Did I mention we have nine zucchini plants?  And that they are all thriving?   We’re trying to stay on top of them and pick them when they’re small, but every once in a while we miss one and find it when it’s the size of a small dog (I think they go from small to small dog in about two days).

We usually add one to a green smoothie each day, and we’ve been adding them to salads and stir fries and soups.  Zucchini can be used for all sorts of dishes, and it adds a great moist texture.  It can even be made into “noodles” and used like pasta with whatever sauce you like.  There are fancy gadgets designed just for the purpose of making noodles from zucchini.  They’re called spiralizers, and they do make a neat looking plate of zucchini pasta.  But they are pretty much uni-purpose implements, and I try to avoid products like that in my kitchen.  I only have so much space, and I want it to be taken up with appliances and tools that I use everyday, for multiple things.

I had been using a knife to cut thin strips of zucchini, but last week I thought about using my food processor.  I use my food processor several times a week, for lots of different tasks.  It definitely deserves its spot in the kitchen.  And it has a shredder blade that works amazingly well at making short noodles out of a zucchini.

So for the last few days, our lunch has been a huge salad made on a base of shredded zucchini.  Looks a little odd if you haven’t tried it, but it makes an awesome salad.  Just shred a zucchini or two, and then top with whatever you like on salads.  We’ve been harvesting cherry tomatoes every day, so those get added, plus some olives, hemp-esan, fresh green beans and sugar snap peas (both from our garden).  Add some seeds and whatever homemade dressing you like, and you end up with a great lunch that only takes a few minutes to put together.

Zucchini has a reputation for being quite prolific, and for ending up on neighbors’ doorsteps because gardeners just can’t use as much of it as they grow.  So if you’ve got zucchini coming out your ears, hopefully my shredded zucchini salad idea will help you use up today’s harvest.

Eating from our garden has made a huge dent in our grocery bill.  Last week I bought only fruit at the grocery store, and not a single veggie (we have fruit trees, but it will be next year at the earliest before they produce anything).  My shopping cart used to be half filled with fruit and half with veggies, but these days I go out in the backyard a couple times a day with a huge bowl and fill it with greens, beets, carrots, peas, beans, onions, basil, tomatoes… definitely worth all the hours we spent digging garden beds in the spring!

I just finished watching Annie Leonard’s new video, The Story of Cosmetics.  It is well worth the few minutes it takes to watch it, and the message it contains needs to be heard by all of us.

I’ve been on a mission to get rid of toxic crud in our home for several years now, which I’ve blogged about several times.  Some of the changes we’ve made include:

• I no longer use bleached, synthetic tampons.
• Our son never wears flame resistant pajamas.
• He’s been in home-made cloth diapers since he was about three days old (almost all disposable diapers contain super absorbent gel beads (sodium polyacrylate) that soak up moisture, but their chemical content is suspect.  In addition, most disposables are bleached, which creates a highly toxic by-product called dioxin).
• I went through our bathroom a few years ago and got rid of everything with suspect ingredients.  All my nail polishes, make up, lotions,  shampoos, conditioners, sunscreens…. I tossed all of it, because I knew that I was never again going to feel comfortable putting that junk on my body.
• I started using soap nuts to wash our laundry about a year ago, and am completely satisfied with them.
• We don’t have a dryer (by choice), so no need for dryer sheets – everything is line dried.
• I clean with baking soda, vinegar, and water.
• We don’t buy anything labeled “anti-microbial” or “anti-bacterial”.
• I use baking soda as toothpaste, and food grade hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash.
• We use Dr. Bronner’s soap all the time.  It’s at our sinks as hand soap, and in our shower.  It’s all our son has ever been bathed with.  The food co-op where we shop allows us to bring in our own empty bottle and refill it from their huge jug, which is less expensive than buying a new bottle, and also cuts down on packaging waste.
• In the evenings, when mosquitoes are all over the place, I wear jeans, long socks, and a long sleeved shirt (so does our son).  No need for mosquito repellent.  I would much rather be a little warm than be covered in some sort of chemical spray.
• I stopped wearing sunscreen about three years ago.  I have a big wide-brimmed hat that I wear pretty much anytime I’m outside (we live in a very sunny climate).  I also have a light weight linen zip-up jacket that I keep by the door, and throw on if I’m heading outside in a tank top or short-sleeved shirt.  It’s a lot faster than putting on sunscreen.

In case you’re wondering… I still manage to look pretty well put-together most days  My grooming tools include a brush for dry brushing, a pair of tweezers (I will admit that I am never without them… even when I was in Africa in the middle of nowhere with a 6 inch square mirror, I still had shaped eyebrows), a razor, a hair brush with wooden “bristles”, a comb, a jar of coconut oil that I use as wonderful-smelling lotion, a solid exercise routine, a great thrifted wardrobe, and a smile

In my attempts at de-toxifying our home, I have tried hard to avoid replacing products I used to use with high-priced “green” substitutes.  Instead of switching to safer make-up, for example, I just stopped wearing any.  I opted to have bare nails all the time, and just keep them clean and trimmed (and in all honesty, my nail painting days had ended long before I finally tossed my nail polishes).  I started buying big jugs of vinegar and big bags of baking soda at Costco rather than purchasing high-priced cleaning products at the health food store.  Don’t get me wrong… I’m glad that there are responsible companies who are trying to make safer products for us to use.  But I have found that I often don’t need the products in the first place, and it saves us a lot of money to realize that.

I wasn’t always this way.  A decade ago, I used things like self tanners (actually only tried that once and turned orange), lotions with sparkles in them, all sorts of make up and nail polish, perfume, hair spray, cleaners with bleach, etc.  But the more I’ve learned about toxic chemicals, the more I want to avoid them as much as humanly possible.  I hope that the ideas I’m sharing, and the Story of Cosmetics video, will help some of my readers to lessen their own exposure to toxins and reduce their personal care products budget.

Being healthy and fit are very high on my list of priorities.  I’ve mentioned many times how important our diet is to me, and exercise is just as important.  I thought I’d share some of my favorite ways to stay in shape that don’t require much in the way of money, special equipment, or specific locations.

1.  My all-time favorite exercise is push ups.  They rock.  They are challenging for everyone, no matter how strong you are… a beginner might struggle to do five, while a person with great upper body strength might have to do 50 or 100 to reach exhaustion.  But trust me, exhaustion does come for everyone relatively quickly with push ups.  If you’re maintaining proper form, push ups are great for the whole upper body and torso.  You can do them anywhere, and they don’t require any equipment at all.  No planning needed either… just drop down and do a set of push ups, and then carry on with your day!  (You can start on your knees and work your way up to doing them on your toes).

2.  Bicycle crunches.  I do a variety of core exercises, but these work a lot of muscles all at the same time.  Again, no equipment required.

3.  Planks and walking planks.  These are great if you just have a couple of minutes and want to work on core strength.  You can also incorporate some push ups in with your walking planks for a little variety.

4.  Tricep dips.  These do require a chair or other stable surface about the same height, but that’s relatively easy to come by.

5.  Calf raises.  Basically just rise up on your tiptoes and then lower down again.  Go fast or slow, and point your toes inward or outward to vary the exercise.  Like all the others, you can do these anywhere, and they don’t require any equipment.

6.  Yoga.  I took classes for several years thanks to the free gym membership I got when I worked at the library, and now I do it on my own at home.  All that you need for yoga is a mat and comfy clothes.  I do have several DVDs of yoga classes that I use quite often.  I got them at a thrift store for about two dollars each, and I’ve done them all so many times that I have them memorized.  But I still find it helpful to have the voice of an instructor to help me stay focused.  If you’re looking for any sort of workout DVD, thrift stores usually have tons of them.  We no longer have a TV or DVD player, but my laptop is a great substitute, and I can take it anywhere I want for an instant yoga session.

7.  Walking.  As a long-time runner, I never though walking would be on a list of my favorite exercises.  I ran for about 15 years, both competitively and for fun.  But last fall I decided to try walking instead.  I was starting to realize that my knees and hips might not appreciate the constant pounding, and I was also trying to gain some weight.  I used to run for about an hour, three or four days a week.  So I switched to walking for an hour instead.  I go about four miles, and since it’s a lot easier on my joints, I’m able to go every day.  Walking is much lower impact than running, so I don’t worry much about my shoes anymore.  In fact, unless you’re wearing a pencil skirt and stilettos, you can probably head out for a walk in whatever you’ve got on right now.  So again, very little gear required.  A hat, some sunglasses, comfy shoes and clothes, and you’re set.  As a bonus, you can take dogs and kids along too.  Our dog twitches with excitement when she sees me putting my shoes on, and our son rides along in his hand-me-down jogging stroller or in the wagon that my parents found at a thrift store and refurbished for us.

8.  Biking.  I use my bike to run errands in town.  It never feels like exercise to be cruising around on my bike, but I know it is.  We also go on long family rides every once in a while.  Those do feel like exercise because my rear end is sore when we get home!  We got our bikes used.  If you’re looking for a bike, check Craigs list or a used sporting good store, and you’ll find tons of options.  Don’t forget a helmet!

The first five exercises I mentioned can be done anywhere, anytime, and take only a few minutes each.  Have 60 seconds to spare?  Get down and see how many push ups you can do in a minute.  I do them all throughout the day, a minute or two here and there is all I need.  It doesn’t require planning a trip to the gym or scheduling anything – you can just mix them in with your day as you go.

Biking, walking, and yoga all require a bit more of a time commitment than the other exercises, but they’re all fun!  And you don’t have to go anywhere specific to do them.  As long as you live in a relatively safe area, you can walk or bike right from your home.  And you can do yoga anywhere too.

I hope this gives you some ideas for ways you can incorporate fitness into your life without spending money or making it a stressful experience.  And if you have other favorite low cost, low maintenance exercise ideas, please share them in the comments!

I wrapped the baby shower gift this afternoon, and just had to post a picture of how cool it turned out with the little booties:

The brown paper is from a couple old grocery bags that must have been in my wrapping box for years.  I’ve been using cloth grocery bags for ages now, so these must have been there for a while.  Glad I finally put them to good use!

The bow is from a present someone gave me – I never buy things like bows and gift bags, I just save the ones I get and reuse them. 

The pink ribbon is from my scrapbook supply corner.

And the booties are a fantastic little thrift store find.

I’m going to a baby shower this weekend for the wife of one of my husband’s cousins.  I’ve known her for years and we get along well, but we only see each other a few times a year and aren’t super close.  In situations like that, I tend to stick to buying things off the registry (if it’s a very close friend or family member I’ll usually go all out with some sort of handmade item that I know the recipient will love, but if I don’t know the person as well, I figure the registry is a better bet). 

So I braved Babies R Us a few days ago in search of a gift.  The only time I ever go there is if I’m looking for baby shower presents.  So I have no idea where anything is, and I find the whole place a bit overwhelming.  I’m firmly in the "less is more"  camp when it comes to baby gear (and most everything else these days) and that is definitely not the idea they are trying to convey.  But I digress.

As I was flipping through the registry, I saw one of those things you attach to a car seat or stroller to keep the baby warm, and it seemed like a good practical gift.  When I got to that section of the store, I noticed that they only had one left, and it was a bit bedraggled looking.  It was still in it’s package, but it had been taken out and stuffed back in without being folded.  I knew that could be easily fixed (the package had a zipper on it, so it could be opened, folded, and put back in without damaging anything), and as an added bonus, that one last cover had been marked down to half price.  Score!  Since it was so inexpensive, I was able to pick out another item from the registry and get them both for the same price that the cover was supposed to be.  (later that evening I rearranged the stroller cover in its packaging, and you’d never be able to tell that it was messed with at all – good as new.)

I then browsed through the shoes and socks section, looking for something cute to tie onto the outside of the package.  But everything I liked was $10 to $20, and I had already spent as much as I had budgeted for the shower.  So I decided to just get the gifts I had already purchased and call it good.

My next stop was Goodwill, as I’m still on a mission to find a hat for our scarecrow.  No luck with the hat, but I decided to take a peek at the baby shoes, just in case.  And I stumbled upon the cutest little pair of baby boots:

They’re soft and fuzzy on the inside, easy to put on and off, and will keep tiny toes warm in the winter.  They’re brand new, with their original hanger still attached, and I got them for two bucks.  I actually like them more than the $15 shoes I saw at babies R Us. 

That was all I bought at Goodwill.  It’s been over three months now since I vowed to de-clutter, stop buying clothes, and start donating more (a lot more) and shopping less (a lot less).  I never would have thought that my formerly thrift store addicted self would be content to not even glance at the clothing or housewares section in the thrift store, but that’s how it is.  A year ago, I would have left the store with at least a few new treasures, but all I bought was a small gift. 

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Last week, a good friend came to visit, and she brought a huge bag full of clothes that her son had outgrown.  Many of them were hand-me-downs for her, and she’s passing on the love.  She knows that I only buy clothes used anyway, and hand-me-downs fit right in for our family.

But these days, I want less stuff, not more.

In the past, when someone gave me stuff like that, I would stash it all away, thrilled with the thought of free stuff.  But now, my first thought is to consider whether we really need the stuff in the first place.  My friend mentioned that she knew there was a ton of stuff in the bag and that we should just keep whatever we wanted and donate the rest.  Good advice, but not something I would have been likely to do in the past.

These days, I would rather have our son’s closet neat, organized, and not too full than have it overflowing with clothes.  And there is no possible scenario in which he needs eight sets of pajamas.  He usually wears the same pajamas several nights in a row, and I wash laundry several times a week.  So I kept a couple sets of non-flame resistant pajamas, and put the rest in a box to donate.  I did the same with shirts, shorts, and shoes.  Our son already has enough clothing, and just because I could add to his stash for free doesn’t mean that I should. In addition to donating a lot of the hand-me-downs, I also donated some of his current clothing and replaced it with nice hand-me-downs from my friend… nothing wrong with a little change of pace!

I know that I have often accepted anything offered for free (stuff set out at the curb, listed nearby on Craigslist, given by a friend, etc.) just because it was free.  And because I might need it someday.  But that leads to a cluttered house and the accumulation of a bunch of things we don’t need.  I no longer browse the Craigslist free section.  If there’s something we need for a project we’re working on, I’ll search specifically for that item.  But looking at a list of free things without any particular needs in mind is a good way to increase clutter and waste time.

Being frugal is great, but acquiring things just because they’re a bargain or free is a bit counter-productive.  We spend time gathering, sorting, cleaning, organizing… all for stuff that we really don’t need in the first place.  I’d much rather have just enough than too much, regardless of how great a deal something is.

No matter how warm it is, I always like to have at least a sheet over me when I’m sleeping.  So I had been putting a blanket over our son each night when he went to sleep, but the two blankets he had were both relatively heavy, and more suitable for winter.

I knew I could make a lightweight blanket pretty easily, so I went looking in my fabric supplies to see what I had.

Several years ago my mother in law gave me a box of my husband’s childhood stuff, including his favorite sheets from when he was a kid.  They were twin size, so not much use to us as sheets, and the fitted sheet was way past its prime.  I had thrown that out, but kept the top sheet in my fabric bin waiting for inspiration to strike.  I also had a nice cream-colored sheet that I had found at a thrift store a few years ago and bought specifically because I liked the material so much.  It has a super soft, almost silky feel to it, and I knew I could use it for something.  These days, I don’t buy anything unless I have a specific need for it, but this fabric was so great that it even got to stay when I purged most of my fabric collection last month.

I cut the flat sheet in half to make it the right size for a crib/toddler bed, and then cut a matching piece from the cream colored sheet.  I sewed them together inside-out, leaving a little hole at one corner that I used to turn it right side out.  Then I sewed up that hole, and sewed another seam all around the whole blanket, about an inch in from the edge. 

The result is an awesome summer blanket that makes my husband smile and keeps our son cozy at night.  All it cost was about an hour of my time, since all the materials were already in my sewing basket.

Here’s a picture of our son’s new retro NFL summer blanket:

I don’t know the exact demographics of our town, but it’s definitely a lower-income area than the city where we used to live.  There is only one grocery store in town, and it’s not stocked with organic produce and ten dollar jars of coconut butter.  Houses here are lot less expensive than they were in the city (which is the reason we were able to afford our 3/4 acre lot here, and for that we’re grateful).  We love the down-to-earth nature of the town, but we’re also aware that there are probably quite a few people here who are struggling financially.

We’ve moved beyond the days when frugality was absolutely necessary because of our low income.  But we continue to keep our expenses at pretty much the same level they were at when we were poor, because that allows us to move as quickly as possible towards our goals.  We want to add a window in our dining room, and even though I suppose we could technically afford to just have a window company put in a new one for us, we’re going to head over to the Habitat for Humanity thrift store and poke around in their enormous used window stash and see what we can find.  Frugality is so ingrained in us that we just prefer it that way.

But I wonder if it’s a luxury to be able to make decision like that?  Well, I know it’s a luxury to be able to ponder how to go about adding a window to a room… what I mean is whether it’s a luxury to be able to think in terms of buying things used, minimizing our ecological footprint, growing our own food, etc.?  The things we do are things that people a few generations ago did without even thinking about it.  But these days, it seems that people who are talking about things like environmental preservation, reusable shopping bags, thrift stores, and organic gardens are all relatively well educated and well off.

50 years ago, having a backyard garden was commonplace.  Now, it’s not as common, and I notice when I walk through town that the poorer neighborhoods don’t seem to have gardens at all.  A garden is a very frugal way to provide food for a family, but it does require a time investment, and people who are working two and three jobs probably don’t have the time.

It seems completely counter-intuitive, but I feel like frugality is more popular among people who don’t have to be frugal, but rather choose to be frugal.

Why is this?  Is it because middle class people have more time to ponder their choices?  Is it because we’re exposed to more choices in the first place?  I know that not having a TV is a very good influence on my family in terms of avoiding commercialism and advertising.  And I know other families have made the same choice.  But I wonder what the average income and education level is for TV-free households?

There are definitely people who are living below the poverty line and absolutely thinking outside the box in order to make ends meet without going into debt.  But I feel like many of us (at least those of us who are blogging about it) are living frugal lives in order to be able to save money for retirement, our children’s education, and various other goals, rather than to stretch a small paycheck to cover the bare necessities.

This has been bouncing around in my head for a few days now, and I’m still not sure if I’m doing a good job of explaining my thoughts.  Basically, I feel like more needs to be done to help people who could truly benefit the most from frugality gain a good understanding of the options that are available.  What do you think?  How can we make high quality organic food available to people who aren’t making a ton of money?  How can we encourage the dual benefits of avoiding consumerism and protecting the planet, when people are struggling just to make ends meet?

I was aware from a very young age that my parents didn’t buy any Nestle products.  They explained the reasons for the boycott, and it made perfect sense to me.  After spending two years in Africa with the Peace Corps, those reasons made even more sense.  I don’t knowingly buy Nestle products, but the boycott is rarely something I think about.  It’s sort of like brushing my teeth – just something I do.

Recently there has been quite a bit of chatter in the blog world about the fact that BlogHer 10 is being sponsored in part by a couple of Nestle subsidiaries.  Several bloggers have decided to opt out of the conference, and others have been quite torn by the decision.  Attending conferences isn’t very high on my list of things I like to do, so this isn’t an issue for me.  But I know that it’s been painful for several bloggers who are actively involved in promoting breastfeeding.  (I’ve had BlogHer ads running on my site for a few years now, although I’ve manually opted out of having any ads for baby formula/bottles/nipples, etc.)

Boycotting Nestle takes more than just avoiding candybars and cocoa with their logo on it.  They own a tremendous number of other companies, and produce everything from bottled water and pet food to Lean Cuisine and Hot Pockets.  Actively boycotting them might require taking a list of the brands with you to the grocery store.

Unless you’re into frugal homemade food, and simple, whole, organic foods.

I will admit that even though I never knowingly purchase Nestle products, I hadn’t seen an updated list of their companies in years.  When I sat down to write this post, I checked out the list that I linked to above, and was happy to see that I’ve been avoiding Nestle without even trying.

I do my grocery shopping at the local co-op and at a small, regional chain health food store.  95% of what I buy is organic.  I do not buy prepared meals or processed food, which eliminates most of the companies owned by Nestle (and helps to keep my grocery bill down).  I make our own desserts, often inspired by something from Kristen’s Raw (I tend to make things that aren’t particularly fancy and take very little time to prepare).  We drink mostly water, but we don’t buy bottled water.  I don’t wear make-up, and we don’t buy candy or ice cream.  When I grocery shop, the cart is filled mostly with produce (not as much anymore since our garden is producing more – yay!) and stuff from the bulk bins like nuts, seeds, flour, coconut, etc.

Shopping at farmer’s markets, co-ops, and small health food stores has a lot of hidden benefits.  If I have to spend money on food, I like knowing that I’m supporting small local businesses as well as farms and companies that have similar values to my own.  Nestle is pretty bad, but let’s face it, so are a lot of other big corporations.  Buying food from small local companies makes it easier to have at least a bit of an idea where your money is going.

Going to thrift stores for non-food items is another great way to direct our dollars somewhere besides the pockets of big companies.  The thrift stores where I shop are non-profits devoted to helping the needy, the homeless, people with epilepsy, and people with developmental disabilities.  I know that there are some for-profit thrift stores out there, but most of the others are set up to raise money for various charitable causes, which is one more reason to shop there.

Shopping the way we do, for both food and everything else, makes our money go further and keeps us healthy and happy.  It works for us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  And it has the added benefit of not contributing profits to companies that I find reprehensible.

Don’t worry… I will still be wearing clothes!  They will just come from my closet rather than the thrift store.

Last week when I went to town, my husband asked me to see if I could find a pair of overalls and a flannel shirt at a thrift store to dress a scarecrow he’s welding.  I had to go to the thrift store anyway to drop off a few boxes of donations, but this was the first time in about two months that I had gone there to shop.

Now that I’ve done so much clutter-busting around here, I love the way our house feels.  I love how easy it is to keep clean.  The bedrooms pretty much clean themselves, since we don’t have so much stuff in them anymore.  And the living area just needs counters wiped and toys picked up at the end of the day.  I am never going back to having a bunch of stuff that we don’t need.  And that mindset made thrift store shopping a very different experience.  Rather than browsing around the store looking at all sorts of stuff, I headed straight for the jeans and flannel shirts.  I found overalls and a great scarecrow shirt for a total of five bucks.  I also happened to notice a very big, sturdy clothes drying rack that was in much better shape than the ones I had.  I have four of them, which get pretty heavy use during the winter when the outdoor clothesline doesn’t work as well (we don’t own a dryer).  I bought the new rack, but as soon as I got home I took two of my smaller, less-sturdy racks and put them in my car to donate next time I’m in town.  Other than that, I didn’t even look around the thrift store.  I bought my stuff and headed out, without browsing through clothes for myself or our son, or anything in the kitchen section (those areas used to be my weakness).

As far as clothes go, I’ve decided to commit to not buying any clothing for myself or our son until at least next year.  I got three great pairs of shoes for our son last month, and they should last him through the rest of the year (they have some room to grow).  He has plenty of clothes too, most of which also have room to grow.  I used to love shopping for clothes, but I’ve decided that I prefer having a closet with plenty of room between the clothes.  When I sorted through my clothes over the last several weeks, I got rid of a ton of stuff, and now the clothes that I love – that I wear all the time – are all that’s left.  And I truly don’t need any more.  It’s a great feeling, and I find that I have no desire at all to browse through clothes at the thrift store.  My car is no longer affected by the gravitational pull that the thrift store use to exert over it  Well, I guess it is, because these days it seems like I always have stuff in my car to drop off as donations every time I go to town.  The donation box isn’t filling up as quickly as it was a few weeks ago, but I still much prefer to have stuff go out of the house than come in.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without buying clothes?  I know that there are some people who hate shopping for clothes, and they probably go long stretches all the time.  But if you really enjoy it (as I used to), it’s a bit tougher to give it up, especially if all your clothes come from a thrift store where the price isn’t much of a concern.  So I’m curious… any former clothes shoppers out there who have gone more than a year without buying any clothing?