We camp a lot. Had been tenting for years (since teenager) and in 2002 bought our first trailer. Some people may say going out in a trailer is not camping, but to me it is, I just have my own bathroom. We still going swimming in the rivers, cook over a fire, and sit around the fire at night making S'mores with the kids.
Camping can be a great way to enjoy the outdoors, plus you get away from all the chores at home and relax. The kids have new places to explore to keep them busy.
Good list. I've moved my family more towards unprocessed foods this year. We have all lost weight and gained more energy. If you watch the sales you can find great deals. Sometimes places like Safeway have specials and coupons on their produce as well.
Maybe people are afraid of failures, relocating for a job and leaving home is not quite accessible for everybody. In my case a good salary would be the incentive I need to start moving boxes, I wouldn't have second thoughts.
I am the least outdoorsy person ever. I've never actually tried camping in a tent but, from the horror stories I've heard, I never would. I have stayed for a few days in cabins with no running water or electricity, and I hated every single second of it. My idea of "roughing it" is staying in a cheaper hotel with no nice restaurant in it! If I wasn't a germophobe who is terrified of bugs perhaps the camping thing would work out for me, but I'm a lifelong city girl. I'd rather pound the pavement of the urban jungle any day!
My kids adoooooore camping(at least the younger 2, okay maybe the older 2 too because the younger ones love sleeping in the tent so the older two don't have to share their room, the TV, or the computer). From March on all I hear is "when can we get the tent out". We just bought the tent last year so I can't attest to this being an annual thing but I will say a tent site is way cheaper than a hotel room and my family is a big fan of the great outdoors so a weekend at Claytor Lake is a fairly inexpensive trip that is completely within budget for a 6 person family(who'd technically need 2 hotel rooms).
To save on costs look for tools through secondhand sources.
As for materials, also consider damaged junk wood furniture as a potential resource for lumber and hardware with which to make smaller scale projects. Mostly I pick up this stuff off the curb, but occasionally I get things extremely cheap at yard sales. Last summer I bought a $4 vintage oak bureau, that had cool brass drawer pulls on two of the three drawers. I was unsure if the water damage could be refinished (it couldn't), but if not it was worth buying the bureau for the pulls and the oak. Sometimes we have been able to marry parts from more than one junk item, and make something that looks curiously almost antique.
Aside from price, the other advantage of DYI is that you can make custom pieces to fit into challenging spaces, or to serve highly specific needs. As one minor example, in ever home we have lived in, we have made a simple spice rack that would fit one some small that was available... different in each house. On a larger scale, one might build book cases to fit into an available, or build a book case to house a specific collection of books.
You are also missing out on the creative solution. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Most people solve problems by throwing money at it. Where's the fun in that? Take money out of the equation, and force yourself to find a free or low-cost solution.
With a little creativity, very often you can come up with something far better that the initial costly solution.
my lender sold my house when I was doing the loan modification process, Did not sent the extension on my forclosure day, they did a violation. but now everybody is passing the ball, and throw my family to the street.
Our family of 10 ( my husband,myself, and our 8 kids) camp for 10-14 days each summer. We've been doing this for years, as it's one of the few vacations a family of our size can afford. But, we don't suffer, even though we do tent it, and we camp at a forest-service campground with no electricity and no showers. Our secret? We make improving our situation a priority. Each year, we have come up with better ways to make ourselves more comfortable. After 19 years of camping with kids, we now have: a solar oven (Global Sun oven--highly recommended--I bake with it at home during the summer), a solar-powered/propane water heater for camp showers and dish water heating, air mattresses, a propane driven refrigerator/freezer that we carry in our cargo trailer, comfy camp chairs and hammocks, and kids that are well-trained in all things camping! I realize that our style of camping doesn't work for everyone (lots of set-up and clean-up), but if you aim to stay for a week or more, it makes a huge difference in the comfort level. Another thing I do ahead of time is to carefully plan our meals--marinating and freezing meats, making baking and pancake mixes (minus wet ingredients) ahead of time, and generally keeping our diet as close to the healthy diet we follow at home. We've learned that two weeks of eating junk makes unhappy campers. Hope these hints help you all as you enjoy the great outdoors!
Your caffeine listing on coffee is misleading. Most people don't track coffee sizes, nor do they really know the difference between a latte and an espresso.
A latte is steamed milk with 1 shot of espresso in it. A latte does not contain more caffeine than 1 shot of espresso, unless the cow has been drinking energy drinks. . . however you used a GRANDE latte (16oz) which is a double (containing a double shot). If you wanted to skew the results, you might as well have used a triple Venti as comparison, or a bucket of a tea vs. a cup of coffee. Assuming the numbers are correct, it's interesting how little caffeine the energy drinks contain.
One thing of note, there are certain chemicals that increase your sensitivity to caffeine, i.e. gaurana and taurine which make small doses of caffeine much more potent. And "energy" drinks ALL contain them (as well as many weight loss supplements).
And to the comment as to why caffeine is added at all to soda's? The original mass market soda, Coca-Cola, had Cocaine and Caffeine (from a Kola nut) as the main active ingredients. Asking why caffeine is added is like asking why nicotine is added to cigarettes. There is a reason why Coca-Cola is a global force. Every single person on planet earth will likely have at least 1 can of soda at least one time in their life. You can even find it sold in plastic bags in remote jungles of third world countries. . .
Just got back from a weekend camping trip and had been thinking about writing a blog post about saving money and resources when camping. Just got done posting it and came here to find the same subject! So here's my blog post: http://www.derekpress.net/2010/07/13/save-green-while-camping-green/
We go "glamping" or as my husband calls it "Martha Goes Camping" :)
There a few places in California (and i'm sure other places) where you can find these great lodge/campsites that have tent cabins/bungalows that are camping with some nice amenities (locations like beach access, saunas, outdoor showers, good food, etc.) but you can get these Out of Africa tents.
We like Costanoa (Pescadero CA) and El Capitan (Santa Barbara).
Or my favorite camping site, Kirk Creek @ Big Sur. Heaven.
Do be aware that, on WinXP at least, you will need to be using an account with admin privileges to print coupons.
I tried escalating privilege to install the coupon printer and changing the user account back to limited and it didn't work.
So, you do sacrifice some security to use these sites.
Make a master list so that your trip is safe, on budget, and enjoyable. Just like when packing for any other vacation (medication, insurance card, emergency contact info), you need to be sure that you have EVERYTHING. If it's just in the backyard, you can run back inside for that special blankie. If you forgot the propane to the camp stove/contact solution/camera batteries, it will be ridiculously expensive in the store near the campground. Your vacation will turn into torture if you forget the toilet paper and you're miles into a National Forest. Make a spreadsheet in Excel or a pencil list in a notebook, but have a list you can check off while packing.
@JSWA is right -- the organic label is meaningless unless it's USDA certified. If you're buying an "organic" product, especially from another country, you're just trusting that it is what it says it it. And don't kid yourself that there's any amount of testing that will tell an organic piece of fruit from its conventionally grown counterpart -- it won't. People like to to imagine a fine sheen of poison on conventionally grown produce, but it ain't so, not that I could convince most people who want to believe otherwise.
@ANECHOIC, if you overheard a Safeway employee telling his friend how healthful non-organic produce was, would you believe him, too? Likely, you would say, "he's not a scientist, how could he know?" and dismiss the comment... We are all guilty of believing hearsay that we already agree with.
He answered your question. If you can't afford to spend more on organic, then the choice is between inorganic whole foods or processed crap. The choice is a no-brainer. I'm as big into organic as the next guy, but the label "organic" is often meaningless anyway.
I like to go camping. One of the best ways to keep it cheap is to camp at low cost or no cost Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campgrounds. They may not have the best facilities, but they are usually well maintained. I've stayed at some BLM campgrounds that allowed for a 14 day stay without charge.
I love the Every Man Jack shaving cream; great shave, very smooth, economical once you learn not to use too much. Will never go back to a gel. Can be found at Target and no, I don't work for them. Also order Sensor Excel (works great) in bulk from Razorsdirect.com. Can't stomach paying more than $1.50 for a new blade as I love changing blades every week.
I love tent camping. Sitting around the fire with friends and family, it doesn't get much better than that. A great time to go is in the fall/winter, yes it is cold, but many times you can enjoy great state parks with no crowds. I also enjoy cooking while camping (we bring along the cast iron) and love to come up with easy and creative meals using items we already have in the pantry.
I come from a family of 7. We are too rich for help and too poor to eat healthy. My parents and older brother have diabetes. My mom is withering away and we cant even take her to the doctors. As i said, we are too rich to have medical help and too poor to pay for it on our own. Things are good for the rich and the poor....but the ones in the middle...seems we are on our own. Why doesn't anyone ever address this?
My family loves camping so much that my daughter wants a "camping birthday party" this year. So we'll be taking a van full of kids along for campfires & swimming... and borrowing my sister's tent so they can have their own & we can (maybe!) actually sleep some!
We camp a lot. Had been tenting for years (since teenager) and in 2002 bought our first trailer. Some people may say going out in a trailer is not camping, but to me it is, I just have my own bathroom. We still going swimming in the rivers, cook over a fire, and sit around the fire at night making S'mores with the kids.
Camping can be a great way to enjoy the outdoors, plus you get away from all the chores at home and relax. The kids have new places to explore to keep them busy.
Good list. I've moved my family more towards unprocessed foods this year. We have all lost weight and gained more energy. If you watch the sales you can find great deals. Sometimes places like Safeway have specials and coupons on their produce as well.
Such a wonderful topic,i read this artilce and agree with this artilce.Thanks to talking us about this article.
Acai Max Cleanse
Maybe people are afraid of failures, relocating for a job and leaving home is not quite accessible for everybody. In my case a good salary would be the incentive I need to start moving boxes, I wouldn't have second thoughts.
Test. Thanks!
I am the least outdoorsy person ever. I've never actually tried camping in a tent but, from the horror stories I've heard, I never would. I have stayed for a few days in cabins with no running water or electricity, and I hated every single second of it. My idea of "roughing it" is staying in a cheaper hotel with no nice restaurant in it! If I wasn't a germophobe who is terrified of bugs perhaps the camping thing would work out for me, but I'm a lifelong city girl. I'd rather pound the pavement of the urban jungle any day!
My kids adoooooore camping(at least the younger 2, okay maybe the older 2 too because the younger ones love sleeping in the tent so the older two don't have to share their room, the TV, or the computer). From March on all I hear is "when can we get the tent out". We just bought the tent last year so I can't attest to this being an annual thing but I will say a tent site is way cheaper than a hotel room and my family is a big fan of the great outdoors so a weekend at Claytor Lake is a fairly inexpensive trip that is completely within budget for a 6 person family(who'd technically need 2 hotel rooms).
Christine
dazed1821@aol.com
To save on costs look for tools through secondhand sources.
As for materials, also consider damaged junk wood furniture as a potential resource for lumber and hardware with which to make smaller scale projects. Mostly I pick up this stuff off the curb, but occasionally I get things extremely cheap at yard sales. Last summer I bought a $4 vintage oak bureau, that had cool brass drawer pulls on two of the three drawers. I was unsure if the water damage could be refinished (it couldn't), but if not it was worth buying the bureau for the pulls and the oak. Sometimes we have been able to marry parts from more than one junk item, and make something that looks curiously almost antique.
Aside from price, the other advantage of DYI is that you can make custom pieces to fit into challenging spaces, or to serve highly specific needs. As one minor example, in ever home we have lived in, we have made a simple spice rack that would fit one some small that was available... different in each house. On a larger scale, one might build book cases to fit into an available, or build a book case to house a specific collection of books.
You are also missing out on the creative solution. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Most people solve problems by throwing money at it. Where's the fun in that? Take money out of the equation, and force yourself to find a free or low-cost solution.
With a little creativity, very often you can come up with something far better that the initial costly solution.
my lender sold my house when I was doing the loan modification process, Did not sent the extension on my forclosure day, they did a violation. but now everybody is passing the ball, and throw my family to the street.
Our family of 10 ( my husband,myself, and our 8 kids) camp for 10-14 days each summer. We've been doing this for years, as it's one of the few vacations a family of our size can afford. But, we don't suffer, even though we do tent it, and we camp at a forest-service campground with no electricity and no showers. Our secret? We make improving our situation a priority. Each year, we have come up with better ways to make ourselves more comfortable. After 19 years of camping with kids, we now have: a solar oven (Global Sun oven--highly recommended--I bake with it at home during the summer), a solar-powered/propane water heater for camp showers and dish water heating, air mattresses, a propane driven refrigerator/freezer that we carry in our cargo trailer, comfy camp chairs and hammocks, and kids that are well-trained in all things camping! I realize that our style of camping doesn't work for everyone (lots of set-up and clean-up), but if you aim to stay for a week or more, it makes a huge difference in the comfort level. Another thing I do ahead of time is to carefully plan our meals--marinating and freezing meats, making baking and pancake mixes (minus wet ingredients) ahead of time, and generally keeping our diet as close to the healthy diet we follow at home. We've learned that two weeks of eating junk makes unhappy campers. Hope these hints help you all as you enjoy the great outdoors!
Your caffeine listing on coffee is misleading. Most people don't track coffee sizes, nor do they really know the difference between a latte and an espresso.
A latte is steamed milk with 1 shot of espresso in it. A latte does not contain more caffeine than 1 shot of espresso, unless the cow has been drinking energy drinks. . . however you used a GRANDE latte (16oz) which is a double (containing a double shot). If you wanted to skew the results, you might as well have used a triple Venti as comparison, or a bucket of a tea vs. a cup of coffee. Assuming the numbers are correct, it's interesting how little caffeine the energy drinks contain.
One thing of note, there are certain chemicals that increase your sensitivity to caffeine, i.e. gaurana and taurine which make small doses of caffeine much more potent. And "energy" drinks ALL contain them (as well as many weight loss supplements).
And to the comment as to why caffeine is added at all to soda's? The original mass market soda, Coca-Cola, had Cocaine and Caffeine (from a Kola nut) as the main active ingredients. Asking why caffeine is added is like asking why nicotine is added to cigarettes. There is a reason why Coca-Cola is a global force. Every single person on planet earth will likely have at least 1 can of soda at least one time in their life. You can even find it sold in plastic bags in remote jungles of third world countries. . .
Just got back from a weekend camping trip and had been thinking about writing a blog post about saving money and resources when camping. Just got done posting it and came here to find the same subject! So here's my blog post: http://www.derekpress.net/2010/07/13/save-green-while-camping-green/
We go "glamping" or as my husband calls it "Martha Goes Camping" :)
There a few places in California (and i'm sure other places) where you can find these great lodge/campsites that have tent cabins/bungalows that are camping with some nice amenities (locations like beach access, saunas, outdoor showers, good food, etc.) but you can get these Out of Africa tents.
We like Costanoa (Pescadero CA) and El Capitan (Santa Barbara).
Or my favorite camping site, Kirk Creek @ Big Sur. Heaven.
Camping: Cheap awesomeness.
Do be aware that, on WinXP at least, you will need to be using an account with admin privileges to print coupons.
I tried escalating privilege to install the coupon printer and changing the user account back to limited and it didn't work.
So, you do sacrifice some security to use these sites.
Make a master list so that your trip is safe, on budget, and enjoyable. Just like when packing for any other vacation (medication, insurance card, emergency contact info), you need to be sure that you have EVERYTHING. If it's just in the backyard, you can run back inside for that special blankie. If you forgot the propane to the camp stove/contact solution/camera batteries, it will be ridiculously expensive in the store near the campground. Your vacation will turn into torture if you forget the toilet paper and you're miles into a National Forest. Make a spreadsheet in Excel or a pencil list in a notebook, but have a list you can check off while packing.
@JSWA is right -- the organic label is meaningless unless it's USDA certified. If you're buying an "organic" product, especially from another country, you're just trusting that it is what it says it it. And don't kid yourself that there's any amount of testing that will tell an organic piece of fruit from its conventionally grown counterpart -- it won't. People like to to imagine a fine sheen of poison on conventionally grown produce, but it ain't so, not that I could convince most people who want to believe otherwise.
@ANECHOIC, if you overheard a Safeway employee telling his friend how healthful non-organic produce was, would you believe him, too? Likely, you would say, "he's not a scientist, how could he know?" and dismiss the comment... We are all guilty of believing hearsay that we already agree with.
He answered your question. If you can't afford to spend more on organic, then the choice is between inorganic whole foods or processed crap. The choice is a no-brainer. I'm as big into organic as the next guy, but the label "organic" is often meaningless anyway.
Take your axe somewhere else.
I like to go camping. One of the best ways to keep it cheap is to camp at low cost or no cost Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campgrounds. They may not have the best facilities, but they are usually well maintained. I've stayed at some BLM campgrounds that allowed for a 14 day stay without charge.
I love the Every Man Jack shaving cream; great shave, very smooth, economical once you learn not to use too much. Will never go back to a gel. Can be found at Target and no, I don't work for them. Also order Sensor Excel (works great) in bulk from Razorsdirect.com. Can't stomach paying more than $1.50 for a new blade as I love changing blades every week.
I love tent camping. Sitting around the fire with friends and family, it doesn't get much better than that. A great time to go is in the fall/winter, yes it is cold, but many times you can enjoy great state parks with no crowds. I also enjoy cooking while camping (we bring along the cast iron) and love to come up with easy and creative meals using items we already have in the pantry.
I come from a family of 7. We are too rich for help and too poor to eat healthy. My parents and older brother have diabetes. My mom is withering away and we cant even take her to the doctors. As i said, we are too rich to have medical help and too poor to pay for it on our own. Things are good for the rich and the poor....but the ones in the middle...seems we are on our own. Why doesn't anyone ever address this?
My family loves camping so much that my daughter wants a "camping birthday party" this year. So we'll be taking a van full of kids along for campfires & swimming... and borrowing my sister's tent so they can have their own & we can (maybe!) actually sleep some!