I’m reading a very interesting book called Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, recommended by one of the productivity blogs I read, zenhabits. The book has a lot of great anti-capitalism messages, essentially showing how society programs us to want more and more while making us less happy. The goal of the book is to help you figure out how to get what you want from money. In this way, it’s very zen because you’re supposed to focus on what you want, as opposed to what TV ads or your friends tell you that you want. You need to find what is “enough” for you. It’s also filled with fun soundbites like “If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough” and “Most people have no idea how much money has entered their lives, and therefore no idea how much money could enter their lives.”
The book points out that we don’t tell people how to spend their money because it’s their “right” to spend it how they want in a free society. We take our “right” to consume to heart, sometimes even placing it above other rights, privileges, and duties of a free society. We also have the idea that it’s un-American to reject consumerism: “We have absorbed the notion that it is right to buy – that consuming is what keeps America strong … a day at the mall can be considered downright patriotic.”
I thought I was doing pretty well with money, and I thought that this book would be good “advice” but that I didn’t really need it.
Then I checked the mail on Friday and got my electric bill.
And it was $180.
Now, this is an unusual bill. LaRue was here for a couple weeks, and obviously two people take up more energy than one. And it was incredibly hot, and it’s cooling down now. BUT OH MY GOSH ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS IS A LOT OF MONEY. I don’t even want to think about how many hours I’ve slaved over grading papers this semester that have gone simply to keeping my apartment a balmy 80 degrees while I’m not even there.
I don’t have the firmest grasp of my readership, so I won’t put my earnings here, but suffice it to say I am living on a grad student salary, which cannot typically bear that kind of stress. So I pulled up my checking account online, made a budget, and decided to make some changes. I’m posting some of these ideas to hold myself accountable and to perhaps give other some ideas:
1. I read online that you can usually downgrade your internet speed and generally you won’t even notice the difference. So I called the cable company and asked how much I was actually paying (before reading this book, I would have just set up automatic bill pay and forgotten about it). I was paying $30/month for high speed internet. “I want to downgrade,” I told the woman on the phone. “I want the $15 per month tier.” “Okay,” she said, “but it’s going to be a lot slower!” Guess what? She changed it, and I can’t tell the difference.
2. I live down the street from a place that buys, sells, and trades books, DVDs, music, etc., so I’m going to go through my stuff and see what I can get rid of.
3. I’m going to buy:
a. An energy efficient showerhead
b. Energy star light bulbs (I have some, but not in all my lights)
c. Glass pans (which retain heat and cook faster, meaning that the oven doesn’t have to be on as long)
d. Pots for the stove with flat bottoms and tight covers (I’m also going to cook with the lids on)
4. I’m going to look into getting reflective film for my windows which will let in the light but not the heat. Also, I’m going to consider getting ceiling fans.
5. I’m going to try to do my cooking early in the morning or late in the evening. Last night, for example, I made pasta and tofu to take for my lunches this week. That way, I don’t have to keep heating up the stove (and thus the apartment) every day or during the heat of the day.
6. I’m going to study on campus during the heat of the day, so I can leave the AC off in my apartment.
I’ll keep you posted. Anyone have other energy-saving ideas for me?
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