Author Archives: Darcy Cronin

About Darcy Cronin

I'm a Mother/Coach/Blogger/Business Adventurer from Portland OR. My family consists of my Hubby of 12 years, our 8yo Kieran, 5yo Makenna, and 1yo Teagan. I love dreaming about a better future, and making it happen.

Economics of Happiness

The Economics of Happiness is a new documentary film with virtually all of my favorite social/environmental/economic revolutionaries (…minus Paul Hawken;-)


While we haven’t seen a total about face, I truly think that the lasting impact of the economic crisis will be a cultural shift away from materialism and toward sustainability. It may not happen over night, but the pendulum is shifting.


The film isn’t on Netflix yet, but I’ll post a comment when it’s available.


Here’s quick blog post on the film from a parents perspective.


Here’s the trailer to The Economics of Happiness:





What do you think of the Economics of Happiness?


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Sustainable Family Finances
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.



Kid Foodie

Today’s post is a shameless plug: 


My adorable niece is making a name for herself as “Kid Foodie.” She does live interviews with farmers at the Chappaqua Farmer’s Market, and writes a column about her experience of learning about where her food comes from. Our family is so proud of her, and it’s exciting to see a new generation that cares about where their food comes from and how it’s produced.


While specialty food can get expensive, I agree with Amanda about how important it is to support local farmers. We buy as much organic and local food as possible.  Spud really makes it easy . Even during the winter our food related carbon footprint is much less than the average household, and I love how Spud tracks it for you.


A co-worker of mine is very passionate about food, and has a “hobby farm” where she raises and butchers her own animals, and naturally has an organic garden and puts away much of her produce for the winter. Although she not as extreme as the Portlandia couple, she does ask which farm they got the meat from and if they don’t know she’ll go veggie. If you are a foodie/farmer, you should definitely check out her Hobby Farm blog.


Here’s Kid Foodie’s interview with Big Girl Bakery:





Can’t you just see her as the next Katie Couric?!


Do you try to buy local?
Do your kids care where their food comes from?


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Sustainable Family Finances 
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.

Tax Return!

I know April 15th still seems a ways out, but we always do our taxes early since we typically get a refund. Last year I wrote about how we prefer to get a bonus tax return, rather than getting too little taken out and having to pay extra in a lump sum.  Hubby was again on top of things, and TurboTax made the process easy. 


This year our return is $3545, and we’re stoked to replenish our savings after dipping into it for our home refinance . Apparently the average refund is now $3,036, so we’re pretty much average. Perhaps it’s our child care or student loans that push us up a little.


As I’ve mentioned before, I’m ready for some green tax reform. Read more about “Pay as you burn, not as you earn” in The Ecologist.


Have you done your taxes yet?


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Sustainable Family Finances 
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.

Introducing Adaptu

Hubby tipped me off about Adaptu, a new online finance management tool. They will have stiff competition with Mint and everything else online, but I’m certainly willing to give it a try.


My initial impression is that they may be on to something. I know that I start this blog in part because I wanted to connect with others online…certainly not because I’m financial authority, but because I wanted to connect with others with similar goals and values. 


Plus, being public about my finances has kept me accountable (even when I had very few readers in the beginning!) 


My only reluctance about using a program like Adaptu is the time-suck it can create, but just like writing this blog, I need to look at the big picture. If it help us reach our goals, it’s worth my time.


Here’s Adaptu’s intro video:





You may have a quirky impression from watching Portlandia, but Adaptu is Portland based!


Will you try out Adaptu?


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Sustainable Family Finances 
The story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.