swandiver's Profile

Thank you so much for this post. While I LOVE bananas, I'm now a dialysis patient and had to give them up because of the amount of potassium it has.

I think the first problem is that we are calling these ingestable products, with no nutritional value whatever, food just because they don't kill us (at least not right away) when we eat them.

Food, at least here in Massachusetts, is tax exempt. If we simply exclude products without nutritional value or whose health risks outweigh any percieved benefit from that exemption, the price shift will help people choose more whole foods.

Also, my home county (Hampden) is part of a pilot program that doubles the buying power of food stamp recipient who purchase whole foods and vegetables from authorized sellers. Since only one farmer's market in this area takes food stamps before this, others now do to take advantage of the program and have opened their produce to a whole new market.

@ bodicegoddess - Here in western Massachusetts, there aren't a lot of commercially run apartment complexes. But I've found the review site www.apartmentratings.com to be helpful in my current search. They give a little info about the apartment, allow people to score it based on safety, parking, cleanliness, and staff. They also allow people with first hand knowledge to write reviews of a place.

www.yelp.com also does this in a limited capacity.

If a place is really bad, I've actually seen people post warnings on Craigslist.

I don't know how high the ceilings are in yourn loft, but I saw on one design show years ago that a loft was separated using curtains but the curtains hung from hospital style tracks mounted on the ceiling which made it flow better than rings probally would.

I work for TD Bank and yes, it is true that as of November 1st, we have started charging non-TD customers a 6% fee for using the Penny Arcade (what we call our change counting machine). Coinstar, at least in my area, charges 8.9%. The service is still free for account holders.

Also, if you go to a branch and ask, you can get a free TD bank to put that change in.

I also keep a coin jar. I keep it on a shelf by the door because in addition to putting change in it, I have begun charging myself a $1 "toll" when I leave the house each day to try and save up for a bigger apartment.

The very first thing I noticed were the dining room table and chairs. I would love to know where you got them.

In the house I share, my bedroom has a shower that was made out of a closet. I love it. Gladly gave up the storage space for that convenience.

I bought a fan that looks almost exactly like the Vornado at CVS last year for $40. While I'm not a design nerd, I was always under the impression that much of mid-century design was about using mass production to make good design affordable for the general public.

I was once caught on the technology hamster wheel. I needed to always have the latest thing. But then I realized that I was creating uses for the tech instead of using the tech to make my current life easier and more efficient.

While I still consider myself quite the gadget geek, I will not buy tech unless I can prove that I have a need for it.

Love love my communal living situation. I am renting the "master bedroom" of huge house in neighboorhood lined with Victorian and pre-war houses. Across the street I have a small park with a fountain. I have my own bathroom and a closet was converted into a great shower. I pay $550/month with utilities included. My only extra expense is my cable modem. The kitchen has top of the line appliances and I have full access to all common areas including a great deck with grill.

I would never have been able to afford this on my own and still live in Massachusetts if it wasn't for communal living. We never had a lot of problems with cleaning chores. If I think something's dirty, I clean it and the other housemates do the same. It helps that we're all pretty laid back and put the money savings above our own personal quirks.