College Bound and Budget-Conscious

A reader asks the Green Guide:
As a "poor college student" I'm doing my best to live a green lifestyle. I bought a drying rack and recycle through the city program. Shopping seems to be tricky though. I have a very limited budget and I was wondering if you could provide some tips for green products that offer the most bang for the buck. I'm specifically looking for cheap/green products dealing with laundry, food and clothing. Thanks! It's hard being green (and young).
Cassie B.
East Lansing, MI

The Green Guide responds:
You're right that being green can sometimes seem to mean buying costly alternatives to your once-reliable Ramen noodles and generic-brand cleaning products. But as a college student myself, I've found that the best solution for living cheaply and helping the environment is to follow your grandmother's wise advice to waste not, want not.

One of the easiest places to do this is the kitchen. Cooking instead of buying take-out not only saves money, but it keeps nonrecyclable foam containers out of landfills. Hit up your local farmer's market and do some comparison shopping at your nearest grocery store. Businesses located in close proximity to a college campus are notorious for hiking up prices, but a short drive—or bike ride!—away can score you less expensive, better quality produce. The farmer's market near my school even carries a wider selection of unprocessed munchies like nuts and dried fruit; visit Local Harvest to find one near you.

Before you rush off to the market, though, plan ahead in order to avoid overbuying. Americans throw away 96 billion pounds of food every year, or about a pound per person per day. Plan some recipes in advance, and if you have to cook more than you'll eat in one meal, Leftover Chef has great ideas to give new life to last night's chicken, including a search tool that allows you to find recipes using only the ingredients you already have in your kitchen.

Some organic items, like meat, will always be more of a budget-breaker than others, but you can enjoy them and still save money. Use meat as a flavor in your dishes instead of a main ingredient (for recipes, check out "Green on a Budget" in our Summer 2008 magazine). And purchase organic versions of produce with high pesticide levels, while saving on conventional produce that traditionally needs fewer pesticides; see our Produce Smart Shopper's Card for conventional fruits and veggies you should always avoid.

Your laundry room can be optimized for lean, green success just as easily. If you bought a drying rack, you've already found a good way to cut back on energy costs. Drugstore.com offers decently priced laundry detergents from Seventh Generation, Ecover and Earth Friendly Products. Buy in bulk to save more, and use less detergent than the manufacturer recommends (there should only be a few bubbles in your machine's water—if you see suds, you're using too much). If you're using a Laundromat, try to find one with front-loading machines. They're more energy- and water-efficient, and they wring more water out of your clothes than top-loaders, which means they'll dry faster on your rack.

Solving your eco-friendly clothing woes is a little bit more difficult, but even there, being green means saving money. Avoid buying new whenever possible, and instead, shop at vintage, consignment and second-hand stores (or online at Ebay or Craigslist). Many offer the same clothes carried in retail stores at a fraction of the price. While I've never been one for labels, I now own a tunic by Theory and a wrap dress by Elie Tahari, both of which I found in the bottom of a $5 box at a designer resale store. Both could have cost me $518 had I bought them new. You can also organize clothing swaps with your friends, and get gently worn clothes for free, and donate whatever's leftover to charity to ensure that no clothes go to waste. See the Green Guide's appearance on GMA Now for more tips on buying vintage clothing.

If you do want to buy new, the guys at Factory Green more than understand your need for a decently priced green wardrobe, which is why they created a site that sells stylish organic cotton T-shirts, hoodies and accessories, many for $30. They get an extra green thumbs-up, too, for donating a portion of their sales to activities related to the United Nation's Water for Life Decade. Also keep your eye on H&M, which has a limited but growing supply of organic cotton clothes for men and women, and Wal-Mart, which sells simple organic cotton T-shirts, tanks and pajama pants for less than $10.