I gave an interview yesterday for an article about The Compact, (buy nothing new movement) and holiday gift giving.

The reporter wanted to know what my Compact exceptions were, and I gave her my memorized list which is:

• Bras
• Underwear
• Socks
• Cat litter scoops
• Pyrex
• Harmonicas

This isn’t to say that I haven’t occasionally bought other items that were brand new, but this is the core list of my get out of Compact free things. The bra, socks, and underwear are pretty self explanatory, but the cat litter scoop and harmonica are from specific occasions. The Pyrex is the one category where the big picture, (want to move away from storing food in plastic) outweighs the buy nothing new goal. I would certainly buy used Pyrex leftover containers (with snap-on lids) used, but they’re hard to find.

The journalist wanted to know what other people’s Compact exceptions were, and I kind of drew a blank. I posted a query on the Compact Yahoo group and the answers are starting to trickle in.

Home improvement items, unmentionables, office supplies and shoes are showing up on the listserve, which brings me to the questions:

What would you never even consider buying used?

Are you okay with used shoes, but need your pillows to be new? Would you have no problem with used books, but magazine have to be fresh from the news stand?

Please share what your Compact exceptions would be in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

I will be speaking this Saturday, November 21st on “Reduce, Reuse, Rejoice: Sustainable Holidays” at 12:00 P.M. at the Vancouver, Washington community library.

This is a great opportunity for Vancouver area residents to come together and discuss working your Non-Consumer life into the somewhat consumer-tastic holiday season.

We will be discussing:

• Low cost gift giving.
• Green gift giving.
• No and low impact gift wrap.
• Holiday entertaining that fills the spirit, not the garbage can.
• How to discuss Non-Consumer holidays with your family.
• Working experiential gifts into your bag of tricks.
• Incorporating charitable giving into the holiday season.
• And much, much more!

See you there!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

I’m not entirely sure why this woman chose a red patch for blue pants, or why she couldn’t wait until her husband took them off to mend them. And although I am pleased that the husband is sharpening the blades of his manual push-mower, I am a more than a little concerned about his body mechanics. (I would recommend a crouching rather than a bending-in-half position.)

But it is the placement of the husband’s feet in a ballet third position that truly makes this vintage World War II poster a keeper.

Thank you, Mom!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

It’s time again for Non-Consumer Mish-Mash, where I write a little bit about this and a little bit about that.

I woke this morning to read on my Yahoo home page that, Obama warns of a “double dip recession.“ Normally I am all about the double dip. Peppermint and chocolate; french vanilla and strawberry; cookies and cream and mocha almond fudge.

That’s some good double dip!

But this double dip is not referring to ice cream, but instead is “When the economy begins to recover briefly from a recession only to be dragged back under.” Because as much as there continues to be news about how we’re pulling out of this recession, unemployment numbers continue to rise. I am not an economist, (and somehow even managed to escape college without taking that dreaded Economics 101 class) but when over 10% of the American workforce is unable to find work, I’d be hard pressed to declare us on the road to recovery.

Lesson here?

Double dip ice cream good, double dip recession bad.

 

 

I have a goal this year to actually enjoy the 2009 holiday season. I normally stress so much about finding the perfect gifts for everyone, having my house be holiday entertaining ready, not spending too much money and playing the role of the hostess with the mostess that I end up resenting and pretty much hating the holiday seaon.

Not being Christian, (I’m Jewish, although we had a tree and Santa when I was growing up) and being a Non-Consumer pretty much leaves me out of the bulk of the season.

But I have a goal this year to make this season into something that I can love. In years past we have “adopted” a family from a domestic violence shelter and held a big holiday party where everyone brings gifts for the family from their wish list. This list includes everything from grocery store gift cards to furniture, clothes and toys. We stopped holding this party a couple years ago because it’s expensive to put on not to mention a huge amount of work. But I’ve decided to hold this party again this year and my husband is fully on board.

I think that trying to find my own joy and reasoning for the holiday season will help bring meaning back into what can otherwise spiral into an extremely stressful time of year.

If you are already hosting a holiday party, whether it’s at home or work related, why not add an element of helping those in need? It can be as simple as food for your local food bank or even a coat drive for area foster kids. People are usually in a giving frame of mind this time of year and are looking for opportunities for generosity. Give it a try!

Readers have been asking whether I will post a video or a summary of the talk that I am giving tonight on “Choosing a Non-Consumer Life for You and Your Family.”

I will not be video taping the talk, as it’s more a group discussion than a speech. Plus I have enough to try and coordinate without worrying if I’m sucking my stomach in at all times. ;-)

I will have hand outs which I will share on the blog, and should write up a summary in the next few days.

I will also be speaking this coming Saturday the 21st at the Vancouver public library on “Reduce, Reuse, Rejoice: Sustainable Holidays” and am looking for ideas from my greatest resource — my readers.

What ideas do you have to share on helping the holiday season become more sustainable?

I want to make sure I have loads of great ideas and resources to share with those who brave the wind and rain, (It’s the Pacific Northwest, so I can only assume) to come and see me in person.

Please share your ideas in the comments section below. I really need your help!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

I will speaking tomorrow, Wednesday, November 18th at Glencoe Elementary school here in Portland, Oregon at 6:30 P.M. The subject will be “Choosing a Non-Consumer Life for You and Your Family” and I’m really looking forward to getting a chance to talk in person with readers.

Not only is this Community Conversation free, but it will be a chance to hear me speak in what will most likely be a fairly small setting.

I will be talking about how the choices that others might consider deprivation have led to an incredibly satisfying life for my family.

And don’t forget that I will also be speaking this Saturday, November 21st at the Vancouver, Washington downtown library at 12:00 P.M. on “Reduce, Reuse, Rejoice: Sustainable Holidays.”

See ya’ there!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

Colin Beavan, holding both my copy of his book and his famed, "travel mug."

For a guy who eschews impact, Colin Beavan sure knows how to make one. Not only is his book No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and our Way of Life in the Process creating a buzz everywhere from The Colbert Report to The Huffington Post, but he’s just completed a nationwide tour to publicize his book.

For those not in the know, Colin Beavan, (a.k.a. No Impact Man) dragged his wife and young daughter along for an experiment to live the entirety of 2007 creating as little environmental impact as possible. Beavan and family were not going the traditional back-to-the-land route, but tried to achieve their no impact goals while living on the high impact island of Manhattan.

The Beavans’ well documented and blogged about year included such highlights as washing their clothing in the bathtub in a manner usually saved for grape stompers, pedal-powered transportation and only eating food grown within 250 miles of Manhattan. Gone was electricity, which meant no television, elevators, lighting or refrigeration.

But it wasn’t all deprivation. The family of three discovered the imbedded joys of an unplugged life without the distractions of modern life. Hot summer nights found them avoiding the swelter of an non-air-conditioned apartment and biking over to the not-so-nearby Hudson River Park. A location that Beavan described as “too long to walk to, yet difficult to get to by public transportation.”

Recently, Beavan’s book tour brought him up the west coast, with a reading at Portland’s own Powell’s City of Books. He generously took time from his schedule to sit down with me and answer a few questions about his life before, during and after the No Impact Man experiment.

We chose to meet in the bookstore’s coffee shop, and I was little concerned that I might not recognize Beavan. But I should not have worried, as his 350.org T-shirt and glass peanut butter jar/travel mug announced his no-impacty-ness more than any headshot could.

Introductions were made and we swiftly got down to business as time was in short supply. I had already read his book, (yes, I had broken The Compact to buy my own copy.) and had a large number of questions to get through in a short amount of time.

Above and beyond any academic questions I may have had, I was curious to know how Beavan was traveling for his book tour. Was he taking the train? Had he driven the 3000 miles by Prius? Or had he perhaps hired a raw food eating eco-dude to pull him across the country in a vehicle concocted entirely from recyclables and the sweat of a single emu? No such luck, as he’d flown west in a commercial airline. However, Beavan did get his publisher to donate $500 in “carbon penance” to Solar Electric Light Fund, (a.k.a. SELF) which is:

“Fighting climate change and global poverty with solar power, so families can lift themselves out of poverty by having clean, safe water to drink; food to eat; vaccinations to prevent disease; light to study and work by; computers at school to help them learn; and power to increase their income.”

Okay. Not as exciting as the eco-dude, but perhaps ever so slightly more helpful to those in need.

When asked if his message was getting across, Beavan answered that “people are paying attention” and that “the time is right for a discussion on quality of life versus environmental catastrophe.” He also explained that, “we are stuck in a system that’s not necessarily working . We need to work together to make the system reflect how we want to live.”

Now that Beavan and his family have completed their social/ecological experiment, what has changed?

For starters, Beavan’s wife Michelle, a self proclaimed TV addict has not brought television back into their apartment, and neither has she returned to her former social shopper ways. Beavan still cycles around Manhattan and explains that biking has made the city, “seem smaller.”

Beavan also continues to only buy second-hand, having recently purchased a six-month-old/half the price Macintosh computer that was still under warranty.

What didn’t stick? Well, washing all laundry by hand, (or by foot as the case had been) was one of the first No-Impact changes to get reversed. This daunting task actually got abandoned before the year was up when Beavan’s daughter Isabella was sick and vomiting. (Because really, who wants to stomp around in that?!)

Beavan is proud to admit that both he and his wife “got healthier.” The no takeout rule required home cooking, (mostly by Colin) from which Michelle enjoyed comparing her husband to a “1950’s housewife.”

Although Beavan did conduct his No Impact year with a book contract in place, he explained that he took one-quarter of the normal advance compared to prior books. Although there is a Columbia Pictures feature film “in development.”

Having finished  both the yearlong project, the book and even the documentary, Beavan is putting his efforts into various No Impact weeks as well as the non-profit No Impact Project whose goal is, “To empower citizens to make choices which better their lives and lower their environmental impact through lifestyle change, community action, and participation in environmental politics.”

The No Impact Man blog is still in place and focuses more on how to become more involved with policy change, rather than the personal journeys made by Colin, Michelle and daughter Isabella.

Alas, the time for my interview was over before I knew it, and together the two us walked up the two flights of stairs for Beavan’s reading, which boasted 70+ attendees despite pretty minimal publicity.

Colin Beavan, a.k.a. No Impact Man, or as I like to think of him, one hell of an eco-dude. Emu sweat optional.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

The No Heat Challenge ended on November 1st, and we are now embracing the full use of our lovely, lovely furnace. Because Portland, Oregon has been wet, rainy and cold.

Did I mention the rain?

However, don’t start thinking that the end of the No Heat Challenge saw uscranking up the furnace to 70° all the while prancing around in shorts and halter tops. The end of the challenge ushered in the setting of our programmable thermostat to a tropical 64° during the day and 57° at night. This may still sound chilly, but the only time I’m cold is when I’m sitting completely still for an extended period. And frankly, that is the prefect time to grab a warn throw blanket anyway.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger ran a story today titled, NJ Households Compete in Challenges to Keep Thermostat Off in Winter. The author, Kelly Heyboer interviewed me for the article, and I kept having to correct her that The Non-Consumer Advocate was not conducting a contest, but a challenge. Big difference, as I would never want people keeping their home cold simply to win some random prize. My thinking was to get people out of their unconscious routine, and be deliberate in how they heat their homes.

Comfortable at 70°, then how about 67° or even 64°?

One point I made with Heyboer, (which didn’t make it into the article) was that we have to be careful not to pat ourselves on the back too enthusiastically for keeping our furnaces off. It is from a place of privilege that we can make these decisions. There are many people who do not enjoy the luxury of choice with how high to set the thermostat. Heating a house is expensive and many people simply cannot afford to both heat a house and also pay for life’s expenses.

I grew up in an enormous house that was impossible to keep warm without breaking the bank, and I hated it. My friends didn’t want to come over and I was able to see my breath inside, which angered my teenage self-righteous self. I don’t want to inflict that experience on my children. The key is to find the happy medium.

Here is an excerpt from the article that includes my interview:

“People are definitely examining their regular habits,” said Katy Wolk-Stanley, the Oregon-based blogger behind The Non-Consumer Advocate, a popular, frugal-living website.

Wolk-Stanley issued a “no heat challenge” to her readers in September, drawing dozens of comments from readers around the nation. The mother of two said she was inspired by her efforts to lower her thermostat last year, which resulted in a savings of several hundred dollars over the course of the winter.

This year, Wolk-Stanley joined her readers in the no heat challenge and kept the furnace off. Wolk-Stanley said her breaking point came one morning a few weeks ago when her husband woke up and checked the thermostat in their poorly insulated 1914 house.

“He yelled up, ‘It’s 50 degrees down here!’” Wolk-Stanley said. “When you’re sitting there thinking ‘my nose is cold,’ that’s too much.”

Are you keeping your house colder this year than in years past? Please share your stories in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

Thank you to everyone who entered to win one of the two $50 Safeway gift cards. Congratulations to Karyn V and “M” whose tips were randomly chosen as winners.

Truly though, all the tips were incredible and very inspiring and I would highly recommend reading the 97 original entries.

Here are a few of my favorites:

My trick is to try to do as much shopping as possible at ethnic grocery stores. There are both Mexican and Asian stores in my area. When I shop there I usually get twice as much food for the money! It helps to be willing to try new things too.

My tip takes is a few steps that allow me to maintain my weekly shopping budget. I always check the pantry, check the store ad along with my coupon matchups and meal plan before heading out to the store. I find that a few extra minutes planning save me big $ at the store. I always walk in with my list and coupon matches in hand. I also keep a running total of the items I place in my cart so that I know if there is any room left in the bidget for stocking up on any unadvertised sales/ markdowns that we come across.

This may sound like alot of work, but it only takes about a half-hour per week:

1. When the Safeway/Vons sale ad shows up in my mailbox on Tuesday, I circle the items I need for the week in bold, sharpee pen.

2. Then I go to the website http://www.hotcouponworld.com and check the Coupon Database for the products that I’ve circled. I also check for any extra products I need that weren’t in the ad.

3. The website tells me which Sunday paper the coupon is found in. I go to my coupon files (right next to my computer) and cut out the coupons I need. (All coupons stay in the whole sheet and are filed according to Sunday date; when people give me coupons I just add them into the correct file.)

4. Make a specific list and paper clip the coupons to the list. My list is good for the whole week (I menu plan).

5. Go shopping and manage to save a ton: the store has discounted the items for the week, plus I use coupons on top of that! (Sometimes I even get free stuff!)

I always shop from the bulk bins when they are available. You can get huge savings on pasta, beans and cereal and only buy as much as you need. Also, although it is a small savings, bring your own bags for 5 cents off apiece at many stores.

Try the generic. If you don’t like it, try the next cheapest brand up, until you find your ’sweet spot’. The cheapest isn’t always the best for you, but the name brand you’re used to isn’t always the best price for you.

Agree with many of the answers we use a combination of tricks:

buy our beef in large sizes and have the butcher cut them for us (not only does it take me back to growing up in rural Lancaster County PA but we have a better “feeling” for the beef) We also get the pasture / non-feedlot beef.

shop on a full stomach and shop only the aisles you need.

Don’t be afraid to stop and compare products — proud of my daughter who lines them up and compares on a shelf. She usually ends up lecturing some unwary customers. She started doing this in college and hasn’t stopped.

Make everything you can from scratch, not only do you control the ingredients but there are plenty of recipes and shortcuts to find to make your own “mixes” and they’ll taste so much better.

And really, if you don’t know how to cook, invest in a good cooking class or get a friend who does to give you some tips. It will save you so much over the long run plus make you healthier. And it can be a fun family project.

My favorite grocery money saving tip is to avoid grocery store shopping whenever possible. I buy the majority of my family’s food from a grocery co-op, farm-direct, dairy-direct, and from the farmer’s market. Staying out of the grocery store aisles with their multitude of temptations solely designed to make me slow down and spend more money saves me a lot!

When I’ve had to seriously economize, I would keep track of the prices (per ounce) of the items I regularly use in alphabetical order, peruse the advertising circulars very carefully to see which (if any) were on sale, stock up when they were, and basically feed my family on the bargains. Now with the internet it is easier to find recipes based upon ingredients you have on hand.

I always make sure I’m not the least bit hungry when I go to the grocery store. I also always have a list that I have made after I go through what I have at home. I also don’t shop the whole store, just the aisles where there are items that I need on my list.

I am a coupon lover. I really love the $10 off a $50 purchase coupon from Safeway, the coupons that you can load to your Safeway card online, and of course the double your manufacturer coupon that comes in the Safeway add each week. I also really like the rewards program at Fred Meyer. They send out great coupons to reward members. I have also found that making a shopping list before you go is key!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

I am in the midst of migrating The Non-Consumer Advocate over to a self hosted site, and had to undirect the domain names of The Non-Consumer Advocate and Non-Consumer Advocate in order to make this happen. This means that the only domain currently in operation is http://thenonconsumeradvocate.wordpress.com.

The new Non-Consumer Advocate is going to be very similar, but will include space for a few extra bells and whistles. And yes, it’s time for advertising, although I will do my best to only include ads that fit with my overall philosophy.

I’ll get more info out as I figure out what I’m doing.

Thank you very much to the angelically helpful Kristen over at The Frugal Girl for her help with this project.

Let’s send her lots of hits!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

I know people who are whirlwinds of activity from sunup ’til sundown and frankly, spending time with them always makes me want to take a nap. I’m simply not that kind of person. I pretty much get everything accomplished that requires my attention, but I’ll never live in an immaculate house and have my holiday shopping completed before that first trick-or-treater knocks on the door.

But today was unusual. I woke early, despite reading in bed until late, and then somehow accomplished a bizarre amount of stuff today. If I had to take a stab at the source of this energy, I would guess it was the addition of a multivitamin with iron which I’ve been taking for the last week-and-a-half or so to treat my self-diagnosed anemia. It was surreal though, as if I were playing the part in a play about a very motivated woman.

Here’s what I did today:

• Colored my own hair, which turned out perfectly.
• Called the newspaper to clarify a billing issue.
• Drove to middle school to bring my 14-year-old his science homework and to drop off the 1000’s of heavy hardback library books that are threatening to damage the delicate foundation of our house.
• Made copies of financial paperwork.
• Drove to area hospital to print out recent pay-stubs as we’re refinancing our mortgage.
• Went to credit union.
• Went to grocery store.
• Went to Mailboxes etc. to have them weigh envelope and tell me how much it would cost to mail to mortgage broker.
• Used own stamps from hodge-podge from drawer at home, including lots of 2 cent stamps.
• Started to arrange moving the blog to self-hosted status. I’m “hiring” a friend who is much more computer savvy than I.
• Scooped the litter boxes. (I hate doing this, so I give myself full credit.)
• Hung laundry to dry in our unfinished attic-y room.
• Made a delicious, filling yet frugal dinner.
• Started making ginger snaps.
• Drove to grocery store to buy sugar.
• Mixed up ginger snap dough.
• Made homemade laundry soap.
• Cleaned up from dinner.
• Watched two re-runs of “The Office,” (which is a show I had never watched until lately.)
• Hid the kid’s iPods.
• Supervised homework.
• Wrote blog.

I have another day off from work tomorrow, and I’m hoping to continue with this git ‘er done momentum. Because the sad thing is that even though I was so accomplished today, my house is still pretty messy and there are an infinite number of tasks I could tackle before running out of stuff to do.

Gee, it’s almost as if I run a household, hold a part-time job, write and moderate a daily blog, parent two boys and try to cook almost entirely from scratch. No wonder the coffee table is all cluttered with art, homework, office supplies and books.

Do you feel like you’re on top of the tasks of life, or are you often a step behind? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”