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?

~~~~~

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

Don’t you remember what your mom always said growing up when you wanted to do something stupid that all your friends were doing?

“If Billy jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?”

Lots of times I would answer “yes” under my breath before I gave up arguing.  I knew once that line came out, all hope was lost.

Mom had good advice, though.  It’s usually a safe bet that if everyone’s doing it, there’s something to be suspicious about.

We know this, but we’re social creatures.  We want to do what our friends are doing.  We want to fit in.

Well, guess what all your friends do?  They buy air conditioners, fans, and drapes in the middle of the summer because it’s sunny and they’re hot.

In the winter, they switch course and pick up space heaters, sweatshirts, and extra insulation for their homes.  Makes sense. It’s cold out.

They repeat this buying pattern ad infinitum.  They run into a situation that causes them discomfort and immediately seek to fix it.

Perfectly natural reaction, but it’s draining their wallets and not doing any favors for the planet since they’re not likely to make wise, earth friendly decisions when the gun’s to their head.

You don’t want to be like that.  Every salesman knows the fastest way to make a ton of money is to sell stuff to people that are desperate.

Side note: If you’re behind on rent and desperate for cash, consider selling Viagra, hair loss formulas, or air conditioners (but only in the summer).

I want to help everyone make eco-friendly purchases and save money when they need to solve problems like being miserably hot or cold.  And I don’t want anyone to suffer through half-ass solutions because they can’t afford to do the right thing at the last moment.

That’s why I want you to start planning out your seasonal purchases so that you can save all kinds of money.

I’m not going to say “all it takes is a little planning.” That would be making light of it.  You’re busy.  I’m busy.  We’ve got a lot on our minds every day.

When it’s hot outside, it’s hard to think about what you’ll need when it gets cold.  When you’re sitting in your house freezing your buns off, the last thing on your mind is how miserable you’ll be when it’s 100° and you’ve got no drapes to keep the sun out.

But this is kind of thinking is exactly what’s necessary.

A new furnace is expensive no matter when you buy it, but it’s really expensive if you wait until the middle of winter when you can’t go a day without it.  Buy it in the summer and take your time choosing the most efficient one that fits inside your budget.  You’ll get more for your money because there’s no pressure to buy.

I have an old window air conditioner from back in my less than earth conscious days sitting in my basement.  Last summer when it was over 100° for a week straight, Portland, Oregon was completely sold out air conditioners.  People were paying hundreds of dollars for tiny old units like mine on Craigslist.

I honestly considered selling it before my conscience kicked back in.  Now, in December, I’d be lucky if I could give it away.

When you plan ahead for your future needs, you take away the power those salesmen wield in times of desperation and give it back to yourself.

Now, every situation is different and certain types of items require slightly different tactics to get the best deal, but here are a few questions to ask yourself when you decide that you no longer want to be at the mercy of the market:

When is everyone else buying it?

If all your friends buy it during the winter, could you save by buying it in the summer?  Maybe a better option is to buy it right at the end of the season its intended for?

Here’s a seasonal buying guide from Kiplinger for common consumer goods and services to get your thinking on the right track.

For the eco-aware, you’ll want to start taking that information and overlapping it with the greenest options of whatever you’re looking for.

What’s the most responsible option for me?

With all the time you now have to plan, what’s the best choice for you?

When you buy in the moment, you’re likely to overpay for features that you don’t really need and give little thought to the environmental impact of your purchases.  Figure out what you really need and don’t pay for more.

On the other hand, when you’re desperate, you’re also likely to pay for something inadequate that serves as little more than a temporary band aid.

Do I really need this at all?

When you’re lost in a sea of agony and just want something to fix your problem, you’re more willing to pay for something you don’t actually need at all.

By planning and giving yourself time to find the best option, you might realize that there are other, much better choices to solve your problem.

You might have thought you needed air conditioning to beat the agonizing heat, but, after running the numbers, you realize that more home insulation and a few carefully placed ceiling fans can keep you cool all summer.

Without the time to consider all your options, you’re less likely to think of alternatives.

If you’re a busy person, it can be tough to get your mind out of the present and plan for the future, but doing so can unlock a whole lot of new opportunities for you.

Try to find one day, maybe on a weekend, each season, where you can plan out your future needs and strategize how best to meet them.

Do you have any tips for making the most responsible purchases? Have any rules that you follow to make sure you buy at the right time for you?

~~~~~

Want to get even more out of Frugally Green? Share this post with your friends, leave a comment, or get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

Image of trees by 1Sock

This is a really, really, REALLY important lesson.  Anytime you decide to take on a challenge, you should spend some time up front identifying the tools you need in order to succeed.

I’m not going to lie to you.  If you fail to take this step upfront, you may very well still succeed.  The problem is, you’ll be so exhausted and annoyed by the time you reach it, you may not care anymore that you made it.

Heed my warning, for I know of what I speak.

I am writing this post at 10:00 PM on Tuesday night, furiously pounding the keyboard to create something useful, insightful, and witty for you to read when you wake up in the morning.

I’ve got a big smile on my face because I love writing, but damn it, I’m grumpy.  I’m grumpy because I decided to install a new dishwasher in our house on Saturday. By install, I mean rip the old one out and then wander around town looking for a new one.  When I finally found the right one for us, it wasn’t available until Monday.

“Oh, that’s fine,” I told the salesman as I clenched my teeth.  That was a lie.  While pulling the old dishwasher out, I damaged the water line, making it impossible for me to reconnect it while I waited for the new one.  The shut off valve is old and wouldn’t close all the way so my girlfriend, Jessie, and I spent the weekend bailing water out of the kitchen with a well placed plastic tub.

I picked up the new machine Monday night only to find that the fitting was different than what I had existing.  A 10:00 PM trip to Home Depot fixed that.  What it didn’t fix, though, was the fact that all of my tools are currently at a friend’s house, 50 miles from home.  Glad I remembered that before I got started.

Refusing to be deterred, I completed this daunting task thanks to a pair of pliers, a kitchen knife, a wrench I found in my driveway, and several youthful summers spent watching reruns of MacGyver.  If I had taken a second in the beginning to compile a budget and a schedule, I can assure you I would be well over on both.

So, you see, the task is complete – a success.  But is it really?  Jessie and I are irritable because it took a long time to finish, I cut my finger pretty well, and you have to listen to me ramble on about a dishwasher because I didn’t give myself the time to write the post I really wanted to (next week, of course).

Do you have an urge to change something about your life right now?

Maybe you want to build a compost tumbler. I’m all for jumping right in and getting dirty, but don’t forget to think for at least a few seconds before smashing your thumb with a hammer about why you’re going to smash it and what you’re going to need to smash it with.

Want to save $10,000?  Sure, you can do it without much planning, but with an average 3% rate of inflation, how much is it going to be worth when you finally get there at retirement age?

We green frugalistas are always looking for another project to complete that will boost us to the next level of enlightenment. Well, we can do any damn thing we want without much thought, but doing it well and doing it happily are more difficult results to come by.

I’m no rocket doctor, but even I could have taken five minutes to get out a note card and jot down the tools I would have needed and the order of operations to follow to make this project a happy success.

No doubt about it, my dishes are now impeccably clean.  My language over the last few days was not.

Have you ever found yourself in over your head due to poor planning?  How do you make sure you’ve given yourself the right tools for the job you want to complete?  What’s your favorite swear word when everything goes wrong?

~~~~~

Want to get even more out of Frugally Green? Share this post with your friends, leave a comment, or get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

Image of woodworking tools by Robert S. Donovan

One of my favorite blogs right now is Naomi Dunford’s Ittybiz.  She writes about ethical marketing for small businesses without marketing departments.  She also has a buzzed haircut and swears like a sailor.  Awesome.

Go ahead and take a second to ask yourself what the hell that has to do with Frugally Green and then I’ll continue.

OK, enough postulating. The answer, interestingly enough, is “everything.”

I’ll prove this by asking you a few questions:

• Do you enjoy saving money and improving the environment?
• Do you sometimes wish that other people enjoyed saving money and improving the environment, too?
• Have you ever had someone ask you what this “green movement” is all about?

If you answered yes to those three questions then, whether you realize it or not,  you’ve had to market your frugally green lifestyle to someone else.  If you’ve ever stumbled over your words and left them with a puzzled look then, unfortunately, you’ve marketed poorly. But that’s okay, we can fix that.  I know you never wanted to be a marketer, but as long as you have to be one, you may as well be good at it, right? That’s right.

On the other hand, if you answered no to those questions, I’m not quite sure why you’re here.  Maybe you aren’t, either.  Hmm…awkward.  Feel free to stick around anyhow.

Anyway, I know a lot of us hanging out in the anti-consumerism camp have a strong distrust of marketers.  We think they’re constantly conspiring to find new, slimy ways to convince us to buy junk we don’t need. Well, yeah, a lot of them are.  But some of them aren’t.  Some of them find a deeper meaning in connecting people with ideas and products that will truly change their lives.  That’s the kind of marketer Naomi is and I know that’s the kind of marketer you want to be.

The other day, Naomi taught me about the difference between selling features and selling benefits.  As environmentalists, I think this is one of the most important lessons we can learn about getting and keeping others interested in the movement.

Features

We care about our environment…a lot.  Sometimes we care about it more than we care about other people.  In fact, sometimes we create an adversarial relationship between our environment and other people because we’re so passionate about it.

That’s why, when people ask us why we “sort our garbage” (sometimes also called recycling), we answer with something like, “Because we’re running out of space in our landfills.”

That’s why, when someone wants to know why we ride our bike around town instead of driving, we retort with, “Because it emits less carbon dioxide into our suffocating atmosphere.”

That’s why we say, “Because it clears our mind of the consumerist culture,” when someone asks us why we don’t watch TV.

These are all examples of selling the features of environmentalism.

Benefits

Technically, they’re all true, but the problem is that all these “other people” we’re trying to get our message out to don’t care about features.  They care about benefits.  Benefits are what they get out of making the changes we want them to make.  Benefits are more compelling to people than features because they can tangibly relate them to their personal life.

Ideas like landfill depletion, carbon emissions, and the consumerist culture are too psychologically far away, too disconnected from the every day goings-on of normal people.  They can’t relate to them in the way they can relate to the benefits they see when they make a change that affects these ideas.  Does that make sense?

So, the next time your neighbor asks you why you sort your trash, instead of going on about landfill depletion, kindly inform them that you call it “recycling” and doing it can save them a bunch of money each year on trash hauling that they can use for something else they care about.

When your co-worker wants to know why you would ride a bike instead of take a car to the grocery store, let him know it’s because it’s fun and the exercise you get saves you money on a gym membership.

If your sister wonders why you got rid of your TV, tell her it’s because you’ve found that it allows you to exercise your creative mind by finding new ways to spend your time and the money saved from the cable bill helps fund your new hobbies.

As backwards as it might sound, true environmentalism is about people before it’s about the environment because, well, what good is a clean, beautiful world without anyone to appreciate it?

What do you think? Is marketing an important part of our “job”? Are people more important than environment?

~~~~~

Want to get even more out of Frugally Green? Share this post with your friends, leave a comment, or get free updates.

Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

Used car salesman image by bonkedproductions

How would it feel if you found out that you were wasting 80% of your time doing things that weren’t getting you any closer to your goals?  What if you learned that you could stop, or at least quit focusing on, 80% of the things you do on a day to day basis and still enjoy the same success you do today – still live the same life you’re living? What new and exciting challenges could you add to your life if 80% of the time you spent managing your money and your eco-footprint were simply gone?

What a crock, right? That’s what I thought, at least at first, because that’s what comes to mind any time I hear anything earth shattering (I don’t necessarily recommend this life perspective, by the way).  But guess what?  It’s true, and it works – at least to some extent.  If you don’t believe me, and I wouldn’t expect you to since this post intro is already playing out like the first 30 seconds of every Sunday morning infomercial you’ve ever seen, just take it from some of the richest and most successful businessmen in the world, greatest leaders of all time, and various instances of math and science.  That’s right, math and science.

The Pareto Principle

Enter the Pareto principle. A long time ago, in a land far, far away (think Italy in the late 1800s) there was a gentleman by the name of Vilfredo Pareto who happened to notice that 80% of the wealth of Italy was owned by only 20% of its people. After further research, he found that the same balance applied across many countries and, cumulatively, the world.  Fast forward to the 1940s and we find a business management consultant by the name of Joseph Juran who, fascinated by Pareto’s findings, decided to apply it to his field, finding that 80% of the success of businesses comes from 20% of their efforts.

Juran found that many of his clients could experience substantial growth and success by reorganizing their priorities to focus more on the 20% of things they do that have the biggest impact on their bottom line.  Microsoft has reported that, when they release new software, they’re able to eliminate crashes 80% of the time by focusing only on the top 20% of the bugs that users report.  Many businesses today have learned that 80% of their income is produced by only 20% of their customers.  This is why they offer lavish incentives to their top clients; they know just how much they depend on them for continued success.

What’s in it for us?

If so many others have been able to find success by applying the Pareto principle to their situation, why the heck can’t we? In my mind, there’s no difference between what we’re doing and what the business world is doing.  We’re all trying to get the most bang for our buck and make the biggest change we can with the time and resources we have.  When I analyze everything I’m doing, its pretty easy to see where I’m making the biggest difference.

I know that by eating less meat, I am helping to make a huge dent in the conservation of the environment by reducing the amount of space needed to raise animals and reducing the number of them that are emitting methane into the air.  I also know that by winterizing my home (something I’ll be posting about soon since it’s starting to get cold) I can save a bunch of money on my energy bills since the furnace doesn’t have to work as hard to keep me warm. But these two things are only a small fraction of all the things I do on a daily basis.

In terms of personal finance, I’ve found that by spending just minutes a week using an online account aggregator (Mint.com), I have considerably more control over my money by being able to visualize where it’s all going on a regular basis.  This has been a huge benefit to me since spending countless hours trying to develop money saving systems for myself before turning to Mint proved relatively ineffective.  For me, the secret was in being able to easily see a snapshot of my finances at any given moment.

What about the left over 80%?

So, now I’ve whittled down my list of “really important and meaningful tasks” that deliver far more value than all the rest of the things I do and I’m going to spend way more time working on them.  But what am I supposed to do with this giant pile of waste that comprises the remaining 80%?

I guess this is the part of the infomercial where, just after becoming entirely sold and actually picking up the phone to order, you realize that there’s no way you can actually  get fit drinking beer and watching infomercials all day with your Mega Ab Buster 4000™  stuck to your gut while you lay on the couch.  But that’s a tad over-dramatic because the Pareto principle actually does work, you just don’t get to entirely throw out the rest of your commitments.

When you start to put this rule into action in your own life, you’ll find that you still have to do a bunch of the things that don’t have a significant impact on your success.  This is a reality of existing.  There will be at least a few things on that list, though) that you’ll notice you were spending way too much time on for how little you were getting out of them (this was a bit of an embarrassing revelation for me).

While implementing the 80/20 rule into your life could certainly eliminate a number of no-benefit tasks you were fixated on, the whole point is to reorganize your priorities. By focusing on the 20% of things that are really effective for you and your goals, you should start to see more success in your progress towards achieving them.  This makes dealing with the remaining  80% of the sometimes necessary busywork in your life a whole lot more bearable.

Final Thoughts

If you ever wondered before why you were working so hard but achieving so little, this might be at least part of the answer.  Hard work and determination are amazing characteristics, but if they’re aimed at the wrong targets, the wheels are just spinning. Put the rubber to the road by nailing down what’s really important. Exclude the rest until life forces you to deal with it.

What are you trying to achieve and what’s the 20% that you need to focus on?  What’s some of the background noise that seems to get in the way when you try to do this and how can you deal with it?

~~~~~

Yesterday, I announced a survey for my readers. If you’re at all interested in shaping the future of Frugally Green and it’s content, please click through to yesterday’s post and give me your feedback by completing the survey.  I do a lot of talking around here, but your opinion is the most important.

~~~~~

If you enjoyed this post,  please share it with your friends, leave a comment, or subscribe to get free updates.

80/20 Rule Image by Sleepy Valley

The giant, blue abomination to the left has been the monkey on my back for the past 5 months of Frugally Green.  I first got the idea to start this website after deciding to build a compost tumbler to reduce our kitchen and garden waste.  It was going to be awesome.  The only problem was that I wasn’t really interested in food or gardening, but I sure was interested in a hands-on project.  So, I found a way to make the whole idea more exciting by making it more complex than it ever needed to be.

The beginnings of a frugally green failure

I scoured the internet for the most interesting composter designs, I sat down and drew up my super-awesome-and-improved plan in AutoCAD, making a detailed materials list and then headed to the hardware store to pick up the materials.

I came home and set to work, taking pictures at every step.  I just knew that millions of people were going to want to know how to build this thing and have the most fun of their lives spinning their rotten food around. It was going to be a how-to of the century.

5 months later, I have yet to write a single word or share a single picture of this contraption.  Why? Because I never should have built it in the first place.

Sure, I do use it every day.  Yes, it does work (as far as I can tell).  But, the truth is, there is nothing frugal or green about this thing beside the fact that it is, indeed, a compost bin.  It’s a giant, plastic barrel that carried soy sauce half-way around the world propped up by an unnecessary chunk of metal that’s supported by more wood than needed to remain sturdy. Failure!

I took on this project for all the wrong reasons.  At the time, I didn’t actually care about the function of the composter, I just wanted a green project to busy myself with and I wanted to flex my mental muscle and do something complex.  As a result, I ended up with a less than perfectly functional product that used a ton more material and cost more money than what was ever necessary to get the job done.

The awakening

If I had actually cared about compost at the time, I would have done a little research and found out that turning it is not very important.  I would have also learned a number of other things about it that would have influenced my design to a simpler and more effective result.

What I failed to realize while dreaming up this contraption was that anyone can take a simple idea and make it complicated.  Real innovation occurs by taking something complicated and making it simple.

So here’s my new how-to article for building a truly frugally green compost bin:

• Step 1: Make a pile.

…

Yep, that’s it.  That is all you really need to make good, useful compost.  You don’t even have to spend a dime.  Don’t feel guilty that your composter isn’t as nice as your neighbor’s (if your neighbor even has one). Just revel in the fact that it works just as well.

If, you have pets or nocturnal visitors that will make a mess of your compost pile, we can add just 3 more steps to solve that problem as well:

• Step 1: Screw a few scraps of dimensional lumber together to make a box.

• Step 2: Find a piece of scrap plywood and mount it to the top with a couple hinges.  Add a latch to the front if you have raccoons with he-man strength.

• Step 3 (Optional): Paint the entire assembly to satisfy your aesthetic needs.

• Step 4: Fill with compostable materials.

Now, we’ve added 300% more complication to the process and if I were one of those sleazy marketers, I’d substitute the word ‘complication’ for something sexier and make it sound like the greatest thing since tumbled compost, but I won’t, and composting really is as simple as making a pile.

There is nothing fancy required.  I wish I’d realized that before I spent a whole weekend driving around town buying all these things I didn’t need.

The real lesson learned

There seems to be a common perception these days that the more complicated an idea or product is, the better it must be because it’s had more thought and effort invested in it.  This is patently false.  The best ideas in life are almost always the most simple.  Think back to the most enjoyable, memorable, or even productive times in your life.  Were you doing something complicated or something relatively simple?

Many times we overcomplicate things because we want to impress others or feel like we have to prove to ourselves that we can do something we’re not sure we’re capable of. Testing your limits is the fastest way to grow, but don’t take the wrong approach.  If you really want to stand out and prove something to yourself, take your most complicated ideas and simplify them.  Anyone can do the opposite.

~~~~~~

If you enjoyed this post,  please share it with your friends, leave a comment, or subscribe to get free updates.

A few years ago, a gal named Crissy Trask noticed that everywhere she went, people she met were excited and interested in the green movement.  Everyone was talking about how important it is to live responsibly and be mindful of the earth.  Then she realized that all these people that seemed so gung-ho about an environmentally friendly life weren’t actually doing anything about it.

After a bit of research and asking around, Crissy realized that the people in her life were excited and interested in the prospects of a cleaner, more sustainable world, but didn’t really know what they could do to help or even where to go to find out what they could do.  That’s when she decided to write It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living.

Who should read this book: If you’re relatively new to the concept of sustainability, need some help navigating the lingo, or looking for some help figuring out what types of pursuits might fit your lifestyle, this book can offer some guidance as well as references that you can continually look back to.

Who shouldn’t read this book: If you’re looking for a matter-of-fact guide to tell you what to do, then this book isn’t for you.  Also, if you’re looking for playful storytelling, this book won’t be a good fit – it’s very middle-of-the-road in its presentation.

It’s Easy Being Green is just what it says it is, a handbook.  In fact, I prefer to think of it more as a reference manual as it is filled with definitions of commonly heard (but often misunderstood) terms from around the greenoshphere (I just made that word up so no, it’s not included in the handbook) as well as tons of external resources to get you going in the direction you want once you’ve read it and decided what that direction might be.

The real value in this book, in my opinion, is the 59 page list of tips (organized by topic) that allow you to define a roadmap of things you will do to improve your eco-footprint.  At 59 pages, it’s a bit cumbersome, but it’s really comprehensive.  Here’s how you use it (This process is also described in the book):

1. Read through all the tips, one at a time, making a check in the 3^rd box next to it if it sounds interesting to you.
2. Go through the list again, looking only at the tips you identified as interesting and place a check mark in the 2^nd box if you feel it’s something you’d actually like to pursue.
3. One by one, go through each tip and begin to accomplish them, giving yourself a time frame to complete each one.  To avoid overload, don’t focus on more than one item at a time.  Give each your full attention.
4. Using the 1^st box next to each tip, give yourself a rating of 1-5 to identify how you feel you performed implementing it.
5. Start over at step 1.

This section of the book has the ability to turn into a living document as you fill it out and pursue the tips you identified.  Once you’re done, you might find it useful to go back and look over all the ones you chose, implemented, and scored yourself on.  You’ll probably find that you performed a lot better in certain areas than others.  It might help you to prioritize your green pursuits going forward.

I should also mention that Crissy understands that her audience likes to buy stuff as she includes 2 chapters in her book titled Buying Green and Green Shopping Online. Personally, I prefer the Don’t Buy Stuff method to getting through life, but that’s not exactly realistic and it’s important to know how to make the best choices when you need to purchase something, so I’m glad she covered it thoroughly.

Crissy also writes a chapter titled Getting Involved where she provides numerous tips and resources for easy ways to connect with organizations that promote sustainability in areas you may be interested in.

Overall, I can’t say that It’s Easy Being Green was a great fit for me.  I feel like I’m slightly beyond the level of material that was presented, but I do appreciate all the external references provided.  I’ve written down a number of them that I will eventually check out to see if they could fit into my pursuits. But like I said earlier, if you’re just starting out or need help finding direction, you might find a lot of guidance from this handbook – especially from the 59 page worksheet.

~~~~~~

If you enjoyed this post,  please share it with your friends, leave a comment, or subscribe to get free updates.

Awhile back, I wrote a post about sustainable kitchens and how to get the most out of our appliances.  Apparently, people really liked it and it got a lot of page views.  Writing about the things that are important to you is important to me.  So today, I’ve decided to write a similar post on bathrooms.  This will turn into a series, of sorts, where I will eventually cover sustainability for every room of the house (and yard!).

Did you know the average American spends more than 1 1/2 years in the bathroom over the course of their life? That’s a lot of “personal time!” And with all of the fixtures surrounding us in the loo, it’s not hard to find a few ways to save some money by conserving resources like water and electricity while we’re hanging out at the toilet.  In fact, about 75% of a household’s water use is consumed in the bathroom.

Toilets

So where do we start?  Well, statistics and my insatiable love for poop jokes tells me that we should start at the toilet, since 40% of the water we use is flushed right down it. There a few things you can do to make your commode a little easier on the rain clouds:

• Put a brick water bottle in the tank - You can actually use a number of different items besides a brick. The idea here is simply to displace water in the tank, much like you do yourself when you get in the bathtub. The bigger the object, the more water you’ll displace and the less you’ll use each time you flush (I seem to be displacing more bathwater than usual lately). Using this tip will require a delicate balance, though.  If your object is too big, your tank won’t hold enough water to adequately flush your, uh, waste down and you’ll find yourself having to flush multiple times in order to finish the job.  That is not frugally green, so experiment a little bit and find out what the best size is for your tank.

• “If it’s pee, let it be…” - And if it’s brown, flush it down! My roommates were really opposed to this idea at first. The initial reaction was, “That’s gross!,” and, “It’ll stink so bad!”  After a little bit of coaxing, we agreed to give it a week long trial period and see how it worked.  Turns out, it’s not that gross and it doesn’t stink at all.  The general rule here is that if it isn’t solid, there’s no need to waste water flushing it.  As long as you flush at least once a day, we’ve found that smell is not an issue at all.  If you can get past the initial mental barrier, you’ll probably find that you can save a tremendous amount of water, and that equates to a much lower water bill.

• Replace an old one with a low flow/dual flush fixture – If you’re remodeling, or just need a new toilet, spend a few extra bucks to make sure you’re getting one that uses water efficiently.  Many new models have a dual flush function that lets you press one button for “number 1″ and another button for “number 2.”  Most of the time, this is just a half/full flush option that lets you use less water to flush less “matter.”

Bonus points!

• Install a composting toilet – this option is not for everyone, but if you’re up for the challenge, you can disconnect the plumbing to your toilet and eliminate the use of water all together.  The technology of composting toilets has come a long way, but from the feedback I’ve gathered from various users, it still has a little way to go.  To learn more about these neat contraptions, try visiting some of the manufacturer’s websites:

• Biolet
• Sun-Mar
• Envirolet

Bathtubs and showers

The next biggest water user in your home is your bathtub/shower, making up about 35% of your household’s use.  Here are some fairly simple tips to consider when trying to reduce your water use while getting squeaky clean:

• Install a low-flow shower head - These have become more and more popular recently.  Many local municipalities will even give you a couple for free, so call up your city hall and see if they’ll help out.  If you prefer a more luxurious shower, there are lots of options out there.  With the amount of water they save, you’ll likely recoup your investment in much less than a year.  I bought a Waterpik model at a local department store.  You can do the same or select one of the several offered on Amazon.

• Take fewer, shorter showers - Don’t gasp when I tell you that I don’t take a shower every day.  I still keep very clean! It seems we in the States have become obsessed with being clean.  Showering every or even twice a day has probably become so habitual for most people that we don’t even realize that we’re still clean when we step in.  I always shower after I exercise and never go longer than 2 full days without one, but I try to stay conscious about why I’m bathing.  Some days, all that’s necessary is a quick face and armpit wash and I’m clean as a whistle.  You might be uncomfortable with this suggestion.  That’s fine.  Do what works for you.  Maybe your best option would simply be to stay aware of how long your showers last.  Cutting down unnecessary time spent lounging around can save a whole lot of water and money – but don’t be afraid to let yourself splurge once in awhile on a nice, long shower.  Life’s too short to deprive yourself completely.

• Don’t take scalding hot showers - Some people I know can’t get a shower hot enough to satisfy them.  They’d be in heaven with third degree burns all over their backs.  Personally, I prefer a much milder temperature, but if you’re the type that likes it hot, consider backing off just a little.  This will actually go a long ways to save you electricity (or gas) as your water heater will not have to work nearly as hard to get that water to you.

• Take showers instead of baths - The average bath uses around 30 gallons of water.  The average shower uses only 10.  Want to verify that?  Close the drain the next time you hop in the shower and see how much the tub fills up.  I think you should still take a bath once in awhile as they’re good for the soul, but if you’re the type that takes one every day, you might consider switching up your routine to knock a few turns off the water meter.

Sinks

Reducing your water consumption at the sink is really all about psychology.  Once you’ve verified you have an aerator installed on your faucet, you’ll want to focus on doing the following things in order to cut your use even further:

• Turn the water off while brushing your teeth – You’re only using the water for the first and last few seconds of your brushing session, so why leave the faucet on while you just stare at it, right?

• Turn the water down while washing your hands – This might seem petty, but it can really add up if your whole household is doing it. We wash our hands around 15-20 times a day.  Can you see the potential here for a family of 4 that does this for a year? (This tip originally said “turn the water off while lathering your hands, but then I realized how ridiculous that was)

Saving Electricity

So far we’ve looked at all sorts of ways to cut your water bill in the bathroom.  That’s where you’ll make your biggest gains, but assuming you aspire to do even more, know that you can save a little electricity as well.  Here’s how:

• Reduce hot water use whenever possible - I know I mentioned this above, but I’m doing it again.  Any time you use less hot water, you’ll save electricity or gas that your water heater must use to heat more.

• Plug accessories into a power strip - Turn it off when not in use.  Lots of your bathroom gadgets can suck a little current while they’re plugged in, but turned off.

• Avoid using a heat lamp – These buggers use a ton of energy to heat you up.  Turn it on for a moment if you’re freezing, but be conscious of it and turn it off as soon as you don’t need it anymore.  I like to dry myself off while still in the shower to help alleviate the rush of cold that comes from opening the curtain and stepping out all wet.

Fresh water is one of our most precious resources and one that can be significantly better protected with just a little bit of thought from a lot of people.  Doing many little, seemingly insignificant things may not seem as exciting as building a green home, disconnecting from the grid, or buying an electric car, but they are the building blocks for these larger gestures.  Without an understanding and appreciation for the fundamentals, the grand has little meaning or direction.

What are some of the little things you do to conserve resources in the bathroom?  Has anyone just tried pooping less?
~~~~~~

If you enjoyed this post,  please share it with your friends, leave a comment, or consider subscribing to the RSS Feed.