Monday Giveaway — “Keeping Chickens with Ashley English”

by Katy on October 18, 2010 · 86 comments

Another week has started, which for us Non-Consumers means it’s time for another Monday Giveaway. This week’s selection is Keeping Chickens with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy, Healthy Flock. This is a fantastic book, even if you’re not a backyard poultry enthusiast. It’s got delicious looking egg recipes and would make the perfect gift for the chicken chica in your life.

This beautifully crafted book is the second in English’s Homemade Living series, (the first was Canning and Preserving) and is published by the generous people over at Lark Books. There are also books on Keeping Bees and Homemade Dairy, which are scheduled for publication March of 2011. Ms. English also writes the blog Small Measure, which is a wonderful chronicle of her projects and thoughts.

Last week’s giveaway of English’s Canning and Preserving book was extremely popular, and I expect this week’s will be as well.

To enter to win an autographed copy of this book, write something about chickens or eggs in the comments section below. And no, I don’t have a preference for which came first. 😉

I will randomly choose a winner on Wednesday, October 18th at midnight. Please enter just once, U.S. residents only.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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No Heat Challenge 2010

by Katy on October 17, 2010 · 52 comments

I’ve been hemming and hawing over how I will handle this year’s No Heat Challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a moment of regret from last year’s challenge. (Or for that matter, the year before.) We waited until after November 1st to start firing up the furnace, and then we kept the house at 63° during the day when the kids were at home, and 57° at night and when the kids were at school. Cozy lap blankets were available for watching TV, goofing around on the internet and generalized snuggling.

We just received our gas bill for the month of September, which was a credit for $5.34. (Our furnace, stove and hot water heater are all natural gas.) My husband and I use the Equal Pay plan, which computes our therm usage from the prior year and divides it by eleven. (This way we’re not hit with huge gas bills over the winter and hardly anything during the summer.) So in September, we either have to pay for any extra gas usage or get a credit for overpaying. Our credit last year was much higher, but we’re now comparing two different No Heat Challenge years, so It’s pretty great to get a credit. Especially considering that our older son now showers twice a day and often for up to 45 minutes at a time!

The reason why I’m unsure how to progress with this year’s challenge is because we have welcomed a Japanese exchange teacher into our home for the next six months, and I feel bad subjecting him to extremes of temperature. It’s still fairly warm in Portland, Oregon, but the chill is definitely creeping in. I made sure to provide a really warm blanket for our guest, (thank you Mom!) as well as a set of flannel sheets. I set up a small space heater in his room, and instructed him on its use. We don’t have a traditional Japanese heated toilet seat, although I suppose I could save up my Swagbucks to buy one.

I am going to abstain from blanket statements (har-har) as to how we’ll handle this year’s furnace abstinence, but I’m sure we’ll find a happy medium that meets all of our needs.

Are you planning on participating in this year’s No Heat Challenge? Will you throw on a sweater instead of a furnace switch? Will you snuggle under a blanket instead of heating your entire house? Please share your stories and thoughts to the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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House Lust

by Katy on October 16, 2010 · 12 comments

I’m currently in the middle of listening to an audio book of House Lust: America’s Obsessions with Our Homes, by Daniel McGinn. This is not a book recommended by anyone in particular, but simply something I pulled off the shelf at my friendly neighborhood ♥library♥. I am absolutely loving this book, and feel that it was written for me as a simple living wannabe, old house aficionado, recovering HGTV addict, chronic remodeler and book superfan. (Yeah, I know, I’m one screwed up broad.) Sadly, I can’t quote from the book, as it’s in spoken form. (However, I have put the actual book on hold at the library, so this is soon to change.)

The author makes many fine points throughout the book, one of which is how what may initially seem new and exciting, will normalize with time. My example of this is my dining room curtain. When we bought our house in 1996, our next door neighbor ran an illegal scrap metal business out of his side yard. To say it was a less than idyllic vista would be an understatement. Our goal for the curtains was something that would block the view, yet still let some light through. The budget solution was a super cheap curtain rod from my mother’s basement, paired with Goodwill sheers that my mother hemmed to the right length. Not particularly attractive, but functional. I was happy.

Fast forward 14 years and the neighbors have long since moved on, replaced by the loveliest retired couple, (hi Nancy, hi Beau!) but the utilitarian curtains are still in place. The curtain rod gets a little bent, (which I periodically unbend) but the window span is ten feet across, so it needs to be replaced by a serious piece of apparatus.

I am no longer happy with the curtain. I feel that it does not live up to my sophisticated design sense. (Don’t worry, I’m making fun of myself here.) I am no longer happy to just have a curtain. I have normalized the initial excitement of simply having a curtain. I look at blogs such as Modern Thrifter, (my fave new blog!) and see how the author has fashioned the perfect curtain solution for her daughter’s room, and I lust over the curtain rod, which has a center support which looks like the perfect solution to my super wide window issue.

And I over-thinking here? Of course I am, but that doesn’t mean that what once gave me satisfaction isn’t now grating on my nerves.

This phenomenon of normalizing what was once exciting is not exclusive to house related issues, as the thrill of many new purchases is that they are, well, new. And you and I both know how long that lasts.

I highly recommend this book, and feel it’s a good match with the content here on The Non-Consumer Advocate. You’ll be hearing more about it in the near future.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out make it do or do without”

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Fabulous Frugal Finds — Glamour Edition

by Katy on October 15, 2010 · 17 comments

The following is part of an occasional series where readers send in stories and photos of their Fabulous Frugal Finds. It’s really fun to see other people’s great scores, and it’s great to share them with The Non-Consumer Advocate community. Click HERE to read the rest of of F.F.F’s., and please send me your stories and photos for future columns.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

My Fabulous Frugal Find

It’s Homecoming season.  You know what that means.  Expensive dresses for our teenage girls, right?  Not necessarily!

My fabulous frugal find is a Homecoming dress for my daughter, a junior in high school.  Look at the first picture, which girl do you think is wearing an $8 dress found on sale at Goodwill?

Click on photo for better detail.

While some of my daughter’s friends drive BMWs and brand new Jeep Cherokees (handed down or bought by parents), she drives a 2001 VW Passat that she helped pay for herself.  The same range occurs in this group of girls’ dresses.  Some girls paid $150.00 or more for theirs and some girls got them on the clearance rack for $25.00.

Last year, I was able to find my daughter a homecoming dress for free.  It was on clearance at JC Penney for $9.99 and I had a $10.00 off anything coupon.  While the dress was cute, it wasn’t near the quality of the dress we found at Goodwill.  And that’s part of the point here.  The picture below is of my daughter in her $8.00 dress.  It looks like it was made for her.  The fit and quality of the fabrics is so much nicer than the majority of the dresses that her friends wore.  And, it fits so nicely with Katy’s “buy nothing new” philosophy.

And we have our first Non-Consumer Advocate homecoming queen!

We actually found this dress in June, along with another dress that she’ll wear to Winter Formal.  And that’s another point.  You can’t go to Goodwill looking for something specific exactly when you need it.  Chances are, you’re not going to find it.  We had heard about a “boutique” Goodwill store in a nice part of town and decided to check it out.

We weren’t looking for semi-formal dresses, we just went to see what it was like.  It was a much easier store to shop, simply because there was less merchandise.  Because we found two beautiful dresses that had tag colors that were 40% off that day, we decided to buy both of them.  So come February, when the rest of her friends are running around trying to find their Winter Formal dresses, she’ll already be set.

Now, if we can just find a Fabulously Frugal Prom dress!


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“Canning & Preserving with Ashley English,” a Winner, Plus Fantastic Reader Comments!

by Katy on October 14, 2010 · 0 comments

Congratulations to LT, whose canning comment was randomly chosen to win a copy of Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More. 127 readers entered to win this book, which was a record number of comments for The Non-Consumer Advocate. (Second prize goes to the Safeway gift card giveaway from last year, which garnered 96 comments.) I guess you guys are really interested in canning! If you were one of the 126 unlucky commenters, fear not, as next week’s Monday Giveaway will be a copy of English’s Homemade Living: Keep Chickens with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy Healthy Flock.

Thank you to everyone who entered to win this terrific book. I know my official line is not not buy anything new, but this book could be an official Non-Consumer Advocate exception. 😉

Here’s just a small sample of the canning comments:

LT:

“I have 2 bags of grapes (picked from our own backyard!) in the freezer waiting for me to take the leap & try my hand at canning. Now I just have to convince my husband that it’s enough of a priority to take away time from our various home improvement projects! :) Looks like a great book!”

Namastemana:

“We have been canning for a few years. We started with tomato sauce and every year add a few things. This year we made tomato ketchup for the first time. We don’t eat that much so we’ll have enough for the whole year. It’s so good.”

Jill:

“I fondly remember walking into the basement of our ‘new to us’ century-old farmhouse when I was about 10. I was completely transfixed by the rows of colorful jars all lined up on a shelf – as if in homage to the past residents and as a gift to the new. Clearly, someone had lovingly, painstakingly canned those numerous jars of garden bounty, and all of a sudden, I took to farm life with leaps and bounds. When we moved to our current home, now across the country from that farm house, we discovered a hidden room in the basement with row after row of empty shelving, just waiting for the jars of garden produce. Sadly, I have not had the proper instructions to can safely. For this reason, I would love to receive this book! Thanks for the opportunity, Katy!”

Shannon:

“This is a great book…I currently have a copy from the library (due back soon!) and I really want to own it because my first attempts at canning over the past two years have been less than successful. It is beautiful and easy to understand, and it will be on my Christmas list this year if I don’t win.”  :-)

Lisa P:

“What a great giveaway! I am really interested in learning how to can correctly and keep window shopping the canning supplies area in my local grocery store. My mom always taught me that canning was “dangerous” and that one could become very sick (although I vaguely recall that her mother canned tons of tomatos & and I didn’t hear of anyone becoming ill) so I’ve been a little wary. I really do want to learn how to can safely & correctly and this book would be my guide. Thanks for the chance.”  :)

Jessica Wolk-Stanley:

“I know I am your sister (and so do you), and I think it is finally time for me to use my sisterly pull to encourage you to PICK ME!!!!! Note from Katy: Winners are randomly chosen, and sisters who write novel length comments are no more likely to win than anyone else.

I was never much of a canner myself, but I have very happy memories of our family canning back in the 70s. This also coincided, you may remember, with Dad reading us all of the Little House Books. Canning was fun, but it also made me feel very safe and secure, seeing our basement freezer room full of pickles, jams and applesauce. Our parents weren’t shy about experimenting either. Do you remember the rose petal jam? I seem to recall it was an old Victorian recipe our mother came across. We were fascinated, but man, was that gross!!! Another experiment was washing cucumbers in the washing machine. What an image! Alas, not destined to catch on. The pickles came out bizarrely soggy.

My canning didn’t start until we moved to Seattle and our rental came with three mature and very productive plum trees. I had never really cared for plums (too mushy), but this variety (turned out to be Italian Plum) was delicious. However, there were just too many for us to manage, so my mind turned to jam-making. Our family had made plum jam back in the day from plums from our Aunt Joanie’s trees, but I always had hated it. Which was unfortunate since Mom and Dad had made rather a lot of it and they kept on giving it to us in our lunches (where we couldn’t say no to it). It was very runny and made the bread soggy and had these awful blobs of plum to startle the sensitive palate. But that is another story. So there I was, with about a bushel of plums, but not wanting to gross out the family. My main complaint about that long-ago jam was the (please pardon me now) phlegm-ball-like globs of stewed plums. So I hit on what I like to think of as a stroke complete and utter genius…I ran all the plums through the blender! And it totally worked! Like a charm. No funky texture. No soggy bread. Great jam. And that, Katy (or shall I say, Non-consumer Advokaty), is why I need this book.”

Maureen:

“My daughter just married into a canning family. One great grandfather has a huge hobby farm and everyone helps can. This year there is a wonderful picture of the other great grandfather, grandfather and grandson who is 2-1/2, putting the tomatoes thru the mill. The great grandfather just passed away, so this picture will hold a special place in their hearts.

When it came time for wedding favors everyone helped out canning strawberry jam and there is plenty left over!

I would love to give this book to my daughter as a newlywed and a new canner!”

Click here to read all the great comments, and make sure to check back in next Monday for another giveaway! (And if you stuck around for the rest of the week, that would be fine by me.)

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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Makin’ Do and Takin’ Names

by Katy on October 13, 2010 · 13 comments

You know that phrase that sits at the bottom of every blog post? The one that reads, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without?” Well, it’s not just there for its good looks, it really is a way of life for me. Not in the sense that I am living a life of deprivation or any such nonsense. I absolutely am “making do” in almost every aspect of my life.

The example I bring to the table today is my shower curtain rings. Yes, I think the shiny metal ones with the tiny silver beads are cool looking, but I’m actually quite content with my cheap-o clear plastic ones. No, they’re not going to win any design contests, but I find them inoffensive and (this is the important part here) functional. However, they have a design flaw, which is that they occasionally snap apart from my apparently Hulk-like method of opening and closing them.

So do I buy a whole new set of rings whenever one breaks? No way, fellow Non-Consumers! I have an extra set of clear plastic rings that I picked up at Goodwill for 49¢. (It was missing a single ring.) So whenever I break a ring, I have an extra in reserve.

And I’m going to let you in a little secret. The new clear plastic shower curtain rings and the Goodwill clear plastic rings are a completely different style. This is only notable if you are actually looking to find this proof of my inadequacy. And really, why the heck would you be inspecting my shower curtain rings anyway?!

I expect that the Goodwill set will last me at least another five years, a which point we’ll all be living in outer space anyway, which probably would mean no shower curtains, as they tend to flap open in zero gravity.

Can you tell the difference between the two different styles of shower curtain rings? And if so, does it matter?

Goodwill, you never fail me!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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Regifting Challenge

by Katy on October 12, 2010 · 19 comments

2010 Regifting Challenge!

I know it’s only October, but the holiday gift giving season is closer than most of us would care to admit. And unless you have an unlimited cornucopia of cash, (c’mon it could happen!) you’re probably looking to keep the budget under control. Yet no one wants to take on the role of the crazy cousin who only gives slipper socks. (Okay, that was me by the end of nursing school, as I was super broke and the socks were $1 apiece at the Albuquerque Wal-Mart.)

We all talk about making gifts, finding second hand gifts, winnowing down our gift recipient list and even braving the Black Friday lines to score deeply discounted Stuff.

What we don’t talk about, (at least in polite company) is Regifting.

Regifting can be as straightforward as passing an unwanted gift along to a new recipient or, (my favorite) finding items in my own house that others might enjoy.

I posed a question to my Facebook friends last week about how they would feel if they knew a gift they gave ended up regifted, and conversely, how they would feel if they knew they were on the receiving end of a regift. (I also asked the Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group, but nobody responded! Tsk, tsk. . . .)

The responses ran the gamut from:

“I love re-gifting. When I have something that I think someone I know will love, it makes me sooooooo happy to give it to them. If I get something re-gifted, I just assume that like me, the giver is gifting me with something that s/he thinks I will love. Happiness, either way.”

to:

“Depends on the gift and the person I guess. If it was a well thought out gift that was picked specifically for that individual and they regifted I may be a wee bit hurt, but not heart broken. If it was a gift from my gift stash intended for anyone I probably would not care at all.”

It should come as no surprise that I am big regifter. I consider all of my belongings to be potential gifts, and regularly shop from my own shelves, drawers and cabinets to find that perfect something special for those on my gift list. I’ve been known to take restaurant gift certificates back to the restaurants to have them reissue new ones, (with the “to” and “from” left blank) and am already eyeing my shelf of blog review books as my own personal Barnes and Noble.

I truly feel that there is nothing wrong with regifting. When I give a gift, I don’t expect the recipient to have to hold onto that item forever, and hope they share the sentiment. I have worked really hard to declutter my home, (actually still a work in progress) and need to be able to move belongings along.

I challenge you to look around your own homes to do your holiday shopping this year. This can be as simple as a beloved book, or as literal as a gift you never found use for. Give these as gifts and make no apologies!

Because I declare 2010 to be the year of the Regift!

And if your family forms an angry mob in response, send them my way. I’ll sort them out.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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Monday Giveaway — “Canning and Preserving,” by Ashley English

by Katy on October 11, 2010 · 130 comments

Don’t bemoan the start of another work week, as Mondays are cause for celebration here at The Non-Consumer Advocate. Because, yes, it’s time for another Monday Giveaway. Today’s prize is a lovely and autographed hardback copy of:

Canning and Preserving with Ashley English: All you Need to Know to Make James, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More.

This beautifully crafted book is the first in English’s Homemade Living series, and is published by the lovely people over at Lark Books. (Seriously, the books arrived with a hand written card that was a fancy as a wedding invite!) There’s also a book on Keeping Chickens, (which will be next week’s giveaway) as well as books on Keeping Bees and Homemade Dairy, which are scheduled for publication March of 2011. Ms English also writes the blog Small Measure, which is a darling chronicle of her projects and thoughts.

This book is fantastic, and would be appropriate for either the beginner or expert canner. It’s chock full of concrete canning information, as well as creative ideas and recipes. The photography is gorgeous, yet informative. And the best part is that Ashley is married to my friend Glenn, with whom I attended Antioch college. They are expecting their first baby any day now, and I can only imagine how lucky their little Nugget will be to grow up with such loving parents.

To enter to win this book, please write something about canning in the comments section below. I will randomly choose a winner on Wednesday, October 13th at midnight. U.S. Residents only, please enter one time only. Good luck!

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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Clothesline Fail

by Katy on October 10, 2010 · 10 comments

Do you think they're dry yet?

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Waste No Food Challenge — Mothra’s Revenge

by Katy on October 8, 2010 · 31 comments

I’m not sure what I did to the moths, but they sure have it on for me. First, last week I noticed that my clear glass container of sesame seeds had actual flying moths inside, then the unopened 5-lb bag of flour tortilla mix was webby, with little wiggling larvae at the edges.

Gag, gag and double gag!

I finally today went through an entire plastic bin (with tight fitting lid) and threw everything into the compost. This included whole wheat flour, beans, wheat germ, gluten, rice, barley and a number of other grains that I can’t recall at the moment. I still need to look through the rest of my kitchen cupboards, but I’m sure there’s more to this story.

I’m really careful about keeping containers closed, and have even been known to freeze grains when I first buy them, as I am enough of a grown-up to know not to believe in spontaneous generation. I store as much as possible in glass jars, and try not to buy more than I can use in a timely fashion.

And here’s the part that’s putting me over the edge. I have a Japanese teaching assistant moving in with us in a week, and it is not acceptable to have our food infested with anything that wiggles or flies!

I have neither wit nor wisdom to offer here, just frustration and angst.

Help.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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