The rest of the article deals with the marketing aspect, but it got me to thinking. When I’m in the store, what keep me from buying the “green” product. There are a few things. First and foremost, cost is very important. The next few months are going to be really tight around here and I can’t afford to spend $5 more for less product. I’m sure that I’m  no different than many other Americans.  What seems like just a few bucks adds up and effects my bottom line.

Another issue that I’ve had is when I have bought green cleaning products, they didn’t always work. For instance, the Seventh Generation dish tabs that I bought a few months ago. I had to run my dishwasher 2 and 3 times because they did not dissolve and still were not getting my dishes clean. I still have 2 boxes of them sitting under my sink. It’s a bit more efficient to use the regular cleaners if they’re going to get the job done right the first time. That means less water, less electricity, and just as important less of my time.

Finally, I get confused when I go to the store. How do I know which products are truly green and which ones are just hopping on the bandwagon. I don’t know what chemicals to look for or what is considered toxic. I kind of just have to take their word for it. Which, I don’t really trust doing.

So, in a nutshell I want products that are not overpriced, clean just as well as the other products, and that I can be sure are environmentally safe. That doesn’t really sound like I want too much does it?

In the meantime, I’ve taken to just using less. Washing dishes when I absolutely have to wash them. Full loads of laundry with about half the amount of detergent. Few products to get things clean. That just seems to be the better thing to do at the moment. I buy green when I can, but I think a bit of “reducing” can go a long way, too.

Are you suffering from green fatigue? What are your difficulties when trying to buy green products?

So, back to it!

Right now, I just want to remind everyone to GO VOTE. I know it’s a bit late but, here in Florida you still have 30 minutes to get to the polls. Those in other time zones have even more time. So, get to it.

An article in the Wall Street Journal confirms what I’ve always wondered: Most items claiming to be green contain at least 1 dangerous substance in them. Further, there is no governing body that says what labels may be marked green or eco-friendly.

However, the marketing firm that did the research is a bit suspect. The study was done by two companies that offer “green certification” – TerraChoice and Underwriters Laboratories. It is in their best interest to get consumers to demand some sort of certification or easy way for us to know if a product is green.

What’s the bottom line here? Don’t believe everything you read. Do your homework on products. I’ll admit, that I’m clueless when it comes to what chemicals are good and bad for the environment and which products are actually green. I’ve expressed this here before numerous times.

So, what is the answer here? Do we need a governing body on this? Should it be a private company?

One thing that many of you might not know about me is that I’m a finance nerd. I love working with my finances and getting the most bang for my buck. I think this is a huge component for those of us that want to find sustainability. No one can be self-sufficient (whatever that means to you) if they are hemorrhaging money. It just does not work.

I’ve used various versions of Quicken over the years and been pretty darn happy with it. When I switched to a Mac, I was faced with the fact that I would have to move to Quicken for Mac. Since my laptop died last week and I really need to pay a bit more attention to my finances, I went ahead and bought Quicken for Mac.

So far, so good. I’m still getting it all setup properly. (I went with a clean install.) I hope to have everything ready to go by the end of the week and to be back to budgeting like I was last year. Though I track everything and make sure all bills are paid and that I’m not incurring any debt, I need to cut my budget way, way back. The spending is getting ridiculous. It’s bloated.

Do you track your finances? Do you use a specific program for this? Do you budget?

While many would scoff at the idea it’s really not that foreign or revolutionary. Traditionally, Sunday has been a day of rest. Sure there was some church-going thrown in for good measure, but it still was a low key day. There were family picnics, days at the beach, or perhaps just a day spent relaxing.

The reason for his suggestion is two-fold. First, it will lower carbon emissions if everyone just hung out locally (or at least found other means of transportation for the day). Also, it has to be good for the soul to just rejuvenate. Read a book, walk the dog, take some pictures. Just about anything.

Since I have to find a way to get my stress level down and reduce my budget I like the idea. I don’t know if I could do this every week, but I’ll give it a try this Sunday.

Is this something that you already do? Would you be willing to slow down on Sundays?

Well, Sunday was the first day that my A/C was off ALL day and  night. It was glorious and the house didn’t get warm at all. We’re actually getting “fall” weather this year. Last year we had a heat wave with temps in the 90′s in December*. Seriously.

The awesome thing is that once it cools off, I don’t use heat or A/C. I could theoretically have 5-6 months of nothing running. It just depends on what type of year we have. (I needed heat last year, but my apartment does not have heat. Yes. It sucked and I thought I was going to die. I did manage to buy a heated blanket to sleep under.)

How is the weather where you are? Still hot? Time to turn on the heater?

* I fully understand that we could still get back up to normal temps. We really should be much warmer and more humid than this.

• 3/7 entirely fresh dinners – I actually think I did this. I kept things simple this week and stuck with rice and a side item or whatever. There were lots of leftovers, but not a lot of packaged food.
• Try one random veggie. – I bought eggplant. Sadly, it’s still sitting in my refrigerator. I’m not even sure if it’s good now. If so, it gets cooked up tonight!
• Create a shopping list with EVERYTHING I need. – Nope. This greatly contributed to my “hit stores once” fail.
• Prep and cook all veggies and fruit for the week. – I didn’t really buy anything that needed to be prepped. If I had I would have.
• Try to only hit the store once. – Great, big, fat FAIL. I went shopping almost everyday in some form or fashion. What a waste of time and money.
• Figure out what other tools will make my kitchen experiences easier - So far, I think I have everything that I need. I think I would like a food processor, but I’m not sure that it’s necessary.

Now, despite the fact that I went to the grocery store everyday, I don’t really have a lot of great options for meals. It seems when I do that, I’m not really buying with any thought about what I need for food.

So, this weeks action plan is simple: Only go to the grocery store once this week and try to eat all of the weird/random food that I’ve bought over the past week. There will be a lot of very odd dinners.

Do you have any food goals for this week?

Generally speaking I’m not much of a consumer. Outside of my problem with needing to go to the grocery store often, I don’t do a lot of shopping. I have never been one to just go shopping or randomly wander through stores looking for stuff to buy. (My mom does this. She loves to “shop”.)

Due to this shopping aversion (it might be more of a “spending money” aversion) it seems that I’ve let a lot of things pile up and now I want/need a whole bunch of bigger ticket items. Some of the things are NOT necessary. They’re just things that I want.  In order to get all of the important items I need to sit down and figure out what’s a “need” and what is a “want”. I have a pretty good idea.

For instance, I NEED a new pair of glasses. I should have gotten them last year and just really have not gotten around to heading to the eyeglass place and picking out a pair. (I’m thinking of ordering them online. I’m kind of scared, though.)

I WANT a bunch of new clothes, boots, a new TV, a netbook, etc. The list goes on. None of that stuff is necessary. Sure they’re all nice to have but I can continue without them as I always have.

I NEED a coat. Florida does not usually have coat wearing weather. Last year it got in the 30′s and I FROZE. I have a huge parka for hiking but nothing for in the city. I also have 0 sweaters or hoodies. (Yes. I’m a Floridian. Seriously.)

Over the next few weeks I will be doing some shopping and taking care of some of these needs v. wants. Hopefully, I don’t just go out and spend like crazy.

Are you a shopper? What’s on your “need” list and what’s on your “want” list?

I was thrilled to read this interview with him on Lifehacker where they discuss more ways to save time in the kitchen. Exactly the type of thing that I love to read since I think that ALL time spent in the kitchen is a waste. (I have so many things that I would rather be doing, but one must eat.)

Are you a foodie? Do you love everything about cooking or do you just cook to eat?