Just curious who else is living super frugal

[Beekissed]

We have a Warsaw wood stove. I don't know too much about it, except that it was in the house when my husband bought it 8 years ago. I don't think they make those Warsaw ones anymore. We only have the one for the whole house as of now, but we do have a small boxwood stove that isn't hooked up yet. And yes, I was talking about the fiberglass braided rope. The one on the doors to our's is pretty worn and could use a replacement. I found that you can get the material at TSC, so that will be a project at some point. I haven't investigated the project very much, so I am still wondering how it stays in the groove of the door where the old one is.

They sell a glue along with the rope that's a messy, black, tar like substance that can withstand the heat from the stove. Word to the wise...if you use too little the rope won't stick, if you use too much it gushes out around the rope and creates a mess. Have a rag handy. A line about like you would put on a toothbrush seems to be about the right amount but the tube causes it to come out in fits and spurts and not smooth, so warm it up and massage it well before you start.

 

[DennisK]

We have a DIY barrel stove that we've used for many a year...we have used this same design here at my parent's home for the past 37 yrs. It holds a belly full of wood and lasts all night long with plenty of coals in the morning for a quick warm up.

For folks living in the country it's the best way to go and I can't imagine not having one if I lived where I could. It's saved us so much money over the years it ain't even funny....and we are truly warm...not furnace warm where you have to huddle over the vents to get warm in the mornings.

We have a DIY wood stove too. I use to heat the house with propane - and I use to pay an arm and a leg for the privilege. But then I came across a web page describing the conversion of a propane tank into a wood stove/furnace. I had an old propane tank in storage; so DW and I dragged it out and started cutting and welding. We modified the plan somewhat, to good effect. That little thing heats the house so well I often have to open the door to cool it down. By morning time, there are a few coals left - enough to start kindling. We continue to use propane for cooking, and heating water, but our winter bill has dropped to what we pay during the summer. DW wants to get a wood burner for cooking . We have a number of dead oak trees on our property which will give us about 3 more winters of wood. We need to start a grove of eucalyptus trees which will give us a continuing supply of wood to burn.

 

[Beekissed]

Yes!

A good stove can run you out!

I've slept with my windows open and the snow blowing in on my bed before due to a rambunctious Boxwood stove I had once. One evening it was too hot, even fully dampered down, and we had the living room windows open....and the cat jumped through the window with a live and very large vole in his mouth, let it loose in the house and then proceeded to chase it again!

Took that stove apart and renewed all the seals and dampers and finally could stand to be in the same room with it...it was too leaky and couldn't be dampered down properly, so sealing up all the leaks allowed us to regulate the draw much, much better. Good even heat and more wood conservation after that overhaul.

 

[DennisK]

Thanks for the tip, Beekissed! I'll give my stove the once-over .. soon as I find a source for some sealant.

 

[Beekissed]

YW!

Hey...remember when I was wanting to learn how to darn my socks? Well, today I darned those darn socks! Didn't have a darning egg so used an outdated orange...smelled good and worked perfect! No lumps and they feel great! I darned two pair and I made the darn much larger than the holes so that any other areas that were thinning in that area would be reinforced preemptively. I love getting to use my good ol' socks for a longer while...couldn't bear to throw them out when the tops were perfectly fine.

 

[lismarc]

YW!

Hey...remember when I was wanting to learn how to darn my socks? Well, today I darned those darn socks! Didn't have a darning egg so used an outdated orange...smelled good and worked perfect! No lumps and they feel great! I darned two pair and I made the darn much larger than the holes so that any other areas that were thinning in that area would be reinforced preemptively. I love getting to use my good ol' socks for a longer while...couldn't bear to throw them out when the tops were perfectly fine.

great job!!!

 

[Searsmom]

We bought a wood-stove last year when our electric bill jumped from $200 to $550 in December. Now we're spending $70 every two weeks for wood. A little savings I suppose, I guess I was expecting a half cord of wood to last longer. I did start knitting, first project a scarf for my 5-year old. I tried it on her when it was about finished and she said it needed to be longer so it could wrap around her neck twice like mine did. Sigh. So the last 5" got pulled out and I have no idea when it will be finished. If the weather keeps up she can have it while it's still cold outside.

We buy groceries every two weeks - used to have to budget monthly and that was insane. By the end of the month we were out of all kinds of necessaries. However, we recently had to go an additional 2 weeks and didn't run out of food so we're doing OK. We (both of us) make our own bread and don't buy instant food so it cuts down on cost and makes it healthier - and we eat lots of eggs!

I expect to get my nerve up enough to butcher a crazy hen this spring, so maybe after one it will be easier. As long as they aren't the from the first batch of chickens I - those are pets. I've even got a market already in my family. I'd like to get a wether (sp?) goat this spring to see how we do with it and see how healthy it will be on our becoming-overgrown pasture. If that works out we have a friend who will butcher for half the goat in payment. Not bad, I don't think I could ever do it. Then we might try a milk goat. Might. My husband wants another steer from the local dairy to raise for meat but I'm stealing all his fencing for my chickens. What fence?

 

[Beekissed]

We get most of our wood from the land but even when we buy wood it is a huge savings over electric or gas heat.

Keep a look out for after spring storms in your area...often people are advertising people to come and get the wood from fallen trees out of their yards for free or extremely cheap. If you have a sawmill in your area, they often have large bundles of "seconds" lumber that they sell for a song...ours sell them for $25. These bundles are huge and we had to make several trips to get it home in our pickup but well worth the gas money...it's clean wood, easy to cut up and stack and it burns hot. Put out the word at your church or at work that you are wanting somewhere to cut your own firewood or are looking for wood that people are giving away...often you can really run into a bargain in that manner.

You can recycle paper into heating logs: http://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/free-heat-for-your-home-homemade-briquettes-and-logs/

Having the right stove is important too...if you find yourself using an excessive amount of wood to heat your home, it can either be the type of wood used, the general efficiency of your stove or the type of stove used that is preventing you getting your money's worth.

 

[Searsmom]

I have a feeling it's the stove. It's brand new but arrrived with horrible packaging and slightly damaged. The fan didn't have a knob and didn't work right, one leg was bent and one side had a dent the length of it - nothing that hindered us from using it - and we NEEDED it. The electric heat had gone out and we were using kerosene heaters. They'd gone 2 months beyond the promised delivery date and kept saying it had shipped. I figured there was no point in fighting them, there was just too much apathy at their end to begin with. We do have wood here - but getting someone to drag it across the creek is another story. I almost can't blame him - unless it's really cold outside.

Good idea about spring storms! I hadn't thought of that one.

 

[Beekissed]

Folks in towns have to pay to have that stuff hauled to the dump, even the trimmings. We've picked up two truck loads of free maple before by agreeing to also take the trimmings, which we piled right on top of the load of wood and tied down. I love a good scavenge and scrounge...city folk give or throw away a lot of really useful stuff.