No Lead in My Water, Please

In keeping with the anti-disposable theme, let's chat about rechargeable batteries. Flip through a list of your favorite gadgets and chances are you'll find more than a couple that require batteries. Most folks buy the disposable variety and then, well..dispose of them.

But batteries are toxic little suckers. Most varieties have lead in them, which over the years will leach out. Since we all know that strained landfills don't adequately hold waste, those millions of tossed batteries have the grand ol' opportunity to seep their toxic sweetness into the water table. That's bad for the plants and the fishies and the birds and the bees and most definitely for you and me (that so needs to be made into a children's story! Writers--get to it!).

If you must purchase disposable batteries, please take them to a designated hazardous waste site. (That is also true of the paint and stains that most people wash down the drain!) But the better option is to buy rechargeable batteries. Thankfully, it's easier than ever.

Most major box stores (read: Target) sell rechargeable batteries alongside their disposable counterparts. They require a small initial investment, but will pay for themselves many times over, eventually saving you money and our environment a bit of toxic debris. Instead of the clunky boxes of yesterday, they now make chargers the size of a night light that plug directly into the light socket. Last time I checked, a major company was offering a $5 rebate, making the batteries and charger less than $3. Make sure to do a search to find great internet deals and/or coupons. As always, comparison shopping is a great way to save on any purchase.

What other items do you regularly toss that have reusable counterparts? We've mentioned coffee filters, paper towels/tissues/napkins/menstrual pads, and diapers. But there are countless other options, thanks to our obsession with disposable items. Do you use disposable dust cloths? What about going back to the age of a dust rag and homemade polish?

Although they seem like a cheap and easy option, I'm not so convinced that disposable products are all that inexpensive or effortless. Our landfills are bursting at the seams and our wallets strained by the relentless nickel and dime expenditures. What's most odd is how bizarrely counterintuitive it is to purchase items for the purpose of throwing them away. What ever happened to the notion that a product should be durable, long lasting and of a high quality construction before it merited taking our hard earned cash?

Coffee Filters

Oy. It's been far too long since I've logged anything in here. Please forgive! Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Remember how TV shows used to always show college kids and drunken bachelors using everything from socks to underwear as coffee filters? Thankfully, that joke has died. Unfortunately, crap television is still alive and kicking.

White, bleached paper coffee filters are pretty cheap and available virtually everywhere. For a few cents more, you can buy an unbleached variety. For quite a few cents more, you can purchase filters made from a higher percentage post-consumer recycled material (side note: the higher post-consumer recycled content you can get, the better). For something used daily by most coffee lovers, that adds up to quite a pile of dead trees and/or waste.

Enter the reusable coffee filter. These handy little fellows are usually found next to paper filters in stores. Sometimes, they're a little harder to find (look up, they're often on top shelves). For an investment of a few dollars, you can purchase a filter that can be used indefinitely. There are both plastic and cloth varieties available. I've had mine for more than a decade. If I recall correctly, I bought mine for $5.99 (I neglected to look in thrift stores, so I could have purchased it for less). At the time, filters were around 99 cents for 100. At that rate, it took approximately two years for the filter to pay for itself. So, it's been saving me money for eights years and the landfills waste for ten. Not a bad deal!

On a side note, coffee grounds do wonders for garden compost. But if you're an urban dweller without a community garden, there's another trick for coffee grounds. Use them as an scrub on your body (not the face!). I read about this trick many moons ago in a fashion magazine. Granted, it's not pretty and you need to make sure they don't clog your drains, but lo! Your skin will be tight and silky smooth. Just be careful of who sees you in the shower, because it looks like...well, poop. And no one wants to suffer that image.

We'll be chatting more about replacing disposable items with their reusable counterparts--a definite bucking of current trends. But fear not! I'll keep the poop chatter to a minimum.

Broke & Depressed

A recent reader question has my brain churning on the issue of depression. So, I thought I'd offer a few tidbits that helped me survive the Broke and Depressed years. I've found that people on limited budgets often feel depressed and hopeless about their situation, but it doesn't have to be that way.

(Please note--I am not a health care professional. If you are experiencing depression or any other health issue, please seek qualified, professional help immediately!)

Although antidepressants can be lifesavers, they're grossly over-prescribed. Our consumer culture, with its idiotic, unrealistic expectations, can leave many of us feeling as if we are Less Than and will Never Measure Up. That sense of defeat is perfect soil for depression to take root.

For some folks, antiDs don't actually help much (I know, I'm one of those peeps). For others, meds can bring sanity. If you are suffering from mild to moderate depression or have found that meds just don't cut it, there are other options. And whaddya know, those options are free!

Cognitive therapy has been the most effective tool I have found in combating depression. Most simply, cognitive therapy is built on the notion that thoughts create emotions. If you can change your thoughts, you can change the way you feel. I know, I know--DUH!

As a result of using simple techniques, I moved from feeling hopeless daily to rarely suffering extreme lows. Like the rest of humanity, I have ups and downs, but no longer suffer long depressive episodes. When I combined cognitive therapy with regular exercise and local, fresh foods, I found myself experiencing that weird emotion called joy on a regular basis. Who knew?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to start acting like crazy Tom Cruz (and by crazy I mean full on mentally ill and in denial of it) and tell you that if you want to throw your brand new baby out the window, all you need are some vitamins and a treadmill. That's ridiculous. Let me say it again--if you are suffering, get help!

What I am suggesting is that there need not be an isolated solution to any health issue. Nutrition, movement and careful thinking can be added to any medication regime. In my case, they proved to be more useful than the drugs.

The beauty of cognitive therapy is that you don't need a professional to learn the techniques. Dr. David Burns created the cognitive therapy bible, Feeling Good, so that people suffering from depression could become active participants in their healing. The exercises are simple, easy to implement and can have a tremendous impact.

If you're determined to kick depression out on its ass, I would suggest buying the book from a local bookseller or independent dealer. At the very least, check it out from your local library and start doing the exercises. More than likely, you'll begin to feel better which will provide you the energy to start exercising. Hope will rise. Gaining control over your emotional state will help you take better control of your finances. That snowball will grow and whaddya know? Chances are you won't feel quite so broke and depressed anymore.

When Fast Food Goes Slow

I've said it a thousand times. I love eating out. It's something I have to keep in check or I'd be, as my friend Skip says, "in the poor house." To keep myself from going insane, I allow the special treat of eating out as part of my monthly budget (AKA spending plan).

To keep in line with the "consciously frugal" lifestyle, I do my best to make choices that will support fair food distribution practices and local businesses. Which means I try not to patronize big chain restaurants or fast food joints. Normally, I find a nice Mom and Pop shop with great food. If they use locally grown ingredients, I've hit the jackpot.

But I have a weakness (you knew this was coming, didn't you?). I absolutely love Chipotle's burritos. For years, I tried not to eat there because they were largely owned by McDonalds, one of the globe's demon corporations. But the barbacoa kept calling me back, until I caved.

Well PTL (that's Praise the Lord for the folks unfamiliar with the world of televangelism), they are no longer owned by Mickey Deez! What's even better, they have a new campaign called "Food with Integrity" which is a really catchy way of saying they support sustainable production on family farms.

The story gets better. According to their website "on Wednesday, August 29th when you purchase a burrito, tacos, salad or bowl with any of our naturally raised meats, at any of our restaurants, we'll donate 100% of the proceeds, up to $50,000, to Farm Aid." Sweet. We all know where I'll be on the 29th.

This might be the first time we've seen a fast food restaurant take a Slow Food approach. Although locally owned is best, it's good to know that in a pinch you can hunt out a Chipotle. Just goes to show you, a business can be large and in charge and still manage to do the right thing.

Baby Steps-Creating a Plan

It's almost always easier to make life changes if you start small and take baby steps. I don't know about you, but anytime I try to do a big overhaul in some area, I end up doing wonderfully for a couple of weeks and then falling back into old routines pretty quickly. When it comes to bettering our financial lives, making changes stick is important not only for our present state of mind but for our future security as well.

So, what are your financial goals? Once you have goals written in black and white, you can create a plan, comprised of baby steps, to get there.

For example, your top five financial goals might look like this:

1. Get out of debt: $4,500
2. Save monthly for retirement: $300
3. Build emergency fund to: $6000
4. Save monthly for junior's college: $100
5. Pay mortgage off early by paying out of each paycheck

Let's say that after tracking spending for one to three months, you've found more than $400 in monthly mindless spending, mostly from eating out. The automatic impulse would be to stop eating out all together to save that $400. But I would suggest simply cutting back on eating out instead of eliminating it completely. More than likely, quitting any habit cold turkey will leave you prone to binge spending.

Here's a sample baby step plan:

Month One
1. Cut back on eating out to three (instead of the usual four) times per week, saving: $25
2. Make the meal at home a celebratory event (celebrate savings success!)
3. Put extra $25 toward one of the goals (smartest choice: getting out of debt)

Month Two
1. Cut back on eating out to twice per week, saving: $50
2. Follow previous steps

Month Three
1. Cut back to eating out once per week, saving: $75
2. Follow previous steps

Continue with whatever pace is best for you until you're eating out at a level you feel comfortable with that will help you reach your goals. Eventually, you could be eating out twice a month instead of 16 times, saving $350!

It's possible to make small changes like this in several areas. As long as things are kept simple, it will be easy to transition into spending less and saving more. What's even better, you can add in behaviors you'd like to adopt so it doesn't seem like you're doing without.


For example, if you want to reach your financial goals and support local farmers, you can change your plan to the following:

Month One
1. Cut back on eating out to three times per week, saving: $25
2. Buy one pound of produce from the farmer's market
3. Make the meal at home a celebratory event (highlight this week's produce purchase as the star ingredient)
4. Put extra $25 toward one of the goals (smartest choice: getting out of debt)

Continue, subtracting eating out while adding an extra pound of produce from the farmer's market.

Eventually, you'll find that you can cut spending in even more areas and increase your support of sustainably produced items. But if you find yourself thinking, "Gah! At that rate, it will take me 6 months or more to start saving significantly!" You're right. Small changes will take longer than making huge turns. Obviously, if you're on the verge of bankruptcy, making immediate, drastic changes may be necessary. But if you want to make changes that stick, the smartest option is to make them gradually.

After all, you didn't develop current spending habits over night, so don't expect old habits to change immediately. Learning a little patience and focusing on small changes over the long term will lead to big rewards.

Ask Consciously Frugal

This week we're talking about clothes. All you fashion divas out there? Hollah!

Dear CF-

Remember when Kathy Griffith had all that drama over using child labor for her grotesque WalMart clothing line? Sweatshops were all over the news. I don't hear about it anymore and I also never see anything on labels indicating safe manufacturing. I mean, they do it for tuna, why can't they do it for clothing? So, how does one shop for clothes that are made in a socially responsible way? Wait, let me clarify that. How does one shop for socially responsible clothing that isn't an ugly flower child hemp sack?

Thanks,
Fashion Lover

Dear Luvah:

You are so right about the Kathy Griffith drama. After all her apologizing, things went right back to normal after the media frenzy died down. Kids are still making Kathy's crappy clothes.

The garment industry embraces some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable. Alarmingly low wages, child labor, inhumane work environments, toxic products...the list is endless. Designers say they can't possibly account for every area of their enterprise, but they do their best to ensure humane, responsible production practices.

To that assertion, I say--bullshit. If you can't account for the way in which your clothing is produced then you have no business manufacturing clothes. The "oops, I can't help that I'm complicit in human rights abuses, but lordy I sure do love my profit" excuse is absolutely unacceptable. And until we stop forking over the cash for these products, nothing is going to change.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to find stylish, consciously produced clothing that doesn't cost an absolute fortune. But all is not lost. There are a few tricks we can learn to lessen our support of this abusive industry.

1. Shop at thrift and/or consignment shops. Now, before you squirm in horror, oh fashion divas, visit several shops before deciding that second hand clothes are nothing but crap. There are many "upscale" shops that sell designer goods at a great price.

2. Support local tailors (or learn to sew yourself!). Check local listings for tailors and dress makers. Many folks use these services solely for alterations. However, there are seamstresses in nearly every community that would happily make you the outfit of your dreams for a reasonable price. Just bring in a picture of what you want and start haggling.

3. Hunt for small retailers who make their own lines. Surfing the internet is a great way to find independent clothing manufacturers. A few that I've found are:

Blackberry Creations (they are also found in small boutiques and have a store, Blackberry Exchange, located in Columbia, MO)
Amet and Sasha (hurry! Unfortunately, they're going out of business!)
Handmade Clothing (this has lots o' hippie stuff in it, for you crunchy folk out there)
Slow Shirts ('cuz everybody loves trendy tees)
The list could go on and on...just start hunting!

4. American Apparel. Although I absolutely loathe their advertising campaign and the owner is a complete doofus tool, they are the largest American clothing manufacturer that actually supports living wage campaigns, etc.

5. Spend a few hours reading through the fabulous blog, Organic Clothing. These folks will answer all of your questions and provide great resources.

6. Visit the fabulous EcoMall's organic clothing site. It's an extensive directory.

Keep in mind that just like at the mall, you'll have to hunt for styles that don't suck. But in the age of the internet and consignment clothing shops, lessening our dependency on the exploitative garment is easier than ever.

For those trying to live on the cheap, the best of the above options are thrift shopping and finding a good seamstress. Also keep in mind that we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time. Quality pieces in classic styles are your best bet. Avoiding the temptation to feel better through buying something you'll rarely wear will save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

Thanks for bringing up this important topic! We'll be sure to venture here again.

To a happy and healthy globe,
Consciously Frugal

Trigger Happy

Yesterday I flipped through one of my favorite magazines, Real Simple. Although it professes to be a magazine about simplifying life, it's really all about finding peace through shopping and worshiping at the Altar of Organization. But lo, it is a gorgeous magazine.

I found myself circling items I wanted. With each turn of the page, I gasped, knowing I just had to have that gorgeous tufted headboard. And that lamp. And that sweater. I added up my new wish list to discover more than $5,000 of wants. The problem is, I have a small apartment filled with too much crap. But thanks to the mag, I found some great organizing products I could buy to better store my crap so I could buy some new crap! Hallelujah!

As I've said before, having a wish list can be a great motivator to be more mindful of spending. The top of my wish list has "two weeks in Italy." That trip is far more important than some pretty stuff in a magazine, so I came to my senses. And I realized that Real Simple is a spending trigger for me. Spending triggers are dangerous, particularly if you're prone to use credit cards when there isn't enough money in the bank for the want of the moment.

What spending triggers do you have? Do you tend to eat out if the kitchen is dirty, promising yourself that you'll clean it to tomorrow, after you've spent a fortune on some not-too-tasty takeout? (I never do this *cough*lie*cough*.) Do you "hang out" at the mall, only to find yourself leaving with $300 worth of stuff you don't need? Do you go to Target for socks and walk out with a cartload of "great deals?"

Not only do we need to recognize spending triggers, we have to learn how to combat them. That may mean finding a different magazine to thumb through, keeping the kitchen clean or shopping at a less tempting store. Whatever the cure, be mindful of what inspires spending and take a moment to step back and ask the ever important questions: Do I really need this? and Why do I want it?

Seafood: What's Safe to Eat?

I'm sure you've heard of all the recalls and concern over foods imported from China. Most recently it was discovered that several tons of seafood made it through US gates without being examined, causing alarm because of the recent rash of contaminated goods. All this chaos provides a good reminder of the importance of eating locally grown and raised foods.

But I'm often confused about what fish is safe to eat and which type I should choose that isn't currently threatened. Faircompanies.com (be sure to check out their website as well. It's choked full of great information) put together a fabulous, short video on which fish to choose. And, as always, the closer to home you can find them, the better!



If you'd like a black and white version of what's safe to eat, check out Oceans Alive and their quick list of best and worst seafood choices.

Going Green

The Queen of Daytime, Oprah Winfrey, had former Vice-President Al Gore on her show yesterday to chat about global warming. As usual, Gore did an excellent job of breaking down the complex subject of global warming. If you haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth, rent it! Terribly interesting stuff. (For the Bush supporters out there, fear not. He doesn't address the voter tampering, etc. that occurred during the 2000 election, much to my dismay.)

Unfortunately, the only solutions that Gore presented to Oprah's audience involved buying stuff. Of course, they were all smart purchases--compact fluorescent bulbs, hot water heater insulation, clean filters for heating and cooling systems (no mention of vacuuming out existing filters, which will extend their life), buying trees online for a company to plant for you (sadly, buying trees to plant in suburbia will not fix the world's depleting forests), etc. But there are plenty of ways to decrease your CO2 emissions without spending a dime. Here are a few quick suggestions to "go green" without shopping:

1. Eat less meat. Large scale meat production creates pollution across the board. Cutting back on meat consumption and buying sustainably raised meat will help you reach a "carbon neutral" state.

2. Buy fewer packaged items. According to Diane MacEachern, author of Save Our Planet, "Production of plastics and synthetic materials uses more energy than any other sector of the chemical industry...burning oil during the manufacturing process itself contributes directly to global warming and acid rain." So, buy fewer convenience products or heavily packaged items. When possible, buy in bulk and use refillable containers.

3. Use public transportation and take good care of your car. Sure, you could run out and buy a new hybrid car, but who can really afford that these days? Taking excellent care of the car you have and using it less often is a more "doable" option for most of us. Make sure your tires have the correct pressure, oil is changed frequently, excess weight taken out of the trunk, etc. Consolidate errands, carpool and use your feet or public transportation when possible.

Ask Consciously Frugal

This week's questions are a little on the tricky side--balance is the key!

Dear Consciously Frugal,

I’m a stay at home mom. Me and my husband decided it would be best for our family if I stayed home with the kids. Things are much better for me and my kids now that I’m home but we have a very small budget. I want to do the “consciously” frugal stuff but when you’re on a really tight budget it’s hard to spend the extra money to buy organic foods and other natural stuff and I feel guilty. What are people on very limited budgets supposed to do?

Thanks,
SAHM of two growing boys

Dear Mommy in Da House:

I’m glad to hear that you and your growing boys are enjoying having mom at home. So many parents think they can’t afford to stay at home when often a second income is really just paying for a harried lifestyle.

I’m not sure what level of frugal ninja-hood you’ve reached, so some of these ideas will probably be old news to you. Bear with me and hopefully something useful will jump out!

1. Track your spending. We often think we spend less than we do, particularly when we’re on a tight budget. Writing each penny down will help you figure out exactly where the money is going, which will help you…

2. Cut out convenience products. I know so many people who complain about how broke they are as they pour a bowl of sugary cereal, light up a cigarette and turn on the cable. Switching out expensive convenience items for their cheaper alternatives can save hundreds of dollars that you can use toward savings and/or purchasing items you feel good about supporting. Jazz up oatmeal with homemade granola. Chew a licorice root and cut back on the cancer sticks. Get rid of the cable in favor of renting videos from the public library.

3. Use frugal tools mentioned previously—use less, stretch it out, find multiple uses for items instead of buying a new gadget, shop at thrift stores, cook from scratch, etc.

4. Focus on progress, not perfection. You don’t have to go all out right away. Small steps are not only the key to lasting changes but a requirement of small budgets. Try buying just one pound of produce from the farmer’s market this week. If you find that you cut back a couple of dollars from using other tools, spend one of those freed-up extra dollars on an environmentally friendly product. Do what you can and refuse to feel guilty.

Being mindful of spending and celebrating your successes is a far happier path than feeling guilty and squeezed by a budget. If we each make just a few small changes, we can profoundly improve our lives and help Mama Earth. So, feel proud of yourself. If guilt tries to rear its ugly head, tell it to kiss off. You’re taking good care of your kids, your finances and your global community!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Consciously Frugal:

You talk a lot about supporting local economies, but what about people in poor countries that rely on the jobs we provide? Won’t we be hurting them if we stopped buying goods made in other countries?

Concerned for the poor abroad,
Mary S.

Dear St. Mary the Concerned:

Thank you so much for this question and for your concern about our global human family. This is a tricky subject that would benefit from a PhD in economics that I do not possess. Were I getting paid to do this, I would probably call and write some important, well-informed PhD folk. Instead, I will have to use my limited knowledge from literature and hippy activism.

America’s consumer habits are a double edged sword. Our insatiable need for useless crap combined with our wealth (how a country so much in debt can be considered wealthy baffles me) has turned third world and emerging economies into a giant labor pool. Unfortunately, other countries don’t offer the same protections we do to workers. For instance, the documentary The High Cost of Low Price highlighted that Chinese and Latin American factory workers are required to work six days per week in horrid conditions for paltry pay. Many are physically abused and forced to pay rent for substandard housing regardless of whether or not they actually live in the compound.

The United States’ policy of outsourcing manufacturing labor while undercutting small farmers with our heavily subsidized crops has resulted in entire cultures shifting in some very unhealthy ways. Families are split apart as rural children move to cities to work in factories. (Food distribution systems are so screwed up that they hurt us and others, but that’s another tale.) Traditional ways of life have been altered to provide small wages that help people to survive, not thrive. Basically, the same abhorrent conditions we find our undocumented laborers suffering in the States have been deliberately created abroad so that the heads of multinational corporations can get rich off the backs of the poor and our ignorance of the impact of our habits.

So, yes. We are supplying jobs to remedy the splintering globalization has created, but who is really winning? Americans are going deeper into debt by greedily buying unnecessary consumer goods, and citizens of emerging economies are receiving too little to feed our insatiable appetites. All the while, only the richest of the rich see their wallets thicken.

But this is not to say that globalization is a bad thing. It’s not. There are several companies that support healthy, sustainable globalization by providing markets for small businesses. Fair trade products are a fine example of this. Slow Food hosts annual events to showcase artisan food producers. Africans are working together to encourage fellow countrymen not to buy our clothing castoffs but to return to traditional methods of manufacturing and purchasing handmade clothes. We can certainly choose to support these types of endeavors so that the business owners, farmers and craftspeople receive our support instead of corporate billionaires.

Every time we lay a dollar down, we’re casting a vote. When I vote, I want my money to buoy strong local economies. To do so, I support the little guy when I can and do my best not to engage in harmful consumer habits. As long as we demand the world’s poor supply our mindless consumption, they will be hard pressed to build sound, sustainable economies for themselves. We can support the little guy both here and abroad if we choose our votes carefully.

Here’s to a happy, healthy globe,
Consciously Frugal

Public Libraries

It took me years before I realized that if I planned on forking over cash to buy a book, I'd best intend on reading it more than once or else it would end up just collecting dust. Not that buying books is a bad idea-quite the contrary. I'm a firm believer that buying books should take precedence over buying trendy clothes and shoes. But having a bunch of books collecting dust that have only been cracked open once is a waste of space and money. (Thankfully, book circles and thrift shops can give new life to these forgotten dust magnets.)

Enter your friendly public library. We can read more than we could ever afford to buy and even test out those books we think might ultimately be worth the cash.

But free access to fabulous books isn't all public libraries offer. Due to limited advertising and marketing budgets, many folks aren't aware of the abundant services and events libraries offer. DVD and VHS rentals (far cheaper than Netflix or its competitors), computer classes and internet access, seminars, guest speakers, independent film screenings...the list goes on and on.

So, the next time you find yourself compelled to drop some cash for a pretty cover or sit in front of the boob tube, absorbing yet another mindless sitcom, take a gander at what's going on at your public library.