I’ve broken down how much money a zero waste life can potentially save someone, but how much does it TRULY save me? Not just hypothetical, let’s put it into practice! If you want to know how much a low waste life can save you in theory, check out this post.

But let’s keep it real. How much money do I personally save by living zero waste?

Here are my biggest money-saving zero waste swaps. I’m sure I forgot some, so this is likely going to be the low end. Let us know how much money you save by living zero waste below!

Reusable water bottle

Bottled water can get expensive! I’m talking $6-20 per pack of 40 bottles. It may not seem like much once, but it adds up. Let’s say 1 person drinks 2 water bottles per day, or 14 water bottles per week. A pack of 40 will last one person about 3 weeks. Let’s round it up to 1 pack per month for easy math. That means you need 1 pack per month, 12 packs a year, which would cost $36-240 per year, depending on the brand.

If you use a reusable water bottle and fill it at home, it’s basically free. Yes, you pay a water bill, but you certainly are not drinking $240 worth of water at home. Accounting for the price of an average water bottle at $30, let’s say you’d save $6-200 per year.

Period underwear

They’re the most expensive zero-waste period swap but they will still save you so much money! On average, period underwear costs $20. The average cycle lasts 6 days and you need at least two pairs of period underwear, but I recommend three or more just for ease of use. I explain more in this video. So, let’s say you buy 3 pair, totaling $60.

For comparison, pads cost $8-10 for a pack of 42. The average person uses 20-30 pads per cycle. That’s $60-80 max a year on disposables.

So, period underwear will pay itself off after a year and then begin to save you money! They can last years if you take care of them properly. Learn more about period underwear care in this video.

Total savings for year one, you’d break even, but year two you can save up to $100!

Rags/reusable paper towels

The cheapest option here is to use what you already have: stained towels, old t-shirts, you name it. Use some old fabric as reusable towels and rags. Let’s say you do this, it’s free!

The average American uses 80 rolls of paper towels per year. The average cost per roll is $2-4 meaning a total cost of around $160-320 per year. And if you make or use rags you already have for free, that’s all savings, baby!

Reusable tissues

Another easy-to-make swap out of old t-shirts, you can do this swap for free.

The average person in 2020 used 2 boxes of tissues per month, but some people used up to 8! The cost is about $1.50-4 per box, depending on the brand. That means it would cost $3-8 per month or $36-96 per year. Once again, if you make reusables yourself, that’s all savings!

Library card vs new books

An underrated zero-waste swap is a library card. How is that even zero waste? Well, borrowing prevents you from buying something new. It prevents everyone who uses the library from buying something new, preventing so many trees from being cut down, processed, shipped, and so forth. Library cards are totally free, too!

In 2024, I borrowed around 90 books from the library. At $20 per book this saved me around $1800 last year!

But, this year, I’m reading a bit slower. Despite that, in the first 6 months of the year, the library has saved me around $430. So, that would be an estimate of nearly $900 by the end of 2025.

Free Little Library

Another free hidden gem of the eco world is Little Free Libraries. Maybe you’ve seen one and just didn’t know what it was. These little boxes are set up by residents or businesses, and they’re totally free to use. You drop off books you’ve decluttered, and you take books to read for free. You’re allowed to keep them or return them. What a great way to read for free! Of course, you can use mainstream libraries, too.

I don’t get all of my books per year, but in 2024, I did snag 7 books from Free Little Libraries, and I estimate Dan got about the same number. So, just in our household, we got 14 books for free that otherwise would have cost around $20 a piece, or $280 saved this year. Of course, if you get more, that’s even more savings!

Don’t forget to return the favor to your neighbors and donate your old books. Some also have children’s books, puzzles, artwork, and more!

Stasher (or similar reusable options)

Stasher is a very popular option to replace single-use plastic bags and other single-use storage options. But, Stasher is owned by SC Johnson, a mega-corporation. I personally would rather support a small business which is why I included Qrumbles on this list. I also like Qrumbles because they are easier to wash without a dishwasher.

Regardless which one you choose, let’s dive into how much money they can save you:

One stasher bag is really all you need if you wash it every day. But, let’s just say you buy 4 of them for a larger family or to use multiple throughout the week or for multiple different purposes. Let’s say you get 2 sandwich bags and 2 of their larger ones. It’s $26 for the sandwich bags and $44 for the half-gallons. That’s a total of $70. Wow, even I think that’s steep. BUT! These should last you years and years.

Now, how much to plastic zipper bags cost? The average family uses 500 plastic zipper bags per year. Even on Amazon where prices are usually the cheapest, it’s $10 for a pack of 50 single-use bags. So, the average family would have to buy 10 of these to get 500 bags which would cost $100 per year in single-use bags.

In the first year, Stasher will save you $30 and every year after that they will save you $100.

Refurbished tech

This is the easiest way to save money on tech while also being sure you get tech that actually works. I have bought tech secondhand on places like Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp, but that’s more low-end tech like a juicer. But, we have also had success buying things like an iPad on FB Marketplace! It’s risky, so let’s look at refurbished instead. Usually, these sellers and refurbishers are certified in some way and also ensure the devices are fully reset so you can use them easily.

The best-known refurbished tech site I know of is Back Market for things like phones, laptops, etc.

So, a brand new iPhone 14 that has 128GB of storage is $730 from Apple.

The same exact model, an iPhone 14 that has 128 GB of storage from Back Market, is $452. That’s savings of $278 for one phone. If your family needs multiple or if you also need an iPad or a computer, that’s even more savings!

Some other items I found on Back Market were this relatively new MacBook that is $400 cheaper than buying brand new, this older MacBook that is $800 cheaper than buying new, and this PlayStation that is $200 cheaper than buying new.

Not to mention, Back Market will also buy your old tech from you. In theory, this method could be free after the trading in. Yes, Apple will trade in, too, but do they really recycle it?

It’s also just more ethical to shop secondhand. Most of our metals and minerals come from Africa, specifically the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC. Here they mine for little-to-no money, are forced off their lands, and are forced to work as young as 10 years old. The mines are hazardous, and they don’t get PPE. You can learn more in Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara.

So, shop refurbished for the planet, your wallet, and the people.

Rechargeable batteries

This zero waste swap is SO underrated. I started using rechargeable batteries to save money and only realized later that it save the planet, too! But, just how much money does it save?

I’m taking all of the numbers below from Energizer brand via Walmart to keep it consistent.

It’s not the best brand, but I get mine from Energizer just cause that is the most accessible option. You can find them from Walmart to Target and even local grocery stores. A 4-pack of rechargeable AAs is $13.76 and a 4-pack of AAAs is $13.76. The charging port is $18.97. Over the years, we have bought a few more packs of both since they are so common so let’s double the cost of those to make this even. That would be a total of $74.01 for 8 AAs, 8 AAAs, and a charging port.

The average American household buys about 90 alkaline batteries annually. Let’s say that’s 75% AA and 25% AAA since AAs are more common. That would be around 23 AAAs and 67 AAs.

An 8-pack of AAAs is $8.77 or 94 cents per battery. So, for an average household use of 23 AAAs would cost $21.62
A 24-pack of AAs is $19.97 or 83 cents per battery. So, for an average household use of 67 AAs it would cost $55.61

It’s a close one! Rechargeables up front, plus the charging port costs $74.01, and the disposables cost $77.21. In your first year of average use (you don’t have to buy two packs of each rechargeable option), you will only save $3. But, every year after that, you’ll save around $77!

Most rechargeable batteries last up to 7 years or more or around 2,000 uses! So much waste prevented from the landfills and/or our broken recycling system and so much money saved over that time.

Bidet

Don’t want to switch to reusable TP but still want to save money? Consider a bidet! I know this is also considered weird to so many people, but bidets are life-changing. I’m not even kidding. It’s more hygienic and can also reduce how much TP you use. But by how much?

The average bidet user reduces their TP use by 75%! So, let’s take those totals from above and reduce them by 75% to see how much money a bidet can save.

Instead of using an average of 141 rolls per year, a bidet user would use around 36 rolls of TP. For Charmin, that would save $112.80, WGAC bamboo would save $109.98, and WGAC recycled would save $167.44.

You would still have to pay around $38.16 for Charmin, $37.44 for WGAC bamboo, and $56.88 for WGAC for a year.

Now, the cost of a bidet. Let’s look at two leading bidet makers: Tushy costs $229 regular price but is also often on sale, and Whisper costs $99 regular price but is often on sale, too.

Tushy would cost $229 for the bidet and between $37-57 per year in toilet paper for a total of $266-286 per year.

Whisper, though, would cost $99 for the bidet and between $37-57 per year in toilet paper for a total of $136-156. So, depending on which brand of toilet paper you buy, Whisper will save you just 10-68.

In your first year, Whisper will cost $99 plus your TP for a total between $136.44 and $146.88. Again, when looking at the totals for the average use of 141 rolls per year, $14-77 in your first year and every year after that saves $109-167.

Regular plates, cups, bowls, cutlery

I called these “reusable plates” on IG recently, and people got so mad haha, but it’s what they are! Let’s compare how much paper or plastic plates cost in comparison to using regular plates, cups, bowls, cutlery, and so forth.

I’m sure most of us already have dishes at home on top of the disposables you also have. For most people, it won’t cost anything extra to just start using the regular dishes. If you do need to buy some, I suggest secondhand, where they are often $1 or less per piece.

If one person uses one paper plate or bowl per meal, that’s nearly 1100 disposables per person.

On the low end, Dixie paper plates cost $36.48 for 300 plates or 12 cents per plate. That would mean 550 plates cost $66. But, if you’re trying to be eco-friendly, you might buy from a brand like Repurpose, which costs $16.99 for 44 plates, or 39 cents per plate, or 550 plates for $212.

For bowls, the low-end Dixie brand costs $12.19 for 56 bowls or 22 cents per bowl. That would make 550 bowls cost $121. Once again, looking at Repurpose, it’s $12.99 for 35 or 37 cents per bowl, making 550 bowls cost $203.

For plastic spoons, the low end is Great Value, costing $2 for 48 spoons or just 4 cents per spoon, making 550 spoons cost $23. Repurpose would run about $9.99 for 24 or $42 cents per spoon or $229 for 550 spoons.

Lastly, plastic forks on the low end would cost the same price as spoons, so $23 for 550. Repurpose costs the same for forks as for spoons, making the total $229 for 550 forks.

Okay, our grand total for the lower end is $233 per year but the high end, the more eco-option, would cost you a whopping $873. Now I’m sure that is not the common option when people are buying disposables, so the low end is probably more realistic. But you can still save $233 per year by using those reusable dishes you already own.

Reducing waste = fewer trash bags

This one isn’t very technical, but the less waste you create, the fewer trash bags you need to buy! Not only the less waste you create but also the more you recycle and the more you compost, the fewer bags you have to buy.

According to Statista, most Americans use 25 or more garbage bags per month. Let’s make that an even 6 bags per week. If you theoretically reduce your waste in half in terms of recycling, composting, using zero waste swaps, buying less, and making stuff at home, you could cut this number in half and use just 3 bags per week. Maybe you’re a small household like me and only use one bag per week or even fewer. But, for math’s sake, let’s say 3 bags per week or 156 bags per year per household as opposed to the full amount of 312.

312 trash bags per year would cost someone $10 for 50 plastic, not eco-friendly trash bags, also 13 gallons. That’s 20 cents each making the total $62.40 for 312 bags or $31.20 for 156 bags.

For the more eco-friendly option from Hold-On made from bioplastic, it would cost $14 for 25 bags that hold 13 gallons. That’s 56 cents per bag for a total of $174.72 for 312 bags or 87.36 for 156 bags.

So, reducing your waste in half would save $31.20-87.36 just on trash bags alone!

Mending

Now, I have to admit, this one is going to be hard to capture since everyone wears out and mends a different number of items. Here are a few things I have mended this year that we can quantify:

1 pair of jeans: thrifted, but new is around $30 new (video here)
1 pair of sleep shorts: thrifted, but new is $14-50 depending on the brand
1 pair of Darn Tough socks: $24 new
Our fitted sheet: $90 new from Sheets and Giggles
1 t-shirt: thrifted so it’s technically irreplaceable, but if I were to replace it it would be with this $70 from Madi Stitches, I love her work!
Our comforter (I dyed it which is a different form of mending, but still mending in my opinion): $116 new from Buffy
1 Girlfriend Collective sweatshirt: $78 new
1 pair of Girlfriend Collective sweatpants: $47 new

So while the numbers will be different for everyone depending on what you’re mending and how frequently, just this year I have saved a grand total of $505 this year in mends! Doesn’t it cost money to mend them? The dyeing did cost me around $50 so we can say I profited $450, but the rest of my mending equipment I have thrifted over the years, was gifted, or have just had for so long that I have no idea how much I spent on it. But, let’s say you do need to start a sewing kit. I recommend heading to your local craft shop (avoid the big chains where you can) and simply get a set of needles (you don’t need a lot) and a few colors of thread in the colors you wear the most often. I’m willing to bet you can do this under $20, maybe even under $10. And for the savings? Totally worth it!

Making sourdough

I loveeee making sourdough! It tastes so much better and when loaves cost $8-10 (from experience) per loaf? The money savings have to be a lot, but just how much? I honestly have not even calculated this myself so let’s find out!

Let’s say that your household is buying 1 loaf per week. Whether you’re getting that at the grocery store or the farmer’s market, it’s probably around $5 on the low end to $10 on the high end from artisan bakers. That would cost $260-$520 a year just on sourdough.

But, if you make it at home, it’s free! Nah, you gotta buy flour and salt. But truly, that’s all you need to buy. I started making sourdough with NO equipment. I explain the entire process in this video. I used jars I had to grow my starter, bowls I had to mix and proof, and baked in a simple casserole dish I already had. You don’t need to buy anything to start making sourdough today.

So, when I buy a 5-pound bag of flour, it costs $7 directly from my fav brand themselves: King Arthur. This will usually make me about 4-5 loaves meaning I get 4-5 loaves for $7. Otherwise, 4-5 loaves would cost me $20-50!! So, every bag of flour, I’m profiting $13-43. Let’s round down and say I buy one bag per month for a total of $84 a year. That comes nowhere close to the numbers from above.

Now, you do have to account for the small amount of water coming out of your water bill per batch (I use 6.5 cups per bake), the electricity (I am going to be doing an experiment this winter to see if I can actually gauge how much money it costs to run the oven at that temp), a little salt here and there, and a little regular flour for feeding the starter. It’s hard to conceptualize this precisely, but honestly, it can’t be that much. For me, personally, these are not large enough to count, but let’s just say it’s an extra $10 per month or a total of $120 in other expenses.

That means your total expenses making it at home would be $204 or savings of $56-$316 per year by making your own sourdough at home!

This may also inspire you to make more of your own foods at home with the discard such as tortillas, English muffins, crackers, naan, pastries, and more!

Silicone baking mat

Truly an underrated zero waste swap! Before doing any research, I suspect that this actually may not be cheaper. Parchment paper is just SO cheap! But, it simply saves so much waste. Anywho…let’s find out!

Gridman is a really popular brand that I have found at local zero waste and refill stores and they even have them at Target. They’re easy to find and quite affordable at $11 for a pack of 2. These will theoretically last a lifetime…theoretically. I did cut one on accident while making pizza, so be careful with that. And I had another one bubble up and was not sure why that happened.

Anyway, a box of parchment paper costs $4.80 at Grove for 24 uses. I also found this roll on Amazon for $16 which gets you 200 feet of paper. Let’s say your pan is 2 feet long so you get 100 uses out of this roll.

Regardless, you will easily get over 100 uses out of your two silicone baking mats and still save $5. Depending on how much you bake, the savings can easily add up!

Just for fun, let’s say you only bake once per week for 52 times per year. You’d still save $5 in your first year switching to a silicone baking mat from Amazon or you’d just about break even if you bought the pack from Grove. Every year after that, you’re saving the full $16. Not huge, but savings are savings!

Reusable napkins

Maybe I’m weird, but I’ve never used paper napkins at home…is it common? Regardless, let’s run the numbers to see how much money you can save by switching to reusable napkins, or my personal favorite, rags haha.

Since I don’t use napkins at home regularly, reusable or disposable, I use reusable tissues and rags. If it’s a big mess, a rag. If it’s just a little something I need to get off my face, I use a reusable tissue. Both of which I already have and I cover the savings of them in this post.

So, if you do what I do and just opt for something you already have, this will cost you $0!

According to Statista, 245.91 million Americans used paper napkins at home in 2023. That’s far more than I thought! We’re people thinking that paper napkins = paper towels? I’m not sure. According to Business Insider, it is estimated that the average American uses 2200 napkins per year! Though I assume this comes from nationwide paper napkin sales.

On the low end, you can get 200 napkins for $3.60 or $39.60 per year in napkins for one person. Honestly, I’m going to leave it at that. I truly cannot believe that a family of 4 would use nearly 10,000 napkins per year but maybe I’m mistaken. Let me know if I should re-run the numbers below, I just don’t want to inflate it too much.

On the high end, you might see something like this pack of 300 for $18 or $132 for 2200 napkins.

If you want to be fancy and buy reusable napkins, it looks like the average cost is $15-25.

In your first year, you’d save $14.60 - $117 and every year after that you’d save $39.60 and $132!

Safety razor

Probably one of the most zero waste swaps that I get asked if it’s worth it or not is a Leaf Shave razor. Now, you don’t have to buy THEIR safety razor. Is it excellent? Yes. But do cheaper, locally procured razors work just as well? Yup. We shall compare them both!

But first, the wasteful counterpart, the disposable razor. According to Gillette themselves, you can use a disposable razor 3-10 times. Let’s call it an even 1 razor per week to be generous or 52 razors per year. That’s a lot of waste! But how much money?

This popular brand, Venus, sells packs of 3 for $7 or $2.33 per razor. Over the course of the year, it would cost you $121.33. Though popular, it’s not the cheapest; this pack from Bic sells a pack of 10 for $3 or 30 cents per razor. BUT Bic’s packaging suggests only 3 uses per razor here. Cheaper does not mean better. Let’s double it for easy math and just say 2 razors per week for a total of $31.20. Pretty good!

What about Leaf? A new razor will run you $84 for the razor itself and $12 for a pack of 50 blades for a total of $96. Keep in mind, a blade should last you 3-10 uses like the disposables! So, those 50 blades will last you an entire year. Your first year will cost you $96 but every year after that will be $12.

Even at full price, you’ll still save $25 if you buy Venus in the first year, but you’ll be out $60 if you shop for the cheapest of the razors. But, every year after that you will only be spending $12 every year and saving $19-109 per year!

Not to mention, I shave less than the average person, so my savings are likely higher than average in this area.

Makeup remover pads

Single-use makeup remover pads create SO much waste. But does it save money to use the reusables? Target brand will cost $2.89 for 25 wipes or 12 cents per wipe. Assuming you need to use one per day, you’d spend about $42.20 per year. Though, this is on the cheaper end. Neutrogena is $5.67 for 25 wipes which is 23 cents per wipe or $83 per year in wipes.

This is another swap you can make for free. You can simply cut an old t-shirt into squares and use that without sewing or you can even get out the sewing machine and sew something very nice out of materials you already had. I love a good free option myself! Here’s how I did it.

Or, you can buy some reusable makeup remover pads and an eco-friendly makeup remover, I like this one from Zerra & Co for $24. A little goes a long way so you can easily make it last a year. There are many options for reusable makeup remover pads, I’ve heard great things about this one from Zero Waste Store, and they’re all around $20. Up front, that’s a total of $44.

So, for the cheap option, you’ll be out just shy of $2, not bad, and the more expensive option comparison will save you $39 in the first year. Every year after that you will save $42.20-$83!

Loose-leaf tea

Plenty of people associate bulk shopping with a large price tag. While it may be the case for some items, other items are the same price and some others are much cheaper. The best example is tea. my friend Tiny Waste on TikTok showed us side by side how much money her boxed tea cost per volume vs how much loose-leaf tea from the bulk store cost per volume and the results are astounding!

According to her findings, the tea bags (which also produced several handfuls of waste) cost around $2.09 per ounce while the loose-leaf tea cost $1.50 per ounce. The tea bags were 1.73 ounces which gets you 20 servings. That’s approximately 0.08 ounces per serving or 12.5 servings per ounce of tea leaves. So, if you just buy 2 ounces of bulk tea, you’d get 25 servings of tea for just $3.00. Let’s say you drink tea once per day for a whole year. You would need 29.2 ounces for the year. So…

Bigelow tea bags would cost you $61.03

Loose-leaf tea at the price Tiny Waste paid would cost you $43.8

Of course, some tea bags will be cheaper than Bigelow. But some loose-leaf tea may also be cheaper but it may also be more expensive. But, I think these are both good estimates for middle of the road brands and prices. This also does not account for the fact that loose-leaf tea is usually a higher quality and you can brew it 2-3 times if you wish to save more money and waste.

But, running these numbers, loose-leaf tea will save you about $17.23 per year.

Reuse jars vs buying new

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is almost never a need to buy new jars unless you’re canning food to preserve it. But, if you just need jars for a bulk store run, to store leftovers in, or to organize your pantry, use what you have. I get jars all the time from pasta sauce, peanut butter, pickles, bouillon, and so much more. While some of the cost is technically factored into the price of the goods you’re purchasing, we can’t give an exact dollar amount to these jars. So, let’s just call them essentially free. I mean, your other options are to donate them, recycle them, or throw them away so you might as well use it, you bought it!

A 12-pack of 8-ounce Mason jars from Target runs around $13. A 12-pack of 32-ounce Mason jars from Ace Hardware will cost around $14. Let’s say you do a mix of both. Maybe you want 24 jars per year (one pack of each), that would cost $27. Not bad, honestly. But, that’s still $27 you can save per year by using free, upcycled jars. Of course, the savings are higher if you reuse more and more jars and prevent yourself from buying more new ones!

Reuse scrap paper vs buying new

I honestly cannot remember the last time I bought new paper. Grocery lists, to-do lists, notes, and more are all written on scrap paper that I get for free in the mail. I get a lot of mail from the VA for my healthcare as well as a lot of scrap paper when my ballots arrive in the mail annually.

This small paper pad from Target costs $6 and should last you about a year for your groceries. But, let’s say you also need one for a to-do list and other notes. That’s $12 per year on the low end of this basic list. But maybe you usually buy something a little more in-depth and aesthetic like this one from Etsy. It’s $14 for 55 pages which should last you a year if you take one trip per week. But you may also need another notepad for notes and a to-do list which may cost you $6-14 per notepad depending on the brand.

On the low end, you’d spend $12 per year and on the high end, $28 per year. Again, not the largest savings in the world, but savings are savings! Especially when scrap paper is FREE.

DIY cleaners

Did you know you could make your own cleaners? It’s really easy! You could simply use white vinegar on it’s own and dilute it with a bit of water. But, if you don’t like the smell, I encourage you to infuse it with citrus peels or evergreen trees like pine or spruce. These also have other antimicrobial and cleaning properties as a bonus! I use this cleaner all over my house and it’s just so cheap. Other cheap methods of cleaning are using water, baking soda, salt, and lemon.

For easy math, let’s say you make your own homemade citrus-vinegar cleaner. You will need about 1 cup of vinegar, 1 cup of water, and a few citrus peels. Half of a gallon of vinegar costs about $3 from several different brands and stores. Therefore, a cup would only cost about 38 cents. A cup of water from your tap is just a few cents, let’s just say 5 cents. And the citrus peels are essentially free since you were just going to throw them away anyway. That’s a total of 43 cents for 16 ounces of cleaner.

Meanwhile, this 32 ounce cleaner from Lysol is $4 or if you’re looking for a more eco brand, Mrs. Meyers costs $5 for 16 ounces.

Per ounce, homemade costs less than 3 cents, Lysol costs 13 cents, and Mrs. Meyers costs 31 cents. That makes it about 4 times cheaper than mainstream cleaners and 10 times cheaper than other natural cleaners!

Now how long they last depends on how often you’re using them. If you clean every room once a week, it may go very quickly. If you (or your kids or your pets) make frequent messes, it will go even quicker than that. For easy math, let’s say you use 16 ounces per month. That would make the grand total per year…

$5.76 for the homemade version, $25 for Lysol, and $59.50 for Mrs. Meyers.

So, homemade would save you around $20-54 per year. Keep in mind, this is just an all-purpose cleaner. This also means you no longer have to buy toilet cleaner, tile cleaner, and all the other specialty cleaners. This homemade one will suffice.

Not driving a car (as much)

If you give up a car completely, you will save HUGE amounts of money by eliminating car payments, insurance, etc. But, since our car is paid off and we live so rurally, we keep the truck for when we need to leave the city. While we are in our city, we rarely use our truck!

We walk or bike to get to school, work, the movies, the farmers market, the bulk store, the bookstore, and more. According to NASDAQ and AAA, you could save around $2160 on gas and $1350 on maintenance if you drive the average 13,500 miles per year. But, I’m willing to bet our gas savings would be much higher since we not only live in the state with the most expensive gas, but we have the most expensive gas in the state, too (CA’s average in May 2025 was $4.82 per gallon and our county is in the $5.80 range). But, since we don’t give up our car 100% of the time, let’s say it’s closer to saving $1000 on gas and $700 on maintenance.

Other Misc Things I do

A lot of these other things I do are harder to quantify precisely, but I do know that they save me money:

Make a grocery list so that I don’t overbuy
Reuse food waste to cook (brown bananas = banana bread, broccoli stem = stir fry)
Don’t overconsume. I buy what I truly need. Learn more about breaking up with overconsumption here. Part of this is being content with what I have. Could I use a new phone? Sure. But do I need one, absolutely not.
Other items at the bulk store cost less such as herbs and spices
Using a reusable coffee cup at cafes saves a few cents per purchase
Some grocery stores give me discounts for using my own bags
I conserve energy by turning off the lights
I conserve water by turning it off when not in use
I probably save a few dollars per year on floss by using a reusable floss pick
Using my craft stash before buying anything new and also turning trash into art
Trading skills and items with friends and neighbors

Since these are hard to be precise with, let’s just assume that this saves me an extra $100 per year on the low end.

Grand Totals

Reusable water bottle: $6-200 per year

Period underwear: up to $100

Rags: $160-320 per year

Reusable tissues: $36-96 per year

Library books: $900-1800 per year (depending on how much I read)

Free Little Libraries: $150-$280 per year

Stasher (or similar) bags: $100 per year

Refurbished tech: depending on how much tech I buy per year, but probably around $500 per year on the low end

Rechargeable batteries: $77 per year

Bidet: $109-167 per year

Reusable cutlery and dishes: $233 per year

Reducing trash bag usage: $31.20-87.36 per year

Mending vs buying new: around $500 per year

Making sourdough: $56-$316 per year

Silicone baking mat: $16 per year

Reusable napkins: $39.60 and $132 per year

Safety razor: $19-109 per year

Reusable makeup remover pads: $42.20-$83 per year

Loose-leaf tea: $17.23 per year

Reusing jars: $27 per year

Using scrap paper vs buying new: $28 per year

Homemade cleaners: $20-54 per year

Reducing my reliance on our car: $1000 on gas and $700 on maintenance

Misc: $100 per year

$4967.23 - $7042.59 total per year!

This is wild! The next time someone tells you zero waste living is expensive, send them this post to bust that zero waste myth.

How much money does eco living save you?

Thanks for reading along. As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)

Emma

How Much Money Zero Waste Living Saves Me Every Year (it’s $1000s!!)