Reuse: Children's Clothing

Anyone that has young children knows how quickly little ones grow, especially in the first few years.  I have found two great options for people that don't want to hassle with having a garage sale or listing things on ebay.  The first option is to consign through a company such as JustBetweenFriends (http://www.jbfsale.com/default.cfm).  I decided to give it a shot this past sale as I had a basement full of toys and my kids had grown out of a lot of clothes from the previous season.  I listed about 200 items, of which 75% sold.  I made a 70% commission since I volunteered, and yesterday (a week after the sale) I got a check in the mail for about $625!  This was amazing, as it's typically stuff I would just pass along or donate.  Now that we are on a tighter budget, I figured I could sell the things and use the money to buy things in the next size up.  I also was able to shop the presales since I consigned and volunteered and I scored some great deals on toys for my kids to play with this summer.  The best part is that I plan to resell the things at the fall sale and hopefully come out even!  The second thing I have discovered is a website called ThredUp (http://www.thredup.com/251731).  It's a great children's clothes recycling program.  Basically you can list your items in under five mintues (think stuff that didn't sell at JBF or clothes that are cute, but you never got around to using) and if someone buys it all you have to do is print the shipping label and the postal worker will come to your door and pick it up.  You can then turn around and buy someone else's box for $15.95 (including shipping) that has approximately 15 items in there.    They also have toys, maternity clothes, scrapbooking stuff, and books to trade.  There are no picts on the site, though you can request a seller send you a picture before purchasing.  One cool thing about this is that when you get the box, it's like Christmas!  I can't wait to get the boxes I just ordered in my first trial run, I'll see if I can upload a picture for a future post!  =)

Paper or Plastic?

My very first job was a bagger at Byerly's food store.  For $5.60 per hour (just a little above minimum wage at the time), I took the bus after school and bagged groceries to help pay for driver's ed classes (my mom held the policy that if I wanted to drive, I'd have to pay for every bit of the process).  During orientation we were taught to ask the question "paper or plastic?"  This may not sound weird to those of you who have heard this many times over, but they actually told us there was psychology behind it!  Apparently, when given a choice, people are compelled to pick the second option if indecisive.  So, at 3 cents per plastic bag and 5 cents per paper bag, Byerly's was training us to save them money with this simple trick.  I know there is debate on which option is worse for the environment, but I personally feel more comfortable picking paper if I do not have reusable bags with me.  I use it to hold my recyclable items at home, and therefore recycle the bag in the process. I know plastic bags are also recyclable, but the paper just feels more organic...  Anyway, I recently bought several Envirosax off of a deal website (check out: http://babyhalfoff.com/index.php/Envirosax-Reusable-Shopping-Bags-?___store=default if you wish to purchase some at a great price), and was surprised when they arrived and were the size of my fist.  They have very cute designs and are barely heavier than a standard plastic bag.  At first I was put off by this, thinking it was sort of a rip off, but now I see the beauty of being able to stuff three or four into my purse to use when needed.  I assure you, I'm not reimbursed for promoting any items at all on here, and my main goal is to buy less, but sometimes things are worth buying if they ultimately help you live more sustainably and will save you money in the future!

Energy Saving Computers

Recently our two year old computer started to make a buzzing noise...the fan in the graphics card was going out.  As time progressed, we would have occassional computer crashes and this past week we realized we needed a completley new one.  The thought occurred to me to look into ways to make it more energy efficient.  I was surprised to find out that your graphics card actually consumes as much energy to run as almost all the other components in you computer combined!  So, making sure you have one that is not a power hog is very important.  I found out that GeForce cards should be completely avoided because in almost all comparisons, they are almost double the power consumption of a Radeon card.  A handy tool that I found is: http://www.hwcompare.com - you can plug in two cards to see not only power consumption, but other specs such as price, memory, and performance.  We ended up settling on a card that was powerful enough for our needs (my husband has a side job using HD video so it needed to be somewhat powerful), but wasn't demanding too much.  It is interesting that once you get in the mind frame of conservation, all sorts of doors open for you to change your habits as well as putting your purchasing power to good use.

God Takes Care of Us!

I'm so humbled and blessed...about a year ago my husband and I answered the call on our lives to go to Regent University, not having a clue how we'd pay for it.  With only one income, a toddler, and a baby on the way it did not make sense in the natural that we could go, but we were obedient and started going.  As I previously blogged, I've done a complete overhaul in our budget, trying to cut expenses to a bare minimum, live sustainably as much as possible, and give more.  Well, we just got our financial aid statement for next year and all I have to say is to GOD be the glory!  We are looking at going into this next year and adding absolutely NOTHING to our debt load!  What a blessing, as we were figuring it would be at least $10K worth of loans each year!  This is so exciting, I know God has great things in store for us!  This is just further proof that if we are faithful with what we have been given, God will be faithful!

Luke 6:38 (NIV): "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV): "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."