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Happy New Year Compactors! January thread - Page 6

post #101 of 124
1/19/08 at 1:16pm
I too have a MIL that is a shopping addict. Over the past year or so she's finally gotten that we prefer non plastic, so she still buys them toys, but they are nicer, usually wood, and I think she's starting to enjoy trying to find something different. She doesnt see the kids much either, since she lives on the other side of the country w/ the rest of dh's family, and dh likes it that way.
Maybe this year I will start introducing the idea of experiential gifts to her, and my son is getting older, so he would really enjoy classes/ museum visits more now.

For me, I am still doing well compacting, I've only been buying tp and groceries. I really wanted to drive and hour away today to see the Business of Being Born, but I figure I really dont need to waste all that gas, hopefully I'll see it another time.

Oh, and about appliances, I have a blender, but the little piece that goes in the top of the lid is missing. It is a second blender, so I dont need it. What do I do w/ something like this? I listed it on freecycle, but in its condition, I dont think anyone wants it. Do I have to order that piece just to give it away?

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post #102 of 124
1/19/08 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sunanthem View Post
For me, I am still doing well compacting, I've only been buying tp and groceries. I really wanted to drive and hour away today to see the Business of Being Born, but I figure I really dont need to waste all that gas, hopefully I'll see it another time.
It's available through Netflix if you or a friend have a subscription.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sunanthem View Post
Oh, and about appliances, I have a blender, but the little piece that goes in the top of the lid is missing. It is a second blender, so I dont need it. What do I do w/ something like this? I listed it on freecycle, but in its condition, I dont think anyone wants it. Do I have to order that piece just to give it away?
This is my issue too. You can purchase a lid for a few dollars on Amazon, at least if it's Oster. My husband broke the glass, then threw out the whole pitcher. He didn't realize that we could have just replaced the glass, but now we have to replace the glass, lid, metal part, and bottom. You can buy those all together, but it's more than you would pay for a whole blender used on Craigslist. I don't think I could give it away without the pitcher, but I don't want it to go to the landfill either. The motor works just fine.

Maybe you could list your blender with a link to the lid, showing that it would only be a few dollars to replace? I gave away a coffee maker without it's carafe. The person was willing to pay $15 to order a new carafe since the overall coffee maker was worth much more.
post #103 of 124
1/19/08 at 1:42pm
I think it is an oster. I will have to check ebay for lids, just to see. Thanks!
post #104 of 124
1/19/08 at 6:13pm
I'm having a hard time giving away an artificial Christmas tree. Will Goodwill or S.A. take it? I doubt St. Vinnie's will.
post #105 of 124
1/20/08 at 12:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by boogiemonster View Post
I'm having a hard time giving away an artificial Christmas tree. Will Goodwill or S.A. take it? I doubt St. Vinnie's will.
From my experience, places only take trees in November and December. They just don't have the space to store them and no one will buy or even take them free at this time of year.
post #106 of 124
1/20/08 at 2:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedAnt View Post
From my experience, places only take trees in November and December. They just don't have the space to store them and no one will buy or even take them free at this time of year.
Nuts! I guess I'll hang onto the silly thing until next winter, then. Boo!
post #107 of 124
1/21/08 at 3:49am
I finished picking up my textbooks today, and I only had to buy 1 new! I was excited about that, although I wish I could have bought that used also. Better than having to buy a bunch of them new!

How's everyone doing?

I am doing really well still, staying out of big box stores! My attatchment to Walmart has gone away!
post #108 of 124
1/21/08 at 10:19am
I took my second HUGE load (this year) to Goodwill yesterday. THEN I started doing my bedroom closet and have another small load to bring over there... I'm guessing I did the 2008 in 2008 challenge also because if I count all the polly pocket pieces my DD no longer wanted I bet that alone was 1000 pieces! The only thing I still need to de-clutter is the garage. At least I can easily park in it so it's not *that* bad!!
post #109 of 124
1/22/08 at 2:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mumkenna&lucas View Post
I finished picking up my textbooks today, and I only had to buy 1 new! I was excited about that, although I wish I could have bought that used also. Better than having to buy a bunch of them new!

How's everyone doing?

I am doing really well still, staying out of big box stores! My attatchment to Walmart has gone away!
Thats great! I don't know how much money I saved buying used books while I was in school. What are you going for?
I've been doing well about not buying things, but I haven't been decluttering much lately. Both of my girls have had horrible colds on and off for the past few weeks and I've barely been able to keep up with the house, let alone declutter it.
post #110 of 124
1/26/08 at 5:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaveggie View Post
Thats great! I don't know how much money I saved buying used books while I was in school. What are you going for?
I've been doing well about not buying things, but I haven't been decluttering much lately. Both of my girls have had horrible colds on and off for the past few weeks and I've barely been able to keep up with the house, let alone declutter it.
I am doing the last of my prereqs. for my RN
I have been doing about the same as you lately Great compacting, not so great decluttering.
Now it seems like the decluttering I did do is trashed again I did buy something off of another mama that was new in package, but I figured I bought it from her and not a big box store probably a no-no, but I am ok with that.
post #111 of 124
1/26/08 at 12:31pm
jumping in on this thread. I never joined officially, because it seemed to scary to say it out loud. However I discussed the idea with DH and he agreed to support me in my one month compacting venture.

It's been so easy! We were in bed last night talking and he mentioned that this month there is a very real difference in our checking account. (We've also been eating in LOTS - in fact we've only been out once this month, and ordered pizza in once. this is a huge change for us.) We are now not only living within our means, which we've always done, but we are living well BELOW our means. It's awesome!
post #112 of 124
1/31/08 at 1:14am
Thread Starter 
Today is the last day of January. How is everyone doing? I went out the other day to Target and stuck to my list of necessities: Cat litter/food, dishwasher soap and body wash. My dd is outgrowing her 2T shirts, so I hit up Goodwill and found her a sweater. Aside from the slip up in the beginning of the month and the commitment to a co-op that I forgot about, I did extremely well. Is anyone else joining me on the February thread?

Quote:
Originally Posted by notwonamesalike View Post
jumping in on this thread. I never joined officially, because it seemed to scary to say it out loud. However I discussed the idea with DH and he agreed to support me in my one month compacting venture.

It's been so easy! We were in bed last night talking and he mentioned that this month there is a very real difference in our checking account. (We've also been eating in LOTS - in fact we've only been out once this month, and ordered pizza in once. this is a huge change for us.) We are now not only living within our means, which we've always done, but we are living BELOW our means. It's awesome!
Congratulations! It is great to see what an impact compacting has on the checkbook and the earth.
post #113 of 124
1/31/08 at 4:32pm
I fell off the wagon in a big way. I bought a new tv. Brand new, to the tune of $650! My old one stuck out about an inch from the entertainment system, and my DD started pulling on it. I could've just gotten rid of it, but we love to watch movies, so I bought a new one. I love it, but was it needed? No. but the safety concern pushed me over the edge, and I didn't find anything any better at the thrift stores. I even looked for a different used entertainment system, but I didn't find anything.


I still have my old TV, but I think I am going to donate it, since I don't need 2.

Other than that, I am doing really well! But umm, that was a big one.
post #114 of 124
1/31/08 at 8:13pm
I did very well this month!! I made a couple purchases early out to the tune of $10 and then today I bought a spaghetti spoon thingy... It's been great because I had some unplanned for maintenance I needed on my car (battery, electrical stuff)... I didn't have to dip into savings to pay for my car repairs!!

This month I also brought 2 HUGE loads to goodwill and my trunk is FULL with another load I'm brining on Saturday!! While I drop off I'm going to see if I can find some new shirts for myself- mine are getting icky/stained...
post #115 of 124
2/1/08 at 3:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaveggie View Post
Today is the last day of January. How is everyone doing? I went out the other day to Target and stuck to my list of necessities: Cat litter/food, dishwasher soap and body wash. My dd is outgrowing her 2T shirts, so I hit up Goodwill and found her a sweater. Aside from the slip up in the beginning of the month and the commitment to a co-op that I forgot about, I did extremely well. Is anyone else joining me on the February thread?



Congratulations! It is great to see what an impact compacting has on the checkbook and the earth.
I am moving over to Feb. also! I did pretty well I only slipped up twice and they were pretty small. I did alot of shopping on fsot for some clothes for me but at least I didn't buy them new
post #116 of 124
2/1/08 at 9:26am
I'm still doing pretty well. I did break once this week when I got some plastic valentines food holders to mail rice krispie treats in. Other than that, I've been pretty good.
post #117 of 124
2/7/08 at 11:09pm
Doing good here. Just wondering what to do for DH for Valentines/Anniversary (our anni is on the 16th). I had really wanted to scan our wedding photos and make a MyPublisher book or something similar. But they are over $40 and is that a necessity?? LOL!

How is everyone else?
post #118 of 124
2/8/08 at 6:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by #4ishere View Post
Doing good here. Just wondering what to do for DH for Valentines/Anniversary (our anni is on the 16th). I had really wanted to scan our wedding photos and make a MyPublisher book or something similar. But they are over $40 and is that a necessity?? LOL!
Maybe you could scan them and then make a slideshow on the computer? My computer came with Microsoft Movie Maker where you can make a photo slideshow with pictures. You can put it on youtube or burn it to a DVD if you have the stuff for doing that.
post #119 of 124
2/9/08 at 12:11pm
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

This site is great for free programs. They often have DVD softwear to make really cool stuff. I check it (and the free game site) daily and have gotten some awesome stuff

I cracked last night and bought some green cleaning products and some more eco-friendly TP (I mostly use cloth but for the, um, other we prefer flushable TP). It was on sale so I had to take advantage, plus they are better for the earth than conventional products (and work much better!!) and made in Canada so I don't feel bad about it :. Ok, I know some people would consider those ok but I was going to try to use up more of what we had. I just could not use our icky dish soap any more as the smell reminded me of McDonald's sausage patties, ick!!
post #120 of 124
2/9/08 at 4:06pm
We did well in January. We weren't perfect, but close.

I still had Christmas gifts to give that came late, so in a way I don't count that. And my husband bought shoelaces...

Overall, not bad.

Has anyone started a Feb. thread?

You may also like:

There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
Eco-friendly Tips To Keep Things Clean
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Decluttering, Organizing, & Simplifying › Happy New Year Compactors! January thread