Three tips to be a thoughtful consumer in the new year

There are many benefits to becoming a more thoughtful consumer: buying less, cutting clutter and reducing waste, to name a few. As we begin a new year, consider making a small change that can help you live more resourcefully. Make it easier to adopt the change by choosing one new habit per month, or make a change to an established habit. Who knows, maybe something small will turn into even bigger changes (and benefits!) for you.

Watch Alicia on KATU Afternoon Live, where she shares these tips with host Tra’Renee.

1.       Borrow rather than buy to cut clutter

Take advantage of the resources that Portland offers! The online map connects residents to free or low-cost options for living more resourcefully.

The map categories are repair/resale/swap shops, donation centers and lending libraries.

Portland has:

·         4 tool libraries

·         3 kitchen shares

·         3 swap and play spaces

·         1 toy library

Borrow these types of items and more  

·         Home and yard tools, power tools, table saws

·         Juicers, mixers, bread makers, canning equipment

·         Toys, games, clothes, books

These community organizations also need support! You can become a member based on the area of the city where you live and volunteer your time or donate your unused items.

The Library of Things (which lends baking equipment, board games and even karaoke machines to members) is available in Hillsboro and is coming soon to Beaverton too, through the county library system.

2.       Remember to reuse (and reduce disposables)

Make a reusables kit for your car or day bag, bike bag or purse. Include reusable bags, a coffee or travel mug, produce bags, cutlery or small containers for quick stops or on-the-go items.

After you use something from your kit, replace it as soon as you get home so your kit is always with you, ready for anything. Having an on-the-go kit is especially good if you eat out a lot, make frequent stops at the store, or tend to forget your reusables (we all do!).

3.       Resolve to redeem in 2018

As of  January 1, 2018, many more kinds of containers now carry a 10-cent deposit. These include bottles and cans for tea, coffee, fruit juice, coconut water, hard cider and kombucha. Beer, soft drinks and water containers continue to require a deposit.

By recycling these containers at a bottle redemption center, the materials are separated and turned into a clean, reliable supply of high-grade recyclable material. The materials are all processed in in the U.S., and for plastic containers, 100 percent of them are recycled in Oregon.

Of course, you can still recycle at the curb – aluminum and plastic go in the recycling cart, and glass goes separately in your other bin. But by redeeming your own containers, you get more money back in your pocket.

Find a BottleDrop Oregon Redemption Center near you!

Reduce and reuse for the holidays

Master Recycler volunteer, Bonita Davis, shares tips to reduce and reuse during the holiday season.

The holiday season is a time when we do more of everything, including celebrating and shopping. It can also be a time when a lot of waste is created in the process, but that doesn’t have to happen. This season, we can have some fun focusing on reducing and reusing to save money and go easy on the environment.

Watch Bonita on KATU Afternoon Live, where she shares some of these tips with host Tra’Renee.

Reduce

Choose experiences rather than things because something out of the ordinary may be the perfect gift for someone on your list – and alternative gift ideas are often waste-free. Know what your family and friends like and want – and if someone has a gift registry for a special occasion, use it!

Resourceful PDX partner, Chinook Book, offers coupons through the print edition or mobile app from local businesses and provides gift ideas and savings at your fingertips.

In the long run, durable materials save us money and significantly reduce waste. Items such as plates, utensils, glasses and linens can be new, used, borrowed or rented. Holiday meals may include leftovers. Plan ahead to save containers, like yogurt tubs, or invite guests to bring their own containers to take home extra goodies.

And don’t forget to use your reusable bags and travel mugs when you are taking advantage of holiday festivities and shopping excursions.         

Reuse

Creative reuse is the name of the game during the holidays. Reusing items and buying used materials can be fun and easy on our pocket. Make SCRAP PDX your first stop for cards, tags, bows, ribbon, gift bags and more.

Collect old maps and the Sunday comics to use as gift wrap. Or use a bandanna or kitchen towel for a no-waste gift.

Return, re-gift, or donate items you know you will not use. It is better to keep them in use with a new owner, rather than cluttering up your space with something you’ll never use. Many people need items during this time of year, so consider donating them instead.    

Find more ideas to create memories in your life in our resourceful #holiday series. 

Meal planning tips for holidays or anytime

Whether you are planning a holiday gathering, potluck or special dinner, preparing your meals or specific dishes ahead of time allows you to get what you need with less waste. 

Save the Food offers cooks and eaters alike options for food-and-money saving tips. The latest tool is the Guest-imator, a dinner party calculator that estimates how much food you need to keep your guests full and happy. What a concept!

Visit a local farmers’ market

There are some farmers’ markets open year-round and even more open for Thanksgiving, so it’s a great time to get back out to the market. The farmers market map allows shoppers to find a market based on the neighborhood and the day they want to shop.

Choose from a wide variety of seasonal food that tastes fresh and looks beautiful on your plate, including apples, pears, cranberries, winter squash, hazelnuts, walnuts, chard, kale, leeks, beets and potatoes.

Reduce and reuse at the table

There are many waste reduction ideas you can incorporate at the table and in the kitchen. By using durable plates, cloth napkins and serve-ware, you can add beauty to the table, save money over time and reuse these items year after year. Invite your guests to bring reusable Tupperware or casserole dishes so they can take home leftovers (or bring your own if you’re a guest so you get dibs on leftovers too!).

Save the Food offers these top 10 meal planning tips - plus more resources and tools on their interactive website for you and your family to save both food and money.

1. Don’t start from scratch
2. Check the refrigerator
3. Use portion planners
4. Have kitchen essentials handy
5. Use building blocks
6. Think double duty
7. Schedule a lazy night
8. Go fresh fruit
9. Lean on frozen ingredients
10. Cook and freeze

Let the new Chinook Book entertain you

By Carrie Treadwell from Resourceful PDX partner Chinook Book

The 18th annual edition of Chinook Book has arrived! As usual, it highlights local, sustainable businesses that thrive in the community by giving back. This year, there are over 600 offers in eight categories. The Chinook Book team spends time thinking about businesses and their industries and the approach and criteria with which they appear in the book.

This book is designed to be lived.

Ready for a night out on the town? Use the many Dining and Entertainment offers available. A meal at neighborhood restaurants, like Pollo Norte, OP Wurst or Ex Novo Brewing. Dancing at 80’s Video Dance Attack or karaoke at Voicebox. A play at Artists Repertory Theatre or Portland Center Stage. A movie at Northwest Film Center or The Academy Theater.

Resourceful PDX shares community resources with the newly updated map (page 14 in the print edition). There are many places to go for used art supplies, building materials and clothing. Look for coupons and tips for bike shops, consignment and thrift stores, hardware stores, and bike and car sharing opportunities. Visit the new DIY Bar as well!

Check out all the community coupons online. The print edition includes information and resources on how to connect with local businesses that are in line with resourceful living. The app continues to improve to offer even more personalized navigation and provides savings at your fingertips.

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

Aging parents and the stuff their kids don’t want

A recent article in the New York Times about aging parents with an abundance of stuff resonated because Resourceful PDX has thoughtful consumption at its core. It offers tools and ideas for reducing waste, and specifically, how to act and where to find resources. 

The article explains that the volume of unwanted keepsakes and family heirlooms is poised to grow — along with the number of conversations about what to do with them – because of our aging population.

“Resourceful PDX is about making simple changes to help you save money, support your community, conserve natural resources and enjoy more time with friends and family. ”

There are many online groups and local organizations that offer Portland-area residents simple ways to move useful materials through the community and into the hands of others who need them. Here are just a few:

·         Buy Nothing Project

·         Freecycle

·         Nextdoor

·         Paying it Forward Store

·         PDX Free Store

·         Rooster

Check out the Curbsider Blog for more options for sharing your unwanted or unneeded household goods.

Also, Metro has compiled a helpful list of charitable organizations to contact for pick up or drop off of your usable items. These range from local organization like Free Geek and The ARC of Multnomah County to national organizations like Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Read a previous Resourceful PDX post about Community Warehouse, your local furniture bank. Items that are needed the most include linens, kitchen and household goods and furniture. The Estate Store at Community Warehouse offers collectibles and antiques for purchase to help further furnish homes for local families and will gladly accept your donations.

Unusable bulky items
After sorting out all of your reusable items and finding them new homes, your garbage and recycling company can remove large, unusable items for an extra charge. Call your company a week in advance and they will give you a cost estimate. For a reasonable charge, they will pick up appliances, furniture and other big items. For curbside pickup, set bulky items at your curb on the day your garbage and recycling company has agreed to pick them up. 

Large items abandoned in your neighborhood? Contact the Metro Regional Illegal Dumping (RID) Patrol or call 503-234-3000.

Find local alternatives to back to school shopping and spending

The back to school shopping season accounts for about 50 percent of annual school-related spending and impacts approximately one-quarter of U.S. households.

While clothing and school supplies dominate back to school lists, the highest average spending is for computers and hardware. Here’s a breakdown of spending per family in each category:

·         Computers & hardware $307

·         Clothing & accessories $284

·         Electronic gadgets $254

·         School supplies $104

Getting kids ready to go back to school may include more stuff, more hassle and more stress. But there are plenty of things you can do to save time and money. Local resources abound for getting what you need to go back to school.

SCRAP offers supplies to 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. They have paper of all colors and sizes, binders, markers, pens, colored pencils, plus so much more.

Free Geek has repurposed electronics of all kinds at the new-and-improved Free Geek Store. It makes its computer systems the focal point of the space and you can also donate old computers and electronic equipment.

Title Wave Used Book Store includes a wide selection of books and other materials at deep discounts. Share your used books with friends, relatives, or younger schoolchildren. The Children’s Book Bank needs gently used books to pass onto children in Portland who might not otherwise have books of their own at home.

Interested in diving into more about back to school spending? There’s a survey about insights on spending and shopping trends.

Check out past posts about kids in school - and use the Resourceful PDX map to locate more resources near you.

DIY Bar: Where people come to get their craft on

By Alicia Polacok, Resourceful PDX partner Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

Brothers Adam and Jason Gorske opened DIY Bar in April 2017 as a long-held dream come true. It is a gathering place to work on individual crafts from their project menu while enjoying beer, cider or wine.

I visited on a Friday evening with three friends to get the story of this business from the brothers – and try my hand at a craft.

Coming from a close family, Adam and Jason always thought they would work together in some capacity. When they both found themselves in Portland in 2015, the dream started to take shape into a business. One where their respective skills and interests came into play - reusing, tinkering and mastering a sense of accomplishment.

For DIY Bar, it involved reusing old materials to repurpose into something new and building things based on their home improvement project experiences. Adam explained that salvage materials from the ReBuilding Center and Salvage Works were used to create the facade of the host stand, shelving for project supplies and the inside of the bar.

A place for crafty (and not so crafty) people

The idea for DIY Bar was inspired by paint and sip places, where you can enjoy a beverage while painting with step-by-step instructions and take home something unique.

Adam and Jason have done the work for you to find the projects, gather the tools and materials needed to make beautiful and functional crafts. To maintain consistency, the project materials are new, while the tools are reused by guests.

Adam said, “The future may include collaboration with other organizations and an interest in featuring local artists to do more intensive and in-depth projects.”

The most popular item on the 16-project menu is the rustic nail and string art. There are templates to choose from, or staff will help you create something one-of-a kind. During my visit – my three friends all chose string art projects. Because I put myself in the not-so-crafty category, I was daunted, so chose a leather beer koozie project instead. I love koozies (and beer) so why not try to make my own?!

With detailed step-by-step instructions in hand, and my questions answered by staff, I completed my koozie. There was still time for a drink and to mingle with others in the space. The friendly atmosphere encouraged people to see what others were making and celebrate their finished works of art.

The evening my friends and I were there, the place was full, and it turned out about one-third of the customers were from out of town. Tourists. Coming to experience a bit of Portland while visiting the city.

Feeling inspired? Check out the DIY Bar frequently asked questions to learn more before booking a space.

Creative repurposing offers fresh approach to home projects

Written by Tim Smith on behalf of guest blogger Lynn Feinstein, Möbius Home 

With a bit of ingenuity, a minimal amount of work and a creative imagination, you can redecorate your home's interior and exterior without spending much money. The environment also benefits when utilizing materials already on hand to decorate a room or outdoor area. 

Recreating Old Furniture Pieces

When you think “out of the box,” there is no end to the design creation. An old dresser turns into a beautiful window seat. After removing the dresser legs, lay a decorative cushion or blanket and some throw pillows on the top of the dresser and place in a window with a view, interior walkway or room corner. The top of the dresser functions as the seating space. Additionally, the dresser drawers provide convenient storage space.

Whether or not you should add a coat of paint depends on your design preference. Leaving the dresser in the original state creates an antique “shabby chic” style while a coat of paint creates the perfect modern accent piece for any room. Using this same dresser concept produces a versatile coffee table with built in drawers as well as a child’s toy box.

For more dresser ideas, see 6 Great New Used for a Vintage Dresser.

An old baby crib can become a decorative quilt or magazine rack in very little time and with hardly any effort. Once you remove the side railing sections of the crib, simply display them vertically against any wall. Hang your favorite quilts over the individual posts or drape magazines, hanging them by their spine, with the front magazine cover facing out.

Window Treatments

Window treatments can run rather costly, yet the average household contains a variety of extra fabrics and prints you can reuse instead. Common bed linens come in an array of colors, styles and sizes, are machine washable and require little work in constructing. With the help of a measuring stick or tape, thread, a needle and a pair of scissors, cut out your own patterns for beautiful yet original window treatment designs.

One Yard, No Sew Window Treatment 3 Ways offers a "no sew" option.

Exterior Property Decor

Gardening season has arrived, so instead of purchasing flower boxes, use an old antique bed frame to add a unique and stunning conversation piece to any front yard or flower garden. Simply remove the headboard and foot-board and use as the exterior back and front walls of your garden. Plant rows of your favorite flowers in the ground area located between the head and foot-board. Once the flowers reach maturity, they become the bed spread, creating a literal floral bed.

Any common item can become an eye-catching masterpiece. An old claw-footed bathtub serves as the perfect container garden. Just drill a few holes in the bottom of the bathtub and fill with gardening soil. This design idea works perfectly for areas with minimal gardening space or for growing any type of small herb, vegetable or flower garden.

Visit Crackedpots 18th Annual Art Show to find something unique for your own space. It is August 1 and 2 at McMenamins Edgefield.

Reclaim your free time with summer guides from New Dream

Start summer with family guides that highlight more of what matters.

New Dream has launched two new family guides to help you reclaim your free time.

The weekend guide, 5 Simple Steps to Reclaiming Your Weekend, and the summer guide, The Family Guide to a Mostly Screen-Free Summer.

The guides can be downloaded from New Dream and provide tips to help you plan and protect your valuable free time.

5 Simple Steps to Reclaiming Your Weekend

Ever get to Sunday night and find yourself feeling even more stressed and exhausted than you did mid-week?

In this guide, New Dream provides simple steps to help you avoid defaulting to screens when you find yourself with a short burst of free time.   

Get practical ideas to help you unplug, recharge and connect!

The Family Guide to a Mostly Screen-Free Summer

Concerned about screen-time taking over your free time? 

So is New Dream. That's why they created this step-by-step, sanity-saving resource, chock full of ideas to reclaim your summer. 

Start planning your mostly screen-free summer today. 

Caring for what’s under your roof

Summer is the perfect time to give your home some additional TLC.

Safety First

Before you start a home remodeling, demolition or construction project, learn how to avoid toxic materials and handle potential dangers you might encounter, such as asbestos or lead paint.

Before a home project, test for asbestos. Metro transfer stations require documentation for all loads of construction, remodeling and demolition debris that might contain asbestos.

Seasonal Maintenance

Taking good care of your home can prevent big problems and save a lot of money in the long run. Tasks like cleaning out your gutters and repairing exposed wood quickly help your home last as long as possible.

When you need to replace materials, consider reclaimed or salvaged. They provide unique character, and often are stronger, more durable and higher quality — and may be less expensive than new materials.

Local Resources

Find these local resources and more on the Resourceful PDX map to help you improve and maintain your home:

• Habitat for Humanity ReStore
• MetroPaint
• The ReBuilding Center
• Green Lents Community Tool Library
• North Portland Tool Library
• Northeast Portland Tool Library
• Southeast Portland Tool Library

Resourceful PDX is your go-to for community resources.