save your loose change

Has anyone ever seen someone throw away pennies? I HAVE! And I don't mean that in the sense of simply wasting extra money. I mean that I have seen people physically throwing pennies in the trash. Granted, I've heard the arguments that pennies should be done away with already, but while they're still here, why not save them?

The smartest thing to do is to invest in paper penny rolls, but at the very least, keep a loose change jar. I have a bag of paper coin rolls for every denomination, and I save up all of my change until it's ample enough to warrant a bank deposit (and no, it's not weird or embarrassing to hand a bank teller multiple rolls of coins). Right now, I have almost $50 of loose change all rolled up. One side perk is that when I have to do laundry, I've already got a roll of quarters on hand. And I have my "worthless" pennies neatly stacked into 50 cent rolls, ready to become "real" money.

If coin rolls are too much work, the loose change jar suffices. Some banks have free coin deposit machines for their customers, but if yours doesn't, there's always Coinstar (although the cost of this convenience is 9% of your coins). If all else fails and you are too lazy to do any of the aforementioned things, just drop your loose change on the sidewalk. Someone will pick it up.

send snail mail

I guess sending letters or cards through the mail is really either a grandmother or a hipster thing. I don't consider myself to be either, but I still can attest to the joy and wonder of sending and receiving snail mail.

Though the post office has sliding towards obsoleteness, it is still very much a complex network of communication technology. I can drop off a card with a pressed cherry blossom bud inside, and have it in my Seattle friend's hand in two days. What an improvement on the way mail used to work (read: guys on horseback). E-mail and other online modes of communication are obviously more convenient, but until you look forward to opening your mailbox because you know it won't be just bills and Pennysavers, you'll never understand. There is something incredibly special about handwritten, hand-delivered mail. It seems like our iPhones have made it impractical to communicate on a non-immediate basis—but every now and then, a little personalized care and effort can trump instant gratification.

When I was little, I had several pen pals. I found them from organizations like International Pen Friends, and also from American Girl magazine. These days, people are too well-connected (and also paranoid) to participate in those type of things in mass numbers. Making friends over the Internet is so commonplace these days, but sending those people physical mail is somehow weird.

One awesome thing I came across recently is reddit's Arbitrary Day—it's a worldwide "Secret Santa" exchange that isn't on Christmas. They call it "that time of year where we send each other gifts for no reason other than it makes us all happy!" You sign up (by May 26), write about your likes and dislikes,  get matched up with someone who will buy you a gift, and also be matched up with someone for whom you buy a gift. You can choose to be matched with someone in your country, or open yourself to international matching (which, though more costly in shipping, would probably yield more interesting gifts). The site recommends that you spend about $20 on your gift, but it's less about the cost, and more about the creativity and thoughtfulness. To me, it's also about utilizing the vast communicative technologies available to us and humanizing things. I can't wait to start gifting!

Check out some of the gifts that were exchanged on Arbitrary Day 2013!

be sure to buy non-toxic candles

If you wouldn't light a huge cigarette and set it on a fancy ceramic tray in your living room to burn for an hour—don't buy a cheap, mysterious candle. Before I gave it some critical thought (and research), I was certainly guilty of buying cheap candles, lighting them around my room and probably breathing in oodles of disaster. As a rule of thumb, if a candle does not specifically and transparently state the benevolence of the ingredients used, avoid buying it.

Many cheap store-bought candles contain paraffin, a petroleum byproduct, which releases toxic carcinogens when burned. Instead, look for candles that are made of 100 percent beeswax, or a vegetable-based wax. Be sure that the candles are not a beeswax-paraffin blend, for example, because some candle manufacturers will add the latter to cut down costs. Currently, there is no ban (or plans for a ban) on candles containing paraffin. Burning these candles, however, can cause respiratory problems, and even damage to the inside of your house.

Also, be sure to buy candles that have all-cotton wicks. Some cheaper candles will use small metal fibers in the wicks to keep them standing straight. Many candle companies used to use lead in their wicks, a practice that was banned in 2003. Additionally, it is recommended that you keep all candle wicks trimmed down to approximately 1/4".

One brand of candle I recently discovered (and like very much) is Stella Mare. They are soy candles handcrafted in Portland and are pretty reasonably priced for the quality. They also seem to last for a pretty long time! I'm no candle fanatic, but there definitely is a deep level of peace and relaxation associated with a great-smelling candle that doesn't pollute your body or your home. There are plenty of options for purchasing non-toxic candles, it's just up to us to do our due diligence as consumers. 

contest all speed camera tickets

I've been a car owner for a little more than a year now. In that time, I've had the pleasure of receiving seven speed camera tickets in the mail, five of which were $100 and two which were $40. That's $580 that the average person would have just paid, or even ignored (which leads to even more absurd consequences, like license suspension). I contested six, and five were dismissed (the seventh was recent, and I have yet to respond).

It is important to note that the five dismissed tickets were the $100 tickets, received in Washington, D.C., which explicitly provide you with the option of mailing in an appeal letter—something explaining why you are not at fault or why your fine should be lessened. By the fourth or fifth ticket, I had come across this article, written by a guy who composed a great speed camera ticket appeal letter and got his tickets dismissed. Essentially, it is the burden of the state to prove that you broke a law (i.e. speeding), and a photo of your car speeding isn't enough. It's not your responsibility to incriminate yourself (i.e. "I was speeding but I was in a rush to get to work") or anyone else ("My brother John Smith was driving my car at the time"). Read the article, his letter pretty much covers all legal bases. Truthfully, for my first few tickets that were dismissed, I said something to the likes of "$100 is a lot, and I was on my way to work where I only earned $80 that day." It seems to me that D.C. will cut you a break if you just put some effort into seeking one. At the very least, if your ticket is not dismissed, you can at least delay having to pay it for a few months (because $100 is a pretty big burden for many people to pay on short notice!).

The one ticket that wasn't immediately dismissed (and by "immediately" I mean after 4-6 months of waiting for a plain white postcard in the mail) was issued to me from Prince George's County (Maryland). On these tickets, your options are to 1) pay the fine (thus admitting guilt) or 2) request a court date. After sending in an appeal letter similar to the one from the article above, kindly requesting that a court date be avoided and that the matter be dismissed (I really did ask nicely), I was sent a letter telling me what day and time to show up in court (they replied FAST). After Googling the issue, I found enough evidence showing that I didn't have a great shot of convincing the judge that my ticket should be dismissed. I wasn't interested in taking time off from work to go to a court date with dozens of other stubborn speeders in a pissed-off assembly line. So, I paid it. But at least I tried. Lesson learned: P.G. County—less forgiving than the District. Another person might simply stop speeding. But me, I don't find that always practical.

In my opinion, there is no crime where there is no victim. I understand that speeding can be dangerous. But I doubt my $40 or $100 is a fair trade for going 42 in a barren 30 mph zone. It seems to me that having 4 or 5 cars slam on their breaks to avoid getting a ticket is a bit more dangerous than those same cars coolly and alertly riding around at 45 mph. You know, there's enough proof to show that the speed camera business is crooked to begin with—I would say it's our responsibility to challenge systems like this one when possible. If we end up losing, at least we tried.

don't use toothpaste containing fluoride

Dental care is probably something many of us are misinformed about. When I was little, my grandmother told me that she used to brush her teeth as hard as she could to get them as clean as possible. This was before someone told her that she was destroying her enamel. My grandmother isn't crazy. I went on a beach trip with a guy once, and the bristles of his toothbrush looked like hurricane debris. I'm no tooth critic, I barely visit the dentist myself. But one thing I am completely convinced of is the detriment of having fluoride in our tooth care products.

What? Don't dentists use fluoride? Isn't it the main ingredient in like, all toothpastes? Yes. But why? Fluoride does not prevent tooth decay, and ironically can even contribute to the discoloration and disintegration of your teeth. In 2010, the Journal of the American Dental Association published a study showing that fluoride is bad for teeth. Yet, check out Colgate or Crest or Aquafresh and you'll see fluoride just dominating the list of ingredients. I guess fluoride-laden toothpaste is like cigarettes. We tend to conveniently ignore clear warnings of danger in favor of habit, satisfaction or comfort.

Toothpaste is one of those things many people don't stop to think twice about—they just grab the most appealing box or the one on sale or the brand they've been using since childhood. The toothpaste I've been using for a few months now is Tom's Fluoride-Free Botanically Bright Toothpaste in peppermint. Ingredients, as well as their purpose and source, are listed on Tom's website, which also says they produce this toothpaste without fluoride to "respect customers' diverse needs and interests." There are other options as far as fluoride-free toothpastes go, but this one has a consistency and effect that I like and trust. It's $4.49 at Whole Foods, and I think it's well worth the avoidance of poison (did I forget to mention?—fluoride was once used as rat poison).

At least in our society, teeth are a pretty important status symbol. Straight and white seems to be the only way to go. In pursuit of this perfection, be mindful of the products you use.