Do gift cards count?

I'll say no :)
I have a Bed Bath & Beyond card that I am going to use to buy that lemon zester!
(yes, it bugs me that much!)
Besides, I think they lose $$ after a year.

hmmm....
is this cheating? Share your thoughts...

and now a lesson on responsibilty (for a first grader)

Alright. No new stuff for one year.
So what does my son do?
Looses his lunchbox.
The lunchbox he's had since he was 4. It's well loved, seen better days, but still in tact and holds enough food for this kid's seemingly insatiable appetite for fruits.
And it's lost.
And I'm not buying a new one, because of the pledge and because he needs to take better care of his stuff in general.
Even on his report card! He's reading at level 18, gets 100% on the district math tests, needs to try harder for writing, but overall doing extremely well in school...EXCEPT when it comes to organization...both grading periods there are notes from his teacher about being more organized in class... My kid had the entire 1st grade class making copious amounts of paper airplanes...and we had to tell him to stop! Now he takes the little paper containers from the lunchroom and makes random things with them: pencil holders, boats etc...AND the other kids in the class WILL BRING HIM the paper things since I've told him to stop taking them & making stuff....His desk is ALWAYS a mess, so's his backpack and his room!
And now the lunchbox.
Too bad kid.
I think we have a beat-up one laying around this house somewhere...NOT buying another one. At least....not until this time next year :)

the torture of a lemon zester....

Lately, Auggie has been choosing/asking for foods with shrimp (that's my boy!), and I like to cook my shrimp with copious amounts of garlic & olive oil. Lemon zest adds a nice flavor to it at the end.
My problem: I don't have a zester. I've been using the grate part of the cheese grater thingy, which works, but is not that efficient.
So while at whole foods tonight, I saw a neato lemon zester for like $6. Without thinking, I grabbed it. I finish shopping, take a quick inventory of my cart and realized what I just did. I was about to buy STUFF! ugh...well, at least I realized what I was doing, and reluctantly put it back. My cheese grater works fine...gets the job done. This nifty kitchen gadget NOT an essential, so back it goes...waiting to be purchased by the next consumer that walks by needing a "one-use" object...

I realized as I drove home, kids happy with their mini cupcakes from the bakery in the backseats, how difficult it really is to not purchase new items. I'm a girl whose therapy is retail inspired, who enjoys a good "find" and often walks all the isles of Target "just to see." um....Just to see what? Just to see what other STUFF I can bring home, that will take up space in my house, that will end up underused then donated...man. This is going to be a tough year...



(~to understand this post, please read "No New Stuff" in March 2010)

a "used" garden project...

So each year, we invest a bit of Justin's bonus to complete one project for the house.
This year, we were planning to do A LOT...but with the lay off, we're cutting down the project: fix/repair/bring to code/permit the existing patio overhang. Too much of this structure is just not kosher...so while we really should have saved this $$ and put it away, since who-knows-when CA will get their act in gear when it comes to education spending, we needed to do this project. There are too many structural issues, and since it's not permitted, if the thing comes crashing down, insurance won't touch the claim with a ten foot pole...
So away we go with this project. Since this is a building thing...and the ball was rolling with the contractor prior to this pledge, we are having the project be totally exempt. Though, I would expect we would not actually be doing the physical purchasing of materials, only paying the contractor to do such work.
When thinking about this patio, we also decided to take care of the landscaping out back, thus completing the entire "area" (much like we completed the library by getting all the components to complete the room design...). this includes: taking out Cyprus trees (DONE!), plating new bushy plants by patio (DONE, and before the pledge), building a retaining wall and planting fruit trees, doing something with the other side of the lawn by the shed, building a fort for kids, planting large shade tree in center of the lawn.
So since you can't really buy used plants/trees, we are exempting the part when we purchase the trees, and the part when we purchase lumber for the fort. but the rest of the landscaping will be accomplished with used materials. The "purist" out there might say: "well, then you're not sticking to your pledge now, are you?" To them I would reply: "These were projects that were in the works before the pledge was made. We didn't want to wait until these projects were finished to do this, since that could mean a few months from now....we are still trying to stay true to this while we finish the project, as much a logically possible..."
Yah, so there.

On the note of trying to do landscaping with used materials, I managed to score over 400 bricks, FREE from craigslist. We plan to use them to fill in a large space on the left side of the lawn, next to the shed and the nectarine tree. We were debating on what to put there for awhile: more lawn? lava rocks? poured concrete? and in my boredom one night I found a posting of a local guy getting rid of a ton of bricks...the SUCK part was having to move all those bricks ourselves, but we did it...now it's a matter of Justin laying them out, even with the existing concrete (I don't have the patience for that kind of stuff...). It seems like there will be enough bricks. If we need more, then I'll look on craigslist again! ;-P

So, in summary: things purchased used since March 12, 2010: outdoor dining table & chairs, oodles of brick, several "Fly Guy" and "Magic Tree House" used books for Auggie's reading logs.

Things purchased new: Mulch (6bags), brick edging (5), Sonicare toothbrush.

'No New Stuff'

After reading and coming across a lot of good articles arguing the issue of mass consumption in America, we have decided to make a pledge. As of March 12th (the day I got my Pink Slip), we will NOT purchase anything new for one year. Yeap. One whole year. This includes gifts to each other and to others. What it excludes is the following:
FOOD
PERSONAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS
MEDICINE
ITEMS OF COMPELLING IMPORTANCE (i.e. new tires for car b/c one popped or something like that.)
REPLACEMENT OF BROKEN ESSENTIALS (for example, a few days after we made this decision, our Sonicare toothbrush died. while we could just use the regular manual toothbrush, we both have MAJOR issues with our teeth and gums, and the sonicare has helped us a lot. Therefore making this an essential. Something like the TV breaking would suck, but could be purchased used, and is NOT essential.).
And that's it.
Clothes, books, furniture, toys, shoes and other random stuff cannot be purchased new. If we *really* need it we will hunt in thrift stores, craigslist or freecycle.
We've already scored big with an awesome find via craigslist: a large 8 seater wood, Ethan Allan dinning table that we are going to use in our patio, for $200!

Some are thinking: "why bother? This is who we are as Americans...you buy stuff...you use stuff...you throw/donate stuff you no longer want/need...why try to change anything?"
Well...because I want to teach my kids the value of caring for our Earth. I want to stop CONSUMING for the sake of consuming...because it seemed like a cool THING, or I THOUGHT I could use it, or it was on SALE, only to find this THING taking up space in my garage until the next time Hope Services comes around to collect all my unwanted/unused STUFF.

I have been inspired to make major changes in how I live, as a person, mother and consumer, by the video The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
I discovered this video in 2008, when a friend on Facebook entered the link in their status saying "you should spare 20 mins of your time and watch this video." and I did. And it seriously changed the way I looked at the world...

Recently, I discovered another video series that has changed the way I look at plastics and garbage in general: http://www.vbs.tv/watch/toxic/toxic-garbage-island-1-of-3
(there are 3 episodes...)
Another pledge came to mind after this: no more plastic lunch baggies!!!! We have already been moving towards this tendency in our house, but are going to be making a stronger effort to not use plastic in our house (other than reusable items). Before we took the pledge of no New Stuff, I purchased a set of reusable snack baggies from reusablebags.com (http://www.reusablebags.com/store/reuseitcom%E2%84%A2-snack-p-1834.html). We have a bunch of other items from this website already, and have had great experiences with them. Both boys have the Laptop Lunch box, we have a TON of the hemp mesh grocery bags....
So, in a way, we are taking two pledges: the first being no new STUFF, and the second being eliminating as much plastic from our daily lives as possible...

And in this blog I will try to keep current on the state of these two pledges, and the undoubted challenges we will have in keeping to them...

I also hope to inspire others to do the same... ;-)