Observations from a South Sider.

So here we are down in the South.  Down here it's real Country. So we've been a trying to assimiate. 

This is our broken washer or it's our broken dryer,  On the back porch.  I said to the Man, let's roll that baby out front where it belongs and make it a planter. We could put some tomato plants in there. 

Now you know I'm kidding about the whole 'crap on the front lawn, we live down South now' but, the man and I do need to figure out what the heck to do with our appliances that no longer work.  See around here, you are your own garbage man.  You are also the one who sorts your recycling --no throwing it all in a bin for future sorting, no sir.

It's a good thing The Man and I didn't make our living as Garbage Pickers up North, cause down here there isn't a garbage day where everyone rolls out their trash to the curb.  Here you drive your own trash and recycling to the landfill.  At the landfill you sort your recycling and get it weighed.  So you pay for your trash by the pound.

The Man says since it's such a PITA to get rid of trash, it has created a thriving Thrift Store environment. People want to keep the amount of trash down.  I think it is because there are so many part-time residents that they forget what they keep in their houses here and bring duplicate stuff and then they don't want to take the extra stuff back to their main homes.

I suggested we just start burning our trash. The Man didn't find me humorous in the least.

So file this post under stuff you don't think about until you move to a distant land.  Speaking of moving to distant lands, I will have to ask my friend Tracy who just moved with her family to Kenya about the waste removal system in her new country.

My Christmas Mission: Operation Preowned Xmas

I've been mulling something over, and I am ready to commit.  As you all know, I'm like super green.  Neon Green, so green the Sierra Club calls me for advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint.  In all fairness though, my greenness is, in a large part, due to a lack of green backs!

What I have decided to do, as part of my green initiative, is not purchase anything new for Christmas.  Everything we give this year will be preowned/used/swapped for/crafted. I will be going to resale shops, hanging on etsy, ebay, paperback swap, thredup and so forth.   To keep me on track and on target, I am setting down some for my challenge and will post updates and picks on how it goes. 

What about the people I give gifts to this year?  How are they going to take getting someone else's treasures as a gift?  Good point.  On my side of the family, they won't mind--they are all pretty crunchy. My kids?  To be honest, let's see if they notice!  The man?  really he shouldn't get any gifts anyway as he has a well documented history of buying everything he wants and then asking me to return whatever I get him. For everyone else, I will have to make sure to put more time and effort into picking a gift than I would normally and that is why this is a challenge, right?  Can't make it too easy.

Rules:
1. Buy no new stuff for Christmas.  Would something NIB purchased off Ebay be OK?  I say yes because it isn't new from the store.  It is still preowned.
2. What about crafts?  If it is a craft that is primarily re purposed then yes it is OK.
3. What about making a craft?  Same as purchasing a complete craft.
4. What about like giving cookies?  This is a great question, I am going to say that if I am making cookies to send to school or b/cause I am going somewhere this isn't a 'gift' and doesn't count.

Am I missing anything?  Let me know!  Do you know of a great resale shop?  Brick & Mortar or Virtual?  LMK!

The hardest part will be not doing Black Friday.  Oh I am so going to miss BF this year.  :-(