What a bunch of weirdos. It hardly costs anything at all to run a newer A/C unit. It only costs us less than $40 a month x three months. Some veggie environmentalist lefties like to judge, I bet if they lived in the Southeast they certainly would be using the A/C.
When I lived in Ohio, I only occasionally ran the A/C unit during the day and usually only ran it a few times at night. Now I live in the South and it is impossible to live without.
We always wait until late May to turn it on and we also use ceiling fans. In addition, we put heavy curtains up and close the blinds, it makes a huge difference. I would prefer to do without the A/C, however I live in the real world, it is just too hot and humid. Besides the air quality is too poor not to use the A/C and I have a young child.
I use the library to borrow what I can, I shop at yard sales and thrift stores for everything I need to purchase. I save water from mopping floors and washing produce to water my garden outside. I make my own laundry detergent. I have an indoor compost bin for my produce stems to create fertilizer.
I think balancing the checkbook should be extinct. Makes me think of that random person at the grocery store that sill writes a paper check instead of using their debit card. Ugh! I think this is a great blue print for someone starting out in their career. Make a plan, get a roomate, take advantage of your 401k benefit if you have one... great points.
While some may not consider it to be exactly frugal, I live in NYC. But that means I can get away without having a car, or even an unlimited subway pass. I walk everywhere. I walk to work in the morning and back home at night (25 minutes each way). I walk to my friends' places, to the grocery store (well, that's only across the block), to movies, to the park, and to dinner. I don't pay for a car, I don't pay for auto insurance, I don't pay for gas, and I don't pay for repairs.
I totally agree with you, in fact I want to congratulate you for realizing the joy of being a housewife. Its not that I have anything against working women, I myself was a career woman. Of course I love what I do then, teaching is my passion, but when I was forced to stay home due to risky pregnancy, at first it was hard, not enough money, too much responsibilities, too much household chores (I had to fire my maid to cut the expenses). But eventually when I was able to adjust, I enjoyed the chores, the responsibilities and most especially the precious moments with my kids. Then I thanked God that He made way for me to stop working outside, but then the needs are still there, so we decided to look for a Second Income There I realize that there are millions of opportunities in the internet to earn extra money. Now even my husband is staying with us, he resigned from his job and worked in the home. And I am proud to say that we are earning triple what we have when we have both our careers outside.
Great post. My fiancee and I got on a strict budget when we became engaged. We had always split things 50/50 when it came to expenses, but never standardized who paid for what and how much. We always just split it up on the spot and figured it would even out in the end. The wedding budget forced us to tighten our systems and spending. We got on the envelope system with three separate envelopes for groceries, entertainment, and blow money (misc spending). On the first of each month, we each contribute 50% of our respective budgets to each envelope. Then, we have all the money we need for the rest of the month in the envelopes. When we go to the grocery store, we take our grocery envelope and pay cash all at once. It's a great system and has really saved us money, as well as time discussing who should pay for what.
I am cheap because I manage to avoid things most people seem to think are necessities. I don't have cable TV, and I use a prepaid cellphone (mostly for emergencies). I sock away money from every paycheck automatically, and I max out my Roth IRA contributions each year.
But there are areas where I splurge: I have the mid-range of the three health insurance options at work (it's actually the cheapest overall if you max out every year, which I do). I have DSL for faster Internet access (it makes up for the cable, I guess). I bought my own house (but I rent my second bedroom to a grad student). And I like to travel and will be going to India for a month this winter.
Do your feet really stink that bad? You should get medical attention. As far as coming up with ideas to write about, why not try how to take the smell from these articles go away. The CAPTCHA is pretty amusing. Any CV or just use alot of products?
Okay, I have another tip after having gone to Ikea recently. Bring your own shopping bags! They do not supply bags, so when you checkout with 15 different items you better bring something to carry them back to your car. I always forget this. Last week my daughter and I were struggling to carry the pillows, plants, ackward flat pack boxes (and more) the mile back through the parking lot to the car.
I am a library loving, home cooking, present making, coupon clipping, save-up spending, deal finding, garden growing, cloth-bag carrying, bus riding, lunch toting, cable canceling, craigslist watching, income generating, bulk buying, wish-list prioritizing and “cheapskate” celebrating person!
As a result of my “cheapskate” ways I am also a Caribbean cruising, Vita-Mix blending, weekend vacationing, theater watching, museum supporting, video taking, race participating, organic-food buying, quality-furniture owning, concert seeing, five-star dining, Las Vegas visiting, home remodeling, big dreaming and life loving person!
What I have discovered by being a frugal/cheapskate/thrifty person is I get to make my dreams come true. The key is to make your goals clear and then you know what you are working and saving for. What you need to keep in mind that what is important to you and worth saving for may not be for someone else- and that’s ok! Personally my dreams do not include having a closet full of ‘fancy’ clothes or an expensive car- but wanting to travel to Australia, have my mortgage paid-off by 45 and enjoying time with family and friends without having to worry about the bills pilling up!
Not turning on the A/C unless we have company. I have a portable fan that I move room to room (excluding taking it along to the toilet of course). One tangential benefit - I seem to accomplish whatever task I've begun, since I end up staying in the cool room for the longest!
PC - this is awesome! My boyfriend does the same thing at his company, literally bringing home pounds of food that would have been thrown away. He keeps large plastic storage containers (washed and reused over and over) at his desk and each day does his "leftover rounds" of the meeting rooms. We've enjoyed everything from filet mignon to mac-and-cheese. We freeze what we won't get to right away. I think this is a great thing to do and wish more people did it. It's an absolute crime to see that food wasted.
Riding bike to work rain or shine, no cable, no land line, reusing grey water (husband's iffy about installing a grey water system, so I've been doing it the hard way with containers), keeping water thermostat temp at around 60-65F (now that we have a baby, we're using the heat more often...), cooking front scratch most of the time, library lover, ...
Here is my cheapskate entry-
I used to get so annoyed at work when there were meetings and the food they brought in was barely touched and then thrown away. I have stopped being annoyed and started bringing in plastic baggies. Now I get in there to "help clean up" and bag up whatever I can use for lunches for the week or anything my family would like and no food gets thrown away! And yes, you guessed it- I do reuse the baggies once I clean them at home.
Happy cheapskating!
Guest,
You age it on uncut product. The stronger alcohol will cut into the wood better. If you want to pull out more flavour, pull the wood out and soak in just enough water to cover it. Active transport will carry it to the lesser level of alcohol and carry all the flavour with it. You can use that to cut the high proof alcohol. When you filter through the Britta filters, it needs to be cut down below 100 proof, or 50% alcohol, first. If its too high, it will strip all the impurities you are trying to filter out of the filter, and put them back in the alcohol.
My wife and I are not cheap, but we are not foolish with our money either. We watch it like a couple of hawks. Nothing gets in or out without us planning and tracking.
Some General Tactics:
Buy everything we can on Amazon using our Amazon Prime membership
Cook at home
Buy food in bulk
Make coffee at home
Design our own workouts instead of joining a fancy gym
Borrow books, audio books, DVDs, CDs from local library for free
BUT our most recent discovery (this is my official entry!) is that you can "rent" electronics from Costco for free. We actually discovered this by accident; it wasn't planned. Our Nokia SLR camera was stolen a few days prior to leaving for a 2 week trip to Vietnam. We bought a new one at Costco (Canon this time) for $849 and brought it to Vietnam and used it for our trip. My wife, the photographer of the family, didn't like the Canon, so we returned it to Costco. They have a 90-day return policy on electronics. They accepted the slightly used camera and issued a full refund to my credit card - no questions asked. So we effectively "rented" a $849 camera for free. Now as I said, we didn't plan it this way, but this is how it went down. So if you're smart and if this scheme poses no moral dilemma for you, you could theoretically rent some cool gear from Costco, but I assume they keep track of returns and would flag you if a pattern were to develop.
I paid off my mortgage yesterday. Being 35 and owning an asset worth $300,000 feels pretty darn good. Did this myself, no inheritance, no spouse, no gifted monies. How did I do it?---living below my means. Do I care about all the arguments for "good debt," mortgage interest deductions, etc.? No way - imagine how I feel knowing I have a good 30 years of enormous cash flow in front of me. No banks, no debt, no financial crises-EVER-for me.
FIRST - Take an ordinary candle and light it (preferably white or red wax, I have not tried this with other colors and do not know the effects of color on the end result). Wait for some of the wax to melt, then p[our it out onto a dish (or anything else, as long as you can use it afterward). This softens the wax, and makes it easier to spread onto the disk.
SECOND - Once the wax has solidified, pick it up and begin rubbing it onto the disk (from the inside outward, please), using the rounded side of the wax.
THIRD - Once the disk has been completely covered in wax, take a paper towel or soft cloth (a cloth may be difficult to clean), and begin wiping off the excess wax, once again from the inside outward. You will need to apply a small amount of pressure to wipe it off, and to rub it into the grooves of the scratches (please don't break your disks!). Once most of the excess wax is gone, begin rubbing in circular motions all over the disk (this will not scratch the disk, as the wax now acts as a protective layer). Continue until any visible wax is gone and you are left with a nice reflective sheen.
FOURTH - Take your disk, and give it a spin!
I hope this works for you, it has worked for me on numerous occasions. You may need to do this more than once, depending on the state of your disk. This has worked for my original XBox game "Sid Meier's Pirate's", which was in a condition where it would not even start. It now runs wonderfully. And this has almost worked for my Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", which has the "ring of death". I have only done this to it once and already it plays, but it still has trouble with certain stage selections. Again, you may need to repeat this process for better results.
Thank you, and I look forward to any feedback.
~N8
These are some great ideas! Its similar to this other idea I found a while ago. Check it out: http://bit.ly/9ve8Gs
What a bunch of weirdos. It hardly costs anything at all to run a newer A/C unit. It only costs us less than $40 a month x three months. Some veggie environmentalist lefties like to judge, I bet if they lived in the Southeast they certainly would be using the A/C.
When I lived in Ohio, I only occasionally ran the A/C unit during the day and usually only ran it a few times at night. Now I live in the South and it is impossible to live without.
We always wait until late May to turn it on and we also use ceiling fans. In addition, we put heavy curtains up and close the blinds, it makes a huge difference. I would prefer to do without the A/C, however I live in the real world, it is just too hot and humid. Besides the air quality is too poor not to use the A/C and I have a young child.
I use the library to borrow what I can, I shop at yard sales and thrift stores for everything I need to purchase. I save water from mopping floors and washing produce to water my garden outside. I make my own laundry detergent. I have an indoor compost bin for my produce stems to create fertilizer.
I think balancing the checkbook should be extinct. Makes me think of that random person at the grocery store that sill writes a paper check instead of using their debit card. Ugh! I think this is a great blue print for someone starting out in their career. Make a plan, get a roomate, take advantage of your 401k benefit if you have one... great points.
While some may not consider it to be exactly frugal, I live in NYC. But that means I can get away without having a car, or even an unlimited subway pass. I walk everywhere. I walk to work in the morning and back home at night (25 minutes each way). I walk to my friends' places, to the grocery store (well, that's only across the block), to movies, to the park, and to dinner. I don't pay for a car, I don't pay for auto insurance, I don't pay for gas, and I don't pay for repairs.
I totally agree with you, in fact I want to congratulate you for realizing the joy of being a housewife. Its not that I have anything against working women, I myself was a career woman. Of course I love what I do then, teaching is my passion, but when I was forced to stay home due to risky pregnancy, at first it was hard, not enough money, too much responsibilities, too much household chores (I had to fire my maid to cut the expenses). But eventually when I was able to adjust, I enjoyed the chores, the responsibilities and most especially the precious moments with my kids. Then I thanked God that He made way for me to stop working outside, but then the needs are still there, so we decided to look for a Second Income There I realize that there are millions of opportunities in the internet to earn extra money. Now even my husband is staying with us, he resigned from his job and worked in the home. And I am proud to say that we are earning triple what we have when we have both our careers outside.
Great post. My fiancee and I got on a strict budget when we became engaged. We had always split things 50/50 when it came to expenses, but never standardized who paid for what and how much. We always just split it up on the spot and figured it would even out in the end. The wedding budget forced us to tighten our systems and spending. We got on the envelope system with three separate envelopes for groceries, entertainment, and blow money (misc spending). On the first of each month, we each contribute 50% of our respective budgets to each envelope. Then, we have all the money we need for the rest of the month in the envelopes. When we go to the grocery store, we take our grocery envelope and pay cash all at once. It's a great system and has really saved us money, as well as time discussing who should pay for what.
I am cheap because I manage to avoid things most people seem to think are necessities. I don't have cable TV, and I use a prepaid cellphone (mostly for emergencies). I sock away money from every paycheck automatically, and I max out my Roth IRA contributions each year.
But there are areas where I splurge: I have the mid-range of the three health insurance options at work (it's actually the cheapest overall if you max out every year, which I do). I have DSL for faster Internet access (it makes up for the cable, I guess). I bought my own house (but I rent my second bedroom to a grad student). And I like to travel and will be going to India for a month this winter.
Do your feet really stink that bad? You should get medical attention. As far as coming up with ideas to write about, why not try how to take the smell from these articles go away. The CAPTCHA is pretty amusing. Any CV or just use alot of products?
Okay, I have another tip after having gone to Ikea recently. Bring your own shopping bags! They do not supply bags, so when you checkout with 15 different items you better bring something to carry them back to your car. I always forget this. Last week my daughter and I were struggling to carry the pillows, plants, ackward flat pack boxes (and more) the mile back through the parking lot to the car.
I am a library loving, home cooking, present making, coupon clipping, save-up spending, deal finding, garden growing, cloth-bag carrying, bus riding, lunch toting, cable canceling, craigslist watching, income generating, bulk buying, wish-list prioritizing and “cheapskate” celebrating person!
As a result of my “cheapskate” ways I am also a Caribbean cruising, Vita-Mix blending, weekend vacationing, theater watching, museum supporting, video taking, race participating, organic-food buying, quality-furniture owning, concert seeing, five-star dining, Las Vegas visiting, home remodeling, big dreaming and life loving person!
What I have discovered by being a frugal/cheapskate/thrifty person is I get to make my dreams come true. The key is to make your goals clear and then you know what you are working and saving for. What you need to keep in mind that what is important to you and worth saving for may not be for someone else- and that’s ok! Personally my dreams do not include having a closet full of ‘fancy’ clothes or an expensive car- but wanting to travel to Australia, have my mortgage paid-off by 45 and enjoying time with family and friends without having to worry about the bills pilling up!
Not turning on the A/C unless we have company. I have a portable fan that I move room to room (excluding taking it along to the toilet of course). One tangential benefit - I seem to accomplish whatever task I've begun, since I end up staying in the cool room for the longest!
PC - this is awesome! My boyfriend does the same thing at his company, literally bringing home pounds of food that would have been thrown away. He keeps large plastic storage containers (washed and reused over and over) at his desk and each day does his "leftover rounds" of the meeting rooms. We've enjoyed everything from filet mignon to mac-and-cheese. We freeze what we won't get to right away. I think this is a great thing to do and wish more people did it. It's an absolute crime to see that food wasted.
It's not a matter of being smart or not... "renting for free" / abusing refund policies is more of an ethical issue.
Riding bike to work rain or shine, no cable, no land line, reusing grey water (husband's iffy about installing a grey water system, so I've been doing it the hard way with containers), keeping water thermostat temp at around 60-65F (now that we have a baby, we're using the heat more often...), cooking front scratch most of the time, library lover, ...
Here is my cheapskate entry-
I used to get so annoyed at work when there were meetings and the food they brought in was barely touched and then thrown away. I have stopped being annoyed and started bringing in plastic baggies. Now I get in there to "help clean up" and bag up whatever I can use for lunches for the week or anything my family would like and no food gets thrown away! And yes, you guessed it- I do reuse the baggies once I clean them at home.
Happy cheapskating!
Guest,
You age it on uncut product. The stronger alcohol will cut into the wood better. If you want to pull out more flavour, pull the wood out and soak in just enough water to cover it. Active transport will carry it to the lesser level of alcohol and carry all the flavour with it. You can use that to cut the high proof alcohol. When you filter through the Britta filters, it needs to be cut down below 100 proof, or 50% alcohol, first. If its too high, it will strip all the impurities you are trying to filter out of the filter, and put them back in the alcohol.
What a great post. Some of those are so funny. Most are very true.
What a great post. some of those are so funny. Most are very true.
My wife and I are not cheap, but we are not foolish with our money either. We watch it like a couple of hawks. Nothing gets in or out without us planning and tracking.
Some General Tactics:
Buy everything we can on Amazon using our Amazon Prime membership
Cook at home
Buy food in bulk
Make coffee at home
Design our own workouts instead of joining a fancy gym
Borrow books, audio books, DVDs, CDs from local library for free
BUT our most recent discovery (this is my official entry!) is that you can "rent" electronics from Costco for free. We actually discovered this by accident; it wasn't planned. Our Nokia SLR camera was stolen a few days prior to leaving for a 2 week trip to Vietnam. We bought a new one at Costco (Canon this time) for $849 and brought it to Vietnam and used it for our trip. My wife, the photographer of the family, didn't like the Canon, so we returned it to Costco. They have a 90-day return policy on electronics. They accepted the slightly used camera and issued a full refund to my credit card - no questions asked. So we effectively "rented" a $849 camera for free. Now as I said, we didn't plan it this way, but this is how it went down. So if you're smart and if this scheme poses no moral dilemma for you, you could theoretically rent some cool gear from Costco, but I assume they keep track of returns and would flag you if a pattern were to develop.
I paid off my mortgage yesterday. Being 35 and owning an asset worth $300,000 feels pretty darn good. Did this myself, no inheritance, no spouse, no gifted monies. How did I do it?---living below my means. Do I care about all the arguments for "good debt," mortgage interest deductions, etc.? No way - imagine how I feel knowing I have a good 30 years of enormous cash flow in front of me. No banks, no debt, no financial crises-EVER-for me.
Try eating everything possible (obviously soup won't work) with chopsticks. It forces you to slow way down to eat.
Is the idea really THAT elusive??
TRY THIS METHOD
FIRST - Take an ordinary candle and light it (preferably white or red wax, I have not tried this with other colors and do not know the effects of color on the end result). Wait for some of the wax to melt, then p[our it out onto a dish (or anything else, as long as you can use it afterward). This softens the wax, and makes it easier to spread onto the disk.
SECOND - Once the wax has solidified, pick it up and begin rubbing it onto the disk (from the inside outward, please), using the rounded side of the wax.
THIRD - Once the disk has been completely covered in wax, take a paper towel or soft cloth (a cloth may be difficult to clean), and begin wiping off the excess wax, once again from the inside outward. You will need to apply a small amount of pressure to wipe it off, and to rub it into the grooves of the scratches (please don't break your disks!). Once most of the excess wax is gone, begin rubbing in circular motions all over the disk (this will not scratch the disk, as the wax now acts as a protective layer). Continue until any visible wax is gone and you are left with a nice reflective sheen.
FOURTH - Take your disk, and give it a spin!
I hope this works for you, it has worked for me on numerous occasions. You may need to do this more than once, depending on the state of your disk. This has worked for my original XBox game "Sid Meier's Pirate's", which was in a condition where it would not even start. It now runs wonderfully. And this has almost worked for my Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", which has the "ring of death". I have only done this to it once and already it plays, but it still has trouble with certain stage selections. Again, you may need to repeat this process for better results.
Thank you, and I look forward to any feedback.
~N8
Once again, in search of knowledge
When is it best to used toasted oak in the product, before or after cutting?
What are the draw backs of leaving it in longer than specified ?
We hardly EVER eat out. I have friends that go out all the time and can't figure out why I don't want to go very often.