There is nothing like putting a budget together and then sticking to it. First of all I feel very rewarded when I have committed myself to any particular self-discipline and actually follow through to the end or at least maintain that discipline. At the start of this year we created our first in-depth budget that looked at all of our spending and gave us a good idea of how much money we need during a months time. We were interested on slimming down on what we use and saving some cash while we are at it.

Just by looking through a few older but still recent receipts I determined how much money we spent on each thing in our house. I had a long list. We’re talking shampoo, lotion, razors, dish soap, bananas in a week x4. You get the point. I added it all up and gave each category a dollar amount. Diapers, razors, shampoo, etc. all went into personal care. Dish soap, toilet paper, etc. belonged to household supplies. In the end our categories that were not fixed amounts for the most part were:

Groceries
Personal Care
Household Supplies
Clothing
Housecleaning
Childcare
Kids Activities
Healthcare (supplements, remedies, naturopath visits, etc)
Gym/Sports
Entertainment
Car repair/maintenance
Fuel
Gifts/Crafts

I keep an envelope for each category and I have the amount budgeted written on the front of the envelope. After each purchase I put the receipt in the envelope and write a new amount available on the front of the envelope with the month and day. All I ever have to do is look at the last entry to see what can be spent. With this method you can choose to continue to use a debit card or you can even use cash and store the cash in the envelope as well. Either way it gives a good visual perspective to the money that is flowing out of the house. We budget pretty tightly so there typically isn’t any money leftover from any category as that is the point but any money that is left over gets moved to a savings account and is an added bonus.

So how does budgeting relate to reducing? Over the last three months I have experienced first hand how quickly needs and wants get separated when their is a definitive amount of resources available during a particular time. For example, if I have budgeted $50 for household supplies and I’m in the third week of the month and only have $15 of it available and I need toilet paper and some toothpaste but see a storage container on sale that I could use but don’t most likely don’t need, I immediately have to sort my need from my want because I surely don’t want to go without toilet paper. I guess I could take reducing a step further and use cloth wipes but…um…yeah. Not happening right now.

When I am faced with an item on clearance I like to remind myself that there will always be another sale. Usually the sale price isn’t even that awesome and if it was then the purchase would probably fit into the amount of money you have left while still getting the much needed toilet paper.

The thought of the storage container brings up the idea of how resourceful a person can become when on a pre-determined budget. Maybe some items can be off-loaded to free up storage space or a cardboard box in good condition can be cut and even decorated with fancy paper to make a storage container. I actually sort some of my pantry items in boxes like I mentioned only I haven’t decorated them although I do have some storage box making on the agenda but it’s not a priority.

I love having a clothing budget because it has actually made me feel so much better about any clothing purchases that I do make because I have really been below budget for a long time and now I can feel free to get something that I really want without feeling guilty. I still sift the racks at my favorite thrift stores though because I especially do not like paying full price for children’s clothing.

Passing something up in the store is the first step to reducing but what about at home? I have found that having a defined budget set in place keeps me mindful of how much of something I am using. You better believe I am getting out the funnel to get every last drop of dish soap out of that bottle! And this goes for just about everything from the toilet paper to the food in the refrigerator. We even bought an extra set of glass containers (that I love by the way) so that we weren’t spending money on the little wax paper storage bags anymore.

The biggest waste reduction in our home that I notice is with food. Ugh…I despise throwing out food. It really ruins my mood and so when I shop strictly by the weekly for food with a grocery list that is specific to my menu we toss out far less food than we do when we are wandering through the week searching for meal options and the mama is much happier. It’s amazing the circumstances that we can change if we just consider what we would like things to look like and do a little problem-solving.

Do you have a budget in place? If you do does it help you reduce your overall consumption and waste of products?

…at least I am particular about the ones I choose to click. Out of 3 clicks I have found 2 great places. My first find was the online trading post and my newest one is a site dedicated to offering all kinds of green deals and giveaways. When I visited Ecobunga, the green giveaway and coupon site, there were about 60 different sweepstakes and a ton of organic and green coupon deals. The only problem for me is that the coupons are all printable ones and my grocery store doesn’t accept printed coupons. (irked).

I did spend a bit of time entering some sweepstakes. Namely the ones for road bikes and a GORE cycling jacket. How cool would it be if I was the winner of a new bike considering I have committed to my first triathlon ever this June 2010 and my good friend Robin and her husband Wayne are letting me train and race on their road bike because I don’t have one. I will be checking back at Ecobungaoften for new green giveaways, sweepstakes and organic coupons.

If one were to walk the streets of our neighborhood they would likely spot more than one lady beetle sun bathing or maybe even getting a little love as we once spied on the blanket of our neighbors lawn. I absolutely love seeing this healthy balance of beneficial insects and I can only

assume this balance exists because the majority of gardeners in our neighborhood would presumably be choosing organic and alternative gardening methods that omit the use of pesticides. I feel safe to say this seeing as I speak with a lot of them and the culture tends to have a strong lean in that direction in the first place.

This photo isn’t nearly as fun as the idea of catching two lady beetles on a blanket but I had to stop and take a snap when we had this little bug move in with us for over a week.

It must have been the basil growing in the window that brought the bug in we escorted her outside when we found her flipped on her back and unable to get upright.

p.s. Am I the only one who gets a little worried when kids are plucking ladybugs off of plants using their pointer finger and thumb? I always worry they are going to squish it or break the exoskeleton or wings. Makes me want to find out exactly how fragile lady bugs are…

It’s week 4 of growing our sunflower house. We have enjoyed watching the sunflowers get taller…..such a rewarding project for young children because sunflowers grow so fast you can almost watch it happen before your eyes. I have a hard time taking credit for the how great the sunflowers are doing….the fact that we have cool temperatures and the occassional rain shower has helped them grow strong.

We have had one casualty and a couple of injuries though. One of the sunflowers just didn’t make it. He got sort of floppy one day so I watered him some more but he just didn’t make it. This has sort of created a wide open “window” I guess. The morning glory will climb up in that area so I will train it to climb onto the next available sunflower stalk.

Earlier today a neighbor friend came over with her children and one of the toddlers walked right through two sunflower and held them in his hands as he continued to walk! (holds heart in hand) His little foot crushed the morning glory and thankfully the sunflowers bounced right back up. In no time at all the sunflowers will have created the walls that will make it the magical sunflower house we have been waiting for and I know all children will be drawn to the door so they can walk inside…..I’m sure we won’t have to worry about them trying to walk through any walls.

If you would like to build your own sunflower house start here with our instructions for natural outdoor play spaces.

The sun is a’shinin’ and the car needs washin’. Lots of people wash their cars during the spring and summer months and as innocent as it seems, washing a car in the driveway can be super unfriendly to the environment. Here are some tips for staying green while polishing your ride and some eco friendly alternatives for keeping your car clean.

My brother-in-law will not allow anyone else to wash his two vehicles so I know that these kind of people do exist although I do not personally relate. So if you must wash your car in the driveway first make sure you are using a phosphate free, biodegradable soap. Simple Green makes a car wash soap that is biodegradable or you can even make your own homemade car wash. If you can, wash your car on the grass. Biodegradable soaps do need to travel through soil to biodegrade properly. If you are washing the soap down the driveway and into the gutter it is entering storm drains and will end up in nearby creeks, rivers and oceans.

Choosing a commercial car wash can be a more planet friendly choice. Most commercial car washes have regulations they have to follow regarding the treatment of the water and they also recycle rinse water. The actual usage of h2O can be much lower when using a commercial car wash. But make sure the carwash you use does recycle water. If it doesn’t, you would be better off washing your car on the lawn with biodegradable soap and a nozzle on the end of the hose to keep water from flowing.

If the car wash is a fundraiser, check with your city to see if they offer free fish-friendly car wash kits. (tip: try googling “your city+fish friendly car wash kit.”)

More tips on cleaning up our water.