Green and Frugal go Hand in Hand

So I haven’t been a good blogger and it’s been ages since I posted. I was having a hard time coming up with a topic! But I’ve been spending all my time doing baby-prep for the little guy we’re expecting in August, and that’s made me think a lot about the cost of having a baby – as well as the difficulty with making sustainable choices when there is an OVERWHELMING amount of stuff that you apparently need.

Anyways, I will go more into baby stuff another time. The point I wanted to make in this post is that a lot of choices that are made to be “green” happen to also be great for being cheap, and vice versa. I was a cheapskate long before I was really green (as a poor student it was sort of necessary). I frequented thrift stores, finished every scrap of food in my fridge before grocery shops, and chose walking somewhere over bussing any time it was an option. At the time, I was only doing it to save money. But whatever your motivation, the results are the same!

Here are some things that save you money + save the planet:

-Shopping at thrift stores/buying secondhand on Kijiji, etc. This is an obvious one, and I’ve always thrifted for deals. I try not to bring home junk I don’t need, but always keep an eye out for items that I’ve been considering buying new. My favourite finds to date are a lovely glass pitcher, a teapot set, a few puzzles, and a Stephen King book that I nabbed for 25 cents.

-Join a Buy Nothing group! This is a new one for me, and I’m so glad I tried it. You know all that stuff hanging around your house that you never use but can’t throw out because it’s in perfectly good shape? Someone in your neighbourhood might be able to put it to use! Buy Nothing groups are a perfect instance of one man’s trash being another man’s treasure. You can clear the unused stuff out of your house, get stuff you do need for free, and meet people in your community. Everyone I’ve traded with so far has been super nice.

-Spend a little more on things that are made to last. This one was counterintuitive to me when I was a student. I tended to buy the cheapest item I could find, particularly for clothing. Now I invest in better quality clothes that don’t fade in the first wash or constantly shed bits of thread. Another example is my razors; I always bought disposables because the per-purchase cost was so much cheaper. I now use a steel safety razor with replaceable blades. It cost a bit more to buy (45 plus 5 for a pack of blades), but I’ve had it for six months and used exactly one blade. At this rate, I’ll already make up cost by the end of the year, to say nothing of how much I’ll save in the long term.

-Last of all, asking yourself “do I really need this?”. I asked myself that a lot when I had very little expendable income, and the answer was usually no. While it helps to take that second and reflect on necessity, that doesn’t mean you always shouldn’t make the purchase. Sometimes my answer was no when it should have been yes – it’s okay to buy yourself new boots if your old ones have holes!