Awesome in 2019 and Looking Forward to 2020!

Hi friends ~

Thank you for joining me in 2019. I was a little lighter in posting due to multiple things going on - job changes, job travel, love ones lost... But we still accomplished quite a lot!

You stuck with me through 27 posts, in which we made smarter shopping choices, and made the most of what we did purchase:

Recycling/upcycling programs: 

• We found multiple programs that recycle dead Christmas lights (and some that give you coupons for new lights!).
• We put ourselves on the waiting list for Loop, a milkman-style service for household products, currently being offered on the East Coast, and expanding.
• We discovered Ridwell, who hosted a special event to take Amazon Prime Day packaging, and has programs for other difficult to recycle items.
• We learned about the value of replanting trees (or getting a houseplant!) to soak up our CO2.
• We learned about a cool company that both upcycles and creates jobs, making animal sculptures out of used flip flops.

In the Community:

• We learned there were tons of ways to do more during Earth Month and throughout the year with Earth Day Bingo and a list of community events throughout the Northwest. 
• The Seattle Recycled Arts Festival provided both entertainment and introduced me to multiple upcycling artists.
• Airports helped us avoid buying water bottles (and spending $3) by providing refill stations, and apps are helping us find bottle-free water around town. 

Clothing:

• We explored options besides donating to thrift stores, and gave ourselves more reasons to shop at thrift stores!
• We found several great shops in West Seattle and saved $52 on some brand name shoes.
• I got brave with the floral denim trend, and saved $75 by thrifting.
• We built thrift shopping into our regular habits, and saved $486 in a single month.
• Online thrifting let me quickly shop for something specific while saving $100. 
• I saved $160 on summer sandals by letting friends and family know I'm open to hand-me-downs. 
• We had a rockin' Halloween costume, and saved $140 by buying used pieces, and made $25 back by selling some components online.

Other Thrifting and Swaps: 

• I saved $37 buying a vintage cake-taker to treat a friend for her birthday. 
• Online used book sales helped us save $5 and shop with convenience. 
• Our pets got more love and we saved $32 by switching our style of lint roller.
• We got $12 more value out of our Thanksgiving turkey by using our slow cooker.

DIY: 

• We gave new life to half-used makeup, by testing out some online tutorials. 
• We improved our every day floor care with homemade "Swiffer" solution and pads.
• We propagated our own succulents, saving $32 on 8 successful baby plants!
• Snack containers were the perfect base for DIY decoupaged planters.
• We converted our favorite concert tee into a conversation-starting tote bag. 
• Homemade simple syrup saved us $7 flavoring our beverages. 
• A quick mending job on a shower curtain saved us $10. 
• Recycled cardboard was transformed into cute holiday decorations. 

Overall, we saved $1176, and had a fun time shopping and crafting throughout it all! Here's looking forward to an even better 2020.