Life of utter garbage

One figure jumped out at me when I read this story about a guy who decided to live without throwing away a single piece of trash, from wine bottles to chewing gum and pizza boxes.

Rather than the 1,600 pounds of trash the average American family produces each year, (Dave) Chameides, his wife and two daughters have amassed only 32 pounds over the last 12 months. (Underscoring mine.)

Good grief! 1,600 pounds of trash means more than 4 pounds of trash a day!

Start by not buying water in a bottle. When I was growing up (when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth), we drank tap water. Now I use those water pitchers with a filter on them. In principle, I refuse to pay for water when we have decent tap water in the United States.

My wife and I have also eliminated virtually all processed food. We cook all our food from scratch. We bake our bread and pizza dough without a bread machine. (We use a vintage Hobart KitchenAid stand mixer that my late mother-in-law used when my wife was a little girl.)

I agree with Dave:

"It's just little steps. I'm not living in a cave. People think that the U.S. quality of life should be living in a house with lights on all the time. We live a pretty decent life, by many people's standards we live a phenomenal life."

A dollar well-unspent

Some examples of people who decided to spend a lot less money -- and ended up richer for it ...

VA family experiments with forced frugality

For two weeks in November, the couple paid their bills and mortgage. But that was it. No eating out. No double espressos at the corner cafe. No pedicures. No iTunes, groceries, even. Austin went to Best Buy twice, just to wistfully look around.

But as the Wheelocks came to the end of their forced frugality, they felt giddy instead of deprived. Katy found herself humming "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. They checked their money-tracking software and figured they had "saved" more than $2,000 during those two weeks just by not spending it.

$1 a day on food

This fall a couple in Encinitas, Calif., conducted their own experiment to find out what it was like to live for a month on just a dollar a day for food. Christopher Greenslate, 28, and Kerri Leonard, 29, both high school social studies teachers, quickly discovered what cash-strapped consumers have known all along. In the United States, the cheapest foods tend to be so-called junk foods — candies, chips and other processed fare that is packed with calories but devoid of nutrients. Meanwhile, fresh fruits and vegetables are priced out of reach. And living on a tight food budget adds lots of extra time and effort to meal preparation.

“We’re used to eating some type of vegetable with every meal and fruit every day,” Ms. Leonard said. “Finding out there was very little way to fit that into our budget, that was a huge struggle.”

The couple blogged about the diet project and also raised about $1,500 for a local community center. While the dollar-a-day diet was just a monthlong experiment for the couple, health researchers say their experiences reflect many of the real world conditions people on limited incomes face every day. To read more about the high price of healthful food, read this week’s Well column, “Money Is Tight, and Junk Food Beckons,” and then please join the discussion below.

And, from the bible of capitalism itself, The Wall Street Journal, comes:

Hosting a Holiday Party on a Budget



This caught my eye, because I'm always on the lookout for cheap wine...

Cheap wine doesn't have to mean poor quality. Buy wines from lesser known regions such as British Columbia and Portugal (for non-port wine), which tend to better priced, says wine writer Ms. Werlin. Also try boxed wines, which have made strides in quality in recent years, she says.

"It's not the most beautiful presentation, but you can put the wine in a carafe," Ms. Werlin says.

Ms. Werlin recommends the Wine Cube, which is available in four reds and four whites at Target. A 1.5 liter box (equivalent to two bottles) retails for $9.99 and a 3 liter cube sells for $15.99.

As for champagne, there was a time when all bubblies paled in comparison. Not anymore. Spanish cavas, Italian proseccos and American sparkling wines have improved to be nice alternatives for that New Year's toast, and can be cheaper by more than 50%.

Mr. Wondrich recommends Gruet, a sparkling wine fermented in New Mexico. "It's got a nice, champagne-like flavor," Mr. Wondrich says. "It's about $12 to $15 a bottle. But you don't want to get cheaper than that -- it should still taste good."