Comments on: Eight Little Frugal Tactics I’ve Found So Far This Summer

By: BJ

BJ — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:23:59 +0000

Yes, please do a walkthrough on your experience of making your own beer and (secondarily) wine! I’m about to invest in the equipment and supplies to make my own in the next couple of months, and would love to see your setup. I love to have a variety of beers, but find there are three I repeatedly buy, especially when faced with a limited selection, those being Beck’s Dark, Sierra Nevada IPA, and the favorite, Sam Adam’s Boston Ale. I’d love to see how you brew frugally, so I can take your advice and start on the path of replicating my favorites.

By: Cibbuano

Cibbuano — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:38:14 +0000

great post and website… I like how a lot of these tips put you back into living like a human being. It’d be easy to suggest not spending any money and locking yourself at home, but spending less while getting out in the sun? Great!

By: Sara

Sara — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:06:45 +0000

I have worked many years of my life in the home improvement industry stores. Along with the mistinted paint situation quite often you can still retint that same paint to your liking. The best paint to grab are the mistint whites- yes they do happen. Grab the color you really want and wow!- you have a color you intended to have. Now lets say it origionally would have cost you $30 for that gallon of paint, it is marked down to $10- I bet if you bargain the salesperson at the paint counter you could even shave off from that price. They typically want it gone and don’t really care what the costs are to them since it is a financial loss anyhow. It would cost them more to dispose since it is technically a chemical then it is to just mark it down for you to buy. Plus they like the free space for future mistints. Also keep in mind this isn’t just for paint but also stains too. Another shave to home improvement projects are closeouts and damaged materials. Quite often cabinets can have minimal damage but still be used (the back is cracked) or returns due to missordered sizes. I have saved $100’s of dollars on misordered items to remodel my home I purchased 4 years ago buying seconds and mis ordered items. For example I bought a full fiberglass tub for $50 because it had a chip at the top and exposed the fiberglass. A repair kit cost me $8.00 so for $58 I had a brand new tub that works and no one but me will ever see versus a tub that costs $500. I bought a display dishwasher for $99 because it was just that a display that was being discontinued with a new model that origionally cost $500. If you are in no hurry to do the projects the return can save $100’s of dollars if you are willing to shop and save.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:18:36 +0000

Most definitely on the home brew experience. I like decent beer/wine – but cringe at the thought of paying as much as I do for a bottle.

Fire the kettle!

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:55:48 +0000

Not a perenial plant, but my wife planted 5 kale plants this year. We’ve been harvesting the outside leaves only, and we’ve gotten a great cooking green for at least 10 meals so far this summer, and we’ll probably get 6 or 7 more.

By: Adam @ Beer Bits 2

Adam @ Beer Bits 2 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:25:00 +0000

I whole heartedly agree about brewing your own beer. Brewing beer and isn’t just about the finished product either. Getting together with friends and neighbors while brewing is a great pass time. Two weekends ago I brewed a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone with a bunch of friends. Tonight I’m going to taste it for the first time.

If you’re looking for resources on how to brew beer check out my site. (free :-)

By: John

John — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:21:59 +0000

If there’s interest, I’d be glad to post a walkthrough and a cost analysis of the next batch we make.

There is- please post.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:32:27 +0000

Another thing you can do w/ the shredded paper is compost it. Just make sure it isn’t the slick, glossy stuff, like magazines are. Otherwise, I just mix the stuff w/ grass clippings and fruit/veggie refuse, wet it down, and let ‘er rot!
Voila! Free fertilizer!

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:07:13 +0000

Thanks for the tip on “mistinted” paint! I’d never have thought of that!

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:54:49 +0000

Somehow I doubt you *really* need another comment over someone being interested in the homebrewing, but you’re still getting another one saying I’d be interested….

I’m assuming ashes from using one of those self-contained metal firepits would you just fine, wouldn’t it?

By: Colin Principe

Colin Principe — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:09:30 +0000

Be careful about the home-brewing! If you’re the kind of person who likes to get deeper into a hobby, you could easily start shelling out hundreds of dollars on all-grain brewing, kegging and brew huts.

However, if you’re willing to dive down the rabbit hole, http://www.homebrewtalk.com is a great place to start.

By: Janna

Janna — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:48:37 +0000

I am definitely interested in seeing the beer walkthrough!

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:44:43 +0000

looks like your going to make a homebrewing post
soon Trent! I would like to know about the lowest cost, simple dollar way for homebrewing. LOVE craft beer

—-grow your own veggies

By: NED

NED — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:15:51 +0000

Interesting set of tips, I do have a query tho.

For the firestarter tip, i presume they were printed or written on with ink-pens. Won’t burning such paper cause noxious fumes as the ink reacts?

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:28:24 +0000

Wonderful tips, especially about the kids! Parents often forget that kids have some of the best imaginations and really don't need the most expensive toys, video games, and gadgets to have fun, just other kids to imagine with! Matthew Swingsets

By: Mrs. Frugal Folkes

Mrs. Frugal Folkes — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:29:21 +0000

Opps! My post should have gone under your article on “Class Warfare.”

By: Mrs. Frugal Folkes

Mrs. Frugal Folkes — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:26:11 +0000

I can’t go along with your vision of “America” doing just fine for one reason: THE JOB MARKET. When college-educated and other hard-working Americans, who want to work, can not find jobs even half-way comparable in pay to those they lost, that’s a serious problem.

My husband is thankfully employed, but has been downsized 3 times in mergers. He’s been looking for a new job for 4 years, now. My teacher-friend with a Yale education doesn’t think he’ll ever be well-employed again. He’s just patching together work here and there with freelance “gigs.” Other friends who have lost jobs have found themselves unemployed for up to a year. You can say they should forget about engineering and programming and whatever they were educated to do, and just accept a job at McDonald’s…but here’s the problem, particularly for single wage earners: 1)It won’t pay the mortgage or the rent. 2)In our area, many of those jobs are already occupied by various economic refugees from other countries. And #2 has been an on-going problem for my neighbor across the street. She doesn’t have a college education, and is repeatedly hired, asked to teach administrative skills to foreign-born workers, then laid-off when the lower-paid employee has learned what to do. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t have a have a problem with immigration. I have a problem with the Bush economic policies that made it so hard for all of us to find well-paying jobs in this land that I love! My best friend, a computer programmer, immigrated here from India 19 years ago, and found the U.S. a land of opportunity and a great place to raise her children. Recently, the company she works for was purchased in a merger. Now, if she loses her job here, she’s seriously thinking of going back to India because the job market looks more promising there, and her income will stretch to include maids and other luxuries, to boot. I never thought I’d see the day when anyone would leave America for a job in a third-world country.

Trent, I’m glad the kids are playing happily across the street from you. They are playing here, too. But if you go inside and meet the parents in my New Jersey neighborhood, I think you’ll find quite a few who are worried about losing their jobs, and wondering how they’ll ever find another that will cover the mortgage or rent.

Mrs. Folkes

By: Misty

Misty — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:42:09 +0000

Please tell us how you make your beer! I have looked into other websites on home brewing but found that they were a little bit confusing. My husband is very interested in doing this- his brother has started and has a pretty elaborate process set up. I know that eventually he will want to go out and buy what his brother has- but if we can try it without, hopefully I can discourage that spending!
PS- I really like it when you do the step by step and photo directions (like when you made the laundry detergent)

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:14:36 +0000

I can imagine people blithely dumping Wood Ash all over their plants and killing them as the result of this article.

Wood Ash is a powerful alkaline agent. Only use Wood Ash if you know what the pH of your soil is. Reference this article from Purdue Univ. on the use of Wood Ash. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/woodash.html

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:53:54 +0000

work a lot of hours…in the raised floor….save on air conditioning costs.