the simple life

Progress On Our Projects And Some Good Links

May 14, 2012

I hope you all had a great weekend!  Our was spent working on the rough wiring in our basement, with a lot of help from my parents.  I have a circuit map that I’ve been drawing onto a blank floor plan, adding x’s and o’s for all the outlets and lights.  The whole basement map [...]

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A DIY Bike Cargo Area

March 29, 2012

My husband recently spruced up his bike to make it easier to carry stuff, and I thought I’d share his cool DIY design.  In the past, he always used a backpack to haul stuff on his bike, or he put stuff in next to our son if he was hauling the kid-trailer.  But now he [...]

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More Improvised Exercise Equipment

January 22, 2012

Remember when I told you about the walker I started using as a dip station for my Bodyrock workouts?  Well, I have another inexpensive, DIY piece of workout equipment to share with you. They use sandbags as weights on Bodyrock all the time.  The one they use sells for about $100.  Of course there was [...]

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Vinegar As An Herbicide

June 30, 2010

In addition to our awesome backyard, we also have a really big front yard.  We started getting rid of some of the grass last summer, putting down weed blocking fabric and using a wheelbarrow to spread out existing areas of gravel (happily, the former owners had ordered more than they needed when they put in [...]

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Reducing Our Impact In Whatever Way We Can

June 29, 2010

My post about all of us being responsible for the oil spill generated quite a bit of discussion over the last few days.  Any time this issue comes up (on my site and every other one I’ve visited), there are always people who are quick to point out why their particular situation makes it impossible [...]

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We’re All Responsible For The Oil Spill

June 26, 2010

I subscribe by email to my favorite blogs, and this morning, right beside each other in my inbox, were articles from two of my favorite bloggers, Everett Bogue and Tammy Strobel, both writing about essentially the same thing: we all have a moral obligation to drive less.  Both articles are excellent, and well worth reading. [...]

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Reducing Our Dependence On Cars

June 16, 2010

People are often amazed that my husband and I have cars that are 20 years old and still going strong. Yes we’ve been lucky to have reliable vehicles, and we’ve also stayed on top of basic maintenance. But the real key is that we don’t drive much. We bought my car from its original owner [...]

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My Six Favorite Ways To Keep Expenses To A Minimum

May 10, 2010

I believe that for most people, cutting expenses is the most important key to reaching financial goals as quickly as possible.  Basically, the idea is to make the difference between what you earn and what you spend as large as possible in order to put the difference towards your goals (paying off debt, buying a [...]

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Disposables Versus Cloth Diapers

March 8, 2010

Hi everyone!  Sorry about the lack of posts recently.  We’ve been on vacation, and I took a break from the computer while we were away.  We spent several days with my husband’s parents at their sunny winter home.  They live in an RV park in the southwest during the cold months, and it was great [...]

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Plastic

January 27, 2010

I’ve written before about how I’m trying to buy less plastic.  I just read a really inspiring interview with Beth Terry from Fake Plastic Fish, and I’m ashamed to admit that on the rare occasions when we eat out, I’ve never thought to ask the waiter to bring my water without a straw.  Around the [...]

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