I often find myself coveting a new pair of shoes or a new shirt that I see online. And really, why not indulge myself? I can afford them, (I don’t have very expensive taste) and I don’t consider myself irresponsible with money. I’ve never carried a balance on my credit card; I don’t have student loans. So, every once in awhile I’ll place an order, and my brand new [insert product here] will arrive at my doorstep. The big catch here is that I have extreme anxiety about buying myself new things. I decided to, once and for all, try to figure out why.

Recently I’ve been discovering (rediscovering?) my values. What do I value? How do I place value on material possessions? What do I really need? Is it OK to own things that I want but do not need?

Those questions brought me to determine how I define my “needs.” You might first think of food, water, a place to sleep, warm clothes. What about entertainment? I’ve decided that I don’t define my needs based on what can and cannot sustain my life. I understand that my needs are more spiritual than what my body needs to function - my mind needs to function as well. Beyond that, I don’t just want to function, I have a need to flourish rather than just get by.

Throughout all of this, I find myself often thinking of fashion (shoes, again!). Why do I have a desire to wear a pair of shoes that I look at and enjoy? Is it for myself or others? Is it justifiable? Is it moral? However defined my sense of style is (I’m comfortable with my understanding that I don’t dress to impress others, or to display status or wealth), I’m not sure that it is moral to purchase items that will eventually be turned back into the earth and destroy groundwater and have other deleterious effects. Just so I can wear some yummy sneakers! Plastic wedge with your ice water, anyone? Not to mention the human side of the equation - the humans who work to assemble my new shoes in less than inspiring conditions.

I argue to myself, “Life’s too short! Buy what you want while you still can!” Last year I went shopping with some of my roommates, and they went wild spending money. I was having credit card withdrawal just watching them. A few short weeks later, one of those same roommates passed away in a car accident. Every time I want to buy myself something, I remind myself of my friend, and I tell myself it’s OK to live for this moment - to live for right now. I still want to believe that; I still want to live today and not be worried about tomorrow, but I also don’t think that buying clothes and presents for myself is a reliable expression of that freedom and life.

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to remove the belief that more stuff = more happiness and creativity and self-expression.

I hope that some day I will discover a perfect, anxiety-free balance between my needs and wants. And all that stuff that I need? I hope it will fit in a backpack that I can throw over my shoulder.

Discover more:
5 Ways to Save the World at Zen Habits
I wish I had an iPhone! at No Impact Man

You already know that riding your bike or walking to work and school every day improves your health and the environment - the green revolution has done a fine job of drilling that into our heads, to the point where it’s become a mantra that goes in one ear and out the other. Yea, so what? Between yoga and the gym who needs an extra walk?

Become inspired again with these ten bites of inspiration to get out of your sweaty car and hop on a bike.

photo by Alexander Somma

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I recently applied for my US passport. The process was fairly straightforward, but as one who does not make a habit of reaching for her credit card, I like to have a heads-up before I spend money on anything. I’ve covered everything I had questions about along the way. Where do I apply for a passport? How much does a passport cost? How much does a passport photo cost? And surprisingly, you have many choices. Here’s everything you should know about applying for your passport.

photo by jpmatth

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*For free. Of course.

So this might seem a little far fetched: I want to fly home to Alaska from the southern United States for free this summer. I’ve done it before using Delta’s SkyMiles. The problem is that when you use SkyMiles you don’t earn SkyMiles (duh), so I’ve been running out. Last summer my boyfriend’s parents gave me 25,000 miles to make the trip, but uh, airline miles don’t grow on trees, you know!

So I’ve been pooling my SkyMiles resources. Care to join me? You might be going on vacation this summer! OK, so here’s the breakdown:

photo by Michael Sarver

[ Keep in mind that I need 37,500 miles. Because I procrastinated. You can fly anywhere in the USA (excluding Hawaii) for as little as 25,000 miles - if you plan ahead! ]

I’ll earn: 2,000 miles
You could earn: Up to 8,000 miles per year (or as few as 500 miles)
Who? e-Rewards
How? Answer surveys at e-rewards.com. Create a free Delta SkyMiles account in order to be “invited” to e-rewards. (Use your Delta SkyMiles number to sign up.) You’re sent the surveys randomly, but you only need $25 of credit to redeem for 500 SkyMiles. Save up $100 of credit and you can cash in for 2,000 SkyMiles up to four times a year (once per quarter).

I’ll earn: 15,000 miles
You could earn: Up to 20,000 miles
Who? American Express
How? So long as you don’t have a Delta American Express credit card already, you can sign up for this offer. Sign up for one of these credit cards to receive tons of miles. I signed up for the gold card and was instantly approved. I could earn even more points by signing up extra cardholders (a maximum of 5,000 for two others), but I don’t wanna!

I’ll earn: 3,000 miles
You could earn: Up to 25,000 miles
Who? Delta
How? I posted about this offer already here. Complete three offers with Delta partners and receive 3,000 miles, complete six offers and receive 6,000 points, etc. Read more here.

I’ll earn: ??? miles (probably less than 500 towards the summer trip)
You could earn: ??? miles (miles are posted in 500 mile increments four times a year)
Who? e-miles
How? Sign up for free at e-miles and complete short surveys (two to three questions each, from my experience) kind of like e-rewards, except you only earn SkyMiles. Each survey comes with an option to pay for something or some service, but you’ll earn points even if you don’t break out your credit card. (I’m definitely not going to.) I’m new to e-miles, and it seems like it could be a nice miles-boost, but it’s definitely not going to send you to Australia or anything.

I’ll earn: 2,500 miles … maybe (I haven’t decided whether or not to pay for this offer yet.)
You could earn: 2,500 miles
Who? Netflix
How? If you aren’t already a Netflix customer, you can sign up using this link to receive 2,500 miles. This will cost you a minimum of $8.99. I called Netflix to ask how long I had to stay a member to receive my miles, and the customer service rep said I had better keep my account for at least two months - $8.99 x 2 = $17.98.

You can also buy miles in 1,000 mile increments from Delta. That’s 1,000 miles at $0.0275 per mile plus a 7.5% Federal Excise Tax = $29.56. If you only need a few thousand miles to reach your SkyMiles goal, that could definitely be worth it.

Happy SkyMile-ing. Send me a postcard!

I can remember the first time I checked out at the school bookstore with my own college textbooks. My face felt flushed; I could hardly stand up. The books weighed enough on their own, add the unbelievable price tags and the weight nearly toppled me over. The total was well over $300. There were over six registers open and I could hear totals called out left and right. Few were less than $200, and those were the lucky ones.

All I could think of was the pain I was about to put my bank account through and the thought of all of the things I could have bought with that money, namely food and rent. A new pair of shoes couldn’t have hurt either. I mean, when did I ever treat myself to shoes that cost more than $20 bucks? And here I was buying a textbook for a cool $120. A textbook for a required class that was going to put me to sleep, no less. A textbook that previously you couldn’t have paid me to open, but that I was now paying for the privilege of opening.

image by rayvensmoon

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