AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2008 > June > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USI’m not cheap. I’m green
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thanks to the environmental movement I have seen an image upgrade in my own home. I’m not longer cheap. I’m green.
I’m the dad who was always the last one of out the house Sunday morning. That way I could turn off all the lights, TVs, stereos, curling irons, etc. - not to mention jiggle the handle on the toilet so it would stop running and give the faucet that last quarter turn to stop the dripping. My kids always chided me for being cheap but now I’m conserving resources.
You should have heard the gnashing of teeth when I started using the plastic bags the groceries came home in to line the smaller trash cans in the house to keep from buying refuse bags. You would have thought I’d told them we were going to make our own clothes from grass clippings and trap squirrels for our dinner.
And if I wasn’t being cheap I was a source of great jocularity. If were all out for a walk I’d grab a stray soda can from the gutter and take it home to put it in the recycling box. That caused much whispering and snickering behind my back.
When we got fast food I always tucked the extra napkins from the sack of burgers into the side pocket of the car to have on hand if someone needed a tissue. They always give you more napkins that you’ll need and I hated to just throw them away. Back then I was too cheap to buy Kleenex but today I am recycling and getting the full use out of paper products instead of going through them pell-mell and taking down countless trees.
I have gotten so green that when my phone rings and I don’t recognize the number my heart skips a beat. Perhaps it’s Al Gore wanting me to come up for the weekend and help knock out the sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth.” Al hasn’t called but he’s pretty busy. Still, I’m ready any time he is.
There can be too much of a good thing. I have a long sleeve t-shirt that I like to sleep in during the winter. It’s been washed about 500 hundred times and is really showing its age. I claim that keeping in means I’m not buying a new one and encouraging rampant wasteful consumption. My wife thinks I’m cheap - and a slob.
She may be right, but I’m a green slob.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Jim Osterman
Comments
By Domi
June 16, 2008 4:03 PM | Link to this
I think we may have been separated at birth….I’ve been doing those things for years as well.
By Harold
June 16, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this
You would not have any plastic bags in your home if you were truly green. You would insist on using a canvas tote. You’re cheap Mr. Man.
By John
June 16, 2008 6:04 PM | Link to this
Being cheap has led me to my own personal conservation.
I’ve seen no purpose to driving gas guzzling cars, even when gas was cheap. I need a car to get from A to B and as long as it has enough room for passengers and a trunk, why would I need all that extra space at the cost of half or worse mpg’s?
I set my thermostats so that in the winter it is very chilly and summer almost uncomfortably warm. But why spend all that extra money on bills when the set temps are perfectly fine?
I reuse and recycle because I believe that by doing so, I can affect the price of the products I buy. Why, as a consumer, would I pay more for something if I don’t have to?
These are just a few of the habits to I started because I am cheap, but will continue because it’s green (and the right thing to do).
By m
June 16, 2008 8:29 PM | Link to this
i have a few ways i’d like to conserve, if only my spouse was on board with me. i’m not the last one out of the house so i’m not able to personally set our thermostat to what would be fine during the day with no one home but the cats. he will sometimes remember.
we constantly fight over how often to do the laundry per week and how much energy we’re REALLY using when we apply each others’ theories. can’t come to an agreement there so i’ve learned to just keep my mouth shut.
if i am the last to come to bed, i have to make sure the DVD player is off in my daughter’s room, because it doesn’t have a timer on it like the TV does. and speaking of the TV, my spouse would rather set the timer for 3 hours when our daughter passes out in 1, “just in case” she wakes up and needs help drifting back to sleep. 1) don’t get me started on how foolish that is to have her dependent on a TV to go to sleep, and 2) what a complete waste of energy to have the thing running that long when it’s only used 1/2 the time.
we butt heads constantly on those 3 things: a/c and heating temps, laundry frequency, and electronic component usage. i honestly think i’m saving us lots of money at a tiny fraction of our comfortableness, but i get overruled every time. it’s very frustrating.
By Josh
June 16, 2008 10:05 PM | Link to this
I don’t care about the environment, but I am cheap. I recycle grocery bags and save napkins. I’ve even considered getting some of those canvas grocery bags, but I don’t want to identify with the hippies.
By Single Mom
June 17, 2008 4:30 AM | Link to this
This may seem like a bit overboard but my house is total electric my bill on a 1900 sq ft home has not been over $150 in the last 7 years. It’s usually under $90. Most of all it just feels honest to to take steps to save the enviroment. I hang all my clothes on a line except the undergarments load. Use canvas bags that were purchased at a thrift store for 50 cents each . . and run through a hot wash with bleach. . I have 4 trash cans outside my back door. 1 for trash, 1 for paper and 2 for plastic,glass and metals. I have a compost pile and have not bought fertilizer in 15 years. When a towel gets stained or ripped I cut it into 1 foot squares and throw it in to rag boxes under the sinks. This saves an amazing number of paper towels. Full spectrum fluorescents rule in my house. I even bought a Marathon hot water heater from our electic company. I paid $750 for a 50 gal 6 years ago and instantly saw a drop in the electric bill. I’m sure it’s paid for itself twice now and it has a lifetime warranty. They’ll come to my house and fix it if anything goes wrong. I have 2 sets of curtains on each window. The curtains close to the room match the room. The set next to the window gets changed with the seasons. Dark colors for winter to take advantage of solar heating and light colors during summer to fight solar heating. All windows, doors and openings for pipes in the floor are chalked well. I don’t cook much inside during the summer because it heats up the kitchen. I set the crock pot on the deck during the summer. When grilling I always cook extra and throw in the fridge. Reheating in the micro costs almost nothing and you still get the flavor. It’s mostly for the enviroment. But it sure feels good putting the money saved into my daughter’s saltwater aquariums and my son’s dirt bike. Maybe I should change my name to Serial Mom.
By Almost Mom's kid
June 17, 2008 5:24 AM | Link to this
So many of the things mentioned were just routine in my house growing up. One I remember was saving the wrappers off the sticks of margarine (and occasionally butter) in a Tupperware in the fridge. That way it could be used to grease your pan before cooking. I don’t do that today (I use tub margarine). I still do a number of green/cheap things, and it does feel good to bank that money rather than spend it on something that you may not even notice the benefit from!
By lawyerdaggett
June 17, 2008 6:50 AM | Link to this
My daddy burned it into my brain that when you leave a room, you turn the lights out. Green is smart. Why give away your hard-earned money to the power company.
By ron
June 17, 2008 7:47 AM | Link to this
The laundry dries outside.Plastic grocery bags are used as trash bags.All vegetable matter is composted.The lawn has been planted with fruit trees,juniper, and roses and is mowed once a month.A part of it out back is now a vegetable garden.Cfl’s are being replaced with LED’s where practical.We collect rain water for garden watering.We use 450 KW a month of electric power.We heat with wood.I never thought of these as green issues years ago whenI started doing these things but as economical issues.They simply cost less to do.Today I’m green and I got that way by waiting for the world to catch up to me.Before I was simply too cheap to do otherwise.
By Tom Osterman (yep)
June 17, 2008 8:46 PM | Link to this
Cheap or green? Take this simple test:
Did you decide to buy a Toyota Prius to reduce emissions and conserve oil? Then you’re GREEN
Did you decide NOT to buy a Toyota Prius, as opposed to, say, a Corolla, because it would cost more than you would save at the pump? Then you’re CHEAP (Though the way gas prices are going, this may change.)
If you scored CHEAP, don’t feel bad. You’re just one of millions who figured out long ago that conserving electricity, gasoline and water also conserves that valuable GREEN money. Good work! (Cheapskate!)
By Zachary Osterman
June 22, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this
I don’t recall once accusing you of being “cheap.”