The Trader Joe’s problem

I’ve been shopping at Trader Joe’s for a long time, maybe almost 20 years, and I love it. I especially appreciate their great deals on wine, cheese, and nuts. I like their prices and the way we can fix semi healthy food that’s quick to prepare. But some time ago I started to get annoyed […]

Is it more expensive to be green?

There are a lot of misperceptions about being green and living sustainably, and one of the biggest is that it’s expensive. Supposedly only the wealthy can afford to think about the environment. But like a lot of conventional wisdom, it’s just not true. In fact, a lot of “green” choices are frugal as well. Here […]

Our Holiday Tree

This is our version of a holiday tree. If you celebrate Christmas, I wanted to talk about another alternative to a live cut tree or an artificial tree. I love Christmas trees, but since my husband isn’t quite as enthusiastic about them as I am, I was usually left with the task of buying and […]

Green and Frugal Gift Wrapping

These are some of my wrapped holiday gifts. A lot of them are for kids, so they’re not as elegant as they sometimes turn out. But it shows my three basic methods: recycled, and two different kinds of gift bags. I didn’t buy any wrapping paper, ribbons, bags, or even tags this year. In fact, […]

How soft must TP be?

My sister-in-law brought this article and video from Planet Green to our attention recently, after my husband had complained about her slightly scratchy toilet paper. The article is about how old growth forests are cut down to make the softest toilet paper. The video is from Consumer Reports – an investigative type of piece on […]

Reusable bags

Those are some, but not all, of our reusable bags. I just grabbed the ones I could find easily. Lately I’ve been encouraged by this story about Target and CVS promoting the use of reusable bags, but at the same time I’m still surprised and saddened by how many people still use plastic bags at […]