There’s a charming old picture of the hoary Universalist church in Oxford, Massachusetts with retail space on its ground floor and the meeting-space above. Wise, that. Empty churches — by which I mean the buildings — are bad stewards no matter where or when they are, and these days...

It is hard to choose whether to save money as a cure for the spending free-for-all we used to indulge in, or to spend to stimulate the economy. But there are a few ways to help both your finances and the country’s....

Here’s something for those of you who believe in the you-gotta-start-em-young philosophy of sustainable living: the Eco House by WonderWorld Toys. The house comes equipped with solar roof panels, a wind turbine, recycling bins, a bicycle (there is no car), a rain barrel (aka rainwater tank or ...

Great New York magazine profile of Rachel Maddow, officially out tomorrow, I guess, but so many good lines and pithy observations that I just had to pull out my favorite bits here, so you will be certain not to miss them. (FWIW: I also gushed previously, with pictures, when MSNBC first launched Madd...

I came across the idea of 'enoughness' recently, when talking with a colleague who studied sociology with Ian Hughes at the Australian National University (ANU) some years ago. Apparently Hughes (who was an anthropologist & sociologist - odd mix I know) did some work in Papua New Guinea,...

Do you save jars and bottles to use for storage?  If you don't, you either don't need to read this or you might consider reading it to see whether or not this is something that might work for you in the future. Just to get things rolling, the reason I save jars for storage is (a) I don't have t...

Having weekends in which to get things done is great. But some things can even be done during the week with kids in tow. Our new, permanent chook-run fence still needs a gate. We bought a screen door from a junk yard, but it's a little narrow for the space. The plan is to reduce the space just at th...

A couple of weeks ago I talked about the yard sale list.  It's very important for me and I keep it in my purse or glovebox all the time.  I also have it stored on my multi-use cell phone for those times when I don't drive or take a purse (those times are getting more and more frequent). At...

Hubby and I went shopping yesterday to one of our favorite specialty shops — Rodman’s in Friendship Heights — and had a field day in its larger-than-usual canned fish section. Bit by bit, we’re cutting out foods like beef and pork because they’re environmentally unsusta...

Yard Sales, Garage Sales, Estate Sales, Rummage Sales, Jumble Sales--whatever they're called in your part of the world, they're a magnificent place to shop for bargains.  In my part of the world they're frequently called yard sales and, again, in my part of the world, this is the time they're m...