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Consumerism Creeping In…

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Posted on 21st August 2010 by Mish in family | frugal

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We’ve had a little bout of consumerism here lately and it’s starting to drive me a little nuts. When we first moved to the city, I thought it would be great. No, really, I did. How fabulous not to have to drive an hour to go to the grocery store! How wonderful that we can go to lots of festivals and fairs and see and do things we couldn’t do before! How amazing that there is a bookstore full of homeschool items practically right around the corner. Simply divine that there’s a convenience store nearby so I don’t have to buy 7 or 10 gallons of milk at once.

Oh how wrong I was. What I wouldn’t give for the days when it took an hour to get to a grocery store. When I only went to the “big city” once a month to stock up on supplies. When I purchased most of our homeschool books online because it was easier to have them delivered.

Suddenly, I seem to be in stores as much as once a day for things we absolutely “need.” And my kids are starting to get the gimmes because of it. I have fallen back into old traps of getting them “just one treat” or just one thing – just because we’re there. It dawned on me just how much I am losing my way.

We we’ve been to no fewer than 10 various festivals and fairs this summer and my wallet is aching because of it. Every single journey was considered a “learning” experience but what am I teaching about our core values if I keep forking over $100 just to get into some of these events? Even going to yard sales has become an exercise in consumerism lately – granted, it’s recycled consumerism – but still! The kids always thinking that going to a yard sale is an entitlement to another toy or game. And because they’re cheap – I buy them. Now, don’t get me wrong, what I consider to be spend-thrifty, most people will probably laugh at. But even my new tendency to curb pick and get things off Free-cycle seems a little materialistic to me. What exactly do I need all of this stuff for? I fear it’s to fill a big house and to replace the things I know I’m missing in my life.

But they’re just things. And I’m getting a little tired of them.

Whether or not we choose to move to Alaska and live out our rural dream, right now I have to refocus and double my efforts to remember what living simply means. We’ve done well in reducing our main expenses, but I’d like to see our miscellaneous spending stop and start focusing on saving more. Just because we spend our money frugally or pack a lunch to go to a gazillion dollar fair, doesn’t mean we’re living simply – it just means we’re trying to get more for less. And the point, after all, is to be more and have less.

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10 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day Right Now…without messing with your world

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Posted on 21st April 2010 by Mish in frugal | gardening | green

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Get the first two chapters of Michelle’s new book, A Fine Mess: Living Simply With Children, for free! Michelle is the homeschooling mother of 7 children and has lots of humor, tips and hints for living with so many for much less. Want to try it out for nothing? Just email Michelle and put “free chapters” in the subject line.

  • Bring your own bags – everywhere! This is so simple that it’s criminal that we don’t all do it already. I leave 4 or 5 canvas bags in my car at all times and just grab them when I go into a store. Have a bunch of plastic ones? Well, put them in your car and just reuse those! You don’t need to buy a fancy canvas bag like this one, from Organically Inclined! I wish that when I went to the store I wasn’t the only one around who answers “neither” when asked if they want paper or plastic.
  • Don’t Buy Things! This is so simple even a baby can do it. Just don’t buy stuff. Don’t go to stores. Don’t buy things that have lots of packaging. If you must buy something – check out Craigslist.org, Freecycle.org or hit your local yard sales and thrift stores (bringing your own bags of course). You’d be amazed at how much money you’ll save by simply not purchasing things…and how kind you’ll be to the planet.
  • Stay home. Don’t get in the car. Don’t drive away. Don’t go out to eat. Don’t go buy things (see above). Don’t do anything. Sit in a hammock in your backyard. Pick weeds. Do the laundry. Watch a movie. You’ll save gas, emissions and money all at the same time. (more…)

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Frugality Lessons Learned from Living in the Car

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Posted on 16th October 2008 by Mish in frugal

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With gas prices rising, food prices rising…OK – the price of everything rising…I am often asked about how to get by on very little.

As you may already know, I spent the bulk of the summer of 1997 living in my car with my three small children. Before that, I lived in the cabin from hell (a tar-paper shack in Northern Maine with no running water). Before that, I was your basic middle-class young mom. To read how all that happened, buy this book.

Needless to say, I’ve learned a bit about living on very little in the last 10 years. Because I am deathly afraid of it ever happening again, I’ve struggled to maintain my simple standards – even when times are good! I am so tired of watching people on TV morning shows tell me that the best way to get through a tough time is to save money. Well, if you are anything like me – you don’t make $100,000 or more a year as a television talk show host – so you probably don’t have a lot to save.

Instead, you need ways to save money – or make money – right now, so that you can put food on your table, gas in your car and pay the electric bill.

(more…)

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How is the Financial Crisis affecting you?

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Posted on 10th October 2008 by Mish in frugal

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I was listening to NPR in the car with my husband the other day and there was an interview with a gentleman who has a new book out (I am totally forgetting the name of book and author, so if any of this sounds familiar, please someone let me know because I’d really like to read the book!). The book was, of course, about the “financial crisis” but also about how what we buy is being logged and recorded by various stores so that they can send us better more exclusive deals. Basically he was saying that every time I use my super saver card at Shaw’s, they have a record of what I buy.

The reason I was so interested was because he called me a barnacle. Yes, I’m a barnacle. Apparently, those of us who don’t get sucked into the special deals and then buy the other expensive stuff so that we will feel a part of the grocery store family, are barnacles. A drag on the store’s marketing machine perhaps?

I’m a barnacle because I have no store loyalty. I will shop where ever there is cheaper stuff. Including Wal-Mart – so let the horrible emails begin. I will shop at Wal-Mart simply because I believe I shouldn’t have to pay twice as much for canned soup just to show off my brand loyalty.

In essence, I am looking out for number one – which in this case is numbers one through eight – and I will shop where ever I can get the best deals without sacrificing nutrition and health.

So, I guess Shaw’s won’t be sending me a lot of coupons for fancy schmancy stuff – but that’s OK because I won’t buy it anyway!

This got me to thinking about the larger financial crisis. Everyday, my husband lets me know how much the Dow crashed during the day. He tells me about all the potentially scary scenarios out there. I think he finds it entertaining – in a watching a car crash on the Interstate kind of way.

But, as of yet, I’m waiting for the financial crisis to affect little old me. Except for higher gas prices – which I think is a good thing – and higher prices on some food items, the financial crisis has not affected me very much. Is it because I’m used to being relatively poor? And I mean that only in a “compared to the rest of middle class America” kind of way. I don’t believe we are poor at all. We don’t have a lot of money – or any investments (which, I guess, is a good thing) – but we have plenty of food, space to grow more food, a roof over our heads (which I don’t take for granted), wood in the shed for the winter and our health and wits!

I didn’t experience the boom of the early 90’s and I haven’t really, yet, experienced the crashes. Money is always tight for us, but we’ve chosen a life that doesn’t give us a lot of spare cash and we are very used to making do with very little.

We drive used cars; we heat with wood; we shop little; we buy clothes at thrift stores; and the list goes on. It makes me wonder if we are better equipped to deal with the “crisis,” because we never really had it all that good?

Of course, I would be very bummed if our clients were unable to pay us, but I think we could get by. We have other avenues of income – even if they aren’t currently our main sources.

Am I saying that the financial crisis won’t affect me? Certainly not, but as of yet, things are still pretty even-keeled here. I just intend to keep on going like we have – being frugal, trying to save, making do and doing without.

How is the financial crisis affecting you?

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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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