Sorry I’m so late today – Tuesdays are my long day at school.

A new friend of mine confided one of her tricks for staying frugal: she said that every time she picks up a product in her home she asks herself if she really needs to keep buying that product. What a great idea! For me, since my focus is green as well as frugal, my question would be not only do I need it, but also, if I do need it, is there a greener way to buy / do it?

It’s all part of the reduce, reuse, recycle ethos. Reduce is the word of the day. Do I really need this? What a basic and obvious question but it’s one that we don’t often ask. So often we get into a buying rut. We buy the same things over and over because it’s what we’ve always done. Maybe it’s even what our parents did. We need to start looking at the things we buy and do in a new way to break ourselves out of our ruts and find ways to save and go greener.

If you reduce the number of products coming into your home, you are almost always going to save money. If you start looking at what you do, your habitual actions, you might just find places where you can save as well. For me it was line drying my clothes and growing our veggies. Not huge savings, but it’s a little and the littles add up eventually. I’m learning to combine trips as well. My husband and I swapped cars because his gets better gas mileage but I was doing all the driving in mine. It’s cut two tanks of gas a month so far. But, as my son points out, the car has bird poop on it. He says, “Hi!” by the way.

I think this is an incredibly important set of questions to as yourself. Ask it often. Ask it while you’re shopping. Ask it at random times during the day while you’re going about your routine. Ask it of your partner or kids or friends. It will save you money and help you buy in line with your priorities, whatever they may be.