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I take a small cloth bag to the grocery store to put my veggies in. At the checkout I take it all out and then put it all back in. Saves on hundereds of those little clear bags. I really try not to buy stuff that is heavily packaged and re-packaged. It's such a waste.
Clothes that are torn or beyond wearing again I save and use the material for quilting or as dusters.
Old blankets or towels are great for the local animal shelter.
I can never understand how some people can generate so much trash consistently to the point where the can is filled to overflow weekly...
Many homeowners in my sub division have not one but two overflowing trash containers every week. We must be doing something right ( patting myself on the back ) because we put out a half full container only about once a month.
I have 4 nieces and 1 nephew ages 6 and under... they are all great kids and much smarter than I am
Early on I decided that I would give each one a $5 US Gold Coin for Birthdays and Christmas... I just couldn't see spending money on plastic toys that they would soon outgrow or take up space in the toy box and then end up in the trash.
The first coins I bought cost $38 each and now the same coins are pushing $100...
The older kids really look forward to the coins and are quite proud to have them... and the younger ones are too young to know at this point.
So... this might be my best strike against buying into Consumerism...
I can never understand how some people can generate so much trash consistently to the point where the can is filled to overflow weekly...
Many homeowners in my sub division have not one but two overflowing trash containers every week. We must be doing something right ( patting myself on the back ) because we put out a half full container only about once a month.
I have a mini can that is never more than half full and is often empty...
I only have the can because it is required by law to have mandatory Garbage Service thanks to the Sweetheart Deal my City Fathers made with Waste Mgmt...
... and lest anyone think of not paying their Waste Mgmt garbage bill... the City will pay it and slap a lien along with administrative fees against your property... I don't know how my City can collect for a private company and get away with it... but that's a topic for another discussion.
We were not "consumers" to begin with and $3.50 per gallon gasoline has cut into what litle we did. We have also stated using grocery bags. Shaw's charged a dollar and Hannifords gave theirs away and cuts 4 cents off the bill when you use it.
I try to buy consumables like soap and detergent in large bottles and use as much local produce when possible. I also keep my cars until you can see the road from the inside without using the windows. I do all this to save money. If it is green so much the better.
I have a mini can that is never more than half full and is often empty...
I only have the can because it is required by law to have mandatory Garbage Service thanks to the Sweetheart Deal my City Fathers made with Waste Mgmt...
... and lest anyone think of not paying their Waste Mgmt garbage bill... the City will pay it and slap a lien along with administrative fees against your property... I don't know how my City can collect for a private company and get away with it... but that's a topic for another discussion.
They built it into the taxes here! One way around it. I was able to swap the huge monster of a can for a smaller one. Never changed the amount the city charges us even though the program was through them. It would take me several months to be able to fill the small one I have now.
Bought an existing house, my fiance and I take one car to work when possible. Haven't stopped by DD for an iced coffee or latte lately...kills me to drive right past.
So much of today's furniture is garbage, it's not well made and won't last. Some of the cheaper furniture is also not healthy for you (particle-board off-gasses and such).
So we welcome furniture hand-me-downs from our parents. If it's not a piece that suits our taste, we usually have someone else we can pass it along to (lots of bachelor friends ).
We also pick up furniture off the curb....that's right ! It continues to amaze me what people will throw out. Some of our better finds:
*Near mint condition 40's/50's club chair in the highest quality velvet - velvet you can't even find anymore....would cost hundreds of dollars in an antique store.
*1960's Swedish modern chair - we saw the exact one on Antiques Roadshow, a replica actually, and it was valued at $400.
*Circa 1946 mahogany secretary desk with the matching glass hutch - it even had the skeleton key in the glass door! All the documentation was on the label on the back of the desk and I have priced out the same model in worse condition at $1000 and up in the local antique stores.
As we find better stuff, we pass along the pieces we no longer want and we hope our friends will pass those same pieces along again and keep them out of the landfill .
Wow! I wish folks would put nice stuff like that on the curbside here! Yard sales are huge in this area. Most of the time you can get some deals especially if you are a fix it handy person.
So much of today's furniture is garbage, it's not well made and won't last. Some of the cheaper furniture is also not healthy for you (particle-board off-gasses and such).
So we welcome furniture hand-me-downs from our parents. If it's not a piece that suits our taste, we usually have someone else we can pass it along to (lots of bachelor friends ).
We also pick up furniture off the curb....that's right ! It continues to amaze me what people will throw out. Some of our better finds:
*Near mint condition 40's/50's club chair in the highest quality velvet - velvet you can't even find anymore....would cost hundreds of dollars in an antique store.
*1960's Swedish modern chair - we saw the exact one on Antiques Roadshow, a replica actually, and it was valued at $400.
*Circa 1946 mahogany secretary desk with the matching glass hutch - it even had the skeleton key in the glass door! All the documentation was on the label on the back of the desk and I have priced out the same model in worse condition at $1000 and up in the local antique stores.
As we find better stuff, we pass along the pieces we no longer want and we hope our friends will pass those same pieces along again and keep them out of the landfill .
Wow! Lucky you! I'd give an arm for some sweet deals like that, riveree. Have you caught some of the Antiques Roadshows where the person pulls something from the trash, or gets a nice piece (including artwork) for near-to-nothing? Man!
My brother-in-law bought some artwork at a yard sale -- the work of an artist who is native to where he lives, and is currently showing in NYC. My brother-in-law paid $1 for each of three canvases. Seems these works were presents to a girlfriend when he was still just a HS student, and the girl's mother, evidently, was tired of looking at them.
Why am I never in the right place at the right time?
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) because we put out a half full container only about once a month.
Christmas and Birthday Gifts...
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