It's warming up again here in Richmond after a cool and raining couple of days. It just goes to show you that Mother Nature has her own plan.

In case you haven't found something to do to mark Earth Day yet why don't you hop on over to the Kroger site to make your own reusable bag. Log in using your loyalty card and you'll get a free reusable bag, too!

Another bonus... this week reusable bags are 2 for a $1 at Kroger. Just another nice way to celebrate Earth Day.

Personally, for me doing good things for the environment comes down to something basic and simple. God made it and we should treat it well.

So, how far am I willing to go? I like to drink clean water so I'd like to make sure that we keep bad stuff out of the water. I like to breathe clean air so I think we should keep bad stuff out of the air.

I know we need to balance prosperity and commerce with our impact on the world but I think the world should get a bigger vote since it was here first. You know, sort of like the Native Americans should have. Yep, you get the picture.

This comes down to a do-unto-others thing in my view and it can start small. Comfort and Joy walk to school as many days as we can even though this is clearly not the norm. In fact, I don't see any other kids walking to school. This not only gives us time together as a family but time to enjoy the world around us. We look at the colors change and the leaves drop from the trees. It's a magical time in Virginia and if we were in a car we might be speeding right by too quickly to notice or too quickly to be able to have a conversation about it. Every day. And I do mean Every Day.

Our choice to eat organically when we can afford to is another way to support the environment, but you've heard me discuss that before when I've discussed buying locally. It just makes sense and it's such a Cool Idea that I don't have any more to say on the environment issue. Next, we get closer to home.

This will be the first of several posts on this topic because there are many levels that I want to talk about. First we're going to look BIG PICTURE!

I'll be one of the first to admit that I've been mightily spoiled by the incredible riches of our state and national parks. The United States obviously has the opportunity to set aside so much space because we have so much space. But I'd also like to think that it's because we, as a nation, value setting some of our land aside. Whether it be for it's beauty or it's history or for reverance - we value what this means.

In a sense, it's like tithing. The reason for tithing is so that we learn to live on less than we make. Setting aside parks not only allows everyone to hold this land in common, to enjoy and use, but it means that we have to learn to live on just that much less land.

Some parks are very large. In fact the largest National Park is "Wrangell-St. Elias located in the Eastern region of South-central Alaska. The Chugach, Wrangell, and St. Elias mountain ranges converge here in what is often referred to as the "Mountain Kingdom of North America." It is the largest national park in the United States, six times the size of Yellowstone. Wrangell-St. Elias encompasses over 20,000 square miles of mountain wilderness - that's over 50,000 square kilometers, or 25% larger than Switzerland!"

Some of these parks are very small. The smallest being in Guthrie, Oklahoma to commemorate the land rush but it ended up being so small due to the deed being written improperly.

But no matter what the size they all have a story to tell and stories are what make us different from other animals. Stories are what we will pass on to our children and the next generations.

So as we continue to think about stewardship let's consider what it means to be a Steward of our natural and national park resources in the sense of keeping them available for future generations. This is never the sexy part of any government's budget but one that we would all miss if it left or if we had to start paying, or paying substantially more, for the opportunity to enjoy and explore the wonders of this great land. I know, I'm a geek, but I think it's a Cool Idea!

Comfort and Joy love YoBaby yogurt and I subscribe to emails from Stonyfield Farm. Last week they included information about the Going Greener Guidebook that they put together with Body + Soul. You may need to register at Stonyfield to download but both are free. So, if you are looking for additional ways to look at minimizing your impact on the environment hop on over and take a look I think it promises to be a very Cool Idea!

If your family is in desperate need of a get-away before school starts you might want to take advantage of the last Fee-Free weekend in the US National Parks System. Whether you head out west like the Obamas or just take in a park somewhere near where you live this is a great time to check out the wonders of our country and to get in an inexpensive and frugal vacation all at the same time. It's definitely a Cool Idea!

The power company contacted us this spring to let us know that our year in the Critical Peak Pilot program would be nearing an end and just before we left for the beach we received another letter to let us know we were done. They also included in that correspondence a spreadsheet with our savings for the year and information that the program should be rolled out as an option to everyone starting in 2010.

It was nice to see that we did in fact save money. I wish we'd saved more but considering that we had some significant hurdles - including renovating our bathroom in August last year - at a couple of points in the year we did very well. Overall, we saved $180. Personally, considering that we already do the basics - use CFF bulbs, turn off lights when we leave the room, use a programmable thermostat, use ceiling fans, etc, I wasn't sure how much savings we'd see. But by changing our habits some more we saved even more money and I'll definitely be signing up for the new program when it's rolled out in the new year!

If you are interested in how you can continue to lower your power bill and you already do all the regular things don't forget that most power companies will offer a free power audit. Also, it can't hurt to ask if they have plans for a program like the Critical Peak Pricing program. Perhaps if they have enough people ask about it they'll figure out it's a Cool Idea, too!

Except for a few things in life I subscribe to an 'all things in moderation' philosophy. However, a couple of years ago we, as a family, decided to not bring sodas into the house anymore and to try to cut HFCS out of our diet. Obviously this was easier said than done.



We didn't go cold turkey. We still drink sodas when we go out sometimes although I rarely do anymore since I have also given up diet sodas. But one thing we became aware of was how pervasive HFCS was in our food culture. If you or your child eats yogurt - other than Yo-Baby - HFCS is usually in the first 3-4 ingredients. Check out your pasta sauce next. But what does this mean?



That's a good question. Apparently it might not mean what we thought it meant. Obviously, USAmericans have an obesity problem and HFCS might be one of the issues at the core of the problem. The Eating Well magazine blog will be discussing the issue of High Fructose Corn Syrup and what it means to our lives and to your health. Check it out and see what they're saying now.

It's been a while since I've checked in with how I've been doing on my resolutions. There's just been so much else to talk about. I hope you've been able to see how it all connects though. But, in the spirit of accountability, here is a point-by-point post:

Here, again, were my resolutions:

1. Do a better job with coupons and pantry stockpiling.
2. Continue to find creative ways to cut expenses
3. Meal planning/ smart planning
4. Increase my income as a stay-at-home parent
5. Find ways to live smarter in the balance between frugality and the environment
6. [not sure yet but I feel like there's something still there to be explored - so I'm leaving room for one more]

So, #1: I'm still using The Grocery Game and according to the Kroger check out slip I'm averaging 45-50% off of my bill using coupons/ in-store discounts. It's not as great as seasoned, hard-core couponers but it's working for us right now. As for stockpiling we're doing great on Goldfish crax, TP, canned fruit, canned tomatoes, canned beans, and other assorted items we used less frequently.

#2: Cutting expenses has been harder since we'd already done a good job weeding through expenses in the past year but Cable gets nixed this month. The weather is nicer an we'll be spending more time together as family so no sense paying for staying in and watching TV. That'll save us $80/ month. I did notice that my newspaper subscription went up so I need to check out alternatives and see if there's a less expensive option. If not, decide if the savings at the grocery is worth the expense of the newspaper.

#3: Meal Planning/ Smart Planning: We definitely don't go out at the drop of a hat any more. I'm proud of that. I still don't have a handle on finding foods that Comfort and Joy will eat on a regular basis - other than pasta, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, quesadillas, etc - but then again they are toddlers. I've even toyed with putting the weekly menu plan here on the page so that it keeps me honest but then I'd really have to be ready each week and some weeks it's just not that well planned out;)

#4: This month I've had several good Mystery Shops!! I just finished 2 grocery store shops this week so I got some free groceries!! Two weeks ago I had a different kind of shop. It was a revealed shop, where I went in and checked out how the store had the products placed. I made under $10 for 15 mins work but it all helped. Also, I cashed in some points from My Points and Opinion Outpost. The survey points paid in cash and it was enough for the babysitter the day I got my haircut. The MyPoints paid in gift cards so I'll have enough for a good book from B&N and lunch at Panera. These are the ways that I've traded my time for money. Time I have while I sit with the kids and money I need:)

#5: It turns out that I think I'm more in tune with things in the environment than I thought I was. This isn't a bad thing. I've enjoyed the seasonal shift that meant that I had more time to do laundry and I've enjoyed that the Farmer's Market is open and the CSA is providing us with yummy good stuff. This week we opted for carrots that had gotten caught in a freeze. They aren't pretty since they split open but they'll taste just as good in a salad and they were half off. Comfort and Joy are pretty easy to please when it comes to things like this.

And now we're in the middle of May. Books are being read. Dinners are being cooked. Kids grow up. School is almost done. It's all amazing and definitely Cool. Hang on with me because we're almost half way through the year.

As I sit with a sinus headache due to incessant rain and increased seasonal mold count waiting for the Advil to kick in I'm trying really hard to come up with good reasons for this weather. Here's what I've come up with:

• Great for the flowers and other plants that have just been put in. Personally I'm horrible with plants so I rely on Mother Nature to take care of them. If she's doing good work they they are likely to live a better life.
• The Water Table will rise. Central Virginia is not a drought prone area but we have had some pretty dry summers lately and the only reason that we dodged full-on water restrictions was because we had excessively wet springtimes. Seriously. Last April [or May, I can't remember] was one of the wettest months on record and it got us through one of the driest summers on record.
• Respite from achingly high temperatures and it becomes much easier to keep to our resolution to keep the air conditioner off until June. Sure, the ceiling fans are on but they are on in the wintertime, too. So, good for our power bill and the environment.
• As the seasonal mold count increases and sinus headaches increase it's a good time to curl up under the quilt [because it's a bit cooler] and read a good book. I treated myself to a Nora Roberts reissue today which will go on my TBR stack. 

How ever you decide to 'enjoy' the rain be sure to take some time for yourself whenever you can since we're indoors more often. Do puzzles with the kids. Practice scissor skills or draw pictures of the flowers that are outside soaking up the rain while they can. Just remember, be careful on the roads, slow down and take a look at the beauty around you. It's just part of the cycle. We'll dry out eventually and then I'll be writing about that, too!

While I'll be the first to tell you that I'm a very poor gardener we'll be planting at least one tomato plant this year to help us keep up with Joy's love of tomatoes. Sure, we'll buy some through our CSA but I also want the girls to see how vegetables are actually grown. I want them to know that food doesn't magically appear at the store - or more accurately - on their plate at the table. People work to make that food. Rain comes from the sky. Or doesn't. Pest and weeds happen. 

Also, organic doesn't have to mean that your food was certified by a bunch of bureaucrats. "USDA Organic" does and that does add to the expense of much of the organic food out there. This is why many small, local farms have opted for different kinds of certification. In many cases, this certification is more stringent than USDA Organic and I'm fine with that. 

Here are some additional ways to make your own gardening less expensive and organic. Keep it simple. It's about making a small difference in our lives and not being wasteful. These are the things we need to keep in mind. 

Earth Day really shouldn't be just be one day a year. We should be mindful about our use of natural resources every day. Hopefully you've already begun to make some changes in your life. Maybe you've stopped buying bottled water and switched to a reusable, BPA-free bottle that you carry with you. Good job! But wait - there's more. Lot's more. We'll keep talking about ways that we can help the Earth and help ourselves but while Earth Day is still fresh in our minds here's a great post from Frugal Upstate. Check it out!!

Earth Day is this Week and there are lots of great ways to celebrate. I'm going to post some links to celebrations around the blogosphere.

Check out this post at Tia's Savings Cents

Also, Jenn at Frugal Upstate is running a Frugal and Green Giveaway. Check it out. Leave a tip in the comments to enter.

1. Never
2. When you're out of underwear
3. When the teacher kindly asks if your kids need clean socks
4. During 'C' times as created by the power company which fall at different times of the day depending on the time of the year.

On any given day I might answer "All of the Above" but for the purposes of this post the answer is #4. Yep, this is the post I've been promising about how to save money on your power bill if you've done all the other things that everyone already knows to do.

First, check with your power company and see if they offer Critical Peak Pricing or if they are putting together a pilot program in the future. We got into a pilot program and here's what it consists of.

Our local power company changed out our old meter for a digital one and installed a new thermostat inside our home. The thermostat is ours to keep forever and it has several nifty and incredibly cool features.

1. It communicates wirelessly with the meter and the power company.
2. It allows us to know exactly how much power we've used at any time of the month and how much $$ we've spent
3. It shows us which price schedule we're in at each point of the day.
4. It acts as a regular programmable thermostat.

The point of the program is that the power company is willing to give us a better rate on our power if we are willing to use less power during Peak power times. The Pricing Schedule shifts a little bit as the seasons change - I've been spoiled this winter by being able to do laundry in the middle of the day because it was "C-time" which is the same as the middle of the night - but normally the cheapest time to use power is from 10p to 6am. 

There are some trade-offs with this particular program. We get a wonderful rate in exchange for taking a hit if we use more power in Critical Peak times, but these are limited to 125 hrs in the year and they are likely to all be between the hours of 1p-8p during the summer. We get notice on our thermostat when this will happen and we do what we can to minimize our power draw by unplugging unnecessary electronics, not using the oven, not using hot water, raising the temperature on the thermostat if it doesn't do it automatically (which it might), etc. 

For us, we decided the trade was worth it and it made us mindful of the power we are using. Now, regardless of what time of the year it is, I try to minimize the use of the oven and do as much baking as I can after 10p. All laundry is done after 10p. The dishwasher only runs after 10p. Do you sense a pattern? Personally, I'm hopeful that when the pilot ends in may that the program will continue. I think that helping the power company, and helping ourselves in the process, will help the environment, too. It's a start and I truly hope it's just the beginning of the new ideas coming from our power company because I want to be in the pilot program for solar power when they decide to roll that out too. hint hint. 

January 1st is traditionally the day to make resolutions. What are your resolutions this year? Have you made your list yet? Lose weight? Exercise more? At all? Read more? Write letters - on paper - with a pen? I've tried these and they usually work for me - for a while:) This year I'm going to work on activities that are Cool Ideas that I can revisit through the year. Here it goes.

1. Do a better job with coupons and pantry stockpiling. 
2. Continue to find creative ways to cut expenses
3. Meal planning/ smart planning
4. Increase my income as a stay-at-home parent
5. Find ways to live smarter in the balance between frugality and the environment
6. [not sure yet but I feel like there's something still there to be explored - so I'm leaving room for one more]

So, these are the main areas I'll be working on for myself. I can only hope that the ride will be useful and without too many hazards. There will probably be humor involved. Odds are this could get ridiculous at times. If so, you have my word you'll get all the details.

Sound interesting? I hope so. If not, stick around anyway because these topics won't be the only things you'll see here. Already the coupons are posted. Also, I'll be posting information about great freebies that I hear about, as well as, wonderful deals and information posted on other blogs. I'll do a quick recap and send you to their sites for the full info. No sense in killing bandwidth twice but there is some great stuff out there and I just want to make sure people can find what they want and need.

I hope to find some Cool Ideas we can explore and some Cool Ideas we can share because this is a journey we're on - and we're on it together.