Sunday Roundup

We had a very productive day today.  We changed the water in all three of our hydroponic garden reservoirs, and used the old water for our houseplants and to water our outdoor garden.  I stained two doors that are going to replace the fake wood ones that are currently on all of our bedrooms.  I took the dog and the baby for a run.  We had three good homemade meals, including oatmeal cooked in our sun oven, which is always a good start to any day. We didn’t spend any money today, which is another plus.

In the blog world, there was a ton of good stuff the week.  From the Frugal Blog Network:

Andy at Tight Fisted Miser writes about doing your own car repairs to save money.  It’s also a great way to develop an independent spirit.  I’ve done the same sort of repairs – oil changes, spark plugs and brake pads – on my car.  With some (a lot, actually) help from my father I’ve also replaced the alternator, the struts that hold up the back door, and most of the exhaust system.

At Almost Frugal Kelly is also dealing with car repairs, but of a bigger variety.  She’s in the “repair or replace” dilemma that we’ll all eventually end up in if we keep our cars long enough.

At Not Made Of Money there’s good list of ways to save $100.  And we can all use an extra $100.

The Frugal Duchess shares some tips from the Consumer Credit Counseling Service for how to survive a recession/depression/economic downturn – whatever it is we’re in that’s making our dollars harder to stretch.

Frugal Zeitgeist shares a great interview with one of her readers – a reformed spender who is now on the frugal wagon.

And other good stuff:

Here’s a site where you can enter to win an all-expense-paid, 11 day trip for two to Africa.  It’s been almost eight years since I came back from Africa, after serving two years in the Peace Corps.  I haven’t been back, because it’s just too expensive.  Maybe this will do it for me…

It’s national Protect Your Identity week, which is a good reminder to beef up your personal security.  Here’s a link to the nonprofit National Foundation for Credit Counseling, with some good tips for avoiding identity theft.

The ladies over at Green Baby Guide have expanded their uses for baking soda and vinegar.  I’ve been using vinegar as a conditioner for a long time, and don’t have any lingering vinegar smells (the “ode de pickle” line made me smile!).  I rinse the vinegar out of my hair before I get out of the shower, but I’ve read that some people don’t.  Rinsing it out makes my hair odorless by the time it’s dry.

Paid Twice has a great post about sunk costs and letting go.  I absolutely know how this goes – I’ve been there many times.  And I actually remember that silk lotion she’s talking about.  I didn’t buy it, but I remember trying out the tester in the store one time.

You all know that I love grocery shopping.  I love cooking, I love food, I love eating well.  But I’m pretty strict about what food comes into our house.  For the most part, it has to be organic, and the less processing it’s been through, the most likely I am to buy it.  At Kristen’s Raw, there’s a great post with ways you can eat organic and raw (which we do about half the time) without breaking your budget.

Have a wonderful week.  Have a few no-spending days (challenge yourself, and see how many days you can fit in this week without any spending at all).  Get outside and go for a walk.  If you’re in the northern hemisphere, enjoy those fall colors – they’ll be gone before we know it.