I feel like my theme these days is: think outside the box :) When trying to live a greener and less expensive life, I have found myself frequently trying new things. Thus, for today’s Money Monday post, I would like to share some of my recent money-saving and environmentally friendly adventures:

1) Changing the way you clean
This is going to be a process for me. Eventually, I want to switch out all my chemical cleaning products to natural/homemade ones; however, in the interest of not wasting money, I am going to finish my current supply of products first. Here is a great article if you are interested in learning more about making your own cleaning products.

Even though I am not doing a complete overhaul, I am still making changes. For example, this week I am attempting to clean without using paper towels. For those of you who know me, you know this is a big step! I just completed my first whole-apartment cleaning using all reusable rags, and it really wasn’t bad at all. Not to mention we will save money by not buying paper towels.

2) Buying from bulk bins
This weekend I discovered a local store and a stand at our farmers market that has bulk bins of oats, beans, lentils, and other dry goods. Buying from these bins is environmentally friendly because you can bring reusable containers. Also, these products are cheaper than their pre-packaged counterparts. A final benefit is that these products are unprocessed, thus you are not eating the preservatives that come in traditionally canned beans.

3) Composting
So we started a compost bin this weekend. Yikes :) I am pretty nervous, because despite hours of research, I still feel like I have no idea what I am doing. We decided to take a casual approach to the process, using a plastic tub we already owned to hold our materials. We did purchase some red earthworms (yes, I went and bought worms at the bait shop). We will see how it goes, if it doesn’t work out, we are only out $3, but we thought it was worth a shot. Composting will provide great nutrients for our container garden, and reduce our waste production. Here are a few websites I found that have helped me along the way:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2006-10-01/Compost-Made-Easy.aspx?page=5-A really great overview and starting instructions can be found here.

http://vegweb.com/composting/– Another overview.

http://compostinginsingapore.wordpress.com/ A first person account of an apartment composter.

4) Re-think what you “could never do”
Just a few weeks ago I said “I could never clean without paper towels, I just don’t think it would feel clean”. Well a few environmental documentaries later, I am re-thinking a whole lot of things. I decided to try it this week, just to see if I could do it. Turns out it was fine, and I feel like everything is well cleaned.

I am realizing there is a lot I used to say “I could never do”, that really isn’t all that bad. Especially this week, I am finding that I impose so many self-defeating limits on myself. I discount things as wrong or bad before I even give them a try. Also, many of the green and natural changes I am making are not nearly as complicated or difficult as I thought.

Give something new a try this week, you never know, you might like it :)