ecosophia | Frugal Friday

Welcome back to Frugal Friday! This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed.

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

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

Rule #3:  please 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I loved the Riot for Austerity! (And Sharon Astyk. Her book "Depletion and Abundance" is such a good, thoughtful look at the idea of frugal living as an ethical practice.)

Something I took from the Riot was that it was often fairly painless for families, even large ones, to reduce consumption down to 10% or less of the American average in just one or two categories. For example, at the time, I had a 7 person household (3 adults, 4 children) with a large vegetable garden, and yet somehow we managed to use less than 10% of the average American household's water consumption.

Gasoline was a harder one--we used, and still do use, about the average amount of gasoline, mostly because I work 90 miles away from the house in the middle of a transportation desert (we can walk, bus, train or bike almost everywhere other than my job.) The obvious answer is that I should get a job closer to home! But change is hard.

--Ms. Krieger

Hey, great to virtually meet another rioter ! There is one I know of in the greater bay area I met in person once, that of course being highly unusual as rioters dont do extra driving.

The transportation issue is not always fully solvable at a household level. In many areas there would need to be community level restructuring that everyone else is not on board with yet. That does not lessen everything you do at a household level, the level you can control. The main thing is for you to take care of yourself, a 90 miles each way commute is brutal, very tiring. That is my concern about that.

My household hit at or close to 10% overall for quite a while, even though living out of town for a couple reasons: the car got 45mpg; my savings were much more than 10% in the other categories, so it averaged out. The online calculator that we used to have access to was great for showing that averaging out. My super low areas were electricty, heating fuel and locally produced "wet" foods (eggs, dairy, fruit, vegetables) and less of those than average, trash/consumption. I have no way to measure water usage, but I am sure it was low enough due to the water saving measures we took.

You are correct in that most changes were painless. Or, kind of interesting to see "how low can we go". We lived in a house at a comfortable temperature most of the time ( some high heat days in summer), used a washing machine and even a dishwasher in those days as the household was larger, had a refrigerator and a car etc...

Giving away the airconditioners ( 3 window units) and exclusively heating the house with local wood, not having a clothes dryer, and practicing electric conservation ( a boring top freezer energy star fridge, laptops, a timer on the electric water heater, and just turning things off..) did the most. Making use of carpooling and the bus line where possible for teen school/activity transport. Extras here in a large yard was backyard eggs, milk and a fair amount of produce, using a solar oven alot half the year and dehydrating fruits on a sheet in the sun instead of using power.

Atmospheric River

You are so right about the commute! I only work onsite Monday—Wednesday, and try to stay overnight nearby, with friends and extended family, on Mon and Tues nights. So I only make one round trip a week. It’s getting old but it’s a good job and helps me take care of my family so I’m making the best of it.

(I do look forward to the day when I can slash that gasoline number, though!)

—Ms. Krieger

Frugal Friday

Re: intersection of frugality and the automobile

Re: intersection of frugality and the automobile

Re: intersection of frugality and the automobile