3 ways to rethink back to school supplies

Getting kids ready to go back to school may include more stuff, more hassle and more stress. But there are things you can do that will help save time, money and resources. Check out Portland resources first to get what you need to go back to school.

Does everything have to be new? Can creativity and reuse have a place at this time of year? The stuff we need for school accounts for a large amount of money spent on items we may already have on hand. On average, a family with school-aged kids expects it will spend $630 this year, the lowest it’s been since 2011 and down from $669 last year. (Source: Time)

You can get the young kids involved with back-to-school readiness by making a game of finding things they already have in the house for the school year ahead. Establishing a routine is important this time of year so get them involved in maintaining new (or reused) items by making an effort to put school supplies in a safe place every day. Perhaps the one who finds the most usable things can win a special prize or shared experience at a local scoop shop!

Here are some ways to rethink how to get the supplies your kids need.

1. Plan ahead. When you have a plan it's easier to take action.

Before the new school year begins, sort through your old materials and reuse what you can from last year's supplies. Make a list before you shop for school supplies because it will help you remember what you wanted to purchase and limit impulse buying.

2. Consider quality over quantity.

Buy products with more recycled content – paper with a higher percentage of post-consumer materials, for example – and less or no packaging. If the product comes with packaging, ensure the wrapping or container includes recycled content and can be recycled.

3. Buy local. Reused school and craft supplies are available in Portland.

Visit SCRAP to help create DIY one-of-a-kind items for school, like pencil bags from fabric, zippers and found objects, or to customize last year’s backpacks by adding sew-on patches or letters. SCRAP offers paper of all colors and sizes, markers, pens, colored pencils, plus so much more.

For books and computers, consider used or refurbished ones. Many schools reuse text books to save money and reduce waste. Share your used books with friends, relatives, or younger schoolchildren. Multnomah County Library is an excellent resource for research projects and homework help. The library’s Title Wave Used Book Store offers a wide selection of books and other materials at deep discounts. Free Geek is a great place to donate old computers and buy replacements, plus find other electronic equipment.

Shwop is a year-round swap shop for Portlanders

Alicia Polacok, from Resourceful PDX partner Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, stopped by Shwop in Southeast Portland and spoke with owner Marci Pelletier about a new take on swapping.

Marci Pelletier has been thrift shopping for 27 years. And owning her own business isn’t anything new either. She’s been involved with start-ups and financial companies most of her professional life. Starting a swapping business seemed like a natural fit. Marci opened Shwop three years ago. After outgrowing a space in Woodstock, she’s been in the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood since 2013.

“Shwop is a clothing swap boutique where people pay a membership fee and then swap clothes,” said Marci. There are over 600 members who swap clothes, shoes and some household goods. Marci wants her shop to have a community feeling – offering women, men and kids a place to meet each other, find usable items at a deep discount and get the retail therapy that many of us crave.

The average person throws away 65 pounds of clothing a year. Swapping provides a different way to donate unwanted or unneeded clothes and reinvigorate your own wardrobe by shopping at Shwop.

Shwop isn’t a consignment store, nor does Marci buy clothes. Instead, members pay a fee to harness the stock. Marci keeps track of everything that comes through the door and then sorts and tags it for member store credit. Members are then free to shop for items they want to take home, matching their credit.  

Marci also works with artists to upcycle or repurpose not-so-perfect items that come into the store. One artist uses denim jeans as her canvas. One classroom of first to third graders at Franciscan Montessori Earth School use stained and worn out t-shirts for weaving rag rugs. The rugs sold at their school auction for $1,300 each!

Portland residents are welcome to learn more about Shwop online or by visiting the store to become a member.  

There’s a healthier way to clean this spring

With spring in the air it can only mean one thing – time to clean!

According to Metro, the average person in the U.S. uses 40.6 pounds of household cleaners each year.

Many of these products include ingredients that can be harmful to those we love and the environment around us. Choosing products that are less harmful are better for you and your family (and saves you money!).

Recipes for a greener clean

Metro has a wealth of information about reducing toxics, including simple cleaning tips and recipes for a safer home. There are many recipes available – and you may already have all of the ingredients you need at home – from window and wood cleaners to drain and oven cleaners.

Combinations of three key ingredients – baking soda, white vinegar and liquid soap – are the staples of natural, green cleaners. Reuse an existing container or spray bottle and label it so you know what type of homemade cleaner it contains.

Part of the cleaning ritual may be the smell of ‘clean’. Perhaps it reminds you of your family home or your grandma’s place. The smell is often the result of synthetic fragrances which can trigger asthma and may contain hormone-disrupting chemicals. By making your own cleaners, you can choose to add an essential oil to your mix for a customized and chemical-free clean smell. Metro’s recipes offer guidance for which oils and how much to use.

Take a look at the Washington Toxics Coalition Top 10 Tips for Safer Cleaning for more inspiration and tips. Get your house clean safely this spring by following these tips to make sure you use the best cleaning products for both you and the environment.

You can hire a green housekeeper, too

If you prefer someone else do the cleaning, check to see if these companies use safer, less toxic cleaners too. Resourceful PDX partner, Chinook Book, has many service-oriented businesses under Home and Garden. Coupons on your phone or in the book include offers for house cleaning services.

Gifts of time or service help big families enjoy the holidays even more

Whether you give a gift of your own time, or buy a service gift from a Portland business, gifts of service can be a great way to show you care without breaking the bank.

Betsy holds a picture of her family, who also benefit from a family gift exchange and her gifts of service.

Try a gift exchange

As Pam’s family started growing, holidays were becoming more expensive and stressful. So rather than buying for 12 or more people in her extended family, they began a gift exchange. Each family member gives and receives just one extra-special gift, and encourage homemade creations or gifts of service, like house cleaning, kitchen organization or babysitting. Holidays are now less expensive and a lot more fun.

Make it personal

As a massage therapist, Betsy knows some individual pampering is a good thing. She has given the gift of massage for many years. She even makes gift cards for her family and friends, who look forward to opening her gifts year after year. She has even begun to get requests from younger members of her family rather than gifts of the latest toy or gadget!

Looking for other ways to offer a gift of service?

Resourceful PDX partner, Chinook Book, has gift ideas based on the book’s categories, including service-oriented businesses under Wellness and Home and Garden. Coupons on your phone or in the book include local spas for massage, fitness and healing centers, yoga studios and offers for house cleaning services.

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Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday

For family and friends who have it all, share the bounty of the Northwest

Yvonne and Josh are a creative duo who love to make things inspired by the Northwest seasonal harvests. Instead of purchasing items for friends and family, many who live outside of Oregon, they give batches of homemade goodies that show off the bounty of the seasons – and find a place in their hearts and stomachs! 

Josh and Yvonne treat family and friends with their holiday creations.

Shop local for food and supplies

For their marionberry jam, they plan ahead in the summer when the berry bounty is plentiful and either buy berries at their neighborhood Montavilla Farmers Market, or they pick berries at Sauvie Island Farms. (Both the market and farm offer winter hours too.) 

Josh brews beer and roasts his own coffee. He uses old air pop popcorn makers from thrift stores for roasting coffee and buys other coffee supplies from local store Mr. Green Beans.

Yvonne bakes cookies and candies, like hazelnut toffee, that she gifts in holiday tins. She purchases tins for toffee and canning jars for jam from local thrift stores and takes them back from friends when they are empty to reuse them year after year. They also purchase food preservation equipment for the jam from small businesses like Mirador Community Store.

While their loved ones get bountiful, consumable gifts, Yvonne and Josh get the satisfaction of working together to make delicious, low-waste creations.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to DIY, you can still get the most of Portland offerings by shopping local at one of the many artisan events. The Resourceful PDX event calendar lists holiday happenings.

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Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday

6 tips to enjoy your holidays even more

The holiday season has arrived!

With a little planning, you can have more fun during the holidays, with less waste and less stress. 

1. Start with your values

Spend a little time coming up with a few words or draw a picture that represents your values (especially what you value during the holidays). Consider involving others in the family to help. Use your values as a guide to determining your holiday activities. Some of my values include relaxed time with family and keeping family traditions going from when I was a kid (like going to cut down a tree).

A new resource to simplify the holidays from The Center for a New American Dream includes an interactive calendar to help focus on what matters most during this time of year. There are tips and ideas about planning, budgeting, giving and receiving, reducing waste, meaningful moments and entertaining.

2. Make your to-do lists

Make a list of all the events or projects you want – or feel you need – to get done this holiday season. Consider making separate lists for each holiday. Start by listing each project/event and then list all the activities you need to do for each one. Don’t forget to include what you’ll need to do for preparation, the actual event/project and clean-up. For example, the activity “Christmas Dinner” could include activities like sending out invitations, choosing recipes, buying food, preparing food, decorating, cleaning up and putting away dishes and decorations.

3. Assign your time

Once you’ve created your list, assign the amount of time you think each activity will consume. Be realistic when assigning time to each activity and add some extra time. If you’re not sure, give it your best guess – it doesn’t have to be perfect. The important part is realizing that everything takes time to complete.

4. Revisit your values

After you have your list of activities and the amount of time each one should take, revisit your key values to make sure your activities align with them. Consider filtering out activities that don’t match up with your key values, or adding activities focused on downtime, relaxation and fun.

5. Create your calendar and revisit it regularly

Schedule your list of activities on your calendar. Scheduling your activities ensures you are creating space to get them done. As we all know, things will change and you might need to add, remove or change activities. By allowing for some buffer, you’ll have space to be flexible as things change.

6. Delegate

Consider which activities you can delegate. Have a teenager in your life (son, daughter, niece, nephew or neighbor) that loves to wrap? Let him or her take on some of the present wrapping. It gives others a chance to contribute and feel involved with the festivities and play to their strengths. It also allows us to share some gratitude with those that make these holidays worth enjoying.

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Casey Hazlett of Sustainably Organized shares her tips on how to get ready for the holiday season.

Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday

Local, reused and fun gift ideas for kids who like to unwrap presents

Peggy and Rick from Southeast Portland have two sons, ages 8 and 12. Naturally, their sons enjoy the surprise of unwrapping holiday gifts (what kid doesn’t like the thrill of tearing off wrapping paper?), but they also want to avoid the excess stuff and the waste that often comes with the holidays. So they get creative in selecting new and reused gifts, and make the whole gift opening experience into a family game, too.

Peggy and Rick first buy something the kids need, like a new or used baseball mitt, and something else fun, like a used Lego set. The boys also like getting “experience” gifts, like a day at the batting cages or the movies.

Last year there was only one big gift for the whole family: a trip to Disneyland that the boys had been asking for all year. They gave the boys clues to find around the house that led them to the final note that they were going on their big trip. Even with smaller gifts of experiences or stuff, making a game of finding the gifts adds fun for the whole family that they all look forward to year after year.

Need local resources for shopping for kids?

Resourceful PDX partner, Chinook Book, has gift ideas based on the book’s categories and businesses. Using the coupons in the book this time of year can help you support local business and save money too.

Little Boxes, Portland’s answer to Black Friday (and Small Business Saturday), has loads of toy and games shops listed for specials throughout the holiday season. Here are just a few participating businesses:

Child's Play Toys – 2305 NW Kearney St.

Cloud Cap Games – 1226 SE Lexington St.

Finnegan's Toys & Gifts – 820 SW Washington St.

Kids at Heart Toys – 3445 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

SpielWerk Toys – 3808 N Williams Ave. #121

Thinker Toys – 7784 SW Capitol Hwy.

Find lots of gift ideas for treating the kids to a special event or activity at pdxkidscalendar.com.

And if you’re wondering where to get those used Lego sets, check out Bricks and Minifigs in Beaverton, where you can buy, sell or trade Lego products.

Find gift ideas for other hard-to-buy-for people in your life in our resourceful holiday series. #holiday

Sustainable resources abound in Chinook Book's 15th Anniversary edition

Carrie Treadwell, from Be Resourceful partner Chinook Book, shares highlights from the latest edition of the local coupon resource.

“Chinook Book highlights local, sustainable businesses with a belief that businesses that give back also thrive in the community. The Chinook Book team spends time thinking about businesses and their industries and the approach and criteria with which they appear in the book.

Significant updates and improvements are part of our annual print and mobile editions to help celebrate our proud 15-year history in Portland. You'll find more coupons than ever before, exciting new merchants and enhanced app navigation.

View fullsize

The newly updated map (page 390 in the print edition) highlights resources that are part of the Be Resourceful program:

• Places to borrow, share and swap like the tool libraries and kitchen shares and the swap and play spaces.
• Places to go for used art supplies, building materials and clothing.
• And much more!

You’ll also find a plethora of information and resources for local food, including Portland’s farmers markets, as well as many local businesses that are in line with resourceful living. Look for coupons and tips for bike shops, consignment and thrift stores, hardware stores, and even car sharing opportunities.”

Tap into savings by using both the print book and mobile app, available at local retailers and through school and nonprofit fundraisers. 

Look for Green Spots at Sunday Parkways in North Portland on June 22

Sunday Parkways takes place this weekend in North Portland, with Green Spots popping up along the route to show sustainable community features that nurture healthy, connected neighborhoods.

The list of Green Spots include:

• June Key Delta Community Center (N Ainsworth Ave and Albina Ave)
• Harper’s Playground at Arbor Lodge Park (N Delaware Ave and Bryant St)
• North Portland Tool Library at the Historic Kenton Firehouse (Green Spot is at N Delaware Ave and Schofi­eld St; Tool Library is one block east at N Brandon Ave)
• New Columbia at McCoy Park (N Trenton Ave and Fiske Ave)
• Transportation Safety (N Willamette Blvd and Rosa Parks Way)

Be Resourceful is partnering with Green Spot at the North Portland Tool Library at the Historic Kenton Firehouse near Kenton Park. At the Green Spot, Sunday Parkways attendees can learn how to borrow tools from the tool library, get help repairing broken items at Repair Cafés, and share favorite community resources on the Be Resourceful map.

The Kenton Firehouse itself also has shared space available to rent for gatherings of many sizes, and also hosts community events. The space offers a variety of ways to extend the life of the things that you need, meet neighbors and learn about the sharing community.

North Portland Sunday Parkways is Sunday, June 22, 2014, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. The route takes you on a tour along the scenic Willamette Boulevard, and then you can glide towards Peninsula, Arbor Lodge, Kenton, Columbia Annex and McCoy parks to enjoy an array of activities, food, music, vendors and fun.

Be Resourceful with Sunday Parkways in East Portland on May 11

This weekend, the first of five Sunday Parkways will take place in East Portland, where walking, biking, rolling or dancing along the route is encouraged!

East Sunday Parkways is Sunday, May 11, 2014, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. The seven mile route takes you on a tour of East Portland where you can stop by Glenwood, Bloomington, and Ed Benedict parks for food, vendors, music and more.

Sunday Parkways promotes healthy, active living through a series of free events opening the city's largest public space – its streets – to walk, bike, roll and discover active transportation. This event fosters civic pride, stimulates economic development, and shows off the community, business, and government investments that all contribute to Portland's vitality, livability and diversity. 

Be Resourceful will have a booth at the event in Bloomington Park where you can learn more about resourceful living and share community resources. Where do you go to reuse, borrow, share, rent, and fix in your neighborhood? Are there places in East Portland you want others to know about?

Here are just a few of the many places in East Portland to Be Resourceful!

• Eastside Swap & Play
• Fabric Depot
• Finders Keepers Thriftshop
• Goodwill
• Green Lents Community Tool Library
• Habitat for Humanity ReStore
• Montavilla Sewing Center
• Reliance Appliance Repair

 Celebrate Mother’s Day and join the fun at this family-friendly event this weekend!