Fleas

Jez, our cat who has not been outside in over a year, has fleas for the first time. Since I've never had a cat with fleas before, I had no idea what it was. So we probably caught it rather late - after she shed quite a few flea eggs onto our bed and they had time to hatch near the foot.... and well, it's just not pleasant.

A trip to PETCO was in order. Off we went with a vague idea of what we were looking for. I had looked up Frontline on the computer and the PETCO website said it was $41.99 for 3 months. A bit hefty but oh well.

We get to the store only to discover that it costs $64.99 there, and they will not match the price on their website. Absurd. I hadn't seen the notice at the very bottom of the webpage that said "Regular and sale prices, offers and selection on PETCO.com may vary from those of PETCO stores and the PETCO Store Circular." And really, charging 55% more in the store - what is the justification for that? A premium not to wait for it to ship? Pathetic.

So I asked the cashier if she could give us any discount at all. After discussing it with a manager, we were able to get it for $55. Still a markup but 31% instead of 55%. Later, we learned that we can get it for $35 at a local animal rescue league. We will definitely be looking into that.

The point is that you can get discounts at a chain store. It helped that my boyfriend re-looked up the price on his Blackberry and was able to prove to them that it was a lot cheaper online.

And hopefully after Frontline, furniture spray, and a fogger , we will soon be flea-free.

I Just Saved a Ton of Money on My Car Insurance

My car insurance renewal came up in early September. I had stayed with AllState because of an awesome insurance agent in Ohio (hi Paul Webster!). I felt no such need to stay with AllState in Pennsylvania. So I started calling around - Liberty Mutual and Erie Insurance. They were both recommended at my boyfriend's place of work.

Combined for renter's insurance and car insurance for both our cars, we (my boyfriend used to have State Farm) were paying approximately $1600 total. Erie was able to put us on a domestic partner policy, and we now pay under $600 per year. To be fair, we did change around our options a bit. I increased my liability coverage, but he switched from full tort to limited tort, and got rid of uninsured and underinsured. That made quite the difference as well. It pays to understand you car insurance options.

If you live in an area where Erie is available, you ought to check them out. A number of comments I read said that Erie's prices just can't be beaten - and other insurance companies know it. I also found this site, which might be helpful when trying to figure out who to call, and just stumbled on this one right now.

Cheaper Prescriptions

This Summer when my boyfriend and I went to China, we took preventative malaria medicine. Malarone to be precise (good stuff, much better than Larium from what I read here). While my boyfriend's insurance covered his prescription, mind did not. And the stuff is not cheap.

When I went to pick up the prescription, the pharmacist verified that I was aware my insurance did not cover it. I must have said "I know" in a particularly pitiful way because he said, "Give me a second" and started punching keys on the computer. After a while, he said, "You can ask me to price match it" (or something similar). So I did. I saved $35 on what was originally a $185 prescription.

This is obviously not something pharmacies advertise, but it's definitely worth a try. It only works on things your insurance does not cover, of course.

Consumer Reports' The Ultimate Money Guide has several other suggestions for saving money on prescriptions:

1. Use an independent pharmacy instead of a national chain like Rite Aid or CVS. They are usually cheaper.
   
2. Buy generic whenever possible (and take advantage of those chains with cheap generic plans, like WalMart's $4 generic program)
3. Buying in bulk will sometimes reduce the cost per pill.
   
4. Check your pharmacy's website - they often sell drugs cheaper online.

Lastly, if your insurance offers it, take advantage of the "buy 3 months for the price of 2" option (or similar) when you fill out a form and receive your prescriptions in the mail. I have this option but have yet to do it. I need to get my act together! :)

Save Money on Heating and Cooling Bills

After a high of nearly 70 yesterday, the temperature has dropped about 15 degrees. Fall is officially upon us. The apartment is currently 67 degrees, so I set the heat to come on for the first time this season - at 64 degrees.

We used very little air conditioning this Summer. The a/c was set to kick on at 80. I also spent mornings and evenings opening and closing windows to get the cool night air but keep out the hot air during the day. If I were more diligent and could handle closed curtains (both for me and my plants) then I should have kept the North-facing window curtains closed during the day. I love the sun, and my plants need it, so this was not an option for me. But it certainly could have been.

This Fall and Winter I am hoping to keep our heating bill as low as possible. Here's what I did last year and what I'm hoping to do this year:
1. Last Winter, we kept the apartment at 67. I intend to aim for 66 or 65 this year. It's tricky - I'm a freeze baby - but it's definitely possible. I will also try lowering the temperature at night as well (purchasing flannel sheets is on the To Do list).
2. We also have a very drafty apartment. Last year, I kept a rolled up towel at the base of our front door to stop the draft. This year, I am planning to do the same, and will add one to the door that goes to the basement as well.
3. I will also consider closing off the guest bedroom (and closing the registers in there as well). We almost never use it, and heating one less room should help.
4. Our windows are pretty drafty - I might have to look into that plastic covering stuff to seal them off. Of course, I keep plants on a number of windowsills, so I probably won't do those.

How about you? What do you do to keep your homes/apartments cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter?

I Heart Dollar Stores

I'll admit it. I love dollar stores. The wacky, cool, nifty, bizarre things you can find for just $1 is never-ending fun. You do have to be careful at times though, because dollar stores are not always cheaper.

However, for Halloween decorations, you just cannot beat them. My boyfriend and I have decided to make Halloween our annual big bash. Last year, I borrowed decorations from my parents (years and years of Halloween parties growing up means they have lots of cool stuff). However, my younger brother is throwing a party this year, so the decorations are in use. Time to start collecting my own.

With that goal in mind I stopped at Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Family Dollar, along with KMart, WalMart, and Big Lots this past weekend. The variety of decorations at the stores was great (except WalMart, which had a pitifully small showing of Halloween stuff). Now, if you want sophisticated, noise-making, moving Halloween decorations, dollar stores are not your ideal. But if you are just looking for the basic tape-them-to-the-wall, hang them from the chandelier decorations and incredibly goofy prizes for costume contests and the like, check out your local dollar stores (especially Dollar Tree, if you have one).

As for the more sophisticated decorations mentioned above, I intend to accrue those slowly to even out the expenses. We will also be making some decorations as well this year.

And in regards to the Green side of things, I have every intention of reusing just about everything I bought this year for many years. Except the paper plates, cups, and napkins, which I feel guilty about. However, they were far cheaper at a dollar store than at KMart, which was charging $2.29 or thereabouts for everything I got for $1. At least I saved money, right?

Lastly, one of the many great things about picking a specific holiday for an annual big bash is that I can go garage sale-ing and thrift-shopping and keep an eye out for possible decorations any time of year. That means I can be green and reuse, as well as buying things when they are very cheap.

Public Libraries Can Save You Money

The Consumerist has a short article entitled 7 Ways Your Public Library Can Help You During a Bad Economy. There are lots of good suggestions in the comments, too (as well as the occasionally complaint).

Back from China

Actually I've been back from China for a while. About a week and a half now. It takes some time to catch up and get back into the swing of things.

The following photos are from Yangshuo, China. Yangshuo is near Guilin, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China for its gorgeous scenery.




China is an interesting place to visit. In terms of finances it is far more expensive just getting there and back than it is to spend 11 days traveling all over the place. In fact, well over 3 times as expensive.

I greatly enjoyed my first foray into bargaining. Most of the time, my friend and her husband (who is Chinese) did the bargaining for us. However, on the last day of our trip, my boyfriend and I purchased some gifts without their assistance. Using the "walk away" method, we were able to get items for one-forth or less the original price named - good prices for foreigners. The walk away method essentially involves expressing interest in something, looking at a few different options, and then saying you aren't really sure and will keep looking. Then, you walk away while the vendor calls out lower and lower prices until you get to a deal you just can't pass up.

Interesting Articles

I've read two very interesting articles recently, both of which were mentioned on the blog The Good Human (a green blog that's definitely worth subscribing to).

First is the article on California's new vehicle rating system which is to be displayed near the number plate of all new vehicles. Vehicles will be given both a "global warming score" and a "smog score," each ranging from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most environmentally friendly.

Another interesting article is from the NYT entitled Can Weeds Help Solve the Climate Crisis? While the article spends far less time discussing how weeds can help solve the crisis than it does discussing the adaptability of weeds, it is still highly interesting. According to experiments, weeds positively thrive (grow much larger, produce more pollen, etc) at higher temperatures and higher CO2 levels. The article suggests that the "weedy ancestors of our food crops... will cope far better with coming climatic changes than their domesticated descendants." Therefore, focusing on these ancestors in the future may become essential.

Lastly, I will be leaving for a trip to China tomorrow and will not return until July 24th, so I won't be writing any new posts for a while. :)

Plants that Absorb Formaldehyde

I love houseplants, and I have a lot of them. I am forever reading about all the benefits of various types of plants, particularly in relation to removing toxins from the air. Toxins like formaldehyde. But I never really felt I had a good grasp on whether or not these toxins really were things commonly found in the home until I read this article from The Daily Green.

Turns out formaldehyde commonly leaches out over time from things like plywood, particleboard, and fiberboard, often coming from the glue that holds the pieces together.

What plants are good for removing formaldehyde from the air (see the chart here and read this for more information)?

1. Spider plants
2. Corn plants
3. Heart leaf philodendron
4. Golden Pathos
5. Madag Dragon Tree
6. Waneckii
7. Chrysanthemum
8. Peace Lily

Incidentally, some of these plants are also extremely hardy and hard to kill, mainly spider plant, corn plant, heart leaf philodendron, and golden pathos. Interestingly, I have 7 out of the 8 plants listed (no Chrysanthemum), 2 of which came in a basket from a funeral home. Perhaps I need to spread them around my apartment more to up my formaldehyde protection in all areas.

What I do for the environment

Since I recently posted about what I see that harms the environment, I thought I'd list off some of the things I do to help the environment. Most of these are very easy to do.

1. Recycle - For me, this is ingrained. Growing up, my family always recycled. We had so many garbage cans that guests were often very confused - recycling, regular, burnables (okay, this may not be as environmentally friendly), and a bucket for veggie and fruit scraps. If curbside pickup is available, I can't imagine why someone wouldn't recycle. It's so easy!
2. Reusable bags - I've already posted about this. I have tons of bags and use them as often as I can remember to do so.
3. Walk (or bike) to work (and to the store) - Admittedly, I only do this when the weather is nice, but I have been walking to work as much as possible. Of course, walking to work is only an option for those who live relatively close - in my case, a little over a mile.
4. Carpool - In the winter or in bad weather, I carpool with my boyfriend. I'm not sure it's a huge savings, because there is a shorter route he could take to work. I think it's better than taking two cars though.
5. Reuse - My sugar jar is a former spaghetti sauce jar. We mix our own balsamic vinaigrette and our current jar used to be a jelly jar. Most of my furniture is second- (or third- or forth-) hand. I am a scrap paper fiend, even collecting it from the unclaimed printouts at work. Reusing is easy - and cheap!
6. Compost - I have just begun composting and will write more about this in a future post.
7. Grow your own vegetables - Another topic on which I have already posted.
8. CFLs - When bulbs burns out, we switch them to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
9. Thermostat - To reduce our energy use, we set the thermostat to 67 in the winter (which is difficult for a freeze baby like me) and 80 in the summer. I'd love a programmable thermostat but we are in an apartment.
10. Reusable Water Bottles - I have very rarely bought bottled water. It just seems like such a waste and completely unnecessary. Tap water is monitored. I carry around a reusable water bottle, which is especially handy at work.

If you have any suggestions of things you do, let me know! I am always looking for more things that I should be doing, particularly if they are cheap and easy. :)

Grow Your Own Food

This spring marks my first attempt at growing vegetables. I grew up in a family of gardeners, and my grandparents always had a very large garden next to their house. Still do, in fact. I've done my fair share of weeding but never have I been fully responsible for planting, weeding, watering, staking, and harvesting. So far it's going reasonably well.

Container Gardening
Because I was unsure of the amount of sun I would have available in various yard locations, and because I do not know much about the soil at the apartment, I opted for container gardening. A picture of the most elaborate container structure is here. In that one, I have peas, lettuce, and green beans. The lettuce is probably at or very near the edible point, but I have yet to pick any. The peas are just now blooming, and the green beans, planted much more recently, have quite a ways to go. I also have containers for 2 tomato plants, which are happily producing tomatoes, although none have ripened yet. And cucumber, zucchini, and a second round of lettuce. Then I have small pots of parsley (the only thing I have eaten thus far), basil, oregano, cilantro, coriander, and nasturtium.

Saving Money?
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I'm saving money. Between the containers, the seeds, and all the organic potting soil, I probably won't even break even. However, it feels good to play in the dirt, and to know exactly how my vegetables have been grown. Next year I will probably do better. First of all, I will be using the containers a second time. Secondly, I am currently composting kitchen scraps (more about this in a future post), which I will be able to use next year to cut down on the amount of soil I buy. Plus it's a hobby I really enjoy, so when you factor in the money I could be spending on some other hobby (okay, I'm reaching, I know), I'm really doing quite well.

For those of you who think it is beyond your abilities/patience
Deciding to grow your own vegetables can very quickly become overwhelming - what should you grow; where should you grow it; what do different plants require in terms of soil, maintenance, staking, sun, water, etc... the questions can go on forever. The best piece of advice I can give you is one I found in a book recommended by a coworker called You Grow Girl - best title ever, of course. Start small, do as little as you want, and don't get upset if things don't go as expected. An example from my experience:

On April 11, I bought a tomato plant called a Black Ethiopian at a student plant sale here on campus. Tomato plants are wimpy and cannot be placed outdoors until the weather is quite warm - late May in my area. This tomato plant grew at an alarming rate. Between April 11 and late May, it grew about 4 feet (apparently this variety gets as tall as 6 feet - who knew?) in the south-facing window in my bedroom. The plant is now outside and has approximately 3 feet in the middle where it looks utterly pathetic - all dead leaves. But - it's started to produce tomatoes. It may not produce very many, but that's okay. I tried, and I won't be buying a Black Ethiopian again. Patio tomatoes are much easier. :)

You Grow Girl also mentions that just about any vegetable can be grown in a container. Plus, many herbs can be brought indoors for use all winter long. So go ahead, give it a try.

Environmentally Unfriendly

I walk through a rather affluent area on my way to work. I love to look at the beautiful yards (far preferring ones where I know the tenants/homeowners manage the yards themselves), but I am forever noticing things that make me sad for the environment. Now, I recognize that there is always more I myself can do, but some of the things I see that disappoint me are:

1. This morning I saw a truck dropping bottled water off at a private residence. There are two things that bother me about this. First of all, there's the truck that's delivering this to someone's home - using gas, polluting, etc., all so someone can have bottled water delivered to his/her front door. Secondly, it's bottled water! All that wasted plastic! I hope it at least gets recycled. Tap water and a reusable bottle is so much better.

2. Endless garbage on trash day. What single residence (unless they have 20 kids) needs to produce 8+ huge garbage bags of trash? Weekly! And I can see through those bags - aluminum cans, plastic bottles, corrugated cardboard. It's so easy to recycle here - why don't they do it? Almost everything (and certainly the three I just listed) are all curbside pickup!

3. Yards with signs that say they've recently been treated with chemicals. Give me clover and crab grass any day, or at least go for organic treatments.

4. All the lawn care trucks. Yards aren't that big around here. I should think many of these people can do it themselves. Perhaps even with human-powered mowers (I really need to find out the technical term for those things), although admittedly those don't do the best job when you have lots of crab grass and clover....

There are probably more that I cannot think of right now. And perhaps I need to stop complaining and come up with some solutions - at the minimum, teach my upstairs neighbors (from another country where they perhaps do not recycle?) about recycling.

Reusable Bags

You've probably noticed those reusable cloth bags starting to crop up at grocery stores in your area. I know the Giant Eagles around here have them. While I'm not sure I would recommend buying them, I do recommend collecting some reusable cloth bags and bringing them to the stores with you. So far, I've managed to collect quite a few cloth bags from various library events and conferences I have attended. They work wonderfully as grocery bags. Some stores even give you a discount or a chance to enter a contest (e.g. Trader Joe's) if you bring your own bags.

Also, if you don't have cloth bags (or if you forget your cloth bags occasionally, as I do), remember to recycle plastic bags. Giant Eagle has bins for recycling plastic bags, and I bet other grocery stores do as well. You can also reuse plastic bags yourself. They are great for vacations - dirty clothes, wet swimsuits; for cleaning out litter boxes; for carting around dirty shoes; and much more.

Some countries are starting to take the effect of plastic bags on the environment very seriously. Back in January, China announced it would be banning stores from giving out free plastic bags as well as banning the production of ultra thin plastic bags (see the BBC article for more info) starting June of 2008. The ban has since gone into effect with varied response. While I can't speak to the ramifications for businesses or for customers who choose to purchase plastic bags, it seems like a step in the right direction. There are several other countries and cities who have banned plastic bags in some form or other. For a list see this Planet Ark article.

My 2008 Personal Finance Goals

Most of the personal finance blogs that I read include the blogger's financial goals. I assume it makes them more accountable, and also serves as a way to keep track and look back on how well (hopefully!) they've done. Back in January, I wrote out my goals on Adventures in Library Land. They were:

1. Pay my car off within 18 months.
2. Learn more about personal finance and investing. I quantified this one by saying I would keep up with the personal finance blogs I subscribe to (see the Finance section), as well as reading 2 books.

How am I doing on my goals?
1. I have paid off my car already. In 6 months instead of 18. The title came in the mail the other week, and it was entirely too exciting. I now own my car. What a good feeling. Goal 1 accomplished.
2. I have read two personal finance books. I would highly recommend Random Walk Guide to Investing, which I reviewed on Rage in the Page. The Ultimate Cheapskate's Roadmap to True Riches is also a great read, both entertaining and quick. It contains lots of good advice on how to keep your expenses low, although I doubt many would desire to be quite that cheap. (Note: Book title hyperlinks will take you into WorldCat where you can type in your zip code and see if a library near you has the book. It's cheaper than buying it, and I'm a librarian - I like to support libraries). I also do a relatively decent job of keeping up with the personal finance blogs I subscribe to.

Since I basically met the goals I set earlier, I am setting additional ones:
3. Open a Roth IRA (I've been intending to do this for the past 6 months, and I need to finally do it!)
4. Read 3 more personal finance books, and continue to keep up with the blogs I subscribe to.

Save Money on Gas

If you are like me, you've been inundated with tips on how to save money on gas. I read a number of personal finance blogs, and it is an often discussed topic. Then there are those emails that go around with advice, some of it useful, some of it definitely not. For a good list of tips all in one place, check out Christian PF's 75 Gas Saving Tips. He lists the most effective tips first (based on an actual study by Edmunds.com), and then adds ones related to driving economically, planning car trips, seasonal tips, maintenance ideas, and more. At the very end of the post he lists some other web sites to check out if you are interested in more tips.

And, of course, using less gas is not only good for the wallet but also the environment.

Money Can Buy Happiness

As long as you are giving it to someone else, anyway - as a gift to a friend, donation to a charity, etc. - according to an article from a Harvard Business School Newsletter. The researchers asked people to spend their money in various ways and found that those who spent it on someone else reported an increased feeling of happiness.

How much money does one need to spend on someone else to notice this increase? As little as $5. Their research also showed that even when people knew about the relationship between spending money on someone else and happiness, the effects still existed.

What does this mean for personal finance? Even if you don't have a lot of extra money, it may be worthwhile to budget in the occasional gift or donation to charity. Not only will it likely make you happy, but it will probably make the recipient happy as well.

Based on my personal experience I would agree with their findings. I love giving the occasional random small unexpected gift to friends and family. It makes me feel happy, and I can tell by their reactions that it makes the recipients feel happy, too. I also enjoy participating in those volunteer/giving efforts to buy Christmas presents for needy children as well as donating to various charities including the China earthquake relief funds and Partners in Health (the latter inspired by reading the great book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder).

Why Growing Green Cents?

I have been debating for quite a while whether or not I should start a new blog. I already write Adventures in Library Land and am a contributor to Rage in the Page. I can barely keep up with those, so why add yet another?

I am absolutely fascinated by personal finance and by the Green movement. I have posted a few personal finance posts on Adventures, but that made me feel guilty. Not that I have many readers, but Adventures was started with the intent of writing primarily about libraries, and I have finally decided that it is best to keep it that way (perhaps my readership will even increase once I focus that one a bit more).

But should I really start another blog? I am, and have always been, a writer. I have kept way too many journals over the past 15 years (give or take), I always studied by writing things down, I keep pages and pages of ideas all over the place (finally trying to confine them to a single folder at work, at least). I just write. A lot.

Additionally, while my fascination with these topics naturally makes me feel others should find them interesting, I would also argue that sharing what I know, what I am discovering, and what methods I have tried is worthwhile for other reasons. Personal finance is something that is never taught in any formalized setting yet each of us needs to manage his/her own finances. Additionally, the Green movement is garnering more and more attention given the concern over global warming, high oil prices, rising food costs... the list is endless.

Thus the decision to bite the bullet and start a new blog.

Which led to the great blog title debate. What to call it? How to find a title that reflects both personal finance and Green (two topics which honestly do overlap a considerable amount, as I hope this blog will demonstrate). And the more difficult, how to find one that isn't already taken! On Friday, after a very late night brainstorming session, I came up with Green Cents, which covers both parts, and is also a fun play on words: cents/sense, "green" = the Green movement and the slang term for US money (which is becoming a slight misnomer - the new $5 incorporates some lovely purple).

But alas, it was taken on Blogger - by someone who has never even used it, no less! Plus, there was the Google Search worry that this title was also being taken by a rather more prominent set of blogs (one I'd never heard of, but would assume has decent readership).

Not willing to give up the Green Cents idea entirely, I schemed ways to keep it with a minor addition. Thus, Growing Green Cents was born. A Google search yields zero results for those three words as an exact phrase (wow. Either I'm really lucky or my title makes no sense...). Plus, it allows me to tie in yet another love - growing plants (which, admittedly, I was going to sneak in under the "green" thing anyway, because most plants are green, after all, right? It can also be a cheap hobby and good for the environment).

So I give you Growing Green Cents. For all things personal finance-, Green-, and plant-related.