- Jul 1, 2010
- 976
- 81
- 151
Vegetarianism is the way to save money, trust me!
Just curious who else is living super frugal
- Thread starter HeatherLynn
- Start date
- Jul 1, 2010
- 976
- 81
- 151
Vegetarianism is the way to save money, trust me!
- Jun 25, 2013
- 289
- 237
- 166
Voluntarily poor here... 6 figure income a bit over a year ago, this year likely 4. Goal is to live on less than 10k. The garden has been amazing. Despite mother natures best attempts at derailing me, we manage to scratch $800-$1000 out of her weekly at market. Growing and preserving ones own harvest is hard work but rewarding. Not sure frugality is the "American" way as we are all so constantly bombarded by consumerism but I refuse to be held hostage by debt.
DennisK
Songster
On the positive side:
We have gained a greater respect for the thrift shops in our area. We found an Atlas pasta maker with all the attachments (minus the crank handle and clamp) for $1.50! DW went out to the shop and made the clamp and the crank handle in good fashion. We also found a complete foosball table, with all the attachments, for $25.00. Now, each evening, I spend an hour getting “whooped-on” by my more experienced wife …. Hmmm…. I’m beginning to think that wasn’t such a great find after all.
I like to visit our local metal yard for buys in surplus metal. This turned out to be a good thing because we needed six foot high gates which I was able to fabricate at a cost considerably less than store bought gates. Here is a picture of a 3 foot and 4 foot gate waiting to be painted and sewed with wire fabric. There is a 6 foot wide gate on the table which is in the process of being painted by DW. That will go down to our remote garden with hopes that it will deter the ground squirrels (once an electric wire is strong along the top). We made our own hinges by cutting a pipe with a 5/8” ID into three pieces, then a 5/8” round stock with a washer welded to one end was inserted through all three pieces. This assembly was then place on the crack between the gate and the gate’s casing. The middle piece was welded onto the casing, and the other two were welded onto the gate – WALA: A perfectly functioning hinge which is quite strong and quite cheep!
Last year, we started off with 5 turkey chicks, and now we have 21 of them! We gave away four poults in exchange for two free meals at a local restaurant.
On the negative side:
Our garden, this year is turning into a bust – so far, but we will try getting in a winter crop later. We haven’t spent the time a garden requires because we have been so busy working on its infrastructure. We do have small successes – tomatoes and the grape vines that we started last year are doing well. Our greatest problem is critter control. All of our strawberry and melon plants have been wiped out by ground squirrels. Keeping the chickens out of the garden is a problem also; so we have been working on higher fencing. But I think our greatest problem is that we expanded last year’s garden too quickly – we kind ‘of lost control. Last year’s garden was such a success; we got ourselves puffed up with too great an expectation. Our greatest loss occurred in a remote garden we started this spring.
I wonder how erinszoo’s straw-bale plantings are doing. Our bales don’t seem to want to decay! We are having one of our California draughts this year. The air is very dry, and even though we have an automated sprinkler system on them, they don’t look like they will be ready until next spring.
All-in-all, we have been doing pretty good. Since following this thread, we have not purchased any laundry soap, and not one loaf of bread. Our trips into town have been cut down considerably. This allows us time to consider each planned purchase with more deliberation.
Ah … and then there are our chickens. Here is a picture of what I consider a beautiful sight:
We have gained a greater respect for the thrift shops in our area. We found an Atlas pasta maker with all the attachments (minus the crank handle and clamp) for $1.50! DW went out to the shop and made the clamp and the crank handle in good fashion. We also found a complete foosball table, with all the attachments, for $25.00. Now, each evening, I spend an hour getting “whooped-on” by my more experienced wife …. Hmmm…. I’m beginning to think that wasn’t such a great find after all.
I like to visit our local metal yard for buys in surplus metal. This turned out to be a good thing because we needed six foot high gates which I was able to fabricate at a cost considerably less than store bought gates. Here is a picture of a 3 foot and 4 foot gate waiting to be painted and sewed with wire fabric. There is a 6 foot wide gate on the table which is in the process of being painted by DW. That will go down to our remote garden with hopes that it will deter the ground squirrels (once an electric wire is strong along the top). We made our own hinges by cutting a pipe with a 5/8” ID into three pieces, then a 5/8” round stock with a washer welded to one end was inserted through all three pieces. This assembly was then place on the crack between the gate and the gate’s casing. The middle piece was welded onto the casing, and the other two were welded onto the gate – WALA: A perfectly functioning hinge which is quite strong and quite cheep!
Last year, we started off with 5 turkey chicks, and now we have 21 of them! We gave away four poults in exchange for two free meals at a local restaurant.
On the negative side:
Our garden, this year is turning into a bust – so far, but we will try getting in a winter crop later. We haven’t spent the time a garden requires because we have been so busy working on its infrastructure. We do have small successes – tomatoes and the grape vines that we started last year are doing well. Our greatest problem is critter control. All of our strawberry and melon plants have been wiped out by ground squirrels. Keeping the chickens out of the garden is a problem also; so we have been working on higher fencing. But I think our greatest problem is that we expanded last year’s garden too quickly – we kind ‘of lost control. Last year’s garden was such a success; we got ourselves puffed up with too great an expectation. Our greatest loss occurred in a remote garden we started this spring.
I wonder how erinszoo’s straw-bale plantings are doing. Our bales don’t seem to want to decay! We are having one of our California draughts this year. The air is very dry, and even though we have an automated sprinkler system on them, they don’t look like they will be ready until next spring.
All-in-all, we have been doing pretty good. Since following this thread, we have not purchased any laundry soap, and not one loaf of bread. Our trips into town have been cut down considerably. This allows us time to consider each planned purchase with more deliberation.
Ah … and then there are our chickens. Here is a picture of what I consider a beautiful sight:
A beautiful sight indeed!Ah … and then there are our chickens. Here is a picture of what I consider a beautiful sight:
We got rid of all our poultry late winter, so that the pasture could recover (we overstocked) so now we have a lovely new pasture with 8 duckling, and so far, three juvie chickens. The incubator has eggs due to hatch next weekend, so we will hopefully have a few layers by winter (the juvies are winter layers).
We live in a forest, so we don't have enough sun for a real garden with veggies. I envy some of you folk. We do trade out meat though. Rabbit, goat, duck and chicken - I love bartering!
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DennisK
Songster
It seems we pay a price for the blessings we have. At this time, it is quite hot here in Sunny California. If you were here, you would be grateful to get back to your cool forest.
I don't know if y'all have seen this blog, but this woman is awesome. I learned all kinds of frugal tools and we have been buying nothing new for 3 yrs now! (Except hygiene and safety items.) We have so much more time to hang out as a family and interact when we stopped running all over to spend money on stuff we didn't really need. I am picking up lots of tips from this thread as well, THANKS!!!
Ok, now I can't post the link. Lemme try below.
Ok, now I can't post the link. Lemme try below.
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Quote:
We used to live in Thousand Oaks, CA, and it was nice all year. I remember 7 foot roses at Christmas! But then the water bill was horrible! I think we only turn the sprinklers on a couple of times a year here. And no water bill 'cus it's from a well. Yup, we do have our blessings too
Last edited:
DennisK
Songster
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