Safety + Savings + Sustainabilty for Holiday Celebrations

It's that time of year again, and with COVID vaccines and boosters readily available, this holiday season is feeling a little more "normal". This may look like a work party, family dinner, or even a public event or two. 

A couple weeks ago, T and I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the newly remodeled and renamed Climate Pledge Arena (formerly Key Arena). (We were encouraged by the vaccine mandate, requirement to wear masks when not actively eating, and the show only selling about half its seats.)

However, the sheer cost of parking caused us to reevaluate our options. The cost for parking was $30, if you prepaid as a bundle with your tickets, and rumors of $50 if you paid when you arrived. 

So we decided to give light rail + monorail a try. (See here for more Seattle Metro rail options.) It's been several years since we've taken the monorail,  but with the renewed arena and new hockey team, it's been upgraded and well promoted. 

Overall, it was a great experience. We're already fans of the light rail, and a 35 minute ride gets us from the park and ride to downtown. Then from Westlake Mall, we can transfer from the light rail to the monorail. A pleasant surprise was the the ORCA card (multi- system transit pass for those outside the Seattle area) includes the monorail, understood the transfer, and we were only charged for a single ride ($3 total vs $3 for light rail and $3 for monorail). The monorail drops you about a block from the arena and is also open for extended hours on arena event nights. 

Here's how the costs broke down:

Me: free due to work-provided bus pass.

T: $6 ($3 each way)

Max potential savings: $44 (assumes we would have paid $50 at the door).

Min potential savings: $18 (assumes we prepaid $30 and I didn't have a work-provided bus pass). 

These savings just account for the parking and not vehicle fuel. 

Beyond the sheer cost savings - the value of one of our tickets or concessions! - there's an added safety factor. If you want to partake in some night out drinks or edibles, please stay off the road. And on holidays, there are usually plenty of other people who shouldn't be on the road. So sit back, relax, and let a professional do the driving. 

Public transportation not a great option for your route? Don't forget that you can turn "pooling" on for your favorite rideshare to save a few dollars ans get the eco benefits of carpooling. 

So enjoy your holidays, and best to your and yours. Stay safe, save $$$, and make sustainable choices. :)

Lovable Leftovers

Sometimes it takes a little creativity to not waste leftovers, especially after a big feast like Thanksgiving. After about 3 or so plates of the same food, most of us will be be bored. However, food waste remains a major source of social and sustainability issues, ranging from the waste of the actual food, to the land and resources it was created on, to the creation of greenhouse gases, to our pocketbooks. For more details, read here from the USDA. 

At my house, we sent plenty of leftovers home with guests, but still ended up with about 10 lunch-sized containers for ourselves. (Don't forget to save your plastic packaging year-round for free "Gladware"!) So we started with:

1. Beginner: Regular plated dinners of the turkey, stuffing, etc in their original form. 
2. One Step Better: Turkey sandwiches. So many varieties here, from open-faced to layered with brie and cranberries!
3. Even Better: Turkey pot pie. Nom!
4. Level Up: Ground turkey, seasoned and stuffed into pasta shells along with ricotta, spinach, and tomato sauce. 

From there, I started to look at all the miscellaneous ingredients left, and fortunately, the perfect recipe came to mind: Broccoli Cheese Soup (a Panera knockoff). What does Broccoli Cheese soup have to do with turkey and stuffing? Nothing. But that's where the creative thinking comes in, and searching for recipes based on ingredients. This is a trick that can work year-round. Just look in your fridge and pantry for what you have left, and plan your menus around using those ingredients before they good bad.

This soup recipe calls for: 

• Butter - a staple, and still had some on my butter dish from serving with rolls
• Onion - had plenty leftover from stuffing ingredients
  
• Carrot - had leftover from stuffing ingredients and from appetizer veggie platter
• Chicken broth - had leftover from my stash for gravy, turkey basting, etc. 
• Half and half - had leftover from a butternut squash dish I make
• Broccoli florets - had leftover from the veggie platter
• Cheddar cheese - had leftover from appetizer cheese tray

Therefore, this recipe basically used up leftover raw ingredients and components of my hors deurves trays - win! 

First step: Saute the onions and carrots in butter until soft.

Next: add a little flour, stirring until combined, then slowly add broth and half and half until you get a thickened sauce. Add your broccoli and spices. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes until the broccoli is soft. 

Finally: Stir in your cheese until melted and silky, and season more if needed. Then take a deep breath in and smell that delicious creamy, cheesy soup. Look - a perfect replica of your cafe favorite!

And, of course, if you still have some of that turkey left, serve alongside a turkey club sandwich. :)

Making the most of my leftovers has never been so tasty! Want to try this recipe? I borrowed it from The Chunky Chef. 

Outfit of the Day: Bring on the Critters!

Probably going back to the first episodes of Portlandia, where they suggested you could just "put a bird on it", I've really enjoyed clothing with animal print. Not like cheetah spots, but "critter print", like birds, giraffes, and more. And thanks to binging back seasons of Great British Bake Off, I've been re-inspired by co-host Noel Fielding's epic style.  Ex: 

Now, the Brits may just have more fun with fashion than us, because it's rare I find critter print when shopping. However, I recently had a great find at Lifelong Thrift on Capitol Hill. (Persistence pays off when thrifting!) 

Lifelong Thrift's mission is: 

We are a nonprofit thrift store in the heart of Seattle's Capitol Hill. With deep Seattle roots, we strive to engage our community and financially support the cause of Lifelong to provide food, housing, and health to individuals with HIV/AIDS and other chronic conditions.​

So for those aiming to support local non-profits vs larger chains like Goodwill, they are a great option. They are also a sizeable store, with clothing upstairs and housewares and more downstairs.

My find was a new-with-tags J. Crew button down with some adorbs little terriers on it!

Are you seeing what I'm seeing? That folks, is a $78 blouse going for just $9 (88% savings). I'm often suprised to find NWT clothes donated, but I suppose there's a number of possible reasons ranging from missing the return window to donated overstock from the original store. At least the item will get some use from a new owner. And as a shopper, I'm always happy to get quality finds at a steep discount!

So now, I'm loving my doggo-print blouse, and finally added to my collection of critters in my wardrobe. 

Another Lower-Impact Halloween

It was hard to get motivated this year for Halloween, with another year in COVID. While I would normally come up with some elaborate DIY scheme from thrifted materials, there was no going into the office to show off a costume, and if I was going to go out about town, it would be lower-key than usual, if at all.

That said, could I possibly let a year skip me by?? No way! And motivation struck from things I already had in my closet. I would be the 13th Doctor (Doctor Who).

(image borrowed from BBC for reference)

In fact, starting from your closet is the best way to be both sustainable and save money. Anything you have is another item not produced and possibly discarded just for a one-off occasion.

So Rule #1: Use what you have. Fortunately, T had gifted me a cosplay 13th Doctor trenchcoat along with her sonic screwdriver for a previous holiday. And due to Seattle weather, the coast is really only suitable for a couple weeks of the year, so I was happy to get it some additional use. 

Then Rule #2: Borrow or thrift what you don't have. The Doctor wears a striped tee and teal cropped pants, both of which I was able to secure on Poshmark.

For the pants, I purchased these scrubs, which saved me $8 vs new ($20 + tax for Cherokee Workwear product line). Side note about Poshmark: since you're purchasing from individuals vs the company, you'll pay more in shipping, because you pay a shipping cost for each item unless you are are lucky enough to find all your items from a single seller.

I then rolled the hem and secured with a few tiny stitches to achieve a cropped length. Since I didn't cut them off, I can easily unroll them and wear as actual scrubs for a doctor (not The Doctor) costume in the future.

For the striped tee, I totally scored. I got a replica tee from Hot Topic's cosplay product line, saving at least $9 (I wasn't able to compare to Hot Topic's shipping rates).

 

And it was new with tags! Score!

How'd I do? Do I look like I can save the planet?

 

 

Or figure out what to do with this alien tree spirit? 

 

Now, onto getting some motivation for next year's big costume idea!

Total savings: $17. Being a friendly alien time lord for a day? Pretty sweet.

6 months later: a Mighty Fix update

Back in April, I shared with you that I'd received a year-long monthly subscription to Mighty Fix! Several months later, I'd love to share with you some of the great products they've sent me since that first shipment of Swedish dish cloths. 

Most recently, I received a simple cleaning system: a glass, reusable spray bottle with concentrated cleaner tablets. We've shared the benefits of concentrates before - you're not paying to ship what's 99% water, not using a whole new plastic package each time. With the tiny size and weight of a concentrated tablet, you can fit many more on a shipment with less weight, and therefore costing much less in shipping fuel. 

First great thing about Mighty Fix is they take sustainability seriously, from the products they sell, to the way they ship them. They always ship in paper/cardboard with the smallest package possible.

 

 

Next, they clearly explain the benefits of the item on a small product detail sheet. 

I'm digging the ease of reconstituting the tablet (just add warm water) and versatility of this solution (use on any hard surface).

Finally, the value has been there with each shipment. This particular box included the one time investment of a bottle, with 4 concentrated tablets (one inside the bottle and 3 refills). That means 4 bottles worth of cleaner for $11. If I want to buy the refill tablets (a 3-pack goes for $4.50), it will be $1.50 per bottle of cleaner. Compare to $4 each for similar products, for example, Simple Green or Mrs. Meyers all-purpose cleaners. 

Previous boxes included: 

• a 3-pack of wool dryer balls. Saves dryer sheets while cutting back on drying time.
  
• this set of 5 "tidy dishcloths". The textured weave gives them a slight scrubbing ability, and they're pretty!
  

•  a set of 3 beeswax food wraps. Swap out your plastic wrap for this plastic-free, reusable alternative.
  
• a set of 2 snack-size glass food storage with lids.
  

Overall, I've been enjoying getting a surprise in the mail. I think if you are a beginner on this path to more sustainable swaps, the monthly frequency is a great way to ease into one change at a time.

If you've been doing this for a while, you may experience some duplicates of things you've already encountered. For example, I already have beeswax wraps and wool dryer balls, although some would say you can't have too many of these. :-) If you want to just shop from sustainable choices without the monthly surprise, you can always shop straight from their Mighty Nest store. 

(TP) Cores for Curtains

I'm always amazed at the creative ideas you can find for reuse. And when you're feeling blocked, just look to community groups for inspiration. 

Since trying to reduce my waste, when I can't prevent it from entering my home, I've started saving more and more categories of materials for reuse. This includes the cardboard tubes that serve as cores for your TP. While I've reduced some, courtesy of a bidet in one bathroom, I still managed to collect a few dozen throughout the last year or so. (Especially with going out less - thanks, COVID!) 

And despite a few craft projects of my own:

Cat Scratcher

Snowflake and Poinsettia decorations

they were still piling up.

Fortunately, on one of my local groups, someone put out a request for TP rolls! Curious what they were going to do with "at least a dozen", they came back with two responses 

Curtain spacers. If you have this style of curtains, you can slide a roll over the curtain rod between the grommets. This leaves a nice even spacing between the folds of the curtain, rather than leaving them bunched up to one side, and the roll is fully concealed behind the curtain. How clever! I don't have this style of curtains, so it was awesome to hear an idea from someone else who had it as a tried and true solution. 

Fire starters. Do you have a wood burning fireplace or firepit? Stuff a roll with some dryer lint or a little paper recycling, and you have a little perfect bundle to light under your logs. Some folks recommend adding a little leftover candle wax too.

Ultimate lesson here: there's indefinite ways to reuse these, and sometimes your trash is someone else's treasure. And you may just pick up some new tricks from a neighbor. 

Making Lemonade from Garage Scraps

My guess is that many of you can relate to a garage pile like this, am I right? Scraps of wood leftover from various projects, with the thought that some day you'd need a replacement piece, or just in case? (Just in case, what?)

And likely, you also have several cans of paint filling a shelf, left over from interior or exterior projects, just sitting there, separating into solids and liquids? 

Time to put those leftovers to good use!

We were sitting around one holiday weekend this summer, thinking it would be nice to have some outdoor games. Less competitive that cards, and less physical effort than kayaking. :) 

Shopping online, we saw that giant Jenga games started at $45 ($100 for Jenga brand!), supersize Connect 4 started at $70, and cornholes aka beanbag toss also started at $70 but could easily approach $200 depending on design. 

We were hesitant to spend a lot of money, especially if we didn't know how often folks would want to play. 

In comes all the scraps of would and paint just lying around. We decided we could easily make a pair of cornhole boards for free! And if we ended up just playing with them a few times, so big loss. My mom researched patterns for making the boards, and we gathered the fam for a construction project. 

Step 1: Gather your materials. We needed: 

• two 4' x 2' sheets for the faces of the boards
• 24' long of 1"x4" boards for the sides (or similar) 
• ~ 5' of 1"x6" board for the legs
• at least 2 colors of exterior paint, or interior paint and varnish
• ~ 40 screws
• tape measure
• saw (We used a table saw, skilsaw, and reciprocating saw. You could use a handsaw if you have more patience.)
• screwdriver or power drill/driver

Note: If you don't have all the materials, you may have success on Buy Nothing or Freecycle, and for tools, check out your local tool library. 

Step 2: Cut your wood and lay out the sides next to the face, to make sure you've cut everything right, and it all lines up. For the frame pieces, if you make the long sides 4', you need to make the short sides a couple inches shorter than 2' to accommodate for the width of the wood. Ex. if your wood is 1" thick, the short side should be 18" long.

Step 3: Screw the 4 sides of your frame together. It helps if you have a second set of hands for this project. Here, T is holding the wood steady for Uncle B, while Dad "supervises".

 

 

Step 4: Screw the face board to the frame and screw on the legs. Note: I gave approximate measurements for the leg boards because there are many different leg designs. We went with a simple fixed leg, while many designs had fold-flat legs.

 

 

Step 5: Cut a round hole for the bean bags to to be tossed into. This should be 6" in diameter. Turns out a spackle bucket was a perfect size to trace for an easy circle shape!

 

 

Step 6: Paint your boards. We went with white (house trim color) for one, and grey (house main color) for the other, so we would have contrasting boards for competing teams. In a future painting phase, we'll add beach-themed designs, like whales and dolphins, in the opposite color.

Step 7: Let dry, then play!

You do want to plan a few days for this project, depending on the time you have available. Ours will ultimately take 3 sessions on 3 different days. Day 1: wood construction and first paint coat. Day 2: second paint coat. Day 3: accent paint or fun designs.

 

While you're waiting for the paint to dry, don't forget you need bean bags! Since they're small, these can easily be made from fabric scraps from other projects, worn out clothes/sheets/tablecloths, or thrifted fabric.

Now we have a fun outdoor game to play, that was free to make ($70 savings!). Not only that, but it was a fun family activity to build the boards too. 

Here's to the last few weeks of summer!

Climate Pledge Friendly

As a bit of a departure from my usual "second hand is the best", let's talk about NEW products. There are some things you just want to buy new for hygienic reasons (I'm looking at you, toothbrush) or quality reasons (many electronics). 

For these items, the next best thing is to look at responsibly sourced products with quality and/or renewable components, and lightweight plastic-free packaging. 

It can be hard to find these products or make the right choices, understanding what is a better choice vs just greenwashing. 

This is why I was happy to see Amazon's "Climate Pledge Friendly" filter. I'm going to be honest. I may have rolled my eyes at first. Doubly hard when they revealed the name of Climate Pledge Arena. It doesn't roll off the tongue does it? What was this whole climate pledge anyway? Is it just a good PR move, or will it mean actual results from the big players with the capability and responsibility to make change? Despite my doubts though, I'm pretty excited about the shopping experience. 

There's a couple ways to find the products you want: 

1) Search then filter. First, search for what you're looking for. Once your search results are up, select the "Climate Pledge Friendly" checkbox on the left side, and your results will be filtered. My "paper" search dropped from 3000+ results to 188, making my search for a better product much simpler.

I can tell it worked because each of the products also have the Climate Pledge Friendly badge displayed. Further, you can expand on which certifications led to the product being included.

2) Start from a certification. One of the reasons I like this program is that it's not a made-up Amazon-defined certification, but rather, a collection of independent certifying agencies that are providing their designations.

Visit this page to learn about Climate Pledge Friendly and the various certifications. Here are a sample: 

 

Some you may recognize, like Energy Star, which you'll see on many of your modern appliances and Forest Stewardship Council, which we've talked about before for responsible logging practices. Find the certifications that are the most meaningful to you (do you care about recycled content? organic?) and then click the link to shop all their products. 

After doing some browsing, it appears it's still early days, and you still may have to make some compromises. For example, some of the certifications claim the products are improved in at least one-stage of manufacturing. Meaning you may get recycled content toilet paper, but still in plastic wrap. However, this is a step in the right direction to finding better choices.