Jun 2, 2012 | Cultural chaos, Recycle, Repurposed
I decided to go to the Frisco Farmers’ Market today. As the words farmers’ market suggests, I expected to find lots of local produce vendors and maybe a few other food-type vendors. Since the name starts with Frisco, maybe my expectations should have...
Nov 14, 2011 | Creative weirdness, Repurposed, Salvaged
Being the extremely frugal person I am, I was not going to let the leftover queso go to waste. I was with a large group of people from church, half adults and half kids. I placed my queso in a non-styrofoam to-go container and realized my kids had leftovers too. I...
Oct 27, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Repurposed, Salvaged
I found a place of business a few days ago that models everything I believe in. The Grass Roots Eco Cleaners & Market is a wonderful place in Frisco that everyone should know about. So why is this place so great? The cleaning is eco-friendly The fixtures and...
Sep 26, 2011 | A better way, Repurposed, Save $
My boys needed a sling bag for a school camping trip. Now the really great thing about this, is that I tried to buy one of these for them at the beginning of the school year. They both said they didn’t really need one and could find something else to use....
Sep 17, 2011 | A better way, Ideas, Repurposed, Salvaged |
Yes, that’s a piece of art hanging on the wall outside, on my patio. I was painting this canvas in my garage, but the 100+ temperatures warped the wood frame. I still love the painting, and although I never finished it to my final idea, it’s now looking...
Sep 4, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Repurposed
I said, “No fast food through the end of the year.” Why? Mostly because of the wastefulness of it. The amount of disposable plastics, paper and styrofoam bothers me. We do fast food places out of convenience. I just wanted to see how badly I needed...
Aug 4, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Read the fine print, Repurposed, Salvaged, Save $
Yes, it’s time to start preparing for back-to-school. My kids are in denial that they’re going back soon. I’m in denial that I have to spend a lot of money on school supplies. Of all the challenges a year of no retail shopping posed on our lives,...
Jul 20, 2011 | Flashback, Just plain good, Repurposed, Thrift store |
The first thing I do when I’m on vacation in a new city is scope out all of the local thrift stores and resale shops. It was raining yesterday, so the kids couldn’t do some of the things they had planned, so we hit the thrift stores. The first one had...
Jul 8, 2011 | A better way, Repurposed, Thrift store
Yes, I paid full price. Two times. But it was planned. As I said early on in the no retail shopping challenge, I would love to have a pair of TOMS shoes. I love what they’re doing and if I buy a pair of shoes, a child that is in need of shoes gets a pair....
May 19, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Repurposed
One of my neighbors was talking about getting rid of some planters and clay pots that have been sitting on the side of her house for a while. She said her husband was going to throw them out if nobody wanted them. I have no idea if that meant the trash of the thrift...
Apr 23, 2011 | Creative weirdness, No retail shopping, Repurposed
I used 6 boxes of Peeps to make a video. Peeps are food, however I didn’t buy them. After spending some quality time with my Peeps, I really didn’t want to get rid of the little guys. I took a bite out of one and quickly remembered why I don’t eat...
Apr 19, 2011 | Cultural chaos, No retail shopping, Repurposed, Save $, Sharing |
I was given a challenge several weeks ago to come up with an artistic creative element to do during a church service. I remembered about two years ago, I had seen some motion sand art created on a light table with a camera mounted above it. As I started fantasizing...
Apr 10, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed, Save $, Thrift store
There’s a lot of stuff that might be considered trash, but before you throw something away, think about the possible uses for it. These are partially full cleaning supplies and pesticides, well, there’s also a random bottle of unopened champagne too....
Apr 8, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Repurposed
While in the process of ridding my house of many unused things, I received a Facebook message about a garage sale. This is not just any garage sale, it’s a sale to help someone in need. Here’s the info from Facebook. We will be holding a HUGE Charity...
Apr 4, 2011 | No retail shopping, Repurposed, Save $
I have really come to hate the taunting music played from the ice cream truck, getting louder as it gets closer to my house. As soon as I hear the fain sounds of it, I know what’s next. Mom!!!!! The ice cream truck!!!!!! My kids know I’m not a fan of...
Mar 30, 2011 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed |
I quit using plastic garbage bags, or any type of plastic lining in my trash cans. Why? I just don’t see why we need to place trash in plastic bags, taking much longer for it to decompose in a landfill. I thought back to my kids earlier diaper days and the...
Mar 24, 2011 | No retail shopping, Read the fine print, Recycle, Repurposed, Save $, Thrift store |
I decided to check out a little boutique in downtown Frisco. Yes, I said boutique. I heard a story about some recycled jeans they are selling and decided to check it out. The Blue Door Boutique, a cute little shop with a lot of style, carries a lot of interesting...
Mar 5, 2011 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed |
Giant, shrink-wrapped books. They’re everywhere. I think it rained phonebooks, although I don’t remember seeing that in my weather forecast. Flint Lockwood must have made another machine, but this one storms phone books. They’re on top of the...
Feb 18, 2011 | No retail shopping, Repurposed, Salvaged |
What!??!?! I can’t hear you, the angels are singing to loudly. The Habitat for Humanity ReStore is heaven on earth… it’s a giant hardware building supply store, but all used stuff. I found some of the home repair stuff I’ve been...
Feb 14, 2011 | Downsizing, No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed |
I know my neighbors must cringe when they drive by garage when the door is open. I’m clearly the ugly neighbor. Since I’ve been downsizing in the cold weather, everything was pitched out into the garage, in anticipation of some warm weather to get...
Feb 3, 2011 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed, Salvaged, Thrift store
So this is the third day we’ve been “iced” in. This is clearly not snow, as you can walk on top of it. I even saw a video of a kid ice skating in the street. My kids are bouncing off the walls and I’m so ready for this mess to go away, and...
Jan 31, 2011 | No retail shopping, Repurposed |
I met with some friends at a local coffee shop a couple of days ago. Coffee shops are good… the implied earthy feel, the aroma of fresh brewed coffee, the trendy decor, the comfortable seats, the people watching entertainment and the busy sounds of much needed...
Jan 26, 2011 | Dumpster diving, No retail shopping, Recycle, Repurposed, Salvaged, Save $ |
Freeycycle is the modern day dumpster diving, without having to touch a dumpster or trash can. From the freecycle site: It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all...
Jan 24, 2011 | No retail shopping, Repurposed, Save $
My kids keep leaving lights on all the time. Mostly in their rooms, but also other rooms, where I don’t have energy efficient lighting. They weren’t always this way. To make a point about electric costs and being wasteful, I used to charge them 25¢ each...
Jan 24, 2011 | No retail shopping, Repurposed
My son made these cards, inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards. The little gun is made from a pencil, a ticket, some tape, a camouflage band-aid and a pencil eraser. A lot of detailed work went into making it. All of the supplies were little things sitting around...
