Frugal First Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome to Frugal First Friday! This is a monthly 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 on the first Friday of each month, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course. 

There has been talk about releasing these posts in print format.  In case that turns out to be worth pursuing, please note: if you comment on this or any future Frugal First Friday post, you are giving permission for that comment to be included in print or other editions. This means, for those of you into the legalese, that by posting something in the comment thread you are granting me non-exclusive reprint rights to your comment, and permitting me to transfer those to a publisher or other venue. Your contribution will have your name or internet handle attached, your choice. 

I also have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed. One change from the earlier frame is that if you produce goods or services yourself, and would like to let readers know about them, you may post one (1) (yes, just one) comment per month letting people know, with a link to your website or other contact info. The other rules ought to be familiar by now. 

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:  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 #3: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

Rule #4: don't post LLM ("AI") generated content, and don't bring up the subject unless you're running a homemade LLM program on your own homebuilt, steam-powered server farm. 

With that said, have at it!   

Comments

Starting plants

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Everyone,
I make my own potting soil from finished compost made with a lot of maple leaves and sand. I used to have a recipe but now just mix it up until it feels like good potting soil. This keeps the whole seed-starting gig very inexpensive.

My husband built a wooden shelf for me. It has shop lights on the bottom of the shelves and we put trays of seedlings on the shelves and light them up. The shelf is in the laundry room and requires no extra heat beyond our normal house heating to get the seeds started.

I save a lot of my own seeds but bought seeds for a flower-garden full of plants yesterday for less than $10 Canadian. I will start those and if I have extras, I always plant more seeds than I need in case some fail, I have plenty of friends who will be happy to have flower seedlings.

I start my own vegetables too and we always pot up rooted cuttings of Marion berries to replenish our hedges and to give to friends. I pruned my elders and am giving away cuttings for planting. They make an excellent wildlife tree and produce a great cold and flu remedy.

Finally, gardening is cheaper than therapy.
Maxine

Re: Starting plants

[(Anonymous)]

Days of old Elder was called Elder Mother. IMHO a must have plant. Blueberry

cheap, long lasting candles

[mskrieger]

Yahrzeit candles are small candles housed in glass jars and designed to safely burn continuously for 25 hours, even if unattended. Jews use them to memorialize loved ones on the anniversary of their death. They’re also used to keep a flame going continuously without having to strike a match.

They’re cheap (last I checked about $1 each) and you can find them in the grocery store with the matches and other candles in any area in the US with a sizable Jewish community.

We lost power briefly during the storm and had a lovely dinner by Yahrzeit candle light. I thought of all the folks down South suffering in the dark and cold in the wake of the massive ice storm and thought I’d pass this tip along, in case it helps anyone.

—Ms. Krieger

Re: cheap, long lasting candles

[(Anonymous)]

Candles simple and low cost way of having light during a power outage. Have never tried the Yahrzeit candles will pick some up at the store on Tuesday an give them a try. Thanks Blueberry

White Pizzas

[prayergardens]

Hi all

Getting homemade pizza to be really good has been a project of ours for a while. It seems like the good pizzas have gotten too expensive: all the wood fired ovens happen in sit down restaurants which we limit and delivery is now over $35 for a large pie (!) with tax and tip from a locally owned place.

Here is our recipe. We like a thinner crust that browns nicely. Makes 2 12" pies.
2.5 cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup + 2tsp water
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Cornmeal for dusting

-Mix Dry Ingredients
-Slowly Add Water and oil, mix until sticky
-Knead 1 min.
-Shape into ball, put in greased bowl, cover, let sit 2-2.5 hours

-Oven to 500F
-roll to 12"
-Use cornmeal to slide onto peel (we use old cookie sheet without edges) and onto pizza stone***
-Top and Bake 10-14min (slide back out onto cornmeal covered peel/sheet)


Once we got the crust recipe we liked we did red sauce/cheese/pepperoni until we got a little tired. So we started working on White Pizzas and looking at restaurant menus for ideas.

Overall, for any white pizza, with any toppings, we like it better if we
1-Brush garlic oil on the uncooked crust before cheese and toppings. Just float a few smooshed garlic cloves in olive oil on a low heat setting and don't let simmer too much. You'll smell it. Now you have garlic oil.
2- Use a cheese blend that about 60% shredded mozzarella, 30% cheddar, 10% parmesan. You could get super into it, buy in bulk and pre bag, we should do this but we haven't yet.

Our favorite pizzas so far:
--Garlic Oil, Cheese, Cooked Bacon Bits, Apple Slices baked then topped with a little arugula and a thin drizzle of maple syrup when it's out of the oven. Pro level!
--Cream Cheese and Pepper Jelly (finally a use for this!). Skip the other cheese and garlic oil.

Next on the to try list:
Thai Peanut Chicken
On the cheese layer a little leftover cooked chicken, sliced red onions and when it comes out a drizzle of peanut sauce and a few thin sliced green veg (broccoli, snow peas, herbs etc)

I'm a big fan of freestyling with leftovers and the white pizza does a better job with that than the red pizza imo so getting it good has made some cheap, creative and tasty dinners. Every 6-8 weeks we 2-3x the recipe and freeze some for fast dinners.

Bon appetit!


***Footnote on Pizza Stones. I really do think it makes a better pie. They are a pain to remove and store so we just leave ours on the bottom shelf of the oven all the time except when cleaning off burnt cheese. It's probably been in our oven for 8 years. You can likely find one at a thrift store.

Re: White Pizzas

[(Anonymous)]

I use my pizza stone for cookies and biscuits as well. I won't make biscuits without a stone or cast iron placa. Something about setting biscuits directly on the hot stone makes a better crust. Mary Bennet

Re: White Pizzas

[michele7]

Once a week, I make sourdough pizzas for my family. I did a rough estimate of the cost for two 14 inch pepperoni and cheese pizzas and it came out to around $5 for two!

Toilet bowl cleanser

[annette2]

Ingredients:
1 bar of laundry soap or laundry soap flakes (Not detergent)
Tea tree oil
1 litre or larger jar or plastic container

Grate laundry bar. Put this or about 1 cup of soap flakes into jar or container, add water to just under the top. Attach lid securely and shake vigorously. Take lid off and add about 10-15 drops of tea tree oil. Put lid back on and allow to sit for about a day or so. The soap will settle to the bottom, but the water will become soapy. Pour the water into the toilet bowl. Take a rag and rub the soap still in the jar and use it to clean the seat, tank, and outside of the toilet. Using a spray bottle filled with white vinegar, spray the seat and outside of the toilet. Wipe the soap off with another rag. Using a toilet brush, clean the bowl and flush. Refill the jar with water for next cleaning.
Note: vinegar is a mild disinfectant so with the tea tree oil this will be enough to kill most household germs.

Thrifting Clothes

[kylec]

Does anyone have good luck with thrifted clothes? Of course, there are plenty in the thrift stores, but as fast fashion has become so popular, it's really hard to find anything but cheaply-produced third world junk.

I have a hard time finding quality natural fibers made in the USA, or at least Canada, UK, Japan, etc. Does anyone have hot tips? I do see decent stuff on ebay but the sellers all know what they have and inflate the prices so that a USA vintage wool shirt, for example, can still run over $100 despite being 40 or more years old.

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[michele7]

I've had good luck finding wool sweaters at small thrift stores near 55+ communities. Older folks that move from the north to Florida bring their winter clothing, then get rid of most after their first mild winter here. Perhaps look for thrift stores near communities with aging populations. Or try garage sales.

.

[prayergardens]

Yes but it varies.

You want to find a thrift store in the wealthy part of town or one run by wealthy volunteers. I go to one that's not in the wealthy part of town but run by it's a shop run by the hospital volunteer society which is a certain class of women in our town. My winter coat is a full length wool coat that I got there for $20. The prices are more than the dollar bin at Goodwill but the clothes are sorted for quality before they hit the racks. When littlePG was little it was actually a lot cheaper to dress her in fancy high-end kids clothes from this store than polyester whatever from the mall which baffles me to this day.

Also, there is a set of chain stores (franchises) called Plato's closet that caters to teens but they have a men's section. They sort for quality/labels and again, charge more than goodwill but it's very organized so you can walk in and in 1 minute know if they have a selection you like or not. Ours has a lot of flannel shirts.

For women, Style Encore is the grown up version of Plato's closet. I can't recall if ours has a rack of men's clothes but it would be small. Because they have so much inventory you can usually find what you're looking for. I like cotton tank tops in dark colors and I think I have a 100% success rate for finding at least one anytime I go there.

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[(Anonymous)]

Most clothing today is pure junk does not matter the name on the label. Good luck in your efforts. Blueberry

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[isaac_hill]

My tip is going to towns/areas of a city where lots of old people live (and die) and the feet of the young and hip tread not. That's where you find the really good stuff.

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[linden_matryoshka]

I wish I had some useful tips, but I can only confirm your experience. It has been increasingly difficult to find clothes that are 100% wool, cotton, linen, or silk. These items are indeed expensive, even second-hand.
Where I live, you can find them only in expensive vintage boutiques, not in chains like Goodwill or Savers.

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[(Anonymous)]

It can help to arrive early, and go directly to the items you want, such as men's shirts. For what you want, you might try the high end thrift shops in big cities. There are several in Manhattan which sell good quality clothing and deliberately price high enough to substantially cut into a reseller's margin. Probably, that is because their customers expect good quality don't want to bother with scrolling through ebay listings.

You might also check out church rummage sales. Arrive at least an hour early and get in line. Again go directly to what you want, and you need not be shy about grabbing several to inspect at your leisure. Everyone else does it. If you place something on a table, you Don't get to claim "That's mine." Item for review must be in your hand or cart, not in a pile, even if guarded by your kid. People do try that my pile thing. Don't let them intimidate you. The book dealers are especially aggressive.

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[(Anonymous)]

I used to have brilliant luck, but now most of the local thrift stores haves closed. There are some bougie expensive second hand stores, but the few remaining thrift/value village (for profit) stores no longer have change rooms and are absolutely miserable to use. I still buy T shirts or leggings occasionally, but I've switched to buying new on sale for pretty much everything else. A pair of jeans that don't fit and I can't return is useless to me.

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[(Anonymous)]

To be fair, I wasn't considering origin or high quality - I was just wanting stuff that fits, is in decent or better condition and looks decent on me. You might actually want to visit the bougie second hand stores I avoid because I think they're way overpriced.

Re: Thrifting Clothes

[kayr]

It is definitely harder to find good used clothing in the thrift stores these days, but occasionally something good slips through. I will second the other opinions here about shopping in thrift stores that are in wealthier neighborhoods.

[(Anonymous)]

Vermin were mentioned on the Ecosophia blog.

I have managed not to attract mice by keeping all rice and other grains, and beans, dried peas, etc. in glass containers. Mice can't chew through glass. I buy condiments in glass containers whenever possible and keep the jars.

Bay leaf (laurel, I believe) deters pantry moths. I stick a leaf into each of the above mentioned jars, and keep flour in the freezer. Mary Bennet

[ecosophia]

Excellent advice.

My experience has been almost entirely with field mice who come indoors in the autumn as the weather turns cold. It's important to keep the house very clean, so that mice don't find anything tasty to tempt them to stay, and yes, keeping grains and legumes in glass containers is also important.

Yes, bay leaf is laurel, and it repels insect pests of all kinds. You can scatter some on your pantry shelves as well, to good effect.

Spiritual healing and blessing: fermentation

[milkyway1]

In these challenging times, I feel it's all the more important to care about one's own health and well-being, and not just on the physical level. (I also feel that this is a very frugal endeavour - the better you're able to deal with challenges, the less they will "cost" you on various levels). Thus I'd like to mention (and highly recommend! :-) ) the Modern Order of Essenes. It's a system of spiritual healing, comprised of various techniques, which JMG learned from his teacher John Gilbert, and has been passing on to others.

You can find the material here on JMG's dreamwidth ( https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/tag/modern+order+of+essenes ), or, if you'd rather work with more structured format, I have restructured it in a course format and am publishing a new unit every other week. We're currently at the Master grade, but the course stays open, and you can start out at any time you want:

https://thehiddenthings.com/topics/moe-course

On my site, I also offer two other things which might be of interest to people here (both free):

1. a weekly formal blessing: Each Wednesday, I bless the people who have signed up for it - and I'm delighted about anybody who signs up. You can read more about it here (signup for the upcoming Wednesday is on the most current post, and is open all week):

https://thehiddenthings.com/categories/weekly-blessings

2. And I have just started to publish an essay series about fermentation. Its main focus is on how to use fermentation, its ideas and concepts, in order to better understand yourself and your life (and to make some changes to them, if you're so inclined). But there will also be copious practical recipes and advice, on all sorts of fermented goodies.

The essays will be published every other Sunday. If you're interested, the first essay can be found here:

https://thehiddenthings.com/a-trip-to-a-mysterious-place

Fermentation is not just frugal and healthy, it's also extremely tasty! :-)

Hope these offers will be of help to some of you,

Milkyway

Re: Spiritual healing and blessing: fermentation

[mskrieger]

Oh I love fermentation. I am going to start following your posts--how often do you expect to post your fermentation musings?

I just made a batch of kimchi with my daughters and it was too cold in kitchen for it to ferment. We've been in the Arctic deepfreeze of the Northeastern US for weeks now. So I had to improvise, and I learned something: The temperature doesn't have to be constant for a good kimchi ferment. I placed the crocks in front of a heat vent near the woodstove. We only run the (oil fueled) furnace a couple hours a day, in the early mornings, and we typically burn wood only a few hours in the evenings. But the average temperature of that spot stayed high enough for the fermentation to occur...or maybe the temperature rising a little higher than desirable was balanced out by the temperature sinking lower than ideal. At any rate, the bacteria did their thing, and it's so tasty!

--Ms. Krieger

DIY Room Air Cleaner

[dr_coyote]

I have serious allergies to mold spores and dust, to the degree that my doc said I'd have to get rid of my rugs AND MY BOOKS. (not happening) Looked into "air purifiers" and the like, they're way expensive and even worse, most use proprietary filter cartridges, and those costs stack up even faster. But there's a simple solution: tape a 20x20 heater/AC filter to the back of a 20x20 box fan. Various brand filters come in different grades, so get at least the ones that are rated to stop spores. By putting the filter on the back of the fan, it's sucked up against it when it's running, so it doesn't take much tape to hold it there. Four short lengths of blue painter's tape will work and it won't leave sticky residue when you change the filter.

Most of the time it runs on low out in the living room. At night I move it into the bedroom. When cleaning or dusting, move it where most needed and crank it up to high. It's not that noisy, cleans a massive amount of air, and is way cheaper than purpose-made / purpose-marketed air purifiers.

Re: DIY Room Air Cleaner

[kayr]

Did it help with your allergies? I have a similar, although not allergenic, with the dust and dirt that comes into the house during the summer when the windows are open to help cool the house. I live next to a rather busy street and a friend suggested this fan and filter trick to me, but I never acted on it as it seemed to me I would need a fan in every room.

Why you should INSULATE your pipes

[teresa_from_hershey]

We're enjoying the coldest winter in years in Central Pa. I am deeply grateful we insulated when we moved in.

One of the more esoteric forms of insulation is wrapping your pipes.
Why would you bother?

Because wrapped pipes are less likely to freeze when the temperature drops and you lose power and thus, heat. It takes longer, because the insulation protects the pipe and the water inside it.

The easiest way and most effective is to get ready-made pipe wrap. These are long, hollow noodles made of heavy foam. They come with a slit cut in them so you can slip them over the pipe and get a snug fit. The ones I've seen had no trouble fitting my standard pipes.

The pipe wrap comes in two thicknesses: thinner and thicker. If you can afford it, buy the thicker as it offers more protection. Should you wrap your hot water lines as well as the cold? Absolutely! We did and the result was that the water in the taps far, far away from the hot water heater lost heat more slowly, heated up faster, and kept their heat.

For joints, you can cut and fit pipe wrap but you'll need plenty of duct tape and it's fiddly work. The industry makes specialized joint covers and they do fit better.

Wrap EVERYTHING you can reach. We have an open chimney stack leading to the upstairs bathroom. I wrapped each pipe going up into that void, pushing the pipe wrap up with a new piece until I couldn't make another one fit.

During my pipe wrap journey (nasty, dirty work up over your head), we discovered that the plumbing leading to the upstairs bathroom ran through the unheated attic. When we insulated, those pipes were no longer heated by waste heat and began freezing. The solution was a custom-built box of heavy foam insulation, stuffed with fiberglass, to fit over the pipes (now properly wrapped) and completely sealed. We no longer fear our pipes freezing.

While you're wrapping every pipe you can reach, including exposed pipes under sinks, TAG them out! Buy those wired hang tags and label every line as to where it goes. Tag shut off valves and what they're for. When you tape your pipe, use RED electrical tape to mark hot water pipes and BLUE electrical tape to mark cold water pipes.

If pipes run alongside a wall and you can't get all the way around, CUT the pipe wrap to as snug a fit as you can manage and duct tape it in place.

The pipe wrapping job took months and was messy, expensive, tedious, and tiring.
It was also totally worth it.

If you own your home and plan to stay, save yourself the hassle of freezing pipes.
Insulating them will keep the water flowing freely (and keep its temperature better) so when you lose power, you've got more time to cope.

Re: Why you should INSULATE your pipes

[atmosphericriver]

I like your idea of labeling, I should have labeled when my pipes where replaced. When my walls were open, I insulated the pipes in the walls, and then insulated the walls too. So I did the in the wall pipes but have not done the easier to access under the house pipes yet !

Federal Income Tax

[(Anonymous)]

Just a heads up on filing, over time is not taxable I think most folks know tips are tax free. If your were born before 1961 a extra deductions of 12000 for a married couple something like that. No I do not do my own taxes. Check with a tax expert lots of changes this filing season. Blueberry

Seed Potatoes

[(Anonymous)]

Local farm store one dollar a pound sold in 5 pound bags. The farm store was only able to get 30 tons this year they normally stock 40 tons of potatoes. Just a heads up for folks who garden. Blueberry

pollen

[kallianeira]

Someone on an old covid forum mentioned using "bee pollen".
When I looked it up on my usual herb/vitamin supplier NONE of the products in this category were available for sale to this part of the world. The ban extended to making user reviews unavailable too!

So

can anyone tell me more about it? In particular, "bee" vs ordinary? Gymnosperm vs angiosperm?

I know that in general pollen is thought to be a good thing for our health and longevity and some plants generate so much it is quite easy to harvest.

Should I be thinking about collecting it myself? I don't believe there is a ban on flowers here (yet).




Thanks in advance.