Ok, proper starter can take up to 12 days to create.
1)1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup water. mix. Let sit for about 24 hours. Incidentally, rye flour makes an excellent first flour for making a starter from scratch for some reason.
2) begin discarding half of the starter, then replacing the discarded amount with the same 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. do this every 8 or 12 hours over about 5 or 6 days.
It will get very bubbly. When you smell it it may give off scent of fresh paint, alcohol, plaster, or other smells, which will change as the starter gets more mature over the course of the week. This is normal and due to the byproducts of the metabolism of the starter. If it smells *BAD* then it is going off. Which has never happened to me.
Once it is able to double its volume in 8 hours, it is strong enough to leaven a loaf of bread and you can use it.
Use half of it for your recipe, and the other half to save in the fridge after refreshing it with flour and water and letting it sit at room temp for several hours.
I have personally never seen a starter turn green or red or whatever, but if it does throw it out.
If it is stored in the fridge for months and months it may get a darkish layer on top, which you can scrape off it.
Many bakers actually start a new starter every 6 months or so, as they prefer the newer starter to older ones. So keeping one going for 15 years is not necessary, even if might be fun.
If you have one batch of commercial yeast, just make a flour and water sponge with it and save some of the sponge for your next batch of bread. You never need to buy another package of yeast if you do this. Plus it will gradually gain sourdough notes as bacteria begin to populate the sponnge over time, metabolizing the starches into energy for them and lactic acid and other metabolic byproducts for the dough.
You will need to feed it fresh flour and an equal amount of filtered water (or water that has stood out for 12 hours or so to dissipate chlorine) about once a week, leaving it at room temp for about 8 hours or so, and refrigerate it for most of the rst of the time.
RE: sourdough and wild yeasts:
sourdough is actually a combination of yeast organisms and bacteria (similar to the bacteria that produce yogurt).
simplistically put, the yeast organisms create the CO2 which make rise in the bread, and the bacteria produce the sourness.
It is possible to produce a wild-fermented bread dough that is not pronoundedly sour. You would do this by keeping the dough at a temperature that advantages the yeast over the bacteria.
the bacteria are at an advantage at some temperatures, while the yeast have the metabolic advantage at other temperatures. Off the top of my head I don't know them so I won't potentially mislead by specifying right now. I will say that once the dough is formed, you can put it in the fridge and let it ferment there for about 24 hours. This is a nouvelle-cuisine baking method for making old-style hearth bread. The technique is called temperature retardation (of the fermentation) and it gives a much more complex and rounded flavor than a straight room-temp. rise. Try it.
As a rule of thumb, for every drop of temp of 10F, down to about 36 degrees, yeast activity halves. So a 2 hour rise at 70F becomes a 4 hour rise at 60, an 8 hr rise at 50, and a 16 hr rise at 40F.
My Mom passed away earlier this year and so when time to make Christmas dinner came around, it wasn't going to be the same without Mom and her homemade yeast rolls.
Unfortunately, Mom's recipe was totally memorized, so it went with her. I found a recipe that didn't seem too difficult so I summoned up lots of courage and decided to try making yeast rolls from scratch for Christmas dinner. Thankfully, the outcome was edible, but they weren't nearly as fluffy or tasty as Mom's usually were.
I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle making my own yeast nor do I think I'll be doing this often enough to get that hardcore about it (we don't typically eat a lot of bread around our house) but now that I'm past being quite so intimidated by the whole process, I would like to find a recipe that'd yield a more worthwhile result. Could you recommend a good recipe for making reasonably simple yeast rolls?
It seems like it would be easier to buy a large bulk pack of yeast at warehouse clubs like Costco or Sam's Club. Much less expensive than regular supermarket yeast and saves time over making your own. You'll have enough yeast for years of use.
I have done this frequently with strong effect. I find it most helpful if the company happens to be a public one, to mention anything about their stock price or any unpleasant news and draw a correlation. I wrote to Gap once pointing out the rudeness of a store manager regarding a store credit, how I was in their demographic, and would be so very happy to buy something--many things, in fact-- if only the buyers would return to the basics Gap had been known for and provide something worth purchasing. I told him with an attitude like this manager had displayed, coupled with the weird merchandise choices, it was no wonder the stock slide they were experiencing was not abating. I also took the tone that I was sure with his long experience in retail that he could not possibly be aware of, much less condone, the behavior from this particularly uncooperative and juvenile manager. I got a phone call to apologize, a coupon for free jeans, and a refund of the gift card balance that I'd been trying to spend for a year without luck, and a follow up letter. I did the same with AT&T while sitting on a long call for customer service. I used the time to write a letter, pointing out how long I'd been on hold, what poor procedure was in place to shuffle me back and forth to people ill equipped to handle the issue, and pointing out my alternatives, which I would be only too happy to utilize if this was not rectified. I also pointed out how much I had spent with the company over the years and was likely to continue spending, and how vocal I was willing to be about the resolution-- whichever way it was handled. Again, I received both letters, a phone call, and a hefty financial resolution to the problem (3 services paid in full for 3 months, well over $350 total).
Go right to the top, name names, and point out your value and you will get results. And try to remember to do the same for those few stars who treat you well, do their job magnificently, and go the extra mile. It's only fair!
I got my coupons last year, bought my box, set it up and only got 2 channels then. I thought I'd wait until now (December '08) to set it up again and see what channels I would get. Still only two. I get 6 very clearly with my roof antenna.
I did some research on line and found out that not all broadcasters are ready for this and it is very costly for them to make the conversion into rural areas. Millions of people will be totally without TV if they cannot afford to pay for dish or cable.
I live in Northern Arizona and only the Phoenix area will be getting digital stations. I will be watching old reruns of Bonanza for the rest of my life on the 2 local stations I can get with the box.
My PBS station (in Phoenix) shows a map on their website of how far their digital broadcast will go. I'm about 60 miles north of it.
I am really annoyed no one is talking about this on the news!
I am torn between calling a dish company this week or just breaking my TV habits.
We never had a honeymoon and have never "been" anywhere for vacations. I asked hubby for an Alaskan cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary. That's only two years from today! We have been saving for it a little at a time, and we might just have enough for it when it comes around!
I received a coupon from Office depot for 25.00 off a 25.00 purchase. Since I needed a digital postal scale I was able to purchase a very nice one for $15.00 instead of the 40.00 retail price.
I received 3 coupons from Office Max. 10.00 off a ten, twenty and thirty dollar purchase. I only used the ten off ten dollar one and bought some fabulous fancy inkjet paper that retails for 10.99. My total cost was 1.06 including tax.
I have a new coupon from my Sunday paper inserts from Office Depot. If I spen 50.00, they will give me a 50.00 reward card I can use on future purchases. It starts today and continues through the end of January. Wish I had more of those.
I always try to be frugal, these coupons seem unbelievable at first, but they are real...and they are accepted with no hassles
If you don't want to leave a tip on a to-go order, you go to a deli, not a restaurant. You don't need to leave 15+%, but a few bucks for the trouble is appropriate. To-go orders take servers/hostesses' time away from tables and other tasks. Not all servers are charged for what they sell (and therefore screwed when you don't tip) but many are and you don't know who is. So play it safe.
Also, as noted above, bringing your own wine is really only appropriate for special occasions. You should expect to pay a corkage fee, and if for some reason you aren't charged one, you should leave a tip of 30% of the wine cost in addition to your regular tip. If you like wine with dinner but don't want to spend as much, consider splitting a glass with your date, or save dessert and wine for after dinner, at home.
Some restaurants charge a little bit more for adults ordering off the kids' menu. It is a kids' menu for a reason.
I've worked my fair share of restaurants, and none of the bartenders took a hit on money when take-away orders didn't tip. The tipping system was always set up to deal with this exact issue. As for the time and trouble that the bartender/server/hostess etc has to take to put in the order at all, that's what the base pay is for.
Also consider eating mid-week (Tuesday-Thursday). Because of high overhead costs restaurants must keep their seats full. In a down economy many restaurants offer midweek discounts to attract customers.
The freshest food is often served during the week (Tuesday-Thursday). Many restaurants receive their food deliveries on Fridays. This food is used by the restaurant through the weekend and on Monday. Eat on Sunday and Monday and you're likely to be eating food that was delivered two or three days ago. Food delivered during the week, say for instance on Monday and Wednesday is served Tuesday through Friday.
I think Debbie did a great job of emphasizing that you ask about or figure out, and then follow restaurant policies, at least that is the way I interpreted the tips. This is also a great guide for day to day and for traveling, as the way restaurants operate in one city may differ from your hometown (and of course they all have their own rules). I like the idea of ordering smaller portions, as a standard offering, or as a kids meal, or as a senior citizens meal -- that was the case at one place I visited where they put smaller meals on the menu for everyone.
Also, I didn't know about the bring your own wine policy available at some restaurants (except for the ones who don't carry their own wine but let guests bring their own), and just recently heard about a corkage fee before reading about it today. I have also found that some restaurants (at a resort, for example) allow you to buy a bottle of wine (rather than individual glasses) and store it during your stay in town. A server gave me that tip.
the majority of your tips suggest screwing over the restaurant or your server/bartender. first of all, there is a certain etiquette to bringing your own wine to a restaurant. call ahead. ask what their policies are. some restaurants charge a corkage fee (and if you complain about THAT understand you are paying for a SERVICE and the use of their glasses, dishwasher, setting etc.). secondly, you should ALWAYS tip on take away orders! the people that take the time to put your order in get taxed on what they sell. when you do not tip a server/bartender on a take away you are making THEM pay for you to eat. that is not nice or fair. last, KID MENUS ARE FOR KIDS! do not order from them. not only does it make you look bad...it is often policy of the restaurant that people of a certain age should not order from them. you are causing your server to deal with grief from management when you do this. think about it folks. servers don't walk into your workplaces and ask you to break all of the rules for them. thrifty should not equal rude or inconsiderate.
Using coupons is an incredibly smart step. Don’t let the good stuff fall through the cracks! There is free coupon organizing software available at: http://www.couponandcodes.com good luck - Tom
If you have a lit class that requires you to read a lot of novels, go to the library. The local library, too, not just the campus one. If you're only working on "The Great Gatsby" for a week, you won't even have to renew. Or search regular used books stores' bargain bins. A copy of "Black Like Me" written fifty years ago, selling for a quarter is still the same text as the brand-new one in the college bookstore selling for $9.95.
Also, talk to your professors about what edition/publication you should use. One of my favorite professors listed the Penguin copy on the syllabus, but actively encouraged us to NOT shop at the college bookstore, and get any old copy we could find. During lectures, instead of saying "Page 95" he would tell us all to turn to Chapter 3.
Look at other options besides buying, too. Talk to other people in your major, dorm, or academic club. If they are keeping all their textbooks for future reference, ask if you can borrow the text you need for a semester. Share a book for your Tue/Thur class that your buddy is taking Mon/Wed/Fri. Heck, someone might even give you their old edition the college won't buy back--just be sure to contact someone in the department and ask if edition 3 is still ok.
Craigslist is still my favorite. A book selling on campus for $100 is listed for $50, then you can turn around and sell it next year for $40.
Great ideas Debbie. Just be careful that you don't bring your own wine and get hit with a corking fee that costs more than the wine itself. Many corking fees can range from $5-30 depending on the restaurant. Make sure to do some research ahead of time. I find that BYOW is great for large parties, but often not a good deal for myself and a date who usually only drink a glass or two with supper.
When I was growing up, Santa didn't wrap presents. On Christmas Eve we unwrapped the presents from family. Then on Christmas morning we ran to see our presents piled under the tree, sans wrapping. My parents started doing this when we were tiny, so we didn't question that Santa's gifts were unwrapped--that's just the way it was. Starting this tradition could save households with young kids half their gift wrap.
Another tradition is the 'dummy present'. When the gift is large or bulky, we put a tiny prewrapped gift box under the tree. Inside is a note that says to go look in the hall closet, under your sister's bed, etc. The large, unwrapped gift is waiting in the hiding place. You can re-use the gift box jewelry or gift cards come in for this one.
To expand on your grandmother's idea, you can make extra-large fabric 'Santa sacks', one for each person. All their gifts go in one giant bag, reused each year. They can be reopened over and over.
I've also had good luck with reusing Mylar balloons. I used some gold star-shaped ones to wrap books. Just cut off the seal around three point of the star, put in the book, and gather up the cut points, tie with a ribbon. I used a champagne bottle-shaped one, cut into sheets, to wrap a larger box. You can pull leftover strips of the Mylar really carefully through scissors just like curly ribbon, and use the leftovers to make a bow.
(Old VCR tapes can be taken apart for the ribbon inside them--it curls like curly ribbon, too.)
I got this idea from a geography textbook my college wouldn't buy back--use pretty pages from an old or damaged book. I use maps for graduations or milestone birthdays (particularly apt if you're giving a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go), sheet music for CDs. You can use poetry or plain text for anything, and it can be dressed up with paint or drawings.
For bigger gifts, use old roadmaps, navigation charts, or the maps that come in National Geographic. My local thrift store sells the latter for a nickel, so you can stock up for those last-minute gifts. You can get maps of the places you are staying on vacation to wrap your souvenirs in.
Lastly, I keep plain wrapping paper on hand. Kraft paper can be rustic, classy, modern, or cute depending on the bows or decorations. One roll of red and one of blue has gotten me through birthdays, anniversaries, and the holidays. As to weddings, I'm still reusing the giftbags I got at my wedding three years ago. :)
You could do the same for Chinese and Japanese take-out too! Great idea. Even if the meals come with rice, adding more will stretch any meal to feed more people.
go to the local Indian restaurant for buffet take out and make a big pot of rice at home instead of getting rice at the restaurant. Just buy the entrée's and one take-away order becomes a feast!
I just updated this old post. Thanks for your comments Meg -- just in case anyone was wondering, I was reviewing the product per a reader request, not endorsing it. Specifically, I was illustrating what I consider to be a simpler and less risky alternative to the program that does not involve an ALOC or HELOC. The video with the assumptions provided by the program seller is no longer available on its website (the reason for my update).
Ok, proper starter can take up to 12 days to create.
1)1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup water. mix. Let sit for about 24 hours. Incidentally, rye flour makes an excellent first flour for making a starter from scratch for some reason.
2) begin discarding half of the starter, then replacing the discarded amount with the same 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. do this every 8 or 12 hours over about 5 or 6 days.
It will get very bubbly. When you smell it it may give off scent of fresh paint, alcohol, plaster, or other smells, which will change as the starter gets more mature over the course of the week. This is normal and due to the byproducts of the metabolism of the starter. If it smells *BAD* then it is going off. Which has never happened to me.
Once it is able to double its volume in 8 hours, it is strong enough to leaven a loaf of bread and you can use it.
Use half of it for your recipe, and the other half to save in the fridge after refreshing it with flour and water and letting it sit at room temp for several hours.
I have personally never seen a starter turn green or red or whatever, but if it does throw it out.
If it is stored in the fridge for months and months it may get a darkish layer on top, which you can scrape off it.
Many bakers actually start a new starter every 6 months or so, as they prefer the newer starter to older ones. So keeping one going for 15 years is not necessary, even if might be fun.
If you have one batch of commercial yeast, just make a flour and water sponge with it and save some of the sponge for your next batch of bread. You never need to buy another package of yeast if you do this. Plus it will gradually gain sourdough notes as bacteria begin to populate the sponnge over time, metabolizing the starches into energy for them and lactic acid and other metabolic byproducts for the dough.
You will need to feed it fresh flour and an equal amount of filtered water (or water that has stood out for 12 hours or so to dissipate chlorine) about once a week, leaving it at room temp for about 8 hours or so, and refrigerate it for most of the rst of the time.
RE: sourdough and wild yeasts:
sourdough is actually a combination of yeast organisms and bacteria (similar to the bacteria that produce yogurt).
simplistically put, the yeast organisms create the CO2 which make rise in the bread, and the bacteria produce the sourness.
It is possible to produce a wild-fermented bread dough that is not pronoundedly sour. You would do this by keeping the dough at a temperature that advantages the yeast over the bacteria.
the bacteria are at an advantage at some temperatures, while the yeast have the metabolic advantage at other temperatures. Off the top of my head I don't know them so I won't potentially mislead by specifying right now. I will say that once the dough is formed, you can put it in the fridge and let it ferment there for about 24 hours. This is a nouvelle-cuisine baking method for making old-style hearth bread. The technique is called temperature retardation (of the fermentation) and it gives a much more complex and rounded flavor than a straight room-temp. rise. Try it.
As a rule of thumb, for every drop of temp of 10F, down to about 36 degrees, yeast activity halves. So a 2 hour rise at 70F becomes a 4 hour rise at 60, an 8 hr rise at 50, and a 16 hr rise at 40F.
My Mom passed away earlier this year and so when time to make Christmas dinner came around, it wasn't going to be the same without Mom and her homemade yeast rolls.
Unfortunately, Mom's recipe was totally memorized, so it went with her. I found a recipe that didn't seem too difficult so I summoned up lots of courage and decided to try making yeast rolls from scratch for Christmas dinner. Thankfully, the outcome was edible, but they weren't nearly as fluffy or tasty as Mom's usually were.
I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle making my own yeast nor do I think I'll be doing this often enough to get that hardcore about it (we don't typically eat a lot of bread around our house) but now that I'm past being quite so intimidated by the whole process, I would like to find a recipe that'd yield a more worthwhile result. Could you recommend a good recipe for making reasonably simple yeast rolls?
It seems like it would be easier to buy a large bulk pack of yeast at warehouse clubs like Costco or Sam's Club. Much less expensive than regular supermarket yeast and saves time over making your own. You'll have enough yeast for years of use.
I have done this frequently with strong effect. I find it most helpful if the company happens to be a public one, to mention anything about their stock price or any unpleasant news and draw a correlation. I wrote to Gap once pointing out the rudeness of a store manager regarding a store credit, how I was in their demographic, and would be so very happy to buy something--many things, in fact-- if only the buyers would return to the basics Gap had been known for and provide something worth purchasing. I told him with an attitude like this manager had displayed, coupled with the weird merchandise choices, it was no wonder the stock slide they were experiencing was not abating. I also took the tone that I was sure with his long experience in retail that he could not possibly be aware of, much less condone, the behavior from this particularly uncooperative and juvenile manager. I got a phone call to apologize, a coupon for free jeans, and a refund of the gift card balance that I'd been trying to spend for a year without luck, and a follow up letter. I did the same with AT&T while sitting on a long call for customer service. I used the time to write a letter, pointing out how long I'd been on hold, what poor procedure was in place to shuffle me back and forth to people ill equipped to handle the issue, and pointing out my alternatives, which I would be only too happy to utilize if this was not rectified. I also pointed out how much I had spent with the company over the years and was likely to continue spending, and how vocal I was willing to be about the resolution-- whichever way it was handled. Again, I received both letters, a phone call, and a hefty financial resolution to the problem (3 services paid in full for 3 months, well over $350 total).
Go right to the top, name names, and point out your value and you will get results. And try to remember to do the same for those few stars who treat you well, do their job magnificently, and go the extra mile. It's only fair!
I do not know of any restaurants in my area that allow me to bring my own wine. I thought they made their money on liquor and not food.
I got my coupons last year, bought my box, set it up and only got 2 channels then. I thought I'd wait until now (December '08) to set it up again and see what channels I would get. Still only two. I get 6 very clearly with my roof antenna.
I did some research on line and found out that not all broadcasters are ready for this and it is very costly for them to make the conversion into rural areas. Millions of people will be totally without TV if they cannot afford to pay for dish or cable.
I live in Northern Arizona and only the Phoenix area will be getting digital stations. I will be watching old reruns of Bonanza for the rest of my life on the 2 local stations I can get with the box.
My PBS station (in Phoenix) shows a map on their website of how far their digital broadcast will go. I'm about 60 miles north of it.
I am really annoyed no one is talking about this on the news!
I am torn between calling a dish company this week or just breaking my TV habits.
Ok, then. What DO poor kids need? Why shouldn't a poor kid want an iPod, just as a rich kid would?
Thanks for the great recipe. I can't wait to attempt to make some. Keep up the great content.
We never had a honeymoon and have never "been" anywhere for vacations. I asked hubby for an Alaskan cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary. That's only two years from today! We have been saving for it a little at a time, and we might just have enough for it when it comes around!
Great post. I'm putting this into practice right now.
I received a coupon from Office depot for 25.00 off a 25.00 purchase. Since I needed a digital postal scale I was able to purchase a very nice one for $15.00 instead of the 40.00 retail price.
I received 3 coupons from Office Max. 10.00 off a ten, twenty and thirty dollar purchase. I only used the ten off ten dollar one and bought some fabulous fancy inkjet paper that retails for 10.99. My total cost was 1.06 including tax.
I have a new coupon from my Sunday paper inserts from Office Depot. If I spen 50.00, they will give me a 50.00 reward card I can use on future purchases. It starts today and continues through the end of January. Wish I had more of those.
I always try to be frugal, these coupons seem unbelievable at first, but they are real...and they are accepted with no hassles
If you don't want to leave a tip on a to-go order, you go to a deli, not a restaurant. You don't need to leave 15+%, but a few bucks for the trouble is appropriate. To-go orders take servers/hostesses' time away from tables and other tasks. Not all servers are charged for what they sell (and therefore screwed when you don't tip) but many are and you don't know who is. So play it safe.
Also, as noted above, bringing your own wine is really only appropriate for special occasions. You should expect to pay a corkage fee, and if for some reason you aren't charged one, you should leave a tip of 30% of the wine cost in addition to your regular tip. If you like wine with dinner but don't want to spend as much, consider splitting a glass with your date, or save dessert and wine for after dinner, at home.
Some restaurants charge a little bit more for adults ordering off the kids' menu. It is a kids' menu for a reason.
I've worked my fair share of restaurants, and none of the bartenders took a hit on money when take-away orders didn't tip. The tipping system was always set up to deal with this exact issue. As for the time and trouble that the bartender/server/hostess etc has to take to put in the order at all, that's what the base pay is for.
Great list Debbie.
Also consider eating mid-week (Tuesday-Thursday). Because of high overhead costs restaurants must keep their seats full. In a down economy many restaurants offer midweek discounts to attract customers.
The freshest food is often served during the week (Tuesday-Thursday). Many restaurants receive their food deliveries on Fridays. This food is used by the restaurant through the weekend and on Monday. Eat on Sunday and Monday and you're likely to be eating food that was delivered two or three days ago. Food delivered during the week, say for instance on Monday and Wednesday is served Tuesday through Friday.
I think Debbie did a great job of emphasizing that you ask about or figure out, and then follow restaurant policies, at least that is the way I interpreted the tips. This is also a great guide for day to day and for traveling, as the way restaurants operate in one city may differ from your hometown (and of course they all have their own rules). I like the idea of ordering smaller portions, as a standard offering, or as a kids meal, or as a senior citizens meal -- that was the case at one place I visited where they put smaller meals on the menu for everyone.
Also, I didn't know about the bring your own wine policy available at some restaurants (except for the ones who don't carry their own wine but let guests bring their own), and just recently heard about a corkage fee before reading about it today. I have also found that some restaurants (at a resort, for example) allow you to buy a bottle of wine (rather than individual glasses) and store it during your stay in town. A server gave me that tip.
the majority of your tips suggest screwing over the restaurant or your server/bartender. first of all, there is a certain etiquette to bringing your own wine to a restaurant. call ahead. ask what their policies are. some restaurants charge a corkage fee (and if you complain about THAT understand you are paying for a SERVICE and the use of their glasses, dishwasher, setting etc.). secondly, you should ALWAYS tip on take away orders! the people that take the time to put your order in get taxed on what they sell. when you do not tip a server/bartender on a take away you are making THEM pay for you to eat. that is not nice or fair. last, KID MENUS ARE FOR KIDS! do not order from them. not only does it make you look bad...it is often policy of the restaurant that people of a certain age should not order from them. you are causing your server to deal with grief from management when you do this. think about it folks. servers don't walk into your workplaces and ask you to break all of the rules for them. thrifty should not equal rude or inconsiderate.
Using coupons is an incredibly smart step. Don’t let the good stuff fall through the cracks! There is free coupon organizing software available at: http://www.couponandcodes.com good luck - Tom
If you have a lit class that requires you to read a lot of novels, go to the library. The local library, too, not just the campus one. If you're only working on "The Great Gatsby" for a week, you won't even have to renew. Or search regular used books stores' bargain bins. A copy of "Black Like Me" written fifty years ago, selling for a quarter is still the same text as the brand-new one in the college bookstore selling for $9.95.
Also, talk to your professors about what edition/publication you should use. One of my favorite professors listed the Penguin copy on the syllabus, but actively encouraged us to NOT shop at the college bookstore, and get any old copy we could find. During lectures, instead of saying "Page 95" he would tell us all to turn to Chapter 3.
Look at other options besides buying, too. Talk to other people in your major, dorm, or academic club. If they are keeping all their textbooks for future reference, ask if you can borrow the text you need for a semester. Share a book for your Tue/Thur class that your buddy is taking Mon/Wed/Fri. Heck, someone might even give you their old edition the college won't buy back--just be sure to contact someone in the department and ask if edition 3 is still ok.
Craigslist is still my favorite. A book selling on campus for $100 is listed for $50, then you can turn around and sell it next year for $40.
Great ideas Debbie. Just be careful that you don't bring your own wine and get hit with a corking fee that costs more than the wine itself. Many corking fees can range from $5-30 depending on the restaurant. Make sure to do some research ahead of time. I find that BYOW is great for large parties, but often not a good deal for myself and a date who usually only drink a glass or two with supper.
Cheers,
Jeremiah
When I was growing up, Santa didn't wrap presents. On Christmas Eve we unwrapped the presents from family. Then on Christmas morning we ran to see our presents piled under the tree, sans wrapping. My parents started doing this when we were tiny, so we didn't question that Santa's gifts were unwrapped--that's just the way it was. Starting this tradition could save households with young kids half their gift wrap.
Another tradition is the 'dummy present'. When the gift is large or bulky, we put a tiny prewrapped gift box under the tree. Inside is a note that says to go look in the hall closet, under your sister's bed, etc. The large, unwrapped gift is waiting in the hiding place. You can re-use the gift box jewelry or gift cards come in for this one.
To expand on your grandmother's idea, you can make extra-large fabric 'Santa sacks', one for each person. All their gifts go in one giant bag, reused each year. They can be reopened over and over.
I've also had good luck with reusing Mylar balloons. I used some gold star-shaped ones to wrap books. Just cut off the seal around three point of the star, put in the book, and gather up the cut points, tie with a ribbon. I used a champagne bottle-shaped one, cut into sheets, to wrap a larger box. You can pull leftover strips of the Mylar really carefully through scissors just like curly ribbon, and use the leftovers to make a bow.
(Old VCR tapes can be taken apart for the ribbon inside them--it curls like curly ribbon, too.)
I got this idea from a geography textbook my college wouldn't buy back--use pretty pages from an old or damaged book. I use maps for graduations or milestone birthdays (particularly apt if you're giving a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go), sheet music for CDs. You can use poetry or plain text for anything, and it can be dressed up with paint or drawings.
For bigger gifts, use old roadmaps, navigation charts, or the maps that come in National Geographic. My local thrift store sells the latter for a nickel, so you can stock up for those last-minute gifts. You can get maps of the places you are staying on vacation to wrap your souvenirs in.
Lastly, I keep plain wrapping paper on hand. Kraft paper can be rustic, classy, modern, or cute depending on the bows or decorations. One roll of red and one of blue has gotten me through birthdays, anniversaries, and the holidays. As to weddings, I'm still reusing the giftbags I got at my wedding three years ago. :)
I agree with all of the author's points except the last one.
A cash back card is the way to go and I can prove it. I've earned over $1,000 to date by using my favorite card and my wife using it too...
Enjoy!
-Patrick Bateman
You could do the same for Chinese and Japanese take-out too! Great idea. Even if the meals come with rice, adding more will stretch any meal to feed more people.
go to the local Indian restaurant for buffet take out and make a big pot of rice at home instead of getting rice at the restaurant. Just buy the entrée's and one take-away order becomes a feast!
I just updated this old post. Thanks for your comments Meg -- just in case anyone was wondering, I was reviewing the product per a reader request, not endorsing it. Specifically, I was illustrating what I consider to be a simpler and less risky alternative to the program that does not involve an ALOC or HELOC. The video with the assumptions provided by the program seller is no longer available on its website (the reason for my update).