Getting Organized Plus Cleaning Tips
NJDD
Can anyone suggest web pages, tips, etc. for me to get my household
organized (two young kids), regarding meal planning, buying clothes, etc.
Also, looking for fast and efficient ways to clean the house (suggestions
of cleaning all in one day or tackling one job a day). I also work at
home four hours a day, so any and all suggestions would be greatly
appreciated. Also, I'm new to the frugal way -- hope to be successful.
Thanks Much in Advance!! - (NJDD)
J&L
I (try to) follow a cleaning schedule, where I do a few rooms a day --
bedrooms Monday, kitchen and bath Tuesday, living room Wednesday, etc.
The house doesn't get all cleaned at once, but it stays manageable.
Laurel One
David & Anita Pirkle
Re fast and efficient ways to clean the house, I highly recommend a book
called "Speed Cleaning," by Jeff Campbell and The Clean Team. He details
how his professional house-cleaning crews are trained to clean a home.
Very systematic, with detailed processes outlined for maximum efficiency
and minimum time spent.
Anita
najara
NJDD wrote:
>
> Can anyone suggest web pages, tips, etc. for me to get my household
> organized (two young kids), regarding meal planning,
Consider making a list with various meals listed. Try to have about a
dozen nutritious, easy to prepare meals-spaghetti, hamburger helper,
etc...include the side dishes, green beans, rice, etc...Next, make sure
you have all of the ingredients to make these, preferably bought in bulk
when on sale. Tape the list to the inside of a cabinet, and you can pick
at the last minute what you want to cook. The Fundcraft web page (do a
web search with the word Fundcraft) has a feature where you can type in
a single ingredient, and get hundreds of recipes using it. Especially
helpful to me when I was blessed with green tomatoes.
> Also, looking for fast and efficient ways to clean the house (suggestions
> of cleaning all in one day or tackling one job a day).
Someone mentioned the clean team book-it's good. For laundry, we have
baskets with each person's name on them over the washer and dryer.
Underwear, socks, etc... go in here right out of the dryer. We have a
clothing rack by the washer to hang stuff on immediately (though it
doesn't always get done;)). In every room in the house, I've got large
baskets for toys, quick pick up. My husband has his own basket for his
wallet, change, etc...Keep a laundry hamper or basket in both ends of
the house. When you're doing dishes, give the microwave and refrigerator
quick swipes. This virtually eliminates the necessitiy of a major
cleaning. Don't bother buying expensive cleaners-a spray bottle with 1
part bleach OR ammonia (never mixed together), to 10 parts water will
clean almost anything in your house. I have to stay with my young
daughter when she bathes. I use this time to clean the bathroom.
I also work at
> home four hours a day, so any and all suggestions would be greatly
> appreciated. Also, I'm new to the frugal way -- hope to be successful.
I think you will be.
Marla Saunders
nj...@aol.com (NJDD) wrote:
>Can anyone suggest web pages, tips, etc. for me to get my household
>organized (two young kids), regarding meal planning, buying clothes, etc.
> Also, looking for fast and efficient ways to clean the house (suggestions
>of cleaning all in one day or tackling one job a day). I also work at
>home four hours a day, so any and all suggestions would be greatly
>appreciated. Also, I'm new to the frugal way -- hope to be successful.
>Thanks Much in Advance!! - (NJDD)
Don Aslett's books on clutter control and housecleaning are excellent.
To quickly see a good article on housecleaning, go to the Dollar
Stretcher web site at www.stretcher.com. Judy Bettinger wrote two
great articles for them lately on housecleaning, loosely based on
Aslett's work.
Marla Saunders
Editor, Homelight
mar...@emi.net
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dedicated to Success at Home from a Biblical Perspective
"Formula for Success:
Know what you are doing.
Love what you are doing.
And believe in what you are doing."
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For more information: mar...@emi.net
Bone Gazer
Nifty book I just read: How To Conquer Clutter. Author: Stephanie Culp.
It was mildly entertaining and definitely useful. Check your library.
Bonita Kale
In a previous article, ive...@midstate.tds.net (J&L) says:
>NJDD wrote:
>>
>> Can anyone suggest web pages, tips, etc. for me to get my household
>> organized (two young kids), regarding meal planning, buying clothes, etc.
>> Also, looking for fast and efficient ways to clean the house (suggestions
>> of cleaning all in one day or tackling one job a day). I also work at
>> home four hours a day, so any and all suggestions would be greatly
>> appreciated. Also, I'm new to the frugal way -- hope to be successful.
>> Thanks Much in Advance!! - (NJDD)
>
>I (try to) follow a cleaning schedule, where I do a few rooms a day --
>bedrooms Monday, kitchen and bath Tuesday, living room Wednesday, etc.
>The house doesn't get all cleaned at once, but it stays manageable.
>
>Laurel One
>
Felton, Sandra
The Messies Manual
Messie No More
etc.
Order them from your library. They are great! They address, not so much
the how-to-do-its, but the why-you-don'ts and the how-to-make-yourselfs.
Bonita
--
Bonita Kale
bf...@cleveland.freenet.edu
foste...@aol.com
In article <19970119194...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, nj...@aol.com
(NJDD) writes:
>Can anyone suggest web pages, tips, etc. for me to get my household
>organized (two young kids), regarding meal planning, buying clothes,
etc.
I just read a pretty good book on this subject. . . The Messies Manual,
The Procrastinator's guide to Housekeeping by Sandra Felton, try your
church library or maybe the public library.
Kim
E. L. Barney
Sandra Felton is good, but her BEST book in my opinion is The Messies
Super Guide. BTW, if you wonder why a CHURCH library, or why it's
hard to get this authors stuff in regular bookstores, the story is
this: She is a preacher's wife. She is (was) also a rotten
housekeeper and a packrat. Living a life inherantly fishbowlesqe, she
describes answering her door by opening it just a crack, pressing her
hand to her mouth and 'coughing' as she talked so that people would
get the idea she was sick and go away before they saw the messy
parsonage. She published with a Christian publishing house,
presumabley because it was familiar. Though she mentions her faith,
the books are not terribly colored by her beliefs. They focus on
how to easily have an organized personal enviornment that suites you
tastes and lifestyle. The tips are not always frugal. But they are
adaptable.
Anyway, try a local Christian bookstore if you can't find this in a
library.
BY THE WAY, this is a thread I was about to begin myself. I have a
terrilbe time with clutter. It is difficult to find a balance and a
SYSTEM for keeping the stockpile organized, so that frugality does
not get in the way of OTHER values. Space, time, peaceful living
space.
Does anyone else struggle with the voice of frugality (DON'T THROW
THAT AWAY, MAYBE YOU COULD USE IT TO MAKE A . . . ) and the voice of
the ruthless anti-clutterer? (SO WHAT IF IT'S A CASHMERE SWETTER THAT
THE KID WILL GROW INTO IN TWO YEARS, IT'S NO GOOD TO US *NOW* SO TOSS
IT *OUT*!!!!!)
Hw do you balance that? I have no attic or basement. I DO have good
size closets.
All ideas welcome.
Thanks!
Ev
PS -- For a WEB site, do a search on "The Slob Sisters."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rebel without a sig.
Note, to E me, type tige...@javanet.com. Spam block in place.
E. L. Barney
>Re fast and efficient ways to clean the house, I highly recommend a book
>called "Speed Cleaning," by Jeff Campbell and The Clean Team. He details
>how his professional house-cleaning crews are trained to clean a home.
>Very systematic, with detailed processes outlined for maximum efficiency
>and minimum time spent.
>
>Anita
>
My single most favorite 'tip' for this type of book is the 'let the
product do the work' So, for example, the kids left oatmeal glops to
turn into cement in the AM, you discover it in the PM. No sweat!
Spray it with cleaner (Just water is good, actually, or add a little
bleach, vinegar, dish soap, etc . . .) and let it SIT! After what
seems like a good amount of time (expeiment) wipe it away. If it does
not all go, use a putty knife (I got a plastic one from ACE for 36
cents) and scrape it off. Total time spent working on it: less than a
minute.
Ev
Jim/Joanne
I have started to learn about Feng Shui on my own.
One of the first things which is taught is not to have
clutter. This stops the chi from flowing through the
home. (Chi is good.) There are several very good
books in the library on the subject. Also you can check
out the web pages, one is by a person named David.
Lots of useful information.
But back to the pack-rat........ I was one too for many years.
Until I learn a a nice secret. Take the item and pack it away
for 2 years. If within that 2 years you never tried looking for
it then you really don't need it. Sell it to someone who can
use it. This way you have made some money back for buying it
in the first place.
Not only have I gotten rid of items not needed, not wanted,
but others now have the opprotunity of storing it their basement/attic
for 2 years before letting it become an anitque.
joanne.
James W. Rawles
>
> Does anyone else struggle with the voice of frugality (DON'T THROW
> THAT AWAY, MAYBE YOU COULD USE IT TO MAKE A . . . ) and the voice of
> the ruthless anti-clutterer?
I do! I do! I am a long standing pack-rat. I still have craft supplies I
bought with my birthday money when I was 9 years old girl twenty-five
years ago!
Finally it got so bad I had no idea where anything was or what I had.
So this is what I did. I got a whole bunch of sturdy boxes used for
copier paper. I wrote a general topic on each one: sewing notions, office
supplies, wrapping paper, bows, stationary, etc. Then I filled each box
full with the best and most useful looking stuff. the remaining stuff
that didn't fit in a box, or I could not think of a catagory I put it in
bags. Which I kept until I forgot what was in them. Then without opening,
them I took them to a charity. Which was easier said than done. A little
voice kept saying, "But you might NEED that stuff!"
Because my labled boxes are all the same size and shape they stack
nicely. I have the satisafaction of having organized stuff. I have a
much needed limit to how much stuff I am allowing myself to save of any
given catagory. But I still am able to satisfy my fugal pack-rat urges.
Linda Rawles, Independent Distributor
Dorling Kindersley Books
raw...@oro.net
Let me know if you would like information about
direct selling award winning books, videos, and
CD-ROMS to individuals, schools, and libraries.
Flexibility, full or part time, high income potential.
mharr...@aol.com
In article <32ebb8d4...@news.javanet.com>,
tigereye@spm&egsjavanet.com (E. L. Barney) writes:
>Does anyone else struggle with the voice of frugality (DON'T THROW
>THAT AWAY, MAYBE YOU COULD USE IT TO MAKE A . . . ) and the voice of
>the ruthless anti-clutterer? (SO WHAT IF IT'S A CASHMERE SWETTER THAT
>THE KID WILL GROW INTO IN TWO YEARS, IT'S NO GOOD TO US *NOW* SO TOSS
>IT *OUT*!!!!!)
>
Ev, you mentioned a while back how much your son loves the feeling
of cashmere. Keep it for him. Each of my kids has a duffelbag in their
closet. When I get a piece of clothing they don't quite fit into yet, it
goes in the duffelbag. Because it is stacked vertically, it doesn't take
up much space at all. I tend to live by the 2 year rule for other things,
however. If I haven't used it for 2 years, I donate it to charity. BTW, I
still have my Rat Fink , as some things are sacred. :-)
Planet
CAPAJAVA
I have too MUCH STUFF! But it's all over the place not in any boxes......
I want to be clutter free.......
I have tons of books and tons of fabric.....
Please help.....
Kathie in San Diego.
Bullypugs
I think we must have been separated at birth. I, too, live a life of
chaos. What's even worse, I married a man who is just as bad. I know where
he is by the trail of Pepsi cans, jackets, boots amd hand tools he leaves
behind. It's a good thing we don't have kids....we'd never know where to
look for them. We are avid recyclers with four bins parked in our kitchen
because we have no garage and if we don't keep these in the kitchen I have
to put them in my minivan since there is no where else to put them. I have
a zillion books and mountains of magazines that I "need" for future
reference. I can't practice the "two-years and out" thing because when I
find something that has been 'lost' in our house for two years, I say
"Wow, I've been looking for that!" Our pets help clean house by chewing up
something once in a while, so I have to throw it out...unless it is
repairable or has salvageable parts, of course.
Do you suppose there is some deepseated need to packrat? In my case, I
have not had a deprived childhood, so I can't imagine why I am the lone
clutterbug in a family of neatniks.
Bullypugs
blac...@cnetech.com
In article <19970127180...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
capa...@aol.com (CAPAJAVA) wrote:
> I have too MUCH STUFF! But it's all over the place not in any boxes......
> I want to be clutter free.......
> I have tons of books and tons of fabric.....
My husband and I also have too much clutter and I know why -
because we have no place to keep it. Books are our #1 problem.
We MUST MUST MUST get more shelves when we move (in two weeks)!
When I was little my mother used to nag me to "put it
back in the right place." Ever since I got out on my own,
a lot of times there's been no right place, so my stuff
gets piled on the floor. My resolution for the new place
is to FIND A PLACE for everything - no more piles on the floor!
(Yes, I'm using caps to try to convince myself, too.)
One frugal benefit of having clutter, and hating it,
is that I think twice about anything we might otherwise buy
on impulse. Husband wants this new CD? The rack's already full.
I'd love this new book? Sure - it'd go in the pile by
my bed while I'm reading it, and in the pile by the one
bookcase when I'm done.
Resolving to get rid of some of this stuff, and
hoping to do better in the new place..
Marcia.
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Bullypugs
I forgot to mention that we have actually considered (seriously) just
sorting out the essential "stuff" and then calling a tag sale company to
come and sell off everything else. When my mother-in-law died, that's
exactly what we did. She was a pack rat too and having someone come in and
sell or haul away everything was a godsend. The tag sale people sorted and
priced everything (took em two weeks) and the day after the sale the house
was empty and really to list for sale! We have joked about doing this in
our own situation, but it really might not be such a bad idea. Deciding
what is important enough to save is the challenge, of course.
Bullypugs
M Elaine Briggs
Morning, All,
As a confirmed packrat AND tightwad, I've found that finding a new home
where my stuff will be appreciated has helped me to let go of many things.
For example, I give books to the library (some they keep for their
collection, others go into the book sale); VCR and audio tapes also go to
the library; magazines go to the library "free" box; a painting recently
went to the Super of Schools new office; computer stuff (I used to own a
retail store) has gone to schools and the free table at the recycling
center. Canning jars went to a lady who cans a lot. Gallon jars went to
a lady who buys lots in bulk. Furniture and household items went to the
women's crisis shelter. Children's books went to a young girl who loves to
read. Fabric has gone to various groups making teddy bears or quilts.
The list goes on and on.
Elaine from Maine
cstb...@gwi.net
blac...@cnetech.com wrote in article <8544193...@dejanews.com>...
SandyB
I splurged & bought a new book a week ago..."Not for Packrats only" by
Don Aslett. He also wrote "Clutter's Last Stand", etc. Anyhow this book
goes into the methods for actually cleaning up and dejunking your life.
How to judge what to keep, lots of encouragement, and basic techniques.
I was so inspired that last week I hauled a full 30 gal trashbag out of my
bedroom and now I am working on papers (last years cancelled checks & ATM
Receipts). I really recommend these two books, because as a 3rd generation
packrat, it can be overwhelming and you need all the help you can get.
SandyB
KIMO'S Rule #6: He Who Dies With The Most Toys - Still Dies.
Bullypugs <bull...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970127221...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
: I forgot to mention that we have actually considered (seriously) just
:
Sharon McKenna
James W. Rawles wrote:
>
> >
> > Does anyone else struggle with the voice of frugality (DON'T THROW
> > THAT AWAY, MAYBE YOU COULD USE IT TO MAKE A . . . ) and the voice of
> > the ruthless anti-clutterer?
The opinions expressed are my own.
Yes, and the anti-clutterer is winning the battle. This is how:
Pick a cluttered spot and *concentrate* on that spot. We'll use my
walk-in closet as an example. Bring to the closet three bags (or
boxes), one marked "charity," the second "keep, but find a better place
to store it so it actually gets used" (or you can just write "keep" on
it) and the last "garbage."
Go through each item in the closet and decide which bag each should go
in. My keep, but store someplace else bag included:
wrapping paper (now in the attic in a marked box)
a wine rack (given to a friend since I gave up drinking)
a wine jug full of pennies (rolled and cashed in, jug recycled)
all of my checkbooks (like I'm really going to tell you!)
and various other sundry items.
Pick a cluttered place every weekend and clean it out using this method
(and keep after yourself, nature abhors a vacuum -- or an empty corner!)
My brother told me about a guy who used a different method.
He packed up all his junk in boxes which he dated in various intervals
(1 year hence, 1.5 years hence, etc.)and if he didn't open a box to get
something out by the date on the box, he threw it out - unopened! I'm
not sure I could do this.
TTFN, Sharon
James W. Rawles
In article <19970127221...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
bull...@aol.com (Bullypugs) wrote:
> I forgot to mention that we have actually considered (seriously) just
> sorting out the essential "stuff" and then calling a tag sale company to
> come and sell off everything else.
I just have to add to this! We were in such a chaotic state two years ago
I was secretly envious of neighbors whose house burned down. I secretly
wished our huge pile of junk would go up in flames because I had no idea
how I was going to ever get it under control. Then my husband got a new
job out of state and we had to move! We packed up only the stuff that was
really, really important and then we hired an auction company to auction
off the rest. Honestly!
It was a huge relief. I feel I have a second chance to lead an
organized life!
richie
I am also a packrat, attributing this to frequent moving when I was a
child. We moved almost every year; the kids were given one box to fill
with possessions. Everything else was given away. This is very hard
when you have one or two big dolls that take up almost the whole box.
So when I settled in my own home and didn't have to move every year, I
started to keep everything.
WASSENHOVE SUSAN _
CAPAJAVA (capa...@aol.com) wrote:
: I want to be clutter free.......
: I have tons of books and tons of fabric.....
Hi Kathie,
I'll help!
Send me your fabric. :)
Then you'll have lots more room.
Susan
who believes you can never have too many bookshelves or too much
fabric!
Merry Stahel
LOL - Susan,
We must be related. Most of my clutter is fabric - I have 12
Rubbermaid boxes (the big ones) filled with fabric and at least 3
dishpacks filled with scraps. This doesn't include my 15 little
shoeboxes filled with all the various craft stuff - ribbons, lace,
zippers (bought bulk on sale 15 years ago - only have about 6 left),
beads, paints, bias tape, glue sticks, 3 boxes of thread (however Pa
just built me a humongous thread holder), and assorted tiny flowers
and decorations.
And there is a bookcase in every room of the house, including the
bathrooms and the hallways. And 4 in the basement. 1 in the garage.
Merry
On 29 Jan 1997 07:16:18 GMT, lf...@aurora.alaska.edu (WASSENHOVE SUSAN
Darren Meahl
lf...@aurora.alaska.edu (WASSENHOVE SUSAN _) wrote:
>CAPAJAVA (capa...@aol.com) wrote:
>: I want to be clutter free.......
>: I have tons of books and tons of fabric.....
>: Please help.....
Oh and I'll help too-----I'll take the books! 8^)
darren
>Hi Kathie,
>I'll help!
>Send me your fabric. :)
>Then you'll have lots more room.
>Susan
>who believes you can never have too many bookshelves or too much
>fabric!
me...@pilot.msu.edu
http://pilot.msu.edu/user/meahl/
Unsolicited Email of a commercial nature delivered to this
address is subject to a $500 charge. Emailing such items,
whether automatically or manually, constitutes acceptance
of and agreement to this charge.
Theresa Berger
Regarding the conflict between the tightwad wanting to keep something
because "you might need it someday" vs. the problem of accumulating
clutter, I found the following idea in one of the previously mentioned
Don Aslett books. He suggested that you set yourself a specific
number for each type of item you like to keep (say, five yoghurt
containers, three quart jars, etc.) Once you have accumulated that
many of an item, you get rid of (recycle, give away, trash) any extras
that come your way. If after some period of time you find you still
haven't used a significant number of the item, you lower the keeping
number. Conversely, if you find yourself with a shortage of the item,
you raise the keeping number.
I've done this with various items, and have yet to set the initial
number too low. It's helped a fair bit in my de-cluttering efforts.
T.B.
Rob & Leah
blac...@cnetech.com wrote:
>My husband and I also have too much clutter and I know why -
>because we have no place to keep it. Books are our #1 problem.
>We MUST MUST MUST get more shelves when we move (in two weeks)!
Me too, Me too. I have way too many books. My problem is that I don't have enough shelves and no
more floor room for a bookcase. Please tell someone out there knows of a really cheap way to make
shelves for the wall, that look nice. I mean so cheap it's free. I was thinking of taking apart my
bed (queen size), putting the mattress on the floor and using the wood for shelves!
Leah
Bev
Jim/Joanne <act...@jumppoint.com> wrote:
|But back to the pack-rat........ I was one too for many years.
|Until I learn a a nice secret. Take the item and pack it away
|for 2 years. If within that 2 years you never tried looking for
|it then you really don't need it. Sell it to someone who can
|use it. This way you have made some money back for buying it
|in the first place.
This is an excellent idea, and I admire people who can actually do it.
However, in my home the 2-year-old stuff is under the
1-year-and-nine-months-old stuff which is under... In the deeper layers,
the 30-year-old-stuff is under... The closets and drawers are full of
crap and the stuff I actually use is piled to the ceiling in front of it!
Real packrats know all the secrets, they just have so much cool stuff that
they *might* need; every once in a while I find a wonderful thing that I
had forgotten about a *long* time ago, and it makes me feel good. Anyway,
I no longer feel guilty about my packrattery; if my heirs want to, they
can have a Viking funeral for me. I really *hate* falling over stuff,
though.
Bev bas...@ktb.net
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to
spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and
begin slitting throats." -- H.L. Mencken
Bev
The Packrat's Creed: Horizontal space is *wasted* space.
Bev bas...@ktb.net
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
That's my opinion. Ought to be yours.
Gary Heston
>Me too, Me too. I have way too many books. My problem is that I don't have enough shelves and no
>more floor room for a bookcase. Please tell someone out there knows of a really cheap way to make
>shelves for the wall, that look nice. I mean so cheap it's free. I was thinking of taking apart my
>bed (queen size), putting the mattress on the floor and using the wood for shelves!
A frugal source of wood which is usually free is pallets. A lot of
places will give you all you can carry so they don't have to pay
someone to haul them off. (Good source of firewood and kindling, too.)
Lots of them are made from oak, and if you're fortunant, you can
get a batch that are made the same. I filled the back of my brothers'
truck with them once, and built a bunch of shelves for my garage.
With a little more work, the wood is suitable for in-house stuff (as
it comes, it's usually got a rough surface). You'll need a table saw
to square up the sides and trim off the warpage, but that can usually
be borrowed (or at least access to one can).
I'd have gotten more shelves done, but my brother had put the shell
back onto the truck, which cut down on how many I could stuff in the
bed. Hmmm.... Need to get another load, and ger busy on more shelves
this spring....
Gary
--
Gary Heston SCI Systems, Inc. ga...@sci.com Departmental net admin
The Chairman of the Board and the CFO speak for SCI. I'm neither.
The Sultan of Brunei "has four Gulfstream IVs, three Airbuses, two Boeing
747s and one 767". (Forbes FYI) I'm available for adoption, Sultan.
Susan Hough
Jim/Joanne (act...@jumppoint.com) wrote:
: I have started to learn about Feng Shui on my own.
: clutter. This stops the chi from flowing through the
: home. (Chi is good.) There are several very good
I don't know about Feng Shui, but we also made a transition
from having a very cluttered house (during a period that
was _very_ hectic with kids & careers, and ignoring the
mess was a big coping mechanism) to a much more
streamlined one. I found there to be a positive feedback
cycle in clearing stuff out: you get rid of one stack or box
that you thought you didn't want to part with, then you
realize, gee, that wasn't so bad...then you start eyeing
other stuff. Our house does now have a very different
feel to it; one that I like so much better than before.
As for stocking up on sale items, one thing I've learned
is that it's rare to find a sale so incredible that something
like it won't come around again, a few months down the
road. One exception is the 75% off bargains that I find
once in a blue moon that would make nice birthday/Christmas
gifts: then I'll buy what I think I can use over the course
of a year or two (which just 'costs' me a few feet of one
high closet shelf...I can live with this :o)
Sue
Bullypugs
Bev, you are SO right! In addition to keeping "useable stuff" I also have
lots of "Will get more valuable later" stuff. I used to have an antiques
business and still cannot pass up a good buy. I rectify this with
frugality by buying stuff that has a good chance of becoming something I
can sell for a good profit later. The only problem is, that I get attached
to a lot of it in the meantime!
When we moved into this house 12 years ago, we had a major "dejunking" at
the old house and sold off a lot of the stuff we didn't need. Since we
were moving to a smaller house than our former one, I thought "This is
great, smaller house = easier to clean". WOW was I wrong. Smaller house =
less storage space.
Bullypugs
Merry Stahel
Yes,
I know what you're talking about. I started downsizing - got rid of 5
rooms of furniture (various relatives needed it) because we moved to a
smaller house. Little did I know that I'd be moving back to this huge
house. I no longer have any furniture for the formal living room and
dh is urging me to go buy some. I decided it would make a nice
library, since we never used the room anyway, so except for the piano
and telescope, it remains empty. I turned the dining room (also never
used) into my office.
Now, I keep looking around the house and telling dh I need to get rid
of this or that and he cringes. He thinks I've gone overboard.
Nope - not overboard - just after 20 moves (we're prior military) I'm
tired of hauling this junk around. And the next move (possibly within
in a year) we have to pay for ourselves.
Now if I could just convince my packrat daughter that all her drawers
are for clothes, not junk, we might get somewhere....
Merry
On 30 Jan 1997 15:48:43 GMT, ho...@aladdin.gps.caltech.edu (Susan
Leigh R Hidell
Susan Hough <ho...@aladdin.gps.caltech.edu> wrote:
: streamlined one. I found there to be a positive feedback
: cycle in clearing stuff out: you get rid of one stack or box
: that you thought you didn't want to part with, then you
: realize, gee, that wasn't so bad...then you start eyeing
: other stuff. Our house does now have a very different
: feel to it; one that I like so much better than before.
This is definitely YMMV territory. I lived in a clean,
uncluttered house as a kid & associated it w/ sterility,
fear of doing anything for fear of sending the bitch
(oops, I mean Mom) into hysterics. To this day, when I
walk into somebody's uncluttered home, I feel like I'm
in some hotel room. A very cold feeling.
As you can see, I vote w/ the packrats!
--Leigh
Leigh R Hidell
Bev <bas...@ktb.net> wrote:
: Real packrats know all the secrets, they just have so much cool stuff that
: they *might* need; every once in a while I find a wonderful thing that I
: had forgotten about a *long* time ago, and it makes me feel good. Anyway,
: I no longer feel guilty about my packrattery; if my heirs want to, they
: can have a Viking funeral for me. I really *hate* falling over stuff,
: though.
Also, if you're a creative person, you often have the "tools" for
a project right there in yr attic at hand to build something.
Somehow, the imagination gets stimulated more strongly when
the actual "ingredients" are there. What might be called
packrattery in my case has saved me thousands over the years.
--Leigh
Leigh R Hidell
Bullypugs <bull...@aol.com> wrote:
: Bev, you are SO right! In addition to keeping "useable stuff" I also have
: lots of "Will get more valuable later" stuff. I used to have an antiques
: business and still cannot pass up a good buy. I rectify this with
: frugality by buying stuff that has a good chance of becoming something I
: to a lot of it in the meantime!
I hear this! However, as I "upgrade" w/ better finds, it's less
painful to sell off the old stuff. (Esp. since most of my
furniture was free to begin w/.) --Leigh
Susan Hough
Leigh R Hidell (lr...@gnofn.org) wrote:
: Susan Hough <ho...@aladdin.gps.caltech.edu> wrote:
: : other stuff. Our house does now have a very different
: : feel to it; one that I like so much better than before.
:
: This is definitely YMMV territory. I lived in a clean,
: uncluttered house as a kid & associated it w/ sterility,
: fear of doing anything for fear of sending the bitch
: (oops, I mean Mom) into hysterics. To this day, when I
: walk into somebody's uncluttered home, I feel like I'm
: in some hotel room. A very cold feeling.
Well, I don't dispute the YMMV part, and I have been in
houses that literally struck me as empty & cold (like they
belonged in a magazine but weren't lived in). But I do think a
house can be uncluttered and still feel warm & lived-in...
it's just a matter of getting the _junk_ under control.
Sue
E. L. Barney
On 27 Jan 1997 05:20:06 GMT, act...@jumppoint.com (Jim/Joanne) wrote:
>
>But back to the pack-rat........ I was one too for many years.
>Until I learn a a nice secret. Take the item and pack it away
>for 2 years. If within that 2 years you never tried looking for
>it then you really don't need it. Sell it to someone who can
>use it. This way you have made some money back for buying it
>in the first place.
>
The trouble with this is that when i 'hide' thisngs I forget I have
them and then when I need them I buy another one. Not frugal. Not
frugal AT ALL!
Ev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rebel without a sig.
Note, to E me, type tige...@javanet.com. Spam block in place.
jlayo
Rob & Leah wrote:
>
> Can you describe a pallet to me. How big are they, are they round or square. My local newspaper
> has them free all the time. I'm wondering if they'll fit in the trunk of my economy car.
>
> Thanks
>
> Leah
Pallets are those big square wooden platforms that stores such as
Walmart use to haul out a big display of toilet paper (or whatever :) ).
Lisa
Rob & Leah
Can you describe a pallet to me. How big are they, are they round or square. My local newspaper
has them free all the time. I'm wondering if they'll fit in the trunk of my economy car.
Thanks
Leah
Who? What? Huh?
On the notable day of Tue, 28 Jan 1997 16:29:25 -0800, richie
<nric...@arlington.net> stood before the denizens of
misc.consumers.frugal-living and gave the following oration:
>I am also a packrat, attributing this to frequent moving when I was a
>child. We moved almost every year; the kids were given one box to fill
>with possessions. Everything else was given away. This is very hard
>when you have one or two big dolls that take up almost the whole box.
Oh, I know! I went through this too, except the two absolute hardest
things to deal with were my books and my model horses (I used to have
a pretty amazing collection of Breyer models, all paid for with my own
money). I was allotted one box for books and one for toys, but I
remember stuffing clothes I hated into the bottom of the trash can to
free up more space for my models and books in my clothing-box. (Then
again, I sold my best rare models for a goodly chunk of cash to help
subsidize college. Pretty good investment, and worth moving 'em a few
times!) It got worse when I was riding horses in my early teens and
had horse paraphernalia to deal with as well - riding boots took up a
LOT of space, and at small fortunes per pair I couldn't exactly toss
'em!
>So when I settled in my own home and didn't have to move every year, I
>started to keep everything.
I find myself in "replacement mode" a lot now, especially with books -
replacing things I had to get rid of for all those moves. We're still
renting and moving every few years, but now that it's MY home and MY
moving-hassles, it's OK. There are so many books I had to give away
when I was young that I've started trying to replace because they're
classic children's books - Five Little Peppers, Bobbsey Twins, Boxcar
Children, the Oz books, etc. I recently saw a complete set of hardback
Nancy Drews (the old ones, where she still drove a roadster and used
words of more than two syllables) and the price gave me the shakes for
hours because I _gave_ a full set of those away in the late 1970's...
I'm trying to train myself out of packratting other stuff, but books?
Forget it. I'll work around 'em. :-)
--------------------
Mari Morgan
http://www.argo.net/~morgans/
"When it falls on your head, then you are knowing it
is a rock." Tad Williams, _The Dragonbone Chair_
--------------------
*All emails will be read, although not all get replies.*
I have been assimilated. Resistance was futile. Take the
"spamalamadingdong" out of my address to send email. :-)
Who? What? Huh?
On the notable day of 30 Jan 1997 17:40:46 GMT, Leigh R Hidell
<lr...@gnofn.org> stood before the denizens of
misc.consumers.frugal-living and gave the following oration:
>Susan Hough <ho...@aladdin.gps.caltech.edu> wrote:
>: streamlined one. I found there to be a positive feedback
>: cycle in clearing stuff out: you get rid of one stack or box
>: that you thought you didn't want to part with, then you
>: realize, gee, that wasn't so bad...then you start eyeing
>: other stuff. Our house does now have a very different
>: feel to it; one that I like so much better than before.
>
>This is definitely YMMV territory. I lived in a clean,
>uncluttered house as a kid & associated it w/ sterility,
>fear of doing anything for fear of sending the bitch
>(oops, I mean Mom) into hysterics. To this day, when I
>walk into somebody's uncluttered home, I feel like I'm
>in some hotel room. A very cold feeling.
>
>As you can see, I vote w/ the packrats!
In one sense I have to agree with Leigh here. While I didn't live in a
clutter-free house as a kid, I had many relatives who did and those
were really uncomfortable visits! I like being able to put a book down
and not immediately have someone bitching about a "mess" - I prefer
homes where it's really home, where you can kick back in sock feet and
not panic about spilling something (clean it up, of course, but don't
completely freak out), for example. Places that look like the pages of
House Beautiful give me the twitches because, well, I prefer homes
that look like real human beings live there.
This is, I must say, a far cry from the perpetual disaster area that
my apartment currently is. We moved from a HUGE two-bedroom apartment
in Maine to this poorly-laid-out postage-stamp one-bedroom place and
don't even really have room for a normal level of furniture (a double
bed, two small dressers, a nightstand and small cedar chest stacked on
a larger one _jam_ our bedroom, for example), much less the normal
level of "stuff" a packrat like me would have. We've HAD to do a lot
of streamlining just to be able to fit in the apt. and even though we
were quite ruthless about it, there still isn't really enough room for
two packrats and a cat. (My husband is far worse about packratting
than I am - I at least weed through papers and clothes once in a
while, but if I didn't keep after him he'd _never_ throw anything
out!)
Roger P Williams
Rob & Leah <go...@adan.kingston.net> wrote:
: Can you describe a pallet to me. How big are they, are they round or
: square. My local newspaper has them free all the time. I'm wondering
: if they'll fit in the trunk of my economy car.
A standard pallet is about 4 ft square and 6 in. thick. It consists of
two parallel 4"x4" beams and a third 2"x4" beam in the center, each about
4 ft long, with 1" x 4" slats running crosswise on top and bottom. No,
they will almost certainly not fit in your compact car, though you might
be able to carry a few on a roof-mounted luggage rack. NOTE, though,
newspapers receive their paper on pallets which may be nonstandard --
that is, larger. If the pallet is made of soft wood like pine you may
be able to knock it apart with an engineer's hammer, but if it is oak
with "twist-in" nails the wood will split before the nails give way.
I use a circular saw to cut these apart before burning them.
If you can't fit them into your car, pay (don't impose!) a friend with a
pickup truck a nominal fare to help you make a haul.
--Roger
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What will people of the future think of us? Will they say, as
Roger Williams said of some of the Massachusetts Indians, that
we were wolves with the minds of men? That we resigned our humanity?
They will have the right. -- C.P. Snow
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ax...@imap2.asu.edu
Bullypugs (bull...@aol.com) wrote:
: Have you noticed, though, that some home-decor magazines are now featuring
: "the cluttered look" as fashionable? There's a book out called "Shabby
: Chic" and in one very fashionable magazine (Architectural Digest, I think)
: I saw a livingroom decorated by a famous interior decorator....the
: furniture was covered with painter's drop-cloths (albeit tied with gold
: silk cord) and a stack of newspapers about a foot and a half high served
: as a plant stand.( I almost died laughing at that one!) Many scenes show
: stacks of books on the floor, dogs on beds, gew-gaws everywhere. So, we
: aren't messy...we're in style!
Personally, I have no patience with the idea that my house should look
like House Beautiful. I *do* things in my house. I think the idea of
decorating one's house to reflect the activities one actually engages in
is preferable. In my case, the "great" (actually quite small) room is
given over to space to practice, and I think the instruments, music, and
music stand add an interesting visual impact.
--Caryn
Bullypugs
Have you noticed, though, that some home-decor magazines are now featuring
"the cluttered look" as fashionable? There's a book out called "Shabby
Chic" and in one very fashionable magazine (Architectural Digest, I think)
I saw a livingroom decorated by a famous interior decorator....the
furniture was covered with painter's drop-cloths (albeit tied with gold
silk cord) and a stack of newspapers about a foot and a half high served
as a plant stand.( I almost died laughing at that one!) Many scenes show
stacks of books on the floor, dogs on beds, gew-gaws everywhere. So, we
aren't messy...we're in style!
Bullypugs
GeorgeS
In article <32f8e6b1...@news2.argo.net>,
mor...@spamalamadingdong.argo.net says...
>... I prefer homes ... where you can kick back in sock feet and
>not panic about spilling something (clean it up, of course, but don't
>completely freak out), for example...
Well, that is definitely my house. Linda is far neater than me. As a courtesy,
I pick up after myself. Left to my own devices I'd have all my projects spread
out over the house : the rebuilt fuel injectors, the satellite TV decoders that
need just one capacitor, the computers that will work sooo much better if only
I swap the oscillator, and of course the books an pamphlets to support all
these activities. My strategy is to work while she is not there and then wrap
it up before she gets home.
To keep the clutter down to the minimum, I use the two garbage can strategy.
Take two garbage cans to the work room and fill them up. Repeat once a week
until you know, more or less, where all your crap is.
The other strategy, if you're a natural slob, is to look for pockets of
organization.
The basket that holds newspaper
The wood racks that stack the winter fuel neatly
The clothes basket in the dressing room
The empty shelf for current books (there are always several)
--
Vs lbh pna ernq guvf, lbh ernyyl bhtug gb trg bhg zber
Bullypugs
When I go to someone's house and there isn't a newspaper, book, magazine,r
craft project or other sign of activity to be seen anywhere, I have to
suspect that they are really rather dull people. I have neighbors whose
homes are spotless all of the time, but one gets the impression that no
real "living" goes on there....they work, eat , watch TV and sleep.
Boring.......
Bullypugs
Leigh R Hidell
: more floor room for a bookcase. Please tell someone out there knows of a really cheap way to make
: shelves for the wall, that look nice. I mean so cheap it's free. I was thinking of taking apart my
: bed (queen size), putting the mattress on the floor and using the wood for shelves!
: Leah
Excellent free wood is often thrown out by auto glass places.
My partner made a beautiful bed frame for us out of Douglas
Fir that was discarded by a Porsche race car/auto glass shop.
They also have pine & oak.
--Leigh
Susan Hough
Bullypugs (bull...@aol.com) wrote:
: When I go to someone's house and there isn't a newspaper, book, magazine,r
Wellll...our newspapers are read in the kitchen & find their
way to the recycling bin within a day or two...our magazines
live in a nice basket in the living room...our books live in
a bookshelf; the ones currently being read might be lying
horizontally atop one row...our crafts & school projects
are out when they're being worked on or need to dry, but
otherwise get put away in bedrooms. Oh, and our bicycles
(want one? we have 8) live in the garage :o}
Sue
Who? What? Huh?
On the notable day of 31 Jan 1997 15:48:51 GMT, p...@shore.net
(GeorgeS) stood before the denizens of misc.consumers.frugal-living
and gave the following oration:
>In article <32f8e6b1...@news2.argo.net>,
>mor...@spamalamadingdong.argo.net says...
>
>>... I prefer homes ... where you can kick back in sock feet and
>>not panic about spilling something (clean it up, of course, but don't
>>completely freak out), for example...
>The other strategy, if you're a natural slob, is to look for pockets of
>organization.
Now, now, I didn't say "slob." I implied "not totally anal-retentive
about every speck of dust." That doesn't necessarily equal "slob."
(*grin* Yes, I'm being a pain. But I _hate_ being called a "slob" when
the problem is simply an apt. that's too small for two people.)
> The basket that holds newspaper
> The wood racks that stack the winter fuel neatly
> The clothes basket in the dressing room
> The empty shelf for current books (there are always several)
Dressing room? :-) That's our whole apartment, since we don't have a
closet in the bedroom (it's in the living room)!
And luckily, my husband works for a newspaper, so he can neatly clip
out the bits we actually _need_ (right now, for instance, the
apartment ads) and leave the rest there. So no huge newspaper piles!
Actually, this may work for folks who don't work at newspapers too -
clip out the bits you need (or photocopy 'em at the library, if it's
stuff you need to take home such as want ads) and out goes the rest,
ASAP...
mmeskenazi
"Frugal" means to me: Nix the newspaper and magazine subscriptions.
Sure, I'm duller for it. But its like junk food- no real substance. I
can read a used copy if desperate; usually read free catalogues.
Should I _need_ a newspaper, eg packing material, protection for spray
painting, or under a wet plant, its usually around.
mtchll
Ruthann Zaroff
ax...@imap2.asu.edu wrote:
> In my case, the "great" (actually quite small) room is
> given over to space to practice, and I think the instruments, music, and
> music stand add an interesting visual impact.
I am a folk musician, and for years I used to keep my instruments in
their (ugly) cases. When we moved three years ago I decided, on a whim,
to hang my beautiful Appalachian dulcimer in my living room (which is the
room we live in, not one of those do-not-touch showcases). Pretty soon
after that I added one of my guitars, a banjo, an autoharp, and various
rhythm instruments, including a bohdran drum -- all very artistically
arranged and securely hung. Floor decorations (and occasional tables!)
are my piano, a hammer dulcimer, and a large folk harp (which has also
served as a hatrack). These instruments are so beautiful, why NOT use
them as decoration?! Besides, I am more inclined to grab one of them and
play a tune -- when they were hidden away in cases they weren't used
nearly as often.
Ruthann
Gary Heston
Rob & Leah wrote:
> Can you describe a pallet to me. How big are they, are they round or square. My local newspaper
> has them free all the time. I'm wondering if they'll fit in the trunk of my economy car.
Pallets are generally square, and are typically in the range of 40-48 inches
on each side. They're usually made with three or four bottom slats (about
3/4" thick, 4" or 5" wide), three runners (usually about 2x4 with a couple
of places notched out), and anywhere from four to eight top slats (again,
3/4" x 4"-5").
This is very general; I've gotten pallets that are 30"x36", one that's
24"x48", one that had three runners made of 3" square oak, some that
have built-up runners, some with slats as narrow as 3" or as wide as
6", even some with oak runners about 2.5"x10" (heavy!).
My preferred pallets (that I was scavenging the most of at work) had
a consistent set of top and bottom slats. I think it was three 6" and
two 4" slats on top, with three about 3.5" on the bottom. All the
slats were 48" long, a nice dimension for making shelving. This is all
oak, too; some had cracks and dry-rotted spots, but for free, I can
handle sorting it out. :-)
It does take a little bit of work to break them down; pallets are
usually made with spiral nails, which don't work loose or pull out
easily. I used a real crowbar (not one of the flat Wonderbar clones)
to pry off the bottom slats, then whacked the top slats loose from
the underside. (The crowbar works better than a hammer for that step
since it will distribute the force over the entire width of the slat,
where a hammer would concentrate it and tend to split the slats.) The
pallets are generally pretty dirty, and breed splinters, too, so expect
to wear grubby clothes and leather gloves. Eye protection is a good
idea. This is a great way to work off steam, too; just bash apart a
few pallets. :-)
Use a hammer to drive the nails back through the slats, then pull them
with the hammer and a block or prybar. Be careful with the pieces before
you've cleaned the nails out; you don't want to jab yourself or step on
a nail. Expect to have a few nails lose their heads, especially if you
are trying to pull them out of an oak runner. A pair of Vise-Grips is
good for getting most of them; clam it on hard and pry againt it. You
may not be able to get the runners completely clean. Cut out the pieces
with nails, or use them (and any broken pieces) for firewood.
Now, it's time to get this stuff into a usable form, as the slats are
usually pretty warped. I did this with a table saw, a guide board, and
a fixture. The fixture was two pieces of 2x4 about 4' long screwed to
the surface of a work platform (which I stand on for house painting--
it's 2'x8' waferboard, not a finished surface), parallel, spaced far
enough apart so tha I could lay a slat between them pushed against
one, then lay the guide board on top pulled back against the other,
then run two or three screws through the guide board (yes, predrilled
holes) into the slat. The guide board was a purchased piece of 1x4,
4' long--nothing fancy, just straight.
Set the table saw to cut about 1/2" less than the space between the
fixture boards, and rip all the slats along one edge. Place the slat
against the table and the guide board against the rip fence with the
gap underneath it (trying to cut the slats with the gap under them
is a recipe for disaster). If they're badly warped, you may need to
remount the guide board and trim it again. The objective of this
series of cuts it to get one straight, clean, square edge on each slat.
As you do this, you'll probably have to either adjust the fixture
boards closer together or put a spacer in one side of it to handle
the varying widths of the slats.
Now, sort all the slats by width. Start with the widest boards, and
set the table saw so that it'll rip a bunch of the boards to a
consistent width, like 5", without wasting too much material. Run
through all the boards you can on this setting, then make it 1/2"
narrower. Run through the next smaller batch of boards, and repeat
this process for successively narrower widths until you're done.
By having everything on consistent dimensions, it's *lots* easier
to build things that match from one shelf to the next.
The surfaces of the slats will probably be pretty rough, so you
may want to go over them with a belt sander. For garage shelving,
I didn't bother. Screw and glue as you wish, and you can have some
pretty strong shelves for low or no material costs and some of that
famous sweat equity.
Hmmm.... Miscellaneous stuff: I use galvanized deck screws for building
stuff. Cheap, fast, usually reversible, quieter than nails. I mounted
the guide board with wallboard screws since I needed shorter ones than
I could get as deck screws. All screws in my garage get driven with a
3/8" B&D Pro series continuously-variable-speed drill using a wallboard
screw bit. Having two people and three or four guide boards will make
this operation go about three times faster; one can install/remove
guide boards while the other is running the assemblies through the
table saw. This will make a lot of sawdust; I produced about 25-27
gallons, which I collected and am in the process of feeding to my
garden. It is noisy with all the banging and sawing, so be considerate
of your neighbors. Handle all power tools with care; accidents with
table saws are rarely pleasant. Besides, you need all those fingers
to type. :-)
I generally don't recommend trying to work on pine pallets, as the
nails generally pull through the slats, splitting them or leaving
large holes at the least. You can find other woods; I knew someone
who worked next to a motorcycle shop, and discovered that all the
motorcycles were shipped in nice wood crates--made of phillipine
mahogany! The cycle shop was throwing them away and had no objection
to him salvaging a bunch. Nice wood, and cleaner than pallets. You
can find big stuff on occasion; 12' 4x4 pine got turned into a play
set for my nieces after my youngest brother picked it up where he
works. I've heard of one guy who worked for an aircraft manufacturer,
and built his house out of wood from shipping crates that jet engines
were delivered in. (Not code, but he wasn't in a code-controled area.)
So, with luck you can find some nice stuff. Enjoy it if you do.
Gad, this is over 120 lines--I guess that's enough for now. Feel
free to ask any questions; I'll be glad to try and answer.
Jim/Joanne
If you really want beautiful "free" wood shelves for your books.
Ones you don't have to paint but you can actual wood stain. and
varnish.
Like using oak, or maple or good pine
Go to any manufacturer where they do the shipping and recieveing
there you will find wood pallets. All the wood in these are HARD wood.
just simple cart them home take the pallets apart.
Then build your book case.
joanne
In article <5ctsdr$5...@junkie.gnofn.org>, lr...@gnofn.org says...
Dorothea M. Rovner
In article <32F27B...@eds.com>, Ruthann Zaroff
<lnusrec...@eds.com> wrote:
> I am a folk musician, and for years I used to keep my instruments in
> their (ugly) cases. When we moved three years ago I decided, on a whim,
> to hang my beautiful Appalachian dulcimer in my living room (which is the
> room we live in, not one of those do-not-touch showcases).
<snip>
> These instruments are so beautiful, why NOT use
> them as decoration?!
The only concern I would have is that the air might damage the
instruments. I hope you take them down frequently for whatever
maintenance they may need -- cleaning, oiling, or whatever.
Instrument cases are pretty ugly, though; I agree with you there.
> Besides, I am more inclined to grab one of them and
> play a tune -- when they were hidden away in cases they weren't used
> nearly as often.
Yeah, I know what you mean. My poor recorders hardly get any use
any more (of course, that's partly due to pain in the ol' hands).
Dorothea
--
Dorothea M. Rovner | "Nuestras vidas son los rios
Gradual Student | que van a dar en la mar/qu'es el morir."
dmro...@students.wisc.edu | Jorge Manrique
Please remove spamblock from header before replying by email.
Leigh R Hidell
: can read a used copy if desperate; usually read free catalogues.
: Should I _need_ a newspaper, eg packing material, protection for spray
: painting, or under a wet plant, its usually around.
: mtchll
I can't get stop subscribing to mags, since I'm in the biz, but
I can & do deduct them as a business expense. As for newspapers,
did you know that you can get the news online free? A friend
calls up CNN online every day to keep up. I don't bother
for that, but when I need to know local news, I can call up
a local St. Tammany Parish newspaper & also the Gulf Coast
Sun Herald. You can do a search for whatever papers you want
to read & then bookmark them if they give good stuff. (The
New Orleans paper website, last time I looked, was just junk
like personals ads, but the Sun Herald had actual news.)
That way, you can be "informed" AND relatively paper free.
--Leigh
Dave Johnson
On Mon, 27 Jan 1997 01:39:22 GMT, tigereye@spm&egsjavanet.com (E. L.
Barney) wrote:
> My single most favorite 'tip' for this type of book is the 'let the
>product do the work' So, for example, the kids left oatmeal glops to
>turn into cement in the AM, you discover it in the PM. No sweat!
>Spray it with cleaner (Just water is good, actually, or add a little
>bleach, vinegar, dish soap, etc . . .) and let it SIT! After what
>seems like a good amount of time (expeiment) wipe it away. If it does
>not all go, use a putty knife (I got a plastic one from ACE for 36
>cents) and scrape it off. Total time spent working on it: less than a
>minute.
Easier for me (at least long term) is to teach the kid who left it how
to clean it himself.
Bullypugs
I just show the dog where it is. Gone! Bullypugs
Rob & Leah
I know what these are now. I made a makiwara board (punching board for karate) with them, plus I've
already made shelves with them. My next door neighbor has about twenty of them piled up in his
driveway.
I didn't have a cro-bar (sp) or a table saw though. Just a hammer and a regular hand saw. Not as
accurate but it did the trick. Thanks for giving such a detailed response Gary.
Leah
ga...@scisysgw.sci.com (Gary Heston) wrote:
>Pallets are generally square, and are typically in the range of 40-48 inches
>on each side. They're usually made with three or four bottom slats (about
>3/4" thick, 4" or 5" wide), three runners (usually about 2x4 with a couple
>of places notched out), and anywhere from four to eight top slats (again,
>3/4" x 4"-5").
>Gary
GeorgeS
In article <32ff307e...@news2.argo.net>,
mor...@spamalamadingdong.argo.net says...
>Now, now, I didn't say "slob."
I was using the general you (meaning myself and all others who see themselves
in this category) not the particular you (meaning, and there is no simpler way
to put this, you:)
James D. Logan/Jane Sitton-Logan
Susan Hough wrote:
>
> Bullypugs (bull...@aol.com) wrote:
> : When I go to someone's house and there isn't a newspaper, book, magazine,r
> : craft project or other sign of activity to be seen anywhere, I have to
> : suspect that they are really rather dull people. I have neighbors whose
> : homes are spotless all of the time, but one gets the impression that no
> : real "living" goes on there....they work, eat , watch TV and sleep.
>
> Wellll...our newspapers are read in the kitchen & find their
> way to the recycling bin within a day or two...our magazines
> live in a nice basket in the living room...our books live in
> a bookshelf; the ones currently being read might be lying
> horizontally atop one row...our crafts & school projects
> are out when they're being worked on or need to dry, but
> otherwise get put away in bedrooms. Oh, and our bicycles
> (want one? we have 8) live in the garage :o}
>
> Sue
Greetings. Jane here. Yes, please send me a bike.
You must not have children or cats. Anything the children don't get
into and strow around, the cats do.
Be of good cheer.
GeorgeS
In article <32F296...@webspan.net>, mitc...@webspan.net says...
>
>"Frugal" means to me: Nix the newspaper and magazine subscriptions.
>Sure, I'm duller for it.
And then too, there is your responsibility to the community at large to be an
informed citizen. May be you get this through TV news, town meetings, and the
periodic review of Foreign Affairs Quarterly at the library, but... I doubt it.
Susan Hough
James D. Logan/Jane Sitton-Logan (ham...@mail.startext.net) wrote:
: Susan Hough wrote:
: >
: > Bullypugs (bull...@aol.com) wrote:
: > : When I go to someone's house and there isn't a newspaper, book, magazine,r
: > : craft project or other sign of activity to be seen anywhere, I have to
: > : suspect that they are really rather dull people. I have neighbors whose
: >
: > way to the recycling bin within a day or two...our magazines
: > live in a nice basket in the living room...our books live in
: Greetings. Jane here. Yes, please send me a bike.
The extras will fit you if you're >6' tall, <36" tall,
or female & about 8-10 yrs old.
: You must not have children or cats. Anything the children don't get
: into and strow around, the cats do.
heh heh. heh heh heh. Try 3 kids & 2 cats. (and one 75-lb
dog who sheds for a living). The kids are older, though:
they range in age from 6 to 12.5 yrs, and so are expected
to not go through the house leaving a trail behind them.
I do know it's harder to keep things tidy when they're
younger. This was one factor in our decision to just live
with clutter for a while, although in retrospect I think we
let the kids develop some bad habits that it took a while
to break.
I shouldn't be giving the impression that our house is
always spotless (and 'sterile'? that's a laugh); I can just
give the perspective of someone who used to put up with
lots of clutter but then found religion & threw a LOT
of stuff out (or gave it away, _and_ stopped acquiring so
much new stuff). And I do like the house so much better
now; I really think the kids do, too.
Sue
the tree by the river
What? Can't I be *both* a pack-rat and a tightwad? You mean I have
to choose?
In article <32F504...@mail.startext.net> "James D. Logan/Jane Sitton-Logan" <ham...@mail.startext.net> writes:
>Susan Hough wrote:
>>
>> Wellll...our newspapers are read in the kitchen & find their
>> way to the recycling bin within a day or two...our magazines
>> live in a nice basket in the living room...our books live in
>> a bookshelf; the ones currently being read might be lying
>> horizontally atop one row...our crafts & school projects
>> are out when they're being worked on or need to dry, but
>> otherwise get put away in bedrooms. Oh, and our bicycles
>> (want one? we have 8) live in the garage :o}
I need to do a better job at keeping things neat; I've got places
for stuff like that and will go for long periods of time keeping
the place tidy, but eventually they'll start to escape and things
go downhill a bit until I finally decide to go through the place
and get things back in order.
The newspapers have a bad habit of accumulating--and, worse, I
rarely even read them. I didn't get the paper for a long time,
but gave in to temptation when they sent me an offer to get just
Sunday's paper (which, after all, has both the coupons and the
TV listings and, for that matter, most of the sales flyers).
Strangely, what happens is that I get the paper pretty much every
day except Wednesdays and Fridays.
I suppose there's the small comfort that I now have a much better-
stocked supply of rubber bands in the fasteners-and-junk drawer in
the kitchen.
>Greetings. Jane here. Yes, please send me a bike.
Hey, bikes are great--I've actually got about a dozen of them (hard
to make an exact count because a lot of them are in pieces). I once
needed to replace a gear in the rear deraileur--$23 at the bicycle
shop. For ten to twenty-five bucks, I can get a whole bicycle at a
garage sale that someone bought, rode twice, and then put aside.
The great thing is that it doesn't necessarily even matter how good
a bike it is--you'll occasionally even see ones with, say, older
dura-ace components and the like. So, as bits off my main bike
wear out and die, I just keep pulling pieces off the spares.
Now if only I could get rid of the exercycle/rowing machine combo
with the loose pedal; I have a terrible time getting myself to
throw stuff away (especially if it was awfully expensive to begin
with). (Maybe that's why exercise equipment is so cheap at
garage sales--people don't even want it if it's free. Same thing
with obsolete computer bits; even people I know who want a computer
but don't have one (and can't afford one either) won't even consider
taking a free computer if it's not at least a Pentium.)
>You must not have children or cats. Anything the children don't get
>into and strow around, the cats do.
I'll put in my vote for one of the most underrated pets out there--
bricks. My pet brick (Frank) never makes messes or has vet bills
and he can do tricks like "play dead" and "stay" with the best of
'em. Now there's a frugal pet!
--
Trygve Lode | 6529 Lakeside Circle, Littleton CO 80125 | (303) 470-1011
Email for free copy of the soc.singles FAQ.
"I will stare at the sun until its light doesn't blind me...I will walk
into the fire until its heat doesn't burn me...." -- Sarah McLachlan
mharr...@aol.com
I would like to nominate my dad for pack-rat/tightwad of the year. No
matter what you're looking for, he has at least one of them. Washing
machine motors, squirrel skulls, violins, and yes, folks, even a bubblah.
(A local business was remodeling and he grabbed the water fountain off the
junk pile.) Funny thing was, he ended up selling it for $25. One time we
went out to dinner, and on the way home, he spied an exercise bike at the
curb with the trash. He actually crammed five of us into the front seat so
he could get that in the back seat.
Dad has been known to jam on the brakes at 40 MPH because he saw a
hammer lying in the road. He was dumpster diving back in the 60's! When
he ran out of bread to stuff a chicken, he used broken ice cream cones.
Dinner at his house a couple of Octobers ago was pork with "red-hots"
sauce. Seems he was trying to use up some of those red-hots candies from
Valentine's Day.
Recently, he moved down South, and my stepmother was lamenting the fact
that they had to rent a second van to carry all the chairs without seats
and jars of screws, bent nails, and wingnuts.
Dad has been a wonderful source for comedy material for years. Just the
mere mention of his $6 shoes from Poland gets the place howling.
Planet
PS - Second prize should go to his sister, my aunt. She sends Christmas
cards that are copyright 1947 and more than a little yellowed. <g>
jlayo
mharr...@aol.com wrote:
>
> I would like to nominate my dad for pack-rat/tightwad of the year. No
> matter what you're looking for, he has at least one of them. Washing
> machine motors, squirrel skulls, violins, and yes, folks, even a bubblah.
> (A local business was remodeling and he grabbed the water fountain off the
> junk pile.) Funny thing was, he ended up selling it for $25. One time we
> went out to dinner, and on the way home, he spied an exercise bike at the
> curb with the trash. He actually crammed five of us into the front seat so
> he could get that in the back seat.
> Dad has been known to jam on the brakes at 40 MPH because he saw a
> hammer lying in the road. He was dumpster diving back in the 60's!
Sounds like my father. We always had to be careful that we threw stuff
away when he wouldn't see it, because he'd dig through the trash to see
what "good stuff" we were throwing out. :)
A couple of years ago, he helped clear out this house (don't know what
happened to the owners, but there was a lot of stuff left behind) and he
took among other things, a few hundred record albums (mostly late 70's
disco or R&B). He ended up selling them for almost $300.
My parent's basement is full of stuff he's scavenged. :)
Lisa
mdol...@csi.compuserve.com
tl...@nyx10.cs.du.edu (the tree by the river) wrote:
>Same thing
>with obsolete computer bits; even people I know who want a computer
>but don't have one (and can't afford one either) won't even consider
>taking a free computer if it's not at least a Pentium.)
I will be glad to take old computers, parts, and books (it doesn't
matter what type of computer or how old). Some of us still use them.
:-) Feel free to send me email if you come across any or if you hear
of anyone getting ready to just throw one out.
Thanks,
Mark
Mark Dolecki
mdol...@csi.compuserve.com
70004...@compuserve.com
Cathleen
In article <19970131155...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
bull...@aol.com (Bullypugs) wrote:
--Have you noticed, though, that some home-decor magazines are now featuring
--"the cluttered look" as fashionable? There's a book out called "Shabby
--Chic" and in one very fashionable magazine (Architectural Digest, I think)
--I saw a livingroom decorated by a famous interior decorator....the
--furniture was covered with painter's drop-cloths (albeit tied with gold
--silk cord) and a stack of newspapers about a foot and a half high served
--as a plant stand.( I almost died laughing at that one!) Many scenes show
--stacks of books on the floor, dogs on beds, gew-gaws everywhere. So, we
--aren't messy...we're in style!
--
--Bullypugs
I agree! The trends in decorating right now are for lived in yet spaces
which really reflect the lives of the occupants. Patina and age mixed with
new things, an eclectic mix of periods and styles. I love reading House
Beautiful and House & Garden and all those other great inspiring
magazines. I don't see them as sterile at all. My 2ข.
jlayo
mdol...@csi.compuserve.com wrote:
>
> tl...@nyx10.cs.du.edu (the tree by the river) wrote:
> >Same thing
> >with obsolete computer bits; even people I know who want a computer
> >but don't have one (and can't afford one either) won't even consider
> >taking a free computer if it's not at least a Pentium.)
>
> I will be glad to take old computers, parts, and books (it doesn't
> matter what type of computer or how old). Some of us still use them.
> :-) Feel free to send me email if you come across any or if you hear
> of anyone getting ready to just throw one out.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
My father has a 386 piece of crap with a B&W monitor. He'd be willing to
part with it, but I think he'd want some monetary compensation if at all
possible. :)
Lisa
the tree by the river
[posted and emailed]
In article <32f8d2af...@news.compuserve.com> mdol...@csi.compuserve.com writes:
>tl...@nyx10.cs.du.edu (the tree by the river) wrote:
>>Same thing
>>with obsolete computer bits; even people I know who want a computer
>>but don't have one (and can't afford one either) won't even consider
>>taking a free computer if it's not at least a Pentium.)
>
>I will be glad to take old computers, parts, and books (it doesn't
>matter what type of computer or how old). Some of us still use them.
>:-) Feel free to send me email if you come across any or if you hear
>of anyone getting ready to just throw one out.
Hey, if you or anyone else would use them and be willing to haul
them away, I'd be delighted--but aren't you in Ohio or otherwise
far enough away to make a jaunt out to these parts (a bit southwest
of Denver) to pick up a few computer cases, hard and floppy drives,
and miscellaneous cards and stuff rather unfrugal? (But you've hit
on the problem up there, of course--I probably won't actually throw
them out, I'll just hang on to them thinking, "someday somebody will
need some of this stuff.")
But the problem is when years pass and nobody does--I've suggested
to a friend who wanted to do an electronics project (on a very
limited budget even) that he might consider using one or more of
these computer power supplies and various other parts I had lying
around, but he never took me up on it.
Several years ago now, a friend bemoaned her computerless state
and expressed a desire to have something she could write and
edit with and hook up to the net or local bulletin boards; as a
challenge, I thought I'd see how cheaply it might be possible to
assemble a complete and working computer and, for a total budget
of fifteen dollars, I managed to collect enough bits to assemble
a little system complete with hard drive and modem. However, my
fatal error was that it wasn't color, didn't run windows, and
had--gasp--a dot-matrix printer. Now, my perceptions may just be
skewed because, though I do have a color display, I'm still running
MS-DOS and am probably the only person left in the world who still
uses a dot-matrix printer (and, perhaps even worse, since I don't
have any particular interest in running computer games, I'm not
even too keen on having the latest and fastest equipment myself),
but I've tried to give that computer away several times to people
who said that all they wanted to do was connect to the net and
write letters and/or fiction but had absolutely no money to buy a
computer with and absolutely nobody's been willing to take it.
One of these days I'll probably just have to give up on hanging on
to this stuff--I recently posted an ad to the Alpha Micro group
hoping to give away a bunch of manuals (mostly never even unwrapped),
repair parts, and a whole lot of keyboards for Wyse terminals--stuff
that would be pretty expensive if one actually needed to buy it--but
no takers. I don't think I'll ever have a use for a bunch of Wyse
keyboards, but it's hard to just dump them when it just seems like
somebody out in the world somewhere must repair terminals and need
stuff like that.
Then, like I'd mentioned before, there's stuff like that exercycle
and, perhaps most horrifying (though not quite as space-intensive),
is that I used to throw an annual party years ago that featured a
bunch of gag gifts; I don't really do that any more, but I'm
still left with a whole lot of potential gag gifts collected from
garage sales. Believe it or not, I actually did manage to get rid
of a bunch of those things recently to a theater company that was
looking for props, but that really only made a dent in the collection.
Oh, well; I don't want to give the impression that I live in a
junkyard--it's not that bad and I do actually manage to find homes
where some of this stuff gets appreciated (the props I mentioned; I
also managed to find someone not so long ago who was actually happy
to get the old AR turntable I'd rescued from getting tossed (that
model may have been old, but--believe it or not--it's still well
thought of in high-fi magazines ("The Absolute Sound" even spoke of
it highly)) so, once in a while my don't-waste-stuff impulse adds
slightly to the happiness quotient of the universe even if it does
make for a less-tidy garage.
--
Trygve Lode | 6529 Lakeside Circle, Littleton CO 80125 | (303) 470-1011
Eighth annual Valentine's Day chocolate party, Feburary 15th
"I've been seduced by the dark chocolate side of the Force...."
Email for free copy of the Soc.singles FAQ
jlayo
mharr...@aol.com wrote:
>
> X-no-archive:yes
>
> In article <32F744...@prodigy.net>, jlayo
> <jl...@prodigy.net> writes:
> >
> >Sounds like my father. We always had to be careful that we threw stuff
> >away when he wouldn't see it, because he'd dig through the trash to see
> >what "good stuff" we were throwing out. :)
> >
> >A couple of years ago, he helped clear out this house (don't know what
> >happened to the owners, but there was a lot of stuff left behind) and he
> >took among other things, a few hundred record albums (mostly late 70's
> >disco or R&B). He ended up selling them for almost $300.
> >
> >My parent's basement is full of stuff he's scavenged. :)
>
> Eeeewwww......
The guy who bought them ran a flea market and he said my father was
selling exactly the right kind of records (the most in demand) at the
time (a couple of years ago).
> I think our dads are crazy...crazy like a fox. I know my dad is like this
> because he grew up during the Depression. It must have had a profound
> effect because he has to keep his pantry full at all times.
My father was born during WWII, but both of his parents (and at least
one grandmother) were diehard packrats. I've often thought my
grandmother would have a beautiful house (they don't make 'em like that
anymore :) ) if it weren't for all the junk. :(
Lisa
Leigh R Hidell
Well, tree, I just don't know what to say. I've had friends
who were just delighted to receive such things as dumpster
dived/about to be trashed 8088s, 286s, dot matrix printers,
"slow poke" modems, & the like. Not everybody needs
a fancy computer. To most of my friends, a computer is
just a fancy typewriter, & an 8088 is just as good at that
as anything. In fact, my highest income yr as a writer
was done on an 8088, reason, I was working too fast at
too high a speed to take time to "upgrade." Color
monitors? Who cares? People tell me I'm lucky because
I'm on a freenet & can't get graphics & don't have to
see all kinds of ads...in my biz, there's just no use for
a color monitor other than I guess ego, which I have plenty
of other places to exercise my ego.
I wish you lived in the South. We have many, many uses
for old electronic parts down here.
--Leigh
the tree by the river
In article <5dcu48$s...@junkie.gnofn.org> Leigh R Hidell <lr...@gnofn.org> writes:
>
>Well, tree, I just don't know what to say. I've had friends
>who were just delighted to receive such things as dumpster
>dived/about to be trashed 8088s, 286s, dot matrix printers,
>"slow poke" modems, & the like. Not everybody needs
>a fancy computer. To most of my friends, a computer is
>just a fancy typewriter, & an 8088 is just as good at that
>as anything. In fact, my highest income yr as a writer
>was done on an 8088, reason, I was working too fast at
>too high a speed to take time to "upgrade." Color
I think it's two things--first, it's just not a "real
computer" unless it's state-of-the-art and, second, a
lot of it comes down to computer games. I don't know
much about computer games myself--never found them
particularly interesting--but I think it's pretty hard
to find a work-type application that's even in the same
ballpark with games as far as the computer resources it
requires. (I've got a friend who mentioned that one of
the educational programs her six-year-old was given for
Christmas this year won't even run on anything below a
Pentium.) I feel like a techno-luddite these days; for
me, upgrading my system seems like a nuisance rather
that like getting a new toy.
>I wish you lived in the South. We have many, many uses
>for old electronic parts down here.
Maybe I'm just out of step with the world--I remember back
when I was a youngun that the toys I had were things that I
found cheap at garage sales or made myself; I think I
usually had more fun making the toys than I did playing
with them. I wonder if anyone ever does that sort of
thing any more, or they just collect movable action figures
with realistic battle sounds. Oh, well; the result is that
I keep collecting stuff that I would have found useful back
then (like I've got boxes of speaker parts and stuff like I
used to play with when I would experiment with making
stereos and surround-systems on a barely garage-sale budget
and, of course, I'd hate to toss the stuff, but I don't
know anyone who would want it). It's a different perspective,
I suppose; I happen to like making something out of a lot of
oddball parts, but I think most people would look at me like
I'm a little crazy for doing so when it's possible to run
down to the local K-Mart and get something that does the same
job and is exactly like what everyone else has.
I suppose there's no muss or fuss to it that way, but somehow
it's just not _me_ and maybe I'm too attached to feeling a
sense of participation in the stuff I surround myself with.
Bev
|Rob & Leah wrote:
|> Can you describe a pallet to me. How big are they, are they round or square. My local newspaper
|> has them free all the time. I'm wondering if they'll fit in the trunk of my economy car.
Gary Heston <ga...@scisysgw.sci.com> wrote:
|Pallets are generally square, and are typically in the range of 40-48 inches
|on each side. They're usually made with three or four bottom slats (about
|3/4" thick, 4" or 5" wide), three runners (usually about 2x4 with a couple
|of places notched out), and anywhere from four to eight top slats (again,
|3/4" x 4"-5").
And one other thing: sometimes they are infested with insects, including
termites. Examine them carefully before you bring them home.
Bev bas...@ktb.net
oxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Is there any way I can help without
you know, really getting involved?
-- Jennifer, WKRP
Leigh R Hidell
the tree by the river <tl...@nyx10.cs.du.edu> wrote:
: with realistic battle sounds. Oh, well; the result is that
: I keep collecting stuff that I would have found useful back
: then (like I've got boxes of speaker parts and stuff like I
: used to play with when I would experiment with making
: stereos and surround-systems on a barely garage-sale budget
We're the same way!!! We love making all sorts of different
weird things. It's a kick. And I do think having a lot
of "ingredients" around helps keep that creativity flowing.
I forgot about computer games. Yeah, you need all kinds of
fancy equipment for that. But I'm no longer running w/
people who spend a lot of time w/ games like that. One
day I woke up & realized that, call it Dungeons & Dragons
or call it Doom, or what have you...games like that are
a commercialized way to kid yourself that you're creative
& intelligent. NOT the real thing.
I do have an Atari w/ dozens of game but I don't
think I've turned it on in yrs (since I was really
sick & just felt like staring at TV). The whole
set-up cost $17 at Goodwill so it sures beats out
Nintendo.
--Leigh
Laurel Halbany
p...@shore.net (GeorgeS) wrote:
>And then too, there is your responsibility to the community at large to be an
>informed citizen. May be you get this through TV news, town meetings, and the
>periodic review of Foreign Affairs Quarterly at the library, but... I doubt it.
One can be frugal *and* informed. For example, I cancelled my
subscription to the local "news"paper because people regularly discard
it at my SO's workplace, and he can pick up yesterday's edition for
nothing. A friend of mine subscribes to the New York Times weekday
only, and we get Sunday only, so we share. The library has a 'magazine
exchange' that is basically a way for them to get rid of non-current
issues. Portland is infested with coffeehouses that have racks and
racks of current magazines; I can read all I like for the price of a
cup of joe.
On the packrat thing, in one of Don Aslett's books, he points out that
magazines are about 70% advertising--why pay to store last year's ads?
It's frugal *and* space-saving to clip interesting articles and toss
the rest.
----------------------------------------------------------
Laurel Halbany
myt...@agora.rdrop.com
http://www.rdrop.com/users/mythago/
Leigh R Hidell
Bev <bas...@ktb.net> wrote:
: And one other thing: sometimes they are infested with insects, including
: termites. Examine them carefully before you bring them home.
You are right. There's no reason to take home damaged or
diseased pallet board. There is so much good quality out
there that's thrown away. --Leigh
Dave Johnson
On 6 Feb 1997 07:08:44 -0700, tl...@nyx10.cs.du.edu (the tree by the
river) wrote:
<snip>
>Several years ago now, a friend bemoaned her computerless state
>and expressed a desire to have something she could write and
>edit with and hook up to the net or local bulletin boards; as a
>challenge, I thought I'd see how cheaply it might be possible to
>assemble a complete and working computer and, for a total budget
>of fifteen dollars, I managed to collect enough bits to assemble
>a little system complete with hard drive and modem. However, my
>fatal error was that it wasn't color, didn't run windows, and
>had--gasp--a dot-matrix printer. Now, my perceptions may just be
>skewed because, though I do have a color display, I'm still running
>MS-DOS and am probably the only person left in the world who still
>uses a dot-matrix printer (and, perhaps even worse, since I don't
I almost traded my b/w inkjet for a dot-matrix, until I found a pile
of cartriges about to be thrown away, that turned out to fit my
printer. Ink jets are too expensive to operate otherwise.
>have any particular interest in running computer games, I'm not
>even too keen on having the latest and fastest equipment myself),
>but I've tried to give that computer away several times to people
>who said that all they wanted to do was connect to the net and
>write letters and/or fiction but had absolutely no money to buy a
>computer with and absolutely nobody's been willing to take it.
>
I think the problem is that almost everyone is familiar enough with
Windows to know how much easier it is (for a beginner, at least)
compared to DOS. Those that have the technical know-how to be able to
cope with DOS generally have a computer, and those that don't already
have a computer mostly can't cope with DOS.
Myself, I'm really glad my first computers were DOS based, because it
has helped me out greatly solving problems with my win 3.1 and win95
systems.
Marion Bon
Bev <bas...@ktb.net> wrote:
:|This is an excellent idea, and I admire people who can actually do it.
:|However, in my home the 2-year-old stuff is under the
:|1-year-and-nine-months-old stuff which is under... In the deeper layers,
:|the 30-year-old-stuff is under... The closets and drawers are full of
:|crap and the stuff I actually use is piled to the ceiling in front of it!
:|
:|Real packrats know all the secrets, they just have so much cool stuff that
:|they *might* need; every once in a while I find a wonderful thing that I
:|had forgotten about a *long* time ago, and it makes me feel good. Anyway,
:|I no longer feel guilty about my packrattery; if my heirs want to, they
:|can have a Viking funeral for me. I really *hate* falling over stuff,
:|though.
When I lived in Fort McMurray, my cat was able to climb to and from
my balcony, so I'd leave the door open a little for her when I went
to work. I got home from work one day, and found Punk with only
half a tail. The vet and I speculated that she'd gotten it slammed
in a car door. Weeks later, I was moving some boxes in the spare
bedroom and found the mummified remains of her tail (gross). My
aunt heard the story, and sent me a sign she'd come across that
said, "Neat people never make the exciting kinds of discoveries I
do." Sort of my life motto (hey, should add it to my sig file).
rgds Marion
Marion Bon
p...@shore.net (GeorgeS) wrote:
:|In article <32F296...@webspan.net>, mitc...@webspan.net says...
:|
:|>
:|>"Frugal" means to me: Nix the newspaper and magazine subscriptions.
:|>Sure, I'm duller for it.
:|
:|And then too, there is your responsibility to the community at large to be an
:|informed citizen. May be you get this through TV news, town meetings, and the
:|periodic review of Foreign Affairs Quarterly at the library, but... I doubt it.
I listen to CBC radio (obsessively, according to my partner). The
hourly news is brief, but informative. "Canada at Five" and "The
World at Six" (available in Real Audio, btw) are pretty thorough.
The CBC has a lot of other programs that often provide a lot of
background on issues, as well as a lot of brilliant documentaries
that examine various social issues in depth. In November "Ideas"
ran a series of documentaries on "The Public Good" that was
extremely thought-provoking. I was so fascinated that I actually
_lingered_ over the dishes.
I scan through the Vancouver papers if someone at work bought one,
I check through the local papers which are delivered free. One of
the guys in the office has recently been bitten *hard* by the
computer bug, so I don't have to buy computer mags anymore ;-)
Quite frankly, I just don't have the time to be a news junkie. I
went to the library the other day and brought home five books for
research (house stuff) and a novel (just for me). I have a
full-time job that involves rotating shiftwork. I'm a mom of a 6
yr old and a 4 yr old. I read this ng (a full-time occupation in
itself, I assure you <g>). I have a woodstove that needs constant
feeding when it's cold out, and a partner who's recovering from
neck surgery (note: a woman who hauls and splits wood). I just
threw a birthday party for 10 little girls for which I made
(overly) elaborate party hats (next year's will be _much_ simpler).
I'm a packrat who moved a few months ago and still does a weekly
search through the storage room because I _know_ I have "it" in
there somewhere. I spent an hour today trying to trace down a
conflict on my home computer because of some idiot install program
a few weeks ago. I cook from scratch, and shop for the best deals
<whine> Oh yeah, and my house is a mess, and I'm behind on the
laundry...and...and...and...</whine> I don't know if I'm boring
and dull, but I do know I'm more informed than some of the people I
work with.
rgds Marion
M. Crane
On Sun, 9 Feb 1997, Marion Bon wrote:
:p...@shore.net (GeorgeS) wrote:
:
::|In article <32F296...@webspan.net>, mitc...@webspan.net says...
::|
::|>
::|>"Frugal" means to me: Nix the newspaper and magazine subscriptions.
::|>Sure, I'm duller for it.
::|
::|And then too, there is your responsibility to the community at large to be an
::|informed citizen. May be you get this through TV news, town meetings, and the
::|periodic review of Foreign Affairs Quarterly at the library, but... I doubt it.
I just wanted to throw in my two bits on the use of the media to
become an "informed citizen." I would venture to say that the
news that we receive via television and the "local" paper (ours
is owned by Gannet, producers of USA Today) is limited enough in
its scope (and your mileage may vary) that it has long since
ceased to be a means of effecting useful participation in the
community.
I'm currently living in Louisville, Kentucky, and am admittedly
very uninformed about local issues. We can't afford/don't want
the local paper, and I have yet to come across any neighborhood
papers of the type that were common in my previous home, Portland
Oregon.
The school paper carries some local news, but not much.
I guess what I am arguing here is that the mass media can be
pretty worthless as a way to increase meaningful participation in
society, because the *most* meaningful participation, IMO, is
going to occur locally.
With that said, I have to also admit that I am so stinkin' busy
with school that I am woefully uninvolved with the needs of the
local community, with the exception of my students.
To wrap up, we have no TV or Newspaper, but listen to public
radio on occasion, and I'm not really sure it has limited our
involvement in any significant way.
Your results may differ,
Mark Crane
OzCaity
On 6 Feb 1997 04:08:36 GMT, mharr...@aol.com wrote:
<snip>
>I think our dads are crazy...crazy like a fox. I know my dad is like this
>because he grew up during the Depression. It must have had a profound
>effect because he has to keep his pantry full at all times.
>
>Planet
Well... as one born in 1968, and therefore well away from the
Depression, I too find it very very unsettling if the pantry isn't
full. Used to be a running gag when I lived in residential college at
university - "try Caity, she'll have flour/obscure ingredient/weird
kitchen tool".
I think it stems from the times when I was homeless and broke and
moving from women's shelter to women's shelter... now I *have* to have
a full cupboard so that I know I'll be able to eat without having to
get charity if I ever get that broke again.
But the spousal unit has decreed that for the next house move, we're
allowed 15 moving boxes each for "stuff" (not counting household
things like kitchen stuff). After moving this week with 200+ moving
cartons, I can see his point, just not sure how I can bring myself to
part with stuff "That might be useful one day".
Anyone have any hints on how to limit one's "pack-rattery" ?
Suggestions for methods to decide what's needed and what should go out
to Revolve? (Revolve is the local govt run facility at the tip where
they take in all sorts of recyclables, like furniture and window
frames and slightly dead computers etc and resell them cheaply)
"When I get a little money,
I buy books; and if any is left,
I buy food and clothes" -- Erasmus
--
Caity in Canberra, Australia
Leah
coco...@pcug.org.au (OzCaity) wrote:
>Well... as one born in 1968, and therefore well away from the
>Depression, I too find it very very unsettling if the pantry isn't
>full. Used to be a running gag when I lived in residential college at
>university - "try Caity, she'll have flour/obscure ingredient/weird
>kitchen tool".
>I think it stems from the times when I was homeless and broke and
>moving from women's shelter to women's shelter... now I *have* to have
>a full cupboard so that I know I'll be able to eat without having to
>get charity if I ever get that broke again.
Isn't it weird how that happens. We never had food in the cupboards when I was growing up. I now
keep a pantry that is so well-stocked that when I go to write my grocery list- there's nothing but
fresh fruit to put on it. I guess you could say I am a little obsessed with buying food - buying,
not eating. I almost died when I realized we had spent $270 (god, I can't believe I'm admitting
this on MCFL) on groceries in a 10 day period. It wasn't junk food. It was mostly all on sale. But
it was definitely not needed.
Oh well, I take comfort in knowing I could live for 6 months without buying groceries if the need
arose.
Leah
Who? What? Huh?
On the notable day of Sun, 16 Feb 1997 05:22:24 GMT,
coco...@pcug.org.au (OzCaity) stood before the denizens of
misc.consumers.frugal-living and gave the following oration:
>Anyone have any hints on how to limit one's "pack-rattery" ?
>Suggestions for methods to decide what's needed and what should go out
>to Revolve?
[aka recycle]
The "hide it away" method seems to be working for us. Since we are 2
people and a cat living in a <400 sq. ft. apartment, much of our stuff
has been hidden away for a while. We didn't miss it. We're gearing up
for another move and the only thing that's been done with the "closet
boxes" (the "I couldn't bear to part with it" stuff from the last move
*grin*) has been opening, inventorying for tax purposes, and taping
back up again for dropoff at whichever charity organization hasn't
shafted us recently. :-)
We've also made the firm decision that most "dust collectors" are
going AWAY. (Dust collectors are knick-knacks and other stuff that
does absolutely nothing but collect dust.) We've accumulated so many
that they've gone past decor and into clutter and we decided we will
each choose 2 sentimental dust collectors to keep and the rest go to
the charity shop or for regifting. The relatives seem to be a prolific
source of replacements. *sigh* (By the way, who was it here who
collected teacups and saucers? I have two beautiful ones....)
--------------------
Mari Morgan
http://www.argo.net/~morgans/
"When it falls on your head, then you are knowing it
is a rock." Tad Williams, _The Dragonbone Chair_
--------------------
*All emails will be read, although not all get replies.*
I have been assimilated. Resistance was futile. Take the
"spamalamadingdong" out of my address to send email. :-)
hello!
> coco...@pcug.org.au (OzCaity) wrote:
>
> >Well... as one born in 1968, and therefore well away from the
> >Depression, I too find it very very unsettling if the pantry isn't
> >full. Used to be a running gag when I lived in residential college at
> >university - "try Caity, she'll have flour/obscure ingredient/weird
> >kitchen tool".
>
> >I think it stems from the times when I was homeless and broke and
> >moving from women's shelter to women's shelter... now I *have* to have
> >a full cupboard so that I know I'll be able to eat without having to
> >get charity if I ever get that broke again.
I do this with deoderant. I must have 6-8 different sticks of
deodorant at home, and I pick another one up at the store if I feel like
it.
It originated during my college days, trying to support a child
and go to school full-time with a part-time job........ I ran out
of deodorant once, where I dug what I could out of the stick, then just
went without it for what seems like a week. I have never been without
deodorant again!
Kathleen
Bev
OzCaity <coco...@pcug.org.au> wrote:
|But the spousal unit has decreed that for the next house move, we're
|allowed 15 moving boxes each for "stuff" (not counting household
|things like kitchen stuff). After moving this week with 200+ moving
|cartons, I can see his point, just not sure how I can bring myself to
|part with stuff "That might be useful one day".
|Anyone have any hints on how to limit one's "pack-rattery" ?
|Suggestions for methods to decide what's needed and what should go out
|to Revolve?
Well, replacement spousal units are easier to find than a set of exactly
the right kind of useful stuff that's taken a lifetime to assemble :)
The only method that has ever worked for us is to throw EVERYTHING out in
a big pile and then decide whether to throw it away (includes contributing
to a worthy cause or just putting a FREE sign on it in the front yard) or
find a place to keep it. You can't NOT decide unless you're willing to
let the weather destroy the *whole* pile. The problem is that you run out
of energy before you run out of pile.
But real discipline is required to NOT acquire a really wonderful thing
that you *really* want to have that only costs a quarter!
Bev bas...@ktb.net
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Friends help you move. *Real* friends help you move bodies."
--A. Walker
Paul McEvoy
A good method for getting rid of crap is to go through your stuff, and
set a specific amount of time, like 6 months or a year, and if you
havn't used or thought about the thing for that period, it goes.
Paul McEvoy
JOS afloat
Hey, donate some of your books that you really will never ever look at,
let alone read, again, to a book sale, a library sale, some kind of sale,
even your own garage sale. We did this when we moved from 4300 sq. ft.
home to a 1500 sq. foot houseboat....kept our favorites, recycled the
others. (We still have really a lot of books...love 'em.)