Just curious who else is living super frugal

[perchie.girl]

There are several Urban farmers around and about San Diego.... Were talking major agriculture on an R1 lot... Aquaponics vertical gardening raised bed gardening.... Front and back yard too.

deb

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm impressed! Bet that lady works hard at keeping that property productive!

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Productivity is what makes the world go round...I skipped around this thread...a lot of good stuff here..hopefully more people will find this thread and contribute...

 

[perchie.girl]

Productivity is what makes the world go round...I skipped around this thread...a lot of good stuff here..hopefully more people will find this thread and contribute...

It has its busy days... I think right now alot of people are batting down the hatches for either winter or the hurricane.

deb

 

[lazy gardener]

Bartering: We trade eggs for use of a wood splitter, and honey. I made my first batch of home made laundry detergent yesterday. Next up: experimenting with dish washer detergent. I have found that putting a few drops of hand dish washing liquid in with my dish washer gel makes all the difference in how clean my dishes get with my hard water.

Recycling yard debris! I've pulled all the weeds and vegetation out of my garden, and tossed it in the chicken run. They'd rather be rummaging through that stuff right now than foraging in the yard. By spring, they'll have consumed all the weed seeds, and sooner or later all of that stuff will become compost to go back onto the garden. Litter from coop goes into run. Grass clippings, leaves... all in the run. Working on converting garden to Back to Eden. Planted an orchard which is 1/2 mulched 6" deep with wood chips. Not enough leaves in my yard. Next weekend, I plan to drive the truck to the town dump, and just sit on the tarred area where folks drop off their compostables. I should be able to direct folks to just dump their bags of leaves right into my truck, instead of emptying them into the growing mountain of compost. Last spring, I scored 6 bags of litter cleaned out of a goat pen!

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Well all kinds of fish guts are getting buried in my garden this week. As I've been out fishing this week filling the freezer. Just another of things we do to get that garden to grow better.

 

[Talithahorse]

Ok, so I have a question for all you Frugal Experts. Has anyone gone through a serious downsizing phase? I am inspired by tiny house living and although I don't necessarily want to move into a tiny home just yet (LOVE my farm), I would like to be less burdened by stuff. My house is not large by todays standards but it has good function. I have been slowly pairing down my family stuff over the years but I still feel stressed by all the stuff around here. If anyone has been there, how did you involve (ie convince

) your family. How did you go about doing it? Did you do it a little at a time or all at once? What was the hardest? The easiest? etc. What was the best way to handle "family heirlooms", etc.

Ideas?

 

[wyoDreamer]

@Talithahorse Sorry I can't be of any help, I still love having all my stuff. Too bad it is still mostly in boxes from our move a year ago.
My mom has been slowly cleaning out the basement. Kinda disappointing since I had been living so far from home and only two of my sisters got offered the stuff. I didn't have a chance to grab any heirlooms that I wanted before they were gone, either to my sisters or yard sales.

 

[wyoDreamer]

How old are the family members that you want to involve? Not that age really matters, my DH is more of a packrat than I am. He doesn't let go of much, once he owns it, it is his forever!

 

[Talithahorse]

Kids are 10 and 14. The 10 year old loves watching tiny house living so he "gets" it. He spent a weekend clearing out all his old toys to give to his new cousin and insisted that it all left his room immediately. The 14 year old hates change so removing/ moving stuff is not well accepted. My DH is the path of least resistance. He is not opposed but.... My biggest area seems to be the kitchen. The dishes stack so the response is there are no cups, lets get more. I am like lets do less so we are more inclined to do dishes. So far my main way is once it breaks, I don't replace. (who else has a mom that cheers when a kid accidentally breaks a bowl).

I am thinking of packing a bunch up and then hiding it away to see if we REALLY need it.