Because we live frugally, my family has some wiggle room in our finances. Thankfully, we no longer have to count each and every penny.
This means we get to make a few fun choices with our money. (Of course, what’s fun to me, The Non-Consumer Advocate, might be different from your idea of fun — I [...]
Dearest Beloved Tap Water,
We’ve known one another since I was but a mere babe, sippy cup in hand.
No more can I keep our love quiet. One. Minute. Longer.
I love you, Tap Water!
If only I could write it across the skies, yell it from the tallest mountain, whisper it in your ear.
With each caress of [...]
I first heard about Don’t Go To The Cosmetics Counter Without Me a number of years ago. A couple of women at work were raving about it, and I remember enjoying an inner smugness about my own makeup-free beauty.
I rarely wear cosmetics, and pretty much consider it a waste of money, time and synaptic activity. (We can [...]
Because I do The Compact, (buy nothing new) it’s easy to narrow down my shopping opportunities.
So yes, it is at thrift stores, garage sales and other secondhand sources that I make all my purchases.
However, an important decision I’ve made, is to only buy things I actually need. I am not completely successful with this goal, but [...]
Do you have a favorite recipe, but only serve it on special occasions because of pricey ingredients? With a bit of clever substitutions, you can enjoy these meals year round.
I first realized this technique years ago when I swapped out the prosciutto and wild mushrooms for smoked turkey and regular mushrooms in ”Angel Hair Pasta [...]
Guess what? The Joneses had a baby. And boy, is their stroller cooler than yours!
Maybe they got an $900 Bugaboo or $350 Maclaren. They might even have purchased the $1100 Stokke Xplory Stroller – the it stroller sported by Courtney Cox and Heidi Klum.
Wait a minute? What was wrong with the $50 stroller that saw me through both my kids?
Nothing.
Something has [...]
Who among us has not heard that unmistakable riiiiip as a favorite garment turns into a favorite rag?
Crap!
For want of a needle and thread, pajama pants were lost.
Our grandmothers knew how to mend. Period. Even boys knew how to sew a button back on.
Socks got darned. Pants got hemmed. Clothes got mended. Just about anything that [...]
When I tell people that I do The Compact, (buy nothing new) they seem to assume that I am filling my house with tons of second-hand junk. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
It is because I do only buy used, that I can afford to fill my home with wonderful high-end antiques.
Even the most un-savvy [...]
As readers of my blog may recall, I announced a “Waste No Food Challenge” on May 25th. I was fed up with my family’s blatant food wastage and felt we could and should do better.
I’m aware of how this is a problem of the privileged few. I don’t want to be ungrateful for the bounty of [...]
I did it. I finally took the plunge.
Did I get an American eagle tattooed across my back? Did I buy a 1969 summer-of-love style VW bus?
Nope.
I finally switched my electric service over to green power. Wind energy. Biomass energy. Geothermal energy. What’s not to love?
I wrote previously about about the dilemma of wallet vs. idealism. [...]
