Quick! What's missing in this picture? If you guessed dirty laundry, wrong. That's in a pile at my feet. Dryer, anyone? Yes. But not just any dryer. An extra large capacity high-efficiency front load dryer on a pedastal, please. Matching set? Oh, even better. We included our front load set in the sale of our last home. That left us with a big open space in the laundry room of our new home. My husband and I halfheartedly shopped around, but neither of us was interested in getting our credit dirty just to get our laundry clean. It had to be cash and cheap. On our third trip to a Sears Outlet, where stock changes constantly, we decided to run Keep Reading
Frugal Meets Local: A full-diet CSA opportunity
image credit Guest Post by Kari Patterson The unspoken rule around here is, If you find a deal, you gotta share the love. Well, I found a deal. At least I think it is, but I'm a crazy locavore who loves supporting local farms and eating organic produce, raw honey, grass-fed beef, and those awesome brown eggs with dark yellow yokes. The difficult part of that diet is fairly obvious: It's expensive to eat that way. But since I'm a frugal-fanatic you better believe I was out there like a hound dog sniffin' out some ways to make this work. I found one way: The Full-Diet CSA through Afton Field Farm. CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is Keep Reading
I still live with my parents. And it’s not so bad.
image credit Last August, my husband and I sold our house. With everyone (and I do mean everyone) telling us, "It's a great time to buy!", we figured we'd be in a new place in no time. It took us nine months. During this whole house hunt, we moved 90% of our belongings into a storage unit and moved our little family of four into my parents' house. We had the downstairs living space to ourselves and paid a small monthly rent. I can't even tell you the number of times I had some version of this conversation with people: "So, have you guys found a new home yet?" "Not yet. We're living with my parents right now." "Oh..." [insert raised eyebrows Keep Reading
Local resources for an energy efficient home
image credit Guest Post by Shelly Koetje Energy Efficiency. We’ve all heard those words before. Whether or not you have a passion for being “green,” energy efficiency is something that can save you money, in addition to saving natural resources. Here is a list of a few local resources for those of you that live in Oregon and SW Washington that can help you make your home more energy efficient. Portland General Electric PGE's website has a wealth of information regarding home energy consumption. For example, did you know that an estimated 40% of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned Keep Reading
Four Garden Failures: What not to do
Garden Failures: What not to do image credit Guest Post by Kari Patterson We're currently on our 5th garden. No, not our 5th year having a garden, our 5th different garden. Which makes us not experts, but fools, because we keep starting over at each new place we live. I would not recommend this. But I would recommend starting some sort of garden, taking into account the space and time you have available. Where to start? First, learn from our mistakes: 1. The Potted Garden Here we lived in a townhome. No yard. No garden space. Our garden consisted of pots lining our front and back porch. The herbs were a tremendous success, the zucchini Keep Reading
Juicing on a Budget {Part 3 of 3}
New to our Juicing on a Budget series? Checking out the first two posts here. At this point, you might be thinking I would love to add more raw fruits & vegetables to my diet, but it's too expensive! I get it. Remember? That was one of my biggest objections before I got into this whole juicing thing. So, first, a little background. Right now my grocery budget for our family of four is around $400/month. I typically shop once a week at New Seasons and a couple times a month at another grocery store or produce market. We are trying to eat as many whole foods and as few processed foods as possible. I have been able to make around 32 ounces of Keep Reading
Juicing on a Budget {Part 2 of 3}
New to our Juicing on a Budget series? Start here. Guess what?! I'm talking about juicing again. I know. I'm on a serious kick here. I've never thought this much about kale and grapefruit before in my life. In my defense, however, I did test this out for over three months to make sure I was a true believer. I'm definitely walking a thin line between believer and nut. So, let's just dive in together. After last week's post, I received several questions about the difference between high-powered blenders, like the Vitamix, and juicers. I seriously debated between the two myself. I opted for the juicer for two reasons: cost and purpose. My Breville Keep Reading
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