thursday thrift: holi-daze

There's something about these Thursday Thrift posts that is very clinical. I know they aren't very entertaining... they feel like my own personal Public Service Messages, and to be honest I don't know how to make them anything other than that: something you sit through that's sandwiched between the Kleenex and the toilet cleaner commercials, before Eli Stone comes back on. YES, I just likened my weekly blog entries to those The More You Know things. The More You Know: less literacy and mentoring tips and more discussions of holders/goers and questions about high school. Huh.

THIS Thursday I'm talking about dialing down the holiday insanity, and to that end, I'm going to make these thrift posts a more slightly more occasional Thursday thing. (I'm playing with my own stubborn streak, if you want to know: as soon as I tell myself that I don't have to do it, I'll be a hundred times more excited about doing it. Annnnnd that's how a person uses reverse psychology on HERSELF.) So there you go: my first tip for reducing holiday stress: give yourself permission to say no, to do something else, to walk away.

It sounds like a lot of people are trying to reduce their buying this Christmas, and I'm all for that. When I look around at the sheer volume of STUFF we have--- it's embarrassing. Chip and I have agreed that we're not giving each other any gifts that aren't handmade. This year we're focusing on Alice, and the best part about that is that she has no frame of reference (or for that matter, real memory) for what Christmas is supposed to be. I have a sneaking suspicion that she's going to be awfully excited about the boxes and paper strewn around the living room come Christmas morning, and all too willing to ignore any actual GIFTS.

For quite some time now, we've alternated who we give to and who we receive from among the siblings in both of our families. There's a little chart that shows each year - who gives to whom, and boy it helps to simplify the gift giving.

When it comes to stockings, I've long believed that they should contain a lot of everyday items that you need anyway: each Christmas Chip has been greeted with a stocking full of toothpaste, deodorant, gum, maybe the occasional matchbox car or something else fun and inexpensive. We usually get an orange in the toe. This comes from my childhood Christmases.

It sounds like a lot of you are trying to reduce the holiday expense and consumption using these types of ideas. I talked to someone on Sunday who is going to a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving with her family: when we have so much, doesn't it make sense to help some folks who are making do with far less?

What I want to call for is a return to enjoying this time of year for it's magic, it's wonder, it's warmth, it's ability to bring people together for no other reason than we're family. I don't remember what I got for Christmas last year, but I can tell you who I was with, and I can tell you that it was wonderful for just that reason.

In the end, dialing down Holiday Crazy is probably one of the easiest things to do, even if it isn't easy to write about. It's a whole bunch of stuff that everyone already knows: give thanks for your loved ones, enjoy the bits that you have and don't worry about what you don't, be grateful that you are here, show someone else that you care, take time to give back, feel the magic of the season and know it's a reminder that we can have peace on earth, good will to men (and women)-- if we let it, if we live it, and we can have it all year 'round.

Enjoy the holidays this year, my friends.

thursday thrift: holidays, interrupted

Written (badly) last night...

Well, I was going to talk about dialing down the Holiday Crazy this week, but the week itself sort of got in the way - which means that I'm typing this late Wednesday night. Which means that I don't have the energy to write what I'd like to write about Holiday Crazy. Which means that I'm sitting here, staring at the screen, and wondering WHAT HAVE I DONE THAT IS THRIFTY? IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN TALK ABOUT THAT'S THRIFTY THIS WEEK?

Here's what I've come up with: Whenever I set myself on a new track - be it a new way of eating, a new way of exercising, a new way of washing dishes, whatever, I always reach this point - it's about 5 or 6 weeks in - when I find myself stalled. More often than not, the stalled motion eventually (and quickly) becomes NO motion until I'm sort of rolling around in the intersection and eventually I get distracted by the pretty colors in a completely different direction and I wander off all La La La, forgetting my New World View entirely.

I think we're staring at this here Thrift intersection right now and I'm NOT going to get distracted by the pretty boxes down the road. NOT.

Don't get me wrong - I am continuing in my Increased Zeal to clip coupons, to painstakingly research and cost compare at the handful of grocery stores available to us (it's a pain in the REAR but I'm doing it). I am still doing some of the other little things I began a few weeks ago. It's just... even the best intentions can get sidetracked by brightly colored paper. Two weeks ago, Chip and I saved 40% off our grocery bill. Not kidding: we should have paid over $100 but the bill was $60. Now THAT'S a nice savings. But this week... we went in with a hasty list, shopped hungry (SUCH a no-no), and bought things without coupons that I'd left at home. Our savings? A measly 25%. Shameful!

So here's a call to reset, re-resolve, rededicate, and refocus on thrift.

Now for the cool thing this week: this link from the state of Washington. It's a month-by-month guide to emergency preparedness. How cool is this? By performing one task a month, you will be all up and prepared in a year's time. Beauty! (And I know - what does THIS have to do with thrift? As far as I'm concerned, if we all perish in some heinous volcano eruption, all the thrift in the world won't matter.)

Now. Your turn. Tell me something that you're rededicating yourself to do this week, this month, today, whatever.

thursday thrift: linking without guilt

The lovely Amy sent me a link to her friend's blog, The Need Less Experiment. It's lovely and all the things that I can't be here at The Creamery: all thrift, all the time. She has some great ideas, and she absolutely keeps it real. Love that.

Go on over and visit, I know you won't be disappointed.


Next week I want to talk about ways we're trying to dial down the holiday CRAZY, so please email me and let me know what you're doing: whimsyattack AT gmail DOT com.

thrifting for thursday: faking it

For the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about faking it. No no no no NO - not THAT KIND OF FAKING IT. Rather, the fake that's about substituting.

It started when I was reading an article about so-called "name brands" versus generic/store brands. In so many cases, the generic brand is not only made the same way as the national brand, it can even be made BY the national brand. Crazy, huh?

This week I want to talk about fakes. Here's a small sampling of my REAL/FAKE list:

Must have national brand:
- when consumed: jelly beans. MUST be Brach's or they just don't taste right.
- ice cream. Oh dear, I am an ice cream snob and I wish I wasn't. I love me some Haagan Daas, but it's like buying frozen bits of GOLD, for the price they charge.
- Aveda face moisturizer. And this? Would be LIQUID GOLD.

Will accept fakes:
- just recently: Eucerin lotion. I'm a lotion fanatic (dry dry DRY skin) - and just recently I tried the Target brand (half the price, y'all) and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Lovely!
- ibuprofen, most pain relievers, cold medicine, etc.
- most cleaning products.

So tell me - what do you have to have the REAL thing of, and what items will you gladly purchase the fake?

thrift thursday: that's entertainment

So. Um. Remember when I was all, "I'm going to post ideas for thrift every Thursday"? And then how yesterday my blog was all "......"? Yes. So somehow the entire day just evaporated before my very eyes. I found myself on the computer last night thinking - Well, it's 11:50. If I post in the next 10 minutes I can still make it a THURSDAY post. And then I realized I was insane and I kept working on well, work.

So that's how I came to be doing Thursday's post on Friday. Not that you really need to know ANY OF THIS.

When I first started thinking about thrift, I was struck by the huge spectrum of improvement - people spend money on varying budgets, with varying needs. What may seem like the easiest thing to change for one person could be considered IMPOSSIBLE to another. I think the whole entertainment area of the budget makes these kinds of differences even more blatantly polarized. To that end, I'm reserving an area of ideas for Beyond - where Beyond is usually along the lines of building a yurt in the middle of a forest and consuming berries for the rest of your life. Sound good? Great. Let's get going.

For this week's subject, I've got a laundry list of ideas from you guys, and not a whole heck of a lot to add for myself. We went through the whole budget trimming before Alice was born, and the first area to get cut was Entertainment. The beauty of it all is that I hardly notice the changes. Having a baby does wonders for your social life, let me tell you. Where once upon a time we'd see a movie every few weeks, we're now VERY happy if we actually find 90 minutes to sit as a couple, enjoying the silence. How's that for a first crazy tip: HAVE A BABY - WORKS WONDERS FOR ENTERTAINMENT SPENDING.

However, there were a few of you who had some solid, good ideas:

- Serenity Now (who I hope, hint hint, will comment from time to time, hint hint) emailed me ideas about using the public library. Most library systems not only allow you to check out books (for FREE), but also books on tape, music, videos, and DVD's. Our local library system in King County has a fantastic website where you can check on the availability of titles and even reserve them - all online. One of my favorite features is the ability to have a title transferred to the library closest to you, thus cutting down trips in your car. Genius! Serenity Now also suggests that you check with your library to see if they offer books and movies that you can download directly from their website. This isn't a feature that I've checked for our own library, but it sounds fabulous.

- We spend about $15 each month on Netflix. And The Wife likes to joke that Chip and I are the customers who make it possible for the rest of the world to use Netflix cheaply because we forget about our DVD's. ALL THE TIME. I don't know how or why it happens, but we'll get a DVD in the mail, watch it (or not), and then it just sits there: day after day, racking up the rental fees. In the end, it's like we're buying these movies outright without the ability to, you know, KEEP THEM. It's ridiculous. And Chip and I have vowed to stop this behavior. That, or we're getting rid of Netflix altogether. Possible annual savings of $180.

- Buy used. Used books. Used CD's. Used DVD's. We try to purge our music, book, and DVD collections regularly. We're usually left with a healthy stack of items we'll never watch/read/listen to again. So we pack 'em up and head to our local Half Price Books. They go through our items and then give us a nice cash prize for our trouble. This not only saves money, but is a beautiful kind of recycling that I just love: knowing that something that gave me joy can go on to help someone else. If you're all kinds of slackerly (as I have been known to be about certain things), and you have a tough time setting aside the time to head to the used book emporium, load up your items in the car and keep them in your trunk for a time when you ARE out and about and can take the extra time to stop. Just be careful about packing that stuff around for another 3 months, AS I HAVE DONE.

- Scour your local newspaper or city magazine website for calendars of events. There are ALWAYS ideas in there for things to do, many times for FREE, which is right up the alley of someone who is trying to spend less. If you have kids, you can also check the websites of local children's magazines. We have a couple here: Seattle's Child and ParentMap Seattle. Both of these are great resources for things to do.

- Read aloud to your kids, to your honey, or just READ. A relatively inexpensive past time. Can even be FREE when using the library or borrowing books from friends.



Today's BEYOND idea:
- Get rid of television. Shut it off. Cancel your cable (or satellite or whatever means you use to view the tube). Decide that you're done with it. We are (gulp gulp GULP) on the cusp of just this. We can save upwards of $50 (and more) a month by cutting the cord. Television watching can become a much more intentional event where we watch a DVD (see Netflix issue above). I don't think we'll miss it all that much, actually. We can get our news from the newspaper and the web. We can watch the one or two TV shows that we like online, when we're ready, when we have the time, when we'd like to relax and watch a show. I think that we can easily become slaves to the TV schedule, to it's noise, to it's familiarity. I want to see how it will be to live our lives independently from the box. I'll let you know how it goes.

thrifting for thursday

Please keep the ideas for living on less coming... you can email me at whimsyattack AT gmail DOT com. Each week (Thursday) I'm going to do a Thrift post, and I'll include some of the ideas that you guys have given me, too.


Our first guest suggestion is from Anonymous. She gave me a whole bunch of ideas, but I'm going to highlight her suggestions about food for this week, since that's what I'm going to talk about.

She writes:

• Never buy processed foods. Generally the more processed the more expensive and the worse it is for you. I make our bread and any sweets we might consume. I cook all meals from real ingredients not from prepackaged nastiness. I never do frozen foods (except for vegetables and soy and I buy generic of those). We don't eat any boxed meals except for Mac and Cheese and I wait for it to be on sale or have a coupon. Also, buy locally grown whenever you can-- it's cheaper and fresher.

Thank you, Anonymous! Dear Anonymous is writing, um, anonymously because she was worried that people would hate her ideas. Here's what I think: everything is a matter of moderation. First off, decide where you are on the Consumer Spectrum. Maybe you eat out every night - so a way to live on less, for you, is to cook at least three meals at home each week. Maybe you already do this - so a way for you to live on less is to start buying less processed foods - more actual ingredients... you get the idea. In the end, none of this is about making anyone feel guilty. It's about action. Doing something - anything - to reduce your consumption/expenses and decrease your NEED of HAVING. I know you understand.


Now my first idea for being a more conservative consumer is to make your own baby food. I know this isn't something that's going to help everyone, but it's a start. And it's where I started when Alice began solid food.

Those wee glass jars of baby food are seriously pricey, yo. And on top of this, we're trying to go with organic and locally grown produce, whenever possible, which... the organic baby food can be TWICE as expensive as the other stuff. Occasionally we still have to feed Alice the jarred stuff (when we're traveling) - and I've found a favorite organic brand that is pretty local to this area, and it's the best tasting (and most REAL tasting out of all of them), but I only buy it if I can get it on sale.

Anyway... about the making of the baby food. Is it really a Thrifty thing to do? Yes, absolutely. I shop for produce (both fresh and frozen) when it's on sale, and then I buy a whole bunch of it and make the baby food then, freezing for later use. I've worked it out that I'm saving at least $0.35 on each little ziploc container that I make - and that's the low end, it can reach upwards of $0.50 per container - and that's a savings, mind you, especially when you can spend over $0.85 per jar of the store bought stuff.

As for HOW to make the baby food? It's so much easier than you ever imagined.



Purchase produce: fresh or frozen, make sure it's on sale. And then buy a bunch of it.



Heat water in pan with a steam basket.



Add vegies or fruit. (If you're doing fresh vegies or fruit, make sure you wash, peel -if necessary-, and chop up the items before putting them in the steamer basket.)



Steam. (With lid ON - I took it off to show you how pretty the green beans are!)



When complete, allow to cool a bit and put them in your blender.



If the item is thick (green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, squash), you'll want to add a little of the cooking water. Eyeball this and see what consistency looks best for your baby.



Blend.



Don't scare your child with the blender.



Once blended, pour concoction into ziploc storage containers. I use these because they're easy and reusable, but some people put the food into ice trays and, once frozen, place the little food cubes into freezer bags. I think the ziploc containers are a little easier, but that's just me.



Notice the difference between the store bought green beans and the homemade ones. Which ones would YOU want to eat? Yeah, I thought so.



Allow to cool before placing in the freezer.



When you're ready to use a packet of food, remove from freezer and allow to thaw in the refrigerator. I usually take a couple of packets out of the freezer before I go to bed at night and they're all ready to go in the morning. Done!


Next week: we're going to talk about (gulp) ENTERTAINMENT. If you have any ideas about fun things to do that require less dough, let me know.

a word from winston

When I was in elementary school, my father lost his job. It was in the early 80's... I don't even know the year, to tell you the truth. I was aware that my dad wasn't working at Mighty Big Accounting Firm anymore and that we were going to need to be thrifty. In the time that followed, I can't tell you one thing I missed while our family was being thrifty. I can't tell you one toy I wanted but didn't get, I can't tell you one outing that we thrifted on, I can't tell you one single material item that screamed WE ARE ON A LIMITED BUDGET. I applaud Winston and mom for their candor with us kids. They let us in on the family project. And I'm amazed how well they kept it together mentally and emotionally. I never saw either one of them cry, curse, or get mad about things. I never witnessed stress, though I know - both from the obvious OH MY GOODNESS WHAT WOULD WE DO IF WE WERE IN THAT SITUATION and from conversations I've had with both of my parents about that time - that there certainly WAS a great deal of stress. And tension. And worry. But somehow, someway, they were strong. Strong enough for themselves, and certainly strong enough for our family.

This is the kind of strength I want to have for myself, and for my little family. For Alice. For Chip. For whatever babies might be on our horizon one day.

We are FINE HERE, so don't go thinking that either Chip or I are jobless. We are incredibly fortunate. We have exactly what we need. But we know, we know that a time is coming when we are going to need to make do with less. Less stuff. Less creature comforts. Less clutter. Less. This time of knowing may not come in the form of a lost job like it did with my dad. It might come because we need to help out someone else in our family, it might come because of natural disaster, it might come because of health issues. We don't know how it will come, but it will come.

My phone rang on Friday morning while Chip, Alice, and I were walking the streets of beautiful Friday Harbor on San Juan Island (pictures coming). It was Winston, and he wanted to talk about conservation. He and mom had been discussing the times we're living in, and what's going on with the economy, and they felt it was important to remind their family about thrift. About making do with less. I'm so glad they let us in on the family project.

I don't remember anything that was missing from that time of joblessness because (and here's the thing to remember) as a child, I didn't know any different. We made do with what we had, and I was happy. Happy! Can you imagine? I was happy to not wear new clothes. Happy to not have the latest video game. Happy to not have a cell phone. I think we can do the same: teach our children, our neighbors, our friends, that it's possible to smile and laugh and live a really beautiful life full of purpose without HAVING to HAVE.

So now I'm letting YOU in on the family project. I have some ideas about it, ways we can live on less. Ways we can have fun while doing it. And I want to hear your ideas. Tomorrow will be my first post - I'll do a weekly message and I hope you decide to join in our mission. Email me at whimsyattack AT gmail DOT com with your ideas for thrift. Ways you cut down, ways you make something last longer, ways you are living conservatively.

Come on, it'll be fun.