Recent comments

  • The Pros and Cons of Paying Cash for a House   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Despite the fact that this is an older article, there are plenty of reasons to purchase a home with cash. My husband had a complication with a surgery. We are planning on purchasing a home with cash to help lift off the stress of my trying to work to pay rent and all the lovely bills that come with it. It will also relieve the stress of NOT having to deal with a landlord who will not make the necessary repairs! We cannot get a loan to save our lives and so we are going to purchase a home with cash. I just wish I could find more on the procedures on actually purchasing it with cash, not just pros and cons. It was still very informative! Thank you!

  • 14 Tasty and Cheap Meals for One   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I tried frozen spinach for the first time while hosting a party. I saw a commercial from Hidden Valley Ranch about mixing their powered ranch mix with frozen spinach (after you cook it, of course), and sour cream. Couldn't get enough of it. I love that dip, but it's soooo bad for you. Why do all of life's delicious delights make me fat? :(

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Prenup?   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Nope, I guess I am old fashioned and believe marriage is forever. It may mean I have to put a lot of work into it as does my husband but we're a team.

  • 14 Tasty and Cheap Meals for One   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Have you ever tried frozen spinach? I like fresh, but I find frozen to be less work-intensive.

  • 10 Monthly Bills You Can Slash   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I live in the L.A. area and our electric cost are 3xs as expensive if we use electricity M-F 10am - 6pm. I make sure I do all my laundry and machine dish washing after those times. We also run our pool pump after hours.

  • 15 Frugal Ways to Battle Boredom   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Exercise! Get out and go for a run, or do some pushups and situps right at home - find some way to make good use of your time! You only get so much!

    Good suggestion with the cards - there are so many games you can play with just one deck.

  • 15 Frugal Ways to Battle Boredom   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Hello everyone!

    My favorite is to roam the streets with a notebook and a pencil. Every time I see something special, interesting etc. I draw some sketches for later... It is good to actually see what is happening around me! :)

  • 25 Things to Throw Out Today   14 years 29 weeks ago

    There are a couple of these that I must dispute.
    1) Expired meds and vitamins: Drugs do not instantly lose efficacy or turn toxic because of a date stamped or printed on a label. Many pharmacies print a date on the bottle that is one year after the date dispensed, no matter what the manufacturer states the expiry should be. Even with that, the date set my the manufacturer is more based on marketing than or degradation. The FDA started testing drugs that expired in 1985, and have been stored in conditions that are more severe than the original testing regimen (which is hotter and more humid than natural to simulate time) in 2000, and has continued to periodically test these drugs, and has found no degradation.

    2) Magazines: go through the magazines and determine if there was something that caused you to keep it in the first place. If there is, either copy or tear out that story/ article/recipe, and put it somewhere. It is much easier to keep one piece of paper than an entire magazine.

    3) Spices: The best way to test spices is to sniff them. If they still smell potent, then the taste will be potent. If it is questionable, bloom it by heating in a skillet or sauce pan and taste. The key to spices lasting is buying a quality product in the first place. And quality does not have to be expensive. A provider like Penzeys or any purveyor of spices that takes pride in their product will last longer than the stuff that you find on the spice isle in the grocery store. And will taste better when fresh.

  • Join Our Tweetchat on Thu 1/26, 12pm Pacific for a Chance to Win Prizes   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Only my 2nd one... it's fun! Thanks.

  • 16 Best Mobile Shopping Apps For Your Phone   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I use ShopZooky on my iphone. Lets you compare prices and shop in a social way with friends and neighbors nearby.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Prenup?   14 years 29 weeks ago

    We actually have a ......... food prenup. Yup - just for food. I ate brown rice, fish, and steamed veggies when we met and he ate red meat, sausage biscuits, and gravy. We married with kids and we had to duke out how we'd handle food in our home.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Prenup?   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I will be getting married in 2 years and we will not have a prenup. If we had more assets, perhaps we would consider it.

  • How to Run Your First 5K   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I'm definitely looking into foot/ankle stretches -- I'm training for a half marathon right now, and I've had some problems with my feet in the past.

  • How to Make Moonshine   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Thumpers can be small. The one's I've seen on big stills (in photographs) are prob 1/10 or 1/20th the size of the boiler. I don't know why size matters on a thumper.

    Fermenting time- depends on the yeast. regular old yeast, including beer yeasts, will prob take maybe 3-5 weeks. I'm doing a mead with bakers yeast thats been going for 3+ weeks now. Still bubbling and SG is abt 1.02 (started at 1.09). "turbo" style yeasts take only 2-5 days.

  • 15 Frugal Ways to Battle Boredom   14 years 29 weeks ago

    This is a great go-to post. I am going to bookmark it so that I have it right there the next time boredom strikes! Number 1 is exactly where it should be. The most enriching thing in life is the people you surround yourself with, and good quality time together spent talking is not only free, but it feeds the soul! A great and funny thing to do with friends is draw each other, even if you aren't an artist. I had a party recently and the theme was portrait making. Every time a new guest arrived, the person to arrive just before them had to make their portrait. Some of them were really great, and it gave us a lot to talk about the whole evening.

  • 15 Frugal Ways to Battle Boredom   14 years 29 weeks ago

    So well said. Thank you!

  • How to Make Moonshine   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I'm not a pro, but if your gonna go that all out and do a batch that large, I don't see why you would use bakers yeast. buy some real brewing yeast and you'll be able to yield more. You'll also need to add more sugar tho

  • How to Choose a Real Estate Agent   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Great tips, having a bad real estate agent will really make you dread the process

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Prenup?   14 years 29 weeks ago

    We're getting married in a month and haven't even brought up the idea of a pre-nup. We have a very "what's yours is mine is ours" attitude toward assets, and neither of us is the type of person who would turn spiteful and possessive in the very, very unlikely event that we split at some point. Some people might find it useful to treat their marriage as a business arrangement (it actually is, to some degree) but we prefer to avoid too much legal apparatus overshadowing our relationship. Plus, a pre-nup seems like a sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I know not every marriage with a pre-nup ends in divorce, but there's a sort of defeatism built into it that turns me off.

  • 15 Frugal Ways to Battle Boredom   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I appreciate articles like this because as a college student it seems that everyone's budget is perpetually tight and on the verge of collapsing altogether. In this modern world it's all to easy to get swept away by luxury and materialism and forget the simpler enjoyments in life. Many of the suggestions above resonate with me, in particular the reality that engaging friends and family is not only free, but deeply rewarding. Perfecting skills, enhancing knowledge, and unleashing creativity tends to lead to a sense of contentment that makes the need for constant stimulation far less urgent. Often we spend so much time looking outside ourselves for excitement that we forget the more fulfilling, and invariably less expensive, art of finding it within.

  • How to Make Moonshine   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Hello everyone
    First off Kudos to Mr. Brewer for the site! Zorcy thanks for the info, hats off to ya! My question is, my still is going to be a beer keg and I want to put a thumper on it. So how big should it be? I think I read some where that half the size of still, that seems awful big, and on the first run should i buy something to put in it and what would that be?

    One more I have a 17 gal container that Im going to use as my fermenter. To make a 12 gal run can I use bakers or do i need to up the yeast? Thanks in advance!

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Prenup?   14 years 29 weeks ago

    No, have been married 33 years, I am not sure if I even heard it back then.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Prenup?   14 years 29 weeks ago

    Nope, we had nothing when we got married, and have nothing now! Don't see us ever needing one, b/c we don't plan on getting divorced.

  • Baby Carrots: The Frugal Idea That Isn't   14 years 29 weeks ago

    I am now living in Spain where they don't have baby carrots and you know what? I learned that ugly carrots taste fine AND they only take a moment to scrub and cut into carrot sticks. Who knew? Hee-hee!

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Prenup?   14 years 29 weeks ago

    We eloped 46 years ago and got married by a wacky justice of the peace who was relieved of his license to practice a few weeks after we tied the knot. We'd never heard of a prenup, and wouldn't have wanted one -- or needed one, since we were both basically broke when we started out. Prenups, it would seem, are for people with a lot of money or property to protect. In today's world, they're probably a good idea for some couples. But we've never needed one.