So I've been hearing a lot lately about the impending Recession. Admittedly I'm a little confused about what that actually means, but I'm also looking forward to the nice little check I might be getting in the mail. I'm not too concerned about the recession - personally - because even if the economy is crappy, there will still be schools and grocery stores (2 places Dave and I both spend and earn our money) I'm also not too worried because I'm not much of a consumer and I have learned how to be quite thrifty in the past few years. Whatever the recession brings, I can't imagine it making much difference to us. I guess I won't be buying that $500 handbag or $30 lipstick...I think I'll survive. So if you've got some concerns about the recession, let me offer some of my free and cheap ways of moving through our consumer-driven economy.
-Save your tomato sauce/peanut butter/pickle jars and use them for bulk dry goods.-Visit the Botanical Gardens. Great fun for kids and grown ups and free. You can make a donation or buy a plant if you like.
-Skip going out to dinner and host a "pull together" with friends. Everyone brings a dish made from what they have on hand, some wine and you have an eclectic meal to share with the people you like best.
-Swap babysitting (anyone interested??)
-Reuse greeting cards for gift tags, thank you notes, etc. Sawyer and I recently did this when we made 29 valentines for his school friends. They were very cute!
-Go to the library. Hey, did you know they let you take books and CD's home for free? And you can have free entertainment/enrichment for your kids too at Story Time.
-Work at the school where your kid goes :)
-Shop at the Thrift Shop. All Dave's and most of the kids clothes come from our local thrift shops and hand-me-downs. And have you seen how cute my family is?! You have to remember to donate too though, or you won't find anything good.
-Never throw away a banana or an apple. If the banana is brown turn it into a smoothie or banana bread. If the apple is mushy, cook it up, blend it and turn it into totally natural applesauce.
-Check your recycling center for discarded mags and catalogs. You can usually find magazines from the month you're currently in and sometimes even cool vintage magazines. Most of them don't have toxic waste on them.
-Last tip...update your blog! It's free!
-Remember these 2 adages: Waste not Want not & The Best Things in Life aren't Things. And here's one more that I made up: Money doesn't make you rich and not having money doesn't mean you're broke.
Cheaply,
Hallie
