Early Retirement Blog

Get rich saving the planet? Absolutely. Here are 10 simple green ways you can save $1 million and the planet! In only 20 years, at an average annual return of 9% on your savings, you can save a lot of green by going green.

1.  Bottled Water – Stop wasting money and the environment drinking bottled water.   Buy a filter, water container, and fill it up before you leave the house.
Monthly Savings $40 After 20 Years $26,500

2. Brew Your Own Coffee – No more cardboard cups and plastic lids.   Get a thermos and Brew your own coffee at home and at work.
Monthly Savings $50 After 20 Years $33,500

3. DIY Dry Cleaning – Expensive and toxic, conventional dry cleaning uses   perchloroethylene (PERC), a chemical known to cause cancer in rats.    Launder and iron your shirts and blouses.
Monthly Savings $50  After 20 Years $33,500

4. Use a “Dumb” Cell Phone – Do you have to be connected to the internet in between home and work?   Smart phones cost more, and require more CO2 producing servers, to handle the extra bandwidth required for accessing the internet.
Monthly Savings $50 After 20 Years $33,500

5. Walk Away From the Gym – Health clubs are anything but healthy for you and the environment.   Requiring constant heating and cooling, and filled with germs and bacteria, walk half an hour a day in fresh air instead.
Monthly Savings $60 After 20 Years $40,000

6. Pack-A-Lunch – Fast food lunches are not only generally unhealthy, they also produce a lot of waste, and can be very expensive over time.   Make and pack your own lunch before you go to work.
Monthly Savings $100 After 20 Years $67,500

7.   Mini-Storage – Have a garage sale and get rid of your mini-storage unit.
Monthly Savings $150 After 20 Years $100,000

8.   Grass Lawn - The scourge of suburbia, grass lawns consume precious water, require harmful chemicals, gas powered mowers, and lots of money to maintain.   Convert your grass lawn to it’s native habitat, or use it to grow organic fruits and vegetables, and you will save money and the environment.
Monthly Savings $150 After 20 Years $100,000

9. Get Rid of One Car – Are you a two car couple or a three car family?   If you can get rid of one of your cars, you can save a lot of money, and the environment.
Monthly Savings $400 After 20 Years $268,000

10. Cheaper Housing – Do you you really need that extra room in your home to use as an office or guest room for guests who visit one week a year?   If you can downsize your home by one room, you can reduce your carbon footprint, and the amount you spend on rent or a mortgage.
Monthly Savings $500 After 20 Years $335,000

Total Monthly Savings = $1,500
After 20 Years = $1,000,000

What if you can’t squeeze $1,500 per month out of your current budget?   Can you still save $1 million by going green?   Yes.   In a previous article, I wrote about two easy ways you can go from zero to $1 million in 20 years, by gradually increasing your savings and reducing your consumption.   The $500 plan and Save Your Raise.

Read: How to Save $1 million

What if you are in your fifties, and you don’t have 20 years to save, should you bother going green?   Yes again.   If you follow these 10 green ways to save $1 million, and you reduce your consumption by $1,500 per month, you also reduce the amount of savings you need to retire by $450,000.

By going green and reducing your consumption, you can get rich, retire early, and save the planet.

Visit the Early Retirement website to learn how to retire early by going green.   Also, try our Free Retirement Calculators find out how much savings you really need to retire, you may be able to retire with less than $1 million.  Over 30% of Green Retirement customers discover they can retire today.