Frugal Living

reply to post by collateraldamage

Dont buy window cleaner make your own! I do it the real old fashioned way with a bucket of hot soapy water and 1/4 cup of vinegar and sponge. Just remember to only use a drop or two of soap you dont want the water too sudsy. Then after I have washed the window I dry it with a dry towel to prevent streaks (:

I have several "Prepper" sites saved,and this one seems to fit well in this thread. Haven't seen it posted elsewhere so here goes.

www.livingwithbasics.com...

Be well

Don't forget to Freecycle. (Each local city should have a Freecycle group on yahoo.)
It can save you on 'dump' fees and/or gas, and sometimes can net you some things you need.

Gardening isn't always all that frugal - it can cost a bit to get one started, and then if you have bad soil, weather, pests....you can have a bad crop. It depends on where you live. You might save money if you can buy really inexpensive produce locally. BUT, there's other benefits to gardening like a feeling of pride, a spiritual connection with plants and the earth, exercise, ect.

Go to home depot and buy one of those phone line testers with the LED light in it. Plug it into one of the phone jacks in your house and leave it there. Free night light from the electricity in your phone line. If you use more than 1 your dial tone and volume will get too low.

Buy a hot water heater timer at home depot. Wire it into your chest freezers plug. Your freezer will be fine getting power 12 hours a day instead of 24. It's a insulated ice box. Do a little experimenting for your area, you might get by with it having power even less hours.

Do you really need a 40 gallon hot water heater? Or will a 20 gallon model be enough?


Avoid those new "efficient" CFL bulbs. If you get a power surge the circuit board inside it will short and either leak hot mercury gas from the bulb into your room or possibly start a fire as the plastic casing goes up in flames.

Stick to safe old lightbulbs......but put as much solar powered lighting as your can afford around your home. Outside flood light, solar powered ($100).....solar powered motion light for the back porch ($60)...solar powered lights on your window sills ($10 each).

Drive around on garbage day in wealthy neighborhoods and pick up furniture to paint white for beach house, or kids bedrooms. Also find stuff you can donate to Good Will for tax donation breaks. Clean your garage out and donate to Habitat for Humanity or Free Store for a tax break. Clean out your house and donate stuff after Christmas before January first for a tax break. Shop gargage and estate sales. Clean out house and sell items on E bay. Reuse shopping bags for trash bag liners or dog poop pick ups. Trade dvds with your family or sell them to a pawn shop or donate to your public library. Trade coupons with friends, car pool kids to band camp and other activities. Stop buying new, buy used. Fix your own stuff. Do your own lawn, housework, and wash your car at home. Get the newspaper out of someone elses recycling bin. Collect beverage cans and sell the aluminum. Join Net Flix, avoid movie theatres and cable TV. Eat less, use less, do less.

Bar towels and white cotton towels from the automotive section. Haven't bought paper towels in over two years. Save old white cotton socks to clean up messes that wont wash out, just throw them away. Use 1/2 cup vinegar in laundry, haven't used fabric softener in forever, and no smell, and towels are fluffier. Besides commercial fabric softener shouldn't be used on bath towels anyway, creates film on fibers and make them less absorbent. I save the pulp from my juicer, carrot I add to carrot cake recipe, pineapple I add to muffin mixes, other vegetable pulp I add to soups and stews for thickening. Vinegar and water for cleaning windows. Ask neighbors who get a paper to save them, use for mulching between garden rows, the ink is vegetable based so no petroleum contams in there. Sheets make good curtains, many have the trim already open make a good rod pocket. Turn the pilot light off on the furnace during the summer months, saves about 7 dollars a month on gas bill. One day every two weeks, go lights out, good for practicing if you happen to be without power for some reason. By drapes at the thrift store and use as couch covers when your sofa needs a cover, but can't be replaced, just tack with needle and thread to conform to design, makes for less slippage. Find heirloom seed vendors, save each year for the next, won't spend $$ for new/hybrid seed. Offer to clean an older relative or neighbors garage for them, they'd probably give you stuff just for doing it, then you can ebay it and split proceeds.
thanks OP, I like to check this out periodically to see what ideas folks offer that I might not have done.