Posted on 07/24/2009 3:37:21 AM PDT by 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
You are welcome to our pings and to join in posting on the thread any time you are ready.
I will attempt to make the Taco Casserole, wish me luck.<<<
How was it?
Hope you liked it, and that you will share Korean dishes with us, or LOL, any that you think that we might like, good is the secret of our search.
Do join in posting or asking questions, you are welcome any time.
Suburban survivalists stock up for Armageddon
Fearing economic collapse, many are salting away food — lots and lots of it<<<
He has gone too far in the other direction, from the guy in the cave.
Does he have a clue to the shelf life of his stored items?
Thanks for the comments....
{{{{{{lotsa hugs}}}}}} <<<
{{{{{{lotsa hugs}}}}}}
Those I needed badly, sending you back a double portion.
Well, today I tried drying meat - not jerky in the usual sense.<<<
Interesting and to me, it is a better way to dry meat.
Why couldn’t you boil it in jerky sauce and then dry it?
You are welcome, hope you will come often and join in.
Thank you for all the work that you have done on all 3 threads, and for keeping the Yahoo group going for us all, if we should need it.
You are posting interesting and different from here and that can be good, gives us a large selection of items.
Really busy, still. Guess that’s good! :)<<<
Maybe it is good to stay busy, but I also enjoyed having you drop in for a visit, now and then.
Stay safe and have fun.
Their final words were ‘We can’t please ALL constituents all the time.’ Grrrrrrr.
Of course you guys all know how I can get on my soapbox. LOL<<<
Here, take my soapbox, it is bigger and can be louder.
Keep on telling the truth, when and where you can, that is the only way to spread it.
I sent our dog catcher home to find and read the communist manifesto 1963, yesterday.
She asked “why?”, and I asked if she had read the manifesto?
She had not, but she will, a nice lady, who did her job right.
I am still upset and will be for a long time.
I have had 2 pit bulls coming in here and eating my dog food for months, and chasing the cats.
I have also had a lot of cats go missing.......
I opened the door to yell at them to leave, and saw they were trying to eat my Siamese Mama cat and she was still alive.
Nothing is so evil as 2 pit bulls in a killing mood.
I am heart broken with my neighbors, there I stood in my front yard, stark nakkkid, wearing only the hose to my oxygen generator, and waving a spray bottle of vinegar, yelling at the top of my lungs and not one soul came to help or called the cops and reported me for being insane.
They dropped the cat once and headed for me, ready for another kill, but the vinegar they do not like in their faces.
I don’t go out doors, for the reason that I pass out all the time and it is so hard to breathe the dust in the air.
If I had gone down, they would have torn me apart, of that I have no doubt.
I have never been so upset, to see how they were tearing my cat apart.
I called 911, hoping a Deputy was in the area and could find out where they lived.
They sent the Humane Society Officer.
She set a trap, which when the dogs came back last night, they took one look and I know they thought “Not that trap again and went right around it, to where they dropped Mama and checked to see if she was still there.
She was not.
So I scared them off with the vinegar.
I had called to tell the Officer that there was a cat in the trap, for she had said she would come and release any cats, if that is what I wanted.....it was.
She had also promised to spend time out here attempting to find the dogs, they have collars on, no tags.
I heard the dogs eating the cat food and went out, to run them off, for they were now looking for cats, under the trailer.
Cussing and spraying and wishing that it was safe to use a gun.
I glanced to the driveway and there was the Officer, sliding out like a real fancy lady and “Nice doggy, come on and I will take you for a ride....”
And they did, went to the back of the van and she got one in, but the worst and biggest, made a get away attempt.
She did apologize for cussing, LOL, I promised that I also knew all the cuss words invented.
We were very proud of a job well done, before 9am.
She thinks the dogs have been arrested before.
And since she has a full ID on them and arrested them almost in the act, plus saw the work of the day before, she says the judge will not go easy on the owners.
I still get upset about it and no matter what I am trying to think, wind up seeing Mama fighting for her life.
She left 2 or should be 5 kittens, too small to be alone and I cannot find them.
One was here this morning, but would not eat or drink and I could not catch it, so small.
So am exhausted attempting to catch the babies and to keep the dogs from getting more.
GRAINS, FLOURS AND LEGUMES
For Storage<<<
Excellent and I thank you for posting them.
Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry<<<
That sounds good, let me know when dinner is ready.
Good thing was they had the lake water right there.<<<
That is the best way to fight a fire.
The other night in Las Vegas, they had to run the fire hose over 1,000 feet, to reach a fire hydrant with enough water to fight the fire.
I have had 2 pit bulls coming in here and eating my dog food for months, and chasing the cats.<<<
That is how upset that I am, I do not own a dog, they come to eat the cat’s food. And cats.
I’d like to share where the Yahoo group is. Anyone can read the posts and if you join, the messages or the summaries come right to your mailbox (or you can set it so you don’t get notified of anything, and you can visit whenever you like).
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SurvivalGardening
I just approved a member from a month ago! I better pay closer attention...
It is! The garden is finally overcoming the cold and wet! Our fabricated log cabin, bar anymore complications, will be a reality by winter... everything else is on schedule!
I just drove straight from "the Gulch" to our place here in Washington state to tie up some loose ends and take a (thank God!) small load back! It took me 32 hours (1740 miles) this time... that's just stopping for necessities only! Doing that alone was no sweat when I was a bit younger, but frankly, My Arse hurts! LOL!
When I left Mn it was cool for this time of year (year without a summer)... thinking it would be a typical mid 70's here in Wa. St. I thought I could get some good sweat work done... but Noooo! They are having a record setting heat wave for my time here! High 90's in Wa. St. is miserable to work in! Just made the decision to just do some upkeep chores, and save the heavy stuff for when I come back in October. Going to sell off two parcels, (if the economy allows it) and need to get them spiffy and ready.
Can't keep my eyes open so I'm going to catch up on that lost sleep!
Oh Granny, what an awful story. These people who have these fighting dogs without taking care of them, and letting them run wild in the neighborhood, are reprehensible. I’m so sorry. I hope they catch the other dog. Maybe the dog catcher lady can figure out how to trap or coax the kittens out so she can find homes for them.
A nice woman that I work with lives in a tough part of town. She said the mailman refused to bring mail to her because there was a pit bull loose, and the mailman was sure it was hers. She was on the phone for days trying to straighten it out. I was mad on her behalf. She finally got her mail. It was ridiculous.
We got our dog, a lab terrier mix, from the Humane Society. No one wanted her because she was undersized and very gentle. She’s really cute and smart. But she’d never do any good in a dogfight, so if we hadn’t rescued her, she’d have been put to sleep.
My mom says, “Sometimes I don’t like this old world any more.”
I have no use for Pits! One of my Daughters has them, nice dogs if raised right, but most aren't... I shudder when I think of my Grand Kids being turned on by those dogs... you... just... never... know!
Turning in here, I just made sure my post made it OK and saw what happened to your Mama cat... Damn it again!
http://frugalforlife.blogspot.com/search/label/Make%20Money
A page of ideas on different ways to make extra money.
Explains e-Bay and Craigs list.
A former co-worker had a part-time job selling home-made walking sticks and canes made from wood. He would take long walks in the woods and find the best, thickest sticks and turn them into one of a kind canes and walking sticks that he sold for a hundred dollars each. To him it was fun and a nice side business.
http://frugalforlife.blogspot.com/2009/07/flipping-on-scarcity-switch.html
Flipping On the Scarcity Switch
Posted byDawnLabels:Be more,My Thoughts
“Thrift comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse.”
When I have a full toilet paper roll, I pull off more squares of TP than when the roll gets smaller, in order to make it last longer. The same goes for milk, I grab the big glass when I have just made it and the smaller glass when I have only a little left. Even though I can make more milk or grab another roll of tp, I still want to try to lengthen the life of the last bit but only when I see I am down to the final bit.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I have a scarcity switch that kicks on telling me to make it last. But that switch doesn’t seem to kick on when I have just pulled out a new bottle of dish soap, nope, not until I am down to the last bit and shaking and squeezing the bottle like a maniac.
Over a period of time I realize it will happen and that it is just a retraining of brain, but it is frustrating to not think about making something last longer until I start to see the last bit slosh around at the bottom.
When my family would go to Grandma’s house she would rinse out the paper towels and the paper plates and let them hang to dry until she could use them again later. She would never use them again to give us kids but she would use them for herself to wipe down the counter or the paper plates to eat off of herself. Even though she had a pile of perfectly decent, washable plates getting dusty in the cupboard or a 6 pack of paper towels in the basement she could still re-use these items until they couldn’t be used again.
For her, the retraining her brain got was during the depression era. She always blamed it on her Scottish background. Either way, she come to a point that when she looked at the things around her she felt she needed to find ways to make them last longer, even though she had an abundance stored away.
Sometimes I wonder if it is easier to live with the scarcity switch on after you have had outside influences force it that way. I certainly don’t romanticize the depression or the idea of constantly living with scant food and things. But sometimes the push from outside our control can be a good thing - in moderation.
Right now my goal is to just get into the habit of flipping my scarcity switch on and off and the appropriate times, much like I have gotten into the habit of switching on and off a light to a room.
http://frugalforlife.blogspot.com/2009/07/frugal-ideas-taking-hold-with-families.html
Frugal Ideas Taking Hold with Families
Posted byDawnLabels:Consumerism,Learn more,thrift
A joint research from Starcom and Nickelodeon found out a few things. First the study:
“The research — which is being shared with clients but not released widely — was conducted over fourth-quarter 2008 and first-quarter 2009, and included nationally representative online surveys of 1,000 parents with kids aged 2 to 17 and 700 children aged 8 to 17. Qualitative parental responses were culled from blogs.”
72 percent agreed with the statement, “It’s no longer important to keep up with the Joneses.”
48 percent said that “we have redefined what’s truly meaningful in our lives.”
Over 60 percent of those polled said they were buying more store brands than previously
73 percent said they had started using coupons more.
46 percent said they would take a “staycation” and spend time at home as opposed to traveling.
News like this always warms my heart that people are seeing the usefulness to living within their means and not worrying about what the neighbors think of the way they live. They are doing what is right for their finances and for their family and seeing the benefits from it.
I’m glad that people are not as brand loyal as they used to be. Personally I have seen a few changes in the grocery markets that are helping as well.
1. I see that store name items have as much shelf display as some of the brand name displays
2. I’m seeing more stores promote their store brands at the end of aisles and giving a larger display along the inner aisles. A 99¢ box of corn flakes can be just as good tasting as the brand name for 2.59
3. I notice that many of the store brands are going back to a two color design to make them stand out from the others, mostly blue and white or red,white and blue.
I work in a retail store office that counts the coupons coming in and I must say that I have noticed an increase in coupons as well. Usually weekdays are slower for coupons but now weekdays have about as many coupons that weekends had almost two years ago. Also people are using multiple coupons more - a BOGO coupon along with a second cents off coupon or are using store coupons along with manufacturer coupons. I have also seen an increase in multiple coupons for the same item - meaning people are either buying more papers on Sunday or getting multiples from online sites.
Finally, the newest word added to Merriam-Webster online, staycation, is one that many of us have done already when finances didn’t allow, and we now have a feeling of belonging and, we don’t have to worry about others thinking we are ‘losers’ because we aren’t traveling as often as often as them. Which brings us back full circle to the 72% who said they weren’t going to keep up with the Joneses any longer.
Frugal-living really is easy when you cut to the chase. It is just the attitude and willingness to change that takes time and a little push sometimes.
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