From the category archives:

Sustainability and consumerism

Car culture and kids toys

by Dorea 01.02.2012
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Like many families, we’ve just had a channukah-induced influx of toys into our house. Recent improvements in storage mean that we actually do have space for these toys, and they have been keeping our kids delightfully busy. We are also blessed with considerate grandparents who remember our space constraints, often giving our kids craft sets [...]

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We Love Our New-and-Improved Tiny Condo: Part I

by Angela 08.29.2011
Renovations to the porch of our tiny house

My wife and I live in 650 square feet with two kids and we love it. We’ve written about our small home before, a tiny condo in North Cambridge, Massachusetts. We live in a neighborhood full of small houses and condos — the average home or condo around here is about 1,000 square feet. But [...]

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Actually, we can’t afford a car

by Dorea 02.02.2011

We actively choose to live our lives without a car.  When our truck died, way back in 2004, we probably could have found enough money to get another one if we’d really wanted to.  We wouldn’t have been happy about it, but we could have done it.  Really though, we were just happy to see [...]

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Toys: Can’t Live With ‘Em, Can’t Flush ‘Em Down the Toilet

by Angela 08.20.2010
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A friend recently asked us to make a post about how we simplify and de-clutter kids’ toys. My immediate response was, “If you’ve got an answer to that problem, I’d love to hear it, but I sure don’t!” But then I thought about it a little more and I realized that we have done a [...]

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Stuff

by Angela 04.09.2010

Last night I had the great fortune of getting to hear some words from Anne Leonard at the Consuming Kids Summit and I got to re-watch the Story of Stuff on a big screen. I hadn’t seen the film in a while and of course it inspired me to reduce my consumption and waste. Leonard [...]

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Food Waste Challenge

by Dorea 02.21.2010

Since baby R was born, we’ve noticed waste creeping into our lives. We’re more likely to waste money on take out. I’m certainly treating myself to more coffees during the work days. When we need to buy something, we’re more likely to purchase it new than to work at locating a used item. We’ve been [...]

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Embracing our Tiny House

by Dorea 02.04.2010

Ever since we found out baby R was a boy, we’ve been thinking about real estate. We own a 650-ish square foot two-bedroom condo in North Cambridge (and about 40 of those sq ft are unheated enclosed porch). Our approximate plan when we bought the place two and a half years ago was that if [...]

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Not shopping with kids

by Angela 01.26.2010

One huge advantage of our carfree lifestyle is that we don’t shop very much. I believe being without a car means fewer shopping trips, but I don’t have any research to back me up. If you’ve seen any, please leave a comment! I did find a study today that shows shopping trips are the most [...]

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In Praise of Car-Light Families

by Angela 01.20.2010

Occasionally, we worry that people get the wrong idea about us. I know that some readers out there probably think that we are environmental extremists, going to absurd lengths for our carfree cause. But to be honest, we’re fairly lazy people. Well, lazy might be taking things too far, but as parents of a three-and-a-half-year-old [...]

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Gifts for City Dwellers and Other Small-Space Folks

by Angela 12.19.2009

Over the years, our friends and family have had to get used to our unique needs around gifts. We love generosity and connecting with loved ones, but with four of us sharing 660 square feet, we don’t have a lot of room to spare. Now that we’re on the other side of Hanukkah, I’ve been [...]

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