Finding the Time and Money

Living sustainably can be overwhelming at times, especially in the brutal summer heat in Phoenix. There's so much I want to do inside and outside the house. It's easy to lose focus without weekly goals that focus on improving one or two things. Everything takes time! But I've got to stop and realize that I can't do everything at once.

Finding a way to salvage Thomas's work shoes, only worn down at the heal, takes time. Learning how to patch the growing pile of holey clothing pieces takes time. Building shade structures to improve the productivity and survival of the garden takes time. Learning, in general, takes time. Knowledge is just the cornerstone of self-reliance, and knowledge often costs money, which brings me to the second issue.

Building anything takes money, even with salvaged wood. Creating Toby Hemenway's "Ultimate, Bombproof Sheet Mulch" for fall planting season costs money. Replacing the wasteful products in my home with sustainable products -- even if I go the crochet-it-myself route -- costs money. Everything I want to do takes some kind of initial investment.

We currently have a $30 per week and one $20 purchase each month allowance per person. Until my garden starts producing food to replace groceries, I'm using only this allowance to reach my sustainability goals. But this is also the same source of money I use to eat out with friends or see a movie.

It's a struggle debating what is more important: on the one hand, I value the relationships I have very, very much. And a lot of those relationships are reinforced with spending time together. On the other hand, my goals just won't happen if I don't put SOME money into it.

So, the first step I'm going to take is to schedule some sustainability tasks for the next few weeks. Then, I'm going to figure out how much I'd need to save up for each of those tasks. One step at a time.