I Hate Most Banks, Cellphone and Cable companies.

I've severed almost all ties to bloodsucking corporations over the past year. My top three categories of "predatory corporate evils one inevitably has to deal with as an on-the-grid adult" are banks, cable companies  and cellphone providers in that order. 1. Banks. A few months back, I abandoned Bank of America in favor of a local credit union that I'd say is about, oh, 1000000000000000x better. Haven't looked back. I only wish I made the jump sooner.  I'll be doing a more in depth blog post about how to save and even earn a lot of money by changing banks soon. 2. Cable Companies. I decided I didn't need cable…
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New to Me July 13, 2011

Thrift/vintage is somewhat of a cottage industry here in Portland. Options run the gamut between totally free stuff* that people around town leave on the sidewalk in boxes, to showing up at designated times for first dibs on bins full of junk&treasure at Goodwill, to standard thrift department stores, to curated collections of fine vintage threads and furniture that someone else found first (and admittedly had an eye for) and are offering to the public at a sometimes insane markup. *usually actual trash that should really be thrown out but people around here can't seem to bear the thought, occasionally something good Anyway, many useful things can be found through…
Read More

PMS

I try to limit my trips to Target, as I find the experience of going there to buy stuff that I hate that I need to be kind of soul sucking. Paper products, cleaning products, cat products, socks… After more than 10 minutes of navigating what is essentially an enormous box full of cheap crap (cohesively branded under an admittedly appealing design aesthetic) to find what I "need," I swear that I can actually feel my brain being starved of oxygen under the glare of the fluorescent lights. Does anyone else consistently feel ill after spending a little time at Target?? I guess what I’m trying to say is that…
Read More

A healthy take on 4th of July eating

In addition to being within walking distance of my house, another cool thing about Fred Meyer is that you don’t need a membership card or cut coupons to get their store sales. Anyone walking in off the street will get all posted discounts (save for manufacturer’s coupons) at checkout. The one drawback of this system is that they don’t give you a “total $ saved” summary on your receipt like they do at Safeway,  making the rewards of shopping there more transparent, but it is what it is. You’ll just have to take my word for all the good deals. Yesterday was a beautiful and very sunny day here in…
Read More

Vegan Couponing Intro

Hi, I’m Rachel. Though certainly inspired by and supportive of Brooke’s latest obsession with couponing, I’m going to be blogging here from a slightly different perspective: that of a notorious cheapskate and health conscious vegan.  Over the years, I’ve noticed that I have the ability to remember the prices of  regularly purchased groceries at every store I have ever gone to (like, literally I still remember that Amy‘s Mac and Soy Cheese (not vegan) was $2.50 at  Grand Union in VT when I was in college there almost ten years ago). I also really enjoy going to grocery stores  when I visit different cities on vacation just to see what…
Read More

I Hate Most Banks, Cellphone and Cable companies.

I've severed almost all ties to bloodsucking corporations over the past year. My top three categories of "predatory corporate evils one inevitably has to deal with as an on-the-grid adult" are banks, cable companies  and cellphone providers in that order. 1. Banks. A few months back, I abandoned Bank of America in favor of a local credit union that I'd say is about, oh, 1000000000000000x better. Haven't looked back. I only wish I made the jump sooner.  I'll be doing a more in depth blog post about how to save and even earn a lot of money by changing banks soon. 2. Cable Companies. I decided I didn't need cable…
Read More

New to Me July 13, 2011

Thrift/vintage is somewhat of a cottage industry here in Portland. Options run the gamut between totally free stuff* that people around town leave on the sidewalk in boxes, to showing up at designated times for first dibs on bins full of junk&treasure at Goodwill, to standard thrift department stores, to curated collections of fine vintage threads and furniture that someone else found first (and admittedly had an eye for) and are offering to the public at a sometimes insane markup. *usually actual trash that should really be thrown out but people around here can't seem to bear the thought, occasionally something good Anyway, many useful things can be found through…
Read More

PMS

I try to limit my trips to Target, as I find the experience of going there to buy stuff that I hate that I need to be kind of soul sucking. Paper products, cleaning products, cat products, socks… After more than 10 minutes of navigating what is essentially an enormous box full of cheap crap (cohesively branded under an admittedly appealing design aesthetic) to find what I "need," I swear that I can actually feel my brain being starved of oxygen under the glare of the fluorescent lights. Does anyone else consistently feel ill after spending a little time at Target?? I guess what I’m trying to say is that…
Read More

A healthy take on 4th of July eating

In addition to being within walking distance of my house, another cool thing about Fred Meyer is that you don’t need a membership card or cut coupons to get their store sales. Anyone walking in off the street will get all posted discounts (save for manufacturer’s coupons) at checkout. The one drawback of this system is that they don’t give you a “total $ saved” summary on your receipt like they do at Safeway,  making the rewards of shopping there more transparent, but it is what it is. You’ll just have to take my word for all the good deals. Yesterday was a beautiful and very sunny day here in…
Read More

Vegan Couponing Intro

Hi, I’m Rachel. Though certainly inspired by and supportive of Brooke’s latest obsession with couponing, I’m going to be blogging here from a slightly different perspective: that of a notorious cheapskate and health conscious vegan.  Over the years, I’ve noticed that I have the ability to remember the prices of  regularly purchased groceries at every store I have ever gone to (like, literally I still remember that Amy‘s Mac and Soy Cheese (not vegan) was $2.50 at  Grand Union in VT when I was in college there almost ten years ago). I also really enjoy going to grocery stores  when I visit different cities on vacation just to see what…
Read More

I Hate Most Banks, Cellphone and Cable companies.

I've severed almost all ties to bloodsucking corporations over the past year. My top three categories of "predatory corporate evils one inevitably has to deal with as an on-the-grid adult" are banks, cable companies  and cellphone providers in that order. 1. Banks. A few months back, I abandoned Bank of America in favor of a local credit union that I'd say is about, oh, 1000000000000000x better. Haven't looked back. I only wish I made the jump sooner.  I'll be doing a more in depth blog post about how to save and even earn a lot of money by changing banks soon. 2. Cable Companies. I decided I didn't need cable…
Read More

New to Me July 13, 2011

Thrift/vintage is somewhat of a cottage industry here in Portland. Options run the gamut between totally free stuff* that people around town leave on the sidewalk in boxes, to showing up at designated times for first dibs on bins full of junk&treasure at Goodwill, to standard thrift department stores, to curated collections of fine vintage threads and furniture that someone else found first (and admittedly had an eye for) and are offering to the public at a sometimes insane markup. *usually actual trash that should really be thrown out but people around here can't seem to bear the thought, occasionally something good Anyway, many useful things can be found through…
Read More

PMS

I try to limit my trips to Target, as I find the experience of going there to buy stuff that I hate that I need to be kind of soul sucking. Paper products, cleaning products, cat products, socks… After more than 10 minutes of navigating what is essentially an enormous box full of cheap crap (cohesively branded under an admittedly appealing design aesthetic) to find what I "need," I swear that I can actually feel my brain being starved of oxygen under the glare of the fluorescent lights. Does anyone else consistently feel ill after spending a little time at Target?? I guess what I’m trying to say is that…
Read More

A healthy take on 4th of July eating

In addition to being within walking distance of my house, another cool thing about Fred Meyer is that you don’t need a membership card or cut coupons to get their store sales. Anyone walking in off the street will get all posted discounts (save for manufacturer’s coupons) at checkout. The one drawback of this system is that they don’t give you a “total $ saved” summary on your receipt like they do at Safeway,  making the rewards of shopping there more transparent, but it is what it is. You’ll just have to take my word for all the good deals. Yesterday was a beautiful and very sunny day here in…
Read More

Vegan Couponing Intro

Hi, I’m Rachel. Though certainly inspired by and supportive of Brooke’s latest obsession with couponing, I’m going to be blogging here from a slightly different perspective: that of a notorious cheapskate and health conscious vegan.  Over the years, I’ve noticed that I have the ability to remember the prices of  regularly purchased groceries at every store I have ever gone to (like, literally I still remember that Amy‘s Mac and Soy Cheese (not vegan) was $2.50 at  Grand Union in VT when I was in college there almost ten years ago). I also really enjoy going to grocery stores  when I visit different cities on vacation just to see what…
Read More

I Hate Most Banks, Cellphone and Cable companies.

I've severed almost all ties to bloodsucking corporations over the past year. My top three categories of "predatory corporate evils one inevitably has to deal with as an on-the-grid adult" are banks, cable companies  and cellphone providers in that order. 1. Banks. A few months back, I abandoned Bank of America in favor of a local credit union that I'd say is about, oh, 1000000000000000x better. Haven't looked back. I only wish I made the jump sooner.  I'll be doing a more in depth blog post about how to save and even earn a lot of money by changing banks soon. 2. Cable Companies. I decided I didn't need cable…
Read More

New to Me July 13, 2011

Thrift/vintage is somewhat of a cottage industry here in Portland. Options run the gamut between totally free stuff* that people around town leave on the sidewalk in boxes, to showing up at designated times for first dibs on bins full of junk&treasure at Goodwill, to standard thrift department stores, to curated collections of fine vintage threads and furniture that someone else found first (and admittedly had an eye for) and are offering to the public at a sometimes insane markup. *usually actual trash that should really be thrown out but people around here can't seem to bear the thought, occasionally something good Anyway, many useful things can be found through…
Read More

PMS

I try to limit my trips to Target, as I find the experience of going there to buy stuff that I hate that I need to be kind of soul sucking. Paper products, cleaning products, cat products, socks… After more than 10 minutes of navigating what is essentially an enormous box full of cheap crap (cohesively branded under an admittedly appealing design aesthetic) to find what I "need," I swear that I can actually feel my brain being starved of oxygen under the glare of the fluorescent lights. Does anyone else consistently feel ill after spending a little time at Target?? I guess what I’m trying to say is that…
Read More

A healthy take on 4th of July eating

In addition to being within walking distance of my house, another cool thing about Fred Meyer is that you don’t need a membership card or cut coupons to get their store sales. Anyone walking in off the street will get all posted discounts (save for manufacturer’s coupons) at checkout. The one drawback of this system is that they don’t give you a “total $ saved” summary on your receipt like they do at Safeway,  making the rewards of shopping there more transparent, but it is what it is. You’ll just have to take my word for all the good deals. Yesterday was a beautiful and very sunny day here in…
Read More

Vegan Couponing Intro

Hi, I’m Rachel. Though certainly inspired by and supportive of Brooke’s latest obsession with couponing, I’m going to be blogging here from a slightly different perspective: that of a notorious cheapskate and health conscious vegan.  Over the years, I’ve noticed that I have the ability to remember the prices of  regularly purchased groceries at every store I have ever gone to (like, literally I still remember that Amy‘s Mac and Soy Cheese (not vegan) was $2.50 at  Grand Union in VT when I was in college there almost ten years ago). I also really enjoy going to grocery stores  when I visit different cities on vacation just to see what…
Read More

I Hate Most Banks, Cellphone and Cable companies.

I've severed almost all ties to bloodsucking corporations over the past year. My top three categories of "predatory corporate evils one inevitably has to deal with as an on-the-grid adult" are banks, cable companies  and cellphone providers in that order. 1. Banks. A few months back, I abandoned Bank of America in favor of a local credit union that I'd say is about, oh, 1000000000000000x better. Haven't looked back. I only wish I made the jump sooner.  I'll be doing a more in depth blog post about how to save and even earn a lot of money by changing banks soon. 2. Cable Companies. I decided I didn't need cable…
Read More

New to Me July 13, 2011

Thrift/vintage is somewhat of a cottage industry here in Portland. Options run the gamut between totally free stuff* that people around town leave on the sidewalk in boxes, to showing up at designated times for first dibs on bins full of junk&treasure at Goodwill, to standard thrift department stores, to curated collections of fine vintage threads and furniture that someone else found first (and admittedly had an eye for) and are offering to the public at a sometimes insane markup. *usually actual trash that should really be thrown out but people around here can't seem to bear the thought, occasionally something good Anyway, many useful things can be found through…
Read More

PMS

I try to limit my trips to Target, as I find the experience of going there to buy stuff that I hate that I need to be kind of soul sucking. Paper products, cleaning products, cat products, socks… After more than 10 minutes of navigating what is essentially an enormous box full of cheap crap (cohesively branded under an admittedly appealing design aesthetic) to find what I "need," I swear that I can actually feel my brain being starved of oxygen under the glare of the fluorescent lights. Does anyone else consistently feel ill after spending a little time at Target?? I guess what I’m trying to say is that…
Read More

A healthy take on 4th of July eating

In addition to being within walking distance of my house, another cool thing about Fred Meyer is that you don’t need a membership card or cut coupons to get their store sales. Anyone walking in off the street will get all posted discounts (save for manufacturer’s coupons) at checkout. The one drawback of this system is that they don’t give you a “total $ saved” summary on your receipt like they do at Safeway,  making the rewards of shopping there more transparent, but it is what it is. You’ll just have to take my word for all the good deals. Yesterday was a beautiful and very sunny day here in…
Read More

Vegan Couponing Intro

Hi, I’m Rachel. Though certainly inspired by and supportive of Brooke’s latest obsession with couponing, I’m going to be blogging here from a slightly different perspective: that of a notorious cheapskate and health conscious vegan.  Over the years, I’ve noticed that I have the ability to remember the prices of  regularly purchased groceries at every store I have ever gone to (like, literally I still remember that Amy‘s Mac and Soy Cheese (not vegan) was $2.50 at  Grand Union in VT when I was in college there almost ten years ago). I also really enjoy going to grocery stores  when I visit different cities on vacation just to see what…
Read More