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

A completely different way of looking at it

[degringolade]

https://www.youtube.com/@kuhinjatanja

I found this woman fascinating. From her own narrative, she states this is how she cooked and preserved food during the war there.

It isn't the recipes that interest, it is the attitude. It almost makes me want to learn Serbian. I think it is an excellent antithesis to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLwZvg46jms

Frugality is merely an acknowledgement that different strategies are required for changing times.

Re: A completely different way of looking at it

[methylethyl]

Hear, hear!

Re: A completely different way of looking at it

[(Anonymous)]

thanks for sharing that. it's about how to make bread that will last up to a year, definitely worth the few minutes to watch it.

Winter laundry

[teresa_from_hershey]

You can hang your laundry out in the winter but you'll need to make some adjustments. January and February are not July and August.

1) Get it out early! More time on the line in those short days gives sun and wind more time to work their magic.

2) It doesn't have to be sunny if it's windy. Wind beats your clothes dry.

3) Even if it's overcast and there's no wind, your laundry will still dry enough to more easily finish inside your house on drying racks.

4) Shake out every wrinkle, smooth every hem, and hang garments so they face into the prevailing wind. Let the wind blow inside sweaters and down pant legs. Your clothes will dry better if you do.

5) Don't crowd your lines. Space your garments out so the wind and any sun can reach all sides.

6) When you bring your laundry inside, it's COLD! But that doesn't mean it's still damp. Hang it on racks or on hangers for an hour or two before putting it away. That's when you'll know if your laundry is damp or just cold.

7) Do any sorting, turning inside out, unbuttoning buttons, and other preps before you take the laundry outside to hang.

8) Wear gloves.

Lots of us hang laundry in winter. As long as it's not raining or sleeting, laundry can dry. A light dusting of snow won't wet your laundry like rain will. It stays dry.

Why gloves?

[degringolade]

Just wondering

Re: Winter laundry

[(Anonymous)]

I hang laundry to dry all year, but I do so inside. Winters here are very grey, cool and often wet. Things take forever to dry outside, and then it rains on them before you can get them inside. Not worth it.

I use a drying rack, and I hang big things like sheets over doors. You do have to be careful never to wash more at once than you have space to let dry, though. For me, I usually do a single med-large load of laundry per week. Since it's on cold and I have very few white items, I haven't had significant issues with colors running.

Re: Winter laundry

[(Anonymous)]

For those thinking "oh but op doesn't get winters like *I* do. It couldn't possibly work here." -- you might be right, if you're in a cold-damp oceanic climate. But if you aren't in the damp, it is never too cold. Blue jeans will freeze stiff as a board at on the line -40 -- but if the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, they may still "freeze dry". It takes a while, but it can work.

That said, in a cold/dry climate you probably want to use racks inside just to get the extra humidity! Venting a cloud of steam outside from the dryer while running the humidifier inside is just silly. Yet people do it.

Library for Comics/Manga/Graphic Novels

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, one for comic book fans, as this is quite an expensive habit. Libraries, especially in bigger cities have very large collections of Trade Paperbacks, Graphic Novels and Manga. In the case of our nearby library, it was one of the areas greatly expanded when they sacrificed other things. I don't agree with the choices they made, but nobody asked me, and it's a nice benefit.

Re: Library for Comics/Manga/Graphic Novels

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with you whole heartedly. The same at the library where I work. I'm not an avid fan, but I do like some graohic novels. I just read Black Hole by Charles Burns. I really loved it... and I have Harvey Pekar's Cleveland on hold. I was stimulated to read some more of these by a recent discussion of Jodorowsky over on the other blog at the lsst open post. Its good for reading while I eat my lunch the past two weeks. But so is poetry and philosophy. Black Hole, I always wanted to read that one. Glad I did.

Justin Patrick Moore

planting containers

[michele7]

This may not be for everyone, but we have good luck growing carrots and other veg in old discarded bathtubs. We've nabbed a few along side the road. Drill holes in the bottom, line with landscape fabric, fill with soil and plant. We actually have a heavy cast iron tub filled with marigolds and cosmos that just reseed themselves. I don't live in a neighborhood that someone would complain about plants in bathtubs, but your mileage may vary.

Re: planting containers

[(Anonymous)]

If you're in the sort of neighborhood where a bathtub won't work (i.e., an uncool one) and you DO have the good fortune to find a cast-iron tub, I encourage you to grab it anyway. Cast iron is valuable! Check with your local scrap dealers: they will likely pay you enough to buy the equivalent volume of cheap plastic pots of which your most square neighbors are unlikely to complain.

free plant pots and other gardening supplies

[(Anonymous)]

I grow a lot of seedlings, and a lot of plants generally. Towards the end of spring, and through summer, if you go for a wander and look in your neighbors' recycling bins, you can often find plant pots, especially four inch pots. I've also found big pots, and I think seedling flats. Take them home, wash them, and you have a free home for your plants. You can also find milk jugs and soda bottles for making winter sowing containers, and lots of cardboard for lining paths and to go under new garden beds. And salad boxes for seedstarting mini greenhouses. Seriously, recycling bins are brilliant for frugal gardeners.

The best sidewalk free be I've had so far was two half-full containers of organic fertilizer. Just sitting on the boulevard labeled 'free'. Still using them a year and a half later, along with what I already had. I've only ever had that happen once though.

I like to give away extra tomato and other seedlings on the boulevard. They usually disappear within a few hours.

Re: free plant pots and other gardening supplies

[kayr]

I team up with a friend of mine to grow a veggie garden and we have been using the bottoms of 2 ltr. soda bottles for years as 4" pots. We peal the label off, cut the bottle so that the "pot" is about 4" high and punch holes in each of the bottom lobes for drainage and they are ready for use. We have had some of these pots for close to a decade. They are very durable.

You can use the discarded top as a mini hot cap for newly planted seedlings if you leave the cap off and anchor it somehow into the ground. We have had mixed success with this as anchoring these caps against the wind is a real problem.

Masonry Heaters

[weilong]

Cast iron woodstoves have been the standard in north America ever since the Franklin stove. In continental Europe, as well as Korea and northern China, however, a class of heater called masonry heaters has been keeping people warm for many centuries.

An iron stove is an improvement over an open fireplace, to be sure. The fire burns hotter and cleaner, getting more heat out of the wood. The flue creates a draft that feeds fresh air to the fire. The main problem with an iron stove, though, is that a large part of the heat it generates gets blown out the end of the flue pipe.

That's where masonry heaters are truly wonderful. You take all that hot flue gas from the fire and pass it through a long channel made of bricks or tiles or some other thick, heavy thing. By the time it gets to the outside, that flue gas is relatively cool, having left most of its heat in the bricks and such along the way. Those bricks then radiate that heat into your living space over the next several hours, even after the fire has gone out.

A well-run masonry heater can heat a house with 1/3 of the fuel that an iron woodstove uses. If designed well, they are also extremely efficient, producing almost no smoke and depositing very little soot in the chimney.

There is, of course, an initial investment. On the other hand, they can be made by hand by amateurs. The Russian petchka, the Korean ondol, and the new rocket mass heaters can be put together for cheap - the biggest investment is your labor. Whether you buy your wood, or get it yourself, a 2/3 reduction in fuel cost will add up over the years.

Re: Masonry Heaters

[jprussell]

Wrathofgnon on twitter has lots of good stuff on traditional methods of heating and was one of the first places I encountered the idea (now also collected in a book by Low Tech Magazine: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/12/thematic-book-series-heating-people-not-spaces/) of "heating people, not spaces."

Anyhow, the relevance here, is that in a thread that I can't find just now, he highlights a portable Japanese "hearth" traditionally made of wood or ceramic, made for carrying around hot coals for personal heating, but meant to be fairly portable. In the case of wooden ones, it's made fire-safe by a thick layer of ash and/or sand under the coals. With wooden ones, I imagine you'd be wasting more radiative heat, but ceramic ones might have some advantages.

Oh, and, of course, if you're planning on using any kind of fuel-burning heat source in your house, make sure you have good ventilation and consider small, battery-powered carbon monoxide detectors, as most modern homes are built to minimize airflow, which makes sense with central air and heating, but not so much if you're burning things indoors.

Cheers,
Jeff

Seedlings

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Frugalistas,
It is time to sow some seeds for leeks, onions, celery and celariac here in British Columbia. We have to plant these seeds inside to get an early start on the season. I make my own potting soil from finished compost which contains leaves and a good addition of sand. I should probably add some lime but have always had good results from my home-made potting soil without it. Seeds will not sprout in compost alone, you have to add sand. Not sure why just that it is so.

I grow a lot of my own seedlings and start pots of seeds for friends and neighbours. I have a pint of red onion seeds that I produced last year so my onion seedlings will cost almost nothing. I also save sweet pea seeds and pot up many pots of those and they make my gardens very jolly and are good for the bees and hummingbirds. I always pot up many extra pots of sweet peas to give to friends and neighbours and as prizes for the Garden Club's raffle.

A packet of petunia seeds will produce many pots of petunias to enliven your garden and they make great presents which people love to receive. This can be a nice way to mend fences. We gave a local woman some elderberry cutting and a box of our home-produced seed potatoes. Her husband had a violent hatred for me as I was publicly anti the covid jabs. I saw this man a day ago as I was walking and he rode past on his bicycle and he was positively friendly and cheerful.

Maxine

Re: Seedlings

[slclaire]

I start my seeds in a mix of homemade compost, garden soil, and homemade earthworm castings. Approximate proportions are 2 parts soil, 6 parts compost, and one-half part earthworm castings. Our soil is silt loam; for those of you with sandy or clayey soil, you will probably need to adjust the proportion of soil to compost. In my experience, the earthworm castings are optional for growing lettuce, cabbage-family plants, or herbs, but needed for their nitrogen for growing tomato, pepper, or eggplant seedlings.

No-Shampoo Trial- Update

[(Anonymous)]

Last October, someone started here a thread on no-shampoo hair care,
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/251421.html?thread=44181021#cmt44181021
which was very timely for me. I started the regime then, and here is what I've observed on myself 3-1/2 months in.

I shower daily, and when I still shampooed, after every shower there would be a wad of hairs about the size of a quarter caught in the drain's hair-catcher. Now I find almost *no* hairs in the hair-catcher. I'll go 3 or 4 days, then pick out a tiny bit of hair.

Meanwhile, the new hair on my head is denser (more hairs per square inch) than I've ever seen it in my life. It is plush, like fur. It also looks happier and sleeker than I've seen it before. I can't wait to see what this looks like as it grows longer!

Since I tend to an oily scalp, I keep a separate, hand-sized towel just for drying my hair after the shower, and I wash the towel once a week with the laundry. Works a treat.

Thanks so much for this tip.

- Cicada Grove

Re: No-Shampoo Trial- Update

[kayr]

You might find that over time your scalp will be come less oily as well. At least that has been my experience.

On methylethyl's mustard recipe

[furnax]

So a couple of weeks ago methylethyl shared a recipe for mustard and I decided to give it a shot. Result: it's quite excellent! I will say I think I accidentally put a little more wine than was called for, so it ended up more liquid than a paste. The taste is honestly pretty much brand Dijon, at a fraction of the price. I will say I personally preferred black mustard, though the conventional one turned out quite nice as well. Another note is that with only one week of waiting the taste is very sharp, with a spiciness that borders on wasabi, but with more time the taste gets mellower. Great recipe!

Re: On methylethyl's mustard recipe

[methylethyl]

Hooray!

Learn from the past

[thinking_turtle]

When the month ends I look over my payments for the last month. I mark payments that have something I regret in yellow. Like a quick food purchase. Then I mark payments I like in green. Like cycling to a farm to purchase milk. Then I try to figure out a way to reduce yellow and increase green.

To be honest it remains a struggle. It's hard to adhere to good intentions!

Re: Learn from the past

[methylethyl]

This sounds like a good addition to a regular accounting system though! I've recently gone back to the old "Your Money or Your Life" accounting system-- every transaction goes into a notebook (and I staple the receipts to the page, in case I need to refer back to them later for "what the heck did we *buy* on that grocery run??"), and at the end of every month I tally it all up in several basic categories: shelter, food, clothing, transport, utilities, housewares, entertainment, books, education, etc. and compare it to our take-home income and current balances. This gives me a chance to mull over my purchases more than once, see how they affected the bottom line (did we keep our spending inside our income?), and think hard about whether those purchases were really worth it. Might benefit from some color-coding also!

Reduce medical bills

[(Anonymous)]

Being sick is bad enough but can it certainly empty your purse pretty fast. Stay healthy, it can save your life and economy. I try to eat a healthy diet with no sugar or processed junk and have been doing so for 15 years. Some meat and some vegetables, thats pretty much it. Traditional and boring alright, but very healthy. I also try to work out quite vigorously at least three times a week. I bought some cheap adjustable dumbbells and a pull up-bar many years ago so I dont need a gym membership.
I am almost never sick and when I am its usually over within days. Home grown vegetables can of course be part of a healthy diet and provides some low level exercise, too. So eat healthy, work out at home and save some money.

roux la la!

[prayergardens]

One of my go-to cooking tricks is to make leftovers and random pantry items into meals with a sauce. Simple - 1 to 1 to 1.

This is the basic French Roux, 1 Tablespoon Fat (butter, oil, lard, tallow, leftover bacon grease, etc) to 1 Tablespoon Flour (you could probably go gluten free somehow but I don't know that trick) to 1 Cup of Liquid (milk, cream, broth) per serving.

Multiply that out for however many servings you want. You can read some french cookbooks to get better technique and you can get fancy with the spices and flavors but the formula is flexible and works on just about anything.

I learned this equation when I was growing up from my Grandmother who made the infamous "S.O.S" (Stuff on a Shingle) for my WWII Vet grandfather. It was his favorite army meal and we still eat it in our family.

For SOS,
You're making a basic milk gravy. Oil and Flour in a pan cooked until slightly bubbly to get the raw flavor out of the flour. Cut up strips of Dried Beef and fry in the mix. Add milk and stir gently until it thickens. It will burn on the bottom so low heat and constant stirring until you can pull the spoon through the mix and it is thick enough that you can see the bottom of the pan. No salt (dried beef is very salty), but lots of pepper and served on toast with a fried egg is a good meal. (Bonus frugal points if you save the little jar the beef comes in use it as a juice glass. I knew many relatives with those fancy glasses).

Bacon/Sausage Gravy
Fry up bacon or sausage first and use that as your fat. Excellent on buttermilk biscuits.

Brown Gravy
Any fat and flour, beef broth instead of milk. Serve on roasted potatoes with shreds of cheddar cheese for a rustic version of the Quebec specialty, poutine.

Enchilada Sauce
Put spices to bloom in the fat first (chili powder, cumin, garlic, onion etc), then flour and use chicken broth. Fast and easy mexican style sauce.

Cream of Anything Soup
Fry up the veg of your choice in butter, add flour and milk. Blend if you want it to be smooth. Homemade mushroom soup is so much better than canned.

Chicken Pot Pie
Basic milk gravy with an herbes de provence mix thrown in. Stir into cooked chicken and veg of your choice (I like carrots, onions, peas and leftover roast potatoes) top with carb of your choice (pie crust, biscuit mix, cornbread mix, crackers, etc) and bake.

Mac and Cheese
Milk gravy with lots of shredded cheese added and poured into pasta and baked.

This formula saves me from having to look up recipes if we're tired and trying to eat whatever is in the fridge.

Re: roux la la!

[(Anonymous)]

Homemade fruit wines can also be used as the liquid. We are currently enjoying brown gravy my husband made from the drippings of a pot roast with strawberry wine for the liquid.

Ecosophia Prayer List

[tunesmyth]

Here are all of the requests for prayer that have recently appeared at ecosophia.net and ecosophia.dreamwidth.org, as well as in the comments of the prayer list posts. Please feel free to add any or all of the requests to your own prayers.

If I missed anybody, or if you would like to add a prayer request for yourself or anyone who has given you consent (or for whom a relevant person holds power of consent) to the list, please feel free to leave a comment below.

* * *

This week I would like to bring special attention to the following prayer requests.

May JMG's wife Sara Greer, who is dying, make an easy transition into death and be blessed as she moves into the next stage of her spirit's journey. And may John Michael Greer be blessed and soothed, and lent strength in this most difficult time.

May Timmy W. have the guidance, support, and strength he needs to overcome his PTSD, and may his mother, Rachel M., have the energy and wisdom to support him through it.

May Erika's partner James remain cancer free, and make a full return to robust health.

Tyler A's wife Monika's pregnancy is high risk; may Mother and child be blessed with good health and a smooth delivery.

May the surgery for Yuccaglauca's mother Monica's malignant mass be safe, successful, and conclusive of the matter.

May Frank Rudolf Hartman of Altadena California (picture), who is receiving chemotherapy, be completely cured of the lymphoma that is afflicting him, and may he return to full health.

May Audrey's nephew Jon, who is now in a wheelchair due to ALS, have peace and comfort during this difficult time, and be healed of his condition to the greatest degree possible.

May Just Another Green Rage Monster's father, who is dealing with Stage 4 Lymphoma, and mother, who is primary caregiver, be blessed, protected and healed.

May Kyle's friend Amanda, who though in her early thirties is undergoing various difficult treatments for brain cancer, make a full recovery; and may her body and spirit heal with grace.

Lp9's hometown, East Palestine, Ohio, for the safety and welfare of their people, animals and all living beings in and around East Palestine, and to improve the natural environment there to the benefit of all.
 

* * *
Guidelines for how long prayer requests stay on the list, how to word requests, how to be added to the weekly email list, how to improve the chances of your prayer being answered, and several other common questions and issues, are to be found at the Ecosophia Prayer List FAQ (updated 2/18).

If there are any among you who might wish to join me in a bit of astrological timing, I pray each week for the health of all those with health problems on the list on the astrological hour of the Sun on Sundays, bearing in mind the Sun's rulerships of heart, brain, and vital energies. If this appeals to you, I invite you to join me.

China dishes

[michele7]

A few years ago, we were browsing a Goodwill store and found an incomplete set of Noritake china made in Japan. Some plates had 10 items, some more or less, but the total cost was about $35 include cups and platters. I bought it and started using it as our regular family of seven dinner ware. I figured if something broke it was no great loss. Years went by and our family grew up and out. When two of my sons left, I gave them the dishes. The whole time I was sitting on a Noritake china set made in Japan set of 12! It was my mother's wedding china back in the day. (She got married in 1959.) As a child it only came out for holidays. I thought to myself, "Why not use it? My kids don't want it. Not many young people use real china. Why should my mother's china end up in Goodwill after I pass?" So, now my husband and I use the "good china" every day. Yes, some pieces have gotten broke. It's okay. It's a set of 12. We don't have a dishwasher, so everything is hand washed here. The point of this is use what you have. Use those special items. I'm not "saving the good china" for children or grandchildren who may never use it. The china contains my memories. These dishes will last me for the rest of my life.

Re: China dishes

[(Anonymous)]

My "nice dishes" are a set of very reasonable new Fiestaware that people got us for our wedding. We use them for holidays and things, but don't cry when things get broken. They are cheerful and didn't cost a lot even new.

For everyday use, with small children about, I go looking at thrift stores for 70s-era Japanese stoneware. It has a distinctive look, mostly shades of speckly brown, and once you find a few you'll know what you're looking for. I actually like them better than the Fiesta stoneware because the dishes are lighter-weight and the dessert/salad plates are just the right size for kids, and the bowls stack nicely. I don't care if the pattern matches-- I have a very patchwork set now, because in addition to their other fine qualities, what these dishes have going for them is:

1) they're kind of ugly in their mustard/brown/tan color schemes, very out of fashion, and I can pick them up super cheap, and

2) when (not if) my kids drop them, they break into three or four large pieces, and are easy to clean up. This was such a relief after years of dropping Corelle bowls and having them explode in to a million tiny razor-sharp glass bits all over the floor (which we'd be finding for weeks and months with our bare feet).

...and as dowdy as they are, I've come to like the way they look, too. It was that last little gasp before machine-stamping ceramics became a thing, and there's just a little variability. It's nice.

collecting solid fuel and candles

[claire_58]

While cruising the thrift stores I always keep my eyes open for boxes of paraffin and unscented white candles. I have found tea lights, votives, and tapers and open boxes of unused paraffin for a fraction of the prices in the grocery store. If you are making candles adding paraffin to your beeswax can make it go much farther while still maintaining the golden glow and lovely scent.
Paraffin is also the only fossil fuel that is shelf stable and doesn't require specialized equipment for storage. I put the boxes into big rectangular cookie tins and stack them in the cold room or storage shed. I haven't made candles for a long time but I have kept all my equipment. It will be a fun thing to do with my grandchildren when they are a little older.
I have also picked up metal candle holders and candle lanterns for very good prices. There are so many of them out there that I have become quite choosy. I look for good quality metal or ceramic holders with a stable base and a saucer to catch drips. I haven't seen wick around very often but it's another thing I try to keep in mind while shopping.

Re: collecting solid fuel and candles

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Claire,
Wick is just pure cotton string.
Maxine

Frugal Dishwashing techniques?

[(Anonymous)]

Living in a cold-water flat. Doing dishes by hand with water heated in pots and pans on the rangetop.

Any tips or pointers to websites describing how to do this systematically? I am winging it, and have not yet hit on a routine that saves time, uses least energy, gets greasy things clean and does not either burn the hands or leave a soap film from too cold a rinse.

Re: Frugal Dishwashing techniques?

[(Anonymous)]

1) Wash the cleanest dishes first (glassware, pots that held just steamed vegetables, for example).

2) Move on to items with more grease, like plates. At this stage, it's ok to put silverware in the bottom of the dishpan to soak.

3) Wash really dirty, greasy pans last.
(Note: Use a sponge or a dish rag to wash, and a metal scrubber for really burned on food like in a frying pan. But only on nonstick cookware, of course. Rinse the sponge or dishrag with very hot water when done and hang to dry.

4) Now all your wahed dishes should be resting in a dish rack, not yet rinsed. Heat up a tea kettle or a pan with about a quart of water, to boiling. Pour this very hot water over the soapy dishes, rinsing each with just a very small amount of water. Swirl a bit of hot water around the entire inside of each cup or glass, then flip it over to dry. Plates can be rinsed standing. You can usually rinse several cups sequentially with the same water, but discard when it gets too soapy.

This was how we did dishes when I was a kid, and my mother still does it after every meal, in her mid 90's.

Super hot water is key, and a good pair of rubber gloves can really help hands in the wash water. It's a very energy- and water-efficient way to clean dishes.

*Ochre Harebrained Curmudgeon*

Tips for quitting smoking

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not sure this is entirely on topic but I'll give it a try. I'm a smoker. Been trying to quit for years and I keep failing. Anyone have any tips for succeeding at quitting?

Re: Tips for quitting smoking

[(Anonymous)]

The way my Dad did it, is he didn't quit. Hasn't smoked in forty years, but if you ask him, he didn't quit. For the first twenty years he kept an unopened pack of cigarettes in the glove box just in case he really needed one (when he passed a group of prisoners working on the roadside, he would chuck it out the window for them, and then buy another). He kept telling himself he could have a cigarette *later*. They were right there in the car, and he could have one any time, just not right now. Later. He says he still occasionally would very much like one, particularly in social settings where someone offers him one... but he doesn't want to go through the hassle of "not-quitting" all over again.

[michele7]

I'd like to send a big, warm virtual hug to everyone who posts a tip or comments. I have gained so much from Frugal Friday posts. And a big virtual hug and thank you to JMG for allowing us to keep going on Frugal Fridays!

[(Anonymous)]

Aye!

We have been living on a shoestring for years, and I thought I'd exploited just about every frugal trick there was. But I have learned a few things!

Dried kale

[baconrolypoly]

I've read about keeping a jar of dried kale in the kitchen cupboard and using it in soups and stews. Sounds like a sensible idea. The kale plants here are just starting to put up flowering buds (we'll stir fry the flowering buds when they're a bit bigger) and the pigeons have been pecking at the leaves, so I've been picking and drying them before they get pecked to nothing. It's a bit of a faff, what with washing it all and removing the main rib of each leaf before drying, but the crumbled leaves look good.

Apart from soup/stew, what else would you use dried kale with?


Just to say, I grew both black Tuscan and curly kale last year and the Tuscan has done far better. It's a much bigger plant, produces a lot more leaves and seems even hardier than the curly kale.

Re: Dried kale

[temporaryreality]

this works with chard too - and seems to neutralize the oxalic acid that we find rather off-putting with fresh chard (in fact I've got a new batch going right now). I also just dried radish greens to try. Basically I agree with the soups and stews direction. I've put the greens in chili, clam chowder, potato-leek soup, and curry. They need the liquid to reconstitute a bit.

Curtains are easy to make.

[(Anonymous)]

All the skill that is required is measuring and straight sewing. Thrifted bedsheets can be used for lining. If you use the full fabric width from selvedge to selvedge, you only need to turn that selvedge under once for a neat side hem. I attach the top of the lining to the seam allowance on the bottom of the rod pocket. I make the lining a few inches narrower than the curtain, hem it on the sides and bottom, and let it hang freely to back up the curtain, and prevent see through.

It is a good to have a deep hem for weight and also a deep rod pocket so that the curtains can slide freely.

I suggest, stay from pinch pleats. Not only are they a nuisance to make but they attract both dust and spiders. I like spiders. Outside where their webs catch garden pests.

Mary Bennett