Scriptures admonish us to take care of our environment. There were even Levitical laws concerning allowing the land and livestock to rest on the 7th year. They admonish us to allow ox and servant to rest completely on the 7th day of every week. They instruct us to treat animals in a humane manner, and to diligently toil and work the ground.

The law of the harvest will be in place until the end of time. It’s a promise, and it’s a warning to be careful what you sow. Generally speaking, mankind has sown destruction of the environment and can only reap the same, to his detriment.

By the way, I’ve posted about energy from the wind, the sun, water, and other alternative sources, in this blog a number of times. I’ll continue to post about such things and take more steps myself to us less non-renewable energy in my own life. After all, renewable sources were around long before the electric company wired us all into their grid.

As far as cooking once a week or once a month, this is really not that hard to accomplish. Making double batches of the things already on your menu, using the foods you already have, makes it completely possible. If you’re storing food in your fridge or freezer to be cooked later, then the completed recipes for that same food will go right back in the spot the raw food took up. It might not be possible for some people to do this because of a very busy schedule. I know that.

What I wrote in this post, though, are choices people can make - not “must make” - in order to reduce spending and reduce their personal footprint, environmentally speaking. You do what you can and forget the rest, unless the opportunity arises to participate in other “green” projects.

And believe me, I know how it is not to be able to visit Mom and other family as often as one would like. My Mom lives 100 miles from me, as does my sister.

But if we are going to see it from the point of view of conservation, okay. Personally, I have done some of these things. Others are simply not feasible as you say.

Thermostat…we already set ours much lower in winter than most people do at 66-67 degrees. And yes we add the extra clothes as needed. In the summer, it’s set at 80 degrees. Isn’t it funny though? My bill this month was higher than last year at this time even though we used far more electric last year. Hmmm.

Since we live in a rural area, we already conserve on our trips to town which in this case is Walmart and other related places. However, since we are rural, it takes lots of gas to go almost anywhere…like my Mom’s house. We see her and the rest of the family far less than they would like since we live 18 miles away from them.

Compact fluorescent bulbs…yes, of course. Those pesky short life bulbs will blow on ya every time so get the longer lasting ones. We did that too. We have some of those blue-white lights. The person who developed those should be forced to live in a room with nothing but those lights. But we have them.

Reusable shopping bags-as with everything else, Walmart has inflated the price of those too. We get ours at Aldi’s and those cost a dime.

Do all the cooking once a week or month. Uh huh. That would require someone having plenty of room in the refrigerator and the freezer, wouldn’t it. Did you mention that? When we are at capacity in those appliances, it would be hard to find the room for such things. And speaking of room, you mentioned buying several crockpots. Not in our situation. We have a hard time finding room for the one as it is. What would we do if we had say three of them??? It is a good idea but not for everyone.

Start a garden in your yard. Also a good idea. The problem I see here is that not everyone has the room for that either. in our case, we did try it. Put in six tomato plants. Know how many tomatoes we got? Two. Seems that our soil is not compatible for growing things like that. It cost us a lot more to grow them than to buy some.

Why didn’t you mention windmills? Those are an awesome idea. No, I am not being sarcastic. I love the idea. Why not talk about solar panels? Do you know what the electric company told my Mom when she inquired about windmills? They said that there was not enough wind here for that. Solar panels? Not enough sun. Isn’t it funny that the best ideas always get shot down by those who wouldn’t do those things in the first place?

Really, the ideas are great and people can do some of them or all of them depending on what setup they have. But it is not okay to look down on those who would likely want to conserve and do their part but cannot for whatever reason. However, I do realize that there are plenty of people who would just as soon not bother. Some day, people will see what is happening here and why it happened. But it will not be because of a bunch of people who couldn’t take care of the planet. It’s far worse than that.

Keep the great conversation about this matter going! There is a lot we can do when we all put our heads together!

But if we had to come up with a lot of money all at once, like for the propane tank out in front of our house right now, we could not do it. In fact, it’s due to be filled right now but we do not have the funds. It would cost us well over $300. In the winter, it’s likely to be over $400. Three of those tanks will be needed, one in about November. One in January and one in February. Yes, we do keep the thermostat low at about 65-67 degrees in the winter. Sometimes it goes lower when we have to put more in the tank and we don’t have it just yet. When all that happens, not only do we not eat out, we don’t have as much in the cabinets as usual because that is the one thing in the budget that we can get money from.

Yes, I have seen a lot of SUVs on the road still but many in our area are trying to sell their gas hogs. I doubt many will be sold, don’t you? Two of the car dealerships are closed here. I believe that we only have one new car dealer in the area now.

When the tornado came through and took out about a half of Highland, most of the businesses found other places to go or gave up. There is very little rebuilding here. I was amazed to see that. Lots of people are out of work here. We are in a very poor county. Few jobs were ever available and now less than ever.

I do agree that people can be and are wasteful with their money, wanting to give the kids what they have always had instead of making them do without. I guess the problem is that they simply do not know, yet, how to conserve or buy cheaply. It’s not that hard but you do have to know how. Some people were never taught and of course we have the “I want” generation in some of the kids and teens growing up now. They simply do not know how to handle all this because they have sort of had everything handed to them. I suspect that was why so many people got into that home mortgage mess.

Thanks for letting me tell my two cents and four cents worth, now up due to inflation.

The increase in fast food and other sales has steadily risen here. Less healthful food is sold more and more. I only know this because sales have increased dramatically at the store where I was working. They can barely keep up, and it’s been like that since before the stimulus checks were mailed out. Even at the smaller store where I now work, I see people spending as much on a fast food meal as I would normally spend on groceries for a week.

I completely understand about the “mega marts” taking over and driving out the mom and pop stores. It’s happened here all too often. Small businesses get pushed out because they can’t compete with the lower prices at the marts. This is why I tend to shop at those smaller places instead of at the marts!

So, here we are just all trying to get by until there’s some kind of relief in prices. In the meantime, in my own home, I’ll continue with the kind of things my dear Mom taught me. She came through the Great Depression, and knows exactly how bad things can be. Food and gas rationing. War. Victory gardens. Selling rags and paper and cans for a pittance. Homelessness and soup kitchens. Wearing clothes with patches on them. I’ve done some of that myself, though I have been blessed not to be truly homeless so far in my 56 years on this Earth.

I’ve spent plenty of time, though, cooking outside and working in the house at night by a kerosene lamp because there was no money to pay the electric bill. I’ve washed clothes in the bathtub more times than I can count, and I’ve spent hours picking wild foods and preserving them so we would have something to eat. I’ve made mountains of biscuits and lakes of gravy to fill children’s tummies when there were no other groceries in the house, and none we could afford to buy other than cheap flour and shortening.

I was living in my car when I met my husband. I know what that’s like.

I’ve learned that when really hard times hit, we do what we can to survive until they pass. And they do pass. I know. It’s hard when things go up and wages don’t, but when you think about it, if wages go up, the price of goods rises even further.

Try being a middle aged widow for awhile. You learn really quickly that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, out there for you. You make it on your own. Period. So, you see, I’m no stranger to all of this. I live it every day.

However, if I did have to work outside the home and my husband’s employer moved over to China, we’d be up the creek (so to speak). Neither I nor my husband would be able to find another job in our area. The ones that are here are leaving fast. I know you mention consumerism and fast food, but in my area of Ohio, sales are down. The only reason there was any spike in May was because of the stimulus payment. Some business owners are saying May sales was the best it’s been in well over a year. In my area of Ohio, small businesses are quickly going under and huge mega marts are all that’s left. That means more job loss.

I think right now that a lot of people are trying to maintain a standard of living via their credit cards. When those are used up, they’re lost. I think it’s unfair for someone who’s worked at a plant for 25 years to have to see his/her job go overseas and then he/she is forced to work part-time at Wal-Mart. Like I tell my daughter, “Yes, it was good enough for me at the time but I want better for you.” I don’t think that any American should be going hungry. And right now way too many are. I mean those that don’t have two cars, a computer, and/or internet service (because then there’s still a little room to cut down a little more, yes?)

Sorry for the mini-rant. I kind of got away with myself. I’m torn on this issue because I do see people going homeless and hungry in my (very rural) area and it makes me mad. Then my kid says we’re poor and I look around like “We have a house! We’re rich!”

And when I speak of people on the dole, I don’t even mean people who truly deserve it. I mean people who can do better but just don’t want to. Yes. I see those people, too, on a daily basis. They come pushing their shopping carts through where I work, full of crap food instead of substantial food, with children in tow who complain they already have three of “that” kids’ meal toy. Sheesh. How many times a week do they eat there? Those toys come out once every week, so it has to be pretty often!

Truthfully, though, this isn’t the first time people have suffered through rapidly rising prices. And it’s not likely there’ll be a downturn at all. There never has been. Higher prices stay high. The difference now, I believe, is that too many people have come to depend on low prices, which this country really has always been blessed with compared to other countries, and have forgotten all the basics of survival.

It’s my full intention to survive all of this through any means I can. If that means the power gets shut off, then I’ll deal with that when it happens. And it’s the largest monthly bill I have right now.

I have never owned a credit card, so I don’t even have the wherewithal to respond to anything like that. I’d be scared to own one now! My health costs come out of my pocket. Thank God I “only” have high blood pressure. When my husband was dying with cancer, those charges were sky-high and I am glad for Hospice and for Medicaid for them. Our total income was $500 a month then. I know how things are.

But I also know how much worse things can be when we aren’t willing to cut back even more. I’m not saying you haven’t already cut back. But the general population certainly hasn’t! Consumerism is alive and well down here where I live in the central part of our state. So is wastefulness and keeping up with the Jones’. When I say, “I need new shoes”, I mean my old ones are that worn out and I need new ones. Not that I need some to match my new outfit..lol.

Times are certainly hard, but times have always been hard for me. I’ve always struggled to keep bills paid. I’ve always struggled to put food on the table. I’m used to the struggle and I know it’s not the end of the world. There is an ebb and a flow to the economy. You are an inspiring person to lay things on the line like you just did and I really appreciate your candor.

Our country did very little to change things though I believe that 70s oil thing was a warning of what could happen if someone wanted to take us down as a country. I believe they found out and are now in that process. We do not have good standing in the world, not thought of as a super power like we used to be. Our economy is down and the prices of literally everything is up.

I know that you want to give a positive spin on this just like I would like to. However, there is one thing that is a big concern here. No matter what may be happening, the downturn in the housing market is quite real, the gas prices are rising higher and higher and is quite real, the wages and the fixed incomes are not changing as fast as the rest of it. That reality hits us every time we need something that was not budgeted…like a stay at the hospital or two which we experienced recently. Not everything is covered by Medicare. We have to pay the co-pays which are awesome.

I personally live on a semi-fixed income. That is to say that my husband and I get social security disability. We work from home but it’s only a small amount. Our income is not, in any way, catching up with the rising prices and I doubt that it ever will. Only with a downturn on prices can we go back to barely getting by. At this time, we are not making it financially. Too many bills, not enough income. Now, if you are thinking…yeah just burn the credit cards, we don’t have them at all. Most of our bills are from the usual…gas, electric, water and so on. They are rising too. And medical bills. Medicare does not pay everything.

From what you said, it sounded like it’s all sweetness and light and all we have to do is wait and everything works out. Unfortunately, for those who lost or are losing homes, that is not the case. For those who are very pained at the pump because the kids can’t have more to eat, Daddy has to go to work, it is not working well.

Yes, I do believe that not everyone is that affected very much by this. Some are doing well. But for those of us who hurt every time we go to the store or the gas station, it is almost too much. For those who have what used to be adequate incomes but are now finding themselves at the food pantries, it is too much. I hate to tell you but I believe that it will get much worse before it ever gets better. Better may not be seen anytime during the rest of this decade.

I just wanted to put in another point of view here. Thanks for this post. It does make people think.