economizing 13
13 ways to save:
1. Costco membership. Buy in bulk and save. So you get enough hamburger in one package to feed an army, it’s pretty easy to divide it up into 1 lb portions and bag in freezer ziplocks. And then you have handy meal-sized units to work with, since most burger recipes call for 1 lb.
2. Switch from cold cereal to oatmeal. The stuff in boxes is a lot more pricey than the Costco-sized Quaker Oats, and usually not as good for you. Too boring? Add a handful of raisins and a tablespoon of maple syrup to the pot. Chopped apple with a dash of cinnamon and a lump of brown sugar. Variations are endless.
3. Ditch the brand-name cleaners and buy baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice. That’s enough to tackle most cleaning jobs, and it’s better for the environment, too.
4. If you have space for a clothesline, dry your clothes outside when the weather’s nice.
5. Set your washing machine to wash in cold water.
6. Lower the temperature on your hot water heater.
7. Plan meals before shopping to avoid impulse buys or repeated trips for forgotten ingredients.
8. Bake your own bread. A bread machine does it for you if the kneading is difficult on your hands. But don’t buy the pre-mixed boxes, it’ll cost as much as a loaf of packaged bread. Just get the big bag of flour and jar of yeast and DIY.
9. If your dishwasher has a water-saver cycle, use that. And skip the heat drying cycle.
10. Lower the night-time thermostat in winter and toss on another blanket.
11. Shop around for the best values. (Best value is not always lowest initial price; if something costs a little more but will last twice as long, it’s the better value.)
12. Coordinate errands to save gas.
13. Hyper-mile when driving. You will not believe the mileage difference.
Rolling with it
This has been a year with lots of changes, and I’ve decided that this is just how I roll now. For instance, the waking up around 3:00 a.m. no matter what I do. Apparently this is my new wake-up time. Well, okay, then. A chance to hear myself think when everybody else is asleep can’t be all bad. And due to my intake of vitamins and vegetables, my energy’s staying pretty level, so, you know. Seize the day. Seize the vegetable. Speaking of which, I think there may be rebellion if I don’t get the zucchini cake made soon.
Yes, the zucchini of summer’s end is here. How we love it. This zucchini lasagna is fantastic, and I really am going to try the zucchini fritters. But the kids are demanding chocolate zucchini cake, so that’s next. Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it. You’d never guess you were eating something good for you.
The great virtual school experiment has turned out to be fascinating and full of interesting bonuses. I’m really enjoying it. I didn’t expect it to shift our family dynamic in such an interesting, positive way, but the ripple effect goes in all directions, from more cooperative small people to the muse bouncing around playing with words and ideas. The most important thing, though, is that the love of learning is alive in my kids, and they love school. And they’re both picking up new skills so fast I can’t believe it. I thought it was going to be a huge effort, but it just isn’t. It’s something we all look forward to.
Weight lifting is another good change. Goodbye, back pain. I don’t miss you. Seriously, I think it’s the first time in my life my back doesn’t hurt.
So, this is the new normal. Weights twice a week, virtual school, books in progress, getting up at 3:00 a.m. plotting new ways to utilize zucchini. It’s how I roll.
Talking politics
I’m going to talk about politics, so here’s fair warning. Anybody who might find political discussion objectionable, click away now. Thank you.
John McCain: “I still believe our fundamental underpinnings of our economy are strong.”
I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard this statement. Within a block of our house, two homes have been foreclosed in the last six months. Two houses down, our neighbors are moving away because he lost his job and found a new one in another state. Their house is for rent; they don’t think they can sell it in the current economy.
In a wider view of this city, entire neighborhoods are littered with foreclosure signs. Not bad neighborhoods, either. Neighborhoods with large houses, double and triple car garages, views, and lots of luxury features. Houses that went for $300,000 and up. Statewide, the jobless rate is at a four-year high. Nationwide, the picture is much the same. When a major investment bank like Lehman Brothers collapses, it’s almost inconceivable that anybody could say, with a straight face, that we have a fundamentally strong economy. (Alan Greenspan, by contrast, says this is the worst economy he’s ever seen.)
The economy is a mess. The state of health care is a mess. Schools? Another mess. Soaring gas prices are having a ripple effect, driving up costs across the board. And then there’s the other big issue, global climate change. Maybe you don’t believe it exists. I lived under glaciers that were melting on top of us, causing flooding followed by drought. I saw the shrinking snow pack in the Olympic mountain range. It wasn’t a shock to me when an arctic ice shelf the size of Manhattan broke off. I lived where I could see the changes happening. It exists. People can argue all day long about the cause, but the reality is inescapable. Global climate change is real. Fighting about what’s causing it does nothing to solve the problem. And according to experts, we have one hundred months to act before it’s too late.
What does all this mean? It means that the worst thing in the world is business as usual. It means that change has to happen. It means that we do not need a man in the White House who believes business as usual is a good plan. We don’t need four more years of what we already know isn’t working.
This may well be the most critical election of my lifetime. The outcome of this election will determine how well America weathers the host of challenges facing us. Economically, ecologically, socially, this is a crucial time. The policies implemented over the next four years will have enormous impact, for good or bad.
I’m voting for change. I’m voting for Barack Obama. I urge you to vote whatever way your conscience moves you, but by all means, vote, because your voice matters and must be heard. This is not a time for apathy and cynicism. This is a time to act. Register to vote and on election day, get out there and cast your ballot.
Thank you. We will now return to our regularly scheduled program of lolcats and musing on the writing life.
Word
Via Laurell K Hamilton’s blog, “…whatever feeds your creativity to honor it. Not to think it’s silly, or eccentric, but to simply find out what it is and do it.” – original author unknown
Recent Comments