In all the trendiness of being green these days, I am as guilty as anyone else at times of buying the newest, coolest, nicest looking green thing, be it reusable bag, lunch containers or water bottles. The best thing to do is to look around and see what you already have that can be used. I understand if you have health concerns over the plastics in your water bottles or something like that, but if you don't (or you don't have children which seem to be the most vulnerable to things like that) maybe you can manage to work with what you have for a little while longer.

Apply that concept to as many things as you can whether it is packing lunches, restocking school supplies or getting ready for Halloween. The best childhood costumes I remember were created from my imagination with a little help from Mom and Dad in the construction.

Buy in bulk - sometimes. One three liter bottle of olive oil uses less plastic than three one liter bottles. A gallon of glass cleaner to refill your spray bottle is great. But you have to be careful with this as well. One jumbo pack of individually prepackaged snacks can have quite a lot of packaging involved.

We all know how bringing coffee from home saves money. It also saves disposable paper cups and sleeves (and plastic lids, and stir sticks and sugar packets...). I even took a reusable coffee mug on a recent weekend trip so I could use it for frequent fill-ups of gas station sodas or coffee. A reusable mug won't save you as much cash at Starbucks or some other fancy chains but if you can survive on cheaper gas station or convenience store coffees and cappuccinos you can save 25 cents per day or more (that is my experience at least. It depends on your local chains).

Talk to people. Because of the economic crunch right now, everyone I have talked to has been receptive to the idea of exchanging alternative Christmas gifts this year. My cousin and her husband have been experimenting with making jams and jellies this year and were happy with the idea of exchanging home canned foods for Christmas since we've been canning our own things this summer. I am looking at what skills I have to make nice, simple presents to supplement smaller purchased presents or gift cards. My husband and I are working on putting together an experience for my nephew involving the gift of a sleeping bag and the chance to go camping with us several times. If a lot of people on your list are in a financial crunch they may be relieved to consider getting together for a nice time together instead of a gift exchange.

Trade and share. Instead of buying a new widget, see if anyone you know has one you can borrow. I have some friends who recently purchased a home and were in great need of a lawn mower and weed eater. We had upgraded from an electric to a gas weed eater and were happy to loan them our electric one indefinitely. If they had the skills to tune up our old push mower we would've given them the same offer on that. It's amazing what people have in garages and attics and basements. Check freecycle and craigslist too. I got almost 75 canning jars in excellent condition from freecycle. It made our initial forrays into canning much less expensive.

Use a clothesline instead of the dryer.

Use kitchen towels and cloth napkins instead of paper towels and paper napkins. We're working on this currently and I plan to take some old tableclothes from a garage sale and make them into more cloth napkins. We use towels for everything from drying hands and dishes to cleaning off the electric grill and wiping up spills. There are a few that were made for me that I keep mostly for drying hands and dishes but most of the towels are fair game for just about any kind of messy job.

What are you doing that saves money and is good for the planet?