Sunday, December 21, 2008

Frugality & Green Living: BFFs


I was frugal way before I was a greenie. The hunt, and the thrill of saving hundreds of dollars made me giddy and a bit light headed! In fact, Garage Sale Saturdays became a family tradition of sorts, with stops at the local bakery for croissants! My children have always been dressed in high quality clothes for less than I would pay at Wal-Mart, and our house has been furnished by second hand Potterybarn and antiques. You can imagine how thrilled I was when our family started going green, and I realized how green being thrifty really was!

photo taken by: fromcollettewithlove

With our country's economic troubles, many people are focusing on making it through this crisis, and being green is making its way to the backburner. But being frugal and green living are lifestyles that often walk hand in hand. High priced eco-fashion has good intentions, but second-hand duds are actually more eco-fabulous! Gardening at home is so rewarding, and can save you tons on organic produce! This year we have saved money while making the environment cleaner by: using less water, buying second hand when possible, using less energy, driving less & walking more, and consuming less.



Even if you don't have the resources for a hybrid car, or solar panels on your roof, we can all take these easy steps that helps us save money, and make a big impact on the environment at the same time. Don't be discouraged by the doomsdayers! Work on keeping it simple, and using your green tricks to save some green!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome post! I find it amazing that frugality seemed to miss a generation and half of ours. Our grandparents or at least mine did so many things we'd consider "green" these days just because they were frugal and didn't care to waste things. I hope that comes back in a big way.

Robert Stockham said...

I have always been thrifty and love to find a bargain at garage and yard sales. I can't imagine having kids and trying to clothe them from stores as they grow so darn fast! I also don't buy unless I can get rid of something. It has made being green so much easier! So little comes in, and reused is always better than recycled content!

Cathy said...

I hear you! I buy consignment clothes for my boys, and they are better dressed than if I bought all their clothes at walmart. Plus, we are devoted to gardening. These "green" ways make living a good life much easier.

Anonymous said...

I have come to the same realization that you share. I choose not to buy into the doomsday (regarding the environment or economy), but I know we can do so much better for both. We have a responsibility to better with both. Anywho.

I am going to check out your gardening section next, we are planning a big one this year and I can't wait to get started!

MommaDJane said...

Speaking of being more green, I linked to you in my blog post today! Looking forward to learning more from you throughout the new year!

Planning to Shine in 2009!

Anonymous said...

Love the post. I also have found that sometimes living environmentally friendly can actually help us be a bit more frugal. We stopped using individual bottled water to help with less plastic use and ended up saving money, I do laundry in less frequent large loads than frequent small loads resulting in $ savings as well as water waste. We stopped our daily newspaper subscription and only get the Sunday paper to save on waste and saved quite a bit of money. I feel we do need the Sunday paper for the coupons.