Earth Day is only less than a month away, so I decided to go out on the great World Wide Web and see what’s up in the Twin Cities.  But then I found so much, I decided to only do a selection!  However, I did take a lot of my ideas from this article about 2008 metro Earth Day events.  My thinking was that a lot of them are annual events, and they do seem to be.

And, all events are FREE!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

St. Thomas Green Team Mississippi River Cleanup

Saturday, April 18, 2009

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Help clean up the East banks of the Mississippi River.  Meet at the WWI Memorial at Summit Ave. and Mississippi River Blvd. in St. Paul.  More information here (it’s kind of in the middle).

2009 Minneapolis Earth Day Watershed Cleanup

Saturday, April 18

9:30 a.m. – noon

Sites all around Minneapolis will host a variety of events.  In 2008 people removed 22,500+ pounds of trash from Minneapolis waterways!  Two of the sites on the Mississippi are being run by Friends of the Mississippi River.

Midtown Global Market Earth Day

Saturday, April 18, 2009

11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

How to enact sustainable changes in your everyday life.  Lots of food things and prizes.

Watergate Marina Adopt-A-River Cleanup

Saturday, April 18, 2009

No time indicated.

Watergate Marina is in Crosby Farm Park in St. Paul.  No time is indicated for the cleanup but see the webpage.

Dodge Nature Center Earth Day Buckthorn Pull

Saturday, April 18, 2009

All Day

All ages welcome.

Other dates

Wishes for the Sky

Harriet Island

Sunday, April 19, 2009

10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Write a wish on a kite to be flown in the sky.  A public art event to celebrate Earth Day.

Como Park Go Green for Gorillas – Party for the Planet

Como Park, St. Paul

April 22, 25-26

Learn ways to protect gorillas and participate in a Party for the Planet.

Friends of the Mississippi River Earth Day Garlic Mustard Pull

Saturday, April 25, 2009

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Help pull invasive garlic mustard at a section of the Mississippi in Inver Grove Heights.  Free, but pre-registration required.  All event details provided upon registration.

Yesterday I went to The Hope Chest in St. Paul, which is a like a high-end secondhand store with all proceeds benefiting breast cancer research. Anyway, they have about a dozen beautiful, mostly new dresses (donated from a local store). All of them were priced at $125 and were gorgeous. I didn’t have any luck but wanted to pass this tidbit along to other brides. The sized mostly ranged from 10-16, but there were a few smaller ones in there (nothing bigger than 16). You have to ask about the dresses because they are not out on the sales floor. They told me their Orono store doesn’t have any wedding gowns, so this is just at the St. Paul location. Good luck!!

Other than bridal gowns, they have an assortment of high-quality furniture, career clothing, shoes, decorative elements, framed art, etc. The prices match, but it’s good to know that all the money goes to a cause that is dear to many people.  Staff was really friendly and helpful, too.  If thrifting kind of eeks you out, but you like a bargain, The Hope Chest would be a good place to start.

St. Paul Farmers’ Market

As far as eco and cheapo, the St. Paul Farmers Market is great.  You get a ton of food for your buck and it doesn’t travel nearly as far to get to your table (fewer emissions) – not to mention that the money you spend will stay largely in the hands of the growers themselves.  A few weeks ago we got three squash, about two pounds of carrots, about two pounds of potatoes, four colored peppers, a pound of stew meat and 10 free pounds of turkey wings for $19.  When we visited the stew meat guy, he told us he’s trying to clean out his freezer location, and offered us the wings.  A month later we are still eating them.  Try to get that in the store.  The Farmers’ Market is still open in winter!  Never knew that.  I plan to visit again!

What are your great Farmers Market stories?

Today my BF and I went to the Goodwill on Fairview Ave. in St. Paul.  Generally I am reluctant to go to this thrift store because it is stressful.  In the past I have seen lots of broken goods, for example, and stuff is thrown all over the place.  Today, things were looking a little more organized.  One thing that is odd to me is that their clothes are organized by color rather than size.  Now today I happened to want to look for a white sweater, so that was ok.  But if I’d wanted khaki pants for work, I would have had to comb through all of them for my size.  My BF found women’s clothing in the men’s section.  Also, you have to check the clothing very, very carefully.  Many items are soiled or torn.  The prices are kind of high for what you’re getting.

Now the bright side.  I have scored some deals here, mainly on stuff from Target.  Seems they must give all their we-couldn’t-sell-it-on-clearance stuff to Goodwill.  And it’s ok to pay a little more, I guess, because they do good work.  They have a lot of dressing rooms, which is awesome and a positive thrift store anomaly.  And they do have a large selection of merchandise, especially compared to other Goodwill stores we’ve been to.

I do, however, like donating to Goodwill, because they have a really easy system.  You just pull up
in the back, they help you unload, give you your receipt, and you’re on your way.

All in all, I would go back, but Goodwill on Fairview Ave. would not be my first choice for regular thrifting.

St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, 461 W 7th St, Saint Paul, MN 55102, phone 651-227-1332

Today we went to the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on West Seventh in St. Paul.  I like this store.  I have not really checked out their clothing, though today they had 50% off on certain colored tags.  What’s really nice about this place is that it is extremely organized.  For the crafty side of me, I enjoyed searching for my sewing notions in well-labeled drawers that actually contained what the label said they would.  The greeting cards were organized just like if you were buying them new.  Also, they have everything.  We found two boxes of vacuum bags.  Those are expensive!  If you had the time and knew your vacuum number, you could find a bargain.  In this store, be sure to search in every nook and cranny.  For example, tucked in one corner there were several ironing boards in excellent condition.  It’s not so obvious, but they do have a back room.  The only two drawbacks to this store is that it is kind of musty-smelling in the back room, and parking can be a little hard.  I didn’t ask or scope out the situation on dressing rooms.  However, if you want to support charitable work directly and would like to experience an extremely well-organized and well-stocked store, it’s worth a visit.  According to their website, there are also stores in Minneapolis and Duluth.

The library is the ultimate! When I lived in Mexico, I came to appreciate that libraries are a privilege and not everyone just has one. We all know there are books, but you can also get movies, magazines, online learning, programs, and probably more I don’t even know about. It is the pinnacle of frugal and green: lots of people sharing materials, rather than all buying copies – and all for free! How much more frugal can you get!?

I love the convenience: At the St. Paul Public Library (I’m sure at all of them, actually), once you have a card, you can search the whole catalog online and make online requests to pick up at the branch of your choice. I always choose Sun Ray so I can stop by on the way home from work, saving gas.

On top of that, there are a ton of services. One that is close to my heart is the online Rosetta Stone language learning access for patrons of SPPL. Using your card, you can access this service to learn Mandarin, English, French, Spanish, or Russian.

There is also the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM), which I have not played around with but looks awesome. Especially for kids, there is a ton of info here, and any resident of Minnesota can use it. As a teacher this is going in my mental file.

SPPL also offers a ton of free programming for people of all ages. I personally think the most fun one looks like PawPals, where kids read with “dog and human teams.”

Of course, you may be thinking, “Well, it seems free, but the money has to come from somewhere.” If you want to do your part, you can become a member of The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. I just joined recently, feeling like since I am able to pay something, I should. If there’s a moment where I can’t, I’ll be overjoyed that this rich intellectual service is free for all.

What do you love about your library?

My favorite, favorite, favorite thrift store Valu Thrift in Sun Ray Mall (off of McKnight road and 94 in St. Paul, on the edge of Maplewood).

Occupying the former Penney’s store there, Valu Thrift is always extremely neat and the merchandise, especially clothes, is in really good shape. Very rarely will you find something with a stain or something that’s very worn. The prices are reasonable and on Mondays they have 25% off of everything. There is a huge selection. Unlike some other thrift stores, there are fitting rooms, but beware if you pull a bunch of stuff: you can only take in three items at a time. They mostly know when their goods are worth money, but we’ve found a gem or two to resell online.