Eco Things and Frugal Stuff

I've had some fun going to a yard sale lately and some thrift stores.  

At a yard sale I got:  a cute black overnight bag with a cherry print, purse, strainer (which I have been needing since the mesh in mine tore away from the rim), saucepan with lid (for my sister) and 2 water guns.  You can guess who those are for.  Altogether I believe I paid $6 or $7 for the whole lot.  The stack of towels you see in the back were from my mom, who bought twice as many of them in a box at an auction for a cheap price.  She gave me these to take to the Humane Society.  They all look either brand new or gently used.  

At a thrift store I found all of the items in the picture below for $4!  One book was a duplicate so I donated it to the Friends of the Library bookstore to sell.  

I had a bag of Megablocks to donate to the Lego League at the library as well.  

A while back I took another trunk full of things to the Goodwill donation truck.  I wondered if they would take the folding chair, and they certainly did!  I've been trying to sell that thing for $1 at a yard sale forever, and nobody was interested even though it's in good shape.  

I had a few Christmas items to get rid of as well.  

And this old book that came from my grandmother's house.  I remember looking at it as a child.

Apparently I really did put my stamp on it!  At least it was only on the flyleaf.  The rest of the pages are in good shape, although terribly out of date.  

I found this lid, a Cuppow, pushed back into a drawer and forgotten.  It came in one of those monthly sample boxes---Vegan Cuts or Conscious Box, I forget which one.  I'm enjoying the heck out of it though!  It's great for my glass of water that sets on my nightstand.  No worries about water gushing out if I knock it over.  

I've been trying to catch up on some mending.  I'm not great at sewing but I just want to mend the holes so that the items are usable.  I also don't have a sewing machine, so it's all done by hand.  So far I've mended a pillowcase (from back in the days when Milo liked to carry the pillows all over the house) and 2 sheets.  

Our car just went over to 100,000 miles!  We have a 2008 Prius and we love it.  I hope it lasts for another 100,000 miles.  

We go through a lot of brown rice in this house, so I finally broke down and bought a big 25 pound bag of it from Amazon.  I parceled it out and bring out a bag from the freezer each time we need one. It doesn't freeze together so can go directly into the rice cooker.  Yes I'm still using plastic bags to store it but unlike the ones at the store, these can be reused over and over.  And I love that this big bag is completely made of paper.  There's no plastic lining, and no plastic in the tear strip--just some cotton string.  

And of course, I am line drying some of our clothes.  The last few days have been rainy but we should have some more sunshine coming up.  

I love this section at my grocery store.  Sometimes I can find organic fruits and vegetables here, and when I do of course I snap them up.  But if it's something I can't find organic normally, I might as well buy the slightly older conventional items if I'm going to be using them right away or if I can freeze them for later.  It helps save on food waste and it helps save money, so win/win!  

Got anything eco or frugal going on at your home?  Please share!  

Lunch

Mr. GV has long hours at work.  He's also an avid bicyclist and runs some days.  So he needs a lot of food to keep him going.  Here's an example of the contents of his lunchbox from one day in May:

Hummus with baby carrots/cucumber to dip, strawberries, cranberry-cashew biryani, salad, and potato-spinach curry with rice.  Along with that he got a bottle of homemade tea, a reusable bottle of ice water, a cloth napkin, and silverware. 

A green glimpse at my day

Today was filled with errands that kept me away from home for 5 hours. 

First off was getting gas in my car.  We are fortunate enough to drive a hybrid, so it is not terribly painful when we need to fill up, and it takes a while until we need to fill up again. 

Next I popped by the library to drop off a stack of 27 magazines at the FOL bookstore.  Most of these were ones that Mr. GV had hoped to read but finally let go when he realized he just wasn't that interested in making the time to read them. 

Next I went to the local, organic nursery for the first time this season.  I should have had my plants in the ground a couple weeks ago, but I am still within a reasonable time frame to plant.  Here you see:  3 Roma tomatoes, 6 peppers, 3 yellow summer squash, 3 cucumber, 1 cantaloupe, and 1 peppermint.  I plan to get these out on Friday.  There's also some fresh potatoes I picked up. 

I also bought 10 sweet potato slips for the first time!  I'm excited to see if these grow.  Last year we had "accidental" sweet potatoes from our compost bed.  We eat several dishes that include sweet potatoes so growing them organically would be great.

I stopped by the farm store and bought some bulk bird seed.  There are clear plastic, single use bags available for the bird seed but I figured there wasn't any reason why I couldn't use one of my lightweight reusable bags----so I did!  I have never *once* had anyone refuse to let me use my own bag at a store--clothing, shoes, groceries, hardware, on a rare trip to the mall, Wal-Mart (although I am only there in a 'have to' case.) 

There was also stop at the Mennonite market (lots of organic/bulk items) for several items, including my reward of a Coconut Bliss dark chocolate frozen treat.  Yum!!  I stopped at the shoe store, where I bought a pair of shoes to go with my free hand-me-down dress from my sister.  We are attending a family wedding in June so it is nice to have something "new to me."  There was a quick foray into Big Lots where I tried to stay away from the CCFC (that's cheap crap from China) but did pick up a game ball for our family reunion next month.  Other than that I came out with some organic foods. 

Next was a quick stop at Goodwill.  I came out of there with three items, all for J of course:  a Power Rangers T-shirt, a large dry erase board, and a bingo game.  I'm going to use the dry erase board to write little messages for him, some small words for him to read, and a checklist of his responsibilities when he is here (getting dressed, brush teeth, pick up toys, and the like.)  The bingo game is just for fun, and because I'd like J to be able to go with me the next time the Humane Society hosts a bingo night.  The pieces are all made of cardboard, so if they should get torn up, the entire thing can be recycled. 

And last of all, the grocery store, about which there is really not that much to say:  bought groceries, some unpackaged, some packaged (have to make those decisions---organic vs packaging sometimes.) 

Question:  Did you do anything green today?  Is there anything in your life that is a particular frustration to you because you would like it to be more environmentally friendly but can't quite figure out how to get there?

The Good, The Bad, and the Really, Really, Ugly

The good: 

Mr. GV brought home a huge stack of journals, mail, and other papers from his mailbox at work.  Included in the assortment were the course materials for a certificate program he took 15 years ago.  He doesn't need the materials anymore, and I imagine with the way medicine moves they are out of date anyway. 

From this notebook I salvaged:

-one huge 3-ring binder (will probably offer up on Freecycle, along with a couple others)

-21 dividers that can be reused or if no one wants them I will cut off the tab and use for scrap paper for me/art paper for my nephew

-322 sheets of paper that are only printed on one side so will go next to my printer to be reused for just about everything.  (I just printed out my 2011 mortgage interest statement on a used piece of paper.  I don't think my accountant is going to mind!) 

-And best of all, only 3 sheets of paper are going into the recycling bin, because they were printed on both sides.  

 

 The bad:

Below you see the stack of professional journals, along with a few paper envelopes and medical updates that are sent to Mr. GV at work.  He, along with (dare I say it?) the bulk of medical professionals, never look at these journals.  In my opinion, these particular ones are more like magazines.  They contain ads every few pages (54 total pages in one, 27 which are ads, and 95/44 in a second one, if you include half-page ads with text on the same page.) Most people in Mr. GV's department throw them into the trash.  I told him today if he wanted to let his coworkers know, I would be happy to recycle their copies too. 

 The ugly: 

The plastic bag that comes with almost every single "journal."  This is ridiculous.  Sometimes they are including a second supplement with the first, but the majority are ads for more products! 

I have both emailed and sent back response cards asking to please take Mr. GV off their mailing list, but one company in particular simply will not do it.

I have looked online and cannot find a definitive answer as to whether or not this plastic can be recycled, and there is no recycle number on the bags.  So for now, I will be throwing this in the trash, into the landfill, where it will pollute this planet for as long as any of us can fathom.  Remember---plastic never actually goes away.  It will eventually break down into smaller particles, but it's never actually "gone." 

And so, even though I'm happy to reuse and recycle, what I'd most like to have done here is REFUSE.  And I can't, and that makes this a definite "ugly." 

The little things

A few little things I've been doing recently, green-wise:

Mr. GV attends continuing education every year, and that always means a lot of paper.  Two full binders of paper, as a matter of fact.  All things that he will never reference again.  There are a few sheets that are blank on one side, and they are pulled out and put beside our printer.  We don't do a lot of printing in this house, but there are coupons and a few other things, and I use those papers. 

The pages in this picture are all printed on both sides, and there wasn't much I could do with those, so they have gone to the recycling facility. 

Mr. GV went through the items hanging up in his closet that he hasn't worn in the past 6 months.  He managed to let loose of these 6 shirts, plus one more that I am going to keep for myself, to wear around the house. I'm proud of these 6 that will be leaving our house soon, because it is tough for Mr. GV to let go of things, and I sincerely appreciate it when he does.  These shirts will be headed to Goodwill in the next couple of weeks. 

I had stopped using dryer sheets for a couple of years, but the static is just terrible in the winter.  I found 2 boxes of dryer sheets in my laundry closet, and cut the sheets all in thirds.  That is enough to keep the static down, and as a bonus, one box will last three times as long!

(Dark picture--sorry about that.)  I buy conditioner that comes in a plastic bottle.  Is there any other kind?  I have to be honest--I have finally found a vegan conditioner that makes me happy, so I haven't bothered to check to see if they sell conditioner in a container other than plastic. 

Lately I've been cutting the bottles open and using a spatula to get the last bit out before recycling the bottes. The amount I got out of 2 bottles was enough to do my 'prone to super-tangles' hair a couple of times. 

As I was putting my Christmas decorations back into their tubs for another 11 months, I pulled out a few pieces of which I don't have any sort of attachment.  This includes a stocking I was given when I held a volunteer position, a small Beanie, 3 candle holders (minus one glass that broke), and some bud vases.  I will admit that I am waffling about the vases though, as I kinda love them.  They may not make it to the thrift store, but the rest certainly will. 

I'm not sure if you can really see how big this bag is, but that's a wide doorway between my dining room and kitchen.  There is some heavy-duty bubble wrap in there, the likes of which I have never seen before.  It came with our new microwave, and is extremely sturdy.  The rest of the bag is filled with regular bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and air pockets. 

A few months ago I offered up some bubble wrap and packing peanuts on Freecycle, and the owner of a local used bookstore took them, as they use it all in shipping books and handcrafted wooden items that her husband makes.  I save it up, and whenever I get an assortment together, I take it by.

All on their own, these little things don't seem like very much, but when you add them all together, you can see what a boost the environment is getting from recycling and reusing.  Of course the VERY BEST thing to do is Refuse!  Refuse that plastic bag, refuse to buy that dust collector, etc.  But sometimes we made poor choices in our past, we have no choice in the matter, or darn it--we just don't want to change that one thing that we love so much!