Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Got Talent? - FREE Elite Summer Dance Intensive

This looks great.  Contact the school now for next year's slots...

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

How I spent National Thrift Shop Day

Today is National Thrift Shop Day and I celebrated with spree at Goodwill. I'm usually not that successful at this particular location but I was in the nabe so I *HAD* to go in. Lol.

I scored a cute pair of black Franco Sarto heels, a perfect condition Nourishing Traditions book, a vegetarian crock pot cookbook, and Eat This, Not That book. All for about $11.  Plus, folks from the Goodwill home office were there running promotions. They gave me a nice canvas bag with some fun freebies.

Then, I walked on over to Staples to "celebrate" their Teacher's Appreciation Day. Since we homeschool one of my youguns, I scored an envelope of school supply swag.  After that, I strolled through Union Square's farmer's market for some free samples. Delish!  And, guys were handing out free Time Out New York magazines, so I got that too.  :)

Unfortunately, it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns.  Later that afternoon my Metrocard fell out of my phone case (time to get a new case). The card had over $13 on it.  I did use my WageWorks commuter card which is loaded with pretax money to refill my new card. Plus, I grabbed a discarded Metrocard by the swipey-thing so I wouldn't have to pay the $1 fee to get a new card.  We'll guess what, the found card had $3 left on it! I'm guessing a nice tourist left it there since they wouldn't need it anymore.  Thank you anonymous card-leaver.


Check out my score, it doesn't include the free food samples (grin) or the Time Out New York.

Friday, August 5, 2016

FREE Clothing, Books and more!!

Despite increasing environmental awareness, New Yorkers continue to toss many recyclables in the trash--a challenge we address daily at GrowNYC.

Want to know how you can help NYC on the path to Zero Waste? In some cases it's as easy as making sure to recycle the right materials, and in other cases it means a few extra steps to a swap, Greenmarket, or recycling collection to keep good (and bad) stuff out of the landfill.

Read on for resources and upcoming events to see how you can do your part for a more sustainable NYC.

Resources to Raise Recycling Rates More than half of what New Yorkers should recycle ends up in the trash instead, according to the 2013 NYC Waste Characterization Study recently released by the NYC Department of Sanitation.

The good news? With the city's efforts to go Zero Waste by 2030, citizens have resources to recycle 1/3 of their waste at the curb, compost about 1/3 of their waste through organics collections, and easily donate or reduce another 1/10 through collections for textiles, clothing, e-waste, plastic bags, and harmful household products. Learn more at nyc.gov/zerowaste.

Greenmarket Food Scrap & Clothing Collections:

Big Numbers, A Few Changes First, the big news: food scrap collections at Greenmarkets topped the 7 million pound mark last month! We are amazed and impressed at New Yorkers' dedication to saving, storing, and transporting their food scraps to market to be saved from landfills and used for local green spaces.

Now, a few changes to collection schedules for select clothing & food scrap sites:

MCCARREN PARK: Clothing & Food Scrap Collections now also on Tuesdays!

CARROLL GARDENS: Clothing Collection now ends at 3pm

CORTELYOU: Clothing Collection now ends at 2pm

Coming Soon: Project Farmhouse! Construction has officially begun at GrowNYC's new center for sustainability and education: Project Farmhouse. NYC has the International Center for Photography, the Horticultural Society, a Costume Institute but NO environmental center - until now.

Located in Union Square and opening in fall 2016, Project Farmhouse will be a place to explore environmental issues through the lens of food, horticulture, arts, recycling, cooking, and more. Make a donation today to help open the doors to Project Farmhouse.

Upcoming Events East Williamsburg Clothing Swap Saturday, August 7, 12pm-3pm Moore Street Market (map) 110 Moore Street, b/t Humboldt St & Graham Ave

Bring clean, reusable, clothes to share and find an outfit new to you! You don't have to bring something to take something. Clothing, shoes, belts, hats, and accessories only, please! Learn more.

NYC SAFE Disposal Events Safely dispose of electronics and other potentially harmful household products like batteries, paint, pesticides and medicine. Only NYC residential waste will be accepted (no business or institutional waste permitted).

Learn more at www.nyc.gov/safedisposal.

Saturday, August 13 - Bronx 10am-4pm, Fordham University Parking Lot, Southern Blvd Cars approach from Bedford Park Blvd

Saturday, August 27 - Brooklyn 10am-4pm, Floyd Bennett Field Flatbush Ave/Marine Pkwy Electronics & Textile Collections - West Harlem

Saturday, August 20, 10am-4pm LaSalle St at Broadway, Manhattan Responsibly recycle unwanted or broken computers, fax machines, TVs, VCRs, DVD players, cell phones, and more with the Lower East Side Ecology Center (NO microwaves, refrigerators, air conditioners, smoke detectors).

Wearable Collections will accept clothing, shoes, belts, handbags, linens and other reusable textiles (NO scraps, rugs, carpeting, pillows, comforters, or luggage). Sponsored by Morningside Hts./W.Harlem Sanitation Coalition.

SI Greenmarkets Book Swap Saturday, August 20, 10am-1pm

SI Mall: Marsh Ave & Ring Road, commuter lot

St. George: St. Marks & Hyatt St. Bring books in good condition to your Staten Island neighborhood Greenmarket.

Take all the books you can carry, for free! You don't have to bring books to take books.

Learn more. GrowNYC's zero waste programs funded by the NYC Department of Sanitation aim to improve the City's recycling rate by educating residents about recycling and waste prevention, and working with landlords to make sure building recycling programs are adequate.

Our free services include apartment building recycling audits, trainings for tenants and supers, community events centered on education and special collection programs for clothing and food scraps.

For more information visit www.grownyc.org or call 212-788-7964

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Frugal in the Office!!!

My office did not have any office supply holders that met my needs. Basically I wanted, er needed, paper and binder clip holders and pencil and post-it holders. Nothing fancy or exotic.  So what did I do??? I used my creativity and trash. You read that correctly--trash.

On Take Your Child To Work Day, my kiddos surprised me by decorating with duck tape my stapler and tape dispenser. Since they did such a great job at home, I asked them to decorate a spare container so I can use that as a pencil and pen holder. The lid is used as a post-it holder. From my apartment building I found two awesome small glass pimento jars with lids (baby food jars would have worked too). 

Finally, the tray was salvaged (with it's maroon insert) from a container holding candies a co-worker provided to the office as a treat. I took the tray that was bound for the garbage. I didn't know what, but I was sure my kiddos or I could find a great use for it.

I love the final results. Check it out: