.
Avoiding food trash as much as possible is not going to replace your paycheck, but managing food intelligently can benefit one’s wallet over time considerably.
Consistency in behavior is the key, and the savings will aggregate over time. Just wait and see.