I’m intrigued by Rachel’s explanation of her family’s No Spend Month. After paying all major bills, they allow themselves $250 for everything else, like food, gas, clothing, coffee. Chocolate too, I suppose, although she doesn’t specifically mention that … My first thought was a bit churlish: “Well, every month is no spend month around here.” [...]
Living Simply in the Kitchen
April 21, 2009 By 6 Comments
Coffee Cutbacks, Part 2
January 13, 2009 By 2 Comments
A while back I shared our decision to start using average ground coffee in place of what had been our usual high quality beans. We’ve been doing fairly well with this, using our low-budget blend on weekdays and indulging in a finer brew on weekends. Making this kind of a change in our habits has [...]
Making do and doing without
December 13, 2008 By 2 Comments
I’ve been thinking this week about the phrase that galvanized the Greatest Generation through World War II and the Great Depression: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. The more I reflect on those words, the more wisdom I find in them. They’re good advice for caring for the earth [...]
Living simply is easier with good neighbours
November 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Book Review: Affluenza
November 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Affluenza, by de Graaf, Wann and Naylor, was inspired by a 1997 PBS show and its sequel Escape from Affluenza. Affluenza is a fun, witty, thought-provoking read. (Just ask Hubby, who has been listening to excerpts from it all week.) And before you get too nervous, the message of the book is not “stop buying!”; [...]
Celebrating Advent with a Jesse Tree
November 14, 2008 By 2 Comments
I'm a recovering unconscious consumer
November 12, 2008 By 12 Comments
Unconscious consumption – spending, consuming, and wasting without understanding the related costs and real value – seems to be standard in our culture today. As a recovering unconscious consumer, I’m starting to recognize some of the symptoms of the condition. For what it’s worth, I’ll share them here. So — you might be an unconscious [...]
Gift Idea: A homemade felt board
November 9, 2008 By 8 Comments
Christmas is next month, and I’m sure that someone, somewhere knows exactly how many shopping days and hours are left. This year I want to try to make some aspects of our Christmas simpler, and an easy target is that cluttered list of obligatory gifts to buy. I’ve therefore determined to make our girls their [...]
De-accumulating has come to a halt
November 8, 2008 By 4 Comments
