Yankee 2.0 : recycle

Paper shredder maintenance

Anne Cross — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:27:00 GMT

This is a virtually free tip that will extend the life of your paper shredder and can even bring it back from the dead: Vegetable Oil. Pour some vegetable oil (corn, canola, what have you -- probably not expensive olive oil) down where the paper goes every now and then (say, mabye once a month) and it will keep that baby shredding away.

I recently did a (typically harebrained) experiment of putting a small metal plate down the shredder. I wanted to see if it would shred. It did, and it killed the shredder. I was devestated. I love that shredder (and I got it for free from a neighbor who got it as a gift for opening a new bank account somewhere). Anyway, I decided not to just give up, and I looked online for solutions. They suggested putting shredder oil (purchased at a store) down the chute to clear the system. I figured corn oil was just as good, so I got some out and poured it liberally (about a cup or so) down the feeder and waited about 15 minutes (that was the hardest part for your impulsive and impatient blogger), then turned it on.....

It worked!! Now I put about a quarter cup into the feeder every few weeks -- whenever the shredding gears sound sort of clunky -- wait a bit, then turn it on. It really revives the shredding mechanism.

"Transumers not really consumers" -- I disagree.

Anne Cross — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:56:00 GMT

I just read an AP article in my local newspaper about "Transumers" -- people who are transient consumers. They don't purchase and consume things, they rent or lease consumer items that are then passed on to the next transumer. Sounds sort of green and sustainable, right? It was billed as a new econonmy type thing. Well, the person featured in the photo and the lead off to the article is budgeting $800 per month to rent designer pocketbooks.

Here's the article: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/06/29/ap6598975.html

Yep, that's right, $800 per month, every month, for pocketbooks, presumably so she isn't seen with the same pocketbook. What???? I admit, I love pocketbooks, but I doubt that in my forty years of loving pocketbooks I've spent a total of $800.00 Another example given is "Wear Today, Gone Tomorrow" where you can rent a designer dress for $49.00 for a week (plus a $10.00 cleaning fee). So that's $60.00 for a dress that you can only wear once, plus someone else has already worn it!

Is it just me, or does this seem like the ultimate antithesis of thrift? How is it that this is a positive reaction to the "economic downturn" (great depression two)? "Less treasure, more pleasure" was the subtitle to this article. Sheesh!

I get almost all of my clothes second-hand (just like those designer handbags and dresses are, if someone else has worn them). I wonder what someone paying $800 per month for handbags thinks about second-hand clothes? Does she really she's using used goods?

The article also talks about renting tools and bicycles and using Netflix for movies -- but these sensible programs were overshadowed for me by the profligate rentals.

Frugal gardening tips

Anne Cross — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:35:00 GMT

Spring has sprung here in New England and the farmer's markets, farm stands, and greenhouses are displaying their wares. A friend just spent $200 in one day on plants -- all annuals! Yikes! Here are some tips to keep your garden costs low.

Plant swaps -- look in the newspaper or at the library or call your local gardener's association. This is a way to thin out unwanted or multiplied plants from your own garden and bring in some new ones. I have some lovely dead nettle that spreads like wildfire (or like dead nettle), ivy, hostas that multiply like crazy, and beautiful blue colombine. I thin out my patches of this and trade for veggie plants or whatever catches my fancy!

Charity plant sales -- if you can't get a plant for free, you can still get it for less than commercial nurseries want to charge.Look in the papers for fundraising plant sales -- especially from local gardening or botanical societies. You can usually buy the plant right from the grower and ask questions about care, etc. These plants always cost much less, are very healthy, and you're supporting a good cause.

All-perennials, all the time -- I used to find it so hard to remember that "annual" meant a plant only lived for one year. Maybe it's a slick marketing trick. :) Just get perennials for your garden. They are usually a one-time investment (although I do sometimes have perennials that fail to return over the winter), and they usually multiply, allowing you to cull your crop and bring the excess to plant swaps (see above). Non-food annuals seem like such a waste of time and effort to me. I guess i'm a lazy gardener, but I like to see my plants coming up each year without doing a whole lot of work, and without spending anything.

Go native -- Plants that are native to your location will do better than exotic non-native plants. You are less likely to have to replace native perennials than ones that have come from elsewhere. You can also likely find these on the side of the road, or in the woods (ferns, lilly of the valley, violets, etc.), where you can pick them if you know it won't harm the eco-system.

Plant food -- the only annuals I get are food-bearing plants: tomatoes, lettuce, squash, herbs, etc. Get these at swaps if you can (they're probably heirlooms, organic, etc.). If you're really frugal, or have a greenhouse (I live downtown and do all my gardening in containers), you can keep the seeds and grow your own heirlooms, too. The cost of one tomato plant at a charity sale is usually one or two dollars. So for an investment of less than $20.00, a person in New England can have a bountiful crop of veggies.

Craigslist -- Check the "Free" section on CL for plants. People often re-landscape and will give away plants to anyone who will come and dig them up. I've gotten (and swapped) great stuff here.

Free dirt -- If you need dirt (like I do in my container world), ask around of your friends with in-ground gardens. They will often share.

Containers -- I'm transitioning away from inexpensive and eco-friendly terra cotta pots, because they freeze, crack, and break over the winter. Even though I'm anti-plastic as a rule, I'm switching over to those lightweight styrene or plastic pots, because they last a long time. I have several that are ten+ years old. Also, be creative -- use old 5-gallon paint buckets (great for tomatoes), tin cans, or other non-breakable containers. Look for these at tag sales, too.

Compost -- our town gives away free compost, and one can certainly make one's own.

Happy gardening!

Homemade cleaning products -- laundry and dishes

Anne Cross — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:07:00 GMT

I've been making my own personal and household cleaning products for a while now. I've shared some of the personal care items (the famous salty toothpaste, vinegar hair rinse, shampoo and body wash), and thought I would share these household cleaners with the Dollar Stretcher Community.

Laundry detergent

1 cup grated castille soap (I buy it in bulk at www.soapsaloon.com)

1 cup borax (laundry aisle of grocery store)

1 cup washing powder (laundry aisle of grocery store, Arm & Hammer brand)

Mix it all together and use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load. Easy, eh?

Laundry whitener

A few drops of bluing (found in the laundry aisle of my grocery store) added to water brightens your laundry without bleach. Adding a few drops of bluing to a mix of 1/2 cup bleach and 1/2 cup water super-brightens your whites.

Dishwashing detergent for dishwasher

1 cup borax

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup washing soda

Dishwasher rinse

Use straight white vinegar (distilled) instead of that expensive Jet Dry stuff.

I really like making my own products for many reasons -- I know they aren't tested on animals, I'm not using tons of plastic (I put everything into re-usable glass containers), they're really really inexpensive, and they're not using tons of caustic chemicals.

If you don't like these recipes, there are lots of others out there! Happy washing!

Home-made conditioner for hair

Anne Cross — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:59:00 GMT

Okay, this might sound weird, but it really works to keep your hair soft. It's vinegar... regular old vinegar (white, red wine, apple cider) diluted 1:4 with warm water. You just pour a bit of it over your head then rinse it out after shampooing and it leaves your hair really really really soft. And it's not a "my hair is coated with synthetic smelling polymers" kind of soft -- it's soft like petting a (soft) goat or cat kind of soft.

This is my first batch -- I used apple cider vinegar and added a few drops of lemon essential oil. It smells like vinegar when you put it on, but after rinsing it out, there's no smell. I'm going to try white vinegar next.

I'm working on some home-made shampoo, too, but the first batch came out too thick -- it works great, but it's a paste, not a liquid, so I'm going to change some proportions on my next batch before I post the recipe here.

(Free) birthday organizer

Anne Cross — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:07:00 GMT

I've been looking everywhere for a birthday book, aka perpetual calendar, which is a book where you write down people's birthdays by month. I'd seen one online that I was going to order (for $9.99 plus shipping), but their only shipping method was UPS, which doesn't work for me.

I found myself at CVS today and they had those free little Hallmark calendars at the register. I picked one up and realized -- aha! -- there's no need for the calendar to be undated! So I took one of these cute and slim little calendars and will write down all the birthdates of my friends, and their increasing numbers of offspring (very hard to keep track of), and can tuck it into my little day planner. What a nice solution -- especially because it was free to me.

One woman's trash is some man's treasure

Anne Cross — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:49:00 GMT

I've been furiously de-cluttering my house in order to ring in 2009 in a clean and tidy house. The area I left until last was my icky (some say creepy) basement. It's dirty (half dirt/half cement floor), dark, dusty, and dank. I have some cans of paint and tools stored down there, but mostly it has been a place where I've tossed empty boxes (from ebaying mostly) and avoided at all possible costs.

This November, however, I got a new furnace (boy has it helped in oil conservation -- I've gone from burning more than a tank a month to about 1/2 a tank a month). So that event spurred the total clean up. I posted ads on Craigslist and Freecycle for the boxes and packing materials and had people take a lot of them. Then the guys who took out the boiler cleaned up the dirt and hauled that and the rest of the empty boxes away for recycling.

I still had a couple of barrels' worth of debris, a whole lot of scrap lumber, miscellaneous odds and ends that I haven't used in seven years (beach umbrella, motor oil, electrical bits and bobs), and a bunch of copper piping. I know that copper has some value, so I posted an ad on Craigslist to see if I could find someone who would clean the rest of the junk out of my basement in exchange for the copper piping. I had a bunch of responses, and went with a very nice (and strong) gent who hauled EVERYTHING out, saying he knew someone who would buy whatever I had to dispose of.

So, the old saw, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" holds true here. If you have stuff that you think is of no value, don't put it in the landfill as the first response -- there may indeed be someone out there who would like to take it off your hands at no cost to you..... even if it's a pile of dirt!