My New Obsession — Unitaskers

One of the blogs that I subscribe to is Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutterer.com. And one of my favorite features is her Unitasker Wednesdays. This weekly column highlights a product that serves a single, often bizarre purpose. Of course:
“All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you [...]

Non-Consumer Mish-Mash

It’s time again for Non-Consumer Mish-Mash, where I write a little bit about this and a little bit about that.
I discovered a new magazine while scrounging for reading material at work the other day. (I hate having the TV on during my lunch break, while I am supposedly decompressing.) This new (to me) magazine is [...]

When Free is Too Expensive

If there’s one things that unites all income levels, it’s getting something for nothing. Whether it’s garbage picking a perfectly good mop, (guilty as charged) or getting a swag bag while attend the Oscar ceremonies, it’s hard to turn down a freebie.
But in a society where one in every ten Americans has overflowed their belongings [...]

When “Waste Not” Goes Too Far

The Museum of Modern Art  is currently featuring an installation by artist Song Dong who meticulously laid out a lifetime of his mother’s hoarded possessions. These are not meaningful family heirlooms, but are squeezed out toothpaste tubes, worn out shoes and the like.
Apartment Therapy’s website described it as such:
The new installation on the main floor of the [...]

What Do You Have Too Much of?

My name is Katy and I am a recovering packrat. It’s been two weeks since my last thrift store excursion.
I have spent the majority of my adult life stalking garage sales and thrift stores for diamonds in the rough. That perfect Fiestaware platter, that perfect vintage tablecloth. The thrill of the hunt, and the subsequent [...]

The Limitations of Perfection

I know it’s not popular to admit this, but I want to be perfect. I want a perfect house, perfect kids, a perfect blog and to be the perfect nurse. (I am about as far from these goals as I am to being crowned 2009 Miss Teen USA.)
The harsh reality is that my house is [...]

Garage Sale Time!

I love when there’s an intersection between the beloved areas of my life. Frugality and green living, cheap and tasty, and free and useful. But there’s one area that really gets my motor running, and that is:
Decluttering and income producing.
That’s right fellow non-consumers, I’m starting to get organized for a garage sale. 
I’ve spent the past [...]

Not So Extreme Makeover — Non-Consumer Edition

 

I love a juicy makeover.
It can be makeup and hair or even entire homes, it doesn’t really matter as those shows entice me equally.  Luckily I don’t have cable TV so I’m normally able to resist their opium-like charms. But the rooms at the hospital where I work are all equipped with cable TV and HGTV seems to [...]

How Can We Appreciate The Finer Things In Life, When It’s Surrounded By Crap?

 

My ten-year-old son made an exciting discovery in his room the other day — a 2000 peso bill tucked way behind the bed in a hard to reach spot. I didn’t think much of it at the time.
After much whining and pleading to check how much it was worth, my husband checked on the internet [...]

Happy New Year! What Are Your Resolutions?

 

Happy new year from The Non-Consumer Advocate!
I started this blog back in May of this year, when there was next to no talk of a recession, and layoffs weren’t front page news. I would love for my writings on frugality and simple living not to be so timely, but I’m happy to have found so many [...]