To wrap up the series Misconceptions About Frugal Living, I thought I’d touch on the misconception that all frugal people are hippies. Not hippies in the free love, peace/love/happiness and ying yang sense. More like green living, touchy feely earth lovers. Is this true? Are frugal people more in touch with their green side?
First some background. I have cloth diapered my babies. I rarely buy commercial cleaning supplies and instead opt for vinegar and water for most cleaning duties. I hate how many paper towels my husband uses on a regular basis. I am not a fan of watering the lawn because I’d rather nature take care of that. If I can buy something reuseable instead of one time use I generally (not all the time though!) go for the reuseable option.
I do not consider myself green though. I’d love to be more green, but honestly the reason I do most of those things isn’t because of a deep passionate love of the earth. That’s certainly appealing to me (I’m not a total piece of trash! Pun totally intended), but if I said that was my primary motivation I’d be lying.
I am a hippie because I am frugal, and not the other way around.
This is also why we don’t buy organic, it’s just too much money and I’m not passionate enough about it to cough up the extra change.
Now if I’m confronted with 2 options and the cost difference is not a factor, I do tend to go for the greener option.
I’m not sure if I’d consider this a true misconception though. I think that green living and simplicity tends to be more of a byproduct of frugality then the driving influence. At least in my case. I know many green living folks who by no means could ever be considered frugal and vice versa.
I am curious what you think though? Are you more of a “hippy” because you are frugal? Or are you a hippy and that makes you a bit frugal? Talk to me in the comments.
I read in The Tightwad Gazzette back in the 90’s that being frugal and being environmentally aware overlap about 90% of the time. I started this journey to save money but I love the fringe benefit of helping my environment. It’s a win-win situation.
Interesting, I’ve never read that. A worthwhile read you think? I might check it out.
A very worthwhile read. This woman took frugality to new heights. I still have mine and re-read it regularly to refresh my memory of ways to cut corners and save money through creativity, etc.
You really should read it. Amy Dacyczyn is definitely more frugal than I am, but it will motivate you and give you some good ideas. I was just thinking about this book the other day and thinking that I should read it again.
Hi, Heather. I’ve checked here a couple time today because you linked to our Frugal Tuesday Tip blog hop. I am sorry that none of us were clear in our rules of the road. This is first our time hostessesing a blog hop and we really want a permalink. Because you have more than one post today, I am left wondering which one you wanted to link up. Please choose ONE post and copy and paste its url (permalink), not your home page. Please change this by Wed. at noon CST. We’ll make sure the rules are clearer in the future. Thank you.
Sorry about that. You can go ahead and delete my link. I thought I linked directly to this post.
Hey! Just replying back from the chalkboard paint idea! I’m pretty sure it cost about $10-20 depending how large of a size container you want. They also make chalkboard aerosol spray cans too which are cheaper, but you don’t get nearly as much!
Wow, that’s kind of pricey! I guess if it stretches a long way though it’s a good deal!
I absolutely think that being frugal and being green go hand-in-hand much of the time.
However, I’ll admit that I am not always very cost-driven. I try to make a lot of choices based on my environmental views though, and have been happy to see that they are often (not always!) the lower cost choice overall. We did choose to cloth diaper based on both the green-ness of it and the wallet-friendly aspect.
Jamie, that’s interesting. I know it’s pretty trendy to be green now, but the prices for green products seem so high to me. Maybe because I DIY so much stuff I don’t have a realistic idea of how much this stuff should cost?
Cloth diapers definitely are a lower cost alternative and VERY green in comparison to disposables, no doubt about that! (well unless you are one of those people who buys a new diaper once a week, LOL)
My mother mentioned that being green or being frugal wasn’t a consideration most of the time. It was simply what her family had access to. They gardened because there weren’t mega-grocery stores on every corner, they mended clothes because mall shopping wasn’t a national pasttime yet and there just wasn’t a formula for every miconiche in housecleaning.