I can't believe we wasted this

I'm joining a challenge from The Frugal Girl to waste less food by posting a photo each Friday of the food that went bad that week. The bottom of this jar had a tiny spot of mold on it. This has NEVER happened in our 16 years together. Spaghetti and tomato sauce is one of my husband's favorite meals, he sometimes eats it two or three times a week. I think if he were single, he'd eat it five times a week (and pizza the rest of the time).

So this is really surprising. The only thing I can figure out is that he was so focused on the "Eat Me!" section of the refrigerator I've created, that he actually forgot to eat anything else. Because it was our only food waste this week. You can read more about the "Eat Me!" fun and games here.

I guess that's not too bad, but I think I'll continue the practice of having less food in the refrigerator so we won't forget about it. I skipped the weekly shopping this week and bought only milk and bananas and lettuce so I'm hoping we won't have anything to photograph next week.

To find out more about food waste and the impact it has on our environment, visit Wasted Food. It's an added incentive to do what you can, along with the bonus of saving money. Please share your wasted food-related musings in the Comments section.

Thrifty Threads

Welcome to the 1st installment of "Thrifty Threads" AKA "Most Stylish Compact-y Outfit," which features a reader modeling some of her favorite thrift store finds.

A "Compact-y" outfit is used or recycled, so basically something you got at the Goodwill, a thrift store, or a consignment shop.

The Non Consumer Girl is modeling her recent score of a fully lined silk dress from Jigsaw, her favorite label. It's gorgeous. She bought it at the Goodwill for $20. Before she joined The Compact, she paid over $300 for other similar Jigsaw styles. Incidentally, the photographer is her 5-year-old daughter...

Check out her blog to read about her conversion to a non-consumer lifestyle, and her decluttering challenges. I'm joining her in her goal of making $5000 this year by turning clutter into cash. So far, she's made $1535. I've made a little less than that: nada. But I'll get there, I've got time... Baby steps. That's my mantra these days.

Thanks Non Consumer Girl for sharing your fabulous find with us- you look amazing. Readers- I know she's a tough act to follow, but I want to do this as a regular feature, so put on YOUR best thrift store scores, take a photo, and send it to me. You can find my email address on my profile page.

And please don't be shy- we all want to see REAL women with REAL bodies modeling their version of fabulous. That could mean funky, elegant, creative, or anything you want it to mean. I can't wait to see all your fabulous finds!

Can you believe she found that dress at the Goodwill? What's your favorite thrift store score? Please tell us about it in the Comments section.

One Pot Dinners: Hunter Chicken

I love one-pot dinners: less clean up, and all those flavors slowly mingling together. And the best one-pot dinner of all is made in a crock pot. There's nothing like coming home after a long day, and not only just having dinner ready for you, but the smell knocking you out the minute you walk in the door. It must be what it felt like to be a husband in the 1950s. Now you'll just have to find someone to bring your slippers and a martini.

Crock pot dinners are very nostalgic for me. My mom went back to college when we were kids in the 1970s, and she often started a dinner in that avocado green bowl in the morning. Our favorite was a bean meal that tasted like meat because Hickory Smoke flavoring was one of the ingredients.

My mom gave me a crock pot for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I've been using it a lot since. I wish I had her old one, but it either broke or was tossed years ago. The new one works just as well, even if it isn't as kitchy or nostalgic.

This is one of my favorite new crock pot recipes. It's from Prevention magazine, with just a few alterations. They have a lot of good recipes that are low in calories. This recipe satisfies all my criteria of being easy, healthy, economical, and- most importantly- delicious. The combination of spices is magical. It makes six servings, so my husband and I eat it three times and never get sick of it. Oh, and it's not exactly fast, because it cooks all day, but it is very quick to prepare in the morning- literally only about 10 minutes. Not cookbook 10 minutes, but reality 10 minutes. So without further ado, I bring you...

ITALIAN HUNTER-STYLE CHICKEN

1 jar (26 oz) marinara sauce
8 oz shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced 1/2" thick (any mushrooms work)
2 large carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise, sliced 1/4" thick
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp chpped fresh thyme leaves or 1/3 tsp dried
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
6 chicken thighs (about 2 lb)
2 small yellow summer squash, sliced into 3/4" rounds

for garnish: thin strips basil, thyme sprigs

1. In 4-quart or larger slow cooker, combine sauce, mushrooms, carrots, wine, theyme, fennel, and pepper. Add chicken and toss to coat. Place squash on top.
2. Cover and cook on low 7 to 9 hours or until chicken and vegetables are tender (I've had good luck with 2-3 hours on high and 2-3 hours on low). Serve with sauce, and garnish with basil and thyme.

Enjoy!

330 calories per serving.

It's delicious over brown rice, which I unfortunately usually find barely edible. And I confess I've never even tried the fresh spice garnish, so it's not at all necessary, but probably delicious.

Please share your crock pot memories, or favorite one-pot recipes in the Comments section.

Food Waste Friday

Kristen over at The Frugal Girl photographs the food she wastes each Friday and posts it on her blog. She's one of the bloggers who has inspired me to make an effort to waste less food, along with Jonathan Bloom of Wasted Food.

In the past month, I wrote this post about my method of labeling leftovers so they wouldn't end up "out of sight and out of mind," and this one about designating one area of the refrigerator for food that needs to be eaten right away with a label that reads "Eat Me!" And our food waste has been reduced drastically in that time. My husband has been a champ about eating the food in that area, no matter how unappetizing it may seem.

Since I usually grocery shop on Wednesdays (I work mostly at home so I can shop when it's less crowded), I throw away food that's gone bad on Wednesdays. This week I had only a part of a bunch of parsley that had gone yellow. I'll post a photo next Wednesday if I have any food waste.

It may sound silly, but these little games have not just helped us waste less food, but have a little fun in the process. It really does feel good not to throw so much food away. And it's not that hard. What strategies have helped you reduce your food waste? Please share in the Comments section. Even if you're not doing so well, we can all learn from each other!

Free Stuff Alert: Bank of America is continuing its Museums on Us program, which means B of A customers can get free admission into museums on the first weekend of the month, just by flashing your debit card. That's this weekend, April 4th and 5th. In Los Angeles, that includes LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. Click here for details and to check which museums are free in your area.

To Declutter or Not To Declutter

I've declared 2009 not just a year of Buying Nothing New by joining The Compact, but also a year of Decluttering. Actually, I thought I'd declutter in January and that would be that. On February 1st, I realized it might take a bit longer. Now, on April 1st, I think I'll be lucky if I get through it in a year.

I'm actually excited about the idea of ridding my life of all extraneous STUFF. It's taking up space, in my home and in my psyche. And I joined Non Consumer Girl in her goal of making an extra $5000 by selling things she no longer needs or uses on ebay. That made me even more excited, although my husband made a snide remark about that figure being unrealistic (he might have said crazy). Actually, he probably said unrealistic, but I heard crazy.

Anyway, the 5000 bucks really got me excited. Now I'm even more psyched to get rid of stuff. And yet. Stuff still here. Stuff not leaving the house. What could be going on?

I'm a little worried I have a bit of a hoarder in me. I'm not proud of it. In fact, it scares the hell out of me. I have seen the results of hoarding in more old relatives than I care to count. It's pathological. It's illogical. It's germy.

So I know I don't want to become the lady with 87 cats or the old man with stacks of old newspapers blocking the path to the bathroom, but what's keeping me from getting rid of some things I no longer use?

Part of it is sentimentality. I have a lot of old clothes and books and toys from when I was young that I can't part with. I've heard "organization and declutter experts" say to take a photo of the item and get rid of it, because things aren't memories. True. And yet...

I think it comes down to fear. Fear of getting rid of something I'll regret. What if I give it away and then wish I hadn't? The funny part is that I can only think of ONE THING in my whole life that I later wished I hadn't gotten rid of. And it was just a shirt that I thought about later and wondered why I'd sold it at a garage sale for a dollar. A shirt.

So, I really should take my chances. There's really no choice here. It's not as if I'm going to forget my senses and suddenly throw my favorite piece of jewelry - my great aunt's onyx ring - into the recycling bin. I'll keep all the photos, old letters, and old journals. But I can give up the Mickey Mouse alarm clock.

There are all kinds of tricks and rules for decluttering: start with one drawer, get rid of any item of clothing you haven't worn for a year, etc. The best and easiest method I've found is on FruWiki, a great website about living frugally, reducing waste, and saving money. Click here for their decluttering tips. I'm going to start using them... very soon.

What about you? Are you fearful of decluttering, or do you love it? Have you ever gotten rid of something and regretted it? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section.

How much do you need to live on?

How much each of us needs to live on determines a lot of the choices we make in life. And I would argue that how much we THINK we need to live on determines them even more.

Which brings up an interesting paradox in this economy: the more money you make (and think you need to live on), the more worried you probably are. I'd be terrified if I had a 200K job. Your eggs are all in one basket, so to speak, and you've probably come to believe you NEED that much to survive.

While since I'm used to working freelance, I never know how much I'm going to bring in. My husband does this as well, so the effect has been that we always live on LESS than we usually make, in case both of us aren't bringing in very much. But the irony is that my hodge podge collection of little jobs not only has trained me to live on less, it's actually a better bet in this market not to just rely on one job.

Of course most people still work for one employer at one job, and for most people that's convenient and works out the best for them. And that's great. But I would still argue that even for people who know exactly how much they're bringing in, it would be smart to think about how much you really NEED to live on. If you live below your means, you'll not only save more for retirement and things that are important to you, but you'll be more prepared if you face an unexpected layoff or illness in the family.

The interesting thing is that most people tend to adjust to whatever their income is. So if you make $50,000 and you get a raise to $60,000, you probably won't have $10,000 minus taxes in savings at the end of the year, you'll most likely have spent it.

And whether you make $20,000 or $100,000 or $250,000, my guess is that that's the amount you truly believe you NEED to live on. I live in Los Angeles, and a lot of my friends work in the film industry. It's very common to make six figure salaries, even for trade/craft type jobs. So most people have come to believe they can't possibly live on less than $100,000 a year. If you ask them how they think other people live on the average of $42,000, they'll say it's not possible in Los Angeles. It's true that rents and mortgages are more than you would pay in places like the midwest, but we own our home and I certainly don't believe I HAVE to make at least $100,000 or I'll never survive.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. If you drive a BMW, and it needs a new tire, that might cost you $450. I drive a Camry, and as far as I'm concerned it's like driving a luxury vehicle, but when I replace the tires all four will cost less than that. So the CHOICE of driving a BMW puts you in the position of needing more money to live on. As do all kinds of other CHOICES about what neighborhood you live in, how big your house needs to be, how often you must eat out, where your children must attend school ($15,000 a year for some preschools, and I'm not exaggerating for effect), and what car you drive.

All of this is pretty obvious. But I think a lot of our choices are unconscious, because a lot of what we do is determined by the culture we live in. And I mean the culture of our friends and neighborhood and the work we do, in addition to the general consumer culture. It's the soup we swim in. If we earn $250,000, we don't have the slightest idea how someone lives on $42,000, and we probably feel sorry for the poor schlub, if we think of them at all.

For me, whenever I've earned the most money, I've been the most unhappy, because I'm working way too hard. I spend too much on everything because I don't have time to cook or make wise purchasing decisions. When I save more and spend less, I feel more free and more in control. I don't have to worry if I get less work, because I don't need as much money in the first place.

I hope you love the work you do. I'm not anti-work. I think work can be an important part of life and something that offers great rewards. But working for the sake of making more money to buy more stuff is a no-win situation that will end up costing you more than you can afford.

A lot of people are waking up to the trap of our consumer culture. If you've never seen The Story of Stuff, check it out. It's a great argument about how STUFF is destroying us- working for stuff, buying stuff, throwing out stuff. It's destroying our neighborhoods, our communities, our health, and our environment.

So what are YOUR assumptions and expectations about how much money you need to live on? Would you like to be able to live on less? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section.

Wine Finds

Just in time for the weekend, I'm starting a new feature called Wine Finds, which is where I tell you about a delicious wine for under $10.

First off, I know the pictures are a little lame. I'm not a photographer, obviously. But I'll work on the presentation. That still life with daffodils wasn't quite what I'd envisioned.

I've also never taken a wine class, and I don't have a wine vocabulary, you can get all that from a real wine blog (with a lot nicer photos!)

My purpose is to tell you how to get a great bottle of wine on a budget. THAT'S why I've been trying out almost every bottle of wine available at Trader Joe's, World Market, Costco, and BevMo for the past several years. To pass along my knowledge to you, my readers. NOT because I'm a wino.

But I AM a frugalista, because here's the Oxford University Press definition:"a person who leads a frugal lifestyle, but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying second-hand, growing own produce, etc."

Well, maybe not that part about the produce, but anyway, I love this post by The Frugalista herself, Natalie McNeal, when she says, "The only thing I would have added to the definition was that frugalistas enjoy good AND cheap wine! I kid! I kid!"

Well, I'm not kidding- good, cheap wine is one of my favorite things (cue soundtrack to either "The Sound of Music" or John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" depending on your taste and mood) and it beats brown paper packages tied up in string. Well, those are good too, but you get my point.

This Castoro Cellars 2006 Syrah wins the honor of my first Wine Find because it's consistently delicious, appeals to all tastes, and comes in right under the limit at $9.99. It's available at Trader Joes, which I hope you have in your neighborhood.

Please share your favorite under $10 wines or let me know if you try this one in the Comments section.

My herb garden

I received this herb garden as a birthday gift from a friend. Isn't it beautiful? I am SO excited! Now I'll have fresh basil, thyme, and marjoram to use all summer. That's Walter the Owl in the background.

My friend laughed a little when I exclaimed "Did you make this?" I think she meant that it was so easy, anyone could do it. But not me! I'm the opposite of a green thumb- what would that be called? On the color wheel, if yellow and blue make green, I think red is opposite of green. So call me a red thumb.

Anyway, I'm not a gardener but I was thinking about trying to at least grow a few herbs this year. It's so expensive to buy them, and I have actually had some success with basil plants in the past.

So I'm going to take good care of my beautiful garden in that gorgeous blue bowl. Do you have any tips for me, regarding care and feeding? It's going to be getting almost full sun, and my friend said that would be okay. Also, is there any trick to "harvesting"? As far as how often, where on the plant, and should I pinch with fingers or cut with a scissors?

Also, I use thyme and basil all the time, but do you know any good recipes that use marjoram? Please share your tips and advice in the comments section.

More Exceptions to "Buy Nothing New"

Friends keep asking me how my experiment with buying nothing new is going, and I have to admit that it's not that hard. Really. I'm not having Forever 21 withdrawals or drunk dialing Williams Sonoma or anything.

For one thing, I don't really go to malls for recreation or even like to go to them at all, so I haven't really been tempted. For another, as I've mentioned, I have so much already. And finally, the more I interact with other members of The Compact, the more I realize that it's actually feasible to make this a permanent lifestyle.

One reason for that is the EXCEPTIONS. Most Compacters have plenty of them, and most of them give each other a lot of leeway with their own personal choices. The basic motto seems to be: Do the best you can. That's hardly what I would call dogmatic.

So I'm going to add to my list of exceptions now. First of all, no one recommends buying running shoes used, because that would be really bad for your feet. But I'd already decided I was going to keep buying new running shoes when I need them. Also flip flops can't really be bought used, and the same for reading glasses. I'm going to add bathing suits to the list as something I can't imagine buying used, even though I won't need a new one this year.

The other two things I didn't think to write down, but had assumed as exceptions are charities, which I'll continue to support, and services, like the car wash, dry cleaner, and nail salon.

In fact, what I think I like most of all so far about The Compact is that there's really nothing the group won't help figure out. So if you feel like there's just no way you could ever do it because you're sending a kid to college this year and they'll need all those supplies, or you're moving and you'll need to paint and redecorate, or any other reason, they'll be there to give you suggestions about how you could do whatever you need to do in a Compact-y way.

So here's my new list:

1. underwear, bras, and socks
2. hygiene products- deodorant, toothpaste, etc.- plus lotions and prescription drugs
3. expendables- light bulbs, car tires, replacements for air purifier, etc.
4. slippers
5. athletic shoes
6. food, of course
7. flip flops
8. reading glasses
9. bathing suits
10. charities
11. services

This list is getting pretty long. Do you think you could join The Compact if you were allowed to buy all these things new? What exceptions would you need to take to get you to consider it? Tell me your thoughts in the comments section.

Refrigerator Games

Recently, I wrote this post about how I'd started labeling our leftovers so we wouldn't forget about them and shove them to the back of the refrigerator, where they'd turn into a science experiment on their way to the trash.

I've been inspired by Jonathan Bloom and his Wasted Food blog to do my small part to reduce our food waste. Our latest fun and games has been very successful.

I've labelled one section of the refrigerator "Eat Me!" That's the food that needs to be eaten within the next few days or it will get thrown out. And it's working! Like a lot of things in life, I think the key to making sure you don't throw out a lot of food is FOCUS.

Besides labeling leftovers and designating a section of the refrigerator to items that need to be eaten immediately, what's also helping is buying LESS food in the first place. When we have too much food, we lose track of what we have and it ends up getting thrown out. For example, I like having a well-stocked pantry, but if it's too full and I forget about the pancake mix, the moths might get to it. And then it's trash.

Jonathan Bloom's focus is entirely on food waste, but there are a lot of other bloggers writing about food waste as a part of being frugal and being green. The Non-Consumer Advocate has a Waste-No-Food Challenge and The Frugal Girl writes a weekly post about how much (or little) food she wasted that week.

Wasting less food not only saves money, it's a small step toward saving the planet. Food waste is a HUGE contributor to greenhouse gases. You can read all about it at Wasted Food.

Please share your fun and games, strategies, and tips for wasting less food in the Comments section. We'd all love to hear them... Who doesn't want to save money and save the planet at the same time?

See the Sharks at Long Beach Aquarium- FREE

Free Stuff Alert: If you live in the Los Angeles area, "Shark Lagoon Nights" at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach offers free admission every Friday between 6pm and 9pm, starting this Friday, March 20th.

The public is invited to get up close with the ocean’s ultimate predators at the Aquarium of the Pacific for FREE during Shark Lagoon Nights. Guests will have the opportunity to touch bamboo sharks and see large sharks such as sandtigers as well as rays in the Aquarium’s Shark Lagoon. Beer, wine and snacks are available for purchase. Live music.

Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 590-3100. Free Fridays runs through May 22nd. For more information, click here.

Free Tax Help

Free Stuff Alert: As everyone knows, the deadline for filing taxes is April 15. That's exactly four weeks from today. But what you might NOT know is that almost everyone qualifies for some kind of free tax prep help...

I was writing a story about this for one of my "real" jobs, and I realized it would be a good thing to post on the blog, and might help some of you save money. So here goes...

If you haven't filed your taxes yet, you might qualify for free tax preparation assistance. Here are some tips for filing your taxes for free:

1. Free software from the IRS. The typical American spends $200 each year filing basic forms, but 70 percent of taxpayers are eligible for the IRS's free tax-filing software program. If your adjusted gross income is under 56K, you qualify. Here's the link to find out more: http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

2. Volunteer Tax Assistance Programs. As long as you're filing a basic return, there's a good chance the IRS can hook you up with some free tax prep assistance. The program is staffed by volunteers who have training on the basic returns. This won't help you if you file more complicated forms or take a lot of deductions. If you file a basic return and you make less than 42K, here's the link: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=107626,00.html

3. Free Senior Tax Counseling. If you're over the age of 60, the IRS has partnered with the AARP to offer a program called Tax Counseling for the Elderly. Trained volunteers offer free basic tax counseling and filing assistance. My 91-year-old grandfather used this service, and it was offered at the public library across the street from his house. If you're over 60 years old and low or middle income, here's the link to find a site in your area: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=109754,00.html

4. Military. This is probably the best free tax help program of all. It's available worldwide to all armed forces personnel and their families. You can receive free tax help, including filing. And the IRS automatically extends deadlines for filing returns for personnel in combat zones or serving overseas. That also applies if you've been injured in a combat zone. For more information, here's the link: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=97273,00.html

5. And finally, free IRS phone or walk-in help. You can always get free assistance by calling or walking in to ask questions about tax preparation. IRS employees are available to answer even the most complicated tax questions. For more info, here's the link: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=202121,00.html

I'd like to credit Mellody Hobson, "Good Morning America's" financial expert, for most of this information. I hope one of these programs helps you out, because I'm sure we could all use a tax REFUND this year.

I love to swap

When I read about The Compact in Sunset magazine last December, I knew I wanted to join the group. Their non-consumer, non-materialistic lifestyle was right up my alley and fit right in with my own philosophy.

And I realized that I'd been headed in that direction on my own, not just by buying less stuff but by utilizing the bartering method, in other words- SWAPPING.

My first foray into the swap arena all started with a skirt, the one in these photos. It hung there in my armoire, looking so cute, but every time I tried it on it just looked terrible. I kept trying to figure out how such a cute skirt could look so bad on me. I had gotten it on sale at Anthropologie, one of my favorite stores, but which is impossibly expensive at full price. I couldn't bring myself to take it to Goodwill, and so the idea of the swap was hatched in my brain. I knew my girlfriends must all have stuff like this- too nice to give to Goodwill, sometimes still with the price tag on, maybe just didn't fit quite right or you didn't have the right shoes to wear with it, etc. And so we started the clothes swap, and it was a huge success. We all came away with a bunch of super-cute new items that we loved for FREE. And yes, one of my friends looked fantastic in the brainchild skirt, she wears it all the time, and she just sent me those photos to post.

Since we started the swaps, some of my friends haven't even needed to shop for new clothes. It's amazing how something can look so bad on one person and so great on someone else. We all have different body types so we look good in different things. Although one of my friends looks good in almost everything, prompting another friend to exclaim at the last clothes swap, "Is there anything she DOESN'T look good in?"

I like to say our clothes swaps are getting us through the recession in style. And some of the other members of The Compact do swaps all the time- media swaps, craft supply swaps, just about anything you can think of. I'm definitely planning a book swap and kitchen swap sometime this year.

But clothes and books and kitchen supplies are small potatoes! What about swapping your house? That's what my husband and I did last year, and we had one of the best vacations of our life. We traded houses with a couple in London for 5 weeks through an online company called HomeLink. You list your home with photos and a description of its features and the neighborhood, and then you put it up online and see what offers you get. We get emails all the time from people in France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Australia, just to name a few. If you want to visit a certain country, you put out inquiries to listings in that area. We had a fantastic vacation because not only was it infinitely more affordable, but we actually came to love our neighborhood in London and feel like we lived there, if only for a short time. We're looking forward to traveling this way from now on. I highly recommend it!

Have you ever swapped or bartered clothes or kitchen items or books? What about your house? Please share your thoughts about all things swap-related.

Comment, please...

My dear readers, I think I have finally solved the problem on this blog with leaving your comments. It's been confusing, because some people HAVE been able to comment, but others kept writing to me and telling me they couldn't, or they'd have to do it twice. The problem seemed to be that only people with google accounts or blogger.com accounts could easily leave comments, all others had to work too hard. So if you've tried to leave comments in the past and had trouble, PLEASE try again. I would love to hear from you and get your feedback.

Also, I've been talking a lot about gifts lately, how to stick with The Compact and be creative and buy used and that type of thing, but I also wanted to give another mention to Global Giving. It's one of my favorite charities, and it easily lends itself to gift giving. When you give someone even a small gift card for $10, they can go online and pick out how they want to help- there are categories like children, animals, disaster relief, HIV/AIDS, and several others- and then they choose a project like buying malaria nets for a family in Mali or purchasing schoolbooks for girls in Afghanistan who weren't able to go to school under the Taliban. It really makes people feel involved and part of the solution, and the money actually makes a real difference. Also, right now Global Giving is offering matching funds on their best women's projects, so your dollars will go twice as far.

Please tell me about your favorite non-commercial, non-consumer, non-material gifts...

Pasadena Art Night

Free Stuff Alert: If you live in the area, Friday is Pasadena Art Night, billed as "an evening of free arts and culture." From 6-10pm, area museums open their doors to the public, and a free shuttle will transport you between any of the 14 participating cultural institutions.Choices include a new exhibit of Matisse illustrations at the Norton Simon, a celebration of the music of John Coltrane with LA's finest saxophonists at the Paseo Colorado, SHIKI: Four Seasons of Art at the Shumei Arts Council which celebrates the spirit of nature with taiko drums, koto strings, the art of tea and calligraphy, and an Art Night After Party with food and drink specials from 10pm to 1am at the Paseo Colorado, to name just a few. So come on out and design your own evening of art and music. The event kicks off the Pasadena Arts Weekend.

Downtown Art Walk

Free Stuff Alert: If you live in Los Angeles, the 2nd Thursday of the month is the downtown Art Walk, and that's today! The downtown art galleries throw open their doors to the public from noon until 9pm, and some places serve wine and snacks in the evening. The galleries are mostly spaced close enough together to walk (hence the name of the event), but there's also a free shuttle to transfer you between venues.

Husband's Compact-y Birthday pt.2

I forgot to add the flowers I bought to the gift list... My husband's favorite flowers are tulips, and he said he liked these even though, as he told me, "he's not really a flower kind of guy."

Cost: $3.99, bringing the total gift cost to $14.96.

My husband took this photo for me, with one of the Hawaiian shirts from Goodwill in the BG. From now on, I'll be able to take my own photos, yay! And that's a funny story...

Either funny or embarrassing, depending on your viewpoint...

I told my husband I wanted to buy a used camera to take photos to post on the blog, and he said he didn't feel comfortable buying used electronics but that refurbished was probably okay. I'd bought two laptops that way and didn't have any trouble with them. It basically means they were returned for some reason and worked on and then couldn't be sold as new. So anyway, I went on the Compact yahoo group and asked the members what they thought about buying refurbished electronics, and a few people responded and said refurbished was okay, as long as it was from a reputable dealer. None of them expected or recommended that I buy a camera used.

So I told my husband I would buy a refurb and he was researching retailers, when he suddenly remembered he already had an extra digital camera he could give me! That's right- a used camera right in our own house. He had been unhappy with a few of the tics of the model he's giving me, so he bought himself a new one because he takes a lot of photos. But there wasn't really anything wrong with the old one, so he kept it. How Compact-y can you get? Now I've got a used camera for free, and my husband's old camera won't end up in a landfill. Perfect.

This is just one more example of why I want this to be a No-Buy and Declutter year. There are probably all kinds of things in our home that we could be putting to use, if only we remembered we had it. What about you- do you think there are things in your home that you don't even remember you own?

Tuesday Free Museums

Free Stuff Alert: If you live in Los Angeles, tomorrow is the 2nd tuesday of the month, and that means free admission to LACMA and the Autry National Center of the American West.