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Jul 29, 2012    |       18 comments

Reuse, Reuse, Reuse

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I’m happy to report that our household continues to exist without the use of papertowels!  This makes me so proud!  Never did I think we could do this.  Initially it never would have occurred to me to stop buying them but with the changes we’ve made and the support from this blog, I considered it and now we have met that goal.

We are always looking for new ways to save and discuss ideas regularly.  A lot of them are seemingly far-fetched (but I’ll never say never) like getting rid of one of the vehicles and becoming a one-car family or selling our furniture and see how little we can function with in the house.

Currently an attainable goal is getting rid of ziploc bags entirely.  With back-to-school around the corner I’ve been looking into options for the kids’ lunches.  Last school year my two kids ate cafeteria food quite a bit.  Part of that was the novelty of a full service cafeteria since they had only known a private school “catered” lunch (that wasn’t very tasty).  Our school district cafeteria does a decent job of offering healthy options but with the new real food approach in our household we will be doing packed lunches this year.  The kids are excited.

I thought I’d share some of what I found out there.  I look forward to hearing what reusable options you know about.

Lisa @ www.100daysofrealfood.com has great lunch ideas on her blog.  I recently bought the freezer pop molds and the divided lunch reusable containers and we will use this coming week as our first practice week for girl scout camp.  Take a look at the link below for some great ideas.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/04/19/school-lunch-roundup/

A friend also told me about www.reuseit.com.  Wow!  I love this website!  I really like the sandwich wrap by “waste not” that opens up to a placemat for the kids at lunch.  Granted–my youngest might be the only one that loves this as much as I do but I’ll hand it to the boys for being open minded about things.  I also like the look of the produce bags on this website.  I’m not buying anything right now as I spent $20 on the freezer pops and divided lunch containers and that’s enough for this week.  🙂

 

Jul 27, 2012    |       4 comments

Local! Local! Local!

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There’s a great local publication called “Natural Awakenings SA” that provides great healthy living tips.  I want to share some of those tips today.

How to Keep Your Hard Earned Money Working Locally:

1. Ditch the Cards:  All electronic transactions siphon money out of the local community to some extent, so use cash or second best, write a check.  Studies show that people spend 12-18 percent more when they use cards instead of cash.

2.  Move your Debt:  Megabanks tend to make far moremoney off your debt than your savings.  Choose a local credit union or bank and let the fees support your community.

3.  Spend Deliberately:  Forget internet deals; shop local and independent.  Choose to support local businesses.  Start buying at resale shops, Craigs list or try bartering.

4.  Shorten Loan Lengths:  Avoid the 30-year-mortgage and seven-yaer car loans and start paying down principal early.

5.  Earn Feel-Good Interest:  Consider investing in family, such as a college loan for a nephew or niece, to keep it local (er…not too sure about this one!  That whole loaning family money thing….)

6.  Invest in Home:  Investing in your home strengthens the community and builds wealth.  Beyond mortgages, invest in an alternative energy system such as solar or geo-thermal.

7. Remember Your Community:  Buy shares of a local co-op–utility, food or store–or start a community investment group. Look fo community revolving loan funds that allow participation by individual investors.

I am proud to say we have gone to the Farmers’ Market for the last 3 weeks.  It has been a great learning experience for all of us.  The kids have enjoyed it much more than I anticipated.  It helps that bringing your dog is encouraged so the kids get to see a lot of canine companions and bring our own dogs too.  We are enjoying the fresh farm food tremendously!!  And we are staying within the $150 per week budget.  We tried to stick with $125 and found that we needed that extra $25 especially with the kids home much more now than during the regular school year.

Good stuff to think about and to bring to your life!

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