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 have changed as we've proceeded. (As things have settled down to a nice steady conversational pace, for example, I've deleted the rules about only one tip per person per week and about limiting the length of comments; I was worried early on about people flooding the forum with too much too fast, but I think we're past that risk.)

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 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 #4: 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

Linux for old and slow computers

[lunchboxbike]

I had Mint years ago then started looking for something more specifically designed for what I usually have. I made a bunch of boot discs but never got around to trying anything besides Peppermint and Lubuntu. Peppermint is mostly fine now, but there are some odd new glitches in vlc. Would anyone like to recommend something for a thrift store level of hardware?

Re: Linux for old and slow computers

[open_space]

I did a quick internet search and those still seem to be considered the light-weight versions of Linux.

Here are more: https://itsfoss.com/lightweight-linux-beginners/

Books on the cheap

[denebalgedi777]

For years I built a library on a budget by using this site, which tracks used book sales:

https://www.booksalefinder.com/

This is relevant for those living in the USA. Perhaps other countries have equivalent trackers.

One trick that works very well is to look for sales that have "bag sales" near the end of the sale, typically the last day or last hour, depending on how long it's up. At these times you can typically get big scores for anything from $1 to $5 per bag. Interesting mixed crowds tend to show up to these. For example, whitebread suburbanites, Indian immigrants and Amish at one recent sale I went to. Anyone who values thrift I guess.

One small caution is that not all sales in your region will make it onto that site, so it also makes sense to look around and see what you can find in your local area. Often, local charities and organizations, as well as county library systems, will do sales from time to time. Happy hunting!

Not a tip as such, but...

[(Anonymous)]

1 - This is one of the most important conversations we can be having right now
2 - You are an absolute hero for keeping it going given what is going on in your life.

With appreciation,

The Sound of Falling Leaves

Re: Not a tip as such, but...

[ecosophia]

Given what is going on in my life, I badly need something to do when Sara's asleep and doesn't need my care and attention. Moderating this conversation and the couple of others ongoing right now is a lot less stressful than sitting there feeling wretched. But thank you...

Books and tips on reloading

[vitranc]

I would like to piggy back of a comment on the main blog.
Marlena13 mentioned about reloading odd calibers for decades. And I have recently come in a situation where it might make sense to learn the skill.
Still, I am in no hurry and would for starters ask about tips for complete beginners and books to start with.

Energy Blindness

[degringolade]

I am thinking that one needs to open up an "energy eye" and really evaluate the real number of joules going into one's particular lifestyle.

I will probably be writing a piece on this soon, but I think that the starting point for the piece will be the need for a systematic inventory of total use, types of energy, and costs.

Start with you electric bill. It is my feeling that this is the most important to your day-to-day. See if your utility company offers a way of discounting power cost by time of that you use it. Start looking at what is plugged in and why, remember that most electronics draw power even when "off".

If you have a car, what is its gas mileage. My personal experience is that paying the higher price for premium yields a percentage increase in gas mileage greater than the percentage increase in cost.

Buy some hoodies...turn down the thermostat.

Energy providers are banking on your not paying attention to energy. I think that a lot of folk out there are currently energy-blind. The way to open your eyes is to do a real inventory and decide for yourself the appropriate cost structure what you use will cost you.

Re: Energy Blindness

[(Anonymous)]

I remember seeing a cartoon using Buckminster Fuller's idea of "energy slaves" - here is a link to a slightly lamer version updated with smart phones. https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/energy-slaves/#page-67

It is missing what to me was the most compelling image - the energy slaves needed to use a hair dryer on hair which dries naturally. (Also, the ending is far too utopian for our present reality.)

My highest recommendation would be our host's book, "Green Wizardry". The whole book puts you through your paces as you complete exercises related to the readings, the very first of which is about energy. Actually, the whole part one is specific to this idea of opening ones' "energy eye".

shewhoholdstensions

Entertainment.

[(Anonymous)]

Just a remark on todays picture, since it hadn't really come up previously:

Entertainment's cheap, if you go low-tech. A collection of board games is pro-social, and can improve quality of life and the family/household atmosphere noticeably, particularly if your usual entertainment habits tend toward, kids watch an annoying show on netflix, then go to bed and parents watch a kid-inappropriate show on netflix, and nobody talks to each other for 3-4 hours except to make sure teeth are brushed.

We've found that board games and card games in particular are quite easy to pick up for a couple of bucks at thrift shops. Sometimes they are missing pieces. This is no big deal. For most of the more "classic" sort of games (chess, checkers, monopoly, scrabble), the solution is to keep an eye out for another set, and combine them. Right now my kids are into Mastermind, which required two sets to get enough pegs... but at 1-2 dollars a set this was no big deal. Cards are easy to come by, and so are gently-used Hoyle rule books, which tell you how to play every card game imaginable.

And-- this is key-- if the family plays the game a couple times and decides it's meh, or the preschooler can't stop spreading the tiny pieces around the house, there's no sunk-cost thing going on. It only cost you $3, and you can just re-donate it to the thrift you bought it from, and let someone else try it out. Or if it was really bad and the world would be better without it, chuck it in the trash. There was never a subscription or a guilt-ridden investment of $50 you feel the need to recoup. We essentially treat the thrift store as a game lending-library with a very reasonable user fee.

Re: Entertainment.

[jenniferkobernik]

FWIW, of the “newer” games, we have been enjoying Settlers of Catan, Splendor, and Ticket to Ride lately with the niece and nephews (starting about age 10–they’re marginal for the eight year old, but he’s also young for his age developmentally).

Make your own tongue and groove or shiplap

[jenniferkobernik]

You need a table saw and a router table for this, plus some basic carpentry skill, but if you have them, you can turn cheap 2x lumber into tongue and groove siding or decking by ripping each board to make two 1x boards and then routering a tongue on one side and a reciprocal groove on the other for each board. If you use nice boards it goes quickly (both the making and the installing); cull lumber is slower and results not as predictable, but we calculated that our hourly “wage” in savings was in the hundreds of dollars once we got our equipment calibrated and hit our stride (compared to prices for t&g at our local lumberyard). You can do the same for lap joints without the router table, and it’s faster, too, if you don’t need the tightness of the tongue and groove.

Re: Make your own tongue and groove or shiplap

[jenniferkobernik]

Thought it might be helpful to show what this ends up looking like. Here is a shed we are currently building using this technique. The siding and the door were both made using the poor man’s tongue and groove I described above. It doesn’t have its trim yet, so it’s not a beauty shot, but once it’s trimmed it’ll be pretty tight.

charity shops to cut the cost of children

[(Anonymous)]

When my daughter was three she suddenly decided that she would only ever wear dresses. This was a bit of a shock as I had been buying trousers and dungarees in various sales for the next couple of sizes up. I showed her some lovely emerald coloured trousers from the stash but she was adamant.

So, we hit the charity shops and looked for dresses that would meet her exacting standards, that is, party frocks. This was a revelation to me. It seems that parents will buy very expensive party frocks that will be worn once or twice and then are outgrown, almost unused. They were cheap as chips, there were so many of them. So, for 50p each, my daughter wore £40 dresses to climb trees, play in soil, paint etc.

This was also a reminder to me that some 'clothes for best' should actually be worn rather than kept almost unused.

I'm very glad to say that my daughter's clothes choices broadened out as she grew older. However, now she is in her early thirties I don't have to have anything to do with what she wears anymore.
Yvonne Rowse

Re: charity shops to cut the cost of children

[methylethyl]

This was one of the greatest things my parents did for me when I was a kid-- I had a couple of outrageously frilly dresses-- probably someone's junior-bridesmaid gear-- from the thrift shop, as well as a bag of silk and polyester scarves from the same source, that we played dress-up with for years. The dresses were outgrown quick, of course, but it is truly amazing how much fun little girls in particular can have with a bag of outdated scarves! They became skirts, aprons, dresses, hats, capes, bags, and-- with the addition of clothespins-- tents.

If you have grandkids who visit, these are worth keeping around as they are loads of fun *and* take up extremely little space.

Keeping feet warm

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Everyone,
I expect this is common knowledge among older people but I spoke of it to some young people and they had never heard of felt insoles. If you buy a couple of pairs of wool-felt insoles and put one pair in your walking shoes or boots and another in your house slippers, they will help a great deal to keep your feet warm.

It was -5 Celsius here last night and we always sleep with the windows open. It was very cold when we got up but with two pair of wool socks on and loose work boots and loose slippers, both complete with wool insoles, my feet are toasty.

It was so cold in the house this morning that we were both wearing our good indoor toques. Wool long johns and wool sweaters completed our personal insulation. I think wool and felted wool is the way forward!
Maxine

Re: Keeping feet warm

[methylethyl]

*I* had never heard of those!

[thinking_turtle]

Most toilets have air fresheners in them. This is quite strange when you think about it. The air freshener covers up the fact that the toilet stinks and needs cleaning. So, I've stopped buying air fresheners and just clean the toilet when it stinks. God gave us a nose for a reason.

Thanks for hosting this forum and best wishes for your family emergency!

bathroom air freshening

[methylethyl]

My beloved aunt, in lieu of air freshener, keeps a box of matches in a dish on the back of the toilet. She explained that if the tiny room became stinky, they'd just strike a match, blow it out, douse it in the sink and throw it away, and that the smell of the struck match covered nearly every other smell in there, without being really unpleasant. Plus, most of the family is allergic to regular air fresheners. It's cheap and effective. Confuses guests sometimes.

Homemade Cat Food

[prayergardens]

The price of our go-to cat food has increased over 50% in the last 2 years. We've switched to buying in bigger jars to decrease the per unit cost (I guess the aluminum is the biggest supply cost) but it still prompted me to go down a homemade cat food rabbit hole (yes, they eat rabbit).

Realistically, we'll always have cats no matter our economic circumstances and unfortunately, they don't mouse enough to provide their own food 100% of the time so here's what I picked up in some research. I'm not a vet but these are things I'm trying out with ok results so far.

Generally, cats can eat people scraps with a few notes.

-Most people know they are true carnivores. It seems you can cut their meat about 25% or so with additives like rice and vegetables but that's about it for optimum health.

-People foods that are not good for cats: onion, garlic, raisins, grapes, small cooked bones, too many egg whites vs egg yolks. A whole egg is fine occasionally mixed into a mash, but a leftover egg white omelet with onion and garlic - bad news due to some protein imbalance.

-Raw meat is good with the exception of pork due to contaminants. Some homemade pet food people have their own grinders and grind raw chicken necks and backs, etc. with the bones. I haven't gone that far yet but did find a local farm that sold chicken necks in bulk so I'll probably do that eventually.

-Cats need taurine that comes from hard working muscles, hearts and thighs are a preference to white meats.

-Organs like liver in quantities like a mouse body they might eat, so 5-10% of a meal approx.

-Surprising things (to me) they can eat: yogurt, whole eggs (in moderation) pumpkin seeds (a known de-wormer in chickens).

-Herbs can be good. Following one book I read by someone who'd been feeding their cats and dogs whole foods for decades, I've made a small jar of 'herbal sprinkles' to put on their food now (homemade and store bought). This can include a combination of: turmeric, alfalfa powder, parsley, nettle, oregano, anise seed, kelp, borage, catnip (of course!), chickweed, dill, fennel, oatgrass.

I've started making homemade mashes via the blender, throwing in chicken (I'm doing cooked bits left on the carcass after making broth), small amount of beef liver, small amount of rice and veg, a few dashes of the herbal mix and then chicken broth as needed to make it wet. They are eating it!

I think the people who write about pets on the internet would say it's not optimum enough, there are plenty of expensive supplements that can be added, but as a way to maximize leftovers and scraps to put in the food rotation to decrease dependence on canned food, so far so good at our house.

Re: Homemade Cat Food

[hippieviking]

We raise/ have raised chickens, geese, sheep and cows. We cut our pet food costs in two ways from the leftovers from butchering. A lot of organs from the chickens, the geese and sometimes the larger stuff gets run through our meat grinder once then we pressure-can it. This becomes our "wet" cat food. We feed our cat middle of the road dry cat food and supplement with a healthy dollop of the wet food nightly. The cat looks great!

While butchering a cow or other large animal we strip a great deal of meat off that isn't up to snuff for our consumption (the dried pieces that were on the outside of the cow after hanging etc) at the end of processing we run all of it through the grinder on coarse one time. It then goes into plastic baggies and gets put in the freezer. This is "dog burger" every couple of days I pull a bag out and that's the dogs' dinner.

Doing this definitely has put a dent in feeding the animals and I think it also provides some really excellent supplementation for them.

HV

Free Software and Richard Stallman: Or how to install GNU/Linux with commentary

[open_space]

I started writing some context and instructions for installing Ubuntu Linux and I ended up with half an essay. So here is an image, a blurb and a link.



In the image above: Richard Stallman, the creator of the open-source and free software movement, probably working on a critical bug that threatens the world as we now it, with minimal hardware and a world class office full of perks --not a single ping-pong table, video game machine, free swag or unlimited drinks fridge in site.

"You would be impressed how much faster a cheap laptop runs with it when one supporting the latest Windows would barely crawl. As a matter of fact, Richard Stallman does that on principle and gets the hardware that is approved by tge Respect Your Freedoms organization certification program. From their site: "The "Respects Your Freedom" certification program encourages the creation and sale of hardware that will do as much as possible to respect your freedom and your privacy,and will ensure that you have control over your device." There are very funny pictures online of Stallman being compared to the modern, entry-level, would-be software engineers sporting 4 screens and a GPU powerful enough to train neural networks being used to run a text editor and Instragram when he writes the OS that powers the planet on a cheap white laptop, which is a lesson that we can make use of when it comes to productivity and the smart use of resources."

Read More...

For more "sexy" pictures of Stallman, you can visit: https://rms.sexy/

Re: Free Software and Richard Stallman: Or how to install GNU/Linux with commentary

[(Anonymous)]

RMS's contributions to the Free Software movement, and to some of its major software packages, speak for themselves.

Despite that, a majority of organizations and respected leaders who are now involved with software that respects the users' freedom, have officially disavowed any connection with him, due to his long history of sexual predator activity.

Furthermore, hardly anything of a modern Linux distribution uses any software from him or his organization.

Only boot loader and perhaps some command line utilities, which many users would never need to be aware of, are from GNU.

A usable kernel, with plenty of drivers, comes from developers coordinated by Linus Torvalds.

User applications and a GUI to run them, all have nothing at all to do RMS, but come from many other businesses, nonprofit teams, and individual contributors.

In my case, free, open source software I use daily which had no contributions at all from RMS or GNU include Debian (other than GRUB and some command line utilities as mentioned) and ALL of KDE, the MX Linux tools and integration, Open Office, Krita, Mozilla Firefox, VLC and Strawberry Player, Calibre, Ardour, Sweethome 3D, Virtual PC, and Hatari. Very notable free but not open source software, that also has nothing to do with RMS, includes the Linux versions of Davinci Resolve, the last Linux version of Scrivener given away for free, and XN View.

RMS was a valuable gadfly and goad and intransigently relentless advocate for his philosophy half a lifetime ago. History of free software would be incomplete without him. But it's also inappropriate to overstate his contribution to today's user-friendly free open source operating system & application suites. Today's users benefit from software which is created and integrated by large numbers of people who have never made troublesome sleezy skeevy sexist misogynist behavior a lifestyle choice for decades.

Having used PCs since the same era as JMG - I also started with Wordstar, but on CP/M - and also Macs since the beginning, Ataris, Amigas, Unix since early 90s and Linux since the late 90s, I strongly encourage advocacy efforts now to completely ignore RMS. That is, if the purpose is to help new users get comfortable and productive with today's best tools. Within Linux, I recommend MX for its USB and ISO related tools. For the same reason that "advise me about moving to the U.S." seldom has a best answer that begins "let me tell you the story of Colombus the sailor," free software advocates should quit putting RMS at the head of today's marketing or publicity efforts.

Christopher from California

Buy Nothing Facebook Groups

[(Anonymous)]

John Michael, may you and Sara be blessed during this difficult time. I'm grateful that moderating here is a welcome distraction for you.

For those who use Facebook, I want to share about Buy Nothing Facebook groups. These are regional groups now all over the world where neighbors gift each other unwanted items of all kinds all for free. I recently received a case of canning jars for a project I am working on. Last year, I got all of the supplies necessary to make soy candles. I also got empty milk jugs for winter sowing of seeds. It's a great source of clothing, shoes, games, puzzle, books etc. You can both offer things up and ask for what you need. And it's a fun way to get to know your neighbors.

Re: Buy Nothing Facebook Groups

[(Anonymous)]

I also have had marvelous experiences both gifting and receiving on a Facebook Buy Nothing group. But for those who are (understandably) social media averse, some Buy Nothing groups run through a dedicated app, you can check on the website which ones do. Also, Freecycle.org is an alternative platform with similar intent, and it runs via their website.

When life gives you lemons...

[(Anonymous)]

at the supermarket they have a section for fresh produce that has reached it's sell by date,
I've been buying the small net bags of half a dozen lemons that are starting to look a little sad,
£0.23p for five or six lemons, who could resist!

if they're unwaxed I'll wash them and grate off any nice looking zest, then halve them, squeeze them, put the juice and zest in a jam jar, add an equal amount of sugar, pop on the lid, give it a shake, leave it to stand a while, give another shake, citrus fruit juice will dissolve sugar really easily, I end up with a syrup I use as a concentrate to add to water to make a 'squash' drink, a jam jar's worth lasts me several days,

if you want to embellish your lemon squash, once diluted in the glass give it a few drops of Angostura Bitters,
it's supposed to be good for the digestion,

I know, all that white sugar, well I know what's in my squash, have you read the label on bought bottled squash concentrates lately, certainly here in the UK the authorities have a bug bear about sugar and if a bottle says "no added sugar" when you look at the label it's got a cocktail of artificial sweeteners instead,

it was the use of lemon juice that allowed the Royal Navy to combat scurvy amongst their crews, they planted lemon groves in Sicily specially to supply the Navy, you have to wonder how much of a role the humble lemon played in making Britain a maritime Empire back in those days,

lime juice came at a later date when someone at the Admiralty signed a supply contract with a plantation owner in the Caribbean, but lime juice has only half the vitamin C content of lemons.

Re: When life gives you lemons...

[(Anonymous)]

I've read, once, that while the English navy was fighting scurvy with citrus, the Germans fought it with fermented cabbage. Hence: "limeys" and "krauts"!

I've found that my home-made sauerkraut keeps for months on a cool, dark shelf in the basement, and I expect that cabbage will be more widely available than citrus in the distant future.

According to academic research, though, the vitamin-C content of sauerkraut can vary widely: 5.8 - 52 mg/100g.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6625831/

Lathechuck

Open Source Software

[(Anonymous)]

While we're on the Linux kick I want to give a shout out to these great open source programs:

Ubuntu: Linux distribution that doesn't require any special knowledge
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Libre Office: full featured office suite
https://www.libreoffice.org/

VLC: Media player
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Wine: a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications (mostly used to play Windows games on Linux)
https://www.winehq.org/

GIMP: Image editing program
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/thanks.html

Audacity: Sound editor
https://www.audacityteam.org/

Open Shot: Video editor
https://www.openshot.org/

Re: Open Source Software

[(Anonymous)]

Most of these are included in a modern distribution, rather than the user having to individually find and integrate them. Mint, Ubuntu, MX, etc. will include the majority of programs like this, and make many more a click away through the package manager - a software store, but all free - that automatically downloads, installs, and updates whichever programs you like from many thousands of available packages.

Christopher from California

Oxymels

[(Anonymous)]

In recent weeks I have been experimenting with oxymels. This is basically variations on a base of raw honey and apple cider vinegar. I find that I have more energy and sense of well-being when I take these daily, both as a tonic and added to marinades and dressings.

There are many sites out there offering various recipes for oxymels. It seems there's not any one "right" way to make an oxymel.

Here's how I made mine this month:

1 portion raw honey
1 portion apple cider vinegar
then, various other things

The container I use does not have any metal (important because it reacts with the inegar), and it's airtight. I leave it to ferment in the cupboard for about a week, giving the container a shake or ten daily. Then I strain it, tossing all the herbs and garlic cloves and whatever that so I end up with just the liquid. That I keep in the same container, but in the refrigerator.

Three that have come out very well, in my opinion:

OXYMEL 1:
thyme
ginger
lemon juice

OXYMEL 2:
rosemary
garlic

OXYMEL 3:
mint
lemon juice


One mistake I made with oxymels was making too big a portion, and that I made with a lot of garlic. It was just ovewhelming.

I find it much better to make a small portion, only about half a cup, with all the ingregients. And not add garlic to all of them, either.

Re: Oxymels

[michele7]

Yes! I add a small portion to a glass and top it off with filtered water. Super refreshing! You could add soda water to get the fizzy soda like taste.

Leftovers

[michele7]

I'm sure this is old hat to us veteran cooks, but remaking your leftovers is better than just rewarming them day after day. If you are new to cooking or meal planning, research ways you can redo your leftovers. Roasted meats can be turned into pot pies, cottage pies, wrapped in tortillas or flatbreads or used in soup or salad toppings. Chili can be eaten as is one day and then used as a baked potato topping. I made the butternut squash stew from last week's Frugal Friday from Atmospheric River and it was good. The next day I added cooked turkey, some more broth and some leftover cream cheese. It turned into a creamy soup. The more creative I am with leftovers, the less complaining I hear.

Re: Leftovers

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, there are some family members who complain less if it doesnt seem like the same thing. I used to put leftover lentil soup in the blender, stir in some soy sauce and a strudy vegetable like frozen green beans or canned corn, put in a cassarole dish and top with mashed potatoes and baked. Most soups can be made into a cassarole, often not blended, and topped with mashed potatoes ( sheppards pie) or bisquit dough and baked.

Glad the butternut squah stew went over well and yes it is a good one to transform for the second day

Atmospheric River

Computin' like it's 1984

[(Anonymous)]

I'll respond here to something mentioned on the main blog, since it seems relevant here.

JMG, part 1: "I wrote my first two published books on a Sanyo MBC-550 with two 5.25″ floppy drives and no hard drive; it worked just fine."

If you're feeling nostalgic, you can run a Sanyo MBC emulator on your current computer. With free software for the emulator, you can load up WordStar and SpellStar without having to swap floppies. You can even get Zork, to return to your twisty little passages. https://www.mamedev.org for the emulator and https://eriscreations.com/sanyo/index.html for the Sanyo-specific virtual disks.

This is one example of how one's work can be successfully moved to another computer.

Part 2 from JMG: "The question is whether the chips needed to make those work can still be manufactured as technology unravels."

Short answer: Yes, they can!

The 8088 CPU in your computer, designed by Intel's engineering team in Israel, was a cut-down version of the 8086, for uses where a simplistic low-cost chip would be good enough. When the 8086 was introduced, Intel was less than ten years old; the company was started with under $3 million invested.

The latest brand new chip factories are enormously expensive, because they pioneer brand new applied chemistry and physics methods that never existed before. A lot of troubleshooting is required. A chip factory matching the one used to make your Sanyo's CPU would be very cheap to build and reliably operate today, all without any surprises.

The old factories used smaller silicon wafers, which didn't have to be as amazingly pure as in the latest chips: Intel's current least expensive CPU has transistors more than 300 times smaller than in your 8088, making the new process far more sensitive to any microscopic defects.

Older chips can be made with newer production methods. Revising a design for a new factory costs a lot less than making it from scratch. Intel used several generations of process for the 8088. As long as newer factories are available, batches of older chips are very cheap to make - if anyone's interested. Foundry aggregators combine small runs from different customers, if a full wafer isn't needed. I think pricing is beyond readers of this blog going in on an order of brand new 8088's for all of us, but not out of reach for a business with some funding for a vintage-tech business plan. No patent issues now, to produce a chip as old as the 8088.

x86 was designed to support remote connection terminals as well as local computing. At the very same inflation adjusted price, Intel's least expensive CPU now still runs 8088 software, and does so thousands of times faster than your Sanyo. One modern CPU could easily support many writers, each with their own Wordstar sessions, using terminals even simpler and less expensive than your first computer.

I'm mostly convinced by your collapse arguments. I'm also convinced the ability for a writer to afford a Wordstar session will continue to be available and affordable for my entire life, even if only at the feudal lord's manor.

Also, remember most consumer computers now are laptops. Your Sanyo required 90 watts from the wall all the time, before adding the monitor. At a third the inflation adjusted price of your Sanyo, the entry level version of today's most battery efficient laptop (Macbook Air M1) with the included 30 watt charger can fully charge in three or four hours, then provide a full day or even two days of writing and blog posting use from battery.

Leaving aside the convenience of mobile computing and all the newer features and higher performance - including on-chip solid state storage capacity greater than a MILLION Sanyo floppy disks - today's laptop will be so much more useful if electricity to the home becomes unreliable.

All of this is before we even start scavenging old but still usable computers, and put free software on them.

When main blog resumes, I have much more I can say about this topic. My frugal tip is to use MX Linux on a USB thumb drive, to revitalize an old computer which has been declared obsolete or unsupported.

Christopher from California

Re: Computin' like it's 1984

[ecosophia]

No, I don't have any particular nostalgia for WordStar 3.3 on a Sanyo MBC-550 -- it was a good choice at the time, not least because I got it for free (beginning my long history of getting old but workable computers from people who just wanted them hauled away), but more recent machines have features I like.

That said, my current laptops (we have three of them) are all on the elderly side -- I'm typing this right now on a laptop running Windows 7, service pack 1, with an Intel Core Duo 2 CPU running at 2.10 Ghz. (It cost me the munificent sum of $0.00.) That's rather older than the old machines you've mentioned. Do you happen to know what kinds of Linux, simple enough for non-geeks to operate, will run on a machine like that?

Valentines Chocolate

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Everyone,
Here is my recipe for chocolate made with honey. It is quick to make, very smooth and the flavour is excellent because it is s fresh.

1 cup cocoa butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup honey
pinch salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla
Melt the cocoa butter in a double boiler which you can make by putting a glass or ceramic bowl on top of a saucepan. Have some boiling water in the saucepan but not touching the bowl and melt the cocoa butter, add cocoa powder. honey salt and vanilla. Stir until well mixed. Taste and add more honey, vanilla or salt to suit your taste.

Pour into silicone molds or mix in goodies such as candied peel, shredded coconut, raisins, nuts, what you like and put the resulting mixture onto a tray lined with waxed paper and cool it in a cool room. This chocolate is really good and so smooth.
Maxine

Re: Valentines Chocolate

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you, Maxine, I will make this. I am noticing that I do much better with raw honey than with sugar.
Cetiosaurus

[(Anonymous)]

Lazy, quick, good, cheap chili - requires a cheap source of spices to be cheap. In Canada we have a store called Bulk Barn that fits the bill:

3 onions of your choice. I usually do one white, one yellow, one red
Cooking oil/butter of choice
1 head garlic
1 tablespoon of chipotle powder
1 tablespoon of ancho chile powder
2 tablespoon of cumin
2 pounds meat - ideally a tough, flavorful beef cut, but pork or ground pork/beef is fine too
~750 ml can of diced tomatoes (see bougie bonus at the end)
At least one cup of acidic flavor juice - wine, apple cider vinegar, use your imagination
1 small can tomato paste
3 ~400ml cans of beans of your choice. Obviously cooking beans yourself is cheaper, but slower.
Up to 4 tablespoons of corn flour (I'm sure wheat flour would work, but I have not tried it)
1 cup of coffee (the prepared beverage)
1 tsp each of fish sauce, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and marmite
1 tablespoon dark chocolate
2 full pods star anise
2 shallots
Bougie bonus: canned roasted peppers (definitely an upgrade, but costs half as much as the meat these days) - if I do this, I skip the diced tomatoes

I have listed the ingredients roughly in order of importance - buying everything to make the first pot is a lot of money, but most of that is in shelf stable pantry ingredients that will last and make many batches. Serve with brown rice to

To make:

1) Chop onions into small pieces. Do the same with garlic and (optional) shallots. Keep the shallots/garlic separate from the onions

Ground meat:

Brown ground meat in bottom of pot with some oil depending on how much fat. Remove when brown.

Unground meat:

Chop meat into chunks according to preference. The goal is not to overcook the meat so it retains some flavor after cooking. I like roughly 1"x1"x1/2" chunks. Heat your oil up, then add meat. When the meat releases from the pan, remove it. Browning it on one side is a good compromise between browned meat flavor and the meat still tasting like meat when it's all said and done. The meat will cook fully after this step, so just put the browned meat in the same bowl as the raw meat.

2) deglaze pot with acidic flavor juice of choice, then add onions. If using star anise, add them with onion, then remove them when this step is done. Cook until they start to become translucent, then in go the spices, garlic and shallot.

3) If doing the bougie bonus, blend 5-10 canned roasted peppers and add to onions. Otherwise put your diced tomatoes in. Roast peppers are better, diced tomatoes are much cheaper.

4) Add coffee, fish sauce, soy sauce, marmite, dark chocolate, canned beans and meat. Canned beans should be reasonably well-drained to reduce the sonorous potential of the dish.

5) Adjust liquid level to barely cover everything using water, chicken stock or more coffee.

6) simmer an hour, stirring occasionally. The last step is adjusting the spices, so leaving the dish alone so you can preserve your ability to taste spice is a great idea. Plenty of water for the chef.

7) carefully mix in flour to thicken

8) Adjust spices. People who like genuinely spicy food might want to add some pure heat, powdered cloves can add a numbing effect as well.



Serve with brown rice, topped with some figureitoutyourself. I like this dish because the cumin, ancho and chipotle give it a strong and pleasant flavor while being mild enough for most Canadians to be able to enjoy.

How to make kimchi?

[(Anonymous)]

I have tried sauerkraut with no success. I grow lots of vegetables, like winter radishes which should be good fermented. Is it necessary to use Asian cabbage, which is crisp, but still softer than the European and American varieties? Can someone please explain the procedure for kimchi?

Mary Bennett

Re: How to make kimchi?

[ecosophia]

My recipe has been posted here:

https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/254241.html?thread=44729377#cmt44729377

Enjoy!

[ecosophia]

The conversation this time around has been getting very computer-heavy, which is not really the focus of this series of posts, and one of the participants has also been getting very close to the fist-pounding stage, which is also not appropriate here. I think the subject of Linux has been hashed over in pretty fair detail, so I'd like to draw a line under it at this point.

And if the attempted fist-pounding continues, somebody's going to get banned. This is a stressful time for me and whacking somebody with the ban hammer is one way to relieve stress, so don't tempt me. 'Nuf said.

recipe, soups, white bean, lentil

[(Anonymous)]

Legume based meals with simple inexpensive ingredients are a frugal options. No need to have soup stock or broth, water is fine, but of course if you have some homemade from scraps you can use it.

Spanish white potato and white bean soup

1/2C olive oil
1 medium onion, thickly sliced
6 cloves garlic
1 sprig fresh rosemary, or some dried if you dont have a bush

2 cups dry white beans, soaked all day or overnight ( at least 8 hours) drain
2 small russet potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
10C water or stock
1T salt
1/4t white pepper

saute onions garlic rosemary in the oil for 5 minutes or so, add the rest bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. serve as is or as an option take some out and blend and add back or mash roughly with a potato masher. If you use canned white beans, reduce water, so add enough water to cover all and about 1/2 inch more and reduce cooking time to 1/2 hour. But it is much less expensive and easy to use the dried beans

Lebanese Lemon lentil soup

1C lentils
8C water, boil for 5-7 minutes

add: 1/4 to 1/2 C lemon juice
1/2C olive oil
4 large potatoes in 1 1/2" chunks ( thin skinned dont have to peel, great with red potatoes or peel russets)
6-8 cloves garlic
up to 4 cups greens ( I have used wild Malva leaves from the yard, kale or fresh or frozen spinach)

bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes or more until very soft and potatoes falling aprt, ( I use the potato masher a bit in the pot when cooked and before serving) I actually add potatoes by kind of eyeballing it seeing how full the pot is getting as some potatoes are so large, 4 is too much and other times of course I have small potatoes....

I had company for dinner 2 weeks ago and served the lebanese lemon lentil soup, a fresh loaf of bread baked peasant style in the covered cast iron pot in the oven, with a blackberry pie ( home canned blackberries from 2018) and a marinated cauliflower salad made ahead, and a bottle of homemade plum wine. A board game after dinner with a break for tea and pie.... It was a busy day, I made that pie and while it was in the oven steamed the cauliflower in the vinegar and oil, and got the mixer going with the bread dough. Put the cauliflower/marinade in the pot in the fridge to chill all day, set leave the dough to rise while Im out, put the pie to cool and leave. Then doesnt take much when I get home to pull the bread and soup together.

Atmospheric River

Self help for soothing feelings

[(Anonymous)]

Hi all, I have recently discovered Kate Truitt's youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateTruitt and articles on her clinical practice website https://drtruitt.com/calming-the-fear-brain/

It's not going to be suitable for the most serious kinds of psychological distress and doesn't seem to work for everyone, anyone would need to consult their own health care practitioners as I don't know what it is and isn't suitable for, but this technique seems to really help me when my feelings are getting in my way. Self havening is a psychosensory technique, kind of guided meditation type thing, I think in the same family as EFT, EMDR etc and it seems to be super effective for me. I was seriously considering getting some EMDR from a psychologist because of distressing feelings and performance anxiety and got a quote at GBP195 for assessment and GBP145 per session for about six sessions of treatment. But practicing this self help technique has brought relief from the distressing memories and an improvement in performance. I have been practicing this three times a day just for five to seven minutes each time, with a few more minutes spent using the techniques when I can spend extra time to deepen my understanding and progress, and it's made a big difference.
'
Kate Truitt's got a book out 'Healing in your hands: self havening practices to harness neuroplasticity, heal traumatic stress and build resilience', PESI Publishing Inc, 2022, ISBN-13 9781683735489 which might be worth a read for anyone who is the price of a book interested in whether it could be useful to them and doesn't want to use video input.

Re: Self help for soothing feelings

[michele7]

Thank you for this. I sent the link to my daughter who is having a mostly self inflicted stressful pregnancy. I'm hoping it will help her with anxiety and sleep deprivation. Again, thank you!

Newbie Bone Broth Question

[(Anonymous)]

Husband and I were each handed a shiny new osteoporosis diagnosis. He's up for taking the meds, and I am not. He's also further down the path, and broke some bones recently. So of course I've been looking into alternatives. This is where bone broth comes in. I should've been doing something like this all along! Sigh.

I bought a pair of chunky beef bones, plopped them into the crockpot, covered them with about 2 quarts of water, and left them to simmer for about 24 hours. All by themselves. I am very pleased with the result.

Rumor has it that I can use these bones for another round of simmering in the crockpot. Is this true? I now have a turkey leg bone to add to the mix after making soup from it earlier today.

I've seen fine suggestions on Frugal Friday to save bones and scraps of veg, but tend to have very little of either. The meat we buy tends to be ground, and the veg gets totally used up in soup. But I'm open to changing my ways. Thanks!

Re: Newbie Bone Broth Question

[(Anonymous)]

I've heard that vitamin K2 (there's more than one form and it's worth looking into) and vitamin D3 are nutrients that help make sure that the calcium and other bone-building minerals (phosphorus? magnesium?) in your diet, end up getting deposited in your bones and teeth, instead of your arteries.

But I am not an expert and I could be wrong. It's a very rewarding subject to read up on though.