A year ago you would have found me at the store. I was like so many other people who were shopping for presents, checking out deals, and driving my shopping cart from aisle to aisle in a hurried rush to get the latest and greatest. You would have seen me as a professional woman and “soccer mom.” Instead of the minivan, I would be driving a Volvo, and always with a brood of children. I was not one that you would pick out to live frugally or choose to live simply. I was certainly not one that you would see as becoming an environmentalist.
A little over a year ago my spouse and I moved about 4 hours from our first home so that my husband could pursue his training in medicine. Without this training he would not be able to practice medicine. I was offered a job in the area as a college professor. I was suddenly one of the few employed spouses. We were a two-income family and no longer had to live frugally. I enjoyed my job and all of the extra money that came with it. I could buy almost anything I wanted at any moment. And I did. For me, the additional money was “mine.” I could enjoy the lavish lifestyle that would eventually be a result of my husband’s profession (post residency). I focused on clothes and appearance. I liked to own the latest styles. I liked to purchase clothing and toys for the kids, in spite of their overabundance of toys and clothing. Shopping was an exhilarating experience. However the exhilaration never lasted long and I would need to shop again.
During the first week of April my spouse had a week of vacation. We sat down for a few moments and I savored a cup of coffee as we watched a morning news program. A segment spoke about a group of people who decided not to purchase new items for the entire year. They could purchase thrift items and new items such as socks and underwear. My husband turned to me and stated that he did not think I could do that. One not apt to back down from a challenge, I secretly took him up on it. That one 5 minute news segment changed my life.
Later that evening I did a google search and found the Compact yahoo group. I joined. I read about people choosing not to shop. No one told me how not to do I – I was simply not to purchase new items (used were okay). How was I going to be able to go to the store and not give into temptation?
The first few months proved to be difficult. I had not started this process as some people do – and stock up on things they wanted before joining. I simply jumped in. It took me a little while, but I learned to make a list before I went into a store. Target was always my largest temptation. Thus, making a list and following it to the letter got me through the first few months. I only purchased what was on the list. If there were things I wanted that were not on the list I would put it down on another list for a future date. I would have my future list of needed/wanted items and review them before my next shopping trip. Usually those items I put on the list while at the store were no longer “needed” and thus removed.
This taught me to review my wants and needs. I started to notice that the advertised needs were not needs, but wants. The advertisements were telling me that I needed particular items. But they really did not fulfill any true need; being food, water, shelter. Wow. How many years had I been manipulated into believing I needed the latest style of clothing or technological gadget?
I looked at advertisements with a new set of eyes. I realized that the ads built upon our innate need to accumulate and spruce our environment or our selves. We try to get our homes in order such as squirrels tidy their nests. We accumulate for times of hardship. However, many of us have not encountered true hardship. Thus, we gather for the sake of gathering and to show our friends and neighbors how much we have. Will that set of curtains make me more desirable? No. Do I really need another set of pots and pans? No. I realized that I really have all that I need and the accumulation of stuff would not sufficiently fulfill any need. That was a major break-through!
It was also during this early period of Compacting that I discovered how stuff affects our lives and our environment. I never thought about the life of things. Didn’t they just show up on the store shelves? Nope. Stuff has to be made. The materials have to be gathered and processed. Then those materials have to be shipped and formed someplace. Then they have to be produced into something else in another place. Then again they were shipped and packaged and then finally they were shipped to my local store. There was all of that manufacturing, shipping, and waste for something that I didn’t truly need. Something I was told that I needed by some advertisement. I realized how my personal habits affected the world around me and decided to take a step to reduce my impact even more.
May brought the final weeks of the semester and the beginning of my summer period. I started to experiment with homemade cleansers and learned that vinegar and baking soda were easier on the environment, less expensive, and healthier for our home. I also found the farmer’s market. I recall coming home from the farmer’s market after my first trip and making lunch. The favors were much more intense than what I had ever found at the grocery store. I was hooked. I knew that eating organic foods was healthier, but it was then that I learned about eating locally. I had never heard that our grocery store foods were usually shipped an average of 1500 miles. Most foods at the store follow the lives of things. They are gathered and shipped numerous places before they come to our store. Locally grown foods are fresher but are also not transported as far. I posted my discovery and another compacter commented that she could only find tomatoes from my state. I looked at the store and discovered that I could only find tomatoes from Canada. It simply didn’t make sense. I vowed to eat locally and seasonally as much as possible.
From that time on I did the majority of my shopping at the farmer’s market. Certainly, I visited our local co-op from time to time, but I also vowed that I would only visit stores that I could walk to. I carried my canvas bags and pushed my 2 year old in the stroller. It was fabulous slow down and enjoy my environment as I walked to the store. I only purchased what I could carry.
June brought a month of strawberries and a new skill. I decided that if I wanted to eat locally I would need to learn how to preserve the foods I did not finish eating. I learned to can strawberry jam. The jam tasted much better than anything then I could find in the store. I found canning jars through freecycle and decided that purchasing additional jars was acceptable for this purpose. I made a lot of jam and preserved a lot of fruit during the summer. It happened slowly, but I became a localvore. Yes, our foods were at least 90% local.
I also realized that many of my habits could be broken. I decided that environmentally friendly items could be acceptable purchases if they changed something I was doing. For instance, I purchase some items so that I could line dry my clothes. I no longer used the dryer, thus saving money and electricity. I became aware of how many things I could do or do without that would reduce my personal impact. For the first time in a long time I felt comfortable with my life. I was no longer driven to purchase in order to impress. I wanted to live in a manner that would leave a healthier planet for my children.
During this time my spouse did not know the depth of my vow to the compact. He could tell that there was a difference, but I don’t think he understood my commitment to a new lifestyle. I did not ask him to compact or change his habits. He supports this decision and partakes in most of the choices. I decided that this is about me — I am trying to live by example.
We now drive a car that runs on waste vegetable oil, heat our home with cast off lumber (which would have been burnt in a landfill), feed our garden with compost, carry our groceries in canvas, and diaper our babies with cloth. I cook from scratch and have plans for an edible landscape. Now I seek additional ways to lessen my personal impact and teach others how to do the same. I have become involved with a local environmental group and am attempting to start a local sustainability group.
This journey has not been perfect or without “slip-ups” however, I see it as unending. I have been blessed with a community of online bloggers and readers who have supported my steps in self-discovery and journey toward sustainability. Ahead of me are new challenges and a stronger desire to learn skills that would be healthier. I truly believe that each one of us can make a difference.
Join me in making a change for a better tomorrow.
I am obsessed with food. Of all of things that we can purchase, food is the one thing that nourishes us. Yes, items can nourish our soul, but food is what nourishes our bodies – - it provides us with energy so that we can live. I think this is why so many of my posts are about food. We cannot go without.
We have all heard that we should change our light bulbs in an effort to help reduce global warming.
Today I found a 
Seed catalogs have started to arrive and I have been taking notes on the light/shade issues, companion plants, and germination periods. I need to think about when to plant various plants and when to start some of these indoors.
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