feedtheartist

The quest to eliminate trash-bound goods started with grocery bags. Extraneous bags are loathed in my house, and every grocery trip filled the trashcan. Not to mention those random grocery-store-parking-lot disasters where an item you were looking forward to eating leaps from the bag onto the pavement. RIP blueberries.

 
I prefer the grocery sack style bags over the flat bottom paper bags. I ended up going with Envirosax Botanica 5-Piece Pouch Set. They hold a lot of weight (44 pounds), have more room, and carry much easier over the shoulder than a handful of poorly packed plastic bags. I feel a little classier carrying something sturdy and stylish.
When rolled up, all five bags fit into a small carrying case. Sometimes we are lazy and stuff them all into one bag; when you get home from the grocery store and you are hungry, there is not much motivation to sit down and roll the bags.

My husband hates them because they are so girly, but his attempts to “accidentally” destroy them have been unsuccessful. Apparently stuffing 2 gallon jugs of juice, a four pack of root beer, and whatever other stuff he can pile on top constitutes normal use.

My only real complaint about the Envirosax is that they only tend to have feminine patterns. The only real improvement I would make is more gender neutral or masculine patterns.

I have never been motivated by the whole “green” thing.  A big part of the movements seems to be feel-good ways to spend money, but not do any real good.  What I am motivated by is getting away from a disposable lifestyle.

We started to transition over to reusable items when we realized they were simply nicer to use than the plethora of paper products always in need of replenishment.  Some transitions have been easy: grocery bags and toilet paper.  Others have not; we have quite the paper towel addition.  There is just something subconsciously gratifying about tearing the towel off the roll with the lifetime-honed precision.

What it really comes down to is that it is more enjoyable to use items with substance – grocery bags that don’t rip, real plates, cloth diapers, etc.  In the next few days I will explore our transitions to reusable goods- some have been easy, some are still a work in progress.  If anyone has suggestions on new goods to try, let me know!

My son has been very expressive from the start, but it took me a month or two to figure out how to encourage it.  The secret?  Looking him directly in the eyes when talking to him.  It was like a light turned on; the chatter drastically increased, and he started playing with more phenomes.  Before, I was concerned with overwhelming him if I looked in his eyes too much, but he rarely gets over stimulated.

Now he is a little ball of pseudo-words, coos and pterodactyl shrieks.  When we do not respond in a way he deems appropriate, he just pauses and gives us a look to say “simpletons.”

If you want your baby to start chattering away, look him right in the eye and talk to him as much as he wants!

A couple years ago, the plan was for me to stay at home when we had kids.  We had no debt and a healthy savings account.  We were going to buy the perfect house for raising children, then start a family.  The house we were supposed to raise a family in ended up eating through our savings and driving us into debt.  Now that we have a baby, staying home with him will means we cannot pay the massive debt associated with the house.

After three months of leave, I returned to work yesterday.  I have family members who are able to watch him for now, but there are no long term guarantees; they are only willing to work cheap as long as they do not have another job.  It is depressing to have him cared for by someone else, and have him tired at the end of the day instead of social and alert.  After two days I already feel like I am missing out on watching him grow and develop.

My employer seemingly wants to punish me for going on leave, even though I have been a stellar employee for five years.  I will likely be out of a job in the near future- on the plus side I would get to spend time with my baby.  Bye-bye tenuous financial responsibility!

Right now I feel like I am doing wrong by my son by working, but I feel like I would be doing wrong by my husband if he is the sole income when we are in debt.  I hate not being able to anticipate the best action for every situation.  How to turn suck into win?

As part of our adaptation to our “frugal” lifestyle, we are selling our SUV.  It is finally paid off to the point where we can realistically sell it.  Our friend said Carmax gave him a good price, so we decided to check it out.

Our SUV is in good to excellent condition.  We owe $12,100.  Trade in value showed as $11,500, private party as $12,500.  Before going in, I checked to see what Carmax was selling similar year/make/model/mileage for: $15,700.

We expected the offer there to be a little low, but we were willing to let it go as long as it was close enough to the pay off amount.  We need to get rid of the payment before we can’t keep up with it.  Dealing with Craigslist scammers was getting old, and we were going to have to pay to post it elsewhere anyway.

The salesman was nice enough, and the appraisal took less than 20 minutes.  We took a short walk in their lot to see what the cars were listed at, and saw several that would be the same or less new.

Unfortunately, the amount provided was unrealistically low: $9,000.  He briefly tried to justify it with “we will probably only sell it for around $11,000.”  I am not a big fan of being lied to, so my reply was “that’s not exactly true.”  We left without any overcoming objections.

I can see how it would be worth it to some not to have to deal with buyers directly, or deal with high pressure sales.  I think their price is too steep for that luxury.