Everyone's talking about recycling these days, but did you know that recycling is not only good for the environment and your health, but it can save you money, as well?

There are a number of ways in which you can save by both buying recycled products and recycling your old ones. All it takes is determination, respect for the environment and a little imagination.

If you are a writer, love keeping a journal or if you just like to write long letters, like I do, then you might find it less expensive to buy recycled paper, notepads, folders and notebooks. You can't recycle them again, but you are saving a few trees and the expense to the environment from paper mill runoff. Please, recycle your cardboard and paper as much as possible so that we can conserve our trees.

Paper can often be re-used more than once. Don't toss out fax printouts and left over paper if you can re-use them as test paper or as something for your child to color and draw on while waiting for you to get off of work.

They can be used to make scrapbook pages. Simply paste leftover gift wrap or photos over the printed pages you are recycling punch holes and put them into a binder. This makes great scrapbooks for your children. Print on both sides of your paper.

Use old fax and copy paper to create a notepad for your desk. You can punch holes in it and use pins or staple it or cut it to cube size with a paper cutter and refill your desk "cube". Save it for quick calculations or notes. You'd be surprised at how long it will last using this advice. A ream of paper can cost anywhere from $5.00 to $25.00, so why not save yourself some cash and re-use the other side of that paper?

Use cloth grocery bags instead of the plastic ones that you get at the market. It takes a lot of chemical processing to make these plastic bags. Processing which sends toxins into our water and air. You can purchase these reusable bags from your local grocery stores or online. You can even get generic bags online so that you can use them at any store.

If you prefer the plastic bags or can't find it in your budget to buy the cloth ones, (understandable with gas and food prices like they are these days), then take the plastic bags you got at the grocery last week and reuse them instead of getting new ones. These things end up in landfills, in our waterways where toxins leach from them. Animals get tangled in them and strangle to death, many birds try to use them for nesting material only

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