One more place to find a good read

Kindle ebooks are now available to be checked out at 11,000 libraries across the U.S. Though there are definitely some differences between checking out paper books, the process is pretty similar.

Since it is just data bits that are being sent out, it would seem there would be an endless supply of available ebooks. But of course authors and publishers still need to make a living. Just as a library purchases a certain number of hardbacks and paperbacks from publishers to loan out, with ebooks they purchase a certain number of licences.

The first Kindle book I tried to check out from the library was Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. The library has 33 "copies", and I am 103rd on the waiting list at this point. In this respect, it is just like paper books - there is a long waiting list on newer, popular books. I checked out a less popular Dean Koontz book in the meantime to test things out, and I was reading within a couple of minutes.

One advantage, as mentioned in the article on Mashable, is the ability to make notes:

The ebook rentals also gives readers the chance to do something libraries normally frown upon: marking up books...normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we’re fixing this by extending our Whispersync technology to library books, so your notes, highlights and bookmarks are always backed up and available the next time you check out the book or if you decide to buy the book.

There are other advantages as well. Obviously there is no need to physically store the books. Even the book data comes straight from Amazon, so the library doesn't need more server space. Physical books are also moved between libraries to allow people to pick them up close by, so as ebook use increases, they can save a little gas. And I will save some as well since I don't need to pick up or return my books. The Kindle book is sent directly to me, and expires in 21 days, or whatever the normal checkout period is.

And as this CNN article points out, this is one more place where late fees are being eliminated. Just as Netflix has created a system that prevented late fees for DVDs, libraries don't need to worry about collecting late fees on ebooks, since there are no late returns. No books go missing, and the wait list doesn't get stalled by people who don't return books on time. They just disappear from the Kindle when the loan period is up, and are ready to go out to the next patron immediately.

I love walking through bookstores, and wish I could afford to buy all the books I wanted to read, but libraries are where I look these days. As much as I like my Kindle, I still prefer reading a paper book. I love looking at bookshelves and seeing what books people are reading on the bus, and that really isn't possible with ebooks. And there is something physical in the connection with a paper book that can't be captured on a screen.

But the Kindle experience is getting better and better.

Cutting costs

One of the things I have been doing while not online is trying to cut back on expenses. I haven't had a formal budget in something approaching two decades, and though I have been cutting back on $7 fast food meals and trips to Starbucks, more drastic measures are needed right now.

I cut out a recurring donation and some other small items before looking at my larger bills. After looking over my monthly bills, the first to go was the gym. This expense to stay healthy shouldn't really be at the top of the list, but after using the gym several days a week in February, my membership went mostly unused. I used it primarily for the pool, and I have set aside triathlon aspirations this year to save money as well. My running shoes and bike are already paid for, so I can workout for free for the summer.

The big ticket item that needed to be addressed was my health insurance. I am currently on a COBRA policy, and it looks like I could save better than $100 a month by getting a different policy. There are hundreds of policies to chose from, and I have spent hours online looking through charts to see what would work best for me. Copays, deductibles, annual out of pocket limits, and percentage of coverage for various procedures are all intertwined with the monthly payment, and it is tough to keep it all straight.

It is all a bit of a gamble, trying to decide how much security you want, and how much you want to pay for it. There is even a line of coverage called TONIK that cuts to the chase with the names of the three different levels of coverage: "Calculated Risk Taker", "Part-time Daredevil", and "Thrill-Seeker".

I think I have figured out my desired level of risk and I am now trying to put together all the medical history info they want. And oddly enough, that lead me back here. More on that tomorrow.

Where does it all go?

What if we got a receipt?

I am doing my taxes this week. If I was expecting a return, they would have been done long ago, but I put them off until now to delay the drain from my bank account. I have done my own taxes every year since I was 16. It is never a treat, but most of the time is spent gathering receipts and cross-checking them with Microsoft Money (self-employment adds to the headache). Preparing my own taxes is one of those things that I know I can do, so I hate to spend the money to have someone else do it.

And I do them by hand. These days there are .pdf forms you can download to make them neater than my sloppy penmanship, but they do not do the math for you. It is more painful than using a computer program, but this is another place where I figure my time is worth less than the software price.

This year though, I used an online version of Turbotax. It was free, so the price was right. The online version was pretty slick, and the necessary forms populated with all the important numbers. Being who I am, I will still go through it by hand to double check it. I still have to do my state taxes, which will be a first (CA has them, WA doesn't). I am debating paying the extra fee to use the Turbotax for the state return as well. Since tax day is only four days away, I may just pony up.

There are a couple of bills coming before Congress that would provide taxpayers with a relatively detailed receipt of where their money was going (Seattle Times article). As Congress debates about the amount in the penny jar when it comes to our budget, it turns out the American public has little idea where all our money is being spent. According to a recent survey:

..half the respondents believe that international humanitarian aid consumes at least 10 percent of the federal budget. The actual figure is about half of 1 percent. The median guess for share of the entire federal budget allocated for the Corporate for Public Broadcasting was a whopping 5 percent - more than what the government spends on transportation, law enforcement and homeland security combinded.

If the American public had a better grasp on where our money was going, we could better decide what we want government to pay for, and what we could cut back or eliminate. We would be less inclined to believe the hyperbolic rants about how we need to slash NPR for budget reasons.

The portion of the budget that goes to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is actually only one one-hundredth of one percent, 424 times less than the average person believes. And the cuts to this budget have nothing to do with reducing the deficit. NPR's portion is a fraction of that one one-hundredth of one percent, and the "Congressional Budget Office calculated that the net savings from defunding the network would be zero."

If we knew where our money was going, we could see what cuts would actually make a difference. And we would recognize what was actually fiscal responsibility, and what was just politics. A detailed receipt for our purchases would be a good start.

Cabin fever

No work this week, so I have had lots of time on my hands. I have tried to stay at home to avoid spending any money, and have made some decent progress on the novel's first edit. I also dug out an old video game (Thief) and have been spending (wasting) some hours on that as well. I haven't played any video games for the last five years, but for some reason thought about digging it out while I was writing the novel. I held it out as a carrot once NaNoWriMo was over, figuring I would waste some time on entertainment after putting in the all the hours during the month of writing. I forgot about it until this week, and it has been a lot of fun replaying the game after all these years.

But I was getting a little squirrelly this morning and needed to get outside. The weather has been ridiculously warm this week and I still haven't broken the mindset that I need to take advantage of it while I can (San Diego is of course perpetually sunny compared to Seattle). I decided to go to the zoo since my annual membership is still good until the end of April. I have been to the zoo three or four times already, but the place is so huge that I still haven't seen it all. Today I saw the Koalas and Giraffes for the first time, and stopped by to see the Meercats and the Otters because they are just so darn cute. I also saw a pen where jungle cats and dogs live in harmony.

All in all a great afternoon on the cheap. I even edited another chapter in the book, so that might buy me another hour playing Thief tonight.

Cats and dogs living together...mass hysteria...

Born to Run

A friend recently sent me a link to "40 free (or cheap) things you can do in San Diego". I clicked on the link yesterday and found a few interesting things to do. One recommendation was to attend book-signings at the Warwick's Book Store in La Jolla. After clicking over to their site, I found out that Christopher McDougall (author of Born to Run) was speaking today. I read his book back in February, and it was excellent, so I decided to go listen to him speak.

The author was on assignment on a different story when he saw an article on the winner of the Leadville 100 endurance race. The accompanying picture showed a 52 year old man running in what appeared to be sandles made with soles of old tires. He dropped what he was working on to find out more about the story. It lead him to the reclusive Tarahumara tribe in Mexico who have the uncanny ability to run hundreds of miles, and display a serenity that leads you to believe that this is what we were born to do.

Upon discovery of these 'natural' runners, the author seeks to understand their secret from both the natives themselves, and scientists who have been studying human evolution and history to explain how our makeup sets us apart from other animals when it comes to covering great distances. One of the major factors that set us apart is our ability to dissipate heat through sweat. Early hunters likely survived by running animals to exhaustion and death.

The Tarhumara run on very minimalist sandles, and during his research the author encounters a few runners who believe running completely barefoot helps runners to avoid injury. This is the topic that has garnered the most press coverage and controversy. It has helped start a growing trend toward running in less structured shoes, if not going completely barefoot. The author himself used to be frustrated with a list of injuries, but going barefoot has allowed him to run again.

The story leads up to a 50 mile race that includes both the Tarahumara as well as some American ultra-runners. The blend of narrative, history and science make for an interesting read. And it turns out the author is a pretty good speaker as well. Tonight he expanded on the topics covered in the book, and interestingly didn't touch on barefoot running until the last couple of minutes. However, during the question and answer period, barefoot running was once again a hot topic.

One major lesson beyond all the history and science of running began with that first photo of the Leadville 100 winner. The author spoke with a running coach that saw the eventual winner at about the 60 mile mark. He was standing at the top of an embankment which punished the already weary runners. When the author asked about the Tarahumara runner, he was looking for information on the runner's style, gait and form. But all the running coach kept saying was, "you should have seen the smile on his face".

Beyond all the arguments about science and running with or without shoes, the Tarahumara have a way of looking at running as fun. It is probably no coincidence that they also experience much lower rates of disease and depression than most any other society. Toward the end of the author's presentation, he said his hope was that after all the barefoot-running debates die down, that people will look closer at the joy of running displayed by the Tarahumara. That could be the real lesson of the story.

Digging out of a hole, trying not to snap

I went out for my second run of the new year yesterday. I haven't been running for pleasure since the Vegas Marathon in December, and not at all since Christmas Eve. I hurt the Achilles tendon/heel area of my right foot about three days before my delivery job ended. I suffered through the last few days of work, and it was painful just to walk on for another couple of weeks after that.

It finally felt better, so I ventured out on Monday for my first run. After a layoff of more than a month, I have a bit of a hole to climb out of. I need to get my base fitness back before I can start a new training program. Nothing snapped and I felt OK - other than feeling fat and out of shape. It doesn't take long, especially over the holidays.

I have some things up for sale again on Craigslist. Even though I sold/gave away/donated a bunch of stuff before I moved out of the house, I still have too much filling up a storage unit. I ended up keeping things that should have been sold already. Thing that are really tied to home ownership like lawn and garden tools. I don't anticipate having a yard for a while, and it doesn't make much sense to pay to store them. If I can get rid of enough stuff to reduce the size of my storage unit, it will be worth it.

I was waiting around yesterday for people to show up in response to my Craigslist ads. It worked out that the appointments were about an hour apart, so I was stuck at home for most of the day. I decided to do something mindless like cleaning out my e-mail inbox.

Being a packrat by nature, I don't do a good job of deleting e-mails as they come in. I keep things I may need to reference, as well as conversation threads that have some personal value, but there was also so much junk that I should never need again. It all added up to over 7,000 e-mails sitting in my inbox (and that doesn't include my msn/hotmail accounts).

So I started to make my way through four years of e-mails. I have only made it through 2 years worth but have deleted 3,000 so far. It was an interesting walk-through the past. The excited chatter building up to our first marathons, cancer diagnoses and cures, baby announcements, the tributes to my friend Gerry, and the day to day conversations that make up my history.

Then there was the random find like this video Amy sent me a few years ago. As I climb around my storage unit, feeling a little claustrophobic, I sometimes feel like snapping and throwing things. Fortunately there isn't video surveillance.

glumbert - Bad Day at the Office

Save your money

It looks like the expensive tech shirts with "anti-stink" technology aren't worth the extra money, and can do some harm to your health and the environment.

Why "Anti-Odor" clothes stink

We don't need no stinkin' nanotechnology...

The person you are trying to reach can not be located

The home officially went on the market on Tuesday. Today the yard sign is in place, and discussions with neighbors have been ratcheted up a notch.

I was calling around changing addresses yesterday. Since I am mostly out of the house while it is on the market, I also am trying to reduce unnecessary expenses where I can. I called Verizon to see if I could reduce the tv and internet service we’re signed up for at the house. I thought the contract ran through January, so I was hoping to get a cheaper package to cut costs in the meantime. Apparently the contract was up last week, so I was able to cancel both TV and internet service. Yay!

I wasn’t thinking things through though, because that also canceled my Verizon e-mail account For some reason it also wiped the DVR clean. Now I can’t log onto the account and any e-mail sent to me from now on goes nowhere. I wasn’t sure if people would get an error, or if it just goes into the ether. (A friend latter let me know that he received a bounce-back message).

I like so many others have become very e-mail dependent. When I was working as a real estate agent, I realized how many people turn to e-mail as there first means of communication. I was meeting a potential buyer at a house, and waited 45 minutes before giving up on him. When I made it home and checked my e-mail, I found a message from him that he wasn't going to make it - sent 5 minutes before our meeting time. Of course I was already at the meeting place by then. He had my phone number, but didn't think to use it. I bought a new phone that received e-mail a short time later.

My Verizon e-mail was my main and professional e-mail address. It is on my former business cards, my resumes, networking sites, etc. Now it was no longer valid. As an odd coincidence, two days ago my Windows-based phone required an upgrade on a program that allowed me to access my MSN e-mail address. The upgrade wiped out the old program, but did not install one to replace it. I haven't done research yet, but for now the end result is my Windows-based phone can't receive e-mail from my MSN account (and now I'm hooked on mobile access).

So my MSN e-mail wasn't accessible by my phone, and the address wasn't the most professional anyway. Not something I should be putting on resumes. So I added a Gmail account to the growing list of e-mail accounts. Of course I am late to the Google game, so my name is long gone as an e-mail address. A series of numbers had to be added.

Then came the task of letting all the people and websites know how to get a hold of me now. People were updated relatively easily - at least those in my address book - but websites were another issue. Since I've acquired several e-mail accounts over the years, different websites have different e-mail addresses attached to them. I've run into more than one site that won't let me change the address without signing up for a new account.

It would be nice to have e-mail portability something like cell phone numbers have now. That, and a forwarding message like you could put on an old phone number when you moved. Of course changing my address did drop several mailing lists that I won't go out of my way to renew. Maybe I don't want leave a trail after all.

By myself but not alone

It was Worldwide Festival of Races weekend. There were a total of 1137 participants from 45 countries running in one of three events: the "Kick the Couch 5k", the "Zen Run 10k" or the "Worldwide Half Marathon". As I mentioned previously, this race is a free, non-commercial event for runners of all abilities to 'virtually' run together. People could run an official event or make up their own route. I ran a solo half marathon this morning to get myself moving in the right direction.

I was not only running virtually with the folks that signed up for the Worldwide Half, but also with my friend Sean who was running the Long Beach Marathon. I chose a route in West Seattle so we would both be running along the Pacific Ocean, and timed it so we would be finishing at roughly the same time. He ran the first 10 miles with another friend before striking out on his own to finish the marathon. His friend was running the half marathon a couple years after open heart surgery. The day was filled with lots of meaning for all.

I started my run in Lincoln Park not far from the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock. I had found this route while on a bike ride back in June, and it seemed perfect for today's run. One advantage of running a solo event is there weren't the normal long porta-pottie lines at the start. However the park restroom was padlocked, so the advantage was short-lived.

The park is right on the water, and there is a asphalt/gravel path that hugs the shoreline for about a mile. The winds were calm and the weather perfect. There were several people enjoying the morning, coffee in hand while walking their dogs. I wish I had my camera with me, but I have misplaced it in the recent move. I took some shots with my phone, but the lens was gunked up so they aren't worth posting. This event isn't half-assed, but it turns out my preparation was.

The path ended at a narrow street, which then met up with Beach Drive. There was a small hill at mile two (and mile eleven), and the sidewalk disappeared for a while, but this was the only complaint on an otherwise great route. Beach Drive took me past several beautiful beachfront homes with occasional views of the water. There were several remodels taking place, and I was able to find an unlocked porta-pottie around mile 3.

The route continued along the shore and met up with Alki Ave. For those not from the Seattle area, Alki is our one beachfront community with lots of public access. There is a three mile public beach, and wide paths filled with walkers, runners, skaters and dogs. The street is lined with coffee shops, bakeries and other restaurants. Some condos have sprung up, but there are several funky houses that have not given into developer pressure. The pedestrians far outnumber the cars along this beachfront avenue, which is a beautiful thing.

There were lots of people scattered along the sand and taking to the paths on this glorious fall morning. There were even some folks with running bibs on. They were participating in an event called "Miles for Midwives". Some were running and others walking, but all returned my smiles. You are rarely alone on the roads, and it is almost impossible to be without a friendly face on Alki.

As this was an out-and-back route, I made my U-turn around mile 6.6. I took in all the friendly faces on Alki Ave before turning back onto the less populated Beach Drive. I had brought my iPod Shuffle along, and was listening to a couple Pheddipidations podcasts. Steve Runner produced a race day episode made up of listener submitted shout-outs to encourage fellow runners as we ran together this weekend. I also listened to episode number eight from September of 2005 entitled, "Why we Run". Many thanks to Steve for not only putting on this event, but also for his enthusiastic podcasts that keep us company.

After climbing the hill at mile eleven, and then rejoining the gravel path around mile twelve, I was able to kick up the pace a bit on my way home. Since I entered this event with a little over two weeks of training, I was unsure how the day would go. It felt great to have something left in the tank at the end to push to the finish. Since the mileage was calculated by my Polar watch, I don't know that giving you a precise finish time is important, but I was able to make my goal of 2 hours with a few minutes to spare.

After my marathon in June, I went into a bit of a tailspin. With money tight, I didn't sign up for another event, so I didn't have a goal on the horizon. Post marathon blues combined with the depression of my looming divorce was a potent cocktail. I stopped caring, stopped taking care of myself, and settled back into the "Couch of Doom". I needed this event and the challenge issued by my friend to get me back out on the roads. I am thankful, and happy to call myself a runner once again.

All in all a great day. The run went well, the route along the water was beautiful, and the friendly faces of Alki were an added boost. My only complaint is that the beer garden was a little weak.

Think Global, Run Local

I need something. Something to shoot for, something to keep me moving. I have signed up for the Worldwide Festival of Races Half Marathon.

On the weekend of 10-11 October 2009 runners from around the world will 'virtually' come together to celebrate their passion for the sport they love by running The Worldwide Festival of Races Half Marathon, 10K and 5K distances.

This race is a free, non-commercial event for runners of all abilities, where everyone is invited to register, train and run with us in the spirit of friendship. The only requirement is that you sign-up to run an official road race or a route of your choosing on the weekend of 10-11 October 2009, and report the results on this website. Participation in the race will also include a 'virtual' race bib, goody bag and completion certificate as well as a community forum and final results listing. As you participate, you will feel that you are part of a festival of friends all over the globe, who will support you, encourage you, and are sharing this experience with you as you run your event locally.

This is the fourth year of the virtual race. It is promoted by several blogs and podcasts, but especially by Steve Runner (Walker) over at Phedippidations.  Nike ripped off the idea last year and made it commercial, but this run-net community carries on at a smaller, more intimate scale. As of this evening, there are 841 entrants in 40 countries. Phedippidations will be publishing a podcast with shout outs where participants can cheer each other on. It will be posted a couple days before the race so runners take it along with them as they run their individual, but worldwide race.

I will be running my own individual, non-official (free) route. I am not ready for a half marathon, but I'm going to run one anyway.  My friend Sean will be running the Long Beach Marathon on Sunday the 11th. He will be running in sight of the Pacific Ocean, starting around 7:00am.  I am planning on running my half marathon at the same time. I may start at the same time, or try to do the math so we finish around the same time. And I need to figure out a route so I'm running along the ocean as well. Either way, I will be running with the at least 841 worldwide runners, as well as my friend in California.

Think global, run local.

Achieving goals and surviving the weekend

Another semi-productive weekend. On Saturday I went through the shed and did some organizing and thinning of the piles of stuff we have stashed there. You can see the floor again and things are grouped in general sections. I plan to revisit each room of the house a few times to further cut back on what we keep. A clean work area and a fresh pair of eyes will help. Need to be more brutal on the toss/keep decision.

It was yard waste week, so tuned into Prairie Home Companion this morning and I trimmed a few trees and pulled lots of weeds. Another 120 gallons of yard waste is off the property. It sounds like a lot, but week by week it is hard to pick out the changes. Check back in a couple of months so you can be duly impressed.

I made the cut again on work "Survivor". They cut 5 people in the first and second rounds, and two more on Friday. We weren't supposed to know who was getting cut until the weekend, but someone was kind enough to let the secret out. We are down to just six of us, and assuming there are no more cuts, we will be working for another 6 days. Plenty of other folks in the building are being let go that same day, so it is a weird atmosphere. The two in our group weren't too broken up to be let go a week early.

And this weekend, I achieved a task few thought possible. Naysayers scoffed, saying "that boy doesn't know what he is up against. It is simply too much for one man to take on." But I believed and persevered. It would be months before I would see the finish line, but I kept my goal in sight and didn't back down.

Yes, that's right, I finished the six pound bag of Costco pretzels single-handedly, and before they went stale. And at $5.25, I went ahead and signed up for another round.

My kind of offer

Luxury Resort Offers $19 room - sans bed

By Associated Press SAN DIEGO (AP) - A luxury resort in San Diego is offering rooms for $19 a night - if you don't mind sleeping in a tent.

The Rancho Bernardo Inn boasts three pools, a spa and golf course. It typically charges more than $200 a room. But business is down. So from Aug. 16 to 31, guests can get a "Survivor Package" that charges them less for each amenity they give up.

For $19, guests give up breakfast, air conditioning, lights, sheets and even the bed. Staff will remove the mattress and headboard and leave a small tent instead.

Oh, and bring your own toilet paper.

General manager John Gates says the hotel hopes people who try the promotion will return at full price.

Here is the graduated list of the savings you get with each thing you give up.

Camping in luxury, in San Diego...I'm on my way.

KOMO news story
Link to resort

Cheap entertainment

One of the money saving habits I have started is heading to the library instead of the bookstore. As soon as we decide on the choices for book club, I log on to put a hold on the books. I am not alone in this as libraries have been reporting significant upticks in the number of people walking through their doors. This is also apparent in the number of people ahead of me in the hold line.

I was listening to NPR yesterday and they were interviewing someone from the Seattle Library. He was talking about some slightly obscure movies he had requisitioned. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought about this before, but the library has a bunch of movies available for checkout. Not that I spend a lot of money at Blockbuster, but the amount will be pretty much zero going forward. I have holds on five movies so far.

I need to stick to the more obscure movies, though. I am 199th in line to see Wall-E.

Earth Day

Sorry, no big Earth Day post - too busy with work, the job search and other things.

Just a quick tip that is one of the easiest/painless changes you can make. Don't let the water run while you're brushing your teeth. This saves an average of 3,000 gallons a year. Same goes for shaving, washing dishes, etc.

If you want to go one step further - when running the water to get hot water for dishes or shaving, fill up your Brita pitcher, coffee pot, tea kettle, dog bowl, etc.

Though recycling gets all the press, the theme (in order of effectiveness) is - Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. And with money so tight these days, reducing consumption is top of mind for a lot of people. If the environment benefits as a result of cutting back, so much the better.

The end of Lent - or is it?

I am not a practicing Christian so I don't exactly know what the spiritual component of Lent is. I have however recognized Lent in different ways over the past ten years or so. I take this 40 day period most years to give something up as a disciplinary gut-check. In the past, typical picks have been things like sweets and liquor, things that don't generally do a body good anyway. These periods of self-denial give me a feeling that I'm not in denial when I say I could give it up whenever I want to.

I didn't intentionally observe Lent this year, but I did give up drinking for about a month. This year along with the check to see who has power over what, there was the added motivation to save money. Everybody is tightening their belts, and we are no different.

We haven't operated on a budget for quite some time, and though I plug every receipt into Microsoft Money, I had only a general sense of where our money was going. We don't buy new things very often. Both of our cars are at least 10 years old and paid for. Much of our furniture is either a hand-me-down or we have owned it from before we were married. I am definitely not a clothes horse and I don't buy the latest gadgets. So I can't really point to something physical and say, "that is where my money goes".

Our money in the past has gone more toward experiences - travel to see friends, entry fees for bike rides and runs, vacations, etc. But that doesn't capture it all. The money that disappears out of the account without much notice is the day to day stuff like trips to Starbucks or lunch at a burger joint. $5 or $10 adds up quicker than I think.

Money has different meanings for everyone. In the end it is a reflection on priorities and it isn't always easy to understand how others spend money. I've spent $85 for a five hour experience of a marathon, but I have a hard time opening my wallet to spend the same amount on clothes. Everyone makes their choices and there is nothing right or wrong in that.

It is the things we spend money on that have no lasting value, or that we don't even notice, that we need to get a hold of. I get a few minutes of enjoyment in eating out for lunch, but the feeling is fleeting and if I stopped to think about it, it isn't where I want my money going.

The plan going forward for me is to cut the spending to the bone, kind of clear the decks as it were. Money will be spent almost solely on things we can't avoid - shelter, food, gas, insurance, etc. Even the essentials will be analyzed for fat that can be trimmed. As it is, 75% of everything that makes it into the shopping cart is on sale, but there are still things that can be trimmed back. By eliminating non-essential spending, we can see where we really stand. When we start adding things back in, we can decide if it really reflects our priorities or not.

On the Clutter Diet Blog, they have paper sleeves that you can slip your debit cards into. Printed on the sleeve are these five questions:

· Who owns this already and might share it with me?
· What do I already have that is like this?
· Where will this be stored?
· When will I have time to use it and maintain it?
· Why do I want to buy this?

The first four questions go to the mission of preventing extra clutter from entering into the house. Question number five is the one I will be focusing on for the forseeable future. It isn't important that your choices make sense to others, but especially when times are lean, it has to make sense to you. Decide what is most important and focus on that. Then the self-denial of the other stuff won't seem like much of a sacrifice.

How to Make a Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit

Most modern synthetic cleaning products are based on age-old formulas using natural ingredients that were passed down through the generations because the chemistry was right. Going back to the original naturally derived ingredients is a way to make cleaning products that work, don’t pollute and save you money. Most are found in your kitchen cupboards. Mix and match with well-chosen and environmentally friendly green cleaning products found in health food stores, and you can easily and simply transform your home into a non-toxic and healthy haven.

As an added bonus, ounce for ounce homemade cleaning formulas cost about one-tenth the price of their commercial counterpart—and that includes costly, but worthwhile essential oils, and concentrated, all-purpose detergents for homemade recipes.

You can find recipes for eight different household cleaners here.