1. Lawn

Going green with your lawn can be as simple as making a small change to your lawn mower’s blade setting, or if you’re willing to go a bit further you can eliminate the need to mow the lawn altogether.

By setting the height of your lawn mower blade as high as possible you’ll find that the grass does not grow any more quickly than when it is cut shorter. What this does is keep weeds from being able to take root, thus cutting down on the need for time and herbicides used to get rid of the lawn weeds.

If you want to get rid of the hassles of mowing your lawn, why not consider naturescaping or growing an herbal lawn? With naturescaping you replace the lawn with native plants, which conserves water (the plants can live on rainfall) and preserves habitats by providing native plants for wildlife.

2. Making appliances work for you

Programmable thermostats are a great way to go green and cut down your summer cooling costs. Consider combining your programmable thermostat with the Honeywell Portable Comfort Control. This is a handheld devise that makes it possible to adjust the temperature of a room without going to the thermostat. Combined, these devices can save about one-third on your cooling and heating costs.

3. Getting back to basics

Cut down on waste and save money by investing in reuseable water bottles (stainless steel and BPA-free plastic bottles are optimal).

Why not hang your clothes out to dry? By using a clothesline to dry your clothes you’re avoiding energy-hogging clothes dryers and chemical-laden dryer sheets -and what’s better than clothes with a natural outdoors aroma!

Try switching from your usual chemical-heavy laundry detergent to one that you make yourself. This will save you tons of money and keep the chemicals out of your clothes.

4. Become an efficiency expert

Start your going green campaign by combining trips. This really cuts down on gas and carbon emissions. Now when it comes to home appliances, it is estimated that these make up about 20% of home energy costs. Become a green detective with the Kill A Watt handheld energy-monitoring device. You cna use this device to really get a feel for which appliances are sucking up the most energy. These would be prime candidates for upgrading to Energy Star versions.

Replacing your showerhead with a low-flow head can drastically reduce the amount of water that is used. These do not change the water pressure, but spread the water out so that less is required to get the same spray effect. Look for the EPA’s WaterSense label when shopping for water-efficient products.

5. Adopt a low-impact diet

Simply by reducing or cutting out meat from your diet you’ll save a lot of money and drastically reduce your carbon footprint, particularly if you cut out beef. The resources that go into growing beef cattle are mind boggling when compared to how much it costs to raise the same amount (calorically) of vegetables or grain.

A low-impact diet shouldn’t be reserved for food only! Opting for used items instead of brand new ones helps your pocket book and the environment. When it comes to entertainment, consider purchasing a device like Amazon’s Kindle which allows you to read electronic versions of books. Instead of buying movies, join Netflix -it’s less expensive and since the movies are reused fewer materials are used in making new movies. And Netflix Instant Watch movies are the best! -no waiting for the mail, you can watch thousands of movies right from your computer.