Time to Decide If It’s a Staycation or Vacation Kind of Year
Mar 30, 2011 Environmentally Friendly
Spring break is coming right up, with summer not far behind. Both these events bring thoughts of taking a family vacation. Time to get somewhere and have some adventures as a family, break your usual routine and enjoy life a little.
A vacation is nice, certainly, but a staycation has its good points too.
Cost
Your typical staycation costs a lot less than a vacation. No airfare, no hotel room rentals, it’s pretty affordable. You decide exactly what you want to spend your money on.
Costs can add up, of course. While not the most eco friendly of options, you might choose to spend a day or so at a local theme park. Lots of fun, but they do add up.
You could stay a night or so in a nearby hotel if you really need to get out of the house, of course. Sleeping at home is not an absolute requirement, and it is nice to get out of the house for the night sometimes. You’ll still save by not traveling so far.
Camping is another option, especially if you want to enjoy the natural beauty in your area. It’s quite affordable, and if you love being out in nature, you can enjoy camping as well.
Learning About Your Local Area
Have you ever noticed that visitors sometimes know more about the neat stuff to do in your area than you do? Or that there’s some place nearby you always talk about going to, but never do? Your staycation is the time to turn things around.
Start with the things you keep not doing in your area. Check out the local historical sites and natural areas.
Next check with your local tourist information office and see what you didn’t even know you could do in your area. There’s always something, some sort of nearly secret area that you never heard of that sounds really great.
Trying New Restaurants
Why eat just the way you usually do at home on staycation? Skip the fast food places and try some of the restaurants in your area you’ve been curious about. You’d be doing a lot of eating out if you went off on vacation anyhow, why not try it more locally? You might find a new favorite.
What Not to Do On Staycation
Whatever you do, don’t tackle big projects around the house when you’re taking a staycation. Don’t decide that it’s time to organize the closets, paint the house, landscape the yard or anything like that. That would be taking days off to do things around the house, not taking a vacation. If you need to get that stuff done, dedicate some time to it but don’t say it’s a staycation.
The great part about taking a staycation is that you cut out some of the frustrations of vacations that require more travel. You aren’t spending hours or days getting to your destination. You don’t have to worry about if you’ve picked a good hotel or feel as though you have no options if you pick one that doesn’t work out. Just think about what you can do in your local area that will help you get the kind of relaxation you’d like from a vacation.
Tags: local vacation, staycation, travel
Are “Things” Getting in the Way of the Lifestyle You Really Want?
Oct 5, 2010 Environmentally Friendly
It’s easy to want a lot of things these days, easy to have a lot of things too. The things many people consider to be normal parts of a normal life now weren’t a part of life not so very long ago. Yet these things can all but take control of your life, leaving you feeling as though you don’t have time for the things that really matter to you.
That’s why simplifying your life is such a good idea. It gives you more time for the things that really matter to you.
What Do You Enjoy?
The first thing you need to do is figure out what it is that you do enjoy in life. That’s going to be different for each of us. It might be more time with family, more time to read, more time to do things outdoors, even more time for work you really love. It’s a matter of personal priorities.
You want to focus here on the things you enjoy doing that you really could do if you just had more time, not just the things you dream about. Dreams are wonderful, but the focus here is on things you could be doing in a short period of time. That’s not always possible with dreams.
What’s in Your Way?
So, what’s stopping you from doing the things you enjoy? What changes can you make in your lifestyle so that you can enjoy your life more?
Some things, of course, you won’t want to give up. Some things you shouldn’t give up. But possessions that distract you from the things you’d really love to do are perfect. Get rid of those things that are keeping you from the lifestyle you want.
This could be electronic gadgets that you enjoy playing with, but take up the time you know you could be spending on simpler pleasures. These may be things you enjoy more when you get around to them, but the ease of electronic entertainment makes you forget about them.
This could be clutter around your home, that makes caring for your home take more time. All that stuff you’ve been meaning to get rid of… get rid of it.
Cutting back on excess things in your life means you don’t have to pay for electricity to run them. You don’t have to keep them clean anymore. You don’t need space to store them. Get them gone and you gain some space at the very least. You might even get some money if it was something worth selling.
Think of the Environment
Another point to consider is the environmental impact of all the things that are so easy to acquire. Are they really worth it? Do yo give much thought to the impact these things have on the environment simply from their creation?
This is a time to remind yourself why you want a simpler life. It’s better for the environment and it’s more meaningful to you. You get something that means something to you when you simplify, whether it’s a chance to hike through amazing natural areas or growing your own garden or enjoying some other hobby.
These are things that matter to you. They’re things you can teach your children as they get older. They’re things you’ll be glad to remember later on, rather than just recalling nights spent in front of the television.
What things are in your way?
Tags: lifestyle, priorities, simple living, simplicity, things
Have You Added the 4th R to Your Thinking?
Oct 4, 2010 Environmentally Friendly
Anyone concerned about the environment knows the 3 Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But there’s a 4th R, and it goes in front of the rest. It’s related to Reducing, but may be a stronger reminder that you should be cutting back on what you buy.
It’s Refuse.
Refuse that plastic bag to carry your purchases. Refuse single use containers. Refuse unnecessary packaging whenever possible.
This isn’t easy to do in some ways. Packaging isn’t something you have much control over in some ways. Dodging that plastic bag when you shop by bringing your own reusable bags is easy, drinking water from a reusable bottle is easy once you build the habit, but actual product packaging you have only a little control over.
Even if you just do the easy things, you’re making a difference. Millions of water bottles are thrown out every year by Americans. Use your reusable bottle and help others to see how much fun it is to have your own bottle. It’s not all that inconvenient, after all, and the savings versus buying single serve, single use bottles comes quickly.
Pack your reusable bags in your trunk or someplace else where you’ll actually remember to bring them every time you go shopping, not just at the grocery store, but anywhere you shop.
The most challenging part is refusing to buy things that are overpackaged. It’s the area you have the least control over.
Some things you can buy online with less packaging, such as those products available with Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging
When you’re stuck with packaging, think about what can be done to reuse it before you send it for recycling. Anything biodegradable can go in the compost pile. Some packaging materials can be used in crafts or to store other things you already own.
You can also avoid excess packaging by buying in bulk when possible. Buy concentrates and refills when they’re available. This is a habit that can save you money as well as reduce waste.
In general, we need to think when we shop. It’s not just what we buy, it’s how we buy it. Think about what you really need, consider the packaging, consider how you’re going to bring it home and try to make the best decision for your situation. You can make a difference by showing that you care how things are packaged and using less single use packaging whenever possible.
Tags: 3 Rs, 4Rs, packaging, plastic bags, recycle, reduce, refuse, reusable bags, reuse
Is Working at Home or Shopping Online Really the Most Eco Friendly Option?
Sep 22, 2010 Environmentally Friendly, Working at Home
A part of what I love about working at home is that it’s so eco friendly. I don’t have to drive to work. Most days I don’t drive anywhere, in fact. I use some electricity around the house, but I don’t think it’s all that much.
I also enjoy shopping online when it’s practical. I don’t do much of that, as most of the shopping I do in general is for groceries. I don’t buy a lot of things, and so I don’t often have something that I can buy online.
I found this press release claiming that it’s less eco friendly to work at home or shop online very interesting. Very much so counter intuitive, and I can’t say that I entirely agree with it, even though I don’t have numbers to back me up.
Some of the trouble is that it’s hard to tell where all of the data comes from. Are they considering all factors well enough?
From the press release:
The research reveals that people who shop online must order more than 25 items otherwise the impact on the environment is likely to be worse than traditional shopping.
It also highlights that working from home can increase home energy use by as much as 30 per cent, and can lead to people moving further from the workplace, stretching urban sprawl and increasing pollution
A part of the challenge is that it doesn’t say how they’re assuming the shopping is done or how they’re calculating the carbon cost of the shipping. I hope the full report does that. It’s hard to calculate, especially when you consider that much of the carbon cost of getting a package shipped to your home would happen whether or not you bought something. That cargo plane is still going to fly, that delivery truck is very likely to go through your neighborhood to deliver a package to someone else. These aren’t things that can easily be accounted for.
On the other hand, if you’re using public transportation to go shopping, the same could be said of the carbon cost of that shopping trip. It’s near enough there either way.
The working at home bit can be really tricky. As I own my own business, of course it’s more eco friendly to run it from home. I don’t need an entirely separate office, and I don’t have any transportation costs. My computer and so forth are things I would own anyhow. I live where I do so that my husband can get to his job.
But if you’re working for someone else, there are more variables to consider. Do they have office space available for those who work part of the time at home and part at the office? Are all their workers spread out? Does this, as the report suggests, encourage them to live further from urban areas?
I have a sister who works for an entirely virtual company. They don’t have offices, and their employees are spread out across the United States. Are they more or less energy efficient than one that requires all their employees to work in offices? I know their costs are significantly less than companies that pay for office space. Is it more eco friendly? I don’t know.
The trouble with this kind of report is that the right answer is extremely variable. It depends on where you live, what you’re buying, and so forth. I don’t think there is one right answer, although anything that makes us rethink our assumptions isn’t an entirely bad thing.
Tags: eco friendly choices, green lifestyle, online shopping, what's green?, work at home
Some of the Best Things in Life Are Green
Sep 14, 2010 Environmentally Friendly
You’ve heard the saying “the best things in life are free.” It’s true enough, although not everyone will perfectly agree with that sentiment. Now if you start listing the things in your life you most look forward to doing, you may find that not only are many free or very cheap, they’re pretty eco friendly.
In my life, a big thing is playing with my kids. We can walk to the playground and they’ll have fun there for as long as I care to stay. It’s usually sad to leave. Free to do as well as green.
Better yet are hiking trips. We love getting out in nature as a family. There’s a small cost in terms of driving to a good hiking spot, but from there it’s quite reasonable and helps to build an appreciation for nature in my children, and it’s quite relaxing for me… so long as all the kids stay more or less in sight. It will be more relaxing once my toddler quits deciding that running off in random directions is the way to go.
Thinking about the free and eco friendly things you can do in your life can help you to cut down on the amount you spend on entertainment. You may find that you don’t really need to spend money to have a good time.
You can spend time with your family using things you already own, and I don’t mean the television or computer. Try some of the board games you already own, play tag or just goof off together.
You can read a book. You can get a new book from the library if the ones you already own aren’t inspiring you.
You can work on a hobby that you already have the supplies for. If you tend to go overboard on supplies, you could even go through and figure out something to do with the excess.
Start a new, eco friendly hobby. You may find that you love organic gardening, for example or making recycled crafts.
You can watch a sunset.
You can look into the free activities available in your local area. Most communities have resources to help you find activities online.
If you think there isn’t much you enjoy doing for free, start a list. Get a good start on it, and add to it over time. Use it as a resource when you need something to do. It may help keep you from spending money out of sheer boredom.
