Making do with what you have
Vandy Terre
can you do to cut expenses. When all this started for us about six years ago,
the first thing to go was the satellite television. We had a small DVD library
and have made it grow. This means we don't see much current television, but
that is no real loss. I have shelves of series and movies I like, with no
commercials, clutter across the top and/ or bottom of screen, and a choice based
on my mood rather than what some TV executive makes available.
I am one the fortunate ones that was taught to sew young and I enjoy sewing. I
make part of our wardrobe and mend as needed on all of it. Clothing budget, not
counting footwear, is less than $100/ person/ year. Footwear is the least
expensive goods that will meet the use need.
We keep a small kitchen garden and some chickens to offset the food budget.
Most money spent on food is for raw ingredients rather than ready made meals.
The exception there is pot pies, those are cheaper purchased than home made.
Lunch meat is expensive. It is cheaper to purchase a whole ham, turkey, or beef
roast cook it, slice it and refrigerate or freeze until needed. For sandwiched
carried to work, pre-make them without the lettuce/ tomato type dressing and
freeze them. They will stay fresher and be thawed by lunch.
Don't turn the key on a vehicle unless there is a real need. Keep lists of
things to be purchased when needing to drive somewhere. No special trips
because you run out of something. Learn to do major shopping once per month and
to pick up the smaller shopping en route to or from work or the doctor office.
Work from home as much as possible. Eat home cooked food as much as possible.
Enterain yourself at home by playing games with the family or reading or
watching DVDs.
Turn off and unplug anything electric when not in use. This protects your units
from lightening damage and your power bill from phantom drain. Turn off the
water heater while gone for the day/ vacation. Turning off the water to the
dwelling may also be a good idea while on vacation. Then you won't come home to
a flooded house and a big water bill. If it is not difficult to turn off the
water and all the family is gone the same several hours per day you may be able
to save some money and repairs by turning the water off daily.
If you keep pets of any type, see how much of their food you can home produce.
My iguana loves turnip greens, so there is a pot of turnips growing in the
window. We keep a few white mice fed on table scraps to make babies that feed
the snake and sometimes the house cats. Pet cats and dogs can eat some of the
table scraps to offset fed bill. Avoid feeding anything with chocolate to any
type of pet or livestock. Chocolate is a poison for many animals.
Lou
"Derald" <der...@invalid.net> wrote in message
news:SvmdnRjbeJ6LIKnR...@earthlink.com...
>
(snipped)
>
> As a sop to the nanny-staters (awa spite for trial
> lawyers), since the late '90's (at least) water heating appliance
> manufacturers are forced to deliver their appliances with an unsafely
> low delivery temperature to protect the sorts of persons who allow their
> children to eat enough paint to be harmful. Unfortunately that
> temperature is tepid and not nearly hot enough for a _hot_ shower, is
> within the range in which microbes thrive, and too cool for safely
> rinsing dishes. On water heaters, the thermostat structure has remained
> unchanged except for a additional mechanical "stop" that is molded into
> its housing. It is a simple-enough matter to remove it with a file,
> sharp knife, or side-cutting pliers. This _is not advice_ but (IF AND
> ONLY IF there are no imbeciles in your household), by doing so, and by
> raising the indicated temperature on the t'stat to 185-190° (well below
> the potentialy harmful boiling point), you will save by significantly
> reducing your per-use volume markedly, thereby having to heat far less
> water at each recovery.
The conventional advice is that a child can receive a third degree burn in 2
seconds from water that's at 150 degrees. It takes 5 seconds if water is at
140 degrees, and a whole 30 seconds at 130 degrees. Though what counts is
the temperature at the faucet rather than the temperature in the heater
tank, setting the temperature at 185-190° seems to be asking for trouble.
The Henchman
> Turn off and unplug anything electric when not in use. This protects your
> units
> from lightening damage and your power bill from phantom drain. Turn off
> the
> water heater while gone for the day/ vacation. Turning off the water to
> the
> dwelling may also be a good idea while on vacation. Then you won't come
> home to
> a flooded house and a big water bill. If it is not difficult to turn off
> the
> water and all the family is gone the same several hours per day you may be
> able
> to save some money and repairs by turning the water off daily.
Be careful when playing around with your hot water tank settings. Bacteria
and other nasty things will grow in your hot water tank if the water is not
hot enuf.
Kalmia
I have a relative who could put us all to shame.
no telephone answering device
no dishwasher
no computer
no gps
no kind of other electronic doodads - not even a cell phone
no garage door opener
no power lawnmower
basic cable
hangs clothes outside to dry
does own oil changes etc
rides a bike a lot
I'm sure there are other things I haven't remembered.
Prob. has lowest electric bill in town.
The Henchman
Some of these can be costly to the people who deny themselves.
> I have a relative who could put us all to shame.
> no telephone answering device
Missing important calls is pretty bad financially. What if your bank card
or a relative died or the government needed to get a hold of you.
Answering machines cost 15 dollars at walmart for GE and Memorex brands
> no dishwasher
This might be a bad idea for some people. Dishwashers can save energy
instead of washing them in the sink. They heat and sterilize the dishes,
esp to those of us who bake a lot. Dishwashers can be run at night when
electrical rates are lower and they can be programmed so they do not heat
dry but air dry. There are cases when dishwashers are better than running
water or using dirty sink water.
> no computer
No computer means no internet. The internet can be a cheap library and
cheap entertainment source. never discount the value of learning from
others.
> no gps
> no kind of other electronic doodads - not even a cell phone
> no garage door opener
> no power lawnmower
> basic cable
> hangs clothes outside to dry
If you have a good paying job that you need good clothes for then hanging
your clothes out to dry is not recommended i.e. dress shirts or dress
blouses. Not to mention those of us with 6 months of winter. A water
efficient washing machine is the solution for most of us. That way the
dryer works way less. Gas dryers help add life to your clothes that way you
buy far less clothing. Today's new front loading washing machines are very
very efficient now both in electrical and water use and they really rinse
the water out now meaning your dryer works way way way less.
> does own oil changes etc
As long as he does it safely and disposes of the oil LEGALLY and in an
environmentally safe manner. I do my own oil changes as well.
Rod Speed
> Some of these can be costly to the people who deny themselves.
You havent listed even one example.
>> I have a relative who could put us all to shame.
>> no telephone answering device
> Missing important calls is pretty bad financially.
Hardly ever.
> What if your bank card or a relative died
In those situations they would likely call again until they got you.
> or the government needed to get a hold of you.
Their problem.
> Answering machines cost 15 dollars at walmart for GE and Memorex brands
I have one for free as part of my cordless phone and never bother to have it on.
>> no dishwasher
> This might be a bad idea for some people.
Not likely if you dont mind the wasted effort of doing it by hand.
> Dishwashers can save energy instead of washing them in the sink.
No they dont if you use the sink sensibly.
> They heat and sterilize the dishes, esp to those of us who bake a lot.
Yes, but he likely doesnt do anything like that.
> Dishwashers can be run at night when electrical rates are lower
Not all power authoritys charge like that.
> and they can be programmed so they do not heat dry but air dry.
And some like mine cant even heat dry even if you want to do that.
> There are cases when dishwashers are better than running water or using dirty sink water.
Hardly ever.
>> no computer
> No computer means no internet.
Unlikely that he cares.
> The internet can be a cheap library
Plenty dont bother to read anything.
> and cheap entertainment source.
Free to air TV is even cheaper.
> never discount the value of learning from others.
You dont need the net to do that.
>> no gps
>> no kind of other electronic doodads - not even a cell phone
>> no garage door opener
>> no power lawnmower
>> basic cable
>> hangs clothes outside to dry
> If you have a good paying job that you need good clothes for then hanging your clothes out to dry is not recommended
> i.e. dress shirts or dress blouses.
Thats just plain wrong. Line drying works fine for them.
And plenty of work doesnt involve them anyway.
> Not to mention those of us with 6 months of winter.
Perfectly possible even in that case.
> A water efficient washing machine is the solution for most of us.
He didnt say no washing machine.
> That way the dryer works way less.
Thats just plain wrong. That has no effect whatever on how much work the dryer has to do.
> Gas dryers help add life to your clothes that way you buy far less clothing.
Pigs arse they do.
> Today's new front loading washing machines are very very efficient now both in electrical and water use and they
> really rinse the water out now meaning your dryer works way way way less.
>> does own oil changes etc
> As long as he does it safely and disposes of the oil LEGALLY and in an environmentally safe manner.
Even if he doesnt.
h
"The Henchman" <y...@yup.org> wrote in message
news:i15vg9$mc0$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> No computer means no internet. The internet can be a cheap library and
> cheap entertainment source. never discount the value of learning from
> others.
Not to mention those of us who make our living from our websites. If I
didn't have a computer I'd still be working for someone else. Oh wait, I'd
be unemployed. My former employer recently closed an entire division and
laid everyone off. Glad I got out years ago - most of my former co-workers
are still out of work and unemployment has run out. Being middle-aged and
out of work is not something I'd wish on anyone, especially in this economy.
The Henchman
"h" <tmc...@searchmachine.com> wrote in message
news:i175pv$2f9$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
I too made an income from the internet for a couple of years. I even
declared this income to the Canadian government and they allowed me to
legally deduct all my relevant expenses including a portion of my rent and
automobile use and they refunded every penny of sales tax I ever paid while
conducting home based business. Because I declared self-employment income
this allowed me the option to collect social services provided by the
government should things turn sour, which they did not.
The internet provides a global market and can allow a smaller overhead for
self-employment operations esp. when job prospects are bleak. Your income
may be lower but it's still an income.
Kalmia
He's retired, single, into fitness, in rarely home, likes outdoor
activities. I guess he just decided to draw the line somewhere and he
seems to get by fine.
Artys
I do not have a cell phone or cable tv. However, television reception
is bad and getting worse where I live, so I am about to start watching
more
television shows on the internet. I do my own yard work, and house
work. The problem in my area is that this month, we have had four
electric power outages, so I am afraid to try to freeze very much.
Otherwise, I live a frugal life.
h
"Vandy Terre" <va...@tanglewood-destiny.com> wrote in message
news:29hs36l4cvmvi9gue...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:45:04 -0500, Derald <der...@invalid.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> You know, you could save yourselves a bundle of time and money
>>simply by quitting your jobs.
>>>
>
> That is great if you have some means of income while staying home.
> Meanwhile
> most of us have a mortgage/ rent to pay.
>
> Now if you have some legitimate means of making income while staying home,
> please post it.
>
Start your own home-based business. I don't mean some internet scam, I mean
figure out something you can make at home and sell on your own website.
That's been my sole source of income since 1999.
freeisbest
> On Jul 7, 11:12 am, Vandy Terre <va...@tanglewood-destiny.com> wrote:
> > Times are tough, money is short and it appears this won't change
>
> I have a relative who could put us all to shame.
> no telephone answering device
> no dishwasher
> no computer
> no gps
> no kind of other electronic doodads - not even a cell phone
> no garage door opener
> no power lawnmower
> basic cable
> hangs clothes outside to dry
> does own oil changes etc
> rides a bike a lot
> I'm sure there are other things I haven't remembered.
>
> Prob. has lowest electric bill in town.
I remember every bit of that. We were called "hippies" at the
time by folks who had big Macs, big cars and big tv's.
Today if we were forced to escape to a small trailer and could
take only one modern appliance, my family, the photo albums, and the
dishwasher would go in the station wagon.
Lou
So, out of curiosity, what is it that you make/sell?