We’re back from a weekend camping trip. It was a lot of fun, even though we got rained on for a whole night and part of a day. Trying to keep a 2-year-old contained in a tent while waiting for a storm to pass was challenging, but somewhat manageable. I have made a mental note to bring more books/toys in the event of rain (we try to keep it simple, but in this case having more than a dump truck and 2 books would have made life better)! In general, I love camping because it is so simple, and...
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Get 350 pounds of carbon offset in your name
If you’re a blogger, offset some of your carbon footprint by visiting Brighter Planet’s 350 blogger challenge and putting a badge on your site. Even though their initial goal of 350 bloggers has been met, they will still make contributions for new additions. It took them a little over 24 hours to verify this site and send me my credit. If you’ve got the time and the inclination, won’t you consider doing the same?
Recycle your old technotrash
I feel pretty guilty about throwing things away. We’ve been trying to get rid of the things that we don’t need anymore, and the next thing on the list is VCR tapes and coasters (CD/DVD discs that did not burn correctly). Even though it costs money, Green Disk seems like a good option for us. Here is a list of some of the things that they will take for recycling (from their website): All forms of electronic media and their cases: diskettes, zip disks, CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs et al, video tape (i.e. VHS), audio tape, game cartridges, DAT,...
Getting rid of e-mail
One of my big goals (part of the change in money, love, and change) has been to simplify our life. We’ve done quite a bit, but there is more that can be done. My #1 pet peeve right now is my e-mail. I have one central e-mail account that has incoming e-mails from school, the website, job opportunities, etc. Right now, my inbox count is at 1366 messages (down from over 1700 this morning). Frankly, I’m not that important. My goal is to take eliminate 100 e-mails per day in addition to any e-mails I receive. This means that...
Thoughts on Dave Ramsey
I recently finished Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, and it is a quick and easy read. I would recommend getting it from your local library – I would not buy it just because there are enough blogs and information on his methods on the web (and you can use the cost of the book as your first snowflake!). I think that Get Rich Slowly has a nice synopsis of the book here if you want to get the basic idea before investing your time reading the whole book. Is Total Money Makeover going to change our lives? I’m not...
Need to recycle those packing peanuts?
We were cleaning out the basement this weekend, and had a lot of packing peanuts that we wanted to get rid of. Throwing these out makes me feel guilty, as I know they take a long time to decompose in a landfill. A quick google search helped us come up with a solution, and I just wanted to share the link. The Plastic Loose Fill Council has over 1500 collection sites in the US – you just need to fill out an online form to find the collection site nearest to you. Hope this helps someone out!
Get a free tote from Earthbound Farm Organic
I recycle our plastic grocery bags from large shopping trips, but have been trying to get in the habit of taking my own totes to the store when I know I won’t be picking up a lot. I have a small assortment of bags that were given to me as gifts, and I’ve been considering getting some more. If you’re interested in getting a free tote to get you started on your independence from plastic bags, you can take a short conservation quiz at Earthbound Farm Organic. I’ll be getting one myself to add to my collection!
The Story of Stuff
photo credit: Manuel.A.69 A friend of mine sent me a link to a site with a 20-minute video called “The Story of Stuff” with Annie Leonard. It took me over 3 months to follow the link an get around to watching it, being that if I don’t do something right away, it takes me awhile to get to it. I’d highly recommend watching it, and sending it along to others (who hopefully get around to things before I do!). Here is a short excerpt from the website regarding what “The Story of Stuff” is about: “From its extraction through...
Setting goals for April
I feel like February and March kind of flew by. I know that I have been sick, but I also feel like I have been busy. The problem is that I am not sure exactly what I was busy with. There’s all the daily things that have to do with life in general, but this is the first time in awhile where the fruits of my labor are not really tangible. This is why I’ve decided that it is time to set some general goals for April. It’s going to be more like a long list, but I...
Watch tv and movies for free with hulu.com
I have a confession to make. This weekend, we splurged and picked up some potato chips and Oreo cookies at the grocery store. They were real Oreos (not generic), and for the record they were absolutely delicious. Both cookies and chips are an extremely rare find in our household – neither my husband and I really watch our weight (thankfully, we are both at a healthy weight), but we usually keep all junk food out of the house and only have healthy snacks (granola bars, yogurt, etc.). After the kid went to bed, we pulled out the junk food...
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