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 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...
Aug 8, 2011 | A better way, Cultural chaos, Just plain good, Read the fine print, Salvaged |
I got to participate in a really cool thing yesterday. New Dos and New Shoes at the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center. Under-resourced kids got new shoes and new hairdos for going back to school. Several hairdressers got together to provide these...
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,...
May 17, 2011 | No retail shopping, Salvaged
So I did take a day off to pick up the camper and to play a little bit. I have to ‘fess up. I had to make a purchase. There was no possible way around it. I had to buy a tire and some air. Here’s the story. The camper had been sitting for 4 years,...
May 9, 2011 | No retail shopping, Salvaged
Happy post Mother’s day! I took off of blogging yesterday to relax after work and take a nap on the trampoline. It’s covered by trees, providing a beautiful shade cover… and lots of sharp branches to hit your head on while jumping. The chainsaw is...
Feb 28, 2011 | No retail shopping, Salvaged, Save $ |
My friend Lauren posted this photo on her Facebook page last month. It’s her dead Mr. Coffee machine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many comments on a photo before. This very basic coffee machine lasted 10 years. Now that’s...
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 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 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 16, 2011 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Salvaged, Save $
My friend that had the flood finally got to move back into her house yesterday. As I was helping, I noticed the old bathroom light fixture sitting in the trash, with all of the old light bulbs still in it. With the challenge, I can’t buy light bulbs, so I...
Dec 22, 2010 | Dumpster diving, Ideas, No retail shopping, Repurposed, Salvaged, Save $ |
As usual, I had to look up some information on this. The white elephant gift exchange is defined on Wikipedia like this: A white elephant gift exchange is a popular holiday party game found primarily in North America. It has many variations in both the name and the...
Dec 19, 2010 | Ideas, No retail shopping, Recycle, Salvaged
I got an awesome little gift a few days ago, unexpected and very much related to trash society. The gift? An origami box with a photo album inside, all made with junk mail and paper stuff from the recycling bin. Check it out… Notice the thought behind this,...
Dec 11, 2010 | Dumpster diving, No retail shopping, Salvaged, Thrift store |
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk0vwmq26JQ This video was created for a school project by a student at the Clarion University of Pennsylvania for a Physics of Energy and the Environment class. It’s a wonderful video on the how-to’s of dumpster diving...
Dec 9, 2010 | No retail shopping, Salvaged |
At work this week, someone dropped and broke our cordless drill. Accidents happen, and we had to buy a new drill. Right after that, the tape measure wouldn’t retract back into the case. So what do you do with these things? Possible repurpose? Luckily I work...
Nov 24, 2010 | No retail shopping, Read the fine print, Recycle, Salvaged |
I had to shop yesterday for work, and I know now why I don’t shop. Getting new stuff can be good, but the shopping process just isn’t fun. I had to go to Home Depot, which is basically a toy store for me. If I was shopping, that would be in my top 5....
Nov 13, 2010 | Dumpster diving, Ideas, No retail shopping, Recycle, Salvaged, Thrift store |
Okay, so it’s not an olympic sport… yet. I do however, find this black friday business very interesting. The idea for this blog post started with an article I found in a local magazine, called Black Friday: Survival Tips. Please understand, if you...
Nov 12, 2010 | No retail shopping, Salvaged |
I wish, just some of the time, that I could turn off my brain. It’s full of active monkeys, as one of my friends said. Another says I have crossed-wire mentality, that’s why I can be creative and artistic, but at the other end of the spectrum, do...
Oct 9, 2010 | Ideas, No retail shopping, Salvaged, Save $ |
Back on day 103, my friend across the street called asking for some ideas about painting her kids bathroom. I’m sure Diane is thinking… *note to self*, don’t ask Jody a decorating question unless you want to remodel your entire house. The bathroom...
Oct 9, 2010 | No retail shopping, Salvaged, Thrift store
So… I don’t get it. I can see a chair with speakers, but I really don’t get the speaker under the butt, or between the legs design here. Does anyone else understand this? If so, please comment. This is what I love about thrift stores though. So...
Sep 6, 2010 | Ideas, No retail shopping, Salvaged |
So my friend Diane calls yesterday and says, “I thought about painting the kids bathroom with black and white stripes. I painted over wallpaper, what do you think?” What I think is that’s a great opportunity to brainstorm great ideas and use...
Jul 27, 2010 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Salvaged, Save $ |
I’m always yapping to people about my blog and the challenge, but most people will not remember the website name or think about visiting it. I would like to eventually turn this into a resource of ideas, from easy to radical, on making life changes to become...
Jul 23, 2010 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Salvaged |
I found this listing under ‘free stuff’ on craigslist.org. It made me smile. This is a great example of being mindful about our resources. Reply to: sale-qathe**********@craigslist.org for some reason i own 2 blue fuzzy lined little boys crocs size 9....
Jul 14, 2010 | No retail shopping, Recycle, Salvaged, Thrift store
No shopping yesterday AND I managed to avoid the grocery store. :) My kids and I went to see the Sno-cone Lady, then went to the library, and they actually wanted to sit there and read for a long time. Wow, that was nice. Much better than being in a store hearing,...
