Speaking of Money, which I did in my last blog… I’ve been living in a real house, and buying groceries for the first time in my life for the last two months. It’s been a strange shift to “adulthood”—a term I use really loosely when regarding myself—but I have been able to maintain a conscious despite the fact that room and board is no longer provided as a work stipend.
A few things that help me live cheaper, and usually more sustainably.
1) Kids lose shit. I have not had to purchase sunscreen, ball caps, pens(!) or reusable water bottles in YEARS. I guess this isn’t something that’s replicable for all my readers…but having a finders keepers mentality has saved me some money, and gotten me some cool shit. For example, I would Never spend the money on a glow in the dark Nalgene, some non-comedogenic sunscreen, or a big roller gel pen…but now I have all those things.
2) Businesses gotta stock up. Proud to say I have Never purchased toilet paper. Hmm, maybe that one time I lived on my own in college one summer. But certainly for the last several years of working residential jobs, and even now of working in a park—the Man pays for my toilet paper, and I’m sadly proud of that. I also use no more than 6 squares (if it’s necessary) at a time, but average out around 4. We’re pretty frugal TP users. And I’m sorry if that’s TMI, but I challenge you to use 6 squares of something that’s not 4ply Charmin! J
3) DIY toiletries. The other day I was thinking about how much money I would spend on shampoo (if I had more hair), toothpaste, and deodorant if I didn’t make it myself. Simple household kitchen items go a long way in all these products without using plastic containers, aluminum and sulfites, or requiring transportation costs. Win.
4) On Sale + coupons +discounts. These last two months have been only 2 of the 6 months or so in my LIFE that I have had to purchase my own groceries…and I’ve been having so much fun. When we first got here, we went a little crazy. We successfully avoided all the bagged snack items, but we bought a ton of pantry stockers (which is necessary in a new home). Fortunately, the local co-op (which is AMAZING) was having a bulk-food-discount month, and we saved $50!! The next few weeks we spent an astonishing amount on groceries, and I was tempted to call my mom and ask how she spent the same amount on 5 people that we do with the two of us…but now we have figured it out. I have a chart of how much things typically cost at the lovely local co-op and the larger, big box store, Sprouts. Unfortunately, most things are cheaper at Sprouts, but not everything! We can save quite a bit by knowing what to buy where, and since they’re across the street from each other, we don’t spend a lot on gas by store-hopping. We have also adopted a new method of only buying things on sale. Instead of planning menus with recipes we have, we take advantage of the discount bags (we just got 8 lil’ peppers for $1!) and get creative in the kitchen, making a big batch of something to eat on throughout the week. For a while I was taking advantage of volunteer opportunities around town that are sponsored by the co-op to meet some locals and earn a 18% discount for every hour I volunteered. But now that Amil WORKS at the co-op, we both get perpetual discount cards. Yipee!
5) Bike/Commute I’ll admit, we’re not great at this yet, but we’re trying. We bought some roller blades, and a bike. We live just over a mile from our main “office,” and less than a mile from the Co-op that Amil will be working at. We try to consolidate trips, but ironically, I do the most driving for meetings with the environmental groups I’m a part of. There’s a store we both need things from, and have for over 2 weeks, but we haven’t gone yet because it’s “out of the way.” :) I like that. I also LOVE my bike ride to work and back. It’s warm and the wisteria are blooming and …I’m just falling in love with Albuquerque.
So, I’m sure there’s other things we’re not really aware of to ‘live frugally’ but those are some of the more fun ones I’ve thought of recently. One thing I’m super anal about (probably unnecessarily so) is using the oven. I always want to make sure we have 2 or 3 things to put in the oven so it’s “worth it”. I’m not sure if this is actually efficient, but tonight, for example, I’m bringing my black-bean brownie mix to a friend’s house to use her oven while she’s baking. Silly? Maybe that should be something I examine in my trade-offs website which will hopefully launch soon.
Showing posts with label sustainable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainable. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
The Move
The most valuable thing that has been reinforced in my two months of living back home is that I am a sponge. It may be apparent to readers from our cross country journey, but it didn’t sink in until the last week or so of living with the folks. I guess another way of saying it is that I am adaptive. Perhaps one of the reasons I get along so well in jobs is because I don’t take on a direct personality of my own, but reinstate the values and beliefs of my superiors and peers. It’s not that I don’t have my own values and beliefs, although admittedly they are still forming, it’s just part of my natural character to slide into the attitudes of the people I’m around. This was evident at home, where I put aside my preferences for peeing outside, reading and writing for entertainment, and vegan eating and instead lay on the couch and watch a long movie, nibbled on cheesy delicacies, and utilized modern luxuries that I have been without in my cross country travels.
The point of this realization is that now that I am finally here in my own space with my fiancé, I get to build a space that completely caters to my values, adding in and keeping out the things I observed from staying with friends across the country. Today is the day that I set routines that will hopefully propel me into life patterns, and I feel a mix between pressure and excitement. It’s like a new year in many ways- not only is the weather warming from a mercurial winter, but a new job is starting and my 26th birthday is around the corner. This is an exciting time for my blog, too, because instead of just plopping right into my sustainably-focused mind, I can chart out each decision on a new slate. In fact, to commemorate this, I am switching blogsites. I’m going to shift to Blogger, eventually backlogging all my old tumblr blogs. I think that blogspot is a little more professional looking, with a lot more options, such as people being able to comment*, and it will allow me several tabs to organize my blogs into personal rants like these, DIY projects, and art that I’ve accomplished.
So now that the world knows what’s up, I guess there’s nothing left to do but put down the computer and begin to build my new world, my way, with some help from my fiancé, of course.
—Flash forward 2 weeks:
Designing a creative, functional space where I can be productive and happy has not been as easy as I imagined. I’m writing this from my favorite corner that this morning I dubbed my “office,” which is nothing but a creaky but comfy papasaun and the edge of a desk slightly out of arms distance, now stacked with books, notepads, jump drives, and notebooks. Although I am happy sitting in my ‘office’ where I spent most of yesterday knitting, I can’t help but feel a bit boring. I am slowly getting into the routine that will be my life in this space, which is to say that there is no routine at all. It reminds me of college- navigating appointments and gym hours between classes and meetings. I loved that schedule, thrived in it, even…and yet I feel so displaced from it here. I love living in Albuquerque, and I’ve been trying to take advantage of every little opportunity that presents itself to me- like I also did in college. But I don’t feel ‘at home’ yet. The walls are decorated with our favorite designs, the counters are full of our beloved things, and yet, I’m unsure how to interact with the space. Perhaps I’m not sure how to redefine home now that I have the opportunity to make a space away from my parents and the people and spaces I called home for most of my life, even if I have been removed from those spaces for several years. I guess home is where the heart is and although my stuff is here, and I like it here, I’m not in Love yet, and my heart remains in those humid summer nights, the crunch of the oak leaves under the drying crab grass, and the handful of days when the windows can be open and the inside and outside world are in harmony. Will I ever find a home like that again? Will it take another 18 years of living in one place to have the roots of my heart remain so firmly in one place? I imagine Austin will always be home, even as the city that once revealed such possibility to me, is now foreign and threatening. But can I make this place feel like home in my heart, knowing that I won’t be living here for 18 years, or probably even 1/4th of that.
I guess through the last 6 years of moving around, I have held home my heart, absorbing how others interact with me and the spaces I live in…and now that there are no more attitudes to pick up, no more ideals to imitate…I’m left with my empty artwork, and this big old space wondering where I start making the connections just between me and the land. And how?
The point of this realization is that now that I am finally here in my own space with my fiancé, I get to build a space that completely caters to my values, adding in and keeping out the things I observed from staying with friends across the country. Today is the day that I set routines that will hopefully propel me into life patterns, and I feel a mix between pressure and excitement. It’s like a new year in many ways- not only is the weather warming from a mercurial winter, but a new job is starting and my 26th birthday is around the corner. This is an exciting time for my blog, too, because instead of just plopping right into my sustainably-focused mind, I can chart out each decision on a new slate. In fact, to commemorate this, I am switching blogsites. I’m going to shift to Blogger, eventually backlogging all my old tumblr blogs. I think that blogspot is a little more professional looking, with a lot more options, such as people being able to comment*, and it will allow me several tabs to organize my blogs into personal rants like these, DIY projects, and art that I’ve accomplished.
So now that the world knows what’s up, I guess there’s nothing left to do but put down the computer and begin to build my new world, my way, with some help from my fiancé, of course.
—Flash forward 2 weeks:
Designing a creative, functional space where I can be productive and happy has not been as easy as I imagined. I’m writing this from my favorite corner that this morning I dubbed my “office,” which is nothing but a creaky but comfy papasaun and the edge of a desk slightly out of arms distance, now stacked with books, notepads, jump drives, and notebooks. Although I am happy sitting in my ‘office’ where I spent most of yesterday knitting, I can’t help but feel a bit boring. I am slowly getting into the routine that will be my life in this space, which is to say that there is no routine at all. It reminds me of college- navigating appointments and gym hours between classes and meetings. I loved that schedule, thrived in it, even…and yet I feel so displaced from it here. I love living in Albuquerque, and I’ve been trying to take advantage of every little opportunity that presents itself to me- like I also did in college. But I don’t feel ‘at home’ yet. The walls are decorated with our favorite designs, the counters are full of our beloved things, and yet, I’m unsure how to interact with the space. Perhaps I’m not sure how to redefine home now that I have the opportunity to make a space away from my parents and the people and spaces I called home for most of my life, even if I have been removed from those spaces for several years. I guess home is where the heart is and although my stuff is here, and I like it here, I’m not in Love yet, and my heart remains in those humid summer nights, the crunch of the oak leaves under the drying crab grass, and the handful of days when the windows can be open and the inside and outside world are in harmony. Will I ever find a home like that again? Will it take another 18 years of living in one place to have the roots of my heart remain so firmly in one place? I imagine Austin will always be home, even as the city that once revealed such possibility to me, is now foreign and threatening. But can I make this place feel like home in my heart, knowing that I won’t be living here for 18 years, or probably even 1/4th of that.
I guess through the last 6 years of moving around, I have held home my heart, absorbing how others interact with me and the spaces I live in…and now that there are no more attitudes to pick up, no more ideals to imitate…I’m left with my empty artwork, and this big old space wondering where I start making the connections just between me and the land. And how?
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