Lifestyle

There are a number of things that Erinne and I do that define our lifestyle, particularly in the way of consumption. According to Wikipedia, lifestyle also includes social relations, entertainment, and dress, but I have only noticed interesting patterns in our consumption habits, so that's what I will talk about below.

I suppose many people have an overall philosophy that dictates their consumption habits. On the other hand, I've noticed that our consumption habits seem to follow a pattern of healthiness, naturalness, sustainability, and thriftiness, and that our philosphy can be derived from that.

Here are just a few of the things that we do:

• We do not own a car. This saves us money, makes sense in the dense neighborhoods that we prefer to live in, and keeps us healthy by forcing us to walk everywhere. We often take public transportation, and we sometimes rent a car by the hour.
• We do not eat a lot of meat, (especially Erinne). We prefer to get our protein from healthier sources.
• We try not to waste. I don't like to throw things away. It's more about being thrifty than it is about being environmentally friendly, although both are somewhat important to us.
  
• We will use cloth diapers for our baby. This is a combination of thriftiness and environmentalism.
  
• We use a lot of natural cleaning and personal care products. This can be very convenient because you can replace almost all such products with just a few: castile soap (e.g. Dr. Bronner's), baking soda, and vinegar. We use Dr. Bronner's for cleaning dishes, the kitchen, the bathroom, etc. We use baking soda for shampoo and apple cider vinegar for conditioner. Conventional shampoo is bad for your hair!!
  
• We do not use toilet paper or tissues. I'll keep the details to myself.
• We don't like to spend money. We like to go to the mall just to look at things without buying.
• We're willing to pay more for local and organic food.