Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

As I announced on my latest blog post, I'm going to start putting up a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. This is the first post in that series, and -- as the name suggests -- a new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change as we proceed.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please keep it to one tip per person per week. Data dumps are tedious for me to moderate and also for readers to use. If you have lots of tips, great -- post one per week. This is an ongoing project. If you want to comment on someone else's tip, that's welcome, but again, don't use that as an excuse to post a second, unrelated tip of your own.

Rule #4:  please keep your contributions reasonably short -- say, 500 words or less. If you have something longer to say, please post it elsewhere -- a free Dreamwidth account is one option -- and simply put a link here. Teal deer comments won't be put through.

Rule #5:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #6: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

Those rules will do to start with. Let's see how this project unfolds!

Comments

Cheap Soup Stock

[ecosophia]

I'll start off with a contribution of my own -- I expect to have a weekly contribution for quite a while. This one's a way to make really good stock for soups, broths, gravies, etc. that costs literally nothing.

You'll need a freezer container of some sort -- I use a cheap plastic tub, precisely because it was cheap. Into the tub, put peelings and trimmings from onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, green beans, and peas -- if you get fresh peas in the pod, the pods are especially good for this. (Don't save peelings and trimmings from high-sulfur vegetables such as cabbage and turnip unless you want your broth to taste like you made tea from matches.) When you've got a good handful or two of scraps, put them into a pot with water, bring it to a boil, and simmer for half an hour or so. Cool, strain, and use the broth. It's tasty and it has a lot of nutrients -- and yes, you can take the peelings and trimmings after you use them for broth and add them to your compost.

Re: Cheap Soup Stock

[temporaryreality]

As a fan of chicken broth, I've also taken to saving the bones of roasted birds, storing them in the freezer until I have a goodly amount, then combining them with the various veggies (leek leaves and celery tops are in a gallon-sized plastic bag waiting for just this).

Hedgerows

[(Anonymous)]

Hedgerows and Hugelkultur Hills
If you are doing even the smallest amount of agricultural work they will benefit you. They will save you time. They will save you money. They will help feed your animals. They will help feed you. They will make your life better.
Disposing of yard clippings, woody debris, or other vegetative and animal matter can be costly. Currently you may be transporting your organic matter to a transfer station, or having the city haul it away, or burning it. There is a better way.
Find a place you can stack your brush. Throw on any other organic matter you need to dispose of. Give it a skim of dirt. Toss on some seeds. Continue to add material as the need arises.
You now have micro-climates. You have reflected sunlight, you have shade, you have water retention, you have a wind break, you have a visual screen.
These hills or rows do provide habitation for insects and rodents, so do not place them against a human dwelling. However chickens and cats enjoy patroling the hills.
This practice has saved me dozens of hours and hundreds of dollars each of the last three years.
Hill Building Ocelot

Re: Hedgerows

[ecosophia]

Interesting! Can you recommend resources for people who want to know more about this?

Convenience and Homemade Bread

[degringolade]

I think that I will spend a moment up front quoting from a book that really has nothing to do with the subject at hand here. If you don’t know where the quote comes from, you need to get out more.

Don’t Panic.

OK, back to the subject at hand.
I am grateful to JMG for the forum to discuss the actions needing to become a “Collapsenaut” (I think that this is better wordplay than Dmitry Orlov’s “Collapsenik”.

------

I think that the first thing one needs to do as they steer into the treacherous waters of collapse is to examine one’s activities for the simple concept of “convenience”.
How many of your resources have you traded time/money in order to facilitate the remainder of your time/money to be spent elsewhere?

Now, this is a value judgment that only you can make. The back to the land folks seem to think that an autarkic way of life is the way to go, but this is pipe dream for 99% of the folks who ponder that path. I grew up on a 60-acre truck farm where we ate canned vegetable and our own eggs, chickens, pigs and beef. This let me understand that going to college and moving to the city was the way that I wanted to go.

Most of us will be living in a web of conveniences that allow us to forego the mind-numbing drudgery of physically working 10-12 hour days. What we are going to be doing in our quest to navigate the “less” that is facing us is to re-calibrate what we give away in terms of time, money, and convenience.

My current work is simple, but it is where I started. Bread. Bread worth eating isn’t cheap. Plain white crap bread is $2.00 a loaf. Bread that tastes good is double that. Really good bread is triple. Buying bread at the store is a convenience for me, making my own costs to around $0.65 for ingredients, $0.28 for electricity, and around 25 minutes direct labor.

Getting close to self imposed word limit now, so I will wrap up with this thought: Seemingly simple fixes like this have hidden costs and tradeoffs. Don’t go rushing in and thinking that this is a fix that you can use.

Sourdough bread

[milkyway1]

I'm going to attach my own tip to this, since it fits:

Don't just bake any bread! Instead learn to make sourdough bread - but not from store-bought dry "sourdough powder", but from the real deal (aka sourdough starter which you keep in your pantry or fridge, feed regularly etc).

The learning curve isn't that much steeper than for yeast bread. But sourdough bread is more tasty (ok, that's subjective, I guess); it keeps fresh for longer; you don't have to keep buying new yeast (a small savings, granted, but one less dependency on store-bought stuff in the long run).

There are recipes galore for sourdough on the internet - including for pizza, specialty bread and a ton of sweet treats and cakes (chocolate chip cookies - yumm!!).

Milkyway

PS: Once you've other people hooked on your bread, show them how to do it and share your starter with them. That way, if your starter should ever spoil, they can return the favour and share some back. Instant community-building included - most people love a good bread. ;-)

Use instant pot for easy home made yogurt

[(Anonymous)]

I’ll share something I’ve been doing for the last 6 months or so. I received a free instant pot from my sister in law after she “upgraded”. I’m not one to accumulate kitchen gadgets and machinery, but I decided to accept it since I didn’t have a pressure cooker and hoped that it would encourage me to cook more beans. Shortly thereafter, I learned that it can be used to make yogurt. My family of four goes through a lot of yogurt, so this seemed like a good idea. It has an automatic yogurt setting that makes it very easy to do. Now, I buy one gallon of organic milk at $6.98, and use it to make a gallon of organic yogurt which used to cost me $17.84. Considering that we go through about 3 gallons of yogurt a month, that is a savings of $32.58 a month for us, and $390.96 a year. Instant Pots turn up a lot at garage sales and thrift stores for very affordable prices.
-Stephen

Re: Use instant pot for easy home made yogurt

[(Anonymous)]

We use an Instant Pot for yogurt too, and it is marvelously convenient. It's also nice for broth making (I am an anon who replied to JMG's initial post above), making brown rice thoughtlessly and perfectly every time, bean making, etc. Definitely a high initial cost, but we find it well worthwhile in our five-person family. We don't have or want a microwave (fake convenience!) but don't touch our Instant Pot!

Replace Ziplocs With Stasher Bags

[jprussell]

Really excited to see where this project goes!

My wife and I have been working on reducing the amount of waste, especially plastic waste, we throw out, and one of the biggest game changers has been Stasher Bags - washable, re-usable, sealable rubber bags. They come in a variety of sizes, from a "snack" size that is perfect for a single serving of goldfish or half a peanut butter sandwich, up to gallon-sized ones suitable for marinating a pork tenderloin. I recommend starting with a handful of them closest to the size of disposable bags you use often, and then see which ones you most often are frustrated to find already in use, then buy more of those. They're a bit pricey up front, but they save a lot in the long run.

Cheers,
Jeff

Re: Replace Ziplocs With Stasher Bags

[milkyway1]

> perfect for a single serving of goldfish

For a second, I had that vivid image of you serving your wee ones a nice, portion-sized goldfish right out of the pet fishbowl from your living room... :D

(I did wonder if they'd eat it raw, though :-P )

Milkyway

Little And Often

[(Anonymous)]

/|\ Hail Venus! /|\

I'll start off with a gardening tip that can be applied to much of life. I came by it by way of Josephine McCarthy who uses it in her teaching of magic -, to summarize, little and often goes a long way in learning magic, so do something every day and it will take you far. But it comes from gardening where if you do a little each day, and do it often, it makes life easier. Pick a few weeds each day, and you don't have to spend hours on your day off weeding. Do a chore each day, and they don't pile up to the point where you have to spend a whole day on them to catch. I'm trying to apply this to house maintenance now -those things that are a little more than chores. If I can do smaller projects more frequently, it will keep our house in shape. Same goes with exercise, or if you want to write a book. I know many people suggest writing 2,000 words a day if they want to go pro, but even 800 and 1,000 a day do add up over time, and on the days when you have more energy -then you can put in more than a little. The phrase little and often can mos def be used to become more frugal. Saving a little here, and a little there. Over time it all adds up, and when the habit of little and often is compounded across different areas of living, it can help you become a master gardener of life.

Happy Friday everyone!

Justin Patrick Moore

learn to sew

[(Anonymous)]

and use the knowledge to mend your clothes. This saves time spent hunting for new clothes, and money buying them. Also reduces clothing waste. A needle and thread is very cheap, and a lot of small mends (sewing on a button, closing a tear, fixing a seam that's coming apart) don't take very long to do, nor are they especially difficult. You can often find packages of sewing stuff containing needles, thread in multiple colors etc at thrift stores, which makes this even cheaper. Sewing kits you find in stores are often not very good quality, though they will generally work and can get you started.

pygmycory

Re: learn to sew

[methylethyl]

--Bonus points-- once you start mending your clothes, you will get a much, much better feel for what fabrics will last, and which ones will fall apart quickly, and this will help you choose better the next time you purchase clothes. Have learned, painfully, the difference between real denim and stretch denim, doing this. The real stuff can be patched a lot. The stretch kind... not so much.

Do I NEED this?

[(Anonymous)]

My tip is basically ensuring something is necessary. This only applies to non-critical items of course...

When you spy something you want, wait a week. If you still want it, wait another week. If you still want it, maybe purchase it (but still think about it!). I've noticed that after two weeks, I've either got a really good reason for it or been able to live without it so do so!

Re: Do I NEED this?

[(Anonymous)]

When ever you are considering buying something, visualise how you will part with it. Be reusing it or throwing it out.

This can help you determine if it is really necessary. You arent going to reuse a animatronic hallow skeleton. You will patch and mend a good bag.

Keeping clothes wearable longer - put on an apron!

[(Anonymous)]

I am a messy cooker (fat spatters when frying halloumi for example) and seem to have a tendency to drop tomato sauce on my clothes whilst eating. I am aware that washing clothes shortens their life, even when one line-dries rather than using a tumble drier (all that fluff comes off the material the clothes are made of) so I try to avoid washing them by keeping them clean. I have several aprons that I use when cooking and usually don't take them off until after eating. Most people I know don't take this simple precaution but I remember my Nanna always wore an apron when in the house. I also have a few special nice clothes for going out that I never wear to cook in.

Re: Keeping clothes wearable longer - put on an apron!

[methylethyl]

YES!! My aprons are the only reason I still have *any* clothes fit to wear in public. Grease spots *can* be removed, but it's better if you don't have to.

Budgeting (envelope style)

[temporaryreality]

Envelope budgeting is a great way to help you figure out a) where your money is going and b) how to keep more of it.

At heart, it's based on physical cash and physical envelopes - but there are apps available that allow you to keep your budget electronically. I finally learned how to budget when there was a nifty piece of buy-it-once software available called "You Need A Budget" or YNAB. It's now subscription based and they changed the way it works so I no longer recommend it. [insert a sneaky-extra frugal tip about avoiding subscription-based services as best you can, here].

Essentially, you
0) start with however much money you have available to spend and note the figure
1) contemplate your spending,
2) come up with categories and make corresponding envelopes,
3) figure out how much you WANT to spend on each category (you can review past expenditures to figure this out, but this is a more forward-thinking activity than a retroactive one).
4) allot the funds to each envelope until every single dollar is accounted for.

If you have more money than you have expense categories, you
5) create a category called Emergency Fund
6) create a category called Savings, and you
7) allot your remaining funds to those two categories, with emphasis on filling the Emergency Fund first.

How much is your emergency fund? One month's expenditures is a good place to start, but maybe you want to plan ahead for, say, a pet's emergency vet visit that could conceivably happen, or a sudden car-repair bill... or whatever - recognizing that sometimes emergencies come in a series.

Now, throughout the month (it's easier to conceive of this on a monthly basis), you
8) spend the money you need to spend out of each category.*
9) SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS! (so you can track which category's funds have been utilized)
10) write down what was spent in each category (good notes help you figure out where to save)

When you reach the end of an envelope's funds, stop spending on things in that category. If you MUST spend out of that category, take it out of your emergency fund envelope. If it's not an emergency, do without. Next month, if you disliked the inconvenience of not spending, add more to that category's envelope - accepting that you have made a value judgment about where you want to spend money. That's ok! See * below.

If, at the end of the month, you have funds left over in any category, distribute the remainder between Emergency and Savings.

Go from there. Add and subtract envelopes as your purchasing habits change.

It's a great way to pay attention to every penny to figure out where wastage is happening and it makes for happy successes when there's leftover money that can go to something you thought you couldn't afford a few months ago.

There's some complexity when you're dealing with debt, or working with credit cards (you don't make a category for Credit Cards, you mentally and on-paper still work with each expense on a card as though it comes out of whatever category it alone is part of.

*This method takes the guilt out of spending. If you have a guilty-pleasure, it gets its own legitimate envelope (or, for example, it gets folded into groceries, in the case of things like chocolate or a favorite drink, or what have you). You get to spend the amount you decided on it because "it's been budgeted." Later, if you decide you'd rather have the money than the formerly-guilty-pleasure, you know exactly how much extra making that change would free up for some other use.

A quick search online found info here: https://www.debt.org/advice/dave-ramseys-envelope-system-explained/.

I wish I had an app to recommend, but even the die-hard original-YNAB users who refused to convert to NewYNAB, last I heard on their forum, didn't have a great suggestion either. I haven't looked for a few years, so maybe there's something now - let us know if you find something!

Re: Budgeting (envelope style)

[(Anonymous)]

I had the great fortune of living with two thrifty roommates in a row straight out of college, and we shared grocery costs and cooking so I absorbed their habits.

The second roommate made us a handful of charts every month using google docs. Groceries went into I think seven or nine different categories- grains, beans, meat (if any), condiments, dairy, cheese etc. (He had a special place in his heart for cheese as well as in his charts). These got turned into pie graphs and bar graphs so we could see clearly what we were eating and what it was costing us.

Nowadays I save all receipts and stash them in envelopes marked, for instance, 'October 2023'. On the back of the envelopes I scrawl unreceiptable things like 'Oct. 14 Farmers Market $75'. At the end of the month (or, as I've become more relaxed about the system, at the end of the year) I add up and list the expenses by category (rent, groceries, phone bill, gas, housewares, fun, etc.) and that goes into a google spreadsheet. I can tell at a glance how my month to month expenses have changed over the last several years and which spending categories have moved up or down the priority hierarchy.

The biggest benefit is that I have a very clear idea of what my needs are each month and I don't have to think hard about balancing my income to match. By watching carefully what money is going out of my wallet, I can worry less about what needs to come in.

Dylan

Visible mending

[(Anonymous)]

For well loved clothing that develop weak spots or holes daring for knits or embroidery or patching for other fabrics can extend the garment’s lifespan. For many garments a pack of novelty iron on patches add personality and cost about the same as a replacement garment from the thrift store; stiffer unadorned demin patches are better for work pants. Any patch will adhere better if sewn rather than ironed alone and are a good bunny slope sewing machine project (use a denim needle), sewing machines periodically come available at thrift stores or on Buy Nothing groups. If you choose to tackle darning you will need a darning egg, but a spent lightbulb of the old shape 💡works well.

Re: Visible mending

[(Anonymous)]

See: https://japanobjects.com/features/sashiko

If you do not have the time, patience, skill, or artistry to do elegant sashiko or careful darning, I can recommend doing the embroidery/darning anyway you can, all higgledy-piggledy to look at but functional in a pinch.

My work trousers have spots on them embroidered with a “modern art” chaos quality. I call them arty names like Summer Storm’ or ‘Confetti Snow Walk’ if anyone makes a remark.

As for the socks darned with Chaos Technique, I think this method is *better* than neat darning. The every whichaway yarns pack down flat when worn and kind of felt themselves together, After a day or so, my foot can’t even feel where the patch is.

SAVES: Time and frustrated self-chiding due to long learning curve. Prevents holes from widening without delay due to lack of self confidence. Can always be done over more neatly later on. Also uses up odds and ends of thread/yarns not good for anything else.

RISKS: Low. Chiefly social disdain of sloppy workmanship. Easy to deflect with haughty air and bold declamations such as “Alors! I am ARTISTE! You knows Nossing of zee Art, my work she declairs! Departe mah presance, cochon!”

Seeds on Sale

[prayergardens]

Seed companies in the US are required to put a "Packed in (Year)" on seed packets and many of them will heavily discount seeds in the fall that they still have on hand from the spring growing season.

Older seeds do have lower germination rates over time but if I buy a seed packet for 40% off and plant it the next spring with 5-10% loss in germination then I figure I got ahead a little there.

Also, some seeds can be grown as microgreens over the winter in a sunny window: pea, broccoli, kale etc. so it's an excellent time to get discounted microgreen and sprout seeds.

JMG - is it ok for people to recommend companies if they are just happy customers and not affiliated? I have a few go-to seed companies that I have been happy with.

Re: Seeds on Sale

[(Anonymous)]

Learn how to save seeds from the plants that grew from the seeds on sale.
There are lots of "how to" seed saving sites online as well as seed saver organizations in most states. Google "seed savers local" with your state or city and state in the US and see what you get. I do not know what is possible in the rest of the world, but I imagine seed saving is everywhere frugal people live. ;^)

https://seedsavers.org/learn/seed-saving/
https://thehouseandhomestead.com/how-to-save-seeds/

Learn to can and preserve

[diletpoly]

Learn how to preserve things in Ball jars so they don't take up space in the freezer, with the required energy usage.

I mostly do this with stock, as JMG describes in his first reply, but also beef and chicken bones and in larger volumes, but I've also done tomatoes, salsa, corn, fruit jams and jellies, and recently branched out to pulled pork.

The advantage is buying in bulk when things are cheap (I have a picture somewhere of around 60 ears of corn we shucked, parboiled, cut off the cob, and used/canned/froze, all bought end-of-season at a farmer's market for around $6, maybe 10 years ago), make it for a week of dinners or lunches, then put the rest away and use as needed. I have a jar of pulled pork in my desk at work, for an emergency lunch if I forget to pack something. Plus, as a single guy living alone, I managed to make around 12 pints of it from a single big pork butt, and I've been eating off of it for over a year now, so I guess it's a good time to think about making more.

There's a lot to learn, but find one or two things you really like/use, get what you need, and learn from there, then expand as needed/desired. National Center for Home Food Preservation is a great place to start.

Re: Learn to can and preserve

[methylethyl]

Thanks for that link! I need to get back to canning...

Discount Lumber

[jenniferkobernik]

Discount Lumber

If you have projects that require buying lumber, speak to the manager of your local lumberyard to see what he does with cull lumber.

Some amount of every shipment they receive will be of too poor a quality to sell to regular customers, but if too much of it piles up, it inhibits movement and access around the lumberyard.

Often they will sell you piles of it at an incredibly steep discount, sometimes only on certain days or after a given interval in which they try to sell it for a higher price.

If you are careful, you can get many perfectly usable pieces of substantial length by careful cutting of longer pieces to remove the worst of the twist/warping/cupping/bowing, etc.

Often we will get several 20-ft cull sticks for the price of a normal 10-ft stick, and turn them into a nice collection of 14- 12- 10- and 8-footers by judicious trimming (and even the off-cuts can sometimes be used for blocking).

This has allowed us to build sheds, shelves, doors, etc. for tens rather than hundreds of dollars.

We have had better luck with small local businesses than big chains.

Re: Discount Lumber

[brenainn]

Awesome! I've begun building and repairing my own furniture, among other projects. This will help quite a bit.

Window insulation

[(Anonymous)]

Placing bubble wrap on drafty windows in the winter. I do this instead of buying a window kit. It's easier than a kit to install. All you need besides the wrap are scissors and a spray bottle with water. You just mist the window with the water and stick the bubble wrap that has been cut to the size of the window. It usually holds until the spring, but you can always spray a little more water if it doesn't. I have old drafty windows and this makes it a room feel a little warmer.

Re: Window insulation

[prayergardens]

I would like to second this post on two counts:

1 - It works. We have some small single pane windows that aren't easily replaceable so we have used this method for years in the winter.

2 - If anyone is concerned about security this is an excellent way to block Peeping Toms and Nosy Nellys view into basements/garages/sheds year round. Same effect as a vinyl window covering but with the double benefit of a little extra insulation.

What's a Lawn?

[(Anonymous)]

This one is ridiculously basic: stop sweating about your lawn. My own contains dandelions, quack grass, violets, Creeping Charlie and clover - lots and lots of clover. So long as I mow it regularly no one cares.

STEP ONE: KEEP TRACK OF HOW YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY

[(Anonymous)]

Keep track of how you spend your money.
You may find that you are spending a lot of money on things you really don't need.

For example: Do you eat out for lunch on work days? That can add up and be replaced with bringing your own lunch.

Or you may find that hookers and blow really put a much bigger hole in your budget than you thought. Would a girl friend and expresso be cheaper? (almost certainly healthier)

So, first step: know what you are currently spending money on.

[(Anonymous)]

Bone Broth (and cooking fat for free)

Bone broth is a great base for any hearty winter soup. Buy bones (e.g., pork neck bones), put them in the pot, cover with water, add salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, collect foam from the top, cover with a lid, and let it simmer overnight. In the morning, take out bones let the pot cool, and then put it in the fridge. You will need 12-24 hours for the fat on the surface of the broth to harden. Collect the fat with a spatula and put it in the container. If you fry anything - this is a great fat to use instead of a cooking oil. As for the broth - proceed to cook the soup of your choice. My personal favorites are shchi (Russian cabbage soup) and borscht (Ukrainian beet soup). You can make a lot - these soups will keep in the fridge for 5 days for sure.
Bon Appetit,
Kirsten

cooking fats

[methylethyl]

Chicken fat skimmed off a batch of broth-- I used to skim it right into a frying pan, and then fry up the chicken skins until they were crispy. griblenes! I'd eat them just like that because I'm a savage, but they also make tasty toppings for other dishes. Or so I'm told.

We also save the beef tallow that we drain out, when cooking cheap ground beef. put it in a bowl, stick it in the fridge until it solidifies, pop it out and rinse/scrape/drain off any liquid or gel at the bottom, and now you have a solid disk of beef fat that will keep a long time in the fridge and even longer in a bag in the freezer-- great for frying just about anything.

Use a budget to find your real priorities

[thinking_turtle]

My money tip is zero based budgeting, also called envelope budgeting. I'm a big fan of the You Need A Budget software with its system of Four Rules.

Zero based budgeting helps me avoid pondering the past or speculating on the future. I put the dollars I have now in (virtual) envelopes. By choosing an envelope for each dollar I prioritize my expenses.

When I'm are surprised by an expense, like a bicycle repair, I turn that into a monthly savings goal. When my bicycle breaks again I will be prepared.

When something unexpected happens, I have my priorities ready, and take money from low priority envelopes to deal with the unexpected bill.

Over time I built a savings buffer. Having options allows me to make better choices, like avoiding consumer debt or credit cards.

The past five years have been years of reduced spending power. I expect that trend to continue. Zero based budgeting helps me make the most of the dollars that remain. When I look back at the end of the year, I feel much better about my spending.

Fermentation

[(Anonymous)]

One of the things that's certain to happen as we become poorer is that food will become an ever-increasing fraction of our budget, the quality and variety that's available and affordable will go down, and good nutrition will become a life and death matter as "health care" becomes a luxury many can't afford. I've spent the last 2 decades "collapsing now" and figuring out how to eat well on food that I grow, forage, purchase, or barter for locally. Probably 75% comes from within biking distance of my house. It's not only possible, but it's not even that difficult. I'll share many tips over the coming weeks, but the first one is probably most important. It's how I got serious about this.

Find a few like-minded individuals or families near you and create a Local Food Challenge. Create parameters for what you need to obtain locally, what locally means, what "trade items" you will allow yourselves to buy more conventionally, and a process for holding each other accountable. Do it for a year to make it a habit and figure out how to deal with the seasonality of your place.

This will make you more self reliant and resilient. You will learn to eat seasonally and preserve foods when they're abundant and cheap, etc. I did this with 6 other people 20 years ago in Northern Minnesota. If it can work here, it can work anywhere!

[hippieviking]

My contribution for this week is one that we just restarted after some long term extended family moved out.

We turn the power off at night. This obviously isn't workable for everybody but for those who live in a house rather than an apartment it's very workable. Around the time we put the kids down for bed we kill the power and don't turn it back on until the am.

We keep a couple of night lights that are battery powered and use rechargeable batteries ditto our alarm clock. To deal with the refrigerator we took a couple of old plastic nut containers that are square and have a screw on lid they hold about a gallon of water. The containers are kept in the fridge freezer and then every night when we kill the power we just put those in the fridge and leave it closed until the am. The containers rarely melt much and do a great job of keeping the fridge items cold, in the am, they go back into the freezer.

Obviously, heating is an issue for folks. We heat with wood in the winter, so this is not an issue for us, but a lot of the year we aren't burning fires, you just learn to deal with a little more temperature fluctuation in the house.

I don't have the numbers around from when we did this for about six months straight, but our power bill definitely takes a drop. It doesn't drop precipitously, probably because a significant chunk of our bill is the flat fee for connection but it is still noticeable.

Bonuses: you aren't being irradiated by emf radiation for as much of the day and, if you live in an old house like ours, less likelihood of bad wiring leading to a fire in the night.

We have really come to enjoy doing this as it makes our evenings electronic free which is way more pleasant and I feel like everyone in the house sleeps better.

HV

[(Anonymous)]

My 95 year old mother still heats primarily with wood, and before bedtime every night, she turns off the oil furnace/hot water heater. When she reads on her tablet, it is in a darkened room. None of this is done out of economic necessity-- it's just her nature.

Ditch the shopping cart

[(Anonymous)]

When going to the store to grab a few items I'll forgo the shopping cart and just carry the stuff. This prevents me from having the ability to buy more than intended.

Re: Ditch the shopping cart

[thinking_turtle]

Haha! Love this one. Add friction to bad things!

Fabric Softener

[(Anonymous)]

We use white vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser in our washing machine, and find the results to be far superior to any chemical softener we have ever used in the past. There is no odor, discoloration, or waxy buildup in the clothes, and most garments rinsed with vinegar in the water do not even need ironing. It's clean, safe, cheap, and hypo-allergenic.

Old Steve

Re: Fabric Softener

[methylethyl]

Ooh! I do this for my hair. It never occurred to me to try it with the laundry...

Rice in a pressure cooker

[charlieobert]

Tip on making rice in a pressure cooker - the rice needs the same amount of time to sit and steep, but the flame doesn't need to be on long at all. You also get no scorched rice.

For white rice, bring it up to pressure and cook for just 3 minutes, then turn the flame off and let it sit for around 25.

For brown rice you cook for 20 min and let it sit for another 35-40.

I use the usual 2:1 water to rice ratio, with less water per rice as the amount of rice cooked increases.

Re: Rice in a pressure cooker

[(Anonymous)]

I use an old, defunct microwave oven as a hay box for cooking with retained heat. The microwave sits in a niche above the range. I put different size trivets on the plastic floor of the box for different sized pots. The back is lined with a folded ironing board pad. Cook the rice with a lid on the pot and just enough water to cover the grains. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer for about 5 minutes. Pop the covered pot into the microwave, stuff an old clean sheet in to surround the pot and close the door. Let sit for 25-40 minutes (longer for a larger pot) and the rice is done. Brown rice needs a little more water and cooking time than white rice. You may need to experiment to find the sweet spot for your brand of rice.

Review and Cull Subscriptions

[(Anonymous)]

It is so easy to let the $5.00 here, $10.00 there, online subscriptions pile up. From time to time, consider reviewing what you are subscribed to, and if the thrill is gone, cancel that subscription. Even if it's free, if you don't care about it anymore for whatever reason, unsubscribe from it.

OtterGirl

Re: Review and Cull Subscriptions

[(Anonymous)]

Here's a guide on how to cancel Amazon Prime.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-cancel-amazon-prime,news-21413.html

I did a free trial and got stuck with a whole year by accident. Tried to put it to the best use but what I'm noticing is that more often the products are counterfeit or damaged stock that got bought up for pennies on the dollar and re-sold at full price. A lot of times it costs the same or less to order directly from a company, and then you know the product you are getting is the legit latest version.

Now they are rolling out the humanoid robots and replacing factory workers which is a great reminder to move business elsewhere with better karma.