Growing Green Cents

Wedding Nonsense - In Sum

2011-01-16T21:38:00.001-05:00

Clearly, I'm not going to get around to writing extensively about all the cost-saving tricks we used for our wedding. So here's a (hopefully) quick summary.

All told our wedding cost a hair over $4,000. That includes the rings, my dress, his suit (purchased, not rented), two nights at a hotel, all the equipment for the photobooth my husband built (web cam, printer, ink, photo paper, wood, etc etc), anyone we hired (officiant etc), monetary gifts to those who helped considerably, and much more. A quick run down of our cost-saving techniques:

Invites: designed by ourselves, printed at Costco: very cheap
Hiring people: the only person we really hired was the officiant. We gave money and giftcards to a family friend, her granddaughter, and her granddaughter's friend for more-or-less running the potluck part of things. Friends and family took turns grilling food, and we paid a friend of my husband's brother to check on grilling and other things.
Renting equipment: I must be the luckiest girl in the world. After I'd called around to find out the price of a tent, tables, and chairs, I learned that my uncle rents tents and other equipment, and that we could borrow tables and chairs from my parents' church and church-friends. My uncle also had several drink dispenser machines, a popcorn machine, a bubble machine (probably the most awesome thing we had), and much more. Oh, and we have friends with a sound system. I made a playlist, and that just ran for the evening.
Dress: Ah, the dress. Often a big expenditure. I tried on a traditional wedding dress or two, but really didn't feel like myself. Then I tried on a mostly white bridesmaid dress, and that was it. $145. Awesome.
Alcohol: We bought a few bottles of hard liquor, margarita mix, and a case or two of Trader Joe's wine (it's good stuff). One of my mom's cousins works at a winery, and he brought a keg.

Am I missing anything? We skipped many of the traditional wedding things. And it was perfect. Despite rain and lots of mud. At one point, my flip-flop got stuck in the mud and the resulting suction threw mud up the back of my dress when I pulled it out (the photo in this post shows the mud, although it's a bit hard to see it). And I thought it was hysterical. :)

A friend even wrote a review.

The one drawback was that it was a lot of work. We had to do all the setup and takedown ourselves. My husband and I coordinated almost everything - how the items and equipment would get to the location, where it would go, who would take it back, etc etc. It's a lot of work on top of being the center of attention. As my best friend said, we should have found someone else to do all the day-of coordination.

But still, totally worth it for a very nontraditional, fun, laid-back wedding.

Recycling Old Computers

2011-01-14T21:15:00.003-05:00

To buy a new computer or not to? That has been the question I've been asking myself for probably about a year now. The last time I got a brand new computer was in 1999 (laptop). Then, in about 2004 or so, a friend built me a computer (desktop) out of old and new parts. Later, when I moved in with my now-husband, he gave me one of his hand-me-downs (desktop). It was probably around the same age as the 2004 one but had better parts. I still have both of the desktops but neither works particularly well.

I debated a new computer for a long time. I don't use a computer a lot at home, at least one of the desktops worked for the most part, and new computers are expensive - especially considering I wanted a laptop.

Then my husband's laptop met an untimely death, and my desktop decided I wasn't allowed to have sound anymore (along with several other very annoying issues). So I gave in and ordered a new laptop when he did.

But what to do with the old desktops? Recycling was the obvious choice. I figured I'd take the old towers to a Goodwill or the recycling at work or something. But then my coworker told me about an NPR story she heard that revealed that many recycling companies ship old computers off to other countries where women and children go through the computers and recycle the various parts. This involves contact with toxic chemicals, not to mention the child labor.

Well, crap.

I found the NPR story and some nice person had posted a link to reputable recyclers. It just so happens that there are two in my area, so I'm all set. Many of these places take other electronics as well, so you can get rid of more than just computers.

Who knew you needed to be so careful about the recycling company you choose?

Stopping Unwanted Mail

2010-12-02T08:37:00.006-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that my husband and I have recently purchased a house. We had been in our apartment for over 3 years before we moved into our new home, and we were still getting mail for the previous tenants. Now that we actually own a home, I am more determined than ever to stop all unwanted mail. Here's what I've been up to and/or plan to do soon:

Catalog Choice - I signed up for this at the apartment and used it to stop a few catalogs. It seems to work, but I forgot about it after stopping some of the main nuisances. After the move, I started using it again, especially since they've expanded beyond catalogs to include junk from companies like Comcast, Geico, etc. Every time I get an unwanted catalog or other mail I set it aside until I have a moment to sit down and add it to Catalog Choice. Definitely a service worth exploring. Also, for an annual donation of $20, Catalog Choice offers the option to get yourself unlisted from those lists marketers use to find you and send you junk. I haven't done this yet, but will consider it if the offers become excessive.
YellowPagesGoesGreen.org - This was mentioned in my one-a-day calendar (don't worry, I use the discarded pages as scrap paper before recycling them). I used it to find two local yellow page opt out options. I completed one but chose to avoid the other because it wasn't clear if I was also going to be signing up for some service at the same time. If we get any phone books, I will call and cancel them.
OptOutPrescreen.com - I was hesitant to do this because it reminds me of the "Do Not Call" registry. I put myself on that a few apartments ago and immediately began getting tons of charity and political phone calls. I think I'm going to go ahead and give this a shot and see how it goes. OptOutPrescreen takes your name and contact info off the lists provided by Consumer Credit Report Agencies to companies offering credit and insurance offers. I will probably go through the effort of doing the permanent opt-out, which requires you to mail-in a form along with an electronic submission.
DMAchoice.org - I learned about this one more recently and made a note to come back to it. I haven't completed it yet, since Catalog Choice seems to work for now, but I'll consider it for the future.
USPS - The individual who lived in the house we recently purchased is now deceased. I've read on various random websites that I can go to the post office and set up something so that that his mail will no longer be delivered to us. I need to look into this in greater depth though. I don't want the post office to just toss the mail, I want the companies to stop sending it altogether. Until I know more, I will just be using Catalog Choice to stop this mail.
Discover Card - Discover Card is on my evil list. It's my favorite credit card, but they have been sending more and more unnecessary offers, including reminders about some things I have already signed up for! I have searched their website for the option to stop them from sending this stuff, but no luck. I will have to give them a call.

I suspect that because we have different last names, my husband may have to sign up for some of these things as well. Catalog Choice allows you to add the name of any addressee, which is nice, but the others probably do not.

Anyone know of any other useful options for stopping mail? Or any more information about stopping mail through USPS for previous tenants?

A Few Reasons for My Lack of Posts

2010-11-30T08:23:00.002-05:00

I started this blog and really have not been keeping up with it. One of the main reasons for this is that I've been busy. During 2010, I have:

Started house hunting in January
Taken a class during the spring semester
Planned a wedding
Gotten married in June
Researched cars (endlessly... there truly is such a thing as too much information)
Bought a car
Started taking a class in the fall semester, but dropped it a few weeks in once I knew I would soon have:
Bought a house
Moved from a 3 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house (i.e., lots of stuff to move)
Attended several weddings, wedding showers, baby showers, a 60th birthday party, and more

All of that added to the fact that I really prefer not to be on the computer once I arrive home means I just haven't been so great at blogging. I hope to get back into it, but we shall see.

The Story of Stuff

2010-10-26T12:35:00.005-04:00

Wow, it's been a really long time since I posted on this blog. Perhaps starting it wasn't the best idea....

Anyway, I just finished watching The Story of Stuff, and I think I'm going to set myself a reminder to watch it at least every few months. I already know many of the topics covered, in at least some way, but it's helpful to see it all together and to be reminded that the US's reliance on stuff cannot keep up at the rate it's going.

There are so very many ways to reduce reliance on and consuming of stuff. Here's a few of the things that I am doing:

I am determined never to become a collector of anything again. In high school and college, I was a fan of dolphins (still am, but not as openly so). Apparently, choosing something you like means that you will suddenly be bombarded with a plethora of stuff pertaining to that thing. I have dolphin doodads out the wazoo. I am going to donate them to Goodwill and will not collect this type of thing again.
My husband and I are in the process of purchasing a house. The one we have selected is pretty much the same size as our apartment (which, granted, is pretty large for an apartment - 3 bedrooms). Which means that we will not need to acquire more stuff once we move. In fact, we are trying to purge (responsibly - Goodwill, veterans, recycling) the stuff we do not currently use.
We use canvas bags instead of plastic ones 95% of the time (we still forget, but have gotten much better).
We do not drink bottled water, but instead have nice water bottles. I use mine every day at work.
I intend to ask for a few small things that I want for Christmas and then ask that any other gifts to me be either donations to charity or homemade gift certificates for time spent together. And perhaps gift certificates to Lowe's for home repair. But I also hope that my husband and I are able to get a lot of stuff from Pittsburgh's Construction Junction, which offers used building materials for cheap resale.
We do not buy DVDs. This was actually my husband's idea. So much is now available through Netflix that if I get a craving for a certain movie, I can either find it immediately through streaming or I can wait a few days to get it through the mail. In the past I have still asked for DVDs as gifts, but I will not be doing that any more.
My husband and I share one car. And a fairly efficient car at that. We now drive a new Honda Fit, but previously we shared a 1997 Honda Civic (until August 2010). We walk and bike to work as much of the year as we can tolerate, and we hunted for 10 months to find a house in our price range that kept us close to both our works as well as stores, restaurants, and a park.
We recycle extensively.
We make it a goal never to have more than one bag of trash a week, and usually are closer to a half bag.
I kept my previous cell phone for, I think, 4 and 1/2 years. Planned obsolescence lead to it recently being unable to find service like it should, so I upgraded. I donated the old phone, as well as my husband's old phone, to a campus fundraiser in the hopes that they would be reused or recycled.

Ideas I have for the future:

I have a lot of friends who garden, and it seems like many of them end up producing an abundance of a certain type of crop. I think it would be great to organize a group of these friends who get together to share the abundance, so that everyone ends up with a variety. Our new home has apple trees that definitely produce a lot, and I would much rather share apples than see them go to waste.
Even though we have a front and backyard (shared with the upstairs neighbors), I haven't composted much yet. I intend to change this with our new house. I love houseplants and gardening so this would save me from buying soil.
Our new house will have a rain barrel.

There is so much we can do to reduce our consumption of stuff (and non-local foodstuffs). If you have any other ideas, let me know!

Amazon PriceDrop

2010-01-05T13:24:00.003-05:00

I was looking up the cost of some children's books and noticed Amazon's PriceDrop feature. I have not used this before because most of the time when I'm buying something from Amazon, I need it immediately. However, there seem to be a lot of new babies these days, and I tend to give the same books as gifts. Thus, I have plenty of time to watch for good prices.

So I'm curious to see how this plays out. I am half wondering if the prices are going to be better right now - shortly after Christmas - and will go back up in the future. But I love anything that will save me money, and I love Amazon's fast shipping (I ordered textbooks from other vendors recently and my goodness, they are taking forever! I even paid extra to have one arrive by yesterday, but did it arrive? No.)

I'll have to remember to write about the Amazon PriceDrop feature again in the future, once prices have dropped (hopefully!).

Wedding Nonsense, Part III

2009-10-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

So I got my mom to agree to a potluck....

And it didn't actually take too terribly much convincing. I've been telling her I planned to elope when I got married for years now, though, so I think now that I've decided to actually have a wedding and reception, she's willing to go along with most things. Plus, once I explained it to her in more detail, she thought it made sense.

Now, I know what you're thinking. A potluck reception?! Who does that?! But hear me out.

I've grown up on potlucks. I always loved them at church as a kid - you get to eat everyone's best dishes. What could be better than that? Plus, you get to sample a wide variety of food, and if there's something you don't like, well, there's always plenty of other options. Sounds like a good thing for a reception, especially with so many dietary needs - vegetarian, food allergies, etc.

Of course, I'm not so cracked that I'm also going to expect gifts. Part of the appeal of a potluck is that we don't want gifts. We don't need any more kitchenware, we don't need a bunch of random knickknacks. I don't like clutter, and we have pretty much everything we need. Oh, and we definitely have NO use for china. Thus, asking for a dish to share instead of a gift sounds good to us.

So, the out-of-towners. I don't expect them to make food. They are more than welcome to grab a bag of chips at the grocery store. You normally have to buy a gift anyway, so instead, buy some packaged food. I also fully intend to encourage my out-of-town uncle and his fam to order pizza from the local pizza place they love so much. They try to get it every time they come into town anyway.

I don't think I'll be calling it a reception. Even I hesitate at that. The traditional reception is so ingrained in most people's minds that a potluck reception is very nearly an oxymoron. Currently, the plan is to call it a Potluck Celebration in Honor of the Marriage of blah blah blah.

Plus, it's going to be very very casual, but more on that later.

And think of all the money saved on caterers. And not having to worry that the mass produced food will taste like... mass produced food. And all the money saved on gifts. Bringing food should be far cheaper for the guests, too.

I'm sure some people will still think I'm nuts. But I'm okay with that.

Wedding Nonsense, Part II

2009-10-23T08:55:00.002-04:00

So the current plan is for a small wedding and a casual reception. I say 'current' because I've heard about brides who started out thinking they'd be oh-so-casual and cheap. Then they got all caught up in the Wedding Nonsense and went off the deep end. Thus, I'm allowing for the possibility that this could happen to me.

But I really hope not.

Anyway, I like the idea of a very small wedding (about 30 people - immediate family and close friends only), and then a larger reception (more on that in a future post). My mom suggested a wedding in the morning (and by morning I'm thinking 11:00am at the earliest), and then we all go out for lunch somewhere. Sounds good to me.

Plus, a small wedding is necessary for the location I want, which is part of the Geauga County Park District. The nice benefit of using a park location is that it's free to residents. I'm no longer a resident of Geauga County, but my parents are. I intend to be the one to reserve it, but if they have a problem with that, I can always have my parents call. Of course, the drawback of the park is that I can't reserve it until November 1, so I might need a backup plan if someone manages to reserve it before I do. However, I doubt it's a really popular location. It's really beautiful - bridge over a creek that runs into a small pond, and a beautiful flowering tree (if indeed it is still flowering in June, which might not be the case), but it's out in the boonies. Here's hoping it's available.

Save Money on Hair Cuts

2009-09-07T13:10:00.004-04:00

I get my hair cut about twice a year. Inevitably, the person cutting my hair scolds me, but oh well. It seems to work for me just fine. Plus, it saves money. Guy hair, on the other hand, needs to be cut more often. If my hair grows an inch, you can hardly tell. If my fiance's hair grows an inch, well, it's quite noticeable.

Growing up, his mother cut his hair. With four kids, that seems like a great choice. She's continued to cut it on occasion as well. Recently, we decided it wouldn't be a bad idea if I just learned how to do it myself.

I practiced with his mom's assistance before trying it on my own. I've now cut his hair 2 or 3 times without supervision, and it seems to be just fine. It also helps that his hair is very forgiving - it's quite wavy so if I mess up here or there, it's much harder to tell than it would be on someone with very straight hair. I'm still working out a few of the details (still need to figure out just how short I can cut it in certain areas where it seems much thicker), but those will be easier with practice.

We did opt to buy a decent pair of scissors, which cost us about $16 at Target. Considering a single hair cut costs about that much these days, we've already made back that money easily. It would be nice to have one of those wraps to keep the hair off his clothing, but we use an old towel for now.

I know this isn't an option for everyone - I wouldn't want to cut other types of hair, but it does save money. I also know I'm not the only one doing this. We know at least one other couple where the wife cuts the husband's hair, too. As an added bonus for us, it means he gets his hair cut more often. His hair always got quite a bit longer before he felt motivated to go get it cut. Now I can just do it in the comfort of our home.

I finally opened a Roth IRA

2009-06-30T11:45:00.003-04:00

After making it a goal probably about a year and a half ago, I finally opened a Roth IRA. I chose to do so through Vanguard because they have a pretty low expense ratio, and because they are well-rated. I went with their Total Stock Market Index Fund, because it's pretty steady, and I'm not a big risk-taker. :)

Vanguard makes the whole process very easy. The main painful part is reading the long documents that you have to agree to before completing the process. However, the material in these made me think that they were probably pretty standard. The other annoying thing was that I filled everything out, but then wanted to print out the documents and read them before signing, and I couldn't find an easy way to save my progress once I got to the point of printing out the documents.

They require an initial investment of $3000, so you do have to save up a bit before you can open one. I also plan to continue to contribute monthly in order to max out my yearly allowable amount, which I had thought was $5500, but is apparently only $5000.

But hooray for FINALLY opening a Roth IRA. Next to find out more about Lending Club or a similar service. It's sounds like a good way to invest some money and earn a higher rate of return.

Wedding Nonsense, Part I

2009-06-19T20:35:00.001-04:00

My boyfriend and I are nearing the point where a wedding is probably somewhere on the horizon. Still very faint in the distance, but there. As a librarian, I have of course been reading about weddings and the wedding industry. I discovered a term that I absolutely love: The Wedding Industrial Complex.

Such a great descriptor. And all too true. I simply cannot fathom spending $10,000+ on a single day, but the wedding industrial complex makes it so hard to avoid it. So this is the start of a series of posts on the various ridiculous (as I see them, anyway) aspects of the wedding industry and ideas for avoiding them.

Post I: Everyone always says you should get a diamond engagement ring. "Diamonds are traditional." "Go for a big diamond, especially if your boyfriend has the money." Well, I have recently read in two different books that the idea of a diamond engagement ring became popular when one of DeBeers' marketers came up with the slogan "A Diamond is Forever" in the 1930s or 1940s. So really, a diamond is not all that traditional. I will probably be skipping that and going for a gemstone. :)

Living with One Car

2009-06-17T10:46:00.000-04:00

Last December, I was in a rear-end collision. Minus some whiplash discomfort, I was fine. My car, however, was not. It did what any good Honda Civic should do. It crumpled. And the frame was damaged, thus the car was totalled. I got a reasonable amount of money for it from the car insurance of the woman who hit me. No real complaints there.

Not particularly in the mood to shop for a new car, my boyfriend and I decided to see how things would go for us with just one car. We'd been talking about it for a while anyway.

Six months later, things are going pretty well. We really don't have too much trouble with it - sometimes I have to get up at 4:30am to take him to the airport for work, or we have to rearrange a bit, but it really hasn't been all that inconvenient. Of course, we are within walking and biking distance of our places of work, which helps a lot. Public transportation is also an option, although we haven't resorted to it yet.

He has a 1997 Civic (mine was a 2002, and we joke that the wrong car was totalled), so we'll probably need to replace that eventually, but for now, it's fine.

It's great to save money on car insurance, annual inspections, license renewals, oil changes, maintenance, etc. Well worth trying if your situation would make it possible. Plus, walking to and from work is so freeing! :)

I had no idea I could eat that!

2009-06-15T12:39:00.003-04:00

My boyfriend and I are participating in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year. It's both wonderful and challenging. It's great because it's all so fresh and local. And we get more than just fruits and veggies - free range eggs, cheeses, potted herbs, cider, mushrooms, and more! But it's also a bit tricky for two people to eat all the food we get each week. I've resorted to giving away a few things, which my coworkers certainly don't mind. It can also be difficult to figure out things to make with everything we get.

Another interesting aspect of the CSA has been eating foods that I've never eaten before - kale, broccoli rabe, scapes, ramps, and more. This week we'll be receiving purslane, which I've weeded out of many gardens without ever realizing it is an edible and tasty treat (so they say - I've yet to try it). I don't know why, but the fact that such a common weed is edible is just crazy to me. I know we can eat dandelions, but they're so bitter that I wouldn't want to. This one is supposed to be quite good. We shall see.

Fleas

2008-10-04T17:58:00.004-04:00

Jez, our cat who has not been outside in over a year, has fleas for the first time. Since I've never had a cat with fleas before, I had no idea what it was. So we probably caught it rather late - after she shed quite a few flea eggs onto our bed and they had time to hatch near the foot.... and well, it's just not pleasant.

A trip to PETCO was in order. Off we went with a vague idea of what we were looking for. I had looked up Frontline on the computer and the PETCO website said it was $41.99 for 3 months. A bit hefty but oh well.

We get to the store only to discover that it costs $64.99 there, and they will not match the price on their website. Absurd. I hadn't seen the notice at the very bottom of the webpage that said "Regular and sale prices, offers and selection on PETCO.com may vary from those of PETCO stores and the PETCO Store Circular." And really, charging 55% more in the store - what is the justification for that? A premium not to wait for it to ship? Pathetic.

So I asked the cashier if she could give us any discount at all. After discussing it with a manager, we were able to get it for $55. Still a markup but 31% instead of 55%. Later, we learned that we can get it for $35 at a local animal rescue league. We will definitely be looking into that.

The point is that you can get discounts at a chain store. It helped that my boyfriend re-looked up the price on his Blackberry and was able to prove to them that it was a lot cheaper online.

And hopefully after Frontline, furniture spray, and a fogger , we will soon be flea-free.

I Just Saved a Ton of Money on My Car Insurance

2008-10-03T18:52:00.001-04:00

My car insurance renewal came up in early September. I had stayed with AllState because of an awesome insurance agent in Ohio (hi Paul Webster!). I felt no such need to stay with AllState in Pennsylvania. So I started calling around - Liberty Mutual and Erie Insurance. They were both recommended at my boyfriend's place of work.

Combined for renter's insurance and car insurance for both our cars, we (my boyfriend used to have State Farm) were paying approximately $1600 total. Erie was able to put us on a domestic partner policy, and we now pay under $600 per year. To be fair, we did change around our options a bit. I increased my liability coverage, but he switched from full tort to limited tort, and got rid of uninsured and underinsured. That made quite the difference as well. It pays to understand you car insurance options.

If you live in an area where Erie is available, you ought to check them out. A number of comments I read said that Erie's prices just can't be beaten - and other insurance companies know it. I also found this site, which might be helpful when trying to figure out who to call, and just stumbled on this one right now.

Cheaper Prescriptions

2008-10-02T18:50:00.003-04:00

This Summer when my boyfriend and I went to China, we took preventative malaria medicine. Malarone to be precise (good stuff, much better than Larium from what I read here). While my boyfriend's insurance covered his prescription, mind did not. And the stuff is not cheap.

When I went to pick up the prescription, the pharmacist verified that I was aware my insurance did not cover it. I must have said "I know" in a particularly pitiful way because he said, "Give me a second" and started punching keys on the computer. After a while, he said, "You can ask me to price match it" (or something similar). So I did. I saved $35 on what was originally a $185 prescription.

This is obviously not something pharmacies advertise, but it's definitely worth a try. It only works on things your insurance does not cover, of course.

Consumer Reports' The Ultimate Money Guide has several other suggestions for saving money on prescriptions:

Use an independent pharmacy instead of a national chain like Rite Aid or CVS. They are usually cheaper.
Buy generic whenever possible (and take advantage of those chains with cheap generic plans, like WalMart's $4 generic program)
Buying in bulk will sometimes reduce the cost per pill.
Check your pharmacy's website - they often sell drugs cheaper online.

Lastly, if your insurance offers it, take advantage of the "buy 3 months for the price of 2" option (or similar) when you fill out a form and receive your prescriptions in the mail. I have this option but have yet to do it. I need to get my act together! :)

Save Money on Heating and Cooling Bills

2008-10-01T11:05:00.000-04:00

After a high of nearly 70 yesterday, the temperature has dropped about 15 degrees. Fall is officially upon us. The apartment is currently 67 degrees, so I set the heat to come on for the first time this season - at 64 degrees.

We used very little air conditioning this Summer. The a/c was set to kick on at 80. I also spent mornings and evenings opening and closing windows to get the cool night air but keep out the hot air during the day. If I were more diligent and could handle closed curtains (both for me and my plants) then I should have kept the North-facing window curtains closed during the day. I love the sun, and my plants need it, so this was not an option for me. But it certainly could have been.

This Fall and Winter I am hoping to keep our heating bill as low as possible. Here's what I did last year and what I'm hoping to do this year:
1. Last Winter, we kept the apartment at 67. I intend to aim for 66 or 65 this year. It's tricky - I'm a freeze baby - but it's definitely possible. I will also try lowering the temperature at night as well (purchasing flannel sheets is on the To Do list).
2. We also have a very drafty apartment. Last year, I kept a rolled up towel at the base of our front door to stop the draft. This year, I am planning to do the same, and will add one to the door that goes to the basement as well.
3. I will also consider closing off the guest bedroom (and closing the registers in there as well). We almost never use it, and heating one less room should help.
4. Our windows are pretty drafty - I might have to look into that plastic covering stuff to seal them off. Of course, I keep plants on a number of windowsills, so I probably won't do those.

How about you? What do you do to keep your homes/apartments cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter?

I Heart Dollar Stores

2008-09-09T11:16:00.001-04:00

I'll admit it. I love dollar stores. The wacky, cool, nifty, bizarre things you can find for just $1 is never-ending fun. You do have to be careful at times though, because dollar stores are not always cheaper.

However, for Halloween decorations, you just cannot beat them. My boyfriend and I have decided to make Halloween our annual big bash. Last year, I borrowed decorations from my parents (years and years of Halloween parties growing up means they have lots of cool stuff). However, my younger brother is throwing a party this year, so the decorations are in use. Time to start collecting my own.

With that goal in mind I stopped at Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Family Dollar, along with KMart, WalMart, and Big Lots this past weekend. The variety of decorations at the stores was great (except WalMart, which had a pitifully small showing of Halloween stuff). Now, if you want sophisticated, noise-making, moving Halloween decorations, dollar stores are not your ideal. But if you are just looking for the basic tape-them-to-the-wall, hang them from the chandelier decorations and incredibly goofy prizes for costume contests and the like, check out your local dollar stores (especially Dollar Tree, if you have one).

As for the more sophisticated decorations mentioned above, I intend to accrue those slowly to even out the expenses. We will also be making some decorations as well this year.

And in regards to the Green side of things, I have every intention of reusing just about everything I bought this year for many years. Except the paper plates, cups, and napkins, which I feel guilty about. However, they were far cheaper at a dollar store than at KMart, which was charging $2.29 or thereabouts for everything I got for $1. At least I saved money, right?

Lastly, one of the many great things about picking a specific holiday for an annual big bash is that I can go garage sale-ing and thrift-shopping and keep an eye out for possible decorations any time of year. That means I can be green and reuse, as well as buying things when they are very cheap.

Public Libraries Can Save You Money

2008-08-14T14:58:00.001-04:00

The Consumerist has a short article entitled 7 Ways Your Public Library Can Help You During a Bad Economy. There are lots of good suggestions in the comments, too (as well as the occasionally complaint).

Back from China

2008-08-04T15:35:00.000-04:00

Actually I've been back from China for a while. About a week and a half now. It takes some time to catch up and get back into the swing of things.

The following photos are from Yangshuo, China. Yangshuo is near Guilin, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China for its gorgeous scenery.

China is an interesting place to visit. In terms of finances it is far more expensive just getting there and back than it is to spend 11 days traveling all over the place. In fact, well over 3 times as expensive.

I greatly enjoyed my first foray into bargaining. Most of the time, my friend and her husband (who is Chinese) did the bargaining for us. However, on the last day of our trip, my boyfriend and I purchased some gifts without their assistance. Using the "walk away" method, we were able to get items for one-forth or less the original price named - good prices for foreigners. The walk away method essentially involves expressing interest in something, looking at a few different options, and then saying you aren't really sure and will keep looking. Then, you walk away while the vendor calls out lower and lower prices until you get to a deal you just can't pass up.

Interesting Articles

2008-07-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

I've read two very interesting articles recently, both of which were mentioned on the blog The Good Human (a green blog that's definitely worth subscribing to).

First is the article on California's new vehicle rating system which is to be displayed near the number plate of all new vehicles. Vehicles will be given both a "global warming score" and a "smog score," each ranging from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most environmentally friendly.

Another interesting article is from the NYT entitled Can Weeds Help Solve the Climate Crisis? While the article spends far less time discussing how weeds can help solve the crisis than it does discussing the adaptability of weeds, it is still highly interesting. According to experiments, weeds positively thrive (grow much larger, produce more pollen, etc) at higher temperatures and higher CO2 levels. The article suggests that the "weedy ancestors of our food crops... will cope far better with coming climatic changes than their domesticated descendants." Therefore, focusing on these ancestors in the future may become essential.

Lastly, I will be leaving for a trip to China tomorrow and will not return until July 24th, so I won't be writing any new posts for a while. :)

Plants that Absorb Formaldehyde

2008-06-27T12:12:00.001-04:00

I love houseplants, and I have a lot of them. I am forever reading about all the benefits of various types of plants, particularly in relation to removing toxins from the air. Toxins like formaldehyde. But I never really felt I had a good grasp on whether or not these toxins really were things commonly found in the home until I read this article from The Daily Green.

Turns out formaldehyde commonly leaches out over time from things like plywood, particleboard, and fiberboard, often coming from the glue that holds the pieces together.

What plants are good for removing formaldehyde from the air (see the chart here and read this for more information)?

1. Spider plants
2. Corn plants
3. Heart leaf philodendron
4. Golden Pathos
5. Madag Dragon Tree
6. Waneckii
7. Chrysanthemum
8. Peace Lily

Incidentally, some of these plants are also extremely hardy and hard to kill, mainly spider plant, corn plant, heart leaf philodendron, and golden pathos. Interestingly, I have 7 out of the 8 plants listed (no Chrysanthemum), 2 of which came in a basket from a funeral home. Perhaps I need to spread them around my apartment more to up my formaldehyde protection in all areas.

What I do for the environment

2008-06-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

Since I recently posted about what I see that harms the environment, I thought I'd list off some of the things I do to help the environment. Most of these are very easy to do.

1. Recycle - For me, this is ingrained. Growing up, my family always recycled. We had so many garbage cans that guests were often very confused - recycling, regular, burnables (okay, this may not be as environmentally friendly), and a bucket for veggie and fruit scraps. If curbside pickup is available, I can't imagine why someone wouldn't recycle. It's so easy!
2. Reusable bags - I've already posted about this. I have tons of bags and use them as often as I can remember to do so.
3. Walk (or bike) to work (and to the store) - Admittedly, I only do this when the weather is nice, but I have been walking to work as much as possible. Of course, walking to work is only an option for those who live relatively close - in my case, a little over a mile.
4. Carpool - In the winter or in bad weather, I carpool with my boyfriend. I'm not sure it's a huge savings, because there is a shorter route he could take to work. I think it's better than taking two cars though.
5. Reuse - My sugar jar is a former spaghetti sauce jar. We mix our own balsamic vinaigrette and our current jar used to be a jelly jar. Most of my furniture is second- (or third- or forth-) hand. I am a scrap paper fiend, even collecting it from the unclaimed printouts at work. Reusing is easy - and cheap!
6. Compost - I have just begun composting and will write more about this in a future post.
7. Grow your own vegetables - Another topic on which I have already posted.
8. CFLs - When bulbs burns out, we switch them to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
9. Thermostat - To reduce our energy use, we set the thermostat to 67 in the winter (which is difficult for a freeze baby like me) and 80 in the summer. I'd love a programmable thermostat but we are in an apartment.
10. Reusable Water Bottles - I have very rarely bought bottled water. It just seems like such a waste and completely unnecessary. Tap water is monitored. I carry around a reusable water bottle, which is especially handy at work.

If you have any suggestions of things you do, let me know! I am always looking for more things that I should be doing, particularly if they are cheap and easy. :)

Grow Your Own Food

2008-06-16T18:56:00.000-04:00

This spring marks my first attempt at growing vegetables. I grew up in a family of gardeners, and my grandparents always had a very large garden next to their house. Still do, in fact. I've done my fair share of weeding but never have I been fully responsible for planting, weeding, watering, staking, and harvesting. So far it's going reasonably well.

Container Gardening
Because I was unsure of the amount of sun I would have available in various yard locations, and because I do not know much about the soil at the apartment, I opted for container gardening. A picture of the most elaborate container structure is here. In that one, I have peas, lettuce, and green beans. The lettuce is probably at or very near the edible point, but I have yet to pick any. The peas are just now blooming, and the green beans, planted much more recently, have quite a ways to go. I also have containers for 2 tomato plants, which are happily producing tomatoes, although none have ripened yet. And cucumber, zucchini, and a second round of lettuce. Then I have small pots of parsley (the only thing I have eaten thus far), basil, oregano, cilantro, coriander, and nasturtium.

Saving Money?
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I'm saving money. Between the containers, the seeds, and all the organic potting soil, I probably won't even break even. However, it feels good to play in the dirt, and to know exactly how my vegetables have been grown. Next year I will probably do better. First of all, I will be using the containers a second time. Secondly, I am currently composting kitchen scraps (more about this in a future post), which I will be able to use next year to cut down on the amount of soil I buy. Plus it's a hobby I really enjoy, so when you factor in the money I could be spending on some other hobby (okay, I'm reaching, I know), I'm really doing quite well.

For those of you who think it is beyond your abilities/patience
Deciding to grow your own vegetables can very quickly become overwhelming - what should you grow; where should you grow it; what do different plants require in terms of soil, maintenance, staking, sun, water, etc... the questions can go on forever. The best piece of advice I can give you is one I found in a book recommended by a coworker called You Grow Girl - best title ever, of course. Start small, do as little as you want, and don't get upset if things don't go as expected. An example from my experience:

On April 11, I bought a tomato plant called a Black Ethiopian at a student plant sale here on campus. Tomato plants are wimpy and cannot be placed outdoors until the weather is quite warm - late May in my area. This tomato plant grew at an alarming rate. Between April 11 and late May, it grew about 4 feet (apparently this variety gets as tall as 6 feet - who knew?) in the south-facing window in my bedroom. The plant is now outside and has approximately 3 feet in the middle where it looks utterly pathetic - all dead leaves. But - it's started to produce tomatoes. It may not produce very many, but that's okay. I tried, and I won't be buying a Black Ethiopian again. Patio tomatoes are much easier. :)

You Grow Girl also mentions that just about any vegetable can be grown in a container. Plus, many herbs can be brought indoors for use all winter long. So go ahead, give it a try.

Environmentally Unfriendly

2008-06-13T11:58:00.000-04:00

I walk through a rather affluent area on my way to work. I love to look at the beautiful yards (far preferring ones where I know the tenants/homeowners manage the yards themselves), but I am forever noticing things that make me sad for the environment. Now, I recognize that there is always more I myself can do, but some of the things I see that disappoint me are:

1. This morning I saw a truck dropping bottled water off at a private residence. There are two things that bother me about this. First of all, there's the truck that's delivering this to someone's home - using gas, polluting, etc., all so someone can have bottled water delivered to his/her front door. Secondly, it's bottled water! All that wasted plastic! I hope it at least gets recycled. Tap water and a reusable bottle is so much better.

2. Endless garbage on trash day. What single residence (unless they have 20 kids) needs to produce 8+ huge garbage bags of trash? Weekly! And I can see through those bags - aluminum cans, plastic bottles, corrugated cardboard. It's so easy to recycle here - why don't they do it? Almost everything (and certainly the three I just listed) are all curbside pickup!

3. Yards with signs that say they've recently been treated with chemicals. Give me clover and crab grass any day, or at least go for organic treatments.

4. All the lawn care trucks. Yards aren't that big around here. I should think many of these people can do it themselves. Perhaps even with human-powered mowers (I really need to find out the technical term for those things), although admittedly those don't do the best job when you have lots of crab grass and clover....

There are probably more that I cannot think of right now. And perhaps I need to stop complaining and come up with some solutions - at the minimum, teach my upstairs neighbors (from another country where they perhaps do not recycle?) about recycling.