Oh, the ease with which we can stop off at a home improvement store or nursery for plants that have been growing for weeks or months and transplant them very quickly to our backyard gardens. While you won’t hear from us that this is bad for the environment, there is a cheaper way to do this and that is better for the environment.

Needed supplies:

1. Starter containers
2. Seeds
3. Soil

Before you send your plastic yogurt, butter, and sour cream containers off for recycling, make sure you have forty or fifty clean and stored for springtime starter plants. Drill or poke holes for drainage in the bottom.

Rubber Scraper? Really? It will make my life greener?

Okay, so this is not the biggest, greenest change you could make to your life. But it is greener and here’s how.

How many times do you have leftovers? Be it from take-out or home-made meals, baking cookies or cake, you have something left on the surface of the bowl/pot/skillet that took energy to make. So the sun had to shine down on plants to grow them, they had to be harvested (often by machine), they were transported to a store, you bought them, and finally transported them home.

It might seem paradoxical to think that you could spend significantly more money at the grocery store and come out spending less money overall, but you can. Take a look!

Organic food is better for you and definitely is better for the environment. What does organic mean? (Because it says it more succinctly than I probably can), Wikipedia tells us that, “Organic foods are produced according to certain production standards, meaning they are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste, or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives.^[1] Livestock are reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones. In most countries, organic produce must not be genetically modified.”

Sure, more and more electronics have built-in batteries, charged with a multitude of chargers with distinct prongs, so that most of us now have a collection of tangled charger wires laying around at any available outlet. It seems that for the most part, no two chargers are alike.

But we still use plenty of devices that still utilize conventional batteries. These include: remote controls, flashlights, children’s toys, and some of us are still hanging onto portable CD players (myself included). What do you do with your batteries once they have been used?

If you’re like most people, you are tossing those acid-filled tubes into a garbage can, to eventually leak and wreak havoc on the soil and maybe ground water of the area in which it is dumped. The cumulative affect of many thousands or millions of batteries can be devastating.

Yet another method for becoming “Greener Under Twenty,” is to use power strips for some of your electronics. This project is yet another that both will cost you less than $20 and take you less than twenty minutes to complete.

Next time you’re at a store that carries them, pick up one or two power strips, depending upon your needs (discussed below). Basic power strips range in cost from $5 to $10 normally.

Why use power strips? Many electronics, including televisions, microwaves, chargers for our phones, PDAs, and Ipods, continue to seep power from the outlets they are plugged into even when they are turned off or when we are not charging our phones.

Here’s our first Greener Under Twenty tip: convert some of your lights over to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

CFLs can actually be somewhat costly, so if you have a great many bulbs, be selective. Chances are, you can identify four or five bulbs that are prime candidates for replacement and can do so for under $20 at your local home improvement store. Picking them up while shopping and replacing your incandescent bulbs should take you less than twenty minutes.

At a few dollars each, and only replacing a handful of bulbs, you can easily stay under $20. Also, attempt to find a deal or coupon you can use for maximum savings. Remember, these save you money over time.

This will be an ongoing series here on EnviroHumanImpact showcasing simple tasks that can be completed in either twenty minutes or less, with only $20, or, in some cases, just $20 and twenty minutes. With these tips, you’re well on your way to making small tangible steps toward a greener lifestyle.

In most cases, the energy savings will help you to quickly recoup your money (and begin saving on your investment). In all cases, we have deemed that the reduced negative envirohuman impact will be well worth your time and money. So let’s get started!

Have ideas for $20 or twenty-minute green living tips? Share below, and your tip might become a post!