Every Penny Counts (hat tip: Consumerist)

They gave up smoking to cut costs, they stopped meeting friends after work for beers, they didn’t buy new clothes, and they stashed away tax refunds and as much of their earnings as possible. Whenever they wanted to buy drinks, gadgets or cookware, they asked each other: “Do I want an iPod or a house? Do I want a latte or a house?”

“It would be absurd for me to buy things when I wanted a place rather than a frying pan,” Ms. Lee said as she fed Matilda a post-nap bottle.

Have we reached a green business tipping point? We’ll see a green tipping point when more companies offer, and more consumers demand, fundamental systemic changes in business practices – when consumers don’t have to fight builders to let them upgrade the HVAC, when the builders offer rain recapture systems, and when solar is an option. But it seems that green may very well be a growth industry.

What will the HOA’s do when more people want front-yard gardens?

The Washington Post’s real estate section had several good stories this weekend – Learning more about homeowners’ associations (and the perils with which they are fraught), Pressuring said Association, and finally, nearly 70 percent of homeowners generally liked their own association.

Insight from a local visionary

Rising fuel and other energy prices will eventually force Americans to draw back into the population centers of 100 years ago, he said, making downtown property here even more valuable. High gas prices will force people to move back downtown where they can walk between their homes, their markets and their workplaces.