Everyday Frugal, Everyday Green

Making a difference, a little at a time...

2010-06-04T11:37:00.000-04:00

With the horrific oil spill taking center stage in the news, the small environmental steps we take...recycling, turning lights off and the heat down, buying used clothing and locally-grown foods...can look insignificant. It takes a bit of staying power not to feel like throwing in the towel. With the Gulf and its beaches and wetlands going to straight to hell, what difference will my tiny efforts in Pennsylvania make?

But I'm going to keep on because, deep down, I really do believe that our individual efforts can add up to important movements. I know that by staying true to what I think is important can help change other people's behaviors.

I hope that my friends and fellow eco-warriors don't become discouraged or bitter or cynical. They have every reason to go in that direction. Maybe I'm just being a Pollyanna, but I'm going to keep trying, and keep believing that we can make a difference.

Extreme frugal food? Great way to save money. Is it green? Not so much.

2010-06-03T09:24:00.001-04:00

It's been about two months since I've posted...sort of lost my momentum for a bit. But now I'm back on track and eager to share things I've learned and ideas I've been working on.

Though I haven't been writing, I have been doing a lot of reading on green and frugal topics. Just recently, I've discovered Kristen Hagopian's blog Brilliant Frugal Living. This month Kristen is chronicling her efforts to feed herself for a month for $25. Total. That's 3 meals a day! She is able to pursue this unlikely goal by purchasing steeply discounted canned goods from a grocery outlet that offers 155 cans of vegetables, fruit, pie filling, ready-to-eat foods like hash and Chef Boyardee ravioli, for $2. That's $2 for all 155 cans! Kristen shops at the B&B Grocery Outlet in Morgantown, PA, which is near Pittsburgh. Not convenient for, but a search for grocery outlets produced a website with lisings by state, along with many other sites with regional and local listings. I may check one out in Allentown, PA, about an hour's drive from my home.

For people on a very tight budget, these stores can be a God-send. But, given the quality of the foods in the $2 boxes, I would hope that most would only turn to this approach if they are truly desperate. Think about the salt, the preservatives and, possibly even worse, the BPA in those cans of food. Then there are the environmental issues creating by industrial farming techniques, processing methods, packaging and food transport. Extreme food savings is obviously not green.

However, saving money on food is an important part of every frugalista's plans, and it's a goal that can be reached with a variety of strategies. First, there is the issue of waste. By reducing the amount of food we throw away, we can reduce the amount of money we spend. Jonathan Bloom has been covering this topic brilliantly on his blog Wasted Food. Next, it pays to really understand the relationship of food to real nutrition and health. Reading books like Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma helps put this into perspective. The reality is we can eat less, if we eat better. Then there is the idea of reducing the amount of meat we eat, and using the savings to purchase higher quality meat that comes from pastured, antibiotic and hormone free, humanely-raised animals. Cookbook writer Pam Anderson has written about this on her blog, Three Many Cooks. Other avenues include bulk buying, food co-ops and seasonal purchases of inexpensive produce to freeze, can or store in a root cellar.

And finally, there is growing your own. This something very dear to my heart. Some of my readers may know that my dad and I have written a book entitled The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegetable Gardening. I'm convinced that just about anyone, just about anywhere can grow at least some food. Much more on this topic in future posts.

The Dirt on Laundry Detergent

2010-04-20T19:05:00.001-04:00

I'm not particularly brand-loyal and will usually buy whatever is on sale or for which I have a coupon, or better, both. But we, that is, our family, has used Tide laundry detergent for decades. Specifically, we have used Tide Free since it was introduced.

But a recent article from Money Talks News is pushing me to rethink this. The gist of the article is that we (American consumers) use far more detergent than they need to, and have increased the amount they use when they use the super-concentrated products. What's insidious about this is that many of us bought into the super-concentrated promotion because we think it might be more environmentally-friendly. According to the founder of Method, a company that manufacturers cleaning products, 53% of people who wash their clothes use too much detergent.

In fact, an article in the Wall Street Journal cited in the Money Talks News piece paints the propensity for us to uses too much laundry detergent each time we do a load as part of the industry's over-all strategy. From the WSJ article:

"Take a cap and look at where the lines are—nowhere near the top," says Adam Lowry, co-founder of San Francisco-based Method. "That's not accidental. In an extremely mature market like laundry, for established players to grow they have to either steal share or get people to use more," Mr. Lowry says. "They are trying to dupe people into using more product than they need."

"They are trying to dupe people." That's strong language. Even if the intention is not duping consumers, the result is the over-use of detergent. It's wasteful. We spend more money than we need to and many people are using petroleum-based products that are harmful to the environment, and are non-renewable resources.

So what is the solution to this problem? One tactic would be to be extra-diligent when pouring. First read the directions, then use exactly the amount suggested. Another possibility is making your own detergent using ingredients that are kinder to the environment. There are dozens of recipes. My friend Leah Ingram who writes the Suddenly Frugal blog makes DYI detergent using borax, soap and Arm & Hammer washing soda.

Some experts actually suggest that soap isn't all that essential to clean clothes. From the WSJ article:

"Seventh Generation's co-founder, Jeffrey Hollander, wonders why more people haven't stumbled upon laundry's big, dirty secret: "You don't even need soap to wash most loads," he says. The agitation of washing machines often does the job on its own."

I didn't know that. But as I looked further into this issue, there seems to be a consensus that clothes can be cleaned in agitating water without soap. It's not likely that this is a story that will sell well. But it does make sense for us to keep cutting back on the amount of detergent we use until we find that our clothes aren't clean. I would love to hear from anyone who has given this a try.

Frugal & Green Update

2010-04-13T19:08:00.001-04:00

It's time for another report on some of my regular frugal and green efforts.

Home Recycling - A little less than usual this past month because I've been taking cardboard boxes to the UPS store for re-use (see below).
Office Recycling - I am happy to report that things are improving on this front. Though I still find the stray water bottle or soda can in the trash, most recyclables are going into the designated bin. And I now have an occasional helper with the paper. I've discovered that I have to get everything out of the office before the cleaning crew comes in on Thursday nights, or the bins will be emptied into the dumpster out back. Sometimes this means that the back of my car resembles a recycling center until I can get the stuff to its appropriate destinations.
Other Recycling - Earlier this week, I bought a new phone (see unexpected expenses below), and recycled my old one, along with the plastic clam shell packaging it came in, at the AT&T store. When I have time, I will take the chargers that went with the old one to the store too. I don't know what they do with it, but am told it gets recycled somehow.

Compost - We seem to be producing very little kitchen waste these days....I'd like to think that we're being a little more diligent about using up produce before it spoils. A client sent me a gift box of fabulous citrus from Florida so we've added more than the usual amount of orange peel and grapefruit rind in the compost. And I brought home peelings from about 10 pounds of potatoes from a family get-together (I couldn't bear to see it go down my sister-in-law's disposal!).

Reuse - I've been taking just about all the cardboard boxes from my office to the UPS store for reuse. It makes so much more sense than cutting them up for recycling, though I sometimes wonder what happens to my boxes after they'e been shipped. Do they wind up in the trash? Would it be better if I recycled them? Two weeks ago, I "rescued" a half dozen boxes from the curb prior to trash pick up on my street. One of the boxes was full of styro peanuts. These also went to the UPS store after spending two days in my car. Another reuse - or perhaps better described as an up-cycle - success story came when I gave three old china plates to a friend who makes mosaics from broken tiles and china. She has promised me some photos which I will post. The plates came from our friend's storage unit which is slowly being cleared out.

Waste - We put another load of yard debris leftover from fall clean-up in the trash last week (see Trash below). I think we're just about at the end of it. But it really bothers me that we're adding that much organic matter to the landfill. While not really a waste of money, it's a waste of organic resources. By next fall, I hope I'll have a solution for this problem.

Trash - We continue to keep our regular trash limited to about one small grocery-sized plastic bag, twice a week. But we still have the leftover yard debris which we've been putting out once a week (see above). If our trash hauler charged by the bag, container or by weight, we would pay the minimum, I'm sure. Something to look into.

Energy - With warmer weather and longer days, I do believe we've reduced our home energy use substantially compared to this past winter. Our most recent energy bill was $253, compared to over $400 last month. We are also making fewer stews, soups and baked or braised dishes, so we're using less gas for cooking less too.

Frugal Steps - With warm weather comes a change in wardrobe. I have decided to shop in my closet for the spring season rather than adding anything new...at least for awhile. The challenge will be making some of the older things feel fresh...a task I'm not sure I'm capable of tackling. I think this will be a topic for a new post soon.

We've been fortunate this past month. When I took my car for a regular maintenance, I thought I might have to replace the brakes, but the service manager told me they still some life left...a nice reprieve. Ditto for the tires. We did have to replace a decripit calculator (the kind with a tape that is essential for doing billing and taxes). It only cost around $20, but we didn't have time to comparison shop, so we may have paid more than we might have had if we weren't in a rush to replace it.

Frugal Finds - No big savings recently beyond a few coupon doublers. However we did make a nice score of some fabulous organic, free trade, shade-grown coffee from a local roaster who sells at the Stockton Farmer's Market. They had a half-price basket so instead of $12 a bag (about 12 oz.), we paid $6. The reason it was reduced is because it was a few days past its optimum use date. We thought it made delicious coffee.

So that's my Green and Frugal Update for mid-April. Happy Spring!

Meatless Monday (and maybe Tuesday too)

2010-04-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

For several years now, we've been eating less meat, especially red meat, than we had in the past, in part because of our expanding understanding of the health benefits of a more plant-based diet, also as a step toward reducing our food expenses, and in response to an increased awareness of the appalling conditions in which most animals are raised for market.

The concept of Meatless Monday came from the efforts of a not-for-profit initiative of the Monday Campaigns in conjunction with the John Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health to reduce meat consumption by 15%.

Accrding to their website, "Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel."

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to eating meat. In fact, we enjoy meat and eat it often. We're just using a lot less now. For example, instead of a meat sauce for pasta that calls for a pound of ground beef, we might make a rich tomato sauce using three slices of good quality bacon to give it a little more flavor. In the past we might have added chicken to a hearty vegetable soup, but now we are content to use organic chicken stock and let the vegetables stand on their own. And we're more likely to make a stir fry with just vegetables and maybe some shrimp, whereas in the past, we almost always added some chicken or leftover pork.

My good friend, cookbook author and Three Many Cooks blogger Pam Anderson is working on a new book entitled Meatless Mondays, offering recipes and menus for meals made without meat. The book grew out of her own realization that her family's health, and the health of the planet are tied to meat consumption.

A well-rounded omnivore, Pam also knows that by reducing the amount of animal flesh she prepares for her family and guests, she will reduce the amount of money she spends on meat products. This savings allows her to buy better quality, more humanely raised and slaughtered meats...just less of it.

On a recent blog post, Pam wrote,
     "I wasn’t ready to go full-time vegetarian. I love Easter lamb, Christmas prime rib, Fourth-of-July   ribs, and Memorial Day burgers too much to foreswear flesh. But it was becoming clear: I didn’t need to eat as much meat, and especially not the kind of meat being produced today. If I could eat less meat, I could afford to buy better meat.

    With the zeal of day-old dieter, I made the shift to meatless with relative ease, simply trading eggplant for sausage on pizza and white beans and cauliflower for Bolognese. But three meals a day, in all kinds of situations—at home, at parties, in restaurants—eventually it gets tough. To be vegetarian for the long haul I had to integrate the new way into my old life. It wasn’t good enough just to substitute vegetables for meat. Like weight maintenance, if it’s for real and forever, I had to make a life-style adjustment.
     Two things happened. I started developing a set of techniques and formulas a la How to Cook Without a Book, so I could easily cook without recipes on meatless days. Second, I started developing meatless dishes that were as fun and enticing as entrees con carne. For me they had to be so good I’d be just as likely to make them on days when I didn’t “have to.”"

I'm looking forward to reading and cooking from Pam's new book, and I hope many people will buy it and learn how to enjoy meatlesss Mondays, and maybe a few Tuesdays too.

Garden Update: The Peas are Planted

2010-03-29T14:56:00.002-04:00

Last Tuesday, we finally got the first of the peas in. It's not that we procrastinated. It's just that we had all that snow, then rain, so the soil was too wet to work. Then it took a while to prepare the bed, which had been rototilled back in November. In the photo you can see that one row is planted. I used two twigs and some twine to give us a straight line. Then we pulled the worked soil up from one side to form a long raised row. We had to rework the soil a bit by hand because there are still some root clumps from the tilled grass, and lots of rocks. With that chore done, it was easy to straighten the row, pat down the sides and smooth the top. Then Michele and I started planting the Oregon Sugar Snap Snow Pea seeds we got from Burpee. These seeds look just like little peas (which they are), except that they are white-ish, rather than green, and are a little shriveled-looking. I made a small hole about 1 inch deep with my dibber, which is a clever, wooden tool you can see in the photo above. I bought that dibber in England many years ago when I took my mother on one of our tours of gardens there. Michele followed me and placed a pea in each hole. Then we filled the little holes with soil and patted the row down firmly. This week, we'll plant another row of peas so that we have a succession of harvests. If we planted them all at once, then they would all ripen more or less at the same time. This way, the harvest will be stretched out over a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we're getting a lot of rain. I hope it isn't so heavy that is washed the seeds out.

Friday's Frugal Food: Another Dinner from Leftovers and Odds & Ends

2010-03-26T13:57:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was one of those extra busy days - back-to-back appointments, afternoon floor duty at the office, end-of-the-day appointment, and finally a 7 pm committee meeting. There wasn't enough time for a "real" dinner, but I hadn't eaten lunch and was really hungry. Typically when I have evening meetings, I'll just heat up something leftover and eat before I go out. But it was pretty slim pickins - or "slim chickens" as we say in our house - in the fridge.

But even with no obvious leftovers - like some roasted chicken, a pot of soup or stew, or the remains of a casserole - there are usually a few things stowed away in food savers that can up to a meal. Here's what I used:

a package of 3 zucchinis from the past-their-prime shelf at the SuperFresh
1/4 large onion
1/3 of a box of orzo
about a cup of left-over, home-made spaghetti sauce
fresh parsley
fresh thyme left over from a spectacular pork dish
1/2 a cucumber from the same source as the zucchini
1/4 of a head of iceburg lettuce, another Frugal Find at the grocery store

Here's what I did:

sliced the zucchini and onion (I would have added garlic, but we had run out)
chopped about 2 tbsp. of parsley
stripped the leaves from 4 stems of thyme
sauteed the zucchini and onion in a little olive oil until nearly carmelized
added the parsley and thyme
cooked the orzo in salted water per the package instructions (about 9 minutes)
added the cooked orzo to the sauteed onion and zucchini
added the spaghetti sauce to the orzo-vegetable mix and heated thoroughly
adjusted the seasoning with a little salt and pepper

Then I made a quick salad of cucumber and lettuce and topped it with a little of Nadine's Salad Success vinaigrette.

Done. My husband added some red pepper flakes and grated locatelli cheese later - he ate after I did because, really, 6:30 is just too early for dinner. The dish wasn't particularly pretty, but it was tasty. And I used up foods that might have gone too far past their usefulness if left in the fridge much longer.

Here's a break-down on how much this nutritious, filling and reasonably flavorful meal cost:

zucchini .45
onion .20
orzo .33
leftover sauce .50
olive oil .20
cucumber .20
lettuce .30
salad dressing .25
locatelli .50
pepper flakes .05
parsley and thyme .20
So the whole meal - dinner for two - cost just over $3. Not bad.

Tips for the Frugal Home Seller: Thrifty Bathroom Makeover

2010-03-25T15:03:00.000-04:00

In previous posts on the topic of getting your home ready to sell, we looked at essential, basic steps to take, like thorough cleaning, decluttering, refreshing the front door, and minor repairs. We also looked beyond the basics at updating the powder room, removing wall paper and replacing out-dated fixtures.

This time, we'll take the getting-ready to sell process to the next level with a room make-over. The general real estate wisdom tell us that the kitchen, master bath and master bedroom are the most important rooms in the house, in terms of resale. Some might argue that the family room might be more important than the master bedroom. Your own real estate agent should be able to tell you what's more important in your market and for the target audience for your home.

Today we'll start with a master bath make-over.

So, let's assume that you've done the big clean, and you've decluttered your bathroom. You have even gone the extra mile and removed that metallic wallpaper that you thought was so snazzy when you bought the house. Now step back and look at it with a critical eye. Are the fixtures the original taupe or raspberry that were so popular in 1987? And how about the shower curtain? Does it match the equally-hideous curtains? Are the towels mismatched relics from your wedding shower 19 years ago? Is the floor covered with carpet? If you've answered yes to even one of these questions, it's time for a bathroom make-over.

If your budget is really tiny, you can do a basic, mini make-over that will minimize the bathroom's flaws by creating a harmonious over-all impression with a few pops of color or pattern to distract the prospective buyer.

The first task is to pick a color scheme.

Let's say the fixtures are taupe and the floor is a nice, but dated beige marble. You might want to pick a slightly darker shade of taupe or beige for the walls, with white trim. If the tile is burgundy and gray, darker gray walls might work well. And when in doubt, white works well with everything.
If interior decor isn't your strong suit, look through some up-to-date design magazines (you may find some at the library), visit up-scale model homes at new construction sites. Some home improvement stores have consultants on staff who know a thing or two about color. You'll want to make sure that the color you choose will work with whatever you aren't replacing in the bath, like fixtures, tile and flooring. Cost of painting: $100 (could be more if it's a very large room or you are covering up particularly dark colors).

Once you've painted the walls and trim, pick out a new shower curtain that has some pizazz to it. A shower curtain is a big piece of fabric that can make a great statement, even becoming the focal point in the room, taking the load off dated aspects. You'll probably also want to replace the shower curtain rings with a new set that enhances the look of the shower curtain. Cost: $50 - $100.

Next, select a new set of towels that work with the shower curtain. Get at least two sets of matching bath and hand towels (you won't need the washcloths). Fold them just so and place them on the towel rack...where they will remain throughout the time the house is on the market. These are just for show, so make sure family members know that! Use your old towels, and stash them in the washing machine, hamper or in a basket in a closet when the house is being shown. Add a simple, unobtrusive window blind if needed.
Cost: $40 - $75 (more if you have several towel rods and more than one window).

Finally, pick out two or three decorative items - candles, baskets, apothocary jars - to place artfully on the vanity, tub surround or window sill. Cost: $0 if you select from items you already own.

Unless the bathroom is very large or the floor is particularly unsightly, eliminate rugs and bathmats. You'll also want to get rid of the toilet seat cover, a toilet paper cozy, magazine rack, silk or plastic flowers and any decorative items that don't fit in with your color scheme. In addition, whenever showings are scheduled, put away all personal grooming and hygiene products and tools, and hide the toilet cleaning brush.

Total cost of mini bathroom make-over: $200 - $300

If you have a little bit more to spend you might:

replace faucets and tub/shower hardware
replace toilet
update the towel rods
replace drawer and cupboard hardware
add a new light fixture
remove the old medicine cabinet and replace it with a good-looking framed mirror
replace the old vanity top with a new version in marble, granite or other up-scale material
add an under-mount sink
replace the vanity itself
install new flooring
retile around the tub/shower
add a separate shower stall

To keep costs down, look for floor models, overstocks, returns and even slightly imperfect merchandise at places like Home Depot, Lowe's and other home improvement centers. You may find great decorative pieces at highly discounted prices at places like Marshall's, T.J.Maxx and HomeGoods. Look for items at garage sales and flea markets, and on Craig's List, Ebay and Freecycle. Do the work yourself or request help from skilled friends.

In the past, as much as 90% of the cost of bathroom remodelling could be recouped at sale. According to Remodeling Magazine, the figures for 2009 show that home sellers recouped 71% of the cost of a bathroom remodel. But that was assuming a full renovation with an average cost of about $16,000. Smaller projects, if done well, could recoup a higher percentage. In the challenging 2010 real estate market, home sellers may not recoup all their costs, but it could be just the thing that puts that home ahead of the competition and results in a faster sale.

Get Ready for Earth Day 2010

2010-03-22T12:55:00.000-04:00

Earth Day is on Thursday, April 22 this year, one month from today. Do you plan to do anything to celebrate? There are many events including festivals, rallies, environmental workshops, and more scheduled for that day, and the weekends on either side of April 22.

If attending an event isn't your cup of tea, here are 21 ways you might honor the Earth on Earth Day:

plant a native tree, shrub, or some perennials, especially those that attract birds and butterflies
start a compost pile
install a rain barrel to catch rainwater run off
plan a meal entirely from scratch with organic and/or locally grown foods
bake whole grain bread
plan a day of meatless meals
take the bus or train instead of driving
ride your bike or walk instead of taking a cab, bus or subway
climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator
resist making a purchase of a non-essential
clean up litter from your street, a park, the banks of a stream or river
take your own travel mug to have filled at the take-out coffee shop
use a coffee mug instead of a styro cup at work
take your lunch in reusable containers instead of buying fast food in throw-away containers
use a cloth napkin instead of a paper one
use rags and sponges instead of paper towels
use a home made cleaning product instead of caustic chemicals
be mindful of the amount of water you are using
email your legislators and ask them to advocate for clean air and water; the reduction of carbon emissions; protection of small farms; safety of our food supply and other environmental issues
visit a nature center
donate to an environmental organization whose work you believe in

Do you have plans for Earth Day 2010. Please share.

Thrifty Thursday - Wedding Dresses

2010-03-18T20:16:00.001-04:00

When I spoke recently with a friend whose daughter is finding it difficult to select a wedding dress, I was struck by the enormity of the whole process - the choices, the cost, the fittings, the angst. I've never planned a wedding - having gratefully left most of the details of my own to my mother. But I have several friends who have organized their daughters' weddings, and after hearing about their experiences, and the experiences of some of my daughters' friends, I've come to the conclusion that the whole thing is just out of control! The entire wedding industry has highjacked common sense, proportion, appropriateness and in, some cases, reality.

Today, we'll just look at what goes on with wedding gowns.

The average price of a wedding dress in the United States is somewhere around $600, but this number can be widely different based on region and locale. For example, according to a nifty zip code based calculator at costofwedding.com, the price paid for a bridal gown by a bride in Plainfield, NJ ranges from $662 to $$1156, while just an hour away in tony Rumson, NJ the range jumps to $2,832 -$4,720. Brides in Waco, TX might shell out $662 - $1104, while in the New Hope, PA area where I live, it's more like $2,613 - $3,606. In Topeka, KS, a more modest $549 - $915 is the norm, and in Bloomington, MN the numbers skew higher to $990 - $1650.

A visit to Vera Wang's website yielded an invitation to join the RSVP club if I wanted to do more than look at the photos of the wedding fashions. I know these gowns, though truly beautiful, are uber-expensive. Then I hopped over to Priscilla of Boston where prices are in the several thousands of dollars - $3500 and $4500 being typical prices, with many gowns priced at "over $5000," though how much "over" isn't shared with the casual visitor. Next, I looked at the website for David's Bridal, one of the largest bridal gown retailers in the country, where the most expensive dress I found (though I didn't see every item) was $949. David's Bridal, however, has many very reasonably priced gowns including some sale dresses priced as low as $69.99.

But remember, the average dress price is $600. Does it really make sense to buy a dress that costs hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, takes weeks, and often months to receive, at which time it may need several fittings that may or may not be included in the price of the gown? Add to that, the cost of pricey undergarments, special shoes, possibly gloves, and of course the headpiece that can be as expensive as at the gown. And this is for an outfit to be worn once, for six, maybe eight hours.

I just don't see it. Where's the value? What's the point? Am I the only person who thinks today's brides and their loving parents are being taken for a ride? And what do I suggest as an alternative?

What I would like to see is a scaling back of proportion. It's the marriage that's paramount. Not what one is wearing. You are not any less committed to your husband if you wear a hand-me-down gown than if you've been tricked out in couture. So what if all your friends are going to be wearing $10,000 Vera Wang dresses when they walk down the aisle? Do you really need to follow suit when there are plenty of very pretty dresses for far less. Does anyone really need to try on 30 or 50 or 150 gowns before they find "the perfect one?" If you make $10 an hour, does it make sense to spend $1000 on a dress? If you've got outstanding student loans, where is the wisdom in putting an expensive gown on your credit card? If you are saving to buy a home, or your parents are getting near retirement, what is the thought process that results in spending unrealistic amounts of money on a dress?

There are options for the budget-minded, thrifty, frugal, individualistic and non-consumerist brides:

Follow the old, and very sweet tradition, of wearing your mother's, grandmother's or sister's gown. It may need minor or even major alterations, but there's something quite lovely about wearing an heirloom.
Search out a used gown. Remember, these dresses have been worn once! And some have never been worn - they are close-outs, last year's styles or ordered-but-never-paid-for dresses. Today their are dozens of websites offering used - excuse me - pre-owned wedding gowns, including savethedress.com, oncewed.com, woreitonce.com, and preownedweddingdress.com.
Check out thrift and resale shops in your area. Do a Craig's List search.
Visit the back room of bridal shops where there are often a few racks of dresses that didn't sell for one reason or another.
Drop down a notch or two or three on the price point and just say no to more than you can afford.
Think about breaking away from the pack and selecting a pretty (non-bridal) dress you can buy off the rack.

I expect I will have stepped on some toes with my opinions here, but I welcome your comments. Please share.

Green and Frugal Update

2010-03-17T19:58:00.001-04:00

Last night, during my usual toss and turn time, I was thinking that I ought to report on some of my regular frugal and green efforts from time to time. Though I'm not sure what format this will ultimately take, I'm just going to jump in and get started. After all, what better day to launch a "Green Report" than St. Patrick's Day.

Since about March 1:

Home Recycling - we put out the usual amount of recyclables including, the winter amount of newspaper (we use quite a bit to start fires in the cold weather so less gets recycled), pasta boxes, toilet paper tubes, English muffin paperboard container, wine bottle, sherry bottle, seltzer bottles, bean cans, plastic milk container, bourbon bottle, cranberry juice bottles. No recyclables were thrown out.

Office Recycling - a full kitchen trash can of water bottles, soda cans, paperboard boxes from the individual coffee and tea servings for the Keurig machine (don't get me started on that!), toilet paper and paper towel tubes, yogurt cups and a big plastic jug that held pretzels. In addition, I took a full box (the size of carton of paper comes in) of office waste paper, including magazines and brochures, to the Abitibi collection bin behind the school. Unfortunately, 2 full boxes of office waste paper and a full trash can of recyclables were thrown out by a neatnik last week before I could take them out of the building. I have to be more disciplined in removing the stuff in a timely manner.

Compost - we composted typical amounts; mostly coffee grounds, egg shells, potato peels, onion, garlic and cucumber skins, radish ends and orange rinds, and about 10% of a package of gourmet lettuce (see Waste). We have a big cabbage to cook so tomorrow we'll add bulky outer cabbage leaves. No organic kitchen waste was thrown away.We continue to add some leaves left over from fall clean up to the pile. But there are too many for the bin, and since we have no place to store them, a few bags full have to go in the trash. I'm hoping to figure out a remedy for this less-than-environmentally-friendly situation by next year.

Reuse - I have taken a few more cardboard boxes to the UPS store at the shopping center. In addition, I helped dear friends sort through several storage units to determine what could be sold, what could be donated and what had to go in the trash. Fortunately, very little was trashed - 4 or 5 pillows that had spent four years in the locker and just couldn't be used by anyone else, a ratty mattress, some broken dishes and a couple of small, not easily identifiable items. I rescued a big box of towels, sheets and bath mats that will go to the SPCA as soon as I can deliver them. And I took a metal tray, a couple of books, a Pyrex casserole dish and a pretty, though stained bed cover for myself. I'll try to get the stains out. If it proves impossible, the SPCA will get an additional donation.

Waste - the package of gourmet lettuce, which was on sale (see Frugal Finds), started to decompose after a couple of days so we had to throw some of it on the compost. We're still working on making just the right amount of coffee in the morning so we don't pour any down the drain. When the weather gets hot, this becomes a non-issue since we save leftover coffee to drink iced. A half a chicken breast went unnoticed in a food saver in the back of the fridge until it was too late (see Trash); there was a bit of cheese that was way past its prime, and the last handful of almonds in a large bag bought at BJ's for holiday baking had bugs, so we put them out for the birds. We need to work on keeping better track of what's in the cheese drawer and pantry cupboard.

Trash - last week's trash bag contained a pair of ruined knee high stockings; a broken lint brush, and the remains of a bathroom sink fixture (see Unexpected Expenses). There was a tiny bit of copper still attached to the fixture, but I just didn't have the energy, or know-how to retrieve it for possible reuse. The defunct half chicken breast and bit of cheese also wound up in the trash. This week, there are also 3 large bags of old leaves left over from last fall's clean up.

Energy - with Daylight Savings, we have adjusted the timer on the heater to come back on later in the day. And now that the weather is warmer, and not likely to dip below freezing for long periods, we have turned off the electric heater in the sunroom (when it's really cold outside, it keeps our plants alive and helps warm the kitchen which is above the sunroom). We continue to be quite diligent about turning lights off in rooms we aren't using. And we continue to disagree about what time to turn off the porch light - I'm inclined to switch it off around 9 pm, while my husband thinks it ought to be on until we turn in. Last month's gas and electric bill was around $400. I'll be glad when it gets back down to the more typical $100 when we aren't running the furnace.

Frugal Steps - our dishwasher has given up the ghost. We've debated replacing it, but have decided to put it off for a bit. Knowing that the stove and refrigerator are not destined to last much longer either, we're thinking that we will get all 3 appliances at the same time. We believe that we can negotiate a better price that way. So for now, we are washing the dishes by hand. Though we know that hand washing uses more water than a dishwasher, water use is cheaper than electricity, so handwashing is still the more frugal approach. We've also been keeping costs down by planning dinners around what is in the freezer, fridge and pantry as often as possible, and using meats sparingly. I've also continued to "shop my closet," and haven't made any clothing purchases. Spring weather brings a welcome relief from my winter wardrobe which is starting to bore me, though I was able to add 5 new pairs of pants, a sweater and a pretty scarf as hand-me downs from a client who was cleaning out her closet for a move to Florida. How lucky that she and I are the same size!

Unexpected Expenses - the above-mentioned bathroom vanity fixture began leaking in earnest a few weeks ago and just had to go. It was installed about 20 years ago, and wasn't a particularly good one to begin with, so it didn't owe us anything. We replaced it with an attractive brushed nickel set of faucets that was in the middling price category. My husband Ernie bought it from a supplier who gives him a discount, so the price was just over $100. We saved the cost of a plumber (figure about $100) because Ernie removed the old fixture and installed the new one himself. It was a bit messy because one of the old pipes was very corroded and a piece had to be replaced. But that cost was minimal.

Another unplanned expense was some dental work. I broke a crown and had to have it replaced. When I asked the dentist how much the new crown would cost, he said it was $1200, but he only charged me $600. I didn't ask for the discount, but I sure did appreciate it.

Frugal Finds - Because we haven't been shopping for non-essentials, and we've been doing most of our meal planning based on the pantry and the freezer, we haven't spent much time at the grocery store, or any store, for that matter. But we did have a couple of recent Frugal Finds. The box of gourmet lettuce was $2 off, so even though we couldn't use about 10% of it, it was still a bargain. We also bought 2 heads of iceburg lettuce (I don't want to hear any noise about iceburg not having any flavor - sometimes we just want a salad made with iceburg lettuce!) for $1.89. Corned beef is usually on sale as a loss leader in advance of St. Patrick's Day, and this year was no exception...it was $1 a pound. So we'll have a nice corned beef and cabbage dinner tonight, with enough leftovers for two more dinners (one of which will be corned beef hash, mmmm) at a cost of about $8.

So that's my Green and Frugal Update for mid-March. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Do We Really Need Any More Reasons to Buy Seasonal and Local

2010-03-16T21:25:00.002-04:00

Leah Ingram, who writes the Suddenly Frugal blog, published a great post recently about the Florida tomato crisis. This topic really caught my attention.

Because of unseasonably cold weather this winter, most of the Florida tomato crop was ruined. The USA Today article that Leah cites in her post reports that wholesale prices have gone up from $6.50 per 25 pound box to $30!

So that means that any restaurant that uses tomatoes in their food (McDonald's, pizza places, any restaurant that serves salads or makes their own spaghetti sauce), is going to pay more for tomatoes, and most will either have to change their menus, charge their customers more or eat the difference.

Consumers will find higher prices for tomatoes at grocery stores too. An ABC News on-line article reported that the price of tomatoes in a New York City grocery store went from $0.99 a pound to $1.89. Prices could go higher due to scarcity. And California tomatoes won't make up the difference. Most of the those tomatoes are processed into tomato sauce, ketchup and tomato juice. So Americans are relying on imports to get their fresh tomato fixes. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, imports of Mexican tomatoes are up 50% since the Florida freeze.

The big issues isn't so much that we have a bad year for tomatoes. Consumers will get over it. Florida farmers may take a while to recover. But next year, barring another freak freeze, we'll be eating our Florida tomatoes in the middle of the winter without giving it much thought. And if there is another catastrophe, we'll just buy the imports from Mexico.

But hold the phone! What's wrong with this picture? Do we really need to buy tomatoes that are grown hundreds or even thousands of miles away from where we live? Take a look at the photo on the right, - it accompanied the Wall Street Journal article. Those green things are tomatoes! They are harvested green. The ripening takes place in warehouses and on trucks that ship the tomatoes all over the country. Then most of them are exposed to concentrated ethelyne gas to speed up the ripening process. While tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables produce ethelyne gas naturally, do you really want more added to make a green tomato turn into a red one without the benefit of the vine or the sun?

So what's my point? I would like to propose that we just say no to tomatoes that have to be trucked great distances. Let's face it: when the tomatoes on your sandwich or in your salad aren't fresh and local, chances are it's more about the habit than the flavor. Let's learn to savor fabulous locally-grown - or better yet, home-grown - tomatoes during the months they are available. Buy lots and lots of them and put them up in canning jars. Or make home-made sauce. (The photo at the top of this post is of cut up tomatoes waiting to be turned into sauce at my brother-in-law's family's annual Labor Day gathering.) When the fresh ones are gone, think of them fondly. Then turn to the canned version when you crave tomato flavor. But don't try to replace fresh, seasonal tomatoes with a poor substitute from far away places, that, by the way, come with a huge carbon footprint.

Thoughts? Please share.

Making Compost

2010-03-15T09:23:00.000-04:00

When I was growing up, there was always a compost pile located somewhere at the back of the yard. My dad tossed on grass clippings, fall leaves (that were raked, not blown around by noisy machines...oh, wait, that's a post for another day), dead garden plants, over-ripe tomatoes, and other organic material from the garden beds. I don't remember kitchen garbage added to the pile, though I do recall seeing grapefruit halves, egg shells and coffee grinds in a neighbor's compost. Back then, in the semi-rural neighborhood of my elementary school years, everyone had big yards with vegetable gardens. And the refuse from those gardens was thrown on a pile. I don't know if most people called it compost, and I have no idea if the end-product -- that amazingly rich, decomposed organic gold - - was ever used by those neighbors.

Today, everyone seems to know at least a little about composting. When I did a Google search of "how to compost," more than 8 million matches appeared! Well, here is number 8 million and one.

I'm a big advocate of composting. By composting garden and kitchen waste, we can divert all that matter from landfills, thereby reducing the amount of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide produced. Since organic matter mixed with trash accounts for about 40% of the stuff dumped in landfills, composting will prolong the life span of a landfill, reducing the need to truck refuse even greater distances to newer landfills. If that weren't enough of an upside, we have the end product...compost.

When decomposed organic matter is added to soil, it provides all kinds of nutrients and organisms essential for soil health. Compost will also improve soil texture and helps maintain a nice, "neutral" pH. And, over time, with a good, thick layer added every year, compost can reduce, or even eliminate the need to resort to environmentally-unfriendly fertilizers.

I compost in a heavy-duty bin made of recycled plastic similar to the one pictured here. We keep a small stainless steel compost pail next to the kitchen sink to collect the waste so that we don't have to trek out to the garden everytime we generate some garbage. In addition to kitchen waste, you can compost:

leaves
weeds (without seeds)
grass clippings
dryer lint (especially if most of the fabrics you dry in the dryer are natural fibers)
shredded or ripped newspaper
thin cardboard
pine needles
straw
woodchips
cornstalks (the more broken down the better
manure from plant-eating animals

Never add grease, meat or fish scraps, dairy products, bones or dog or cat poop to the compost pile. And avoid adding diseased plants. In a future post, we'll look at tricks to maintaining a healthy compost pile.
Do you compost? What kind of bin do you use?

A Gardening Interview

2010-03-14T23:21:00.000-04:00

Awhile ago, I did an on-line interview about my book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegetable Gardening, and about vegetable gardening in general. Here it is.

Start a Chore Swap Group - Save Money and Time

2010-03-11T19:23:00.001-05:00

Barn raisings. Quilting bees. Community Supported Agriculture . Babysitting clubs. Pot luck suppers. Block parties. Habitat for Humanity. American traditions all. Most of us have grown up with the idea of shared work for the greater good It's part of our heritage. So many communities - churches, schools, charities, community associations - rely on volunteer labor. And most of us have put in our time helping with fund raising, clean up days, envelope stuffing, any number of chores that are required to keep these organizations going.

In keeping with the tradition of shared work - as in "many hands makes light work" - I would like to suggest a chore swap group. It's such a simple idea.

Say you have a bathroom sink faucet that needs to be replaced, but you don't have a clue how to do it. Instead of hiring a plumber at a cost of $100 or so, you call your friend Jim who knows how to do basic plumbing. Jim is a bachelor with very limited kitchen skills. So you whip up some casseroles and a couple of pies to fill Jim's freezer in return for his plumbing help.

Laura has a couple of pairs of pants that need to be shortened. She can't sew, but would prefer not to pay $15 per pair for a tailor to do the work. Paula can shorten pants in her sleep. So she'll do the work on Laura's pants. In return, Laura will do some ironing for Paula. Think about how many little things you pay someone else to do, or that you spend more time than you would care to on, that a friend could do for you:

birthday cake baking in return for an oil change
window washing gets you wallpaper removal
garden rototilling for tomato canning
dog walking in the a.m. for dog walking in the p.m.
grocery shopping for check book balancing
hedge trimming in return for a hair cut
closet organizing for a drive to the airport

There really are as many possibilities as there are chores. And your chore swap group doesn't have to be organized exclusively along the lines of "this for that." You might want to consider the barn raising and quilting bee approach: everyone gets together to accomplish a specific task at one person's home. It might be helping someone move from one house to another. Or a demolition party in advance of someone's renovation. Later the group might get together for a painting party. Lawn seeding or sodding, garden planting and tomato sauce making are some options.

This set up is sometimes called a barter club. But barter clubs may be more structured than you need. When one professional or vendor swaps a service or product with another professional or vendor, say a dentist replacing a couple of crowns in return for a new transmission in the BMW, there may be IRS implications.

What I am suggesting is less formal and more along the lines of neighbor helping neighbor, friend helping friend. Sharing skills. Swapping expertise. Do you swap chores with friends? I would love to hear about it.

Clear the Air with House Plants

2010-03-09T19:20:00.000-05:00

While many of us have been diligently adding insulation, caulking cracks and replacing weather stripping in our homes to prevent heat loss, a scary thing might be happening. Our homes might be at risk for Sick Building Syndrome. According to an EPA fact sheet on the issue, "up to 30 percent of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be the subject of excessive complaints related to indoor air quality (IAQ)."

This indoor pollution can be caused by poor ventilation systems, and the off gassing of volatile organic compunds (VOCs) found in paints, adhesives, cleaning agents, upholstery, carpets, building materials, solvents and other chemicals, as well as mold. People who work or live in a sick building may suffer with a variety of symptoms including headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation, dry cough, nausea, difficulty concentrating and sensitivity to odors.

Most of us probably don't live in sick buildings. But even if our homes are relatively healthy places, there may still be a few nasty contaminants lurking about.

You can avoid some of these pollutants by replacing paint, carpet and upholstery with new versions that don't have VOCs. That gets pricey. You might add an air filtration system to your HVAC units, another expensive route. And of course, you can always open your windows and let fresh air in, though that's not the most attractive option in the dead of winter.

You might also think about adding some house plants to your life. It turns out that ordinary house plants can clean all kinds of nasty toxins from the air inside your home. The following list, compiled in a 1980s NASA study, reveals the top 19 plants for cleaning indoor air:

1. Philodendron scandens `oxycardium', heartleaf philodendron
2. Philodendron domesticum, elephant ear philodendron
3. Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana', cornstalk dracaena
4. Hedera helix, English ivy
5. Chlorophytum comosum, spider plant
6. Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig', Janet Craig dracaena
7. Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii', Warneck dracaena
8. Ficus benjamina, weeping fig
9. Epipiremnum aureum, golden pothos
10. Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa', peace lily
11. Philodendron selloum, selloum philodendron
12. Aglaonema modestum, Chinese evergreen
13. Chamaedorea sefritzii, bamboo or reed palm
14. Sansevieria trifasciata, snake plant
15. Dracaena marginata , red-edged dracaena

Some plants are better than others at removing specific compounds. For example, philodendrons and spider plants gobble up formaldehyde, while gerber daisies and chrysanthemums are known to go after benzene.

But you don't have to limit yourself to this list. Most plants will have some air cleaning capabilities. At the least they will absorb carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with oxygen. The NASA study recommends one 6 inch plant per 100 sq. feet of space. So you might need 4 to 8 plants to keep the air in your family room healthy.

In future posts, we'll look at thrifty sources for house plants, and at techniques for making new plants from the ones you already have.

Adventures in Recycling (and Reusing) Cardboard

2010-03-08T15:51:00.001-05:00

Just about everyday, there is a cardboard box awaiting "rescue" from the trash at my office. And every trash day in our little town, which is heavily populated by retail stores and restaurants, there are piles of cardboard at the curb waiting for the garbage trucks...not the recycling truck. In the United States, cardboard makes up about 41% of municipal waste. And according to one report, a whopping 90% of products that are shipped in, out and around the United States are packed in corrugated cardboard. Cardboard is everywhere. And way too much of it winds up in landfills where vast amounts of methane are generated as cardboard decomposes.

What can we do about that. The answer is in that environmental mantra "reduce, reuse and recycle."

How can we reduce the amount of cardboard we use? First, we can start encouraging retailers to use less of it when they pack and ship things. We can ask retailers to give us a choice of whether or not we want the items we buy packaged in lots of cardboard. When we buy a new appliance, we might ask the store to deliver without the box, or to take the box back.

Next, we should look for ways to reuse as much as we can. I take cardboard boxes to the local UPS store where they are reused by the store's customers. And I encourage my real estate clients who are planning a move to look for used boxes on Freecycle and Craig's List, rather than buying boxes. I also frequently offer my "rescued" boxes to people getting ready for a move. Boxes left over from a recent move can be posted on Freecycle and Craig's List as well. These boxes can be used over and over again, keeping them out of the landfill, and saving the reusers a bit of money.

Finally, if we can't reuse it, let's recycle it. My trash hauler started taking cardboard about a year ago. We are required to cut it up into pieces no larger than a pizza box. In the photo above, you can see my handy utility knife (it was a Christmas present from my husband who truly understands my recycling mania) that I use to cut up boxes that can't be reused.  It's really important that the cardboard isn't contaminated by food products (especially grease) and that it be dry. If cardboard gets wet and starts to decompose, it can't be recycled. Most recycling companies can handle the staples and bits of packing tape that are typically found on cardboard boxes. But they don't want styrofoam, plastic, wood or metal lingering in the boxes.

By the way, the boxes that cereal, pasta, paper clips and other products are packaged in isn't actually cardboard. This material is called paperboard which is also recyclable, though the recycling process is separate. You'll want to check with your recycler about separating materials. We are fortunate that we can co-mingle our recyclables. Waxed boxes like those used for orange juice or broth aren't usually accepted by most recyclers, but there are a few who can handle them.

I've learned a lot about cardboard as I've been researching for this post. The Recycle Guy, LLC had some particularly interesting facts. Did you know that recycling 1 ton of corrugated cardboard can :
     1. save 17 trees
     2. conserve 7000 gallons of water
     3. avoid the use of 46 gallons of oil
     4. save 9 cubic yards of landfill space

What do you do to reduce the use of cardboard or to reuse it? Please share.

Garden Give-Away Winner

2010-03-06T18:11:00.000-05:00

The winner of the first Everyday Frugal, Everyday Green Garden Give-Away is Eatenword who will receive a Burpee Seed Starter Kit.
Congratulations.

Friday's Frugal Food: Eggs - Versatile, Delicious and Cheap

2010-03-05T09:11:00.001-05:00

I love eggs...in almost any form except raw, and for some odd reason, egg salad. For me, eggs are just about the perfect food. They are on my Top 10 List of Frugal Foods.

Before I go any further, I want to make it perfectly clear that, though they are incredibly inexpensive, I do my best to avoid eggs from chickens raised using confinement farming techniques. I look for, at the very least, eggs from free-range chickens. But that just means they aren't kept in cages their entire lives - most rarely, if ever, see the light of day. Better are eggs from pastured chickens, which means they have a chance to run around a bit and scratch in the dirt for bugs. The best eggs, I've found, come from flocks of "happy chickens" raised on small farms or even by amateur poultry enthusiasts.

I buy eggs from my friend Lorraine who keeps about 15 chickens in her backyard. The chickens live in a hen house with an outdoor enclosure where they are protected from predators like hawks and foxes. But when Lorraine is home, they often run free in the yard. Each hen lays about one egg a day, and Lorraine sells the eggs to friends for $1.50 a dozen. While the eggs are not technically organic, the chickens that produce them eat healthy food, and aren't fed antibiotics or other chemicals that are typically given to birds raised on factory farms. Lorraine's chickens get kitchen scraps and leftovers too - they especially like spaghetti, I'm told.

Because there are a variety of chicken types (Rhode Island reds, Aracunas, Bantams and others) the size and color of the eggs range from jumbo and brown to petite and white, with some medium size blue-green eggs among them. But one thing every egg has in common is outstandig freshness and flavor.

Eggs are jam-packed with nutrition, offering about 6 grams of protein a piece, along with 13 essential nutrients incuding vitamin A, B, D, E and K. A cup of chopped eggs (I'm guessing that's about 2 large cooked eggs) has 34% of the protein the DV (daily values in nutrition) an adult requires, along with a DV of 25% for Vitamin B12, 41% for Riboflavin, 60% for Selenium and 23% for Phosphorus. Eggs, especially pastured eggs, have about 106 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids per cup and about 211 calories.

At about 13 cents a piece, the eggs I buy offer an incredibly inexpensive source of all these nutrients.

Eggs can be boiled, baked, poached, fried, scrambled, deviled, curried (one of my mother's signature dishes), and turned into quiches, frittatas, omlettes and stratas. Besides being an essential ingredient in many baked goods, eggs are used as a binder in meatloaf and meatballs, like the one's my friend Nadine makes, Roman-style rice balls and in many kinds of croquettes. The allrecipe.com website has 600 recipes for egg main dishes. There are thousands more that use eggs just as one of many ingredientes.

Do you have a favorite egg recipe? Have you had the opportunity to compare eggs from "happy" chickens to factory-farmed eggs? Please share.

Thrifty Thursday - Making the Most of Your Wardrobe

2010-03-04T09:23:00.000-05:00

When I was a teenager living in Switzerland, I had a friend named Catherine who was one of the best-dressed girls in our class. Her winter school wardrobe consisted of two identical, except for the color, wool dresses, a skirt, a pair of corderoy slacks, a couple of shirts and a sweater or two. When she got home after school, she changed into "house clothes" and her school clothes were hung outside to air. The rule of the day was quality, not quantity.

Most Americans have far more clothes in their closets and drawers than they need. In fact, the National Association of Organizing Professionals says that most of us wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. If you take a minute to inspect your closet and dressers, you'll probably be able to agree with that formula. Because of my hoarding tendencies, that I wrote about in a previous post, I keep clothing for an especially long time. My thinking goes somewhere along the lines of "I never know when I might need this sweater from 1989 that is embroidered with scenes from a circus." So I may actually wear only 10% of the clothes I own 90% of the time. But even people who have the "get rid of it" gene usually have more clothes than they need.

The key is to be like Catherine in Switzerland...quality instead of quantity. And those quality items should all work together. With a few basic items, paired with interesting accessories, anyone can have an attractive, even creative wardrobe. And it can be done on a thrifty budget. While most fashion retailers aren't going to be keen on this concept, most of us, by simply "shopping our closets" could go quite a long time without needing to purchase anything more than underwear, hosiery and shoes.

Two recent fashion/art/performance projects, The Brown Dress and The Uniform Project, demonstrated how one simple article of clothing - a brown dress and a black dress respectively - could be worn (creatively) for 365 consecutive days. In the case of The Uniform Project, it's creator Sheena Matheiken, seen in the photo above, made 7 identical black dresses and wore one a day every week (she is nearing the end of her project). She enhanced the dress with hand-made, vintage and hand-me-down accessories as "an exercise in sustainable fashion."

If you visit Sheena's website, you'll see she is very fashion-forward. Some of the outfits she has created would turn heads if she were to appear in them while pushing a grocery cart at the SuperFresh. But anyone can take home the lesson of using a little color, texture and shape in a scarf, belt or jacket to completely alter the look of a little black dress.

What do you do to keep your wardrobe au current on a budget? Please share.

Garden Give-Away

2010-03-03T12:40:00.004-05:00

For the first time, I am doing a give-away here on Every Day Frugal, Every Day Green. The prize is:

Burpee's Eco-Friendly Seed Starting Kit.
I chose this give-away because I want to encourage everyone I know to try to grow something edible this year...whether it's a full-scale vegetable garden or a few herbs in pots.

The seed starter kit, which comes with 25 planter cells, a watering bamboo watering tray, growing pellets (these take the place of regular soil), 6 plant markers and a some organic fertilizer. The entire kit is made of sustainable and compostable materials. Starting some seeds indoors is a great way to ease your way into gardening if you're a novice. And if you're an old hand, you can always use some new equipment, right?

For an opportunity to win this item, simply leave a comment at the end of this post. You will need to include your email address in the post, or check back later to see if you have won and then get in touch with me. I'll announce the winner on Saturday, March 6.

Good luck!!!

Beyond the Basics - More Tips for the Frugal Home Seller

2010-03-02T17:38:00.001-05:00

In last week's post, we looked at 4 basic steps to take in order to get your house ready for the market. This week, let's take it a bit further. If you're serious about selling your home, you'll want to, at least, explore some of the options I suggest. Some of these steps will have a cost factor, but you'll save lots of money if you can do some of it yourself. And your home will be better positioned to sell.

1. Get rid of the wallpaper. I don't care how much that decorator paper cost when it was new, or how much you love it. The painful truth is that the majority of buyers don't like wallpaper. And even if they might like some wallpaper, they won't like the color or the pattern on your dining room walls. It's a given.

Depending on how much wallpaper you have, and how it was applied, this can be a simple Saturday afternoon task, or a week of messy, nasty work. Sure you can hire someone to do it, but the frugal home seller will make it a DIY project, following these steps, except for the suggestion to use white shellac. Leave that part out.

Once the wall paper has been removed, you can spackle any holes or dings, and get ready to paint. Make sure that you choose a neutral color, but one that is current and popular. Your Realtor will probably have some good suggestions. You can also check out model homes in upscale new developments. Companies like Toll Brothers do a lot of market research on what consumers are looking for in new homes, and they use that information when they decorate the models. Take advantage of their work!

2. Posh-up the powder room. It's absolutely true that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. If your kitchen and bathrooms are outdated and unattractive, there is no question you'll have a harder time selling the house. But it can be really expensive to redo kitchens and baths. A powder room reno, however, doesn't have to cost you big money. Because the powder room is typically very small, it's a project you may be able to handle yourself. And if done well, a pretty powder room can create a good impression of inviting, attractive public spaces in your home.

Consider painting the walls a nice, rich, decorator color - taupe, sage and mustard a colors I have seen work well recently. Paint the trim a glossy white - unless another another decorating style is prevalent in your area. You'll also want to address the flooring. If you already have wood or nice tile, you're in luck. But if you're faced with linoleum or vinyl tile, or - yikes - carpet, you'll want to make a change. Here again, the cost should be pretty low, especially if you can do the work yourself. Because we're talking about minimal square feet, you may be able to pick up a small amount of good looking stone or ceramic tile in a close-out or a partial box for a fraction of its original cost. You might also try looking on Craig's List or Freecycle, and at a Habitat for Humanity restore.

A new vanity, sink, faucets and hardware can totally change the look of an outdated powder room. Here again, you can search Craig's List and Freecycle. Or look for bargains in the close-out and returned sections of Home Depot, Lowe's, Habitat for Humanity retores, and local home improvement stores. Brushed and polished nickel are popular choices in my area these days, and brass fixtures are now out of favor.

If the toilet is really old, think about replacing it too. Toilets aren't cheap, but you don't have to buy top of the line to get the impact of new, clean and updated.

Finally, add a great-looking mirror (another opportunity to shop for a bargain) and crisp, luxurious-looking hand-towels and your powder room makeover is complete.

3. Replace out-dated light fixtures. Nothing says "tired" more than funky light fixtures. Think about replacing the most prominent light fixtures - kitchen, dining room and entrance hall - with attractive new ones. It's amazing how a couple of pendant lights over a kitchen island, or a modern chandelier in the dining room will give an entirely new look to your home. And, while some light fixtures are off-the-charts expensive, if you have a good eye and are willing to spend a little time shopping, you can find some great looking lights for super-bargain prices. If you don't trust your own tastes (and believe me, some people shouldn't), ask a friend who is design-savvy to help you with your selection.

In future posts, we'll look at more ways you can make simple, and relatively inexpensive changes to your home before you put it on the market.

Looking at Leeks as Spring Garden Plans Continue

2010-03-01T17:27:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted about ordering seeds for spring planting. The little packets have arrived with all the promise they have stored inside, but we're still weeks away from planting because of all the snow. It's not likely we'll get the snow peas in by St. Patrick's Day, and even the hardier lettuces won't germinate if the soil is still really cold. So while I wait, I've been thinking some of the other vegetables we plan to grow this summer. With so many vegetables to chose from, how do you narrow the list down to a number you can manage?

If your garden space is limited - we have about 400 square feet - you just can't grow everything you want to. So the strategy I usually suggest to would-be gardeners is to grow the vegetables that you like best, those that are the most expensive to buy or the hardest to find in stores or farmers' markets, and those that taste best when just picked.

Leeks always appear near the top of my list. While they aren't hard to find and the flavor isn't appreciably different if they are just harvested or if they've been shipped from somewhere, leeks tend to be expensive. Recently, we bought 3 good-sized leeks at the grocery store, and the tab came to $2.99. Basically a dollar per leek. That's pretty pricey.

We use leeks, especially in cold weather, to make home-made vegetable or chicken stock; potato leek soup; leek and cheddar quiche; and just last week for an incredible rustic shrimp bisque. I've also made frizzled leeks, and if you haven't tried them, you should.

Leeks are part of the Allium family, the same as onions, garlic, shallots and chives.

I grew leeks from sets last year that were given to me by my friend Jenn of The Turnip Truck. The sets look like tiny scallions - not quite as big as a slim pen, and about 4 to 5 inches long. Jenn gave me instructions for growing them: take a Sharpie pen, push it into the soil, pop a leek set into the hole, and water. That was it. The watering pushes the soil that has been displaced by the pen back up and around the tiny leek. You can help the process along and mound the soil up around the the baby plant. The higher the soil goes, the longer the white part of the leek will be (this is called blanching). Young leeks like to be well-watered but will tolerate less water as they get larger. They also do well if you've added lots of nice, rich compost to the soil before you plant them.

I was only moderately successful with the leeks last year. But excessive rain and aggressive weeds took a toll. The leeks I did harvest were delicious! This year I plan to grow about 100 leeks...store value about $100. That sounds like a lot of leeks, but remember, I'll be sharing the garden's bounty with 3 other families. As soon as I know how much the sets cost, I'll let you know.

Time to Plan the Spring Vegetable Garden

2010-02-23T09:27:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the end of February and all my gardening friends are really getting itchy to be in the garden. Some ordered their seeds months ago and have started seeds on trays under grow lights in the basement or on sunny window sills. Others are still pouring over the catalogs (on line, I hope - paper catalogs aren't very green). And the lucky ones have already been able to dig in the dirt and plant seeds outdoors. One of my favorite bloggers, Deanna Duke of The Crunchy Chicken, just started her Urban Farming 2010 series and reported yesterday that daffodils and cherry trees are blooming in her Seattle backyard. She has planted asparagus, parsley and cilantro, and is getting ready to put in the peas and beets.

In southeastern Pennsylvania where I live, we still have a foot of snow on the ground. Despite current temperatures in the 40s and several days of rain in the forecast, it will be weeks before we can begin to work the soil. Traditionally, we plant peas on St. Patrick's Day. While I'm hoping that will be possible, I'm not going to expect it.

In the meantime, I've placed a small order with Burpee Seeds (full disclosure: I have written for Burpee publications in the past; have tested and written about some of their seed varieties; and will be reviewing a group of seeds on this blog during the gardening season; they will be giving me some of those seeds, others I will purchase).

The Burpee order is for arugula, Bush Champion cucumbers, Oregon Sugar Snap II snow peas, Classic Mix mesclun, Sunburst Hybrid patty pan summer squash, Early Acorn Hybrid winter squash, Blue Baby Hybrid hubbard squash, Cornells Bush Delicata winter squash, Heatwave looseleaf lettuce and 4 Seasons lettuce.

I also plan to buy additional seeds for green beans, zucchini, gold and red beets, butternut squash, dill, parsley and basil. Later, when all danger of frost is past, which will be somewhere around Mother's Day here, I'll buy seedlings - tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers along with sage, thyme and rosemary - from local growers.

The garden I'll be planting is a cooperative one. My friends Michele, Leah and Kim and I are developing a 400 square foot vegetable garden at Michele's home. Our goal is to grow as much fresh produce as we received from the two CSA shares we had between the four of us for the past three summers, but for less money (we paid $800 per share). We also hope to have more of the veggies we like best.

In the fall, we hired a man to rototill the space. His fee worked out to $38 each, which was less than the cost of renting a tiller for the day, transporting it to the site and back to the rental firm - not to mention the fact that he was much better at that chore than we would have been. Michele has generously offered to pay a contractor to erect a fence around the garden (rabbits, ground hogs and deer are an issue) so that is an expense we won't have to share..

We have met twice - once in the fall and once in January to fine-tune the list of plants we will grow (no Brussells sprouts because Kim hates them; lots of summer and winter squash because we all love them; a little rainbow chard because it's one of my favorites, and I've decided it's a non-negotiable item; and tons of tomatoes because what's a summer garden without tomatoes?!).

We have decided that we will use only organic fertilizers including chicken manure from Michele's chickens; we will deal with insects without commercial pesticides; and we will not limit ourselves to organic plants and seeds. The work load will be divided up as evenly as possible. Michele will take on a lot of the watering duty since, because, depending on the weather, some plants may need watering more than once a day. Everyone will plant and weed. And we'll need to work out a harvesting schedule.

Our next pre-planting task will be to plot out the garden. We'll use a graph-paper type planner to determine what plants will go where, how many rows we'll need, how long and wide each row will be, and how many plants we'll have room for.

We'll also start collecting materials for staking the tomatoes using postings on Craigslist and Freecycle. We may attempt to make our own tomato cages. Fortunately, we still have plenty of time for that.

What do you have planned for your garden this year? What do you do to keep your gardening expenses in check? Please share.

Tips for the Frugal Home Seller: Getting the House Ready

2010-02-22T08:59:00.000-05:00

In the go-go real estate market of a few years ago, when mortage lenders were throwing money at buyers and properties were increasing in value every 15 minutes, what your house looked like didn't seem to matter all that much. Buyers would look at a home with a shabby facade or dated interior and say to themselves, "I'll spend a few grand on fixing it up and sell for a huge profit." Many people did just that. And then it stopped.

Today, mortgage money is tighter and buyers want turn-key. And if the house isn't perfect, they'll want deep discounts. It's a new world.

But just because, in general, the real estate market is skewed in favor of the buyer these days, doesn't mean that you should give up on selling your home. There are still plenty of qualified buyers, and in some markets, there is pent up demand after a year or more of flat sales. If you are thinking of selling your home in the near future, it's important to present it in a way that enhances its perceived value, and to make it more appealing to prospective buyers.

Here are 4 simple and inexpensive (some will cost you nothing but your time) steps you can take before you list your home for sale:

Get rid of stuff. This is probably the hardest part, so do it first. Start out in the most cluttered room in your house - let's say it's the kitchen. Methodically work your way through every cupboard, drawer and pantry shelf and "edit" the contents. Do you really need 3 sets of mixing bowls? Save the best looking one and box up the rest (we'll talk about what to do with all that stuff in another post). Pare down the contents of your spice shelf to the 10 you use most often. Put seasonal items (heart-shaped baking pan, Christmas cookie cutters, Thanksgiving-themed napkins, Passover platters) in storage. Go through bedroom closets and remove out-of-season clothing, luggage, outfits you no longer wear and any items that could go somewhere else. The point is to make the closets look larger than they are, and to send the message to prospective buyers that it's easy to be organized in this home. Do this same editing in every room in your house. I'm not going to kid you...for most people, this is an odious task. It can take weeks, if not months, if you're like me, have lived in your home for a long time and tend to avoid parting with things. It helps if you have a big supply of boxes. You may also want to look into renting a storage unit.
Clean. I mean really clean - from top to bottom. First vacuum the whole house - along all the baseboards, in every corner, in the far reaches of the basement and attic, inside closets, cupboards and drawers. Then scrub down every surface. Use envrionmentally-friendly home-made cleaning products and rags from cut up T-shirts to keep your costs down. Attack stained grout in the bathroom. Wash every window, inside and out. Dust light bulbs. Scour sinks, toilets and the inside of the washing machine. Pull the refrigerator away from the wall and clean off the coils. Scrub the floors. Consider renting a steam cleaner to refresh your draperies, upholstery and carpets. Once your home is squeaky clean, develop a plan for keeping it that way until it's sold.
Refresh the front door. The front door of your home is like a person's smile...it creates that all-important first impression. Take a good, long, objective look at the front door. Is the paint chipped? Are any window panes cloudy or cracked? Is the door knocker tarnished? What shape is the door knob in? Making the most of the front door may be as simple as scrubbing off some street grime and and washing the windows. Or you may have to spend a few dollars on a mini-face lift. Fresh paint in an inviting contrasting color might do wonders. Before you chose a color, check out some model homes, or properties that have sold for good prices in your community to see if there are certain colors that are favored. In some areas, lipstick red doors are popular, while in other communities, that may be seen as so yesterday. Your real estate agent might have a good suggestion. Replacing the hardware, knocker and light fixture could set you back several hundred dollars, but might be just the thing to give the entrance the wow factor that was missing.
Repair and replace. No matter how well you maintain your home, there are always inspection issues that will come up...a leaky faucet or broken toilet seal, for example. And when your home is on the market, little issues can spell big doubts from a buyer's perspective. A proactive approach is key. Before the first showing, try to do as many repairs as possible so that small objections don't turn into a no-sale situation. If you're handy, you'll be able to do many of these things yourself. Some common repair items that might set off alarm bells with buyers include deteriorated flashing, broken roof shingles or tiles, broken window seals, double taps on the electric panel, small leaks, ripped/missing weather stripping, loose stair railings, nail pops, stains from old leaks, non-functioning outlets or light switches, holes in wallboard, cracked sidewalks and worn stain on decks. A few hours of your time, or a few dollars spent the skills of a repair person will go a long way toward convincing prospective buyers that your house is well-maintained and unlikely to have lots of hidden problems.

In future posts, we'll look at inexpensive options for staging your home to make it look fabulous and at simple and frugal ways to add curb appeal.

Super-Cheap Clean-Out-The-Fridge Soup

2010-02-19T13:42:00.000-05:00

With the sun out, all those mountains of snow are beginning to melt. It's beautiful, and the weather is mild. But when the sun sets, we know it's still winter. And during the winter, soup is always on the menu. Right now, the fridge is full of odds and ends, bits and pieces, a little of this and some of that. So we're going to make Super Cheap Clean-Out-The-Fridge Soup. Here's how:

First, we'll see exactly what ingredients are available. In the fridge, there are 6 carrots, 3 onions and 2 scallions that need to be used ASAP. There's also a quart of corn leftover from the 2 quart bag we defrosted earlier in the week for another meal, and some leftover coconut rice (though that might not be a good match with anything else). In the freezer there are lots of other goodies: chopped celery, kale, beet greens, Swiss chard and some edamame. And we'll pull some canned beans, or maybe dried lentils, a jar of home-made tomato sauce and half a bag of egg noodles from the pantry.

If there's time, we'll stop at the grocery store to pick up some chicken stock. But in a pinch, water will do, maybe with a little wine to add some flavor. We'll use about 6 cups of liquid - a combination of water, tomato sauce, wine and stock. The proportions don't matter that much - though probably not more than a cup of wine.

The next step is to chop the carrots, onions and scallions. These are added to the thawed chopped celery in the soup pot with a little olive oil. If I had a couple of bacon pieces, I would dice them and fry up the pieces, then use the bacon fat instead of or with the olive oil to sautee the vegetables.

When the onions are transparent, the liquids go in...a total of about 6 cups, but no need to be exact. After bringing the mixture to a boil, I'll reduce the flame and add some of the greens (I'll use kale or chard or beet tops, but not all together). Since the greens were only blanched prior to freezing, they'll need to boil gently for a bit (maybe 15 or 20 minutes) until tender.

Once the greens are cooked, I'll add a the pasta. If the pasta is left-over rather than uncooked, I'll add it just before serving so it can heat up without getting mushy. The can of beans will go in just prior to serving as well so the beans are nice and hot but don't get over cooked. If I'm using dried beans or lentils, I will allow the required cooking time.

If there is any leftover meat - bits of chicken, pork, beef or sausage, these too will be tossed in, earlier rather than later so that the meat flavors can mix with the vegetables. For more flavor, I'll add herbs like fresh parsley (there are usually a few stray pieces in the bottom of the crisper drawer - no matter that they have seen better days), a bit of dried thyme, marjorum and tarragon. Then salt and pepper to taste.

Finally, I'll make some toasts from stale bread spread with a tiny bit of olive oil or topped with a bit of grated cheese to use as croutons. Or if I'm feeling a little more ambitious, I'll make corn bread with the leftover corn, some cornmeal, flour and a bit of cheddar cheese.

Mmmmmm. Delicious. And cheap!

Do you have a few super cheap meals in your bag of frugal tricks? Please share.

Save Water = Save Money: 8 Tips for Using Less Water

2010-02-18T20:37:00.000-05:00

After the rainy summer of 2009 and snowy winter of 2010, it might be hard to get people in our little corner of southeast Pennsylvania to worry about water usage. But, even here, with our unpredictable river that gave us three devastating floods in 2 years (we haven't had a major flood in more than 3 years, knock wood), water is a precious commodity that we can't afford to take for granted. While the water table is high right now, and the aquifer may have had some replenishment, our water needs are always at the mercy of Mother Nature. And she can be downright stingy with water sometimes.

Last summer, when we had more rainy days than sunny, and the vegetables were rotting in the garden from too much moisture, my dear friend Nadine was suffering through yet another summer drought in Northern California. Last spring the Southeastern part of the country was recovering from a wretched 2 year drought. And according to NOAA, (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) there will be presistent or intensifying drought conditions in 8 western states this year, and abnormally dry conditions in another 6 states.

Over all, drought predictions in this country are no where near as grim as they could be. But water conservation practices make good environmental sense. And saving water can save you money. Here are some steps you can take to reduce your household water consumption. Some you may already do; others are so simple, you'll want to start doing them right away. I'll admit some may be too crunchy for everyone's lifestyle:

Don't run the water when you brush your teeth. Simple enough to do. Squeeze some toothpaste on your brush. Wet it with a drop of water from the tap. Turn the water off. Then brush. Spit. Wet your brush again. Repeat. Add a little water to a glass (reusable, please). Rinse. Done. You've used less than a cup of water, and probably saved about 3 gallons. If there are 4 people in your household, and everyone brushes twice a day, you could save 24 gallons of water a day. Multiply that by the 350 days (I'm giving you some vacation time in this calculation) and you've saved 8400 gallons of water. With the average price of 1000 gallons of water at about $2.81, that would save you $23.88 per year. But water is far more expensive than that in some communities, and in other places, usage fees go up with the more water you use.
Use this basic premise with shaving too. Or shave in the shower.
Run full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine. By only running the machines when they are full, you will use them less often, so you'll use less water. And, if you're thinking about getting a new washer, check out the front loaders...they use between 40 and 75% less water than top loaders. Interestingly, doing dishes by hand uses a lot more water than if you use a dishwasher. Seems counter-intuitive, but it's true. You can read what my friend Leah Ingram, the Suddenly Frugal blogger, wrote about hand-washing vs. diswashers here.
Keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator. While tap water is usually cool, it can often take a few minutes of running the water to get it to the point where it is cold enough to drink. If you always have a big pitcher of water in the fridge, you won't every have to run the water to get it cold.
Save the water that runs before it's hot enough for your shower. Sometimes it can take a good 3 or 4 minutes, or more, for the water to get hot in the shower. And all that cooler water just runs down the drain...a terrible waste. To capture the wasted water, keep a couple of buckets in the bathroom and put them under the tap while you wait for the water to warm up. Then use the water to fill the toilet tank, water indoor plants, water the garden, fill the dog's water bowl or a bird bath or to add to the washing machine.
Avoid using your garbage disposal. Most in-sink garbage disposals require that you run water while they churn, with average water consumption of 4 gallons per minute. Think about composting most of your kitchen garbage (except grease and meat and dairy products). You'll use less water and you'll wind up with some nice, rich organic matter for your garden.
Flush less. OK, here's where I might lose some of you. But I'm going to throw it out there. Many years ago, when my parents visited old friends at their walnut ranch near Paso Robles, CA, the area was experiencing a severe drought. The friends cautioned my parents that everyone, guests included, had to participate in pretty heavy-handed water conservation practices. This included fewer flushes. Next to the toilets were little signs that discreetly said "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." At my first, my mother was ready to head for the nearest Motel 6. But she says they got used to the concept. And, it seems, that the men were perfectly happy to pee outdoors. And that leads us to another approach to the fewer flushes water conservation method. Deanna Duke, whom many of you know as The Crunchy Chicken, suggested using diluted urine for fertilizer in the garden. She had 115 comments to that post! It seems that quite a few people tried it out with favorable results.
Take fewer showers. If I haven't lost you by now, then maybe you'll be open-minded about this one too. I'm not advocating turning your back on personal hygiene. But some people may find that they don't actually have to shower every day, especially in cold weather, and when they aren't doing any strenuous exercise. People with very dry skin, or skin conditions like ecxema may get some relief by limiting baths or showers to every other day. And one can always clean one's smellier parts with a soapy washcloth. Just a thought...

To help you determine how much water your family uses each day, use this handy chart. And consult this list for many more water-saving tips. If you've got a water saving tip, please share.

8 Simple Ways to Save Money Now

2010-02-11T22:18:00.000-05:00

It seems that many conversations among friends focus on ways to stretch budget dollars. Everyone knows someone who is out of work or whose income has been reduced. And even for those whose situation is stable and comfortable, the recession has made frugal and thrifty everyday words. There are hundreds of ways to save money ranging from practical, hardly-noticeable adjustments in everyday tasks to major lifestyle changes. Here in today's Thrifty Thursday post we'll look at 8 of the easiest ways to save a little money:

Make your coffee at home or in the office. Instead of buying your morning dose of caffeine at a drive-through, convenience store, coffee shop or vending machine, brew your own. The average American drinks 3.2 cups of coffee a day with prices ranging from $.79 to $5.00 - the average price is $1.38. By contrast, the cost of the average cup of home-brewed coffee is $.10 based on an 11.5 oz. can of coffee priced at $3.00. (I buy coffee that is usually priced at $4.99 for an 11.5 oz bag, so my one cup a day sets me back about $0.12.) If the average coffee drinker pays the average price per cup, he shells out about $4.42 a day, which translates to $22.05 per work week. The thrifty coffee drinker will spend $1.60 for the same amount of coffee during that work week. When you add the savings up over the course of a year, it's more than trivial. To make it easier to adopt this thrifty practice, invest in a nice thermal, stainless-steel coffee travel mug.
Wash your clothes in cold water; then line dry. This isn't one of those big-money savers, but why spend money if you don't have to? Heating the water is the bulk of the energy costs in washing clothes. By using only cold water, the average yearly savings will be about $61. Air drying takes a little more effort and won't work for everyone all the time. But just about anyone can air dry some items some of the time. We air dry underwear, washable sweaters, sweatshirts and just about anything made of cotton using a drying rack, hangers, bathroom towel racks and the shower curtain bar. In the summer, I also air dry just about everything outside - I love the smell of laundry that has dried in the sun! If air dried clothes are too "crispy" for you, try air drying them until they are only slightly damp, then giving them a quick spin in the dryer to soften them up. According to Project Laundry List, the average family can save around $300 a year by air drying their wash. And there's a bonus: your clothes will last much longer.
Take the junk out of your trunk. Did you know that for every 100 extra pounds that you carry around in your car you lose 1% fuel efficiency. Right now, I'm guilty of having too much stuff in my car: the folding table I used at a broker's open house; a couple of bags of clothes that I plan to drop off at a charity thrift shop, 2 pairs of boots (I always carry 1 pair because I frequently show farms and land in my job as a real estate agent - but I really don't need 2 pairs), 2 or 3 umbrellas, and a box of cardboard from the office that has to be cutup for the recycling bin. I know all this stuff is reducing my car's fuel efficiency and that's just wasteful. Tomorrow, I'm going to get that junk out of my trunk!
Drink Tap Water. Bottled water bought by the case costs about $.30 a bottle. When purchased singly at a convenience store or vending machine, the price may be triple that, or more. And much of the water in those bottles is municipal tap water! Most Americans have access to clean, potable tap water. Take advantage of it! Pour water from your tap into reusable containers (but first make sure that the container you use is BPA-free - you can read about BPA in an earlier post). If you don't love the taste of your local water, get a water filter. Our water tastes a bit of chlorine so we use a Britta filter for most of the water we consume (making ice cubes, cooking, drinking, making coffee and tea). The filter costs about $.83 a day (based on a $5 per filter cost and a useful life of about 60 days each). Even with the price of the filter, it's far less expensive than bottled water. Eliminating plastic water bottles from your life is also a great step in the green direction.
Quit smoking. I'm probably preaching to the choir on this one. But there are still plenty of smokers out there (on Tuesday, I saw three of them huddled outside the back door at my office). Smokers with a pack-a-day habit are spending around $5 each day for their cigarettes...that's over $1,800 a year. If you quit, not only will you save money, you'll improve your health, which, in the long haul, will save even more.
Avoid ATM fees. ATMs are a great invention. They make having access to your money easy. But, all too often, the cost can be alarmingly high. At some ATMs, you may pay as much as $2.00 per transaction, no matter how much of your own money you withdraw. So, if you take the maximum ($200 in one business day is typical), you might pay $2.00 or 1% to access your own money! And if you've only taken out $20 (this is common for young people who don't have large balances and take money out of their accounts prior to going to the movies or out for pizza), then the "interest" on their money is a whopping 10%! To avoid ATM fees, you can take the advice of stopatmfees.com. Some of the suggestions include moving to Iowa or Connecticut where ATM fees are illegal, switching to a bank with no ATM fees and that has branches that are convenient for you, and by looking for ATMs with a "No Surcharge" label. Check out www.atmsurcharges.com for tips on finding ATMs that don't charge fees.
Use cloth napkins. This is one of those small money-savers that is in the "why spend money if you don't have to" category. Over the course of a year, the average family might spend about $50 on paper napkins. You can pick up attractive cloth napkins for $4 a piece. Say you buy 8. That's $32. With the cost of laundering the napkins, it's probably a wash over the course of a year when compared to the cost of paper napkins. But the cloth napkins will last for more than a year. I have some that are 10 years old. Cloth napkins are even less expensive if you make them yourself out of fabric remnants.
Keep the freezer full. A full freezer works more efficiently because it takes energy to cool empty space. We tend to fill up our freezer in the late summer and early fall with seasonal fruits and vegetables. Then as the winter progresses, the freezer starts to empty out. To keep it working efficiently, you can add plastic milk jugs filled about 3/4 of the way with water. These will freeze and help keep the temperature even.

Friday's Frugal Food - Kudos for Cabbage

2010-02-05T20:18:00.000-05:00

Cabbage is a wonder food. Seriously. It's filling, nutritious and versatile. And it's usually very inexpensive.

Cabbage can be buttered, baked, braised, boiled, pickled, stuffed, fried, wilted, scalloped or used raw. It is an ingredient for salads, soups, main dishes with meat, vegetarian main dishes and appetizers. The cooks.com website offers 175 recipes for cabbage dishes. And that's just one site.

And did I mention, cabbage is cheap?

A member of the Brassica family, cabbage is a close relative of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collards, cauliflower and kale. Types of cabbage include Savoy, Chinese, red, green and Napa.

All cabbages are low in calories (about 19 per cup), high in dietary fiber and offer various amounts of vitamins A, C, K, B1, B2 and B6. Cabbage is also a source of folate, magnesium, potassium, manganese, protein, thiamin, calcium, phosphorous and copper.

And then there's the fact that they cost next to nothing.

Our personal cabbage dish repertoir includes stuffed cabbage (rice, ground beef, herbs & spices, egg & bread crumbs baked in a tomato sauce); cole slaw (with a vinegar-based dressing as opposed to mayo); pork loin on braised red cabbage (made with onion & apples); choucroute (lots of pork products with potatoes and braised green cabbage); corned beef and cabbage (ok, I've never made it - but my husband's version is fabulous); various soups made with cabbage; and vegetarian stir fry with bok choy (a Chinese cabbage) as the main ingredient.

A simple side dish I make when the fridge is almost bare and we need something filling and cheap, is sauteed cabbage and onion, pictured pre-saute above. Here's how I do it:

roughly chopped cabbage (the photo is of about 1/2 a small Chinese cabbage)
1 roughly chopped onion
1 tbsp oil (I typically use olive oil, but it's not critical)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
a pinch of red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste

Heat a saute pan, add the oil and reduce heat to medium. Add the cabbage and onion and saute, stirring often, until the cabbage is limp and the onion is translucent. Lower heat and stir in vinegar. Add pepper flakes. Season to taste. Turn up heat again to make sure everything is nice and hot. Serve.
This is enough for generous servings as a side dish. It's easy to expand to serve more.

At a typical 69 cents a pound for cabbage, it's one of the most economical (and healthful) ingredients you can have in your kitchen...a truly frugal food.

Do you have a favorite cabbage dish? Please share.

5 Tips for a Frugal and Greener Valentine's Day

2010-02-04T20:57:00.000-05:00

With Groundhog Day behind us, Valentine's Day can't be far off. While once a saint's day honoring love and affection, the holiday has unfortunately been manipulated by the greeting card, candy, floral, lingerie, restaurant and jewelry industries into a spending frenzy stoked by guilt and manufactured tradition. Until the 19th century, Valentine's Day was observed with hand-written love notes exchanged by lovers as tokens of affection. Then in the mid-1800s, new printing techniques in Germany launched the era of mass-produced - though very beautiful - die-cut chromolithographs, copies and knock-offs of which are now incorporated into the greeting card industry's repetoire.

The holiday became further commercialized by the association of flowers, jewelry, and more recently, racy undies, along with restaurant dinners to the original sentiments of love and affection. Now husbands, fiances and boyfriends feel compelled to spend lots of money on gifts or, if one were to believe the advertising, face the wrath of a disappointed woman. Even children are sucked into the commercialism of the day with mass-produced cards featuring sappy sayings that the kids don't really get, and cheap candy handed out at classroom parties.

Enough! Let's take back Valentine's Day and make it more meaningful, less expensive and not so wasteful. Here are 5 ideas that might help do that:

1. Ban the mass-produced greeting cards. Get out your stash of construction paper, glue, glitter, ribbon, lace, buttons, sequins and even colored macaroni, and make your own Valentine's Day cards. Kids love crafts and they should be encouraged to make special cards for the people they care about...a teacher, grandparents, parents, best friends. Teachers could instruct kids to not exchange cards in class so that no one would feel left out if some didn't get as many cards as others. With just a few special cards, there will far less paper waste.

2. Ix-nay on the cheap candy. It's not worth the calories, or the few bucks a couple of bags of SweetTarts and Jolly Ranchers cost. Instead make mini-cupcakes, brownies or cookies. Have fun with a heart-shaped cake pan and lots of red icing. Try making marshmellows or fudge from scratch. If a classroom party is planned, perhaps just a few parents can take care of the snacks to avoid waste. There are plenty of opportunities during the rest of the year for full participation. But no class needs 22 parents sending in sweets. With home-made treats (served on paper napkins made from recycled paper or even a collection of plastic plates that can be washed and reused; or contained in wax-paper bags instead of plastic Baggies), there are no nasty plastic wrappers and bags to throw away.

[Because I consider really good dark chocolate an essential food group, I fully approve of a gift of a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day. Not frugal. Probably not green. I don't care.]

3. Avoid cut flowers. Now, I love flowers. I really do. But it turns out that the average bouquet of cut flowers creates about 5 pounds of carbon before it even lands in the U.S. from Ecuador or Columbia where 80% of cut flowers sold in the U.S. originate. And if the carbon footprint of imported flowers isn't bad enough, things get really scary when you think about the amounts and types of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are used in the industrial greenhouses where most of these flowers are grown. If the flowers don't grow near you, don't buy them. Instead, give your sweetheart a plant that will grow in your garden or on your windowsill. Or buy a couple of seed packets of his/her favorite flower. Check out the Burpee, Johnny's or Park seed collections on-line. Reserve a fruit tree at your local nursery for planting in the spring. Or make a contribution in your loved one's name to an organization that builds or sustains public gardens, reforestation programs or community gardens.

4. Many couples become engaged on Valentine's Day. It's a very sweet tradition. An engagement often means a ring, usually a diamond. There are all kinds of issues - political and environmental - with diamonds these day. And, of course, there is the enormous expense. An about-to-be-engaged couple might want to consider having an existing diamond in a ring or other piece of jewelry (one that has been in the family or found at an estate sale, auction or even a flea market) and having it reset. For other jewelry gifts, why not consider something hand made by a local artisan or crafter, or a vintage piece from a specialty shop, thrift or resale shop or a flea market?

5. Eat in instead of out. Valentine's Day may only be second to Mother's Day in numbers of restaurant reservations. When restaurants are that busy, they aren't at their best. And we all know that eating out is expensive, especially if you add liquor and/or wine to your tab. Instead, plan a really special meal at home. OK, maybe it won't be romantic. And you'll still have to do the dishes. But it can still be sensational. Splurge on filet mignon or halibut. Make a gorgeous dessert (or buy one at the top baker in town). Set the table with your best china and silverware. Get dressed up. You'll still spend half of what you would on a restaurant meal and you might have leftovers for a great second meal. If you have children at home, include them and make them feel really special. Encourage them to make place cards and a centerpiece.

The point is Valentine's Day should be about you and the ones you love, not about a greeting card writer's sentiments or a store's bottom line. Create new traditions that have meaning for you.

Do you have any special things you do for Valentine's Day that are frugal and green or both?

Recycling Is So Easy...So Why Aren't People Doing It?

2010-02-02T23:04:00.001-05:00

Today at the office, I pulled 2 plastic water bottles, 1 soda can, a couple of small, light-weight cardboard boxes and at leasst 5 lbs of paper out of the trash...and this was just from 3 of about 20 trash cans in the building. It made me mad. My reaction was inappropriately strident. I know I over-reacted. But it's just so frustrating.

Every week I take all the non-paper recyclables from my office and put them in the container at our house for curbside pickup. I take the paper to the Abitibi collection bins in the parking lot at the local school. Serving as the self-appointed in-house recycle fanatic is a role I have willingly taken on. Once in a while, if I ask, someone will take the paper for me, or take the cans and bottles home to his or her bin. But the general lack of interest on the part of many of my co-workers is starting to get depressing. Even with a bin for paper right next to the waste can, some of them till drop their unwanted paper in the trash!

Is this a trend? Are people tired of the recycling message? Is it worth the effort? Are we experiencing "recycling fatigue.?

The statistics aren't too encouraging. According to BevNet, a beverage industry website, the recycling rate for plastic water containers was 30.9% in 2008, a 32% increase over the 2007 rate. So, even with a major growth in recycling rates, nearly 70% of the water bottles didn't get recycled!

An article on Waste Age, notes that Americans recycled 54 billion aluminum cans in 2007, representing 53.8% of the cans that that were sold. Am I guilty of looking at the can half empty if I ask about the the 50 billion cans that weren't recycled?

An EPA report says that 28.1% of glass was recycled in the U.S. in 2007, which is mostly attributed to mandatory glass recycling (deposit bottles) in 11 states. So, it appears that about 70% of glass bottles are not recycled.

There is some encouraging news. A news item on RedGreenandBlue, a website that covers environmental politics, reports that in 2009 San Francisco recycled 72% of its municipal solid waste. The city even requires that construction debris be recycled. Seattle had increased its recycling levels to 50% by 2008. And the island of Nantucket recycled at an incredible 90% in 2007.

Unfortunately, most communities are stuck at the 25 to 30% level, or worse. Low prices and diminished markets for the recyclables are adversely affecting municipal and private recycling programs. But why would that translate into individual lack of participation?

Can you shed some light on this? Are you experiencing recycle burn-out? Please share.

Using Home-Grown Herbs Adds Big Flavor For Little Money

2010-01-29T06:00:00.007-05:00

Last week I made several onion quiches for a couple of open houses at listings, and for a party. The filling was really simple: onions, a little olive oil, eggs, salt, pepper, and a bit of finely grated locatelli cheese. But what really added flavor were the herbs I used - fresh parsley and rosemary and some dried tarragon, thyme and sage. The parsley was straight from the grocery store, but I plucked the rosemary from the sorry-looking plant pictured here. The other herbs I picked fresh in the fall and dried in paper bags before putting them in jars for storage.

Most herbs are very easy to grow, take up very little space, will grow happily in pots and cost next to nothing if you start them from seed. Even if you buy small herb plants, the cost is low.

Many herbs are perennial - they come back year after year. Thyme, marjoram, sage, tarragon, oregano and mint are reliably perennial almost everywhere. In warmer parts of the country, rosemary, which I've grown from cuttings, gets as big as an azalea in my father's southern California garden, while I struggle to keep my rosemary alive in the sunroom when it's cold outside her in southeastern PA.

Cilantro, dill and parsley are typically grown each year from seeds, though technically parsley is a biannual. That means it will come back a second year to set seeds. But the leaves taste best in the first year, so I treat it as an annual.

As my gardening group plans and plants our garden in the weeks to come, I'll be reporting on what we're doing. In the meantime, I hope you'll share some of the ways you use herbs to "spice" up your meals.

Thrifty Ways To Deal With Odd Socks

2010-01-28T08:45:00.000-05:00

Missing socks are a fact of life. I'm guessing there isn't a family in America that hasn't experienced the exasperation of putting a pair of socks in the wash and winding up with only one of the pair by the end of the wash cycle. It's like money down the drain.

What to do with all those odd socks?
I've trolled the web for ideas, found some good ones, and added them to my own:

Use them as dust rags. This is what I mainly use them for...not that I'm big on dusting. But a sock fitted over your hand is very effective for dusting just about any surface. When the sock gets really dirty, I toss it in the pile of other dirty rags and wait until I have enough for a full laundry load.
Substitute a small sneaker sock for a bath scrubby.
Fill a sock with pot pourri, lavender, pine needles, bath salts, cedar shavings, or even baking soda; close off the top with a rubber band (topped with a ribbon if you want) and use it as a sachet in a drawer or closet. Make sure there are no holes in the sock. Simply Sweet Home has directions for several variations on sock sachets.
Institute a "mismatched socks" day at your children's school or camp.
Wear them. This is the super frugal solution. As long as the socks have the same thickness, does it really matter if they don't match when you're running, hiking, working in the garden or wearing boots?
Use a little baby sock as a coin purse; close it with a safety pin, a rubber band or a stationery clip, or get fancy and make slits through the top for a draw string.
Make sock puppets. I've seen some really cute ones in craft shops and Etsy.
Make a sock bunny.
Use thick socks for polishing shoes; thinner ones for polishing silver, copper or brass.
Fill a small sock with catnip; tie or sew it closed and give it to Kitty.
Tie two heavy-duty socks together and use it as a dog toy.

Such a long list for uses of odd socks begs the question: how does one avoid having mismatched socks in the first place. Here are a couple of ways to avoid the odd sock problem:

Always buy multiples in the same style, size and color so when one goes missing there are more that match.
Pin pairs together with safety pins before you put them in the washer.
Pair them as they come out of the washer and line dry them together (this prevents socks from sticking to or inside other articles of clothing).
Have a designated place - a drawer, basket, bin or shelf - where odd socks are placed by everyone in the family. This is an answer to the many times one sock is in child A's drawer and the other is in B's dresser, where they may linger as odd socks for eternity.

What do you do about the odd sock problem? Please share.

Frugal and Green in the Kitchen - Use Less Foil, Baggies and Wrap

2010-01-27T19:20:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, my husband made a turkey meatloaf for dinner. The loaf was done before the potatoes were, so he took it out of the oven, placed it on a cutting board and pulled open one of the kitchen drawers to get some foil. There was no foil. There hadn't been for about a week but neither of us had remembered to buy some. The choices to cover the loaf so it wouldn't get cold were wax paper, parchment paper and some plastic wrap...all of which could cover it, but none would keep it warm. I had an "ah ha" moment, pulled a mixing bowl out of a cupboard and popped it over the meat loaf. Ta da. Dinner stayed hot.

Sometimes you just have to use foil: to prevent the skin from browning too early when you're a roasting turkey or chicken; to keep the top layer of cheese from melting while the lasagna bakes; to cover a quiche or pie to avoid a soggy crust. And there are times when plastic wrap and plastic Baggies are essential tools.

But in the past few years, we've cut way back on our use of these disposable products. And we've subsequently made our kitchen greener and more frugal. Here are some of the ways we do it:

We keep a big collection of covered containers of all sizes and shapes. Our favorites are glass food storage containers with plastic lids from Crate and Barrel. We have rectangular, square and round versions in three sizes. They nest so they don't take up tons of space. Just about every kind of leftover fits in these - big round ones for soups and stews; little square ones for that last bit of salad that no one wants now but is enough for lunch tomorrow; and the large rectangle for the second half of the meatloaf that will be dinner two nights from now. The glass containers are also great for heating things up in the microwave. No worries about heated plastic leaching toxic chemicals into the food.
We use food containers instead of plastic wrap or foil to store half-used onions, sweet peppers, scallions and other salad fixings, as well as a half grapefruit or orange that will be eaten later. They'll stay just as fresh and you can easily see what's inside the container.
Instead of keeping lettuce and leafy greens in plastic bags in the fridge, or in damp paper towels (a trick that does help them stay fresh, but still seems wasteful), invest in a SaladSac. These special terry cloth drawstring bags keep greens remarkably fresh for what seems like ages. If I were really clever, I might try making my own salad bags.
Pack lunches and snacks in reusable containers instead of Baggies, foil and wrap. Sandwiches fit nicely into the containers take out food or restaurant leftovers sometimes come in. A cut up orange, celery sticks or some cubed cheese go in the round tubs that olives or fresh mozarella once came in. We don't buy all that much stuff in plastic containers, but over the years we've accumulated quite a few.
Use the wax paper liner of a cereal box for your sandwich, pretzels or cookies. Close it with a paper clip or clothes pin.
Reuse Ziplock freezer bags. This is one disposable I can't live without because we freeze a lot of fruits and vegetables from the CSA, garden, farmer's markets and U-Pick farms. But if a bag is still in good shape after it's been emptied of frozen blueberries, chard or green beans, I wash the bag out in hot soapy water, turn it inside out, place it over a glass or bowl in the dish rack and let it dry. Then it's ready to be used again.

Do you have a tip for using fewer disposables for transporting and storing food? Please share.

Why Worry About BPA

2010-01-25T21:28:00.006-05:00

In one of my first posts - it was about making soup stock from scratch - I briefly mentioned the issue of BPA in food containers. Last week, the New York Times published an editorial advising Americans to avoid using products that contain bisphenol-A or BPA. BPA is "a key component used to make epoxy resins and polycarbonate plastic, which are used to make consumer goods," according to the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group of the American Chemistry Council which represents most of the major manufacturers of BPA.

BPA is used in the manufacture of eyeglasses, bike helmets, cell phones, CDs and DVDs, cars, planes and medical equipment. It's also found in most plastic containers that have the number 7 inside the recycling arrow on the bottom of the containers. Water bottles, baby bottles and the inside coatings of cans for food are made with BPA, and this is where the big concern lies.

The issue raised in the New York Times editorial is "concern about the potential effects on the brain, behavior and prostate in fetuses, infants and children" as a result of studies by The National Toxicology Program which is part of The National Institute of Health.

This isn't new news apparently. According to the editorial, and a number of articles, The National Toxicology Program expressed their concern in September of 2008. But the FDA, which had issued a draft report in August of 2008 saying "that small amounts of BPA that leach into milk or food are not dangerous," is now also expressing "some concerns" about the dangers of the substance.

In my on-going efforts to live a greener life, I have greatly reduced the amount of plastic in my home. But I do have glasses, a bike helmet, cell phone, CDs, and DVDs, though these items aren't leaching BPA into my food. A thorough search of the house didn't turn up one #7 plastic container. But my pantry has a few cans...at the moment there a half dozen cans of beans, two of coconut milk and one of clams. Is the food in these cans contaminated with BPA? If it is, what will the affect be on my family - I'm not pregnant and I don't have any infants or young children at home. Because my exposure is pretty limited, I'd say the risks are slim to none.

But for pregnant women and families with young children, the risks are frightening.

The good news is that most baby bottle makers are no longer using BPA in their manufacturing process. Parents can check the bottles they have on hand and throw away any they suspect are made with BPA. And the FDA is recommending that consumers not pour hot liquids in containers made with BPA, though my inclination would be to chuck them all.

The Environmental Working Group has published a list of tips on how to avoid BPA in canned food. Of particular note is infant formula - almost all manufacturers of canned liquid baby formula use BPA in the containers. The Environmental Working Group recommends using powdered formula whenever possible. If that is not available or suitable, the organization recommends buying formula packaged in glass or plastic containers. Of course, a simple fix is breast-feeding, though I'm not going to get preachy about that.

Another way to keep BPA out of your food is to grow, can and freeze your own, especially tomatoes as the acid in them may cause more BPA to leach out than other foods; buy fresh fruits and vegetables from farmer's markets and local growers, or through a CSA or co-op whenever possible; and to purchase dried beans instead of canned. Or you can look for canned food labeled BPA-free. In a July 2009 Huffington Post article, Nena Baker, author of The Body Toxic, profiled Eden Foods, a company that has been using BPA-free cans in 1999.

In the meantime, the FDA is doing fmore studies to determine how BPA will be regulated in the future.

Does BPA concern you? Are you doing anything about it? Please share.

Change the Buttons, Update the Look

2010-01-25T11:56:00.000-05:00

If you are living frugally, chances are you aren't spending a lot on your wardrobe. And if you are seriously eco-conscious, you're probably not inclined to buy mass-produced clothing from polluting factories in far away places. The most frugal and green among us keep their clothes for a long time, only buy what they need when they need it, and often select their "new" clothes from thrift shops and second-hand sales. But that doesn't mean they don't want to have an attractive, up-dated wardrobe.

While those with sewing, or even better, tailoring skills can completely rearrange a frumpy garment into something that is far more au courant, many of us might find shortening a pair of pants or repairing a droopy lining a big challenge.

But just about anyone can sew on buttons. New buttons can totally change the look of a piece of clothing. And while I've seen price tags as high as $25 for a single button, most fall into the moderate to really cheap categories. You may already have some buttons. I have an old cookie tin filled with buttons that were my mother's. She did a lot of sewing in the '50s and '60s, and many of the buttons date to those decades. A few are much older.

If you haven't inherited a button box, start your own. Save all the extra buttons that come with new clothes - you may need them for replacing lost buttons, of course, but you'll wind up with lots of extras. Remove the buttons from clothing you turn into rags. Look for buttons at yard sales, flea markets and estate sales. If you find a second-hand garment that doesn't work for you but has great buttons, don't feel guilty about buying it just for the buttons. You can always replace the ones you like with ordinary ones from your button box; then give the garment away. Fabric stores, craft shops and knitting shops are the best sources for new buttons. And you could try making your own if you are clever. A friend of mine made wooden buttons from thin slices of hardwood twigs. Someone else I know made clay buttons she decorated and fired in a kiln.

Here are a few ideas for using buttons to change the look of some of your clothes:

If your black winter coat is getting a tad tired, change out the existing black buttons to gold or silver metallic buttons. Or if had metallic buttons, substitute black buttons. For a dressier look, find jeweled buttons.
Recover cloth buttons with a contrasting material. Or make new cloth buttons to replace boring, plain buttons. A button covering tool can be found at fabric and craft stores. Here is a short tutorial.
Consider changing the size of buttons on a good jacket or coat to give it a newer look. If you go up quite a bit in size, you'll need to have the button holes made larger. A tailor or dressmaker can do this at a cost that will be a lot less than the price of a new coat.
Use mismatched buttons of the same size to make a dull shirt more interesting.
Add rhinestone or pearl buttons to a vintage cardigan sweater to really jazz it up.
Sew a collection of interesting buttons of the same color, but different shapes and sizes, around the neckline of a simple T-shirt or sweater.
Substitute a really dramatic button for the top button of a shirt, jacket or coat.

Have you used buttons to change the look of a piece of clothing. Please share.

Freecycle - Helping Givers and Takers Stay Frugal and Go Green

2010-01-22T17:24:00.000-05:00

It amazes me that more people don't know about Freecycle. If you're one of them, let me introduce you. Freecycle is an on-line recycling organization that is now world-wide. The system is simple. People with things to give away post their offerings on the website. And those who want things, pick up the items.

I discovered Freecycle about five years ago when there was a write-up about the Bucks County group in our local paper. That first year I gave away a treadmill and a rowing machine, two boxes of graduation party invitations that were deemed by family members as too ugly to send, two large Boston ferns that lived outside and were about to be frosted, and a very old Mac laptop computer. Since then, I've given fellow Freecyclers more computer stuff, a kitchen table, fax machine, soccer balls, cracked dishes (for an art project), backpacks, a devil costume and witch hat, sports gear, old wooden shelves, several bags of kid's clothes, some Christmas decorations and other stuff that I can't recollect.

I've also been on the receiving end. Last summer I posted that I was looking for some hostas (for you non-gardeners, hostas are beautiful shade-loving plants grown mostly for their interesting foliage - I'm a big fan). I got two responses, and as luck would have it, they were located about 10 minutes from each other, and only about a twenty-minute drive from me.

When I arrived at the first "giver," I was pointed in the direction of the hostas and told to have at them. I had been instructed to bring my own spade so I was prepared. After about an hour of digging, I had some 20 small hostas, along with a few stray sedums. At the next stop, the man who answered the door took my spade and did the digging for me. The hostas were in four gigantic clumps that I might not have been able to wrestle into the car without his help. After the two stops, the trunk of my car was full and the back seat was loaded too. Later, when I planted the hostas in my garden, I did a guestimate of their value. I believe these gorgeous second-hand plants would have sold for a total of
about $250 in a retail garden center. Seriously.

Some of my other Freecycle scores include a couple of belts that I passed on to someone else; a pair of wood breakfast bar chairs that I planned to use for staging listings but had no room to store (I subsequently sold them for $20); a pair of brand new clogs with sheerling lining (I'm wearing them as I type) and a pair of floor lamps. I was offered a food dehydrator, and a collection of men's ties I thought about using for a project, but both pick ups were too far away to be practical.

In my area there are Freecycle organizations in Bucks County, Doylestown, Princeton and Hunterdon County. I looked for, and found one in Falmouth where my family has a summer home. Turns out it's in Falmouth, England!

If you have stuff in your closets, garage, basement or shed that you no longer need, think about posting it on Freecycle. For those who are nervous about strangers coming to their homes, arrange for pick ups at your office or at busy places like shopping center parking lots. Most people just leave things on their porch or at the end of the driveway.

Some people will post that they will put all the leftovers from a garage sale or flea market out on the curb at a certain time. Often a number of Freecyclers will stop by to pick through the stuff. It usually results in far fewer items to haul off to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

Freecycle puts goods into the hands of people who want or need them and keeps lots of stuff out of landfills. If you haven't tried it already, I hope you will soon.

What kinds of items have you given away or recieved through Freecycle? Please share.

Brrr. Taking Frugal Living To A New Level

2010-01-21T15:55:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I posted about our efforts to keep our heating bills down which include using a timer on the thermostat, turning the temperature down several degrees during the day, not heating our bedroom, using space heaters, and wearing extra layers of clothing. While effective for us, they're unimpressive when compared to what some unusual people, profiled in today's New York Times "Home" section, are doing: they have chosen not to heat their homes...even in the dead of winter...in places like Colorado and up-state New York!

We're talking about freezing - really freezing, like as in below 32 degrees - inside. One young group living in a loft in New York City has created a yurt in the center of their space in an effort to keep warm. (FYI, you can actually buy a made-in-America yurt, but these seem to be most attractive to folks who run summer camps or who want to live off the grid.)

Motivation for deliberately deciding to live without heat range from a super thrifty attitude to passionately concerned about the environment to what appears to be a somewhat flaky approach to clearing one's head.

Mentioned early in the article is Deanna Duke (who is blogs as Crunchy Chicken) and her Freeze Yer Buns challenge. Deanna has asked her followers to set their thermostats to 55 degrees. That's chilly. Now, I'm pretty darned thrifty and very eco-conscious. But I just can't function well when the house is that cold. I admire Deanna and her followers who have accepted her challenge, but I'm just not going there.

How do you feel about this extremely thrifty and over-the-top green approach? Please share.

Easy-To-Pack Snacks Are Frugal and Green for Families on the Go

2010-01-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

Here's a scary statistic: according to a study by Packaged Facts, a consumer research group, and reported in an article in the Dining section of Today's New York Times, Americans consumed $68.1 billion worth of packaged snack food in 2008. The article was actually an essay by a mother who has grown to resent the number of snacks she has to prepare for her children's extracurricular activities.

While the issue of snacks replacing meals in American diets is a big cause for concern, the amount of packaging surrounding those snacks really makes me cringe! Think about all those juice boxes and plastic straws; the mylar-like bags of potato chips and cookies; the foil pouches filled with trail mix or pretzels. How many tons of trash does that $68 million in snack money represent? How much do all those packaged snacks cost? And what kind of preservatives and non-food chemicals are used to make them?

Packaged snacks aren't frugal. They aren't green. And they may not be all that healthy.

How much extra effort is it to pack healthy snacks for kids (and busy adults) in reusable containers? I know every one is over-scheduled and always in a rush to get from school and practice to music lesson and dentist appointments. But with just a little thought and planning, it's not that tough to put together tasty, interesting, healthful and filling snacks without creating trash.

Here are a few easy ideas:

First, make sure you have a good selection of reusable containers in lots of sizes, including those that are appropriate for drinks. Tupperware, Glad, Ziplock, Rubbermaid and other manufacturers make a huge variety of containers. Deli and take-out containers are useful too, and an inexpensive option. And look for insulated containers like the old Thermos types with screw on lids for packing hot snacks. Yes, these items are plastic, and we do want to reduce our use of plastic. But if you reuse these containers dozens or more times, their environmental impact is far lower than the snack packaging.

Baggies can also be rinsed out and reused. Some people use the waxed bag inside cereal boxes to hold snacks in lieu of a plastic Baggie or Ziplock bag. Also, look for utensils like forks and spoons at yard sales and on Freecyle. You don't want to send your good flatwear along with the snacks, but it would be another move in the right direction to rule out plastic utensils.

Finally, collect a few appropriate bags for carrying snacks - an old backpack; insulated lunch kits; small, reusable market totes; home-made bags fashioned from old denim jeans; there are so many options.

And here are some simple and mostly inexpensive snacks to prepare:

Cut up celery and carrots into convenient-size sticks and keep on hand in the fridge. Fill a reusable container with a handful as you are running out the door to munch on in the car or after practice.
Do the same with oranges slices. Or send along a whole Clementine, tangerine, peach, pear or a small bunch of grapes.
Slice some apples; put them in a non-disposable container; shake in a little cinnamon. The cinnamon adds great flavor and hides the slight discoloration apples get after they've been sliced.
Instead of buying individual-sized containers of cottage cheese, yogurt, applesauce or pudding, buy large containers and spoon it into small non-disposable cups with lids. Send along one of your inexpensive spoons with the snack.
Cut up your favorite hard cheeses into small cubes and dole it out in bags or lidded cups. Add a few crackers or a slice of crusty whole-wheat bread.
Heat up some leftover soup, stew, mac and cheese or spaghetti with sauce and pack it in an insulated container. Don't forget to include a spoon or fork.
Home-made cookies; or banana or pumpkin bread with a schmeer of cream cheese
Water with lemon and lime slices or iced green tea.

Making and packing these snacks are not as easy as buying big boxes of individually-wrapped snack foods. But it's not harder to shop for the items in bulk and only takes a few more minutes to pack. Aren't your children, and the future of their environment, worth it?

What are your snack plans? Please share.

Simple Steps to Saving Money

2010-01-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

While I am a life-long frugalista, I pushed my thrifty ways into over-drive as the economy took a nose dive in 2008. We have always been careful with our resources, but we had to make ever-larger cuts in our budget as the real estate market (I'm a Realtor) grew worse. Here are a few of the steps we took:

Heater not turned on until it got really, really cold, and then thermostat set a degree, or even two lower than usual. Air conditioner only in our bedroom, only at night, and only when it got really, really hot. Lights out in rooms we aren't using. Far fewer restaurant meals. Extra-diligent meal planning based on sale prices and what was already in the fridge and pantry. Dry cleaning at a bare minimum. Land line phone service reduced to basic (still can't get rid of it altogether). Limited magazine renewals. Less expensive coffee (though we really miss those artisanal, fresh-roasted beans!). Hand-made Christmas gifts. Shopping limited to necessities. And that's just scratching the surface of our frugal efforts.

Now that the market is improving, will we go back to our pre-recession spending? I don't think so. Well, maybe the coffee beans. But the fact is, we don't miss most of the things we gave up. We don't feel deprived. We're used to a slightly cooler home in winter and dress appropriately. We don't need lights on in empty rooms. We're glad to have the call-waiting service a thing of the past because it was so annoying. And when we replaced our house phones, we bought a system (on sale) with built-in voicemail so we no longer need to pay for that. We don't miss all those magazines. I was able to add some great new items to my wardrobe at the clothing swap I organized. And I really enjoy knitting and sewing gifts for family and friends.

Here are 4 simple steps you can take to save money every day:

Turn out the lights.
Turn down the thermostat - even a half a degree (or up in the case of air conditioning).
Don't buy things you don't need. Remind yourself that there is a big difference between a "want" and a "need."
Take care of your things so they last.

No matter what your finances, these steps provide a practical way to conserve your resources, with the bonus of conserving natural resources as well.

What simple, everday things do you do to save money? Please share.

Growing Veggies in Small Spaces = Big Savings

2010-01-17T10:52:00.001-05:00

When I wrote The Potted Garden in 1997, I devoted a few pages to growing vegetables, and other edibles, in containers and other small spaces. In my newest book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegetable Gardening, I explore the concept of small space gardening even further. It's a topic that really intrigues me.

Our tiny, in-town back yard is too small and too shady for a typical vegetable garden, so for years I have grown tomatoes, kale, lettuce, spinach and herbs among the geraniums and other ornamentals in pots on the terrace. It's easy, rewarding and inexpensive.

This morning, I was delighted to read a New York Times article about a program in San Jose that is helping families create organic vegetable gardens in their urban back yards. Organized by a Master Gardener, the program's volunteers have, so far, installed 30 raised-bed gardens, each with seedlings, new soil and a drip irrigation system, in low-income, mostly Latino neighborhoods where many residents are food pantry clients. Each garden costs $210 to install. The program, called La Mesa Verde, also provides bi-lingual gardening classes and twice-a-year visits from volunteers to help the novice farmers master gardening techniques. La Mesa Verde plans to install a total of 100 gardens by spring.

The new gardens are producing onions, broccoli, peas, cilantro and more. One newly-minted gardener claims that the garden is saving her family $90 a month on their food budget. Since the climate in San Jose is suitable for nearly year-round gardening, that family may be saving close to $1000 on food a year. And they'll be eating fresh, organic foods that might not be accessible in their urban environment.

As the program grows, organizers and volunteers hope that gardening know-how will be passed along from parent to child and neighbor to friend. Small space organic vegetable gardening, while not a cure-all for the economy or the environment, is one of those little green and frugal steps just about anyone can take.

Do you garden in a small space? I'd like to know about it.

A Rant on Waste

2010-01-14T10:13:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted about the case of clothing retailers in New York destroying brand new merchandise rather than offering it to organizations that help the poor. This week, there was yet another New York Times news report about the intentional destruction of new clothing.

This time, the city of New York was in charge of the destruction. Twelve tractor-trailer loads of knock off merchandise, including men's suits, winter coats, shoes and underwear were shredded, while many additional tons of new clothing and shoes were incinerated.

Apparently until 2009, the Police Department routinely offered knock-off clothing to charitable organizations like World Vision and New York City Clothing Bank. After the labels and logos were removed or altered to prevent resale, the clothing and shoes would be distributed to needy people throughout the city, and, in the case of World Vision, thoughout the world. At some point, someone responsible for the hand off from government agency to charity made a mistake. The excuses are pretty lame, as in "they never asked for it." How stupid and wasteful can you get!!?? Now, as a direct result of the 2009 fiasco, there is an acute shortage of men's clothing for the needy in NYC.

I don't guestion the legitimacy of actions taken by law enforcement agencies to shut down counterfeit operations. But, come on, let's use some common sense. I don't know how this kind of monumental waste can be eliminated in the future. Any thoughts?

Frugal Lunch Revisited

2010-01-13T14:59:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, I wrote a post about how you can save money by making your lunch at home and taking it to work, rather than buying it from take out places and restaurants. Here is a great website called wastefreelunches.org that shows how, by using non-disposables, you can save as much as $246.60 per child per school year if you pack your kids' lunches, and also reduce your family's contribution to the waste stream. The site includes tips for packing healthy, kid-friendly lunches, ideas for lightening your at-home workload as it relates to packing lunches and ways to reduce your family's food waste.

Wastefreelunches.org promotes programs in elementary schools designed to reduce waste levels in the lunchroom on a school-wide basis. The website offers a step-by-step plan for implementing a program in your school. Worth a visit.

Getting Creative with Coffee Grounds

2010-01-12T19:03:00.001-05:00

Everyday - more or less 365 days a year - we brew a pot of coffee. And when we clean up, we throw away the coffee grinds. Well, not exactly throw away. Mostly we throw them in the composter. Sometimes, I'll take them outside and spread them around the hydrangeas (the grounds increase the acidity of the soil and make the blue hydrangeas bluer).

Mrs. Greene, at My Zero Waste, recently posted a list of other uses for coffee grinds created by the Impact and Sustainability manager of Cafedirect.. Here are some of them (I particularly like the cat repellent suggestion!):

Eco Exfoliant - apply grounds and massage your skin; then rinse.
Hair Rinse - use leftover coffee as a final hair rinse for dark hair for extra shine
Slug Repellent - scatter coffee grounds around the base of plants to keep slugs away
Cat Repellent - mix coffee grounds with orange and lemon peels and scatter in the garden where cats are a problem. They will hate the smell.
Odor Control - use a bowl of grounds in the freezer to soak up bad smells; rub coffee grounds on your hands after cutting up onions and garlic to neutralize the odor
Furniture Care - remove small scratches on furniture with wet coffee grounds
Grow Mushrooms - moist used coffee grounds can be used as a medium for home-grown mushrooms
Ant Deterrent - apparently the critters won't cross a line of coffee grounds
Potted Plant Food - add a little coffee grounds to indoor plants to increase acidity of the potting soil. Just don't over do it.

Any additions to the list? Please share.

Draft Dodgers

2010-01-12T16:16:00.001-05:00

We, along with most of the country, have been experiencing REALLY cold weather this past week. Our furnace has been working overtime, even though we have it on a timer, keep it set no higher than 68, and don't heat our bedroom on the attic level. Despite our frugal, energy-saving efforts, we're not looking forward to seeing the next gas bill. I'm always interested in ways to keep our house warmer without turning up the thermostat. Here are some ideas:

add or replace weatherstripping to windows and doors. This link lists the types of weatherstripping available, the best uses, the advantages and disadvantages and the comparative costs. Weatherstripping can deteriorate or become dislodged over time, so this isn't a once-and-done solution.
look for air leaks on outdoor walls behind light switches, electric outlets, phone jacks and cable junctions. These leaks can be plugged using various types of insulation including foam gaskets. Just make sure whatever you use is fireproof and meets building code regulations.
remove window air conditioners for the winter. If you can't remove it, wrap the unit in an insulated cover.
consider using an efficient electric heater in the room or rooms you spend the most time in, rather than turning the heat up throughout the house.
make sure the damper on your fireplace fits well and is closed whenever the fireplace is not in use.
close blinds, curtains and draperies at night to keep warm air from escaping.
add a few rugs, even over wall-to-wall carpet. This is especially helpful if the space below is unheated, or if the room is on a slab.
leave the oven door open after you've baked something, and you've turned it off to let the warm out into the room. However, NEVER use the oven to heat the house.

Sitting by the fire, while not always frugal, and not particularly green, is another way to beat the chill. What house-warming strategies are you using this winter? Please share.

Know Your Carbon Footprint

2010-01-11T22:53:00.001-05:00

In case you want to know more about what a carbon footprint is, and why it's important to know your own, here's a terrific explanation.

Sav-on Soap

2010-01-11T15:25:00.000-05:00

For many years our family used regular grocery store soaps like Tone, Caress, Ivory and the more old-fashioned sounding Palmolive. Back in those days, I typically bought whatever was on sale, though we avoided deoderant and highly-perfumed brands. And I wouldn't buy Irish Spring because I hated the TV ads.

Over time, I began to notice that the soap, even the giant yellow bars of Tone, disappeared quickly, seemingly foaming away to nothing after what seemed like only days on the shelf in the bath tub. A few years ago, the soap did its normal disappearing act, but on a day when there weren't any replacement bars in the cupboard. I went to the stash of hand-milled soaps that had been, until then, saved for use by guests in the powder room. Everyone noticed how different the "fancy" soap was. It smelled wonderful. It made our skin feel smooth and soft. And the bar lasted a really long time.

When that first bar was finally used up, we tried another one from the powder room. This one too got great reviews, and lasted just as long. We were hooked. Now, we only use the high-quality soaps. They are expensive, though you can get great bargains at places like Marshall's and T.J.Maxx; and we are fortunate to often receive them as gifts. At some of the specialty stores like Sabon in NYC, where my wonderful niece Jaya works part time, the experience of trying samples and buying beautiful soaps that are cut from a huge mother soap, are worth the extra expense as a special treat. Farmer's markets and craft fairs are another source for local, artisan-made soaps.

Though I'm not sure I can really call the practice truly frugal, high quality soaps do seem to last much longer. I believe the final cost may be about the same as the grocery store soaps.

I did a little price comparison at our local SuperFresh to get a better idea. For example, two bars of Tone soap (a total of 8.5 oz.) was priced this week at $2.99. Two bars of Lever 2000 (4.5 oz) cost $2.77. Palmolive was a bargain at $1.49 for three bars (9.6 oz). And Ivory was on sale - four bars (18 oz. total) for $1.99. By comparison, three bars of Pecksniff's grapefruit & citron peel moisturing soap (10.5 oz total) was $3.99 at T.J. Maxx just before Christmas. It's more than twice as expensive as the Palmolive and more than three times the price of the Ivory on sale. But, my experience is that each bar of the posh soap will last about three or four times as long as the other brands. A little bit of research produced an interesting fact: Ivory soap has air whipped into it, which is why it floats. It may be that other shorter-lasting brands also have lots of air. And they may have higher percentages of water, which is an ingredient in most soaps.

So is the higher quality soap less expensive? Probably not. Is it more pleasant to use? Yes. I go for the far more pleasant experience, while probably paying slightly more. I also like the fact that if I use fewer bars of soap, I am unwrapping fewer packages so there is less packaging waste. I still have to get over the transportation issue of using imported soaps (though shipping by sea, I'm told, uses less energy than trucking). And if I buy local, artisan-made soap, I can feel good about supporting the local economy and not creating extra transportation carbon.

To make soap last even longer, I make a point of keeping it out of the direct stream of water from the shower. It also helps if I let the bar dry out between uses - not that practical if your family members take serial showers. And when the bar is reduced to just a sliver, I break that little piece into even smaller pieces and add it to a soap dish by the sink in the hall bath (see the photo above). It looks kind of pretty and eventually, even those little shards will be used up so there is no waste.

One more thing. I avoid using anti-bacterial soaps because of the issue with superbugs. Here is an interesting piece on why plain soap with out anti-bacterial ingredients is the better choice.

Coupons for Office/School Supplies

2010-01-10T22:12:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I'll be going to Staples to buy a 5-pack of Pentel ballpoint pens and a 3-pack of Pentel mechanical pencils for $1 each with coupons from this week's ad circular. Some of the other $1 deals are notebooks, envelopes, glue sticks, a stapler and dry-erase markers. I don't need any of those additional items. But I do need pens and pencils. So I'll save $7.48 on things I really need and always use...maybe double that if I buy 2 packages of each.

Basic Tomato Sauce from Scratch

2010-01-10T19:54:00.000-05:00

We eats lots of pasta with sauce. It's been a family dinner staple for ever. And I know we are not alone. According to the National Pasta Association, Americans consume about 29 pounds of pasta per person per year. I'm betting that a large percentage of that is eaten with sauce. Commercially-prepared tomato sauce is generally pretty inexpensive. I found that it ranges from $2.29 for a jar of Ragu to as much as $4.15 for one from Paul Servino Foods. Barilla, a brand I like, was recently on sale at $3.00 for two jars. The ingredients are fairly straight-forward, though quite a few are made with soy bean oil and dehydrated onions, garlic and herbs. I prefer olive oil and fresh herbs. Another problem is that the salt content can be quite high.

Even though commercial sauce can be a bargain, I like to make my own. It just tastes so much better. And in the summer months, when I use home-grown onions and parsley, along with fresh tomatoes from the garden, I know that the cost is pennies. In the winter, I use jars of home-canned tomato sauce that we "put up" at a big gathering of my brother-in-law's family over Labor Day weekend. The tomatoes are from local growers in New Jersey. I feel good about supporting area farmers and I know that the transportation distances for the tomatoes are relatively low. I know exactly what is in the sauce - tomatoes and home-grown basil, nothing more - and I can re-use, not just recyle, the jars and ring lids (the flat lid get recycled as it can not be used more than once for safety reasons).

Here is my recipe for home-made tomato sauce:

2 tbs. olive oil

1 med. onion chopped

1 (or more depending on your preference) garlic clove(s) pressed or chopped fine

1 qt. tomato sauce (just tomatoes, maybe with a basil leaf or two)

1-2 tbs. tomato paste (I used the kind in a squeeze tube - less waste than the small cans because you only squeeze out the amount you need; with the cans, there always seems to be a bit left in a can that disappears in the back of the fridge only to grow mold)

handful chopped parsley

handful chopped basil

salt and freshly-ground black pepper

1/4 tsp (or to taste) red pepper flakes

freshly-grated Locatellli cheese (about a half cup)

Saute the chopped onion in the olive oil until soft and transluscent. Add the garlic and saute until it, too, is soft, being careful not to let it overcook. Add the tomato sauce, paste and basil to the onions and garlic; season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste and simmer on low heat until the sauce thickens. Just before serving stir in the cheese and parsley.

Of course you can add meat to the sauce - pancetta, bacon, ground beef, sausage, leftover chicken or pork - but a simple tomato sauce is so satisfying on its own, it makes it easy, even a pleasure, to reduce your meat consumption.

The taste of pasta sauce made with home-canned tomato sauce can not be matched by anything store-bought. In future posts, we'll talk about growing tomatoes specifically for home canning, and about the canning process. In the meantime, mangia bene!

No More Wasted Food

2010-01-08T16:07:00.001-05:00

Every year, millions of tons of trash goes into the waste stream. While the over-
whelming amount is paper (up to 40%), a disturbing 7.5% is food waste. Jonathon Bloom blogs brilliantly on the topic of the world-wide issue of wasted food, and what people can do and are doing about it. He states that over 40% of the food produced for consumption in the United States - over $100 billion worth - is wasted every year.

The problem is worse than rotting food resources and squandered money. Once your over-ripe apples, unwanted leftover lasagna and wilted lettuce leaves have joined the discarded coffee grinds, potato peelings and stale bread in your garbage can, and have found their way to a landfill, it can take only 28 days for the garbage to decompose, creating methane gas as a by-product. Methane is about 20 times more efficient than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere, making it a major contributor to global warming.

Until more landfills are equipped to trap the escaping methane and convert it to fuel, keeping food waste from entering the waste stream in the first place is a front-line tactic for improving the world's environmental health.

Here are some easy steps you can take:

Only buy as much food as you will actually consume. Simple, right? But how many times have you bought fruit or vegetables that have turned into brown mush in the fridge? Planning your shopping lists to more closely match your meal plans will help you avoid wasting food - and save you money.
Freeze leftovers and other foods as soon as you realize that you won't be able to eat them before they go bad.
Find alternative uses for foods that aren't useful in their present form. For example, make bread crumbs from stale bread; bake apples that are not as firm as you would like for eating raw; make rice pudding or stuffed peppers with leftover rice; make a big pot of soup with odds and ends of vegetables, leftover pasta, rice and beans; dry citrus fruit skins for pot pourri; make pickles from watermelon rinds.
Make stock or broth from meat bones.
Cut out the bruised, soft or unattractive parts of vegetables and fruits and use them up rather than throw them out.
Offer potato, carrot and apple peelings, wilted lettuce, kale stems and other vegetable remains to a friend or neighbor who raises chickens.
Compost all your organic kitchen waste (except oils, grease, meat and dairy products). The photo above is of my stainless steel kitchen composter whch I use to collect kitchen waste. When it's full, we empty it into the big compost bin the yard. The kitchen composter, which has a carbon filter so it doesn't get smelly) is available from CleanAirGardening (they also have a bamboo version), WilliamsSonoma, Crate & Barrel, Sur la Table and Target, among other vendors.

Even city dwellers can compost their organic kitchen waste. No Impact Man Colin Bevin uses a worm composter he keeps under his kitchen sink. And many New York City citizens take their kitchen waste to the City's Green Markets where the Sanitation Department collects it in big bins.

If you're not quite ready to do your own composting, a subject we'll talk about again, find out if one of your neighbors has a bin and is willing to accept your contributions. Or look into community composting. In the mean time, I'm challening you to make an effort to waste less food. Tell me what you are doing/will do to meet this challenge.

Let's Do Lunch

2010-01-07T16:30:00.004-05:00

Eating a lunch prepared for you by a restaurant or take-out place can range from super cheap to downright pricey. According to a recent report , the average price paid for a buffet lunch with beverage by U.S. restaurant patrons in 2009 was $7.85, though the price can go through the roof at posh city eateries. Sandwiches from restaurants near my office cost from $4.50 for a grilled cheese to $10.95 for a Maryland crab melt. Salads are in the $7 to $11 range. Soup goes for $3 to $6 a bowl. A large pizza with 1 topping is about $11.00, while a slice goes for about $2.50. And at McDonald's, you can get a double cheese burger, small fries and a small Coke for a little over $3.

But, I'll bet you dollars to donuts (where did that expression come from?), that even if you gorge on McDonald's Dollar Menu every day, you would still save money - not to mention fat, calories and salt intake - if you brought your lunch from home.

With just a little forethought, it's easy to plan and pack nutritious, healthy and tasty lunches for a fraction of what you have to pay for restaurant and take-out food. The bonus factor is that, when you pack your meal in reusable containers and eat with reusable utensils, you can reduce the amount of plastic you use and the amount of trash you generate. It's completely win-win.

Here are some suggestions for easy brought-from-home lunches and snacks:

* leftovers - this is a no-brainer. When you're cleaning up after dinner, pack some of the left-over spaghetti with sauce, macaroni & cheese, chili, stew, pot roast, soup, chef salad, potato or macraroni salad, whatever, into a container with a lid and put it aside for the next day. Most of these possibilities assume that you have a microwave available at work.
* home-made sandwich - how hard is that? Make one for yourself while you're packing lunch for the kids.
* veggies & salad dressing, hummus, dips or spreads
* cheese & crackers
* cut up fruit
* hot or cold cereal - don't forget to bring along some milk
* nuts, sunflower & pumpkin seeds
* yogurt or cottage cheese
* leftover pizza (some people, my husband included, enjoy a cold slice from time to time)
* juices in recyclable or reusable containers

Another option is to organize group lunches. A few years ago, when I worked in a very small office, my colleagues and I would take turns bringing in lunch for the whole crew. The menu ranged from quiche and salad to winter squash soup and home-made bread to spaghetti and meatballs, and everyone pitched in for set up and clean up. The cost was far less than ordering enough pizzas to feed everyone, and when we used real plates and silverware rather than paper and plastic, we were pretty eco-conscious as well.

What is your favorite lunch-time strategy? Please share.

Recycle Those Clothes

2010-01-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

This morning I read an article in the New York Times that made me really mad. It seems that some retailers (in this article H & M and WalMart were specifically mentioned) are regularly ruining unsold clothing and dumping it in the trash, rather than offering it to charities, or at the very least, selling it for rag or other recycled uses.

This is just wrong.

According to the Council for Textile Recyling, about 3.9 million tons of textiles go into the U.S. solid waste stream every year. Fortunately, about 2 million tons of that is diverted by textile recyclers. Most of this astounding tonnage is pre- and post-consumer waste. The pre-consumer waste includes things like scraps and remnants from the various fiber and fabric industries. Post-consumer waste is made up of carpets and mats, bedding, and used clothing - and, as we have seen in the New York Times article, new, unsold clothing that retailers have deliberately ruined.

Most people I know are pretty good about recycling their unwanted clothing. They donate to church sales, school fund raisers, St. Vincent de Paul clothing collections, local thrift shops, many of which benefit charities, and large social service organizations like Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army. I typically take my no-longer-needed clothing to a thrift shop that benefits an organization called Network of Victim Assistance (NOVA). The photo above is a of a pile of garments (left over from the clothing swap I organized a few months ago) that is destined for the NOVA Thrift Shop...I have promised my office mate that the pile will be gone this week!

There are many alternatives for recycling clothing. There is the traditional hand-me-down function among families and close friends. There are coat drives and mitten collections.Items that aren't good enough to be sold at Goodwill or other thrift shops can be sold by these organizations to companies that recyle textiles into rags and polishing cloths, insulation, paper, blankets and more. And there are lots of creative people who repurpose clothing into new fashions, decorative items, housewares and more.

What do you do with your used clothing? Please share

Saving vs. Hoarding

2010-01-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make. I am fascinated by the TV show Hoarders, a scary look inside the homes of some seriously troubled people who have unhealthy relationships with their stuff. http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/photos/

The photo above is not from the TV show - rather it was taken in an otherwise ordinary home in a pretty neighborhood. The owners wanted to sell their house, but it was so full of debris, they were unable to allow showings. When a buyer agreed to purchase the property without seeing the interior (this was awhile ago when the market was very hot), the sellers held up the transaction for weeks as they tried to divest themselves of the boxes, litter, trash, and who knows what. Eventually, after enormous effort, apparently great emotional turmoil and even legal action, they hauled most of their possessions out of the house. And, still, before the new owner could move in, she had to remove several Dumpster loads of junk from the house.

It would be simplistic to say that a hoarder is someone whose proclivity for collecting, saving and storing objects has gotten out of control. Hoarding is actually a difficult-to-treat mental disorder. And most savers aren't at risk for becoming hoarders.

Saving or storing stuff often makes lots of sense. There are many things that aren't needed today, that may come in handy next week, next month or a few years from now. For example, sewers may save bits of fabric that will eventually become a quilt. Parents save their older children's clothing to pass down to the younger ones,or store their books and toys until they have grandchildren. Frugalistas save wrapping paper, boxes, gift bags, tissue and ribbon for future gift giving; creative cooks clip recipes and collect cook books; thrifty people store no longer-needed equipment, furniture, books and other objects for a summer yard sales; overweight optimists save their size 6 clothing with the hope that they'll fit in them again someday.

I save and collect old sweaters that I have been slowly repurposing into scarves, neckwarmers and felted items; leftover yarn from knitting projects; no-longer-needed decorative items and collectibles for a future yard sale; evening bags that I am unable to pass up at yard sales, thrift shops and flea markets, but rarely use (though I lend them to friends pretty regularly); and good quality second-hand clothing that I keep thinking I will tailor to fit me. And of course, there are the newspaper and magazine clippings; wrap and ribbons; single socks (the mate will turn up eventually, won't it?); worn out towels and sheets - I'll think of a good use for them...).

What do you save, store or collect? Are there things you can't part with because you know they'll be useful some day? Please share.

To Market, To Market

2010-01-04T15:58:00.000-05:00

I love market bags. All kinds. And I use them just about everyday...when I go to the farmer's market, the CSA, grocery or drug store, to haul files, to carry my knitting or sewing, to bring home recyclables from the office or committee meetings. Sometimes I'll use one as an overnight bag when I make a quick visit to NYC to visit my daughters.

I always have at least five or six bags in the trunk of my car. And I keep one in my hand bag - usually a small, fold-up one like the Baggu bag made of parachute fabric http://baggubag.com/#Shop that was a party favor from a museum benefit or, more recently, the cute red and white flowered envirosax http://www.envirosax.com/graphic-series/flora-series/flora-bag-1.html that my sister-in-law Beth gave me for Christmas. Another favorite is an old blue plaid Burberry bag that sometimes doubles as a casual purse.

Even when I did some holiday shopping at Marshall's and Old Navy, I toted my tote bags. A few clerks seemed not to understand that I really didn't want my purchases put in plastic bags, and proceeded to do just that even after I said "I have my own bag, thank you." But the sales woman at a local cookery ware store thanked me for not taking a store bag.

The SuperFresh grocery store, where I frequently shop, encourages customers to bring their own bags by offering a 2 cent credit per bag, although I have to remind the clerks to punch the rebate into the register. The nearby Giant grocery store doesn't offer a rebate, but they do seem to sell a lot of their own reusable bags.

Leah Ingram wrote extensively about bag rebates in one of her Suddenly Frugal posts http://www.suddenlyfrugal.com/2009/02/reusable-shopping-bag-savings-going-down-the-drain/ I wish more stores would offer rebates, or at the very least ask customers if they would prefer to use their own bags. Do you regularly carry a reusable market tote? What is your favorite?

Save Money on Salad Dressing

2010-01-02T11:47:00.024-05:00

Salad is an important part of just about every evening meal we serve. Sometimes our salads are simple - a few lettuce leaves, maybe some red onion or shaved red cabbage. But during the long gardening season, salads become really extravagant with lots of different lettuces, arugula, tomatoes, peppers, beans, summer squash...whatever veggie is fresh, crunchy and great to eat raw. And for me, no salad is complete without dressing.

For years we used the store-bought bottled variety - Kraft and Wishbone with coupons were inexpensive choices. Sometimes we would splurge on a bottle of Annie's Shitake. But once I started learning more about good food, reading ingredients more carefully, and being concerned about packaging and the carbon cost of food miles, these commercial products lost all their appeal. Now we always make our own salad dressing. It's easy. It's very inexpensive, even when made with the highest quality ingredients. There is very little packaging involved. I know exactly what's in it, and what's not - like preservatives, artificial flavors and dyes. And, the best part, it tastes fantastic.

The simplest vinaigrette uses only four ingredients: oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. A classic recipe adds a bit of Dijon mustard and minced shallots or garlic. There are thousands of recipes for home made salad dressings, with all kinds of variations, available in cook books and on the web.

My dear friend Nadine Frush has made it easy with her on-line Salad Success, where you'll find some great salad dressing recipes http://saladsuccess.com/recipes/french/sherry-shallots-vinaigrette/.
Nadine also sells a clever salad shaker with a spout that makes whipping up a batch of salad dressing a piece of cake.

One of my favorite variations on basic vinaigrette has a raspberry twist:
1/4 cup vinegar - use the best quality you can afford, preferably made with red wine or Champagne, or use raspberry vinegar
3/4 cup high quality extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
4 to 5 raspberries (fresh or frozen - I freeze them in season to use all year long)
fresh ground black pepper to taste
Whisk the vinegar, salt and mustard together. Slowly pour the oil into the bowl and whisk continuously as it combines. (You can also do this in a food processor or even a blender). Try not to over-due the whisking. You want it to blend nicely but not be beaten up. Finally add the garlic or shallots and the raspberries mixing gently. Place the dressing in a container with a screw top and allow it to sit for a half hour or more so that the raspberry flavor deepens. Shake the container well to remix all the ingredients before using to dress your salad. Store it in the fridge but bring it up to room temperature before serving.

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-01T15:33:00.002-05:00

Let's forget about the typical list of resolutions as we ring in 2010. I'm not going to ask you to quite smoking (though I hope you will), or lose weight. There will be no push from me for you to find a new job or pay down your debt. I am simply suggesting 4 simple concepts to keep in mind throughout the year:

1. reduce your carbon footprint
2. limit your nitrogen footprint
3. conserve water
4. become more environmentally active

In the next weeks and months, I will share easy, and perhaps more complex, strategies, practices, behaviors and attitudes that can help you turn these concepts into realties in your life. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, I wish everyone a most wonderful, healthy, happy and prosperous new year.

Recycle That Tree

2009-12-30T14:30:00.003-05:00

I'm not one of those folks who like to keep the Christmas tree up until Valentine's Day. By New Year's, I'm ready to pack up the ornaments and haul the tree out of the house before the needles start falling in earnest. But whether you're like me and enjoy the tree for only a week or two, or if you like to wring every last bit of holiday joy from Old Tannenbaum, what to do with the tree after it's holiday purpose is over is an important environmental issue.

Each year, Americans buy between 25 and 30 million cut Christmas trees, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. Unfortunately, the majority of those trees wind up in landfills. That doesn't have to happen. Currently there are about 4,000 local Christmas tree recycling programs scattered throughout the country...one of them that I started here in New Hope, PA last year.

It wasn't very difficult to do. First, I got permission from our Borough Council to organize the tree collection. Then I solicited help from a local landscaper, Hugh Marshall. He provided a truck, a chipper, one of his workers and his own time. I sent out a press release to the local paper giving the date and time for pick up. In addition, I arranged for a drop off spot in the parking lot of a townhouse community for people who weren't ready to part with their trees by the collection date. Hugh, his employee and I spent a couple of hours driving around town picking up the trees and pushing them into the chipper. Later Hugh used the mulch on jobs for his clients. Our first effort netted about 100 trees. This year, we're hoping to recycle about half again as many.

You can read a little more about organizing a local Christmas tree recycling program here: http://www.houselogic.com/articles/start-christmas-tree-recycling-program/

What do you do with your Christmas tree? Please share.

For the Birds

2009-12-21T23:25:00.001-05:00

The birds have been especially active since we had the big snow on Saturday. They've been going through the sunflower seed, mixed seeds, thistle and suet at a fast clip. But we have noticed that many of the birds are still picking away at the leftover seeds in the garden.

Wrens, sparrows and chickadees are still gleaning from the autumn blooming clematis vine that is draped across a large section of fence. The butterfly bush, phlox and sedums still seem to have a little left for the tufted titmice and junkos to harvest. Holly berries and dogwood fruits are popular with the cedar wax wings and cardinals. And all of them seem to enjoy the stray sea oats that have self seeded in a small corner of the garden.

We spend a few hundred dollars every winter on feeding the birds. And I'm sure the little heater we use to keep the bird bath from freezing costs a bit to run. By leaving seed producing plants standing through the winter, rather than cutting them back (which gives a neater appearance), we are able to augment and diversify the birds' diet. And perhaps it reduces the cost a tad. The birds return the favor by keeping insect populations in check and helping with pollination later in the year.

Of course there are issues with feeding birds - they are subject to predatory cats and hawks; dirty feeders and bird baths can spread disease and bird droppings can be messy. But the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Feeding birds in the backyard is a pretty green activity - especially if you buy locally-grown seed. And it's even more green, as well as frugal, to grow lots of bird-friendly plants that will produce plenty of seed to feed our hungry feathered friends.

Baby it's cold...inside

2009-12-20T15:24:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's super storm dumped more than a foot of snow here. So today I worked from home (Sundays are usually work days for many real estate agents like me). It's been a while since I've been home when it's really cold out. And I had forgotten how chilly our house gets during the day. We keep the heat on a timer - it goes on at about 6 am, set at 68 degrees so the house is reasonably warm when we get up. Then it goes back to 65 for the day. At 4 pm it kicks back on until about 10:30 or 11. And most evenings in the winter we have a fire going in the family room. The heat generated from the fire fools the thermostat into thinking the furnace doesn't need to be running. We've been able to keep our gas bill fairly low with this strategy. But I'm finding this unexpected time at home during the day a tad uncomfortable. Perhaps if I were moving around a lot, I wouldn't feel as cold. But being on the computer and trying to do some Christmas gift knitting is tough when my hands are numb! A cup of hot tea is a big help. And the rest of me isn't too cold thanks to a fleece top, warm socks and my shearling-lined slippers. Because of my frugal mind set, I would rather put on more clothes and take a few minutes to move around the house - up and down the stairs, for example - than turn the heat up. And after awhile, I think one's body gets used to a cooler environment - at least that what I am telling myself. I've found that, since we stopped heating our bedroom (it's on the attic level of our house with it's own heating zone, which we haven't turned on in a few years), the little bit of warmth that rises from the rest of the house makes for very comfortable winter sleeping. Our room has gotten as cool as 59 degrees in the early morning hours, but with a couple of wool blankets and a down comforter on the bed, we don't need the heat. Not only are we able to keep our heating bills down, but we know we are also making an effort to not have our carbon imprint surge in the winter months. Do you have any special strategies for keeping your heating bills down? Please share.

Dee Dee on the radio

2009-12-18T16:26:00.000-05:00

I'm in New York City today...just finished a live interview on the Martha Stewart Living channel at Sirius XM Radio. This visit, my 4th, focused on gifts from the garden and gifts for gardeners. The show's host Mario Bosquez, who is such a skilled interviewer, and I talked about making herbal gifts, sachets, jams and jellies. And then I suggested some good gifts for serious gardeners. I had a list of some really great things - like the new Cape Cod weeder, a well-crafted tool for weedding in small spaces; and an electronic soil test tool called the Rapitest that I got from cleanairgardening.com. This small meter can tell you the pH of your soil, the moisture level and the levels of NPK (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous in the soil so you will know how much you may need to fertlize. Then there's the cute wood and metal hod from Burpee. The hod is similar to an English trug -- a basket-like carrier that is ideal for holding veggies as you harvest them. It would make a great gift - it could be used for harvesting, displaying and transporting. I also like Burpee's SunCalc - it's a clever tool that will measure how much sun your garden is getting in any given location. It's an important thing to know - most fruiting vegetables need 6 to 8 hours a day; and unless you stand around and watch the sun as it crosses the sky through the course of a day, you may not have a completely accurate picture. Spending money on gardening tools, if it gets you in the garden and keeps you working there, is money well spent. You'll grow more plants; and with a little effort, you'll become a better steward of the land. If you take good care of your tools, they'll last so you won't have to replace them - very frugal.

Taking...make that Making Stock

2009-12-17T15:06:00.003-05:00

Not that long ago, I was pretty kitchen phobic. Sure, I made breakfast, packed kids' lunches and prepared family dinners, but it wasn't my favorite passtime. In fact, I really kind of hated that daily stuff. My only steller moments had to do with baby food from scratch and blue-ribbon quality strawberry jam (if I do say so myself). But a few years ago, around the time I started being interested in CSAs (read more about these here http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ ), I also started cooking again. In contrast to the way my husband cooks - and he's truly skilled in the kitchen; we eat really well when he's in charge - I don't tend to use recipes. Instead, I peruse the fridge and pantry, check out what's on sale at the grocery store, Google a few recipes with those main ingredients and then whip something up combining ideas from several recipes. Most of the time I've been pretty successful. Often this technique yields soup. And most soups require some kind of stock as the base. Commercial stock (think Swanson's, College Inn, Progresso) is one of those pantry staples most cooks always have on hand. We particularly like the Swanson's organic type that comes in a box with a re-closable plastic spout. The organic part is good, I think. But the packaging isn't very green - it's not recyclable and there's plastic involved. Canned stocks might even have bisphenol (BPA - read more about it here http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/content/view/print/271046 )in the packaging. So I have learned how to make my own stock. It's easy. It's relatively inexpensive. And it's a more environmentally-friendly way to feed your family. Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything and The Joy of Cooking have great recipes that I sort of follow, but I improvise too. For example, I save chicken bones in a zip-lock bag in the freezer to use when I have the equivelant of a whole chicken, rather than buy a chicken just for making stock. The flavor won't be as rich, but it's still pretty good. I'll use more onions, garlic and parsley stems than the recipe might call for in a vegetable stock, just because I have them on hand. And I might leave out the parsnip because I don't have one in the fridge when I feel like making stock. Stock freezes well so I try to make a big pot of it and pour it into quart-size containers and ice cube trays for freezing. After the stock in the ice cube trays is frozen, I store the cubes in a freezer bag to add to rice, mashed potatoes, stir fry or leftovers for moistening. No preservatives or additives. If you've bought your chicken and veggies locally, or even better, grown them yourself, there are very few transportation miles involved. High marks for both frugal and green. And pretty tasty too.

Good to the Last Drop

2009-12-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

When my mother, a classic frugal Yankee, made a sandwich, she would wipe the last bit of mustard or mayo on the bread slice, careful not to waste a bit. When my husband, who has a different approach, puts together a ham & cheese, the mustard oozes on to the plate with enough left on the spreader to cover another whole slice of bread. Not surprisingly, my style is more like my mother's. I hate waste - whether it's food that goes bad in the fridge, recyclables in the trash, or perfectly usable mustard down the drain. It makes me crazy. Over the years, I've perfected my no-waste approach to most of the consumables we use. And here's a perfect example: Moisturizer. I often use an Aveeno product with sun-screen that comes in a 4 oz. container with a pump dispenser. It usually sells for around $16.00 (though I tend to buy it for less on sale with a coupon). I have found that the pump stops producing when the container is ALMOST empty, but there's still product in there. So the last time this happened, I decided to find out how much more moisturizer I could get out of the container. First I just used the pump's straw-like piece to scoop out the lotion; after a while that became ineffective, so I cut the container open with kitchen scissors and used my finger to get at the lotion. You might be surprised to learn that, using these tactics, I got 25 more applications . I hadn't counted how many applications there were before the pump stopped pulling product from the container, but I'm guessing around 50 or 60. By wringing out the last drop, I was able to use perhaps half again as much of the Aveeno than I would have if I had chucked it when the pump stopped. I like to think that this kind of built-in waste isn't an intentional ploy by manufacturers, but simply poor design. Think about all the products you use that are easily wasted: toothpaste, shampoo & conditioner, dish and laundry detergent, lipstick. And don't get me started on mustard.

Clothing Swap

2009-12-15T09:03:00.001-05:00

Tired of wearing the same old things every day, but not willing or able to spend the money for new outfits? Looking to spice up your wardrobe, but knowing that your budget won't support a shopping spree? If your answer is yes, then it's time for a clothing swap. I organized one a few weeks ago, and am excited about the additions to my closet. Here's how I did it:
first I selected a time and date (mid-week, 7 pm); then I secured the office conference room (the managers are very generous - someone's home might be more typical). By email, I invited all the women in my office (about 15), and asked each of them to bring a minimum of 5 and maximum of 10 current, clean, wearable items. I also solicited food, drink, hangers and portable clothing racks. Because I had no expertise with clothing swaps, I kind of made up the rules on the fly, drawing on my experiences organizing lots of other events. In the end, 9 of the ladies participated. Everyone searched through their closets and drawers for items they thought the others might be able to use - though most of us ignored the 10 item maximum. We had delicious hors d'oeuvres, wine and hot cider. We displayed most of the clothing on 2 portable racks, with things like sweaters, T-shirts, handbags, scarves, jewelry and even pajamas folded on the long conference table. Shoes were lined up at the base of the racks.
Then we shopped. At first, I tried having an orderly process, with each person randomly assigned a number. But that proved to be boring and cumbersome. Within minutes, the party became a cheerful free-for-all with each of us selecting things for ourselves and for our colleagues - as in "this jacket has 'Fern' written all over it!" Everyone, even the one or two who came to the party more out of a sense of community than any real desire to find something new, left with a few additions to their wardrobes.It didn't matter that we range in body type from a tiny size 4 to a tall size 12. I scored some really great stuff - an Hermes scarf (seriously! it retails for several hundred dollars!), a bright red parka that I've been wearing almost every day since, 3 sweaters, a pair of black trousers that I will need to shorten, a leopard patterned belt (not something I would ever buy, but it's fun and I've already worn it once), and a suit that I will probably pass along. Someone took home a shearling jacket, Paula got those pajamas (we're talking barely used and really comfy), Anne selected a great necklace, Linda claimed a raffish hat and a green leather skirt, Laura went home with a new, tags-still-on beaded top and some Ralph Lauren T-shirts, and Fern loves the jacket - it's cashmere, by the way. The leftovers, and there were lots, are in the trunk of my car waiting for me to drop them off at the NOVA thrift shop. The frugal quotient for this event was very high...hundreds of dollars worth of clothing for the price of a little food and wine. We did pretty well on the green side as well - since the invitations were electronic, there was no paper or postal service carbon used. I brought in wine glasses and plates so we didn't have to use disposables. We recycled the bottles and leftover hangers (even some of the plastic hangers are recyclable; the metal ones went to the dry cleaner). And we extended the life of lots of clothes. I would like to hear from others who have organized or participated in a clothing swap - share your tips so I can make our next event even better.

Super-savings on Supper

2009-12-14T21:32:00.001-05:00

This evening I had almost no cash in my wallet and it was my turn to make dinner. So I did what seems to come naturally... make something reasonably good out of almost nothing. Well...not exactly nothing. We keep the pantry pretty well stocked. There's always olive oil and plenty of dried herbs and spice. We try to have fresh onions and garlic on hand (still lots of garlic left from this season's CSA share). And there was a nice little head of purple cabbage along with half a Chinese cabbage in the crisper drawer (these were at risk for getting past their prime as they are also left over from the CSA's last pick up which was in mid-November). I found a small package of 4 Bell & Evans chicken thighs at the Super Fresh for $2.97. The Purdue thighs were cheaper but the Bell & Evans brand states they don't use any antibiotics and their chickens are strictly vegetarian. Both brands are heavily packaged with non-recyclable materials...sigh...So, I browned the thighs in some olive oil; put them in the LeCrueset Dutch oven (it's an old one, a wedding gift from 37 years ago); browned 2 garlic cloves in the oil and poured the oil and garlic on top of the thighs. This was followed by the juice of a lemon (the lemon was getting a little brown on the outside, but still perfect inside). Then into a 250 pre-heated oven for an hour and a half. Sides: plain white rice and a cabbage dish made from the red & Chinese cabbage, chopped; a sliced onion, one lonely leek that had been lingering in the bottom of the crisper drawer, and a handful of chopped fresh cilantro and parsley, both leftovers from a historical society party (they would have been tossed in the trash if I hadn't brought them home). A little salt and a tiny sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Sauteed the whole thing in a little olive oil. Outcome: quite delicious; very filling; just the right amount of food for the 2 of us. For frugal, I think I get a high score - the meal cost less than $5 and I mostly used items I had on hand. For green, maybe not so much. High marks for the veggies - mostly local, fresh and no packaging. The rice - it comes in a plastic container that can be recycled, but is definitely not local. And the chicken had too much stryo and plastic packaging, though it was antibiotic-free and relatively local. With winter here, our meals are going to become less and less green as we rely more and more on the grocery store. But there's still lots of stuff in the freezer. I'll just have to get creative.