I've been thinking a lot about how we spend our money lately--mainly, because we have less of it now. I'm not entirely sure how much less. I've been meaning to make up a budget ever since Warren started working three days a week, but instead of being a responsible adult and facing the situation head-on, I'm taking the three-year-old approach--the one where you cover your eyes and the bad thing disappears. So I'm pretty much ignoring my bank account altogether. Am I the only one who does this?
Anyway, lets steer clear of the growing list of Things I've Been Avoiding and get back to money talk. This is what I've been thinking: First of all, it makes a lot more sense to buy used than it does to buy new, on many levels--it's better for the environment and it's better for your wallet. And thanks to freecycle and craigslist finding obscure used items (jogging trampoline, anyone?) has never been easier. So, I've made a commitment to myself to buy used whenever possible. In order to make this work I've decided that I should try three alternate ways of getting an item used before buying it new. So I might try craigslist, then a second hand store, then maybe our homeschool e-group and if I haven't found what I'm looking for I'll buy it new.
Some things are better purchased new, though. For example, that book on the teenage body that I'm getting for Jerry. I really don't want to end up with a copy that's been embellished by the comments and drawings of a 13-year-old boy. Call me crazy but I think it's better to be safe than sorry in this case. Also, I considered getting a chemistry kit used but then I got worried about having the right chemicals to do the experiments, or things being mislabeled (and explosions ensuing) and I thought I'd better go new in that case as well. So, I'm not being too rigid about the whole thing.
When I do buy new I'm trying to buy local as much as possible. One way to make buying local easier is to find what you're looking for online and then see if a local store can order it for you. I tried that with the chemistry kit but the company that makes the kit has a $500 minimum so it didn't work out because the store owner didn't need $500 worth of merchandise from them. Still, some companies don't have a minimum so it could work. Of course, sometimes buying local is more expensive (it's hard to beat amazon.com's prices) but business owners who are struggling to keep their doors open might be willing to make a deal--it doesn't hurt to ask.
Speaking of buying locally, here's something else I've been thinking about: What's my responsibility to the businesses in my community? I've been thinking about this a lot since I started toying with the idea of joining the compact. One of the things I love about Silver Lake (my area of L.A.) is that it's so vibrant. Part of what makes it so vibrant are the boutique stores, cafes, restaurants and mom and pop businesses scattered throughout the neighborhood. If I want those places to stay open I have a responsibility to spend my money there, right? Right. So, how do I balance my own need to save money and tread lightly on the earth with my desire to keep these neighborhood businesses alive?
I think I'm probably on the right track with the whole idea of asking local business owners to order the items I would otherwise be buying online. Sure, it takes a little more time, but it also gets me talking to the local business owners more than I would if I were just buying off the shelf. And that creates a stronger sense of community. Seems like a win/win situation really.
So that's what's been on my mind these days. That and the cream-filled chocolate cupcakes I made a couple weeks ago. I can't stop thinking about them! The cream filling is almost exactly the same as the cream filling in Krispy Kreme's plain glazed cream-filled donuts! I'm going to do a terrible thing now and tell you how to make that cream. It's so easy (which is why it's terrible). All you need is a jar of marshmallow creme and a stick of unsalted butter. When the butter reaches room temperature put it in a mixer with your 7 ounces of marshmallow creme, whip it together, and voila! Your arteries will start to harden just looking at it.
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
January 15, 2009
January 6, 2009
You May Have Noticed...
that I haven't been blogging lately. Sorry. I'm taking a brief hiatus. We were out of town over the holidays, then my parents were visiting, now I'm going to see a friend in San Francisco. (Alone! Woo hoo!!) And my sister and her family are returning from Ireland (For Good! Double woo hoo!!!!!!) on January 19th. And we might go camping in early February. And Warren has been off so we're trying to clean out the office, but really we seem to be making more of a mess. Anyway, there's so much going on I've hardly been at the computer at all except to look up answers to the odd question from Jerry ("I wonder what's the longest a person has gone without taking a shower.") or to research fun things to do (we found an r/c airplane club nearby!) and find a new Japanese tutor for Jerry (the first lesson is today!). So blogging has taken a back seat, as has reading other people's blogs (sorry!). I expect things to settle down in mid-February but I'll try to get a few posts in before then. One piece of exciting news (not as exciting as my sister coming home, though) is that I'm thinking of joining The Compact. My friend Angela is doing it and I've been thinking of joining her but I'm hesitant because we plan on painting the inside of our house and that would mean I'd have to buy new paint. Maybe that's a lame excuse. Anyway, I'm still not buying other new things. Oh, except there's a new game we want to get and we thought we'd order a chemistry set for Jerry. See!? It's hard to get out of the habit of buying stuff! And how do you do it when you're educating your child at home!? Anyway, it's all good stuff to think about and even if we don't go whole hog and stop buying new stuff altogether we'll definitely be more mindful of what we choose to buy--and most of it will be used.
And speaking of buying used--now that Christmas is over I can show you what I made for my mom and my sister! I had so much fun making gifts this year that I think I'll do it every year.
I found a little kids table and chair set at a second hand store and bought it thinking I would give it to my brother and his girlfriend for their baby girl (due in April) but then I remembered that my mom has this cute little tea set and has always talked about having tea parties with Cora, my niece, and now Cora is coming back from Ireland and they'll be living with my parents for a while so my mom will need a little table. So I decided to paint it and give it to my mom.
And for my sister I made a purse using an easy tutorial I found online. I used a piece of upholstery fabric I got from my very first job out of college (a fabric store for interior designers) that I've been holding onto for 17 years and I just love the way it turned out. Part of me wished she wouldn't like it so I could take it back and make her a different one!
Inside the purse I put a collection of my favorite short stories. I xeroxed them from my own books and wrote an introduction, made a pretty cover, and bound the pages together. It wasn't until after I compiled the stories that I read them all again and realized how depressing most of them were! That's part of the reason I wrote an introduction--I had to warn her that reading the stories all in one sitting might lead to thoughts of suicide. So far she's still with us though, so I don't think they've had a negative impact. The stories I chose were:
And speaking of buying used--now that Christmas is over I can show you what I made for my mom and my sister! I had so much fun making gifts this year that I think I'll do it every year.
I found a little kids table and chair set at a second hand store and bought it thinking I would give it to my brother and his girlfriend for their baby girl (due in April) but then I remembered that my mom has this cute little tea set and has always talked about having tea parties with Cora, my niece, and now Cora is coming back from Ireland and they'll be living with my parents for a while so my mom will need a little table. So I decided to paint it and give it to my mom.
And for my sister I made a purse using an easy tutorial I found online. I used a piece of upholstery fabric I got from my very first job out of college (a fabric store for interior designers) that I've been holding onto for 17 years and I just love the way it turned out. Part of me wished she wouldn't like it so I could take it back and make her a different one!
Inside the purse I put a collection of my favorite short stories. I xeroxed them from my own books and wrote an introduction, made a pretty cover, and bound the pages together. It wasn't until after I compiled the stories that I read them all again and realized how depressing most of them were! That's part of the reason I wrote an introduction--I had to warn her that reading the stories all in one sitting might lead to thoughts of suicide. So far she's still with us though, so I don't think they've had a negative impact. The stories I chose were:- In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried by Amy Hempel
- Melinda Falling by Jincy Willett
- Cathedral by Raymond Carver
- Memories of Youghal by William Trevor
- Shooting Dad by Sara Vowell (that one's an essay, not a story)
July 17, 2008
Baby Steps & Driving 55
I performed my first routine in circus class yesterday. It was a beginner version of what everyone else was doing. The other students climbed up the silks (those things you saw me holding onto a couple weeks ago in my pathetic attempt to get upside down) and did their routines from high in the air, but I stayed closer to the ground. And the teacher had to stand beside me and tell me what was next because everyone else had learned the routine when we were in New Zealand and I'd only just learned it yesterday. I did it, though. Yeah for me! When Jerry gets back from camp I'll have him come in again and tape me so you can see it for yourself. Hopefully by then it won't be quite as funny as it is now.
So I'm taking baby steps at circus class and slightly bigger steps at living a more sustainable life. I can't remember if I ever wrote about it here but after we got back from New Zealand I made a commitment to myself to use the car less frequently. I figured if I could walk to the grocery store in NZ I could do it at home. So I've been really good about not using the car to go to the store unless I stop by there when I'm on my way home from someplace else. And I've stopped using plastic or paper bags altogether. I've also stopped using the clothes dryer. That's something that seemed really difficult when I thought about doing it but, in practice, is a breeze. I still use it on occasion but only to soften up things that are too crusty after air drying (like towels and blue jeans). Since I can't hang the laundry in the backyard and I don't like hanging it in the front where people might walk off with it, I've been putting it in our living room, which means the living room often looks like this:
But I don't mind. My next step is to start driving 55 on the freeway. So far this is the most difficult change for me. I simply cannot bring myself to slow down. It's soooo haaaaarrrd. I thought about getting a "iDrive 55" bumper sticker--hoping that maybe the fear of being such an obvious hypocrite would slow me down--but I don't think I'm ready. Baby steps. I'm going to try 65 for now.
So I'm taking baby steps at circus class and slightly bigger steps at living a more sustainable life. I can't remember if I ever wrote about it here but after we got back from New Zealand I made a commitment to myself to use the car less frequently. I figured if I could walk to the grocery store in NZ I could do it at home. So I've been really good about not using the car to go to the store unless I stop by there when I'm on my way home from someplace else. And I've stopped using plastic or paper bags altogether. I've also stopped using the clothes dryer. That's something that seemed really difficult when I thought about doing it but, in practice, is a breeze. I still use it on occasion but only to soften up things that are too crusty after air drying (like towels and blue jeans). Since I can't hang the laundry in the backyard and I don't like hanging it in the front where people might walk off with it, I've been putting it in our living room, which means the living room often looks like this:
But I don't mind. My next step is to start driving 55 on the freeway. So far this is the most difficult change for me. I simply cannot bring myself to slow down. It's soooo haaaaarrrd. I thought about getting a "iDrive 55" bumper sticker--hoping that maybe the fear of being such an obvious hypocrite would slow me down--but I don't think I'm ready. Baby steps. I'm going to try 65 for now.
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