Just curious who else is living super frugal

[lindalouly]

Has anyone tried soap nuts? If so, what were the results?   I haven't tried them in the dishwasher but some claim that they are pretty good. (Internet shows mixed results).  I love them for laundry and for shampoo (although remembering to pull it out of the fridge and into the shower in the morning can be a pain).

I have to research soap nuts. Never heard of them.

 

[Talithahorse]

I love them. They are completely natural, relatively inexpensive (5-7 nuts will generally do an entire week of laundry for a family of 4) They can be used as soap, shampoo, laundry soap, dishwashing soap (supposedly) and general cleaner.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Switched all my timed lighting in duck pens to LED ....the bulbs were $2 but they don't use very much electricity.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I don't peel the potatos.........no waste. lol

If everyone had a VIctory Garden..... I looked at the passing houses while going to visit my dogs breeder. . . . . so much lawn. . .. . great opportu;nity to garden, even if only a small plot.

 

[Arielle]

Miss every one. Working crazy hours. . . and no internet at home anymore. . . . 2 miles to McDonalds with WiFi. A small blessing that.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm bragging up my home made detergent at work. Going to take in some samples for co-workers to try this week.

 

[Arielle]

LG-- great idea!!!

Garlic going in as soon as I get home. And then kale smoothy. Hardy stuff that kale.

Have decided I need more leafy veg to go in the garden as the balance in not right ( due to too much manure) for the fruiting vegies like tomatos. Though the squash clearly love the fresh manure.. go figure that one.

Need to cut down my seed wish list . . .. . and cover some plants for the upcoming winter. Hoping the kale will last muchofthe winter..... a trial to see what works.

Was surprised the carrot tops did not wilt at the first frost. A real surprise. The roots were small though, so looks like roots need to be eating sizeBEFORE the cold sets in and stalls growth.

I'm trying to be a frugal gardener.......

 

[lazy gardener]

Frugal gardening: Grow OP veggies and save your seed. Excellent varieties to start with: Fortex pole beans, Suyo Long cucumbers. You can look them up on Fedco Seeds or Johnny's select seeds web sites. Many squash varieties are also OP. If you grow only a single variety from one of the squash families: Maxima, Pepo, or Moschata, your seeds should breed true. (as long as your neighbor's garden is not too close.) You can grow a single variety from each of the 3 families, and they will not cross from one family to the other. Tomatoes do not usually cross, as long as there is a bit of distance between plants, so you can save OP tomato seed with fairly good reliability. Beans also easy to save w/o cross pollinating. Parsley will come back the second season, for a 2 year harvest followed by a huge set of seeds. Let it go to seed, and you may never have to plant parsley again. Dill sets seed the first year, again... you may never have to plant again. Let lettuce go to seed. Makes the garden look "weedy for a while", but will produce a wonderful crop the next season. Just tear up those plants at the end of the season and toss them where you want the lettuce to grow next spring. Radish and calendula go to seed in my garden. My chickens love those seeds so much that I have to harvest some (calendula) seeds myself to be sure there is some for next season! I don't bother with radish, b/c it doesn't breed true all the time for me.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm bragging up my home made detergent at work. Going to take in some samples for co-workers to try this week.

This time of year demonstrates one of the best things about the homemade detergent....no static cling. I love that about this stuff! I live where we heat entirely with wood and the air gets dry, even with a large kettle on the fire at all times, so laundry tends to get real static if storebought detergents are used...might be the excess oils in those? Not sure, but the homemade stuff has absolutely no static cling and it also leaves laundry softer, so when line dried they aren't stiff at all. Much like if one used a fabric softener but without having to do so.

Another good thing is that no oils are building up in the lint trap of the dryer because we don't have to use fabric softener of any kind...and that prevents possibility of fires there.

 

[Sherol]

Frugal Gardening.. scored bagged leaves off freecycle and have co-wokers going to bring me some as well. Every time I leave office at lunch time I have to pass by a Starbucks on the way back. I stop and get their coffee grounds for the compost pile. All paper mail/newspapers get shredded for the compost pile and of course cleaning out the coop goes in as well.

Bought open pollinated varieties of seed and seeing what works for me and adding more things I am growing gradually. I use a rain gutter grow system but still don't have the soil where I need it.. so really working on having some good compost next spring. Got some comfrey to get established for chickens and also for the compost pile. Want to save seeds so need to figure out a simple way to store them.

The area I want to put in the comfrey has weeds instead of grass. The soil here is pretty hard clay. We go through a lot of paper at work and it comes in boxes. Been saving them and will flatten them and lay them on the ground where I want to put the comfrey next year. Will pile on some leaves and coffee grounds and let it sit. Come spring hoping the weeds are dead and I can till the stuff into the soil.

Been using my feed sacks opened up around my chicken coop where I want to lay down mulch. Using them as a weed barrier. Would love to find someone that needs a place to dump wood chips. Signed up for a chip drop service but am so far out I doubt I will get any through that service.