Jeff Yeager || The Ultimate Cheapskate

It's Easy Being Green (if you're cheap)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I've been flattered - in fact my Inner Miser has been blushing a lot recently - by all the attention my little book has been receiving. Of course it didn't hurt sales that just about the day it was released back in January, the U.S. economy promptly collapsed, ushering in the Era of the Cheapskate.

OK, fine, we cheapskates know how to survive tough times. But I didn't write my book as a survival guide, I wrote it as a revival guide; a way of reviving our non monetary souls and reminding us that there's a lot more to life than money and stuff. Of course, my Cheapskate brothers and sisters understand this and enjoy life more because of it.

But I have to say that one of the most heartening - and positive - responses I've had is from the burgeoning "green" movement. You see, as we cheapskates know, if you're a typical American you can't truthfully embrace the green movement without first accepting that it means YOU need to consume - and spend - less in your own life. We are 5% or the world's population, but we consume more than 30% of the world's resources.

So we of the Cheaphood have always know that we're the Ultimate Greenskates, too, but others in the environmental movement have sometimes been slow to recognize us as such. I guess it's easy for most Americans to think of environmentalism as something that's important for us to promote in the Amazon basin, but not so easy when it comes to accepting that maybe you shouldn't replace that 1970's avocado colored wash basin in your bathroom, since it still functions perfectly.

But here's the good news: Attitudes in the environmental community and public at large are changing. Cheap is the new cool, and it comes in only one color --- a cool shade of green.

As a result, I've locked arms with a number folks involved in the green movement, hoping to bring the cheapskate's perspective on consumerism into the public dialogue about conservation and the environment. To that end, I recently started blogging as the "Green Cheapskate" on the marvelous website The Daily Green. You can read my blog posts at http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/save-money/, and I'll be posting the introduction to each new post in this space going forward.

Stay Cheap ... and Get Green!

posted by Jeff Yeager at 10:35 AM

3 Comments:

Yelena said...: Jeff, this week my husband and I are doing our first "Fiscal Fast". We're looking at it as a challenge, a competition, and a very nice conversation starter. So far we're in Day 3 and going strong. How does it relate to your post about being green? Well, since we're not buying anything this week, our trash bin is almost empty. Just thinking of the packaging along that we would've overwise had to remove and discard makes me appreciate the power of consuming less. I'm trying to keep track of this week's money saved here - http://yelenasnews.blogspot.com/; June 25, 2008 2:50 PM
Jeff Yeager said...: yelena -
Thanks for keeping us posted. Stay strong ... and Stay Cheap!
-Jeff Yeager; June 28, 2008 1:31 PM
Christy said...: Just finished your book and loved it. My family just moved to our forever house and cut my husband's commute from a 40 minute drive to a 5-minute bike ride!
While I applaud your title of "ultimate cheapskate" I feel sure that if you met my mother you might be humbled by her cheapness. When we were kids, she would take us to the grocery store and, as a treat, buy us sweets from the bulk containers. However, the items were weighed by the pound. My mom would buy, say, five jelly beans or one chocolate covered pretzel. The weight was so low it wouldn't show up on the register. We always got a little treat and my mom felt she had outwitted the store into giving her something for FREE.
Thanks for writing your book. I wish more people with your creativity could be selfishly employed.; August 12, 2008 9:38 PM