Free 5x7 photos (costco.ca)

"It was just a few weeks ago that Costco.ca was offering four free 8X10 prints to its members -- and now there's another photo freebie available! Get Eight Free 5x7 Prints from the Costco.ca Photo Centre when you use promotional code CWFEA817.

This freebie is valid for Costco members only and expires September 6, 2009.

To order prints, an online photo account is required, so you may have to set one up to take advantage of this freebie. Fortunately, opening a photo account is free."

Free wrapping paper

We saw a neat idea for wrapping paper at a birthday party we went to yesterday - the comics section of a newspaper! Zero cost, saves manufacturing, and looks really cool!

Outdoor toys

All of the outdoor toys for the kids are bought from garage sales, junk sales or even taken from someone else's garbage pile (we found a wagon that someone tossed..and replaced the wheels for $25..it looks like new after a bit of scrubbing!)

These are plastic toys that get abused, scratched up, rained on, snowed on, dirtied, faded over time....why pay lots of money for it when you can get it for free or for a small fraction of what the original owner paid. We salvage it and rescue it from ending up in the landfill where it will never biodegrade. We think if it as giving the toys a new lease on life.

Speaking of which, anyone looking to get rid of a sandbox with a cover? :)

Your trash measures your consumption

Thought of the day: the amount of trash that you output directly reflects the amount of consumption that you or your family have.

If you eat processed foods, you will have lot of containers. If you use a lot of boxed items, pre-made food or packaged goods then you will have a lot of trash.

If you buy stuff that you don't need, you will have the boxes/packaging that everything came with.

I'm proud that our family puts out ONE trash container every TWO weeks - we have two kids under 3. We recycle everything that we can, we compost all our organic matter and we save up our bottles and cans to return for their deposit.