Mid-year Austerity Plan!

...like the European ones but without the riots.

So, there are a lot of things I need to be saving up for on the horizon: car, kids, projects around the house, September vacation, and student loan debt (this last one is more of a looming cloud than something on the horizon). I've decided I've been spending too much money on stuff. Also, I had a crapload of money at the end of the 2009 Year Without Shopping. It all went into my down payment on the house, but it's still kinda painful to see my account balance. I need to start making a "equity in the house" statement every month and sending it to myself, accounting for the rise/fall of our house value. Thankfully we bought at the bottom of the market, so now we have a 2-bedroom condo with a $90,000, 15-year mortgage. Actually, $90,000 was at the start a year ago. Now it's like $86,000. Boooooo, interest.

Anyways, we need new plan. At least until the State of Maine drops off some kids at our door, rings our doorbell, and runs. Hopefully we'll be home at the time.

*Eating restaurant food is back to the 2009 plan: one dinner and one breakfast/lunch/brunch a week.

*Buying stuff: clothes, books, and STUFF is out. No knick-knacks, no decor. Stuff for around-the-house projects is okay. No more plants either, I think. Went a little crazy with the backyard there.

*Groceries: one trip a week to Hannaford, Whole Foods, and the Farmers Market (each gets 1 trip/week). I'm thinking of instituting a hard $80/week grocery and toiletries budget for 2 people. I think this is highly doable. I'm not even sure we spend that much now, actually.

*Exceptions: stuff for our backpacking vacation in September (gear only, no new clothes and nifty gadgets) and on a related note, 3 automatic cat feeders. Also, dance-related shoes at some point. Oh, and maybe running shoes.

*Entertainment: I'm thinking no rule is needed here. We're too freakin' tired these days to go out to shows and movies much, so it's not a huge part of our spending.

Okay! I feel good about this! Gonna miss the second-hand stores and the flea-marketing but those always provided me with too good of an excuse to buy crap we don't need. Although angry fisherman lamp is here to remind me of why I love flea markets so much:

New Ideas?

Some ideas that we had thrown around for 2009 and 2010 that never came to fruition:

(1) buying only food items at the grocery that have a minimum % of your RDA of vitamins/nutrients (like each item must have at least 30% of your RDA of any one vitamin, mineral, protein, fiber, etc). This was vetoed by Elliott. I think we would have been so miserable our relationship might not have survived it. Also I'm not sure how it would have worked mathematically-- like, I wouldn't be allowed to buy cocoa powder because it doesn't contain any nutrients even if I plan to have it in soy milk, but I could buy chocolate soy milk b/c it's already combined?

(2) All non-consumable goods purchased must be second-hand. This was almost our pact in 2010 after we discovered the Brunswick "Antique Mall" (read: dead grandmothers' attics). In some of the booths you can still smell grandma. Dead grandma.

There was also the Second Time Around Annex on Fore Street where tops were $5, pants were $10, and jackets were $20. Of course, it closed about 2 weeks after I first discovered it. Hey, I'm currently wearing a sweater I bought there.

I think the second idea is still doable. Maybe we'll start the year in March. Or wait until 2011. Thing is, we bought a condo in August and we're still tweaking/insulating/decorating. I'll post some pics of my favorite flea market finds, including our angry fisherman lamp.

How Far Did Your Food Travel-- Winter Edition

This is my second winter in Maine... snow has lost all novelty, I've completely wiped out coming out of my office TWICE (this winter), and I hear there's a brutal cold front coming in. Winter, which I used to think consisted of December and January, is losing its appeal. Or, has lost its appeal. Its' only saving grace is that winter is citrus season, and I love blood oranges. Cara cara oranges are a distant second, and anything in the tangerine/tangelo family is up there too.

Anyways, MSNBC has this slideshow of which foods travel the farthest in winter. Basically it's a list of non-winter produce grown in South America and Asia so that the rest of the world does not have to deal with seasonality in their diets. The slideshow only deals with traveling distance and not growing conditions, and as someone who bought strawberries earlier this week, I have to wonder about the energy used to grow stuff within the US but in greenhouses. Like the Backyard Beauty tomatoes that are ubiquitous in New England year-round and are indoor-grown in Maine. What's the carbon footprint of THAT?

How Did We Do?

On the major elements:

(1) Not shopping: great, until mid-December. The only notable purchases before December were 2 shower curtains (for a clawfoot tub) and a portable dishwasher ($125 from Craigslist), both when we moved into the new apartment. Oh, and 2 Halloween costumes purchased from Goodwill (and returned to the Goodwill bin, so the money spent was pretty much a donation, I think).

(2) Buying US-grown groceries or organic: okay. The organic exception was supposed to be for coffea/tea but I ended up using it more than I expected, which really adds to your grocery bill. But it takes about 5 seconds to look for an organic label, it takes about a minute to see if something is actually US-grown. Except for produce, usually the answer is unclear anyways. This was by far the suckiest part of the experiment. I thought we'd get into a groove of what we could/could not eat but even at the end I was still constantly checking labels.

(3) Not driving less than 2 miles: pretty good. Only major exceptions were late at night when I didn't feel safe walking home and maybe a couple of times last winter when the sidewalks were like skating rinks.

(4) Eating out at restaurants: limit was one breakfast or lunch and one dinner out per week. This rule didn't apply to Elliott, but even so I think we did pretty well. This is definitely one cost I think we should cut down on in the following year. The thing is, when you limit going out to eat, you feel entitled to spend more than you normally would. So you don't feel so guilty about ordering that extra drink or appetizer, or dessert, even if you normally wouldn't. Plus if you're not eating at a big chain restaurant, you tell yourself you're helping the local economy!

I'd say most dinners cost us around $30-40 total and breakfast probably around $20-25. So per year, a low estimate is $2,600; a high estimate is $3,380. That's a lot of money.

Mall!.. and other shopping...

To sum up the last 2 weeks in December:

I bought Elliott's x-mas present: 1 stainless steel water bottle ($13) and a pair of house slippers ($24). Elliott went the more eco-friendly, non-consumerist route and got me tickets to Diavolo at Merrill Auditorium.



I bought $78 worth of stuff at Swimoutlet.com-- 2 swimsuits, 1 pair of swim trunks for Elliott, a swim cap, and goggles. Actually, it was $58 because I returned one of the swimsuits.

We bought a 12-piece Pyrex storage set and 4-cup measuring cup at Bed, Bath, and Beyond ($32 minus $10 coupon minus $5 rebate = $17) and threw out a lot of the plastic ware. I'm really bad about re-using takeout containers; I can't bear to throw them out or recycle them. So this is a step in the right direction of not giving ourselves cancer.

Anntaylorloft.com had this buy one get one free sale (I get their promo emails to my hotmail account-- big mistake!). They also had this navy blue trench coat I've been eyeing ever since Meredith wore one on this episode of Grey's Anatomy waaaaay back. So I got one in navy blue and my sister got one in khaki for a total of $140.



The day after Christmas we had to kill some time while in Ellsworth so we stopped by the LL Bean Outlet there and bought: 1 sweater for Elliott ($20), 2 sweaters for me ($12 and $15), Bean bag ($7), and a Stonewall Kitchen gift basket (for us; $12).

And the one trip that occurred January 1 (no rulebreaking!): I got this $50 gift card to the mall from work. I'm very proud to say even though I've lived in Portland for over 1.5 years, this was my first time actually in the mall (okay, one time I went into Linens 'n Things to buy one item and one time we went to Macy's because Elliott had a gift card, but both times were before this experiment and we didn't actually venture into the mall part). Anyways, it reminded me why I don't shop at malls. Eighty percent of the people were middle and high schoolers killing time and the other 20% are people walking slower than molasses in January... in Maine... northern Maine. We spent what seemed like forever there but at the end of the day I had an additional two pairs of office-appropriate pants plus a sweater ($40 + $14 + $25 - $50 gift card = $29). Elliott got 2 pairs of pants for $25 (total!), which were put on a gift card. I never thought going shopping at a mall would ever be an "event" in my life but... here we are. Oh, and the car wouldn't start when we were trying to leave the mall; I can't figure out if this was the mall gods trying beckon us back in or the anti-mall gods punishing us. Thankfully a good samaritan gave us a jump.

$1000 per week?!?

WaPo has this story today about the Wheelock family in Alexandria, Virginia, not spending money for 2 weeks, including groceries (everything but bills and the mortgage). Apparently they didn't stock up beforehand, they just went cold turkey one day, which I think is impressive. Here's how it went:

One of the saving graces of the experiment, they said, was their decision to keep up with their prepaid weekly fresh milk and egg farm co-op vegetable deliveries. Other than that, they ate out of the fridge. Katy Wheelock took the breadmaker out of its box and began baking bread, substituting honey for sugar when the sugar ran out.

They dug through mysterious packets of meat in the freezer -- finding a leg of lamb that saved them one night when they had to entertain -- and finished all those dusty cans of black beans, olives and soup and packages of pasta, rice and weird taco seasonings stashed in the back of their cupboards.

"The first week was pretty normal," Austin Wheelock said. "But the second week was," he paused, "a little leaner."

But by then, they were hooked on not spending. Finding savings provided the same feeling of instant gratification that a little retail therapy does, Katy Wheelock said.

It was agonizing when, with the help of mint.com, a free money-tracking software program, she tallied the family's expenses. In October, the Wheelocks had spent $844 eating out. In November, $200. In October, they had spent $1,171 shopping, and for the life of her, she can't remember what they bought. In November: $224. And in the "personal care" category, they'd spent $313 in October. In November, $0.

By using mint.com to track their expenses (and non-expenses), the mom of the family estimates they saved $2,000 over the course of two weeks. This seems to me a little insane for a family of four...

I'm out.

Yeah, I've been eyeing several winter coats for a while now and there's this one I like-- classic but not boring, synthetic insulation, hood, long length, not too sporty and not too dressy, and age-appropriate for someone coming out of her 20s.



Anyways, the available sizes seem to be disappearing fast on several sites, which really had me worrying. So yeah, I bought it. Got a pretty good deal, and I also got something for Elliott so he wouldn't complain.

The way I see it, my current coat is too thin, too short, too "I'm in my early 20's," and someone else could probably use it this winter. I've had a good 7-8 years with it. So hopefully it'll find a good home.

Holiday Specials? Yes...?

So it occurs to me that if I do all my shopping in January, I'm just going to miss out on the great 2008 holiday deals. And then I'll just have everything 21 days later at a higher price. And that's a little upsetting considering how much I hate paying full price for anything. SO, the way I see it, if I'm allowed to buy these items in January, it doesn't really make sense for me to just pay more in 20 days, RIGHT? Plus all those grubby holiday shoppers will have bought up all the best stuff in the size I need.

So... close....

I've been doing a lot of online window shopping lately, gearing up for the big 1-1-09. My plan is to make a list before January 1st of things I may buy the coming year, and then stick to buying those items only. I think I started a list a while back; gonna have to update it soon. New items include:

-a swimsuit that allows me to be taken seriously at the pool

-swim cap and maybe goggles (other people seem bothered I'm not wearing goggles, not sure why. Swim cap, I can understand, but goggles seem like personal preference...)

-winter coat that reaches past my knees and doesn't make me look 18

-some base layer shirts/camisoles

-elliptical machine (used from Craigslist)

-maybe a Wii and Wii Fit, but current owners seem to be in consensus that you don't use it once you actually own it... (also ideally from Craigslist)

Black Friday Indeed

The New York Times has this piece on Jdimytai Damour, the temp worker who was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart in Long Island. It's just crazy and senseless...

On Thursday as we were driving back from Thanksgiving I asked Elliott "what would happen if America didn't have Christmas?" It's such an odd atmosphere that is supposed to be of peace, goodwill, blah blah blah. Even non-Christians have fond childhood memories. We had a tree up every year. I mean, what would America look like without Christmas? Would our economy be the same? What would kids sing in music class? It's so ingrained in us, this bizarre creation of a holiday. I can't think of anything about Christmas that isn't manufactured, from the date of December 25 (to co-opt existing pagan rituals), to Santa Claus, to those crazy carols that now start after Halloween, to "Black Friday."

Sarah Palin Single-handedly Jumpstarting the Economy

The AP reports that in September alone, the GOP spent $150,000 on "clothing, hair styling, makeup and other 'campaign accessories.'" I wonder how much those hooker boots cost...



And this crazy getup:

This is why Obama can afford to spend so much more on TV ads. He's not confusing the presidential election with a beauty pageant.

Why I'm Voting for Obama

This is a partial list:

* Obama won't have to "have my staff get to you" on how many homes he owns (Obama owns one, valued at $1.6M). McCain, so far, owns at least EIGHT homes valued at around $13M. Take a tour of them:


* Obama's wife didn't introduce him at his convention wearing a $300,000 outfit. I was about to type and $30,000 and still be outraged. Then I double-checked. It's $300,000. 3 followed by 5 zero's. Vanity Fair notes:

To most Americans, $300,000 buys ...

... one and a half houses, given the national median home price of $206,500.

... a year's worth of health care for 750 people.

... the full array of back-to-school supplies and clothes for 500 kids.

... enough gas to drive cross-country 543 times.

... 365 round-trip flights from Washington, D.C., to Anchorage, Alaska. (John McCain should have splurged on at least one.)

... a three-course steak dinner (at Mat-su Resort) and a movie ticket (for the Mat-su Cinema) for every man, woman, and child in Wasilla, Alaska.

... enough money for three Troopergate investigations.

Michelle Obama's convention outfit cost $1,500 and was created by an up-and-coming local Chicago designer.

* The Obamas own one car, a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid. The McCains own 13, and he lied about his fleet, saying, "I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud." Actually he also owns a 2005 Volkswagen convertible and a 2001 Honda sedan, and he seriously can't remember whether or not they bought Meghan McCain's foreign made Prius. (Source.)

* Obama doesn't consider $250,000 annual income as middle class, whether you are a plumber or a fake plumber.

The great cork debate

We are still here, and more or less sticking with the plan (see last post).

Here is an article on corks for wines. Like many 'green,' issues, there is no simple answer.

"Traditionally, wines that come with a screw-top have carried the stigma of being cheap and inferior -- probably because most of them were freakin' terrible. These days, more respectable wine-makers are turning their back on the cork. While their marketing departments say that the screw-top protects both taste and the environment, many green-types think the switch is little more than a greenwashed cost-cutting measure.

According to Treehugger, corks allow a tiny amount of air to seep into most bottles. Up to 10% of these bottles get 'corked' (i.e. go sour) because to the inconsistency of the old-school method. Losing 1/10th of your product due to faulty packaging seems pretty wasteful. Others contend that amount of wine lost is more like 1-2%, and that the renewable cork forests of Europe contain one of the world's highest levels of forest biodiversity -- like the Spanish wolf. Restrict their usefulness, they say, and these forests will get plowed under by developers."
- Green Daily

Half Way

Just a quick update at the half way point. Have not bought anything.

For the most part we have stuck with the rules, though occasionally the food purchases have, um, well perhaps not fit into the rules. Part of the problem is the lack of information on the packaging (yeah, that's it, it is not our fault). So far it has not been too bad, though there have certainly been some things (CDs and clothes) that I would have bought on impulse.

We may used the 'auto replacement' exception, which has become a bit of an issue. It does not help that AWD cars get poor mileage, but living in Maine (100 inches of snow last winter), I feel it is a requirement. And there is the new vs. used issue.

To be continued...

I can resist everything except temptation.

I think I learned that Oscar Wilde quote from CSI reruns on Spike last night. Or something else I was watching on TV. See? Not an idiot box.

Anyways there's this boutique I walk by every day on the way to work, and a few weeks ago they had this sexy little number in the front window (in purple, NOT orange):

...and lo and behold I had a wedding over Memorial Day weekend to go to. I tried it on (I know, BAD idea) and it was very very cute. I'm not going to say how much it was, but I will say that not shopping seems to make it easier for my brain to rationalize spending more on something I have to have. Anyways, I didn't buy it. But now I'm totally regretting the pact, because it would have made a really cute addition to my wardrobe.

Vermont catches up

It was good to see that Maine had already passed a law requiring it's public clothing purchases are sweat-shop free.

With the adoption of the sweatfree purchasing law, Vermont joins six other states (California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey and New York). In addition, dozens of cities, counties, and school districts have sweatfree policies, totaling 180 in all.

The bill requires companies selling uniforms and apparel purchased with our tax dollars to respect workers' rights in their supply chains. Suppliers must follow applicable labor laws and respect workers' freedom of association. For transparency's sake, in order to qualify for a bid, companies must disclose the locations of the cut-and-sew factories.

- Sweat-Free Communities

We Are All Made of Corn

On Friday night we went to go see King Corn at Space Gallery. Unfortunately we got there about 3 minutes before start time and had to stand... for 2.5 hours. That sucked. But at least I was in the first row of standing people.

Anyways... on to the movie. King Corn is about 2 friends from Boston who move to Iowa, rent 1 acre of land, grow corn for a year, and see where it goes. At the start of the movie, they get their hair analyzed and find that their hair is essentially made of corn protein-- through eating high fructose corn syrup, corn-fed beef, food fried in corn oil, and everything else corn gets into (which is essentially ANYTHING processed).

So they find a farmer in Greene, Iowa to rent them the acre. They grow the type of corn that is not for human consumption-- it goes to livestock feed, ethanol production, and high fructose corn syrup. Mmmm! During the course of their experiment the boys find out all about farm subsidies and how they encourage detrimental farming practices (over-farming, use of fertilizers, etc.) and how farm subsidies, at the end of the day, subsidize the American diet of cheap CRAP food. We wouldn't get cheap soda, oil, and beef otherwise.

After the movie there was a Q&A session with one of the guys. He revealed that there were 400 hours of footage and many storylines/issues they had to abandon for the sake of time and flow. One was that the wife of the family they were staying with actually died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma during their stay, and they suspect it has to do with agricultural chemicals seeping into their well water supply. They also visited pig, cattle, and fish "CAFOs" to observe them firsthand. At the end of the day they focused on mainly on the farm subsidy issue, which has become a pet project of theirs. Overall, a great movie that exposes the disconnect Americans have between farm and food, and also the converse-- the disconnect farmers have with where their produce goes. I have to recommend you watch it seated though.

Start Making Sense, People

Elliott alerted me to this story a while back about truckers planning a convoy to DC to protest fuel prices. Well, apparently it's happening on Monday.

Chief organizer Mark Kirsch said, "We're now looking at participation from at least 26 states, with an estimated five thousand trucks and an additional two to five thousand protesters."

The planned convoy and protest is scheduled to begin Sunday night in Maine, where trucks will assemble and begin their trip to Washington, DC. As they roll, other convoys will approach from the West and South, until they converge on RFK Stadium. From there the protest will continue on foot to the Reflecting Pool area, where the protest is scheduled to take place.

What I didn't know was that Maine had the "honor" of being the start of the convoy route. Oh, and that "Requests to speak have been received from Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain, among others."

Scary. I mean, it'd make sense to me if these truckers took buses down to DC. Or maybe even rented cars, riding 4 per car. But driving 5,000 trucks to protest fuel prices?!?! Surely they aren't hurting that bad. According to the Press-Herald, 15 trucks are heading out of Maine. With some googling I found that big rigs get 5-6 mpg with freight. I can't seem to find the mpg without freight, so let's quadruple it, let's say they get 25 mpg. A straight trip from Lincoln, ME (where the route begins) to Washington, DC is 725 miles. So that means the Maine convoy is spending 435 gallons of diesel. At $4.34/gal, that's almost $2,000 just in fuel costs. For 15 trucks to drive to DC for a protest. That's 15 out of the predicted "five thousand" trucks.

You know what makes a lot more sense? Truckers slowing down to save fuel.

More quizzes.... yaaaaayyyyy!!!

As an Asian female I feel the need to constantly assess my abilities through online quizzes. Not like the Cosmo kind, those are too subjective, but the MSNBC kind... the real kind.

Here's a Are You a Green Consumer? quiz from MSNBC. I only scored a 60% (some of my wrong answers were technicalities, I swear).

On a completely unrelated note, this whole eating food from the US thing is really wearing on me, and the sad thing is that most of my diet is still probably not from the US anyways. Like the chocolate in my Stonyfield Farm yogurt. Or the can of seitan that's been sitting in the cupboard since December that we ate the other day. Or anytime we get food from a restaurant. I mean, we've been checking for "product of USA" labels but I'm pretty sure this means that the item was "assembled"/cooked/frozen/packaged in the US, not that the raw materials are from the US. I got this email from Hain Celestial today (they own Arrowhead Mills, Ethnic Gourmet, Rice/Soy Dream, Imagine Foods, Bearitos, Garden of Eatin', and TONS of other brands):

Dear Ms. Tham,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding our Ethnic Gourmet Product. We apologize for the delay in our reply and appreciate your patience. We strive to maintain the highest quality products and we appreciate your patronage.

All of our Ethnic Gourmet products are made at one of our Facilites located in the United States.

The Hain Celestial Group purchases ingredients based on requirements designed to meet rigid specifications, food safety, and compliance with applicable regulations and certifications. The Company works with known suppliers who assure the quality and safety of their ingredients which are supported by signed affidavits, certificates of analysis, and analytical testing. Additionally, many of our food products receive independent certification from organic and kosher certification third parties.

Although there are no regulations requiring country of origin declarations at present in the United Sates, The Hain Celestial Group is diligently working with our suppliers to identify country of origin for all raw materials.

Based on information gathered to date we know that a limited number of our ingredients are sourced from China. Although ingredients are predominantly sourced domestically, it is sometimes necessary to source globally. This is due to the fact that some ingredients are not available domestically or the domestic sources are limited based on market demand.

We understand your concern and greatly appreciate your continued business and trust that we have outlined the measures that The Hain Celestial Group is taking to ensure that the ingredients used in our products are safe and comply with our specifications and overall quality standards. We also want to assure you that we are closely monitoring all FDA information and alerts on this matter.

Thank you for your continued support. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-434-4246, Monday through Friday from 7AM - 5PM Mountain Time.

Sincerely,

Gabe
Consumer Relations Representative

Happy Earth Day!

I'm not against Earth Day, but it is just another one of those holidays that celebrates doing something on one day that you should be doing every day, like loving your spouse... or Jesus... or presents. Of course, you know what they say-- "Every day is Earth Day...blah blah blah..."

Anywho, Slate has this Q&A with Newt Gingrich (yay Georgia connection!) who apparently now thinks that the conservatives are not doing enough to stop global warming. Slate seems to take him at face value-- he honestly believes in anthropogenic global warming and wants the US to do more the curb our carbon emissions. However, I smell a wolf in sheep's clothing. Key phrases like,

"I prefer incentives to punishments because they work faster and with less distortion of the economy. For instance, I favor tax credits for dramatically reducing carbon emissions. I favor a tax credit for trading in old cars that are the most polluting. I favor a tax credit for nuclear power, solar, and wind."

Of course, an economic incentive is the EXACT SAME as a punishment, a tax break on the good guy is the same thing as a tax on the bad guy-- either way, parties pay more to pollute. At the end of the day, the government just gets less money with tax "breaks" over tax "penalties." Ahhhhh-- that's the trick. Less money for the government = smaller government = no resources to catch the polluters. Oh, Newt, when will you just GO AWAY.

On another note I can't remember if I've posted this before, but here's The Daily Green's "How Green Are You?" Quiz. Personally I think it's a little flawed-- like isn't someone actually greener if they keep their old car instead of buying new hybrid? I think so. That and I don't buy things, I don't eat meat, I compost my kitchen waste, I don't drive. Well, this is where I fall, although I don't necessarily agree:


I'm feeling very negative today and I think it's solely because on the way to work this morning I passed by Starbucks, which had a sandwich board outside proclaiming that they were donating 5 cents for every drink to Conservation International, which I guess is better than donating nothing but I really hate Starbucks for being the epitome of corporate greenwashing. See here.