New yarn from old sweaters

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/mills132.html Nice article for  recycling old knit or crocheted  items . Be frugal and have fun.

Happiness/ cooking-up karma. Thanksgiving!

http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/cooking-up-karma Wonderful ways to give thanks

Fugality vs Cheap

http://www.newdream.org/blog/2011-09-being-frugal-versus-being-cheap Nice comparison . This is the challenge !

Simplify pledge for holiday

PLEDGE TO SIMPLIFY THE HOLIDAYS

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* Required

This year, I pledge to use the following strategies to simplify my holidays (choose FIVE or more!): * To complete the Challenge, commit to at least FIVE actions. Feel free to write in your own under "Other" as well!

• GIVE THE GIFT OF TIME by creating your own gift card for a service (e.g., babysitting, carwashing, petsitting, chores, making dinner, organizing an outing).
• GIVE A HANDMADE GIFT like a memoir of cherished memories with that person, a book of family recipes, a collage of pictures and mementos, or a calendar filled with the birthdays and anniversaries of friends and family.
• OFFER TO TEACH A SKILL YOU POSSESS (e.g., knitting, photography, computer skills, financial planning, a foreign language, music lessons, canning tomatoes, cooking a favorite recipe).
• CONSIDER LESS GIMMICKY, LESS COMMERCIAL GIFTS for children, such as arts/crafts supplies, books, a magnifying glass, or building blocks.
• CREATE A PAPERLESS HOLIDAY LETTER on the computer and email it to friends and family. If you do send cards by mail, make your own cards or buy cards made from 100% recycled materials.
• HAVE A WHITE ELEPHANT PARTY at the office instead of a traditional gift exchange, where each person brings a wrapped secondhand item in good condition, or do a cookie exchange.
• DRAW NAMES IN YOUR FAMILY FOR GIFT-GIVING (for extra fun and surprise, make it "Secret Santas"), so that you can put more time and thought into one gift instead of having to give to several people.
• SHOP FOR USED ITEMS for all or most of your holiday gifts (e.g., local thrift store, Craigslist, Freecycle, used products on Amazon or eBay).
• SHARE THE GIFT OF MUSIC by caroling, and include visits to elderly neighbors or a nursing home. Or, gather friends and family for an in-home holiday sing-a-long.
• GIVE BACK TO YOUR COMMUNITY by preparing care packages for the homeless, or volunteering at an organization to help those in need during the holiday season.
• ADOPT A "LESS IS MORE" ATTITUDE toward holiday decorating. Opt for natural trimmings such as clippings from local evergreens and holly bushes.
• SAVE PAPER by wrapping gifts in newspaper comics, junk mail, paper bags decorated with markers, old maps, phone books, or other reused paper.
• PREPARE YOUR HOLIDAY MEALS with as many seasonal, locally grown, and/or organic foods as possible.
• REDUCE JUNK MAIL by removing your name from mailing lists of unwanted holiday catalogs. For more tips on how to do this, go to http://www.newdream.org/programs/beyond-consumerism/avoiding-advertising.
• CELEBRATE BUY NOTHING DAY on November 25 (see http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd) and spend that day doing community service, visiting an elderly friend, or helping a neighbor.
• Other:

10 Things You Should Quit Today

Written by Courtney Carver on October 31, 2011 - 39 Comments
Categories: lifestyle

Quitters never win and winners never quit. That’s a saying you may have heard before. I’d like to challenge that. I understand the importance of teaching children the lesson of persistance and sticktoitiveness, but we aren’t children anymore.
We are adults learning to live life with intention and purpose. Sometimes a life like that requires quitting. Let go of the guilt and find the value in ending something so you begin something else. Consider that the journey may be more important than the finish line.

10 things you should quit today:

1. Reading. If you are an avid reader, you probably read a book from front to back, even when the book is not very good. What if you quit after chapter 5? No one is hurt because you stopped reading, and you just created a block of time to read something you like better.
2. Watching. How many bad movies have you sat through in your life? Why? Because you thought it would get better? Because you spent money? Because you still had a box of Junior Mints to get through? Spend your time more thoughtfully. If the movie is bad, excuse yourself and do something else, or nothing at all.
3. Fixing people. You may want to change the world, but it is not your job to save or fix everyone or anyone you meet. Love deeply and give freely, but don’t hold yourself responsible for another person’s choices.
4. Learning something. If you are taking a course that you hate, or are working towards a degree that doesn’t make sense for what you want your life to be like, switch gears. The skills you acquire along the way will matter. You don’t have to prove to anyone that you can finish.
5. Your job. Just because you are really good at what you do, doesn’t mean that is what you are supposed to do. Quiting a job takes more planning than quitting a book, but it can be done. It’s been almost 2 months since I quit a job I was really good at. I walked away from a 15 year career and now I wake up happy every day. I sleep better. I look forward to doing good work instead of hard work. I live in joy instead of dread.
6. Being comfortable. It’s easy to get comfortable, but often the answers are in discomfort. When you get uncomfortable, stay there for a bit instead of retreating to comfort.
7. Comparing. If you measure your worth by how you stack up to others, you will lose everytime. A life of comparison becomes one of competition. Choose to collaborate and create instead of comparing and competing and let the magic happen.
8. Saying yes. If you are pleasing everyone but yourself, it might be time to start saying no. “No thank you.” works almost every time.
9. Protecting yourself. You may want to play it safe and protect yourself, but I would suggest that you might be missing something. Be vulnerable. Be open. Face fear. Really live.
10. Trying to make it work. In a yoga class I took this weekend, while I was hanging out in a pose that made my legs shake, the instructor suggested backing off and letting go to fully appreciate the pose. Not just in a yoga pose, but in day to day life, sometimes to go deeper, you have to let go instead of try harder. All that pushing, reworking and forcing might set you back.
This isn’t permission to give up or quit when the going gets tough or things aren’t going your way. This is permission to quit something that does not add value to your life and takes you away from doing meaningful work and living a happy life. This is permission to choose.
I’ve quit so many things over the past 5 years and feel better than ever. I did make the mistake of sitting through a bad movie Friday night. What made it even worse though is that instead of trying to find anything good about it, I kept thinking about why I wasn’t walking out.
This intentional life on purpose stuff is a work in progress and the work is never finished. Quit trying to wrap it up, speed it up, or arrive at your destination. Appreciate that you are right where you are supposed to be.
What do you want to quit or what do you wish you quit a long time ago?
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Be More with Less & share on twitter.
P.S. I’ll be accepting 2 more clients this year. If you are interested in taking your business to the next level, or launching a special project with grace and simplicity, work with me.