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I’m Sierra. I live in the Boston area with my family.

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From the category archives:

green living

My New High Efficiency Clothes Dryer

April 22, 2010

We have a fairly new HE washing machine. For values of ‘new’ that are almost 5 years old. It still seems like just yesterday that the 70s vintage washer we inherited choked on a load of diapers and ground to a permanent halt, prompting us to purchase a new one. I digress. The point is [...]

Tagged as: clothes dryer, diaper, dryers, earth friendly, energy, green, home, home appliances, laundry, the earth, washing machine, washing machines

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Why I Quit Everything

March 2, 2010

Last September, when my five-year-old started kindergarten, she also went to swimming lessons twice a week, gymnastics class once  a week, music class on Saturday mornings, and a weekly play group at the community growing center. My toddler had a lighter schedule, comprised of only swim lessons and a weekly playdate at the library. I [...]

Tagged as: family, free-range parenting, frugality, gymnastics class, kids, kids love, kids running, parenting, playdates, quits, rio, serena, simple living, slow parenting, swim classes, swim lessons

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Keeping a Journal

February 10, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about several steps to making a life change stick. Then in the shower this morning, I thought, “Oh! I need to write more about journaling vs. simple record-keeping.” And sure enough, the first comment on yesterday’s post was from the always thoughtful Rebecca Weger, saying, “The most important piece for me is [...]

Tagged as: experience, health, james pennebaker, job search, journaling, journals, life, life changes, life stuff, money, powerful, writing

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How to Change Your Life

February 8, 2010

I have a post up on Get Rich Slowly today about getting the ball rolling with financial management, where I talk about “cross-training” skills from one area of your life to another. Here, I want to just quickly lay out a recipe I use for making meaningful personal change in any area. You may recall, [...]

Tagged as: change, changing your life, cross training, financial management, human interest, life, life stuff, money, personal change, spirituality

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The Power of Small Change

February 5, 2010

Fakeplasticfish has a post up about conflict between couples about green living, in which she quotes my post from last week about making green choices together. Beth Terry, the woman behind Fake Plastic Fish, has gone to amazing lengths to cut plastic out of her life. Last year, she produced something like 4 pounds of [...]

Tagged as: activism, change, community organizing, cutting plastic, green, green living, life, life matters, personal change, politics, rosa parks, social justice

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Choosing a Greener Life Together

January 27, 2010

On the heels of my Monday post at Get Rich Slowly about talking to your spouse about money, here’s a reader-requested post about how couples can communicate about green lifestyle choices. In general, my husband and I get along fine about our green living. Our values about things like making green life choices are very [...]

Tagged as: family, green, green life, green living, greens, life choice, lifestyle choice, live green, subcultures, the new york times

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All I Want For Christmas is January

December 13, 2009

I’m feeling pretty bah humbug this year. I’m tired, broke and grouchier about the weather than usual. The holiday season feels less like a joyful opportunity to reconnect and more like a train wreck of social, family and financial obligations. But tis the season, so I’m bucking up and doing my frugal best to be [...]

Tagged as: holiday, money

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Caving in on car-free living

October 27, 2009

Only a few weeks into life without a car, I am throwing in the towel. Which towel, you ask? The sopping wet one in the back of the bike trailer that got the seats almost dry, but not so dry that my ass wasn’t soaked by the time we got to music class on Saturday. [...]

Tagged as: car, family, green

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Making carbon footprint part of a product’s packaging

October 23, 2009

Imagine having to face the climate impact of your greasy take-out as you place your order? Or seeing the carbon footprint of your cookies clearly labelled alongside the calorie count on the back of the package in the grocery aisle? The NYT this week reports on an experiment in Sweden doing exactly that. The Swedes [...]

Tagged as: food, politics

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Car-free family, for the moment

October 8, 2009

Our mechanic called today to read our van its last rites. I’m not really in any kind of financial position this week to buy a new car, or even a new-to-me car. I’m just getting out of debt, and starting to put aside an emergency fund. It has an impressive $500 in it. I am [...]

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Tagged as: bike, green, money

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