Go Green And Save Money

Recycle

A number of high-street retailers offer freebies or discounts on future purchases if you recycle items such as clothing, home textiles, and empty beauty containers in their stores.

You can also get cash for recycling your old mobile rather than dumping it in a drawer, never to be seen again. You’re doing your bit for the planet by doing this as there are potentially noxious substances in decaying handsets. Cadmium batteries can infect the water system, while lead, brominated flame retardants and beryllium can all harm the environment if disposed of incorrectly. So whatever you do, DON'T throw your old phone out with your rubbish. There are specialist, super-speedy companies which will take an old phone and give you cash in exchange. And if your handset's really old and not worth anything, they'll at least dispose of it safely.

If the phone is of high value, it might be resold. If your phone is of a lower value, then it'll be broken down and sold off as component parts. And if it's not worth anything, the buyer will at least dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way.

Flog The Junk

Don't junk your junk, flog it – some make £100s selling their clobber on eBay, Facebook & other second-hand sites. If you're having a mass clear-out, don't automatically head for the tip. Not only is finding your cast-offs a second home the environmentally friendly option, you can also make some serious cash from your attic.

Use A Reusable Cup

You can save money by taking your own cup to cafés and coffee shops. Stores will accept any brand of cup. Every use after you get your reusable cup represents money saved.

Reuse Your Plastic – Reuse It Instead If You Can

The more plastic you can reuse around your home and garden, the less goes to waste. Here are a few ideas:

• Use smaller plastic bottles as cane toppers on your vegetable garden – as well as making the tops safer, they help keep birds away and can be used to support netting.

• Keep the mesh bags that some fruit and veg come in and reuse them when buying loose fruit and veg.

• Save up yogurt pots and other small plastic pots to start growing fruit and veg in before moving them to your garden – MSE Rhiannon's growing lettuce this way.

• Tubs containing the likes of margarine and ice cream can be reused as dividers in drawers and cupboards.

• Jars with plastic lids can be used to put refills of herbs and spices in, or to hold nails, screws, bolts and more.

Get A Good Reusable Water Bottle And Refill Your Water Bottle For Free

We use millions plastic bottles per year as a nation – so it's fair to say they're a significant source of plastic waste. So why not see if you can refill for free rather than buy another bottle? Many cafés, restaurants, shops, hotels and more will let you fill up your own bottle or flask even if you're not a customer.

Many airports have water fountains after security where you can fill up a water bottle. This means you avoid the rip-off prices charged for bottled water in departure lounges and on planes, as well as reduce the amount of plastic waste you produce.

Reusable water bottles start from about E2. With a standard 500ml branded water bottle usually costing about E1, that means you should have paid for your reusable bottle within two uses

Reconsider Throwing Out Food

Stale bread, old bananas and broccoli stems CAN still be eaten and they wont kill you. Make sure you know the difference between 'use-by' and 'best-before' dates. This can stop you throwing out a lot of food unnecessarily. Eating anything past its 'use-by' date is risky, but 'best-befores' don't usually have anything to do with safety and are simply the manufacturer's view of when the food's no longer at optimum quality. Check you're keeping the RIGHT food in the fridge. Storing food in the best place will ensure it stays fresh for longer and cuts waste. Turn stale bread into French toast, croutons, bread pudding and more. There are a whole host of recipes you can try to make use of the stale bread rather than binning it. Use a leftover food recipe finder. Don't throw broccoli stems away – they can taste just as good. Many just throw it away, but if you trim off the tough outer layer and cook the stem with the rest of the broccoli 'florets', the stem can taste just as good (if not better).

Turn old bananas into milkshakes, banana bread, banana pops and more. Having said all that, only eat leftovers when it's safe to do so. With older leftovers, safety is of course paramount. So don't ignore 'use-by' dates, and even with 'best-befores', use common sense.

In the words of the UK Food Standards Agency: "Food with a 'best-before' date – which concerns food quality and not food safety – should be safe to eat after the stated date, although it may not be at its best quality. Use sensory cues to determine whether the food is suitable to eat, be that looking for visible mould on bread, tasting to see if biscuits or crisps are stale, or smelling some dairy products (with 'best-before' dates) to see if they have soured."

Go 'Paperless' With Bills And Bank Statements

This is the Green thing to do but frequently it may get you a better deal too. Many banks and utility companies (including water, electricity and gas suppliers) now let you receive bills and other communications online, rather than by post. In some cases you'll have access to better deals if you're willing to forego paper bills. You can usually find a 'go paperless' option in your online account settings when you visit your provider's website. If it's not obvious, simply contact the company and ask.

Use The Wind

Line-drying outside whenever possible will save you lots. Our lovely climate in Donegal can be a bit problematic but when you get tuned into the weather patterns, you can spot periods when you make the most of the wind and our sun.

Energy Efficient Appliances And More Efficient Use of them

Choosing more energy efficient appliances (A+ rated machines are preferred) and not washing above 60°C as well as washing fuller loads can help.

Ditch Junk Mail

Unwanted post often goes straight in the bin... but even if you're making sure it gets recycled, it's much better for the environment if you can stop it arriving on your doormat altogether (and it's much less annoying too). There are two different types of junk post – letters with your name and address on, and those without but are still distributed by Ran Post. Both can be stopped. If the letters have your name on it, you've also the right to tell the organisation to stop sending them to you. And while door-to-door leaflet drops are harder to combat, there are signs you can put up which may help.

However in some cases, when it comes to saving money, junk mail can work in your favour. For example, certain retailer offers and financial products (such as offers for existing credit card-holders) may only be available if you receive them as targeted direct mailings. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take action to stop junk mail, but it's important to weigh up the pros and cons.

Try Clothes Swapping

Try swapping clothes with friends instead of buying them new. It's not the first thing most people think of when trying to go green, but manufacturing new clothes has a significant impact on the environment, with green campaigners highlighting the impact of the so-called 'fast fashion' industry, which encourages people to buy clothes cheap and dispose of 'em not long after. So if you have clothes you no longer wear (but are still in decent nick), consider swapping them with a friend.

Freecycle

Use Freecycle to nab free sofas, coffee makers & more (plus find your old stuff a new home)

Giveaway sites such as Freecycle can be a great way to recycle unwanted items, as well as save some cash, with listings covering everything from Etch A Sketches to espresso makers, and designer sofas to dungarees. These sites are more than just sources of freebies – they're recycling communities, so can be a great way to give away something you no longer want or need and help others save a bit of cash too. Don't worry if you've nothing special. You'll be amazed at what's willingly taken, including old magazine collections, spare carpets or EMPTY paint pots. Advertising discarded items on giveaway sites is also an excellent way to recycle objects unsuitable for donating to charity shops (many no longer take electrical goods or collect large items).

Flog old techno-junk

This could be old TV remotes, instruction manuals or mobile phone boxes amongst other things. With the pace technology moves at these days, most of us have old boxes, cables, remote controls and so on stuffed in drawers or packed away in lofts, despite it being unlikely they'll ever be of use again. Yet you can avoid chucking them into landfill and instead find them a new home while at the same time earning some extra cash, by selling these 'tech leftovers' online via sites such as eBay, Facebook or Gumtree. Some people simply need replacement accessories for older gadgets. Others buy boxes and manuals for devices they want to sell so they can raise the asking price. This is definitely a moneyspinner. For example, empty iPhone boxes sell for up to E20 and remote controls go for as much as E50.

Buy Refills Of Coffee, Soap, Herbs And Spices

Simple but effective. Buying refills of products such as air fresheners, coffee granules, handwash and herbs and spices saves money as well as cutting down on plastic waste in terms of lids, bottles and so on, as our table below shows. Some refills will still result in plastic waste, of course, so it's worth comparing how recyclable the packaging is compared with that of the original product before purchase.

Maximise Plastic Free

Push towards plastic-free with these tips:

• Make your own bread, pizza bases, yogurt and more – each thing you make means less plastic packaging to dispose of.

• Make 'fakeaways' – replicate takeaway food by making it at home – as well as doing away with the associated plastic, it'll undoubtedly be cheaper in the long run

• Make your own body lotion, toothpaste and scrubs – less packaging, less questionable chemicals and a sense of achievement all in one go.

Plant trees for FREE by adding a 31-second track to your Spotify playlists

Whenever you listen to a song on streaming service Spotify, the creator earns a small amount of money. There's a nifty project that is trying to use this process to help the environment. The scheme has created a 31-second track called This Song Plants Trees, which it hopes people will add to their Spotify playlists, and listen to occasionally. It's not actually a song – it's a voiceover talking about the project. For every 100 streams, This Song Plants Trees will donate enough money to the Eden Reforestation Projects for one tree to be planted. For it to earn money, you need to listen to the full 31 seconds, without turning the sound down. You don't even need to pay for a Spotify subscription to use the service and listen to this track – there's a free version.