Maya | Simple Mom

by Maya on February 24, 2010 • 47 Comments Family Bonding Your Family

Crafting rich experiences for our children on a frugal budget

In the last two years I quit my corporate job, became a full-time mom, and immersed myself in a start-up — and it has not been financially easy on the family. While we have embraced a frugal life, my kids seem to notice nothing. Occasionally, they complain about being bored. My kids act up when they have nothing to do. But as long as they are sufficiently stimulated, they are happy little humans.

Over the past year, I have learned that money is completely a non-issue when it comes to rich experiences for our children. There are a few other things that seem to matter.

What is a RICH Experience?

A rich experience for a child involves some basic characteristics:
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by Maya on January 13, 2010 • 310 Comments Organizing Your Home

How to create a paperless kitchen

Over the past year, I have had a great journey going green except for one issue. Until very recently, I struggled with my desire to have a paper-free kitchen. I wanted to rid our home of so much throwaway paper, but I wasn’t sure it was possible. How can you run a kitchen with no paper napkins or paper towels?

I understood the environmental benefits and the financial merits of not wasting this paper, but I still wasn’t sure it could be done without it being too complicated. But I have finally evolved a system that’s working great for my family.

As of today, I have been effortlessly paper-free for over a month. But before I jump into the how, I want to focus on the reasons behind why I had such a struggle evolving this system. It seems that once I had solutions to each of these problems, I had created a rather EASY paper-free system at my home.

Here are some of my reasons why going paper-free in the kitchen was difficult.

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by Maya on September 30, 2009 • 70 Comments Shopping Well Spending Wisely Your Family

12 green and frugal lessons from my mom

As I try to simplify my life, spend less and focus more on sustainability, I am often reminded of the way my mom used to do things.

We’ve come full circle, in a number of ways. It seems like every new thing we do to save money or the planet was being done by my mom years ago. For my mother, that was a way of life.

For me, every thing I do is a new discovery and sometimes an effort. When I thought about my childhood, I wondered if the secret to living a frugal and green life might be in our ability to recreate the life our parents and grandparents lived.

These are what I remember from my childhood. If all of us lived the way our parents and grandparents did, we might recreate a simpler, more frugal and sustainable life.

1. Use cloth for everything. Paper was not an option.

My mother used cloth (or just water) for everything, including cleaning, diapers, and receiving blankets. Old towels and saris were soft and made perfect receiving blankets. Floors were cleaned with a wet cloth dipped in a bucket of water (with just a little disinfectant). No waste, paper or harmful chemicals to worry about.

And today, I am trying my best to use as little or no paper in my kitchen. It was not easy in the beginning, but now it seems rather effortless. I have about 30 little color-coded washcloths and napkins for various purposes, and stick them in the washer with my other clothes as they get used.

2. Reuse, reuse, reuse.

Growing up, we had very little trash at home since we almost always reused everything. We reused clothes, toys, books, plastic bags – pretty much everything we had. Even the fruit peels and older food was picked up by the milkman to feed his animals the next day.

And today, I do my best to reuse, give away, donate or recycle everything at home. Giving gently-used toys away to a child in the neighborhood helps me get rid of the stuff AND starts friendships.

farmer's market
Photo by Tony

3. Eat locally and seasonally.

We did not have a vegetable garden growing up, but the farmer’s wife brought the produce on her selling cart every second day. My mom bought almost all her vegetables directly from the farmer.

Today, we love to shop at the local farmer’s market. My girls LOVE to talk to the old farmer at our local farmer’s market and enjoy his stories about the farm. He sometimes even walks them back to the flower garden as he picks the sunflowers for his flower shop. Reflecting on my own childhood, the connections with the farmer and his stories are what my children will cherish for years.

4. Call the milkman.

While the farmer’s wife sold my mother the vegetables, the milkman directly delivered milk at our home every single day. He lived less than a mile away and delivered fresh milk to most people in my neighborhood.

Today, my husband and I are exploring local farms that deliver organic milk once a week.

5. Live actively—one family, one car.

Exercise was never a factor when we were young — people just had a more active lifestyle, took the bus often, and walked from place to place. Living in the United States, integrating physical activity into my day has been extremely hard, especially with a desk job.

I do try my best to take walks with my girls everyday, go hiking, walk to the store, and just integrate ourselves into an active lifestyle. I have a number of friends who do not own cars and use car-sharing services like Zipcar regularly. Besides taking away the pain of owning and maintaining a car, they claim the best part of it is meeting so many like-minded people all over the city.

6. Use stainless steel lunch boxes.

We did not have disposable boxes growing up — we used the same steel lunch boxes for years. Today, I am exploring steel lunch boxes to send to preschool with my little one. I love these.

Beautifully hand-drawn by Sarah Jane at Sarah Jane Studios

7. Use handmade.

Clothes, bags, gifts, greeting cards… Almost everything we ever used was handmade. And we never thought of it as being friendly to the earth — handmade was just more thoughtful and pretty.

And today, I love shopping on Etsy to support artists and handmade. My kids are old enough to make cards and gifts for people. Our favorite activity is to bake together for family and friends.

8. Bargain, haggle, or negotiate.

No matter what you call it, it is important to explore the best deal on everything. My mom taught me that and I am grateful.

9. No credit cards.

My parents had no concept of credit cards. Even as very small kids, we understood that if we do not already have the money for something, we simply cannot get it. I know that having no loans or overdue credit card payments has given me the courage to work on my start-up and forgo the big income from my previous corporate jobs.

10. Eat out less—eat simply at home.

We rarely ate out as a family — it was usually reserved for a celebration. Today, as a family, we reserve things such as eating out and eating ice-cream for special celebrations.

11. Take your own bag to the grocery store.

My mom had a cloth bag she carried with her everywhere. Few stores even had plastic bags or offered them, and when they did have them, we would have to pay for the bags. My mother never wanted to pay for anything she did not have to.

I carry my reusable target bags in two sizes along with me all the time. I have to say, it is a great feeling not to need bags when we go grocery shopping.

12. Focus on quality and simplicity.

Perhaps the most important thing I remember about the way my mom did things years ago was her focus on quality and simplicity. A lot of the things families did years ago had to do with leading a simple life, rather than on saving money or the planet.

With so much consumerism and being a target for marketing, it is hard to keep the focus on quality and simplicity. Perhaps traveling back in time might make it easier for us to lead lives with less stuff.

What lessons on simplicity can you share from the lives of your parents and grandparents?

by Maya on July 22, 2009 • 40 Comments Money Management You

10 ways to prevent overspending

Photo by Ludovic Bertron

Bargain shopping is great for finding great deals on items. Yard sales are a wonderful place to save tons of money and still find what we want. But how often do you walk into a sale “just to browse” and walk out with a bunch of things that you probably did not need just because they were a “good deal”?

I was a victim of a buy 4 get 5! bargain just a couple of weeks ago. I really only needed three items at $10 each, but I walked out with five items for $40. Lost $10 and gained two items I had no need for -– just to get a “good deal”.

As I thought about my spending behavior that day, I started to notice a number of reasons we overspend, when in reality, we are most earnestly trying to save money.

Here are some pointers to make sure you do not become a victim of slick marketing — or even your own good intentions.

1. Plan – Know what you need and want.

Not knowing what exactly I need is the most common reason I overspend. A quick run into the grocery store turns into a big bag of “nice-to-haves” every single time I let my mind estimate what my pantry needs.

Plan as many of your purchases as possible. Planning your weekly menu really helps with grocery shopping. Plan your gifts ahead of time so you can take actually take advantage of sales by buying the things you really need.

While I use Remember the Milk to organize my lists online, I always have a running pen-and-paper list handy. Paper lists really help to ensure I do not miss capturing the things that come to mind while I feed my kids, shower them, and so on.

2. Compare – Do your comparison shopping.

As prudent spenders, comparison-shopping is a prerequisite to smart spending. With great tools online, it is getting easier and faster to comparison shop.

I like sites such as Bizrate to check on prices of a number of things. Even if you do not shop on Amazon, it’s a great place to check the range of prices and reviews on things you want to buy.

Make a habit of searching your newspaper fliers for your weekly grocery items. Most recently, I have started using Bing, a site that compares prices and even estimates probability of prices going up/down on travel deals.

3. Budget – Set a financial limit.

A couple of times every year, I let myself just enjoy shopping for myself without a plan. Without a budget or an upper limit on these kinds of purchases, I am always likely to overspend. No matter what kind of spending, always budget for it, so you have an upper limit for every thing.

You can set a limit for your shopping in a number of ways. Use the envelope system, buy yourself a gift card for a certain amount of money, or use the zero-based budgeting system. Knowing that I will certainly NOT overspend even makes for a more enjoyable shopping experience for me.

4. Use cash – Credit cards are dangerous.

Photo by Martin Kingsley

Pulling your card out too many times could desensitize you to the money you are spending every single time you swipe your card. In order to prevent that, be sure to keep cash handy. Pay by cash as much as possible – it hurts more and feels like real money when you hand out those notes.

My husband considers it a little strange, but I have an online pay system set up where I need to approve all the payments before they go out. It is way for me to make sure I am consciously aware and take a moment to reflect on some of the spending in the past month.

5. Save first, spend later – Put away money before you spend.

When I got my first job, it took me a while to understand that savings is not the money that I am left with after I am done spending. In fact, my spending money is what I get after I am done putting a certain amount of money into savings.

By having more spending money, you are more likely to spend more. Be sure to challenge yourself to save as much as reasonably possible. In fact, put away a little more than the last month every time.

6. Keep busy – Fill your day with interesting activities.

Boredom was often the cause of my spending before I had my kids. This has changed quite a bit since I had kids, and shopping or strolling in shopping areas became more and more inconvenient.

Keep a deck of index cards on your table, in your car, or in your bag with activities written on them. Browse these cards when you are bored or need to find something to do with your kids. We keep a deck of cards in our car with ideas for childrens’ activities, and it helps us immensely.

Regular exercise also is a great way to prevent shopping out of boredom –- be it online or in real life. Use websites such as Meetup or Twtvite to find local people meeting around interests and passions.

7. Be rational – Emotional spending is almost always bad.

Every time I shop for food when I am hungry, I buy at least three items because my stomach (and not my mind) thought I needed it. I rarely shop when I feel low, but my buys prior to vacations are rather impulsive — a sign of my excited anticipation rather than fulfilling a need. A lot of my online buying decisions are often bad ones when they’re made under the stress of being late on a gift.

Be sure to understand your types of emotional spending. Most often, just understanding those patterns help you become more rational.

8. Be creative and flexible – There is very little you absolutely need.

Photo by M.A. Enriquez

Shopping with two little kids is incredibly hard. That, in turn, has made me rather creative. Before, I’d run to the store with a list of things to buy -– complete with art kits for every little project I had. Only recently have I realized how much I was spending by not re-purposing the craft material I already had.

These days, I heavily improvise with cooking recipes and crafts for kids. I often use our recycle bin as a craft resource. It is a lot more fun for the kids to find craft material at home than out at the local craft store.

9. Think experiences – Enrich your life without the “stuff.”

Buying gifts is great, but I have recently started gifting experiences to myself and the people that matter.

Make videos for people and share them online. Create a photobook for family and friends after they have visited you. Life gets richer with experiences, rather than commodities that cost money and pile up the junk at home.

10. Negotiate – Understand that you have a right to save your money.

Negotiating is not about fleecing another person. You have the right to seek out a good deal. Negotiating is not the same as haggling –- you lose nothing and often save more than a few pennies to put back into your savings account.

What tricks do you use to prevent yourself from overspending?

by Maya on June 17, 2009 • 32 Comments Family Bonding Your Family

10 ideas for raising greener kids

feet in the grass

Most of us have children, spend time with children, or work with children on a regular basis. Instilling a sense of green consciousness in the hearts of these children is a powerful way to make our green efforts last way past us. Here are some simple, everyday ideas to help build a greener generations for the future.

1. Read green books.

Books are a great way to introduce the earth, basic concepts around the environmental issues, and create a sense of awe for nature. Little Green Books has a number of books you can choose from. Books can be powerful in sparking a child’s imagination, curiosity, and conversations around even complex topics, such as global warming.

2. Engage in green activities and crafts.

The simplest activities and crafts are those that involve things lying around the house and the recycle bin. Here is a collage my daughters and I made one Sunday morning, using newspaper right out of our recycle bin. We used starch from boiled rice as glue to make our activity safe for my then one-year-old.

Don’t run to the store right before craft time — there is a LOT you can do with just about nothing. Here are some great Earth Day ideas for activities that you can do every day.

3. Have green conversations and make associations.

Spark your child’s curiosity by talking about the cycle of natural resources. Talk about how food is digested, how rain is caused, and how paper is made. The next time your child makes a less than wise food choice, remind her about what bad food does to the body. And the next time your child forgets to recycle, talk about how many more trees would possibly be cut down when we don’t (don’t heap on the guilt, though). Children, like adults, are motivated to do the right thing when they understand the why behind it.

Photo by Kate Weber

4. Pose a green challenge.

The next time you have a bunch of older energetic children at your home, offer them a green challenge. Give them a word such as water, forest, or earth, and challenge them to create a story, a craft, a song, or a play. Have them create costumes using things lying at home, and film the show for a celebration at the end of the evening.

5. Emphasize eating green.

Food is one of the biggest players in our efforts to go green — the recent Book Club selection, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, brilliantly explains how our food choices affect the environment. Not everyone can afford all things organic, but while you are out grocery shopping, talk about the food choices you are making. Kids can read food labels and can help them make wise food choices. Kids will eventually learn to recognize organic food labels and the importance of shopping at local farmers markets.

6. Garden with your kids.

A little vegetable patch in the garden is a great way for kids to learn about growing food (sustainability) and understanding in-season fruits and vegetables. Don’t worry about involving the child at every level – I learned a lot just by watching my mom prune and water the garden every day.

7. Make walking fun.

Most kids love to walk, but they might get tired on longer walks. Fill your walks with a little adventures. My children love to spot bugs, name the cars, study pot holes, and even sing songs while they are on a walk. Park at the farthest spot from your child’s favorite store, go on a bus ride for fun, and learn colors and counting by watching the cars drive by.

8. Involve your children in green events.

Keep up with local non-profit organizations that hold events around where you live. My children and I recently did the water walk in our city. Group efforts help children understand that the struggle to save the earth is really a collective one, and that individual efforts add up to make bigger impacts.

9. Have a green theme day once a month.

Set a green-day once in a while, and involve your children in the planning and preparations. Give them some options like donating their books, clothes, or toys, helping clean a local park, or cooking a green meal. Using different themes will expose children to a number of green issues and possible solutions or actions around them.

Photo by Gavin Stewart

10. Have green celebrations.

This is my most favorite idea. Make a commitment to have an environmentally-friendly birthday celebration, and talk about it with your child. Use environmentally-friendly party goods, have a “no presents book-exchange party” or even have your child choose a favorite cause to share his birthday with. Don’t feel guilty about your child having fewer presents. The pride in helping a good cause will be much more valuable than any developmental opportunity provided by a bunch of snazzy toys.

Let children explore, run around, and get dirty and wet. Let them roam free and wander outdoors. Let them connect with nature and enjoy the raw beauty of the earth. A true love for, and connection with, the earth will instill in them a stronger commitment to save the planet. For more about getting your kids outside, join us with our current Book Club selection, Last Child in the Woods.

My kids are still very young, so I’m curious — how you are raising your children to be more green-aware? Share your ideas in the comments.