Realized...

I was helping my mom out at her shop the other day when I realized that:

1. My whole outfit came from Goodwill for under $7. {blush}

2. I haven't owned a full length mirror in about 5 years. I guess I'll add that to my list of things to look for at Goodwill.

Frugal Friday: Free Bowling!

Sign up now at KidsBowlFree.com and each Sunday you'll get coupons for 2 free games of bowling per child. Additionally, you can get an adult season pass for $26.95, which includes up to 4 adults. Double bargain!

We may be dying to get outside and enjoy the sunshine right now, but I know the time is coming when we could use a few hours in some air conditioning.

Save the glue sticks!

So proud to say that Macy's class save NINE pounds of plastic -- in the form of empty glue sticks -- from the landfill this school year! I hope we'll be able to get the whole school involved next year.

If you haven't started recycling your glue sticks, you can find out more from the Elmer's Glue Crew.

Frugal Friday: It's a mom thing

Denver has one of the best moms groups in the Mile High Mamas. (On Twitter, Facebook.) I love going to their girls nights out but, once in awhile, GNO turns into Family Night Out. This week, they held an exclusive sneak peak of the new Bubbles exhibit at the Children's Museum of Denver where the tickets were only $1.00 for MHM members.

They got to paint, build things, run around, play on a fire truck, play with bubbles, color, dress up and - possibly their favorite part - ride in the elevator (next time I'll take them to the doctor's office instead).

Check with your local moms group for some free or frugal family fun in your area. Many of the larger groups will negotiate special deals with local attractions.

Meatless Monday ~ Veggie Stir-Fry

Mr. Greenhab, who is not a big fan of vegetables, has officially gone back to school on Monday nights, leaving me to force-feed the kids any meatless dish my little heart desires.

Tonight we had vegetable stir fry with quinoa instead of rice. It was so simple to make. We had broccoli and carrots in the fridge that needed to be used, so I cut them up and cooked them with a bit of hoisin sauce until soft, while cooking the quinoa in a separate pan. Once the quinoa was done, I threw it in the pan with the veggies and let it cook for a few more minutes.

My hungry-hungry hippos ate two helpings each and my picky eater even finished what was on his plate. That's what we call a success here in the land of Greenhab!

Happy Meatless Monday everyone!

Frugal Friday: Free Festivals!

Welcome to Frugal Fridays at Greenhab! We like to say we're frugal but the fact is, we're just plain cheap. I didn't start out that way, but Mr. Greenhab has rubbed off on me over the past ten years. Truth be told, when you have three kids and live mostly on a teacher's income, you have to be frugal to have fun.

All summer long (insert eye roll here since there's still snow in my yard) I'll be posting on Fridays about the cheap fun we find here in Colorado, and what may be available in your area.

A few weeks ago I read about a free festival at the JCC (that's the Jewish Community Center for you shiksas out there) in Colorado Parent magazine. Since Mr. Greenhab is Jewish (or "Jewish-ish" as I tease - he hasn't been to temple since his bar mitzvah about a hundred years ago) I decided we should go.

Entry to the festival was free. Rides were a buck, or $5 for unlimited rides. I was going to buy the kids a few tickets each, but Mr. G sprang for the unlimited rides. He said something about contributing to "his people".

There was an area where you could pet snakes, turtles and lizards~

(No turtles were harmed here. They can actually carry up to 150 lbs and the owner was trying to prove the point.)

A petting zoo with sheep, a donkey and rabbits~

They had a "Jew-grass Band", magician, balloon artists, several people painting faces, Science Matters was doing experiments, kids were making rockets and launching them, the Butterfly Pavilion did a demonstration and there was a helicopter landing.

The kids got to sit in the helicopter~

And ride a train~

There were arts and crafts, a rock wall to climb and two jumpy castles. The icing on the cake was the free snacks: Udi granola, bananas, organic milk, bagels and cream cheese, organic cheese puffs, juice and coffee (Helloooo free lunch, nice to see you my friend!).

So for $15 we had an entire day of fun, Marc "gave back to his people", we had a free lunch, and the kids felt like they spent the day at Disneyland.

Can't beat that...but we'll try. Come back next Friday for more frugal fun!

Catching up...

I've been such a bad blogger lately. With birthday parties, Mother's Day, school plays, meetings and my job going full time (!) I've hardly had a minute to think about blogging.

Frugal Fridays
This is the time of year when we're totally over being cooped up in the house all the time. (Did I mention we woke up to snow again today?) We can't wait to start exploring the great outdoors and many of the other fun things to do around Colorado. I'm going to be starting a new feature this week called Frugal Friday where I share some of the frugal things our family is doing for fun.

Community
Speaking of frugal and fun... I'm happy to have met some other frugal fun families in our neighborhood. I know, after almost 2 years here it's about time! Our girls are all in the same class at school and their moms are sweet, fun and down-to-earth. I know I've blogged before about being sort of the hillbilly tree-hugger in an upper-class town, so it's nice to meet some people I don't have to pretend to be classy around. (ha!)

I'm also finally getting more involved in some of the community groups that I blogged about after Earth Day last month. Last week I attended a meeting of the Green Scouts. It was more of an informational meeting than an actual troop meeting. I'm really excited about the potential for this group. It's going to be community run and focused - definitely a different take on scouting than your traditional/typical scout groups.

Green Scouts is working in conjunction with (i.e.: started by the same folks as) Evergreen Alliance for Sustainability + You. Their big goal, to be implemented next spring, is a community garden. The plans for the garden are amazing and it's going to be just beautiful.

Among the plots, there will be 8 educational plots where community members (or Green Scouts!) can go to learn from some of the gardening experts. The harvest from these educational plots will go to a local organization that helps families in need. They're also planning to ask anyone with a plot of their own to donate 10% of their harvest to the same organization. That is the type of community to which I want to belong!

More short term, EAS+Y is working to fix the issues we're having at our town recycling center. Long story there, but let's just say it isn't running well anymore. EAS+Y is working with the company to come up with an amicable solution so that we don't lose the center altogether.

So that's about all the news that is news from the land of Greenhab. Hope I still have some readers left out there!

Living Well on Welfare: The Food Stamp Challenge

For a recent MSNBC article Eating well on a food stamp budget, chef and restaurateur Bill Telepan accepted a challenge to live on a food stamp budget. Telepan didn't sacrifice his values (organic, unprocessed foods), but he also came in $20 over budget.

This made me wonder how well I could feed my family on a food stamp budget. We try to eat organic when we can, but it's not all the time. I shop the sales, use coupons, and usually don't shop at the more expensive stores like Whole Paycheck.

At the end of 2009, the national average food stamp benefit for a family of four was $68.88 per week, or $17.22 per person. Food stamp officials make sure to explain that the program is "meant to supplement a household's food budget, not be its only spending", but I'm planning to try to stick to a budget of $86.10 per week ($17.22 x 5 family members) just to see how healthy we can eat on that amount.

If you'd like to see just what you can do on a food stamp budget, join me in the challenge. I'm heading it up over on the Living Simple & Green message board on iVillage. We'll be sharing our troubles, triumphs, advice, recipes and meal plans and we'd love to have you along for the ride!