frugal
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flea markets and thrift stores
I spent Sunday meandering around the ginormous antiques fair in Alameda and Monday I did research at several local thrift stores. In all of my travels, I looked at how much plastic is discarded and reused, as well as what alternatives there are for non-plastic use in the home. The items in the photo are some of my finds. I’ll name them, clockwise: ice tray, canisters, cheese grater, nut chopper with new red handle, soap-chip swisher, lawn sprinkler head, jar grabber and fireplace bread toaster. The item in the center is a wall-mounted bottle opener (obviously not mounted anywhere yet). As I start to weed out some of the plastics in our…
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fresh fruit & veg
One of my favorite weekly outings is to the Alameda Farmers’ Market — we’re lucky enough to have a twice-weekly market about a mile or so from my house. Yes, it’s a bike ride away. I take my own bags, fill up the panniers and pedal home again. Easy peasy. Even better, none of the produce that I buy at the farmers’ market has even one of those stupid fruit labels on it. Plastic! ptooey! There was a funny Rhymes with Orange comic printed a few years ago that cracked me up: The lady is sitting in front of an x-ray machine and the doctor sees all these fruit labels…
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Shoppy Shop Talk, Part II
Yesterday’s shopping adventures included the purchase of several personal care or cleaning items. I made the leap and purchased a wooden comb and a wooden-handled toothbrush, both by Bass, silk dental floss, tea tree oil toothpicks, and a box of baking soda. Why baking soda? Because, in addition to the many other uses of this amazing ingredient, from cleaning the sink, toilet and floor to washing your hair, brushing your teeth, washing clothes, and eliminating odors, the 1-pound box is about $1, and it’s cardboard. A pound of anything for $1 is a good deal, if you ask me, but this stuff is truly miraculous. And unfortunately, I found almost nothing else for…
- Challenge Update, family, food, frugal, green, My World and Welcome to It, no waste, plastic, recycling, sustainable living
shoppy shop talk, Part I
I’m back from a full day of grocery shopping and exploring non-plastic items. I went to three stores today as well as the farmers’ market and a small cheese shop. I have good news to report almost everywhere, except at the bank. There, the news is scary. See that shopping cart in the photo? Those two bags of groceries cost me $98. (falls over in dead faint…) There’s so much to tell that I’m gonna spread this over two days. Because who doesn’t want to talk about food prices and plastic, ad nauseum? I do, I do!! Today I went to Lucky, CVS, Alameda Natural Grocery, Farmstead Cheeses and Wines, and the Alameda…
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Sunday musing
One of the pleasures of a Sunday morning (besides a tasty bowl of cereal) is the newspaper, that fat bundle lying like a gift on the front step. I (heart) the Sunday paper. The nice delivery person, a mystery visitor to our home once a week, leaves the paper on the front step, so close to the door that I could fetch it bare nekkid and still be OK. So why does s/he feel the need to wrap it in plastic? Not just on rainy days, but every week? Note to self: contact San Francisco Chronicle and have the plastic bags stopped. The worst thing that could happen without the bag is…