Who knew being a miser had so many benefits?
Frugal [froo – guhl] adj.
- economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful
In many ways, I would say I’m frugal. I tend not to like spending money if I don’t have to. Much of my wardrobe consists of pre-enjoyed clothing. My apartment is largely furnished with donated, found or inexpensive things. I’ll avoid cab rides at all costs. In essence, I go out of my way to make sure I get the best deal possible. If I could cut out those moments of splurging weakness I’d be all set. Wouldn’t we all. But being frugal doesn’t just save you money. I’ll show you how it is good for your body AND for the planet.
YOUR BODY
- Skateboarding, in-line skating, walking or busing all require more exercise than hopping in your car. And are cheaper.
- Buying less pre-packaged food (AKA the more expensive convenience food) will lead to healthier eating. It will give you a chance to get creative with cooking.
- Avoiding expensive fast food outings will also save you from these typically unhealthy treats. And again, you get to hone your culinary skills.
- Walking your groceries (less expensive than take-out) home – whether small trips frequently or larger trips infrequently – will develop your muscles and endurance. Especially if hills are involved.
Any of the options above can be considered better for the environment as well, reducing use of fossil fuels and unnecessary packaging. So they’re win-win (-win). In addition, the following frugal actions will help even more.
THE PLANET
- Not buying food and drink that is unnecessarily over-packaged. Things like 6 mini-cans of pop (1.42L for $3.29 is NOT a good deal), separate Pringles packs (just put them in reusable bags or containers) lead to packaging that often ends up (incorrectly) in our landfills. Also, the foods packaged this way tend to be less healthy.
- For products that come in tubes (hair styling products, lotions, toothpaste, etc) make sure you ACTUALLY empty them. If you can’t squeeze it out, cut it open and you’ll find there is often plenty left. Extending the life means less frequent buying and less garbage created.
- With shampoo, hand soap and dish soap make sure the bottles are actually empty. When you think there’s none left, you can put some water in them and get a few more uses. Again, less waste. BONUS: Buy the refills for hand soap pumps. For a dollar more you usually get twice as much.
- Create your own convenience foods by buying reusable bags and containers. These come in a multitude of shapes and sizes and can be rinsed out after use. It may be easier to buy the pre-portioned products but in the end it costs more, and for the most part can not be reused.
So there you have it. You may already do these, or think that they’re not particularly insightful. The point is that you can make simple changes to your lifestyle that benefit not only your pocketbook (who even has these anymore) but also your body and your planet, both of which you only have one. You may as well treat them right while you have them. If this helped you at all, share it with friends and everyone wins.
Don’t forget to comment with your own tips and tricks.
Comments (8)
This might be alittle over the top, but I re-use my sandwich baggies. These are bought for convience, and people just throw them out after lunch. My sandwiches don't leave them in horrible shape, and if there is a little peanut butter on the inside, I just rinse it out. It's just throwing money away if you use it for half a day and then throw it away.
Very insightful Nick. Here are a couple of extra tips.
1. Buy local. Whether it be food or clothing or whatever, it just makes more sense to support our local entrepreneurs and avoid all the toxic emmisions that come along with long distance freight.
2. Don't buy bottled water!!! I live in Quebec, which has countless rivers and lakes. I don't see the point of spending $3 for a bottle of Evian from the French Alps. Water is Water. Besides, bottled water doesn't have any government regulations to control on the filtration it goes through, although your tap water goes through strict municipal controls.
3. I keep a bucket or a small barrel out on my back porch, so that when it rains, I can collect rainwater. I then use that rainwater to water my houseplants.
4. Recycle. It's amazing to realize that a large part of our communities still don't recycle as much as they can. It's one of the easiest things to do to help the environment.
Kathy, that's not over the top at all. You can get at least one re-use out of those bags. Like you said, why throw it away after something that didn't do any irrevocable damage. Carrots, trail mix or sandwiches shouldn't lead to the disposal of the bag.
Farzana, thanks so much for all those tips. I like the idea of gathering rain water (Collective Soul has a great song about gathering rain). If I ever built a home I would totally flush toilets with rain water. It makes no sense to use drinkable water to dispose of waste. And bottled water, well it's just silly really. The cost per litre is higher than gas and yet we swallow (pun intended) that with no problem. So illogical, we are.
Captain planet told me about this one: reuse.
I buy Classico Spaghetti sauce becuase they come in nice mason jars that I can reuse to put bulk foods in, like oatmeal, flour, sugar, nuts, pastas, etc.
It's a little more at the counter (sometimes you can get it on a good sale) but I think it pays off...
Haha Nick! See, in the song, she gathers rain to rinse away all the guilt and pain... I can totally see the song being changed to gathering rain for watering plants though! I think you're onto something!
Hey Nathan, that's a good one too. Plus those jars probably look nicer than some of the actual containers you can buy out there for that sort of thing. Some people I know drink from those jars, rather than buy glasses. It would be a good test to see just how far we could go to reuse things. I bet we'd surprise ourselves.
Michel, if I could sing AT ALL I would re-record a new version of the song. Haha. Or maybe I'll contact Collective Soul. They're due for a good comeback. They also have Where the River Flows and The World I Know. These all sound pretty environmental-y, dontcha think?
Hey Nick, Another tip one of my clients taught me that saves money and is more environmentally friendly, is instead of using bottled soaps for body wash and hand soap, is to use bars of soap. There is little to no plastic packaging, usually just minimal paper, and they last longer, while being less expensive. They clean you just as well. You can also find shampoo and conditioner bars at some places.
Good points, Josanne. It's so true that we put so much plastic into our landfills because we improperly dispose of the MOUNTAINS of bottles we use for products. We're so caught up with how pretty the bottles are, maybe. I honestly had never even thought of using shampoo and conditioner bars...didn't even know they existed. Thanks for your comment.
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