Just curious who else is living super frugal

[jlynnp]

''Making soap is on my bucket list.''

Making soap is easy to do, the biggest fear people have is the lye and if you follow instructions and use protective gear it is so simple and a lot of fun. A great way to let your creative side out. I have been making soaps and lotions for a lot of years!

 

[lazy gardener]

Arielle, I can't believe that one. Too lazy to cut up watermelon after it's been delivered to them? Give me a break. I don't know if I should laugh or cry!!!

 

[Nofowlplay]

The thermostat for the ac rarely goes below 70 for several years now. Still have 2 jars of jam in the freezer from last year. The late freeze got the cherries and peaches this year. Been using coupons whenever possible. Less meat...obtain protein from eggs and nut butters. Almost dropped fast food and eating out. Buy organic bread on sale and freeze it. Buying tools and equipment at Harbor Freight and using their coupons for free items and 20% off. Mowing my own lawn instead of paying someone to do it. Buying clothes only at extreme markdown . Shopping on Sierra Trading Post for quality socks and durable clothing. (Seconds) The car will have to last another 4 years at least..it's 12 years old now.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

I think I got it. do the seed heads look like a bunch of tiny little grey green beads fused together? Better to borrow the book, then you don't have to pay for it. My church runs his course 2 x / year, but I haven't gone b/c I don't want to shell out the $100. On average during the weeks of the course, folks trim thousands of dollars from their debt.

Not much of a problem here. I have 2 boxes of washing soda, and 2 boxes of borax, 1 bar of Fels, and I've heard that you can use other brands of soap. Perhaps I'll try the next batch with ivory.

Making soap is on my bucket list.



God loves a cheerful giver. Remember the widow and her mite? Her gift was looked on in favor, while the snooty coin janglers did not receive His favor, because they were giving in a boisterous way to let everybody see how wonderful they were. I tithe my Sundays. Teach Jr. Church one week every other month. People are scared to death to work with these kids. It's not my gift, but over time, I've come to enjoy my time with these kiddos. Would the organizer let you organize one day of the snack time? I'm sure you could come up with some creative ideas that would please kids, and definitely please the parents. The positive feed back might get her out of her box. Given a choice, kids will choose the junk food. That's a major beef I have regarding how snacks are doled out to my kids every Sunday. I might as well not even bother feeding my 7 y.o. any lunch on Sunday. But, when kids are given a healthy snack, and the cookies are not available, they chow down on the good stuff.

Agreed re: keeping up skills and licensure in the medical profession. I can bring home a good pay check for working a few hours per-diem. Physically exhausting, but a good return for the time and body power invested.

@lazy gardener- Yes! That is lambsquarters! The seeds are apparently akin to amaranth.

I still work as an RN (my part time job), working in a dialysis clinic. I love it, and love my patients. It's a nice break and a good job, and they are so wonderful as to working around my homeschooling schedule with my children. I think if we ever get to the point where I am able to stay at home full time, I'd still work per diem. I love helping heal people, and not sure I could stop. Just wish I was as adept at healing animals. My poor roo is on his way out and I'm at a complete loss as how to help him through his ordeal. It's humbling and horrifying to not be able to help something in my care.

@Arielle-- I feed my dog home made food (left overs, as long as they don't contain onion, etc). She has thrived on it. When she was a pup she had so many health problems, almost died from an internal bleed right after we rescued her. Switched from the organic dog kibble to the stove cooked meals during her health ordeal and she has flourished. Next move is to try and figure out how to cook for my cats---they're the ones who get the shaft in my house, eating their dried food while we all get warm lol. What do you feed your cats?

 

[Arielle]

Arielle, I can't believe that one. Too lazy to cut up watermelon after it's been delivered to them? Give me a break. I don't know if I should laugh or cry!!!

SO pathetic , isnt it??

THe irony is that so many mothers are working now that too few people have time to volunteer for a week at VBS. I have noticed it is the same folks year over year. All stay at home moms by choice-- inventive thoughtful people give a week to teach, and then the kids can go for a swim at the local community center for $5 a day-- I hardly live up to what these women ( and men) do for a week . . . SO maybe I should ask other grocery stores for food items . . .hmmm maybe next year I should get my garden in early: snap peas for the kids to munch on. . . what else??

 

[Nofowlplay]

SO pathetic , isnt it??

THe irony is that so many mothers are working now that too few people have time to volunteer for a week at VBS.  I have noticed it is the same folks year over year.  All stay at home moms by choice-- inventive thoughtful people give a week to teach, and then the kids can go for a swim at the local community center for $5 a day--  I hardly live up to what these women ( and men) do for a week . . .   SO maybe I should ask other grocery stores for food items . . .hmmm maybe next year I should get my garden in early: snap peas for the kids to munch on. . . what else??

The local farmers market often gives away Unpurchased food at closing time. Maybe yours would as well?

 

[perchie.girl]

when I live at home I use a Swamp cooler to cool the house.... They only work well in Low humidity areas. Summer time vacillates between 10 and 15 percent humidity. AND you have to keep a window open or the humidity in the house gets oppressive. So crack a window so the humid air can get out and the house temp goes down ten to fifteen percent from the outside temperature.

So summers are from 90 to 110 degrees. The swamp cooler brings that down to 75 to 95.... Believe me 95 is cool when its 110 out. And it only costs as much as running a 100 watt light bulb. I do have a window AC for the bedroom to help sleeping.... But I will only use it about four or five times per year.

WRT Lye dad taught me how to use it to cure olives. When we moved to San Diego in 1967 we had a nice mature olive tree in our front yard. He told me as long as you remember Lye is a base and Vinegar is an acid you can mix the two to neutralized them.

So we would strip the tree of olives all different ripeness levels. He'd buy a knew plastic trash can 80 gallons. The washed olives would go in the can filling it up about two thirds of the way. Wed fill it up to within about six inches of the top with water.... Then dad would shoo me out (I was twelve at the time) and hed mix up the Lye in a pan of water wearing his welders gloves because the pan would get hot. Hed dump it in the olives. Then hed stir it up with a broom handle. The reason he shooed me was for my safety.

It took him about a month to do the olives. twice a week hed pull an olive and rinse it and shave the meat off down to the pit and examine the depth the lye had penetrated. When It made it all the way to the pit he would dump the water and refill the barrel and add in vinegar. He said by the time the lye makes it to the pit most of it is gone.... but the Vinegar was to nutralize what was left plus it made em taste good.

He already had his buddies collect old pickle jars for him so when it was time he was ready.... We packed the olives in various jars with vinegar and garlic added. No water bath canning just vinegar and salt and garlic.... I think it took us a full two years to eat them all which included giving them to friends and family.

I want to do this again.... There are olive trees all over San Diego and some people consider them a nuisance because ripe olives have an incredible staining abiltiy plus they taste nasty till they are cured. It would be a simple matter of offering up a service... As long as they hadnt sprayed for anything.

FWIW this is only one way to cure olives....

deb

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I do feed cat chow . . . but feel guilty that it is the cheap kind. FIgure it is an improvment on the life a feral cat had scrounging for food before coming to live with me. ( I don't adopt cats any more. . . I"ve rescued and spayed and cared for enough to last 3 lifetimes . . . lost count after 35 cats) so I have only 2 now, a brother and sister, and they get any meat I have cooked for the family. Cats must have real meat. ANd as you know not all meat is made the same. So as we eat commercially produced meat, I still feeed a fortified cat food. A cat's diet should be mostly meat.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Oh great idea!! We have a fresh food market up the street from the church. Whooop!

 

[Arielle]

HEre is one I have been experiementing with. 2tsp vanilla extract mixed with water to make 8 oz. We have ben trying it to repel mosquitos and the effect is iffy. Seems to work on me for a while, then when the onslaught of dusk brings the blood suckers it doesn't work. When my ankles had become vitimized by fleas, I rubbed on the solution, and they left me alone. ( WE are tring to find a reasonable method to deal with fleas other than the full on chemical poisons. Some of the IFGs apparently are no longer working like frontline.Probably not everywhere, depends on the exposure levels comminity to community. )