Living Simple....Or Simply Living...

Swish the time goes

2009-12-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

I thought I would be writing more in here. Now it is the eve before the eve before Christmas eve. This year is flying by. I get kind of depressed around Christmas, which is why I haven't been blogging anywhere, especially in the main family blog. We sunk about $2000 into our car with repairs. That is what Mark makes in two months, so we were so blessed and relieved that family stepped in to help out.

This big car money fiasco ordeal has had me thinking though. I want to have goals. I have a need to be in control or I feel out of control, especially when it comes to our resources. Even though Mark hates the thought, I crave a budget. If I don't know where our money is going, I get all crazy and just want to spend spend spend. Most of it I can justify, especially this time of year. A little here and there for groceries. Christmas gifts. Stocking stuffers. A little chocolate to make me feel better. Ect....

I have been doing some thinking. Is spending money really making me happy? No, it is not. It is a temporary fix that does not last. I want to be smarter with our limited funds. I want to be happier with less. I still want less in our home and I am still struggling to declutter. So why in the heck do I do the complete opposite of what I need to do to get what I want?

It is maddening.

I have decided I need to set goals for myself and my family for the upcoming year. They are not set in stone. I do not want to make my family nor myself miserable.

Goal#1: Eat better and more local. I put this first because health is such an essential part of us. I want to get to a higher percentage local REAL food. I want to follow Nourishing Traditions and get my family to eat that way too. I know it won't be 100% but even if I can get them to give up the manufactured cereals, junk food, and packaged chemical laden foods. I will help them set goals monthly. It will be hard due to our vast food storage but I think it is doable. First month will be giving up pop and soy milk.

I am saving to buy a side or a quarter beef in the near future. This is huge to me and I know I talk about it a lot but the desire for organically raised, free range beef is just such a big deal. The store meat just tastes sad and unhappy, especially when you have tasted the difference. I also found a place that has farm fresh eggs for about the same price as store eggs, which are starting to be disappointing as well. For me to be low carb and gluten free, my protein sources are a concern .

Some things we cannot get locally produced, like coconut product, stevia and chocolate, things I refuse to give up, lol! I also don't expect the kids to give up bananas or oranges if they don't want to.

Goal # 2: The Compact. I blogged about this before here and it is basically the same. I want to stop the excess shopping. If we need something, we will assess that need and try to obtain it second hand. This can be hard with some things so I will be flexible.

Goal #3 Save more aggressively. I think goal 1 and 2 pave the way for this. DH already saves a lot but I know we can save more. I know I can personally do a lot to spend less if I put my mind to it.

Goal # 4: Be a better keeper of the home. I know this may seem silly and irrelevant, but I think it totally is to simpler living. I am bored a lot. My kids don't need me as much. I find myself doing a lot of time wasting things, even when the house is in shambles around me because I don't feel worth having a nice home and I resent cleaning because no one else does anything to help (except Shaylee sometimes). There I said it. I need an attitude adjustment. I need to work around the house instead of shopping when I am bored and have needs that need to be filled. I need to take pride in things I can do instead of complain about not having enough and trying to fill the void with things that don't ever fill the void.

That is all I have thought of so far. Of course they are pretty big. I am debating about talking to Mark and the kids about them because of how they react to my crazy ideas, lol! Sometimes it's just easier to do them.

Whoosh, it's Wednesday!

2009-10-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Things are kind of blah lately. Always something going on that I wish I could write about but can't. Zip.

Things are going ok on the gluten-free front. So hard to avoid it. My hands are so dried out from scrubbing them any time I make anything for the rest of the family. I'm trying to be so careful but it is hard. It's even in shampoos and other body care items and not all of them list their ingredients. I think the more I detox, the more I am going to notice that it bothers me. It can take a long time to recover from being accidentally "glutened", like weeks. I don't know how long it will take to get a lifetime of it out of your system.

One of the most concerning symptoms I have is my loss of memory, which is getting pretty bad. It can be very disconcerting to be in the middle of something and not know what you were doing. Or going somewhere and forgetting where halfway there. I haven't memorized a phone number in about a decade. I have tried but I can't. I have to remind myself over and over if there is something happening or of we have to be somewhere and I have to write it on the calender or I'll genuinely forget. It's not just an annoyance; I can't cook unless I'm in the room or I will forget. That is how I have had my past fires. It is scary. I often go to bed forgetting to put something back in the fridge or I forget there's laundry in the washer or to do the dishes. It's not that I'm lazy, I totally forget and often I can't remember. I sometimes call things by the wrong name (like earlier I called the computer the TV). I can't remember things I have just read. I am always having internal dialogue about things I need to be doing, things I used to just do because it was there.

I try to exercise my brain with things like puzzles, suduko, lots of reading, trying to memorize but it seems to be in vain. I need to totally deglutenize.

So what does this have to do with simplifying? Probably nothing except that it's harder than it used to be. It should be incentive to get rid of more as it's less to be responsible for.

We did accomplish something major. We emptied out the old freezer and got rid of a lot of stuff. There was a lot that was inedible so it was tossed into the compost. We gave a friend a ton of food. We are planning after Christmas to get rid of it and only use the newer deep freeze (the old one is still in operation, but is full of grains, veggies and nuts). The new freezer is jam packed with food, almost all of it is meat. I want to get a side of beef so bad but I can see that it is not needed. We have a lot to eat through before we can do that so while eating through our storage, we can save money for meat :)

I cooked a turkey yesterday. It made a lovely broth, enough for two pots of soup. One went in the freezer and I made a pot of turkey soup filled with veggies. It wasn't very big so there isn't as much meat for other things, especially since I keep picking at it. It's good with my homemade mayo, even better on baby spinach with cranberry sauce, mmmmmmm!

I need to get cleaning. We have company coming tonight and it's hard for me to get organized enough to clean.

Weekend!

2009-10-17T05:23:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned I have to eat gluten free? Sticker shock! It is in everything. I can't just eat a hot dog sans bun. I have to source out one that contains no gluten and preferably one that is not potentially cross contaminated by being made in the same factory as something that contains gluten. That's a minor example. It can be in every single thing that does not come out of the ground naturally gluten free or off an animal before it is tampered with. I actually had a mini breakdown when I realized how life changing this would be. It's not a matter of simply avoiding breads, pasta, cereal, ect... It's checking everything.

I don't think I'm going to go the substitute everything route. I want to eat closer to how God wants us to eat, minus the bread part. I also don't plan to heavily rely on potatoes, rice and other starchy things (although I won't totally avoid them as if I were low carbing). I think this is my chance to finally break free of this prison of obesity because I have to. Doctor's orders this time. I cannot think of having pizza or whatever as a cheat; I have to think of it as causing permanent damage to my body that even a bite can make me ill for weeks. It's that serious.

I am going to go more the Traditional Foods route. I have the book ordered through ILL, if they will let me have it (I am bad about picking up my books and sometimes bringing them back). I have been reading a lot online through the Weston A. Price site, MDC and a number of blogs. I have always been drawn to it but feared it for some reason. I can see now the benefit it could be to me if I ate a more nourishing diet.

It is the weekend and the house is a mess. I have had no energy, no get up and go at all. My head always feels like a bowling ball perched on my shoulders and I have been sick off and on, more on than off. Detoxing. I do have house plans for the next week if I have the energy and if I can get Mark to help. The basement is disgusting. The kids play down there and there are toys everywhere. Then we can't get to shelves to put things away. Oh and I discovered an exploded can of pineapple. Lest you think it was sitting in our storage forever, it was only there since May so it could of possibly been in the store when it exploded, but they probably would of discovered it sooner than I did. Now I'm scared of my canned fruit.

I have been spending too much money lately. When I am not feeling well and generally down, I tend to spend. I did get a couple of turkeys for $10 so I can stop looking. Every time I'm prompted to go into a store, I find a good buy. Like when I got 8 packs of 1-lbs turkey breast meat for about $1 each. Or when I got a 5lbs bag of carrots for 99 cents, or all our organic greens which I get half off, ect... It's hard to catch the good deals when you only shop once a week, but overall I know we'd spend less if we do. I need to ice my cards so I'm not tempted to use them.

Ah, two items of good news financially. They found the problem with the car and AFAIK, it should be fixed and not in the thousands of dollars. Second is the kids lost one of their DS's about a month ago. I worried and looked but when I prayed about it, I asked to either know where it was or to not worry about it. I didn't worry about it. I thought about it, since they're expensive and all, but wasn't a biggie. Then yesterday it was on the coffee table. Apparently Shaylee put it in a toy purse for safe keeping, lol! I was relived! I hate it when they lose expensive things.

Well, I need to get the house in order for the Sabbath. I will leave with a recipe. The family loves garlic fingers. I love them too so it was hard making them for the family last night and not having any. When I have more time and energy, I can make cauliflower or zucchini crust ones (much better than it sounds!). But I finally figured out how I made the donair sauce without store bought sweetened condensed milk. I kept tasting it because it was so good:

In a blender, mix 2/3 cup of powdered milk, 1.5 cups of sugar, a couple tablespoons of butter, garlic to taste and 1/3 cup of vinegar. Start blending and slowly pour in very hot/almost boiling water until it reaches the consistency desired (we like ours thick! but it will thicken a bit when it's done so make sure to add enough to dissolve all the ingredients).

If you have sweetened condensed milk, simply add vinegar and garlic to taste. Some places say equal parts as it thickens when it is refrigerated but we like ours really thick!

Randomness

2009-10-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

The suspicious exercise trails.

I want to sign this blog up for pay per post in an attempt to make some extra money. My other blogs haven't fared so well. Probably because I wasn't writing enough in them. I think this blog is my best chance :)

Tightening Our Belts

2009-10-09T06:16:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the garage. Again. It's bad news. It's leaking coolant and the mechanic can't find where it's coming from and there is no dealership in town. Bad. He has attempted to fix it twice. Both my dad and Mark's parents offered to pay but Dad paid. The mechanic is holding the cheque until the problem is figured out. I'm scared it is going to be a lot and as generous as our parents are in wanting to help, I cannot expect them to shoulder a huge bill. As I told Mark, I hate having all this money spent on something we could easily live without. Yes it would be hard and inconvenient, but doable.

So I have decided we are tightening our belts more, as tight as they can be cinched and save as much as possible. I am going to try to make this a zero spend Christmas. I am going to find more things to sell, everything I can. I am going to stop all shopping except fresh fruits and veggies. We are going to be so tight we squeak. The only things we have to get are boots for Ethan and sneakers for both kids. They have been growing so much and they can't wear crocs in the winter.

It's just so hard on a small income when big things hit. This is why I am leery of ever owning a home. What on earth would we do if a major house crisis hit? Things need repair, replacing and maintenance which we would find very hard. I don't want to rent forever but I would like to be in a more secure place than we are now.

I just have a lot on my mind in addition to all this. I know I need to write in our main blog but there is always a lot of junk going on and I tend to moan about the bad stuff. I want to be more positive and uplifting through our trials. Which reminds me, I am behind on my tithing. Gah, that's probably why a lot of this is happening. I find things go great and smooth when we've been paying our tithing but it seems when we get behind and everything starts to go wrong.

Potato Pancakes

2009-10-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Around here, rappie pie is a very popular supper. Basically it is potato with all the liquid removed which is replaced with broth and cooked with onion and layered with meat (usually chicken or beef, but some people use clams, rabbit and other types of meat). You can buy rappie mix, which is a lot easier than making it yourself. I used to have a juicer I could use to make it but it was sooo messy and time consuming. Then actually making rappie pie is very time consuming and it is so disappointing when it doesn't come out right. I like mine very crispy with some salt pork on top, mmmmm! (ok, I found that pic online. I never think to take pictures when I make something and I had a hankering for rappie)

What I'm getting at is I love rappie pie but it is something we hardly ever have. The premade ones just aren't as good and cost a bit. So to satisfy my rappie pie craving, I like to make potato pancakes.

I found out last night my personal recipe was actually Latkes. I thought that was rather amusing. I used to grate potato and onion by hand but now I use my food processor to grate them. I don't even peel the potatoes; I just give them a good scrub. Then I add some flour, a couple of eggs and a good pinch of baking powder. Next I fry them on the cast iron grill until good and crisp. mmm! Last night I not only grated them but I also ran it through the processor so the mixture was the consistency of actual pancake batter. They didn't even taste like potato pancakes even though I used 4 medium potatoes and 3 onions.

I like mine lightly buttered then half with ketchup and half with molasses, so it's like having a meal and dessert. Mark just likes molasses and butter. The kids won't touch them (although they would probably love the new way I make them if I didn't tell them). Last night I put pure maple syrup on them and oh it was so good! I used to think real maple syrup was a waste of money but I have seen the light, and it is good :). We bought a litre for $13.50 at a fruit and veg stand only to discover the same size and brand was nearly $20 at most of the other ones! We're going to get a bigger jug next time :).

So other than the maple syrup, it is a cheap quick meal. We bought a 50lbs bag of new potatoes for $8.99 and 10lbs of onions for $3.99 so as you can see, cheap!

Christmas Bells are Ringing

2009-10-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it is still more than 3 months away but I have been spending a lot of time thinking about Christmas lately. I think I know all that we're giving as gifts. I have to keep stopping myself as I like to wander around stores looking. Today I was at Walmart as I needed a few things (eek, yes, I'm guilty!). They had something I though the kids would love. I put it in the cart. I took it out. I put it back in. Took it back out. Yes, I did this for a good 10 minutes before I just walked away. It felt good.

We are actually not spending very much money on the kids. I bought them each a mink blanket for their beds, a steal at $10 each. Then we will be buying them some games and stocking stuffers from Shoppers Drug Mart for free as we have nearly $200 in free redemption there. We will wait until there is a bonus points redemption sale (we could have done it this past weekend). We will stretch it further as they want Wii games and I have $10 off coupons. I also plan to make them Cabbage Patch Kids clothes. This will be hard as I hate sewing. I need practice but I hate wasting fabric practicing, but it is a good skill to have.

We have our tree and ample decorations. We have food and I will probably be making lots of homemade goodies, plus we'll have lots of points to spend at Superstore (20k points=$20, we'll probably have $60 by Christmas). We have family gifts planned but I won't write them here as some read these blogs. I think that for the first time since having kids, we may have an under $200 Christmas :D. I have always been one who loved spending tons of money on Christmas. I just love it! But realistically I know we can't. I tend to buy lots of cheap things that aren't appreciated which end up being donated or tossed in no time. I need to buy things that I know will be used and loved.

I find there is a lot of freedom in not worrying about buying enough. I am usually in a frenzy over Christmas, thinking haven't done enough, bought enough, made enough, so on. A simple Christmas gives great peace of mind. I'm hoping every year we can make it simpler and more peaceful.

Monday Blues

2009-10-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

Monday is a weird day for me. I love it and hate it. There is always so much more to do since it is the day following the Sabbath. Extra laundry, extra dishes, extra messes, so on. Today was kind of dreary on top of it. I did manage to get a load of laundry dried outside though. I love Monday because it is the start of a new week :)

I have been thinking I need to set clearly defined goals. They talk about it a lot at church. I agree they are needed but it can be hard to define them. I wrote a number of things I wanted to do at the beginning of this blog and have assessed things along the way. Here we go.

I want to simplify. That is pretty broad, I know. I want to reduce the amount of stuff in our home and how much comes into it. I want there to be less stuff for me to have to take care of. I want the kids to be content with less. Less is the key.

I want to tread more lightly upon the earth. I want to reduce the waste we produce and our impact on the earth. I want to move away from packaged food and eat more naturally. I want to waste less and conserve more. I want to green up our lives

I want to be more frugal. I need to be a wise steward over our resources. Some of my frugal practices seem in conflict with simplifying and green living, such as our home and food storage (stockpiling, if you will) and my book collecting. Hmmm.

I can't do it all at once. I am probably in a better place than I was when I started this blog but I need to be more conscientious about my choices. Some things will take time, like the eating. We have a lot in our storage we need to go through. I gave quite a bit to the food bank and have a few more bags to donate. Spending less will take time too but should be something I can break myself of soon. If I want less stuff, why keep shopping? We almost have Christmas taken care of and after that there isn't that much else we need.

I'll probably be sharing a wide range of things in this blog. I hate to narrow it down too much to just being simple living or just being frugality or just being green as I am working through all these things to get to where I want to be. I am no expert, I'm just living through it.

Eggs and Meat Coming Out My Ears

2009-10-01T05:09:00.001-07:00

About a month ago there was a great sale at Shoppers Drug Mart. Eggs were on sale $1.49 a dozen, limit of two, $1.79 after limit. Plus there were 20X the Optimum points. We spent a lot of money that day on needs, meds, groceries and more because there were a TON of great sales. Back to the eggs. I way overshot on how many eggs we were going to use before the best before date. I didn't notice they were only good for about 3 weeks past the day we bought them. Now they are way past date and we still have a fridge full. I have been working on freezing them. If you beat them up, they can be frozen. I'll probably use them for baking. One egg fills two ice cube spots in the ice cube tray. I read it was one egg per cube but they must be smaller. I still have more than 2 dozen to go through so I may just freeze them in little containers with 4-6 eggs for larger batch recipes as their time is just about up.

Today is October, a lovely month. It is cool, the harvest is still going on, Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks, Halloween at the end of the month, still plenty of time to get ready for Christmas. Ahhh.

This is the month we get smarter with our money and resources. No more impulse spending. Mark will be the hard one to stick with this. Since he works at a grocery store, it is so easy for him to just pick up stuff while he's there. He often buys himself treats that while I don't really care, it adds up spending a few dollars a day on chocolate bars/treats and drinks. He also likes to wander the mall and other stores when he's done.

So, how do we do this? I am going to talk to him about leaving his wallet home (except ID 'cause you never know). We are also going to go back to having one day we do all of our shopping. Shopping has become more entertainment than anything. I am going to make shopping lists and meal plans. If we happen to need anything in between (it happens), I'll get Mark to pick it up rather than us all go in and start with the "I wants". These things worked well in the past.

I went over the grocery store flyers for next week. There thankfully wasn't much, probably due to the fact these are the pre-Thanksgiving flyers and I find here groceries are often a little more expensive before a big holiday. Turkeys are on sale for $1.97 /lbs but I am hoping they go down to a dollar a pound after. I always get jealous of the Americans with their 29 cent a pound turkey. If it were that cheap here, it would pay to get an extra freezer.

I have budgeted $50 a week for groceries and $100 a month for food storage. Since there isn't much on my list, Superstore has a chicken dinner on sale for $10. A whole large rotisserie chicken, large tators, large salad and a bag of cookies for $10 is excellent! I can't even find a whole chicken raw for $10 lately and this chicken should be good for a few meals.

Food is just getting so expensive here. I sometimes feel justified in spending more because everything costs so much but I know I can do better. We have a lot of food storage that needs to be used up, so that will help in the short term.

I decided not to get a side of pork this year. We did last year and while it was good, a lot of what it cost paid for bone and fat. It was $1.39 a pound cut, which is decent. It was $122, which included having the hams and bacon smoked. Well, we have a ton of bacon in the freezer (a reusable Sobey's bag full), we have lots of hams, picnic shoulders, pork chops, tenderloin roasts and more. Last week Superstore had a sale on tenderloin pork chops and roasts for $1.49. I bought 6 2lbs roasts and 5 packs of chops (about 2lbs a pack). This is pure meat, no fat, no bone so I'm not paying for waste. I bought a picnic shoulder a couple weeks ago for 89 cents a pound. Well, it was almost entirely fat and bone. We barely got 2 meals out of a 5lbs shoulder, the rest was waste. When you are buying meat, you need to weight the costs of how much meat you are going to get against the value of the waste. Some cheap cuts do work out to be a good value, but sometimes it is not.

Under A Thousand A Month

2009-09-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

This is the name of a blog I love to read. Some of it is extreme, all of it gives you a lot to think about. Right now it is a bit of a train wreck in that it is hard to tear yourself away from seeing what's going to happen next. I realize that everyone has different comfort levels of simplicity and while she aspires to a level we could not attain, I respect her for her ability.

It gave me cause for thought. We could do this. It made me want to do this. We don't make a whole lot more than $1000 a month (actually, some months I don't know how we get by. I feel paying tithes and offerings helps us get by with God's help). We would put the excess into savings. We did something similar before but we lived on an extreme low. It was easier when the kids were small, our rent was less and there were a lot of other things that made it easier to live on a small amount.

The biggest thing this will do is to give me a reason to stop shopping. I love shopping. My weakness is Superstore. I could go in there every single day and walk out with a cart full of stuff. I shop when I'm happy, I shop when I'm sad, I shop when I'm bored, and, well, you get the picture. We can't afford this. I know I need to pull in the reins. It is just hard. Retail therapy is a real issue. I plan to replace it with home productivity.

I did start something today that while it may seem contrary to simplifying, I feel it is important. I signed up for T-Zone. Basically it is a machine that jiggles your body and has a ton of benefits. After one session, the pain in my knees and back were virtually gone. Readers of my main blog may remember nearly two years ago I fell hard on one of my knees and I am basically crippled by it. The doctor wouldn't take me seriously about the pain I was in and now both knees are in constant pain (I over-relied on my "good" knee; I basically can't kneel anymore). It is so hard to do regular exercise, even walking is really hard. I have friends who have been dropping inches and pounds with T-Zone just with 10 minutes a day, even without changing their diets. We never need medicine or and our family never has any health expenses (other than dental) so I can justify it that way. I was able to get 4 months for the price of 3 (the special ends today; it was $166 for the three months). It will improve many ailments that I have. Just the relief from the knee pain is worth it for me!!

I plan to have some tutorials coming up. I want to do a mayo making one as well as one for some awesome bean cookies. I am still getting over being sick so my ambition is a little low lately.

A Fresh Start

2009-09-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

I am considering tomorrow my Fresh Start. I am going to examine how we live and what I can improve. I am going to restart simplifying and finding ways to make life easier. I am going to do things which will improve the status of our home, our connections to each other and the world around us.

Food is a big one. I stock pile. My church encourages its members to have, if possible, a year supply of all needs. I have many areas covered a year and then a few more. Some may feel that this isn't compatible with simple living but I feel it is. Theoretically, I don't have to shop as much (this is a big thing I need to work on!!). I could not step foot in a store for however many months and we would not be deprived in any way. Unfortunately, I need to get the kids liking foods they don't eat. Namely beans. I know clever ways to disguise them but there are only so many treats they can have. I made taco pinto beans for lunch and they wouldn't even eat one on a tortilla chip covered with cheese. Sigh, and they were so yummy too. I'm going to make bean based muffins and cookies tomorrow and try to health them up a bit.

I will soon post pictures again of our food storage. I just need to neaten it up a bit for my company :). I got a load of canned goods this week that need to be dated and put away.

Speaking of stockpiling, one thing I have noticed in the last year visiting sites which discuss frugality if the world of couponing. Unfortunately it isn't big in Canada because no where here does doubling, there are no catanas (or whatever they're called), I don't know anywhere that will take more than one coupon on one product (even if they're different) plus there is a gross lack of decent coupons in Canada. I went through some of mine today and with the sale this week I will be able to stock up on some items. I usually grab some coupons if I see them in the store and it's an item we will use.

So if you're in Canada and want a few coupon/deals sites, here you go:
http://save.ca/
http://www.scjohnson.ca/rightathome/default.aspx?sC=1
http://www.redflagdeals.com/
http://www.thehealthyshopper.ca/products.php?categoryid=99

I can be weird again, YAY!

2009-09-26T04:34:00.000-07:00

I am glad I didn't delete this. I have been feeling very strongly about writing in it again lately. It is something that I find I work harder at if I am writing specifically about trying to live simpler.

I just have to say I smile every time I see the title of my prior post "Por Neglected Blog". Lol!! I never corrected the typo because it makes me smile. That was almost a year ago.

What have I done and learned in the last year? Tons, not enough. Am I treading more lightly than I was last year? Hmmmm, that's an interesting thought. It has been a crazy busy year, fraught with depression and a sense of life is constant overwhelming. I guess my conscious efforts have fallen to the wayside but the fundamentals were strong enough that many things were habit.

I read on a natural living board I visit this wonderful thought:

"Not just possessions, but living simply requires several other things in your life.

Like:
knowing when you're full.
Knowing when you are tired.
Saying No to people because you are one of the above or something else.
Not joining something.
knowing your limits and your families limits.
knowing how to slow down, smell the roses or whatever it is in front of you.
working to live not live to work"

These are hard things for me. My family needs to come first. If I get burnt out on outside things, how can I care for them. It's a process and I have a feeling things will get better and easier in the near future :)

Even though I am sick right now, I have some goals for today. I have 6 dozen eggs in the fridge that need to get used up. I also have bananas that are past the point anyone will eat them. I am going to make a few batches of banana bread and some egg dishes to put in the freezer. I probably won't use up all the eggs today but I can get a good start on them. Mom is taking the kids so I will have less to deal with. I can sit down and rest a lot. Timers are great when doing stuff like this. It's funny as I like having stuff in the freezer for when I'm not feeling great but when I'm sick I feel like cooking.

So watch this blog as I have a feeling I will be able to take it to great places :)

Merger

2009-05-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

I merged all my old posts from this blog into my main one. Eventually I'll get around to logging into the account I have this under so I can delete it but I will keep it around for now.

Thanks!

Por Neglected Blog

2008-10-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't been writing here much. I have been having problems with shopping again, kind of going against my desire for simplicity. I found this video on YouTube and it's both hilarious and sad at the same time. It's called Big Box Mart and is about how cheap junk for China has a hidden cost. The part where he is hypnotized in the aisle sounds like me, lol!

I need to get on the decluttering boat again soon. Right now I'm on the "trying to keep up with things" ship. The kids have way too much stuff and I need to go through the next phase of decluttering.

Homemade Laundry Soap Tutorial

2008-07-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to write more lately but I'm so busy with other blogs.

BTW, right now is a great time to buy local! I've had two flats of local strawberries this week and they're sooo good!

Laundry soap is so very, very simple and fast to make. It saves a ton of money too. Borax and Arm and Hammer Washing Soda are both around $5 a box and you need a cup for each recipe. You also need a bar of soap, which can be from pennies to how ever much a person would want to spend on specialty soap. The best part about this is you can customize this to your preferences and tastes. If you are allergic to soap, simply don't add. I often use it without soap and it works fine.

This is highly concentrated so you also only need 1-2 tablespoons per load of laundry. Yes, it really works well with that small amount! It's also low sudsing so don't expect tons of bubbles. Oh and it rinses out really well.

In today's tutorial, I am making a double batch and I am using ivory lavender scented soap, mmmmm! Some people like to make it into a gel to ensure that it's dissolved but I like powdered since it's less messy, takes less space and I find that this dissolves fine without extra help.

Supplies: Washing soda, borax and bars of soap.

Grate the soap into a large container (I use an ice cream bucket)

Add 1 cup of borax

Add 1 cup of washing soda

Mix together well. I find mixing with my bare hands works best. Shaylee likes to help (with supervision of course)

Finished product

Up close macro shot of laundry soap goodness!

Food Crisis

2008-06-21T17:28:00.001-07:00

This article is pretty scary! Is the time coming that we won't be able to afford to feed ourselves??

And people wonder why I'm stocking up on food like a mad woman!! I hope it never gets to the point we are 9 meals away from anarchy here, but it is becoming a real possibility!

Update

2008-05-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Gee, I haven't been writing much. I certainly go through spurts.

I do have great news.... The basement is almost done!! Whoo!!! The floor is clean, all the junk is gone and everything else is on shelves. We need to get the BBQ out and I have a few totes of garbage to sort (I should be glad it doesn't all end up in the landfill, but it can be a pain to go through when you're getting rid of stuff).

Best part is I know I can go through and get rid of even MORE stuff!! I am loving being able to ruthlessly declutter. I have also been doing a better job of keeping the house clean. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being disaster and 10 being perfect), I have gone from about a 3 to a 7. Amazing!!! There is more to be done but Babysteps, babysteps. I am working on it every day.

I need to clear some more space for food storage. I joke to DH that I get rid of so much stuff and turn around and buy food in it's place. Well, we need to eat and it sounds like prices are going to skyrocket (many already have). So we will greatly appreciate having plenty to eat in times of trouble.

I love being able to give stuff away. It's such a great feeling. It's kind of funny as MIL sometimes buys items I have donated and will ask if it's something that used to be ours. Yeah, which is why it's there and not here!

This coming week I will be working on our bedroom. I need to help DH learn where things go. I need to reteach the kids that toys do not belong in my sleeping area. I have been doing a good job with my stuff; it's everyone else's that is causing problems! It will come. I think we are all loving living in a cleaner environment.

Great Stuff!

2008-05-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

No, not mine (although I do have a personal attachment to it ;) ) but this one: http://lentilsandrice.blogspot.com. Excellent! I highly recommend reading about her simple life, her stretchy bean and/or lentil meals and their quest for sustainable living. They are so much further along their way than we are, but we are all in different places. I appreciate reading about others journeys so I can learn more.

This post in particular struck a cord since I am hard core into cleaning and decluttering right now. That and the Wii are the main reasons I haven't been posting much (yes, we did break down and buy it. I have to honestly say I don't regret it a bit!!). We're having DS's birthday party on Tuesday and I want the house in order by then. I can do it! I can see the finish line! The entire upstairs for once is entirely CLEAN! Whoooo!!!! I am making great progress downstairs. I think if I had some kid free time, I could get it done in a couple of hours. They just tend to take things out when I am in the middle of doing things. After it's all done, it's just a matter of maintenance, which I am going to work very hard on. I am also putting off the basement until the rest of the house is done but all I need is a couple of days and a couple of energy drinks to get that in order ;)

Oh, we got a piano! I don't even have to feel a bit of guilt over it. It was left in an abandoned community center building and a friend rescued and repaired it about 20 years ago. They no longer need it and they let us have it! That mother is heavy, lol! It's about a hundred years old, the days before compact pianos, so it weighs a ton. It left deep marks in the kitchen floor...eeps! Our kitchen floor is in dire need of replacing after we move, as is our living room carpet. I would love to see hard wood floors, but I doubt it with public housing. We take what we get :)

Well, so much to do and not enough energy at the moment. I've been cleaning since about 6:30am and I'm starting to drag. But I know if I work, I can get everything I want done today and I can spend tomorrow with a scrub brush.

Try Explaining It!!

2008-04-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

OK, At church I am responsible for holding a monthly activity for the women. I have been wanting to have a Story of Stuff night all year and finally presented it to the person who is responsible for approving these things. Of course the way she was staring at me made me feel like a blubbering idiot. She had a blank look in her eye and basically said that no one would want to come. That the whole idea made her feel blah. I also wanted to talk about simple things we can do to help the environment and maybe make or hand out reusable bags. Pah! Well apparantly that wouldn't be very interesting either.

So many things I've wanted to do have been shot down. Now I finally have something I am passionate about and no one would care. Oh well. Lets make silly cards and write love notes instead.

Grrrrrr......

Thinking about stuff

2008-04-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today how much better it is to just not buy stuff we don't need. Then I started wondering how we determine that. I know that we have too much stuff. However I pass it all along when we're done with it so it gets another life with at least one more family (possibly more since a lot of our stuff has been passed on to us). Then there are things we want. I will be going in a few hours to hopefully score a Wii system as a combo Christmas (leftover money) and birthday present for DS and I. We have been doing pretty well with not buying stuff we don't need, although there are borderline items (did we need those solar garden lights and glass blender we bought this week at 50% and more off? If we use them a lot will it make a difference?). The Wii just seems so frivolous but if it were not that, what else would we be wasting the money on? We literally have no entertainment budget so we don't waste money in that regard. The internet is basically our only form of entertainment and it only brings me and the kids close together. It would be nice to have something we can physically do together and have fun.

Am I rationalizing? Probably. I often feel our need for a car is an exercise in rationalization, mainly because I'm too lazy to walk anywhere :0

Something else I have been thinking about a lot lately is camping. I am really, really looking forward to it this year. I love Keji. It's my favorite place to be on earth. If I ever get cremated, I would want my ashes scattered there. Tonight I was fantasizing about camping and could practically smell it and feel it.

Then it hit me. By the time we get to go, gas will probably be about $1.50 a liter. It is now about $1.30. A nice relaxing camping trip over 2 hours away will probably cost about nearly $100 for gas. If we get an early bird pass so we can go more than once and that is $58.80 or $73.60 if we can't get it before Victoria Day. Plus it's $25.50 a night to camp, plus last year they charged $6 for an arm load of wood (we'll probably try to get it elsewhere this year) plus all the other stuff one needs to buy.

Jeepers! It costs an arm and a leg to go camping! As badly as I want to go, I think we may try to find other places, like Ellenwood Park and other places. Keji is just one of those places that is so fondly ingrained in my good childhood memories that I want my kids to have a piece of that too. Meh, we probably will go at least once. This time it will be when it's warmer as last time DH and I were sick most of the trip and it was so frigging cold!! (it was a homeschooling camping trip in September)

National Hanging Out Day

2008-04-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Title: National Hanging Out Day

Date: Saturday April 19, 2008
Time: All Day
Repeats: This event repeats every year.
Location: http://www.laundrylist.org/
Notes: Every year, on April 19th, Project Laundry List joins together with hundreds of organizations from around the country to educate communities about energy consumption. National Hanging Out Day was created to demonstrate how it is possible to save money and energy by using a clothesline.

Battle Of The Bag

2008-04-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

I am starting to watch this but since DS wants the computer, I will preserve it so I won't lose it ;). It's a documentary from the CBC and I must of missed it or just didn't hear about it. It's about the battle against the plastic bag from history to modern problems it is causing. It should prove to be interesting.

so here goes: Battle Of The Bag

How much do you know about plastic bags?

2008-04-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

Take The Test

I only got half right. I vastly overestimated the amount that Canadians recycle and the amount in landfills, where plastic bags were first banned in Canada (just assumed it was BC. oops, that's a hint!), the type of plastic used and the year Ireland placed a levy on plastic bags.

Pretty interesting!

NSLC To Do Away With Plastic Bags

2008-04-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

I saw this on the news last night. Jim Nunn was complaining that he would actually have to buy garbage bags if stores did away with plastic bags, lol! Boo Hoo!! Apparantly this move will prevent 290 tons of plastic from going into landfills and that is just the liquor store in my l'il province! Imagine what will happen when all stores do away with plastic. It would be doubly awesome if garbage pick-up did not have to involve bags at all, just a dump system. That way we would no longer be embalming our trash for all eternity.

NSLC ditching plastic bags
Last Updated: Monday, April 7, 2008 | 4:15 PM AT
CBC News

Plastic bags are disappearing from liquor stores around Nova Scotia.

The Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. announced Monday it plans to stop using plastic bags this fall as a way to keep waste out of landfills.

"It will make it difficult for some folks who are very dedicated to using plastic bags for other purposes in their daily lives, and I'm sure they can find alternatives for cleaning up after their dogs or doing other things that will be easier on the environment than using plastic bags," said NSLC spokesman Rick Perkins.

The Crown corporation is giving away a reusable bag to anyone who buys three or more bottles of wine this month. Starting May 1, the bags will cost $1.49 each.

The liquor stores will still use brown paper bags, Perkins said, and people are free to bring in their own reusable or plastic bags.

Perkins said more than 10 million plastic bags are used at liquor stores every year.

The NSLC is the latest retailer to phase out plastic bags. The Atlantic Superstore on Quinpool Road in Halifax got rid of them in February, while Pete's Frootique charges for them.

Reflections and Progress

2008-04-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to reflect back on my first post and post progress of what we've done over the past year.

We've done very well with no longer using store bags and using cloth or totes (lol, I had to edit this statement as I accidentally put we only use store bags). We occasionally forget but I now have some bags that fold up really small to keep in my purse so it's easier to have some for unexpected trips. We still have a ton of plastic bags in the basement. I don't know what we're hanging onto them for. Now that we don't need them when we go out to put our dirty diapers in we certainly don't need as many as we have.
We generally don't buy chemical cleaners. I buy exclusively from the Bio-Life line from Shopper's Drug Mart. I still have lots of things that need using up, like dish soap. We have bought a few bottles of laundry detergent, but we use about 1/4 or less the required amount. I make most of our laundry detergent but DH still likes store stuff.
Natural body care is harder for me than it sounds. My body rebels to it quickly so I alternate with regular and natural.
Cloth in the bathroom is half and half. We use some disposable but try to make better choices. We buy Bio-life 100% post-consumer blue box recycled TP, but use some cloth too. We use disposable diapers for DS at night since we could not find a way around the rash and super soaker problems, but use cloth for DD. I use 100% cloth menstrual products (as if you wanted to hear that, lol!) as it is so much better than paper.
We generally don't use paper products any more. I cannot remember the last time I used a paper towel. We have a case of them; I should probably give them away :)
Walk more........um.....not happening as it should. Hopefully with improved weather (and if my knee gets better) this will happen. Drive less is where it's at for us.
Buy less is something I struggle with as I love to shop. It doesn't matter what, I just love to shop! I seldom go to Dollarama anymore, unless there is a specific item I want. I try hard not to buy Made In China and try to find things made in Canada (I have DS well indoctrinated in this, lol!)
All our light bulbs are CFL except maybe one we can't get into the fixture but we hardly use so it's no problem.
We've been doing very well with energy efficiency.
we are 100% hanging clothes to dry. We are thinking about selling our dryer as we have not used it in ages, possibly years.
REcycling goes well, but then again we have to ;)
We are going to try to garden this year but I have better plans this year.
I almost never buy books any more and we extensively use the library. Thank goodness for Inter Library Loan!!
We have gotten rid of TONS of stuff, probably literally, lol! We are constantly dropping stuff off for donations. It is an ongoing process, daily.

So as you can see, we've been doing pretty good. We have lots of room for improvement, but that's ok. I am good with where we are. Some of stuff is a little embarassing to talk about, but I think if we don't talk about the things we do, we won't open doors for people to explore new ways of doing things.

Props to FlyLady

2008-04-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

She just sent out an email that I wish to share. I am a fluttering flybaby. I really try but it can be hard some days.

Here goes:

Dear FLY Folks,

My job is in environmental education and outreach. I have realized
for some time that one of the unexpected outcomes of FLYING in my life
is that being environmentally responsible is so easy it's practically
automatic.

With Environmental Education Week (April 13 - 19, the same week as
National Library Week) and Earth Day (April 22) coming up, I thought
your members should see the reasons to celebrate how they are GREEN
instead of feel guilty as too often people do about environmental
things. I know that none of us are p*rfect (there's that word again)
in this area. However, it's the progress that counts in GREENING. I
can make this statement with all confidence: if you are FLYING you are
more GREEN than when you weren't FLYING

This is how:

1. FLYING eliminates extra driving. Planning ahead using all the great
tools (calendar, menu mailer to plan shopping, etc.) means less
driving. Not only are you saving money - and don't we all want to do
that - but you are reducing carbon emissions. When you FLY, you can
leave a little early to drive more slowly and STILL arrive on time.
You can carpool at least once or twice a week (or more!) since you
will be organized to coordinate rides or you won't need your car for
after work errands.

Further more, on a community wide scale, if more people drove less,
there would be less need for roads. Roads have a huge impact on
habitat and water quality. Imagine if everyone in your town drove
less or carpooled.

2. FLYING means less trash. Recycling is the third best thing you can
do for the environment. Reducing is the first. Reducing our
consumption to only things that we love is not only better for our
little home it helps keep our big home, the earth, uncluttered too.

3. FLYING means better agriculture practices. When we buy good food
and eat the right amounts, we send a message with our money that we
want real food grown in a responsible way. Agriculture has a huge
impact on the environment. This is not a slam against farmers. I know
many producers that would like to change their practices but they need
to be able to make a living. Real, good food costs more and this
leads me to the next point...

4. FLYING means more money to spend on environmentally responsible
products. By FACING our finances, by eliminating "retail therapy", by
planning and being prepared instead of panic spending, we will find
extra dollars in our pocket to put towards the slightly more
expensive, but environmentally better version.

For example, compact fluorescent light bulbs cost a bit more but use
less energy. Using natural fertilizers and pesticides on our lawn
costs more but is better for the soil and its microrganisms. Adding a
few organic/grass fed/sustainably produced items to the grocery cart
costs more but that supports good agriculture practices. Buying
veggies in-season from a farmer's market might cost more but you are
reducing carbon emissions of transporting produce. Installing low
flow showerheads or toilets or tankless water heater costs more but...
well, you get the idea.

5. FLYING means time to spend outside. Whether it's loving movement
by yourself or family fun day or participating in a community clean up
or tree planting or whatever, you have time to go outside and enjoy
it. When you FLY, you no longer have to spend the first nice weekend
of spring inside cleaning.

And our children ARE watching. This generation of children has more
electronic entertainment options and it can seem impossible to get
them unplugged. Even if your children are slightly older and won't
follow you outside (like mine) you can still set the example just as
you do with your sink.

I hope this encourages your members to keep on FLYING the good flight.
They don't have to go to extra impossible efforts to GREEN. Just
FLY. It's good for you. It's good for your family. It's good for Earth.

Happy Earth Day,
Anne Lewis
President, Environment Education Connections of South Dakota
Long time FLYer

Another Video to Add

2008-04-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post another online video, The Two Income Trap: Why Middle Class Families Are Going Broke.

I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to. I think it's important to educate ourselves on how people get to the point of no return financially. I sometimes jokingly think that we are too poor to go broke. We have never had high expectations or need for expensive things so we have never had any debt (although I know there are many other reasons for debt, mainly student loan debt, which is something we were both able to avoid). We live within our means and save the rest.

100 Mile Diet Revisited

2008-04-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

I thought I would repost my thoughts on this since I still love the idea. I have been doing some research about this and I think it could be possible for us to do, especially if I expand it to 200 miles. One article I read said that 800 miles would be the ideal since it would include food from many different growing areas and would not restrict a person so much.

Atlantic Canada has tons of great products and there are so many rich growing areas in the Valley and in PEI. In some flyers they marks items that are produced in the Atlantic provinces and I think that is a great way to make people aware of where what they are eating is coming from. It is so easy to just mindlessly buy whatever and not even think about where it has come from or how much gas it took to get from the field to their plate.

So I still give this lots of consideration but not ready to make the full commitment yet. There are some things which just don't grow here, like bananas and other tropical fruit. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar are also things I like to use that they don't produce here. I am sure there are many more items I could list that we like which aren't made here.

I am trying to eat more local and will pick something local over something from far away. I do strive hard to buy Canada made/grown food at the very least. I think seeing where food comes from or where it is made can be an eye opening experience. I didn't realize the pickles I used to buy were from India. I think they now are made in Canada. I'm hoping that more companies will heed the call to have more variety available to it's local people :)

Score!!

2008-04-05T16:01:00.001-07:00

I am so pumped about the find I just snagged. We went to Zellers to get some Cheerios and I found packages of 4 cloth napkins for only $1.29! Whoo! But that is not the best thing I found. The best is I found a ton of Raw Organic Food Bars for only 25 cents each!! Oh my goodness! They are sooo yummy! They are delicious, nutritious and very satisfying. The kids even liked them! I had one of the high fiber ones and the kids had the chocolately chocolate chip. I bought 22 and I'm even thinking of getting DH to pick up some more on Monday if there are any left.

I don't know if I talked about it before but cloth napkins here are a big deal. We use them like crazy. We have at least 50 in all kinds of different colours and some with prints. One new set is pink and the other is blue. I like having some on hand for company which are in good condition since we can be pretty hard on ours. I am thinking about taking a cue from No Impact Man and keeping some in my purse to have at all times. They sure would come in handy!

Interesting Things To Watch

2008-04-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

If you are bored and would like something to watch, here are some online videos I have watched lately that I would like to share.

The Story Of Stuff. Loved it! Highly recommend it! It is a 20 minute online video that really opens your eyes to the danger of over-consumerism in a fun, simplistic way. Share it with everyone! Lots of great stuff on the site as well.

"Affluenza". It is a PBS documentary from about 10 years ago so it's kind of out of date but still very interesting to watch. It is about American spending habits and how their need to consume is bringing them down. Of course the problem has become worse over the past decade but it is interesting to see where things were 10 years ago.

Maxed Out is one I haven't actually watched yet but it is open in a tab for when I have a little more free time. It is a documentary about credit cards and how modern people are enslaved to them. I can't wait to see it :)

Life After People; oh my gosh! I watched this the other day as it sounded interesting. I planned on watching I Am Legend and thought this would be cool to watch first. It is soooo interesting how quickly the earth would return to it's natural state (even though all our junk is still underneath it). Not necessarily having to do with green or simple living but still very interesting!! Oh yeah, and I LOVED I Am Legend. It's one of the few recent movies I would actually want to watch again (but then I don't watch too many, lol!). I really want to read the book as I hear it is way better.

I thought there was one more but I can't think of what it is. Hmmm...I will post if I can think of it.

Enjoy!!

Finances and budgets and food, oh my!

2008-04-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

I guess you can group finances with simple living. Everyone needs money to live in the western world, no matter how simply. I won't go into dollar amounts since cost of living varies so much from place to place and it isn't really here or there what we have and where it goes (except food, which everyone loves to talk about, lol!).

After going through all our bills I know for a fact if it were not for the tithing we pay we would not be able to do as well as we are able. I hate doing budgets because on paper, it does not seem to add up. BUT!! with the Lord's hand in our lives, we have all we need and more. It seems like faith pays the bills and lets us tuck some aside for a rainy day, lol!!

However we still need to make simple changes and try to tighten our belts a little more. I am trying to get more on board to simpler, healthier eating which isn't so meat intensive. It will take me a while to get used to it since I have, err, bowel/intestinal problems (dx'd as IBS but could possibly celiac). I really hope I can get the kids eating a wider variety of foods. It may be strange to say but I miss beans and have been craving things like lentils and rice. One of my favorite foods is falafel and there is a box of mix taunting me in the cupboard.

I have our grocery budget at $300 a month since the price of food has shot up. I used to have it at $200 and I could probably get it down again, especially if I'm ever successful in getting the family weaned off junk food. I have to remind DH all the time not to buy stuff. Besides, we have so much in our food storage that we would only eat if I make more of an effort (and kind cool, sneaky ways to incorporate it into what we do eat. Jessica Seinfeld has nothing on the mother who doesn't want to waste food, lol!!). I am also planning on gardening this year, which should be quite an adventure since we live in an apartment :)

Haunting Me...

2008-04-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

Ok the sentiment in this picture has been haunting me (click on it to read; the fine print says "Think you can be a meat eating environmentalist? Think again). I have been calculating my carbon footprint and since I am a heavy meat eater (on a low carb diet), about 75% of my carbon footprint is from diet. YIKES!!! My footprint is almost 5 tons and 3.6 of it is from diet.

I have been low carbing for a while and I always find it becomes less effective over time. I've basically stalled for now so I have been considering moving to a more plant based diet to reduce my carbon footprint. It will be gradually since we have a lot stocked up.

I've never really seen how fish stacks up in regards to our footprint. I know with raised meat they take a lot of water, food that could be used more effectively and they create a lot of waste (methane anyone?) as well as take up valuable land. Of course with inhumanely raised meat which is caged and not allowed to have any semblance of a natural life, I sadly know that's where most of what I consume probably comes from. This is something I also feel guilty about.

Also, does humanely raised local meat have less of a footprint than conventionally raised meat? So many questions, so few answers. Guess I need to do a little hunting....for information ;)

PS: Here is a link to roughly calculate what goes into the meat we eat: Eating Green Calculator

We Survived!!

2008-03-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

We survived Earth Hour! DS loved it! He thought it was the best thing ever and told us over and over that he LOVES Earth Hour. DD (3) was scared and cried easily. She was fine after the lights went on.

We unplugged/shut everything off, I prepared some snacks, lit a few candles and played Trivial Pursuit. That is definately not a good game to play when it is dark, lol!

We talked about doing it more often, but we will definately be more prepared. We didn't have candle holders, our good flashlight broke and I bought the wrong batteries for the other flashlights.

I think it was a good idea and if people did it more often, it would send a message that even little things can add up to great changes. Each person is capable of making some small change. This earth won't last long the way we're going through it at our present rate.

Giving And Thrifting

2008-03-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

I had enough. We have had bags of stuff to give away hanging around for ages. Today we finally gathered most of them up to drop off. We gave 4 bags of clothes and shoes to the Red Cross and 4 garbage bags plus 2 shopping sized bags of household things, books, toys and videos to the Salvation Army. It feels good to give!

Since the new year has started, we have given away more than a ton of stuff. In February alone we got rid of more than 800lbs of stuff. In the fall we gave 3 carloads of stuff to the community swap. In addition to this, I was putting bag upon bag of stuff in the boxes in front of the Salvation Army. Where did all this come from? Why did we have so much stuff??? Why do we still have so much stuff???

I have been trying very hard to simplify. This is easy for some things but others are impossible, like DH's clothes, books and the toys. The basement is pretty out of control too. In time I know things will come together. I just needed a longer period of time to get rid of stuff.

Now the thrifting part :). This is a favorite past time of many. I enjoy it but I don't get as much thrill out of it. I mostly went into the Salvation Army to use the washroom, but it was nice to look around. I saw a ton of things I had donated, lol! I picked up 4 metals bowls of varying sizes as I have gotten rid of all my plastic ones. I like metal as it's very versatile. I can even toss them in the oven or use them as double boilers. I also got a "new" crock for my utensils. I am using one now that I'm not happy with, so I will donate it. We also got 2 trivial pursuit games (we're going to play during the Earth Power Hour tonight :D ). Oh and I got an almost full bottle of Kiss My Face hair mousse! How much did all this come to? $2!! Wow! I got DD a dress there last week for that price. I guess it depends on who is working. Today was someone who used to go to my gym (which closed a few months ago) and I think she knows we're in a tight spot financially. Bless her heart!

I also returned a plastic blind I got for the kids playroom and exchanged it for a bamboo one at Zellers. I was going to get one for DS's bedroom but it would of been $35, so it will be much cheaper to just put his curtains up, lol! Bamboo is a great material to use as it grows fast and is very renewable. Plus there was a lot less packaging. It was a small change but if everyone made that change, it would make a huge difference.

Small changes result in big benefits to the earth :)

Earth Hour

2008-03-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

From the NS Power Website:

Lights Out on March 29 for Earth Hour

Saturday, March 29 is Earth Hour -- Saturday, March 29 is Earth Hour. At 8:00 pm, millions of people and organizations around the globe will turn off their unnecessary lights for one hour to help save electricity and the environment. NS Power encourages all residents and organizations to support the WWF's global initiative and turn off their lights for one hour on March 29 from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Earth Hour is a WWF initiative created to raise awareness about climate change. Last year, WWF-Australia pioneered Earth Hour and it was a huge success . More than 2 million people and 2,100 businesses participated , resulting in a 10% reduction on the electrical grid, saving 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of taking about 50,000 cars off the road for an hour. In 2008, Earth Hour will be taking place in over 20 cities around the world. Nova Scotian residents and businesses are encouraged to show their support for electricity conservation by switching unnecessary lights off for the hour.

Sign Up Today http://www.earthhour.org/sign-up

For more information visit the Earth Hour website at http://www.earthhour.org

Electricity

2008-03-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

I am often amazed when people post how much electricity they use. In one blog I just read, he *saved* 1205 kWh in two months, which was about a 9% saving on what he is using....and he claims to be extremely careful!! That's nearly 4 months of electricity use for us.

Here is what we use over the course of the past couple of years from our e-bill:

Your past electric use:
electricity during this
period was $1.47 Bill No. Energy kWh
per day before taxes. date days used per day
Feb 08 64 681 11 (bill covering Christmas)
Dec 07 60 647 11
Oct 07 59 587 10
Aug 07 62 496 8
Jun 07 63 487 8
Apr 07 62 554 9
Feb 07 62 805 13 (bill covering Christmas)
Dec 06 59 665 11
Oct 06 57 499 9
Aug 06 63 556 9
Jun 06 62 586 9
Apr 06 61 612 10
Feb 06 60 612 10 (bill covering Christmas)

As you can see, we use less over the summer, probably since we're gone more. We used less this Christmas over last since we used all LED Christmas lights this year.

We could probably get our usage down more. We no longer have a second computer (although the one we have is on 24/7) and we only have one TV now (which seems to always be on, lol!), but we also don't use the microwave anymore, so we will see how that balances out over time. We have all CFL light bulbs in use. We wash our laundry in cold water and don't use the dryer; we're actually considering selling it. We unplug everything not used but we don't really make a conscious effort to cut electricity use, especially our 3 and 5 year old.

My Baby!!

2008-03-28T11:53:00.001-07:00

I thought I lost this blog, lol! For some odd reason, I thought it was attached to my other blogs about family, homeschool and diet and that at some point I deleted it. I'm so glad I didn't as I have been wanting to blog about our journey again.

Has it been nearly a year? So much has changed. I have to read back to see where we were and update about where we are and the progress we have been making to live a simpler, greener life.

I'm so excited!!

Green Building

2007-06-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

WE were watching The Nature Of Things the other night. We didn't even know it was on but we're so glad we came across it. The show was about green building in Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/buildgreen/index.html

I learned a lot. I am now interested in rammed earth houses, although it doesn't seem to be very common. It was widely used in years gone by, a good alternative to using precious wood in many areas.

I also learned a bit more about straw bale houses. I didn't realize it was just a layer of concrete on the outside of the houses. It would be hard to get a hold of enough year old straw bales around here. They do everything in those big round white plastic looking things, although if I tried hard enough I'm sure it would be possible.

I also finally learned what geothermal heating was. I've heard of it but never saw it in action.

I think we would like to explore green building options when it comes time to spend our hard earned/saved cash on a house. I'm already pretty sold on wind and solar energy. There are pretty good rebates through the government for people using these. It will be nice when the day comes green is totally mainstream :)

For Better or For Worse

2007-06-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed the letter for June under Jim's section (I just discovered it today). It discusses today's over consumerism and being more green: http://www.fborfw.com/char_pgs/grandpa/index.php?page=letters

I am still in bit of a rut. I'm trying but find it harder. Since we're not using the car, that's a huge savings. We may be getting it fixed if it's not too expensive. We could live without it but it's so much easier having it. We did our shopping yesterday walking and it was hard. In the past we didn't have kids to lug around. At least now we can haul the wagon along to fill up, although the kids would rather be sitting in it. I am very out of shape (which is why the walking is hard for me) but I know I will become more fit if I walk more.

Things happen for a reason

2007-06-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

There have been a lot of bad things happening in our house lately. I won't be a whiner about most of them. However I have been finding the blessings behind the trials.

One trial is our fridge died, meaning we lost just about all the food in our fridge and fridge freezer. A lot of waste that really upset me. I hate waste. After we got it fixed, I decided that now that all the waste is out of the way, we would only buy what we need. I would start planning meals around the food we have in the fridge and cupboards and we would save so much. It's working great so far. I think we will save a lot of money in the long run.

The other big trial is our car is falling apart. It is so rusty and things are falling off. Most recent is the muffler and exhaust system (we just got it not even two years ago). It would cost more to get all the problems fixed than it would to get another inexpensive car for it to pass the safety inspection (due this month). We also just got the insurance renewal form.

So we have decided to go car free. We will save tons of money, we will be healthier and we will have to become more creative. I don't know how long this will last, but for the summer at least. If it goes well, we may go long term. Everything (except family, friends, parks, beaches and other destination spots) are in walking distance. There is a park close by the kids like to play at, a ball field, shopping, ect... We should be able to find rides to church, although it would probably only take about half an hour to walk (in my current physical condition).

I must admit, I am kind of sad about it. I am in poor physical shape. Really, really bad shape. Even when I regularly exercise, it's hard to keep up. Having to walk everywhere will force me to get in better condition. Plus it will be a very green thing to do :D. We win in so many ways.

We've gone car free in the past and people haven't thought much of our decision but a car is not always a necessity. In our case, with the amount we drive, it is a luxury, one we can't afford any more.

So we'll be having a close to home kind of summer, which is why I mentioned being creative. We weren't planning on traveling much anyway. I am going to miss the beach and the parks though!

I'm Back

2007-05-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

I took a little break from blogging as DH's grandmother passed away and I didn't feel like writing much. She was very dear to us and we will miss her greatly.

There was a lot of craziness going on so I kind of lapsed in a lot of areas. I need to get back to my earthy roots and do what I can to reduce our impact on the earth.

I got this month's National Geographic and there were some good articles in there about the effects of global warming. It's scary how fast the ice in the arctic is melting. There was a very poignant quote that really hit home. "An Arctic without ice would be like a garden without soil." Of course all that melted ice has to go somewhere.

When we were in the Annapolis valley for the funeral, we went up the "mountain" to visit family. It struck me odd that at the top of the mountain was the ocean. Apparantly the valley is below sea level and the highest parts of the mountain are actually only about 750 feet above sea level, although it seems higher. I also just read a great deal of the valley is already protected from the ocean from a system of dykes. Thus if all the ice in the arctic melts, much of my province may find itself underwater (it's virtually an island with just a small connector to New Brunswick).

Well, that was dreary. I will be back with what I hope to be more uplifting things to discuss. Maybe I should start packing my bags to move somewhere that isn't in danger of finding itself underwater, lol!! (I live right by the ocean)

Lots Going On

2007-05-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to do a fly-by that a lot has been going on here, which is why I haven't posted much lately. I will be back soon to write more. Hopefully the craziness is over for a bit :)

Solar Cooking

2007-05-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

I have started looking into solar cooking. I think next week after I have the bulk of the cleaning out of the way, I will make one and see how it goes. They go from very simplistic (a pizza box with tin foil and plastic) to very complex $500 jobs. I'm looking to do this on the cheap so I'll try the pizza box (I have two in the hall closet DH never got around to putting in the compost. I guess I can't complain now!). You can make almost anything in these! I can't wait to try.

My basement has done a miraculous transformation and I'm not even done. I will be putting out a lot of garbage and recyclables this week, plus there is a ton for the spring clean up (May 28th!) and everything we have saved for the yard sale we'll be having, the remnants of which will be given away. I've already sold a rocking chair :). I love simplifying. I wish I could get hard core about it as there's a lot I'm still hanging onto, but eventually I'll let it all go.

We're doing pretty good with not spending money. We have more in savings than I ever could of expected. A few hundred more and we'll be bumped into a higher intrest earning category, woo!!! Plus we'll earn 1000 PC points a month, which is equal to a dollar. I can't wait until those dollars will be buying us our house :D

Serentiy

2007-05-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a short story I wrote when I was a teenager for a course I was taking. I kind of giggle reading it as it is full of grammatical and spelling errors and I thought it was perfect when I wrote it. I like that it reflects my connection to the earth, even if my spiritual views have changed and matured somewhat. I was going to toss it, but I will post it here first so it will be saved forever.

Serenity

The noise of technology resounded in her head as her feet led the way down the street. Everywhere, noise, hurry, death. if only they could see their grey auras and if only they could see her white one and realize life was about spirituality and not working oneself to death.

People moved without looking around and realizing happiness is not the green in their pockets. Oh, how she wished to scream out against the lack of awareness around her.

She had to quickly stop thinking so much about others and get on track to her own purpose.

Every footfall took her closer to the park, where she felt best to commune with God. She picked up her pace, reminding her of the busy people. At least she had a destiny worth rushing to.

There were few in the park, mostly regulars who came daily to feed the ducks and birds. She exchanged greetings to the ones who were familiar to her. They knew about the truth inside her and were glad for her.

Over to the alcove of trees she went and positioned herself so she would not lose balance as she went under. A warm breeze swept over her as her eyes closed and her mind went blank.

A few thoughts passed through her mind but these quickly ran their course. And she was left in a bliss unlike any other known to man. In these times, all the answers to the questions were known to her. Often, she truly felt the touch of God. in these times she took comfort in knowing all would work out in the end. In these times, time had no meaning, worries were nonexistent and insecurities had no place.

When she came back to her world, the feeling of peace was so strong. Nothing could knock her down. These people would someday have restitution for their dark days. She had no bearing over the way their lives were led and they none over hers. Only God would know how it would end.

She left the park with an extra big smile on her face. One of the park regulars asked, "Wow, where were you today?"

She answered, "In a secret place where you are cradled in the hands of God and love reigns supreme."

The man smiled back with a twinkle of understanding in his eye.

The End

Birthdays

2007-05-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

I am convinced that birthdays (and holidays in general, for that matter) make the earth very unhappy. Oh the waste!! The packaging, unenviromentally friendly toys, wrapping, disposable eatware, ect...

I tried to make our gifts more practical and not very wasteful. Nothing had excess packaging that wasn't recyclable. I wrapped his presents in recyled paper, bags and cloth (or a combination of those).

Everything else...well..... As of now, most of DS's toys are unfindable, with pieces of things all over the house. Most of the toys kept him intrested for about 2 minutes. Our garbage is bulging with waste (I recycled everything that could be). Plus I can't remember who gave him what as the whole unwrapping process was a blur!!

I think for DD's birthday I'm going to say no presents (ok, I know the nannies will break this rule and I plan on getting her a couple things since it is a special day). I know it may be rude, but I may just ask everyone to give a litle money (like $5) towards a new bed or dresser. Heaven knows she needs no more toys or clothes!!! We're also going to have her party at the beach or park so people will generally have fun with out all the birthday trappings, as long as there's food. I am going to start looking for decomposable plates and cups. If I get plastic forks, I plan to take them home to wash and reuse.

It's sad to think how many birthdays happen every day and how much waste this must generate. Of course we are part of two families who love to go overboard with everything!!

(Disclaimer: I am glad we had DS's party and everyone had a blast. These are just my musings of how wasteful things can be. I want to find a balance between simplicity, conservation and fun for future birthday parties :) . Oh and Happy 5th Birthday, DS!! ).

Around The House

2007-05-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to get back to this. I have changed my underarm regimine. The baking soda under the arms was making my skin peel. I was doing a little research and I found that some people use rubbing alcohol. I have found it to be very effective over the past week. I'm sure it will take a little longer to discover if it is effective for the long haul.

Going no shampoo is doing wonders for my hair. I just scrub a bit with baking soda when I shower, rinse well and towel dry. I find my hair is getting thicker and fuller as it is no longer falling out like it used to. I feel like I have a new head of hair!

I have talked to DH about going semi-TV free. We have cut out a LOT of TV watching, but I know we could do better. We're going to put our good TV and VCR/DVD player in our bedroom and probably get rid of the small/older ones. If it's not in our living room, we won't just sit around and watch. Sometimes we'll watch a show, which turns into a TV marathon or just TV in the background. It's something I want to change.

I've been doing a lot of simple things for DS's birthday party tommorow. I scrounged the house for napkins, plates, cups, ect... I wrapped some of his presents in stamped kraft paper and the rest wrapped in cloth tucked in reused gift bags. I made his cake (mom is supposed to bring an ice cream cake, but I have a feeling she'll forget). We're making games out of things around the house and we bought the buns al about 75% (still good; IL's are providing the BBQ food :) ). Im sure we'll have a great time! He's so exited as he's turning 5 this weekend.

LED Lights

2007-05-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

I am very excited for the day to come that LED lights are the standard for home lighting. I was checking out how much the bulbs are to replace a standard household light fixure and you can find them online for about $15. I remember not so long ago CFL bulbs were about as expensive. I hope they go down in price to the point it's feasible to replace all our bulbs with them. LED is soooo energy efficient.

There is a lot of talk in Canada of making it mandatory that people must use CFL/energy efficient light bulbs. I am on the fence about that. I realize there are fixtures where they cannot currently be used. Many people worry about the mercury in them. Then there's the cost. I think there should be incentive programs but not force people to use them, or even have 75%. I wouldn't want the police raiding our home checking for outlawed light bulbs. I'm sure they have better things to do with their time ;)

Great Site

2007-05-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took the kids on a nature trail and it was so nice seeing the signs of spring. Everything was budding and unfurling from their long winter nap. It will be nice to have the world awash in green again.

Here is a great site I found last night that I must share: www.cindysporch.net

" Welcome to Cindy's Porch! Grab yourself a cup of tea and pull up a chair. Are you ready to discover the treasures that are available in your home, your neighborhood, and within your family that cost absolutely nothing? This is where we learn to "DO instead of BUY". Where we "SHOP at home FIRST" and discover that "procrastination" can be our best friend when it comes to BUYing more stuff."

I printed off the sheets for creating an inventory for your food on hand. This is what is hard for me since we have soooo much.

I'm grateful that we don't have any debt. We've always been pay as we go kind of people. We do use our credit cards a lot, but we get hundreds of dollars back each year and we pay the credit cards off either right away or before any intrest is charged. We are planning on buying a house some day but hopefully with as little debt as possible.

I'm going to be busy the rest of the day cleaning, simplifying the kitchen and doing some batch baking. I'm making two lasagnas (one veggie and one southwestern), a few loaves of bread and cookies. If I get everything else on my great big list done, I will make some sweet bread quick mix to have on hand.

A New Month

2007-05-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, isn't this considered to be May Day? For a day that used to be considered the first day of summer, it's pretty cold and yucky out!

On MDC I have decided to participate in the No Spending in May challenge. It will be a challenge as we have a lot of events this month. Most can be worked around and I've already bought almost everything for DS's birthday (I think I just need buns and maybe another thing or two I may be forgetting, but I'm sure it won't make a difference). Most of the birthday's in the family are this month (including mind ;) ) and then there is Mother's Day.

Groceries and bills are exceptions, although I am still trying to cut down. I did some shopping yesterday and spent more than I expected. I bought some meat and it brought the amount way up.

My biggest challenge is DH. He is a worse spender than I am. He works in a grocery store at the mall, which means he is surrounded by spending temptation all day. I'll have to start getting him to leave his wallet/money and cards home. If we really need something, there's no reason why I can't go and get it. I think this will help us really define needs versus wants.

Freecycle

2007-04-28T04:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, but I am considering joining Freecycle again. I know lots of people love it and think it's great but it was the worst few months of my life (OK, that's an exaggeration, but I REALLY dreaded checking my email, which was awful). People were SOOOOO ungrateful, they would come pick up their stuff then start asking me for everything they see (hello!! My house is not a store!!), people regularly would ask for the most ridiculous things (like cars. I know, if you don't ask, you won't get but who is going to give a new car in running condition away for free and have to drive it three hours away, no less??) and there were constant debates over the yardsalers (basically, people would sign up and ask for every single item, regardless of what it was for the sale of selling it. That is NOT in the spirit of Freecycle, IMO).

I have been going through my house, going through the decluttering part of simplification and it's staggering how much we have to get rid of. I know the Salvation Army never seemed that impressed when we'd show up with 10 garbage bags of stuff in the past and they're in a smaller location now and they have no parking so we'd have to trudge this stuff all over creation to get it there. Sigh.

The kids toys have been way easier than I thought. I did get the kids involved a bit. They had a garbage bag of playfood. They could not play with it as there was too much stuff. The kids and I went through it and kept a small little bag, literally a 10th of what they had, and a tea party set. Voila! They started playing with it again. I started going through their Little People (of which they had tons). DS actually offered to give up one of his houses! What a sweetheart. I told him we would wait as we're going to move the Little People back to his room where they would have room to play with it again. (We are getting rid of some though)

That's the biggest problem we have; no room! We moved some of the kids toys into a section of the living room but there is no room to play. We have wood in DS's room right now to finish building his bunk bed (we lost the instructions years ago as we have only been using part of it until DS was old enough to use a bunk bed). Clothes are all over his room as that is my sorting area. It's all a big mess. This is why I need to declutter, so we can LIVE again! So the kids can play again. So I can get stuff done again!!

I will go through my items and make a list for freecycle. I will just ignore the people who take away from the spirit of Freecycle and give to those who have a true need. I bagged up nearly 10 bags worth so far plus have a lot of big ticket items to give away too. I find I am seeing things with new eyes. I can see there will be light at the end of the tunnel. It's going to be slow going getting there and will involve learning new habits and a new way of living, but I can see that there will be happiness there.

Small Things DO Make A DIfference

2007-04-27T04:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes with the drudgery of trying to keep things simple and taking extra effort in lots of small ways to save and conserve, you sometimes wonder if it's making a difference in the grand scheme of things. You know since there are so many people who don't care gobbling up the world's resources without a second thought.

With only a couple of simple changes, our power bill from February to April has gone down nearly $30 (new bill: $86 for 2 months). That's $180, which is more than 4 months of electricity use we conserved in two months.

"With weekly use of just one reusable bag at the grocery store, each person can divert approximately 100 plastic bags from ending up in landfill sites each year". Click on that for one of the many bags we use for shopping. Cloth bags are great as they hold so much. They're also easier to lug around, sturdier and it's great knowing one small thing can make such a huge change.

"If every household in Canada replaced 1 roll of virgin toilet paper with 1 roll of recycled toilet paper we could save thousands of trees for more highly valued uses." Even though we use mostly cloth (except DH ;) ), after the toilet paper we do have in our storage is used up, I am going to switch to this. It's generally not any more expensive than the other ones. Now I don't agree with what they say about it may take more energy to use reusable since we wash everything in cold water. I don't care what they say, cold can wash clothes clean without special formulas. Our homemade laundry detergent is super effective, super simple and cheap to make. I'll post the recipe later.

Use compact fluorescent bulbs wherever possible in your home. They use 75% less electricity than traditional bulbs and last years longer. One compact fluorescent bulb can save you three times its cost in electricity. We have been using them for more than 2 years now and it really does make a difference. We have also switched to all LED nightlights. They cost pennies a year to run. The one we have in our family bedroom is sensitive to light so when it's dark, it comes on but at night, it doesn't. I believe the label said it costs less than a dollar a year to leave it plugged in all the time.

Cloth diapers make a huge difference. If you take all the disposable diapers a baby would use in a week, put it all in a bag and leave it in your kitchen, how pleasant would that be? Imagine that, every week your child is in diapers, sitting in a landfill somewhere, not able to decompose in plastic garbage bags buried in the earth, full of human waste, which is technically illegal to put in most landfill sites, multiplied by each person alive, as that's how many diapers there would be if no one used alternatives. Considering some kids don't potty train until they are 3-4 years old (I know, many train earlier), that is a LOT of waste. For some REALLY good facts on the toll disposable diapers have, Check Out This Website: Real Diaper Association. I like that site so much, I will add it to my links here :)

Another is reusable containers. Where I live, it is estimated that anywhere from 25-35% of all garbage on the side of the road are Tim Horton's coffee cups, which are made from non-recyclable, non compostable materials. Walking down any street in town, you can see how bad this situation is. Now, we have three Tims in our tiny little town, and they are always packed to the gills. They actually had to rebuild one so the drive-thru traffic would no longer interfere with one of the main streets in town (it still often does though). So we have hundreds and hundreds of people hourly getting coffee from just one chain in these cups that will never break down. It's almost mind boggling how much waste that would add up to over time. They offer alternatives for reusable containers but few take them up on it. I think there should be greater incentive for that or they should at least switch to compostable cups (other places have done that). Fortunately it's not an issue for me since I don't even go to Tims, I just have to wallow in it's filth. An article from a few years ago (they didn't solve the problem and it's worse now). Here's a blog which gives a great visual impact of the cup problem.

Wow, those are just a few of the many, many things that may be small changes but make a huge difference.

Frenchy Shopping & The Compact

2007-04-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

I may mention this here time to time that I/we've gone Frenchy shopping. What this means is we've gone to one of the many second hand stores in our area :). Guy's is the chain, but there are lots of them in thetown where I live.

I have come to realize that I cannot abide by the no spending rule I wanted to uphold. I will do reduced spending, which is more realistic. I will do smarter shopping.

Why am I mentioning all this? Well, mom took the kids and I Frenchy shopping yesterday. I wasn't going to buy anything but it was hard. I bought some scrapbooking supplies, books (a bunch of great ones I've had my eye on), a scarf for me (handpainted silk, lovely!), an interlocking squares mat and Mr. Potatohead for the kids. I didn't touch the clothes knowing how much we had just gotten rid of. I'm not going to feel bad. While mom was doing her retail shopping, I brought the kids to the playground. I really could have done without getting the kids a toy but I thought the compromise of one toy was better than the dozens they were bringing to me while we were there.

I have been reading a lot lately about The Compact. I'm surprised I haven't mentioned it lately as I find it so facinating and it gave me the inspiration to go ahead and simplify my life, even though I don't feel ready to commit yet. I first heard about it on the Mothering message boards.

Links:

Basically:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step that, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact.
To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er).
To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

We've agreed to follow two principles (see exceptions etc. on our blog).

#1 Don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
#2 Borrow, barter, or buy used.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I couldn't find the exceptions on the blog but I may not of looked hard enough. I think some of the exeptions would probably include items that fall under the category of health and safety, food, possibly crafts and things needed for livelyhood (example, if you need clothes or footwear for work). I would say some homeschooling items would have to fall in the category of need to buy but some may debate that. I think it is a matter of finding what works for you and doing the best you can to reduce the impact you have on the earth.

100 Mile Diet

2007-04-25T00:21:00.000-07:00

I have been facinated by this since hearing about it. I know we could never abide by it since where we live, nothing is produced. Ok, we could live off seafood and berries, maybe a few other things that may be at a local farmer's market are grown locally, but nothing sustainable. We live in an apartment which makes it hard to grow things (although we are trying our hand at a little this year). I applaud anyone who can make it work.

Link: "Official" Site (you can preorder book here)
100 Mile Diet

There is so much more to food than we know about. I have learned a lot from one of my email homeschooling groups about what our food producers can get away with. It's scary but it really gives you food for thought (ha ha!). It reaffirms why I want to get away from all the processed food. Of course the simple ways I seek to hold to requires that I don't waste what I have. What I buy from now on will be more wholesome and closer to what God created for us to eat.

A First

2007-04-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

For as long as we have been married and had our own place, DH and I have always put out garbage and recyling. This is the first week we never put out a single bag. Yay for us! Our garbage bag was maybe a quarter full, paper was the same and other recyclables was about a third full. I was so pleased. We did, of course, put out compost. We do all week long or there is bit of an, errr, stink problem.

I tried scrubbing the floor with with Dr. Bonners (peppermint) in hot water with a splash of vinegar and a little lemon essential oil. I don't know what I did wrong but it stunk! Even before I added the lemon it smelled bad. I wasn't happy with how it worked at all. I ended up spraying the floor as I scrubbed with my orange lysol/vinegar/water concoction because it didn't work well either. I'll have to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I did end up doing some grocery shopping this week, but spent way, way less than I usually do. I'm going second hand shopping with mom and the kids, but I don't expect to buy much, if anything. We never do anything together so it was hard to say no. I have my cloth bags ready to go just in case :)

A Carload

2007-04-24T05:26:00.000-07:00

Here we have a car load of clothes that are being taken away and donated. There are 6 garbage bags! Including the clothes that I have saved to give to people, this means 8 huge garbage bags of clothes have left my house in the past week. Whoo hoo! The decluttering is underway. Now DH and I have to go through our clothes and pare them down. The kids are given a lot of clothes. Poor mommy doesn't even get to buy them clothes anymore. Now less laundry fo me to do, yay!!

Bathroom BS

2007-04-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

Baking soda is marvelous in the bathroom. I have been using it to wash my hair with for the past week and my hair has never been better. As a test, I went 4 days without washing my hair and it did not get greasy at all (a big problem with my hair). It feels thicker (I have thinning hair), it is not falling out by the handfull anymore and is easier to deal with. I'm so excited!

I've also concocted a "pit paste" to use as deodorant. I mix a couple of drops of Burt's Bees baby almond oil (left over from when the kids were babies) with some baking soda, rub into arm pits and it makes a very effective deodorant. It even stands up to working out and hot days with no odor. I love it! The rock deodorant used to crack my sensitive skin so I was wary of using it but I think I am sold on my new pit paste :D

Baking soda can be used for teeth but I am not ready to give up my cinnamon toothpaste. I don't like how baking soda feels in my mouth but I will switch when the toothpaste is gone.

Cloth TP is going great. I have an embarassing confession. I usually go through a roll of regular TP in a day. Two days for a double roll. I go a lot. The good news is our roll of toilet paper has been on the roll for over a week and it is still more than half full. The rest of the family uses it so it's kind of embarassing that I was using so much. I'm so glad I can prevent all that from being flushed down! Now to convert the rest of the family!

New Blog

2007-04-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

The last thing I need is another blog, but what can I do :). I decided to keep a blog in cahoots with this one about food and eating. Yes, these are great loves of mine, which would be apparant if you could see me, lol!

Here's the link: http://food-simplicity.blogspot.com/

I will post recipes and food tips that are simple, frugal or just very yummy.

Beautiful Day

2007-04-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful day, perfect for hanging clothes out to dry. Of course, even when the weather isn't so nice, we still hang up clothes. We have 4 wooden racks, a tall metal rack, the side of the crib we never used propped between the dryer that collects dust and the old change table plus a clothesline strung across the basement. It can get very humid here and take days to dry clothes so that is why we have so many. Plus it's not often the weather is nice enough to hang out as we live by the ocean and are often plagued with fog, rain and very damp days, even if it's not foggy or rainy.

For drying inside, cloth diapers are the worst. When both kids were in diapers 24/7, it seemed we were always doing diaper laundry. Now, thankfully, they just need them at night but I still aim to wash every two days to also launder the cloth TP and my pads.

I love using the dryer, don't get me wrong, but I hate knowing what an energy hog it is. When the power bill goes up, you know that the world's resources are going down.

Lots of people wonder about stiff, crinkly clothes and we don't have much of a problem. I always give the clothes a couple of good shakes before hanging out and that seems to help. On occasion I use a tiny bit of fabric softener (I admit, I love the smell) and some people use vinegar, but I don't find it necessary.

In a nearby city, there are communities which have actually banned being able to hang clothes outside as it was once deemed unsightly and a sign of poverty. I'm guessing this isn't uncommon. NDP MLA Howard Epstein introduced a bill to stop the restrictive rules in subdivisions that ban clotheslines. They actually had him on the news one night hanging up his laundry :). Bravo for stepping up and making people aware that even small changes can have a huge impact! I'm wondering how many houses you could power if everyone in North America stopped using the dryer.

Editorial about this.
Here are some comments people had.

So if it's nice where you live, go hang out some clothes!!

Let the Fast Begin!

2007-04-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

The car was....$716!!! The killer was nearly $100 in tax, so I guess their estimate was close. Ouch ouch ouch..... It's always amazing to me the impulse to go shopping after being hit with a large bill we can't afford. I did stop to a dollar store and get a couple of $1 stamp pads, some craft items & 2 pairs of fake crocs ($3! I've been wearing my fake ones for ages and wanted another pair since they're nice for walking; one's a b-day gift for DS) and at the grocery store I bought 50lbs potatoes, 2 bags of carrots, 2 bags of apples, a big bag of sweet peppers, yogurt for starter (I want to start making my own again), 4 cans of frozen juice concentrate, 3 bulbs of garlic and a loaf of bread. I spent well under $30 total ($15 at one, $10 at the other) and this should keep us going a while.

Let it begin.

304 Bottles and $600 or so

2007-04-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the two in the title aren't really related but in a way they are.

We gathered up most of the bottles we had been saving to collect the deposit and there were 304, which meant just over $15 for us. 7 big bags of waste gone out of our basement! I can't say they are all ours as my father often brings us his empty bottles but I think by not buying canned or bottled juice, water or pop anymore, we will save a lot of space, money and health. That said we still have lots of containers about that contain something in them so I'm sure we'll have another trip soon to the enviro depot.

The other issue is what looks to be an approximate $600 car repair bill. People, maintain your vehicles! It pays in the long run. I hope it won't be that much but I am going to assume it will end up being more.

Because of this new huge bill, we are going to do a spending diet. For the next month, we are only going to buy the bare necessities. We will need one tank of gas since we're almost on empty so there's a good $60 right there. I'm going to allot $5 a week for bare necessity produce and eggs (meaning a dozen eggs, a couple pounds of bananas and maybe a marked down veggie). I'm also going to allot $20 to buy the food for DS's birthday party. I'm making his cake and salads, which we'll have stuff for, plus other people are bringing things, so basically hot dogs and buns. We have birthdays to attend but we're going to try to make the gifts (gulp!). Other than this, I'd say emergency medication if someone gets very sick or if something comes up but this is rare for us. We will live off our food storage and seek out things we can do for free or cheap. I have warned the kids but I'm sure we'll have to remind them daily because they love to shop (wonder where they get that from, lol!!!).

Now, the kids are off with their grandmother for the afternoon and I will be alone for supper. I now have the overwhelming urge to eat out. Don't give in!! Don't give in!!!! If the care is done before 5pm, I have some shopping I have to do that was part of our weekly groceries (including a 50lbs pound bag of potatoes for only $3.99 and a big bag of apples for less than $2) and get gas, then I'll be ready to let the non-spending fun begin!

Going Shopping

2007-04-19T04:31:00.000-07:00

This is sometimes the first place we can generate the greatest change. We have to evaluate our shopping habits. Every time we pick something up, some of the questions we should ask ourselves are, "Do I NEED this? If I buy this, will I use it? How often will I use it? Will it enrich my life? Will it end up being something I resent for taking up space and wasting valuable resources? Why do I want it? Can I live without it?" and so on. I find with a lot of items, I don't even get past the do I need it. Quite often it is something I can live without.

For example. The kids LOVE shopping at Dollarama, the place where everything costs a dollar. I usually say they can each get a toy. One will usually get a book and the other a piece of junk that barely makes it home. This week I managed to talk the child with the junky toy into getting toy furniture that we could go home, put together then paint. After spending 5 minutes talking him into it and out of the goopy stuff we could make at home (lol, persistent preschoolers!), we moved on. I started grabbing things I thought I needed, you know that lovely impulse shopping bug. Some things not so bad like a big roll of kraft paper for me to make wrapping paper (so much more paper on a roll than wrapping paper and I have the fun of stamping it :) ) and a pedometer, which I want to track my steps since I want to get to 10000 a day (and far exceeded it yesterday, yay!). However the lure of the summer isle was almost too much to bear. I started forgetting I wanted to be simple. That evil impuse attractively dressed in things we want. As we walked to the checkout, I started giving DH things to put away and by the time we paid, we truly had the things we needed. After we left, I told the kids we were not going there any more and if they wanted Dollarama junk, they would have to get their grandmothers to buy it. I probably shouldn't of said that though.

I know my need for stuff comes from being poor as a child. It's not that we didn't have a lot of stuff but I was always scared there wouldn't be more so I would hoard what I had. I don't want my children to think that. I want them to grow up appreciating the simplicity in having little but appreciating what they have. DH and I are both pack rats and it's hard letting go. People are always giving us stuff and it's hard to say no, but we have to start. We are so scared of hurting people's feelings that we end up suffering. Our parents give us bags of stuff almost weekly, mostly clothes for the kids. Our darling children could clothe about 10 children with the excess and do not need more clothing. Our pleas of "No more" fall on deaf ears. I think most will henceforth be donated to people who really need it, or at least something will be in it's place if it's something really nice ;)

I kind of went off track there, but I think there's a lot to be said for really thinking about what you are buying. A little here and there adds up over time. Are you bringing in more than you're putting out? If you are trying to simplify, more should be going out than what you are bringing in.

Right now, I am waiting for the weather to warm so I can have a massive yard sale. However I daily look at all I want to get rid of and wonder....will I last that long? I want this out of the house. The clothes I have no problem giving away but I would like to recoup some of my loss by selling the good stuff. We don't get tax credit here like they do in the states (plus we give our max in charitable donations in other ways so it wouldn't help). After I have sold what I want to, THEN the big purge will begin.

Every Journey Begins With A Single Step

2007-04-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have been living elements of simple living without really pulling it all together. I guess Simple Living might not be the proper term for what I am doing, but rather what the end result will be. I wish to live a greener life. To tread lightly upon the earth and raise enviromentaly responsible children. I want to lessen our footprints upon the earth and give back some of what we have taken.

This is taken from another blog of mine with the gist of some of my goals:

No more using store bags. We will bring cloth bags or totes when we do our shopping.
No more buying chemical cleaners. When what we have runs out, we will use natural alternatives (I will be giving away most of the cleaners we have, except the Tide Free we just got and dish detergent, which I will find hard to give up). Vinegar, baking soda and essential oils expected to be mainstays and I'm going to try to find Dr. Bonner's soap somewhere.
Moving towards natural body care. I would like to go shampoo free and start using natural soaps. Eventually move towards natural toothpaste or baking soda. We have rock deodorant but I never think to use it.
Cloth for bathroom use. TP is a huge expense and I feel bad as I flush so much of it down. When I read how many forests are clear cut in the name of disposable paper products, it makes me sick. We're also going to stop using disposable diapers (we usually don't use them, but DS has been getting rashes with cloth at night. We'll just use liners. The biggest size is getting hard to get around his hips anyway plus DD wants to wear them too so even just 2 a night adds up over time). I also totally use cloth for menstration now.
No disposable paper products. We've actually been doing pretty good with this anyway. We always use cloth napkins and I probably go through a small roll of paper towel every couple of months, but it's just as easy to use cloth.
Walk more. I need to anyway as it's good for my health. Plus if we walk to shop, we will buy less. I would love to go car free but it would be limiting not to go farther than we can walk with the kids (like parks, beaches, vacations, to visit parents, shop at stores out of town, ect...). Maybe someday :)
Buy less. We don't need as much stuff as we have. We need to stop buying things we only use once or twice and end up in the garbage. This is really hard with the kids as they love dollar store junk. Buy quality over quantity. Buy second hand when possible.
Replace all lightbulbs with the energy efficient ones. This we have mostly done. I am noticing a few that weren't changed that I will do soon. It really does make a difference.
Be more energywise. Shut off lights not being used, unplug things not being used, turn off computer moniters when not in use, make better use of cooking heat, use crockpot more, ect..
Hang all clothes to dry. This is way easier than it sounds. We save a ton of money by doing it too. We could probably easily get rid of the dryer, but I hate to.
Be more diligent in recycling and cutting down garbage. Right now, we have an elaborate system for our garbage so we have to. Garbage goes in clear bags, paper goes in a blue bag, other recyclables go in another bag and we have a compost bin. I would love to only have to put garbage out every other week or once a month (other than compost).
Eat healthier. I am trying to make all our own foods and cut out buying processed junk. Thing is we have a lot of that in the house in our year's supply of storage. I'm trying to find the middle ground. I would eventually like to go vegetarian but the thought scares DH, lol! I would like to go more organic but our budget can't really handle it with the cost of food around here. Eventually!!!
Garden. We are attempting to garden. The kids each have a planter they have planted a veggie they like in it and I have prepared an area out front for planting if the weather ever warms up. MIL said we could have a little patch of their garden to put some things in too.
Use the library more instead of buying so many books.
Reuse items or donate to charity if still in good condition but not needed. Reduce the clutter by at least half....and then some more.

Ok, this is not everything I want to do but it's a start. The hardest thing for me is giving up the books. Since we homeschool and the kids and I are bookworms, we'll have to find some middle ground. I have already started using the library a lot more and buying a lot less. I'm sure we could get rid of a lot of books if we tried.

I guess what I will be doing is blogging about the steps that we are taking and explain in more detail what we are doing and why. In short, I think we can be happier with less. I know I would personally be happier dealing with less mess and clutter, lol!