why live in a neighborhood like this anyways?

Lawns are pointless wastes of resources. As are HOAs.

Before you start on a renovation project, check with your local chapter to see if they offer demolition/deconstruction services. A number of them will come in and professionally remove old appliances/fixtures/cabinets for donation, leaving you with less work (or a smaller contractor bill) for the renovation.

Their ReStore locations are also a great place to shop for home improvement materials. I drop by one in my neighborhood almost weekly. You can find the closest on to you here:

Cook a lot of soup! It freezes AWESOME. I use a pan to freeze quart size bags flat so when they're done, we can stack them like books in the freezer.

My dad taught me to first freeze food in a loaf pan, then run some water on the pan to pop out the food. Then use a sealer bag system, or wrap with aluminum foil (to keep the air off), put it in a plastic bag, dunk in water to push out the air. That way you have a nice rectangular slab that stacks nice. Label the…

I'm not trying to make it seem like the Miss America pageant is some amazing feminist institution, but it's precisely because of the fact that it's basically just women being judged on their appearances on a point scale that makes this somewhat noteworthy. Traditionally, any kind of visible impairment was thought to…

So I'm a female scientist with an insulin pump, I'm very comfortable with my body as attached to that insulin pump, and I'm not big into beauty pageants. I don't like the ways our culture tells girls that the only thing they can do that's valuable is be pretty. However, it's still important and valuable to support…

After my son was born, I freaked out a little because most of my old shoes didn't fit — even though I'd lost all of the weight I'd gained and then some, my feet were longer. Apparently that's not unusual; the hormones that make the anatomy of delivery possible also loosen ligaments and joints elsewhere in the body and…

Wondra flour is a great thickening agent when you want to make a quick pan sauce.

Great ingredient when the food tastes bland. Don't add too much, just enough to add flavor during the cooking process (or afterwards—but best while cooking to infuse the flavor). It'll add a " je ne sais quoi" to a savory recipe.

Or, dried beans and a pressure cooker :)

Better than Bouillon actually makes vegetarian versions of chicken and beef stock base (and my omnivorous boyfriend really likes them), as well as having a veggie stock base too.

Whenever I buy a rotisserie chicken, I freeze the carcass to use later for chicken broth. Over the last two nights I made some chicken stock. Cooked down 2 chickens in quite frankly, too much water. I had to boil off more water last night. While making capreses, I had left over basil stalks, and tossed them in the…

Canned, low sodium beans. Dried beans take forever to make properly and you run the risk of overcooking them. This helps remove some chance for error and makes things much faster (especially things like hummus)

For smoothies, ice cream/cereal topping, or even just as a snack by themselves. Most any grocery store will have all sorts of flash-frozen fruit.

For me, I am usually preparing some kind of stir fry, etc. to go with the rice. So, I will just throw my rice in the cooker before I even begin the prep work for the rest of the dish, and often times the rice finishes too early. Unless you are talking about an even more traditional way of cooking than a rice…

I think I just found a use for the free mini fridge I was just given.

Better Than Bullion

Number one thing that has always worked for me. Be polite. This includes the obvious stuff like not yelling, not cursing, and saying please and thank you, but also includes some other stuff, too. Like admitting to the person on the other end that you know they personally didn't cause your problem. That goes a long…