With every new year comes renewed hope for what we’ll get done and what we won’t do–in a word, resolutions. We hope that along with the usual suspects, like getting organized and eating healthier, you’ll add some green endeavors to the list. To help narrow down simple and seriously beneficial steps check out our guide of 6 Simple Green Things to Do in ‘09. You can start small with just one or dive right in and aspire to accomplish several. And you can expect more than just the good feelings that come from getting greener; these tips also have concrete perks (like saving money!) for you.

If you’re looking for a bigger challenge or have already implemented those ideas in your life, consider a different resolution: Park your family’s second vehicle–in storage or the garage–for the year. The emissions from your vehicle and the toll taken by the gas you’d consume won’t be missed and you may even find that you don’t miss the car itself. As long as you have a first vehicle available, you can still accomplish those big grocery runs and carpool kids to the soccer game. Instead what will likely change is one individual’s work commute; a drive every day can be switched to a trip on public transit, which will give you a little extra time to accomplish things (or rest your eyes) on your way to work. When the weather’s warmed up a bit–or the snow melted, at the very least–consider biking or walking to work. Most people who try it for awhile find that the benefits of the exercise are inspiration enough to forgo the vehicle.

Since you’ll still own your car, you can use it in a pinch (think of it the way you would a credit card frozen in an ice block in the freezer) but you’ll get an idea of whether you might be able to give it up completely next year. With the money from the sale or trade you could swap your primary vehicle for a hybrid (if you don’t have one already), and that would mean continued savings–both environmental and financial–for the life of the vehicle.

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