Free Fun Day in Springfield

Note: This is my baby. I have wanted to put on a positive Buy Nothing Day event for a long time, and it's finally coming to fruition. I'm STOKED and I hope lots of people can come (hint hint)

Free Fun Day
November 25, 1pm-5pm at The Gathering Place, 230 Main St., Springfield, OR
With help from MECCA, The Gathering Place offers a fun, creative alternative to Black Friday. On the day after Thanksgiving, come with family and friends to make recycled crafts and enjoy a potluck meal. Why chase sales when you can make recycled gifts for your loved ones? Free Fun Day is low stress, no cost to you, and is a great green start to the holidays. For more information, contact me, froregon (at) yahoo.com

Make your own flashcards

If you're taking a language class or another where you have to memorize a lot of vocabulary, you probably like to carry around a pack of flashcards. I know I needed them. But using one 3x5 for each word is wasteful, even if you have big handwriting. And the mini flashcards that come on nice rings from the bookstore play on your "paying for cool" weaknesses. Here's how you save trees, money, and space in your backpack:

1. Choose your cards. Staples sells 500 packs of 3x5s for $2.99 and 5x8s for $9.29. 3x5s are the best deal, you'll see why
2. Get friendly with a pair of scissors. It helps to have ruled cards in this case because they're easy to cut straight. For each 3x5, cut in quarters. You'll get 2000 flashcards out of a pack of 500. If you're using 5x8s, and you cut into 8ths, you'll get 4000 out of 500.
3. Money saving math: $2.99/2000=$0.001 per card $9.29/4000=$0.002 per card If you're patient, you could punch a hole in each, get one of those clippy rings, and make your own flashcard book for a fraction of the bookstore price.