green


Green-Frugal-Free: Get Down at the Dump*
November 20th, 2010 | 12 Comments
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Recycling stations, in these times, should be a frugal-green b’s destination for fabulous finds. That’s right, the dump. Just like you should head over to your nearest Walmart or Target in the priciest zip nearby (for the best assortments), if you can enter without a sticker, check out the priciest garbage facility that has a take-it-or-leave-it near you. Be clever as you wait by the entrance for all those rich, or the once-rich forced to move and now cleaning out, to deliver their goodies. Restrain your Madame LaFarge like snickers, remember what goes around comes around, as you sort through their leftovers.

Repaint a desk and chair for Jimmy. Organize a new library for Grandma. Set the holiday table with oh-so-chic mismatched depression glass dishes.

A final word: Dignity. If you are picking through the garbage, at least be picky.

*Adapted from the book Bitches on a Budget






How Do You Roll?
October 4th, 2010 | Comments
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A bitch gets around… town, that is.

Chapter 6 (A Bitch on Wheels Knows Her Limits) is devoted to the good, the bad, and the ugly of transportation. It’s all about managing your expenses (and mastering your look) when it comes to car-buying, carpooling, public transport, and two-wheelers. How to be green without giving up convenience? What kind of bike should you invest in? Can car-sharing work for you?

Here’s a taste from our book:

The first rule of car buying is to remember that you are a woman. Your car is not an anatomical extension of your body. You do not have a … and therefore have no need to proclaim to the world that yours is the biggest!….The second rule of car buying is to beat the assholes at their own game. You know the ones we’re talking about – the guys using more hair product than you, who talk directly to your breasts as they ask when your husband or father will be joining you. Don’t they know that women pay the bills and influence the majority of car buying decisions?

* * *

And for the wild ones among you, we’ve got info about hogs and Vespas. Vroom vroom, bitches—see you in the fast lane.

Bitches on a Budget is published by the New American Library division of Penguin Books.






Soup Bones
August 31st, 2010 | Comments
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Over the weekend, we made the best roast chicken we had all summer. (Actually, it was the only roast chicken we had all summer, it’s been too damn hot to turn on the oven.) We stuffed the cavity with fresh herbs from the garden, garlic, onion, and lemon, seasoned it liberally with salt and pepper and roasted it in on a bed of onions, carrots and turnips.  Our hungry group picked the chicken clean and devoured the veggies.

Thrifty B’s that we are, we saved the leftover scraps, frame and pan juices. This morning we put them into a big stockpot along with the odds and ends from the vegetable drawer: a slightly sad zucchini, the ends of a bag of spinach, the last few carrots, a stick of celery, half of an onion, a garlic clove. We covered it all with cold water, brought it to a boil and then turned the heat down to a slow simmer.  It’s cooking down now and later this afternoon we’ll add half a cup or so of wheat berries or barley or faro to the mix (depending on what’s in the cupboard), season with salt and pepper and have this for dinner.

Actually, whenever we have leftover bones, juices and gravies we add them to the pot (so to speak) to create another interesting, flavorful and cheap meal. Not to get too earthy crunchy or anything, but there is a kind of harmonic convergence in being a bitch on a budget, a good green queen and a true foodie.

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Use Less and Live Big
June 29th, 2010 | 1 Comment
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Our official mantra “less is more” makes us good green queens. While there’s little good to have come out of this recession, we count our blessings that the go-go days of consuming everything in our path are in the past. After all, nothing is less attractive than a bloated bitch.

Here’s a short list of ways to edit your life so that more becomes less:

Recycle everything. It is not only chic but also sexy. Think about it, how often in life do you get to go both ways? (Spring semester junior year was a long time ago). Take out the middleman for maximum satisfaction. Think consignment stores, backyard sales, flea markets, listings on Craig’s List, e-Bay — all are AC/DC fests extraordinaire.

Plastic surgery is out. Facial rejevunation is in. Think tiny tweaks, nips and jabs. No big jobs; they’re the equivalent of buying a Hummer when a Prius will get you around.

Be a bitch on wheels. Lobby your pols for dedicated bike lanes. Nothing is hipper than rolling to work on a vintage cruiser or zipping around town on an adorable red Vespa.

Go to museums and libraries. Do you need to own things to appreciate them? Do you need to spend hard earned cash to have pleasure? Absolutely not.

While we are tongue in cheek about most things (we wrote Bitches on a Budget — need we say more?) we never kid around when it comes to good food. Stay local, buy local, eat organic. Tiny carbon footprints to market result in fresher, more interesting, and better tasting foods.

Apply our “less is more” rule to almost everything you do. Lighten your load, your look, and make all the other B’s green with envy.






Stop Shopping, Try Swapping
June 19th, 2010 | Comments
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Sentimental B’s have cornucopias of junk. Plastic containers, bags, shoe boxes all overloaded with gadgets and gizmos of all shape and size. Belts, watches, candle holders, mirrors, bracelets, keychains, wing-dings, do-hickies, whatchamacallits. And yet everyone invests in these same objects again and again. All the B’s on your street are buying the same stuff. Why not organize a swap? An overbought, underused objects of desire library?

The allure of a new treasure vanishes after a little while… give it a couple weeks, a month, and the glow of the buying rush fades; soon that cherished chia pet is growing dreadlocks in a corner. Share him! Make some other B’s day.

Invite trustworthy friends to join. Label objects. Rotate in and out monthly.

Swapping: It’s green, thrifty, and keeps life fresh.