This year, I’m trying my hardest to have a “green” Christmas.  I wrote about some of the presents I’m making, but I wanted to divulge more on things you can do to help others have a green Christmas as well!

• Skip the wrapping paper on your Christmas presents.  Instead, purchase reusable cloth grocery bags.  Not only will you help the landfills from the lack of wrapping paper, but you’ll also eliminate more plastic bags being used!
• Make some homemade laundry detergent and include the recipe. You’ll eliminate many chemicals from making their way into our water system.
• Make your own cloth baby wipes for new moms and dads. You’ll help the environment and baby’s bum!  You can use old t-shirts or flannel sheets from thrift stores too!
• Treat someone you love to nonfiction audio downloads and help save trees!
• Instead of buying “stuff” for that person you don’t know what to get, make a coupon book for them to redeem car washes, babysitting, etc.

I’m looking forward to getting my Christmas presents wrapped up (figuratively) this weekend.  Are you done yet?

Posted under Green Living

You thought cloth toilet paper was crazy, hanging my laundry out to dry wasn’t too far out there, but once you hear about my next wild and crazy idea, you may begin to think I’m a crunchy nut case. Here’s the honest truth: I’d love to sell our house and live in an RV.  Let me plead my case first.  We’d save money, simplify, reduce our carbon footprint, and not be so tied down to our 9-5 (or in Mr. Money’s case, 9-9) jobs, and enjoy life the way we’re supposed to.

While I would be absolutely ecstatic over actually being able to do this, I know there are cons that we’d encounter.   Let me list my pros and cons, and please help me add to my lists.

Pros:

• Save money.  We wouldn’t have a mortgage payment, taxes, etc.  Our monthly utilities would go down considerably.
• We’d be able to travel all over the country between Colorado and Michigan (where our families are located) and go visit places we are dying to see.  We’d be totally free!  Sometimes I can’t stand being tied down to our house, jobs, etc.  I like to be flexible.
• We wouldn’t have to worry about home maintenance. We could sell one of our cars. We would have less stress.  I think less “things” equals less stress!

Cons:

• We’d have to do something to make money.  I don’t think we could make enough money online to support us.
• It would be hard with the two dogs.  Although, if we did stay in Michigan long enough, my parents own 70 acres we could park on and put up a shed and run for the dogs to play in.  They’d love that!
• We’d have to get rid of a lot of things, and that would be a headache.
• We love our house and we’d lose a lot of money if we sold it in the near future.  We’ve owned it less than two years.

I almost wish we hadn’t bought our house, but we love it so much and it’s perfect for us.  It’s not too big, and we’re in an area that we can be ‘crazy hippies’ and not have people question us.  It’s not the norm for people to do things like we do here, especially living in the midwest/south where people think I am crazy for using cloth grocery bags, but the property we live on is almost an acre, which is great for growing a garden and hanging my laundry out.

 Do you think I am crazy for wanting to simplify and live in an RV?

Posted under Budget, Green Living, Save Your Money

The past two years we’ve lived in our house we’ve planted a garden. Not only does it save us money on purchasing vegetables, but it’s healthier and they taste amazing. Last year Mr. Money was able to spend a lot of time working on the garden. Since he got a promotion in December, he’s been working 12 hour days 5-6 days a week. Needless to say, our garden is reflecting that. We planted zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, peas, green beans, carrots, lettuce, beets, and assorted herbs. I am really disappointed in the yield from our garden this year. I had planned on canning tomatoes and green beans to save money this year. I don’t think I’ll be able to because some of the plants have died and are looking really sickly.

Next year, I have big plans for my garden. I want to plant more greens, like collard greens, collards, and spinach. I want to install a fence or netting to keep bugs and critters out. I want to make sure it gets weeded before the weeds overtake everything. Basically I want to do it all differently than this year.

We have gotten a few zucchini out of our garden, some green beans, and tons of tomatoes. We also compost, and Mr. Money made a beautiful compost bin to contain it and we will use our compost to put in the garden for next year. Here’s a tip: DON’T put weeds in the compost! They will make your compost weedy the next year. We learned that the hard way.

I anticipate getting some more vegetables out of the garden this season. We’ve also talked about planting a fall crop. I think that may be in my weekend plans!

Do you plant a garden or participate in a coop? Do you have any gardening tips to share?

Posted under Green Living, Save Your Money