My Year Without Spending

New Blog Address

2010-11-22T20:58:00.001-08:00

My Year Without Spending has moved!

Please bookmark the new address if you haven't yet.

Click here to go to the new site.

The new website is ready!

2010-09-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

I'm unveiling the new website today. Come on over!

I'm migrating from blogger to wordpress and I hope it will be a smooth transition. The blog will be the same as ever, with a more updated design and platform.

I hope you like it! Please let me know your thoughts with a comment or an email. And I apologize in advance for any kinks and ask for your patience. Hopefully there won't be many, but please contact me with any issues.

Click here to go to My Year Without Spending.

Frugal, At-Home Beauty Treatments

2010-09-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous! Here I am testing out one of the Frugal Beauty Treatments I want to share with you. Because just because you don't want to spend spa-level money doesn't mean you can't have a spa-level experience. I'm also showing off the evidence of my recent shoulder surgery -- bandages and rashes across my collarbone. Sexy!

You can have beautiful skin and hair using ingredients you already have, without buying expensive products. The bonus is that this stuff is natural and organic, so in the long run it may be better for you, and it's definitely better for the environment. No packaging!

These are some great ones I've collected from magazines and around the Internet:

FIG FACIAL SCRUB/MASK: Mix together 1 cup brown sugar, 1/8 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup mashed figs, 1 oz. vanilla and rub into face and neck. Rinse thoroughly or leave on until it dries into a mask and rinse. This is the mask I'm wearing in the photo. It left my skin very soft and smooth looking, and there was plenty left for a body scrub. Figs are loaded with antioxidants, but I would use this one without the figs when they're out of season. It smells good enough to eat!

LAVENDER BATH: Grind the following ingredients into a smooth, fine powder in a food processor or blender: 1 cup dried lavender, 2 cups oatmeal, 1/2 cup baking soda. Store in a clean, airtight container. To use, pour 1/2 cup as you run a warm bath. Baths are one of the cheapest, easiest ways to wind down at the end of a hard day. On top of being relaxing, this one will leave your skin silky soft.

BODY SCRUB: Combine 1/2 cup Epsom salts, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup sunflower oil and store in a clean glass jar. Sloughs off dead skin and gives you a rosy glow all over. Sunset magazine recommends this as part of a DIY gift basket that also includes slippers, an eye mask, and a homemade lavender sachet.

HAIR CONDITIONER: In a small glass bowl, mash 1/2 avocado, 2 Tbsp. honey, 2 Tbsp. vodka, and 1 egg yolk with a fork to make a creamy mixture. Apply to freshly-shampooed, towel-dried hair. Leave on for 30 minutes. Rinse well in warm water and shampoo and style as usual. This recipe is recommended for healthy, shiny hair by celebrity hairstylist Robert Hallowell.

HAND AND FOOT SCRUB: Mix 2 Tbsp. light olive oil or grapeseed oil and 2 Tbsp. sugar and rub onto hands and feet, focusing on calloused areas. Rinse under warm water and pat dry for silky-smooth skin.

FOOT SOAK: Fill a bowl with warm water and add a few teaspoons of almond oil and a couple of drops of essential oil. Soak for 15 minutes to relax and soothe tired feet. For a healing as well as relaxing experience, after drying feet, apply lotion or oil and wear socks to allow the treatment to penetrate dry skin.

My own DIY hair moisturizer that I've been using since I was a teenager is to rub olive oil into dry hair, leave on up to 30 minutes, and then shampoo. It might take a couple of shampoos to rinse out, but it takes out the frizz and leaves your hair shiny and manageable.

Whether it's relaxing or beautifying you're looking for, or both, these recipes fit everyone's budget.

What are your favorite frugal, at-home beauty treatments? Please share them in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads

2010-09-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, a yard sale, craigslist, ebay, or anywhere else you find used clothing.

Today's model is Amber, who bought this beautiful wedding dress at a local consignment shop where she lives in northwest Tennessee for just $125. Her mom Karen made her bouquet from flowers they bought at a wholesale store, and Amber wore a pair of her mom's white slipper house shoes with the dress. Except for the $10 rental for the arch, the family used items already available at their church for their beautiful, frugal wedding.

Karen says their family has always been Goodwill, consignment, secondhand, and yard sale shoppers. Congratulations Amber, on your marriage (even though it was back in 2008), and for inheriting your mother's wisdom about secondhand shopping. That is a gorgeous dress, and you managed to have a beautiful wedding without going into debt.

Thanks Karen, for sending in those lovely photos, and thanks Amber, for letting me post them on Thrifty Threads. What a marvelous example to anyone who's thinking about getting married - you can buy a used wedding dress! And chances are, it's only been worn once! Have it cleaned, and get yourself a 90 percent off bargain!

Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton (dot) angela (at) gmail (dot) com. I love to see what you're finding out there, it's so much fun, and such an inspiration. And if you shop secondhand, tell us your best tips in the Comments section. And click here if you want to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Meatless Monday recipes

2010-09-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

It's about time for some Meatless Monday recipe ideas!

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative aimed at encouraging people to cut out meat one day a week for the sake of their health and the environment. Click here to find out all about it. My husband and I have been going meatless several times a week for awhile now, and it's no sacrifice whatsoever. The key to eating meatless is fresh produce and delicious recipes.

These two simple recipes have become staples in our household lately. They're both super-satisfying as a side dish or a main course, and they also go well together.

GREEK SALAD

Leafy greens of any kind - we like arugula or spinach best (does that make us elitists?)
one small chopped tomato or several cherry tomatoes sliced in half
one half chopped cucumber
one half small red onion, thinly sliced and chopped
crumbled feta
10 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
Newman's Own Family Recipe Italian (you can use any Italian dressing or mix your own)
ground pepper

Mix and toss lightly with dressing. Go easy with the feta and kalamata olives in relation to the rest of the ingredients.

3 BEAN SALAD

One 16-oz can or 2 cups dried cooked kidney beans
One 16-oz can or 2 cups dried cooked garbanzo beans
2 cups cooked green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
chopped fresh or dried thyme
ground pepper

Mix first four ingredients in bowl, then mix dressing in separate bowl and toss well with beans and onion. Let sit in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Last night my husband made the Greek Salad himself in about 5 minutes. He says it's the only way he likes cucumbers. If you're not convinced that eating more fruit and vegetables is good for your health, check out this article about how a low-carb diet might help you lose weight but is bad for you in the long run. Apparently we can't hear it too often, because according to this article, most Americans still don't eat nearly enough fresh produce.

Do you have any easy meatless recipes you'd like to share? Please let us know in the Comments section and I'll include them in the next Meatless Monday recipes post. And click here if you want to look through previous Meatless Monday recipes.

What's next...

2010-09-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all your comments and emails responding to my question about what you like best about this blog. Luckily you seem to be in sync with me about the direction I'd like to take things.

Here's what won't change:

I'll still be bringing you posts about living a non-consumer lifestyle, including thoughts and insights about purchasing decisions, getting rid of STUFF, and what makes us happy. I will continue with Thrifty Threads as long as I keep receiving your photographs. The feature is a reader favorite, and I love writing it. It is so inspiring to see how creative you all are in the area of buying secondhand while still being stylish. I'll also continue with Meatless Mondays and CSA deliveries, although probably less often. And the blog will continue to be ad-free.

What will change:

I'm working on a new design for the blog. I have finally caved in to the reality that wordpress is simply a more widely-used platform that offers more options and will make it easier for me to deliver timely posts. Also, I wanted to create a professional website and have the blog be connected to it, and that made wordpress the clear choice. I'm excited about the new blog, and the features it will allow me to bring to you. But I'm putting it together with great care so that you won't miss anything about the old blog.

I won't be doing regular Food Waste Friday posts any longer, although I'll still be watching our food waste. I still strongly believe in the cause so I'll probably mention it once in awhile, but I'm not going to be photographing and posting our waste and writing about it any longer.

I'll be posting less often, so that I can dig deeper into some topics, like I wrote about in this post last week. I'll still be posting regularly, not sporadically, but probably 2 or 3 times a week rather than nearly every day. Here are some of the topics I've been wanting to explore:

Our nontraditional, frugal wedding.
Birthday freebies.
Frugal, drought-tolerant landscaping.
Green drycleaning.
Frugal, at-home body treatments.
More giveaways.
Organic cosmetics update.
More non-consumer gift ideas.
Roadblocks, both interior and exterior, to simple living.

Those are just a few of the ideas for posts in the works...

I'm looking forward to it, and I hope you'll continue to stop by. Thanks again for your input!

Delicious and Nutritious Free Food

2010-09-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

This is what I got from our neighborhood produce swap last week. My contribution was a freshly baked batch of peanut butter cookies, and I was thrilled with what I received in return.

A woman in my neighborhood had this great idea for the swap and she turned it into a reality. Once a month participants drop off whatever they've got to offer and get back a bag of goodies. It's called The Hillside Produce Cooperative and Hynden Welch is the organizer. It's been so successful that Hynden has been teaching people how to start a swap in their own neighborhood. You can read all about it in this post that I wrote last year.

On top of getting a free bag of fresh, local produce, what I love about this idea is how it eliminates waste. If you've ever grown zucchini or had a fruit tree that produces a lot of fruit, you know that it's nearly impossible to give away all that you can't use. And it feels terrible to let delicious, nutritious food go to waste. This is a great solution. It's also a fun community-building event.

What we got (roughly clockwise from the back): burning sage, zapote, avocado, butternut squash, lemon, a type of banana called saba, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, strawberry guava, banana bread, figs, and tons of fresh herbs including rosemary, basil, bay leaves, and chives.

Not only was I thrilled about the figs and the tomatoes and fresh herbs, there were three items I've never even tasted, which is incredible for someone who has lived in Southern California most of her life. My husband and I shared the zapote that very night, a delicious banana-like fruit, and both became immediate fans. The next morning my husband left me me a note: "I (heart) zapote!" The strawberry guava I grabbed for myself, and it tasted exactly like the name suggests, like a blend of those two fruits. And the small bananas are like plantains in that they're not supposed to be eaten raw, so I steamed them and we ate it with black beans and again, it was delicious. A much more subtle flavor than a commercial banana, and a more pleasant consistency.

An added bonus was that when I sent out a thank you to the group in which I mentioned that I was over the moon about the figs, the woman with the fig tree responded that I was welcome to come by and take more anytime I wanted because the tree would be producing for another two weeks and most of it was going to the squirrels. I took her up on it a few days later when we had a small party because I wanted to make this simple appetizer that my husband and I had loved so much. It takes about five minutes and looks beautiful on a plate, and it tastes incredible!

I highly recommend joining a produce coop or starting one yourself if you don't already have one in your own neighborhood. I couldn't be happier about ours, and feel so lucky to be part of it even though I don't have any produce to offer. I'm always happy to put my baking skills to use.

Do you have a coop or produce swap in your neighborhood? Tell us about it if you do. And click here to find out more about Hillside Produce Cooperative and how you can bring the idea to your own community.

Thrifty Threads

2010-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, craigslist, ebay, a yard sale, a clothing swap, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is Amy, who put together this adorable look for a formal occasion for less than five dollars, and that includes the shoes and jewelry!

Here's how she did it... The dress is from the Salvation Army, originally $6, but Amy got it on half-price day for $3. All of the jewelry came from the Goodwill "bargain room" outlet store, for a whopping 25 cents per piece! The earrings were new in the package, and the necklace looked new. I love the strappy sandals that set her back just 75 cents, also from Goodwill. And Amy says you can't see them in the picture, but her hair is being held up by antique hair clips that she picked up at a yard sale for 50 cents. I think that comes out to a total of $4.75. That's incredible.

Amy seems to have a particular talent for thrift store shopping, but she says she's blessed to live near super awesome stores in south central Pennsylvania, particularly the Goodwill outlet where nothing is over $2. This photo was taken in a friend's studio apartment, and even though Amy looks like a teenager, she's actually a 24-year-old mom of two little girls. You can learn her frugal secrets on her blog With Duck & Goose, where Amy posts recipes, ideas for frugal weddings, craft projects, and delves into issues like learning to appreciate her post-partum body (for the sake of her daughters as well as herself). I particularly enjoyed this post about how she went from an Eeyore to a Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh) and became an optimistic person. It's called Positively Positive (most of the time), and it's an insightful rumination on learning the difference between what we can control and what we can't.

These days Amy describes herself as a "happy-go-lucky ball of energy, in love with life and trying her best to make the most of what she has while she's here." Amy, we're glad you had the energy to send in that cute photo. You look great! How I wish I had known your secrets for dressing with style on a budget when I was your age. Thanks Amy!

Readers, send a photo of your favorite thrift store score to barton (dot) angela (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll post it on Thrifty Threads. Make sure you put Thrifty Threads in the subject line. And if you've sent me a photo and never heard back from me, I didn't receive it. I always respond within a few days, even if it takes several weeks for your submission to post.

Do you shop secondhand? Please share your best tips, plus compliments for Amy, in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Happy to be Back

2010-09-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hello readers! I'm so happy to be back after a much-needed break. I've missed you. And if you're reading this, thank you for sticking with me. I hope everyone enjoyed their summer.

Lest you think I was lolling about in a hammock eating bon bons the entirety of August, let me tell you that was not the case. I still had a lot of work and other things to take care of, but my husband and I did manage to take a break in Northern California visiting friends, hiking in the redwoods and biking along the ocean cliffs. It was gorgeous, relaxing, and just what I needed. The photo above was taken beside the largest coast live oak tree I've ever seen.

I don't know if I had any earth-shattering insights during that time, but I did realize that keeping up with a daily blog was a self-imposed activity that had started to become a chore, another item on my to-do list. And since this blog has been so valuable to me and I want to keep writing it, I knew that had to change. So I've got a few ideas and I would love your input.

First of all, I'll be blogging less often, and without a regular schedule. That way I'll be able to delve into some of the posts I've been putting aside for lack of time. I think in the long run, I'll be able to write better and more interesting posts this way, by going more in depth. (This whole concept was explored brilliantly in this post by Betsy over at Married With Luggage. She talks about how the term peanut buttering, which refers to spreading your resources too thin, is not only ineffective, it actually kills creativity.)

With that in mind, I'll be posting less often, but I hope more enthusiastically. My intention is to kick-start this blog so that my best posts are still ahead, not buried in the archives. At this point, my best guess is that I'll be posting an average of 2 or 3 posts per week instead of 5 or 6. What still interests me the most is how to live a nonconsumer lifestyle in a consumer society, and raising questions about what guides our purchasing decisions, what we can do without, and what we really need to be happy. I'd love your input on which features and types of posts you like best, and what keeps you coming back to this blog. You can either leave me a comment or email me directly, but please let me know what you think. Which post made you visit the blog a second time after stumbling upon it? Do you remember some of your favorite posts? Do you want to see more or less of anything?

I'll add your ideas to what I've been thinking about the direction to take the blog and the types of posts I most enjoy writing. So leave me a comment, or send me an email at barton (dot)angela(at) gmail (dot) com. I look forward to hearing from you! And I greatly appreciate your time. On Thursday I'll have a brand-new Thrifty Threads post, and I've got some ideas in the works for next week.

Thrifty Threads: Celebrity Edition

2010-09-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

Hello readers! In preparation for my return to blogging next week, I just had to share this tidbit I saw in the news: "Drew Barrymore's $25 Red Carpet Hit."

Drew Barrymore shops secondhand!

Here's the blurb that goes along with the photo:

Talk about mixing high and low fashion! What did the adorable Drew Barrymore choose to wear to host the Nylon magazine/Express party this week in Los Angeles?

This gorgeous $25 metallic-printed 3/4-sleeve shift dress from a thrift store paired with $760 Yves Saint Laurent "Tribute" pumps, of course! I love the 1960's vibe she's got going on; the psychedelic print, the cut, and the pumped-up voluminous feel of her hair is a total win.

It's so refreshing to see someone mix it up and have fun with fashion. Just last month she made an appearance in an Oscar de la Renta runway dress--a far cry, financially, from an Austin, TX thrift-store find.

Don't you love it when vintage Drew -- the irreverent, quirky, girl power praising, throw-a-daisy-in-her-hair Drew that we all idolized in the 90's--steps out on the red carpet?

How reminiscent of a Thrifty Threads post. Well, aside from the red carpet and the $760 YSL pumps, of course. There's no doubt that secondhand fashion is all the rage.

I'll be back to blogging next week, see you on Tuesday!

A Blogging Break

2010-08-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hello reader friends.

Due to a combination of circumstances involving work, finances, health, and a much-needed vacation, I’ve decided to act like France and take a holiday from blogging for the entire month of August. I need to rest and take care of some personal issues so that I can continue writing this blog with the energy and enthusiasm I started with. It’s too important to me to give up entirely, so I hope I won’t lose any readers, but I need to rethink the direction and come back to it with a fresh perspective.

Look for me right after the Labor Day holiday, when I’ll be back from hiatus refreshed and rejuvenated, with more Thrifty Threads, Meatless Monday, CSA delivery, and Food Waste Friday posts, along with some new twists on the topics of non-consumerism and simple living. I've got so many posts in the works that I'm anxious to delve into. I’ll miss you, and I look forward to getting back to the conversation next month, when we’re all in more of a back-to-school mood.

Enjoy the rest of your summer. Don’t forget to take a nap in a hammock, eat an ice cream cone, sleep under the stars, play in the sprinklers, or stay outside until the sun goes down.

See you in September…

Thrifty Threads

2010-07-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, craigslist, ebay, a yard sale, a clothing swap, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is Jennifer, shown here with her mother in the maternity outfit she's put together with non-maternity pieces from consignment shops. Jennifer says she an avid thrift shopper, and she thinks it's awfully non-thrifty to purchase new maternity clothes. She also tries to buy regular women's clothing that can transition from pregnancy to post-natal easily.

Jennifer's outfit consists entirely of secondhand non-maternity clothing from the Funky Trunk Consignment Boutique and Goodwill in Newnan, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Here's the breakdown:

1) Bisou Bisou brand stretchy top was purchased at a consignment shop for $4.99 with the tags still on (originally priced $20)

2) Blue Old Navy tank top for $1.

3) Blue Banana Republic chino shorts for $10 at the same consignment shop (with tags, msrp $35)

4) Bella Band, which is a pregnancy band that lets you wear pre-pregnancy pants with the buttons down or maternity pants/shorts/skirts that are too loose after pregnancy. Jennifer purchased a fancy one with lace trim for $15 on craigslist.

5) Anne Taylor platform wedge sandals bought at Goodwill for just $3.99 (priced at $48 on still-attached tags).

Jennifer's mom is also wearing a secondhand top she got from her sister and Jennifer's pants from the 90s. I love the cute mother/daughter picture, happy and expectant.

Thanks Jennifer for that fabulous photo! No one would ever know you didn't pay full price for your stylish maternity look. Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton (dot) angela @ gmail (dot) com. Don't be shy, we all love to see the great clothes available secondhand for a fraction of the price of retail.

Are you a thrift store shopper? Please leave your best tips, plus compliments for Jennifer in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

CSA Delivery

2010-07-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

My skills as a food photographer will never be in demand, but the contents of this week's CSA delivery are still beautiful. We'll be eating a lot of caprese and greek salads, with all those tomatoes, cucumber, and the basil I just realized I forgot to put in the photo.

This week's delivery includes a lot of fancy names I've never heard, like kay pearl white nectarines (reminiscent of Mary Kay cosmetics), and honey royale yellow nectarines and straight eight zucchini, with a definite casino vibe.

Roughly clockwise from the back, we received: sugar queen melon, all blue potatoes, mixed heirloom cherry tomatoes, the aforementioned straight eight zucchini, honey royale yellow nectarines and kay pearl white nectarines, large heirloom tomatoes, peaches, owen t. plums, blue lake green beans, strawberries, baby salad greens, baby spinach, elephant garlic, market moore cucumbers, and purple basil (not shown).

Please leave recipe ideas for anything you see in this photo, especially the elephant garlic, which stumps me. And click here if you want to learn more about CSA delivery and find one in your area.

Drought tolerance

2010-07-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

These flowers were planted just two years ago. This one is my favorite, the Matilija poppy.

Lavender...

And this one's called lion's tail. I love it, but it only bloomed like this for about two weeks in June.

All of these plants are drought tolerant, and we didn't need to water them all winter.

What are some of your favorite drought tolerant plants?

Thrifty Threads

2010-07-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

Thrifty Threads is all about shopping and wearing secondhand clothes with style. These are just a few photos from previous installments... Kristen...

Danielle...

...and Anita...

All of them looking fabulous in secondhand clothes. Unfortunately, I don't have a new installment today because I've run out of photos! So please, readers, put on your favorite thrift store score, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton(dot)angela@gmail (dot)com. Put Thrifty Threads in the subject line, and wait to hear from me that you received it.

I'm expecting some photos of sundresses from a few of my regular readers- now's the time, you know who you are! Anyone is welcome to submit to Thrifty Threads, I can't wait to see your photos and continue the series next Thursday. In the meantime, click here to check out all previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Baby Steps Challenge update: composting

2010-07-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

The baby steps challenge I set for myself a year ago last July was to start composting. It had become more necessary when we started receiving a CSA delivery and there were a lot more food scraps.

I'm happy to report that this challenge has become such a habit that I can't imagine throwing things like potato peels, tea bags, or eggshells in the trash anymore. I've even managed to get my husband to go along with the program most of the time, although he still sometimes gets confused about what can be composted. He found a container that we put right outside the back door to throw scraps on their way to the bin, which is very helpful. And it took me almost a year, but I finally put the Pillsbury doughboy to rest (sold for $5!) and purchased a beautiful crock on ebay that sits on the counter.

One of the unintentional byproducts of composting that I love is that we're producing much less trash, and it's much less smelly. My husband likes this too, since he's now only taking the trash out to the curb once every three weeks or so. It's hard to imagine we ever took it out nearly every week. We used to have to plan who would take it out for us if we were out of town, what a waste of effort.

So I give myself high marks for tackling something that initially seemed very foreign to me, not to mention having a high "ick" factor (worms), and making it a habit. And if you're thinking about composting, if I can do it, so can you.

However, having done so well with throwing all that stuff in bins, I've now got two bins the size of the one in the picture and one twice that size filled to the brim with various stages of compost. I didn't do as well with turning it, and in fact hardly ever did it. So now I'm not sure what's the best way to go about turning this into compost that can actually be used. And I'm not a big gardener, so I don't know when/if I'll use it, but I can give it away.

Incidentally, I didn't need to buy any worms. They did indeed find their way into my bins, even in the hard dry soil of Southern California.

I used this tutorial from The Frugal Girl to get started. If you're ready to start composting, I encourage you to read it and you'll see how easy it is to save food scraps from the landfill and create your own compost to grow plants and flowers. All you need is a container, a drill, and about fifteen minutes of your time.

Composting experts, I still have a few questions. How do you know when you have the right combination of green and brown materials? I think I might have used too many leaves in an effort to make sure the food didn't smell or attract bugs, and the little bit I tried to use seemed too dry. But maybe that was because I didn't turn it enough. How often do you turn it, and if it hasn't been turned for many months, is it too late to start? Can you ruin compost? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section.

Do you compost? Give us your best tips! Thanks again to all my readers who helped me through the process last summer with your excellent advice. Check out my original post on the subject and this update to read all the helpful user comments.

Meatless Monday meets CSA

2010-07-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

Mondays are all about food on this blog. I either post a photo of our CSA delivery, or I share meatless recipes suggested by readers.

Due to my work schedule, we're not receiving a CSA delivery this week. But I did an interview last November with the owner of our CSA, and it was published on the Meatless Monday site. I thought I'd run it again in case you missed it.

Click here to read the interview with Terri Wahl, owner of Auntie Em's restaurant in Eagle Rock and creator of the most fabulous CSA I can imagine. The interview is all about how it's easy to go meatless when you have fresh, local, and organic produce to make delicious meals.

If you're a member of a CSA, please tell us about it in the Comments section. It's so interesting how different it can be depending on where you live. One of my readers got a delivery that included chicken and milk recently, along with fresh blueberries and greens. Another reader joined a CSA that includes a nice touch at harvest time: a ride to a pumpkin patch to pick their own pumpkins plus spiced apple cider back at the farm. I'd love to hear about more of your delivery experiences. It's so nice to know that we're all learning more about where our food is coming from! And check out Local Harvest if you want to find a CSA near you.

Food Waste Friday plus Favorite Blog Post of the Week

2010-07-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

This post could alternately be called "How to write a post in 5 minutes," because that's about how much time I have today, but I really wanted to share my favorite blog post of the week with you.

First, the food waste. It's embarrassing. It was chocolate, believe it or not. I buy chocolate at Trader Joe's, and some of it is better than others. If I don't like it that well and I've already bought some I like better, it tends to get left in the pantry. My intention is to use that inferior chocolate at a later date, for something like chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Cut to: my husband found some chocolate bars in the pantry with suspicious-looking flakes on them that he thought were bug eggs. I didn't think so, but we weren't willing to take a chance so we threw about 4 half-eaten bars of chocolate away. Oh, so sad. I was convinced I needed to toss them when I saw that the expiration date was in 2008. Oh dear.

As far as I know, chocolate can NOT be composted, so that was landfill trash. Why do I blog about this? Because wasting food wastes money, and it's bad for the environment as well. You can read more about it at Wasted Food and you can visit The Frugal Girl for her weekly roundup of bloggers who are watching their food waste.

FAVORITE BLOG POST OF THE WEEK: I'm really excited about this post from Penny at Penniless Parenting called "The Protein Myth." It's well-researched and packed with the facts about how you can get all the protein you need from non-meat sources. As anyone who is a vegan or vegetarian knows, the knee-jerk question you always hear is "but what about protein?" In my opinion, people should worry a lot less about getting enough protein and a lot more about eating fresh produce. It doesn't look like many Americans are lacking protein to me, but a lot of them do have diabetes. But enough of my rant! Check out the post, it's informative and inspiring! Thanks to Alea at Premeditated Leftovers for introducing me to Penny's blog.

Please leave your thoughts about wasting food or getting enough protein in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads

2010-07-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, a yard sale, ebay, craigslist, a clothing swap, or anywhere else you find used clothing.

Today's model is Haylie from Memphis, Tennessee. I asked for sundresses, and Haylie came through with this super-cute photo. An outfit equally suitable for watering a patio garden or attending a barbecue. And you're going to love this: she found the dress at a garage sale and traded a toy for it! That's a nice price.

Haylie and her husband recently moved into a 900 sq ft house, so they're making terrific use of their deck to grow tomatoes, oregano, leeks, cilantro, jalapeno, bell pepper, thai basil, and mint. They've got all the ingredients to serve mojitos and Latin-flavored side dishes at an outdoor party. Congratulations Haylie for living the fun, fabulous, frugal lifestyle, and looking great while doing it.

And thanks for sending that photo and being such an inspiration. It's good to have a reminder that you don't need to spend lots of time or money to throw a party. It's summer, and all you really need is a deck or yard and some friends to invite over. Fresh food and drink ingredients and a cute sundress are icing on the cake.

Readers, it's your turn. I am very low on photos, so please put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton (dot) angela(at)gmail (dot) com. I'm hoping that writing out my email address like that will attract less spam and make it easier for me to find your submissions. I recently realized some of them were being sent to my spam folder and lost, so if you sent in a photo and I didn't post it, please send it again. Please put "Thrifty Threads" in the subject line, and if you don't hear back from me in a few days, I never got it.

Every photo I receive convinces me even more that you don't need to shop retail to be stylish. Please leave your best secondhand shopping tips and compliments for Haylie in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Frugal Vacations

2010-07-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published post.

That's a photo of me taken last summer in London. Yes, it's freezing. It's cold in London in the summer. But it was a fantastic trip! We went there for the theater, the museums, the Indian food, the history, and walking the streets. We didn't go there for the weather. You probably wouldn't expect to see London in a discussion about frugal vacations, but this one was very affordable. How could an extended holiday of 5 weeks in London be frugal, you ask? Because we did a house swap. And it was one of the best travel experiences we've ever had.

HOUSE SWAP: We're hooked on this type of travel now. As long as you're planning a destination vacation, and not touring an entire region, it's a great way to get to know a place. I originally considered it because of the cost savings, but it turned out to be so much more than an affordable way to travel.

We've become friends with the couple we exchanged homes with, and we feel like we've lived in London. We got to know the neighbors, the ethnic neighborhood markets, the Tube (underground) lines, and adopted a local pub, as well as our favorite Indian restaurant within walking distance. Instead of having to rush out the door in the morning, stay out all day, and pay for three meals out, we'd eat breakfast at "home," and then relax and go out for an afternoon of adventure and an evening play and dinner. A few nights we stayed in and cooked and then went to the pub for a nightcap. Our schedule was completely flexible, which was much more fun and relaxing. If we didn't make it to a museum one day, we'd go the next. Sometimes we'd like one so well (they have absolutely fabulous museums in London, and they're free!) we'd visit two or three days in a row.

A lot of Europeans do want to swap for a month or even more, but since most Americans don't have that option, you can arrange your holiday for whatever length of time suits your schedule. You just have to come to an agreement with someone who wants to visit your town. The whole concept works best if you live in a big city that's a tourist attraction, but it's not mandatory. There are home swapping opportunities listed for all over the U.S., you just have to focus on what your home and neighborhood have to offer to a visitor. And maybe that's just getting away from it all and enjoying a little peace and quiet.

If you're interested in a Home Swap holiday, I recommend both Home Exchange and Homelink. We ultimately did our exchange through Homelink, but we had many interactions with people on both sites. The cost is less than $100 for a year, and you'll list your home with photos and a description. Then you sit back and wait for the offers or start making inquiries about places you're interested in visiting. The websites answer all your questions and lead you through the steps of setting up your listing.

And if the idea of having strangers in your home worries you, let me reassure you that by the time you do the swap, they're not strangers anymore. You've exchanged many emails and had lots of phone conversations, and you have come to know them. Our exchange partners even picked us up at the airport, brought us to their home to help us settle in, and took us on a motor tour of the countryside the following day. They bought us a pub lunch and showed us the 12th century church their daughter had been married in. They slept at another daughter's home down the street before flying to Los Angeles the next day. Even if this extra attention might not be the norm, if you're nervous about the "strangers" in your house, remember that you're in their house as well. So really everyone has an incentive to treat their surroundings with respect.

I consider it a marvelous bonus that we have new friends who live in London. They are fascinating people who've travelled all over the world on two teacher's salaries by doing home swaps. And they've assured us that we always have a place to stay whenever we pass through their city.

A few other frugal vacation ideas:

COUNTRIES WHERE THE DOLLAR IS STRONG: Right now, that list includes Argentina, Costa Rica, Morocco, Vietnam, and Panama. Most of your budget will go to the flight, and once you're there food and lodging will be very cheap. Another one of our favorite vacations was to the Mexican Riviera, where we spent two weeks several years ago. I'm almost embarrassed to quote the budget of our trip, but we spent $700 on two plane tickets to Cancun, and then less than $600 for accommodation, food, and all other expenses. That's what I call a budget vacation. We left Cancun immediately, and headed for more off-the-beaten-path destinations, and stayed in simple but clean motels. We went snorkeling, saw Mayan ruins, and ate plenty of seafood and Mexican food and drank margaritas. We didn't feel like we were penny-pinching. Click here to read an article about places where the dollar is strong right now.

STATE DEPARTMENT LIST COUNTRIES: I might lose a few of you here, but hear me out. Even when a country makes this list, the odds that you'll come into danger are usually very low. For example, my brother enjoyed a holiday in Bali a few years back while it was on the list after being the site of a terrorist attack. And there was even another attack while he was there. But he wasn't anywhere near the discotheque where it took place. The odds of being in the wrong place at the wrong time are small, and could really happen anywhere. So consider traveling to a country like Bali, which has natural beauty, marvelous culture, and warm, friendly people. Their economy relies on tourism, and it's so sad that these isolated incidents keep travelers away for years.

POST-CRISIS AREAS: Along those same lines, you'll probably have a lot of luck visiting a city or region that's recently been hit by tragedy. You'll be warmly welcomed, and will most likely enjoy great deals. Places like Bali after the terrorist attack, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and New York City after 9/11. Your trip may even take on a significance and poignance as you make your journey into an area that needs assistance. You could almost consider your vacation a form of charity, especially if you do some post-crisis volunteering while you're there. Habitat for Humanity works all over the world to rebuild homes for families who've been struck by disaster.

Finally, STAYCATIONS. This is a marvelous option, especially for families who can't spend a lot of money on plane flights or gassing up the car. Instead of waiting for out-of-town guests to enjoy the attractions of your own city, visit them on your own. Have each family member pick an outing of their choice, and then order pizza and watch a movie at night. Or if you have young children, camp out in the backyard! The options are endless, but the key is to do things you don't normally do in your everyday life, spend a lot of time together, and make it special.

What are your vacation plans this summer? What's your best frugal vacation idea? Please leave your thoughts, tips and questions in the Comments section.

Meatless Monday recipes

2010-07-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative aimed at encouraging people to give up meat one day a week. Going meatless, even just on Mondays, is better for your health and better for the environment. If you need inspiration, go to the Meatless Monday website for all kinds of great recipes.

I also like to bring you my readers' suggestions whenever I can. Here are two ideas for easy meatless meals:

First, Alea at Premeditated Leftovers suggested Swiss Chard and Garbanzo Bean Soup from the blog Dandelionheart. Alea says it's her favorite kind of recipe because it's flexible and it comes together fast. That's my favorite kind too, plus it sounds delicious. As a matter of fact, I've got some swiss chard I need to use up and this is a healthier recipe than the Guadalajaran Swiss Chard Quesadillas I was planning on. I'll let you know if I try it tonight.

Coupon Challenged says that even though her kids are true carnivores, they've been eating meatless meals at least once a week for years. Some of their favorites are guacamole or potato tacos, and veggie lasagna and veggie soups in the winter. I'm a big fan of vegetarian tacos, and when you have delicious ingredients like guacamole or potatoes, or beans, tomatoes, cheese, and salsa, why would you even want the meat?

Thanks for those great ideas! Readers, what are your favorite easy meatless meals? Please leave your recipes in the Comments section and I'll include them in the next Meatless Monday recipes post.

Food Waste Friday plus Free Museums

2010-07-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't like French toast? My husband, apparently.

I made this last Sunday, from some less-than-fresh sourdough bread. I ate more than this myself, and then told my husband he could eat the rest whenever he wanted, since he wasn't ready for breakfast yet.

Yesterday I found it, still uneaten, but apparently with one bite taken out, hidden in the refrigerator. I had no idea my husband had never eaten it. When I mentioned it, he said that he had told me he didn't want any French toast the day I made it.

I wish I'd heard that, because I would have eaten the rest myself! It was delicious. But not that appetizing four days later.

Why am I rambling about two slices of stale, soggy bread? Because I've been inspired by Kristen at The Frugal Girl and her Food Waste Friday posts to waste less food. It's better for the environment and it's better for your wallet, and both of those things are good.

FREE STUFF ALERT: Don't forget about Bank of America's Museums on Us program, which takes place the first weekend of every month. That's this weekend, so if you're a B of A customer, all you have to do is show your debit or credit card to get in free to tons of museums across the country. Click here to find participating museums near you.

Please leave your thoughts about food waste, free museums, or anything else remotely related to nonconsumerism in the Comments section.

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I'll be back on Monday, July 5th, with a Meatless Monday post.

Thrifty Threads

2010-07-01T17:56:00.001-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, ebay, craigslist, a yard sale, or anywhere else you find used clothing.

Today's model is David, and you know I'm absolutely thrilled to have a man participate in Thrifty Threads for only the second time ever. David is from the UK, and his wife Lin sent this photo and said she thought I might like to see a Compact-y outfit from the other side of the pond. Well, I certainly do, because not only do I love England, this is a fantastic suit and David looks very suave. In fact, it fits perfectly, like it was tailored especially for him. Don't really well-dressed men have their suits made in London?

This suit is a keeper, and David's been wearing it since 2002 when he found it in a charity shop in Salisbury for just 20 British pounds. The suit has traveled to the US in 2004 and all over the world. The tie was purchased at a charity shop in Belgium for one euro. That's an incredible deal because it's pure silk and Italian made. Lin says David is always on the lookout for a bargain. But you'd never know it by his picture, because he looks like quite the distinguished gentleman and anyone would guess the suit costs several hundred dollars.

Thanks David for modeling for that fabulous photo, and thanks Lin for sending it in to Thrifty Threads. David is a perfect example of how you can often dress nicer if you buy secondhand clothing, because you can buy brands and quality you might not be able to afford if they were new.

Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all love to see your thrift store scores. Please put "Thrifty Threads" in the subject line and if you don't hear from me in a few days, I probably didn't get it. I keep finding submissions in my spam folder, and I'm so sad at how many people might have sent in photos that I never received. If you've sent me a photo and you never heard from me and never saw yourself on Thrifty Threads, please send it again.

Please leave your tips for secondhand shopping and compliments for David in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Results of June challenge #2: Walk every day

2010-06-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's time to walk the walk.

I was amused when I reread this morning's post about how I did (not so great) with the June Food Stamp Challenge, and saw that I said I would write about my other June challenge, to "talk a walk every single day" in a later post. I didn't have time to proofread that post, and obviously meant "take a walk every single day."

But it was an interesting slip. It's easy to "talk the talk," whether the discussion is about non-consumerism, green living, cutting the grocery budget to what you would get on food stamps, taking a walk every day, or just about anything you can think of. The question is: can you walk the walk?

I challenged myself to walk every single day for 30 days, not because I'm normally a couch potato or because I want to lose weight. I did it as an experiment to see how it would make me feel. I love to walk, for so many reasons it would comprise an entire post, and need no excuse to get out there and get my feet moving.

Naturally, as soon as I posted the challenge on my blog, I was called to a job for three weeks, making it much harder to successfully complete the challenge. If I have to walk after work, it's less likely to happen than if I'm working from home and schedule it into my day. I might be too tired to walk, or get home so late that it's already dark and my husband doesn't want to go with me, or I might have plans right after work that leave me no time for a walk. Those three things did in fact happen, but I'm happy to report I still managed to take a walk the other 27 days.

So how do I feel? I don't notice any difference in how I feel, probably because I normally walk almost every day anyway. But I did learn something very important. I learned that when you put your focus on something, and plan your schedule around making sure that it happens, it does happen. Because you make sure of it. Because you care about it. Because it's a commitment you make to yourself.

So even though I didn't walk 3 days out of the month, if I hadn't made the commitment to walk every single day, there would have been many more evenings when I wouldn't have walked because I was too tired or I didn't feel like it. Some nights I might have thought I'd rather have a glass of wine instead. But every time I took a walk this month, sometimes just because I'd said I would, I was glad I did.

And THAT proves to me that whatever it is that you focus on, you'll make sure it happens. That's how people run marathons, write books, start businesses. Anything that you don't feel like doing some days, or that overwhelms you on others, or that you think maybe you were crazy to think you wanted, you can do if you make a commitment to do it every single day. It's about caring about your commitment more than your day-to-day feelings and moods. It's about making it a habit, a routine that you incorporate into your everyday life.

Of course your goal must have some basis in reality. You can assume I'm not talking about wanting to be an Olympic medalist in your 40s (wait, didn't Dara Torres do that?) Let me think of a better example: it might not be realistic to think you can still graduate from college if you've been around since the invention of radio (okay, Nola Ochs did it at 95). But unless you're Steve Martin or Alec Baldwin, they're not going to let you host SNL when you're almost 90, are they? Ladies and gentleman, let's hear it for the rockin' Ms. Betty White.... I think you get my point.

Look for more "every day" challenges coming up: meditation, yoga, writing. But I think I'll give myself a break for July. It's summer after all, and I can hear my husband making margaritas in the other room. He's already got the guacamole ready, so I'd better go now.

Did you join the June Food Stamp Challenge or my "Take a Walk Every Day" challenge? Did you take another challenge, or maybe you challenged yourself to give yourself a break? Please tell us about it in the Comments section.

The Day of Reckoning: Results of the June Food Stamp Challenge

2010-06-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of the June Food Stamp Challenge, issued by Katy at the Non-Consumer Advocate, and it couldn't have come one day sooner! Boy, am I sick of thinking about food and prices and grocery shopping. I haven't been so focused on it since I was literally almost starving 20 years ago in Manhattan, when I earned $1200 and paid $650 for rent. And that was part of the point, to illustrate how difficult it is to eat well on a very tight budget. It's easy to make poor and/or inconsistent choices.

The challenge was to try to feed your family on the amount you would receive in food stamps if you were eligible. My husband and I have been doing fine with a monthly budget of $323, which I set for myself over a year ago when I read this post at The Crunchy Chicken. Her Sustainable Food Budget Challenge was to try to eat local and organic on the monthly household maximum allotment, and we haven't usually had much trouble doing it. The problem is, the rules vary by state, and depending on your income (or lack thereof), it's difficult to calculate the exact amount you would receive. Katy used what she determined to be an average of $101 per person, and so our challenge was to stick to a budget of $202 for the month.

I knew it would be difficult with our CSA delivery knocking $92 off the budget right off the bat ($46 per biweekly delivery). That left $110 for the entire rest of the month. I'm actually amazed we got anywhere close to that. Our total grocery bill for June was... drumroll, please...$235!! And let me be clear, that amount is for food, from the CSA, a grocery store, etc. It doesn't include toiletries, paper products, or alcohol. And it doesn't include eating out.

In normal times, I would be ecstatic with that amount. I didn't really even entertain the idea that we would be able to come in under $202. But amazingly, many people who took the challenge are on target to succeed. A lot of them have blogged more regularly, and more provocatively than I have this month. Click here to check out Julia's consistently relevant posts about the issue all through the month, at her blog The Modern Muse.

I could write about all the reasons we failed, namely because I was working away from home practically the entire month, so had much less time to plan and cook than I might have. What's interesting to me is that we could even come close, while receiving a CSA delivery and buying organic milk and yogurt, and even organic chicken a couple of times. What I noticed is that the first thing cut from the budget is snacks. I don't mind baking more, but I'll be glad to get back to our regular $323 budget next month. Now it sounds like a lot to me!

Incidentally, my husband didn't even know we were doing this challenge, because he's already a little impatient with my food waste/composting schemes, and so I was afraid he would be skeptical and feel deprived no matter what I bought or cooked. And truth be told, he did run out for his beloved Trader Joe's snacks a couple of times, so our $235 total is probably closer to about $265. Or maybe even higher. Big fat failure. Oh well. The biggest thing I've learned is that I'm glad I'm not still almost starving in New York, and really glad we're not on Food Stamps. The next time you see someone in line using food stamps, don't judge them. Give them a break and assume they're going through a hard time and even with the stamps are still hungry. Because they probably are. And be grateful if you don't need them.

Did you take the Food Stamp Challenge? How did you do? Tell us about it in the Comments section. And feel free to weigh in with your thoughts even if you didn't take the challenge.

I'll let you know how I did with my other challenge for June - take a walk every single day - later today.

CSA Delivery: Can you say tomatoes?

2010-06-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

What a sight for sore eyes for my tomato-starved, tomato-loving husband, who just yesterday wrote "tomatoes!!!" on our shopping list.

The abundance of fruit is incredible. Summer has arrived!

This delivery makes me very happy. Here's what we got, roughly clockwise from the back: red lettuce, elephant garlic, rainbow swiss chard, yellow beans, Tuscany melon, strawberries, summer squash, ronde nice squash, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, rich lady yellow peaches, sweet fire apricots, yellow donut peaches, majestic pearl white nectarines, cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, and burgundy spring onions. There was also the customary treat, this time two bars of delicious-looking chocolate-dipped shortbread. I'm trying to save that for dessert.

The way our delivery service, Auntie Em's, works is like this: the owner has developed relationships with the local farmers at the farmer's markets in the area from years of running a restaurant. Every weekend she visits five different markets and picks out the best of the best from what they've got to offer. I'm thrilled with our CSA, but they're all set up a little different, so if you want to find out about one near you, check out Local Harvest to get the details.

Tonight we'll enjoy the heavenly Heirloom Tomato Tart in Parmesan Crust with a simple green salad. My husband will be satisfying his tomato cravings for the next few days. And as for me, I'll spend a good part of the week with peach juice dripping down my chin.

Happy Monday! Do you shop at Farmer's Markets? Do you have CSA in your area? Please leave your tips and ideas for shopping and recipes for anything you see in the photo in the Comments.

Food Waste Friday plus Favorite Blog Post of the Week

2010-06-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, first things first. The reason there's no food waste photo isn't because we had a zero waste week, and it's not because I didn't take a photo or even because I didn't feel like posting a photo of rotten food. It's because I didn't even have time to clean out the refrigerator or figure out what our food waste was.

I've been working away from home more than usual and have had little time to cook or keep track of leftovers. My husband has been largely on his own and mostly doing fine, but I know for certain there is at the very least some much-less-than-crisp lettuce in the crisper that he has complained to me about. I haven't even had time to move it to the compost bin, which is solely my job, because my husband will put up with my food waste/compost bin shenanigans only so far, which has been indicated to me by raised eyebrows and veiled complaints in his questions about the food scraps that seem to perpetually litter our counters and back deck on their way to the compost bin. I can't throw any of that in the trash anymore! But asking him to take the step of actually putting stuff in the bin might be the straw that breaks my patient husband's back. So I continue with my possibly whimsical hobbies at my own peril. They do sometimes seem whimsical when I witness neighbors who fill entire dumpsters with the excess debris of their lives and workplaces that waste in one day what I couldn't begin to go through in a lifetime. But we food waste soldiers continue the fight...

So, we have waste, but I'm not sure what or how much it is. I'll be back in the swing by next Friday. Check out The Frugal Girl to see how she and other bloggers did with the challenge of wasting less food this week.

FAVORITE BLOG POST OF THE WEEK: I couldn't decide between two different posts this week, both from the same blog! Alea at Premeditated Leftovers is on a roll, and this post about why they rent rather than own is not only practical and useful, it's hysterical. While you're there, check out this post with a recipe for what she calls Mother Hubbard Cookies, because they're what she bakes when the cupboard is bare. I can't wait to try the 3-ingredient recipe for Peanut Butter cookies, which look delicious and take just minutes to whip up. Thanks Alea!

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Please leave your questions, tips, and advice in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads Redux

2010-06-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

I just found another Thrifty Threads submission in my spam folder, after finding three last month. I don't regularly check my spam, so it makes me heartsick to think of all the submissions that may have been lost.

If you sent me a photo for Thrifty Threads and I didn't use it, please send it again. I will use any submission that isn't obscene or illegible, and I can't remember not using any so far.

I would hate for anyone to think I rejected their photo, and I hope that hasn't happened.

If you send in a Thrifty Threads submission, please put Thrifty Threads in the subject line, and I'll let you know within a week that I received your email. Otherwise, I never got it.

Thanks so much.

Thrifty Threads

2010-06-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, ebay, craigslist, a yard sale, a friend's closet, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is Stephanie, a friend of mine who's been featured many times on Thrifty Threads. This entire outfit is thrifted: the dress was just $4.98, the purse was $1.99, and the belt was just 99 cents! Wow.

Stephanie's blog Those Tricks is all about thrifty fashion. She's beome quite the secondhand fashionista since I knew her several years back in her jeans-and-Tshirt incarnation. Each post highlights a new secondhand outfit with details and price, so it's kind of like Thrifty Threads every day with the same model. She finds really cute clothes at the Dallas and Austin thrift stores she visits.

Stephanie has been resale shopping so much, in fact, that she's set up an online store with some of her excess thrifty fashion. You can check it out at My Trick Your Trick. I just looked at her "merchandise" and saw a really gorgeous purse. I have a weakness for purses and own a bit of a collection, but at the same time I'm the type of person who uses one purse all summer and one all winter, only occasionally grabbing a different choice for a special occasion. So I really don't need any more purses! But you should check it out if you're in the market for a purse and don't want to pay Prada prices.

Stephanie is always up to something interesting, and she recently joined the online creative team at Neiman Marcus as a Web Producer. Congratulations Stephanie! Since Neiman Marcus has always been on the cutting edge of fashion, she'll be in her element working with all those gorgeous clothes. It will be interesting to see if she keeps up her thrifty ways while working at the high-end department store. Hmmm, that sounds like a good premise for a blog... the double life of Stephanie: high-end department store employee by day, thrift store shopper by night.

Thanks Stephanie for being such an inspiration with your thrifty fashion finds. Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. Don't be shy, we all love to see your thrift store scores, and I always need more photographs. I'm still waiting for a male model and I'd love to get more cute sundresses because we're all ready for the lazy days of summer.

Please leave your best tips for secondhand shopping and compliments for Stephanie in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Tale of Two Water Bottles

2010-06-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

I finally broke down and bought a brand-new Klean Kanteen water bottle, replacing the giveaway bottle I'd been putting up with for far too long.

I know some Compacters are so cool they manage to find stuff like pristine-with-the-tags-still-on Sigg water bottles at Goodwill for like 2 cents, but I am not that cool. And I was determined it was past time to be both green and healthy by using a stainless steel water bottle.

After carrying that bottle on the right around for about a year, my husband finally convinced me to fork out the $22 (!!) to buy the pretty green bottle from REI. He was sick and tired of seeing me deal with the various eccentricities of the giveaway bottle, namely that it leaked and spilled out large amounts of water every time I used it. It's amazing what I'll adapt to if necessary. But clearly this wasn't necessary.

The question now is: what to do with the old bottle? I was going to give it to Goodwill but my husband says I shouldn't subject anyone else to dealing with it. I hate to send it to a landfill, and hold out hope that maybe someone will be able to fix it or use it in some way. Is it tacky to give what most people would consider trash to Goodwill? Or is it possible that someone will get some use out of this thing?

Readers, what do you think? There are some things I wouldn't give to the Goodwill, like used slippers or undergarments or permanently stained clothing. But what about a less-than-functional water bottle? I need your advice. Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section.

Meatless Monday recipes: Puttanesca sauce

2010-06-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

It's been over a year since we've been going meatless on Monday, and I have barely made a dent in the delicious meatless recipes I've gotten on the Meatless Monday website and from my readers. Going meatless just one day a week is great for your health and the environment. And as an added bonus, it will probably save you money as well.

This week, I thought I'd tell you about one of our favorite staples. It's easy and uses only a few ingredients that you can keep in the pantry. My husband loves this dish, and often cooks it himself.

PUTTANESCA SAUCE

olive oil (optional)
1 large can tomatoes
pitted and chopped kalamata olives
capers
3 or 4 cloves of garlic

In a large pan, saute tomatoes in a little bit of olive oil in their own juice. You can use chopped tomatoes, or if they're whole you'll want to chop them so they don't take as long to cook down. The olive oil is good for you, but optional. Cook on medium heat for 15-2o minutes, stirring occasionally. Put garlic through a presser and add to the tomatoes and continue cooking. When the sauce starts to thicken, add about 1/3 of a small jar of capers and about half a can or jar of pitted and chopped kalamata olives and cook another 10 minutes or so. Trader Joe's sells pitted kalamata olives, which saves a lot of time. Although you can also be pitting them while the sauce is cooking.

The key is to cook long enough for the sauce to thicken and get flavorful. You have to keep an eye on it to stir occasionally, but there isn't much danger of it burning if you keep the heat on medium.

Serve over any kind of pasta or polenta and a side salad. Our favorite with this sauce is angel hair pasta.

The name "puttanesca" comes from the root "puta" which is Italian for prostitute. The dish got it's name because it's cheap and easy. It traditionally includes anchovies, but this is my vegetarian version I've been cooking for almost 20 years.

Do you go meatless on Mondays? Please share your favorite simple meatless meals and I'll include them as part of the next Meatless Mondays post. Click here to check out all the previous meatless monday recipe posts.

Goodbye to lim(b)

2010-06-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

My friend Danielle, creator of the excellent blog Less is More Balanced, is hanging up her blogging hat to focus on other writing projects, but the blog link will remain active indefinitely. I'm leaving it up on my sidebar because it's one of my favorite resources for organic and green issues, projects, and inspiration.

So if you have a question like:

1) Where can I recycle my cosmetics containers?

2) Is it possible to go car-free in Los Angeles? or

3) Where can I find sustainable seeds?

Check out lim(b). And those are just a few examples from an archive jampacked with useful information.

Some of my personal favorites:

Life on a scooter

Groovy green goings on in my community

Demanding Organic

lim(b) Project #22: Keepsake Box

lim(b) Project #19: Healthy, Healing Eco-Bedroom

Buy Something Beautiful, Build a Nest

Alternative Gift Ideas for Simple Greenies

Heirloom Design

So if you've got a green project in mind, are trying to simplify your life, switch to organic, or looking for sustainable options, check out lim(b) and you might just find exactly what you're looking for. It's happened to me more than once.

What are your favorite simple living/green blogs? Please tell us in the Comments section.

Food Waste Friday Plus Favorite Blog Post of the Week

2010-06-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

I took a picture of our food waste, but I just don't have the heart to post it. I simply can't make myself replace those gorgeous wedding photos with pictures of rotten food. I'm still down with the cause of watching our food waste (it would be hard to go back), but I'm losing the energy to report on it and post photos.

This week we had about half a portion of some delicious saurkraut that we took home from a party. I ate three helpings in two days before deciding I needed to stop in order to watch my waistline, and then my husband ate a lot before he got sick for a few days. And by that time it was too old to risk eating. We also had a handful of almonds from a snack pak that I bought literally a couple of years ago and don't know why I never opened. I'm okay with my decision not to eat something really fattening just so it won't go to waste. That happened once before with some so-so baked goods. Not worth the calories.

Wasting food is bad for the environment, and not so great for your bank account either. Go to The Frugal Girl for the blogger roundup of participants who are committed to wasting less.

FAVORITE BLOG POST OF THE WEEK: This post on Married With Luggage that peeks into the journal of a couple who embarked on an eight month honeymoon trip in 1837 is creative, whimsical, and well-written. It perfectly captures the spirit of long-term travel, and the romance and the lure of hitting the road. And the lessons gleaned from it are just as relevant in 2010. I know I mention Betsy from MWL all the time, but this post was written by her husband Warren. While you're there, you might as well stay and read Betsy's latest post as well. I highly recommend a dose of MWL with your coffee in the morning. It never fails to get me revved up to tackle a project. A trip around the world? Sounds great! A marathon? No problem! Living out your wildest dreams? Why not? Betsy and Warren will show you the road map.

And finally, in keeping with the wedding theme this week, I'd like to point out two posts from The Frugal Girl. This one includes irresistible photos of her darling daughters, and this one is a Q & A that shares some frugal wedding tips. I love Kristen's advice about what's important: "And lastly, I’d add that what matters most is not the amount of effort you put into your wedding, but the amount of effort you put into your marriage. It seems like a lot of people get those two things flip-flopped."

Are you watching your food waste? Share your trials and successes in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads: Wedding Edition

2010-06-17T08:06:00.001-07:00

What a stunning photo of her father walking her down the "aisle."

Melanie is a full time student of Naturopathy and herbal medicine in New Zealand. Her blog Lavender Loveliness shows the things she makes out of old items to save the environment and save money, for example a cushion cover made out of an old jersey and a t-shirt, herbs and their medicinal uses, and lots of baking. I can't wait to try some of her recipes, the only problem is deciding which one to try first. Will it be chocolate peanut butter delectables or peanut butter chocolate crunch? She even makes her own peanut butter! And bagels! Today's post includes photos of an absolutely beautiful "Hummingbird Cake" she has baked for their flatmate. I think Melanie is my new idol!

And one more photo of Melanie, just because it's so gorgeous...

Thanks Melanie for those fabulous photographs! Your wedding looks perfect, and the dress is lovely. And what an inspiration that it was all done for a fraction of the cost of the average wedding.

Readers, it's your turn. I always need more photos, so put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your thrift store scores! Please leave your thrifting tips and compliments for Melanie in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

How To Plan A Frugal Wedding Without the Stress Factor

2010-06-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

The following is a guest post by Timothy, a personal finance writer and blogger for Balance Transfer Card. I'll continue the wedding theme tomorrow on Thrifty Threads, with a bride whose wedding dress was thrifted.

Frugal weddings are all the rage now. More and more brides and grooms are subscribing to the idea that their biggest day in life should be one to enjoy - and not remember with remorse because the in-laws were arguing about something insignificant.

Common problem - major stress and tears

Weddings need not be a stressful affair. A wedding is about commitment and love, and it should be enjoyed by the bride and groom. Sadly, too many weddings turn sour because they become blown-out-of-proportion events for hundreds of people, leaving the lovebirds in tears by the end of the day. This isn’t exactly how you'd imagine your wedding day to turn out, is it?

Solution - go frugal

A frugal wedding can be a lot more fun than the traditional affair because it is usually more intimate and toned down, therefore more enjoyable by those who attend. Frugal doesn't necessarily mean you have to skimp on every luxury; you could decide to invite fewer people but make it an event to remember by spoiling everyone to your heart's content.

On the contrary, wedding vows can also be exchanged if you are budget-conscious while still keeping the fun factor high. Below are some tips and suggestions to help you do just that.

The venue

The venue is perhaps one of the most important aspects of a successful wedding. If the venue is too flash, your budget could take a brutal nose dive. If you don't want to eat bread and butter for the next 12 months you might want to consider a somewhat more affordable venue to celebrate with your guests. Don’t overlook friends or family with homes or backyards they might be willing to share.

The dress

Who needs an Armani wedding dress that is only ever worn once? If you want to go frugal, think vintage dress. They are easily repurposed by a whiz with a sewing machine and can save you hundreds of dollars in the process.

Wedding invitation

A great way to go frugal is right from the start - make your own affordable wedding invitations. Think scrapbooking mementos, homemade cards, etc. There is so much one can do with a bit of paper, pen and imagination. Try it!

Food

Instead of having your guests pig out on a sumptuous buffet that only goes to waste, why not consider a sit-down dinner instead? You'd be surprised how many food is wasted on buffet style dinners.Sit-down dinner menus are much nicer anyway because you get to enjoy your guests one-on-one without them having to fetch food from the buffet every 15 minutes.

Photographer

Cut down on the cost of hiring a photographer by booking one for a couple of hours only instead of the whole day. Present your wedding attendees with disposable cameras to grab some more fun moments while keeping the cost low. You will most likely end up with some wonderful pictures seen through the eyes of your guests.

If all else fails - elope

Eloping is a common trend for frugal couples. You can save thousands by eloping to a tropical island paradise with a couple of your closest friends. Then upon returning as a married couple, you simply throw a party for the family and start the celebration.

It's your day - make the most of it!

Readers, feel free to leave YOUR best frugal wedding ideas in the Comments section.

Update on last year's baby steps challenge: air dry laundry

2010-06-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last June, I wrote this post about my baby steps challenge for the month: air dry the laundry. Two weeks later, when I wrote this update, I was convinced the habit would become part of my daily life.

Things didn't quite go as planned...

I faithfully hung our laundry out to dry for about three or four months, until the first "exception" sent me back to the dryer. I think it was getting ready for a vacation, or doing several loads of laundry after the vacation. And I never quite got back in the habit of air drying after that.

You see, we had a really rainy winter. But that's a lame excuse, because my friend Katy at The Non-Consumer Advocate lives in Portland where it rains about a gazillion inches of rain per year, and she's the Queen of Air Drying.

My husband had bought a really nice new dryer that saves on energy, so I didn't feel nearly so bad about throwing clothes in there as I did our 1970s relic that could power a medium-sized suburban mall.

When my husband did the laundry, I couldn't convince him to use the clothesline, and he often does the laundry.

You can see I had an excuse for every occasion. But when I really looked at what was going on, I realized a very simple fact: it actually does not work well with our schedule and house design.

Sometimes I work at home, and sometimes I work away from home. On the days I'm away, I can't put a load of laundry into the washer because the laundry room is directly below our bedroom and my husband is often still sleeping. And even when I'm home, I can't necessarily time things perfectly to get a load in early enough. It's terribly inefficient and expensive to run the washer during the day, so we end up doing laundry at night. And short of my husband suddenly turning into an early bird, I don't see this pattern changing.

So I give myself a big fat "D" on this baby steps challenge. I hope I was able to inspire someone else to pick up the habit I couldn't stick with myself. I don't get an "F" because hey, at least I tried. And I still do a lot of my favorite and delicate items by hand and hang them up or lay them out in the house.

Please leave your thoughts on air drying laundry in the Comments section. And if you need a laugh, click here to watch Stephen Colbert's "news story" about a woman who scandalized her neighborhood by, you guessed it, air drying her laundry! Gasp.

It's Meatless Monday

2010-06-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

Check out my Meatless Monday post over at The Non-Consumer Advocate!

Katy is hosting a Food Stamp Challenge this month, and my post is all about how meatless meals can save you money. Going meatless on Monday will not only help you meet the challenge, it will cut your grocery bill year-round.

The bonus is that it's great for your health and better for the environment. Find out more at Meatless Monday.

Have you pledged to go meatless on Mondays? Are you doing the Food Stamp Challenge? Let us know how you're doing and feel free to leave your tips and advice in the Comments section.

Food Waste Friday plus Favorite Blog Post of the Week

2010-06-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

No picture, no food waste. A little boring visually, but I'm happy about it.

I'm especially pleased because last night I expected to come home to several items that were about to end up in a photo, only to find my husband had eaten every one of them! I know I brag on him an awful lot, but he deserves it. And his skills go way beyond not wasting food, but he sure is a champ in that area. Much better than I am.

For those of you who are new to this blog, I wrote this post called Refrigerator Games over a year ago when I was first becoming conscious of how much food we throw away. All I did was create a section in our refrigerator with a label that says "Eat Me!" and I put all the food that needs to be eaten soon in that section. My husband goes to it for snacks and lunches, and the system works out well because not only do we use up almost all of our food, but he knows where to look for it. It focuses his energy.

Here are some of the items I was concerned about:

*Leftover veggie curry. I had eaten it twice already, so I froze the last of it to eat later when we're not already sick of it.

*Cooked snap peas. We had these in the refrigerator almost two weeks before I finally cooked them and then they were too stringy and bitter for me. My husband actually shelled them and ate the peas inside!

*A small amount of cooked black beans. Eaten by my husband along with the peas.

We've got a lot of lettuce in the crisper, so we'll have to concentrate on that to make sure it doesn't end up in next week's photo. And since we had our CSA delivery this week, I did a light shopping trip just to stock up on a few essentials and baking ingredients.

Check out Wasted Food to find out more about how wasting food is bad for the environment, and head over to The Frugal Girl for the roundup of bloggers trying to limit their food waste, one family at a time. You're guaranteed to see pictures there!

FAVORITE BLOG POST OF THE WEEK: I love this post by Debb Whitlock called Balance is Bull****! Debb writes a blog offering financial advice for women. Her philosophy is that you deserve access to financial information regardless of the size of your investment portfolio. This post about the illusion of balance really hit home for me. Many of us are trying to bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan plus all that stuff about not letting him forget he's a man, and it just doesn't always work like that. Check it out, it's very empowering!

Thrifty Threads

2010-06-10T08:41:00.001-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, a yard sale, ebay, a friend's closet, or anywhere else you find used clothing.

Today's model is Nydia, who bought this cute summer dress for $4 at Goodwill. She looks great in that color! Nydia says she found it a couple weeks ago when she went in specifically looking for sun dresses. She bought the necklace for just 50 cents at a yard sale and the flip flops she got from a friend who lets her go through her daughter's outgrown clothing. She has super small feet, so she was able to score those for $1.

Nydia says she regularly shops at thrift stores and yard sales to save money, and it's become a hobby she's known for. I love her creative style of thrift shopping: this outfit was put together from an eclectic mix of used clothing venues. She's all ready for an outdoor summer party for just $5.50!

Nydia blogs at Zero House Payment Forever. She and her husband have been inspired by Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover to pay off 60K worth of debt and pay cash to buy or build their dream home. Wow! Nydia describes her blog as a place to vent her frustrations about saving while everyone around her is spending, as well as a place to hold her accountable to their goals. She also hopes that some of her crazy money saving tactics might help someone else. They're doing some serious saving over there, you should check it out.

Thanks Nydia for that cute photo, and for inspiring the rest of us to pay off our debt, plus go shopping for summer frocks! Or shorts, if you're one of my handful of male readers or a woman who isn't the frock type. Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your fabulous finds, so don't be shy! Please leave your best thrift store shopping tips and compliments for Nydia in the Comments section.

June challenge update

2010-06-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

It's Day Nine of the challenge I set for myself for June: to take a walk every day. Click here if you didn't read that post.

I have managed to take a walk every day so far, even when I had to do it instead of the gym, or in addition to yoga. I love taking walks, so it hasn't been a burden, but a couple of times the scheduling took a bit of creativity. Like when it was already dark and my husband didn't feel like walking, so I told him to come looking for me if I wasn't back in half an hour. I'm not above an occasional manipulation, or appeal to his protective instinct. Because I really wanted to take a walk, and it was just a little past the time when it's safe to take a walk when you're a person of the female gender. I hate that fact, but it's just the truth. Anyway, my husband agreed to walk with me, and I don't think he felt at all manipulated. And we were both glad we got some exercise. Oh, and we just happened to see a coyote run by just a few feet away from us! I'm not really afraid of coyotes, but I would have been spooked coming upon one at night while walking alone.

What I've noticed and what has been useful about this challenge is how it's possible to make time for something in your schedule as soon as you make it a priority. You can almost always find a half hour or hour in the day if it's something that really matters to you, even if you're already feeling overwhelmed. I need to remember that, and make time for things that are important to me, but not urgent, like writing fiction. No one cares if I work on my short stories, so they're not urgent. But they're very important to me. Look for more 30-day challenges in the future: yoga, meditation, and fiction writing.

As far as the Food Stamp Challenge, that's going to be a lot more difficult. Spending $90 a month for delicious local, organic produce is worth it to me, but it doesn't leave much room for error with a budget of $202. I made a list of favorites I can make from pantry staples, but I already spent $53 last week and I don't know how I'll manage to spend just $59 for the entire rest of the month. But I'm still going to try, as long as I don't have to sacrifice our health. I spent $6 on a gallon of organic milk to make yogurt, so I won't need to buy yogurt the rest of the month. And I made rye bread, and I plan on making at least one more yeast bread, so I won't have to buy bread either. The budget breaker, if there is one, is going to be cheese. The suspense mounts...

If you're joining me in either of these challenges, how is it going so far? Let us know in the Comments section.

Thanks for your anniversary gift ideas!

2010-06-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you readers! When I asked for ideas, as always, you delivered. Armed with your suggestions, I created this fabulous basket for my friend's parents' 50th anniversary.

I loved all your ideas so much that I wish I could have included all of them. I decided to go with baked goods and consumables, so I started with some dark German rye bread and Pfefferneuse (German spice cookies). I had never baked either one before, but they both came out delicious. The basket was sitting in a coworker's office since the holidays, and he was happy to let me take it off his hands. Then I picked up some strong coffee, marmalade, and sour cherry jam at World Market for about $10. I was able to incorporate the gold from the "golden anniversary" with the basket and the envelope for the card.

The gift was a big hit, and I was happy I was able to stay on The Compact. It took a bit more time and effort than just throwing down the money, but I love to bake, so that's okay. Although I advise starting yeast bread before 9pm if you want to get to bed before 2:00 in the morning.

Thanks again for your brilliant suggestions. Another event successfully navigated. I really think these "Compact-approved" gifts are the best gifts of all. When I think about my favorite gifts I've received over the years, they have all been Compact-friendly. Look for that post in the future. Meanwhile, what are some of the best gifts you've ever received? Please share in the Comments section.

CSA Delivery sans photo (sorry!)

2010-06-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, which means I do a CSA delivery post every other week when we get our biweekly delivery. But today I'm leaving before the delivery arrives, and I won't be home until 8pm, so there's no way I can take a photo of the delicious local organic produce we receive. So I'll have to rely on my husband to put it away, and just tell you what we're supposed to get.

The most exciting thing is that we'll be receiving tomatoes. Yesterday my husband asked me why we can't buy the tomatoes at the store. He's a real tomato lover, and I'm glad I was able to tell him that we're scheduled to get them today. So we're really looking forward to some delicious heirloom tomatoes. We'll also be receiving: artichokes, nante carrots, green romaine, golden beets, red russian kale, rainer cherries, white nectarines, yellow peaches, albion strawberries, leeks, red onions, garlic, german butterball potatoes, and baby red spinach.

That sounds amazing! I can't wait to get home and check it out. I'm psyched about all the stone fruit and the strawberries.

I know a CSA post without a photo is a little lame, so I apologize. I promise a return to the CSA photos in two weeks, and next Monday I'll have a Meatless Monday recipes post. You can click here to check out previous CSA posts if you've just got to see a photo of delicious local produce.

If you're interested in finding out more about receiving a delivery of local organic produce, check out Local Harvest. You can also find CSA in your area there.

Even if you don't belong to a CSA, it's Farmer's Market time and it's worth going to stock up on all the delicious summer fruit and vegetables. Do you shop at a Farmer's Market? Do you get a CSA delivery? Let us know in the Comments section. And please leave your ideas on what to do with any of the produce we're getting in our delivery today. Any creative ways to cook carrots? I'm a little tired of them, and mostly using them in soups and curries lately.

Food Waste Friday plus Free Stuff

2010-06-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

We had an ALMOST zero waste week, but when I pulled out the last tortilla in the package and saw there was a bit of mold on it, it wasn't worth eating. Especially since I'd already bought another package. I didn't have time to take a photo while I was making dinner.

It's funny, no matter how much I cut back on the amount of groceries I buy, we still seem to have a bit too much. My husband eats a lot of sandwich wraps and we eat a lot of quesadillas and burritos, but we didn't manage to go through a pack of about 12 tortillas while they were still fresh.

I thought I was also going to have to toss half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich left over from my weekend hike, but my husband ate it two days later after I'd left it out on the counter and forgotten about it. I'm so lucky to have a husband who doesn't mind eating leftovers, or even my cast-offs.

If you're new to this blog and want to know why you should care about how much food you're wasting, the long and short of it is that wasting food is bad for the environment, plus it wastes money. You can find out the details at Wasted Food. And check out The Frugal Girl, where bloggers meet to share photos of their food waste in a united effort to waste less.

FREE STUFF ALERT: If you're a Bank of America customer, the Museums on Us program runs the first Saturday and Sunday of the month, and that's this weekend. All you have to do is flash your debit or credit card to get in free to hundreds of museums across the country. Click here to find participating museums in your area.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Please share your tips, advice, wins and challenges in the Comments section. And let me know if you plan on participating in the Museums on Us program.

Thrifty Threads

2010-06-03T09:17:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, ebay, a yard sale, a clothing swap, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is Cathy, wearing an outfit she bought at a consignment shop near where she lives in Ottawa, Canada. Cathy says the pants were $18, which is a bit higher than she likes to pay, but they fit perfectly and that's difficult for her to find even in a regular retail shop. The cute top with great detail around the neck and sleeves was $11. And since she had a store credit from selling a few items earlier, the total layout was actually $0. That's a nice price!

I told Cathy I was thrilled to receive her photo because I'd been wishing for a gorgeous over-50 model for months, and she told me she didn't mind if I revealed that she is actually over 60! As Cathy put it, she's "all for minimizing that fear of aging hysteria that grips us from time to time." I think she looks absolutely beautiful, fit and happy. What an inspiration. I really think she should be a model for Prevention or some other health magazine. Cathy says she's always loved thrift shopping, and now that she's retired, she has more time and motivation to thrift shop.

When I asked Cathy how she stays so slim she says she's fortunate to actually enjoy activities like jogging, biking, and gardening. And her husband shares her interests, so when one of them is lagging, the other is motivating. She does admit it takes a bit more awareness or attention to stop the weight from creeping up than it did when she was younger.

Cathy is a retired registered nurse and she enjoys reading blogs. She's a big believer in the Green Triangle idea of the interconnection between health and saving money and the environment, and trying to maintain a happy balance. I love the phrase "Green Triangle" to describe things that are green, frugal, and healthy. It comes from the books Your Money or Your Life (Dominguez and Robin) and the companion book Getting a Life (Blix and Heitmiller). Both books credit Ernest Callenbach with the idea. Cathy says she especially liked the explanation that you can enter the Green Triangle from any angle, whether financial, health, or the environment, and you will most likely benefit the other two.

That made me move my copy of Your Money or Your Life to the top of my stack of books. So many different people have mentioned it to me and I can't wait to read it.

Cathy, thanks for the great photo and for being such a inspirational example of aging gracefully and pursuing an active and meaningful retirement. Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your fabulous finds, so don't be shy. Women, get out your summer dresses, and guys, bring out the Hawaiian shirts, and let's get into the spirit of the season. I continue to be inspired by people's creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness when it comes to being stylish without spending a lot of money.

Please leave your tips for secondhand shopping, plus compliments for Cathy in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Will the junk mail ever stop?

2010-06-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

It's time to check in with my very first baby steps challenge: stop those catalogs and junk mail once and for all.

This photo represents all the junk mail we received during the past month, a year after I originally took on the challenge. It's significantly less than we used to get, but I still want to get it down to almost none.

Last month I republished this post from last year about the challenge and the steps I would take to remedy the problem. Last year, when I first tackled the issue, I did most of the tasks on my list that are recommended to eliminate junk mail: signed up for Catalog Choice, put my name on Forest Ethic's Do Not Mail list, and went to optoutprescreen.com to opt out of all credit card offers. The step I DID NOT take was to call companies individually and ask them to remove me from their mailing list.

The steps I took drastically cut the amount of junk mail we receive. In particular, we get almost no random junk mail or credit card offers anymore. But some of these catalog companies are persistent so what I'm going to do now is go back to Catalog Choice and make sure I have listed all the companies in this photo and then start making a call every time I get a catalog. Many of these catalogs are from companies I used to order from in my pre-Compact days, so I suppose they're not giving up on me without a fight. But it's going to be a long time, or maybe never, until I'll be spending my precious free time looking through catalogs and buying full-price items again.

Have you reduced your junk mail? How did you do it? Please leave your best tips in the Comments section. Also let us know if you've taken up this challenge and whether or not you've been successful.

June Challenges: walking and saving

2010-06-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

I've set myself a 30-day challenge this month of taking a walk every day. That's it. Simple.

I don't think it will be that difficult because I already walk about four or five times a week, but I'm curious how I'll feel if I walk every single day. There are no rules except that "walking" doesn't mean from my car into the office or from the parking lot into the supermarket. It has to be an intentional walk, but it doesn't have to be any certain place or length of time. Ideally, all walks will be at least 30 minutes, many will be longer, and a few will be 2 or 3 hour hikes.

Apparently it's a month for challenges, and I can't resist joining in Katy's Food Stamp Challenge over at The Non-Consumer Advocate. The idea is to keep your grocery bill to the amount you'd be allowed if you were on food stamps, and to donate what you have left at the end of the month to your local food bank. I've already cut our grocery budget to stay within the average of what a family of two would receive if they qualified for Food Stamps. I did that over a year ago after reading this post on The Crunchy Chicken about whether it was possible to eat local and organic on that allotment. I wanted to eat more local and organic, but I didn't want to spend more money, so I used her estimate of $323 a month for two people and have been able to stay under that amount for over a year while receiving a CSA delivery. The only month I went over was when we had a Christmas party, because entertaining isn't something I want to scrimp on.

Katy's challenge will be more difficult for us, because she came up with the figure of $101 per person, which will be $202 for my husband and myself. With $90 going to the CSA right off the bat, that doesn't leave much to work with, so I think this will finally motivate me to start baking our own bread and making my own yogurt. Those are two of the things (along with cheese) I need to buy almost every week, and the biggest expense outside of meat. And at this point, I'm down to buying meat once a week or less, either a piece of fresh fish at the fish market or some ground turkey for chili or turkey burgers.

In order to stay within that budget without sacrificing our health I'll have to get creative. I've started a list of some of our favorite meals that always yield leftovers, like soups and crockpot recipes. Plus I'll be able to clear out the pantry and the freezer a bit. We will be eating a lot of rice and beans, but I'm confident we won't get bored as long as we're receiving our delicious CSA delivery. And if rice means mushroom risotto and beans means Katy's black bean burgers, the challenge isn't going to be a sacrifice.

Do you want to join me in either of these challenges? Please let me know in the Comments section. And feel free to share your ideas for healthy meals on a budget as well.

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-31T11:02:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break from blogging today, but I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about two different challenges I'll be taking on for the month of June. Perhaps you'll want to join me in one or both of them.

Happy Memorial Day. Enjoy your BBQs and take a moment to remember the sacrifices of the people who fight our wars.

No Food Waste Friday

2010-05-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

No picture, no waste. A zero-waste week, yay!

I have to admit that I'm proud of myself AND my husband for dodging several potential food waste landmines this week. And having control of this one area in my own life does calm me just a bit when the heartbreaking problems of the big bad world threaten to overwhelm.

These were the items we managed to avoid wasting:

Celery: I've never been a big fan, but we received it in our CSA and I used it in some soup and it was awful. It was stringy and I had to admit I hate the taste and it ruined the soup. Instead of throwing out the soup, I strained it and we ate it that way. Then when my husband didn't eat the rest of the celery, I gave it to my neighbor who was happy to receive it.

Tomato soup: I made such a big pot of soup, that even though it was delicious, after several bowls each we were growing tired of it. There was about half a bowl left that I ate one night after dinner instead of some other fattening snack, and it actually satisfied me.

Lettuce: After making a salad, I had about six leaves left that I put in a plastic bag in the crisper and told my husband to eat on his sandwiches and veggie burgers, and he ate all of them.

Bok choy: I've never cooked this, and it looked so likely to become waste that I almost considered giving it to my neighbor up front. But instead, I looked up some recipes online and sauteed it up with garlic and olive oil and it was a delicious appetizer.

The main point is that avoiding food waste has become habitual, something we are doing without a lot of struggle, and I'm happy about that. We continue to produce a lot less trash as well. And our refrigerator and pantry are less packed, so we can see and keep track of what we have better.

If you're wasting a lot more food than you'd like, it's important to remember that we all start somewhere. Kristen from The Frugal Girl wrote this great post last week, where she talks about how watching your food waste isn't an all-or-nothing proposition and shares photos of how much food she used to toss every week. Even if you don't get to zero waste, wasting less is better than wasting a lot.

FAVORITE BLOG POST OF THE WEEK: The most thought-provoking post I read this week was this post by Katy of The Non-Consumer Advocate about whether or not to accept a gift of money from her father to add a bathroom to their house, and whether accepting the money conflicted with frugality. There was a lively discussion in the Comments section. Check it out. Does frugality mean you shouldn't accept generosity from others?

Please share your thoughts about food waste, frugality and generosity, or anything you'd like in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads

2010-05-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday, time for another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes. A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's installment is the inspiration of Betsy Talbot, the co-creator of one of my favorite blogs, Married With Luggage. Betsy and her husband Warren are making some big changes and getting ready to travel the world. But it's more than just a trip around the world, they're actually redesigning their lives to travel full time. And along the way, they're having to part with a lot of their stuff. Actually, they're getting rid of pretty much everything they own, including their house.

Betsy came up with the ingenious idea of a Reverse Birthday Party to pass along some of her very favorite articles of clothing. That's Betsy third from the left, with her friends wearing all of her fabulous red items that they "bought" at the event. Here's how Betsy describes the evening:

"I took all my lovely items that couldn't go on the trip with me and put them in a little boutique I set up in the living room. Each item had a note attached detailing its history and why I loved it. Friends were then allowed to "shop" by writing their names on the back of those cards for the things they wanted. If only one person wrote her name, the item was hers for a donation to our trip. If more than one person wrote her name, we had a "style off" where they had to walk down a runway to the tune of Carly Simon's You're So Vain. At the end of the style off we all voted, and the one who wore it best got to keep it. (and of course there was food and wine)

It was a really fun way to bond with my friends, share some of my history with them, and part with my things in a fun, happy way instead of a sad one. Now when I see a friend wearing my favorite cocktail ring, hat, or jacket it makes me feel really warm inside, like my things have been adopted into a happy home.

I can't tell you how much each item went for because it was an anonymous donation to a small box (a piece of luggage, actually!), but I think most people thought of it as consignment shopping and paid on that scale."

Love the hats. Look at those smiles!

And check out those fabulous boots!

What a brilliantly creative way to part with your treasures. I am a big fan of clothing swaps, and this takes the concept one step further. If you're anticipating a major life change, moving, taking a trip around the world, or downsizing, consider a Reverse Birthday Party as a way to find happy homes for your favorite clothes.

Be sure to check out Married With Luggage if you haven't yet. It never fails to inspire me. It's all about designing a live you love and doing what it takes to make that happen. Whether it's taking care of your finances, decluttering, or simplifying, Betsy and Warren cover it all. For me, reading their blog is like a daily shot of adrenaline. As their tagline says, "Life is short. Live your dream."

Big thanks to Betsy and all her friends for sharing their evening with us. Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your fabulous finds. And it's almost summer, so I'd love to see more summer dresses, shorts, and sandals to get us in the mood.

Do you shop secondhand? Have you ever been to a clothing swap? Please leave your tips on being stylish without paying retail in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Does the Internet make us happier?

2010-05-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

A new study of mental health from Britain suggests that rather than making us more stressed and anxious as has previously been thought, spending time online makes us happier.

Researchers found a link between Internet access and well-being. And some people benefit more than others from being connected to the information superhighway, including women.

The study author says that, "Put simply, people with IT access are more satisfied with life even when taking account of income. Our analysis suggests that it has an enabling and empowering role in people's lives, by increasing their sense of freedom and control, which has a positive impact on well-being or happiness."

Click here to read the full article.

I think it's safe to say that most people reading this blog would agree with that analysis. What do you think? Does the Internet make you happier? In what way? And can you get too much of a good thing? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section. I'd love to hear your opinions, especially if you disagree with the study's conclusions.

p.s. I was looking for a photo that illustrated the concept of happiness, and found this one of me with my niece a few years back. Really it's a cheap attempt to put up another photo of my adorable niece, since it has nothing to do with the Internet. But we do look happy.

Help me figure out an anniversary gift

2010-05-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

A good friend has invited my husband and I to her parent's 50th wedding anniversary.

This morning it occurred to me that I have absolutely no idea what to give them. I would like to stick to The Compact if possible, but that's difficult when you barely know someone.

I have met her mother several times, and her father once, very briefly. They are quite old and I don't know much about their interests, except that her mother likes to make apple streudel. They are German and moved here when they were newly married.

Another factor is that I know it's a difficult marriage, so I'm not inclined to give them an overly sentimental gift about how their love has stood the test of time.

For these reasons, it's harder than usual to give a handmade or experiential gift. I think I need something nice and generic. Although baked goods are a possibility, if it's something special.

Readers, I need your inspiration. You always give me great suggestions, and I know you'll come through. I'm really drawing a blank on this one.

What would you give an elderly couple you barely know? Please leave your ideas in the Comments section. And thank you in advance.

Our first CSA delivery: oh, the bounty

2010-05-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

We received our first CSA delivery on May 18, 2009, a little over a year ago. This is a reprint of the post I wrote that day.

Woo hoo! Our first CSA box arrived today! And here it is all spread out. What a haul. Honestly, I don't even know what some of this stuff IS.

When I joined The Compact, I didn't even know what CSA stood for. It means Community Supported Agriculture, and it's a familiar acronym to people involved in the local food movement. It's basically like going to the Farmer's Market, except the Farmer's Market comes to you. You're supporting local farmers who grow organic produce. The service visits all the Farmer's Markets in the area and finds the freshest offerings each week. Our service (Auntie Em's) even delivers it to your doorstep. Eating local and organic is better for the environment AND for your health.

This adventure of Buying Nothing New is leading me in all kinds of directions I never would have imagined. I know I've said before that I'm not really the type of person who does things Nike-style. I'm more of a deliberator, I like to weigh the pros and cons and take my time with a decision. But in this case, I dove right in. Last week I saw this post over at My Friend Oprah and within two days I was signed up and eagerly awaiting our first delivery. I simply couldn't think of any downside to doing it.

Luckily I asked for delivery every other week, because this is A LOT of produce. All we have to do is leave out the box on our doorstep by early morning the day of our next delivery. Our service also includes a list of what's inside with suggestions for preparation, plus a recipe. This week's is Alice Water's Swiss Chard gratin (recipe follows). Tonight we'll have our friends over for that plus some fresh fava beans spread on crostini. And fresh cherries for dessert! The apricots will probably be gone by the time they get here (I love apricots!)

This week's bonanza also includes spring garlic, purple sprouting broccoli, Detroit red beets, and red scarlett turnips. Any suggestions on what to do with the turnips or anything else you see here? Please leave your ideas in the Comments section.

Food Waste Friday and Favorite Blog Post of the Week

2010-05-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

It's Friday, and we've got no food waste this week.

I have to admit that when I first started reading The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday posts featuring photos of rotten food, I didn't quite know what to make of it. But it didn't take me long to recognize how I'd gotten used to throwing food away almost every single week. Once I made the connection that being careful about the food we buy and eat was better for the environment and better for our budget, I started taking it seriously.

Now that we're watching our food waste, if we're not perfect I don't go into a depression or anything, but I feel much better being generally conscious about it. I think maybe I have a genetic predisposition against food waste because when I was little and we'd be on family car trips I'd get so upset when I'd see food accidentally dumped all over the road. I particularly recall a truckload of tomatoes smashed and smeared all over the asphalt. It made me so sad, like they hadn't gotten a chance to do what they were supposed to do, fulfill their tomato destiny. They were waste. My family thought I was nuts when I would express thoughts like this. I guess it is a little nuts.

But all the same, I wish no food was ever wasted. So we'll do our part in this house.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Tell us about it in the Comments section.

FAVORITE BLOG POST OF THE WEEK: Kristen at The Frugal Girl gets my vote for this post about the idiocy of Kleenex's new product, a disposable paper bathroom hand towel for home use. Please read it, link to it on your blog, pass it along to your friends. The fact that this product even exists is so wrong on so many levels, and I'd like to do everything possible to help it go away before it has a chance to catch on.

And please don't buy their product. In fact, if you want to go one step further, switch to a People Towel and save a tree. It's a reusable organic cotton towel you carry around with you. It comes in all kinds of groovy patterns. In Japan, personal towels are quite common. Think they'll catch on in the U.S.A.? You can read all about People Towels here. Thanks to Danielle at Your Daily Thread for that awesome information.

Thrifty Threads, sort of

2010-05-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday, when I usually write a Thrifty Threads post. But I want to be clear up front that this girl did not send me this photo, I saw the story on The Frugalista Files, and thought it was perfect for the Thrifty Threads concept.

This teenage girl from North Carolina made her prom dress from Starburst candy wrappers. It started out as an art project, and ended up this super-original and adorable prom dress. She also made her own accessories and her date's tie.

This dress is a recycling treasure. It's made out of duct tape, masking tape, and 20 packages of Starburst candy. Click here to read the entire article in the Greensboro News & Record.

If you're new to this blog, Thrifty Threads is about readers modeling their favorite secondhand outfits, usually from Goodwill, a thrift store, or a consignment shop. This outfit is used, but rather than having been worn before by someone else, it's recycled. I don't know how thrifty it is because I have no idea how much 20 packages of Starburst candy costs. But I imagine it's a lot less than a fancy designer dress. And you can bet she didn't run into anyone wearing the same outfit!

Readers, I'm all out of photos, so if you want to see Thrifty Threads continue, please put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. It's so much fun to see all your fabulous finds. So send those photos my way ASAP. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

I Broke the Compact

2010-05-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

My adorable niece turned eight last week, and one of the gifts we sent her was BRAND NEW CLOTHES! Definitely not Compact-approved, so I'm coming clean here.

Do I regret it? No way. She's wearing one of the tops in this photo, she liked it and wanted to wear it on her birthday while she opened up the rest of her gifts.

This is the first new clothing I've bought in 16 months, but I don't feel bad about it. I haven't bought anything for myself, but I'm going to stick by my Compact-lite philosophy and not beat myself up if I want to buy something new once in awhile, especially as a gift for someone I love.

I will say, though, that I didn't intentionally set out to buy her new clothes. I was looking for some pajamas for her to wear at her birthday sleepover, and I couldn't find any and thought maybe the tops would work as pajamas. But then I just decided I wanted to buy them anyway, even though she probably wouldn't wear them as pajamas. Children's pj's are in the general Compact exceptions list, I guess because they'd be too hard to find in good used condition for growing kids, and they're almost like underwear.

She really loves green these days (see the highlights in her hair? Her mom put them in for her birthday gift) and so I wanted to find something green for her. And I'm actually really happy that I found this top, she looks so cute in it.

So I'm 'fessing up about my recent non-Compact purchase. I don't feel guilty about it and I don't regret it. I'm just reporting the event. Just the facts, Jack.

Click here to see a cute photo of my niece wearing her Compact-y Christmas gift. What are your favorite Compact-y gifts for kids? Please leave your ideas in the Comments section.

Meatless Monday Recipes: Mexican edition

2010-05-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative aimed at encouraging people to go meatless one day a week, for their health and the health of the planet. If you haven't heard about it, click here to find out more about the campaign. If you pledge to go meatless on Mondays, you'll receive a weekly email packed with delicious recipes.

That's the secret of going meatless: having lots of terrific vegetarian alternatives. The criteria for the recipes I post here are that they be quick, easy, and delicious. Most of the time, since they're meatless, they're healthy and frugal as well. I think that's a win/win/win/win/win. Wow.

My readers came through again with some super ideas that I can't wait to try.

First, Betsy from Married with Luggage says these black bean quesadillas, which are part of the Omega diet plan for healthy hearts, are delicious. Saute one small diced onion, one grated carrot, and 1/2 cup chopped purple cabbage in a small amount of canola oil for 3 minutes. Add 2 cups cooked spinach, 3 T chopped cilantro, 1 can of drained black beans, salt to taste, 1/2 tsp. cumin, and 1/2 tsp. chili powder and cook until the spinach is wilted. Heat tortillas until crisp, add filling to each, top with 1 T cheese, and fold over. Serve with salsa.

Next, Alea from Premeditated Leftovers suggests Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos. Visit her blog to get the details. I really can't wait to try this delicious combination of sweet potatoes, beans, spices, and cheese.

Around our house, we always like to have the ingredients on hand for an impromptu taco or burrito meal. Just combine any or all of the following for a quick and tasty option: corn or flour tortillas, black or refried beans, salsa, cilantro, cheddar or swiss cheese, avocado or guacamole, peppers, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream.

Thanks for your Mexican-inspired ideas! Readers, please share your favorite meatless recipes in the Comments section, and I'll include them in the next Meatless Monday recipes post. And click here to check out previous Meatless Monday installments for other terrific reader suggestions.

The Simple Living Network Newsletter

2010-05-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm excited and honored to be included in The Simple Living Network Newsletter again this month. The network is one of my favorite resources for living the good life, non-consumer style.

The Simple Living Network website celebrates voluntary simplicity, which they define as "living an examined life, one in which you have determined what is important and enough for you, and discarding the rest." It's not about living in poverty or self-inflicted deprivation.

Duane Elgin, a leader of the voluntary simplicity movement and author of the book Voluntary Simplicity, puts it this way: "Simple living is living in way that is outwardly simple and inwardly rich."

Click here to read my contribution, "My 90% Rule."

And if you haven't checked out The Simple Living Network yet, head on over there posthaste.

Food Waste Friday plus Free Stuff

2010-05-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

This post is very late, and it's also going to be very short.

That's our waste for the week: snap peas, mixed greens, and a mystery herb. It might be tarragon, I'm not sure. I used it a couple of times and then it went yellow. The bagged greens I bought in a moment of weakness, when I was experiencing a salad craving in between CSA deliveries. And the snap peas I just didn't get to. Shame on me.

I'm not a very good example this week, but food waste just wasn't at the top of my priority list. On the bright side, it's all compostable so I won't be sending any food to the landfill. Also, we're still generating much less trash than we were this time last year or anytime before that. And I'm very happy about that.

Why care about wasting food? Because it's bad for the environment, and not so great for your bank account either. Find out more at Wasted Food.

FREE STUFF ALERT: Click here for 5 ways to Get Free Stuff on Twitter. Yes, I said the "T" word. Even though I don't personally use Twitter, that's no reason to begrudge my readers some great deals if they partake. I'm really having a problem focusing on some important things these days, and adding Twitter to my life is NOT going to help me with that issue. It's hard for me to believe it would be anything but one more distraction, even if it turned out to be a positive one. By the way, I got that tip from Natalie, The Frugalista herself.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Tell us about it in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads

2010-05-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, a yard sale, ebay, craigslist, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is Carmen, back for the third time on Thrifty Threads. Carmen loves thrifting, and when she realized this outfit was mostly secondhand, she took a photo and sent it to me. Thanks Carmen!

Carmen blogs at Life Blessons, with the tagline "The blessings and lessons of this little life of mine." Her blog offers a thoughtful examination of her life and values, including her faith, her marriage, and her future, along with the opportunity to follow her progress as she sets up house, learns to cook, and figures out clever ways to save money. I like the way she is on a journey, always learning new things and questioning her values. I really enjoyed this post called "Why we don't own a television."

This cute spring outfit is entirely thrifted except for the green tank top. The denim skirt was originally from the Gap and the clutch purse and cardigan are vintage. Carmen says that mix of old and new is one of her favorite things about thrifting. She loves incorporating some vintage pieces into her wardrobe and the character they bring to an outfit. I agree. The simple, modern tank top and denim skirt combo are brought to life by the handcrafted details in the purse and sweater.

Thanks Carmen for another great Thrifty Threads submission! It is so inspiring to see how you express your personality and individuality through your secondhand scores. Having unique pieces like this in your wardrobe allows you to create far more interesting outfits than the brand-new cookie cutter fashions found in the mall.

Readers, it's your turn! Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your fabulous finds, so don't be shy. Inspire us with your spring and summer fashions.

Please leave your tips and advice for thrift store shopping plus compliments for Carmen in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

The Recycling Queen

2010-05-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Meet Ann Lesch. She recycles just about anything she gets her hands on. And what she creates out of what most of us would consider junk is fabulous.

Ann collects used plastic bags friends bring home from stores. She washes them, sorts them by color, and cuts them into strips. Then she crochets them into these beautiful purses, book bags, beach bags, and mats for lying out at the beach. She also passes the mats out to homeless people to give them something to help keep them dry.

Ann creates these treasures by covering boxes and containers with upholstery and drapery samples that she gets from interior decorating companies. Tons of these samples are tossed in the trash each season. Ann turns them into purses, beach bags, pillows (which she tightly stuffs with recycled plastic bags), and lovely keepsake boxes.

She collects outdated tiles from ceramic tile companies and covers old tables like this one. She also uses this technique for benches and chairs. If I had Ann's talent, I would have saved a lot of time searching for a tile table for our backyard.

Ann's husband John clearly supports her talent and resourcefulness.

Believe it or not, these beautiful containers are made from magazine pages. Ann turns them into lovely flower pots, vases, and fruit bowls.

And these creations were made with repurposed yarn from scraps and sweaters.

What an inspiration! Talk about spinning gold from straw and turning trash into treasure. Ann's projects are the ultimate in recycling: an artist working with found materials.

Ann's daughter Janice says she is so proud of her 80-year-old mother. She doesn't need a facelift to stay young. Her secret is appreciating the little things in life.

Thank you Ann, for being an inspiration to all of us! Your talent is remarkable.

Do you turn trash into treasure? Tell us about it in the Comments section.

CSA Delivery

2010-05-10T13:51:00.001-07:00

Another delicious-looking CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) delivery today. I'm excited about the fruit, since strawberries, peaches, and apricots are some of my favorites. Celery is the only thing I could do without, but I'm sure I can use it in soup or something else. And my husband enjoys it occasionally.

This week we got (roughly clockwise from the back): cauliflower, romaine, celery, fava beans, strawberries, broccoli, cherry walnut granola bar, apricots, white peaches, artichokes, bok choy, sugar snap peas, zucchini, mint and chamomile, spring garlic, Bloomsdale spinach, and mixed baby greens.

The basic idea of CSA is bringing the Farmer's Market to you. It's worked out great for us. We're eating more fruits and vegetables and a more varied diet in general, so it's healthier. And the produce tastes much more delicious than what you usually find at the supermarket. Also, even though the $42 charge seemed a little high to me at first, our grocery budget has stayed the same or even fallen a little. I think that's because I'm buying less meat and pre-packaged items. Still, we only get this delivery once every two weeks because it's too much for us to use up every week.

If you're interested, click here to find out more about CSA and find one near you. And if you have recipe ideas or tips for anything you see in this photo, please leave your suggestions in the Comments section.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

These photos are from my favorite plant, the Matilija Poppy. It grows like a weed, and hardly needs any water, just a lot of sun. Perfect for southern California.

I would never have been able to grow this beautiful plant and all the plants in our gorgeous front yard, without the help, advice, and inspiration of my mom, who is a gardening goddess. Before I dove into the project of landscaping our front yard with native and drought-tolerant choices, I was known to kill plants. Well, not exactly kill them, since it wasn't intentional. More like neglect them, and let them die. But now it's been worth all the work and added a bright spot to our lives, especially every time I come home to our cute little house.

Thanks, mom. And Happy Mother's Day. I love you very much.

And Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who read my blog.

Food Waste Friday plus Favorite blog post of the week

2010-05-07T12:16:00.001-07:00

No picture this week, but we did have some food waste.

1. Half a container of almond milk. I'm not very good at using this up before it goes bad. I opened it for a smoothie, went out of town for a week, and then forgot about it. I need to either tell my husband to use it on his cereal, or have a smoothie for breakfast even if I'm more in the mood for yogurt and homemade granola, my current favorite.

2. About half a head of kale. I LOVE kale, and was so disappointed to see that I hadn't adequately sealed the plastic bag when I put this away so some of the leaves had turned yellow. I did manage to save enough for one of my favorite light dinners: warm kale salad.

Saute torn leaves in olive oil with two cloves of minced or pressed garlic until soft. Top with salt, balsamic vinegar, toasted pine nuts, and goat cheese.

3. A bit of greek salad. This was a takeout item I had enjoyed for lunch and taken the remainder home for my husband. He enjoyed it for dinner and still had some left over. He forgot to eat it the next day and the following day it was soggy. In my opinion, this says more about huge restaurant portions than our ability to avoid wasting food.

I'm determined to do better next week. I didn't buy many groceries this week and I have a new policy of only buying one "treat" or pre-packaged item per week. When we have those easy options, we often waste more. I'm also doing an informal "eat from the pantry" month to use up some staples that have been around for awhile.

If you're new here and wondering what all the fuss is about, check out Wasted Food to learn more about how food in a landfill pollutes the earth. And go to The Frugal Girl for the roundup of bloggers who are determined to limit their waste, one blogger at a time.

Favorite blog post of the week: I love this guest post by Naomi Seldin of Simpler Living about how to get rid of a particular kind of clutter - the sentimental kind. There are a lot of valuable lessons in this thoughtful piece. Although around our house, I can't imagine ever referring to a bottle of wine as "clutter." Naomi's blog is packed with tips and useful information for dealing with all kinds of other clutter as well.

Thrifty Threads

2010-05-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y Outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, ebay, craiglist, a clothing swap, a yard sale, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

I am very excited to have a brand new model today, Shelayna, who blogs at One Closet, One Year. Shelayna's project is to buy no new clothing, and wear only the clothes in her own closet for an entire year without repeating an outfit. That's incredible! And get this, the project was born when she was getting dressed one day and had that thought we've all had at one time or another, "I've got nothing to wear!" Well, almost immediately she realized she DID have plenty to wear, and her closet was full of treasures, but she just needed to mix it up and put things together in a new and inspired way.

She's inspired me because all week I've been digging things out that I haven't worn in years and wearing them in new combinations. Yesterday I wore the jacket from a 90s suit I hadn't been able to get rid of, and paired it with one of my favorite blouses and jeans. It was a whole new look and my husband told me I looked "elegant."

Shelayna sent me 3 different photos and it was hard to decide which one to pick but I thought this one looked the most seasonal, plus I love the umbrella. I would like to make carrying an umbrella very hip and stylish, especially in sunny climates like California, because it is so important to take care of your skin. All the ladies in Chinatown walk around with their umbrellas, but I haven't seen too many younger women doing it. But Shelayna's sporting the look, and I love it.

This ensemble is made up of a dress from Goodwill, turned down and made into a skirt, for $7.99, a white blouse from Goodwill for $5.99, and the blue sweater was free from a clothing swap. If I haven't said it recently, I am a huge fan of clothing swaps. I host one every year for some girlfriends and I have gotten some of my favorite pieces from the swap, and so have my friends. It's what has allowed me to go without buying any new clothes for almost a year and a half.

It looks like not shopping has made Shelayna more creative with her wardrobe, and that's been my experience as well. You must visit her blog to see her unique creations, it is so much fun. She's not afraid of layering, mixing patterns, wearing things backwards, or even modifying a piece that needs a little something, like when she takes this so-so dress and ties it at the bust and ends up with a much more stylish look.

Okay, readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite secondhand outfit, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your fabulous finds, so don't be shy. Thrifty Threads has room for all shapes, sizes, and ages, and men and children are welcome as well.

Do you like to go "shopping in your closet?" Please leave us your best tips for secondhand shopping, plus compliments for Shelayna in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Annie Leonard: hero or communist sympathizer?

2010-05-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

Annie Leonard's video "The Story of Stuff," was the single strongest influence on me during my first year on The Compact (I'm almost halfway through my second already).

So I was happy to see her on The Colbert Report and learn that she'd written a book of the same name. The idea that we should all be aware of where our stuff comes from and try to move toward a more sustainable model for the future seems like common sense to me. But of course, it's a big threat to those who have a lot invested in our endless pursuit of buying more and more cheaply made throwaway products. And it turns out what she's doing is much more subversive than it appears at first glance.

She's an author, environmental activist, sustainability expert, and consumerist critic. And now her critics are calling her a lot of other things. Check out this article from the Denver Post about Leonard, called "Crusading for Mindful Consumption," and let us know what you think in the Comments section. Is she a positive force or a dangerous radical whose ideas would cause our economy to crater?

And if you haven't watched "The Story of Stuff," you can watch it here. And click here to see her on The Colbert Nation if you want a laugh with your news.

Stop Those Catalogs and Junk Mail Once and For All

2010-05-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published post, from one year ago. I thought I'd check in on my "baby step challenges" from last year and see how they're going. This post was my mid-month report on attacking junk mail, and our junk mail has decreased dramatically in the past year. This month I'll collect all the junk mail that comes in and see if I can cut it down even more. One year later, maybe I'll finally complete this challenge.

A few weeks ago, I wrote this post about May's baby steps challenge, which is to stop those catalogs and junk mail once and for all. We get WAY too many catalogs, and even before I joined The Compact, I only ordered from a fraction of the ones we receive. I'll be working on other challenges throughout the year, like using homemade cleaning supplies, composting, and air-drying laundry, but for May I'm focused on the junk mail and catalogs.

So how am I doing so far? I've already completed the first 3 items on my to-do list for the month. I'll go through them one at a time.

1. Sign up for Catalog Choice. DONE. Finally. I should have done this years ago when I first heard about it. But better late than never. This took maybe 30 minutes. I was surprised that I had to check catalogs one at a time. There's no way to simply say "no catalogs." But I tried to check as many as I could think of that we receive. Hopefully we'll see the results of this within a few months. Incidentally, if you're afraid you'll feel remorse about no longer receiving the Pottery Barn catalog or suddenly get an urge to peruse through Harry & David's mouthwatering photos, you can always go to the site and ask to resume service from that vendor.

2. Put my name on Forest Ethic's Do Not Mail List. DONE. This was actually a petition to create a "Do Not Mail" list similar to the "Do Not Call" list. Then they sent me a thank you for signing the petition and at that point I put my name on a list to stop receiving junk mail. This one probably took only about ten minutes.

3. Go to optoutprescreen.com and "opt out" of all credit card offers. DONE. This one only took about five minutes.

That just leaves item #4, which is: Every time I get a catalog or piece of junk mail, set it aside and call the toll-free number and ask to be put on their "Do Not Mail" list. NOT DONE YET. I did start setting the catalogs and junk mail aside, and two week's worth is what makes up the photo at the top of this post. That's a LOT of junk mail. A total of three credit card offers and nine catalogs.

So I've done 3 out of 4 tasks, and I'll work on making those calls this week. I haven't seen a difference yet from completing the first three, but it might take a few months.

Have you taken the challenge to stop catalogs and junk mail once and for all? Do you want to start now? It's easy! Please leave your ideas, tips, and questions in the Comments section. And let me know if you're in!

Meatless Monday: Broccoli/Potato Soup

2010-05-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit initiative that encourages people to go meatless one day a week. It's good for the environment, good for your health, and good for your wallet: a perfect win/win/win.

Here's just one statistic about the impact of going meatless: if everyone went vegetarian for just ONE DAY, the United States would save 100 billion gallons of water. If you can't wrap your head around that number, it's enough to supply all the homes in New England for four months.

Click here to find out more about the Meatless Monday campaign. When you pledge to go meatless on Mondays, you'll receive a weekly email full of delicious recipes. To me, that's the heart of going without meat: having so many delicious alternatives that you don't feel deprived.

Today I want to share an easy new recipe I got from a good friend. I've been making it a lot lately, because it's so simple and delicious. Plus, it only uses a few ingredients.

BROCCOLI/POTATO SOUP

2 leeks
1 lb. peeled and cubed potatoes
1 lb. broccoli florets
2 16 oz. cans broth
2 tsp. dill
salt and pepper

Slice leeks and saute in olive oil until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add potatoes and saute a few more minutes. Add broccoli, dill, and broth, and season with salt and lots of black pepper.

Cook in a pressure cooker for 6 minutes, or in a regular pot on medium high for about 25 minutes, until broccoli is soft and falling apart. Puree in a blender or with an immersion mixer until smooth, but not too long or the potato will become gluey. Add broth or water as needed for consistency.

Delicious as a first course or with fresh bread as a light dinner.

This soup reminds me of something they would serve at the elegant French restaurant in our neighborhood. It's perfect any time of year.

Please share your favorite meatless recipes in the Comments section, and I'll include them in the next Meatless Monday recipes post. And click here to check out previous Meatless Monday installments for lots of fantastic reader suggestions.

Food Waste Friday plus Free Museums

2010-04-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be short and sweet, because... we've got no food waste this week! Yay.

One thing that has helped is buying less when I shop for groceries. The past two weeks I've crossed a couple of things off the list that could wait. This is especially true for packaged items, which tend to take precedence over other food we should be using up from the pantry or freezer. So I'm starting a new policy: only one packaged "treat" per shopping trip. Frozen pizza, cookies, and chips are all included. I'm not cutting them out entirely, but I'm not throwing them into the cart willy nilly anymore either. When we don't have those items readily available, my husband tends to get more creative with what he eats for lunch, and it usually ends up being healthier as well.

This is possible because of our CSA delivery, and a well-stocked pantry. We won't be going hungry anytime soon, so I can cut back on what we bring in a little bit. And buying less food has been the Number One best trick for wasting less. The bonus is that we save money in the bargain.

To learn more about how wasted food harms the environment, visit Wasted Food. And check out The Frugal Girl to get tips from other bloggers learning to minimize their food waste.

FREE STUFF ALERT: It's that time again: Bank of America's Museums on Us program, which lets you into participating museums free all day the first Saturday and Sunday of the month. That's this weekend, so if you're a customer, get out your debit card and click here to find participating museums in your area.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Let us know in the Comments section, along with any great freebies you've heard about lately.

Thrifty Threads

2010-04-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Frugal vs. Cheap

2010-04-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

I recently had an experience that left me determined not to be cheap, with myself or anyone else. And it got me thinking about the difference between being frugal and being just plain cheap. Sometimes there's a fine line...

I would consider myself mostly frugal, thrifty, and resourceful, and I consider those to be positive qualities in others. However, what is decidedly NOT a nice quality is cheapness. I want to be generous in life, with myself, my time, and my money. Living on a budget is no reason to be stingy with others.

Here are a few examples of being frugal versus being cheap:

1. A frugal person doesn't go out to dinner when they can't afford it, and pays their fair share when they do. A cheap person doesn't leave enough money to cover their portion of the bill, thereby causing the rest of the group to pay for them.

2. A frugal person borrows DVDs from the library. A cheap person makes illegal copies of the DVDs for their own personal library.

3. A frugal person has a grocery budget and cooks healthy meals from scratch. A cheap person eats Top Ramen every night even though they can afford much better food.

4. A frugal person doesn't spend every penny they earn, and leaves an inheritance. A cheap person eats cat food for dinner and lives in squalor while they have a million dollars in the bank.

Those are just a few examples, you get the idea.

It's possible to be cheap with others, and with ourselves. Not taking care of our own health and well-being could be considered being cheap with oneself.

I want to be both frugal and generous, and I don't think they're mutually exclusive.

What are some other examples of when frugal goes too far and enters the land of the cheap? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section.

It's CSA Delivery Day

2010-04-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

This delivery was so over the top, I couldn't even fit it all on the table, and you can't really see the absolutely ginormous stalks of swiss chard in the back because they're covered up by the kale and golden beets. It took me about an hour just to put all this away, because I had to trim the greens off the beets and the swiss chard off the stalks, because otherwise it wouldn't have all fit into the refrigerator.

My husband watched me while eating his portion of the walnut brownie treat that came with the delivery, and he said, "Let's be honest. Not everyone could do this. It's a lot of work."

I told him I had mentioned that before, but in case it's been awhile, I have to admit it IS a lot of work to keep track of all of this, plan menus around it, and make sure we use it all up. It's worth it, mostly because it tastes so good, but also I like knowing that we're eating local and organic and I think it's much healthier for us. But I just wanted to give full disclosure about it - my husband and I have flexible schedules and we can swing it, but it would be very difficult with two people working full-time jobs. The delivery is a convenience, but the rest of it is a project.

I'm not complaining, mind you. Just telling you how I see it. I'm always very happy to see some of my favorites with each delivery, and with a few exceptions, I've discovered several delicious new recipes planned around an item we were previously unfamiliar with.

This week we got (roughly clockwise from the back): Bloomsdale spinach (our current favorite), kale, swiss chard, golden beets, some kind of beans, zucchini, maui onions, broccoli, navel oranges, fuji apples, artichokes, potatoes, grapefruit , sweet potato, cabbage, strawberries, snap peas, green garlic, an unidentified bunch of herbs and a walnut brownie (not pictured).

I'm a huge sweet potato lover, and am excited to eat possibly my first local, organic sweet potato. For dinner tonight, I'll get to that swiss chard right away with our new favorite Guadalajaran Swiss Chard Quesadillas, and tomorrow I'll make a potato/leek/broccoli pureed soup. That leaves a lot of other dinners to figure out!

Click here to learn more about CSA and find one in your area. And feel free to leave your thoughts in the Comments section, along with recipes for anything you see in the photo.

Food Waste Friday plus favorite blog post of the week

2010-04-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

What's in the container? The rest of some delicious cooked beets that I couldn't get to before I left on vacation last week. My husband will eat almost anything, but he has a strict no beets policy. The beets in the last CSA delivery were so huge that I was eating these things for lunch and dinner for a couple of days. It's incredible that I would ever waste beets, I love them so much, but I'm not perfect.

My husband did better: he ate all the cilantro, lettuce, and radishes while I was gone. And I gave it my best with my attempt to use up some turnips with a Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie that I found online. It was horrible, and I don't think I'll be able to eat turnips again for quite awhile. We ended up scraping the mashed potatoes off the top and dumping the turnip stew underneath. So that was a bit more waste. The recipe was not a keeper, and the worst part was that I ended up spending almost two hours cooking it! I very rarely spend that much time on dinner, and when I do I expect it to be spectacular! But I do believe you have to keep trying new things, even though it doesn't always turn out to be a positive experience. At least I don't have a husband who throws a less-than-tasty dinner in the sink and stomps out of the house, as my mom claims her father did (!) when my grandmother would try something "exotic" like Chop Suey.

It's hard not to waste any food at all, but it's not too hard to waste less, with a bit of planning and effort. You can read all about how wasting less is good for the environment at Wasted Food, and check out The Frugal Girl for the folks who are documenting their waste in an attempt to do better.

And head on over to The Non-Consumer Advocate for my Favorite Blog Post of the Week, about how some folks seem to think being green is a competition with their "I'm greener than you" holier-than-thou attitude. It really got me riled up!

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Please let us know in the Comments section, and feel free to weigh in on the "green" controversy as well.

Thrifty Threads: Earth Day Edition

2010-04-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, a yard sale, craigslist, ebay, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is yours truly, finally getting into the swing of buying used clothing. I found this whimsical and original t-shirt at a high-end consignment shop on the half-off rack, which came to $7. It's hand appliqued and sequined in a cute design and I love the colors. The jean jacket appeared to be brand new and fit me perfectly, and set me back $9 at Goodwill. I'm very happy with that purchase because I've never found a jean jacket that was both fitted AND comfortable.

Okay readers, it's your turn. I'm getting very low on photos, so please put on your favorite thrift store score, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your fabulous finds. Any age and size is welcome, but I would particularly love to see some pretty spring dresses, florals, and bright colors. Something festive and fun now that winter is finally coming to an end.

Please tell us your favorite tips for secondhand shopping in the Comments section. And click here if you'd like to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

The gratefuls

2010-04-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published post. I'll be back tomorrow with a brand-new Thrifty Threads.

My husband and I don't have kids, so I don't often post photos of cute children on my blog. But I can post pictures of my friend's kids, especially when I have something to say about them.

This is Lukas, the son of a good friend of mine. My friend will wonder why I'm posting a photo that's over three years old. Lukas turned 4 the other day and there are tons of adorable photos that are more recent. But I have my reasons. For one thing, it's one of my favorite photos of him, and perfectly captures his unadulterated joy. The other reason is because I love that we do that pose in my yoga class, and it's actually called "Happy Baby pose." And this post is about happiness.

I'm very interested in studies on happiness and what makes people happy. I find it interesting to wonder if it can actually be quantified. There's a lot of evidence that being grateful actually adds to our sense of well-being. And anecdotally, focusing on what I'm grateful for counterarracts the tendency to be constantly striving, wanting more, and wanting things to be different.

Sometimes Lukas and his mom practice what they call "the gratefuls" during dinner. They name something they're grateful for that day, or that moment. It could be one thing or five things. And one night when I was eating with them, when asked about his gratefuls, Lukas said, "I'm grateful that Auntie Ang is here eating dinner with us." It was totally unprompted and spontaneous. Now THAT'S something to be grateful for.

Being thankful for what's in my life, especially the people and relationships, gives me an immediate sense of calm. This is how I practice it: whenever I think of it - once a day, once a week, a few times a week, or a couple of times a day - I think of or write down 5 things I'm grateful for. I don't make it a chore, or a "have to" or another item on my "to-do" list, I simply do it whenever I think about it. And I like to call them "my gratefuls."

What I notice is that they are very nearly always the same: my husband, my friends, my family, the fact that I can walk and run and breathe easily and move my body freely, the fact that my husband and I are in good health, that kind of thing. When you pare it down to the essentials, what's important is hardly ever material. So I might be really excited about our beautiful new kitchen floor, but I'm grateful for a husband who worked so hard to make it happen.

What are you grateful for? Do you practice thankfulness, at a place of worship or on your own? Do you think it makes you happier? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section.

Why are you frugal, or semi-frugal, or resourceful?

2010-04-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published post.

After I wrote yesterday's post "What do you splurge on?" it occurred to me that maybe I should have started with the question "Why are you frugal?" Because there's no point in being frugal for the sake of being frugal. There needs to be a reason, which ranges from sheer necessity (for example, you live on a fixed income or you're trying to support a family on minimum wage or you've been laid off from your job) to all manner of lifestyle goals and ideals.

One of my readers suggested that if I was uncomfortable with the term "frugal," perhaps I should substitute "resourceful." I like that. It brings to mind a sensible person, cheerfully making do with their circumstances. Creating a gourmet meal out of forgotten pantry items, making a cozy home in the wilderness, sewing stylish clothing out of burlap bags. Sort of a cross between Marmie from Little Women and MacGyver (ingenious uses for everyday items).

So WHY am I resourceful? There are many reasons, but they mostly revolve around wanting to create a lifestyle that meshes with my values and goals. The values have to do with non-consumerism and protecting the environment and trying not to use more than my fair share of the earth's resources. The goals involve wanting to work less, while at the same time doing work I enjoy and having control over my own schedule.

It all comes down to priorities. Mine have just never been to have a big house, an expensive car, lots of jewelry, or STUFF. They've always had more of an experiential element, and include doing work and activities I love, having time for my husband and friends, and not being tied down to a schedule. Also, living on less lets me feel more in control and less panicked if my husband or I get less work or if the economy takes a turn for the worse. Having money for an emergency and not living on credit means that we're not so dependent on jobs or the economy.

If I gave the impression yesterday that I was frugal just so I could spend money on travel, boots, and spas, that's not the case. I do splurge on some things, but they're not the overall point of a frugal or resourceful lifestyle. Joining The Compact was an extension of the way I was already living rather than a radical experiment, and I've realized that even more because nearly five months later, I've had hardly any challenges or temptations to wrestle with.

I'm not trying to recruit members for The Compact, but I guess in a way I AM trying to relate how simple it is to live on less. Maybe give a little hope to people who are doing it by necessity. How it can actually be creative, invigorating, and yes... fun! Because believe me, if you saw our lifestyle, I don't think anyone would call it deprived. Except for maybe someone like Donald Trump, who I would consider the exact opposite of me. It's hard to believe we're the same species, really. The only thing I can think of that we have in common is a thick head of hair. But then again, his is probably fake.

Why are you frugal, or semi-frugal, or resourceful? Or do you prefer another label entirely? Please tell us your thoughts in the Comments section.

CSA delivery: or, how to make Monday your favorite day of the week

2010-04-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published post. I'll be back this Thursday with a brand-new Thrifty Threads post.

Getting this delivery of local organic produce every two weeks has changed our lives! Cooking is more fun, and my husband is eating more fruit. On top of being better for the environment by cutting down transportation costs and supporting the local farmers, this stuff is much fresher, so it lasts longer, and it tastes absolutely delicious.

Here's a rundown of this week's bounty (I definitely need to consult the list because I don't know what some of it is): starting from the back and moving roughly clockwise is watermelon, bi-colored sweet corn, cavallion melon, red butter lettuce, a beefsteak tomato, zucchini, Ronde nice squash, cherry tomatoes, black grapes, homemade tomato sauce, plums, nectarines, red onions, rooted basil, and Armenian cucumber. Those purple goodies in the middle? Fresh Black Eyed Peas in the Shell. I've never seen those before.

I can't decide what to have for dinner tonight. I'm really excited about the corn, we'll have to eat that. Maybe I'll tackle those Black Eyed Peas, there are instructions on how to prepare them. And I'll definitely be referring to all the zucchini recipes I received from my readers when I cook that zucchini later this week.

I've posted today's recipe below, although we didn't receive eggplant, so something must have changed at the last minute. Our CSA visits four local Farmer's Markets over the weekend and picks the freshest offerings each week.

If you live in Los Angeles, this CSA operates through the restaurant and catering company Auntie Em's. This delivery costs $42, and we're getting it every two weeks, which is plenty for two people. I like what the owner has to say in this week's newsletter about the whole issue of trying to eat responsibly for our bodies and the planet: "I think that we should all try to do the best we can, and be proud that we're making a difference. Don't beat yourself up over the fact that you're not eating grass-fed beef, if you are buying organic produce, recycle, and are walking more places. It is really hard to do it all. But you can make good choices everyday."

I agree. And Auntie Em's is helping my husband and I make a good choice. I believe that many people making a lot of small changes has a greater impact than if a few of us become Ed Begley, Jr. (no offense to EB). The point is that you do what you can, and it all adds up. For me, the baby steps method works well so that I don't become overwhelmed. I can incorporate small changes into our lives like composting and eating local produce without a huge outlay of time or resources.

Becoming a non-consumer has led to a slew of other healthy lifestyle/good for the environment changes for me. What about you? Do you have a CSA option or Farmer's Market near where you live? Maybe you grow your own produce. Have you ever made Black Eyed Peas from the pod? Do you boil or steam fresh corn? Please leave your thoughts and questions in the Comments section.

Another Food Waste Friday

2010-04-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published post.

No picture... no food waste!

I actually ate the less-than-appetizing sauteed kale from a few nights ago in order to avoid taking a photo of it. I sauteed it again with olive oil and garlic, and added salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, parmesan, bread crumbs, and toasted pine nuts. The result? It would be a stretch to call it delicious, but it was tasty.

It reminds me of something my husband told me. Back in Alabama where he grew up, there was a women's dress shop called "Betty's Big Girls." He always got a kick out of their ad which was, "If you can't lose that weight, dress it up pretty." Well, I dressed that kale up pretty. And I'm going to consider today's lunch a successful experiment in behavior modification. And thanks to my husband, the Eat Me! section of the refrigerator has been entirely cleared out. Ladies and gentlemen, human beings CAN be trained to change their behavior. I give you Exhibit A (me) and Exhibit B (my husband).

I also have to thank my readers for helping me to avoid soy milk and fennel ending up in this week's photo. The soy milk made a couple of smoothies, and my husband ate the rest with cereal. And the fennel was delicious sliced up into a salad, which we ate two nights in a row. Thanks for all your great suggestions.

So why are hundreds, or maybe thousands, of people posting photos of their weekly food waste on their blogs? It's not a new aesthetic, found art, or a diet fad. It's a way of taking responsibility for what we buy, eat, and throw away. And making it public helps with our level of responsibility and commitment.

Kristen over at the excellent blog The Frugal Girl may have been the first person to use the method of taking a photo of her waste. Her Waste-No-Food Challenge now has many followers. And it all started with Jonathan Bloom over at Wasted Food, who is on a mission to stop food waste across the nation. Check out his blog to learn about why it matters that we all start thinking more about what we're throwing out.

And if you're wasting LOTS of food, keep this in mind. We all started there. When you're at the market, maybe you buy too much produce with the good intention that you'll eat it all. Maybe you buy snacks that end up being a meal instead of that fresh produce. The point is, once you start thinking about it and focusing on it, there are all kinds of tips and tricks to use the food you already have, to eat the produce while it's still fresh, and to avoid throwing food away.

So how did you do this week? Have you joined the Waste-No-Food Challenge yet? Please leave your thoughts, questions, anecdotes, and musings in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads

2010-04-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published Thrifty Threads. I'm on my way to Florida to visit my 92-year-old grandfather, so I've picked some of my favorite posts from last year that I hope you'll enjoy for the next few days. I'll be back next Thursday with a brand new Thrifty Threads.

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y Outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is anything used or recycled, from the Goodwill, a thrift store, or a consignment shop.

Today's model is Jenna, who bought this fabulous dressy dress for just $10 at Crossroads Trading Company in Seattle. Jenna lives in Spokane, but goes to Seattle a couple of times a year just to shop in their great thrift stores. She wore this beautiful dress at her graduation from Whitworth University, where the photo with her friends was taken. Since then, she's worn it to a lot of other fancy events like the Nutcracker ballet during the holidays, and her birthday dinner with her boyfriend.

Jenna just bought a new house (congratulations!) so she says she doesn't have a lot of money to spend on designer clothes. But that doesn't mean she can't be stylish. She says this is her most prized consignment store find, it's super soft and has a row of purple jewels along the waistline. It really is beautiful. It makes me want to hit the secondhand stores right now.

Good for you Jenna for buying a house and for wanting to change your lifestyle so that you waste less. Since you're starting to make wise purchases so young, you probably will be able to avoid the trap a lot of people get in when they get out of college and start racking up their credit cards and living beyond their means.

Readers, put on your favorite thrift store finds, take a picture, and send it to me. I would love to be able to do this segment every Thursday, for now I'm going to do it at least every other week as long as I get enough photos. So keep them coming! We want to see your fabulous finds of all kinds: dressy and casual, large and small, men and women. Thanks for participating Jenna. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Do you buy secondhand clothes? What's your favorite score? Can you believe she found that dress for just $10, something that probably cost 10 or 20 times that much new? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section.

Shop Until We Drop

2010-04-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

A new poll has found that the average woman spends EIGHT YEARS of her life shopping. I'll give you a minute to digest that...

Have you recovered yet? This news makes me happier than ever that I found out about The Compact. On my deathbed, I don't think I'll wish I had shopped MORE.

Much of the shopping women do is for their family: buying household essentials and keeping them fed and clothed. But the average woman apparently also goes window shopping 51 times a year. Wow. Well, it's not news to me that I'm not the "average woman." That's okay.

The poll found that women make an average of 301 individual shopping trips per year, for a total of 399 hours. In my union, that would be just one hour short of the minimum hours you need to work to keep up your membership.

301 individual shopping trips per year??? There are only 365 days in a year, so people shop almost every day? That's inconceivable to me, Compact or not. I have never in my life shopped nearly every day.

The average woman also spent 40 hours looking for shoes. An entire workweek!

The only part of this poll that doesn't depress me is the 31 hours women spend shopping for books.

I do need to shop for food and essentials, I'll estimate that is easily less than 100 hours per year.

And here's how I'll be spending the time I'm NOT shopping, about 300 hours: reading, writing, walking, learning, spending time with my husband and my friends, trying new recipes, traveling, seeing plays, attending concerts, watching movies, listening to music, taking classes, laughing... and the list goes on and on...

Click here to read the entire article.

What do you think? How many years of your life will you spend shopping? What would you rather be doing? Weigh in with your thoughts in the Comments section.

Blue Hair Day

2010-04-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is far from my favorite photo of myself. No makeup, bad angle, and I look tired and a little frightened or skeptical of the photographer (my husband!) But I promised you a photograph of my blue hair streak, and you can see it pretty well here. It's already a little faded, but I have my own tube of blue dye now if I want to brighten it up.

Putting this streak in my hair was my non-consumer gift to my husband for his birthday. For years, he's been suggesting that I do something of the sort to my hair, and I always just laugh and humor him, usually saying I was too old for that sort of thing.

This year I went back to my old view of the subject: "It's just hair." It can be colored or survive a really bad cut, and it always grows back. No biggie. It's much more forgiving than a tattoo or piercings in that way. So I figured I would do it for him, and if I hated it, I'd just cover it up in a couple of weeks.

The surprise is that it's been really fun. It's a social experiment to see how people react. A surprising range of men and women, young and old, have been extremely complimentary about it. For some reason, older women and Latino men in their twenties seem particularly fond of it. I don't know what it signifies on their radar, but it's been fascinating.

Most importantly, my husband loves it. He was absolutely thrilled that I'd done it, and even a little surprised. And that is definitely a good thing in a marriage, after 17 years together. You tend to be able to predict each other's actions, tastes, and opinions with alarming accuracy, and it's great to mix things up.

So I'm considering re-coloring this bit of hair again and "being blue" for a bit longer. In any case, it was a successful non-consumer gift. Another example of how limitations can spark creativity.

What are your favorite non-consumer gift ideas, to give or to receive? Please share them in the Comments section. And click here if you missed the post about how I navigated the March birthday season, which included my husband, my father, and my brother.

Meatless Monday Recipes

2010-04-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, time to share readers' favorite meatless recipes.

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit organization that encourages people to eat less meat, for their own health and the health of the planet. According to their website, "Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save fresh resources like fresh water and fossil fuel."

Click here to learn more about the movement, and if you sign up to go meatless on Mondays, they'll send you a weekly email packed with delicious meatless recipes.

And now for some reader suggestions:

Frugal Gravy like canned beans, diced tomatoes, corn, spices and Mexican hot sauce on Navajo tortillas. That's a super-easy suggestion that you can whip up in no time.

Simple in France recommends crepes filled with spinach and mushrooms, quinoa salad with apples, carrots and raisins, or sourdough pancakes. All great ideas! I think I'll try a simple crepe recipe and post about it here.

Ellen at Within My Means loves potato bars, and suggests mixing it up by doing sweet potatoes instead of regular ones. That's right up my alley, because I LOVE sweet potatoes. I usually eat the dark orange ones, which I think are actually yams.

I also got a couple of great ideas for using up greens on my CSA post last week that are definitely meatless, like this recipe for Spaghetti and Greens from Laura at Thinner and Wiser. Laura says they eat a lot of greens and it's one of their favorites.

And Magdalena offers this simple soup that she made for Easter: Take 4 cups of broth and heat to simmering. Add 3 cups of any kind of chopped green and simmer about 3 minutes. Have ready a cup of freshly grated parmesan or other hard cheese, a Tablespoon of flour, and one egg, all blended together with a fork. Turn up the heat under the broth, and as it comes to boiling, stir in the cheese/egg mixture. It will separate into little flakes, like egg drop soup. Add 1/4 cup chives or other mild leafy herb, fresh ground pepper and a pinch of salt. Serve immediately with good homebaked bread. Magdalena says it makes an excellent lunch or first course. That sounds delicious!

Thanks readers for all your terrific ideas! If YOU have a simple meatless recipe you'd like to share, please tell us about it in the Comments section and I'll include it in the next Meatless Monday post. And click here if you want to peruse the recipes in previous posts.

Food Waste Friday and Favorite Blog Post of the Week

2010-04-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

It's Friday, and we've got no food waste. Yay!

Some things we did that helped this week:

1) I bought less at the grocery store because the refrigerator was packed with leftovers.

2) We ATE those leftovers. This is usually quite easy for us when it's a whole meal, like chili or a crockpot creation. It's a little harder when it's bits and pieces. I had one lunch that was black beans, collard greens, and swiss chard. Not exactly a balanced meal, but it used up the leftovers. My husband put odds and ends into a couple of burritos, so those tortillas are coming in handy lately.

3) I gave away some baked goods while they were still fresh.

4) We ate most of the CSA greens right away: sauteed, in Guadalajaran Swiss Chard Quesadillas, and in greens risotto. We'll have more tonight in a salad.

If you want to know how kicking the habit of throwing food away will help the environment and save you money, check out Wasted Food. And go to The Frugal Girl to see how Kristen and a lot of other bloggers are documenting the food they toss in an effort to waste less.

Now on to my Favorite Blog Post of the Week: Catherine at The Vegan Good Life wrote a great post called Economic Stimulus: I Did it My Way. It's about her frustration with the idea that we're supposed to do our part to end the recession by going to the mall. She says there are a lot of ways to support the economy without going on a shopping spree, and then gives examples (with pictures) of going to the movies, borrowing from the library, attending community events, and picnicking. Catherine is also an avid thrift store shopper and restaurant-goer, two other activities that fit the category well.

And while you're there, I also loved this week's post called The Vegetarian Good Life? where she muses on the difficulties of being 100% vegan, disliking labels, and choosing to be honest about the realities of being true to a lifestyle that's still considered exotic to many people.

Catherine's blog is a perfect mix of thoughtful and fun in my book. I love her photos of delicious-looking vegan food, and super-cute thrifted clothing, along with her philosophical take on life.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Please leave your tips for wasting less in the Comments section. And feel free to weigh in on Catherine's posts: Must we go shopping at the mall? Is the vegan life a good one? And is Harry Potter better in French?

Thrifty Threads

2010-04-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is used or recycled, from Goodwill, a thrift store, a consignment shop, ebay, craigslist, freecycle, a yard sale, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's models are Lisa and Marie. Marie sent me this charming photo after I wrote this post about attending Pasadena's annual Jane Austen Ball. Lisa and Marie wear their Regency attire to their own Jane Austen Ball in Rochester, New York, although Marie says that technically her gold gown should be referred to as "Regency" in quotation marks since it's not strictly authentic. Marie says it's made-in-India rayon, but the embroidery is done by hand. It's perfect for Thrifty Threads because it's from the Salvation Army, where she picked it up for just $7.99! Marie says it always gets a lot of compliments, and I can see why, it's a beautiful dress.

As far as her accessories, Marie describes the gold cross as "gloriously fake, but similar in design to the one given to Jane Austen by her sailor brother Charles," and it was also purchased at the flagship Syracuse Salvation Army for just $5. The gold plumes were borrowed from Lisa's extensive costume collection that comes from collectors' conventions and ebay, and the black velvet 1920s reticule bag was a gift from a friend.

Lisa's lovely lavender gown is not secondhand, it was made for her, and it's absolutely gorgeous. Lisa conducts workshops for both men and women on how to achieve the Regency look on any budget. For example, men's knee britches can be contrived from sweatpants, baseball pants, or even large-sized Capris. Her "Dressing Mr. Darcy" presentation at the Jane Austen Society's annual meeting in Philadelphia, with a distinguished lineup of models, was a big hit with the delighted audience. That sounds like so much fun! Lisa also teaches people with a few sewing skills how to transform thrift store finds into period-correct wear.

Marie has made good using of her dress: in addition to the ball, she's worn it to two JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) annual general meetings, plus for gala occasions on a JASNA tour of England last year. I didn't even know such a thing existed! To find out about events big and small, and all things Jane, go to the national JASNA website. The society is "dedicated to the enjoyment and appreciation of Jane Austen and her writing."

Marie is regional coordinator and Lisa co-coordinator of their local Syracuse region Jane Austen Society. You can read their blog about local events here.

And if you happen to live in the area and wish to attend the 2010 Rochester Jane Austen Ball in May, you can find out all the details at the Rochester Country Dancers website. Even if you can't go to the ball, you should look at Lisa's fabulous guide to Regency dress for men and women. It covers dress, hair, accessories, and jewelry and has lovely illustrations.

So if you've always wanted to attend a Jane Austen Ball and perhaps dance with a modern Mr. Darcy, now you've got all the resources you need to make your plans. It really is one of my favorite social events of the year.

Thanks Marie and Lisa for inspiring us all to look for secondhand clothing for special events. And maybe even get a few people dancing! Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite thrift store score, snap a photo, and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com. We all want to see your fabulous finds, for any occasion. I'm starting to think it's possible to have an entirely secondhand wardrobe. So keep the photos coming!

Please share your favorite tips for thrift shopping in the comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Green is Good

2010-04-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to be part of a "green roundup" at Your Daily Thread called "Five L.A. Women Bloggers Up to Green Good."

I'm included with an inspiring group:

...A woman who rides the bus every day (believe me, that's a BIG deal in Los Angeles)

...A creative genius who sews A New Dress a Day out of the ugliest garments imaginable, transforming them into stylish ensembles (it doesn't hurt that she looks like a model herself, which is why I stole her cute photo for this post)

...And the intrepid soul who is cleaning up the Santa Monica beach, one 20 minute step at a time. I love her quote: "Who needs an organized cleanup? Just grab a bag, go to the damn beach, and pick some stuff up."

So head on over to Your Daily Thread and check it out! You might be motivated to learn to sew, use public transportation, or pick up trash on the beach. And you'll probably find a blog you love.

Going Organic Part 2

2010-04-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last month I wrote this post about how I've decided to switch over to organic for all my personal care products. Some of them, like soap and shampoo, will include my husband. But most, like my face lotions and sunscreen, are for myself. It seems I use a LOT more personal care products than he does.

I received such a wealth of information from reader comments that I made a list to keep in my purse, and I thought I'd write up a post as a sort of "organic roundup" that will hopefully be helpful for all of us. I'm including the categories I most need to replace, along with some of the reader suggestions, plus where to purchase if they included that information.

So if you want to go organic, but don't know where to start, here are the tested recommendations of my very smart readers:

SOAP:
Dr. Bronner's tea tree bar soap
L'Occitane
Publix pure castille soap
Organic, homemade soap sold in specialty shops or online
Alaffia shea butter soap (Whole Foods)

SUNSCREEN:
Badger
Burt's Bees
Alba Botanica
Keys (online)

LOTION:
Giovanni (drug stores, Target, Whole Foods)
Nature Clean
Burt's Bees
L'Occitane for hand lotion
Skinbiology
Renew lotion from Melaleuca
Skinceuticals
Earth Mama Angel Baby baby lotion
Terresentials

SHAMPOO:
Organix (drugstore)
Desert Essence
abba (salon)
Dr. Bronner's
Kiss My Face
Ligett's bar shampoo
Aubrey's organics (Whole Foods)
Lavera

MAKEUP:
Burt's Bees for lips
EyesLipsFace.com
everydayminerals.com
Physician's Formula organic (Walgreen's and Target)
Dr. Hauschka

GENERAL BRANDS:
Brittaniesthyme.com
Weleda
Mountain Rose Herbs for organic jojoba oil for bath, moisturizing, and massage lotion
Melaleuca for all products including Nicole Miller makeup and Renew lotion

The website Saffron Rouge carries many organic brands, including Badger, Dr. Bronner's, Weleda, and Dr. Hauschka

The products and brands that got the most raves and multiple mentions were Aubrey's organics shampoo, Burt's Bee's, and Badger lip balm and sleep balm. One reader wrote that she'd been using the sleep balm on her eye area for a short time and her crow's feet had entirely disappeared.

I'm working on switching over our soap first, and so far I've tried Dr. Bronner's, but it got a thumbs-down from my husband, who isn't a big fan of peppermint. I'm not too worried about finding organic soap, but I do need to find a brand that's affordable for everyday use.

And here's another category: a product that isn't specifically labelled or marketed as organic, but which doesn't have any of the offending parabens or other ingredients listed by Vanessa in this post. The facial moisturizer by Bioelements that I've been using for the past few years falls into this category.

You can check the toxicity of a product at Cosmetics Data Base. Also, if you want more details about any of these suggestions, go back to my original Going Organic post and look in the Comments section.

Thanks again to everyone for contributing your knowledge and experience, and if you have more ideas you just have to share with us, feel free to leave them in the Comments section. I'll post updates on products I've tried over the next several months.

UPDATE: L'Occitane is NOT organic, and Origins and Bioelements both score relatively poorly at the cosmetics database, so I'm going to have to switch facial cleansers and find a new face moisturizer. I'm learning every day!

CSA Delivery Day: Spring Edition

2010-04-05T14:15:00.001-07:00

I'm so sick of apologizing for the poor photo quality, I've decided to use my birthday money to buy a new digital camera. I've been hemming and hawing for months now, because of not wanting to break The Compact. But I've decided that I'm not comfortable buying a used camera unless it's from someone I know, and since I don't know anyone selling a used camera, I'm going to splurge for the least expensive Canon beginner's model.

My decision to break The Compact for a digital camera will be the subject of another post, however. This post is all about beautiful, delicious CSA produce.

This week we got (roughly clockwise from the back): black kale, Bloomsdale spinach, swiss chard, romaine lettuce, leeks, giant beets, black night carrots, broccoli, strawberries, radishes, artichokes, red potatoes, fennel, red spring onions, and turnips.

We also got a container of roasted red pepper hummus, which isn't in the photo because my husband had already absconded with it.

This is a fantastic delivery. The Bloomsdale spinach is one of our favorites, and my husband loves radishes and spring onions for his self-created lunches. The strawberries are SO sweet, and the purple carrots are beautiful.

Tonight we'll have Guadalajaran swiss chard quesadillas. I love the recipe because I've done a lot of substitutions and it's always good, with any kind of green, almost any kind of cheese, and either corn or flour tortillas. Later this week I'll make a greens risotto, and I also plan on some kind of pureed soup.

One thing I don't think we have to worry about in our house is an iron deficiency, with the amount of greens we've been eating lately.

Creative recipes for greens, or anything else you see pictured here, are always welcome. I use a lot of your suggestions, so thanks! And click here to learn more about CSA and find one in your area.

Continuous Small Treats

2010-04-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

The following is a reprint of a previously published post. We just received our Easter ginger cake and I'm looking forward to savoring it with my morning tea.

Our dear sweet neighbor gave us this Easter basket. He baked the ginger cake himself. I can't wait to enjoy it with tea tomorrow afternoon. It will perfectly embody the concept of Continuous Small Treats. By the way, the flag reads "Joyenses Paques," which means "Happy Easter" in French.

The late British novelist Iris Murdoch said "One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats." She was happily married for 43 years to Oxford professor John Bayley. According to Bayley, one of Iris's greatest pleasures was swimming.

So here is my list of 20 small treats for a happy life:

1. homemade ice cream

2. stroking a purring cat

3. listening to the ocean

4. the smell of freshly brewed coffee

5. a room lit only by candles

6. any track on Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"

7. a cup of tea

8. a warm bath at the end of a long day

9. freshly baked bread

10. a note from my sweetheart

11. the cooing of a mourning dove

12. a good hard laugh

13. a walk at magic hour

14. a perfect margarita

15. a horse eating an apple out of your hand

16. fresh herbs

17. reading a good book in my favorite chair

18. black licorice

19. a footrub

20. a big hug

I'll be enjoying my small treat tomorrow at tea time: fresh ginger cake with tea.

What are your favorite small treats? Please share in the Comments section.

Close Encounters with the Animal Kingdom

2010-04-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard this story about a woman who set off on a 40-mile paddle from Catalina island to Dana Point to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research and was joined by a minke whale, I encourage you to read it now. The whale swam with her for almost two hours of her nine-hour journey, an experience she said was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her life. She named him Larry and watched while he blew bubbles, fluked, and rolled over and showed her his belly.

Jodie Nelson is a professional surfer and Stand Up Paddleboard rider who had raised just $6000 toward her $100,000 goal when she set off on her paddle a few days ago. After the encounter with Larry made the front page of Yahoo news on Thursday, she hit her goal in less than 24 hours and raised it to $250,000.

Click here to read the inspirational tale.

Food Waste Friday and a Freebie

2010-04-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

No picture, almost no waste.

I say almost because there were a couple of tangerines that started to go bad, but I peeled them and was able to eat part of them. The rest will go in the compost bin, so there's no landfill trash this week.

Why do I care about wasting food? Because food rotting in a landfill creates noxious gasses, plus we don't have money to throw away.

If your reaction to this quest of reducing food waste and taking photos of rotten food is somewhere along the lines of "get a life," I know where you're coming from. When you're busy with kids, working at a demanding job, taking care of an aging parent, or any of the million other things that demand attention in our busy lives, watching your food waste seems way down on the list of priorities. But let me assure you that it really doesn't take any extra time, it mostly just takes a bit of focus and planning.

Check out Love Food, Hate Waste for some great tips on wasting less, and visit The Frugal Girl for her weekly food waste roundup. And please share YOUR tips in the Comments section.

FREE STUFF ALERT: It's the start of a new month, and that means it's time to take advantage of Bank of America's Museums on Us program. If you're a customer, just show your debit or credit card to get in free all day Saturday and Sunday to participating museums. Click here to find museums in your area.

Thrifty Threads

2010-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday, time for another installment of Thrifty Threads, AKA Most Stylish Compact-y outfit, where readers model their favorite secondhand clothes.

A Compact-y outfit is from Goodwill, a thrift store, consignment shop, ebay, craigslist, a yard sale, garage sale, or anywhere else you find secondhand clothing.

Today's model is Cynthia, who at a size 16 just barely qualifies as the very first plus-size TT model. And since she's on her way down from a size 22 after losing 50 pounds, she deserves a big congratulations! Cynthia says she's always liked buying clothes at thrift stores, and this is what she wore for St. Patrick's Day.

The green sweater, blue cardigan, and Chinos are all from Goodwill. The earrings were a gift, the green and blue necklace is from the thrift store Savers, and she got the Cole Haan shoes from ebay. Cynthia says the whole outfit cost less than $30, and all of the pieces are versatile and can be used over and over in combination with other items.

What great finds. The cardigan sets off her gorgeous blue eyes, and I love the pretty necklace. And Cole Haan shoes cost hundreds of dollars new, plus they're super-comfortable, so those were a smart purchase. I was able to buy a pair of Cole Haan boots in 1996 that were on sale for $100, marked down from $300. They're so comfortable that I still wear them every year to the Jane Austen Ball.

I asked Cynthia how she lost the weight, and here's what she said: "I made a lifestyle change that included eating healthy, real food, cutting out sugar, white flour and salty crunchy snacks. I allowed myself an occasional treat, but stuck to my plan pretty well. In addition, and this was super important, I made exercise part of my daily routine. Weight resistance 3 times a week, treadmill the other 3, usually one day off exercise. Using motivational mantras was also key (like "Yes I can, no matter how hard it is. Don't give up"). It wasn't quick, it took a year, and I'm not done yet, but it has really been worth it. I feel so much better physically, stronger, and like myself better. The one other thing was accountability. I have my nails done every two weeks, and weigh in with my nail lady. Then my trainer would ask how I did, I didn't want to disappoint them. I should be more concerned about disappointing myself, but that wasn't how it worked for me."

Cynthia, thanks so much for sending in that photo and congratulations on losing all that weight! You look great! And I have to add, so does your house. I love all the beautiful wood and the river rock wall. Readers, it's your turn. Put on your favorite thrift store score and send it to me at barton.angela@gmail.com.

Isn't it fun to see what people are discovering in their local thrift stores? I think secondhand shopping is a great way to be fashionable for a lot less money, and it's particularly useful for anyone whose size is changing rapidly, whether they're losing weight like Cynthia, gaining weight due to pregnancy like last week's model Nicolle, or growing out of their clothes quickly because they're a toddler like Simone.

Please share your favorite tips and advice for buying secondhand clothes, plus compliments and kudos for Cynthia, in the Comments section. And click here to check out previous installments of Thrifty Threads.

Boot Camp (from your desk)

2010-03-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

When a friend asked me if I was interested in a Going Green Boot Camp in honor of Earth Day's 40th anniversary on April 22nd, my first reaction was, "No way! I'm overscheduled and overwhelmed. I don't have time for ONE MORE PROJECT."

But after I took a deep breath and my heart rate returned to normal, I found out what was involved: receiving an email a day for 20 days, covering an array of tips on green living.

Okay. I can do that. I can receive, and even make an effort to read, 20 emails over the course of the month that will help me live a greener lifestyle. I'm not making any commitments about what I'll do with all that great advice, but I have a hunch at least some of it will make its way into my daily routine.

The awesome all things green website Your Daily Thread says it's an effort to get you into Tip Top Green Shape before Earth Day, even if you've never even recycled before.

If YOU'D like to sign up for the Going Green Boot Camp, sponsored by YDT, click here to find out all about it. It took me about, um, five seconds. Boot Camp starts Monday, April 5th, so sign up now!

Spring Savings Ideas

2010-03-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

The following is a guest post from Fred, who writes for Best Credit Cards.

Spring is an exciting time of the year filled with new growth, longer days and warmer weather. So as you begin enjoying the changing of the seasons, look for ways you can also make some spring savings.

1. Seasonal spring fruit and vegetables

The arrival of spring brings with it a new crop of fruits and vegetables which have probably been missed from your kitchen table. Therefore, take the opportunity to buy seasonal produce as this can save you money in planning healthy meals to avoid having take away and wasted food. Buying seasonal produce also saves on food miles and helps the environment.

2. Spring on outdoors

With the weather warming up and the sun staying up for longer too, take the opportunity to get outside with your friends, family, partner or your dog. Heading outside in spring not only means you can get more fresh air and exercise, but it also means that when you leave the house you are turning off the lights, the TV and the game consoles and in turn conserving power and reducing your energy bill.

3. Take notice of the changes in the weather

Going from the office to your home and back again every day, you can easily miss the change in the seasons. Instead, make a point to open your curtains and your windows and let in the new spring changes. The weather really is getting warmer as spring settles in, so open a window to let in a breeze before automatically turning on the heater, and open up the curtains to let in more natural light, rather than turning on the lights inside your home and consuming unnecessary power.

4. Make your spring garden affordable

It is hard to stay out of the garden once spring has sprung so make some money saving changes to your gardening habits to save money outside this spring too. For example, if you are planning a new lawn for your backyard, plant lawn seeds rather than spending money on expensive instant turf. Spring is also the perfect time to start your own veggie garden so you can enjoy free fruit and vegetables for your table all through the warmer months.

5. Spring cleaning saves money

There are a number of ways you can save money as you commence your spring clean this year. For example, if you are looking to replace new appliances or install a new air conditioning unit for the coming summer, be sure to look at the energy ratings on your new purchases. If you’re looking at new appliances such as washing machines or dishwashers, check their water ratings to save on your water usage bill.

It's easy to find spring money saving ideas around your home and garden if you just start looking, so make this spring the tastiest, freshest and most affordable one yet.

Fred is a personal finance writer. He helps people to compare the best credit cards online.

Readers, please share your own spring savings ideas in the Comments section.

My Perfect Birthday

2010-03-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

My husband took this photo of me last week on my birthday. We went on one of my favorite hikes and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. The air was clear, the hills were green from all the rain this winter, and there were flowers everywhere. These yellow flowers are coreopsis, and we were lucky to see them because they're only in bloom a few weeks a year.

The main thing this photo says to me is, "Buy a new hat!" Because even a non-consumer can't afford to eschew fashion or style entirely. This ugly hat has been featured in far too many pictures, and its days are numbered. I think a visit to REI for an entirely new hat is in order. I don't want to buy a used hat, there's too much sweat involved. And I don't have time to "keep an eye out," this is an emergency situation.

Aside from the lack of style, my birthday was perfect.

After tea and homemade granola, we drove out to Malibu through the greenest hills I've ever seen in Southern California. Our hike was a 5-mile loop through canyons, meadows, fields of flowers, a view of the ocean, and even a pond that had been dried up for the past several years.

Just about the time my feet were getting tired, we came to the end of the hike, when it was time to have dinner at our favorite beachside biker hangout, Neptune's Net in Malibu. We shared peel 'n eat shrimp, fried calamari, and a beer, and watched the dolphins swimming by.

On the way home, just as it was getting dark, we stopped at a roadside stand for strawberries (a guy selling them out of the back of his van). I bought 3 containers of local berries for $7, and then he gave me 4 more containers FREE because they were almost overripe.

At home, my husband asked me if I wanted a special birthday drink, but I really just wanted a glass of wine so we opened a bottle of Fess Parker, in honor of the TV-star-turned-winemaker's recent death (in his 90s).

My husband gave me a card with a simple sentiment so direct and honest it made me cry, and a DVD of Season 6 of The Mary Tyler Moore show (it was our favorite when we were little- we both wanted to grow up and move to the big city).

Then we watched a terrible 1970s comedy. It was great, in that way only really bad films can be.

So, in addition to spending the day with my favorite person, my birthday was studded with so many of my favorite things:

Taylor's of Harrogate yorkshire gold tea!
homemade granola!
hiking!
flowers!
seafood!
dolphins!
strawberries!
wine!
Mary Tyler Moore!

And except for the MTM DVD, it was entirely non-consumer.

Luckily for me, my birthday falls during my favorite season: spring. What are your favorite non-consumer spring activities? Please tell us in the Comments section.

Meatless Monday Recipes

2010-03-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Meatless Monday is a nonprofit organization that's committed to encouraging people to give up meat one day a week, for their health and the health of the planet. Click here to find out what it's all about. If you sign up to participate in Meatless Monday, you'll receive a weekly email packed with recipes that might make you consider going meatless even more often. It's a lot easier to eat less meat when you know how to cook easy and delicious vegetarian meals.

I've got some great reader recipes for you today:

First, Amanda from Sweet Madeline recommends this pizza dough recipe from The Pioneer Woman. Amanda says they eat a veggie pizza at least once a week with either Follow Your Heart or Daiya (faux cheese), and it's an easy recipe that always garners compliments. That sounds like a great vegan alternative.

Next, "gteamhj" says she's rediscovered the joys of canned beans with a dinner of red rice, black beans, red pepper, cilantro, and hot pepper sauce on corn and flour tortillas. I second the excellence of beans, canned or dried. I love just about any of them.

Alea from Premeditated Leftovers suggests a baked potato bar for Meatless Monday. She tops hers with leftover cooked vegetables. She also shares this pasta recipe for an easy lunch to serve with a salad. Alea says the recipe is very flexible, and she likes to change the veggies depending on what's in season.

Beth at Saving Money While Eating Clean says one of her favorite meatless meals is lentil soup and she offers this recipe. I agree that lentil soup is a delicious and inexpensive meal, and it's also easy to make.

And finally, Frugal Kiwi believes there are a world of vegetarian options available, and one of her faves is Sweet Corn Chickpea Fritters, which is gluten-free since it uses chickpea flour instead of wheat flour. I know some of you will be happy about that option. Yum.

Thanks readers for all your terrific ideas! Pretty soon we won't be eating meat at all, since I'm collecting so many great meatless recipes. If YOU have an easy meatless recipe you'd like to share, please tell us about it in the Comments section and I'll include it in the next Meatless Monday recipe post.

Friday Food Waste plus Free Music!

2010-03-26T13:52:00.001-07:00

Too much food waste this week for my liking!

Since the key to wasting less is to keep track of things, it's a lot easier when I'm home. When I'm out of town or working away from home, we have more waste. This week involved both factors. The soy milk was a couple of weeks too old and I had forgotten to use it or freeze it when we went out of town. The apple I had bought outside our CSA to make a dessert for my husband that was forgotten about (actually we had been eating too many sweets), the lemon went bad in that plastic bag, and I made the peanut butter sandwich for our hike the other day and only ate half of it. The next day the flattened sandwich couldn't compete with all the fresh CSA goodies that had been delivered.

Throwing food in the garbage is bad for the environment, and it's also a waste of money. If you want to learn the details of how it breaks down in the landfill to create harmful gasses, plus get tips on how to reduce your waste, visit Wasted Food. And if you're curious about how you compare to other families, check out The Frugal Girl for the weekly food waste carnival. Nearly everyone admits that their food waste goes way down as soon as they start tracking it, and especially when they commit to taking a photo to show to the world.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Feel free to share your best tips for wasting less in the Comments section. I'm determined to do better next week.

FREE STUFF ALERT: I've got a great freebie for you! It's free music from the National Public Radio website All Songs Considered. It's easy to listen to the music on the website, and download if you like it. There's a huge range of indie music: folk, rock, blues, country, and more. Lots of unknown small bands playing great music. Click here to check it out. Let me know if you take advantage of this freebie.

Thrifty Threads

2010-03-25T10:33:00.001-07:00

Best Frugal Blogs

2010-03-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

I've just learned that Christy and Kate over at "Tucson on the Cheap" have included My Year Without Spending on their list of the Best Frugal Blogs of 2010. Thanks ladies! This site is new to me, so I'll be checking it out as soon as I have a chance. And I look forward to perusing the 75 blogs relating to frugality that made their cut.

What are your very favorite frugal blogs? Please share them in the Comments section, especially if you've never heard me mention them here.

Girl Time

2010-03-23T12:44:00.001-07:00

That's me with my 7-year-old niece. We were able to get in some quality niece-aunt bonding during our visit last week when we slept together on the floor two nights in a row. My husband took this cute photo. I am so lucky to have such a sweet niece, she actually says things like, "Aunt Angela, can we have some Girl Time tonight?" and "We need to do more cuddling tonight."

She's a born non-consumer. Her 8th birthday is still two months away, and she's already got a plan written down for her slumber party. I think she calls it a sleepover. She's written down the names of the six girls who are invited, plus what they'll do: cake and ice cream, change into pjs, watch a movie, get into sleeping bags, and bed talk (talking while you're in your sleeping bags- the best part!). Pretty simple stuff, but infinitely exciting when you're "almost eight." And decidedly non-consumer activities.

Maybe at heart, that's all any of us really need to be happy: cake and ice cream, pajamas, and watching a movie and spending the night with your favorite people. To me it sounds perfect. I wish adults could have sleepovers! Who says they can't? Maybe I'll start planning one for my birthday next year. The problem is that some of my favorite people are men, and I don't think middle-aged people can have coed slumber parties without people thinking they're swingers or just bonkers.

What do you think? Coed sleepovers for middle-aged friends? Great idea or seriously stupid? This could be the biggest craze since the hula hoop. Please leave your thoughts, rants and opinions in the Comments section.

CSA Delivery Day

2010-03-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

It's CSA day: yay! It's also my birthday, so I've just got time enough to post this photo before my husband and I leave for my birthday hike, the first of many I hope to take during what promises to be an amazing spring. It has rained so much this winter that the hills are deep green and will be covered with wildflowers soon.

In the meantime, I'm thrilled about this delivery and particularly happy about the baby artichokes, one of my favorites. And red carrots, wow. I feel like I'm in Wonderland.

I'll be back later to finish this post, including a list of what we received. Let me know if you have any recipe suggestions for anything you see pictured here.

UPDATE: Thank you for all your birthday wishes. I had a perfect day. I'll tell you about it and share a few photos later this week.

Here's what we got in this week's delivery (roughly clockwise from the back): black kale, red romaine, cauliflower, snap peas, red carrots, Ferrano beets, collard greens, banana fingerling potatoes, fresh English peas, mixed mushrooms, chamomile, lavender, and sage bundle, Snickerdoodle cookie treat, artichokes, clementine tangerines, cilantro, giant brown onion, baby turnips, and Bloomsdale spinach (in plastic bag).

On the menu tonight: mushroom risotto and a romaine salad. I'll have to come up with a few other good ideas to use all of this up. Remember, we only get this delivery once every two weeks. We could never eat this much in one week. If you're thinking of joining a CSA, keep in mind that most of them have that option. Most also (along with ours) ask you about produce you don't want in your delivery, but since there are very few things my husband and I don't like, we didn't ask for any restrictions. He doesn't like beets, and I don't like green peppers, but other than that we're open to almost anything.

Click here to learn more about CSA and to find one near you. And please leave preparation ideas for anything you see in the photo in the Comments section.

Food Waste Friday plus Favorite Blog Post of the Week

2010-03-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

It's a giant radish! My husband was a champ and actually ate about 4 or 5 of these huge things, with no help from me. But once we got the new CSA delivery, the smaller, crunchier, zestier radishes beckoned and this one was left in the dust (or in the vegetable crisper, in this case).

That was our only food waste for the week, and it will go in the compost bin, so I'm pretty happy with that. We used up a lot of odds and ends, and froze one meal to have at a later date. Today's lunch was a multi-ethnic concoction of basmati rice, black beans, sauteed mushrooms, and salsa.

I've been tracking our food waste for about a year now, and we're creating much less trash and saving money to boot. If you want to know why food rotting in a landfill is bad for the environment, visit Jonathan Bloom's blog Wasted Food. He's the authority on food waste.

And at The Frugal Girl, Friday is the day when a whole lot of bloggers come together to share their food waste for the week. It's quite a party! A bunch of people taking photographs of rotten food might not sound like fun, but don't knock it until you try it. But seriously, there's something about being publicly accountable that really does help people waste less. It works that way for me, and apparently it works for other people too.

My favorite blog post of the week goes to Betsy at Married With Luggage. I've already given her that dubious distinction once before, but since it's one of my very favorite blogs, it's no surprise that she's making an appearance again. This post, called "How to Have a 24-hour Meltdown," I found both hilarious and surprisingly useful. The idea is that most of us are overbooked, overworked, and overwhelmed these days, and instead of trying to "grin and bear it," if you just give in and have a one-day pity party for yourself once in awhile, you'll probably get sick of your own self- indulgence pretty quick. I'm definitely going to try it the next time I'm having "one of those weeks."

Please leave your thoughts and ideas about food waste, scheduled meltdowns, or anything else on your mind in the Comments section.