Eco-friendly tools and advice for environmentally responsible living

With all the eco-marketing pushing us to pay extra to be good to the planet, the question still remains – can you live eco-friendly without breaking your bank account?

There are two common things that stick out when you are shopping at your local eco-goods shop, organic foods store or even the many websites that sell earth-friendly products: the earth-friendly yet confusing labels and ... the price tag. A 100-200% markup on eco-friendly goods seems to be the standard contribution we are expected to donate to be good to the planet (and could this be tax-deductible?). As a result, natural living looks more like a painful sacrifice than natural living. Yet with all the job cuts and ongoing recession, is it a wise choice for us to make that sacrifice?

The fact is – if you feel like you have to spend too much to be earth-friendly, you are not doing it right. 

According to Eco Times, US has ranked number 39 in a recent Yale study titled the "Environmental Performance Index," while Costa Rica and Colombia fit in the top 10. If Costa Rica and Colombia can afford to be friendly to the environment, we certainly should be able to do so! 

How do they manage to be so good to the environment with an average monthly salary of $100-$300/month? 

Having grown up in Eastern Europe, I remember all the earth friendly choices my grandma made, for the lack of commercial substitutes to buy, or for the lack of money:

-- Composting – fertilizers weren’t really available on the market or cost a lot of money. Composting was just something everyone did
-- Mending old clothes, shoes or furniture
-- Walking, riding a bike or taking public transportation
-- Growing your own food
-- Reducing water consumption due to the absence of running water in many areas
-- Reusing shopping bags (since the store charged you for the plastic bags)
-- Buying less and using less, since things weren’t as affordable or available
-- Turning off the lights when not needed (so that your electric bill doesn’t eat up 50% of your monthly paycheck)
-- Feeding your food scraps to dogs, cats and pigs
-- Using fruits and vegetables for facial masks and scrubs
-- Using birch leaves or branches for deep cleaning in a sauna
-- Drinking vodka instead of beer to reduce water consumption per unit (this one is a joke obviously! : )
-- .. and the list goes on

Of course, very few of us would consider sacrificing our daily shower, or raising pigs in the backyard. But the point is - poor societies seem to make better environmental choices (on an individual level; pollution due to bad environmental practices on a commercial level is another story). 

When we make a choice of buying a regular gadget, piece of furniture or clothing - or its earth-friendly alternative, we should ask ourselves – do we need to buy it at all? Everything on this planet leaves an environmental footprint. Products with a zero footprint are products that have never been created. 

I understand that part of this site's business is selling eco-friendly products. But our mission is to help you to live naturally while making common sense choices that both save the planet and save you money. After all, the best eco-friendly lifestyle encompasses both!

Skip the eco-marketing and trying to trust the ambiguous labels (“organic sea salt” or “made from 10% recyclable fiber”) and simply ask yourself: How would grandma do it?