Be frugal about "going green"

Retailers and manufacturers seem to be suddenly jumping on the "going green" bandwagon. While it's a good thing on the surface, it's also seemingly creating a "going green" fad, and retailers want to take advantage of it, just as they do any "fad". On the surface, it appears the manufacturers want what's best for the planet (and in some cases, I'm sure this is true). But look closely -- is that what's really going on? Here's a great article from Treehugger.com on the new "recycled coke bottle" t-shirts that are being advertised on television that proves my point splendidly. While Coke appears to be concerned about the planet, what they truly are concerned with is how much money they can make from the "go green" fad. So what can we, as frugal consumers, actually do to "go green" without hopping on the go green bandwagon? Instead of buying the local chain grocery store's $5 tote bags, how about recycling the plastic bags you already have? That's right... take those plastic bags back to the store and re-use them! I think I take home an average of 10 bags per week. If I simply carry those same bags back to the store with me, that's 520 plastic bags I'll NOT take home per year. Our store also give you a .05 refund per bag - so that's a savings to me of $26 per year. Not bad. Want something a little stronger than the normal store's plastic bags? Well, once again, recycle your plastic bags by fusing them with an iron to make a new, stronger shopping bag! Here's a tutorial on how to do it. Now doesn't that make more sense than buying a NEW bag? There are things you can do that won't cost you money but will actually SAVE you money and do your part in going green. These are things that I, personally, am committed to doing: -- Hang my clothes out to dry. Not possible for everyone, I know, but if you can do it, please do! Secondary benefit? Your clothes will last longer (where do you think all that dryer-lint comes from?!) -- Turn my computer off at night. By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. -- Eat one meatless meal per week. One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed. -- Brush my teeth without running the water the entire time. You'll conserve up to five gallons per day if you stop. -- Post unwanted items on Freecycle. Instead of sending perfectly good items to the landfill, check your local Freecycle and see if someone else can use them. I have never posted one item on Freecycle that wasn't gone within 24 hours. -- Plant a tree. I've mentioned before that we cut down 10 mature trees from our yard two years ago. This year we planted 20 to replace them. -- Buy your produce locally. You can check out Local Harvest's web site and find a locally owned farm that will sell you produce directly, as well as local Farmer's Markets in your area. Just think about the amount of gasoline that is used trucking produce around the U.S. when it's right there in your back yard! You can find more great low or no cost "go green" ideas at the 50 Ways to Help the Planet web site. "Going green" doesn't have to be about falling into the fad of going green. If you are truly frugal, going green means not just helping the planet we live on, but saving your money with lower electric and water bills! What are YOU doing to frugally go green? I'd love to hear more ideas!

When being frugal, be patient.

This morning I wrote a post on my other blog about my church rummage sale finds. You can see the pictures and read about it here. I don't want to cross-post, but I think the lesson I learned is a valuable one for those trying to be frugal. The lesson is - be patient. Recognize the difference between what you WANT and what you NEED. I wanted a new cutting table for my quilt room. I have been cutting on an old wobbly formica kitchen table for years, and I've been looking online for an adjustable-height table to replace it. Did I need the new table? No. I had a table that functioned, though I was limited to 30 minutes cutting time because the height aggravated my back problems. But I'd adjusted to cutting for awhile, then sewing for awhile, then back to cutting, etc. Did I want a new table? Absolutely. In fact, I cruised the web and found the perfect table - size-wise it would fit my 36 x 24 cutting mat, height wise it was adjustable up to 40 inches tall! The cost? $180! Just not in my budget right now. But last week it went on sale for $125. And I got out my credit card and temporarily convinced myself I could afford that $125... it was a sale, after all! And I wanted that table! But, the frugal side of me won that argument, and I put my credit card away when I realized I had a table that functioned now and I didn't have the cash saved up in my "sewing fund" to pay the $125 (plus shipping of $40). Yesterday when I went to the church rummage sale I was looking for outdoor toys for my grandson. By luck, I got a little lost in the maze of rooms in the Church and walked into the room where they were selling furniture. And what do I see? THE TABLE. The SAME table I almost spent $165 for last week! It had a $5.00 price tag on it! The reason? The poor table's top had been attacked by a child and a permanent magic marker. I originally thought it wouldn't matter because my cutting mat would cover most of the markings. Of course, I bought it! When I got the table home, I got out a Mr. Clean Magic Sponge and every bit of the magic marker came off! The table looks brand new. Granted, it was pure luck that the table was at that rummage sale and at that price. But it was such a great reminder for me that patience is a requirement of being frugal. I would have been so angry with myself if I'd gone ahead and paid $165 (on a $0 balance credit card!) for that same table and then saw it at the rummage sale for $5! It also reminded me that being frugal just makes sense! I came THIS close to putting that $165 on my credit card. It has made me stop and realize that I need to recognize the different between "want" and "need"... and be patient when it comes to the "wants"!

A new kind of SPAM

When I was a kid, "Spam" was that funny almost-lunchmeat stuff my Mom used to fry up to go with macaroni and cheese. I believe it originated as meat rations for soldiers overseas in World War II, and started production for the general consumer at the end of the war. For the past five to ten years, "Spam" is the name for all that junk email you get in your email that you didn't ask for, don't want, and have no way of stopping. As fast as you can filter it out with your email program, the spammers are coming up with new and different ways to attack you with their email litter. But now there's a NEW kind of Spam. It's a Spam I've not heard anyone ever mention before. It's MAILBOX SPAM and it's driving me crazy. Mailbox Spam is the papers, flyers, advertisements and letters people leave on, under and around your physical outdoor mailbox. It is the same as SPAM in your email -- you don't ask for it, the people leaving it there don't care if you want it or not, and it's for items you'd never buy -- except it has an actual physical and environmental presence... We live at the bottom of a hill with 20 other houses lining the street going up the hill from us. Not only do we live at the bottom of the hill, but we also live on the east side of the road and in the middle of a cul-de-sac. So what happens when all this MAILBOX SPAM is stuck on mailboxes, dropped in driveways or thrown on front steps? On a windy day, a good percentage of it is blown down the road and into our yard. There is one particular store, inadequately named THE DOOR STORE since they never even consider coming close to my front door, who delivers sale flyers in little plastic bags. I can't even begin to count how many of these sale flyers I've picked up out of my yard, or how many of these plastic bags I found stuck to the wire fence behind our yard. I have called them three times now to complain, but it makes no difference. Just like email spam, it does no good to request they stop delivering it! I also get Mailbox Spam for Avon, gutters, new windows, new siding, lawncare, tree cutting, babysitting, yard sales, and people asking for donations -- tossed in my driveway, stuck to my mail box, hung on my mailbox flag, thrown in the puddle at the end of the driveway. All unrequested, unsolicited, unwanted. First, I don't understand why these people don't have to buy a stamp like the rest of us. They want to use my mailbox to deliver their advertisements to me -- buy a stamp and maybe keep the cost of stamps down for awhile. But throw unwanted, unsolicited, unneeded paper in my driveway? I call that littering plain and simple. Where are the environmentalists on this one?? Plastic bags blown around, trees chopped down to put out these flyers and advertisements that are forced on people and only add to both the landfill and litter problem.... Now there's a bandwagon someone should jump on!

I'm a label kind o' girl

I love labels. Not only do labels help me keep everything in it's proper place, but labels just make me look and feel more organized than I really am!



I found these gorgeous personalized labels for the kitchen -- for only $2.00 at Organize.com ! I know I have old glass jars in my basement -- I think it's time they made an appearance in my kitchen! There's a huge selection of the names you can have put on these labels -- for example: candy, cereal, coffee, tea, pasta, rice, flour and more! You can choose the color and the font, then select from their large selection of words.

I never thought of recycling old bottles for the bathroom! But take a look at these ideas! Labels you can choose include: shampoo, conditioner, soap, bubblebath, lotion, and more. Ooooo... can't you just see a line of old blue bottles with cork stoppers in a row in your bathroom??


Look at these labels for photo albums and scrapbooks! (Of course, first I'd have to put all my photos into albums...!)

Those photo albums almost don't need photos -- they just look so good sitting there on your bookcase! Who cares what's actually inside them -- people will think you're SO organized!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

I saw this on Kim's blog The Random Ramblings of a Working Mom and thought it was a great idea!

My Kitchen Tip for the day is to find things you do over and over again, and do it once. For example, we drink a LOT of coffee around this house. Three pots a day at least, weekends it's four or five pots. So when I get out the coffee and the coffee filters, I place 4 or 5 filters out on the counter, and scoop the appropriate amount of coffee into each filter. I then just bunch them up at the top of the filter, and put them in the cupboard over the coffeepot. The next time we want coffee, we just need to grab a filter with coffee already in place. (For some weird reason, Jeff and I call these "pre-paid" -- as in "there's prepaid coffee's up there if you're making coffee") It actually saves time and it's much more convenient than having to get out the filters, get out the can of coffee, etc.!

Another place I do this is the dishwasher. When we put silverware in the dishwasher, all the knives go in one section of the basket, the forks in another, spoons in a third, etc. So when I go to put the dishes away (and it's ALWAYS me!), I just grab all the knives from their basket at once - no sorting, just put them in their appropriate slot in the drawer. I guess more than saving time, it saves thinking! LOL

Some fun freebies

I've mentioned that on my other blog I'm having a giveaway. I'm giving away two items - a quilted notebook and either a second notebook or a handbag made by me. If you love giveaways, the Mother of all Blog Giveaways is going on right now!

The last time I checked, there were nearly 500 giveaways. All you have to do is go to the blogs listed and read the requirements. Some bloggers want you to simply leave a comment. A few want you to look at their blog and comment on something specific. It's easy, it's fun, and you get to view a whole new bunch of blogs you've probably never seen before!

Of course, I want you to go to my blog first and make a comment to sign up for my giveaway! LOL

Another great freebie I saw mentioned on The Sojourner blog is great for the artist in everyone. Get your FREE (no shipping either!) set of 12 oil pastels. Just fill out this form and use the promo code SA2008.

To continue my post from yesteday, I sold my car. Yay Craig's List! The first person to come look at it bought it. I came down in my price a bit and that was fine -- it meant I didn't have to deal with arranging for a ton of people to come look at the car, many of whom probably wouldn't have shown up anyway. The amount we got for the car is now officially our budget for this Spring's yard cleanup. We want to add two large shade trees -- one in front and one in back -- to replace the ten cottonwoods I had cut down a few years ago (Sorry, environmentalists, but there is NOTHING good about cottonwoods, especially considering I was horribly allergic to them, and they clogged our gutters, our pool filters and our lawn mower blades!) . We also need to get a truckload of mulch delivered and a few small odds and ends that need purchasing. I've gotten 14 of my 20 willow trees planted (Ah, I forgot about those -- OK, environmentalists, I'm not only even but I've increased my tree population by 4 with 6 more to plant!), and hope to get the other 6 in tonight or tomorrow.

Life is good :)

These hybrid willow trees are really unique, in case you're looking for a good property line or wind shield tree. They grow FAST - up to 20 feet in the first year! And they're very inexpensive. I purchased them at DirectGardening.com - And you know I always look for a discount, so if you check it out, use special coupon # G5666 for 3 free Peacock Orchid Bulbs with any purchase!

When you need to sell something...

Wow. Today has been an experience! We still have my old SUV sitting in the driveway, deciding not to have it fixed after Mary's accident with an uninsured driver (I could go on and on about THAT, but I won't... I'll just say this is her 2nd accident with an uninsured driver and both times the cars were badly damaged and both times it was just too darn bad. What is Ohio going to do about this?!?) Anyhoo.... It was a nice sunny day so I decided to go out and take some pictures of the car and put it up on Craig's List. I also created a new blog solely for the purpose of selling the car. I had NO idea! LOL! Within 30 minutes of posting the ad, my email was flooded with requests to come see the car. Now granted, it's not every day you can find a car for sale that actually runs for $750. And it's an awfully pretty car... it was my baby for a long time. But it was in an accident, it has some major repairs that need to be done to it and we had already decided to replace it with a new car and were going to trade this one in. I have had people offer to buy the car sight-unseen, tonight, cash in hand. I have had people beg and plead with me to sell them this car. One guy apparently even came down our street and looked at it, which is a little scarey, since I didn't post my name, address OR phone number! (You get a special email address from Craigs List so you don't have to give out your own.) So tomorrow morning the first person is coming to see the car. He owns a body shop business, so it will be a real deal for someone who can fix it themselves. I know it needs a door and the frame has to be pulled back into shape. The engine is OK for 140k miles, but when we started it up tonight I did hear noises I'd never heard before. It may be because it's been sitting in the driveway since mid-January and never been started, I'm not sure. But the moral of the story here is -- if you need to sell something, try Craig's List, for sure! My blog with the car photos has had over 175 hits as of a few minutes ago -- just 5 hours after putting it up! I've had about 25 email responses, and all but one wanted the car "now". I know we never would have gotten a response like this if we'd paid the $19.95 for an ad in our local newspaper. I'm definitely sold on Craig's List!