Waste Not, Want Not

How often do you have trash pick up scheduled? How often do you take your trash to the curb? Most people have weekly pickup, and the overflowing bins are a testament to our lack of concern over our waste. A fast food meal (say a salad, sandwich, side and drink) makes a lot of trash: a clam shell, small salad dressing containers, plastic knife and fork, utensil wrapper, sandwich paper, chip bag, napkins, packets of mayo or other condiments, a large plastic soda cup, lid, straw, straw wrapper and the big paper bag that wraps it all. Then we have all of our individually packaged foods that make portion control easy: pudding cups, small bags of chips, 100 calorie packs, individual candies, cans of soda, juice pouches, microwave meals. No wonder our trash bins are overflowing by the time the truck comes.


My family used to produce lots of garbage, but some small changes have aided us greatly. These tips can help you reduce your impact on the world, and on your bottom line.

Control your meals out. Fast food means lots of trash, and not just on the consumer end. The restaurant produces a lot. I was once a food prepper. My job entailed taking bags of meat out of a cardboard box and throwing away the box. Then taking the meat out of the plastic bags and throwing the plastic bags into a plastic garbage bag. Then I would slice the meat and weight it out. I would take these measured portions and place them into more plastic bags, these tiny portion sized bags. Then when the food was made, the meat was taken out of the plastic bags and the plastic bags were thrown into another plastic garbage bag. The meat was then prepared into a meal and that was placed in the aforementioned packaging for the consumer. It drove me nuts.

To cut back on this waste, bring your own containers to go (if they will allow you to) or eat in. Ask that nothing be put on the side, as this will mean more tiny plastic cups or pouches. Bring your own utensils, cloth napkins, coffee sleeve and even coffee travel mug or cold drink container. Bring your own tote bag and place the individually wrapped packages straight into it, eliminating the use of another paper bag. You can also bring your plastic soda cups, coffee cups or coffee sleeves to reuse next time.

Plan for less waste.. I have tiny trash cans all over my house, rather than one large one. This is convenient for me as I don't have to cross the house to throw something away, and also helps me control waste. I don't want to run trash out a few times a day, so I adjust my waste accordingly. I use plastic shopping bags (from the times I forget a tote bag or from friends) as liners. I keep tote bags in my truck, so I have them on me. Sometimes I still use a plastic bag or two, but not usually. I also try to keep a couple of coffee mugs in the truck for spontaneous coffee dates with Trucker.

Reuse everything. When buying tomato sauce, I opt for a glass jar rather than a plastic container. I use these to store bulk purchased foods (which in themselves save on packaging). Plastic bags are used for trash can liners. I have even made a crocheted shopping bag out of strips of plastic bags. I save scraps of yarn from many projects for my scrapghan (another article). Old jeans are cut into squares for a quilt.

Fix stuff rather than throw it away. A bit of glue, duct tape or a new part can save your chair, broom, shoes or stroller. Thread and a bit of time can fix a hole in your sock or a add a patch to a pair of jeans. A dryer or refrigerator that are running poorly, may not need to be replaced at all. Maybe there's just a bunch of dust and dryer lint stuck to the back. Vacuum it out and see what happens. I can't tell you how many times I have super-glued the soles of my shoes back on and gotten another month's wear out of them.

Reduce food waste. American's throw away around 14% of the food they buy. Since a family of four will typically spend $700-900 on food, we're talking about throwing away $98-126 a month, or $840-1512 a year. Eat leftovers. Make Trash Chili (saving scraps of ground meat, beans, pasta, tomatoes, onions until you have enough for a big pot).  Boil chicken bones with some seasoning and veggies scraps (carrot and potato peelings, onion skins) for homemade, low-sodium chicken broth. If you can't eat it all before it goes bad, freeze it (Chicken, peppers, zucchini).

The result: I take my trash can to the street twice a month. Even then, it is more to control the smell (of say, chicken bones) than because it is full. I also save money by using trash to replace things I would usually buy (storage containers, fabric, yarn, garbage bags).


Featured Post on:



Post shared on:

Penny Pinching Party

Finding Worth Beyond Money

Whenever I talk with people about frugal living, anticonsumerism or self sufficiency, it seems that they can't quite understand how it's possible to be happy in that life. They can't understand what they should do with the money they aren't spending, or how someone could give up a high paying job to voluntarily live in on the lower end of the income spectrum.

We don't know how to be worthwhile by ourselves. Our advertisers have told us that the way to get laid is to drive a luxury car or to spritz the right cologne on our necks. Our parents told us the way to make it was to get a good education and then a high paying job. Our employers expect us to work hard so we can climb that ladder or at the very least, spend every waking moment striving for it. Where does that leave us? It leaves us thinking that we aren't complete until we buy something, earn more, or have more power. It leaves us insecure in ourselves and creates a void that we can never fill.


Is it any wonder that we work more hours even if we hate our jobs? We want to be seen as strong workers.
Is it any wonder we have to see a movie the day it comes out? We'd hate to be seen as out of the loop.
It it any wonder we wear designer clothes? We'd hate that cutie we're chatting up to think us frumpy.
It is any wonder we have to watch the latest TV drama? What else could there be to talk about?

As Tyler Durden said: "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis"

So what are you? A loyal friend? A passionate lover? A fun parent? A caring heart?

If you make $100,000 a year, you are not worth 5 times what you were when you made $20,000.

Happy living.

Lifestyles Beyond Money

The American Dream costs money. You have get married (average wedding cost: $28,000), have a few kids (average cost to raise a child to 18: $222,360), buy a nice house (average sale price in 2010: $272,900), work a full time job (average hours worked a week 35) until you are too old to be useful, when you die alone in a nursing home (average cost per year: $70,008). Yuck.

Fortunately, there are lifestyles beyond the American Dream model. These lifestyles are more suited to your own reality, fantasy or desire. They may require money, or they may not, or they may require less than the average family. You can work as little as you want, or for as little money as you want. You can take seasons off, or work from home. It all comes down to what you want out of your life.

Self Sufficiency. The self sufficient lifestyle is when you produce everything you need, from food to clothing to transportation. You do not need a job to survive. Potentially, your only expense would be property tax. The money needed to pay the taxes can be quite low depending on house and location, and could be paid with interest income, or odd jobs. 


Self Reliance. Short of complete self sufficiency, is a lifestyle of ever increasing self reliance. You produce some of your needs, while still holding some form of job (or while living off other forms of income, such as investment earnings, or retirement payments) to pay for others. Perhaps you could produce all of your energy needs through solar panels, all of your food through gardening. This is easier than complete self sufficiency and very rewarding as you can simply look for ways to eliminate those expenses you despise.

Anti-consumerism/Freeganism. Anti-consumerism entails bucking the current consumer model of constant need. You realize that you don't need stuff and eliminate mindless consumerism from your life. You pay only for needs and instead of shopping, turn to the free pleasures of life: family, friends, community, self enrichment. You capitalize on the wanton waste of our society by diving dumpsters, shopping curbs, or scraping plates.

Frugal Living. Cutting expenses is a tried-and-true method of living on less income. You find ways to save money and reduce expenses. You cut the expenses as far as you can before you start to lose quality of life. For example, if you used to have full cable, frugal living would call for cutting back on the channels, then eliminating cable opting for renting movies, then checking movies out from the library, then throwing away the TV. Other options in frugal living are extreme couponing, thrift shopping, cooking at home, and single car living.

Nomadic living. You eschew the traditions of house and home and find yourself on the road. You may live in your car, or a hotel, or in a park. You can try out new cities and small towns. If you feel happiest when traveling, this lifestyle can be the way to live every day like it's the first day of vacation. You can work odd jobs when you need money or work freelance.


Independently wealthy. This requires money, and a lot of it, but may free you from needing a job. You combine extreme frugality with working many hours at a high paying job. You aim to live on as little money as possible and bank every penny. After a relatively short period of time, your investments will build to a substantial amount. Once the interest you earn is enough to live on, you quit your job. As long as your investments hold out, you'll never have to work again a day in your life. 

Simple Living. Living can be simple. You need air, good food, good water, shelter, personal enrichment and love. Everything else can be done without. You look for ways to simplify every area of your life. You have no clutter and little stress. You set up automatic payments for all bills and avoid unnecessary business. You spend time relaxing or spending time with family. This is a great way to live if you are retired, or have children you want to watch grow up.


There are other niche lifestyles that I will touch on in other posts. You can live car free preferring to transport by foot, bike or public transportation. Environmental responsibility calls for ethical and safe products, and an elimination of waste. You could eliminate all use of plastics, or implement a religious adherence to the three R's. Vegetarianism/Veganism puts your ethics to work while potentially saving you big bucks. Locavores eat only locally produced food and keep all (or at least most) of their money in the community. Self employment gives you control of your earnings, your hours worked and your moral integrity.Volunteer poverty allows you to live in solidarity with those who do not have the opportunities to climb the economic ladder. Holistic living means living outside the 21st century concept of medicine and health, opting instead for herbal remedies, nutrition, exercise and natural products.

You can incorporate bits and pieces of all of these concepts to make your life what you want it to be. I produce some of my own food, and wildcraft for even more. I own a car, but walk or bike as often as I can. I cut expenses in many areas of my life, and dumpster dive often. I eat little meat and hate to shop. What all of this means practically, is that my life is mine. Trucker (my significant other) was able to spend the last two years getting his business off the ground, while I work four days a week in a lower income job that I love. I have time to spend with him, and have all of the things I want, most of which are intangible. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Live happy!

Introduction to A Life Beyond Money

Welcome to A Life Beyond Money. My goal with this blog is to share my experiences in a new way of living. Most of the world is controlled by money and the process of attaining it. Most people are called consumers, but are, in fact, themselves being consumed.  Most of the world runs on gasoline. Most people hate their jobs.

Until a few years ago, I was one of them. I worked in finance and hated it. Then I worked in retail and hated it. I had stuff and spent a great deal of time shopping but was not happy. I've worked many jobs, always with the hopes of someday making enough money to buy my own happiness from Big Box Stores (BBS), but the price was always too high.

Today, I am but a lowly baker. I make dramatically less money now than if I had stuck with the obvious choice of career, but I like it.

I used to eat fast food because it was, well, fast. Today I eat amazing meals. I used to buy lots of stuff that ended up just filling my home until I could barely move. Today I have small collections of books that I read over and over, of music that I love to sing with, and of yarn to make lots of gifts for friends and family. I used to shop for stuff at the Evil Place (BBS). Now I acquire things I need from friends, yard sales, thrift stores, craigslist, bartering, dumpsters, antique stores and of my own creation.

There is a life beyond money. There is a way to live in which the contents of your wallet have little effect on your quality of life. Your life is not owned by your neighbors, your employer, your government, or the corporate giants. It is yours to make what you want.

I hope to show you a way to  get out of the loop of want stuff>work long hours>buy stuff>need more. You'll find tips to cut back on waste, cut expenses, eat good food, entertain yourself and all sorts of strange pastimes. Whether you are interested in frugal living, self sufficiency, simple living, anti-consumerism, self employment, environmental responsibility or just a less stressful life, I'm sure you'll find something useful.

Happy living.