Cities in our area have been discouraging disposable plastic bags by mandating a charge for them, and recently our state government decided to ban them for major retailers. I don't much care, one way or another, since I have acquired the habit of carrying a bag with me into the grocery store. I don't carry cloth bags, though. I carry the plasticized paper (or whatever they are) with me. I tired of trying to get cloth bags to stand up, stay open, (so did the baggers, though to their credit, no one ever complained). Cloth bags needed to be laundered and the coated ones could just be wiped clean. There's one canvas bag I did retain because it does stand up on its own: frankly I only use it for big grocery trips. It's too bulky and awkward to carry into places when I only *might* buy something. I spent one Christmas season cashiering at a big box store. I wonder how bagging a variety of canvas, cloth, reusable plastic bags of all shapes, sizes and firmnesses will affect (effect? I never know) the cashiers' IPH [items per hour] since this is part of their evaluation and review. It has to slow things down. I use two disposable grocery bags a week. My trash collection service accepts used cat litter only if it's double-bagged, so starting next year, I will have to buy something that I'm now getting free.

To each his own. Being retired, my income arrives at my bank account monthly, whether I do anything or nothing, so I have available time, which many may feel that they do not. While I referred to this as a "money saving tip", I'm also aware that in many parts of the world, we're hugely short of water ... and becoming more so. For example ... California is the fastest growing state in the union (or was, a while go - my knowledge may be somewhat out of date). And they ... and Arizona, another fast grower ... are really short of water. If those who could do so comfortably were to use already-used water again for a less restricted purpose, the total use of water in a city would be somewhat reduced. I've said to some Canadians, "The crucial liquid of the last century was oil. In this century, it will be water. One of these days, when California, getting really short of water, proposes that we ship some of ours down between the mountain ranges to them ... ... if we say, 'No' ... Do you know what a Marine's uniform looks like? Do you want to find out?" The problem is much deeper than we've been considering, up until now. ole joyful

Welcome to Garden Web and This Home Site. I see you just joined yesterday. Do you have a computer in your RV? If so, how wonderful...all the comforts of home while traveling. I guess you have some sort of a wireless service that you are able to use it when RVing around to different places. Tell us about that...is it expensive? Is it dependable?...or might you have to use the library when traveling to look up the thrift shops on your site? I find the yellow pages of any phone book lists all of the thrift shops in an area just great, and like to frequent those that are raising funds especially for the needy. Have you ever been to the Highway 50 yardsale? I forget how many hundred miles long it is. I've heard it almost runs coast to coast, and is touted as the world's biggest yard sale. There is another one that starts in Kentucky and runs clear down to the gulf coast. Anyone ever been to either of those? I have some friends that live out of their RV. In the summer they are the Host and Hostess at the local State Park. By helping out by keeping an eye out for any campers disobeying the rules, and helping out in different ways, they are given free camping for their whole stay. When the weather turns cold here in Indiana, and camping slows, they roll on down south, and are host and hostess again in a southern campground for the winter months. Sounds like a fun life to me, but think I would always want to have a 'fixed' place of my own to call home to come back to. Sue

Thanks, everyone! I was thinking about removing some of the corners by extending the laundry out even with the back of the garage, although that adds a few square feet. We are in the early planning stages, and don't have a building contract yet. Still trying to decide what we need and what we can afford (and who to choose). It will mostly likely be built on slab, as that seems to be the norm here. We're in Northwest Arkansas. Here's what I could find online from our area: Footings: A minimum of 18” deep, 18” wide ditch... Concrete for the footings shall be a minimum of 12” thick; 18” thick when over 2 stories. Slabs: All residential slabs shall extend above the surrounding grade a minimum of 2 blocks high. Final slab elevation shall be a minimum of 12” above final grade in every corner. Minimum slab thickness shall be 3½". Our neighborhood requires a 2500 sq. ft. min. It's an acre lot (171' wide x 262' deep), and we have approx. 50 feet or so to work with between the 50' front setback and a dry creek bed that runs across the middle of the property. The land slopes just slightly uphill from the street to where we would build, and then slopes slightly down again as it gets closer to the creek bed. The foundation of the house next door (that has the same creek bed running across it) is 8 blocks high in the back, so ours will likely be similar. We're also considering the Seven Pines plan, also by Mitch Ginn. The downstairs layout is very similar to the Stone Creek, minus the study. This plan appears to be a little more simplified as far as corners go, but I believe it has more total square feet under the roof when you count all the covered porches. Here's the Seven Pines: http://mitchginn.com/house-plans/2710-sq-ft-%E2%80%A2-seven-pines/ I'm not sure if either the Stone Creek or the Seven Pines would be more economical to build than the other. They're both a little bigger than what we really want (which is to stay as close to that 2500 sq. ft. minimum as possible), but I'm having a very hard time finding a plan that size which has 4 bedrooms and the open kitchen island layout I desire. We also need a large breakfast nook (that can fit a long table for 6-8 people) plus a formal dining room or flex room that can serve as our school room, and I really want a nice front and back porch. I grew up playing with house plans. My grandfather was a home builder, my dad ran a concrete plant, and my mom almost always had a floor plan in the works on her drafting table. The smell of sawdust and fresh concrete is very nostalgic for me. I love it! I know that we probably need to go to an architect to really get what we want, but I keep looking for house plans online hoping that one more search will find me the perfect one (sort-of like fishing... one more cast...). :)