Future planning

Planning ahead is a great thing for saving money. And it doesn't always take a lot of time. Before you think you have to sit down and plan your life for the next 10 years, do some planning like I do. I'm going to grow a garden this year and I know I'll want to preserve some of it by canning. (dilled green beans anyone?) But I don't have a lot of jars. 2, to be exact. Since I'm planning ahead though, this is what I'll do. Rather than going out to buy a bunch of canning jars, I'll do this. I go to the store and think, 'I'll make spaghetti tonight'. Rather than purchasing the cheapest decent sauce in a can, I peruse the ones in glass jars. (I could be making my own sauce, which I've done, but I'm lazy today) Hmmm, Classico and a few other brands come in nice glass jars that are made for canning. So, I pick the one that is on sale that week and viola! I have spaghetti sauce for dinner AND a nice glass jar to clean out and use to can. Two birds with one stone! And it took hardly any planning on my part. My only advice is to buy the ones with jars that look like canning jars. The other ones may be harder to find lids for.

Food ideas

I'm always looking for new, good, inexpensive food ideas. I found this today at Spunky Eclectic and it looks like it fits the bill. You could make it as fancy or plain as you wanted. Good for you, good for the environment and good for your pocketbook. If I have time, I'll try it this weekend and let you know.

Earth hour again

Again my son wanted to do earth hour. Something about turning off all the lights and just interacting with each other, he loves it. He asked, 'mom, can you do earth hour anytime?' I said 'of course! that's the point!'
We should be thinking about how we can protect the earth all the time. One of the many bonuses of this is more quality time with your family just talking to them. Help spread the word!

Earth hour revisited

My kids and I participated in Earth Hour last night. When I told them about it, I found that they had no clue what I was talking about. To be summed up in my son's question, "if we turn off the lights, does the earth warm up?" So I spent the hour talking to them a little about what global warming is and why it's important. I mentioned ice caps and sea level rising and weather patterns changing. I think they understood a little.
Kids pick up on things so fast I just assumed that had heard of global warming just a little bit. I read a lot on the topic and hope they start reading as well. Don't assume your kid know all about something. Sometimes it's just bits and pieces.
There are a lot of critics of Earth Hour out there (just read the comments on their web site) but I think it's a great tool for raising awareness and my family has decided to participate every week. It's a chance to slow down, talk to your kids, explain a little more of your personal philosophy.
It was fun!

Earth hour

Participate in Earth hour this year. It's an easy easy (and of course cheap) way to show your commitment to the earth. There is more information here.
I'm going to try and do the live blogging thing to get involved tomorrow night. It's a great way to unite people all over the world and raise awareness of global climate change.

My favorite cookbook

Last night I made some oatmeal bread from my favorite cookbook. Which cookbook is that? The More with Less Cookbook. It is a Mennonite cookbook and I love it because so far everything I've made out of it has turned out good and the recipes are comforting. The dishes aren't fancy, just good plain cooking that so many cookbooks can't even fathom. They spend all their time making up the fanciest dishes with expensive ingredients that may or may not actually be good. This cookbook is awesome and has a lot of tips about using leftovers and low cost ingredients. I got the cookbook on ebay several years ago but it looks like you can get it here.
I also recommend Living More with Less. Both are just great to read as well as the tips given in therm.

Compulsive coupon-cutting

I was doing some reading today about people who use like a million coupons and get a basket full of groceries for 10 cents. That's ok but I would think it takes a lot of time to organize that and one thing I read, the person was so proud that she saved so much but ended up going to 6 different stores in one day to shop. It doesn't seem like she is thinking about gas money and time. In my mind, I would rather spend a little more for an item at the store I'm already shopping in than run around to yet another store to find it cheaper. I guess for me the point isn't getting everything as cheaply as possible, it's more of spending my time to do things I enjoy. It's also a problem that you may end up buying things you wouldn't otherwise buy just because you have a coupon for it.
Just something to think about.