[Shannon] This month has been going good so far. I went to the goodwill a few times to try and find a baking stone and ironing board but never found either so I had to buy those things new. I use the baking stone daily and the ironing board at least a couple of times a week so I am really glad I bought them. Its so nice to actually think about it before I buy something.
I had an interesting experience going to the Goodwill Outlet. I've been going to resale shops my whole life but I have never been to a Goodwill Outlet before and let me say it is a whole different experience. First, everything there is sold by weight(!) not quantity or what brand it is or anything like that, just weight (except books which are .50 or $1.00). Next, everything comes out in huge bins that a person rolls out from the back room. Finally, everyone in the place swarms the bin and clothes fly everywhere. After that everyone hovers around pretending to sort through old bins while they wait to swarm the next bin. It reminded me of a feeding frenzy I once watched on Discovery Channel with sharks. Needless to say, it was a very intense shopping experience!
February 10, 2009
February 8, 2009
[JAIMIE] The Satisfaction of Buying Things I Actually USE
As I've been reflecting on this project, I've been thinking about all the times I bought something and didn't use it--all the times, back when I had money, that I went to Target for "one or two things".
To begin with, most likely these one or two things were things I could have gotten at a drugstore or grocery store within walking distance. I realize this now that I am at home in the dead of winter with two small children and no car--if you live in a thriving urban or even suburban area, there are ways to get almost anything you need. And none of them involve driving to Target, pushing around a huge red plastic shopping cart through aisle after aisle of things you don't need, past endcap after endcap of marked down seasonal items, and of course, into the dollar bins, just in case there's something cute.
I remember distinctly many times going to Target or a similar place and coming home with bags of stuff. In part because I didn't intend to buy these items, in part because I didn't need them, and in part because they often really weren't all that functional anyway, they sat unused. I can even remember more than one time just forgetting I had bought something altogether and finding it in a bag months later. That seems so disgusting to me now!
This is sticking out to me at the moment as I'm thinking about the five or six things I bought last month and how often they are used.
Sled: $6.00, used almost every day since we bought it
Breadmaker: $15.00, used almost every day since we bought it, sometimes twice a day
Husband's boots: $115.00. Yikes, very expensive, but for various reasons we had to order them online. It is often dangerously cold here, and part of his daily commute around town is on foot, so it was worth it. And of course, they are used every day.
Felt for felt board: $6.00, used quite often. This has been a fun work in progress.
Clearance clothes from Old Navy: Some have been worn, some are still in the laundry, some are for this summer. I've got mixed feelings about these since they are not handmade, local, reused, etc., but they were very economical. I'm attempting to make some clothes for my family, but I'm not going to be able to fully supply us with wardrobes.
My point in this is that I find it hugely satisfying to see that we have actually been using the things we bought. I have no guilt or annoyance at random dollar bin crap laying around waiting for a use.
To begin with, most likely these one or two things were things I could have gotten at a drugstore or grocery store within walking distance. I realize this now that I am at home in the dead of winter with two small children and no car--if you live in a thriving urban or even suburban area, there are ways to get almost anything you need. And none of them involve driving to Target, pushing around a huge red plastic shopping cart through aisle after aisle of things you don't need, past endcap after endcap of marked down seasonal items, and of course, into the dollar bins, just in case there's something cute.
I remember distinctly many times going to Target or a similar place and coming home with bags of stuff. In part because I didn't intend to buy these items, in part because I didn't need them, and in part because they often really weren't all that functional anyway, they sat unused. I can even remember more than one time just forgetting I had bought something altogether and finding it in a bag months later. That seems so disgusting to me now!
This is sticking out to me at the moment as I'm thinking about the five or six things I bought last month and how often they are used.
Sled: $6.00, used almost every day since we bought it
Breadmaker: $15.00, used almost every day since we bought it, sometimes twice a day
Husband's boots: $115.00. Yikes, very expensive, but for various reasons we had to order them online. It is often dangerously cold here, and part of his daily commute around town is on foot, so it was worth it. And of course, they are used every day.
Felt for felt board: $6.00, used quite often. This has been a fun work in progress.
Clearance clothes from Old Navy: Some have been worn, some are still in the laundry, some are for this summer. I've got mixed feelings about these since they are not handmade, local, reused, etc., but they were very economical. I'm attempting to make some clothes for my family, but I'm not going to be able to fully supply us with wardrobes.
My point in this is that I find it hugely satisfying to see that we have actually been using the things we bought. I have no guilt or annoyance at random dollar bin crap laying around waiting for a use.
February 6, 2009
[JAIMIE] January's Report
Here's how I did in January:
I made five unnecessary purchases. They were, in order:
1. Ordered pizza in the beginning of the month.
2. Ordered pizza in the middle of the month.
3. Ordered pizza at the end of the month.
4. Went to dinner in Burlington (the $15 early bird special)
5. Spent $6.00 on felt at Michaels to make a felt board.
I think we can see where my problem lies! I still feel like I did pretty well. I made almost no non-food purchases. The only things I can think of are baby tylenol, a prescription, my husband's boots, a sled, and some clearance clothes at Old Navy (seven items for me and the girls for $19.00).
Here are my goals for February:
1. Get some "backup" meals in the freezer for the days that I'm exhausted and the kids are crazy. Not having something easy around for those situations was the cause of at least 2 out of those 3 pizzas.
2. Organize my time well enough to squeeze crafty time in every day.
3. Make stuff to decorate the house that I'm FINALLY starting to get in order after moving in August.
I made five unnecessary purchases. They were, in order:
1. Ordered pizza in the beginning of the month.
2. Ordered pizza in the middle of the month.
3. Ordered pizza at the end of the month.
4. Went to dinner in Burlington (the $15 early bird special)
5. Spent $6.00 on felt at Michaels to make a felt board.
I think we can see where my problem lies! I still feel like I did pretty well. I made almost no non-food purchases. The only things I can think of are baby tylenol, a prescription, my husband's boots, a sled, and some clearance clothes at Old Navy (seven items for me and the girls for $19.00).
Here are my goals for February:
1. Get some "backup" meals in the freezer for the days that I'm exhausted and the kids are crazy. Not having something easy around for those situations was the cause of at least 2 out of those 3 pizzas.
2. Organize my time well enough to squeeze crafty time in every day.
3. Make stuff to decorate the house that I'm FINALLY starting to get in order after moving in August.
[JAIMIE] Yikes, Let's get better at posting
I know we're both super busy, and that makes posting hard, but let's make an effort to do it. It helps me feel like I'm accountable, so I'm going to try to post five times a week.
I've been doing some more bulk buying. I went with my downstairs neighbor to Burlington for the day last Saturday, and we went to the lovely City Market/Onion River Co-op. Their bulk section is great--I was able to get grains, spices, baking powder, yeast (both active and nutritional), etc. You name it, they had it. I bought dried beans for the first time in my life. Yes, I realize I'm a little slow on this, but I just never really thought of using them before since I didn't really know how to cook. I made chili with them the other night and it was really yummy. I'm now a dried bean convert, and I know they are cheaper and healthier, which is great.
While we were in Burlington, we also went to Cheese Traders, which is a discount store that sells cheese and other foods. They have several varieties of Cabot cheese that they sell the ends of for $2.99/pound. For me, this is the deal of the century since a pound of gross store-brand cheese in Montreal is about $6.00/pound. So I stocked up on that as well.
In non-food news, I've been crafty. I'm knitting my 2 1/2 year old a basket for her blocks from old leftover yarn, and I'm almost finished. I'm about to start knitting a hat for my baby and sewing some stuff for my husband. Sadly, my sewing machine is stuck in reverse, so I have to get that figured out, and hopefully I can fix it for free.
Finally, I wanted to say something about my current "free" obsession--glass jars! I save almost every glass jar from food. After taking off the label and running them through the dishwasher, I use them to store everything--bulk foods, art supplies, etc. They're so much cuter than plastic storage containers, they're not made of yucky plastic, and they don't stain or get gross. My only problem now is that I'm literally unable to put a single one in the recycling because it feels wasteful, so I have glass jars coming out of my ears.
I've been doing some more bulk buying. I went with my downstairs neighbor to Burlington for the day last Saturday, and we went to the lovely City Market/Onion River Co-op. Their bulk section is great--I was able to get grains, spices, baking powder, yeast (both active and nutritional), etc. You name it, they had it. I bought dried beans for the first time in my life. Yes, I realize I'm a little slow on this, but I just never really thought of using them before since I didn't really know how to cook. I made chili with them the other night and it was really yummy. I'm now a dried bean convert, and I know they are cheaper and healthier, which is great.
While we were in Burlington, we also went to Cheese Traders, which is a discount store that sells cheese and other foods. They have several varieties of Cabot cheese that they sell the ends of for $2.99/pound. For me, this is the deal of the century since a pound of gross store-brand cheese in Montreal is about $6.00/pound. So I stocked up on that as well.
In non-food news, I've been crafty. I'm knitting my 2 1/2 year old a basket for her blocks from old leftover yarn, and I'm almost finished. I'm about to start knitting a hat for my baby and sewing some stuff for my husband. Sadly, my sewing machine is stuck in reverse, so I have to get that figured out, and hopefully I can fix it for free.
Finally, I wanted to say something about my current "free" obsession--glass jars! I save almost every glass jar from food. After taking off the label and running them through the dishwasher, I use them to store everything--bulk foods, art supplies, etc. They're so much cuter than plastic storage containers, they're not made of yucky plastic, and they don't stain or get gross. My only problem now is that I'm literally unable to put a single one in the recycling because it feels wasteful, so I have glass jars coming out of my ears.
January 29, 2009
Busy, Busy
As usual I got caught up in the day to day of three kiddos, laundry, soccer, etc. and neglected Our Homemade Year. I'm back now though and have been working hard and discovering so many wonderful benefits to this lifestyle change. This month we managed to spend about 1/3 of what we normally do just by making conscious choices about our impact on the earth and what we already have available to fit our needs for free. We also went to a wonderful store called www.scrapaction.org and my kids had a blast. We spent 4 dollars total on a bunch of used school/office supplies. That store is amazing. My 7 year old has been working on making a robot and SCRAP had just what he needed.
I haven't been using my cloth wipes lately though, my 1 year old is really, really squirmy and hates getting his diapers changed so its tough to wet them down and do the whole process. When I did, I just put warm water on the wipe and sprayed that booty spray from California Baby on the wipe. I had bought it when my 4 year old was a baby and had a rash. I still use the spray for rashes but am using disposable wipes at the moment.
We have been buying in bulk though, I'd really like to find a buyers club to join since most of my buying in bulk occurs at Costco or the bulk bins at Whole Foods or Fred Meyer. I think I will have to put some research into that...
I have to admit that while I am really, really happy about saving money it hasn't exactly been the smoothest transition from consumer to frugal, earth conscious, crafty, genuinely happy momma. I had grown used to the feeling of fulfillment that comes with needing something and then going to the store and purchasing it, or seeing something cool and then finding and buying it. I think it satified some sort of hunter-gatherer instincts buried deep in my brain. I guess what I am saying is that is still is really hard to walk in a store or go online and not feel an urge to buy, buy, buy but its getting much easier and the benefits are priceless.
I haven't been using my cloth wipes lately though, my 1 year old is really, really squirmy and hates getting his diapers changed so its tough to wet them down and do the whole process. When I did, I just put warm water on the wipe and sprayed that booty spray from California Baby on the wipe. I had bought it when my 4 year old was a baby and had a rash. I still use the spray for rashes but am using disposable wipes at the moment.
We have been buying in bulk though, I'd really like to find a buyers club to join since most of my buying in bulk occurs at Costco or the bulk bins at Whole Foods or Fred Meyer. I think I will have to put some research into that...
I have to admit that while I am really, really happy about saving money it hasn't exactly been the smoothest transition from consumer to frugal, earth conscious, crafty, genuinely happy momma. I had grown used to the feeling of fulfillment that comes with needing something and then going to the store and purchasing it, or seeing something cool and then finding and buying it. I think it satified some sort of hunter-gatherer instincts buried deep in my brain. I guess what I am saying is that is still is really hard to walk in a store or go online and not feel an urge to buy, buy, buy but its getting much easier and the benefits are priceless.
January 23, 2009
[JAIMIE] Comments, a Question
Comments:
I think it sounds like you're doing great. That's wonderful that you found some stuff at the Goodwill. The first time I shopped at the Salvation Army for my 2 1/2 year old, I thought it was totally liberating. I hadn't really shopped there in years, not really since college when I was looking for bargains but also for cool vintage finds (which I'm still on the hunt for). But when I saw that I could spend $19 and come home with a pile of nice clothes and several great kids' books, I was hooked. I have a list of things we need and I cannot make (like snowpants), and I'm hoping to go next week. I'll let you know how it goes.
One thing that's really helping my budget is buying in bulk. I don't know if you've ever bought your spices in bulk, but it's the deal of the century. We have this great middle eastern grocery called Akhavan where I buy bulk nuts, spices, etc. For example, I just got some cinnamon from there. It's in a thin plastic bag, and it's enough to fill about 2 1/2 spice jars. And it was a whopping 66 cents! I have jars at home that I refill to make it easier to use them since the plastic bags are not very user-friendly.
Question:
What can I do to make my cloth wipes more eco-friendly? In general, they are very economical and eco-friendly. I cut them from leftover flannel I've had in my fabric stash, and I wash them right along with my cloth diapers. I made my own wipe solution by mixing a tiny bit of organic liquid baby soap with water and shaking it up in a little spray bottle. So every time I use them, I wet one and then spray it with the solution. My issue is that I turn on the water and run it enough to wet the wipe every single time. This seems like a colossal use of water that I wouldn't be doing if I were using disposable wipes. What do you think I can do? How did you do it when you were using cloth wipes?
I think it sounds like you're doing great. That's wonderful that you found some stuff at the Goodwill. The first time I shopped at the Salvation Army for my 2 1/2 year old, I thought it was totally liberating. I hadn't really shopped there in years, not really since college when I was looking for bargains but also for cool vintage finds (which I'm still on the hunt for). But when I saw that I could spend $19 and come home with a pile of nice clothes and several great kids' books, I was hooked. I have a list of things we need and I cannot make (like snowpants), and I'm hoping to go next week. I'll let you know how it goes.
One thing that's really helping my budget is buying in bulk. I don't know if you've ever bought your spices in bulk, but it's the deal of the century. We have this great middle eastern grocery called Akhavan where I buy bulk nuts, spices, etc. For example, I just got some cinnamon from there. It's in a thin plastic bag, and it's enough to fill about 2 1/2 spice jars. And it was a whopping 66 cents! I have jars at home that I refill to make it easier to use them since the plastic bags are not very user-friendly.
Question:
What can I do to make my cloth wipes more eco-friendly? In general, they are very economical and eco-friendly. I cut them from leftover flannel I've had in my fabric stash, and I wash them right along with my cloth diapers. I made my own wipe solution by mixing a tiny bit of organic liquid baby soap with water and shaking it up in a little spray bottle. So every time I use them, I wet one and then spray it with the solution. My issue is that I turn on the water and run it enough to wet the wipe every single time. This seems like a colossal use of water that I wouldn't be doing if I were using disposable wipes. What do you think I can do? How did you do it when you were using cloth wipes?
January 22, 2009
[SHANNON] Some good some bad
So as I am sitting here waiting for the furnace repairman I have some time to reflect on some of my success I have had at our project so far and some of my major slip-ups. I think I will start with success first since that makes me feel better:
First, I have done some research and completely changed my shopping habits. I used to shop at some mega corporate chain stores for most of my groceries and realized that I was running all around to a bunch of stores and wasting all of my time and money trying to get good deals and then forgetting things and having to run back out again all resulting in me spending way too much and feeling like there had to be a better way, well there is! I found http://organicstoyou.org , they deliver organic fruits and veggies every week. After my experience at the grocery stores and farmer's markets I found the prices at organics to you to be really reasonable. So I am going to combine that with the online grocery shopping pickup service from www.newseasonsmarket.com with the hopes that this saves valuable time and all that extra money I was spending on the items that I didn't need but picked up because were on sale or just looked good. I will still have to do a monthly run to Costco to get some of our bulk items because for our family of five even bulk food goes fast!
My second success was getting 2 good pairs of soccer shorts for my 7 year old at goodwill for 4 dollars each.
So onto my failures, I was invited to a last minute birthday party and ended up just stopping at Fred Meyer and getting a toy for it because I was in the middle of ten things that day and was just too lazy to really stop and try and figure out what would be a great homemade solution, I am determined to try harder next time and not give in to my laziness. I learned how to knit too, so that should help with future handmade gifts. My other mess up kind of thing is that I somehow lost my sewing machine sometime in the haze of many moves to new houses and now I am going to have to buy one if I hope to really repurpose things I already have or create some homemade gifts. I think I might try for a used one but its really going to be all about price so I will have to see whats out there.
First, I have done some research and completely changed my shopping habits. I used to shop at some mega corporate chain stores for most of my groceries and realized that I was running all around to a bunch of stores and wasting all of my time and money trying to get good deals and then forgetting things and having to run back out again all resulting in me spending way too much and feeling like there had to be a better way, well there is! I found http://organicstoyou.org , they deliver organic fruits and veggies every week. After my experience at the grocery stores and farmer's markets I found the prices at organics to you to be really reasonable. So I am going to combine that with the online grocery shopping pickup service from www.newseasonsmarket.com with the hopes that this saves valuable time and all that extra money I was spending on the items that I didn't need but picked up because were on sale or just looked good. I will still have to do a monthly run to Costco to get some of our bulk items because for our family of five even bulk food goes fast!
My second success was getting 2 good pairs of soccer shorts for my 7 year old at goodwill for 4 dollars each.
So onto my failures, I was invited to a last minute birthday party and ended up just stopping at Fred Meyer and getting a toy for it because I was in the middle of ten things that day and was just too lazy to really stop and try and figure out what would be a great homemade solution, I am determined to try harder next time and not give in to my laziness. I learned how to knit too, so that should help with future handmade gifts. My other mess up kind of thing is that I somehow lost my sewing machine sometime in the haze of many moves to new houses and now I am going to have to buy one if I hope to really repurpose things I already have or create some homemade gifts. I think I might try for a used one but its really going to be all about price so I will have to see whats out there.
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