What To Ponder Before Purchasing

There have been a lot of bigger than usual purchases taking place or being considered in our household lately. We have tried to make each one in a very thoughtful way, seeking to minimize our impact on the planet with our purchases.  I think it's worth noting though, that we did not necessarily run out and buy organic/recycled/sustainable/whatever-other-greenwashing-terms each time.  These are some things we considered with each purchase and some examples.

1. What can we reuse around here?  I shop around first and try to use innovative economy to come up with creative solutions for reusing our things.  I was able to do this with the frames in the robot room.

2. Can we make it/fix it?  Let me clarify, we are not handy people.  So our ability to make things and fix things is limited.  But when we can do it, like with our clothesline, it saves us from most any purchasing.  We were also able to do our best on the floors, saving us thousands.

3. Can we hire someone locally to make/fix it?  When we cannot do the work ourselves (which is often), we look to hiring local people to help us.  This supports our local economy and cuts down on travel, production, and often manufacturing impact.  We were able to find someone local to make the loft bed in Tucker's room.  We took the check together to Mr. Harry and the result of doing good by keeping the money in our neighborhood was tangible to all of us.

4. Can we get it second-hand?  I always look to second hand early in the shopping process.  If I can find something second-hand locally, that is a new-to-me product with virtually no impact on the planet.

5. Is there an affordable "green" alternative for purchase (first locally and then by order)?  I love doing the very best for the planet, but I am not made of money.  And unfortunately, many of the green options out there still require quite a bit of it.  Luckily, when I ask questions 1-4 first, this one often isn't a concern.  Sometimes I get to this point and I have to really look at where I can best spend my money.  For Tucker's mattress, we went "green" because second hand wasn't an option.

6. What are the special considerations for our home and what will last the longest?  When buying each product we really consider, how long will this last.  That often goes into how much we are willing to pay and the product's long-term impact on the planet.  With the rug in Tucker's room, I could not find a second-hand, local, or green alternative we could afford.  I also knew that we needed a certain type of rug, or the dog would destroy it within days.  So I purchased an affordable, but not green rug.  There is certainly a trade-off.  The rug smells like the chemicals it was created with, but it will not need to be replaced for quite some time and suits our needs quite well.

There isn't one cut and dry answer for every purchase.  But as we train our minds to take into account the whole picture for our health, our pocketbooks, our communities, and the planet, we will start to make better purchasing decisions.

What are the things you ponder before purchasing?

Innovative Economies :: Ant and Weed Control

Meet my patio blocks.  I like them.  I don't like the weeds and ants that gather between them.  So I recently killed two birds (or a whole lot of ants and weeds) with one stone.  I weeded the space between blocks, put some pure white vinegar in my watering can, and went to town.  Then I put in some more fill rocks.  Good-bye ants.  Good-bye constant weeding.  Thank you (again) vinegar.

Innovative Economies :: The Clothesline

You are probably well aware by now of my affinity for sun-drying laundry.  The clothesline was enjoying daily use until recent rains showed us a big problem with our home-made design.  Notice how those sticks in the ground hold up the line?  Turns out that days of rain turn that yard into mud, the sticks fall loose in their holes and my clean clothes fall onto the muddy earth.

Luckily I have a husband well versed in innovative economy.  He took cement blocks that were sitting without purpose near our shed and used them to create a new and improved clothesline.  Now if the sun is out, so are my clothes, without problem.

How have you used innovative economy in your home lately?

Old Maid Finds A Home

You might remember that one of the few things I did right this Christmas was get the boys traditional card games. The good news is that they love them and Tucker is Skip-Bo pro. The bad news is they are hard to store. Enter a little old suitcase that I picked up at a garage sale for 50 cents ages ago and has just been kind of laying around the house for years. Turns out this little green beauty is just right for storing card games and goes perfectly in Tucker's room. Thank you innovative economy.

Innovative Economies

I have been listening to the audio book, Peace and Plenty: Finding Your Path to Financial Serenity. Sarah Ban Breathnach beautifully articulating her own words is one of the most divine free treats (as the book is borrowed from the library). In the book, she outlines what she calls "elegant economies," affordable luxuries even the most financially strapped woman can give herself.

I have been thinking about this as I try to keep myself on a budget by making the most of what I have. This has led me to the idea of innovative economies, using innovation with what I already have to avoid buying something new. Over the next week or so, I hope to share some of my recent innovative economies with you, starting with exhibit a.

This is a "magnetic" dry-erase board. When I bought it I thought that meant it would stick to the fridge...not so much. So I (sadly) applied magnetic stripping to the back so we could use it for family communications, lists, etc... Well, as you can see, that's wasn't working out so well for us.

I racked my brain trying to find a new solution that would respect the fact that we don't have much kitchen wall space and I didn't want to spend any money. Then, my brilliant husband stepped in and pointed out that the fridge could be a dry/wet erase board....and it can!

This allowed me to move the sad board out of the kitchen and into a place where it would be more useful...keeping track of daily to-dos in the boys' bathroom.

Two problems solved, no money spent, innovative economy.

What innovative economies have you been employing recently?