These New Year's resolutions save money and the planet

Here’s some good news as the holidays wrap up: Many New Year’s resolutions people already make - eating healthier, saving money, getting organised - double as climate-friendly habits.

Whether you want to spend less, declutter or eat right, here are a few choices that could make a difference for you and the climate. Bonus: They’re all low-effort and low-cost.

If you want to save money, start at home. Electronics and appliances can continue drawing power even when they’re turned off. You can cut phantom energy use by unplugging items you’re not using, such as chargers and entertainment systems or using an extension lead with an on-off switch.

Adjusting your thermostat a few degrees when you’re not home can also reduce energy use and save money. Adjusting your thermostat by 4-6 degrees Celsius for eight hours a day can save up to 10 per cent a year on heating and cooling, according to the US Department of Energy.

Another simple tip: washing your clothes on the cold setting and air-drying them when possible can help lower energy use and utility costs. Heating water is the biggest energy draw in laundry, and clothes dryers are among the most energy-intensive household appliances, says Matthew Gonzales, the vice chairman of the National Hispanic Energy Council, which advocates for affordable energy for communities of colour. This can also reduce wear and tear on clothing.

Gonzales says other simple swaps include switching to LED bulbs, sealing draughty windows and replacing dirty air filters so heating and cooling systems run more efficiently. He also suggests using natural light during the day, opening or closing curtains and windows strategically to manage heat and turning off the lights when you don’t need them.

Savings vary widely depending on where someone lives, how old their home is and local energy prices. But he said households in high-cost areas can see meaningful savings from small changes over time.

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough,” Gonzales advises.

Cutting down food waste can also benefit your wallet, your diet and the environment.

Food waste costs Europe an estimated €132 billionevery year, according to the European Commission, and generates 250 million tonnes of planet-warming greenhouse gases CO2e.

One place to start is by using what you already have in your pantry before hitting the supermarket, says cookbook author Anne-Marie Bonneau.

“If you have fat and an onion and a couple of random vegetables - or even one random vegetable or some leftover cooked proteins or grains - you’ve got soup in the making,” Bonneau says. “If you’ve cleared out so much food that you don’t even have an onion and fat, it’s probably time to go shopping.”

She also recommends preserving food before it spoils, including fermenting vegetables, which, she says, is easier than it seems. For example, you can make sauerkraut with just cabbage, salt and a glass jar. You can also make sauces from seasonal vegetables like tomatoes and freeze them for use later in the year.

Using a multicooker to make things like apple sauce, yoghurt, stews and beans can also help with meal prep while reducing energy use.

As a general rule, Bonneau adds, eating fewer ultra-processed foods - such as sugary cereals, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and TV dinners - can benefit both your health and the environment. Those foods are often heavily packaged in plastic, which can shed into food and contribute to pollution.

“You’ll improve your diet, you’ll reduce your waste and your food will come in less contact with plastic,” she says.

Getting organised doesn’t have to mean buying storage bins or throwing things out. Often, it starts with using what you already have.

Spending even an hour organising your space, spotting duplicates, and rediscovering forgotten items can reduce impulse spending by helping people understand what they actually use, says Katrina Caspelich, communications director for Remake, an advocacy group for human rights and climate justice in fashion.

She says a “one-in, one-out” rule - where you can only buy a new thing if it replaces an old thing - can be effective because it keeps wardrobes from growing and helps prevent clutter by encouraging more intentional purchases.

Unsubscribing from brand emails and sale alerts can also help. “Most impulse purchases start with a notification, not a need,” Caspelich says, adding that waiting 24 hours before buying something new often turns a “must-have” into a pass.

For a more structured reset, you might try a no-buy challenge, pausing new purchases for 30 or 90 days while re-wearing, repairing, swapping with friends, or, if you can't commit to buying nothing, shopping secondhand instead of new. “The key is flexibility,” she says. “Framing it as an experiment rather than a strict rule makes it feel empowering instead of restrictive.”

Remake estimates that someone who takes part in a 90-day no new clothes challenge can save about 3,900 litres of water, avoid roughly 300 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions, and keep around 9 kilograms of clothing waste out of landfills while saving an average of over €250 by pausing new purchases.

Zoom out and the scale becomes clearer: Europeans generate around 7 million tonnes of textile waste annually, most of it clothing.

For anyone overwhelmed by the advice, the takeaway is simple: you don’t have to do everything, and you don’t have to do it perfectly. Starting with one habit you’ll actually keep can make a difference for your budget, your routine and the climate.