Simple Sustainability: Frugal Living 2018 sustainability focus

by Sky Trombly –

Eco-friendly living is often painted as expensive or opposed to economic health. Environmentally minded people might say to themselves: “sure, I’d like to drive a Hybrid or electric car, have solar panels on my roof, or buy this or that new ‘green’ product, but my budget simply doesn’t allow for that.”

As a fiscally irresponsible environmentalist myself, I feel the conflict. The thing is, green living and economic health are not mutually exclusive. They have more in common than we might realize and one can certainly aid the other.

In the short term, consuming less will save money and produce less waste. In the longer term, having saved money, it can be spent strategically to save you and the planet even more. When you have money in the bank, you can fix that leaky faucet or install those solar panels after all.

To be perfectly transparent, I am an unlikely candidate for writing about fiscal responsibility. While I don’t have credit card debt, I do have student loans and medical debt. I have some really unhealthy shopping habits, I have three children, live paycheck to paycheck, and I am un-gainfully self-employed. That leaky faucet? I can’t fix it because I lack the funds. I’m using buckets to catch the water to flush the toilets in order to defray some of the waste.

This year, I am focusing on becoming more economically savvy, and as my long-term readers can expect, I will be tying my new behavior to sustainable living.

Five green behaviors…

…for saving some green

I’m not starting from scratch. There are things I do daily that save me money while saving the planet.

(1) I don’t use disposables: diapers, diaper wipes, napkins, paper towels, take away cups, tissues, basically I don’t buy something just to use it once and then throw it away. The only exception I can think of is toilet paper.

(2) I take from home: I bring my own water, coffee, bagged lunch, snacks, etc. so that I am not forced to spend extra money throughout the day.

(3) I repair and DIY: My husband sometimes calls me the pants fairy. I’ve re-sewn buttons and fixed seams on pants he’s had since before we met (we celebrated our 7 year anniversary last summer). I treat stains and tighten screws and so forth. My husband is much more handy around the house and is working on plumbing as we speak. If there is something you’d like to learn to make or fix, you can probably find a free tutorial on YouTube

(4) I enjoy free entertainment: I use the public library, community events, and local parks to keep my family entertained.

(5) I buy used: I don’t buy everything used. I do try to buy about 75% of our clothing used, most of our furniture is used, I buy used books, and even my laptop was refurbished.

I plan to make frugal living my 2018 sustainability focus, and look forward to sharing the things I’ll be learning this year.

Sky has been something of a sustainability nerd for most of her life. Her goal is  to empower herself and others to live in a way that is congruent with personal values – and intimately linked to the Earth.  You can join her in her wanderings through the quagmire of sustainable living in every issue of Owl Light News, and on her blog  – talkwalking.org