So, on to step one.  When I say, “buy less,” you may be thinking “Those poor deprived people.”  Hardly!  I’ve bought myself way fancier clothes at the thrift store (can you say cashmere?) than I ever could buy new.   And why limit our purchasing of stuff, particularly new stuff?  Isn’t that stimulating the economy? This is a complex issue, to be sure.  To me, what it comes down to is that every time we spend money, we affirm something.  We either affirm the factory, industrial system that creates huge amounts of waste and pollution, a system that strip mines and rapes the earth and its peoples, or we don’t.  We can choose to make our own, use what’s already been created, or support the craft of a friend or neighbor (www.etsy.com is a great resource for handcrafted goods).

Mostly, here’s some glimpses of what this looks like in our life.  We’ve bought everything from draft horse harnessing to clothes to our car used.  There are some purchases we still make new – food, some farming equipment that can’t be found used (but we look first!), and this winter we upgraded from our old, cantankerous woodstove, and bought a new one, because we felt the newer efficient designs made it worth it.   My new favorite phrase, from Living Simply With Children (originally from the Great Depression) – Fix it Up, Wear it Out, Make Do, Do Without.

So, here we go:

Our beautiful shoes.  I’ve seen quite a few (beautiful) photos on blogs lately of people’s spiffy new shoes.  While beauty does count, how many shoes do we need?  How long do they last?  My shoes, on the left, have been worn almost every day for nearly three years.  (They’re El Naturalistas – not cheap, but they’ve far-outlasted any other shoe I’ve owned.)  Ben’s boots, on the right, were actually bought at Wal-Mart (ugh) long ago before we stopped shopping there.  That said, he’s worn them and worn them and worn them . .  . and he’s wearing them today.  All of Ella’s shoes have been hand-me-downs or thrift store buys, except for one pair made by a neighbor.

You may notice that many of the following photos have to do with used things we’ve gotten – but I do want to emphasize the do without part.  Here’s a quick list of things we do without:  a second car (more on this in a later post), a microwave, “labor-saving” gadgets at the bakery that take the skill and art and taste out of baking, a playpen, a baby monitor (we had one that broke about a year ago, and I never replaced it), a giant TV (we have a tiny screen that we use a few times a year, lately, we’ve used it to watch plowing videos, haha!), frequent expensive vacations, new furniture (our couch is the one Ben grew up with, for instance), daycare (we choose to take turns staying home with Ella, and sometimes bring her to the bakery – and we’ll continue to do this as she grows older; we do sometimes do a childcare swap with a friend).

Gorgeous antique crock for lacto-fermenting vegetables (remember those pickles we made?), bought at Kay Baker Antiques for less than it would cost for a new made-in-China version.  Yeah baby.

Cloth napkins, our basket of cleaning rags (more to come on this in the clean it green step), homemade soap from a friend.  Ever notice all the plastic packaging (not to mention the trees!) that comes with buying paper napkins, buying paper towels, buying personal care products like shampoo, shower gel, conditioner?  In our bathroom, you will find one bar of soap, made by our friend Bethany (who’s teaching me how this Monday – woo hoo!), and a jar of homemade toothpowder (baking soda, myrrh powder, and a drop of essential oil for flavor, we used peppermint).  That’s all, and we are as clean and lovely as ever.

A real handkerchief (way more beautiful and gentle way to blow your nose – these are easy and cheap to find, since most people no longer use them).  And above it, some homemade elderberry syrup.  One thing that may not occur to us to make for ourselves is medicine.  Did I just say medicine?  Yup, I did.  After becoming pregnant with our daughter, I started to think much more carefully about what we put in our bodies to “treat” illnesses.  I own a business that works against the industrial system, yet I was participating in the industrial pharmaceutical system without much question other than trying to generally avoid it.  The amount of drugs we consume in this country is staggering.  While we have a conventional doctor for ourselves and Ella, I think of them as the emergency backup.  (The same is true for our animals – we have a vet, but mostly treat the animals ourselves.)  For colds, flus, stomachaches, fevers, etc, we use medicinal foods, herbs, acupuncture (hooray for our local low-cost clinic, The People’s Acupuncture Clinic in Amherst), yoga, and massage.  Many of these are preventative treatments, designed to strengthen our basic health, and then to address specific needs as they arise.  We also believe that illness is a natural part of life, not something to be smothered or eradicated (this isn’t even possible).  One of the really amazing things about medicinal herbs and foods is – you can grow them yourself, and many of them are delicious!

Ella’s secondhand play kitchen, with sweet thrifted pitchers, and one of the many handmade sweaters I’ve found at the thrift store (yes, handmade).  Jen asked about plastic toys, which may be gifted or handed down to us – we do give them away to the thrift store.  I feel it’s very important to keep plastic out of our home and lives as much as humanly possible (this is very, very hard).  Especially with small children, I feel this is important because we are teaching them so much about the natural world and also about what our lives should be – do we want them to grow up accepting plastics as the way we live?  Do we want them wearing clothes and snuggling with toys that are plastic, or objects that carry life – wool, wood, ceramic. An added bonus of asking friends and family (and ourselves) not to buy plastic, is that real objects cost more.  Which means less stuff, which teaches us to treasure what we have, instead of having to wade through a pile of toys/clothes/junk to even find what we are looking for.  Also about toys – for the most part, we bring “toys” into our child’s  life that are actual tools, not toys.  A small broom, a small guitar that plays, balls, wool, art supplies, and some dolls/stuffed animals.  We try hard to limit the quantity, and what we do have, we rotate so there are only a few things out at a time, and we also do a toy swap with friends.

Missy the cat, made by my grandmother for me as a child, recently patched up for Ella to use.

I do want to say that one danger of thrifting is that things are so cheap it can be tempting to buy too much.  I try to remember Jefferson’s saying, Don’t buy what you don’t need just because it’s cheap.  So true.

Phew!  This turned out to be quite long, and I’m sure there’s still so much I haven’t covered.  Hopefully this gives you some ideas.  On my list of things to learn/improve upon: learn to darn socks, patch more clothes and wear them proudly, stop using sponges altogether and just use rags.

Some great book resources for the things I’ve talked about here:

Naturally Healthy Babies and Children, by Aviva Jill Romm

Living Simply with Children, by Marie Sherlock (not just for families with kids, a lot of these ideas apply to everyone)

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century by Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez, and Monique Tilford

Radical Simplicity by Jim Merkel

The Compact in SF – a group who committed to buying nothing new

Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule

The Good Life, by Scott and Helen Nearing

Sewing Green by Betz White

The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable by Juliette de Bairacli Levy

Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas by Bill McKibben

Colin Beavan’s Ten Steps, via Yes! MAgazine

And just in case you thought I was exaggerating about our crazy colored house – here you go.

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