Sleeping & Camping

Image via Wikipedia

In a previous post I mentioned that my Grave’s Disease has come back.  The hormone levels didn’t even take long to get out of range.  I am already feeling the difference: my handwriting isn’t as controlled, I’m not napping as well, I’m not sleeping as well, and I feel more jazzed up.  So, my doctor prescribed another Beta Blocker for me.  Last night was the first night with this new Beta Blocker and I slept.  Sure, I had to read a bit to calm my mind; but I slept.

Open Source

Image via Wikipedia

Many of the things I write about detail sustainability and sustainable living.  I’d like to take this post to discuss sustainability on a technological level.  Previous posts have described my frustration with computers and the next new thing.  Clearly, constantly eliminating technology in replace of newer hardware where the old hardware is simply thrown out isn’t sustainable.  But, what would an alternative be?  Open Source software that works with hardware of many ages is one such option.  Open Source software also speaks to a philosophy of shared knowledge, which in many circles is an underlying aspect to sustainability.

Canning

I’ve wanted to learn to can vegetables for quite some time.  I’ve grown tomatoes for three years (not consecutive), and my husband and I are slowly working out our routines.  We have been to the u-pick farms more this year and have had a greater variety of fruits, although I don’t believe we’ve yielded the same quantity as last year.  Regardless, we are slowly learning, and slowly we are working our budget down and eating more home-prepared foods.

Frugal Food Prep

With the advent of social networking, I’ve been able to keep in touch with some high school friends.  One friend, Mackenna, wanted to contribute some ideas to the frugal side of life.  Here are some tried-and-true tips she uses or has gathered from the wisdom of her parents and grandparents.  Visit her blog at http://deliberate28.wordpress.com.

• Buy meat from local farmers.  You can get half a cow, etc. this way and many farms are organic nowadays.
• When you have a turkey roast or ham roast or whole chicken, use the remainder of meat by making soup or stew with it.  I use the ham-bone and 4-6 red potatoes and a little milk, garlic, salt, pepper, minced onion and parsley (along with a few dashes of flour) to make a mean pot of ham & potato cream soup that will feed my family for 2 more meals than just tossing the bone. When I’m done with that I take the bone and give it to the dog. I do the same with chicken and add some egg noodles and canned carrots if I am out of fresh.  I make turkey soup with whatever veggies I have lying around or in the freezer (frozen veggies are great for soup).  Well, all of it but give to the dog. They can’t have poultry bones.
• If you make dinner from 1.5 pounds of burger and only need >1 lb, cook up the rest separately, mark and freeze it, and use it later for a fast dinner.  Saves you on prep time when you only need enough meat for spaghetti sauce, etc.
• Enter into a ‘food trade’ with friends or family occasionally.  You know that stuff that is in your pantry but seldom used?  I will clean it out every 3 months or so and swap food items with my mom.  “We just haven’t been eating x,y or z thing lately… want to trade it for anything you aren’t eating there?”
• Use dried beans, legumes and barley to compliment your soups.  They cook up fresh and go a long way in filling up your family, so you can get farther for your buck.  Even adding 1 cup of dry barley into my soup makes it go so much farther.
• Stir fries are a great way to throw everything into a pot and go.  You have lots of misc. leftover little baggies of frozen veggies, you can combine them all this way.
• Create a list of every single thing you can cook that your family likes.  Then, make a menu plan for 2 weeks based on how frugal you need to be (some times are more strained than others), what you have in the house, what you have for coupons, etc.   I fed my entire family (WELL) for the last 2 weeks and I only spent $140 at the grocery store.  That included 2 cans of formula, a huge box of diapers, wipes, and baby food (I tried making my own but  my kid won’t eat most of it, so I have to supplement it with store-bought).  That included making a dish to pass at a family event and lunch and dinner on both sets of weekend days.
• Make your own French fries with oil and potatoes.  If you can grow your potatoes, it’s even cheaper, but I can buy a huge bag of potatoes for $2.50.  I plan for them in my meals and separate them out over the 2 weeks and usually have some leftover at the end.  This time I made soup, fries, baked potatoes and still have 4 left.  I make my own French fries in a frying pan with a thin layer of oil and a dash of salt.  My family likes them better than the Ore-Ida kind anyway.
• As I said before, canning is a limitless opportunity to save money.  While I haven’t’ canned in some time, I am going to get on that bandwagon this year without a doubt.  It means 3 busy weeks in the fall, but an entire year of lovingly cooked food for my family and a huge cost savings.
• Refill your water bottles [use something sturdier than #1 plastic from the store for health reasons].  Many people buy distilled water jugs at the store.  The stores will let you refill them.  It costs less and it is more environmentally sound.  Also, with little to go bottles, do the same.  Refill them from your tap.  It’s just water – it’s not like you’re going to get Ecol-i from it or anything if you re-use them.  We can make a case of 12 waters last a month or more by just refilling them.

Check out my green guide for the next two weeks to see a day-at-a-time installment of some green cleaning tips, also from Mackenna.

FREE Fix-It Fair

We just got this brochure in the mail for the office of Planning and Sustainability, www.portlandonline.com/bps.

On Saturday, February 7th from 8:30am until 2pm, at George Middle School (10000 N Burr Ave, Portland, OR), the City of Portland will host an event where folks can learn to save money and “connect with resources.”

They will have exhibits of the following:

• weatherization
• health & nutrition
• water & energy saving tips
• recycling
• yard & garden care
• community resources

They will also be host to workshop on improving your home, 45 minutes long, offered hourly.

AND, they will have FREE lunch, lead testing, and on-site professional childcare.  Even door prizes on the hour.

This is a terrific service to get informed and get free useful stuff for your home, like energy efficient light bulbs.

Get in, and get in early.  It looks like it will be jam packed with a lot of workshops covering many facets of the home.  Bring a friend and tag team the workshops!

Mulch This

The back-side view of our free mulch.

We thought it was steaming at first, but as we worked with it Saturday, we realized the pile is that hot.

Beth stands about 5'7".

How to Live Frugally

This seems to be a common search as of late, and it keeps popping on my blog “What does it mean to live frugally?” That blog was more of a rant on how we are treading the waters where we swim. I’m not sure I really know how to live frugally. I have learned a few things over the years and past few months, and those are:

• Track your expenses (write everything down)
• Create a budget
• Use a Baby Step Method, I like the following:

1. Create a $1,000 emergency fund
2. Pay off debt (except house) with debt snowball
3. Add to started emergency fund, finishing at 3-6 months of living expenses
4. Retirement plan
5. College fund for kids
6. Pay off house
7. Be charitable

I use Franklin Covey planners, and they have an envelope form where we keep our monthly receipts.  From there, I transfer the amounts to an excel sheet I created to track our expenses.  I track all our expenses, everything we spend with cash and the debit card and our fixed household expenses like rent and utilities.  I also utilize another spreadsheet to track how our expenses compare to our income.  I update both at the end of the month and share with my husband where we are.  We talk about everything and make even grocery shopping trips joint decisions.

Larry Burkett was the first to spell out for me where our money should go.  I never knew before how much I should be spending on rent and utilities, for example.  It’s difficult to make a budget if you don’t know if you’re spending too much.  Dave Ramsey has piggy-backed off Burkett’s framework and made it more flexible.  If you don’t have an automobile, for example, you could take that expense and put it towards your housing costs.  The breakdown is as follows, all percentages are based on income:

• Tithe 10% of gross
• Housing 38% of net
• Auto 15% of net
• Food 12% of net
• Insurance 5% of net
• Entertainment & Recreation 5% of net
• Clothing 5% of net
• Medical & Dental 5% of net
• Miscellaneous 5% of net
• Savings 5% of net
• Indebtedness 5% of net

Dave Ramsey would probably say that you should take the last three, 15% and put it all towards debt if you have it, get that paid off, and live debt free.  Once you’re debt free then you can focus on his other baby steps (4 and beyond).

We are in Baby Step #2, but the freedom we both feel just being on a budget and keeping our expenses in check is amazing.  We know the end is in sight now.

United Solar Ovonic

United Solar Ovonic is opening its doors in my hometown of Greenville, Michigan.  I was unable to find a press release stating as much on their site, but I did find the job openings.

Apparently, Greenville is slated to be in National News tonight on NBC Nightly News in an interview with Anne Thompson.  Maybe this 2-3 minute segment will shed more light on the deal.

I am quite skeptical about this proposed deal.  It’s a good sign that it’s a “green technology” using the old Electrolux/Frigidair/Gibson site.  But, I wonder if it’s just a green version of smokestacking.

I suppose, only time will truly tell.

Warehouse Property for Lease

Warehouse property…

I grew up in Greenville, Michigan.  My mom married my wonderful step-father, and we moved into a home on W. Montcalm Street, where we lived from 1987 until we all graduated from high school.  My parents now own their own home, still living in Greenville while us kids have all moved on, but Greenville will always be home to me.

I always think of it as a fairly typical small town.  It has quaint streets, with quaint homes, surrounded by fields.  Many of my classmates have all fled onto bigger and better things, and often it seems the men running the show are protecting their coveted old boys club.

We grew up next to the Flat River.  It was fabulous in the winter time because that’s where the snow-trucks would bring all the snow collected from the streets.  We had an instant snow-fort courtesy of the weather and the convenience of putting it there.  There was a pretty big hill two houses down, and immediately behind our house “woods”.  Now, these woods weren’t like Forest Park, but they were ours.  They gave us blackberries in the summer, and offered me a tree to climb and think when all I wanted to be was alone.  Further down from that tree, was the hill two houses down from ours.  This was our sledding hill.  Other kids, and occasionally, we too would go to Tower Park.  But, overall, this hill made many a fun, bundled winter day.  (Climbing back up it was always the trick.)

Across from the river sat Gibson’s.  Or, Gibson’s as I knew it when we lived in the house.  It always seemed there was some campaign to keep Gibson’s from moving to South/North Carolina or Mexico, some campaign to keep the jobs in Greenville.  This is not unlike that which Lansing does with its Blue Ribbon campaigns in some vain attempt to keep G.M. there with open doors.  Soon, Gibson’s fled, and Frigidaire took its place.  My brother even worked there after high school (college wasn’t his road to follow).  But, he was laid off after a year or two, along with a few of his friends.  I had since moved away from Greenville, and my interest in local politics faded as I encountered new local politics.  Soon, I heard Frigidaire was leaving, and now cynicism set in, no longer was I surprised that another manufacturing giant was leaving.

I was surprised that Electrolux moved in, but not surprised when they left.  So, today, I stumbled upon Greenville’s City ad linking to the above referenced PDF, an ad for the over 400,000 square feet of manufacturing/storage space built in 1981.  I have since learned that a very large percent of manufacturing firms have left Greenville including a theater-seat maker, many tool & die shops, and other auto-related industries.

While at Portland State, I learned of a term called “Smokestacking.”  Smokestacking is the process where local governments offer manufacturers cheaper tax deals than their neighbor in an effort to entice the manufacturer to set up shop in their locale, providing jobs and economic stimulus for their town.  What often happens is the company keeps moving to the next lower tax deal.  We can observe how  local communities have changed to states and countries, as we see in our very large global economy.  So, with the manufacturer always leaving, and with it leaving often thousands unemployed, destroying a tax base, and driving taxes down further in another town, local services are then consistently lowered.  In a global economy, when wages are constantly driven down, in the long run everyone’s standard of living is driven down with it.  The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

It’s such an old adage, that it almost seems like fact.  It happens so often, it’s like we’ve let the adage itself take control instead of facing the responsibilities for our own lives. I find this particularly puzzling when I see that Greenville is offering another smokestack deal to some unnamed manufacturing firm to set up where Gibson’s, Frigidaire, and Electrolux have all left.  I am reminded of what Einstein said regarding psychosis, where someone is insane when they do the same thing over again expecting different results.  What different will happen if taxes are cut further to attract some industry that will be viewed as a hopeful panacea.  What different will really happen when the tears well up and shock settles as yet another manufacturing firm leaves?  What will it take for the citizens of my home town to realize they have the power to change that?

Several years ago, during another bank merger, a big bank came in and bought out a more local bank.  Nary a person liked the new big bank, so a group of local investors created their own bank, Greenville Community Bank.  Why don’t the citizens of Greenville take that same type of stamina and courage and forge ahead in an industry that hasn’t been tried in Greenville?  Why don’t they try something different to boost the eonomy, bring in jobs, and create a better style of living for all its citizens?  Afterall, we are only as strong as the weakest link.  And, perhaps that’s the metaphor here.  It looks like the same old boys club playing by the same old tired rules, trying to change something without changing the game plan.  And, as Einstein told us, that’s insane.

See the continuation of this story here.