Annie Leonard, the author of the book and short film The Story of Stuff, is a huge advocate for sustainability of household products and creating an eco-friendly household – that also saves you money. She helped the Trotman family (as seen in the video clip above) get their house more organized – and she can help you too. Check out some tips below that will save you money – and make your home more eco-friendly by producing less waste:

Plastic Bags: We use 43 million plastic bags in this company every year – and the typical family spends $85 a year on sandwich bags alone. By selecting a reusable bag (whether a homemade version or not), you are likely saving at least half that money. Think about all the things you can use that cash for instead!

Wasted Food: Did you know that the typical household throws away 474 lbs of trash a year? That’s $600 worth of food! Not only is that wasted money, but this food waste can produce methane gases, which are 21 times more hazardous to the environment that carbon dioxide. So what does one do? Composting! Composting is the process of taking food scraps (a.k.a. all that wasted money) and recycling them into a rich, useable soil called compost. So rather than throw that money away, collect your unused food scraps in a bin. Once it’s full, use it in your backyard or a community garden to grow new fruits, vegetables and plants!

Super Concentrated Household Cleansers: You can buy a super concentrated household cleaner at your local supermarket. One 16 oz bottle of super concentrated household cleanser equals 192 bottles of regular household cleanser. That’s almost $600 saved!