Just curious who else is living super frugal

[jdopler]

I add pepper to my chickens food in the coldest days, bc I know it contributes to body heat.. black pepper or red pepper flakes.
This past winter we had lots of days that were -20 and stayed. Wow, Colorado is not used to that. A couple of my girls lost toe joints on their lateral toes, poor things, but combs were ok. Sure was glad I had heat lamps for them!

 

[the1honeycomb]

I love Goodwills', resale stores and places like habitat for humanity stores!!!! I have put ads in Craigslist for free wood, and for the first time I have a garden. I am not too excited about it I only have squash and tomatoes. I dry the cut grass to save for my birds, and sew things to sell for extra cash. I like feeling like I am self contained and most of what I do buy I get at the farmers market or trade for. I too have a lot of debt but doing these things helps make me feel I am making a difference.

 

[annabananaandfamily]

ANyone feel like sharing their recipe for dish detergent?

 

[chawk]

Dr. Bronners had one on their site.. I use Dr Bs for my handsoap foamers and like it alot.. I've even washed a dish when I was out of detergent. A bottle lasts forever when you dilute.
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UPDATE! Ok I went on Dr B's site. They recommend their SalSuds for dishes. Heres the link: http://lisa.drbronner.com/?p=169

 

[BarefootMom]

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or you could just suggest family cloth

I can't do family cloth at least not with the kids, but maybe when they are older we will do it for #1.

I already do Mama Cloths though which saves on some

 

[jdopler]

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Washing soda and borax 1 c each
2 Tbsp of citric acid
1/4 c pickling salt
some essential oils if desired, I like to use eucalyptus
I store it in an old large size yogurt tub and make up more as needed

add just 1 or 2 tbsp per load with 1/2 c vinegar

this works great for me even with hard water

 

[helenmar]

OMG! I had never heard of family cloth.I have just read the posts on MDC about it and Im DEF going to try it for pee! My DH will roll his eyes but hes kinda getting used to stuff like this.What an amazing thread! So far Im going to try this and that recipe for syrup from the earlier post.Whoda thought it on a chicken website lol.Hx:yiipchick


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or you could just suggest family cloth

I can't do family cloth at least not with the kids, but maybe when they are older we will do it for #1.

I already do Mama Cloths though which saves on some

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

We don't do nearly enough to live frugally, but here's a few things:
-my son gets 5-10 movies from the library a week
-garden as much as my bod will allow, then dehydrate for storage
-goats for milk and milk products, and their wonderful goat berries
-chickens for meat, eggs, fertilizer, and chick/egg sales
-broody hen(s) to keep us in chicks
-cook as much as possible (3 different diets makes it hard)
-homeschool using finds from garage sales and the library
-my car is 1984 and hubby's is 1994 but they both need repair work
-no cable or satellite: just TV and converter boxes, dvd, etc.
-buy beans/peas/lentils, rice, salt in bulk, or when prices get really cheap
-take advantage of grocery store/discount gas options

Almost never use coupons because generic or store-brand is usually cheaper. Haven't figured out how to get $200 worth of groceries for $5 but maybe I'll learn someday.

Live about 30 minutes from the nearest town so all trips have multi-purposes: library, pharmacy, doctor, therapy, groceries, dollar store, feed store, etc. Recently discovered a frozen yogurt place there so we usually hit it once a week. Gotta stop that. [but it's soooo good, she whines!]

Cleaning out the house to move but to also find things to sell on e-bay and flea market. Want to move to a smaller house closer to Denver, and closer to son's therapies and the children's hospital. That'll save on gas and car wear-and-tear. Will also allow for easier egg-sales, and possibly set up a store-front in living room to sell crafts and excess product from my container garden. Maybe start up my Reiki practice again, maybe including cuddles with my silkies.

Used to make soaps too but since I became allergic, will sell stock and not make any more. Working on creating a body and hand "soap" made out of vinegar, salt (?) or baking soda, tea tree oil and essential oils. Have been washing clothes in cold water with sensitive-skin laundry soap, with vinegar in the rinse cycle and line dry (all but underwear, sox and towels) but I'm thinking about eliminating the soap, and just using vinegar and adding tea tree oil and some essential oil. Better for me, environment (leech field) and my pocketbook.

Had a bankruptcy 13 years ago and some bad credit until about 5 years ago so got rid of all credit cards. Now I can't get credit for anything, not even $82 for car repairs! So just got a secured credit card from my bank to start re-building my credit. Will buy something for maybe $20 each month, then pay it off in full every month. Lesson: you just might need credit some day so don't totally discount using credit cards. Just keep it small and pay it off in full every month. That'll help.

Guess that's it for now. Great info on this site and great idea for starting it, OP. Thanks.

 

[helenmar]

What are goat berries please?

hx


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[RainbowState]

We are doing really well, we don't have any debt, our mortgage is paid off, and we rent in our home which brings in steady income. But the way this society is so wasteful, we want to have a small footprint on this earth. I will never buy a new car because I think it is such a tremendous waste of resources. I always shop at Goodwill for clothing and small household items and Craigs List for other items.

We run our 2 old 1984 and 1981 Mercedes Benzs off of recycled veggie oil that we process ourselves so we never pay at the pump. We have solar hot water heating on the roof which cuts the entire electric bill by about 1/3 and we have solar electric panels on the roof which greatly cuts the bill again. The chickens provide eggs and a small income (14 layer hens) and we have some good sized garden beds as well as a small orchard which almost eliminates buying fresh produce.

I am always looking for ways to do things with the least amount of electricity. I found a great hand cranked fruit mill online which I love and used when caning. We are learning how to produce biogas (methane) from waste agricultural materials and we will modify a burner and use it as an outdoor cook stove. I learned how to can last year and I am getting more into food dehydration for long term storage of food. We have an electric dehydrator but I found plans online for a solar one which I am going to construct. We are going to purchase rabbits as well for food and the wonderful manure that they produce.

There is a small local food market in our neighborhood and we daily pick up the waste produce. Much of this goes to the chickens and I have started raising worms on it as well. The rabbits will also get a fair share of the "waste" produce. The rest goes into our compost piles which are returned to the gardens when done. No need to buy any compost or potting mixes. I also want to start a black soldier fly colony as a protein feed for the chickens so I can begin reducing the amount of feed I have to purchase. Most of the meals we eat are cooked at home, using as much of our home grown veggies as possible but we still occasionally eat out.

We wash our clothes in cold water, the soaps are really good at getting out most dirt and I have a giant clothesline on the side of the house which I use all the time. The clothes dryer is one of the biggest consumers of electricity in most peoples homes. There is a great place in town that sells used building materials from homes and businesses that are being remodeled or demolished. Instead of going to the dump, they will take it and and sell it. They have sinks, counter tops, lumber, windows, doors, etc. at discounted prices. It's a really great idea and neat place to shop instead of Home Depot. It's called "Reuse It Hawaii".

This is a really cool thread, it's neat to see what people are doing!