What changes are you making?

[sundial]

With the stock market experiencing volatile changes and the banks struggling to remain solvent, have you made any changes in your day to day living?

I am buying cheaper groceries, making more meals from scratch, cancelled my newpaper and magazine subscriptions, driving less, painting with acrylics vs oils, and shifting money in my portfolio to less risky investments, watching less t.v. and spending more time with happy, upbeat people. :) I've noticed in the past several days that I am not receiving near the amount of junk mail. It kind of reminds me of post 9/11.

How about you?

[GLC1968]

What haven't I changed?! My husband is still the same....that's about it! :p

We just relocated and are feverishly working on setting up a sustainable lifestyle in preparation for just these types of events...so it was already well underway for us. This time of year we are canning the harvest, stocking up on firewood and trying to breed our dairy goat. But - all this is 'normal' for fall.

Specifically related to the past week's events? - nothing really. Oh, wait, when I sold my car two days ago, I got half the funds in cash so that we'd have some stashed away 'just in case' while only half went into our normal account. Normally, I would not have bothered with cash. And I transfered our 'savings' amounts into our ING account a little faster than normal this past pay period due to their superior 'safety' rankings. Other than that, it's business as usual for us.

[Lifesgreat]

We are are just "staying the course" as we already have a (relatively) simple, frugal lifestyle.

[redrhodie]

I'm driving less, eating out less. I haven't had a haircut in months (disclosure--I am trying to grow it long). I quit my gym, and do day passes at the Y instead, which saves around $30 a month. There's not that much left to cut back on. It's not like my lifestyle is getting me my own reality show!

[Zen]

What's to change? I've always been poor :)

[wildhawk]

What's to change? I've always been poor :)

Well said Zen!

We are using our bikes for a lot of our weekly errands and driving only when we have to. I am making all our food at home - larger quantities to last a couple of days or several meals. We have gone to the basics - but then, we have rabbit ears and do not pay for cable, get no newspapers, watch our old DVDs of the Andy Griffith show or rental DVD movies - the older titles are cheaper. We eat out only on Saturdays at a local Mom and Pop that is like home to us. And the park near our home is my “free gym”. I can either walk there or cycle there and it is free. And now that we are getting into better shape physically, we can explore wider distances from the house with our bikes - yay!

[Aggie_Ama]

When gas got expensive we already made changes to keep Clifford the big red truck parked. We hybrid bike commute usually 4 days a week, exceptions are this week when we are both trying to keep our allergies/weak colds from blowing up into a big problem. We both get lunch one day a week but otherwise brown bag it. We cook at home and make meals that we have left overs from for several days. This allows us to buy meat in large quantities where it is cheaper. We switched to turkey a couple years ago when we realized it is healthier and $1/lb less than red meat. We already only went out to dinner about once a week and for us that is something about the price of Chili's (although we prefer to visit locally owned). We also bought generic form the time we moved in together so that was already in place but we did stop buying cokes. We find free weekend entertainment: bike rides, expos, hiking. Other than that we are cutting back on traveling when we can and staying the course.

[shootingstar]

Not a whole lot has changed since we continue to save money by not owning/having a car.

But admittedly, I find it hard to look at my portfolio and watch the spiral down for now. Just sittin' tight and trying to be fiscal safe.

Yes, true oil paints are more expensive than acrylic. But the switch for me here, is harder..I'm such a slow poke at the blank canvass to lay down those precious strokes. :)

[wildhawk]

Not a whole lot has changed since we continue to save money by not owning/having a car.

But admittedly, I find it hard to look at my portfolio and watch the spiral down for now. Just sittin' tight and trying to be fiscal safe.

Yes, true oil paints are more expensive than acrylic. But the switch for me here, is harder..I'm such a slow poke at the blank canvass to lay down those precious strokes. :)

I switched to Artisan oils a couple of years ago to avoid solvents, etc. in cleanup. I was curious if you had tried them? **** Blick always has good prices on them and they respond just like my traditional oils. So nice to hear from another artist! I have acrylics too, but still prefer oils.

[shootingstar]

Does Artisan oils dry abit faster due to its different chemical composition that doesn't require solvents for clean-up/dilution?

Certainly the world of acrylic paints has cut down the headaches from solvents as cleaners. Or drafty rooms when painting for better ventilation.

I'm a newbie at acrylics and know that there are acrylic retarders that slow down the drying rate. Nor have I experimented enough with thickening agents to mimic oils' yummy rich viscosity.

[sundial]

It's odd not working with odorless mineral spirits.

[emily_in_nc]

We already live pretty frugally these days as they are outsourcing jobs all around me at my company and I could lose my job any day. So, no new clothes this year other than a few very inexpensive fitness items from Sierra Trading Post, no new shoes this fall, not going out to eat, no vacations other than trips to our sailboat where we can live aboard very frugally as if it were a small condo, cooking all our meals with food we've brought from home aboard there too. Also had a garden this year and grew some of our own veggies. I'm working at home once a week to save on gas (wish I could do it more often), and will be cutting back on Christmas gifts to some extent as well.

Other than that, just watching our investments lose value. My 401K, which I've been socking money into regularly since 1985 is at is lowest level in years as of yesterday. Very depressing. :( But I won't panic and sell my stocks.

[bmccasland]

Since I'm not a jet-setter, nor hang out in clubs, I'm living pretty much the same as always. I lived through "black monday" several years ago, so I'm just leaving my investments alone. Of course I'm not happy about the amount of money I've lost on paper as the value of my investments plummeted. Just hoping I can afford to retire in 11 years. My biggest decision in the next few years is whether I want to retire here on the storm tossed Gulf coast, or do I want to move elsewhere. I don't want to evacuate when I'm 80.

[tulip]

The changes I'm making predate this mess. Over a year ago I moved from the Washington DC area, which is VERY expensive, to a smaller, much more reasonable city. I was fortunate that I squeaked in under the wire and bought a house in July that costs me half of what I was paying in DC. However, I'm undertaking a renovation now. The upside is that the contractor's are ready to work because they don't have too many jobs right now. I'm happy to be putting my cash in the house at this time, but it's hard to swallow, this spending of money! But when it's done, the house will be just right.

I already work from home and hardly drive. I fill up my little car perhaps once a month. I can ride my bike to the grocery store, post office, and local cafe. And since I'm in my new little house, I'm starting a garden after several years of being gardenless.

The only thing I've decided to change in the past week is to put my renovation money in a local bank. I'll keep my regular checking at the Next Big Bank To Be In Trouble for work-related issues, but I feel better about having the bulk of my cash in a small, local bank.

Check back after the election--my plans may change dramatically.

[bmccasland]

Check back after the election--my plans may change dramatically.

Federal budgets are passed two years in advance. So whoever wins in November will have a year's worth of the current occupants of Washington (W and Congress) decisions to live with. November Winner will make their mark on the 2010 budget.

[tulip]

Federal budgets are passed two years in advance. So whoever wins in November will have a year's worth of the current occupants of Washington (W and Congress) decisions to live with. November Winner will make their mark on the 2010 budget.

I have high hopes that moving (to another country) won't be necessary. But if it is, I always can move to France and enjoy the wine and cheese while the world continues to fall apart. But I'd hate to leave my new Bosch dishwasher behind! ;)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We've been doing pretty well in this dept for the past 5 years anyway- we purposely bought a down-sized house right on the edge of town so that we could walk into town for supplies if necessary.
We also are VERY lucky in that we both work at home in our own business.
We now use our bikes for all small errands, and consolidate trips. This is pretty significant since we live at the top of a VERY steep hill, so it does take an effort. 5 years ago we never used our bikes for errands- now it's almost daily.

I take my car to buy groceries every 10 days or so- the big heavy stuff like cat sand and canned foods and and detergent, etc. I could never haul all that up our hill on my bike.
We buy more local food than we used to, and eat less meat.
Our heat thermostat is turned lower night and day, and we wear more wool.
We are now cutting back on social/optional visiting that requires car trips by about 50%.
We don't watch tv at all- so no cable bills there. We get Netflix movies, which are cheap and don't require any driving.
I shifted some of my IRA/401k retirement funds from mutual funds to insured CDs last week.

[sfa]

Federal budgets are passed two years in advance. So whoever wins in November will have a year's worth of the current occupants of Washington (W and Congress) decisions to live with. November Winner will make their mark on the 2010 budget.

Except that they haven't passed the FY09 appropriations bills yet, except the defense appropriations bill. They're just going with continuing resolutions to keep funding level with FY08 and will get the appropriations bills for 09 through after the new Congress is in session.

To answer the original question--we haven't really made any changes in light of the current economic situation. Several years ago we cut way back on just about everything and started living very frugally, so at this point not only is there no more to cut but we're also living well within our means so we have a cushion that helps when prices go up and times get tough. I *hope* our jobs are fairly secure, but there's no guarantee. If one of us lost a job, we'd be o.k. for a few months and then we'd start to look into really creative/hardcore ways of saving money.

Sarah

[roadie gal]

I've made huge changes in my retirement account. I've gone from stocks to bonds. The reason is that I was *hoping* to start winding down my career in the next year. I've resigned myself to working full time for at least 3-4 years. Other than that, we live pretty frugally. The house and one car are paid off. We put in a solar array a few years ago that substantially cuts back on our electricity use. We keep the house cool in the winter and wear sweats. We rarely eat out, except for lunch.

There are a few splurges that I won't give up. I'll keep feeding my animals a premium food, even though it's more expensive. I'll also continue to get Toby groomed once a month. There's no way I can groom him (he's a rough collie) and I won't let him get matted or look like a Dr. Sues animal.

[maillotpois]

I have high hopes that moving (to another country) won't be necessary. But if it is, I always can move to France and enjoy the wine and cheese while the world continues to fall apart. But I'd hate to leave my new Bosch dishwasher behind! ;)

That's funny, because we've been talking about the same thing (minus the dishwasher issue).

[Bruno28]

I'm drinking lots and spending most of my day trying to talk my partner down off the window ledge.

[Blueberry]

That's funny, because we've been talking about the same thing (minus the dishwasher issue).

Us too.

CA

[denda]

Have not made any changes YET.

[li10up]

I've always been a buy and hold type gal and I'm sticking with that. I'm trying to put every extra dollar I can come up with back into the stock market. When the market rebounds hopefully I'll be a lot closer to retirement than I was before it took a nosedive. I've always lived within my means so I'm not really making any changes there other than spending less so I can save more. "Buy low, sell high." Right? Keeping my fingers crossed.:o

[madscot13]

With the stock market experiencing volatile changes and the banks struggling to remain solvent, have you made any changes in your day to day living?

I am buying cheaper groceries, making more meals from scratch, cancelled my newpaper and magazine subscriptions, driving less, painting with acrylics vs oils, and shifting money in my portfolio to less risky investments, watching less t.v. and spending more time with happy, upbeat people. :) I've noticed in the past several days that I am not receiving near the amount of junk mail. It kind of reminds me of post 9/11.

How about you?

you should trying being a college student or a poor post college student. You just described my life minus the art, TV, and investments. I am very economical so I notice when my grocery bill goes up because of the price of the store brand stuff went up. In turn I buy fewer groceries. I read my newspaper online and prevent less waste that way. I have yet to receive my Bicycling magazine subscription from performance. I am trying to put some money aside for when my loans come out of deferment. I don't own a TV. But you are right I need to spend more of my time with more fun upbeat people and stop working so much.

I am lucky I like biking so much. It gets me to where I need to go, which is surprisingly easy in DC. As long as I don't go crazy at the bike store, it is economical as well. I save about $5 round trip by not taking the metro. It is not a lot but it can add up, and I would rather use the money for groceries.
A little grease goes a long way. Starter costs for bike maintenance are still paying off and a bottle of T9 Boeshield lasts a long time. Oddly enough I find a bottle of White Lightening every year. It may not be the best lube but it is the best degreaser (isn't that odd?). I don't have to pay for a gym membership. Biking also keeps me busy. You know what they say: idle hands are the tool of the devil. I just raised over $2000 in memory of a friend's father through biking. You see biking is one of the ways I choose to live with intention.

My family is lucky, knock on wood, that the recession has not hit us. My father is a factory worker and has been laid off during times that have not been so terrible, buit so far so good. My mother is an accountant in a bank, and we all know banks are starting to pay for their ways. And although my job is not guaranteed for the year, I have a good boss who would find other ways to cut costs than to cut his workers.

[madscot13]

The changes I'm making predate this mess. Over a year ago I moved from the Washington DC area, which is VERY expensive, to a smaller, much more reasonable city. I was fortunate that I squeaked in under the wire and bought a house in July that costs me half of what I was paying in DC. However, I'm undertaking a renovation now. The upside is that the contractor's are ready to work because they don't have too many jobs right now. I'm happy to be putting my cash in the house at this time, but it's hard to swallow, this spending of money! But when it's done, the house will be just right.

I already work from home and hardly drive. I fill up my little car perhaps once a month. I can ride my bike to the grocery store, post office, and local cafe. And since I'm in my new little house, I'm starting a garden after several years of being gardenless.

The only thing I've decided to change in the past week is to put my renovation money in a local bank. I'll keep my regular checking at the Next Big Bank To Be In Trouble for work-related issues, but I feel better about having the bulk of my cash in a small, local bank.

Check back after the election--my plans may change dramatically.


Hey Tulip, the housing market will swing the other way eventually. You will be sitting pretty with a renovated house.

[Zen]

I considered jumping out the window but I live on the ground floor :o

[madscot13]

I considered jumping out the window but I live on the ground floor :o

you might have medical bills for a twisted ankle. how melodramatic of you zen.

[roadie gal]

I'm drinking lots and spending most of my day trying to talk my partner down off the window ledge.

Can someone talk me down?

[Mr. Bloom]

I'm a news junky, but now, I avoid following the news at all. I'm prone to "ticker-itis" and get nervous if I rely on the negative press to determine my mood.

I'm thinking of buying another house closer to work so I can walk/ride. Even though I'm only three miles from work now, that's too far to cycle in a suit and uses 1/4 tank of gas/week (for 30 miles total) because the engine never warms up. I think that there are values out there and being near campus would be neat.

Right now, I'm only down 10% from the market peak, so I'm not thinking of selling anything...

Silver started a full time job a couple months ago...and now I'm glad since my income will probably be the lowest in about 10 years as my bonus is tied to company earnings...

[madscot13]

I'm a news junky, but now, I avoid following the news at all. I'm prone to "ticker-itis" and get nervous if I rely on the negative press to determine my mood.

I'm thinking of buying another house closer to work so I can walk/ride. Even though I'm only three miles from work now, that's too far to cycle in a suit and uses 1/4 tank of gas/week (for 30 miles total) because the engine never warms up. I think that there are values out there and being near campus would be neat.

Right now, I'm only down 10% from the market peak, so I'm not thinking of selling anything...

Silver started a full time job a couple months ago...and now I'm glad since my income will probably be the lowest in about 10 years as my bonus is tied to company earnings...

Mr. Silver, i am sure you have already considered changing at work, but walking generally does not build up too much sweat. Selling your house might be rough (although buying one still shouldn't be). However, i walk a 20 minute mile. I also have stubs of legs and don't have too much of a pace. You can get in a good work out- less than 2 hours a day. I assume you are still trying to lose weight and walking is excellent for that I always feel trimmer in my legs). however, that is probably an hour and half lost (assuming it is a 15 minute drive including parking) each day. Maybe you can't afford to lose that. Everything is at a premium these days. Just a brief thought from someone who is too young to be dispensing any.

[Mr. Bloom]

However, i walk a 20 minute mile. I also have stubs of legs and don't have too much of a pace.

That's a great idea! For winter when sweating's not a problem, but it's too cold to ride, I could walk. I have stubby legs too, BUT, I can walk 12 minute miles...and I have sidewalks on the entire route. I think I'd benefit from the detox time;)

[madscot13]

That's a great idea! For winter when sweating's not a problem, but it's too cold to ride, I could walk. I have stubby legs too, BUT, I can walk 12 minute miles...and I have sidewalks on the entire route. I think I'd benefit from the detox time;)

i always do my best thinking when I am walking. Biking requires too much concentration. I'm not sure what that is saying about me.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

That's a great idea! For winter when sweating's not a problem, but it's too cold to ride, I could walk. I have stubby legs too, BUT, I can walk 12 minute miles...and I have sidewalks on the entire route. I think I'd benefit from the detox time;)

Another suggestion is to get a 50cc scooter, which gets about 95 miles per gallon of gas. Even in the coldest Indiana temps, you'd do the 3 miles to work in about 10 minutes maybe? Nice and breezy in the hot summer too....and won't mess your 'Mr.BankMan' suit. :D

Get rid of those gas guzzling zoom-zooms! :eek: ;) :cool:

[madscot13]

Another suggestion is to get a 50cc scooter, which gets about 95 miles per gallon of gas. Even in the coldest Indiana temps, you'd do the 3 miles to work in about 10 minutes maybe? Nice and breezy in the hot summer too....and won't mess your 'Mr.BankMan' suit. :D

Get rid of those gas guzzling zoom-zooms! :eek: ;) :cool:

Hey I was getting him off of all fuels!

[redrhodie]

I'm a news junky, but now, I avoid following the news at all.

I'm the opposite. I can't stop watching the news. It's driving DBF nuts!

[PamNY]

I'm thinking of buying another house closer to work so I can walk/ride. Even though I'm only three miles from work now, that's too far to cycle in a suit and uses 1/4 tank of gas/week (for 30 miles total) because the engine never warms up.

Have you considered a Xootr kick scooter for going to work? I go everywhere on mine, including dress-up and business occasions. It folds easily to go indoors and you can carry a ton of stuff.

You do need fairly smooth sidewalks or streets, and you will get a lot of attention if scooters aren't common where you live.

Web site is:

http://xootr.com/

Pam

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey I was getting him off of all fuels!

Yeah but severely cutting gas use by going from 15-20mpg to 95mpg is a great start! That's like using 1/4 or 1/5 of what was used before, right? :)

An electric bike might be an option too, since he has moderate weather, few hills, and pretty smooth roads for his 3 mile short commute.

[smilingcat]

Overall, I'm down about 15% on my investments, house valuation excluded.

Anything different? not really, just staying put on the sideline and watching this mayham with a heavy heart. I'm not in a mood to talk about monetary policies right now for fear of offending people. And no I have zero tolerance for vultures who are eagerly waiting to pick up foreclosed homes. I find it reprehensible.

However, I am thinking of "exit strategy" from this mess. And reading lots of historical data on past economic crashs both here in US and abroad. Very interesting. There is a common theme and it is replaying today.

My house will be paid off in nine years or so. and my car is paid off no credit card debt. Have a line of credit with low interest rate sitting there just in case.

We don't have a TV, cable, satellite, pay-as-you-go plan cell phone, haven't had TV dinner of any sort just some frozen snacks. Still go out to dinner like last night, El Pollo Loco (crazy chicken) 3 piece chicken with two side order (cole slaw for both) and one order of garden salad for the two us $8.60?? with tax. Another time Wahoo (fish taco) about $10.00 total for both of us.

and oh yes I do make my own Chai tea and save $$ over pre-mixed tea.

what else, I've always been one of those ultra MPG driver of sort. I get nearly 30MPG on my AUDI sometimes 34MPG average. :) Its an automatic quattro A6 wagon (to carry our two big fur babies golden and a lab)

oh we don't have heat nor AC in my house :) yes we are bit old fashioned in my 1300sq foot house big yard though. We haven't had to buy much groceries, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, raddishes, bell pepper, herbs all grown in our yard. And I bake our own bread... We also have myers lemon treeS, lime treeS, and Washington navel orange treeS (all dwarf trees but they do produce enough).

I guess you could say we are SUPER cheap.

[Norse]

That's funny, because we've been talking about the same thing (minus the dishwasher issue).

Here too. Our friends and we think that if we pool our resources, we can buy a nice fixer-upper farmhouse somewhere in Northern Provence.

[Flybye]

I considered jumping out the window but I live on the ground floor :o

In that case I'd recommend trying to jump INTO the window, it might be a bit riskier and have more drama attached to it! ;):rolleyes::D

[deedolce]

My Roth and small 'play' portfolio are just about worthless. My 403 b is down about 10%. I'm not putting anymore in my Roth. I s*ck at investing, and remember in the late 80's and early 90's how high the interest rates the banks were offering, and expect the same thing to happen, and will instead build a CD ladder with what meager savings I have.

Hopefully as a teacher, as long as the state can cut my paycheck, I should still have a job. My house should be paid off in 10 years, no car payments.

I am incredibly frugal as it is, but I do want to simplify my life as well - I have to tackle the Bermuda grass and be better about growing vegetables. I already have chickens, but I need to give them our compostable leftovers, instead of just throwing in a scoop of feed because it's easy. I need to have son chop of the large pieces of firewood that I have enough of instead of just buying a whole new cord of smaller pieces for this winter...

UNfortunately, I'm in a new relationship, which is awesome, but some of things I want to do with him or treat him to ('our' sushi place in my town!) and it costs money. (Yes, he treats me too. Last time we rode, he bought me a new Pro 3 tire and sent me a matching jersey that he had designed for his club back East! Woot!)

Just think of how lucky we are because we already ride bikes and can do errands and/or bike commute! I can imagine how hard physically and mentally that would be for folks that can't afford gas, or are really out of shape!

[TxDoc]

I'm thinking of buying another house closer to work so I can walk/ride.

Would LOVE to do that... problem is, right now I have to work in two different hospitals (soon to become three) depending on the day of the week, and so I would need three homes!!! :D
Aside from jokes, Ike actually left me without a liveable home, and I have yet to figure out where I should live to make the various commutes easier!
As per changes - the main change is that I'm trying to save money (which I've never been very good at). And it's mostly to get back on my feet after the hurricane, and to deal with the fact that right now we only get paid our base salaries :(
Investments... I'm trying to avoid the generalized selling fever and letting everything as it is for the time being.
But yes, the big change is getting rid of unnecessary expenses, much less dining out, no five-times-a-day starbucks coffee, less shopping for clothes/shoes/etc - and really learning how to live on a budget to save as much as possible.

[shootingstar]

I think my portfolio is down by 10-12% ..on paper. I try not to think too hard about this and sit on my butt to wait this out.

It hasn't stopped me from making vacation trips...as long as we make them with a component of physical activity (cycling, snowshoeing, etc.) to keep it somewhat healthy ;), save money on transportation (when vacationing), and think through foreign exchange rates with the Canadian dollar weaker now if we travel outside of Canada ..compared to 6 months ago, when our dollar was surging past the American dollar.

[Mr. Bloom]

Silver's sick and laying on the couch:(

So, I bring my new garden cultivator upstairs for assembly.

She says "why did you get that?"

"Well darling, it's time to start growing our own food to save money", I respond.;)

:DI wish I could have captured the sheer look of terror on her face:D

:rolleyes:Then I went out and used my new cultivator to clean up some dead spots in the lawn:rolleyes:

[Irulan]

Even though I'm only three miles from work now, that's too far to cycle in a suit

Funny, I know more than a few doctors and lawyers and other suit wearing types who ride to work, some 10-15 miles or more each way. Keep a towel and the right kind of clothes at work allow yourself some time to freshen up... it can't be THAT difficult to get the logistics down?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Then I went out and used my new cultivator to clean up some dead spots in the lawn:rolleyes:

You've touched on my pet peeve....people with acres of GIANT useless lawns that they never even use, and waste gasoline mowing them week after week on massive rider mowers. All because they want their little plot to look like a miniature 'estate' or some such idea. :mad:
Huge lawns use our precious fuels, create only barren wasteland as far as wildlife is concerned, and give nothing productive back in return. Plus people pour chemical fertilizers and weedkillers (herbicides) on them- thus polluting our earth more and more. Even the earth worms can't survive in them.
Last year I rode my bike on a suburban type road, past dozens of houses in a row with 1/2 inch ugly barren mowed lawns. As I rode, I heard the unusual sound of crickets getting nearer. Turns out there was one house that had allowed their whole lawn to become a tidy little meadow. As I rode past it, I was greeted by a heavenly chorus of crickets singing, and i saw butterflies all over the wild flowers there, and also there were little sparrows flitting over the wild grasses and flowers, eating the abundant seeds. It was so lovely!
Then I passed that house and continued riding past the barren silent expanses of lawns again. Might as well just roll out plastic astro turf. :(


So you go Mr. S....plow that back 40 and plant it with FOOD!
The time has come for the nation wide return of the individual "Victory Garden".

[Bruno28]

7472

[Mr. Bloom]

Well Lisa, our "estate" is one acre, so it would allow for a large victory garden, but unfortunately, in a community with unbridled billboards (my pet peeve), we are required by ordinance to maintain the lawns. As Zsa Zsa said "I get allergic smelling hay";)

However, I've taken up the practice of letting it go dormant in the drought to minimize maintenance.

If it's any consolation, my condo in Bloomington is a designated natural habitat. We wrap around this pond

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa201/MrSilver1963/pond.jpg

[Trek420]

I grew a tomato :rolleyes:

[Bruno28]

I grew a tomato :rolleyes:


It's a start...

[Trek420]

But BSG it's not gonna happen. As my mutt and I walked around my "hood" this morning you can see the TV's on, people glued to the game, heck, I'm online right now.

Nearly 500 units in the condo association here, they landscape if agapanthus and ivy count as landscape. Three families garden, I'm one of 'em. A few others have at least planted roses, native plants in front.

I'm inspired daily to do more, sometimes seeing bees and hummingbirds enjoying the lavender and rosemary in front. This morning as I had coffee 3 birds enjoyed the feeder and water in the patio.

Tomatoes volunteered in my planters from the compost, two got ripe enough to eat. These might not make it to a salad stage. Still nice that they are here.

I'm going to come off as a Ludite or old fogey but people need to turn off the TV, log off and go outside. In this country our biggest farm product ... is lawn. Meanwhile we're loosing habitat for wildlife and recreation, wondering where the bees are and what's happening to them, and dreaming of the next happy meal and oh, don't get me started.

I saw a wonderful program this morning about Will Allen, bringing farming, open space and GOOD food to urban areas.

http://aaenvironment.blogspot.com/2008/09/urban-farmer-will-allen-receives.html

[jesvetmed]

Trek: Very true!
Hey.. just wanted to let you know I PURCHASED 3 tomato plants and tended them nicely, and you almost did as well as I did with your "accidental" production! I got 4 red ones before the frost hit. Shows how great your compost probably is...and what a 'brown' thumb I really have. :rolleyes:
Next year I'll shoot for 8. Small strides :p

I do, however, have an entire bag full of my neighbors' tomatoes and cucumbers. If I can use them up before they go bad I'll be lucky! I have dreams of canning some day -- definitely will need a better/bigger kitchen and even one storage cabinet. But this would be a huge help vs. buying canned tomatoes and sauce, and pesto, etc, through the winter.

[smilingcat]

:cool::D love to see others planting a Victory Garden.

We love growing Cherokee Purple, Zebra tomatos; Armenian and Japanese cucumber; red bell pepper, Anaheim chilli, Thai chilli, Shishito peppers; eggplants... and different kinds of "lettuce". You can really tell a difference between a home grown spinach from a store bought or even from a farmers market.

I never liked spinach salad until it came from the garden in less than an hour. WOW! They are so good.

And yes, B-streetgirl, we have a garden out front and on the side. My neighbor across the street does it too. We have humming birds, butterfly ... It was fun watching a crow trying to break a branch for her nest. Branch was bit too big for her. Only sad event was we found a juvenile opposum who had died in our yard.

All this in Los Angeles suburb of concrete, and asphalt.

We are replacing some of the lettuce and herbs. I think we still saved a ton of money by growing our own food. And we will be planting garlic, shallots for the fall. Cabbage takes too much space but may be brussel sprouts. They are so sweet when its fresh out of the garden.

We may try tomato over the winter in a hot house we plan to build out in our back yard.

Yup, my partner and I are left over hippies of sort.

smilingcat

[Eden]

Jes- don't feel bad, tomatoes are *very* difficult to grow around here.... it doesn't really get warm enough - and especially this year it was so cold all of the way through June. Unless you get starts and cloche (cover with plastic) your plants or have a green house its hard to get any to ripen before they rot. If you plant varieties that have smaller fruit - cherry tomatoes, some romas, its more likely you'll get to eat some.

Snow peas, radishes, lettuce -stuff that doesn't mind cool weather does great in this climate.

[Tuckervill]

I have an acre and a half of lot, on which there are 7 pecan trees, a 40x30' vegetable garden, grapevines on all the fences and a smokehouse. Butterflies and hummingbirds visit my vines and flowers across the front fence, and squirrels live in abundance on stolen pecans. I never put weedkiller or fertilizer or anything else on the plants in my yard.

But, I still have to burn gasoline on my riding mower to mow the grass!

Karen

[Aggie_Ama]

I am required to have freaking bermuda grass in my yard as part of my deed!! But there was nothing to say we couldn't dig up half that crud from the front yard in favor of tastefull landscaping. We now have a large mulched (water wise you know) landscape beds that will soon house: dwarf Japanese barberry (water sipper), native Texas Yucca, native Texas Skullcap, Native Texas Dwarf Katie Ruellia and water sipping society garlic. Best part is all the native stuff is a butterfly and hummingbird dream landscape. I cannot wait to have it all in place.

The trees are native oaks mulched out while most the neighbood hood did not put in permanent tree rings and re-mulch allowing the water hogging grass to crawl in the tree rings the builder constructed with mulch and drain life from the trees. Now they complain the trees are dead. They put chemicals on the yard without reasing about them. We boil water to kill fire ants (in a sick way it is fun) and use organic products made for our area. I leave lizards and toads where others run them off. I allow birds to build nests and have enjoyed a mosquito free porch even though I must wash off the bird poo.

The backyard will eventually be converted to majority xeriscaping as well. We will spend less than 1 hour to mow. I do not have a desire to grow vegetables on the limestone 1" under my yard but I do have a desire to put buffalo or native grass in the back yard where the HOA won't be back there to check what happened to the bermuda.

The rest of my neighboorhood plants unique looking exotic plants that require tons of water to grow here. Instead of going to a local nursery that could help with plant selection they go to Lowe's where the plants are picked by a buyer who has no lnadscaping background. I know I did a lot of time in Lowe's working. So while some people are interested and care about a water wise yard like us most will just pick something that looks "neat" and not care about drought tolerance, water requirements, etc... They will water the yard daily even though ours looks the same watering 1 hour 2x a week as allowed by the water restrictions (unenforced). People think it is unconvenient to be interested in learning what is best for our personal environment. Well at least I will have a nice yard that works here.

[Flur]

DH and I rent, and we really haven't made much in the way of changes even though I'm not working. We were already putting most of our money into savings and paying down the debt we both accrued living young and poor in NYC. We already take the bus or ride bikes everywhere. The only change we've made is that we were going to buy a house and didn't. I don't consider us vultures, but we are looking forward to the cheaper home prices for when I've got a secure job and we're ready to buy something.

We live above our landlord and have no say about how he treats the lawn and grounds, but I would love to have a garden. I'm happy to see that, in our neighborhood at least, it's become trendy to grow the grass a bit longer, and to use the old push mowers with the revolving blade that leaves the grass with a bit of an uneven shagginess to it. All the best looking homes have this kind of lawn. Hopefully it will catch on with the others.

[ACG]

I live in Pasadena, a burb of Los Angeles. I have a fantastic vegetable garden. Tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, chilis of all kinds, herbs too. It is sunny here and I water the vegies, they love it!

On my changes. I am trying to pay off all my debt except the house in the next 90 days. Can't pay off the house, cuz I just bought it! Turning off lights wherever I can. Not using the air or the heat. Being careful what I buy. I need a new fridge, so I'm gonna save up and pay cash. I am going to go back to school and I will attend the local junior college first, instead of a university. The JC is cheaper and closer. Eventually I'll have to hit the university, so I'll take the bus or train as I live very close to the commuter lines. This whole thing scares me, but I'm trying not to panic too much and I've decided not to watch any of it on TV anymore.

[GLC1968]

You've touched on my pet peeve....people with acres of GIANT useless lawns that they never even use, and waste gasoline mowing them week after week on massive rider mowers. All because they want their little plot to look like a miniature 'estate' or some such idea. :mad:
Huge lawns use our precious fuels, create only barren wasteland as far as wildlife is concerned, and give nothing productive back in return. Plus people pour chemical fertilizers and weedkillers (herbicides) on them- thus polluting our earth more and more. Even the earth worms can't survive in them.
Last year I rode my bike on a suburban type road, past dozens of houses in a row with 1/2 inch ugly barren mowed lawns. As I rode, I heard the unusual sound of crickets getting nearer. Turns out there was one house that had allowed their whole lawn to become a tidy little meadow. As I rode past it, I was greeted by a heavenly chorus of crickets singing, and i saw butterflies all over the wild flowers there, and also there were little sparrows flitting over the wild grasses and flowers, eating the abundant seeds. It was so lovely!
Then I passed that house and continued riding past the barren silent expanses of lawns again. Might as well just roll out plastic astro turf. :(


So you go Mr. S....plow that back 40 and plant it with FOOD!
The time has come for the nation wide return of the individual "Victory Garden".

I have issues with this, too. It's even worse when (in the middle of an arid summer) we bike by these homes and see 15 - 20 auto sprinker heads going at NOON - what a waste! Precious water - to grow lawn that no one ever uses!


We have barely over one acre. The front is sort of lawn - but it's basically grass/weeds/wildflowers for now and we don't water it. We only mow it when absolutely necessary and we don't own a riding mower. The rest of our property houses goats, chickens, veggie gardens, berry brambles, grape arbors and about 20 different fruit trees. We also have a few nut trees arriving in November! All of it is organic - every last growing thing.

Even if you live in a suburb that is deed restricted, you can still plant small plots in the back private areas (or do container gardenting on a patio or balcony) and everyone can compost on some scale. 'Victory gardens' will hopefully become more and more prevalent in the coming years.