Queercents

I’ll admit, this is more of a rant and a survey than anything informational.

I’m looking forward to making a family. We’re in the very beginning stages of planning the future but I can‘t stop thinking about it. One of the biggest things I am obsessing on is wanting a Big House. But this wanting is very confusing for me . Firstly I am not a shallow girl, and secondly, we’re not planning on having more than one child, two at most. Plus, I’ve never been competitive or very greedy or much about keeping up with any Joneses. Okay, so maybe I’ve been called a princess once or twice, but I wasn’t raised in a palace. Then again, maybe this is the reflexive effect of growing up in a two bedroom guest house with skylights instead of windows.

Still, there are big houses in my dreams at night. I am compelled to look at them on Craigslist. By big, I mean at least four bedrooms and a basement. Read the rest of this entry »

Three Reasons to have your shoes repaired:

1. The environment. Less shoes in the landfills.
2. Support your local economy instead of buying a replacement pair made who knows where.
3. It’s less expensive than a new pair.

I actually own and have worn through many less pairs of shoes since I began buying leather shoes instead of plastic and canvas. One of my buddhist vegan professors in college used to curiously lecture us that it was okay to buy and wear leather shoes since they are bio-degradable, don’t require petrochemical production and last longer requiring less consumerist behavior.

I recently did a favor for my best friend while she was out of town. She has asked me to take three of her favorite pairs of leather heels in for repair. I had to locate the best place in town, get a price and decide if it was worth the money. I had never thought of having my shoes repaired other than my tap dancing ones. These were, in fact, regular leather heels appropriated for her career as a burlesque dancer and teacher (high class theatrical strip tease). She is Miss Indigo Blue, Seattle’s Sapphic Sweetheart and I was in charge of three precious pairs of blue shoes. Read the rest of this entry »

Number One Favorite Way to Save Money: Become an Eco-Feminist

That’s right: a more progressive take on feminism includes doing right by your planet, your body and your pocketbook! And today’s Eco-feminist lesson is Make-up. Yes, that pigmented stuff you put on your face.

Now I know some women will tell me that wearing make-up at all is a distinctly anti-feminist act. I don’t have time to fight with that. Yawn. Bore. Get current already. As a queer femme woman, I am obviously not doing it because the Patriarchy and Men want me to. My red lips kiss girls. I wear make-up because I like the way it looks and it is creative- like painting. It is certainly a feminist act to choose make-up products which don’t harm the environment, your skin or the people who produce it and which don’t drain your bank account. To name one aspect of this self-protection feminism, we call up a preservative called Parabens, a synthetic estrogen in few compounded forms in your cosmetics) has been linked repeatedly to breast, ovarian and certival cancers. Chemicals like these and others penetrate do your blood through your skin and accumulate in your body. It is a feminist action to protect yourself and warn others that they are paying way too much to be poisoned. Read the rest of this entry »

Waxing, Facials, Body Scrubs. It’s amazing when people take time out of their schedules to treat themselves well. It has always been a crazy dream to one day open up my own eco-sustainable, organic spa. So I have been researching, that’s right…beauty school! An Esthetician program, to be exact. Cheaper than hair-cosmetology school, and even more marketable. It looks like we’re headed for a recession and it feels like we’re already there. I’m not sure I’m going to do it, but school is the right place for the under-employed when times are tough.

It started because as you may have read in my last post, I decided I needed a job to supplement my Life Coaching practice. Where I could always get a great paying job in less than two days whenever I wanted one; for some reason, it was a little harder during the holidays and in an economic slump.

The truth is that I am overqualified for the work I used to do. Read the rest of this entry »

In the Femme Economics series, I sure love to talk about my love/hate relationship with fashion and shopping. Ecologically and financially, I have said that for me it only makes sense to buy used clothing.  But I have also said that I buy shoes and lingerie retail- well, not quite retail.

Of all the many types of retail stores (boutique, department, discount department like Target), “Off-Price” stores are, in my humble opinion, the best. The most infamous in the fashion world arrived decades ago: Loehmanns. More middle-class shoppers have turned to these kinds of stores than was ever thought possible. And, they did decidedly better than other stores over this past financially dire holiday season. Read the rest of this entry »

The holidays are upon us and I didn’t get an engagement ring for Chanukah. I mean, I wasn’t really expecting one, I can give that another six months at least. Still, the holidays always seem like such a magical time to pop the question. Of course, being as femme and disgustingly traditional as I am, I need the question popped to me. So I’m thinking about the options my sweetie and I have when that time comes.

In Bill’s informative article on the history of diamond rings, he urges we queers to refrain from buying diamonds for our engagements and weddings. His reasons are numerous and the most concerning is the human-rights travesty of Blood-Diamonds. But if you need to buy a ring and you think it may have to be a diamond, I’m about to present you with some viable, fair and sustainable options including blood-free ! Oh, plus most of them are cheaper than the original!

1. Conflict-Free Diamonds. Also known as “Canadian Diamonds” Hey, at least here we’re shopping just slightly more ‘locally’. Read the rest of this entry »

This week on Femme Economics: My three favorite beauty investments, all with a new twist. Gentle reminders of what you should already know. If you are slacking in these areas, you could make it a holiday present to yourself to step it up for beauty and health.

Beauty Investment #1:

Sunscreen. Yes. Even this winter! Those UV rays still get through those clouds. There are more options to choose from than ever. Non-chemical ones (using zinc and other minerals to physically block the sun) to ones which will absolutely not clog the pores of oily skin. Sunblock mixed into your regular moisturizing brand too! Cancer is not very sexy. SPF 15 or more should go on your face every single morning. While you’re at it, don’t forget to rub it on the back of your hands to prevent sun spots like grandma’s. Keep a more oily sunscreen in the car as your hand lotion for the backs of your hands during your commute. Saves you money on wrinkle cream and medical bills in the future! Read the rest of this entry »

Our vacuum cleaner really stinks. Literally. It smells bad, probably because it is old and cheap and the dog sheds non-stop. No matter how many changes of the vacuum bag, something in it’s mechanical parts still smells like burning hair.

So the other day I’m in our “local big store,” Fred Meyer, and I meander myself and my girlfriend over to the uprights. This is sparkly to me. I have always wanted my very own newvacuum cleaner. I imagine myself in curlers, sporting an apron and wielding my attachments (short, long, pointed, slanted, bristles!) This is very kinky for me. A woman is being helped by a sales assistant. I borrow him from her for a moment. They are out of the canister vac I am looking at. 

The shopper says, looking up at me, “This one is the best.” She is fondling her Hoover Wind Tunnel.

I say, “Yes, that’s the one I would love to have, but it is so expensive.”  In my world, $175 on sale is expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

After I posted on Hair Color at Home, our Queercents Fearless Leader, Nina, wondered what I had to say on Waxing at Home! Well, though I implored you to color your own hair, my feelings on this other D.I.Y. beauty ritual are quite the opposite! I don’t wax at home. Why? The hassle and time are not worth the savings and the quality job a professional does is important to me. Below are some thrifty reasons you may choose to ignore my advice.

I’ll come out about what I get waxed: upper lip and bikini area (sometimes extreme!). The brows and chin hairs (Yes, I’m a Hairy Jew!) I choose to pluck myself because in this case, two seconds of the esthetician’s time is not worth my $14. Read the rest of this entry »

For most people, a salon hair-dye job is the last thing to go when tightening a budget. Those of us with varied forms of Vanity Disorder (VD) would rather give up a daily coffee than a monthly visit to the hair-doctor. When I was 20, I had a new shade of pink hair every month. I wrote a song called Cut and Color about how brilliant my stylist was. Better than therapy. But these days I have car payments and school loans; so last year I started dying my own hair. I was terrified to try it, but I am pleasantly surprised by the results. And I saved over $450 in a year.

Always on the green and healthy side, I recommend Natrutint (from Spain) and Herbatint (From England) which are non-henna vegetable dyes in a plethora of colors. Read the rest of this entry »