Free Stationery

I've always loved labels, good ones, anyway. They are like pieces of art that are as accessible as your grocery store. I've even NOT used certain cans, just because it's the last one with that label, and I can't bear to part with it (certain olives come to mind).

Not too long ago, a friend sent a note to me on the back of a wrapper for a Klondike bar. Not only is it pretty and strange, it has a personal quality that is missing from regular paper, like an additional dimension, an insight. After all, this wrapper was recently around something that was likely consumed by the note writer.

Imagine re-reading a note years from now, written on the back of a label that was designed for that time. It sets the note in a period. It makes me wish I'd considered writing notes on the backs of labels sooner. I can only imagine all the "Hi-C" notes that would be out there now.

(This post was suggested by a friend who regularly engaged in the saving of trees by reusing the backs of V-8 labels for typewriter paper, back when the labels wrapped around large tin cans.)

Grow free/cheap plants

Its been a while since the last "almost daily" post, so I thought I would make it a good one. Free plants for your garden. Well, free seeds, anyway. Here are some sources:
1. Heirloom Seeds- You may have to buy the first of your heirloom seeds, but after that, you can save the seeds and plant them year after year.
2. Seeds From Produce It won't work for all fruits and vegetables, but you can grow from the seeds in produce. If you get it from the local farmer's market, you have a better chance of sprouting something that can grow locally. We accidentally grew a great volunteer crop of cantaloupe this way, and used up some sprouted potatoes. Hybrids will not produce a fruit like the parent, though.
3. Seeds from Bulk Food After we learned that the amaranth that we have (bought) seeds for will not yield as much as others, I was a bit frustrated. All I wanted was to sprout some amaranth like the kind we bought in bulk from our local health food store. Then I read an article that said much of the bulk seed from health food stores can be sprouted. (Coriander, for one. And the seeds are cheap this way.) So I took the bulk amaranth, and tested the viability of the seed (put some in a half-folded, damp paper towel to see if they would sprout) They did. I am going to plant those and see how they grow.
4. Trade Seeds Most packs have more seed than you can plant, or have room for. So sharing seeds is a common practice. If you have a gardening buddy, share there, or go online and find a seed swapping place.
5. Get Cuttings/Divide Plants My friend Steve has a sage plant that is huge and beautiful, but according to him, needs a haircut, as it takes up too much space. He has an aloe plant that has desperately outgrown its pot. He has mint running wild, and Jerusalem artichokes volunteering everywhere. All this means that I am going to have some sage, aloe and mint (I already planted the Jerusalem artichokes last year.)
6. Plant Perennials. They say perennials are hard to grow from seed. I dunno, I am giving it a shot for the first time this year. If I am successful, that will be the last time I have to do it, because perennials come up year after year.

Really Use Oven

If you are cooking something in the oven, try to think of ALL the things you can cook at once, then save some of that stuff as leftovers.

We always put a few potatoes in when we cook, then save them in the fridge for later use. They fry up quickly for breakfast, or are a handy, last minute ingredient. The energy it takes to reheat is so much less than the energy it would have taken to cook them from scratch.

I read somewhere you can put a clean rock in the oven while cooking other stuff, and leave it while the oven cools. Later, take it out, put it in a clean sock, and you have a warm rock for your toes. I've been meaning to try that one, but now that the weather is getting ready to be wonderful, it's hard to think about it.

TV Free

Here's how it happened: the cable company was running that “if you steal cable, you are the worst person in the world” commercials and, having just paid another cable bill, I was doubly insulted.  This happened to coincide with “National Turn Off Your TV Week” so that's what we did. 

It was painful, but after I got out of the habit of watching, something weird happened when I turned it back on... it seemed noisy and empty.

I knew that unrewarding feeling would disappear, and I would eventually be lulled back into a tv stupor, so instead, I called the cable company and cut the cord. Yep.

At first, it was amazingly difficult. I felt lonely. Undirected. The house seemed too quiet. But oh, how nice to have an extra 50 bucks a month. That's 600 a year. Since we had poor reception without the cable, we quit watching local tv too.

Saving the amount we were spending on cable was a big incentive to make the switch. But by doing this, we actually ended up saving even more. Without our daily exposure to television commercials, we no longer have a list of things we should get, and are getting by with what we have just fine. 

By the way,  we haven't completely disconnected... we can watch shows online. There are some commercials, but not so many, and at the moment, many of those are for causes rather than stuff, so I am good with that. So we still watch, just not nearly as much. 

Pantyhose Tip #15 stuffing

Cut loops of pantyhose material for a project that requires stuffing, like a doll, a pillow, etc. They are springy, full of holes, and give loft to these things. Plus, they are easy to clean and dry quickly.

I am thinking of creating a quilt using pantyhose as the batting, but since I have never made a quilt before, this is one of those projects that will probably remain hypothetical. On the other hand, I have some mighty flat pillows that could use a boost...

Fill Your Freezer

Fill your refrigerator too. The space in between the items loses cold fastest, and has to be rechilled more often, according to my research.

If you don't have much stuff in there, you can fill containers with water, or use wadded up newspaper. Or so the suggestions go.

I think I would be embarrassed if someone opened my fridge and saw newspaper, but I guess some jugs of water would be alright. In this cold weather, I could actually let them chill on the porch, then set them in. Maybe I will.

Don't Preheat

For some things, like breads and pizza, you have to preheat the oven so it cooks the outside with a crispy crust, without baking the softer insides to. But for other stuff, you can put whatever you are cooking right away, and let the cooking begin. No need to preheat the oven.

When your dish is almost finished, turn the oven off and let the dish finish cooking using the heat of the oven. If you leave the door closed, the heat will remain inside for a surprisingly long time.

Save Hot Water with Low Flow Showerhead

This tip is one we stumbled on by accident. We lived in an apartment with TERRIBLE water pressure. A small stream would eventually turn into a dribble, and we'd put the seasonal call in to our landlady. She'd send a plumber over every couple of months to temporarily fix it. Awful.

So we found this low-flow shower head for about 10 bucks. Ahhh, the joy of real water pressure. Like holding your thumb over the garden hose, this baby shoots water out in a stream strong enough to really rinse. It even has a "hold" button, for hard-core water savings. You can pause the water while you lather, then start it up again without having to reconfigure the hot/cold ratio.

I wish I could say I use that button, but I am not that much of a conservationist of water. In fact, one of my big vices is the long shower. Now, however, I can take the occasional long shower with less guilt, knowing I am wasting much less water.