The Frugal Family Guide (Back to the dark ages is good)

Newsweek.com ^ | Mar 7, 2009 | Steve Tuttle

[raybbr]

Last summer I was at my parents' cabin in rural Virginia and I noticed a dead mouse in a rusty old trap. I tossed it in the trash. Later that day I told my dad about the mouse, and he asked, "Where's the trap?" I told him it looked as though it were falling apart, and I'd thrown it out with the mouse still attached. He looked at me as if I'd punched him in the face. My mom chimed in: "We've had that trap since we got married!" I wasn't sure she was joking, and they got married almost 50 years ago. I sheepishly dug it out of the garbage and loaded it up with cheese again. Now it's become one of those perennial things they bring up every time I go home: "Remember when Steve threw out the mousetrap, mouse and all!?" This is followed by shuddering and head shaking, as they silently wonder where it all went wrong.

In today's cratering economy, my parents are looking pretty smart all of a sudden. President Obama talks a lot about personal sacrifice, and we all need to look for ways to cut costs these days. Maybe he ought to consider Bill and Joyce Tuttle as the nation's first thrift czars, because when it comes to pinching pennies and saving for the future, my parents are extreme.

Here are some real and true examples: my mom does not use a clothes dryer. "Why would I ever need that as long as we have the outdoors?" she says. (I'd like to answer that: there's nothing like pulling on a pair of frozen Fruit of the Looms straight off the line on a sleeting January morning. Thanks, Mom.) They don't own a credit card.

[gieriscm]

Depends on where you are. We bought five cords of good, seasoned and split hardwood last year for $675 in WV. That’s our total winter heating bill.

[nyconse]

Exactly, I don’t want to live in the dark ages, and if the government thinks they can convince me otherwise...they are in for a big surprise. I don’t line dry my clothes because of ticks...there is Lyme disease in Ohio...you know the disease that insurance companies like to pretend does not exist.

[dalereed]

“Thrift is the opposite of what Consumerism is all about, that money is not meant to be saved”

Shove consumerism where the sun doesn’t shine!

[dalereed]

“if one is old enough, we can recall a gallon of gas costing 98 cents”

That’s extremely high!

I was paying 13.9 cents/gal. for ethyl when I was in high school.

Even in 1974 until the crunch it was only 26.9 cents/gal.

[padre35]

Exactly, and now with the artificial inflationary pressures of 12% of GDP being federal spending, we will see price increases again, and that will destroy both savings and the value of debt instruments.

A T Bill is paying .28%, inflation is running (officially) at 2% meaning one is losing money if one purchases a debt instrument, and that will only grow worse as the porkulus monies spread throughout the economy.

[TXnMA]

I assume that, by "chop" you really mean, "split"...

I got one of the "spring-loaded mauls" marked "5" in this photo:

It works far better than it looks; the first time I tried it, (kneeling on my concrete garage floor) it popped the splits off with so much force that they flew over and dented my car in the next garage bay...

As this article says,

"This photo of mauls shows the spring-loaded maul, #5, which looks like a foolish gadget but which truly works well, and will really throw the wood around if you are wise and work on the edges and don't aim for the middle of a big one. Highly recommended by the Bird Dog Consumer Reports."

It requires much less force than a standard maul -- or hitting a wedge with a (10 lb -- ouch!) maul or sledgehammer...

[dalereed]

I’m still making 5% on a jumbo CD and over 2 1/2% on our money markwt accounts.

[dangerdoc]

I heat my house with wood. I cut, hand-split and stack 6+ cords of wood every year.

This sounds weird but if my back goes out, there are two things I can count on to make it better. One is about three hours of wood splitting. The other is push mowing. I can’t explain it and it hurts like the dickens when I start but the pain just makes me mad and by the time I am done, I feel better.

My theory is the only thing that can make your back feel normal is to kick it’s but and make it happy that you’re not making it mow or split wood.

[raybbr]

At local prices, five cords would cost about a thousand dollars. Does that sound right?

I got a ten to twelve cord truckload last year for $400. It's all logs but I will save over two thousand in my heating bill with it. I use propane and the prices have gone up 325% in the last ten years.

Two hundred a cord sounds right for here in CT. I don't know about your area. Last October it was up to $250 because of gas prices. Or, say the sellers say.

[raybbr]

I don’t line dry my clothes because of ticks...there is Lyme disease in Ohio...you know the disease that insurance companies like to pretend does not exist.

I am not sure how a tick would get on clothing hanging on a line but I will not mention that to my wife. My neighbor hangs their clothes over the railing of their deck. I can see a tick finding its way there but even that's doubtful because they only hang around in the grass and low brush.

[ottbmare]

Regrettably I live in the People’s Democratic Republic of Maryland, and my very liberal county will not allow me to install a wood-burning stove in the area I would need to heat this house, due to ducting concerns. It’s profoundly irritating, and it’s Reason No. 4683 for me to want to GET OUT OF HERE. O God, if only this recession would end and I could sell my house, I’d be out of here so fast . . .

[TXnMA]

When I was a kid during WWII, my folks had a large "Victory Garden". And afterward they always had a half-acre or so in garden.

During the war Dad also raised rabbits for food (Yum!)

We always ate very well!

~~~~~~~~~~

Now, I'm looking for a good "two-bottom" plow and a small gang disk for the three-point hitch on my 30 HP Kubota tractor -- so that I can follow their example -- without having to pay someone to "break" the garden plot each Spring, as they did...

[Little Ray]

When gub’mint starts making “sacrifices,” maybe I’ll start making sacrifices.

[raybbr]

If you are using a maul and have logs over eighteen inches in diameter it's a good idea to score the face of the log with a chainsaw to a depth of at least an inch. It gives you a place to start the maul and makes a huge difference.

I will check out the spring loaded maul Looks interesting.

[dangerdoc]

How does that gizmo work on elm. I normally use an 8 lb maul and can split faster than a hydraulic splitter on most wood. My problem is elm. Half the time, if it is too wide to fit in the stove door, I throw it away.

I need the exercise and am not interested in a hydraulic splitter but I am very interested in something that can take on elm.

[raybbr]

Elm? You have elm trees? I thought they were all gone?

[postoak]

Around 1960, I can remember it getting down to 11 cents per gallon during price wars.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You misspelled "Newsweak."

[gieriscm]

Look into a pellet stove - they vent straight through the exterior wall. No ductwork required.

Oh, and I have an OTTB gelding. :)

[TXnMA]

Only 'elm' I've used it on is what the locals call, "pisselm". Sometimes the splits do not separate completely, because they remain attached by very springy "splinters" -- but it works most of the time...

Of course, I split wood like I knap off 'blades' from a flint or obsidian "core": I start near an edge (to split off an 'arc'), then remove the "corners" left from the first split, etc...

IOW, I "peel off" chunks around the edges; unless the diameter is small, I never try to start across the middle...