Well…yes, I am. Gotta check off a passel of student exercises and get back to work on the OB-gyn book. Oh, well. By way of procrastination, let’s go a-lollygagging in the meadows of Blogland.
OMG! Have you seen what Tom Drake at Canadian Finance Blog is up to? He’s built an entire series around his jaundiced view of some very suspect insurance products. His most recent target: Identity Theft Insurance. Mwa ha hah! This is great stuff. Don’t miss any of the entries in this excellent set of posts.
Here’s a useful post from Evan at My Journey to Millions: What to bring to your accountant. This year I tried to simplify and clarify the pile of paper that needed to be forked over. The less time your tax pro has to spend plowing through your paper or electronic debris, the less the job will cost you!
Money Crush experiences that sinking feeling after having lost track of the days…including the day the mortgage bill got automatically paid. Yipes!
Mrs. Accountability is a past master of food caching. Take a look at the incredible produce she scored: 60 pounds of it! And check out her strategies for preserving and storing it.
At The Digerati Life, SVB contemplates what life would be like in a tiny house. This post is replete with photos, highly entertaining. LOL! Have you noticed that these micro-castles amount to the ultimate escape fantasy for frugalists? The things are fascinating. Check out the stories from her readers in the comments section.
At Ultimate Money Blog, Mrs. Money suggests a passel of ways to use up eggs. This is always a mystification for me: I don’t eat eggs (they make me sick unless mixed with other foods) but occasionally need one or two to make biscuits and the like. Since an unadulterated egg makes the dog throw up, too, this leaves me with anywhere from five to eleven eggs to get rid of…they usually end up going in the trash, weeks and weeks later.
Nicole and Maggie at Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured describe in detail what goes on during those wonderful three-month “vacations” people think university and K-12 faculty get to enjoy. Heeeee! You, too, can become a teacher and learn to work for free.
Uh oh…looks like the handyman is just pulling up to the house. Gotta go!
So I trot over to Home Depot last weekend, there to peruse that august box’s limited selection of security doors. As expected, every single one of them looks like prison bars, except for the pressed-metal kitsch with the cut-out silhouettes of hummingbirds, coyotes, and sombreroed campesinos snoozing against saguaros. Good god.
Moving on, this afternoon it was over to Lowe’s on the way home from the credit union. The nearest Lowe’s is out by the West campus, where the nearest branch of the credit union resides, placing both of these institutions in a locale that cannot be called, with a straight face, “near.”
Situation at Lowe’s: even more ridiculous. The only door they had that didn’t look like prison bars with a slot through which the guard passes your plate of slop is a Titan: twelve hundred bucks!
Give me a proverbial BREAK!
At least the cheaper doors at the Depot come with insect screen. You can’t get that with the low-end models at Lowe’s. The hideous metal mesh, which lets mosquitoes in, is sorta OK in front, because the random door-to-door nuisance can’t see you through it and so can’t easily tell you’re alone. But in back, where one would like to gaze out upon one’s expensively appointed landscaping, steel mesh is just not gonna make it.
Sooo… It looks like it’s prison bars with insect screen and a double-cylinder deadbolt or nothing. Just now I’m leaning toward a .38 special.
Ohhhh well. While at Lowe’s, I did pick up a replacement for the impossible motion-sensitive spotlight in back, the one to which you have to take a screwdriver powered by male muscle to change the light bulb. When you get it open, you find it takes an exotic size and shape bulb that requires a special trip to HD or the electric supplier to track it down. Really. I wish to be able to change my light bulbs all by my pretty little self, thank you!
Also got a rather nice, not very pricey motion-sensitive coach light, which will go on the back porch. The little cheapie I installed when I moved in is looking pretty ragged already—it really was junk of the best you-get-what-you-pay-for variety. This looks sturdier, and I’ve come to really love the motion-sensitive coach lights I installed last year in front. They’re reasonably attractive, and what a luxury, to have them pop on when you walk up to them!
I tend to wander off and leave that back porch light on. Then when I go out there by daylight, I’m peeved to see it was burning all night and half the morning. This thing will come on when Cassie goes out to pee during the pre-dawn hours but not burn kilowatts when it’s forgotten.
One sterling quality of the motion-sensitive light is that it clues you if someone’s outside in the yard. Or…if a moth flew by or the wind is blowing…
New sliding or French doors to replace the three rather sketchy sliders (like…maybe one that has an actual latch on it?) also appear to be prohibitively expensive.
Really, though: unclear whether functional doors are really necessary. After all, the door squealer and the stick in the slider’s track worked: the guy ran off without getting inside. The whole point was to alert me if someone tried to get in the house while I was here, and that was exactly what happened. Probably newer doors wouldn’t be a whole lot more secure than what I’ve got. They might save a few pennies on power, but how many years will it take to recover the costs from the power bills?
The annual rebate from Costco’s American Express arrived late last week. It was only $157, the lowest kickback I’ve ever received from that august credit card company. Compare with last year’s refund of $337, and the $210 they sent in 2009. Pretty pathetic.
Of course, what it says is that in 2010 I cut spending way, way back. The only major purchase I made was for M’hijito’s dryer—since he pays for everything in cash, we charged it on my card and he reimbursed me so I could get the kickback. If it hadn’t been for that purchase, the rebate would have been even less.
In one respect the small check is not so disappointing: it means I succeeded in cutting my budget to unheard-of low levels. Of course, that happened because I had to cut back: I had no money.
Like everyone else, evidently. Spending dropped drastically across the country as more and more Americans fell victim to layoffs, forced “retirements,” furloughs, and pay cuts. Reports tell us we’ve seen a recent uptick in consumer spending, with an increase of 4.4 percent in fourth-quarter 2010. That’s good for the economy, I guess. One could speculate about pent-up need, though: at some point along the line people simply have replace cars that crap out and household infrastructure items that break—such as M’hijito’s clothes dryer. As experience tells us, all these things are engineered to break at once. Will people keep on buying after they’ve replaced the things they can’t do without?
Oh well. I could’ve used a larger kickback. On the other hand, a couple of other windfalls blew in: the RASL payment and a couple of new jobs from new and old clients. So, what the heck. I’ve learned to limit spending, and don’t expect to increase it for the sheer joy of seeing a few extra pennies in the annual AMEX rebate.
How about you? Now that you’ve tightened your belt, do you intend to loosen spending if and when times get better, or will you continue to cultivate your new frugal habits?
The conversation over how to strategize a more sustainable lifestyle kicks off still more of what passes for thinking around my household. In a comment, Frugal Scholar pointed out the irony that discussions of sustainability often entail buying things.
That certainly does seem to be the truth! Case in point: after learning that CFLs are supposed to save bundles on power bills, I went out and bought enough for every lamp in the house. That, we might add, was not cheap. Used them for a couple of years and finally had to conclude that I really dislike the quality of the light they emit; that their initial dimness, which gets longer as the bulb ages, is profoundly annoying; and that the truth is my power bills did not drop significantly as a result of this exercise because I don’t leave all the lights burning all the time. Not only an expensive buy, but a bad buy.
So, item 1 in buying sustainable: proceed with caution. Buy a small amount (or number), try the product for a substantial while, and assess whether it’s really worth replacing the old eco-unfriendly version with new stuff.
Second, look around you and see if you already have something in the house that will substitute for both the old ecologically incorrect product and the new (expensive, not very effective) “natural,” “sustainable,” “ecofriendly” product. Household cleaning is a rich field for this kind of trade. Here are a few ideas that have been tried around my house and found true:
DIY Glass Cleaner and All-Around Disinfectant
Windex is really nothing more than alcohol, water, a dash of ammonia, and a few drops of artificial coloring. Here’s how to make glass cleaner that works every bit as well as the expensive stuff:
Rubbing alcohol
White vinegar
Ammonia
Water
Fill a good squirt bottle about 1/3 full of rubbing alcohol, available cheaply at pharmacies and grocery stores. Add enough vinegar to bring the level up to about half-full. Add a tablespoon or two of ammonia. Fill with water. Shake gently to mix.
That’s it! It even smells like Windex. If you want it blue (or whatever), add a drop or two of food coloring…but first ask yourself why. Works well on mirrors, windows, tile, not-too-dirty bathroom sinks, and other hard surfaces. It’s a decent spot remover for color-fast fabrics, too. Obviously, don’t use it on paint or finished wood.
Scouring Powder
Baking soda. That’s it. Baking soda. Substitute baking soda, which you can buy in lifetime supplies from warehouse stores, for scouring powder. It’s mildly abrasive, contains no contaminating chlorine, and does a decent job at scouring sinks, tubs, and toilets. To sanitize afterwards: spray on some of your DIY glass cleaner—both ammonia and alcohol are germicidal. Wipe sinks and brightwork dry with a soft rag. To sanitize the toilet, be sure there is no chlorine in the water and pour in a little ammonia. Remember: never combine chlorine bleach or any product containing chlorine with any other chemical, especially not ammonia!
Bleach
Hydrogen peroxide is oxygen bleach. You can treat many stains with H2O2 , also available for very cheap at your corner drugstore or market. It probably has a mild disinfectant quality, but I wouldn’t rely on it for heavy-duty disinfecting. You may have to let peroxide sit on a surface for a while to do its action.
Want a free source of bleach? It’s called sunshine. Place a stained piece of clothing in the freezer for a few hours or overnight. Then take it outside, still frozen, and place it in full sun. Let it sit there all day. Amazingly, this will fade or even remove some very tough stains. I’ve had it get bloodstains out of white garments.
Hanging sheets and white clothes to dry on a line in the midday sun will whiten them and make them smell wonderful. Conversely, if at all possible colored items should be hung in the shade. They still smell great from the fresh air, but are less likely to fade when kept out of direct sunlight.
Dishwasher Rinse Agent
Plain ordinary old white vinegar. Pour a cup of vinegar into the washer right before turning it on. Glasses come out sparkling.
Some people substitute vinegar for JetDry and competitor products in the rinse aid dispenser. I haven’t tried this; vinegar is quite acetic, and I’m concerned that having it sit there indefinitely could damage the machine. It’s not at all hard to splash a little vinegar into the washer at the last minute. The stainless steel tub in my five-year-old washer is still spotless and shiny, and I never have a problem with clogged spouts on the washer arms.
Fabric Softener
Hair conditioner contains the same chemical that’s in fabric softener. It smells a lot less obnoxious, and there’s no need to buy two products.
Get a squeeze bottle (see below). Dilute one part hair conditioner to ten parts warm water. Stir or shake well. Store the stuff in a squeeze bottle to dispense into your laundry.
Dryer Fabric-softener Cloths
Dedicate an old, clean washcloth to this job. Dampen and wring out the washcloth. Dribble a little of your home-made fabric softener onto the washcloth and squeeze to distribute it through the fabric. Toss it in the dryer with your clothes. If I have a large load of dog-hair-laden laundry, I sometimes put two of these in the dryer. Gets rid of dog hair like a charm.
Furniture Oil
Did you know that mineral oil will work to polish and refresh oil-rubbed finishes? It’s cheap and it’s odorless. Just wipe on a thin film with a clean, soft, slightly dampened and wrung-out cloth. Take another clean soft cloth and buff dry.
Garbage Disposal Cleaner/Deodorant
Ice
Baking soda
Place a few pieces of ice in the garbage disposal followed by a half-cup or more of baking soda. Turn on the garbage disposal. Run cold water through to rinse well.
Another strategy is to drop half a lemon into the disposal, then run and rinse the disposal thoroughly.
Detergent?
Occasionally you do need some actual commercial detergent. Some folks make their own laundry detergent, but IMHO this is more trouble and mess than it’s worth. Instead, be aware of two things:
1. You can use a lot less detergent than most of us are accustomed to using, and still get things just as clean.
2. You don’t need different cleansers for different jobs. One all-purpose cleanser will suffice.
Dish detergents are sold in squeeze bottles so that consumers will use more than necessary. The packaging is designed to help you splash the stuff around with élan and without thought. Transfer dish detergent out of its squeeze bottle into some other container that make it easier for you to measure it out. I use a heavy-duty squirt bottle, available inexpensively at places like Home Depot, Target, or Walmart. One squirt is all it takes to suds up a sinkful of water or to saturate a sponge with enough detergent to do a messy job.
Also, you can dilute dish detergent. When transferring it to its new bottle, add a little water, rubbing alcohol, or ammonia (don’t use ammonia if you’re likely to use the detergent around chlorine bleach). This will make the detergent less viscous, but the viscosity of the stuff seems only to be an illusion designed to make you think the detergent is somehow more detergenty. Think about it: the stuff gets diluted the minute you scrub it around with water in a dirty pan or pour it into a sink, anyway! Diluting detergent makes a bottle of the stuff last a lot longer.
Don’t throw out the plastic squeeze bottle. Use it to hold the home-made fabric softener described above. Washed thoroughly, these bottles are great for holding houseplant fertilizers mixed up from dry granules, and also for dispensing weed killer (don’t use the same bottle for weed killer and then later for fertilizer!).
In the laundry, you can use about half as much detergent as the maker recommends, especially on lightly soiled garments. Use spot cleaner for stains. Your clothes will come out clean, and your laundry dollar will stretch twice as far.
Elsewhere, there’s no reason to use bathroom cleanser to clean the bathroom sinks, floor cleaner to mop the tile or vinyl, and kitchen cleaner to clean the kitchen sink. The stuff is all the same!
Get yourself an all-purpose cleaner whose odor does not annoy you. I happen to be partial to Simple Green, but Mr. Clean, Lysol, Fantastik, Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, Method, or any of a number of others will do the job just fine. Put some of it in a squirt bottle for use in the bathrooms and kitchen. Often these products come as concentrates, and so remember to dilute it when you dispense it into a bottle. Add a little to warm water in a bucket and use it to mop your floors or clean the walls and woodwork.
That’s about the extent of what I have. What are some of your favorite DIY and sustainable household products?
Sumbitch. Someone’s trying to get in the westside Arcadia door.
My pistol’s not loaded, and even if it were, the ammo is so ancient it would probably blow me to Kingdom Come before it did in the burglar.
Dial 911 while re-securing the side door. Can’t see anyone out there. It’s been raining half the night. What kind of idiot goes a-burgling in a rainstorm?
Oh wait: I forgot. The Son-in-Law. Madness knows no weather. He must’ve gone off his meds. Probably one of the 280,000 folks our esteemed legislators are throwing off Arizona’s answer to Medicaid.
Must remember to buy some new ammo and make a few runs on the range for some target practice.
Dispatcher: “Do you see or hear anyone outside?”
Homeowner: “No. But there’s no way this door could move unless someone tried to open it.” Homeowner privately thinks it’s a damn good thing she dropped a stick in the runner of the thing; otherwise the guy would’ve been in the bedroom by now. Dog slept through this episode and didn’t bark even when the alarm went off.
Dispatcher: “Well, we’ll send an officer over. If your alarm goes off again, call us back and we’ll up the priority.”
Homeowner: “Thank you.”
Up the priority? So it’ll be 45 minutes or an hour before a cop shows up here? Gaaaaaaahhhhhhh!
Taking a shillelagh in hand, I sit down to write this by way of passing the time. Nothing like a computer screen to make time fly.
Speaking of upping priorities, I have got to get some new ammo for that gun! Come to think of it, what I’ve gotta get is a shotgun. Maybe I can buy or borrow one of SDXB’s. Shotguns are far more effective against burglars: your aim doesn’t have to be good to do some serious damage. Also, burglars are allergic to the mere sound of a pump action.
Apparently my burglar was allergic to the sound of small plastic battery-operated window alarms, too.
Theselittle contact alarms are great. Small and unobtrusive (especially if you have white window frames), they emit an ear-piercing shriek when a window or door is opened. I bought a passel of them after I realized a) I couldn’t afford to keep paying the burglar alarm company a monthly fee; b) I couldn’t afford the city fines for false alarms, which are frequent and random; c) I highly resented having to pay the city an annual license fee for the damn thing; and d) I was running out of patience with the sleazeball who ran the alarm company. Canceled the service, turned off the system and alarmed each door and window separately. Alarmed the security doors and some of the screen doors, too.
They’re a bit of a pain because you have to remember to set them when you close the door, but after a few times it becomes automatic: when you lock the door or window, you flip the switch to “on.” That is a lot less of a pain than false alarms, dodging around a system every time you come home from the grocery store, hurried calls to the cops and the alarm company to assure them the latest episode is not a real burglar, and dealing with a jerk of a company owner. And they do not do false alarms. The only way to set it off is to open the switch, and the only way you can do that is to move the door or window about an eighth to a quarter of an inch. Rain, wind, thunder, and passing F-16s do not set them off.
A good-sized earthquake might cause one to go off, if it moved the door or window. But I believe the dog and I would’ve noticed an earthquake.
The cops show up. They walk around. They don’t see a burglar. They leave.
Welp. Five hours till I have to show up for choir. Rain has started to pour again. The adrenalin high is beginning to wear off, so now I’m starting to feel hungry. Guess I’ll get some breakfast. Maybe there’ll still be some time to go back to bed…
This weekend another wet storm is drifting in from California. We’re supposed to get rain tomorrow, though it looks suspiciously like we could see that today. And once again the hysterical talking heads on the Play-Nooz tell us to expect cold…ohhhhh! even SNOW IN PHOENIX! Eek.
{gronk} I suppose this means I’ll have to haul all the potted plants back inside the house. Again. Speaking of things meteorological, you see last night’s Need to Know on PBS? Check it out. And do you realize the ideologues in the Montana legislature have proposed, with straight faces, to repeal science? No joke: read it and weep. LOL! Who would’ve thunk a legislator could be even dumber than the specimens in Arizona?
Sorta like repealing the Ten Commandments because we don’t agree with them. I love it! If this kind of stupidity weren’t merrily leading to the destruction of our republic, it would be hilarious!
Oh well. At least I won’t be here to see much of it. You young pups and your children will be the ones at the barricades. While we’re breaking out the fiddles, though, let’s see what’s going on in the blogosphere.
Ran across a new-to-me site called 101 Centavos, whose proprietor has a nice narrative voice and a propensity for posting entertaining copy. This piece on the joys of buying new furniture struck a nerve with his readers, eliciting a ton of commentary.
Meanwhile, Revanche, having agonized at A Gai Shan Life about whether, when, and how to move the aged parents in with herself and PiC, posts a moving story about her mother and her mother’s influence on her.
At A Digerati Life, SVB kindly offers an array of ideas for box lunches that don’t involve sandwiches. Much appreciated…I’ve never been fond of sandwiches. These sound great.
Did you know Google offers a service that lets you make and receive phone calls for free? Yes, even over a phone, not a computer. Bargain Babe explains how.
Money Crush asks what is the strangest thing you’ve ever done for money. Heh heh…reminds me of some of SDXB’s antics.
The recession ain’t over yet at the Accountability household. Mrs. Accountability reflects on the present spate of hard times at Out of Debt Again.
At the Ultimate Money Blog, Mrs. Money finds she and Mr. Money have different philosophies when it comes to stocking in food. She calculates ways to build a grocery budget that will work for them both.
March Madness continues at Free Money Finance. About this time is when things heat up. Be sure to go over there and vote for your favorites.
At Get Rich Slowly, guest blogger Gary Arndt has a very interesting post on maximizing the value of your cost-of-living dollar by moving overseas. This is a strategy I’ve considered more than once, and as costs here start to rise with little or no hope of fixed-income sources increasing, it begins to look more appealing.
Over Forty and Loving It reflects on the overmedicating of Americans, to which one can only say amen, sister!
At Brip Blap, Steve reflects on what, for lack of a better word, might best be called blogger’s block. Is there one among us who does not know whereof he speaks?
Speaking of blogger’s block, Steve’s piece reminds me that it’s 9:30, I’ve been sitting here since 6:00 a.m., I’m hungry, and the sun is finally coming out. Bye, all!
