Frugally Green

Recently, I asked Frugally Green Readers what the best ways to improve the world while pocketing some coin for themselves along the way are. As an incentive to answer, I gave away a few prizes.

Turns out, you guys are really smart (of course I already knew that)!

I got lots of interesting replies from a number of excited people.  I don’t want those ideas to be forgotten, so I’ve decided to highlight some of them in a post.

The following are five comments that I selected from that post to highlight here as well as a little commentary from because, well, I like to hear myself talk.

Take a second to think about each one and see how it could apply to your life.  Maybe these ideas could provide a little guidance while you’re setting your goals for next year.

Comment #1 comes from Wendy, who said:

Best way to save while saving planet: Don’t spend money on useless crap that you don’t really need or will even want in a month. Save the money and keep stuff out of the landfill.

Best way to make money while saving planet: Do something you truly love and find a way to get paid for it. A planet of fulfilled souls makes for a better world.

Way to tell it like it is, Wendy!  We can all stand to get real once in awhile about the things we need.  I try to do a little benefit analysis every time I consider buying anything, but I still end up with junk I never really wanted now and again.

I’m right on board with you about doing what you love, too.  Fulfilled souls certainly beat wandering zombies.

Comment #2 comes from KC, who said:

Best way to save while saving planet: Get rid of all incandescent lamps at home. Replace them with efficient CFL or LED lamps. They draw way less power saving you money and result in less emissions at the power plant. They can pay for themselves within a few months depending on your usage.

If you’re concerned about mercury in CFLs, use caution while handling them so they don’t break and recycle them at the end of their life. Home Depot has an excellent CFL recycling program.

Incandescent lamps generate a lot of heat that your AC needs to remove from your home during summers. This causes extra burden on your AC and also costs you money.

No need to go out and replace every light in the house.  Just pick them up one at a time if you want until you’ve totally converted.  The biggest complaint I hear about CFLs is in regard to the quality of light they emit.  People prefer incandescent bulbs to read under.  “They’re superior,” they say.

You know what else is a superior product no one uses anymore?  Asbestos. Same story, different application.

Comment #3 comes from Jason, who said:

The best way to save money while improving the world is to be realistic in your choice of automobile. How much passenger/cargo space do you really need? Are most of your trips made with only the driver in the car, etc.?

Once you have determined what you really require, buy a used, well maintained vehicle that fills those requirements. Make maintenance a priority and do as much of it yourself as you can to keep the vehicle in top condition.

IMO, it is wealthier for the planet to continue to use existing resources as opposed to consuming more in the name of new.

Spot on, Jason. I’m almost a perfect example of who you’re talking about.  I bought a little, old truck right before college to get around in.  I never really even considered what I “needed” in terms of transportation besides something cheap.

98% of my trips are by myself with no cargo yet, six years later, I still haven’t done anything about it. Next year will contain some serious head scratching over how to improve this. Ideally, I’d like to go carless.  No promises…

Comment #4 comes from Susie (aka my mom), who said:

Composting can save you some money on your garbage bill and your garden will thank you next year. It is easy to do and doesn’t have to take up a lot of space.

A blog is always better with family involvement. That’s why I make sure to call out my mom every time she shows up here no matter how badly she wants to remain anonymous.

You’re right, Mom.  Composting is awesome.  However, sometimes compost tumblers aren’t.

Comment #5 comes from Rosemary, who said:

The best way to save money while saving the planet is to live close to where you work! Since I really wanted to live in Boston/Cambridge, I chose to work 3 miles away instead of 20+ miles away! In the summer I bike or take public transportation to work, and in winter time I drive when it’s too cold or snowing.

We also live within walking distance from our main grocery store.

The rent in the city is not that different from being in the suburbs, so from that aspect it’s not too bad either!

This kind of advice is extremely useful, but takes some careful planning to complete.  Finding a good home and a good job can be two of the most difficult things a person does in life.  Getting them next door to each other is even tougher.

Nonetheless, many do it and live very happy lives because of it.  Honestly, how happy can you be if you spend half your working life in a car?

Well, there you have it, folks.  Five suggestions from the brightest minds at Frugally Green on ways that you can reduce your footprint and your bottom line simultaneously.  I hope you take a little time to consider implementing or optimizing some of them in your own life.

Have any feedback on these tips? Any others you’d like to add?

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Raise your hand if you do any of these things.  Or, just leave a comment and subscribe get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Image of speech bubble by rubyblossom

It’s been a wonderful Christmas and, despite the economy, I feel like I’ve had a pretty stellar year.

That said, 2010 is quickly approaching and I’ve got a lot to do.

I gave a glimpse into my annual review earlier and today begins a week long process of intense planning for the upcoming year.

This is the first time I’ve ever formally done this and it’s brought me to the question, “What can I really accomplish in a year?” You’ve probably questioned what you’re capable of before, too.

Interestingly, it’s pretty common for people to overestimate what they can get done in a day and completely underestimate what they can achieve in a year.

This is clearly evidenced by my enormous daily to-do list and often non-existent long term plan.  A year can be so hard to plan for – too short for your biggest life affirming goals and certainly too long for a goal like “remembering to program the thermostat.”

It can be really hard to figure out what you can get done in 365 days. Yet, to see what is possible to accomplish next year, all you really need to do is look at what you completed last year.

How has your life changed in the last year?

When I take the time to actually look at what I’ve done in 2009, it’s easy to see that my life has changed quite a lot. I’ve done all kinds of things like:

• Make my first green investment
• Increased my truck’s fuel efficiency by 7 miles per gallon
• Quit using my dryer
• Drastically improved my water heater efficiency
• Become a part time vegetarian
• Started composting
• Read countless green books
• Learned all kinds of lessons about living sustainably
• Made new friends to support me in my pursuit
• Helped almost 100 other people improve their lives

If you sat down for a few minutes and really thought about what you’ve accomplished this year, I bet you could come up with a pretty amazing list yourself.

Go ahead and do it and then give yourself a little pat on the back. It’s ok to congratulate yourself. You’ve earned it.

Planning for next year

If you’re like me, you’ve probably never put much thought into planning out an entire year because, well, it’s so dang long and hard to think about.

But, now that you’ve seen what you can do without much thinking, why not take a moment to nail down what you could accomplish if you did put together a plan of action?

If you want to, think bigger and make a plan for how you’ll outdo yourself next year. Or don’t! Just use your planning to focus your goals more specifically on a topic that’s important to you.

Maybe you were too specific this year? Use your plan to allow yourself to branch out and try some new things you’d thought about but never got around to doing.

The sky is the limit here. Your only ceiling is your own imagination.

What if you hate your plan?

Maybe you’re reluctant to start because planning out a whole year feels restrictive. That’s another thing that kept me from doing this for so long. What if you set it all up and then decide you don’t like it?

Well, that’s the beauty of a plan. You can always have a back-up. It’s not a contract. There’re no other parties involved and no lawyers are going to serve you a subpoena if you have second thoughts about your direction.

If you decide you don’t like your plan, change it. Just by getting started, though, you get yourself thinking about what’s important to you.

If, later, you find out that what you thought was important really isn’t, you’ll probably have a better idea by then of what is. Feel free to let go of things that don’t feel right.

If you want to start composting and then realize you hate it, stop doing it. If you decide to walk more, but then realize you’d rather be riding your bike, do that instead.

The whole point is to allow yourself to think big and try new things.

Final thoughts on yearly planning

Many of us plan out each of our days to squeeze as much productivity out of them as possible, but never take the time to look at how each day contributes to a longer, overall goal.

For some, these long-term goals are strongly internal, and that’s fine, but I’ve noticed that I get a lot farther when I put my goals down on paper than when I hold them in. It’s entirely psychological, but it adds concreteness to my resolutions. “I AM going to do this. See, the paper says so!”

What does your list of accomplishments look like for this year? Feel free to use the comments section to show off the things you’ve done. What’s been on your mind that you want to be sure you get done next year?

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If annual planning seems scary and weird, leave a comment, or subscribe get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Happy New Year image by Sally M*

This is a video update post.  If you are reading via email or feed reader and cannot see the video, please click here to go to the site to view it.

Merry Christmas, all!  This is just a quick video salutation (less than 1 min.) to say:

• Merry Christmas, duh!

• Presents are cool, but people are better.

• Don’t forget to recycle your wrapping paper.

• Stay tuned for an update next week about what Frugally Green will look like in 2010.

I hope you’re in a nice warm place with friends and family.  Wear out your voice singing Christmas carols if you must, but make sure there’s plenty of eggnog around to soothe the windpipes.

Merry Christmas.

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If you haven’t passed out from too much eggnog yet, leave a comment, or subscribe get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Since I wrote on Monday why I think big, polluting jetliners are actually a good thing, I thought it might be nice to balance it out with a word on staycations.

For those of you that might not be privy, a staycation is exactly the same as a vacation except for one major aspect – you don’t go anywhere.  At least, you don’t go very far.

I’m a huge fan of staycations and take advantage of them on a regular basis. They’re a great way to get away without the hassle and expense of actually getting away, never mind the ecological benefits of a vacation close to home.

However, the staycation is a bit of an enigma.  When I tell people how much I like them, I usually get an eye roll followed by something like “Why would you use your time off to sit at home?”

This is how most people look at the staycation, so it continues to lack the respect it deserves.

Enjoying a a truly gratifying staycation is an art form.  It takes practice and, believe it or not, an adventurous spirit.  When done right, it can be a really lively and refreshing experience.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can experience a truly awesome vacation in your own backyard.

Be a tourist

When people from out of town come to explore your city, what do they do?  Where do they go?  Do those things and go to those places!

When you’re living your every day life, you probably overlook a lot of the things that people find really fascinating about your home.  A staycation is a great way to reconnect with your city or rediscover the things that drew you to where you are in the first place.

When I staycation here in Portland, I might go to the zoo, have a picnic at the rose garden, or go for a hike in our famous Forest Park. These are things I vividly remember  falling in love with when I moved here, but rarely take advantage of anymore now that I’m settled.

What is your place known for?  How can you reconnect with it?

Find a new hole-in-the-wall

Life at home can really become routine with your day to day responsibilities. Does your typical day looks something like this?

• Wake up and go to work
• Eat the same lunch you did yesterday
• Go home and eat the same dinner you do every night
• Distract yourself with the same thing you do all the time
• Go to bed, wake up, repeat

If it does, take the time during your staycation to slow down and open your eyes to the places you pass by every day, but never notice.  When you’ve got a routine down, every day becomes getting from Point A to Point B with fewer and fewer interruptions.

This kind of efficiency can be great for productivity, but you’re likely missing out on some great stuff that is right in front of your face.  Spend a day biking or even walking your commute to work or other places you commonly go.

The slower pace is like turning up the resolution of life. There are likely all kinds of shops, restaurants, and cafes that you pass by all the time and today is the day to discover them.  Take it slow and enjoy.

Is there some interesting place you pass by all the time, but you’ve never been inside?

Reconnect with friends and make new ones

Life is all about relationships and a staycation is the perfect time to nurture them.  Just like all the things at home you miss during your day at work, there are people you probably miss, too.

Take a second to give them a call and let them know you’ve got some free time coming up and would like to spend it with them.  You’ll probably have to work around their busy schedule since they’re still working, but that’s OK since you’ve got your free time during the day to take care of other business.

Also, don’t pass up an opportunity to strike up a conversation with some new faces at your new favorite hole-in-the-wall. You never know who you could meet.

Quick.  Who’s just a hop, skip, or jump away that you’ve lost connection with?

Explore a new neighborhood

A staycation is a great time to get outside the comfort of your neighborhood and see what other parts of your city has to offer.  Sure, you probably make your way around town once in while, but do you really know what’s going on in other neighborhoods?

When I was in college, I took a few courses in urban planning and one in particular required that I acquaint myself with a different neighborhood each week and report out in class.  In just ten weeks, I had learned more about my city than the previous 2 years that I’d spent hanging out on campus.

Don’t forget that learning a new neighborhood is a great opportunity to find that hole-in-the-wall cafe and meet interesting people. Better to not miss out.  Double up wherever you can.

Where’s the one part of town that you keep hearing about but never get to?

Finish a project

This is probably the most highly contested piece of advice for a staycation, but I firmly believe in it.

Critics say that to make the most of a staycation, you need to do all you can to leave your daily life behind.  That’s fine for some people, but not for me.

I take on all kinds of projects in my free time (this site is one of them) because I really like them and want to spend time doing them.  Most of them get finished, but some of the harder, time consuming ones end up by the wayside when work and responsibilities get in the way.

A staycation is the perfect time to focus your energy on that project you started but haven’t made time to finish yet.

A word of warning, though – I do not recommend you use this time to work on projects you started because you had to.  Use it on one you started because you really wanted to.  This can be extremely liberating and fulfilling.

Those projects you still have to do?  Don’t worry, you’ll still finish them because, well, you have to.

Which project have you been dying to finish? If none, which one have you been dying to start?

Perfecting the art

It should be noted that your perfect staycation might look completely different from mine.

Before you embark, take some time to think about how you can really make the most of it.  The perfect staycation is more of an art than a science.  It’s very subjective, so try not to worry about what your friends think of your plans.  That’s why they’re yours.

What does your perfect staycation look like?

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If you think hanging out at home is as cool as I do, leave a comment, or subscribe get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Image of backyard playground by trbpix

I don’t do a lot of traveling.

In fact, looking back on 2009, I only made it out of Oregon a few times to nearby Washington.

I’m not well traveled.  I’ve been to Europe for a couple months, Canada a few times, and I’ve spent exactly 6 hours in Mexico.

Airlines are one of the most popular punching bags of the green movement and not without reason.  Flying is expensive, it pollutes like crazy and, for the vast majority of people, it’s used as nothing but transportation to a vacation destination where tourism is slowly degrading what was once a beautiful and natural habitat.

Yet, I harbor no ill-will for the airline industry.

Call me crazy, but I just see too much potential in the benefits of world travel to campaign against it.

Despite its drawbacks, there are two enormous benefits to world travel that I just don’t think should be ignored.

The Human Connection

Never before in history has an average Joe like you or me had such ready access to, quite literally, the entire world.

From Germany to Fiji, from Bolivia to Mongolia, in many cases we can put ourselves directly in the middle of a brand new culture in less than a day for less than $1000.

Throughout time, imperialistic and isolationist governments alike have used our lack of knowledge about different cultures as a rallying point to commit some of the most heinous crimes imaginable.

With one fell swoop, the commercial airliner has allowed us to evaluate the claims of our governments for ourselves.

The more we travel, the more we connect with new places, cultures, and people.  The more we connect, the more we realize that we’re really all the same.

Even though we look, speak, and act differently, we all share a common goal for a peaceful and prosperous world. We’re many strands of one people. And that gives us power that we’ve never had before.

Try as they might, governments and regimes can no longer pit nation against nation simply by spreading misinformation. Not without a fight.

This is invaluable.

The Spread of Influence

The second major benefit of affordable airline travel is its ability to give voice to the everyday man/woman that wants to make a difference.

Of course, this is becoming more and more viable across the internet (Frugally Green has been read in over 103 countries), but face to face communication is still king.  This is proven by the fact that many prominent bloggers write for free, yet earn thousands of dollars to speak face to face with an audience.

Many environmentalists and world changers alike are now able to spread their word around the entire world for a mere fraction of the price that they’d have paid only 50 years ago and in a fraction of the time as well.

Even a well intentioned tourist, perhaps even yourself, can now make a difference in the world with an ease never before afforded to you.

While the polluting effects of a transcontinental jet are something to be measured and weighed carefully in any travel scenario, I do not support the wholesale condemnation of them as a blight on the environment or a telling sign of civilization’s downfall.

To the same effect, I do not think for even a second that they are our savior and path to an enlightened and peaceful existence.

These are false dichotomies created by fundamentalists that attempt to portray only their version of the truth, much like a pharmaceutical commercial that promises to remedy your every last ailment followed by a list of 20 serious side effects spoken at 100 miles a second.

An airplane is a tool used to move people from one place to another.  Ultimately, it is your and my responsibility alike to ensure that we’re using them to change the world for the better.

What do you think?  Are airplanes useful tools for connecting people and ideas that can change the world? Why or why not?

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If you secretly love airplanes too, leave a comment, or get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Image of airplane by Irargerich

If you come to Frugally Green next Monday eager for an awesome new post and it isn’t there, remain calm.  It’s coming.  It may not be up until the evening, but I assure you it will go up.

Jessie and I are celebrating our 4 year anniversary (of dating) this weekend and we’re doing it in style.

This afternoon we’ll be headed off to the Oregon coast to hang out with our good friends, the ocean and the woods.

We’ll be staying in a small cabin, playing board games, checking out the local art galleries and doing other totally romantic things.

We won’t be home until Monday and, as I mentioned in my annual review, I done bankrupted my article queue.

As I also mentioned in the review, I haven’t missed a posting deadline yet and I have no intention to.

It may be 11:59 before I finally hit submit, but you can be confident that I will, indeed, be hitting the submit button.

Have an awesome weekend.  You deserve it.

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Over at No Impact Man this week, Colin wrote about the benefits of a renewable energy economy whether or not we’re causing global warming.

His short piece sums up exactly how I feel about environmentalism and man-made global warming.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter if we’re headed for doomsday or not.

Doing the right thing for our planet will always be, well, the right thing.

People seem to need a motivational factor, and global warming fits the bill quite well, but even if it were all a hoax, it wouldn’t change the fact that taking care of our planet is still in our own best interest.

Once in awhile, I hop over to Al Gore’s blog to see what message he’s sending out.  Right now, Al wants you to know that the climate debate does not need to be political.

An ex vice president and leading presidential candidate, I think he’s come a long way in removing the “us vs. them” mantra from the debate.

Al even mentions that some of the most important environmental legislation in history was championed by republicans.

I tend to shy away from politics here because frankly, they don’t interest me, but a message of unity is always a good one, so I’m happy to share it.

Solar water heating has always been relevant technology, but the rise of electric and gas utilities largely overshadowed its usefulness.  That’s why I was happy to see The Good Human bring it up recently with an article titled Heating Your Household Water with the Sun.

Many people think that it’s not sunny enough where they live, but you’d be surprised how little sun it takes to maintain an effective system.

Solar water heaters are a great way to get started harnessing the power of that big flaming ball.  Don’t forget you can save up to $1500 if you install one by the end of 2010.

Finally, I strongly believe that every company should start looking very carefully at the benefits of allowing their employees to work from home.  Increased satisfaction, productivity, and reduced operating costs all coupled with a huge environmental benefit by eliminating the commute is quite a winning combo.

If you’re company’s stuck in the dark ages and isn’t interested in coming out, you can still earn a little side income at home by becoming a virtual juror.

Aldra at Consciously Frugal is trying it out if she gets crazy rich, I’m hoping she’ll buy me some solar panels.

Have you ever attempted to make some side income at home?  What did you do?

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If you’d like to buy me a solar panel, leave a comment, or subscribe to get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Image of Oregon coast by anneh632

It’s about that time.

For those of you with traditional day jobs like me, you’ve probably already scheduled a meeting with your boss for a nice little year end sit down.

You’ll sheepishly dismiss your accomplishments when asked to discuss them and Mr./Mrs. Manager will look at the floor, obviously uncomfortable, telling you what they think you could improve on in the coming year.

Eventually, like two young lovers exploring each others’ bodies for the first time, you’ll awkwardly wander through the motions until someone realizes they have another meeting.  You’ll both sit back, staring off into the distance and saying to yourself, “Glad that’s over.”

It doesn’t have to be that way

Well, maybe it does at work, but it doesn’t have to here.  Performing a self-evaluation each year can be an extremely beneficial process.  And, since it’s your review of yourself you can do it however the hell you want to. At last!  The autonomy you’ve always wanted!  I can’t take credit for the idea though. I must tip my hat to my friend Chris at The Art of Nonconformity.

I’m young.  Only 25.  I have all the ambition in the world with little experience in how to focus it.  For me, a self performed annual review is a way for me to come to terms with what I really want out of life and create a road map to get there.

If you read Frugally Green regularly, you probably have at least a few ideas about things you’d like to accomplish financially, environmentally, or both.

You can read read Chris’ article for an incredibly detailed post about how to perform your own review, but I want to give you an example of how my review will go this year – specifically for Frugally Green.

What went awesome?

Take note of the word “awesome.”  I used it on purpose.  Right now I don’t care about what “went well” or things that “turned out OK.” I want to focus on what totally rocked my socks off.  For me, these things will include:

Never missing a single scheduled post

When I started this site in April, I hesitantly committed to 1 new post every week.  I wasn’t sure if I could handle it.  I had a lot going on.

8 months later and I’m posting 3 times a week and have never missed a deadline. This post is the 69th article on Frugally Green. I almost can’t believe I made it.

Converting to a half-time vegetarian

I was so scared when I wrote about saving money by eating less meat. I was nearly positive that I would end up a total hypocrite.  But I didn’t.

I made a plan and I went after it.  I failed along the way, but got back up.  My girlfriend Jessie joined the cause, we reworked the plan and now I can proudly say that less than 50% of my meals contain meat.  That feels great.

Writing a guest post for Get Rich Slowly

This was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had this year.

My guest post on giving to receive was, for the most part, well-liked by a community that I really respect.  That gave me some serious warm fuzzies.

Also, in 3 weeks it doubled the readership that took me over 7 months to build. It wasn’t easy to write, but it was very well worth it.

What totally sucked?

Again, we’re skipping the boring and dull here and going straight for the mind-blowingly awful stuff that I screwed up. Jeer if you like, it’s all on the table.

I depleted my backlog

My “backlog” is my pile of posts that I can dig into when I am approaching a deadline and can’t or don’t want to spend the time writing something.  A few months ago I decided to take a little break and use a few of these posts.

Well, a few turned into “all of them” and I haven’t taken the initiative to replenish it.  This really sucks because I want to spend more time writing really awesome content, but sometimes end up with mediocrity to preserve the deadline.  You deserve better than mediocre.

I’ve lost faith in myself many times

I almost never show it here, but I can be a total emotional wreck.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve hit the publish button on a post thinking “Ok, this is the one where everyone is going to see that I am a total hack.”  Sometimes I even wonder if this is what I am really supposed to be doing – writing about sustainability.  I’m just an average guy, no different than any of you.  What do I really have to offer here?

This kind of thinking is emotionally draining and it has held me back when I’ve had opportunities to grow.  It must stop in the coming year.

Did I meet the goals I set?

I set only 3 solid, measurable goals for Frugally Green when I started.  Now that we’re at the end of the year, I can say I met* 2 of them.

Reach 100 subscribers

*I’m not calling this met, but I’m going to say it’s practically in the bag.

I’m currently sitting at 97, growing every day and there’s still 2 weeks left in the year.

Just to make sure I seal the deal, if you want to subscribe now, I’ll mail you an awesome book, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget,  if you’re the 100th subscriber.  That ought to do the trick. (Just send me an email letting me know you subscribed)

Write 34 posts

This is how many I would have written if I’d stuck to posting once a week and didn’t miss a deadline.  I blew this one out of the water. Satisfaction achieved.

Write an e-book

Utter failure here because, well, I haven’t even started writing it yet.

Since I completely missed this goal, I’ve revised it to read “finish the outline of an e-book.” I’ve finally gotten my butt in gear a bit and am right on track to finish this.

The best part of planning is that it doesn’t have to be rigid.  You should definitely take your goals very seriously, but if you fail, no one can tell you that you’re not allowed to revise them to get yourself back on track.

What are my goals for next year?

I haven’t set my goals for next year yet, but you can bet it’s center stage in my mind.  I’ll be spending a fair amount of time over the next few weeks really getting serious about what I want to accomplish in 2010.

Most importantly, I’ll be looking at the previous 3 sections we just went over and determining where my opportunities to really kick ass are.

A few things I know I want to focus on, though, are collaborating with other great writers, developing more content in other media formats (like audio and video) and making some more giant leaps in my own personal quest for a sustainable life.

Also, I’ll need to balance these goals with some other huge life goals that I intend to strive for next year.

Final Thoughts

I believe in setting attainable goals because it helps me stay motivated to achieve them, but I also believe I’m wasting my time if I’m not pushing my limits and trying to stretch the boundaries of what I’m capable of doing.

If conducting your own personal annual review is something you think would be a valuable experience for you, I really suggest you check out Chris’ how-to article.  It’s much more in depth and will lead you right through the whole process.

Do you make it a point to set goals or do any self reflection?  Have you ever considered conducting an annual review for yourself?  What did you accomplish this year and what do you want to accomplish in 2010?

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If you find annual reviews boring and dumb, leave a comment, or get free updates about other boring and dumb ideas.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Image of business baby by megnut

Any time I think I’d like to to try something new, my brain naturally reacts by creating a list of things that I’ll need in order to do it right.

Does your head work like this, too?

It can be useful to come up with a few things that will help guarantee your success, but if you don’t keep your wandering mind in check, it can quickly generate an impossible list of things for you to buy, make, or otherwise acquire in order to “do it right.”

This is dangerous territory if you’re serious about making a change.  Left to it’s own devices, I know my brain can talk me right out of any good idea.

That’s why, instead,  I like to make short lists of things I don’t need to start something.  This is usually the same list of things I think I do need, but with a little more creative reasoning applied to them.

If you want to start making a better effort to live sustainably, here’s a list of 5 things everyone says are important but that you definitely do not need.  Save your money and get creative.

Books & manuals

If you’ve found yourself interested in the green movement, you’ve probably already read a couple books on the subject and come up with some ideas of what you can do.  Leave it at that and get started.

If you read book after book looking for the one with the magic bullet – the one with all the answers to fit your lifestyle and make your dreams come true – all you’ll ever do is read books.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with reading, but I have a bias for doing.  It’s much more effective in the long term.

Besides, the book you’re looking for doesn’t exist.  Search is just your brain’s mechanism for keeping you from actually doing something uncomfortable.

If you really do need a book with every answer in it, you’d better get started writing.

A hybrid car

Who could even think of going green without taking a serious look at their transportation?  Cars emit so much CO2 we ought to be ashamed to be seen in them.  The only way to do right by the world is to go buy a hybrid car so you can do the least harm.

Wrong.

Yes, cars are a huge part of our footprint, but if you think you need a new  hybrid vehicle to get yourself on the right path, then you’re distracting yourself from looking at the really important issues behind car ownership – how much we drive them and how efficiently we drive them.

A car is a tool and, like any tool, you should have a good idea of how to use it before you buy a new one.

Consider walking or riding your bike for shorter trips. Get familiar with your city’s transit system.  Learn how to hypermile. Basically, get the most out of what you’ve already got.

A newer car is, in most circumstances, better for the environment, but if you can’t afford one, then convincing yourself you need one to go green is just an excuse to not get started at all.

New appliances

Just like a new car, new appliances should be the last thing on your list when you’re learning to go green.  They’re big money pits that your head will try to use against you and your attempts to live more sustainably.

Instead, get the most out of the ones you already have.

Learn the best ways to use your dishwasher.  Keep your refrigerator full, at the right temperature, and don’t leave the door open. Leave the oven door open after cooking for extra heat.

Don’t just forget about buying a new dryer, eliminate the need for it completely.

New appliances are just shiny distractions.  Shiny distractions that keep your mind from getting creative with how you use what you already own.

CFL light bulbs

Despite what all the experts might tell you, you have no need for a house full of CFL light bulbs.  Not all at once, at least.

Before you go spend a small fortune and half your weekend changing every…single…bulb in your whole house, spend some time figuring out which rooms you use the most and when you use them.  Get better at turning lights off when the sun’s out.  Teach yourself to turn off lights in the rooms you’re not currently using.

Once you’ve got these steps down, then go buy CFL bulbs, but just a few of them.

You don’t need to spend half your paycheck all at once.  You can buy a couple and put them in the fixtures that are used the most.  Then, when a light burns out, replace it witch a CFL.

Whatever you do, don’t let the daunting task of changing all your light bulbs get in the way of getting started on a smaller scale.

Tons of external support

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything we ever did got us a big pat on the back from everyone we knew?  I’d love it if my email inbox filled up every day with kudos for my latest post.  It would really be nice.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees eye to eye with you and even those that do are busy with their own lives and probably don’t have time to give you a gold star every time you remember to put the aluminum can in the recycling instead of the trash.

Truly embracing sustainability is something you do to satisfy your own internal values.  You do it because it’s the right thing to do whether or not anyone else recognizes that it is.

When you focus on doing the right thing just because, you can satisfy yourself without having to rely on others to keep you motivated.

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Image of man reading by kwerfeldein