Compact is going to be broken for this!

R.I.P Little buddy :-(


The family went to Springfield to see Obama and Biden. I had my Nano, (I never leave home without it). The day was VERY hot and we had been standing in the crowd for over 2 hours when Ashley fainted (she was fine after getting some water and shade). I knelled down to pick her up in my arms to rush her to the medical tent, and my iPod must have slipped out of my pocket. I think I will be replacing it ASAP! Sorry compact but this is going under the reasonable person rule. Most would say that it does not fall under that and it is not needed. Well for me it is!!!! Like I said this thing is with me ALWAYS!! Great to see Obama, sucked that Ashley passed out and I lost my tunes.

20/20

Even in this short time that I have been attempting to curtail my personal spending, I have learned a lot. The first thing I have learned is that I have a LONG way to go. Reading over my blog is a adventure in spending. I do have to say that I have not bought any "thing" for myself, and for those that know me, that is a MAJOR accomplishment. (I did buy an electronic copy of Obama's "Audacity of Hope" and have been diligently listening to it on my iPod.) But I still am going through money like water. Eating expensive take-out, (locally owned and operated), Tossing my possessions into a landfill, or spending money on concerts. I am going to continue to see shows, but I need to go to concerts less frequently. I need to be aware of all the unnecessary "quick" trips to the store for something the kids feel they need at that moment, or the forgetting my batteries and stopping to pick up some from the store. I guess a large portion of the success comes from training yourself to be mindful.. That takes time. I am on that path, and have to say, that I'm surprised that I have any desire left to do this. The opposite is true. I have become more committed to doing this, not less over time. This is not being done so that I can feel bad about myself, and in all honesty I feel pretty proud over-all at how well I have done. Onward and forward!

Compact Update

Gen and I went with Steve, Gina, and Ellen to see Lifehouse last night. Pleasantly surprised at how good they were! Bought some empenatas and headed in to catch the end of the opening act... Yawn! Got home about 1:00 and got to bet about 2:00. Going to be a tiered day at work. Did not get a shirt or a poster. Just the show dinner and a beer. Puran for lunch yesterday. Paper containers in the trash. Looking forward to getting some more downsizing at the house this weekend. I would like to get the garage completely stripped of stuff. We shall see. Books and clothes are going out the door as are any unused toys.

8/14/08 Compact Report

Had to drop some cash yesterday. Got a salad in a paper boat for just under $5 and then had to go to Lowe's for com yard bags $16.00 for cleaning out the garage. Ashley had asked for a new desk lamp, and we found a really cool one for $15.00. So I spent a total of about $35 bucks. Oh I do have to add in something I got for myself. For $12.00 I got Obama's Audacity of Hope audio book. It is the first non utilitarian purchase since going on the compact. I did not by anything to clutter up my house as it is a digital copy and will not end up in a landfill. I should not have bought it, but with the convention coming up soon, I had been wanting to read it and did not want to get a hard copy. I set this 24 hour deal, and broke it FAST. Just need to be more mindful of my thoughts and develop that needed filter that will keep me from using spending as a drug. Also need to work on being more mindful of packaging and reducing my impact by making the amount of, and type of packaging into my decision to purchase.

08/12/08 Compact Report

Spent some bread on myself today. I got some aspirin, nicotine lozenges, breath spray, eye drops, and some ear plugs for Gen. The total was like $87.00 Holy crap! Not going to let that happen again. I got the large batch of lozenges to wean myself off of them. I got a crappy flavor so they are not associated with pleasure so much now. Need to re-think my personal product footprint and not let that become an area of weakness. I am growing a beard to save on the huge expense of razors. Still have to sort the trash in my truck so no garbage to report except a slim cardboard boat for my salad. That was $4.50...no drink. I did get a coffee in the morning in my own mug for $1.00. Could see slipping back into some bad habits, need to follow the plan. I is not that hard, but easy to stay when you are in a store that is designed to get you to purchase on impulse. From now on I am going to purchase, if I can, 24 hours behind the perceived need. That gives me time to evaluate the need and to consider alternatives to buying more stuff.

The Weekend Ending 8/10/2008: Compact Update

Feel good about the amount of cleaning I was able to get done this weekend. There are still lots more to get rid of, but made some good progress. The trick now is to get passed the house is more or less clean, the garage is not horrible and the storage room is able to be entered. That kind or resting on laurels will put me back in the same place fast. Now is the time for diligence, keep peeling back the layers to live in a house that I want to be in. This is going to take a while. This clutter has kept us from making improvements to the home that are badly needed. The carpet is crap and needs to be removed. Need to do some serious thinking about what kind of flooring we want. Not going to be carpet as it is crap all around for the environment. I am thinking of a possible paper bag floor in the basement, and laminate on all the others, unless the bag floor is cool then may use it in other rooms. I thought of doing the basement in old album covers as well, or posters and CD and album covers. Could be a cool mosaic, or a HUGE mess…

My spending this weekend was minimal. I had a small cup of coffee from the evil clown store yesterday while on the road. As I stated before this weekend was a big cleaning out of crap in the house. Some things in the basement had been wet and were ruined. Our first choice was to donate then recycle then last resort dump. More than I would have liked ended up at the dump, but a lot of the mess was papers and technical manuals that went in the big bin to be recycled. My foot print was big this weekend, but my consumption was minimal. Ate at home all weekend. It is going to be much easier to manage the output when you start managing the input.

08/09/2008 Compact Update

Cleaning house. Getting rid of stuff. Some to the dump.. :-( . Most going to charity. Yesterday I went to the store for Gen, who was not feeling well. I bought only what she requested, and we got Becky a backpack for school. I put this in the fair and reasonable category, The backpack was for my daughter and she is not participating in the compact. It is a little strange and I have talked to Gen about doing the shopping when possible, and that I would do something chore-wise to make up for it. I have been true to the compact. Friday I had a Hamburger and fries. Unfortunately the small Styrofoam plate that it was served on sucked to have to toss it. I will stay that the company I work for is moving in the right direction moving slowly away from the Styrofoam products, but it has a ways to go. I drank tea and used my craft to hold hot water and sugar cubes drinking from a ceramic mug. :-), Saving those rappers for Becky. For Dinner Becky and I had skillet bow tie pasta with vodka sauce and chicken all in a bag that was put in the recycle bin. More cleaning to do...

08/07/2008 Compact Report

Olympics start today. The smog from mostly personal coal use is CRAZY!!!!!


Nothing... I spent nothing. Hot water for existing teabags. Going to start saving wrappers for Becky to make stuff out of the wrappers. She likes the purses and bags that are made out of wrappers, but they cost a lot. The teabags wrappers have a foil like inside, perfect for making bags out of. Skipped lunch, and had a dinner with no waste. I know that I am still having a huge impact on my environment with power consumption, and use of resources like water and output of exhaust, but feeling pretty good about the compact and getting away from buying crap. This weekend I start the big push of compacting my possessions. Giving as much away as I can stand. It may take a few purges to really get to a reasonable level. Excited about getting rid of the clutter that has become my home. Will give away and recycle whatever I can. Some stuff unfortunately is going to end up in a landfill. But I am moving forward to a life that will hopefully contribute VERY little to landfills in the future. :-)

Day 6: Thursday, August 07, 2008

Day 6: Thursday, August 07, 2008

Funny how you can spend money and not even realize it. Yesterday afternoon I was thinking about my spending and thought, “Gee I did not spend anything today”. Not so. We had a food day at work, and I gave a co-worker $10 to contribute to getting some pizza. I then went down that afternoon and bought an ice cream for myself and a coworker. Total $3.00. So I spent $13.00 and had not remembered any of it. I kept the compact and only purchased food and the food was for fellowship, and that is a bonus! As far as my waste, that will be my last ice cream for a while, Styrofoam container went to a landfill. When I got home my guitar, (birthday present) was at my door. Cardboard box to the recycle bin and the small cover that was made out of thin Styrofoam was cut into squares and will be used under the cat litter box in the unused shower to prevent any litter from going down the drain. Used my spork for lunch and used a paper plate that went into the garbage. Going to start bringing a plate to keep at my desk for food days. Hey, you learn as you go. Identify the problems and resolve them. On a side note, Ellen and I are going to a conference in San Fransisco, naturally we are going to extend our trip to hike Yosemite National Park!!!

08/05/2008 Yesterday was a $0.00 day *

I did not buy anything!!!! My buddy Tim took me out to lunch (locally owned Thai place). All glass plates and glasses. I put an * by the $0.00 because I did have to go school supply shopping with Becky last night. Gen was supposed to take her, but was unable. I will avoid these trips whenever possible, and make it up to Gen by doing things other than shopping for the family. We found a section of 100% recycled school supplies and bought them instead. Becky was also very good about not demanding that we buy things that she thought she may already have. As I have stated, I am doing this as a personal thing and my family is not participating at this time. I will do everything I can to promote consuming less, but it is their decision. All the packing materials were made from 100% recycled materials and ended up back in the blue bin to be recycled once again. But as for my own personal consumption, NOTHING came out of, or went into my pocket.

Have a friend for my Journey.

My good friend Ryan is joining me in my quest, Here is Ryan's Compact Blog, to not buy anything new. Here are the rules of the Compact and a few that Ryan added:
We (Ryan and I... and anyone else wanting to join) will keep a blog listing everything we spend money on, the packaging that it came in and what was done with the packing materials.

As agreed, The Compact has several aims (more or less prioritized below):

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact

2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)

3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

So, here goes for the rules:

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First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)

Second principle - borrow or buy used.

A few exceptions - using the "fair and reasonable person" standard -- i.e., you'll know in your heart when you're rationalizing a violation:

• food, drink, and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)
• necessary cleaning products, but not equipment (don't go out and buy the Dyson Animal, for example).
• socks and underwear (utilitarian--non-couture or ornamental)
• pajamas for the children

Utilitarian services (plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, veterinarians, dog/house-sitters, fire/paramedics, dry cleaners, house cleaners, etc.) -- Support local and encourage used parts (rebuilt transmission, salvaged headlight unit, etc.)

Recreational services (massage, etc.) & local artisanal items - Good sources for gifts, but should not be over-indulged in for personal gratification

Charitable contributions (Seva, Heifer, and the like) - an even better source for gifts

Plants and cut flowers - Whenever possible, cultivate from free cuttings or seeds. Ok in extreme moderation (yo, incoming oxy) when purchased from local businesses (i.e., not the Target Garden Shop)--and again, within reason

Art supplies - First line of attack: SCRAP. When absolutely necessary (for the professionals and talented amateurs in the group), from local businesses

Magazines, newspapers, Netflix - renewals only, no new subscriptions. Even better to consume online

V ideo rentals and downloadable music files (non-material) -- freely shared and legal, please

Also Here is a link to the Yahoo group for The Compact.

3rd Day is The Charm

Well I did much better yesterday than on Sunday. I did not buy anything except a 5 buck salad for my lunch. Not sure what I am going to do about food at work. They have a great salad bar and feeling is that if I got all the makings at the store it would be more than the salad bar. Not going to sweat it too much. Just plan on not going overboard with food purchases. I did my first dumpster dive this morning. I was leaving my block and noticed a chair that would work perfect for the computer desk. It is one of those ones that you sit on and put your leg behind you. There is a slight hole in the leg upholstery, but that is easy to fix with my staple gun and a piece of cloth. We were looking at chairs for the computer, because the rocking chair that I am currently using is causing me back pain.
This “new chair” helps you keep good posture. So total spent yesterday was $5.81 for my BIG salad. I am getting taken out to lunch by my buddy Tim today, so today may be my first truly no spending day!!!

Day 2 Stumble...

Guess I need some research, a reality check, and a little more commitment to not fold as soon as I "need", or can justify spending money. Inc cartridges are refillable! Could have found a chord or CAT5 cables... I am not going to beat myself up over this and chalk it up to experience. I was aware that I should not buy these things, but the mind seems able to justify almost anything!

Ink for printer (not recycled)........... 31.16
Cable for scanner.............................. 9.00
CAT 5 cable (2) ............................. 18.00
2 books for me and one for Ashley 60.00

Geez that is NUTS!! I get it... DON'T spend money.... Most of the world live on 5 bucks a day. sooo I have just spent $118 Income for a family for nearly a month!

First day...

Well I turned 42 yesterday and today is the start of my compact. I am doing this solo in a few ways. My family is not participating, and some may say that I get to cheat because family members are bringing new stuff into the home. I am a total consumer. I buy stuff to make me feel better. I get into pass times, get all the stuff that is associated with that pass time, and more often than not never use it after 6 months. Paintball is a perfect example. Have not played it in years, but have a vest, maker, hopper, all the crap that goes with it. This is personal. I am trying to break the bonds of consumerism. I am a junkie and need some time cold turkey. I will make exceptions for live music and digital downloads of music, free and legal if possible and keep my purchases to 2-3 CD's a month. Sorry, one addiction at a time. My last purchase before my compact started was a Yamaha acoustic guitar. I hope to use it rather than shop. I will try an update this blog as often as possible to journal my adventures in not consuming. The next step is to downsize. That should be an adventure in itself. I will be having to send some of my stuff to the landfill, and I apologize in advance. We had some water damage in the basement and i need to dump some moldy water damaged things. I will whenever possible, gift my possessions that I am getting rid of. Not really into selling my stuff. as the Chili Peppers say "Give it away!"