Living green in Apartments.....

[Sami_Carm]

Soo in 2 weeks were moving into our new apartment!!! My Hubby is army and we're moving from a 2 bedroom townhouse on post to a 3 bedroom apartment off!! Soo right off we'll be watching lights and water b/c now we have to pay for them!! LOL But what some other green ideas for our apartment?!?

Thanks Ladies!!

[larabelle]

Congratulations!!! My suggestion use flurescent lights in any/all ceiling and floor lighting.

[nuisance26]

~Well, you're lucky to live in a mild climate so heating bills aren't an issue. I would suggest getting heavy, light colored drapes for any sunny windows. It should help reduce your ac bill. You may be able to sign up for a time-of-use plan with your electric company. My brother lives in Jacksonville and they were using this plan for awhile to save money. If you have a washer in your apartment, you can save $ by using your dryer to half dry the clothes and then hang the damp clothes over drying racks and chairs overnight to finish the job. Another tip, don't buy a bunch of cleaners. White vinegar, baking soda or bleach will clean and disinfect just about anything and they're really cheap. Congrats on the new apartment!~

[Marie78]

Congratulations on the new apartment . I live in an apartment too and I am striving to live frugally, green, and healthy. Some things that I do: I have a clothes drying rack that I hang dry all of my work clothes to save money and extend their life. I do not use dryer sheets anymore (because of chemicals in them). I stockpiled fragrance free laundry detergent, but when it runs out I will be choosing a more natural laundry detergent (still resarching them).

I use white vinegar, baking soda, and sometimes bleach (I just ran out and might not buy anymore) as my main household cleaners because they are safe and effective to clean with. I took down our plastic shower curtain liner, it always grew mildew within a few days of cleaning it and the chemicals in the plastic are not healthy for us. I use the cloth shower curtain as our only shower curtain now, I was skepitcal at first, but it drys within hours (going on three days of doing this and no mildew on the cloth yet). I plan on washing the cloth shower curtain in the wash with the towels once a week to keep it fresh and clean.

I use the plastic grocery store bags for our garbage can liners (even in the kitchen). Since we live in an apartment complex we can take the garbage bag out every evening after dinner and dump it in the large apt sized garbage cans (throwing the small bag of garbage out each evening eliminates bad odors from the garbage and keeps bugs away).

We turn off and unplug all our powerstrips when not in use, we have 5 and that saves us $10 a month on our electric bill here . We also only use the A/C in the evening and put it on energy save mode while we are sleeping. That certainly saves us money in the summer months. We are fortunate that our heat is built into the cost of our rent, which means we don't pay for heat in the winter and can keep the temp. set where it's most comfortable for us.

We only wash a full load of dishes in our dishwasher, so we only run about 3 loads a week.

I would like to start using shredded newspaper for cat litter, but my fiance is so unwilling to try this. I think it would be healthier and cheaper, but he is not on the same page as me yet. I converted him to the plastic grocery bags as garbage can liners and a cloth shower curtain. It's only a matter of months before we are shredding paper for the litter box .