creative light less year

 

This blog is named Creative Light Less, because that is how my family has always tried to live; creatively, more lightly on earth (and with an outlook of lightness and positivity), and with less impact. M and I have long been frugal, sometimes from necessity, sometimes due to principles. We have been DIYers, blending together different skills and interests, and we grew up in an area long known for its environmental and earth loving, crunchy roots.

As social media has taken hold and in the changing climate (environmentally, politically, and socially) of our country and world right now, I am seeing more people striving to have low buy, low waste goals heading in 2025. Many of the tips I am seeing are long established patterns in our household (thanks to parents and grandparents for leading the way), but I am here for it and in support of anyone striving to care for our resources and each other better.

As we head into 2025, I have been considering what I can do to push back against the patterns of social unkindness, mass consumption, and environmental damage, and I have decided that I need to focus back in on what I am good at, what comes naturally to me, intentionally recommit to what I have drifted from, and draw my family in to live a Creative Light Less year (and longer), with intention, as a method of harm reduction and gentle rebellion.

So that is what I am calling this year; our Creative Light Less year. This will look like us leaning back into buying less, acquiring used if we must, strengthening and building community, choosing environmentally friendly options, spending less money, putting our money behind our social and political beliefs, and all those other crunchy sorts of things. It will look like continuing to make a lot ourselves, grow some of our own, conserve water, use renewable energy when we can, drive less, be creative, and more.

I don't think I will be one of those people on social media giving all the tips and I won't even promise to pick blogging back up more (although maybe I will re-post some oldies), but I have lots of knowledge to share and know when to say "I don't know" if I don't, so ask. I want to navigate the year in community.

 

Used books for our home library from the library bookstore

Pizza, homemade by a teen

Here is a post from early January 2010, posted on my former blog, reflecting on a year of "not buying new" in 2009. I may share more posts from that year and challenge along the way, but I am sharing the end of that challenge, first, because it is from there that the years have flowed and we find ourselves where we are now.

with each new year, my biggest wish is that it be better than the last. january first is such a marker of how quickly time moves and how important it is to be conscious of the moments, good and bad, as they pass.

last year, our goals for 2009 included #4, a no-buying-new year. this has been an amazing eco-eco living challenge. can one live economically and ecologically? we reported on successes and failures each month as they passed, but wanted to share about our journey on the whole, a text heavy post i hope you read in its entirety.

the end of this month marks one year since we began, in earnest, our challenge to buy nothing new. while not perfect, we have done remarkably well, perhaps because the concept of used was not new to us. it did not take long before seeking used alternatives became habit, we began planning ahead for needs, we chose to do without, and many of the difficulties of the challenge faded away.

one area that provided us the greatest challenge and often broke our goals, were home repair materials. much of what we needed was either not available used or not available used in a form that gave confidence in the quality/integrity of the materials. and in buying new, it was difficult to always support the local hardware store. in my mind, shopping at the big box hardware store was one of our biggest flubs. thinking on this, i find it interesting that our continued shopping at costco does not invoke the same feeling of failure.

what i didn't anticipate, though, was that so many other environmental, parenting, and health choices would feel woven into this process and change or be questioned during this year. as with frugal living, environmentally friendly living is something we have always practiced. while we do not live in a thrifty area of the country, we do live in one of the eco-living hubs, and in fact, grew up here, recycling and doing other "green" activities from an early age. i have always considered mike and myself to be healthy, earth-aware individuals and i was startled at how much i felt these fundamental self-beliefs were challenged this past year.

in the past two years, too many people i know have been affected by cancer. perhaps diagnosis of this disease has improved due to technology, but as a scientist (yes, that is my background), i feel certain that cancer is on the rise due to environmental factors. it is my job to do all i can, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to keep our environment and our physical health as "clean" as we can. we thought of our children in our environment often this year and the changes in choices we have made have often been centered around them.

how does this all tie together? so many of the blogs, websites, and materials i have read (and continue to read) about our environment incorporate physical health, and often parenting. these aren't separate paths for a young family. they are very much intertwined.

on several occasions, i had to make the decision between used or new, a direct challenge to our goal of purchasing only used items.

used items are less expensive. they save items from the landfill. they can be repurposed into useful things when no longer useful in their original state. they are sometimes better made than similar new items. but in some cases, the appropriate item was hard to find used or was made of a questionable material.

new items can be purchased to spec. they can be bought sustainably and humanely. they can be safe materials. but they use new production resources and are expensive, particularly when the most eco-friendly versions are purchased.

and, of course, there were many times that we chose to do away with an item and simply not replace it or figured out a way to use something else instead.

this year has been such an introspective journey for me. what started for one reason wound down to this one year marker for so very many reasons. so many of them fundamental to who i/we have always been and the way i/we have always preferred things, but with so much more knowledge of products, resources, communities, practices, and so many more fundamental pieces that make up what we use and eat, how they are made, and where they come from.

this journey has tangled tightly with a journey into more informed and conscious parenting and more natural, mindful eating practices. the focal point spread from frugality to a holistic approach that suits our family. so many times i read and learned and felt startled and displaced with feelings of uncertainty about beliefs i have previously felt so certain of. i started the year thinking i was ahead of the masses in my environmental beliefs and now feel like i still have so much to learn. but i remain steadfast in my belief that each family has to come to their own place on their own terms, with no judgment. i know most of you will agree with that, but too many times over, i read directed opinions in various places or heard criticisms with my own ears. too many times during this past year, i felt self-conscious, criticized, or blatantly told what to do or what is right. (and yes, i realize that may have been as much my own self-doubt as it was the way the informant was expressing themselves.) it is my hope that in verbalizing our journey, i don't unintentionally make anyone else feel insecure of theirs.

although i love all natural materials, i have come to a balance that works for our family and our finances. i will still choose used first, because i have come to realize just how many natural items are available used, if one just has the patience to wait for them to become available and the organization to know what one really needs. and i have found informational resources that make me feel a little more comfortable about the non-natural materials we are still using.

as my friend genevieve recently put it...the truth is, despite our need to live frugally, our family is by no means poor. if we really feel we need something (and in most cases if we really want something), our frugal habits allow us to simply buy those items. it is because we are careful, pick and choose, and (in the grand scheme of american materialism) we don't buy much, that makes this flexibility possible. if we had been 100% true to our goals, we would not have been as frugal (we would have paid a huge amount for some new, handmade, local items), so there would be far less of this financial flexibility. it is for this reason that i do not feel too badly about continuing to use costco for some bulk food and eco goods.

so it is with this first year behind us (and i say first, because, although we have concluded the 12 months we set out to do, we are by no means returning to where we were at the beginning) that we enter our second year with an acceptance (and honestly, an understood appreciation for) some of the plastics, chemicals, and other non-natural materials in our lives. it is as we start this year that i say this is where we are right now. one thing i already knew about myself is that i am open to changing my opinion and believe in learning every single day.

Our "backyard," for which we strive to be good stewards.