Category Archive

Last month, due to the extra influx of cash, I funded a small green initiative for myself. Here are some of the changes I implemented.

Personal Care:
Boy was I wrong when I thought I already had non-toxic shampoo. It is called Purology, which sounds fantastically… pure! The press materials advertised that it was vegan so I thought “organic, natural, etc.” I think all that meant is no animal testing! I looked at the ingredients, and they were anything but natural: SLS and all sorts of chemicals! To remedy this, indulged in two shampoo bars from Lush, the Seanik and the  Ultimate Shine, for about $8 or $9 each. So far I’ve been using the Seanik, and it seems to make my hair a little dry, so I might try shampooing every other day.

For conditioner, I actually tried three kinds. First, I picked up a whole foods store brand (365 Everyday Value) conditioner for just $2. I didn’t like it at all. It didn’t feel like conditioner. It wasn’t slippery or moisturizing, and I felt like I’d have to dump the whole bottle on my head. After that, I was wary of organic conditioner, so I bought two sample sizes. One was Alba, and the other was Avalon Organics. Of the two, I preferred Alba (though both beat the Whole foods brand by far), but I’m not yet convinced I’ll buy a full sized bottle.

For other personal care items, I’ll replace as I run out. I did buy some mineral make-up (like) and organic moisturizer (decent, but feels a little weird), but I’m not about to replace my whole bathroom arsenal.

Home care
Frugal and non-toxic cleaners are a great step anyone can take, especially if you have kids (I don’t). For less than $20 (including a spray bottle, which was the most expensive part) I bought ingredients to make my own homemade non-toxic cleaners. These supplies will last me forever, and can be used to clean almost anything! I do need another spray bottle or two, but want to find a good price.

I already talked about my light bulb failure, but I did take down one of the three kitchen track lights, so I at least cut out 60W of energy. I might work on my bathroom lights, but they aren’t on that often anyway.

I bought one reusable grocery bag for $4 from Trader Joe’s, and also got a free one while strolling trough the farmers market (Honda promotion). I get a .05 bag refund at Ralph’s and Whole foods, so after 80 grocery trips, it’ll pay for itself!

I tried some absorbent dish cloths from Trader Joe’s, based on this review, and I like them. Paper towels are still easier, but these are a good alternative. I’ll still use paper towels sometimes, but I have certainly cut back.

Other
I’m ashamed to admit my first list didn’t include the most obvious green task. In grade school, Ronald McDonald came to our school and taught us a rap to help save the environment: “Reduce, reuse, recycle, YO!” I reduce and reuse, but do I recycle? Not really. Well, I do now! It was easier than I thought, I found bins right out behind my apartment complex. I’ve dropped my recycling in the bins twice so far, and I feel bad that I didn’t do this in the past.

So that’s it! The next step is really quite major, but probably important. Taking the bus to work. I’m not a morning person, and this will require me to walk .7 miles (10 minutes? 15?) then bus for another 15-20 minutes, than another short .3 mile walk (5 minutes?). As opposed to getting in my car and taking maybe 15 minutes from doorstep to desk. It’ll save me a little bit of cash, but not enough to make the monetary value worth it. Anyway, busing to work is still on the “I’ll keep thinking about it” list. Perhaps I’ll try it for just a couple days a week and see how it goes.

I changed all my standard light bulbs to CFLs quite some time ago.  In fact, I moved 3 CFL bulbs with me from the Midwest to California!  They are expensive! When I bought myself a new floor lamp, I busted out something close to $10 to get a 3-way CFL bulb for my bedroom (I don’t have overhead lighting).

In an effort to improve my environmental impact in May, I decided to finish the job and replace my non-standard bulbs as well.  I figured some of my specialty bulbs would be a little costly, but I spent 20 minutes in home depot today staring at their light bulb selection.  Then I went home empty handed.

I have track lighting over my kitchen counter.  Three bulbs I’m attempting to replace are type PAR16 halogen flood lights, 60W each.  They are on a dimmer switch.  The track lighting piece that I screw the bulb into says I can only use the PAR16 type, so no substitutions allowed.  After much Googling, It seems like my only option might be a Par16 LED light, available for over $20 each, plus shipping.  I just don’t think that is reasonable.

I guess I’ll have to focus on the bathroom for my CFL efforts, unless anyone has any suggestions on a more energy efficient Par16 light for $10 or less.  Maybe instead of using all three lights, I could see how much light I have using just two of the 60W bulbs.

Two blogs I read recently mentioned organic shampoo, and SavingDiva has been talking about Lush in several posts. Being green is so hip these days!

I’m going to join in Fabulously Broke’s effort to get a little more eco-friendly this month. It is spring, time for everything to turn green, including me! I picked a good month for it, since my budget is slightly looser than normal, and there are some start up costs. Here are my action items for May:

Organic Shampoo: I’m already on the ball for this one. I’ve been using Purology, which is 100% vegan, but 100% expensive at about $25 a bottle. My last stylist talked me into it so I splurged. It is specifically for color treated hair, which I no longer intend to have, so I am going to explore other options. I do like this shampoo–it is nice to my hair and is highly concentrated so has lasted me a long time. In the past, I’ve used Bioloage, which you can get for a little less cash (but still about $15), which pretends to be green but I’m not sure that there aren’t chemicals. I’m assuming there is a whole slew of $10-ish organic shampoos I could find at the drug store, but I’m kind of itching to try Lush. It is about $10 for a bar of shampoo. I’m interested to know roughly how long I can expect that bar to last and how well they work. Have you tried it? Do you love it? If I don’t get positive reviews, I’ll try something less drastic and just get a bottle of regular organic shampoo. Of course, I need to use up my other shampoo/conditioner first, so maybe this won’t even happen until later…

Reusable Bags: I’ve been talking about buying some of these for months. Each time I’m at Trader Joe’s, I see them for just $0.99 and wonder if I should grab one. But I don’t. In May, I will take the plunge! Should I be frugal and just get some ninety-nine centers, or should I splurge on something like a Chico or Baggu bag, or something even more stylish?

Paper Towel Alternative: I love paper towels, but it just seems like I could minimize the use of them. Of course I could use a standard dish cloth, but has anyone found cloths that are simply more… paper towel like? I found this option online, but I’m open to suggestions of things you’ve actually tried. I don’t think I’d need something this specialized, but my standard dish cloths don’t satisfy me the same way.

409/Cleaner Alternative: I clean my counter with 409, which makes them white and shiny. Unfortunately I’m sure 409 has at least 409 different chemicals. Check out this list of different frugal and natural cleaners from Sarah Snow, who I admit I had never heard of until she was on “Jon and Kate Plus Eight.” Why do I have such lame TV tastes? Regardless, it looks like you can clean almost everything with vinegar and water, or make a all-purpose cleaner with borax and baking soda. (Hmm, what is borax?) I also will need to get some spay bottles to use, but making my own non-toxic cleaners shouldn’t be too hard. Also part of this effort is to clean the small spot on my wall. I’m not telling you what it is, because it is kind of gross (which is why I haven’t cleaned it yet), but seriously, I need to take care of it. Now.

Lights: My kitchen lights are on a dimmer switch and are really bright (which I like). I don’t know if there are available CFL/LED alternatives. The same applies to my bathroom lights. I’ve replaced all the standard light bulbs, but hesitated on these more unusual bulbs. I’m going to investigate my options for these bulbs.

Onto the finances! Shower products combine “green” with “beauty” and are the most fun to buy, I’m going to allow myself to splurge in that area a little bit and spend up to $40 in this category. I could also use some new make-up, but I’ll see how the rest of the month pans out. Reusable bags is a question mark–I could do this for less than $5, but may want to splurge up to $20. What do you think? Cleaning supplies and paper towel alternatives might cost up to $25 (I hope much less though) and will be much cheaper in the long run. The lights could be well over $20, but there may not be any reasonable alternatives. I’ll have to see. I allocated extra money to both the “Personal” fund and the “Misc” fund, so I’ll budget out of those categories.

The best way to be green is not by buying a bunch of green products, but by buying less crap in general. This is something I already am striving to do (for finance reasons), but these are some extra steps that I want to take. At least my consumer impulses will be channeled towards good products.

(P.S. - I finally stopped by American Apparel and really wasn’t impressed. The quality vs. price didn’t match up to my standars, but I guess when everything is organic and made in L.A., a cheap-seeming t-shirt will be $25. I expected the fabric to be softer and sturdier and NOT feel like I could have bought it at Walmart. My quest for yoga pants will continue, and if I’m patient, may end at overpriced but high quality Lululemon.)

I spent about 45 minutes the other evening contemplating life without my car. My car is not new. I own it outright, and is probably worth around $3000. I’m not a car person, I don’t love my car, nor do I hate it. It works. But what if I could do with out it? I decided to find out, what does owning my car cost me?

• Gas: $120/mo (estimated)
• Insurance: $90/mo
• Oil Changes: $15/mo (assuming every 3 months at about $45)
• Registration: $10/mo (assuming biannual smog check and licensing costs of about $130)
• Repairs: $40/mo (based on last years total of about $450 in misc repairs…)
• Total: $275/mo (I’m not including misc costs of “wear and tear” or depreciation of the car. I already paid for the car, it won’t really affect my cash flow.) Wow, that seems like a lot!

The next logical thing to calculate is, of course, what would the costs be if I didn’t own my car?

• For work, I could easily walk several blocks on each end to the bus stop and ride for half price through a work discount. Total cost? $15 each month.
• I looked into the option of a flexcar, which I probably would have to use occasionally for day trips or anything not accessible easily by public transportation. I assume I’d use at least $50 worth of it, which is one full day or 10 hours each month.
• My boyfriend lives about 7 miles away, which on the highway typically takes 15-20 minutes. In rush hour traffic, it takes about 45-50 minutes. To visit him, I could take the bus. He has taken the bus to my place before, and I think it is $1.50 each way. The major downside is that it takes an hour and a half in traffic, and probably 45 minutes at other times. Lets assume (conservatively) I’d take the bus two times a week. That is $6/week or $24/mo.

I think that would be the major dollar expenses. That only adds up to $89 each month, a savings of almost $200!!

However, what is holding me back is the time and convenience factor. Could I really live without my car? If I lived with (or really close to) my boyfriend, it would be more doable. Even then, I think it would take me an hour to get to/from work opposed to 15 minutes. Is an hour and a half each work day worth $13.75 each work day? It probably is. That doesn’t even include time saved visiting the boyfriend, getting groceries, or going pretty much anywhere.

I’ve been to Manhattan and I loved taking the Metro there. I lived in Hong Kong for awhile, which had the most amazing public transit system I’ve ever seen. I can do public transit. But in LA, the buses are slow, the trains just don’t go where I need them to, and everyone loves their cars. So for now, I’ll keep the car. However, I think I’ll try to cut back on unnecessary driving in hopes of reducing my gas budget.

People claim that CFL light bulbs save money. I just can’t convince myself of it, even though it is “common knowledge”. I buy them anyway, and feel happy (but skeptical) when I hear on the radio that replacing one CFL bulb is like taking some huge number of cars off the road. I bought a 3-way floor lamp, and the one 3-way CFL bulb was about $11. Yikes. Then I hear these are bad for the environment, because now we have all this mercury to dispose of.

The wastefulness of plastic bags bothers me, and I’ve been eying these Baggu reusable bags online. Or when I’m feeling frugal, the cheaper Chico bags. Both brands fit in your purse when not in use. Then I hear some plastic lobbyist (ok, so I don’t know his real job) claim that plastic bags are actually more environmentally friendly because they take so little energy/material to make. While I am skeptical, he does have a point–if I pay $22 for three reusable bags, how long do I have to use them before they offset their own manufacturing and shipping environmental impacts?

Then there is food. I don’t eat a lot of meat in the first place (I just don’t enjoy it too much) but am considering cutting back even more due to the environmental impacts of the meat industry. I’m sure not willing to spend the money to “go organic” with my food, but since I don’t even love meat, I could give it up. Maybe.  But which is cheaper, meat or meat substitutes? Besides beans and tuna (or is the tuna industry environmentally unfriendly as well), what are some frugal protein sources?

I also sort of want a Toyota Prius, but they are ridiculously expensive (to me), and you can worry about the environmental costs associated with manufacturing and disposing them as well. A Honda Fit is my “compromise” (in gray please), but even those aren’t cheap yet because they are too new.

Have you heard of co-housing? Check out this piece if you haven’t (I ♥ NPR). It sounds a little fabulous (to me), sort of like glorified apartment living. I actually looked into it when I was moving to LA, but the only things I found were not they type of thing Marketplace portrayed. More like, they were in bad neighborhoods and the “members”… well I didn’t understand how it worked. It wasn’t the same.

To bring a little more personal finance into this, I’d really like to invest in green initiatives. Not only because I think that it could pay off monetarily, but because it is something I believe in. Do people invest in that way anymore? But what if I choose something like ethanol, then people say it isn’t so environmentally friendly after all. It isn’t about “socially responsible” investing, or even just investing in companies that meet some environmental threshold. What I really want is a “green” index fund that invests in a whole bunch of companies that are doing research on ways to prevent (and adapt to) global warming. Is there a “Save the Earth” fund I can invest in?

It’s just all so confusing! I want to be green without spending more money. I want to trust that what I am doing really is helping. Then you hear that global warming can’t be stopped even if we quit all pollution today, and it is just discouraging. Why didn’t we do something bigger back when people first realized the harm we were doing?

I apologize for the depressing tone of this. Also, some of the things I linked to may be extremest or fringe views–I know that. It’s just… They make enough sense to cast some doubt.