So I couldn't help noticing today: There's an entire town for sale for $100,000. A whole freakin' town in Wyoming! And while I don't exactly have $100K sitting here in my back pocket, I can't believe how cheap that is. Do you know what $100K will buy you in my neighborhood? A bathroom. Maybe a parking space.

Can I please buy this town?

I have so many ideas! I mean, sure it's way out in Wyoming and there's only three houses, a gas station/convenience store, and a post office, plus one inhabitant. But I see soooo much potential here. I almost want to set up a whole new Pinterest account just to help me decorate my new town I'm about to buy.

It seems like every kid (and adult too!) craves a cozy little space to hide away. So why not create one that's especially designed to encourage curling up with a good book?

Creating a comfy reading nook for your bookworm doesn't necessarily have to involve a ton of extra work (or cash). Here are some fun and relatively easy ideas on how to pull together the perfect space for some good old-fashioned literary exploration!

This is the first year that I’m packing a lunch every day (well, three times a week anyway) for my kid, and I’m a bit depressed about how much garbage we’re suddenly producing. I’m paranoid about germs and food safety, and as a result overuse plastic sandwich bags, snack bags, plastic wrap, and assorted other landfill-filling crap.
 
But enough is enough! The other day, I was perched next to my daughter, Penelope, on a miniature chair, sharing lunch, when I looked around the octagonal table and saw that almost every single kid had some kind of adorable eco-friendly food container in his or her lunchbox.
 
Now I have the lust for these -- they're washable, long-lasting, and in many cases actually better for the flavor of the food.

I admit it. I'm one of those people who refuses bags if all a store has to offer is plastic. I BYOB on most grocery trips, and I'm not talking about a bottle of wine. And it drives me nuts when I get leftovers wrapped up in Styrofoam. (Don't even get me started on coffee cups made of the stuff, ugh!) 

That's me. But even if you don't necessarily consider yourself "green," you gotta admit that it seems like such a waste to see beautiful, sometimes pricey wrapping paper ripped up and thrown away year after year. It just makes sense to try to figure out eco-friendly (and on-the-cheap!) ways to wrap gifts. Here, six great bets that help you save money and the world while stealing a loved one's heart with that perfect present.

There's an art to decorating with vintage pieces, and Vicki Eastland is an expert in the field. Not only does she know a good find when she spots one (ahem, that phone booth door), she knows how to mix vintage and modern finds to create a look that is far from contrived. While the red door stands out, there is an abundance of other details that you'll love in each corner of the room. Take a look.

When it comes to Thanksgiving, you want to save your cash for gas, tolls, heirloom turkey, and Klonopin (or maybe that’s just my family). The so-simple Pilgrims wouldn’t approve of overspending on décor. Of course, they probably wouldn’t be too pleased with marshmallows in the sweet potatoes, either, but let’s not split hairs.
 
If you’ve done all you can with the stuff in your backyard and you’re hoping for a little autumn cheer (without endangering the Christmas budget), here are some not-too-spendy options for Thanksgiving decorations on the cheap.

Oh look, you bought a whole giant vegetable, you cut it up, you lit a fire inside it, and soon you're just going to throw the whole thing away now that Halloween is over. Maybe you even bought more than one pumpkin to waste in this decadent manner. What kind of a world do we live in where people buy massive quantities of fresh produce only to use it briefly for home decorating purposes and then just chuck it?

Okay, fine. You're "too fancy" to use moldy pumpkin for a pie or two. You could still redeem your extravagant ways and compost your rotting pumpkin corpses, but maybe composting isn't your thing. What else could you do with your moldy, sagging jack-o'-lanterns now that it's November? Oh, the possibilities!

November is only a week away, which means hibernation mode is near and a whole lot of kids will be saying, "I'm bored." While I have a moment before the whirlwind of the holidays starts, I'm saving project ideas to fill those days of being cooped up inside. Here are some of my favorites to make from a good old cardboard box, something we all have lying around or will after opening all those Christmas packages!