|
|||||||||
|
january blog archive |
|
 |
|||||||
1.31.2004State of the Brandysphere - January"The Project" has started well. Even though it's called "1:450:365", I usually call it "The Project" among friends. This month had two focuses: snapping out of the "I gotta go buy ________" mindset and waking up when it comes to food. Snapping out of the gotta buy mindset, hasn't been too hard. It helped that I started out the year flat broke, so I had no other choice. Things that help: 1. I decided to write everything down I spent. As a business owner, I write down all the -'s (money out), +'s (money in), e's (tax deductible expenses) and s's (sales from the site). I staple all of the receipts into a small calendar I got for $4 on clearance at the bookstore. I did the receipt/calendar thing for a couple years, helped tax time a lot. Getting back on that horse. 2. When I get the "I gotta go buy ______" impulse, I follow it with "Wait, what do I already have?" and "Do I really need it?" Simple questions, but taking a few moments to ask have made me much more mindful. 3. Reading and watching voluntary simplicity and frugality books and shows. Very good to realize that not everyone is trying to keep up with the Joneses. Yeah, I know that, but hearing it from others really helps. 4. Turning off the frickin' teevee! Or at least muting the commercials. I really have no need for TiVo with my basic crappy tv reception, but I do like taping stuff and fast forwarding through the commercials. Minimizing advertising really helps reduce the mental noise about having/not having. I know I'm doing just fine, but a stupid commercial will get me mad at how they are designed around making you feel like you're lacking. And the number of "Gee, everyone's credit cards are maxed out after the holidays" ads makes me all riled up. It's truly sickening how acceptable debt is. The second focus had to do with food. In 2003 my food mantra was "if only I could just take a pill instead of eating." My relationship with food in pretty utilitarian. Sure, I like tasty food, but the idea of stopping work three times a day for it seems just silly. So says the brain in the jar that I think my body is. So, this year, I'm trying to eat like a real, live body, not a brain in a jar. The first big step was signing up for a local CSA. I get my first order tomorrow. I chose King's Hill Farm, which seems really flexible and great. All organic. When they aren't growing, they distribute from other folks - thus fruits and veggies all year round. And since I am a household of 1, I'm glad that I can opt out of weeks when I am gone or need to catch up. Last time I joined a CSA, I hated how much food was wasted. Other than the CSA, I've been eating from the pantry, rather than just going to grab something out. Some strange, old food lurking in those cupboards. But pretty of good stuff if I just stop to cook a bit. I think once I get in the groove of the CSA, I'll pick up my veggies on Saturday and cook a bunch of stuff up on Saturday or Sunday. I'm really hoping that other than the CSA, that I'll just need to make a pantry run every other month or so. And, boy, I thought I didn't spend much on food, but now that I've cut back on impulse buys, I'm realizing how much that that adds up. Oh, and it's been really neat to see the response I've gotten about the project so far. I haven't done any real launch of it, but folks are finding it - friends and strangers have went out of their way to tell me how much they like what's going on. I am definitely not alone in this. posted at 11:10:07 AM 1.26.2004AffluenzaTonight, Jim, Pat and I had a very cheap date. We ordered pizza which was free, because we had saved 20 coupons from our pizza place after eating 20 pizzas. We watched Affluenza and Escape From Affluenza, which I checked out from the library. Affluenza is a PBS special that aired in 1997. Affluenza is the epidemic of mega consumerism and materialism. Having more and more stuff and feeling less and less happy. It's hard to fit a whole lot in two one-hour shows, but they are a good for a little perspective making and to get folks thinking about alternatives to buying more to fix things. The shows were based on John De Graaf's book Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. I haven't read it yet, but it's easier to come by then the videos. Like I said, I got my VHS tapes at the library. See if you can check them out there. Points that stood out: [o] We'll spend one whole frickin' year of our lives watching commericials. I'm assuming that the average American watching the average amount of teevee - and this is pre-TiVo. [o] I was really disturbed by the information about advertising to kids and "capturing" them as consumers while they are young. I'm happy my schools didn't have any advertising in the halls or buses. The most we had were local merchants advertising in the play programs and the back of the yearbooks. I've heard of Channel One, but I had no idea that they had advertisments between segments. Completely captive audience. [o] There wasn't an exact date attached to this, but more people file bankruptcy than graduate from college in a given year. I can only guess that this is becoming more and more true as years go by. In-frickin-sane. Affluenza was more about the problem, and started to touch on solutions and the counterpoints, like Buy Nothing Day. Escape From Affluenza is a series of case studies of folks living more simply, frugally, more sustainably. More about the solutions. My favorites were David Galvin who's family of four lives on a houseboat and he kayaks to work. And Jeanne and Dick Roy who only have one can of garbage in a year. Thanks to, among many things, buying less packaging in the first place and the wonders of a worm bin. The biggest thing I learned was ridiculously simple, but very powerful. Dutch couple Rob van Eeden and Hanneke van Veen, know as the "Tightwad Couple", wrote the Dutch version of "Your Money or Your Life" along with other books on frugality. In the video, they explained the concept of "halving." Try using half of the amount of shampoo you use. See if it works. If so, halve that. Do that until it doesn't work and then add a little more. Viola - the true amount of need, vs. the amount you're in the habit of using. I told you it was riduculously simple. Already, I figured that if I had a empty bottle to mix my hair dye in, I could use half of the box, versus the whole darn thing for my touch up. See, already I'm saving half the cost! PBS has a good site for the Affluenza shows with lots of tips. Check it out. posted at 11:14:40 PM 1.25.2004 Spicy! Here was the satisfying little project of the day. As part of my desire to eat better and cook more, I ordered about 20 spices from Avon Spice Company online. Had to wait a chunk to get them, but I got 'em and the prices were great. I bought 4 oz. of each. And they came in plastic bags with paper labels - relative minimum of packaging. Years ago I bought 32 oz, 16 oz, 8 oz, 4 oz and 2 oz specimen jars from Nasco. Super useful. (Although now I'm saving empty food jars for my additional jar needs) I use them for all my dry goods in the kitchen, holding qtips and combs in the bathroom, etc. I cleaned up a bunch of 2 oz, 4 oz and 8 oz jars with black lids. Had to scrub off the lousy, faded labels I put on the spice jars years ago. Filled them up, trying to gauge how much of each. Less popular:2 oz.:: More popular:8 oz. The most delightful part was making black DYMO labels with my old-style punch tape label maker. They fit perfectly on the sides on the lids. That's the white writing on the lids in the pic. 4 dry oz can be way more than 4 liquid oz of the jars. So, I've got loads and loads of spices left over. And I've got two ladies lined up to take 'em off my hands - one who's moving far away and needs to set up a new home. So, I'm feeling good about this $30 purchase. So, there's the finished jars lined up on my built-in shelves in the kitchen. That was a delightful surprise when I moved in. And the framed pics were taken in Las Vegas in 1999. posted at 12:47:47 AM 1.22.2004Very Likely the Geekiest Re-Use Idea for the Whole YearI go to the library a lot. I copy just the stuff I want to keep. I use Post-It Notes to mark my pages. If I'm more on top of things, I cut 1 1/2" Post-It Notes into 4 strips. If I'm less on top of things, I tear them into strips. I never save them because they get dusty and less usable. Until now. I got a free sample of Listerine Pocket Plus Oral Care strips. Kept them in my backpack. Ran out. Had the little plastic case wandering around the apartment. And then it hit me --  I trimmed my homemade Post-It note flags a little shorter so they'd fit in the lil' plastic case. Ta da - resuing the post-it notes and resuing the plastic case. Now, I keep it in my backpack for when I'm at the library. posted at 9:44:43 PM 1.21.2004Productive ProduceI just signed up for Kings Hill Farm CSA . There's much more to say, but I've been burning 3 am oil the last few night and desperately need a nap... posted at 2:08:26 PM 1.16.2004Then the Pot Said, "Kettle, You're Black."So, how can I make and sell stuff while I'm doing this antidote to consumerism project? Especially when the bulk of my goods are really luxury items (albeit affordable)? Good question. Well... [ ] I know I get a living wage. [ ] My working conditions are pretty darn good (much pajama wearing and movie watching while I make stuff). [ ] I try to use recycled materials and shipping materials whenever I can. [ ] I love the fact that a good chunk of my stuff is sold through CafePress's print-on-demand business model, which means there aren't products made that aren't sold. [ ] I make handmade, quality stuff. [ ] I like to think a lot of my work fits the latter half of the William Morris quote "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful" if it doesn't always fit the first half. [ ] And a goal of this year is to develop some low-cost digital products. Today, I was working at Catalyst Ranch. Rancheros Eva and Bobbie both came to one of my holiday open houses and both bought jewelry. Bobbie sat down next to me beamingly reporting that she's got lots of compliments the necklace she bought. Walking by, Eva stopped to say that the friend who received the bracelet she bought loved it. That's pretty darn cool. And happily that wasn't the first time and hopefully not the last time that happens. When I was doing in-home jewelry trunk shows last fall, it was really enlightening to see the guests thank the hosts for having the sale. Times have been financially tough for me the last couple years, so it was hard to imagine being grateful to be invited to a sale, being on the salesman side of the equation. But it was mind-changing to realize that my hosts and I had created such a positive shopping experience. Yeah, I can handle that. And aspire to more of that. posted at 6:01:07 PM 1.13.200437c Postage + PaperToday I sent out a slew of New Years Cards and birthday party invites. While these will be nice additions to folks' mailboxes, I felt really odd using so much stuff to send along my new years best wishes and my birthday desires. I like being digital. In the case of the invitations, I wanted folks to take it seriously, since it's a milestone (30). Email is easy to ignore, forget, not RSVP to. I can't remember if it was a Charlie Rose or NPR guest, but I heard something really interesting on one of them awhile back. The guest was talking about how as communication tools get easier, faster and cheaper we say less and less and less. When you handed your letter for a loved one to a man on a horse and had no idea if it would get to it's destination or when, you said something. Nowadays, folks have a cell phone to their ear stepping on a train and say, "I'm getting on the train now." posted at 6:45:51 PM 1.12.2004Tightwad GazetteNot only did Alise invite me over for a delightful lunch of veggie chili and salad, but she lent me two volumes of The Tightwad Gazette (The link goes to The Complete Tightwad Gazette - all three volumes in one!). I perused volume one while I procrastinated actual work tonight. Amy Dacyczyn wrote the Tightwad Gazette in order to "Promote Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle." Fair enough. And she certainly pinched her pennies until they are bruised. A lot of the stuff is oriented to families, but I gleaned some good stuff as a household of one. Actually, mostly it was good to read because it did have lots of tips and lots of letters, that made me feel less alone in wanting to do all of this trimming and reusing and bargaining and such. A good antidote to commericial media where everything is shiny, new and pricy. Here's an article (which is also the beginning of the book) that explains Dacyczyn's impetus for all of this. posted at 7:58:46 PM 1.11.2004From the Art/Work Blog: Murgatroit Family Stationary My friend Pat's birthday was the 7th. His party was last night. Today, I finally struck on a kick tuckus idea for a gift. Pat's site is Murgatroit.org, whose House of Murgatroit houses Pat's alter ego, Charles Murgatroit. I went to the site, saw the family crest and thought: "This is a job for Print Gocco!" So, I found some fantastic clip art crest stuff, modified it with my Illustrator savvy printed it out. With the ridiculous ease of the PG, I made him a set of Murgatroit family cards! The Daniel Smith water based block printing ink (mix of Hansa Yellow and Permanent Red) was still drying by the time of the party, so I had to give Pat just one. But the flash of recognition on his face when he opened the card was priceless! 1:450:365 Addendum: Cool things about this project are 1) all supplies for the project were already in the Brandysphere. 2) By not running out and buying a gift I got the idea for a handmade one. 3) The inks I used were ones I bought a few years ago when I was on a lino cut kick that never took off. The inks were a little dry, but still workable! I was delighted that the ink was the right consistency for the screenprinting - that means I have a boatload of ink to use with my Print Gocco machine! posted at 11:08:31 AM 1.7.2004Crazy Like a FoxI was talking to Diane tonight, and was telling her about this project. She said: "You are crazy." [pause] "But you'll actually do it." posted at 10:16:12 PM 1.6.2004Full of Beans!So last night I did the Hot-Soak Method (mentioned earlier) on 3 cups of dried beans. Cooked them tonight with just some veggie broth and spices. Those are some tasty beans! The cooked beans aren't quite so colorful as when they're dry. And some of the lentils sort of exploded upon soaking. But very, very tasty and nice texture. 
The Giant Bean Jar. From 3 cups of dried beans, I froze about 3 cups soaked (not cooked) and the rest went into 4 meal-sized tupperware bowls. That just put a dent in the giant bean jar. I'm curious to see how many meals I get out of the original 12+ pounds. posted at 9:49:03 PM 1.5.2004Free Haircut!I'm growing out my black bob. I had a goofy, messy fringe of hair below the line of the bob - where the hair on the nape of my neck had grown out. I contemplated taking scissors to my own head, but working with mirrors and scissors are a recipe for disaster! So, I went downstairs and asked my ex-boyfriend Kent to give me a quick trim. I knew he'd be fastidious but undaunted. He was. I said, "Thanks, pal! You just saved me $20." I feel like a whole new woman. So, saving $20 sorta helps the $50 order of fake hair I placed online at Radoll Weave Co. on New Year's Day. Now that I have black hair (and given my specific rules about combining colors), I can go nuts with hair doodads because all of the bright colors look great with black hair. My mom is a wig stylist, so I am in the know about such things. I bought two pairs of hair scrunchies (black/red, black/blue) and two falls, which are like big elaborate scrunchies but longers and a bunch of wefts of hair that I'll make clips out of. Much fun to come. Definitely a luxury item, but still good to self express. posted at 8:59:14 PM 1.3.2004Bean Feast!I want a feast. I want a bean feast! Cream buns and doughnuts and fruitcake with no nuts So good you could go nuts! - Veruca Salt, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory I've got a bean feast! My good friend Alise gave me a great Christmas present, Crescent Dragonwagon's Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread: A Country Inn Cookbook. In it Mrs. Dragonwagon delineates how to make a great bean soup mix. She advises to get as many kinds of pulses as you can, all sorts of colors and sizes. And she shares a good mix of spices to cook the beans with. I thought bean soup definitely fits many criteria this year: cheap, healthy, cheap, unprocessed, cheap, hearty and cheap. So, I was off to go bean hunting. Here's the catch of the day:  12.35 pounds of beans for $17.17 - plus the $7 cost of a huge glass jar to keep them in. I had no idea how much I needed to fill the jar. I got twice as much as I needed! So, the rest went into an opaque storage jar up on a top shelf for refueling. So, I know beans have a very unfortunate reputation and you all think I'm going to propel myself aronud the apartment. Well, The California Dry Bean Advisory Board has a Hot-Soak Method on their Bean Basics page* of preparing beans that removes lots more of the undigestable sugars that make you pooter. I'll do a very scientific experiment and let you know. *lotsa good bean info on this page - check it out. posted at 6:45:56 PM 1.1.2004Welcome!And so begins the blogs for 1:450:365. This project is my resolution to spend 2004 being more mindful and less wasteful. Please read the Introduction and the Inspirations for more information. posted at 9:23:04 AM this weblog is powered by Blogger
|
|
||||||||
