Green, Fit, and Frugal Wedding Planning Challenges

Being of green, fit, and frugal mind, I am in the process of trying to plan a wedding with these factors playing a major role. Is it working? You be the judge.

As far as the fit part goes…well, let’s just say that the holidays and my wedding planning demands are currently very much in the way of me being in top shape for this grand event. However, I have five months, and I have never had more of a reason to act on some New Year’s Resolutions. (Perhaps I’ll do a post on this later…)

For the other two, I am having even more difficulty being both green and frugal.

In the wedding world, there is no such thing as “budget”. You might hear this term muttered by parents shelling out their life savings or brides and grooms forking over paycheck after paycheck, but I am starting to wonder how many brides actually stay within the budget they started out with. I sure haven’t. And guess what comes into play next? Sacrifice. Oh, and the green part.

I had every intention of making this an environmentally-conscious event. I wanted to use paper products that are all recycled/biodegradable materials with soy-based inks, use natural (if not living) items as favors, and choose organic and minimal carbon-footprint menu items. Guess what? Those are the things that drive up the cost of this whole thing.

How do I justify another $800 for special ink printing versus printing on my laser jet at home? Or another $3 per invitation for special recycled paper that only comes in white, off-white, and brown? I did contemplate using the seeded papers so everyone could plant flowers once the piece completed it’s role in my wedding…but you can’t read anything printed ON it so it still needed a blank piece of paper to accompany it in order for people to know who is getting married.

Mini-trees and seed packets for favors? It’s a nice idea, but not if 70% of your guests are from out of town and will need to lug those things on the plane. Assuming they even take it with them and it doesn’t get left on the table to be thrown out by the venue staff during cleanup.

And the menu – have you tried finding a location you are in love with that doesn’t require you to choose “menu option A, B, or C” that does not include anything locally grown or organic, let alone vegetarian? (“It comes with vegetables on the side, doesn’t that count?” No, it doesn’t.)

So far the FRUGAL is dominating my GREEN and FIT, and at this point I think I am doing a great job with several do-it-yourself type projects for centerpieces, invitations, etc.

Have you found any easy solutions to reach goals in any (or all!) of these categories? Suggestions welcome!

This is subject to change. Stay tuned!

GreenFitnFrugal Gift Giving Guide 2009

It’s that time of year again. No, not tax time. Not Arbor Day either. OK, I’m doing a poor job of masking the obvious. Of course it’s getting closer to that time of year when you spend way too much time trying to find a parking space at the mall than planning those sentimental words you will write in a card for your dry cleaner. (I know you just sign your name.)

For all of you readers who appreciate a green, fit, and/or frugal lifestyle, I thought this would be a great time to kick off the holiday season with some gifts relevant to each of those lifestyles, if not a combination of them all.

In addition, if there’s more to your gift-giving plans than just these categories, I have partnered with several other travel-related blogs that are providing gift suggestions for other niches in our lives, so hopefully you will check them out too. After all, who knows where you’ll find that perfect gift that will keep the back-packing hippie cousin in your personal fan club for the next twelve months?

Gift Categories and Partner Blogs:

Holiday Gifts for the Adventure Traveler
Holiday Gifts for the Guy Traveler
Holiday Gifts for Women Travelers
Holiday Gifts for the Sports Traveler
Holiday Gifts for the Budget Traveler
Holiday Gifts for the Travel Writer

And here are my recommended goods:
Go Green with Gifts for the Eco-Conscious Companion:

• CamelBak BPA-Free Water bottle ($8-24) – Not just for gym enthusiasts, these bottles will keep you hydrated wherever you go, and you won’t have to worry about Bisphenol-A contamination.
• Eco Coffee Cup ($10.99) – That friend who can’t live without their Starbucks? Help them out with this reusable and microwave-safe coffee cup that looks just like their landfill-destined current option.
• Energizer Rechargeable 15 Minute Battery Charger ($28.98) – This set of chargers works at home, in your car, and at the office to charge AA and AAA batteries within 15 minutes.
• Suncast Recycle Bin Kit ($49.96) – It’s a lot easier to get on the recycling train with these bins helping you sort your recycling materials. Who do you know who could use a little assistance in this area?
• Kindle Wireless Reading Device ($259) – Besides being handy, portable, and instantly able to access over 360,000 books, an electronic reader like this Kindle is the more environmentally-friendly option over paper after only seven books!

Fit & Healthy Help for the Fitness Fanatic:

• Women’s Health Magazine, 1 year subscription ($14) – With new studies and reports being published daily, a healthy magazine is a necessity for keeping the exerciser in your life on top of the latest and greatest in workouts, products, and news.
• Quick Dry Towels ($16) – Great for the gym, for travel, or in your bathroom, these towels are great for soaking moisture from your skin to keep your complexion healthy and help you continue with your workout.
• Nintendo Wii Fit with Wii Balance Board ($94.95) – Complimenting your Wii game system, this board helps you perfect your poses all in the privacy of your own home, tracking your progress and monitoring your personal improvements.
• FitFlop Women’s Inuk Boot ($189-199) – This line of calorie-burning shoes continues to expand past flip-flops, and these boots are both stylish and useful.

Frugal Finds, Deals and other Stocking Stuffers for the Cost-Conscious Friend:

• Purse Size Deluxe Coupon Holder ($6) – For those of us who cut coupons (and we all should!), this coupon holder makes saving money more stylish, aside from keeping you organized.
• Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom ($6.99) – Stephanie Nelson runs an interactive website on grocery shopping secrets, and this book will share those and other useful tips for helping you stretch your household dollar.
• Eagle Creek Nylon All Terrain Money Belt ($14.95) – Your uncle has spent so much time making sure he gets the best deals. Help him secure those dollars when he’s on the move with the secret compartment in this everyday belt.
• Target Gift Card ($50) – Can’t decide what to get the penny-pincher? A cash gift is sure to be allocated to bills, but gift cards? More likely to be spent on something fun – especially at Target!
• Quicken Deluxe 2010 ($80) – Know someone who has trouble staying within their budget? This software makes it easy for anyone to know their net worth at a moment’s notice.

Not finding the perfect gift yet? Check out my full list of ideas and recommendations here. Happy shopping!

Your Life on a Budget

If you are like many, putting together a finely-tuned budget has been a part of your household chore list in recent months. A budget is typically designed to help save more and spend less, versus the other way around. This means that you have reviewed your spending habits and separated the “have to haves” from the “want to haves”. Unfortunately, the “want to haves” end up getting limited as much as possible – leaving eating out, vacations, retail shopping and other joys of life on the budget cutting room floor.

But you don’t have to spend the rest of your days staring at the wall, relishing the fact that you are building financial security from your lack of a life. There are plenty of ideas for still finding those budget-friendly restaurants, shows, and steals that will keep you going. Here are a few:

Eating Out
There are a few suggestions that will keep your meal tab at a minimum. If you must eat out – go at lunch. Most restaurants have the same selections in a more reasonable serving size, and with a much more reasonable price tag than their dinner menu.

Eat something small before you leave the house. Order appetizers instead of entrees. Avoid the cocktails or go during happy hour. In fact, look up your destination online and check out the specials. Due to the economy, most restaurants have incredibly discounted food items and cocktails during happy hours. (I recently went to Happy Hour at McCormick & Schmicks – a high end seafood restaurant – ordered a buffalo chicken sandwich, fries and two glasses of wine, and the bill came to $12. TWELVE. DOLLARS.) Several restaurants are even doing prix fixe menus that include a complete meal that is selected by you for a discounted price.

If you haven’t used Restaurant.com yet, get over there. Hundreds of restaurants in your local area offer $25 coupons for only $2. Just remember to read the fine print so you are well aware of the variety restrictions (minimum purchase, food only, restricted days and times, etc.).

Entertainment
Again because of the economy, entertainment businesses are reducing prices to entice people to come back again. If you have kids or are personally big on theme parks, you can’t go wrong with season passes. An individual ticket to Six Flags Over Georgia in Atlanta is $39.99, while the season pass is $59.99. That pays for itself in two visits.

Have time on weekdays? Museums and theaters offer deeply-discounted tickets, if they aren’t free altogether. It is a great way to get some culture, get out of the heat, and not stay home staring at that wall again. On Wednesdays, entry is free into the New York Botanical Garden, and on Friday evenings you can enter the famous Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) without spending a dime.

Concert events can be pretty pricey for big name artists, especially if you need to be ripped off by – I mean order tickets through – Ticketmaster. Those “convenience” charges get out of hand and end up costing as much as the original ticket price. Check smaller venues for better deals. The House of Blues has opened in several cities now, and though they do involve Ticketmaster, the ticket prices are much lower than those at large stadiums. Also look into locations off the beaten path. Last night I attended the Counting Crows concert at Sam Houston Race Park, and for $45 my boyfriend and I enjoyed quick and convenient parking, and two tickets to a great show, with seats mere feet from the stage. You can’t beat that. Always check craigslist.com too – many people who have bought tickets and can no longer go need to unload theirs for whatever price they can get, oftentimes less than face value.

Sporting events have a variety of prices for the different seating options. It varies from sport to sport and venue to venue to even game to game, so do your research. The Seattle Mariners had field box seats available for only $17 – a fantastic deal, but don’t feel you need to be in the best section to have a good time. The same field also has bleacher seats for $7 each – and you get a chance to catch that homerun ball!

Vacations
You may have heard the term “staycation” lately to define the new trend of remaining at home for relaxation versus heading to an exotic and expensive locale for the same purpose. If you can avoid the pricey requirements of traveling to a destination, your budget will thank you. Planes, trains, and automobiles all add up to costs that will fall into the “want to haves” instead of the “have to haves” and if you can avoid at least some of these, your wallet will thank you.

That being said, if you still need to get away, plan accordingly. Travel prices are directly related to the time of year that you go. If everyone else is headed where you are, prices will be high in order to take advantage of the demand. Go in the off season whenever possible. Look for online discounts, group packages, previous customer coupons, and other creative ways to cut back on charges. If you live near a cruise port, chances are there are great discounts for local residents. Please note you cannot show up at the dock on the date of a sail with your bags packed and purchase your vacation on the spot due to Homeland Security purchases. That “secret” is indeed an urban legend.

As much as watching the grass grow can be exciting, there are more entertaining ways of passing the time. Life is short – don’t let that budget keep you down.

Coupon Queen

When I was twelve, I was struggling for cash. I had reached that age where the generic version of anything was no longer good enough; I wanted the Gap jeans – not the JCPenney ones. I wanted Keds – not the imitation white shoes without the famous blue label in the back. My mom brilliantly required me to pay the difference between what she would pay and what I wanted, but this very quickly became a challenge for my amateur income status. My $10-a-week allowance was not cutting it. I also happened to live so far out of town in rural Connecticut that the proverbial lemonade stand was not an option. I babysat as much as I could, but I was still looking for any available method to obtain that financial success I had discovered I needed.

An avid coupon cutter, I had always seen my mom clip the discounts relating to items on her grocery list. I’m not sure how I noticed my discovery – but I must have been in one of my “I’m bored” states of mind that mom reminds me I was famous for at that age. Have you ever looked closely at these coupons? Where the fine print is? I am not referring to checking expiration dates. On every one of those coupons it will say “Cash value 1/20 of one cent” or something similar. I bet you probably never noticed that. The day I happened to notice, I thought I had found my answer to my money issues. Free money? Sure, it would take a lot of coupons to amount to any real worth, but I could do it! I had the ambition! It was not until my mom found me cutting my own coupons into an already full shoebox of the same that she broke the news to me that I couldn’t actually cash those in at a bank.

Since then my relationship with coupons has cycled. I’m not sure if that was the moment prompting me to no longer think so highly of these slips of paper, but it was several years before I revisited the art of coupon-cutting. In college I went through a phase where I was definitely tight on money, but I was absolutely too proud to admit that I needed to save anywhere I could (and I should have been). Why was I embarrassed to hand over coupons to the cashier? Obviously thousands of people use these things or they wouldn’t exist in the first place.

Well, with the economy currently in the toilet and my income essentially non-existent, coupon cutting is a bright spot in my financial quandary that gives me hope that I can make ends meet every month. I have saved more than 30% off of several grocery bills thanks to these pieces of paper, justifying the 2 minutes it takes to collect them from the Sunday paper each week.

If you aren’t a coupon cutter, but you are reading this blog, you are missing out! Grab some scissors and get started – what have you got to lose other than excessive spending?

Don’t Panic Over Organic

For awhile now I have been glossing over this whole organic thing. Apparently I have tunnel vision on things like this, and when I try to justify why I have never made the effort to learn more about my organic options, I end up with, “I’ve never eaten organic, and I’m healthy, so what’s the big deal?” It’s more expensive, harder to find and spoils much faster than general options due to a lack of preservatives. It didn’t seem to make basic logical sense, and I included it with my thoughts on vegetarian/probiotic/vegan lifestyles: I have nothing against those choices, I just know nothing about them. Ignorance is bliss, right?

Since the organic foods industry has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, I finally took the time to look into this phenomenon. After spending some time online doing research, it is pretty hard to deny that pesticides in your food are being directly linked to “birth defects, nerve damage, cancer and other effects that might occur over a long period of time.” And that’s straight from the website for the Environmental Protection Agency. Wow. I suppose this might explain that although our medicine is more advanced than ever, our society is plagued by more types of illnesses than ever before as well.

The benefits of buying organic products – other than your health – include being generally better for the environment In terms of the soil, water and wildlife and your purchases support small farmers. Additionally, if you are buying heirloom tomatoes from Farmer Jethro down the street, that full effort probably left a much smaller carbon footprint than those tomatoes imported off a ship from another country you can buy at the local grocery chain.

However, there is a significant amount of information overload out there on this topic. Because of this, I am consolidating the vital details to hopefully simplify the process for selecting your everyday essentials. What should you be buying organic? What is not worth it? Let me also add a disclaimer that this list is for protecting our physical health specifically. The environmental benefits mentioned above are relevant for all organic products, no matter the effect on your personal health. It goes without saying that if organic products were sold in abundance and for the same price, we’d automatically switch to 100% organic. Since I haven’t won the lottery lately, I need to spend wisely.

Organic Products “worth the money”:

• Nectarines
• Celery
• Pears
• Peaches
• Apples
• Cherries
• Strawberries
• Imported grapes
• Spinach / Kale / Leafy Greens
• Potatoes
• Bell peppers
• Red raspberries
• Carrots
• Tomatoes (**have recently been found to be on the “clean” list – perhaps due to excessive attention?)
• Meat
• Poultry
• Eggs
• Dairy
• Baby food

Don’t bother (aka either not enough harmful toxins to make a difference, the product has a protective skin that is generally removed before consuming, or the product grows so fast that pesticides aren’t needed):

• Asparagus
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Corn
• Eggplant
• Kiwi
• Mangoes
• Onions
• Papayas
• Pineapples
• Sweet peas
• Sweet potatoes
• Watermelon
• Breads
• Oils
• Potato Chips
• Pasta
• Cereals
• Canned & Dried Fruits & Veggies
• Seafood (no organic certification exists)
• Cosmetics (labels not always correct anyway)

Some general information:

• Definition:
  • Animals have not been treated with: antibiotics, growth hormones, or feed made from animal byproducts.
  • Animals must have been fed organic feed for at least a year.
  • Animals must have access to the outdoors.
  • Food hasn’t been genetically modified or irradiated.
  • Fertilizer does not contain sewage sludge or synthetic ingredients.
  • Produce hasn’t been contaminated with synthetic chemicals used as pesticides.
  • Organic Meats come only from animals fed organic feed and given no hormones or antibiotics.
  • Organic dairy cows cannot be fed with grains grown with pesticides, nor can they use antibiotics or growth hormones like rGBH or rBST.
  • Organic coffee cannot be grown or processed with the use of potentially hazardous chemicals. (“Fair Trade Certified” states the sales support farmers who are paid well and treated fairly.)
• Labeling:
  • “100% Organic”: Product must contain 100 percent organic ingredients.
  • “Organic”: At least 95 percent of ingredients are organically produced.
  • “Made with Organic Ingredients”: At least 70 percent of ingredients are organic. The remaining 30 percent must come from the USDA’s approved list.
  • “Free-range” or “Free-roaming”: Misleading term applied to chicken, eggs and other meat. The animal did not necessarily spend a good portion of its life outdoors. The rule states only that outdoor access be made available for “an undetermined period each day.” U.S. government standards are weak in this area.
  • “Natural” or “All Natural”: Does not mean organic. There is no standard definition for this term except with meat and poultry products. (USDA defines “natural” as not containing any artificial flavoring, colors, chemical preservatives, or synthetic ingredients). The claim is not verified. The producer or manufacturer alone decides whether to use it.
    

    The Little Seed carries eco-friendly and organic children's products.

One additional thought…there is an industry gaining momentum regarding organic clothing, specifically for children and babies. I know we want the best for tomorrow’s leaders – but is all this expensive clothing necessary? Cotton is grown with a considerable amount of pesticides, and from what I have found in my “research” organic clothes, blankets, etc. are generally softer and cause less irritation to the skin. And that is a good thing, since those of us still in our developing stages need as few complications as possible. Will that non-organic blanket your Aunt Beth knit for your son make him sick? No, it won’t. Will he prefer the softer organic blanket you received as a gift at your baby shower? Absolutely. I know I would.

I suppose now I should start looking into the vegetarian/probiotic/vegan reasonings…so I can at least have an opinion.

Grocery Therapy

Everyone has their own coping mechanisms. Back in the day (yes, a loose definition of time) I would calm any frustrations obtained at work or school through a relaxing experience I defined as my “Retail Therapy”. I made a specific effort (who are we kidding – it took no effort whatsoever) to become very familiar with the geographic shopping potential of every office I worked in, so I knew my options if I needed to escape during lunch hour, or hit a sale on my way home after hours.

I’m not sure if the average guy has the same connection with shopping, but I do know a few. The feelings that arise just from the sheer possibility of discovering something that you need, you love, is in your size and is ON SALE cancel out all project overloads, co-worker drama, and boss frustrations that might have been plaguing your day. (We won’t go into how some of these things end up in the back of my closet, never to see daylight again until the bi-annual I-need-more-hanging-space-let’s-donate-this event.)

This (ok I’ll admit it) minor addiction probably hit its peak early in my official adult life as soon as I graduated college and was earning a real salary. After I went a little overboard (more admitting) I tried to do the right thing and recognize that I needed to invest some time to understand the value of that “budget” word I kept hearing about. But the shopping thing could be compared to me going out to eat at a great restaurant: if I’m there, I’m not ordering the salad – I’m splurging.

So for me, the answer was to avoid the temptation altogether. I redirected my frustrations to the elliptical machine at my gym and was able to actually start building some personal financial worth. If you ever caught me in a retail establishment during that time I was most likely shopping for a gift. I fell off the wagon a few times, but overall I’ve done a pretty good job of avoiding the shopping malls throughout the years, and thankfully online shopping isn’t nearly as gratifying.

Enter the art of grocery shopping. At some point I started to notice that I could get the same “retail therapy” high while planning my grocery list for the week. Like shopping for a great dress, shopping for groceries can offer the same emotional satisfaction – I need to eat, I love food, it’s always in your size, and you can still shop for sales! As long as I recognize that there is no need to buy food for the purpose of insulating me enough to forgo buying a great jacket, then I can handle it. Telling myself that “I have to do this anyway” makes the bill a whole lot easier to swallow in this type of economy than if I had bought that dress. And is just as satisfying, I promise.

By the way, outlet malls don’t count. See you in the checkout line!

How do you handle frustration from work? What’s your secret?

My Earth vs. My Worth

As I try to live my life as the type of person who Makes the Right Decisions, I am frequently faced with my own personal belief debacle. Although I would prefer hands down to go with the more environmentally-friendly option of anything, the financial cost of doing so is not always in my best interest. Organic or non-organic? Hybrid or non-hybrid? Recycled or non-recycled?

Let’s face it, right now the global financial system is a train wreck of bailouts, bankruptcies and all around bad news. The worst part of it all is that no one seems to be saying that it will be ending anytime soon. Therefore, even if I am fortunate enough to land my dream job tomorrow, who knows how long that will last in today’s economy? I don’t. And therefore “budget” needs to be my middle name.

In a perfect world, these choices would be one and the same. You could buy toilet paper that is 4-ply, soft, recycled and biodegradable – and the best price on the shelf. You could test-drive a Prius that is both earth-friendly and actually looks good. You could ride your bike to work and not need a serious shower when you get there.

But as we know, we’re not a big fan of perfect in this world. Whether we like to admit it or not, perfect is boring. Where is the challenge in that? What would keep us using these brains of ours? Thankfully there are plenty of people, and companies, and organizations out there who think about these challenges every day, and perhaps will be able to offer me a better option for how I am able to fuel my car.

In the meantime, I will continue to search for the answer to how it is possible to take a two minute shower. I still don’t believe it.

How do YOU make your own decision?