We’ve been on our sustainability journey for nearly two decades so far, working in utility scale renewable energy, challenging ourselves to live sustainability at home as well as at work. Over the years, we’ve noticed that some of the same actions that we take to live a sustainable life are also very frugal, and are the cheaper option in the longer term.
Ultimately, our sustainability journey and our frugal lifestyles have allowed us to be self-employed, through some of the most challenging economic conditions of our lifetimes. These practices aren’t very difficult, and certainly aren’t glamourous, but can be tried by everyone. We’ll step through five of our sustainability and frugality practices below:
5. Conserve Electricity
We spent more than a decade working in the Energy Industry, and earned our healthy respect for energy production and consumption. All those lights, appliances, computers and roombas in your home are running on some form of energy production. If you use energy from your local utility, it’s either coal, gas, or renewables powering those lights. Less polluting fuels are burnt when you consume less energy, and if your home is totally running on renewables, those renewables will power more homes if you turn off lights when they aren’t in use. Maybe it’s what your dad always bugged you about, but he was right, energy costs money, and it’s both sustainable and frugal to consume less.
4. Embrace Used Items
Hand-me-downs! Thrift Stores! Garage Sales! The Buy Nothing Network! All are both frugal and sustainable. We live in a rich society in America; there is just so much of everything, everywhere. Walk into a thrift store of any city in the US, and you could find clothes at 80%+ off the original prices, sometimes still with original tags. You have to have an open mind and trust your own sense of style, but you can outfit a family for greatly reduced prices, while keeping clothes out of the landfill.
The Buy Nothing Network and neighborhood or family hand-me-downs are even more frugal, with free items. These networks help reduce waste and prevent consumption of additional, unnecessary resources. Challenge yourself to try these networks for growing kids that keep needing new clothes to stay decent and appropriately dressed for school; people are very willing to share clothes that their children have outgrown, and you may also make new, like-minded friends in the process.
3. Consume less, but higher quality
Sometimes it seems like being frugal is tied to cheap purchases: things that are plastic, poorly made, and break easily. This is not the case! The most frugal purchases can actually be the more expensive item that lasts longer, is worn more, and has a lower cost per use in the lifespan of the item. I first realized this when I was in college, and bought a $5 pair of sandals on sale from a shop in the mall. I wore those shoes maybe 3 times before I donated them to a thrift store and promised myself I would never do that to my feet again. All of these years later, I still remember how uncomfortable my feet were, and the blisters and cheap fake leather that didn’t stretch with my feet. My cost per wear was approximately $5/3 days = $1.60 per wear, and I did not enjoy a minute of it.
In contrast with my cheap sandals that hurt my feet, I later bought a pair of puma tennis shoes online. They were super comfortable, and in a simple style that I was able to wear to work. I paid up for them, at $70 for the shoes, and I wore them daily for about 2 years until they completely fell apart. So my cost per wear was approximately: $70/ 730 days = $0.09 per wear, and they were super comfortable and I enjoyed them right until the soles fell off.
Buy less, and when you do buy something, make it the best quality you can afford and make it last. Conserve both resources and money.
2. Drive an Electric Vehicle
This may seem like a frivolous item, and not for you, but it’s surprisingly both sustainable and frugal. We purchased a used 2016 VW e-Golf last year, and can drive within approximately 70-100 miles on the $4.32/month Austin Energy all-you-can-charge plan. This distance covers our city driving and almost all of our needs. We can rent a vehicle or take public transport for longer drives, and really, those are almost nonexistent during the pandemic. So where we used to consume $200/month in gas for commutes, we’ve optimized our usage, and charge on 100% wind power. It really feels like the future, and it’s a nice little used car. We also aren’t paying for any more oil changes or other gasoline-engine related maintenance costs.
1. Know When You Have “Enough”
This is a broad concept and covers a lot of consumption that is so common in our society. How many clothes do we really need? How many pairs of shoes? How large of a home? How many groceries? At some point, look up, and acknowledge when you have enough.
The average home size in America is over 2500 square feet. We’ve lived with our family of four in under 1100 square feet for year,s and it reduces our heating and cooling costs. It can be both sustainable and frugal to live in a smaller home, with an optimized layout, and consider it “Enough.”
Are there already clothes in your closet that you never wear, and you’re out shopping for more? Did you make shopping mistakes before, or are you making one now? Look at how much you already have, and chances are, you already have “Enough.”