Sustainable living

I have been thinking a lot about sustainability lately. Not just for the earth, but also when it comes to finance. Maybe all the bad news on Wall Street got the ball rolling. I freaked out a bit when I watched my retirement accounts lose more than $75,000.

What does it mean to live sustainably?

It should be no surprise to green folks that what's good for the earth is good for the pocketbook. With the exception of the solar panels I hope to buy some day. That's JUST for the earth. But on all other fronts, living sustainably has the dual benefit of helping the planet and saving money, plus the ethereal benefit of mental well being and the confidence of being self sufficient.

My big question? How self-sufficient and sustainable can I possibly be on such a small piece of land? In the middle of the city? I don't know the answer yet, but in the next couple of years I hope there is a steep learning curve.

Maximizing my garden space I believe is the first step. The more food I can produce on my small semi-suburban plot, the better I will feel. The second part of this is managing to can, preserve, or freeze as much of that as I can. I'm still working on that one.

I also read a story about a new plan in Cincinnati to sell small undevelop-able plots of urban land to people who want to use them as gardens. I hope this catches on and spreads to my town, because hubby and I had discussed finding vacant plots to buy for this very purpose.

Those are my random thoughts for today. If you have any ideas about sustainable everyday living, I'd love to hear them!