Its only been two years and five months since being laid off from my job, and nearly eight months of being in the rat race since leaving school. It hasn’t been a pretty journey, but rather, a pain-stakingly frustrating, anxiety inducing voyage. There have been bills that have needed paying, a car that has needed fixing, a child that has needed necessities, and a mama that has needed a new pair of shoes – you know, the run of the mill every day life happenings. These needs have been met, but not without a lot of sacrafice and creativity. You see, I was not expecting to have my sacraficial college days spill over into my post college days, not even in this economy was I expecting this. Perhaps it was a bit of naivete, or maybe I was just a bit overly ambitious, like a fair number of other college grads, expecting to reap the benefits that were ultimately cut off by the recession. Whatever my motive, the awakening was rude.
They say good things come to those who wait. I guess that’s a lot easier to apply when you don’t lack patience, and when you aren’t used to being in survival mode, where things have to happen quickly, if not happening simultaneously, because you are the only person making them happen. Its been an interesting experience learning the process of patience. Even in my parenting, my daughter is accustomed to mama’s lack of patience in certain areas, and we both know how to work with and around that. There has been no preferential treatment in my job search. I’ve had to hit this thing full force, kicking and screaming, and work from the bottom up to reclaim what I feel my daughter and I are entitled to – the right to shelter, clothing, and food.
This Saturday, my voyage comes to an end. I’m headed back to the office.
Tagged as:
back to work,
effects of unemployment
Going green is about saving money as much as it is about doing something great for our planet. The more we get into the mindset that living an eco-friendly lifestyle is economical in the long term, it will encourage us to switch from conventional products to energy efficient, greener products. The following tips help our environment and will also help your pocketbook too. Win! Win!
Use Rechargeable Batteries: Rechargeable batteries are a great way to reduce, reuse and recycle. Many of them can be reused up to 1,000 times. More than 15 billion batteries are thrown away each year. Add up all that landfill and you could make a row of batteries that could reach the moon. Batteries are extremely toxic for our environment and should be kept out of our soil through proper disposal.
Kill the Phantom Energy Guzzler: He goes by various names like standby power, lopomo or low power mode. How do you permanently get rid of him? Simply pull the plug on his energy source. Devices such as coffee pots, microwaves, hair dryers, COMPUTERS, TVs & PRINTERS (major offenders) are known to increase your energy bill noticeably. When these devices are not in use, unplug them. If we reduce our usage of electricity it which will help reduce our dependency on oil.
Have Bills Gotcha Down? Is your mailbox stuffed with letters from creditors? You’ve got to be tired of seeing them by now. I’ll tell you who is definitely tired of your bills. Mama Earth. Tons and tons of bills are ending up in our landfills. Millions upon millions of trees are being cut for no reason. Here’s a no-brainer. Switch to receiving your bills via email or setup automatic bill pay.
Save Ink. Save Cartridge: You can save on ink by clicking on preferences on your printer, then clicking on the paper/quality tab, and then on draft. The image will be lighter than if you use the regular setting, but it’s readable and saves on cartridge ink. To save on paper, simply print on both sides of the page when printing multiple pages. You can take your empty cartridges to Walgreens for refills. Hewlett Packard and many other companies will actually take back your empty cartridges. Plug your zip code into Earth911.org”>Earth911.org for nearest drop off location.
Tame the Loo: Put a 1-liter plastic bottle full of water (smaller sizes can float) inside your toilet’s water tank. Each time you flush, instead of using 6 liters of water, you will be using only 5 liters.
Paper? Plastic? Neither: Make it a habit to use your own bags for purchases you make. Most stores offer branded bags for purchase. If you have old canvas bags or if you are crafty and would like to make your own bags, these are other options you can consider.
Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated: When you keep your vehicle’s tires properly inflated, you increase your fuel economy. The life of your rubber will be extended as well. For every three pounds that your tires are below their recommended pressure, your fuel economy drops one percent. Calculate that on a national level and that adds up to a lot of unnecessary maintenance and gas purchases for our vehicles.
I hope these tips encourage you to green up and in the process I hope they help you save money.
