Frugally Green

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*

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

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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If you want to tell me what else you don’t need to go green, leave a comment, or get free updates to learn all kinds of neat things.

Connect with me on Twitter: @tylertervooren

Image of man reading by kwerfeldein

What does it take to succeed?

Many argue that it takes a sharp mind, a strong work ethic and the right opportunities.

These are just a few of the aspects commonly quoted as the fundamental ingredients of success.

To an extent, they’re all right. When you look back on the life of someone who’s demonstrated success over and over again, these are the things you see.

What often gets overlooked, though, are the many missteps that invariably occur on any path to greatness. These missteps are what most of us regular folks know as failures.

Every time I set a new goal for myself, every time I take on a new environmental challenge, I encounter numerous failures.

What kind of road blocks have you encountered when you’re trying to change something about yourself?

Failure, you see, is a funny thing because there are two ways to interpret it, and which way you choose will completely determine your future success.

Failure as an end

For many, as soon as something doesn’t go according to plan, it’s a clear sign that the plan won’t work and they ought to just give up.

Let’s say you decided that you wanted to use less water. To make a go of it, you’re going to take shorter showers, turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth, and only run the dishwasher when it’s full.

After a couple weeks, you notice that you just can’t drag yourself out of the shower, you still always forget to turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth, and you need to run the dishwasher half full because there’s a dirty cheese grater you need for dinner.

There must have been a fatal flaw in the plan that couldn’t be fixed. May as well give up and look for something else to do.

Sometimes that’s true, but most of the time, it isn’t. With this type of mindset, it’s virtually impossible to achieve anything even remotely difficult.

When you’re trying to do something new, you’re constantly fighting your mind to just do it the same old way. It’s an internal struggle that can be very difficult to win.

Failure as a means to an end

When you change how you look at failure and redefine it as a setback and opportunity for learning instead of an insurmountable roadblock, so much more becomes achievable.

You’re making a difficult change. You don’t have to beat your mind the first time and you don’t have to beat it every time afterword. You just have to beat it once, and then beat it again. And then keep beating it little by little until you’re winning most of the time.

There is no such thing as perfection.

There is no such thing as smooth ride.

There is no free lunch.

Each time you feel like you’ve failed, you get a very unique opportunity to figure out why you failed and adjust accordingly.

As Seth Godin says, fail and fail fast.

Every major change is the result of many tiny failures. If you do it right, each is unique, but they all serve the same purpose – to teach you how to not screw up again.

This means dreaming from a bird’s eye view: “I am going to use 50% less water than I do now by this time next year.”

It means planning at ground level: “I’m going to take shorter showers, turn off the faucet every chance I get, only run the dishwasher when it’s full, start collecting rain water, etc.”

And most importantly, it means analyzing through a microscope: “Why was my shower so long and how can I make it shorter next time? Why did I forget to turn off the faucet and what’s a new trick I can use to remember?”

You rally yourself around a big goal, but you fight in the trenches. You keep figuring out what doesn’t work until you figure out what does.

Final Thoughts

A war is won by failing to win 49% of its battles. An entrepreneur gets rich by failing 99% of her business deals before finding one that sticks.

If you want to change your habits, you have to be willing to fail over, and over, and over again. And then you have to be willing to fly to the moon when you find your one success.

I wrote this post three times before I got it “right.”

Never quit.

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Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

Fail Harder image by thedrun

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?

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Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

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Seriously.

We do all sorts of things every day because we think we have to.  We go to work every day to provide for our families and our futures.  We offer our resources to causes we rather wouldn’t because we feel obligated.  We do this kind of stuff all the time and it’s draining.

When was the last time you really wanted something, but didn’t buy it because you thought it was the responsible thing to do?  “Oh my god, I want it so bad, but I can’t afford it.”

Are you pushing yourself beyond comfort to squeeze the last little bit of elusive sustainability into your life?  Why? Because you feel guilty?  Are you afraid the Earth police are going to come kick down your door and check your thermostat?  If it’s set above 60 degrees, you’re going to be awfully embarrassed.

If you’re trying to green your life because you feel guilty, you’re doing it wrong.  Seems harsh, but I think the sooner people start realizing this, the sooner we can actually start making some meaningful changes in our lives.

There are at least one million different ways to make this world a better place.  There are least one million ways to live a financially sustainable life.  I quit counting at about three-hundred-thousand, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

With all of the options out there, anybody should be able to find something they can do without resorting to guilt as motivation.

What do you care about?  What turns you on?  When you wake up in the morning, what do you wish you were heading off to do?  Why not focus on those things?  There’s no limit, really.

Do you love watching the smurfs and care about the environment?  Make a parody cartoon where the smurfs band together to stop a neighboring tribe form chopping down the forest between them.  Start a website and post your episodes on Youtube.

Love going out for sushi but hate all the disposable chopsticks?  Why not design a beautiful, functional, and indestructible chopstick and start selling them to your favorite restaurants?

If you really want to make a difference, you have to do something you care about.  I really don’t think there are any shortcuts.  When it comes to environmentalism, the difference you make is in the influence you exert on others.  Wiping your ass with one sheet of single-ply instead of four sheets of two-ply toilet paper is never going to fix our environment unless it really excites the hell out of you.

Environmental experts and economists like to argue about what the biggest impact changes we can make are and, if biggest impact changes are what excite the hell out of you, then pay close attention and do what they tell you to.  If that doesn’t describe you, then quit paying attention to the experts and go do your own thing.

Life is too damn short to do a bunch of crap you don’t care about, especially when it’s not going to make a difference.

Here’s the bottom line:

If it doesn’t excite you, you’re going to half-ass it.  If you half-ass it, no one is going to pay attention.  If no one pays attention, you’re wasting your time.

So forget everything you’ve been told about what you’re supposed to do and how you’re supposed to do it.  Start making your own rules and empowering others to make theirs.

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Do you harbor any fantasies that you wish you could fulfill but don’t think you can afford?  What about guilty pleasures you’ve given up for the sake of the environment?  In my quest for a sound financial and eco-friendly future, I’ve done a lot of thinking about the things I’m “giving up.”

The truth is, I don’t really feel like I’ve given up anything.  The more I search to find something, the more I realize how much I’ve gained.

• I quit driving my truck all over town, but I’ve gotten extra exercise and learned how to relax a little by riding my bike instead.  I’ve noticed things you don’t notice in a car and I’ve learned about bike maintenance.

• I quit using my dryer and found out that hang drying my clothes actually saves me time because I’m not waiting around for the dryer to stop.

• I quit eating meat every day and realized how little I was enjoying it.  Now when I eat it, I actually appreciate it.  I’ve learned about new foods and ways to prepare them.

One of the things people worry about when they decide that they really want to change is that they’ll have to give up all of the things that they love.  I worried about that too, but now that I’m on the other side of the fence, I can see what I couldn’t see before – all the opportunities.

What do you feel like you have to give up if you want to lead a sustainable life?  Is there something nagging at you that is holding you back?  What if you knew now what I learned the hard way? Would you even hesitate?

Opportunity Costs

Life is is full of opportunity costs.  When you decide to change your habits, you also decide whether to work for or against yourself.  By dwelling on what you’re “giving up” you mask everything you’re gaining in the trade off.

If you’re trying to save more money, but your standard operating procedure is to spend all your extra income every paycheck, you’re probably going to have a hard time seeing any benefits when your main focus is on the latte you’re missing out on. There’s always an upside, you just have to find it.

Why do you even want to change?

So why have you decided to do something different?  If you never had to worry about money and you didn’t care about sustainability, would you still want to change?  Are you trying to achieve something that goes deeper than the surface of these issues?  If you’re not, then maybe that’s the problem.

Money and the environment are external issues.  They’re outside influences.  Meaningful change comes from within. If you decide to rearrange your life because everyone else thinks that it ’s important, you’ll never get there because  no one else really knows what’s best for you – not like you do.

If your only goal is to minimize something about yourself that you perceive as negative, you’re destined for failure.  Without an upside, there’s no way to stay positively focused on your goal.  You have to look at what you’re getting in return.

Test, test, and test some more

Now it’s time to get focused. So you gave up your daily latte.  Now what?  You’ve got more money.  Why?  What are you going to do with it?  You have to get clear on this if you want meaningful change to occur.  Do you want to buy a house?  How many lattes do you have to give up to save up a down payment?  A hell of a lot, right?  Are there any other things sucking money from your life that you don’t notice because they do nothing for you?

Test, test, and test some more until you figure out what’s actually going to work. As the 80/20 rule applies, you’re going to try a whole bunch of things that do little for you until you eventually find something minute that sends you soaring.  Trying to find this needle in the haystack can be frustrating at first, but finding it is the difference between ‘just making it’ and totally kicking ass.

In my case, I didn’t start off each change with a solid perspective of what I was going to get out of it, but I was able to keep my mind open long enough to find them.  Sure enough, there they were.  I had to do a little tweaking along the way, but the benefit was there.

If you think there’s something in your life that you need to change, and you’re not certain what the outcome will be, try it anyway!  Action always beats inaction and if you decide later that what you’ve changed isn’t working for you, well, you know exactly what you can go back to until you try again.

Scarcity vs. abundance

In all your efforts, I think there is one thing that should never be forgotten – creating meaningful change is not about settling for less.  It’s about finding ways that less can create more - more enjoyment by forgetting about the things that don’t matter, more time by eliminating inefficiencies in your life, and more money by spending less on things you don’t care about and more on things that bring value to your life.

I gave my examples above.  What negatives are you trying to change that could be spun into more positive aspirations? How can you do more with less?

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Problems are Opportunities image by DonnaGrayson