DIY power generation

I normally don’t post about local events, because I have readers from all the country - and the globe - but this event is too cool not to mention. This weekend in Toronto, Subtle Technologies is having a workshop on how to build your own power generator out of, well, trash.  The amount of power generated will not be enough to power your entire home, but it will be sufficient to power a small gadget like an ipod or cell phone.  Personally, I’ve wanted to create something like this for a while but didn’t know how to start. This little workshop is uber practical, because you walk out the door with your own little power generator, not to mention the skills to build on and share this craft with others. Here are the details of this cool project:

On the Bruce

I hope that all of my Canadian readers enjoyed a relaxing long weekend. I spent a good portion of my weekend in one of my favourite places in the whole world: the Bruce trail. I live too far away for a weekend jaunt up to its prime region (the Georgian Bay escarpment) but I did two day trips on the trail in the Halton Hills area instead.

Day one was especially wonderful. I went with my dad. We hiked for 5 hours, and only ran in to one person - an older gentleman who was doing some geocaching along with his friendly canine companion. The day was wet and rainy, which turned out to be perfect; it kept the temperature cool, and we got to enjoy sensory treats like smelling that fresh “rain” smell and listening to the rain drops land gently on the leafy canopy above us.  My second hike was with friends; we went to a more popular spot and bounced back and forth between the Bruce trail and side trails.  This route was easier and took us about 4 hours to complete.

On our hike today we passed a small boy who was with his Mom and Dad. The boy was looking at a caterpillar. The Dad asked the son, “what do you think it’s going to turn into? What do you think that caterpillar is going to become?” My heart melted. I love seeing children outdoors, learning about nature, learning to respect small creatures, learning to treat the world with gentleness.

Whenever I take time to go on a hike or spend time in nature, I’m always humbled by how much there is to see and how much there is to learn.  We Canadians (and Americans) are lucky enough to live in countries with huge, vaulting vastness. The Bruce trail alone is 700 km long.  If solitude is what you’re looking for, you can find it. If you crave self-reflection, the trail provides a perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with yourself.  If you are seeking curiosities or enjoy discovering new worlds, all it takes is a little patience to reveal the magnificent, private world of insects and plants, not to mention birds and other wildlife.

Furthermore, hiking is such a great form of exercise. It’s load-bearing, which means that it’s good for your bones, but it’s fun; no need to stare into space or into a TV blaring the news while jogging on a treadmill at the gym. Hiking creates opportunities for you to stay mentally engaged while strengthening your muscles and getting a good cardio-vascular workout.

What occurs to me is that everything I wrote above is free, save for a little gas in the car and good footwear. Pack a homemade lunch and you’re off.  The Bruce trail parking lots are all free. If you go to a conservation area you can expect to pay a bit more - usually between $4 and $6 a person - still not excessive.

When we get in touch with nature, we can gain a little perspective.  Like stargazing, hiking is a humbling activity; you realize that you are merely one creature out of millions, a tiny speck within massive eco-systems, full of life and mystery.  Suddenly our own problems don’t seem so significant.  It is peaceful, refreshing, enlivening. Most of us crave stress-relief. We crave peace. We seek relief through entertainment, through distractions, through malls, movie theatres, casinos and bars.  We take expensive vacations. We buy stuff. And yet there is so much at our fingertips, for free. So much that nourishes us. Right here, waiting for us.

Are you a lover of the Bruce trail? Do you love to hike? Where do you like to go to spend time in nature?

My upcoming staycation

I have decided to book a week off of work in August for a vacation. I’ve been mulling over what I’d like to do with my time off, and I’ve finally made my decision: it will be my very first Staycation.  My decision is partly influenced by financial limitations, but not entirely.  In fact, I made my decision while driving to work one day this week, when the weather happened to be absolutely perfect. I realized how much I would have liked to just enjoy the weather outside.  Being a grown-up means that we never really get to fully enjoy good summer weather and do the things that we used to do as children during summer holidays.  Lying out in the grass on a blanket, reading books under a tree, riding bikes… aren’t these the true pleasures of summer? As adults, we don’t get to enjoy what summer is really all about.

I love Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s ideas about staycations - especially her ideas about eating out, getting pedicures, and hiring a cleaning person to take care of the house! The trick, I think, with a staycation is to get out of your routine a bit; indulge yourself, and take a break from your normal routine.

Including the weekends, I will have exactly 9 days. Here’s how I plan on using my time off:

- Visit my parents, taking full advantage of their beautiful deck that faces a forrest and a popular bird feeder, to sun myself, drink cocktails, leaf through books, watch the birds and gaze in the sky

- Do some hiking

- Take walks/bike-rides in the park

- Go to the beach

- Visit antique stores and used book stores

- Treat myself to some of my favourite restaurants

- Do some outdoor yoga, either in the backyard of my parents’ place, a park, or a beach

- Go stargazing

- Eat ice cream

- Catch up with friends and have a BBQ (here’s looking at you, Nature Hogg)

My birthday also falls on that week. It’s a milestone birthday (well not technically but the last year of your 20s counts, right?) so I will need to find a way to celebrate that as well.

Things I won’t do:

- Check my work email

- Worry about work

- Schedule any appointments other than things that are fun

I plan on creating a little photo-diary of my staycation for the blog so I’ll be able to share the results with you.  I’m already looking forward to it!

Are you planning on taking a staycation this year?

Extreme frugality, classism & sustainability

I was quoted in the Globe in Mail a week ago in an article on Extreme Frugality.  And while I most certainly did not appreciate the journalist using the words “obsessive” and “compulsion” to describe some previous experiments with couponing and bargain-hunting (words I never would have used to describe myself) I thought I would put aside my complaints for now and focus on my thoughts about “extreme” frugality.

It’s a classist discussion

Whenever I hear talk of extreme frugality in the media, what bugs me is that there is always an assumption that everyone has the same means, the same financial resources, that everyone has enough - more than enough.  These articles always start from a certain vantage point, assuming that the people who use so-called extreme frugal measures do so in the context of a certain degree of wealth.  And I feel like this element needs to be considered when exploring extreme measures of frugality, because we don’t all have access to the same means. Many Canadians live in poverty. Many Canadians are faced with difficult financial choices. Many Canadians suffer from other complex issues that affect their choices, such as addiction and mental health issues. So when journalists and bloggers make fun of people who take “extreme” measures to meet their needs, it kind of bothers me, because certain realities - and certain people - are being ignored.

Arguments about extremism assume that debt is normal

Most people would consent that extreme measures are okay if it’s a matter of life and death, but what if it’s a matter of life and debt? If someone is using “extreme” frugal measures to live within their means, but does not technically have to, because they have access to credit, is that being responsible, or is it pathological? It’s a thought worth pondering. In the media, giving up luxuries for the sake of living within ones means is portrayed as extreme. But Gail Vaz-Oxlade argues that debt is not normal.

How I define extremism

However, I have my own limits. For me, I define frugality as being “too extreme” for my own lifestyle when it falls into one of the following categories:

- jeopardizing my health

- being unethical or taking advantage of others

- reducing my quality of life

- causing the decline of self-respect

- harming personal or professional relationships

During tough financial times, I aim to find ways of cutting back so that I don’t have to jeopardize the above. For the most part, it can be done, it just requires a lot of planning, a lot of creativity, a lot of hard work and a positive attitude.

Our throw-away culture: an environmental hazard

However, many of the “extreme” frugal measures listed in the Globe article may not necessarily compromise any of the above categories. The re-using of dental floss in particular strikes me as interesting, because the blogger who refused to post this tip recognized it as a safety concern.  Although I’ve never re-used dental floss (and don’t intend to) I don’t like the automatic repulsion to the idea of reusing things in our throw-away culture. We’re so used to buying and throwing away disposable items that we don’t stop to ask, “can this be reused?” Or, “is there an alternative to this product that doesn’t have to be thrown away?”  Recently I realized that I could, for example, reuse my aluminum foil.  I only discovered that it was reusable when I ran out of tinfoil and urgently required some, and decided to wash my last piece instead. It was like a lightbulb went off - “why am I not reusing this?”  Granted that this is hardly a life-changing realization, but it’s a simple of example of how we get used to throwing things away thoughtlessly, because “there’s always more where that came from”. We usually only question these habits when we’re in a position of scarcity - but sometimes that’s when we realize that we can actually make-do with less and do quite well. Maybe we need to start imagining scarcity in order to be a little more creative and a little more environmentally responsible.

So if someone finds a way to reduce their environmental impact by reducing or reusing, and it does not cause harm in any of the ways I listed above, are we right to call this extreme, or are we right to call this responsible?

An enviable life

I found myself telling the reporter that I live an “enviable” life. After all, I have a job that is well aligned with my values and that is meaningful to me, I am surrounded by natural beauty, and my home only contains posessions that reflect my personality, my loves, my passions. It is a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle that truly reflects my values.  Some of my practices would be considered extreme - not watching television, for example, or not having junk food in the house. These habits could be considered extreme by others, but to me, they just make sense - they enhance the quality of my life and my health.

Indeed, it’s taken me a while to find this balance. Partly, I think it’s about experimenting and discovering what’s important to you and what fits within your goals. Sometimes frugality and simplicity can complement each other but sometimes they are antagonistic to each other, and finding a way to align them has been my goal.  After a few years of experimentation, I can finally see them aligning into a nice balance.

What do you consider to be “too extreme” frugal behaviour?

Finding peace at home

Have you ever been tempted by a gorgeous photo of a dream vacation spot? The pictures usually include a woman with a gorgeous body, lying in a hammock over turquoise waters with a drink by her side. Her facial expression epitomizes relaxation. It’s instinctive to immediately think, “I want to feel like that, too. I want to go on vacation.” We want the feelings that are being emitted from the advert - serenity, peace, total mind and body relaxation.

Have you ever actually taken one of these trips only to feel as though something was missing?  Have you actually been surrounded by a gorgeous setting - a beautiful beach, a sunset, a luxurious hotel or a quaint bed and breakfast, only to feel as though you can’t quite grasp that total peace of mind you thought would automatically accompany this change of setting?

Although we are naturally affected by our physical surroundings, I think that it takes more than a change of scenery to achieve a sense of inner peace, even briefly.  It take practice, the practice of mindfulness. This is actually good news because it means we can grab that feeling displayed in the advert, hang on to it and revisit it multiple times a day.

Lately I’ve been in awe of the natural beauty outside my window. Thanks to plenty of rain, the trees outside my high-rise apartment window are in full-bloom. It’s quite magnificent. I open up my blinds, and I have a full view of green.  I’m only going to be living in this apartment for a couple more months, and I’m taking full advantage of the view now, while I can.  And I find, with some surprise, that it is exceptionally easy for me to enjoy it fully and meaningfully, in solitude.  I find myself, some evenings, just sitting in my chair, which is pointed at the balcony, watching the colours of the sky change. When I get home from work, the trees look yellow with the bright light that prefaces dusk. The sky is a bright cheerful blue. And then it changes, into white, then into a deep blue, then into an even deeper, cobalt blue. I see many gradations of colour until ultimately the sky becomes black and I can’t identify any more colours.

I’ve been paying attention to smells more as well. This weekend the weather was humid and in the mornings, I enjoyed the smell of the air just before it rained. You know, that luscious, scented air that, I think, gives way to positive memories. (At least it gives way to positive memories for me, of working on the farm, of summers long gone.)  This morning I took a breath and smelled at once that fresh, morning, pre-rain smell, which then tapered into the scent of freshly brewing coffee.  I caught both smells in an instant; it lasted less than a second, but it was wonderful.

At night, new sounds and smells. After chirping all day long, the sympohny of birds outside my window quiet down and their song is replace by… something. A humming noise.  It sounds like tree frogs, but that can’t be it.  And it’s much too early for crickets. So I’m not sure who is making the sound, but there is a peaceful little noise, probably made by some other insect. Just sitting and listening to it, and feeling the breeze flow in through my open window, is the perfect peaceful moment before bed.

Tonight, I finally ate a meal in silence. My mind was not completely quiet, but I was free of distractions such as television, books, or computers. Just me, and the meal I prepared for myself. For some reason, it felt less lonely to eat alone tonight. I looked outside my window while I ate, and then gazed at my little companion, Butternut, who slept in the easy chair beside the table, her pink nose looking especially cute and bright as it nestled up against her clean, white paws.

The past week I’ve realized that even within the context of my life today - which is very good, but far from “perfect” or easy - that these moments deliver that sense of ease, that sense of perfection, that the adverts proclaim to deliver in exchange for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

These moments are here for everyone to enjoy. I’m finally articulating what I really wanted this blog to be about all along. I want to participate fully in life, finding peace and true joy in life itself, not pursuing empty goals, meaningless distractions. We spend money on expensive trips and vacations, when so much can be found right here, right now, today, in this very moment.  I adore traveling and I love vacations as much as the next person, but we so often forget that what we are seeking is really available to us at anytime, anywhere. And it doesn’t cost a penny; it only costs our attention, our willingness to be attentive.  This requires some risk-taking and some discipline, but it is so very rewarding.

What’s next? I’d like to practice this more. Making time to enjoy the views, to pay attention to smells, to practice eating in silence and distraction-free.

Have you been enjoying any practices of mindfulness lately? Do you find it helps to satisfy your goals of frugal, simple abundance?