Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
You keep up the good work you are doing...it's so much appreciated...again, I do thank you...
bump
We use a tube sock filled with old rice for a very convenient heat pack. Put it in the microwave for three or four minutes, you can take it anywhere, it conforms to whatever body part you put it on, and it stays warm for a long time.
I don't like to use medicine unless absolutely necessary, so when the kids have growing pains these socks come in very handy.
To God the Glory!
It was wonderful to hear the great news.
Continued prayers for you all.
When I call “Kitty kitty kitty” for my cats, if there are any deer around, they perk up their ears and start walking towards me as well...Very Large Kitties.
A doe used to lick down one of my cats when he was small, she loved him and boy did he love those lickdowns! The doe even taught her fawn to lick down the cat. It was a sight to see. Once I was walking out in the back with the cats, they saw a small herd of deer walking nearby, and Tiger, the lickdown one, meowed and starting running towards the deer. His “meow” sounded like “Mama”!
Of course, I’ve seen a doe stomp on one of my cats, too - they’re nervous as witches when their fawns are about born and young.
What wonderful news, your daughter is home and doing better. It sounds like you had quite a scare, not only healthwise, but from people butting in. Praise God, you got it resolved. Will keep your family in my prayers for protection from illness and others.
“I call that my ‘pinging chorus’.
See how easy it can be....”
It was amazingly easy and very rewarding. Thanks for all the great instructions. I didn’t get my canner over to the extension service, where does the time go? I’ll try again this week.
“Talk It Out” Question
Finding Reputable Mystery Shopping Companies
Have you ever been a mystery shopper? If so, which mystery
shopping companies did you find to be both reputable and
profitable? These are the questions one of our readers asked
in our last “Talk It Out” question. Gail wrote:
“I have been looking into different ways to make extra
money. I was reading on your tips that one of your readers
is a mystery shopper. I have looked into many of the sites
and all want an upfront fee. I was wondering if anyone knows
some companies for mystery shoppers that you can trust and
make money. I would appreciate any suggestions.” ~ Gail
Many years ago, I did a lot of mystery shopping, but have
been out of it so long that I cannot give any personal
recommendations. Here are some of the responses we received:
“I did mystery shopping for 3 years. I know many will
probably respond as I am about to, but if you they say you
have to pay, go somewhere else! When people ask me about
mystery shopping, the first site I send them to is
www.volition.com/mystery.html. They list more companies than
you would ever enroll for and are a good place to start. I
signed up for about 25 companies to receive e-mails from.
The one thing I DID pay money for was to earn the silver
certificate. It cost about $25 and was an online ‘class’ and
test. Having that certificate number definitely increased
how many higher-paying jobs I was offered/accepted for. I
did NOT go for the $100 gold certificate class so I don’t
know if it would have been worth it. That one involved a
day-long in-house type seminar.” ~ Melissa in MD
“…My first advice would be to go on the National Association
for Retail Marketing Services website (www.narms.com). A few
years ago, when my kids were babies, I NEEDED some ‘adult
time’ and wanted to help add some income to our budget. I
knew some people ‘on the inside’ at a large national retail
chain and was able to get a job through one of their
vendors. These retailers have vendors who look for employees
through this website. These vendor representatives go into
retail stores and do a lot of their stocking, cleaning,
ordering, etc. for specific companies. The first job I had
was for a book and magazine distributor based in Georgia. My
manager lived in the Dallas area and was always available
through email and cell phone, but would come to work with me
every 10-12 weeks. My job was to go in to the stores on a
weekly basis to stock items, clean displays, order new
merchandise and so forth. I worked 5 different stores here
in my city and made on average $25 per visit. Each visit
usually lasted about 1-2 hours and I only worked one day a
week! Although I have not been working in the last couple
of years, I kept my application open on this website and was
recently called by a vendor who works for a national brand!
So I will be merchandising again for another large chain
retailer, basically doing the same things I did before but
working in the Pharmacy/Healthcare area. I will work about 5
days a month and do a little travel within a 45 mile radius
around my area. My wage is $10 per hour plus mileage and
drive time. And this company also offers incentives, so with
a little extra work, I can earn bonuses as well.
As for ‘mystery shopping,’ here are two companies that I
know of. One is Market Force (www.marketforce.com). I have
done grocery shops, fast food and larger retail shops
through this site. It hasn’t proven very lucrative, but does
give you a few extra dollars. The other company is Certified
Field Associates (www.certifiedfieldassociates.com). This is
a part of MarketForce that I have recently signed on to. I
don’t know much about it yet, but from what I understand,
you are reimbursed to watch movies and eat at nice
restaurants. You don’t actually make money, but you do get
to go to the movies and eat out for free! All you usually
have to do for these is be a customer, asking questions and
taking mental notes. Then you go home and fill out surveys
online. You receive different fees depending on which
company you are working for and what you are doing. Some of
these places also offer extra incentives, too…” ~ Shonda
Editor’s Note: I just wanted to add my thoughts on mystery
shopping as a way of making additional income. In my
experience (I did mystery shopping for four years), the
money I made (or free meal/service I received as
compensation) was generally not worth the time and effort I
had to invest. For example, I might spend a half-hour
preparing for the mystery shop, 1.5-2 hours driving to and
doing the shop, and then another hour writing the report
about the shop when I got home. So for 2-3 hours of work
(and in some cases, a lot of stress), I might be reimbursed
for a $30-40 meal. In other cases, I make actually be paid
$10-15 for a total of 1-2 hours work. Over time, the novelty
wore off and I decided to invest my time elsewhere. I am not
saying this to be negative. But realistically if you want to
contribute significantly to your family’s income, mystery
shopping is generally not the best use of your time.
Thanks to all of our readers who responded. If you’d like to
read all of our readers’ responses in their entirety, visit
“Reputable Mystery Shopping Companies” page on our website
at: http://www.countingthecost.com/tio/mystery.htm. To
peruse previous “Talk It Out” questions and the responses
our readers submitted, visit our “Reader Input” page at
http://www.countingthecost.com/readerinput.htm
Thanks for the ping, granny. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do again. :)
Well, all said and done, we now have a whole new kitchen for $4,300. All new Maytag appliances and a floor that doesn’t have soft spots and flooring with a lifetime warranty. By doing it ourselves, we figure that we saved between 2/3 and 3/4 what it would have cost to call a contractor and let them do it all and provide appliances...<<<
Now I know why you spend so much time in the kitchen, you designed it and now have one that works.
Sounds like a dream kitchen, and I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more than you.
I served baked ham and sourdough pancakes to 80+ people that weekend, and some of the guests that met for the first time that day, are still good friends, over 30 years later!<<<
That should have earned you a few extra feathers in your Angel wings.
It is a good idea and I am glad it worked for you.
I am so glad that Grassfire was able to answer your questions.
Both of you are welcome on this thread, anytime, LOL, even if we don’t know the right answers.
Thanks for the bump, you are welcome and do join in the thread, if you would like.
We use a tube sock filled with old rice for a very convenient heat pack. Put it in the microwave for three or four minutes, you can take it anywhere, it conforms to whatever body part you put it on, and it stays warm for a long time.<<<
Excellent idea, it should freeze too, for cold paks.
I am with you, keep as far away from medicines as you can.
Howdy, glad you checked in.
I am with you, I love good news.
God does answer prayers.
A doe used to lick down one of my cats when he was small, she loved him and boy did he love those lickdowns! The doe even taught her fawn to lick down the cat. It was a sight to see. Once I was walking out in the back with the cats, they saw a small herd of deer walking nearby, and Tiger, the lickdown one, meowed and starting running towards the deer. His “meow” sounded like “Mama”!<<<
I think that is all that any of us want, a little loving, and caring.
I had a kitten that thought a duck was his mother.
And once I went to Laura Killman’s, to buy geese, she was in the barn teaching a 4-H class how to skin / dress a sheep.
She had forgotten a knife and asked if I would go to the house and get it for her.
Yes, I was glad to help.
“The knife is on the counter, just inside the door, and would you mind lifting that banty hen and making sure she is not sitting on the kittens again, she will be in the planter bed by the door?”
I of course was sure she was pulling my leg and joking with me.
The knife was as she said and so was a banty hen.
A pecky old broody hen, I picked her up and there were about 6 week old kittens under her.
She didn’t have any chicks to mother, so she would steal the kittens and sit on them.
Guess love is where you find it.
Thanks for the ping, granny.<<<
You are welcome, LOL, I don’t mind pinging good news.
The information is so varied right now, on the sites, it is almost as if folks are “waiting”.
I guess we all are.
I like to think it was the sour dough pancakes that brought everyone so close together. (But, perhaps it was the bloody-marys and screw-drivers that I served along with the brunch? Who’da thunk?) LOL!
Thanks, Granny!
Creative Frugality Topic:
Creatively Frugal Dream Vacations
Is it possible for a frugal family to make a dream vacation
a reality, even on a limited budget? Yes, it is. And in our
last Creative Frugality column, many of our readers shared
how they did it.
For the last issue’s Creative Frugality question, I wanted
to hear how your family has made a dream vacation become a
reality. The question asked, “Has your family ever taken a
dream vacation? If so, how did you do it on a budget? What
saving strategies did you use to make it affordable?” Here
are just a few of the strategies our readers shared:
“Our dream vacation was when we spent thirty days visiting
the Northwestern United States. We found bargain tickets on
Southwest from Tampa Bay to Las Vegas, stayed in Vegas at a
super discounted motel, then hit the road with a rental car
(they upgraded us to a van for no extra charge since we were
renting for a month!). We stayed in a combination of hostels
(family rooms usually run much cheaper than hotel rooms),
KOA cabins, with family for four nights, yurts in state
parks, and a few nights in hotels based on points we’d
accumulated by putting all of our purchases on a single
charge card. We visited Las Vegas, Seattle, WA, the entire
West Coast down to Los Angeles, then headed back to Las
Vegas via the Grand Canyon. We went through three
inexpensive Styrofoam coolers during the trip. Most of our
food came from grocery stores and yes, we shopped the sales.
We once found ten pounds of potatoes for $2! We cooked
whenever we had the chance, at hostels and campgrounds and
carefully chosen motels with microwaves, picked fruit off
the side of the road, shopped at fruit and vegetable stands
along the way and made sandwiches and easy no-cook
breakfasts most of the time. We took advantage of free
festivals, hiking, factory tours and anything else that was
fun and free. What we tell people is where there’s a will,
there’s a way…” ~ Marci
“We’ve been able to afford, so far, five dream vacations
that would have been totally out of our reach if we hadn’t
discovered house swapping. We’ve used www.Intervac.com and
now use www.homeexchange.com (yes, like in the movie!). On
our first swap, our children were 2, 5 and 6 years old, and
we traded homes with a family in London with 3 kids. After
the first 2 days there we gave up on eating lunch out — too
expensive, the kids didn’t like anything, and we saw many
other families packing lunches. So our routine settled in:
big breakfast at home, chicken sandwiches, granola bars and
frozen juice packs in a ziplock bag, in my pocketbook. It
was so hot that the juice packs thawed by lunchtime. We had
a roast chicken, veggies and potatoes from the supermarket
at night. We used whatever special passes they had for the
buses and Underground, and AAA discounts wherever possible.
Except for the airfare, we probably didn’t spend much more
than we would have spent on a ‘staycation’ here in New York,
which would have included trips to theme parks, eating out,
and going to museums in New York…” ~ Fran
“One year we had my brother and sister coming for a visit to
Georgia and another friend flying in from Japan. We drove
from Georgia to Washington, DC and the friend flew into the
DC area where we picked her up. We knew getting hotel rooms
in the area for a week for five people would be pretty
expensive and we were definitely on a budget with a military
income to live on! So we looked at house swapping websites
online and though we did not want to swap our own house, we
found someone who was willing to let us rent their basement
rooms for a week (it was fully finished.) Their basement was
lovely and one morning they even made us scones as a nice
surprise. We paid around $300 for the week’s rental (in DC
that’s a real steal!) and had a fantastic time!” ~ Melissa
(now living in MD)
“I am only 5 weeks away from my dream vacation which is a
tour of the Northeast with my teen. Hubby has to stay home
to work but my daughter wants to visit as many states as
possible over her spring break. My only input is that we
will not do the typical tourist items except Niagra Falls
and the Liberty Bell. Other than that, she has had to
research each state for free and unusual places and Mapquest
our trip to maximize our time and gas. It should be a lot of
fun. Because I travel for my job, I have made sure this year
to stay each night in a hotel that allows me to earn points
for a future free night. As a result, I have 10 free nights
at a national hotel chain which includes a free breakfast.
Our only food expenses will be lunch and dinner. As far as
gas, I have been ‘rounding up’ at the pump and the grocery
store. Every time I make a purchase, I take the difference
between what I paid and the next highest dollar and sock it
away for our gas money. Not a lot of cash each time (less
than $1) but it has added up and I have $432 for our gas
expenses.” ~ Anonymous
Editor’s Note: We received many great tips. If you are
planning a vacation anytime soon, I suggest that you read
through our readers’ responses to get some ideas for
planning big fun on a limited budget. You can find them at
http://www.countingthecost.com/cf/cf159.htm.
Thanks to all of our readers who took time to respond. If
you’d like to read all the responses we received to this
question or browse through previous discussion questions,
visit the “Creative Frugality” page on our website at:
http://www.countingthecost.com/cf/creativefrugality.htm
[You should be able to join at the link, a nice newsletter, about 2 X each month...granny]
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