Oh hi. The world feels like it is ending. The climate crisis is really top of mind, but so is like… affording to be alive and stuff. If you’re feeling angsty about the fact that our government isn’t going to do jaaaccckkk shiiiittt about climate for the few years, and the billionaires are in charge of everything and it feels like you as an individual are stuck in a “I have to buy all the things from the bad people” doom loop… let’s work together to identify some affordable sustainability advice that will work for pretty much anyone’s lifestyle and budget.
Please note some basic things about our family before we start!
- We are speaking from a place of moderate privilege, to folks with moderate to above moderate privilege. If you’re not in a space to implement change that’s okay. No judgement here. Please stay safe.
- These adaptations work with our lifestyle in suburban Nebraska. We create content directed primarily toward suburban midwesterners that we talk with on the daily. Because you know how much sustainability content is marketed toward this demographic? Almost none. This is the reality of many “red states” – we are disconnected from some of the resources that make other places easier to live sustainably within. Our work is laser focused on cutting through that noise of hopelessness and inaction to make a difference where and how we can. We work to be loud in our own space.
- We have another post that walks through the mental process of debunking the “sustainable living is expensive” myth. That may be helpful in addition to or in place of this post depending on what flavor of brain you have (I have ADHD flavored brains I’m all over the fucking place!)
5 Pieces of Crap You Probably Don’t Need to Buy
1. Trash Bags
This one consistently makes the internet angry but holy crap ya’ll. Why is this a product we spend money on? I’m not saying don’t bag your trash at all – I broke the whole internet with that misperception once – but I am asking you do have you no other bags with which you can store your landfill bound refuse?
Perhaps this perspective is a direct result of my status as an “old poor” but… trash bags are a waste of money.
Use a grocery bag. A paper bag. The empty dog food bag. No bag at all, if that’s allowed where you are (it is for us). There are a wide variety of free bag and bag like items that can be easily utilized as a “hold my shit til the trashman picks it up” storage unit.
Use trash that’s already been made to hold your trash. It boggles the mind how we’ve come to a moment that we pay money to purchase trash that holds other trash.
Action Item: If you’re here in Omaha perhaps try skipping the trash bags next time and purchasing a Hillside Compost Club membership instead. Diverting organic waste to compost is a great way to reduce the overall amount of trash going to landfill, thus reducing the need for wumbo jumbo bags in the first place.
2. Paper Towels and Napkins
I know, I know, life is messy and paper towels are just so convenient. But they’re expensive! Think of all the money you’d have if I immediately refunded you every penny you’ve ever spent on paper products.
You could probably buy yourself a set or two of nice unpaper towels for all that, right? Or some nice cotton tea towels from a local shop? Heck, even old tee shirt scraps work great as cleaning rags. Those are all more water-wise and money-wise options over the long run.
Another thing to think about here in the overarching zero waste conversation- do you throw away paper products you get from takeout? You could hang onto those and have a little stash for super gross things you might not want to use an actual rag for. Think pet accidents. That’s what we do and it works great.
Ultimately paper products are usually compostable (as long as they don’t have cleaning products or something on them) and it’s getting easier to find recycled ones if you simply must use them, but the cheapest option is always going to be simply to avoid them.
3. Fast Fashion
This is a sneaky expense that is very normalized in our consumerist culture. Particularly if you work a “professional” job the “need” for nice clothing feels intense. Fashions change, discounts exist and so forth. It’s easy to get sucked into snagging a new garment at Target because… well because it’s there.
But google “textile waste.” (Seriously do it. Invest five minutes of your time into to perusing some articles about this global crisis.)
The reality is that our world is drowning in clothing AND we’re still making and buying way more clothing than we were just a decade or two ago. Even if you’re thrifting for secondhand garments think really hard about your clothing budget. How many articles of clothing can you realistically wear at one time even?
No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in his clothes, yet I am sure that there is a greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience.
Henry David Thoreau -Walden
Eliminating clothing from the budget is a great option for lots of folks to free up some pennies to put toward other sustainable and anti-consumerist life changes.
4. Craft Supplies
My unpopular opinion: Craft stores are ruining art!
If you’re a professional artist obviously go for the fancy paints and whatnot. Heck the fancy brands are usually pretty committed to sustainability by nature of their intense appreciation for arts and culture more broadly.
But if you are a parent to a kiddo that likes to make art or are a person who enjoys making stuff, you can probably do that hobby for a whoooole lot cheaper than Michael’s or JoAnn will have you believe. Secondhand is an obvious solution, but what about found items?
I’ve recently taken up junk journaling and instead of buying plastic wrapped packs of paper at the craft store (I looked at a lot of them, what the heck) I’ve been using actual junk. Receipts, stickers and tags, food wrappers, packaging from the things I do buy in my life, marketing materials that scream at me to BUY MORE that I stick on my I’M NOT BUYIN’ NOTHIN art.
Again, I think there will always realistically be some things that we gotta buy at the craft store, but I think we’re missing out on a lot as crafty people to limit ourselves financially and artistically to what we can afford at Michael’s. “Art is too expensive” is another misperception that can just… go away please.
5. Mass-Manufactured Home Decor and Storage
And last but not least. I’m so sorry Target girlies but… you don’t need it. You don’t need the candle, or the Lived Laugh Love signage, or the lamp, or the basket, or the soft sherpa microplastic explosion blankie or the end table with the fancy outlet drawers…
You don’t need it.
Home decor and storage items are very on trend right now, which obviously has its connection to how much stuff we have that we feel the need to somehow present in a less cluttered way. But this keeps us in a consumerist purchasing loop that has us buying things to deal with our things, then cleaning out our things that hold other things that we then have to figure out where to take the things that don’t fit inside our things holding things!
Buying storage items and decor secondhand or locally made can sometimes be a little more pricey, but only if you think about it in terms of **how many individual products you can buy**
Buy not buying the mass-manufactured stuff, you can free up mental and financial resources to buy less buy better in your own community. If you don’t have to make a donation run of last summer’s Target junk then you have an hour of mental energy and time to go peruse a new local shop or find a local maker to make a more intentional and ethical purchase that you will enjoy far more and know that you made a difference in someone’s life – not just send more money to whatever yahoo is profiting at Target or Walmart.
Reflection:
- If you read this far, think about how the tone of the article changed from beginning to end. “Trash bags are dumb” to “here’s how consumerism overall is impacting our time, money, and energy.”
- Was this helpful in identifying not only one time lifestyle changes, but an overarching thought process to engage with? Did you notice the tone change as the article went on?
- Go write down one or two things you might try. Physically write them down with a pen and paper. (Or pencil, I’m a pencil girlie!)
- How do you think the **embodied action** of writing something down might influence the likelihood you make a tangible sustainable change in your life?
- Do you grapple with the idea that it is your responsibility overall to implement sustainable change? Or that if you are, you personally are too small to make a difference?
- If so, I wrote a whole reflective practice about that! It’s free. Give it a quick peruse.