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"The difficulty is that human awareness is somewhat like a large house with many rooms. When we are born, it is as if we arrive in one of the rooms of awareness and live there until we die. At times we try to access the rest of the house by pushing against the door unsuccessfully. To successfully open the door to awareness, we must open it inward. Freedom is the ability to leave the single room of awareness you were born in. In that room, you learned the limitations of your life."
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Making the Decision To Be Free

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Jim, Linda, Dave, Laura, Marion, Gerry, Colin, Jenni, Julie, Celia, Kath, Sue, Roberto, Linda, Ross, Micky, Nancy, Maggie and Mike, welcomed Shelley, Dave and Virigina to their first meeting.

Mike opened the meeting space with a round of introductions, explanation of the meeting format and announcements.

The annual Chicago Earthsave Conference is October 19th. Dharma Talks at the Zen Buddhist Temple will focus on consumption and the corporate culture, November 9th, 2-4 pm.

The group then began posting and arranging topics, creating the day's agenda. Following is a brief recap of the discussions:

Using up food in your cabinets...
Several members of the group began asking Linda questions about having not gone food shopping for 2 1/2 months earlier in the year. This quickly became continuation of Linda's previously posted topic, "Eating from Your Cabinets". Delaying your regular shopping pattern forces creativity. Hold off going shopping for one week and see what happens. During that time, cook intuitively -- make up entrees from what you already have available in your cabinets. If you can, delay going shopping for another week. The goal isn't to not go shopping for 2 1/2 months, but to develop a new habit => learn to use up what you already have and learn to break the automatic response of, "I'm out of this -- I better go to the store". The group asked, "What about milk, eggs, veggies, fruit -- how did you go 2 1/2 months without those?" Linda has been using powdered soy/rice milk, so running out of milk was not a problem -- she'd simply mix up whatever she needed (this has been a huge help -- how many times have you gone to the store for milk, and come back with milk and...). When out of eggs, she'd become very creative, searching for eggless concoctions. Veggies came from the freezer, fruit sometimes from cans. On occasion during the 2 1/2 months, she'd make a run to the store for eggs, fruit, veggies -- but that was all, and only as much as needed. Overall food expenditures during those weeks were very low. The group mentioned using several of the food co-ops available either locally or via the web. Linda uses a bulk food store called E&S Sales (1265 N. St. Rd. 5, Shipshewana, IN 46565).

Tips for low-cost beauty and wellness...
Hosting this topic, Laura gathered the following discussion tips and ideas:

1. Share info/resources on our list-serve when you find out about upcoming programs/services
2. Barter for services/classes
3. Transitions Bookplace on North Ave (in Chicago) has free lectures
4. Join the YMCA at a reduced rate (stop by a Y and refer to their info booklet for more info)
5. Local salon Sunny's on Huron/Superior and State Street offers low cost services
6. Chicago School of Massage Therapy offers low cost massages ($35/hr)
7. Ivan Noel Hair Salon offers low cost cuts/colors provided by their students and supervised by their instructors
8. Zano's in Wheaton offers more discount beauty services
9. Color your hair at home - one good product is L'Oreal's Feria - split contents in half so you can use it twice, too!
10. The American Medical Association as well as other health organizations offer free health screenings - check your local newspaper
11. Ask your pharmacist - an untapped wealth of knowledge
12. A good book to check out at your local library - "Don't Go to the Cosmetic Counter Without Me"
13. Check out free/low cost fitness/yoga/etc classes in your community, park district, church
14. Learn how to take care of your self - listen to your body's signals, exercise, eat healthy foods, focus on prevention
15. Give blood, as we age our bodies retain iron. Giving blood helps reduce excess amounts. to ...

Car Sharing (Beyond I-Go)....
Costs of automobile ownership are quite high, especially living in the city. Group discussion included comparing rental costs to the true costs of ownership (purchase, maintenance, parking, insurance, selling). Ownership has its burdens, but does offer immediate access. Rental/Car Sharing has burden of planning ahead => consolidating trips, calling for what's available at best rates... Renting may work out for you on a driving vacation => you don't have to pile miles on your own car or expose your car to extreme climates/locations. Maggie noted folks are willing to share if they have a car -- they are often willing to provide a ride. You might also be able to barter/exchange favors/services for its use, or offer cash. Another possibility included a group of friends agreeing to share a car.

Short and long-term tips for making income match expenses...
Marion led this discussion on making income match expenses. Suggestions included keeping track of the spending in your wallet by simply jotting down how much & what it is for. Laura offered an alternative to tracking -- simply ask yourself three questions before you buying anything: (1) Why am I buying this? (2) Do I need it? (3) Is this the best price I can get? You can always ask, "Is this the best price?" for just about everything -- newspaper/magazine subscriptions, doctors/dentists (especially if you pay cash), even utility bills (Laura asked if her rates were the best -- the company came out, checked her meter and discovered it was reading incorrectly, resulting in a refund). Some landlords will offer discounts if you pay rent a year in advance.

Jenni offered several low cost internet options; You can get 10 hours a month of online time for free ($1.00 per hour after 10, though) from Access-4-Free, www.access-4-free.com. If you need more than 10 hours, Talent Group Enterprises (www.talentg.com) offers unlimited web and email for $7.99 a month with no pop up ads or long term service contracts. If you're an AOL fan but hate that $24 monthly charge, Wal-Mart is now offering unlimited Internet service for less than $10 a month...and guess what? It's AOL repackaged for Wal-Mart customers. (www.walmart.com) For a full list of all providers offering services at no- or low-cost including user reviews, go to www.freedomlist.com

Traveling Simply (but not backpacking)....
Virigina asked the group to explore options for traveling simply/inexpensively. The group gathered ideas about contacting organizations that specialize in connecting the traveler with folks who are willing to offer a room in their home. "Volunteers for Peace" is organization specializing in volunteer vacations => you can volunteer to work on a project in the U.S./around the world -- in exchange for your time and labor, you receive accommodations, sometimes full/partial travel expenses, and the wonderful experience of helping others. Also mentioned by the group were Budget Travel Guide magazine, using Hostels (check the web for the International Hostel Association), The Caretaker Gazette (monthly listings of caretaking opportunities), Chapter 14 of Janet Luhrs' wonderful book (The Simple Living Guide), and tips in the New Road Map Foundation books (Your Money Or Your Life, Getting A Life).

Is all advertising bad?....
Doesn't some advertising inform us? And doesn't advertising lead to better products via competition? Don't we find out about things we wouldn't normally find out about because of advertising? Rich and intense discussion followed, raising many points and insights. A brief summary includes the terms "good/bad" are relative -- what one may view as bad advertising, another may see as helpful. TV coverage of Cuba this past week showed no advertising at all, anywhere -- is that good or bad? When faced with the absolute (advertising being good or bad), Mike took the position all advertising is bad. He sees it as filling us with so many unnecessary things, wants, and perceived needs. Maggie pointed out advertising is helpful for immigrants. As Americans, we now how to use the system -- we can find information without advertising, reject what is bad to us, use what we find good. Immigrants have limited knowledge of how our system works, and can find out many useful and helpful things from advertising (classes, community courses…).

We closed the meeting and space at 12:07.
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(Reported by Mike Lenich)