My grandma used to wash and reuse plastic bags. This Depression-era action epitomized, to my parent’s generation, cheapness and time wasting. I distinctly remember my own minimalist-minded mother laughing about the hoard of used plastic sandwich bags her mother-in-law never threw away. Well everything old is new again, and now I’m a bag washer and re-user. Say…
Productive Home
Roadtrip! Peppers, Sun, And Locavorism
Because summer refused to come to me this year, I went to summer. Yesterday I drove to Eastern Washington, a region as dissimilar from Western Washington from a gardening perspective as Iowa. I was visiting a friend and, for the first time, stomping around her garden. Eastern Washington is hot, dry and seasonally distinct. If you…
No Spend Month: Week 4 Review
Last Week’s Total: $216.03$7 – Parking at the county park when we went swimming$1 – Parking, Nick’s second job$46.09 – Tank of gas TOTAL: $273.12REMAINING: -$23.12 Well, we went over. For the first time ever, I blew through a No Spend limit. And it wasn’t the kids presents that did it either – it was…
Frugal Friday: Detox From The Treat Spiral
I’ll be honest. I can’t wait for no spend month to be over. I can’t wait to spend money again. This is how I’ve felt every time we’ve done the no-spend exercise – by the time the month is over, I’m ready to start laying down some cash. We all feel better for the occasional splurge, for a treat…
Being Everyone
A friend came up to me at a party. “So I’ve finally started reading your blog and now I totally feel like shit!” she joked. What my friend was really saying is that when she reads about No Spend Month, and keeping the garden, and cooking from scratch, she feels like maybe she should be doing that stuff…
No Spend Month: Week 3 Review
I had a dream last night that I went out shopping. I don’t remember what I bought, I just remember the dream sensation of handing over a big chunk of money. No Spend Month must be in full effect! Updated tally for this week: Last Week’s Total: $141.01$9 – Two large pickling crocks my friend…
Frugal Friday: What Farm Grandmas and Chefs Do (And You Should To)
When I was in culinary school, we learned how to filet salmon. Even if you are amazingly good (and we weren’t), when you cut the filet off a whole fish there is a little layer of salmon left against the bones. My instructor showed us students how to use a spoon to scrape the carcass…
No Spend Month: Week 2 Review
Updated tally for this week: Last Week’s Total: $95.76Yet more strawberries (I’m done, I swear): $26 Birthday present for a kid’s party: $6.25* Pitcher of beer at a company farewell party for a coworker (Nick): $13 TOTAL: $141.01 REMAINING: $108.99 *Actually the present for the kid-friend was more than this but I had a $14…
Frugal Friday: The Budgeting Process And Advanced Fun Card Techniques
Last Friday I talked about our household’s budgeting tool, the Fun Card. It’s a very simple idea that helps keep our day-to-day expenses in line. But, like any tool, the value comes in the use, not the having. Homebrew Husband and I used to think budgeting was the act of making a budget. That’s like…
No Spend Month: Week 1 Review
Well $250 is going to be a lot harder than I anticipated. I managed to forget about provisioning berries for the year, and with the late spring, all the mid-June strawberries ripened in early-July. I’m looking at blueberries and raspberries coming down the line in the next few weeks and I’m wondering if I blow…
Frugal Friday: Fun Card Budgeting For Non-Budgeters
I spent most of my post-college years with a checking account that was perpetually overdrawn by $300. I once went on a three-week trip to Scandinavia and spent the entirety of my food money on my first dinner outside of the U.S. In my defense, food in Reykjavik during the holiday season is unbelievably expensive….
We Hang Together, Or We All Hang Separately
Hey you! Yeah, you – the 22 year old barista with the excessive facial hair and the Che Guevara tee-shirt, riding around Portland on your Marin Point Reyes, wondering if you can make it to both rallies for raw milk that are happening tonight and still get your winter cabbage starts planted in your Urban…