On the micro scale, which is on a personal or household scale, one of the benefits of begin environmentally conscious is that it actually saves money. The basic principles that pertain to managing our expenses are closely related to saving the environment. To save money we would have to cut back on frivolous spending, reduce the amount of money we spent on the things we require, and maximizing the use of the items. We can apply all these principles to the resources we demand at home like water and power.

Drinking water is one of the natural resources that is running out and people waste a lot of it. The fact is that the average person leaves the water running while they brush their teeth. We only need to use water at the beginning and end of brushing our teeth. In view of the fact that we pay for the water we use, running the water throughout the duration of the time we brush teeth is wasting water and costing us money. Basically, we are paying for water that is running down the drain, which increases the water the bill and amounts to wasting water that could be used for a host of other activities such as washing hands or drinking.

Without considering the economic importance, most people frivolously use water. The proper thing to do is to turn the tap off when we do not require the water running. Reducing the amount of water we use, simply means cutting down on the number of activities that we use water or reducing the amount of water used in a particular activity. One such activity is watering the garden. It would be best to know the amount of water that is required to sustain an area we want to water. This way we do not use more than what is required. When we leaving water sprinklers running for longer than required we might not be wasting the water in a sense but that is definitely an example of over use.

This scenario applies to many other resources we use at home such as the scenario that occurs when we put our electronic devices on standby mode. An electronic device on standby mode uses power while it is not performing any useful function. Leaving the TV on while not watching any program on it is wasteful. This is detrimental to our pockets and the environment because it increases demand for electricity from the power supply station, which in turn makes a demand from the environment. Maximizing the use of an item purchased can be viewed in the same light as recycling. Recycling can be done on a micro scale. Just for an illustration, the water drained out of an aquarium is still suitable for other activity like watering the lawn.

The largest and strongest economies of the world all have very efficient material conservation, waste management, and energy conservation law. These countries all manage their resources very careful whether it is a human effort or from the other factors of the environment. A good example is in the United States where the government has imposed a size limit on the amount of water used in the flushing mechanism of the toilet. By having such efficient conservation policies they save money that would otherwise be spent getting new materials and make available money for other uses or as excess that can be spent getting more of the same resource. Taking care in our use of the earth’s precious resources actually means preserving them and saving money.

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