Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition [Survival Today - an On going Thread #3]

Frugal Dad .com ^ | July 23, 2009 | Frugal Dad

[nw_arizona_granny]

Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition Category: Roundups | Comments(15)

Did you hear about the guy that lives on nothing? No seriously, he lives on zero dollars a day. Meet Daniel Suelo, who lives in a cave outside Moab, Utah. Suelo has no mortgage, no car payment, no debt of any kind. He also has no home, no car, no television, and absolutely no “creature comforts.” But he does have a lot of creatures, as in the mice and bugs that scurry about the cave floor he’s called home for the last three years.

To us, Suelo probably sounds a little extreme. Actually, he probably sounds very extreme. After all, I suspect most of you reading this are doing so under the protection of some sort of man-made shelter, and with some amount of money on your person, and probably a few needs for money, too. And who doesn’t need money unless they have completely unplugged from the grid? Still, it’s an amusing story about a guy who rejects all forms of consumerism as we know it.

The Frugal Roundup

How to Brew Your Own Beer and Maybe Save Some Money. A fantastic introduction to home brewing, something I’ve never done myself, but always been interested in trying. (@Generation X Finance)

Contentment: A Great Financial Principle. If I had to name one required emotion for living a frugal lifestyle it would be contentment. Once you are content with your belongings and your lot in life you can ignore forces attempting to separate you from your money. (@Personal Finance by the Book)

Use Energy Star Appliances to Save On Utility Costs. I enjoyed this post because it included actual numbers, and actual total savings, from someone who upgraded to new, energy star appliances. (@The Digerati Life)

Over-Saving for Retirement? Is it possible to “over-save” for retirement? Yes, I think so. At some point I like the idea of putting some money aside in taxable investments outside of retirement funds, to be accessed prior to traditional retirement age. (@The Simple Dollar)

40 Things to Teach My Kids Before They Leave Home. A great list of both practical and philosophical lessons to teach your kids before they reach the age where they know everything. I think that now happens around 13 years-old. (@My Supercharged Life)

Index Fund Investing Overview. If you are looking for a place to invest with high diversification and relatively low fees (for broader index funds with low turnover), index funds are a great place to start. (@Money Smart Life)

5 Reasons To Line Dry Your Laundry. My wife and I may soon be installing a clothesline in our backyard. In many neighborhoods they are frowned upon - one of the reasons I don’t like living in a neighborhood. I digress. One of our neighbors recently put up a clothesline, and we might just follow his lead. (@Simple Mom)

A Few Others I Enjoyed

* 4 Quick Tips for Getting Out of a Rut * Young and Cash Rich * Embracing Simple Style * First Trading Experience With OptionsHouse * The Exponential Power of Delayed Consumption * How Much Emergency Fund is Enough? * 50 Questions that Will Free Your Mind * Save Money On Car Insurance

[CottonBall]

The frugal yankee website that came up on your frugal search looks interesting (http://www.frugalyankee.com). Although pretty slow to use on dialup at the moment. Maybe it's a temporary server glitch, I hope.

[CottonBall]

Here is a dessert recipe that says New England fall, Thanksgiving and lots of unwanted calories.

MAPLE SYRUP PIE

Oh boy, does THAT sound good!

[CottonBall]

Thanks for summarizing the frugal sites, granny. That saved me some time (and patience!).

Those bread recipes look great, too!

[CottonBall]

Pretty easy to see how some of the old ‘Shine’ could be blinding... from wood alcohol to rubbing alcohol all mixed with the ethanol.

LOL! I was more interested in Tas' idea of sterilizing water, but if I find I need a new hobby, this'll help me set up my still in the hills around here ;)

[CottonBall]

The husband said, “Well, I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

LOL! A hilarious story with a great moral to it. thanks for sharing it, Joya.

[CottonBall]

In seven of the 12 combinations of crops and regions, farmers using modified crops had to add the same quantities of pesticides to their fields as those growing non-modified crops. To study yields, the USDA looked at 18 crop/region combinations. In 12 of them, yields of modified crops were no better.

There goes both claims of why we 'need' engineered crops. Of course, I don't suppose the facts will stop the libs from forcing them on us, as with everything else.

[DelaWhere]

Somebody asked a question a while back about building radios.

Low-tech radio

Listen to AM radio on a crystal radio set you can build yourself for only a few dollars. Crystal radios don’t need a power supply — they’re powered by the radio waves they receive!

Crystal radios were discovered in 1901 and are still the basis for most modern-day radio apparatus. For this reason, a study of crystal sets is a great place to start to build a foundation in radio electronics.

You can make a crystal radio out of anything (Xtal Set Society)
Building them was a craze in the 1920s, and again in the 1950s, and now it’s happening all over again.

Here’s where to start: online resources, plans and instructions for different models you can build — from a cereal packet, a cigar box, and a computer cable.

http://www.journeytoforever.org/edu_radio.html

[CottonBall]

Here's 2 interesting articles:

U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly rise
As one poster said, 'unexpected my a$$'!

ACLU Sues Sheriff Arpaio for Detaining Illegals
Not related to survival, but Sheriff Joe is one of my heroes. I hope he comes out of this on top. He's one of the last true great Americans doing what is right inspite of the opposition.

[CottonBall]

After seeing your gorgeous girls, I had to show you what my triplets did last night. I had guests over for dinner and my 3 from one litter were hanging out together alot. My friend, who loves animals as much as we do, insisted I take pics. I didn't need much coaxing!


Looking for squirrels, birds, coyotes, bears - whatever might pass by the window! From left to right is Cashmere, Cotton, and Corduroy. Two girls and a boy.


Playing with an unfortunate moth is the best cat toy, they think. From left to right is Cashmere, Roy, and Cotton.

I have a ridiculous number of cats - the 3 triplets plus 3 strays that showed up and are now family. I wish I could take granny's PurrBaby too. :( BTW, I love Solitare's name. Very classy.

[CottonBall]

I've split and stacked my first woodpile, in preparation for winter. Getting ready for winter in the mountains is hard work, I'm finding. I've also had to recoat the decks so the winter snow on them for 4 months or so won't cause any damage.

Anyway, my first woodpile is almost 2 cords (DW, I HAD to calculate it, you know! It's a 13x13x10 triangle, 4 feet high. Using Heron's rule, which I had to google, that makes it 240 cubic feet or 1.875 cords).

IF I stay up here all winter, I'll use all that and more - but I'm not sure how committed I am to truly living the survival life - yet. Before it is forced upon us.

It's amazing the pride I feel at doing this manual labor and providing us with heat for the winter, all without paying the government one penny in taxes!

[CottonBall]

Being Chased Crocodiles and alligators are surprisingly fast on land. Although they are rapid, they are not agile; so if you ever find yourself chased by one, run in a zigzag line. You’ll lose him or her every time.

LOL. Useful info, for those living or ever visiting Florida! I'll file that away for future use.

[metmom]

You might want to consider some way of sheltering that wood pile. If it gets drifted full of snow, it’s really miserable to get it in the winter.

We tried to do that with our wood piles but the snow still got in so we’d have to bring the logs in with snow on them and let them melt and dry off before using.

What a pain.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Another no electric pump, a new one to me, “Treadle Pump”, there is a photo of one being used in Malawi at the top of the page, looks like a see saw, 2 planks, with people standing on them, one up and one down, LOL, will google it.
granny

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/7231.htm

---

http://www.google.com/search?q=treadle+pump+to+water&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

1.
Treadle pump - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A treadle pump is a human-powered pump designed to lift water from a depth of seven meters or less. A treadle is a lever device pressed by the foot to drive ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadle_pump - Cached - Similar
2.
Design for the Other 90%: Bamboo Treadle Pump
The Bamboo Treadle Pump allows poor farmers to access groundwater during the dry ... materials cleans water for drinking http://twitpic.com/d9iih Link ...
other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/bamboo-treadle-pump - Cached - Similar
3.
Treadle Pump Design
I contacted a friend, Larry Shannon, who became interested and we started brainstorming to create a design for a treadle pump that could raise water to ...
www.haitifundinc.org/.../treadle_pump/treadle_pump_design.html - Cached - Similar
4.
Treadle Pump
Treadle Pump is a foot operated water lifting device that can irrigate small plots of land of small holders in regions that have higher water table (not ...
www.ide-india.org/ide/treadlepump.shtml - Cached - Similar
5.
Water-powered water pumps - Appropriate technology: Journey to Forever
The treadle irrigation pump is able to lift up to 7000 litres of water per hour using the power of the human body, and can be made locally at low cost in ...
www.journeytoforever.org/at_waterpump.html - Cached - Similar
6.
Treadle pump | TECHNOLOGY FOR AGRICULTURE
A treadle pump comprises a cylinder fitted with a piston and some means of pushing the piston up and down . A pipe connects the pump to the water source and ...
www.fao.org/teca/content/treadle-pump - Cached - Similar
7.
Treadle Pumps - IDE - Enabling Prosperity
Treadle Pump Variations: River Pump Mounted on a portable metal stand so that it is easily moved from one water source to another. Pumps from surface water ...
www.ideorg.org/work/zambia_tradlepump.php - Cached - Similar
8.
Treadle.Pump - Build Your Own Treadle Pump
Apr 19, 2008 ... To find out what a treadle pump is, I did web searches and soon learned that they are foot-operated water pumps and are used all over the ...
treadle.pump.googlepages.com/buildyourowntreadlepump - Cached - Similar
9.
Treadle pump, Pedal pump, pumps, india
The Treadle pump can raise water by suction and by pressure, just like a motorized centrifugal pump. It can raise water from a well when the water level is ...
www.ajayindustrial.com/handp_treadle.htm - Cached - Similar
10.
Pumping water with a treadle pump. | International Rivers
learn more about: Water & Energy Solutions ... Pumping water with a treadle pump. IDE. Pumping water with a treadle pump. ...
www.internationalrivers.org/.../water.../pumping-water-treadle-pump - Cached - Similar

Searches related to: treadle pump to wateride treadle pump bamboo treadle pump

[TASMANIANRED]

Thanks for the info.

This is bourbon country so a still leaped to mind..

Thanks for the fine tuning.

[TASMANIANRED]

Being down wind of DC would be pretty onerous.

So it sound slike you are a Virginian?

Beautiful state , coast to Mountains.

[TASMANIANRED]

The blessing was it happened when the country was wide open and sparcely populated.

It wiggles infrequently.

[TASMANIANRED]

They both are pretty demonstrative when it comes to love.

[nw_arizona_granny]

{coworker’s birthday cake 8/11, the big four-oh)<<<

Reads like a recipe that I would like.

Thank you.

[CottonBall]

You might want to consider some way of sheltering that wood pile. If it gets drifted full of snow, it’s really miserable to get it in the winter.

Well, this woodpile is just one of many. It just happens to be 'mine'. ;) It's also freshly cut wood, so we'll let it dry for a year and use it next year or the one after. And it'll be covered with a tarp over the winter anyway. But that tarp will still get 5 or 6 or more feetof snow on it, making it unusable.

Which reminds me of a question you can probably help me with: a neighbor up here says he doesn't put tarps on his newer piles because it will mold the wood. He lets 'em get covered with snow and then when he moved them to his woodpile to be used that year, they dry out then over the summer. I've really not noticed mold on our older woodpiles yet, even those under a tarp for 2 or 3 years. What do you think is the better way? What do you do?

Our 'usable' piles are nearer the house under a shelter. It's a pain moving wood around, but has to be done. (Our average snowfall is 15 feet with 5 or more feet on the ground at a given time. Good for snowmobiling and other snow sports, lousy for just walking around, ya know!) I hear this year is expected to be an El Nino year - last time they had 26 feet of snow here. I wasn't up here then. Do the El Ninos affect you where you are?

[CottonBall]

The blessing was it happened when the country was wide open and sparcely populated.

True. It would be a catastrophe today.

It wiggles infrequently.

That's good. Do they have any predictions for how often that fault moves? I know out here in CA, we're due for 'the big one' any time now, according to the statistics. Luckily I'm no where near it, but it will affect the entire state IMO. With the shipping of goods around being slowed or stopped. Another good reason to be prepared.