Products I like

Here's a little list of things I like:

Things I have:

1. Dryer Balls: Buy them for 9.99, use them instead of dryer sheets. Never buy dryer sheets again. Unfortunately, Treehugger.com says they are not very environmentally friendly but neither are dryer sheets. What to do?
2. Clotheslines. Here's what the NYT has to say about clotheslines. Mine cost $3.00.
3. Metal coffee filters: For 10-20 dollars, you can never buy paper coffee filters again. You reduce the amount of things you throw in the garbage, save money, and apparently, your coffee tastes better. I'd agree with that.
4. Coffee mugs and water bottles. This is what the desk I'm sitting at RIGHT NOW looks like:

5. Reusable shopping bags. I have a bunch: a couple from stop and shop, one Target one, a recycled cotton one, a tote bag I swiped from my mother in law. I use them a lot. I like to show off when I have them at the store. My store takes 5 cents off my purchase for each bag I have (so bring 'em all in!).

Things I want:

1. Rain barrels. Catches rain water in a barrel and you can use it to water your plants. Saves $ on the water bill, and you're not watering your garden with chlorinated water.
2. Solar panels for my roof. I read somewhere that you can write off quite a bit of the expense. Plus you are SO MUCH COOLER than anyone else.
3. Compost bins. Less trash (good if you pay for trash pickup, which I think we all should), more soil for your garden, and again, nice show off factor.
4. Glass "tupperware." If you've never gotten that email about how plastic is giving you cancer by leeching into your food, then I don't know what to say. Glass lasts longer, doesn't give you potentially-made-up-email-cancer, and is so pretty it would make Martha Stewart proud.

Garden Progress Report- 05.10.08

It's been about 3 weeks since I took pictures of the garden, and things have really bloomed since then! Here's what the garden looks like right now:

Here's a close up of the veggies. From left to right: brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, another kind of lettuce, and sugar snap peas on the trellis:

Strawberries:

the big picture

When I buy things now, I approach it differently. For example, today I went to walmart to get a few things. I got a clothesline (3.00) that will save me on electricity that runs the dryer, garden twine to help the sugar snap peas (that are 4.00 a bag at the grocery store) grow, and a nightlight so I can keep the lights off in the house but if my son wakes up he'll be able to see, but will be cheaper to power than a lamp.

I think its okay to spend your money if you look at the bigger picture- ask yourself "Do I really need this?" "Do I have something similar that I could use instead?" "Could I trade someone something to get this for free?" "What will it cost me to operate this over the long run?"

By asking these questions, you can make better decisions on spending, and save money, too. And in the case of things like the clothesline, CFLs, and my copper coffee filter, you are helping reduce your impact on the planet.

Making a hard decision

I'm making a tough decision this week. Basically, I'm at the end of my rope with husband, and am feeling like I'm finally ready to file for divorce. The situation we're in is particularly complicated and I truly think my best bet would be to hire a lawyer, especially since the vast majority of the debt I am now attempting to pay off with the Year of Frugal Living is, in fact, his debt.

The lawyer I found, that was highly recommended to me, costs 3000 dollars. I've pretty much decided to hire her and pay the money, but a huge part of me really wants to pay off the debt with that money. I think that in the long run, I'm doing the right thing, but it's really hard.

I think some people in my life think that I'm stupid for not just filing through the court myself and paying $400 instead of $3000. I just think that in order to make sure that my children are properly represented and he is held responsible for the debt he has incurred in my name, I need a lawyer.

Reading this over, it sounds like my mind is made up to do it. If I weren't doing the YOFL, I wouldn't even have this option, so I guess I won't beat myself up about it so much.

Going to extremes

I'm considering cutting my own hair. Typically I get my hair cut once or twice a year, and when I go, I go all out. I go to an expensive salon and get highlights and low lights and a cut, and it runs me well over $100. Right now I really need a haircut. The last time I got my hair cut was last Spring/Summer (I can't remember but it was about a year ago) and my highlights are grown out and my hair is all misshapen.

Which brings me to my insanity. I am considering just cutting it myself. I cut my hair a million times in college, I cut my friend's hair too, and I think it will be fine. I also think I might be crazy for thinking it will be fine.

Gandhi was a strict vegan, and at a point later in his life, he gave up eating anything that would give life to other organisms, leaving him to eat only rotting fruit. Any good idea can be taken to the extreme. Now, I'm not comparing my potentially disastrous haircut idea to Gandhi, but I often think about him, so I wanted to mention it. I'll let you know how the hair situation pans out.

Library Love

Although I am a frugalista in my free time, during the day I am a professional librarian. So, I thought I would talk a little about how the library is an amazing resource for someone trying to say money.

Obviously, the books are free. Wanna read the Economides' book? Check it out from the library. Search the whole world for books by going here: http://www.worldcat.org/

Not sure where your library is? Try this: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/librarysearch/

So, the library has books, but you probably knew that. Did you know that most public libraries have DVDs? How about CDs? Free activities for kids? Computer classes, movie nights, lectures? By checking the website of libraries around you (don't forget colleges!), signing up for their RSS feeds, or reading the local paper events page, you can find tons of things to do for free or on the cheap.

Getting a library card is one of the most frugal things you can do!

Some days this sucks!!!!

We have practically nothing to eat! We are out of:

milk
half and half
eggs
"lunch" fruit (apples, grapes, etc)
breakfast foods
organic sugar
jelly

This morning was rough. I had to piece together breakfast and lunch for my two kids out of what we had, so kid #1 had one egg, one piece of toast, some banana and some mozzarella cheese with water, and kid #2 had toast w/ jelly, banana, cheese and water. I felt like the worst mom! Their lunches weren't much better, one was tuna fish and the other was pb&j with raisins on it, a banana and some goldfish.

I know this probably sounds like a fine lunch, but I had to scavenge for what I found. I basically looked at what was in the fridge and worked out possible combinations, like "if I use the jelly at breakfast, there's not enough for lunch" or "can I make any bisquick breakfast foods with no milk?" (no). Not fun at 6:15 am!!!

But I did it (I even ate a piece of bread with pb and found some old coffeemate and white sugar for my coffee, blech). I did it! I made it through. And tonight, I go to the grocery store.