This weekend I had a chance to read The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome – Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream by John F. Wasik.

It was a timely read as it has much to so with the current economic situation and what got us here but it is short on political blame and deals more with the attitudes and ideals that have permeated within the American mindset and how that has caused a lot of trouble for us.

It talks quite a bit in the early chapters about the housing bubble and it was incredibly interesting. Especially since I was living in Arizona during the boom and I saw first hand how completely outrageous it was. We wanted to buy a new tract home in Phoenix during the boom but thank goodness we had enough common sense to recognize how unsustainable the market was.  To get a house at the time you had to put your name in a lottery drawing. Every week the builders would draw 5- 10 names and those people would get houses. Our names were not getting picked right away and every week that your name was not picked the price went up about $10,000-$20,000 dollars. In the end this meant that many people were paying $50-$100,000 or more than some of their neighbors for the exact same home model. My husband and I refused to play that game.

The people who got the houses for the initial price were elated because now they were told their homes had went up in value by $100 grand in the first year alone but that did not make sense to me. Instead of thinking their homes were going up they should have just realized that their neighbors paid way to much. Some of them sold right away and did manage to make a good amount of money but we all know how the story ended for most of the country… the bubble burst big time.

In Phoenix people started losing their homes left and right because they couldn’t refinance the bad interest rates they got in their hurry to buy a house. They found that they owed more on their house then it was worth.

Another issue that is highlighted in the book is that few people could even afford to buy these upgraded homes. Instead of being content to see a marble floor at a bank or a museum the average Joe decided he need marble in his bathroom. What changed the American mindset that hard work and time was no longer needed to secure what you wanted? When and why did we decide that we all deserved luxury home regardless of income or circumstances? Remember the story of the immigrant crop picker with an annual income of 15K who managed to get a home for $720K?? The American Dream has morphed into something reckless and dangerous and something VERY unsustainable.

It seems we have gotten too big for our britches and classify what used to be “wants” as “needs”. We somehow “need” a big house, a nice car or two, big screen TVs, our kids attending private schools or the ones in the best areas (which require high property taxes to sustain them), and all the luxuries life has to offer. We don’t save and we don’t delay gratification anymore. We want it all now. This coupled with the fixed costs we obligate ourselves too as outlined in The Two Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke is why we are in the situation we are today.

Of course is not to say that greedy corporations and banks as well as lax government oversight are not equally responsible for this mess… it is just that greedy corporations and banks only capitalized on a trend they saw. They couldn’t make people behave recklessly if they didn’t want to ya know?

So, what is the solution? Well, this book outlines a need for a move to New Urbanism to prevent suburban sprawl. You cannot change people but we can change the way cities are designed and the way homes and cities are built. We can make cities more walkable and less drivable instead of the reverse. There are also numerous other ideas that I felt were awesome.

One of the ideas in the book is to un-link property taxes and local development to school funding. By making schools rely on local, state, and federal funding that would effectively keep people from moving further away from central cities to suburban areas where housing costs give schools mammoth budgets. If everyone is on an even playing field the schools would then be forced to be responsible with the money they get AND it would keep people in cities. Cities are greener and cheaper.

Other ideas include spending more money on transportation and infrastutcture instead of sprawl. Creating communities that seek to be self sufficient and even generate their own energy. Funding a smart grid, trim real estate tax breaks, create private incentives for affordable housing, and heck yes… give the citizens of this country universal healthcare. I am a BIG supporter of that. I want to stop seeing hard working families go bankrupt because of health issues and greedy insurance companies. And for the economic conservatives it has ideas for what we can cut to defray costs for what we need to spend. Although I would not classify this book as liberal or conservative… I just know some people’s hair stands on end when they hear talk about government spending.

It is a good book with lots of good ideas. If you like books on economics and new urbanism then check this one out. Also if it interests you, make sure to stop by the blog of my friend Sharon at New Urban Mom who has been involved with promoting new urbanism for years.

Welcome back! Remember to subscribe to my RSS feed. You can also subscribe via RSS reader or email (right). Thanks for visiting!

Yesterday I was driving to pick my son up from school and I was sitting at a light behind an aging, maroon colored car. I could see from their temporary plates and dealer plate holder that they had just bought the car and at that moment I realized that I have changed so much on this green journey of mine. I have always been something of a car snob I guess. I liked new cars with that new car smell and every car I have had was fresh from the factory with that stylish car payment that says “I am so successful that I can afford to waste money on something that will depreciate significantly just by driving it off the lot.”

It only took about a year before I was upside down on car worth versus loan amount still due but hey it was a NEW car. When the car started to look not so new it was time to trade in and when I got married of course both hubby and I both had to have our own cars. Then we started trying to live with a lighter eco footprint and we bought a used vehicle. About two years after that we decided we needed something with better gas mileage even if meant downgrading to a car once again… like we had pre-kids.

Since hubby’s vehicle was a company owned 18 wheeler I got to choose my new-to-me car and I chose the one above. It was an 8 year old car in great condition with only 40,000 miles. It had a sun roof, a remote starter, lots of trunk space, and it cost half of what I would usually spend on a new car. I did initially get a loan on it but I paid it off after only a couple months. I love this car and I plan to keep it until it tanks out on me. Just this week I had to put out $500 for a new tie rod, internal maintenance, and four new tires but considering I have no car payment and good gas mileage I am happy as a clam…I just passed 100,000 miles.

When I saw that rather ugly maroon car in front of me yesterday my first thought was COOL. I wondered if it ran well and how many miles it had. I realized that I now have a used car mentality. Gone are the days when I see a new car and get a twinge of jealousy. Now I just smile to myself and remember that I have a car that meets my needs and no car payment. I am not throwing away my money on bank interest and by buying used I am recycling. That feeling is so liberating I can’t even describe it.

Another good feeling comes from deciding to only have one vehicle. When my hubby quit his trucking job we had a little problem…two people, one car. But we really didn’t want to buy another car so we found some work arounds. Hubby got a night job so we both had the car when we needed it. I found that at first I was irritated about not having a car from 4:30 PM to 8:00 the next morning but quickly I realized that it was saving me money. I stopped making quick shopping trips to pick up “one” item that quickly turned into a shopping cart full of crap I didn’t need. I also couldn’t get lazy and decide to take the kids out to eat if I didn’t feel like making food. It turned out to be a blessing.

But then the economy tanked and my hubby was switched to day shifts. This was very bad for us since we now had two children in two different schools that did not have bus service. It wasn’t feasible to drive my husband to work since I would have to get the kids up at 4:30 in the morning so they could ride along. We were going to be forced to buy a new car and I was really bummed. But we got creative and borrowed a car for 3-4 days a week until he got switched back to the night shift (this week). I did end up buying a used motorcyle as a backup for good weather days too. The gas mileage on it will be a big money saver for us in the summer months. 

At some point we may decide to become a two car household again but I am confident that we will do it only if it becomes necessary and not because it is merely convenient. I am also confident that we will not get sucked back into the new car consumer trap until the time comes when green car technology really does make a new car the more eco friendly option. As it is now, it is just more eco friendly to buy used.

But it is very nice to catch yourself mid thought and realize…I am not the same person anymore… in a good way.

TGIF! Have an awesome weekend everyone!

This week I have been consumed with frugality and saving money. Why? Well, I have never been what I would consider money-wise. But green living and my move toward simple living has really helped reform me. Now I am enjoying cutting expenses and getting great pleasure out of knowing we are not “wasting” money.

A couple months ago my husband and I joined a rewards program through our bank. It cost $25 to join and I had my doubts but I wanted to give it a try. It required us to use the “credit” feature on our bank card as much as possible because debits using our pin number would not qualify. Well, I am about to cash in on my second $25 Amazon.com gift certificate through this program so it is a HUGE success in my book. I have doubled my money after only three months. I think the fact that we pay almost all our bills online with a debit card helps.

Which reminds me… I am REALLY impressed with the new ATM machines that Chase is using. They are very green! You no longer need envelopes or deposit slips to make a deposit at the ATM. It scans the cash or the check(s) and then if you deposited a check a little image of it prints out on the receipt. I usually decline the receipts but this I had to see. It is so COOL! Way to go banks for cutting needless costs and paper!

This week I decided I wanted to whittle my cable bill. I cancelled three premium channels saving about $35.00 a month. I did decide to keep HBO though. I can’t be without Big Love and True Blood. I also dropped one of the features of my high speed Internet that I was not using for more monthly savings. I would have cancelled my land line phone entirely since we don’t use it and only got it because the Internet required it. But alas they won’t let me cancel the phone without entering a new contract for Internet service. Since we are moving that could be a bad idea. They also increase the price of the Internet to defray the costs of losing a phone customer so it wasn’t that big of a savings after all was said and done.

I joined a local co-op this week that will enable me to buy bulk food at lower prices than what I could buy in stores. We will be getting bulk nuts and seeds, dried fruit, cocoa butter, agave nectar, and sea veggies at really good prices. They have lots of other stuff too but those are the main things I am interested in. We will be ordering almost a 100 pounds of raw nuts and seeds for our first go round and in the long run we will be saving big time.

I have my calendar marked with upcoming auction dates and garage sales so that I can start looking for some furniture we need… dressers, King size headboard, etc. This will keep me from making a trip to Ikea in Cincinnati. It just might take me longer to find what I need.

I cancelled my husband’s Sirius Satellite radio since we have a few hundred songs on our iTunes account and a hefty gift certificate balance. There is no reason why we need to waste money on satellite radio….especially since his commute will be cut to 10-15 minutes a day after we move.

I am also designing a spreadsheet so we can track every penny we spend. We need that monthly slap in the face I think. But overall I am happy that we are managing to save money already and it goes immediately to our emergency fund so we are not tempted to find something else silly to spend it on. This is actually kind of fun… a challenge.

In keeping with the theme of this post I wanted to keep the link love relevant to saving money and being thrifty.

Just this week I found a site called Shortcuts. The concept is really awesome. Instead of clipping paper coupons you select digital coupons and transfer them to your grocery store rewards card. Then when you go to the store and buy that product the coupon is used automatically and the number amount deducted from your total bill. How cool is that???

Right now the service only works with the Kroger/Frys family of stores but they will be adding more. I rarely use coupons because they are almost always for processed foods we don’t eat but I am hopeful. It is another cool paperless feature at any rate. Also, you can use digital coupons with Upromise. Upromise is a college savings program where your purchases earn cash back that goes into an account for your kids. I have been a member for years and thought this was a nifty way to save for college if you don’t need the money back.

And while I am on the subject of coupons I saw this nifty coupon organizer the other day called the Couponizer. It is REALLY cool. Basically it is a binder with pockets for each category of purchases… toiletries, canned foods, frozen foods, etc. It has a CoupStacker – presorting mat  that allows you to quickly figure out where the coupons go, a CoupTracker for recording monthly savings and even a carrying bag and scissors. It is also small enough to fit under a car seat, in the door of car, or in the glove box. My mom used to carry around a shoe box with index cards…she would have been in heaven had this been around! I guess it sold out on QVC in 7 minutes when it was debuted there.

Have a great weekend all!!

“We are lovers of beauty without extravagance” – Thucydides

I read this amazingly simple and heartwarming quote from a book this weekend. The book is Frugal Luxuries – Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul by Tracey McBride and I really, really, really, can’t say enough good things about it. The idea behind the book is to show us how being frugal and simple in our taste is really an art form. It has nothing to do with being miserly or being a cheapskate and everything to do with living well, even luxuriously, on less. It is about making do with what we have and finding joy in all the simple pleasures of life, being a lover of beauty without the extravagance.

A mental image from one of the chapters has always stuck with since I first read this book over a year ago. It talked about a family living in an abandoned wood shack. A group of charity workers heard someone was living in it and decided to stop by and leave food for the family. When they went inside they were stunned by what they saw. The wood floor was scrubbed until it gleamed and was covered with wood wax. A fire was burning in an old river rock fireplace and on the hearth sat a pot of simmering apples and cinnamon that made the place smell divine. A spool discarded by the cable company served as their table and it was adorned with floor length green and white checked gingham cloth. Simple curtains made from the same fabric covered their windows and hung from willow branches. A garland of evergreen and pine cones hung from the ceiling like a wallpaper border. They sat on fruit crates topped with red cushions and their guests were treated like royalty when they stopped by.

This always struck me as a perfect example of what being frugal/simple is all about…. living well, and being happy with less. Not feeling as though luxury has to equal expensive. Luxury could be that latte you treat yourself to once a week. It could be fresh strawberries, still warm from the sun. It could be reading a book next to an open window as rain falls.

We live in a society that almost always seem to emphasize that a good life full of luxuries requires lots of money. This book shows how this just isn’t so. It also shows how being frugal is an art we can cultivate to improve our lives and simplify them or perhaps even realize that we already have all the luxuries we need and value.

In chapter two, McBride compares the the money attitudes of America versus Europe. She claims that Americans are concerned about cost..the actual dollar amount of a service or product. Europeans are concerned with “time” it took to earn the required amount of dollars. Instead of wondering if they can afford something or generalizing that such and such is a good monetary price, they are mentally tabulating how much of their time is being traded for the goods in question. It is a lot harder to submit to instant gratification when you think in terms of time.

This reminds me of that story of you often see posted on the Internet of the Mexican fisherman who fishes just enough to feed and support his family so he can spend the majority of his time sleeping late, playing with his children, taking siestas with his wife, going to the village to see his friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. To him that is a full life. Then he meets and American who tells him that he should invest in more boats, put in more hours, expand his business, incorporate, and rake in lots of money. When the fisherman asks why he would want to do all that, the response is so that he could have enough money to be able to retire and sleep late, play with his grandchildren, take siestas with his wife, go to the village to see his friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. He already had everything he wanted but some people have to do things the hard way.

McBride encourages us to create a money map. It is basically a money plan that allows us to get away from random spending. She likens spending without a money map to choosing random articles of clothing without any consideration for color and style, resulting in a chaotic clash of colors and patterns. Random spending is chaotic and dysfunctional. No matter what budget you are working with you have to have a plan, or money map. She outlines how to do this in the book.

After some information on reducing debt she goes into simplifying your life…”eliminating material and intangible excess, conserving time, energy, money, and thoughts. It is using the resources you possess in a way that will take you toward your dreams, your goals – your desired future.” So again she emphasizes working with what you have to make a better life…not accumulating things to make it look like you have a better life.

Part of living simple and luxuriously on less is learning to value and appreciate simple things. People are what make an object valuable…things are not inherently valuable on their own and we CAN choose what things to value.

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

McBride shares with us ways in which we can start to value different things like friendship, memories, kindness, levity, learning, observing, wisdom, and family time. She makes a case for each as to why they will enrich our lives more than any physical item we think we need to own.

Other sections of the book discuss practical every day ideas we can apply to our lives like frugal and luxurious food… or humble cookery, frugal clothing, and making a home. The food section has lots of great tips for making meals into feasts and it has little to do with making more food or having expensive food. Her clothing tips were good reminders for me. I am drowing in laundry and I think it is time to downsize every one’s wardrobe. Statistically McBride says we only use 20% of the clothes we have on a regular basis. I also loved her tips on frugal decorating and the personal stories are priceless.

Frugal Luxuries continues to be a real gem with great wisdom and helpful tips and it is one I will likely be reading every year for a refresher on why simple and frugal are the way to go.

******

Want to teach your children about simple, humble values and lives? Try reading them the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The author or Frugal Luxuries refers to it often.

I have wanted to talk about this ever since a discussion started on my dumpster diving interview post. Basically the post discusses how one woman used the concepts of Freeganism to harvest good food thrown away by grocery stores and turn around and give it to the hungry and homeless…to the tune of $30,000. Surprisingly, it was said that this was perhaps a bit selfish….that we should consume (buy) even if we don’t need to so that we are supporting farmers.

Well, I am all for supporting local farmers and supporting earth friendly, sustainable, conscious companies with our money. But I am not for consuming just for the sake of consuming and yes I do realize that this is exactly the trend that our current economy is based upon. Consumerism may make the economic world turn…but self sufficiency is what will preserve the planet…not consumerism.

This fact was clear when I read a new prediction from Gerald Celente. This is the man that accurately predicted 1987 stock market crash, the fall of the Soviet Union, the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse, and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar. The New York Post once said of him “If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.” Clearly this gentlemen and his partners have a their eye on the pulse of the economy but their latest prediction will not leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling. He has said, “by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

Now I have no opinion on the accuracy of this prediction I can only say that for us it should show what is at the very least, a possibility. I am not about doom and gloom but I am not for sticking my head in the sand either. Can you imagine living in a country where people riot for food, protest any and all taxes, can’t find a job, or live in tent cities because they are homeless? As a spoiled American I can barely even fathom such a thing but the very idea that the current economic model of spend, spend, and spend more could crumble like that shows us that more self sufficiency is needed. And consumerism as it exists now will NEVER heal our planet. Maybe it is time I finally read that book I have meant to read for awhile: The Environmental Endgame: Mainstream Economics, Ecological Disaster, And Human Survival.

Just think about it. If you woke up tomorrow in the world Celente has predicted what would you do? Can you be self sufficient? Do you have economic survival skills? To me it seems that to rely on consumerism to drive the world forward will always be potentially risky. If I woke up in that world tomorrow I “hope” that I would have a home completely paid off, that I could grow all my own food, that I would have a nest egg saved, that I could make or sew anything I need, and that I could open my home to others and do co-housing. I would “hope” that my purchases in the years previous were smart so that I did not need much in the way of material things.

It certainly has given me a lot to think about. Even if none of it comes to pass I think I would be infinitely better off being more self sufficient. It will help me save money that is for sure.

So what do you think about Celente’s prediction? Could it happen and what would you do? Is self sufficieny selfish and is consumerism the way to keep everyone’s head above water?

Photo Credit