The Green Frugal

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Let’s face it, college can be very expensive. However, there are alternatives to save money on food in college besides eating Ramen Noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Tip #1 –  Campus meal plans

Image credit: Flickr.com, dougww

When students live off campus they sometimes believe they are not eligible to sign up for campus meal plans. This is not the case with every university. The initial investment may seem daunting at first, but remember that it often covers three meals a day, six or seven days a week. Ultimately, it should not be surprising that a large university buying in bulk can prepare meals for less money than an individual can. Granted, the food may not be exactly what you’re hungry for at the time, but the long term savings can be significant. You can also see if your college offers a partial meal plan, which will reduce the upfront costs and still save you money in the long-run.

Tip #2 – Shop on a full stomach and make a list before you go

This is not just good advice for college, but a trick that can save you money for a lifetime. If you make a list before you go to the store (and stick to it), you’ll avoid impulse buying. The same goes for eating before heading to the store; when you walk past donuts while hungry they start looking mighty tasty, but if you’ve just eaten you can stroll right past them.

Image credit: Flickr.com, gruntzooki

Tip #3 – The vending machine is not your friend

One of the luxuries of college is that most dorms and campus buildings have vending machines. However, the same snacks, candy or drinks that you buy through a vending machine can cost upwards of 70% less at the grocery store. These extra costs are going to add up quickly and can easily be avoided. Save money by getting your food, drinks, and snacks in advance and not giving in to temptation.

Tip #4 – Be a smart shopper

Yes, there are more exciting ways to spend your Sunday afternoon than reading through the Sunday paper for coupons and advertisements, but the savings you gain from comparing food prices at different grocery stores is astounding. If you combine this tip with tip #2 and plan ahead, finding a grocery store with many of your list items on sale can save you a lot of money.

Tip #5 – Watch the campus calendar

It can really pay off to watch bulletin boards and campus calendars for events where free food is served. There is absolutely nothing wrong with free food. You can get some great bites and save money just by dropping by stopping by a few of these events.

Image credit: Flickr.com, o5com

With so many other costs such as tuition, books, and an active social life, it’s important to try to save as much as you possibly can with small changes. With a little bit of planning ahead you too can save yourself some money and still eat great food. What tricks have you found to save money on food in college?

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Say you and your special lady/gentleman friend want to go to Paris in May. Bing travel (formerly Farecast) has a flexible date search tool that will allow you to find the lowest prices. Being open with your departure date could be the difference between paying $900 vs $1700 per round trip ticket. A bit of planning ahead can save you and your sweetie a (rather shocking) $1600 on airfare.

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Take a moment and think about that corner in your office, you know the one I’m talking about. Or maybe it’s in your basement, closet, attic, perhaps some other dark, dusty place in your home. You’ll try to ignore it, but how much more old technology is going to fit there? It’s overflowing, becoming a health hazard. Are you really ever going to use that enormous CRT monitor again? Come on, now.

Recently, I decided to tackle the corner; which is when I discovered Free Geek, a nonprofit organization that “refurbishes technology to provide computers, education and job skills in exchange for community service.”

Photo cred. top row:Joan Stevens, bottom row:Carly Dennis

Here’s the deal with FreeGeek, they’re a multi-pronged operation where you can:

• declutter. Drop off old electronics—computers and nearly anything that can be plugged into them.
• volunteer. Spend some time helping out Free Geek, and get sweet stuff in return. Volunteers get free classes on building computers, tech support, and using a computer. Volunteers who have racked up a total of 24 hours or have built five computers get a free refurbished computer loaded with Ubuntu, an open source operating system.
• donate. Non-profits in need of a technology upgrade can receive hardware grants. So far, the Portland location has granted out more than 2,800 refurbished PCs to schools, religious organizations, community centers, and the like.
• purchase tech on the cheap. Free Geek runs a thrift shop, with all purchases directly supporting the Free Geek Community Technology Center.
• recycle ancient tech. Outdated materials are “demanufactured” by volunteers and recycled responsibly.

Going through my corner-of-technological-shame, I came up with a full car trunk of old tech. Everything from a heavy, old-school e-mac to the coffee-pocalypse laptop, and the ever-present overflowing box of miscellaneous wires and plugs. All together, we’re talking 5 square feet of sanity returning to my little abode. Priceless.

Here in Portland, we’re lucky to have the original FreeGeek location, aka “the Mothership.” However, satellite locations are opening in urban areas around the country, and can be found at the Free Geek Intergalactic Page. Other certified e-recyclers can be found through e-stewards.org or your local government’s recycling website.

We’re all green here. We know not to dump old tech with our curbside garbage, or trust shady e-recycling programs. Appease the e-waste guilt. Recycle your electronics responsibly, if not creatively.

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We hear a lot about global warming and how driving is one of the major factors contributing to it. Cars & driving are deeply entrenched in American life, whether it’s anticipating your first driver’s license, summertime driving through back roads with the windows down & music blaring, or simply getting to and from work.

But, all of our driving adds up. According to the Environmental Defense study, The Climate Impact of America’s Automobiles, personal vehicles in the US emit roughly 10% of the global CO2 emissions that come from fossil fuels. In 2004, this came out to 314 million metric tons. That much carbon could fill a coal train 55,000 miles long; that’s enough to circle the Earth twice. Ah, nothing like a frightening statistic.

There are lots of ways to cut back on driving, from carpooling to using public transportation. However there are times that life is hard without a car. Activities like moving, taking a weekend trip, or simply grocery shopping often require the use of a car.

A movement that’s been gaining momentum recently is car sharing. Companies such as ZipCar, U Car Share, HourCar, and others have made it possible to ditch one (or perhaps all) of your cars, and only use one when you really need it. Zipcar.com includes some interesting tidbits on the impact of car sharing:

• “Every Zipcar takes 15-20 personally-owned vehicles off the road.”
• “After joining Zipcar, 90% of members drove 5,500 miles or less per year.”
• “More than 32 million gallons of crude oil left in the ground total—or 219 gallons are saved per Member.”

The impact of car sharing isn’t just positive for the environment. Zipcar also claims that their members can save over $500 per month by sharing instead of owning a car. When you consider that maintenance, insurance, and even gas are included in the membership, this may not be too far off. Don’t believe it? Try out their calculator to test the theory yourself.

Car sharing companies and co-ops are popping up in urban centers all over the country, and most have the basics in common:

1. Reserve your car online
2. Unlock the car with your personal card or key (or phone!)
3. Drive away
4. Return to a specified car-share location before your reservation time expires
5. Leave car as clean as you found it

Pretty simple, huh? Do your kindergarten teacher proud and give sharing a chance.

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Everyone knows that we should carry reusable bags to the grocery store, but plastic grocery bags seem to pile up nonetheless. Who doesn’t have a kitchen drawer or cupboard exploding with bags? At Cash4Books, we encourage customers to re-use clean plastic bags as a packing material in their book shipments. The bags are then collected and recycled with EnviroFiber, a local recycling company.

This had me wondering what happens to the plastic once it’s picked up? In doing a bit of research, I’ve found some surprises about the recyclability of plastic bags and other thin plastics. Although most home-pickup recyclers do not accept plastic bags (since they can get caught in and ruin machinery) many grocers now have collection containers destined for plastic recycling specialists.

1. Plastic Lumber

Melted plastic bags and sawdust can be combined to make composite lumber. This is actually the most common reuse for plastic bags. This new material is used  to make door frames, outdoor decks, tables and benches. The composite of two recycled materials keeps trees in the ground and plastic out of the trash.

2. Plastic Batteries

Illinois based Chemist Vilas Ganpat Pol recently discovered a process to create carbon nanotubes from waste plastic. In this example of “up-cycling” (recycling waste into a more valuable product), plastic bags can ultimately be made into lithium-ion batteries. Really.

3. On your way to recycle used grocery bags? Include these too!

All clean, dry bags labeled #2 or #4 can be recycled along with plastic grocery bags. This includes: 

♦ Newspaper bags, Dry cleaning bags, produce bags & bread bags
♦ Cereal box liners
♦ Shipping envelopes
♦ Plastic wrap around paper towels, napkins & toilet paper
♦ Clean zip-lock bags (with the hard plastic removed)

4. Room for Improvement

According to the EPA, only 12% of used plastic bags were recycled in 2007.

5. On the Bright Side

A recent survey revealed that 90% of Americans reuse their plastic shopping bags, mostly to replace garbage liners, lunch bags, and pet waste bags. The reuse of each plastic bag prevents a second bag from being purchased for a single purpose.

The bottom line: should we try to keep plastic bags out of the waste stream (not to mention the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”) by carrying reusable totes? Yes. Will we always remember to bring them shopping? Probably not. But we can recycle what accumulates, and the manufacturing industry is coming up with some pretty interesting ways to reuse the single use bag.