Frugal Framnett

Drat, I have to rewrite this, my blog software [undisclosed] lost the previous version of this post, probably for the best.

We are no eco-freakos this does not mean we are careless of the environment, it means we look for prudent means to take care of the environment. It is common for people to take the no pain no gain approach to environmentally conscious living. We see those people scouring for used vegetable oil for their cars, or building houses from donkey dung and shredded newspaper, placing photovoltaic solar panels on their roofs, and installing geo-thermal heat pumps heating & cooling.

Yes, you heard me correct. Lorie and I are building a house. I have looked into photovoltaics and geo-thermal as a means to power, heat, and cool our house. My analysis was not encouraging, showing payback periods of roughly 15-17 years. Sorry, too long, I need a payback period of 10 years or less. To go with these emerging technologies would have been an extravagance we can not afford. Maybe in five years our means will have sufficiently expanded and the price of the materials will have come down to a level where it makes sense.

Now, there are people out there who can afford such technologies and I say go for it. If you have the wealth you can assuage your guilt. However, do not think you will be getting payback anytime soon on your investment (I will present my analysis in another post).

In fact, I put before you, the idea such extravagances are more damaging to the environment than conventional technologies. Why? Because price is a measure of input resources both in terms of material and labor’s time. More resources means more impact upon the environment.

However, the early-adopters provide one crucial benefit. They serve as the guinea pigs on which we can experiment and learn to produce and deliver the technology more appropriately and inexpensively.

Do not get me wrong. Not all environmentally friendly technologies are boondoggles. Lorie and I cut our electric bills roughly in half by switching most of our lights to compact fluorescents. Guess what? The reduced electrical consumption is beneficial to the environment and saves us money! Other technologies we use to save money and the environment is as simple as heavy wool sweaters and heavy wool quilts.

In order for environmentally friendly technology to catch on it has to be a value, not extravagant!

This category is similar to Cheap or Frugal. However, in this category we we will be on the other end of the cost category.

Just like we make a distinction between money saving techniques that indeed save money and those techniques that cost money in the end we also make distinctions between paying more to save money in the end and spending money just to spend money.

An example of this is furniture. You can go to a store and buy furniture that is very expensive, however it will last forever and look good forever. The alternative is to go to a store with very cheap furniture and it falls apart after a couple of years and you have to spend again to replace it.

So we would discuss whether or not an item, despite its high price, is a good value or not. Always understand, you have to judge if your financial situation and priorities are your first considerations and then you can start thinking about value.

For example, to go back to the furniture. You can spend (for instance) $25.00 for a computer desk but it is cheap and you don’t expect it last more than 5 years, but you can go to another store to buy a computer desk for $500.00 but it will last a lifetime. The $500.00 desk may be the better value but if your budget can not spare the $500.00 then it may be better to not buy a computer desk (and make due some other way) or to find something in between.

The $25.00 desk may be cheap and the $500 desk may be a value.

A $70.00 pair of shoes may be a value and a $270.00 pair of shoes may be extravagant. I encourage you to vote and comment in these postings!