Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday!  This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. 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.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Wood Stove Tips: Fire Bricks and Sink Cleaning

[prayergardens]

We use a wood stove to help us heat the house in winter. We purchased some cheap fire bricks at the home improvement store and put them on top of the wood stove. It serves the dual purpose of retaining and releasing heat through the night and provides a surface to put a pan on and make soup or beans without them getting too hot and burning. Sometimes I just put a sweet potato to cook on the bricks directly and that works too.

I have also found that ash cleans the stainless steel sink in our kitchen far better than magic erasers (or my weak elbow grease!) ever did so I keep a little sifted ash in a coffee can under the sink.

Re: Wood Stove Tips: Fire Bricks and Sink Cleaning

[methylethyl]

It has been a marvelous discovery, the magic of cleaning with... dang near anything granular ;)

Ashes are great, very alkaline, turn grease into soap, basically.

In the spirit of waste-not-want-not, I have also found that once in a blue moon, I get stuck with a bit of cornmeal or dry grits or oats or flour that's gone "off" and can't be eaten. Fear not! It can clean up grease! Just used a bit of some coarse cornmeal that everyone in my family turned up their noses at (and I still had half a bag!), to clean a grease spill off the stovetop, and scrub out an oily frying pan-- sprinkled it on the oily spot, rubbed it around, dumped it in the trash. I try to avoid paper towels whenever possible, and there wasn't any junk mail about for the purpose, so gritty cornmeal to the rescue.

Back when we had an outdoor spigot (what was the homeowner thinking here?), I not-infrequently took large pots and baking sheets with stuff burnt onto them, and scoured them outside with sand. Helps if you have a rag to apply pressure with-- spares your hands. I expect it puts some wear and tear on the pots, but the sand is free, and the method is as traditional as you can get ;)

Choice of Carbs

[(Anonymous)]

To avoid gluten as much as possible, I buy corn chips or rice cakes. This week I deliberately went for the cheapest item in the store, the store brand tortilla chips, and am quite satisfied with them. Note: I prefer them to gluten-free bread, and in New Mexico, where I came from, tortilla chips were as common as crackers.

A note to those who greeted my post about dry cereal with odes to oatmeal: I have a had back. I can walk quite well, but standing for any length of time, such as standing over a stove to baby-sit hot cereal, is physically painful. The alternative is microwaving it, or pouring hot water over instant oatmeal.

The Grey Badger

Re: Choice of Carbs

[teresa_from_hershey]

I eat instant oatmeal six days a week. I buy plain store brand, which is the least expensive option and it's the easiest.

To make it much better without slaving over a hot stove, use a four-cup Pyrex measuring cup.

Pour in one cup of milk, 1 heaping tablespoon of flaxseed meal, the packet of plain oatmeal, and a handful of raisins.

Nuke for 2 minutes and 22 seconds (222). Stir. If it's thin, let it sit a few minutes. This is fast, easy, filling, and cheap.

cook mulitple dishes with single heating up

[(Anonymous)]

Breakfast: One way I do this every morning is to heat up one full kettle of water on the stove. I have electric heating elements, so they stay hot after the power is turned off. This could waste energy, but it can be an advantage and put to use. So once the kettle boils, I fill up a quart thermos carafe, this is an old fashioned glass lined thermos, with boiling water and one tea bag, and close it up. I fill up my mug that has my instant chai tea mix in it with hot water, and I add 1 cup of the hot water to a small pan with 1/2 cup of rolled oats in it ( or, when I am being more healthy, I soak those oats all night in 1/2 cup of water, so only add 1/2 cup of boiling water in the morning) I put the lid on the saucepan and put it back on the electric burner that is turned off. Depending what size burner I have used, I might put a hot pad on top of the pan lid to insulate a bit, or if the large burner, I have to be careful to not over boil the oatmeal. If I have soaked it overnight, this is not a problem. Then I take my cup of hot chai tea and go about my morning chores, feeding animals, or what have you.. and do not have to worry about burning or overcooking breakfast. When I get back to the house, it is done, and if I am delayed, no problem. I also now have a carafe with hot tea to use all thru the morning. This saves money on energy use, on keeping me warm as the hot beverages and meal allow me to not have heat high, and saves time as I can do chores and not sit and watch oatmeal cook

I also use residual heat for cooking rice on the stove, but have to allow a small amount of cooking with heat before turning it off, and definitely need the hot pad or folded towel on top. Be very careful this doesnt hang down and touch a still hot heating element.

We are likely all aware of this when heating up the oven. Put potatoes in the oven as you preheat it for baking bread, put non-fussy other items, cassaroles, etc.. in while preheating too. Fill the oven, do alot of baing at once, potatoes to be refrigerated for future meals during the week, the evening cassarolle, the weeks baking of bread or dessert

Atmospheric River

Re: cook mulitple dishes with single heating up

[methylethyl]

Began my first tentative experiment with baking efficiency today: if I'm gonna heat up the oven, and by extension the whole dang house (November is not really cool weather yet, here-- just not-that-hot), might as well bake *as much as possible* and then not use the oven for the rest of the week. So I fired up the oven at noon-ish, and at 7pm now, I'm just winding up the baking: done serially, I was able to bake 8 loaves of bread, 2 pizzas, and 3 dozen empanadas (which I will freeze for my husband's work lunches-- they're basically hot pockets, but better). Yes, had to run the oven for 7 hours, but only had to run it up to temp once.

One loaf to the neighbors for good will, and the family easily eats a loaf a day, and they can be frozen. We're good for the week.

Citrus waste cleaner

[claire_58]

If you eat citrus fruit or use it in your cooking steep the rinds in vinegar in a jar on the counter for a couple of weeks. Then strain it, put it into a spray bottle, and use it as an all purpose cleaner. The vinegar dissolves the volatile oils in citrus peels. The oils contain, limonene, a turpine, that dissolves grease.

Any type of citrus will work. The combo with vinegar is pleasant smelling and powerful and the left over citrus peels are much more easily broken down in the compost.

Re: Citrus waste cleaner

[miow]

Brilliant tip thank you. I didn't know this one before.

Do the Window Dance every day (manipulating solar gain)

[teresa_from_hershey]

The Window Dance is what my household calls manipulating the window treatments to control solar gain.

That is, we let in warming sunshine in the winter and keep it out in the summer.

You perform the Window Dance twice a day.
In the winter, open all your drapes in the morning and let in warming sunshine.
At sunset (or just before), close everything up snug.

Multiple layers of window treatments (sheers, window-shades, lined and insulated drapes, valances) each add another layer of insulation.

This seems basic but I routinely see people with bare glass in the winter.
Not only do people see inside your home, that bare glass radiates out heat because windows are holes in the walls.

Re: Do the Window Dance every day (manipulating solar gain)

[(Anonymous)]

After ten years of just Venetian blinds in our house, we (finally!) hung curtains two years ago. Not only does this create a cozier atmosphere, but the temperature remains noticeably more stable than before we hung the curtains. It didn't cost us more than a few hundred dollars, and an afternoon of testing our basic household measuring and hammering skills, and we would totally do it all again. To this day, we occasionally comment to each other about what a big difference such a relatively small outlay made. (More resourceful people could no doubt do this for less money, btw.)

OtterGirl

? about making your own yogurt

[(Anonymous)]

Apologies if this has been covered already. Might anyone be willing to share simple ways to make one's own yogurt? Thanks!

Re: ? about making your own yogurt

[(Anonymous)]

Hi!

For yogurt, I incubate it in a blanket lined cooler, like a nest, here's the process:

-Bring 6cups milk just to a boil in a wide pot, cool down in said pot to about 120 F, whisking
occasionally, then pour into 2 qt enamel pot (I have Le Creuset).
-While waiting for milk to cool, I put 1T yogurt in bowl, open up cooler, remove and gently warm with residual heat from burner a cast iron stove insert (or try a pan warmer). It helps maintain
heat in the cooler. I then wrap the insert in a small towel and place it in the cooler on the
blanket.
-Make sure the insert doesn't get hot; I once had a smoldering blanket in the cooler!
-When milk reaches 109-111 F, whisk about 1/3 cup milk into old yogurt to temper it, then whisk
that into the pot of milk.
-Place lid on and gently place in cooler, making sure the pot is level. Wrap blanket over the top.
-Leave to incubate for 8 hours or more if it doesn't set. I have left it for 24 hours and it was
fine.

Sometimes I've had to start with a new batch of commercial yogurt but if I make it consistently each time, I can use the previous batch for my starter for a long time. Occasionally (temps off?
milk off?) a batch doesn't work and I end up baking with the milk. I usually make yogurt every 10-14 days, sooner seems to yield better results. You can probably skip the heated insert but living in a cold home in New England, it helps in the cooler months.

Good Luck!
Ellen in ME

Pork Shoulders are your friend

[(Anonymous)]

Per pound, they are the cheapest meat out there and if you buy them in bulk, they get even cheaper. Portion out one of those 30 lb shoulders into 10 lb chunks, vacseal them and stick them in the freezer. Pull them out and defrost as needed.

If all you have is an oven, use that but they're best cooked indoors in either a crockpot or an instant pot. Youtube has plenty of people who will show you how and like most crockpot things, you set it up in the morning, go away and come back to it in the evening.

If you have a pellet grill, that's the ultimate way to go, but that sort of puts you out of the frugal catgeory. But smoked pork shoulder does taste very very very good. And sometimes you can catch those pellet grills on sale or on craigslist.

Once you have it cooked, you can put them in tacos or make sandwiches. Or just serve it plain with BBQ sauce. You could probably make a basic bread dough and put them in those too, like bierocks.

Re: Pork Shoulders are your friend

[methylethyl]

I buy the large ones, bring them home, and while they're still thawed I take at least one, and dismember it with a sharp knife, into stew-sized chunks, then bag it in freezer bags-- if it's for stew, I keep the shoulder bone with it. If I'm cutting up more than one, shoulder bones with their clinging bits go in a separate bag.

If stewing is what's available, we use the instant pot to turn them into either posole soup (hominy, browned pork chunks, chicken broth, salt, pepper, cumin, and chopped up chipotle peppers (canned in adobo sauce),

OR carnitas-- a mexican pork stew with citrus and tomatillos. Lots of recipes out there, most of them good.

If we can grill-- they marinate overnight in lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper, and then go on skewers and grill up into souvlaki.

But yeah-- the pork shoulders are good eating, once you get past the technical challenge of dismantling one. Someday I'm gonna go next-level and smoke one, but I'm not there yet ;)

Food Substitutions

[antoine_eva]

With foods price increase food substitutions would allow to reduce price of recipe or be able to make them at all if some item become unavailable.

I used "The Food Substitutions Bible: 6,500 Substitutions for Ingredients, Equipment and Techniques" by David Joachim and it work well for me.

--

+1 recommendation for "The Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn discused earlier, i'm half-way through it and while i know most thing being recommended, i adopted some tips that will save me a lot long term. Just reading it daily and this forum weekly turn my focus on saving money, thanks for it.

Re: Food Substitutions

[(Anonymous)]

what are your favorite substitutions or ones you use the most ?

Technique for hand-washing clothes

[(Anonymous)]

If you need to, or decide to, wash your clothes by hand, here is a technique I invented when I lived overseas many decades ago, with no access to a washing machine and two small children, one in cloth diapers.

Buy a clean, new plunger / plumber's friend and a round plastic garbage bin of a size that you can lift when it is 3/4 full of water, so you can empty it. Fill the bin about 2/3 full with water and laundry soap or detergent.

When your clothes are ready for a wash, drop them in the bin to soak. Keep the plunger handy and use it to plunge the clothes from time to time...we kept ours in the bathroom and whenever we used the bathroom we also plunged the clothes for a couple minutes.

After a day or two of this, wring out the clothes into a washtub, empty the dirty water, and repeat the plunging with rinse water. Hang the clothes to dry, and start your next wash load going. It's a lot easier than scrubbing each piece of clothing by hand!

Winifred Hodge Rose

Re: Technique for hand-washing clothes

[methylethyl]

Ha!

This is almost exactly the method we came up with, the year we lived overseas, right down to the plunger. Only we used 5-gallon buckets. Worked great.

The only hitch was that we were too attached to jeans, and those are a *pain* to wring out by hand. If I ever have to go back to hand-washing, I will be making different wardrobe decisions to accommodate-- like using hand-towel sized towels to dry off after bathing, and maybe ditching terrycloth entirely. My grandmother's family all used flour sacks to dry off-- no reason we need big fluffy towels. Bedsheets are still a right nuisance though.

If you can wash next to where you hang the clothes, wringing out is not so big a deal of course. At the time, I had to wash in my kitchen, and then carry everything upstairs three floors to the roof to dry!

Fasting

[michele7]

I'm not a doctor. Consult with your healthcare practitioner before adding fasting to your health regime. Hippocrates recommended fasting as a response to illness. Lately it's become very trendy with intermittent fasting (skipping breakfast for example) or fasting one day of the week. If you are trying to reduce your food budget, skipping a meal every day or once a week, can help reduce costs. Children should not fast. I fast for 36 hours every Sunday. I'm used to it, so it's not hard. I worked my way up to that amount of time. The longest I've water fasted was 3 days. I'm fasting for my health, but I can see how it helps the food budget.

Re: Fasting

[methylethyl]

Jason Fung has a great book on this-- he had great results in patients with kidney disease. I've used it to help get blood sugar under control, but that's the sort of thing you definitely want medical supervision for if you're on any diabetes meds. Hypo episodes are dangerous!

For longer than one day, it's helpful to get some salt-- otherwise your kidneys can start dumping calcium and other minerals, and you end up with fatigue and leg cramps and stuff, which is not fun. Or at least, that has been my experience. Do your own research obviously.

Get a Multimeter

[dr_coyote]

The caveat here has to be “but only if you know some basics about what you’re doing around electricity.”

A multimeter extends your human senses to know what’s going on in electrical circuits and components. Is a battery dead, or is there some other problem keeping things from working? Want to double-check that a house circuit is off before fixing a broken wall outlet? A multimeter’s the best way. What’s draining the car’s battery overnight? Use the current meter function and systematically pull (then replace) fuses one at a time until the phantom current load goes away. Way cheaper than having a mechanic do it for you. Test solar panel output? Easy. Test polarity before plugging in a 12v DC component? Also easy. The uses are endless. Even if you’re bringing in an electrician, it helps to be able to give a circuit a once-over before calling. It helps you describe the problem, and you’re less likely to be taken for a ride.

While there are some OK sub-$25 multimeters in hardware & auto parts stores, it’s hard to beat the basic Fluke 101 and 107 prosumer models, at about $50 and $100 respectively. The 101 is very basic, while the 107 includes current measuring capabilities (useful on old cars with old wiring prone to mysterious electrical drains and subsequent dead batteries) and some more electronic component tests. The main thing is to look for the safety rating: Cat III is a common “good gear” minimum, Cat IV is overkill for household use. If the package doesn’t say, then caveat emptor, but even the cheapies are way better than the old “lick the 9v battery” trick.

Re: Get a Multimeter

[(Anonymous)]

Hazard Fraught, er, Harbor Freight will have coupons on occasion for their basic multimeter. Last time I checked it brought the price down to $10 but since inflation that may have changed.

However, you get what you pay for.

Kitchen Thermos

[weilong]

We keep a thermos bottle on the kitchen counter. Any boiled water from the kettle that is leftover after making coffee or whatever goes in the thermos. It stays hot enough for tea for an hour or two. Longer than that and we put it back in the kettle, but it is already pretty hot so it boils quickly.

If you look around, you can even find models made for this purpose, with handles and spouts.

Easy and almost free natural dye

[jenniferkobernik]

If you are interested in dying cloth, my favorite very simple and free(ish) way to do this is with oak (galls, leaves, and/or acorns) as the dye bath and an iron mordant made from old rusty bits of hardware (nails, wire, broken machine parts, etc) soaked for at least several days in a mix jar of vinegar and water (don’t put the lid on too tight or it can explode). The oak will create more or less intense shades of brown, which is fine, but the addition of the iron mordant changes it to a really lovely shade of taupey grey. You can use the mordant to achieve dip-dye or tie-dye effects or do eco printing by dipping objects such as leaves in the mordant and using them to printing on oak-dyed fabric, or by using oak leaves or other naturally tannin-rich plants to print on fabric pre-treated with the iron mordant.

Re: Easy and almost free natural dye

[kayr]

I like brown onion skins or black walnut hulls for beautiful brown colors. No mordant needed, just boil them up, strain, soak your cloth and away you go.

[(Anonymous)]

A good YouTube site for people who fell between the cracks and are living out of their vehicles free on blm land. One thing he covers is going to Mexico for medical care, which is a fraction of American prices. I could see these people one day evolving into America’s’ future Cossacks.

https://youtube.com/@CheapRVliving?si=CvBhQ-4jC2kON4_v

Easy Rice and Beans Variation

[jprussell]

When I was in college, I came up with a go-to recipe that was tasty, filling, and minimal work (and fairly cheap):
- 1 Can Beans of Choice
- 1 Jar Salsa of Choice
- 1 Cup Rice
- 1 Link Sausage of Choice

Make rice in a rice cooker. While that's going, you can cut up and fry the sausage for better flavor, but if you're in a rush, just cutting it up is fine. Once rice is finished, combine beans (without rinsing, the bean liquid soaks into the rice and adds some flavor), salsa, rice, and cut-up sausage in bowl or travel container (I would make this for lunch and take it to school with me). That's it! Serves one hungry young man, or more likely 2 meals for folks with more reasonable appetites. Obviously pretty easy to scale up for a family by doubling or tripling ingredients, assuming everybody likes salsa.

For some specific recommendations, I'm partial to Arriba brand Smoked Chipotle medium salsa, but it's not the cheapest. For sausage, I like something with some pepper in it. If you're in Texas, Prasek's jalapeno cheddar was a favorite for a long time. If you want to go a bit healthier, consider adding some veggies that require minimal prep to mix in (cut up bell peppers, broccoli, fresh spinach).

To make it more frugal, at the expense of convenience, cooking dried beans in a crock pot is likely the best choice, and/or reducing/leaving out the sausage (half a link still gives you the flavor and the benefit of the fat). Homemade salsa would be another way of saving on this, or just using some hot sauce instead (if you do that, maybe melt some butter in). Using cheaper meat than prepared sausage would be another way to go (the Pork Butt tip up-post would go great in this).

My blessings to all who welcome them, and happy eating,
Jeff

Re: Easy Rice and Beans Variation

[(Anonymous)]

The least annoying way to cook dried beans is in an instant pot though. You can even cook them straight from the bag without soaking, but I don't recommend it. It's possible to cook dried beans on the stove, but you'll need to soak them and you'll need about 6-10 hours. On the upside, you can't really overcook beans. You can undercook them though and they are miserable when they're undercooked.

I haven't run the numbers to see if dried beans are cheaper than canned, and you would think they would be, but you'd be surprised sometimes at the economics of it all. In this screwed up economy, things can get - counterintuitive.

For fellow sewists

[(Anonymous)]

iron-on interfacing is an unnecessary waste of money for most applications. Not to mention that it makes honest cloth look like a board. Any lightweight fabric which you have leftover will do for most ordinary garments. Lightweight linen or cotton batiste if you can get them are best, IMHO, but poly-cotton batiste will do just fine if that is what you have. Unless one is sewing for fashionable clients, there is no need to spend $10+ per yard on silk organza. By the time you shrink and apply the iron on kind, according to manufacturer's directions, you could have cut out and basted on the sew-in.

Re: For fellow sewists

[methylethyl]

IMO it also looks nicer over the long haul. Maybe I've had bad luck with iron-ons, but they did not wash well.

You Don't Have To Actually Cook Rolled Oats

[(Anonymous)]

[Whinny]

As I write this I am munching on a bowl of my homemade muesli, with milk.

I've always been fond of granola, but didn't want to go to the labor of baking it. So it was a red-letter day when I discovered that muesli is basically granola, without the baking. All ingredients are organic if possible.

My recipe is:
- rolled oats
- rolled barley if obtainable, otherwise some kind of multigrain cereal
- raisins
- dried cranberries
- dried blueberries
- pumpkin seeds without the hulls
- sunflower seeds without the hulls
- sesame seeds
- flaxseed
- shredded coconut

I make 7-8 lbs at a time, pour it into two empty 1-gallon water jugs, and put these in the freezer for at least a week to kill the eggs of any flour bugs that might have found their way into the grains.
After that I pour some into a bowl with some milk and it's chow time.

Mixed with a big dollop of peanut butter, nuked in a bowl with milk for 50 seconds or so, makes a really tasty hot cereal too.

When I started eating this my jaws at first got tired from the chewing, but they toughened up within a week.

- Cicada Grove

Library Shout out!

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen the public library mentioned in a few posts, but I want to make a direct plug for our libraries. I get the chance to read physical books and ebooks, watch DVD's and listen to audio books all for free. When my son was small, we went to weekly storytime and were able to access a dozen different kids books each week. Our library also offers internet access, book clubs, and teen activities. For me, the best part is the opportunity to browse the book shelves and take a risk on a new author or an interesting subject at no cost.
Like many public services, it is use it or lose it.

Re: Library Shout out!

[michele7]

Our county library system allows patrons to reserve books from other libraries in the system and get them shipped for free to your local library. I just picked up 3 books at my local library that came from libraries across the county. I love this service! Use your libraries, folks.

Hand-Painted Cards

[(Anonymous)]

Hi,
I just spent an hour or so painting some simple watercolour card fronts. I cut the watercolour paper quite small and painted some in fall colours and let them dry. Then, I used a micron ink pen to draw fallen leaves on the cards and then decided to touch up some of the leaves with more paint. I also painted a few doodles on some other cards of Christmas-tree ornaments and added details with the pen. Glitter glue is added later for that slightly tacky Christmas look.

I cut card stock, which is very inexpensive, to the size of the cards I want. I can often get two cards from one sheet of card stock. I paste the paintings on and use computer-printer paper, sometimes also painted in watercolours to make the envelopes. This process results in charming hand-made cards that cost something like ten Canadian cents a card.

I try to keep a stock of such cards handy for correspondence and birthday cards and the like. I also have some girlfriends over and we paint together. This is a very inexpensive entertainment and my friends love it.

The paints I use started out being a FineTec set of kids paints but they have been used up and I bought a supply of student-grade watercolour tubes and simple refill the pans as they empty. This is not only inexpensive but it makes the whole process less stressful than serious watercolour painting. I recommend it to anyone. There are heaps of charming, free painting tutorials on Youtube and in Library books.
Maxine

Re: Hand-Painted Cards

[kayr]

I use to do this with my rubber stamp collection. It was a lot of fun, but my time to do this seems to have been put into other projects. I might have to rethink that.

Making apple cider vinegar - apple scraps make the best flavour

[baconrolypoly]

This is from ten years ago.

As an experiment, I started two batches of vinegar, one with apple scraps and the other with the juice of freshly crushed apples.

After an apple-processing day in mid-December, 2013, I put as much of the apple scraps as would fit into my largest mixing bowl, covered it with water, sat a plate on top to keep everything submerged, draped a tea towel over it and let it sit. Every few days I stirred it and after a few days fermentation began. It fermented for a couple of weeks and when fermentation slowed down, I strained the liquid into a jar, covered the top with a cloth (vinegar needs oxygen to form), put the jar on top of a cupboard and left it to get on with it. At this point the apple scraps went onto the compost heap. For the vinegar started with juice, I put it into two jars until fermentation was finished, then added a small piece of vinegar mother into each and sat them on top of a cupboard next to the jar of apple scrap vinegar. Vinegar mother is a substance composed of a form of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids.

From time to time, I sniffed to see what was happening - to start with all jars smelled like cider, but after a few weeks they started to smell vinegary and a layer of something rather scummy started to grow on the surface of the ones that hadn’t had mother added. The scum wasn’t mould so I left it. The jar that did have mother added started to grow one on the surface within a couple of weeks of a tiny piece being added. To my surprise, the scum on the liquid in the other jars grew into a mother very shortly afterwards.

Whilst all jars had formed mothers, the pure juice ones were surprisingly pale and weak tasting, as if they had been watered down. By contrast, the vinegar made from apple scraps was darker and had a strong, fruity vinegar flavour.

[thinking_turtle]

People who have to turn every penny often have high housing costs. Signals are that the house is behind on maintenance, they're wearing clothes beneath their status, decline to contribute to a joint present, or accept beer in the pub without giving back.

For some reason they can't see the cause of their financial problems. It can take years before they bite the bullet and relocate to a more affordable place. Some of them have lived frugally for twenty years, just to avoid the loss in status of moving to a cheaper house!

So my tip is for if you find yourself thinking about small purchases a lot. Especially things that your friends and colleagues see as trivial. Don't mistake the trees for the forest! Bring yourself to face the cost of your residence. If it's over 40% of your spending, why not downscale to a more affordable place?

good tip

[(Anonymous)]

While that can be a good tip for some locations, many large areas of the USA, there is just a huge disconnect between housing prices and income, so there is nothing less expensive. It also costs $125 to $200 an hour to get someone to do the maintanance, which is how it gets deferred.

Many have moved to other areas of the country, raising those areas housing prices in the process, the last few years. Right now, it might be a bit late to do so before the next down step, thus we have to think about "sheltering in place" doing with less for what may be a tumoultuous time.

You were talking about this 2 weeks ago, but do keep in mind that the whole point of this "frugal Friday" is to share these small tips on saving money. That is the whole point of this particular forum

Cheap cat litter

[(Anonymous)]

You can buy cat litter that's made of compressed pine sawdust. It's both inexpensive and biodegradable, and pine is a pretty effective odor control. It has no additives. The cheapest form is at farm supply stores, sold as animal bedding. The local chain store in my area is Tractor Supply, and the product is labeled Pelletized Bedding for Horses and Small Animals. It's the same stuff that's sold in grocery stores with the brand name Feline Pine, but it costs about a quarter as much! Literally, a 40-pound bag of the pelletized bedding is about $8.50, and Feline Pine costs about $16 for a 20-pound bag.

I'm fortunate to have the space to compost the litter; not everyone does, but the pine litter is lighter than clay litter and so would be somewhat less burdensome in your trash. I make a separate pile for the litter; I wouldn't mix with anything intended for the garden. The litter breaks down quite slowly, and after accumulating a large pile, I've been spreading it instead of piling, and it disappears pretty quickly--but then we've been getting plenty of rain this year. Spreading takes more space than piling, so that's another consideration. Still I'd recommend this litter for any cat owners.

Re: Cheap cat litter

[(Anonymous)]

I love this type of litter for my cats, and I basically mulch out of the way areas with it, it does take a while to break down, but is better than the clay for that ( I do live on acreage) My neighbors house that burned thru in the fire, you could see the area of clay cat litter she had scattered years ago, htinking it would break down out it the forest. It did not.

Learn a skill

[(Anonymous)]

Instead of wasting time on TV,sports or entertainment, learn a skill that will be valuable to your community if things go off the rails. Also take stock of skills you already have that fit the bill. Sorry,I don't think things like computer programming or auto mechanics will be sustainable. Try to diversify your skills ia "if the right doesn't get them the left one will" approach. Mine are basic home repair, knife sharpening, bicycle repair, origami, making toys from scrap wood and musical entertainment.
Skills are a cheap investment, most needing only your time and a YouTube connection or a book. They travel easily and can never be stolen or lost.
Then invest in quality HAND tools to support your skills and a homemade trailer to carry them by bike or foot when needed.
Don't advertise your skills to avoid tax and zoning issues. Do good work and stand behind it. Be the guy people are talking about when they say "I know a guy..".

Caution about Insulated Curtains

[charlieobert]

This is a heads-up about using insulated curtains over windows in the winter.

If you put curtains right next to a single pane glass window, you are going to get condensation - and if the window is painted wood, you will get mold and damage. I found that one out the hard way.

Make sure that there is something like the plastic sheet window insulation over the glass window to give a layer of dead air between window and curtain. If I remember correctly, the first week of this Forum suggested alternatives to that, including using bubble wrap. In any case, avoid having the curtain right next to a single pane glass window.

Re: Caution about Insulated Curtains

[dendroica]

More generally, condensation/mold happens on any surface colder than the dew point temperature in the house. This is also a risk when curtaining/closing off rooms to heat a smaller area - the cold rooms can get damp and musty.

It's not as much of a concern in areas with really cold winters where indoor air is very dry, but in places like the South and Pacific Northwest it's important to create a vapor barrier (like plastic sheet insulation) or to ventilate/dehumidify the cold zones.

[robertmathiesen]

One of my highschool teachers told me once how he fed himself during his four undergraduate college years around 1950, when he had almost no money whatever to live on. (This was at UC Berkeley, which was completely tuition-free to every state resident back then.)

His major was chemistry. He had learned about amino acids, and he realized that a steady diet of legumes and grains would supply all of them that he needed to stay alive and function mentally. So he lived mostly on pilot-bread crackers and peanut butter, with only an occasional cheap meal of something else. Both of those staple foods were extremely cheap. It seems to have worked. He was one of the very best teachers I ever had in my pre-college years.

I wasn't quite as impoverished as he had been during my own college years (also at UC Berkeley, still tuition-free for state residents then), but pilot-bread crackers and peanut butter got me through many and many a lean week. Tap water, of course, was widely available to drink, both on campus and in the house where I rented a small room off campus.

[thinking_turtle]

Interesting! I had a college friend who lived on bacon and beans. The occassional other meal (perhaps with family) provided the rest. Certainly did him no harm, he is doing well these days!