The price of gas and heating oil is soaring higher each day, and the North American job market is suffering from our countries' economic downturn. There seems to be no bottom to the housing market’s fall, and people that once had disposable income to spend on their families are canceling vacations and literally tightening their belts, as they make due with what’s in the back of the pantry and postpone their food-shopping trip another day or two.
Time for Lifestyle Changes
If there is a light at the end of this economic tunnel, it may come in the form of lifestyle changes that encourage healthier eating habits, more time spent one on one with the family, less time spent in front of the video gaming screens and a return to simple pleasures and values.
In lieu of expensive, fuel-burning summer vacations to amusement parks and exotic destinations, thrift conscious consumers may choose "stay-cations" over traveling. Forced to enjoy their own backyard, families may revive the age-old summer practice of hosting porch gatherings and backyard barbeques with their neighbors.
Because the cost of fuel is driving food prices to unprecedented highs, backyard, rooftop and community gardens could become a more practical (and healthful) means of food production, and once we become more understanding of all that is involved in producing our own food, our nation may become less wasteful and more frugal in our consumption.
Downsizing & The Benefits of Post-Consumerism
Even those who cannot afford to purchase hybrid vehicles can reduce their dependency on fossil fuels by downsizing to smaller economy cars, and because it has become harder to get bank loans for new, expensive vehicles, people will be more inclined to make use of the thousands of pre-owned cars already in existence. This recycling will help spare the planet, in addition to wallets.
Frugality may become trendy, and post-consumerism may become chic, as people return to a do-it-yourself mentality and begin to research age-old recipes for things like shampoo, soap, toothpaste and household cleaning products. Salvage and reuse may become standard practice, as we find new functions for old stuff. This will reduce the amount of landfill waste, as well as the energy necessary to relocate garbage from your driveway to the dump. In time, the skies will be clearer, the land less contaminated, the food more healthful, our habits more basic and our relationships more meaningful.
Conversation and neighborliness will return. Our kids may once again learn how to climb trees, catch tadpoles, pick flowers, swim in streams that are cleaner because of the reduction of factory-farmed, chemically treated produce. At the very least, our children may learn to hold conversations about things that have nothing to do with electronic devices. They may even return to local libraries and spend their summers reading in a hammock or on a porch swing.
Take Action, and Don’t Panic!
Though you may be alarmed by the rapidly rising prices and falling home values and job pay, now is the time to center yourself and to shift your focus from what you have lost to what you do have.
Turn off the lights when you are not using them. Switch to energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs. Use only the smallest amount of energy necessary to maintain minimal comfort. Turn the thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter. Start your day at sunup, and tuck everyone in for the night when the sun goes down. Work with nature instead of fighting it.
Eat what you grow, and buy locally only small amounts of meat, cheese, milk or other protein. You need much less than you are used to eating, so do your research, and feed your family only what it needs nutritionally, cutting out sugary or salty snacks that are filled with empty calories. Eating should never be a pastime! Cook at home instead of eating out, and buy foods that are minimally processed, nutritious and inexpensive.
Do More, Spend Less
Host a weekly board game night, and invite your neighbors to turn off their television and join you. If you have instruments lying around the house, use the time you’re not watching cable to learn how to play, or check out freecycle.org to find a free instrument.
Take up needlepoint, knitting or rug hooking, and make your own fiber by deconstructing an old shirt, suit, blanket or jacket.
If you have a few acres and live in a rural community, consider raising goats for milk, cheese and fiber. Add a couple of chickens to your goat pen, and you’ll not only have a daily source of protein in the eggs, you’ll also help keep your soil free of pests and parasites—a delicacy for pecking poultry.
Find a used spinning wheel, and make your own yarn. Shop for clothes in thrift shops, or put a posting on freecycle.org to let people know what you need.
Make use of your local library for hours of free entertainment. Not only can you check out unlimited books for free, most libraries have an extensive video, DVD and CD collection available to borrow, as well as hosting classes, lectures and other fun events for the community. Attend free concerts, plays and other cultural offerings in your area. Go to the museum. Take a hike in the woods.
Make a point to volunteer for at least one community project a month, and encourage your family members to do the same. After all, we’re all in this together, and the help you give today may come back to you when you need it another time. With a little resourcefulness, grit and a positive attitude, we Americans can make the most out of tough times and may even discover a better way of living while we get busy making lemonade out of lemons.
Tammy McKillip - Tammy McKillip is a writer/photographer living and working in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. A graduate of Columbia University's writing ...
