Bail Yourself Out

With the U.S. economy front and center in the news, many of us are worried about their own expenses.
“How will I get through this current economy?”
Control the expenses you can and minimize consumption of that which you can’t.
Here’s a few strategies to employ in your home:
Cut electricity usage in the home. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Prices [...]

Enjoying The Non-Consumer Advocate? Subscribe by email by clicking here.
Join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group by clicking here.
Follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Twitter by clicking here.
No spam. Ever.

A Wrap-Up Of Spend No Money Week

 

 
As you may recall, I issued a Spend No Money Challenge for the week of September 22 – September 28. In stepping back from all purchases, this latest challenge would hopefully result in much more deliberation in how we spend our money.A little savings wouldn’t hurt either.
As The Non-Consumer Advocate, my goal is to be a completely conscious consumer. To [...]

Haggle Your Way To a Bargain

 

With prices at all time highs, I’m needing to reach deep into my bag of tricks.
Working hard to not waste food?
Check.
Entertaining ourselves at home instead of going out?
Check.
Buying only second hand consumer goods?
Check.
But am I spending as little money as possible when I’m making purchases?
This is where the art of bargaining comes in. And anyone [...]

Compare The Candidates On Green Issues

Did you watch the first U.S. Presidential candidate debate, yet not get any questions answered about green issues?
Yeah, me too.
I would have liked to have heard a bit more about the environment, and little less about what Kissinger said and to whom.
Well, guess what?
Grist.org has put together an easy to understand comparison of how the different [...]

Simple Living Can Be A Bit Complicated

What do you think of when you hear the term simple living?
A quiet and calm home with few possessions?
Sounds great. But it’s hardly a reality for anyone with a family.
Even if you’re able to keep the possessions to a minimum, the simple and quiet can be a bit of a challenge.
Can you live a simple life [...]

Spend No Money Challenge — An Update

 
I have a confession to make.
Instead of starting my Spend No Money Challenge this past Monday, I started prematurely on Saturday. I didn’t plan it that way. I simply didn’t make it to any stores over the weekend. I meant to stock up on groceries on Sunday, but it turns out that I actually kind of [...]

Let’s Play Swapsies At The Library

 

I love my library.
This should come as no surprise to my readers, as I have written about my library numerous times.
I love the staff, the books, the CD audio books and DVD’s.
Yeah. In that order.
You do have to put the new DVD’s on hold though. But with four cards in our family, we could conceivably [...]

Trash Talkin’ Mama

 
 
 
When I started doing The Compact (buy nothing new) in January 2007, my family of four was putting out a 32-gallon garbage can every week. Sometimes it was half full, but mostly it was crammed to the brim. By stopping all new purchases, I was able to go down to a weekly 20-gallon can. This [...]

The Non-Consumer Soccer Mom

 

 
My sons play soccer. And with that commitment comes the responsibility of being the snack mom for each of the boys at least once per season.
This usually involves bringing individually packaged granola bars and individually packaged drinks for the kids. It’s kind of pricey and the garbage generated has always irked me. And there’s that big grocery bag full [...]