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Frugal and Green Tip – Burn Wood for the Winter

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Posted on 27th September 2007 by mishakennedy in frugal | gardening

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But, but that little knobby thingy on the wall is so much nicer! I know, I know. It’s nice to be able to just turn the knob and get a little extra heat – especially when the temp is dipping below 0. But at $3 a gallon for heating oil – can you afford to ignore your environmental conscience any longer?

In addition to being inexpensive (free if you can cut it yourself), wood is a renewable energy source. From Hearth.com: “Burning fossil fuels sends carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, on a one-way trip. It pumps million-year-old carbon from inside the earth into the atmosphere, where the concentration of carbon dioxide is increasing. Burning oil, gas and coal is like spending the earth’s savings, and scientists say it is changing the global climate. Wood fuel is different. As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air in a process powered by the sun. Indeed, about half the weight of dry wood is this absorbed carbon. A tree destroyed in a forest fire or one that falls and decays in the for est gives up its carbon once again to the air as carbon dioxide. So continues the earth’s carbon/carbon dioxide cycle.”

While most people think of heating with wood as an “old-fashioned” technology, let me say that new woodstoves are more and more efficient. With many, you can go all night without having to get up to feed it.

Wood pellet stoves are great – and I highly recommend them as well, but a woodstove has one advantage a pellet stove doesn’t – it can be lit when the lights are out. When the electricity is out, a pellet stove (and most other forms of heat) are out too – not so a woodstove! A woodstove can keep you warm when the electricity is out – and it can cook food, and melt snow for water (if your power is out, the water won’t flow for long!).

Burning wood is also a very safe proposition these days. With a little practice and a little help from those who know (feel free to email your questions to me, if you need to), burning a wood fire is as safe as lighting a pilot light – or turning up the thermostat.

And remember, if you don’t cut the wood yourself, ask your firewood supplier where the wood came from – make sure it’s sustainable!

Great resources for learning about burning wood:

www.hearth.com 

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Frugal and Green Tip of the Day – Barter!

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Posted on 25th September 2007 by mishakennedy in food | frugal

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This always seems like a no-brainer tip to me, but people seem to be reluctant to do it – until they try it!

I have bartered babysitting services for dishes – and even a car for a winter’s worth of firewood! Bartering is a great way to solve cash flow issues and get involved in your community. I often barter time teaching things for free for free use of a space to hold my writing workshops in – and you could just as easily barter services like making up posters or other ad responsibilities for space at a local flea market or what have you…

There are many web sites now dedicated to bartering – particularly for businesses. I’m not certain which ones are good or not, so I will not endorse any of them here – but if you have had a good experience with one, please don’t hesitate to let me know what they are (if it’s a blatant ad for the site, though, I will delete the comment).

I am more in favor of putting a flier or two around your town and offering your trade, or perhaps starting a community bulletin board where such swaps can be made. We are also starting a “swap it” section on both our website and in our print newsletter – so if you have something you’d like to swap for – like seeds, baby stuff, whatever…email us and we’ll post your offer.

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An answer to the antiperspirant question…

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Posted on 24th September 2007 by Mish in frugal | frugality | green living | kids | organic | organics | simple living

A number of people have asked me why I have banned the use of antiperspirant in our house (but not all-natural deodorants). I was going to go into a lengthy explanation – but this blog has a much more complete answer: Health in Motion

Tom’s of Maine has a natural deodorant that works very well; there are minerals you can use and baking soda is also great as a natural deodorant!

An answer to the antiperspirant question…

1 comment

Posted on 24th September 2007 by mishakennedy in frugal

A number of people have asked me why I have banned the use of antiperspirant in our house (but not all-natural deodorants). I was going to go into a lengthy explanation – but this blog has a much more complete answer: Health in Motion

Tom’s of Maine has a natural deodorant that works very well; there are minerals you can use and baking soda is also great as a natural deodorant!

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Frugal and Green Tip of the Day – Use your crockpot!

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Posted on 21st September 2007 by mishakennedy in food | frugal | gardening

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I just bought a crockpot – a big one. The biggest one they had. It’s like 7 quarts or something.

I never thought I’d be a crockpot mama, but it’s the best invention! Now, I know some of you are gonna say “Duh, Mish, we knew that years ago,” but let me explain. The crockpot, was, in my house growing up, just another appliance on the shelf. I rarely, if ever, saw it used. And never did dinner come out of it. It was always used for baked beans or, well, I think that’s it.

So, as the mother of five, four of whom just started their soccer seasons, I realized that not only can I not afford to buy that much pizza – I didn’t want to. We also live in a small town that does not have a variety of “take-out” options. In fact, except for the frozen pizza at the local general store – we have no take-out options. Besides, we’re a frugal, organically-eating fam – we wouldn’t want to eat take-out, right? Well, most of the time.

OK, pre-crockpot, I would try and make some sort of casserole in the oven around 2 pm and leave it in the off, but still warm oven, until we arrived home after games at 6:30 or so. This works fine, but there is always a period of reheating that had to go on and we didn’t get to eat until later.

So, when I saw the mongo crockpot on sale at Home Depot recently, I didn’t even think (or follow my usual waiting period mandate!) I plopped that sucker right into the cart and said – hah! This is how I will solve my dinner issues!

And it has. I can no go into the garden, pick some of this or that, throw it into the crockpot with some lamb or chicken and get a dinner worthy of Giada! It saves us money and electricity (my stove is electric) and provides us with a wonderful hot meal as soon as we clamor in from the game.

Try these websites for great recipes for the crockpot – there is more to it than just baked beans!

southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm

www.cookingcache.com/cat/crockpot_recipes

familycrockpotrecipes.com

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Frugal and Green Tip of the Day – Just Wait!

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Posted on 20th September 2007 by mishakennedy in miscellaneous

What the heck kinda tip is that, you ask? Well, let me explain.

A long time ago, my parents told me that they went to one of the “marts” on a Saturday afternoon and spent two or three hours shopping. They looked at everything from towels to electronics and had a cart full of new goodies. Now, my father could not be called anything like a patient person, so when they got up to the cash register and discovered the lines to be, well, let’s say really long…my father got a little perturbed. So perturbed, in fact, that he and my mother left the cart sitting there and they left the store – never to return to their cart full of stuff.

My father told me later that it was one of the most eye-opening experiences he had ever had. They had all the fun of shopping – and didn’t spend a dime. And when they got home, they hadn’t missed a thing! The old towels still dried. The old TV still worked. And they were hard pressed over dinner to remember all of the other stuff they had just “had to have.”

Now, am I advocating going to stores and shopping til you drop than not buying anything…not really. I mean, go for it if it sounds like fun, but what I am really advocating is a waiting period. I often go to flea markets or stores and see things that I like. But I don’t buy them right away. I walk on and figure that if the item is still what I really want to spend my money on by the time I’m ready to leave, than I can go back for it. It is very rare that I go back for any item.

For larger purchases, I wait at least a full day before buying anything. I go to stores and I wear myself out comparing and looking, but then I go home and see how I feel. Sometimes – like with a new refrigerator I really needed – I’ll compare even more online and then finally decide which I want. But other times, like recently with a new car I thought I had to have, I go home, do out the math, and realize that the repairs on my old one will really be cheaper in the long run.

So – there you go. Just wait. You might not need it later…or now!

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Frugal and Green Tip of the Day – Baking Soda is your Friend!

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Posted on 19th September 2007 by mishakennedy in cloth diapers | frugal

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This is my ode to baking soda…

I use baking soda, in combination with other items, for many things – from cleaning to medicinal purposes.  So here are the OI top ten uses for baking soda…

1. Clean your drain! Forget Draino. A 1/4 cup of baking soda chased by 2 cups of white vinegar will clean your drain out quickly. After the soda and vinegar are done foaming, pour a kettle full of boiling water down the drain to make sure it all goes through. You might need to repeat the procedure if you have a very clogged drain (teenage-girls-with-long-hair-in-the-house clogged) – if this doesn’t work, check the trap, it’s probably a stray Lego!

2. Sting and Itch Relief! While I personally love “Afterbite” (which is just ammonia) for my mosquito and black fly bites, baking soda works wonders on the chicken pox, poison ivy, bee stings and other itchy spots. Just make a paste of baking soda and water – or soak in a tub with a cup.

3. It makes a great antacid…something I am very familiar with in my 39th week of pregnancy!  Just mix a teaspoon in a glass of cold water.

4. Dip a damp toothbrush in a small amount of baking soda and brush your teeth. It’s great in a pinch, if you’ve run out of toothpaste and can’t get to the store. Or, if you are looking for a natural, inexpensive toothpaste, you can use it all the time. If you miss the minty flavor, buy a little bottle of peppermint extract in the baking aisle at the store and add a drop or two!

5. Leave a book in the rain? Sprinkle the wet pages with baking soda and leave out in the sun.

6. Sprinkle on a stale or stinky carpet, leave for a bit and then vacuum up.

7. Make into a paste and remove rust, juice, wine or coffee stains from your countertops.

8. Use as an abrasive for scrubbing your tub and toilet – instead of bleach enhanced “cleaners.” A side benefit of this is that bleach cleaners destroy the bacteria in your septic tank while baking soda helps keep your tank flowing free!

9.  Deodorant. I’ve banned the use of anti-perspirants in my house, but it’s still hard to not put something under one’s arms. A little jar filled with baking soda and capped with a lid that has holes poked in it is a perfect solution. Just put a little soda in your hand like powder and dust under your arms.  Stink-free…I promise!

10. Clean almost anything! I add baking soda to particularly smelly piles of laundry (sports uniforms and dirty diapers immediately come to mind); I sprinkle a little in the bottom of the garbage and recycling cans; I keep a little in the fridge; I sprinkle a little on my sponge before I wipe down the stove, grill, counter, toilet, shower – you name it!

For more great ideas, check out www.armhammer.com 

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