I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while now, but keep forgetting.  After we moved, we had a ton of boxes sitting in our garage.  We had wrangled them up from all over the place in the months preceeding our move: my parents saved medical supply boxes for us, a friend who moved just before we did saved some boxes for us, and we scrounged more from a local grocery store that doesn’t crush all their boxes right away.  Some of the boxes my friend saved for us were Home Depot moving boxes, including a wardrobe box with a hanging rail in it.  I didn’t want them sitting in our garage, but I knew we could do better than just recycle them.

I put an ad on Craigs List offering the boxes free to the first person who could come pick them up.  I posted the ad late in the evening, and had 12 responses by the next morning.  The guy who came and got them was thrilled to have them, as his family was moving across the country.  When I posted the ad initially, I thought it might be ridiculous and that nobody would reply.  But I was amazed by how many people wanted our boxes.  So if you’ve got a stash of boxes sitting around, it’s worth offering them as a freebie on Craigs List or Freecycle or some place like that.  Easier than breaking them all down to take to the recycle center, and reusing is better than recycling anyway.

With all the craziness of moving (have I mentioned that we’re never doing that again?) I haven’t posted a Frugal Blog Network Round Up in a very long time.  Here are some great articles from my fellow FNB writers:

Kelly at Almost Frugal writes about going to the doctor in France.  Highly worth reading, as it’s an objective factual perspective, rather than something filtered through various media outlets with various agendas.

Frugal Zeitgeist has a post about voluntary simplicity, with a link to another great site that will inspire you to think about what really matters.

Not Made Of Money has some ideas to get you started on the debt reduction path.

The Frugal Duchess has some tips for saving money when you’re moving.  Definitely some good ideas here, especially if you’re moving a long distance.

Andy at Tight Fisted Miser has kept his housing expense at about $400/month for several years.  Pretty impressive.

Hope you’re all having a good weekend!

Andy at Tight Fisted Miser is hosting a book giveaway that ought to be a good read for anyone who enjoys my blog.  It’s called 10,001 Ways To Live Large On A Small Budget, and was compiled by the editors of Wisebread.   All you have to do if you want to enter to win a copy is head over to Andy’s blog and leave a comment on his book giveaway post.  And while you’re there, check out his current plans to hike the Appalachian Trail for a month, starting next week.  He’s only going to be spending $200 for the month, and will be posting updates to Twitter anywhere he has cell phone coverage.  We can all live vicariously through him as he heads out on a fantastic frugal adventure.

I was catching up on some blog reading this evening, and came across an article on Frugal Zeitgeist’s site that kept me reading until the very end.   She included a link to a story about an economics reporter (of all people!) who, despite his impressive background in covering all sorts of financial ups and downs, got himself into a predicament when he stretched way too far to buy a house that cost nearly half a million dollars.  At the time, his take home pay was $2777/month.  And his mortgage payment came to $2500/month.  He followed it up with one bad decision after another, and the article reads like a cautionary tale about what not to do – EVER.

FZ pointed out that she has a hard time drumming up much sympathy for this fellow, considering the decisions he made over the last few years.  I agree, although I do think that it took a lot of courage for him to write such a personal article and put it out there for the world to see.  Hopefully it will have the effect of reinforcing the idea that we all need to be living within our means, and will keep another family from ending up in the same boat.

I just put $1000 into our HSA.  Any contributions we make to our HSA are automatically invested in a mutual fund.  Last spring, shares in the fund were selling for around $23 a pop.  Now they’re about $16.  So although it’s painful to look at overall balances in all of our accounts, it’s nice to make a contribution when the shares are basically “on sale.”  Hopefully a year from now, they won’t be selling for $10!

I think it’s time for a round up of my favorite posts from the Frugal Blog Network and around the blogosphere.

Frugal Zeitgeist has a very detailed first quarter checkup of her 2009 goals.  It’s inspiring to read, and a good reminder that yearly goal-setting is great, but in order to be successful, it’s probably a good idea to keep track of your progress every few months.

The Tight Fisted Miser writes about tracking his activities to figure out where he’s wasting time.  I know what he means about the internet… Since I’m online most of the time for my job, it’s easy to get distracted and find myself out and about in cyberspace (twitter, anyone?).  I make an effort to keep my non-work online time to a minimum.  But then I find stories like this one, and before I know it I’ve spent 20 minutes reading through the article and comments.  Ah, the internet.

Almost Frugal has 7 money saving ideas that might seem crazy – but give them a chance.  Definitely worth a read.  And I’m sure you can add a few more to the list if you try.

Not Made Of Money has a post about keeping laminate floors clean, without spending a bunch of money or using nasty chemicals.  I’m a big fan of vinegar as a cleaner.  This is pretty much the same way I clean our floors (wood and laminate).  I have a mop with a washable microfiber cloth attached to it.  I rinse the rag in the sink, spray it with vinegar, and that’s about it.  Works great, and there’s no worry about chemicals on the floor.

The Frugal Duchess has an article about mistakes she made with her emergency fund, and what she’s learned.  I like her idea about having multiple savings accounts, each with a specific purpose.  We have a college savings account for our son, IRAs, an HSA (for medical expenses, but it doubles as a retirement fund if we don’t need to use the money for medical expenses), and three accounts at ING that each have a different purpose.

Elsewhere in the blogospherse, Alissa at On Purpose Living had a baby boy last week!

Sheri at Green and Crunchy made kale popsicles and kale ice cream!  I make green smoothies every day (sometimes two or three times a day) and kale is a favorite around here.  I don’t have popsicle molds or an ice cream maker, but I often make very thick smoothies that are the consistency of soft serve ice cream, pour them into bowls, and freeze them for a while.  And lately I’ve been making chocolate pudding in my blender: cocoa, bananas, avocado, a few dates, some pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, ice cubes, and water.  Blend, enjoy!

Frugal Trenches has posted a very comprehensive list of ways to save money.  She’s recently made some amazing changes in her life, leaving her job and finding a much more peaceful, relaxed existance.  But to do so required an ability to live on a lot less money.  So check out how she did it, and be inspired.

Hope you’re all having a good Friday!  It’s a no-spending day around here… anybody else with me?

After a very long hiatus from carnivals and festivals, I finally submitted a post to the festival of frugality this week.  Good Financial Cents hosted, and as always, there are a ton of great articles to browse through.   If you haven’t already, head over there and check it out.

In the Frugal Blog Network,

Tight Fisted Miser is reading Your Money Or Your Life.  I still haven’t read that book, even though it gets high marks by just about everyone who reads it.  I know the concept, and I’m sure I’d enjoy the book.  Several years ago, when we were digging our way out of debt, I read stacks and stacks of personal finance books (for a while, I don’t think I read anything else).  But somehow I missed that one.  So I’ll be following Andy’s reports to catch me up.

Almost Frugal gives us six advantages of not having any money.  Most of us will go through ups and downs when it comes to money.  Times without money are good practice for the rest of your life.  Frugal habits will serve you well regardless of your financial situation.  The same cannot be said for spendy habits.

Not Made Of Money asks whether you should hire a tax pro or do it yourself.  I’ve done my own taxes as long as I’ve been filing taxes, but for the first few years after we incorporated our business, I consulted with an accountant.  She charged $125/hr, and I bought one hour of her time each year.  I do our corporate and personal returns myself, and save all my questions for my hour with her.  The $125 I pay her is a fraction of what it would cost if she did everything for us, and it’s money well spent in terms of making sure I’ve done everything right.  This year, for the first time, I was able to do our taxes without a consultation, and as long as we don’t make any major changes, I’ll be able to continue to do so in the future.

The Frugal Duchess has a story about a couple who had been married for decades and went through their old valentines and love notes, re-sharing the ones that meant the most to them over the years.  I love this idea (and it’s free!)

Frugal Zeitgeist has a reminder that relationships are worth investing in.  It’s easy to take spouses, friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, and family for granted.  But aren’t they really all that actually matters in life anyway?

Our dishwasher may have died, but I’m finding ways to give its parts a new life.  I’m a scrapbooker, and I love pens.  I do a lot of writing on my pages, and have quite a few pens.  Until today, they lived in a drawer, all jumbled together.  Now they are neatly organized in the cutlery holder from our old dishwasher.  It’s perfect – portable, organized, and big enough for all my pens with room to spare:

Here’s some good stuff I found around the blogosphere this week:

At Green And Crunchy, they are hibernating and making some amazing food.  Their pictures look like something from a food magazine.  I was inspired by their creations, and today I made bean burgers from scratch (with beans I cooked in the sun oven) and buns to go with them.

The Thrifty Chicks have a wonderful article about children and thrift stores.  I grew up shopping at yard sales, and I remember looking forward to it all week.  We would get the newspaper, plan our route, and spend all of Saturday morning at yard sales.  When I was in high school, we took a family vacation to a big city several hours from our home.  It turned out to be very touristy, and everything was expensive.  So on a whim, my parents stopped at a Goodwill.  We discovered that the city had several great thrift stores, and spent the rest of our vacation happily hunting for bargains.  After that we would return every summer for our thrift store vacation.  We never did visit the tourist traps – the whole family had so much fun in the thrift stores that there was no need for anything else. 

In the Frugal Blog Network,

Tight Fisted Miser has a compilation of his best posts from 2008 – check them out if you missed them the first time.

Almost Frugal is saving for retirement with a budget that is already so tight it squeaks.  A few years ago, we were working to pay off debt and didn’t have an emergency fund.  We set up an online account and put $100/month into it.  The payments went in automatically, and after a few raids early in the process, we managed to stop dipping into it 2 years ago.  It’s tough to build savings when you’re paying off debt at the same time, but the psychological boost is considerable, and I wish Kelly and her family all the best.

Frugal Zeitgeist did a little shopping.  I would say $1.09 over-budget is pretty darn good.  Well done, FZ!

Frugal Duchess has the scoop on how to watch the inauguration for free, in the comfort of your own home.  As much as I’d love to be at such an historic event, I think I’ll enjoy it more on my couch.

Not Made Of Money has written about paying down the mortgage early.  This is our number one financial goal at the moment.  We cleared out the rest of our debt in 2007, and we’ve ramped up our mortgage repayment schedule.  Even if we end up moving, we do not want to be making mortgage payments for the next 20 or 30 years. 

FiLife is a personal finance site that is partnered with the Wall Street Journal.  Susie Bafico from FiLife interviewed me earlier this month and has posted the interview on the site’s profile section.  Head over there and see if you learn anything about me that you didn’t already know.  Susie has interviewed several bloggers.  Scan through her articles and you’ll probably come across interviews with other bloggers you recognize.

In the Frugal Blog Network,

Tight Fisted Miser has some radical ways for the US government to raise money.  I’m a big fan of his ideas, even though he notes that he’s not entirely serious.  The first three make perfect sense: legalizing and taxing vices that people already do anyway would be a good revenue generator for the government and would reduce the amount of money that has to be spent by the justice system.

Almost Frugal has a great post about gifts for new parents.  As a new parent myself, I love her ideas.

Not Made Of Money has some ideas for games to teach kids about money.  As parents, teaching our son about finances will be right up there with the birds and the bees.

Frugal Zeitgeist writes about the demise of her shredder.  We had a super-cheap shredder that we bought years ago when we started our business.  it cut strips about half an inch wide (not really, but close) and could only handle one sheet at a time.  A few weeks ago, we used a gift card and bought a new shredder that seems to work like magic (you can’t piece the shreds back together and read what was on the paper!!)

Frugal Duchess writes about using both sides of a sheet of paper.  We keep things as paperless as possible around here, but mail still rolls in.  I reuse envelopes for grocery lists and to-do lists.  I keep a box on the counter where I open the mail.  Everything to be shredded goes in the shredder right away, but everything else goes in the box.  Then I can use it as scratch paper as needed, and dump it in the recycling container in the garage once a week or so.

I hope you all had a good weekend, and that 2009 is off to a good start for everyone.  I made this amazingly good vegan mac n cheese for dinner tonight, and wanted to share it with my readers.  Even if you’re not vegan, potatoes and carrots are cheaper and milk and cheese.  And better for you.  And it really did taste good. I used flax oil in place of the margarine, and didn’t have any shallots, so I just omitted them.  Give it a try and see what you think.

One of my readers sent me a link to an article Trent at The Simple Dollar published yesterday (thanks for the heads up, April!)  If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend it.   It’s about the new consumer protection laws that go into effect next month requiring that all products for kids under 12 be tested for (and be free of) lead and phthalates.  Apparently, it includes used items too, which will be a huge problem for thrift stores and consignment stores that market kids’ stuff.  I can see both sides of this.  I am a stickler about avoiding chemicals.  I got rid of all of our household chemicals and switched to baking soda and vinegar to clean pretty much everything.  I buy organic food 99% of the time, and never buy processed food with added chemicals.  I don’t have any non-stick cookware, and store all of our food in glass containers.  We use cloth diapers for our son (and wash them with non-toxic soap, baking soda, and vinegar) and one of the reasons we do so is because we don’t want the chemicals that make disposables so absorbent anywhere near his little behind.  So I can understand the sentiment behind this law.  But I think they’re taking it too far.  And I hope that our thrift stores don’t really have to stop selling used clothes for kids.  My family shops there because we just can’t justify buying brand new clothes that will only be worn for a few months before they’re outgrown.  But what about families that shop at thrift stores because they truly can’t afford any other option? (I’ve been in that boat too, although it was before we had a child).  What do you think about this law?

In the Frugal Blog Network,

Tight Fisted Miser shares some things that you should get for free.  And stock trades are on his list.  Oops – we’ve been paying ten bucks a pop through Ameritrade.  Not that we make trades often, but when we do it’s not free.

Frugal Zeitgeist just inspired me to clean my house.  I will get going on this tomorrow.  If I deep clean one room per day (and that should probably involve moving furniture and dismantling the dust bunny drifts that make their way under our couches) I can have it done sometime next week.

Almost Frugal has a helpful post for anyone with an Etsy shop who needs to know how to market it.

Not Made Of Money explains the perils of consumer debt.

The Frugal Duchess has an article about ways to cut home technology costs.  I like that “avoid bundles” is included in the list.  Bundles are often advertised as a way to save money, but if you don’t need something, you’re not saving money by getting it at a discount.

I just finished making another diaper for our son, and the process is getting much easier and faster.  This evening it took me less than a hour from start to finish.  I used a fleece sweatshirt I found at a thrift store for the liner (I should be able to get three more diapers out of that shirt, so for $2.50 it was a good deal), and an old t-shirt with a cool design on it for the outside.  I only make pocket diapers these days, as I find that they dry much faster and I feel like they get cleaner, since the insert and the diaper get washed in two pieces.  I used to make inserts, but I found that I can just fold a prefold diaper into quarters and have an instant liner.  Several people gave us prefold diaper burp cloths when our son was born, and we’ve been using them as all-purpose baby rags.  But now they’ve become diaper inserts, and save me time when I’m making diapers.  I retired one of his smallest diapers this evening, and replaced it with the new one I just made.   The rest of his diapers should last a few more months – I altered them all at the end of the summer, and gave him lots of room to grow, so they’re still working for now.  I’m trying to make a diaper every few weeks so that I can stay on top of the process.  I don’t want to find one day that he’s outgrown everything all at once and have to spend a whole weekend making diapers.

Last week we bought a desk at the thrift store for $15, and I moved it into our guest room as a permanent home for my sewing machine.  The sewing machine is a portable model, and I had been dragging it around the house, using it at my office desk, the dining room table, and the kitchen countertop.  And I had been storing my material and supplies in boxes and bags in the corner of the guest room.  Now everything is neatly housed in the new desk, and it fits perfectly next to my office desk.  The guest room gets used for guests maybe 4 or 5 weeks out of the year.  The rest of the time it’s my office and scrapbook room, and now it’s my sewing room too.  I like making good use of that space – our house is small and we can’t have a room just sitting there waiting for guests to show up.

We had a great day today – the only time we left the house was to go the gym and to take the dog for walks.  No spending, and lots of accomplishing.  Those are the best sort of days.  I did get a chance to do some catching up on my blog reading.  Miss Thrifty hosted the Festival of Frugality, full of great frugal ideas to inspire and encourage you on your journey.  Check it out.

Kristen has a post about a documentary called A Delicate Balance.  I decided I wanted to see this, and as a Christmas present to myself, I shelled out the five bucks and my husband and I watched it together after we put our son to bed on Christmas night.  It is a powerful movie – our motivation to be vegan is stronger than ever now.

In the Frugal Blog Network, Tight Fisted Miser details how he’ll be cutting expenses in 2009.  I love his plan to hike the Appalachain trail (for only $200/month) for a few months.

Kelly at Almost Frugal is on vacation this week, but is reposting some of her greatest hits.  I enjoyed her post about the problems with reselling cloth diapers.   For the people at ebay – what are you thinking?  We got some cloth diapers on Craigs list before our son was born ($3 each) and made the rest from recycled fabric.  We also got three as a gift from Kelly (thank you!)  I’m planning to hold onto mine in case we decide to have another baby someday.  After that, maybe one of my siblings will be ready to have kids, and I’ll be able to pass them on.

Not Made Of Money has some good ideas for a frugal New Year’s Eve party.  I’m just thrilled to have another short work week.

Frugal Zeitgeist has an article about turning 40 and her goals for 2009.  Lots of good stuff here, and I like seeing the high numbers on her savings goals.  That’s what happens when you pay off the mortgage – there’s lots of extra money for savings.

The Frugal Duchess writes about how a good number of us aren’t particularly savvy when it comes to finances (or basic math from the looks of it).

I hope you all had a good week.  Enjoy the last few days of 2008!

When I wrote about our worms and ladybugs a few days ago, several people told me that they had been thinking of starting to compost with worms, but didn’t want to spend $100+ on the bin.  So I thought I’d take pictures of our $5 setup that my husband made.  He bought three big plastic totes at the thrift store for a total of $5 (they’re just storage bins – you probably have some lying around somewhere).  He drilled holes in the sides and bottoms of two of the bins.  The third he left intact.  They nest inside each other, which is key.  The one without holes is basically to catch liquid/compost/worms that come out of the holes in the other bins.  He put one of the drilled bins inside the intact bin, and that’s it to start.  We put leaves, shredded paper, cardboard, and a bunch of kitchen scraps into the top bin (the one with holes) with the worms, and they’re happy little campers.  Any liquid from our kitchen scraps bin drains out the holes in the bottom and we empty it periodically.  The fancy worm bins have a spigot in the bottom bin, but removing the bin with the worms so that you can empty the catch bin is worth saving $100.

The second bin with holes in it comes into play once the first bin is about half full of compost.  You just remove the lid of the worm bin, set the second drilled bin on top of the worms/compost mixture, and put the lid on top (so now you have three bins stacked up, with worms and compost in the middle bin and nothing in the top bin).  Then you start putting your scraps into the top bin.  The worms will start to migrate up there looking for food.  After a while, the worms will have all moved into the top bin, and your middle bin will just be full of really great compost. 

Here are some pics of our setup.  The first one shows what we have now: a catch bin and a drilled bin with worms in it.  The second shows our third bin, which we’re not using yet because the worms are still working on the scraps in the first bin.  The third shows a glimpse of the inside of the bin where the worms are currently working.  There’s no odor at all from the compost by the way.  You have to stick your nose right down into the bin to smell anything, and then it just smells like really good dirt.

I hope the description and the pictures help make it a little easier for some of you to reproduce this setup for yourselves.  It sure is easier than trudging outside when it’s 2 degrees and snowing to dump the kitchen scraps into a frozen-solid compost bin.

If you’re looking for other great ways to be eco friendly, check out the Carnival Of All Things Eco, over at Focus Organic, one of my favorite blogs.

In other news, I saw a sweet high efficiency washing machine at our neighborhood thrift store yesterday, for $50 (!!).  But alas, it had a sold sign on it.  We bought our washing machine refurbished in 2004, after the 1980s machine that came with out house kicked the bucket (and did so in grand style, pouring water all over our floor, down the heating vents, and into our garage ceiling – I think we were up until 4am that night, tearing out insulation and drywall).  Anyway, our washing machine works.  It doesn’t work perfectly, and I sometimes have to put things back through the laundry to get them clean.  After spending two years living in Africa, I’m truly grateful just to have a machine that washes clothes for me, so I’m not complaining.  But I would love a new (to us) washing machine someday.  A high efficiency one would be awesome.  I’m just not willing to pay $1000 to get one.  So although I was bummed to see that someone had already snagged the one in the thrift store, it gave me hope that I will eventually find a good used washing machine at a price that doesn’t make me cringe.

In the Frugal Blog Network last week,

Tight Fisted Miser sold his car.  And I don’t mean traded it in.  He’s car free, something that more of us could be if we put our minds to it.

The Frugal Duchess writes about BOGO shopping.  Good ideas here, and if you only need one, it doesn’t hurt to ask if you can get one half off instead of two for the price of one.

Frugal Zeitgeist has a post about how to make your goals S.M.A.R.T – following her instructions will increase your odds of meeting your goals, whether they’re big or small.

Almost Frugal has a good compilation of frugal tips for college students.  Although I’d say that some of those tips will work for anyone, student or not.

Not Made Of Money has a good list of personal finance related resolutions for 2009.  Use this list to kick start your own ideas of where you want to be a year from now.  And whatever goals you set, make sure they’re S.M.A.R.T.