If you’ve ever thought that adopting a greener lifestyle will mean compromising on quality and saying ‘good-bye’ to the finer things in life, then today’s Eco Chat podcast is for you!
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Now many people believe that by adopting a greener lifestyle that they’ll somehow be compromising their quality of life, and this couldn’t be further from the truth!
If you’re a Gen X’er like me, chances are your grandparents were (and maybe still are!) super frugal. They lived through the Great Depression and had a strong respect for money, thinking about every single dollar they spent. Now, more often than not, this resulted in them living pretty sustainably as well, but sometimes this had an opposite result because frugality and eco-living are not the same thing.
Confused? Let me explain……
The Frugalist often thinks about the cost of items and products, whereas the Environmentalist thinks about the lifespan and the lifecycle of the product (things like where it’s made, it’s quality, how durable it is, waste produced etc.). The two really are quite different.
It can be quite ironic that the Frugalist can often end up spending more over time, as cheaper products don’t last the distance, they might need repairs, or need to be replaced entirely! Not to mention if they purchased that wasn’t quite what they wanted in the first place.
In this Eco Chat episode I discuss various examples that demonstrate the difference between frugality and eco-living. Plus I share some areas of my life where I don’t compromise on the finer things and just why I consider this to be a sustainable way to live.
I’d love to hear your thoughts too so share below a time when you’ve perhaps gone for the cheaper option only to realise that it definitely wasn’t the more sustainable choice.
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Laura Trotta is one of Australia’s leading home sustainability experts. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering, a Masters of Science (in Environmental Chemistry) and spent 11 years working as an environmental professional before creating her first online eco business, Sustainababy, in 2009. She has won numerous regional and national awards for her fresh and inspiring take on living an ‘ecoceptional’ life (including most recently winning the Brand South Australia Flinders University Education Award (2015) for the north-west region in SA and silver in the Eco-friendly category of the 2015 Ausmumpreneur Awards). With a regular segment on ABC Radio and with her work featured in publications like Nurture Parenting and My Child Magazine, Laura is an eco thought leader who’s not afraid to challenge the status quo. A passionate believer in addressing the small things to achieve big change, and protecting the planet in practical ways, Laura lives with her husband and two sons in outback South Australia. 
Great post and an important distinction 🙂
Thanks Lisa! It is an important distinction 🙂