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

Pot Roast in a Crock Pot

[(Anonymous)]

A couple weeks ago I asked whether anyone had tried raising the temperature inside a standard Crock Pot in order to get it hot enough to properly cook a chuck roast. Well, this morning I'm trying out the suggestions. I have my Crock Pot bundled up in fluffy all-cotton towels, and so far it seems to be working. I'm home all day today, so I can keep an eye on things. I'll let you know later today how this experiment turns out.

Re: Pot Roast in a Crock Pot

[(Anonymous)]

UPDATE!!!! Holy Moly, guess what I just learned Not To Do? Well, the Crock Pot certainly got hotter. It got so hot it melted the plastic handles right off the side of the unit.

Hmm ... It's cooling down now. I'll need to see now whether this appliance can be saved. Maybe don't use so many towels? Don't bundle them around the sides, at any rate. Yikes.

Re: Pot Roast in a Crock Pot

[(Anonymous)]

Better be careful with this one. Insulation on the internal electrical connections of the appliance may not be suitable for use at the resulting higher temperature - which could mean you're wrecking your crock pot, and it could mean you are risking an electrical fire. The newer and cheaper the unit is, the greater the risk. Best to use a ground-fault type outlet for this little experiment, and pull the plug right away if your roast starts to smell like burning plastic.

Free Stores

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Frugalistas,
I had a question last week about how people use the Free Stores here on my island. The fact is, that some people do bring junk to the unattended Free Shack but not very many. The guy who runs the Shack hauls it away to the landfill. Most people are respectful and only put out useful things. One person stole the shelves from the Free Shack but a volunteer from the community built new ones and bolted them to the floor. The Shack really is loved.

The volunteers who run the Free Store do get a bit of junk from time to time and I have read the odd, vitriolic letter from the Free Store Staff in our local paper denouncing people who bring things that are not clean and serviceable. It doesn't happen often.

There was a letter to the Editor about dealers coming in and scooping the best stuff for resale. I think dealers may have to deal with the odd Dragon or two while conducting their raids. Artists and craftspeople raid the Store for cloth they can use to make rag rugs and children's toys. No one minds that.

Another cool thing I saw on the street in Vancouver was a Free Book Store. It was a glass-fronted cabinet in front of a house. There were books in it to take and you could leave a book too.

People here often put things outside their houses with a label saying Free.

I think these little stores make a community feel more cozy and you never know when you are going to be caught somewhere and need a book. There is so much stuff going into the landfill that we need to see materials get back into circulation.

Maxine

Re: Free Stores

[(Anonymous)]

It's amazing how quickly things will sprout legs and walk off, when you put them out with a "free" sign taped to them.

Sometimes, it pays to have a pickup truck or access to one. Most of the time you don't need a truck but when you need one, you really really need one. There's a reason those old chevy squer bodies are selling for multiples of what a more recent used pickup will. One would think they'd figure this out and make new squer bodies, but I'm not holding my breath.

Re: Free Stores

[kallianeira]

Hi Maxine,

The free street library thing took off in this country during lockdown 4 years ago. Many of them remain in use.

We have been inspired by your article and are going to start our own free footpath store. There is no building available but it is also quite a dry place. So to start with we shall put out and hope for little things that we can carry inside easily in case the weather threatens. The main awkward thing I foresee is wasps building nests all over tables and clothes racks.

As for larger items, I intend to put out an exercise book with "wanted" and "offers" sections to put people in touch with each other who can arrange between themselves for the couches and fridges.

- iridescent scintillating elver

[(Anonymous)]

Why buy a water bottle? (in some climates, you need one). You can always get the huge supersized ones fairly cheap, but if you don't have the strength to pick them up? My daughter had glass water bottles with rubber mesh coats which were, again, too heavy. But....

In my fridge was a glass bottle that held supermarket cold tea. Filled 1/2 to 2/3 full, it is just the right weight; and it fits into the sewn-from-old-neckties bottle holder the Methodist ladies made and sold at a Village craft fair. Rinse out well, paste on a handwritten label with name, address, phone number, and (I was so tempted to add but didn't) "Thou Shalt Not Steal."

A second discovery, when cleaning out my utility closet and needed to split the rags box in two: floor rags et, and clean cloths for other things. My fellow residents get and discard a lot of the small Amazon Prime shipping boxes. Grab one, run rag over the inside, and label it.

I just bragged about it at the Green Committee meeting this morning.

The Grey Badger, who collects small triumphs like these.

[methylethyl]

How do you clean bottles?

This has been my perennial problem with all re-usable water bottles. I end up defaulting to the wide-mouthed plastic lid cups (even though I'd rather not go plastic) because I can't ever get the steel or glass bottles properly clean. I realize there are bottle brushes for that and all... I just don't entirely trust that they're working in all the grooves and the shoulders of the container.

Reuse wide mouth glass bottles

[(Anonymous)]

I second reusing glass bottles. I used to buy the fancy glass water bottles, but I have found that gravity always wins no matter how heavy or "well made" they are. The wider mouth bottles that you get with Snapple, Calypso Lemonades, Starbucks bottled coffee, or similar drinks usually last just as long at a fraction of the price.

If you need something more durable, I recommend a single walled stainless steel bottle. These have the benefit of being able to be pounded back into shape with a mallet if they take a tumble, unlike their more popular double walled cousins or glass bottles.

[open_space]

Carboard boxes are my favorite painting practice medium, I don't have to worry about the price of a canvas, it's for free, and priming them is fun. Since it's "trash" it also makes it easier to make mistakes while learning!

Drink bottles

[(Anonymous)]

Very convenient drink bottles are those beer bottles from Germany & Netherlands with the porcelain cap, rubber washer and strong wire hinge - they last forever, for carrying around water, home brew, and coffee (why pay $4-5 for a coffee, and if you make coffee at home, an Italian stovetop device gives excellent espresso and if it is good, it tastes as good cold as hot).

Q

Saving on Laundry Costs: how often should you wear a garment?

[teresa_from_hershey]

I wash more laundry in the winter because we all wear more layers of clothes than we do in the summer. I use more water, run the washer more often, and, depending on the weather, drying them can be challenging.

It occurred to me: how often do you need to wear a garment when you're not digging ditches, i.e., getting hot and sweaty in it?

Obviously, underwear, socks, and undershirts next to the body need to get washed regularly.

But, is it necessary to wash a sweatshirt or sweater if it's not stained?
This is where aprons and pinafores come in.
Aprons come in plenty of styles; they don't have to be frilly, useless decorations.
Or sleeve protectors.
Should pants be washed every day?

If you don't need to wash garments as often, they last longer as well as saving water, energy, and time.

Thoughts?

Re: Saving on Laundry Costs: how often should you wear a garment?

[(Anonymous)]

I have a fair amount of experience with finding out how infrequently overalls (same one, worn daily) can be washed. What I have found is that dirty/stiff fabrics are more prone to ripping and that failing to wash them promptly can greatly reduce their life expectancy even more than washing daily. Once a week, if unsoiled, seemed to work really well with the heavy duck cloth overalls.

I also found that the cuffs and pockets on either jackets or pants are the most prone to damage from soiling so those are the areas to frequently check.

LET`s Local Exchange Trading Systems?

[emily07]

Probably you all heard of the LET´s Local Exchange Trading Systems, where you join up, usually for a small fee and there is a small members fee and you trade in an exchange "currency". I´ve had experience with this in the Netherlands and Germany (where the LET´s are intereconnected and you theoretically can trade throuhg a lot of cities in Germany). It was sort of supplementary to my "normal life" and income and I scored some neat things and apparentely Argentine got a lot more of its people through its difficulties by massive exchange-circles like that. Also it helped build friendships or getting to know a city better (the last can also be done through Couchsurfing of course, which I´ve also done).
I wonder: are there LET´s in your country? Have you made use of it and what were your experiences? If someone wants to know more about my German and Dutch experience I´m willing to answer to the point questions.
Best wishes,
Emily07

Re: LET`s Local Exchange Trading Systems?

[(Anonymous)]

I had an okay experience with one in Australia. It was mostly personal services and second-hand goods, the little 'economy' didn't have a manufacturing or primary production sector so it was sometimes difficult to spend one's points.

Cooking with charcoal

[claire_58]

This week's picture has reminded me to report on the Cobb cooker I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. https://www.cobbgrillamerica.com/products/cobb-premier-air-kitchen-in-a-box or https://mycobb.ca/collections/portable-bbq-grill/products/kitchen-in-a-box

Buying it was not frugal. It's pricey but very fuel efficient. Unlike a kettle grill it has a very small space for the charcoal but it seems to be enough to easily make a whole meal for 2-4 people. Some of the recipes I've found call for as little as 4-6 briquettes. It's also very well made and durable. The company sells all the parts that might get worn or damaged. With care (and back up parts) I expect it could last for a couple of generations or more. It will certainly become more valuable as the energy crunch gets crunchier.

It's not really a bbq or a grill even though you can do both of those things with it. It's a charcoal stove and oven. What it seems to do best is one pot meals and baking. It's great for baking.
It was developed in South African where cooking fuel is scarce. The traditional South African "potjie" or "potjiekos," a method of slow cooking the whole meal in layers without stirring, works great. Potjie is not stew; the layers are lifted and served onto the plates separately.
I made chilli and and corn bread; baked the corn bread then wrapped it to keep it warm while the chilli cooked. I made a one pot chicken mushroom pasta; rediscovered the "one pot pasta" method (the noodles are cooked in the sauce); and found several yummy recipes that use that technique. I made pork chops but I used the frying pan not the grill top. I cooked up one of our stewing hens. It worked okay; edible but chewy. (A pressure cooker is the best for stewing hens.) Next time I will marinate it overnight and plan for a longer cook time.

The one adjustment I've had to make is longer planning. All the food needs to be completely thawed and close to room temperature. Cooking on an electric range you can just crank up the heat if you are adding frozen ingredients. But with the Cobb you really notice the heat lost and fuel wasted if the food is icy or cold.

So, not frugal to buy but very frugal to use and well worth the investment as something that is likely to become a family heirloom.

Re: Cooking with charcoal

[kayr]

Can you use any old charcoal briquettes or do you need to use their specially molded ones?

Mushrooms

[(Anonymous)]

Learning to forage mushrooms can seem daunting at first, but when you bring home many pounds of morels, dryad's saddle, oysters, etc, it definitely pays off. There are plenty of good guides online, and groups on Facebook that will help you positively ID a mushroom. Easy ones to start off with are puffballs, chicken of the woods, and the above mentioned. Just got a big morel and dryad's saddle haul today, so vibing on the fungi today. Many mushrooms are also medicinal, are a fantastic addition to any diet, and are expensive in the store. In the woods, they're free!

Re: Mushrooms

[(Anonymous)]

Yes indeed! And your local mycological society can help!

Frugal get-togethers

[(Anonymous)]

Getting together with friends at someone's home is much, much cheaper than doing it at a restaurant. Spending time with other people is important for your mental health, and will make you more content with your life, reducing the urge to spend on things to make you happy. Cooking for other people is also a good time, assuming you like them!

Making up a batch of stew for 6 - 8 people and making some crusty bread to go with it is quite easy and fairly cheap. Doing it in a slow cooker makes it easier. Even cooking a roast is cheaper than a single restaurant meal these days!

There are a lot of 'dinner party' cookbooks from the 80s floating around if you want to get fiddly and fancy, or a lot of pasta bake or baked casserole recipes (looking at you, America) to feed people en masse. Indian curries are almost designed to be cooked in large quantities, and are mostly based on legumes for a cheap meal.

Re: Frugal get-togethers

[michele7]

Our family favorites are gyoza (pot stickers) and temakizushi (hand rolled sushi). I made 120 gyoza for our last family get together (including the skins). I love feeding my family. My husband complains that it's too much work for me, but I want my children and grandchildren to reminisce about my gyoza once I'm gone. A couple of my children have begun making gyoza, so I feel that's a win! Temakizushi is the cheapest way to have sushi at home. It can made without sushi grade raw fish. Seriously folks, sushi rice is short grain rice with rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Cheap items! I have also taught my adult children to bring take out containers, so they can enjoy leftovers.

Storing Blankets

[methylethyl]

It's that time of year again: time to wash the winter blankets and put them away for the warm season.

I've tried various strategies for packing them up, so that they aren't in the way, don't get bugs in them, and don't get moldy, but... I'm never completely satisfied with results.

How does everybody else manage this?

Re: Storing Blankets

[(Anonymous)]

Vacuum bags. I bought a bunch of them from an online retailer and have been using them with an air mattress pump to suck all the air out.

I know you're dealing with some serious humidity issues so I would suggest using www.weather.gov to find your hourly forecast to try and hit the lowest possible humidity when you pack everything up. You could also toss in a silica packet or two.

Staying cool without using much power

[(Anonymous)]

Personal USB fans use a fraction of the power of a ceiling, box, or floor fan and can provide similar levels of relief. The one I have is 5 watts and looks like a miniature floor fan. If it gets really hot and the relative humidity is under 80% I'll pair it with regular spritzes of water from a spray bottle to the face and chest to stay cool.

urea for dry skin

[kallianeira]

For very dry skin there are a few products available from the pharmacy. They go by the name of heel balm and the like.

When I asked the dermatologist if any were not based on petrochemicals she responded with curled lip, "Why would you want such a thing?"

Eventually I found two that contained "natural" ingredients. Both fairly expensive. One has since gone out of production and the other makes my skin slippery.

The main active ingredient in any of these creams and lotions (even petrochemical ones) is urea.
It is a nitrogenous chemical found in urine and as we know is very useful for fertilizing plants.
Urea is sold at hardware or garden stores. It comes as small white spheres and is very cheap. It is highly water soluble. On its own it has no smell.

So, I began mixing urea into normal moisturizers and have been able to look after my dry skin this way for ten years, and am still on my first bag of urea. It is imperishable as long as it is kept dry.

The skin care products on the shelf contain from 10 to about 25% urea. My version has 20%.

For extra care of troubled skin I add aloe vera, castor oil, glycerin and essential oils.

- iridescent scintillating elver

Re: urea for dry skin

[methylethyl]

In a similar vein, there was a long stretch where I needed something to protect my skin in winter, when I lived further north. Shea butter worked really well, but it's kind of hard to find without additives, and rather expensive. But I found I could go online and buy it straight -- not a tube or a jar but just a brick of the stuff- for a very reasonable price, from a place that sold supplies to small businesses that make natural cosmetics and soaps and things.

Clipping the low hanging fruit

[(Anonymous)]

The very first luxury of my childhood that I permanently abandoned for financial reasons, way back in 2008, was the barber's haircut.

A buzz cut is an easy DIY, is masculine and professional looking. I do a 3-2-1 cut. I saved thousands of dollars with a $20 pair of clippers, and when that pair died I replaced them with a more durable model.

While this is probably not as easy a win for the women, it is the lowest of low hanging fruit for the men.

Re: Clipping the low hanging fruit

[ecosophia]

May I offer a comment about women's hairstyles from a male point of view? Very few men like them. (Especially perms. Those make your head look and feel like a brillo pad, ladies.) If your choice of hairstyle is at all influenced by what you think men find attractive, go talk to them about it; a very large share of men would rather you leave off the styling, the perms, the dyes, and all the rest of that overpriced and unattractive gunk, and just let your hair grow out long and natural. You can always tie it back when you need to keep it out of your face for practical purposes.

That's also an option for guys, btw, and one that I've been practicing since Reagan was in the White House...

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone happen to know a decent gluten free from scratch pie/pastry crust?

Review--Survive and Thrive

[ritaer]

I found this at local library and browsed through it. _Survive and Thrive: How to Prepare for any Disaster Without Ammo, Camo, or Eating Your Neighbor_--Bill Fulton and Jeanne Hilton Devon. As the title suggests this is a guide for preparedness for ordinary people, not for "take to the hills" type survivalists. The idea is to have supplies and skills for surviving disruptions ranging from electrical blackouts to earthquake, fire, storms, pandemics and civil disruptions. Has useful lists of needed items, recommendations for storage methods, improvised water filters, brand names of suppliers of specialized items. Some of the items are expensive, not frugal, but others are low cost or just good investments. Worth taking a look at--recommend to your local library.

Rita

Re: Review--Survive and Thrive

[open_space]

I think thats the most important kind of survival we will need. You know, the one that helps ease the process instead of ditching all of civilization to go back to the bush, for as much fun that is from time to time.

City Composting: Used blender accelerates the process of reducing cardboard waste

[open_space]

Ok so cardboard is a topic this week, so instead of throwing the bits of cardboard boxes that don't work to be primed as painting canvases (see my comment above) I decided to do something with them.

I got a medium rubbermaid container for my apartment compost but being in an apartment I don't have the falling leaves from my "almendro" nor my "amate", but I do have another source of carbon... corrugated cardboard from mine and my neighbours recycle bins.

However, composting is a slow process and this being a city compost, it also goes faster (hopefully just faster and not stressed).

In this compost I eill choose what goes in (on my Big Bertha compost Ive thrown raccoons and iguanas and she devours them) because its smaller in size so it doesn't get sun-core hot to decompose everything. I want to get into it things that will compost at about the same time and the rest goes into the city compost.

With it, I plan on repotting all my plans (I have no idea what goes into does green bags of soil but I don't like it) and doing small inoculations into sidewalks etc.

I went to Goodwill and found a tough used blender, though I'm sure any works. Then I broke pizza boxes, paper bags and delivery boxes into pieces of a few inchs and let them soak inside the blender for 15 minutes, then blend. This goes in your greens layer, because its wet. Save some cardboard or paper to do the top dry later.

I'll keep the frugalistas informed once Little Betty starts digesting.

Happy composting!

Socio-economic class of frugalistas

[randomactsofkarmasc]

Not a frugal tip, but an interesting article that mentions frugality...

This article was in my newsfeed today: Of Two Minds - Squeezed for Decades, America's Working Class Is Finally Up Against the Wall (https://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay24/working-class5-24.html).

When I was in school, we were taught that someone's socio-economic class was based on income. (This was American public school.) (many many many decades ago) According to this article, class is now decided by how much *surplus income* someone has. (So if you make a lot and spend all you make, you're lower class, but if you make a little and spend less than what you make, you are middle class.)

Re: Socio-economic class of frugalistas

[methylethyl]

Saw that one. After I got over the initial wave of despair that comes with reading CHS's missives (I know they are true... but gosh I'd love to read something once in a while that just says "you're doing OK! Don't worry!")... I read it again, and I do see some hope in it, at least for our little family. Like I've been feeling down and stressed because of how financially squeezed we are right now. And what I'm seeing here is:

1) We're in that boat with a lot of other people. Not just us.
2) We are actually doing really, really well at shrewdly using the resources available to us. Compared to others in our income bracket, it's a bit of miracle-working, really. Which means...
3) There's still a fair amount of squish in the economy. non-essential stuff that people can let go of, before they hit bottom. I see some flashes of hope in there-- the chance to jettison some parasitic middlemen in bloated industries like education, healthcare, real estate...

I think that puts us in the "plucky and resourceful" bucket, and I can feel good about that. There are people living paycheck-to-paycheck out there on twice our income with fewer kids. We'll manage somehow.

Sewing patterns for Underwear?

[methylethyl]

**If not deemed appropriate, do not post**

Ladies (Ok, and gents if you've got relevant sewing experience)-- has anybody tried sewing their own undergarments?

I am finding lately that the quality and durability of completely normal boring cotton undies is declining alarmingly, while the price keeps rising. My sewing skills do not (yet) extend to cotton jersey stretch fabrics. But I'm experienced with a normal (not serger) sewing machine, and I'm ready to give it whirl, rather than go to paying $15 a pair for a stingy bit of cloth and elastic just to have something that doesn't fall apart in the wash. So... some questions:

1) Patterns. I've found a lot of patterns cheap on Etsy, but... the array of options is bewildering. Has anybody got a favorite tried-and-true pattern to recommend?

2) Fabrics. Is there a how-to guide you'd recommend for learning to sew stretchy fabrics? Do you need a serger for that, or can you do it with a regular machine? Where does one buy quality fabric in these benighted times? I gave up on JoAnns years ago, because I couldn't find anything there that I'd be willing to wear. Mostly poor-quality novelty stuff. Online retailers? Who's reliable? And how do you buy fabric without being able to touch it?

3) What about vintage or even historical-reproduction patterns for underthings meant to be made of non-stretchy fabric? Has anybody tried these out? Do any of them work with, say... jeans? They seem like they'd bunch up. Does anyone have sufficient experience to say? I don't need details, just a yea or nay on whether any particular style is compatible with a more modern wardrobe. Because if sewing linen knickers is a realistic possibility... seems like they'd be durable and cost-effective. Worth a try?

Re: Sewing patterns for Underwear?

[ecosophia]

Good heavens, what could possibly be inappropriate about this?