| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/10/2009 2:20:06 PM | Just got back from visiting one of my kids and his family. Took the longer meandering route through the bush, stopping here and there in many country towns and townlets. Was surprised to notice how many things have changed since I last did this trip scarcely a year ago. Shops, business premises and homes too often for lease or sale, car yards closed, decrepit residences, often unkempt people, few smiles to be seen. Closing down sales, bargains everywhere, pleas to buy. A taint of desperation, of choices not possible, of pride and things seen but not said.
Headed eventually towards the coast and welcoming munchkins. Talked at length about them and theirs, their friends, neighbours and acquaintances and more than one tale of woe. Thought it might be nice to try and soften some recession blows by sharing our knowledge with others, the aim being to reduce financial expenditure. Keep it real guys. Either you’ve done it, or know someone who has.
FUEL. I’m into my fifth gas ((LPG) liquid petroleum gas for our overseas readers) conversion. I started doing this 20 odd years ago when I used to clock up 80 to 90 k’s a year. Gas conversions now cost $2.5 to $3 grand for a throttle body or manifold conversion, less for four cylinders, less again if you shop around, or plus a grand if you opt for a second set of injectors. Difference between the two is no loss of power or litres per 100 kilometres with a second set of injectors.
L.P.G. is about 40% the cost of petrol, let’s say half to make things easy. Spend 70 bucks on a 60 litre weekly fill up and you’ve just saved 35 of that. 35 x 52 weeks = $1820.00. Nice thing is if you have PRIVATE VEHICLE registration the Government gives you $2,000.00 towards the cost. Three grand less two. You’re in the money in six months or less. My last five ’hacks’ were free when fuel savings were taken into account. That’s $150,000 worth of automobile for nothing as well as doing something meaningful for the environment..
CIGGIES. You disgusting, smelly, nicotine stained, emphysema‘d, tooth rotting brain dead morons…. says he who’s smoked rollies on and off for more than forty years. Giving up the fags will save you heaps, even including your life. If you can’t do that think of rollies. I use micro filters and a fairly expensive brand of Dutch tobacco. Gets 100 fags per 50 gram pack. Costs me 26 cents a smoke (including the paper and filter) as opposed to about 43 cents per tailor made.
Difference is 17 cents a smoke. Using 20 a day equals an annual saving of $1241.00, double that if you smoke 40 a day. I roll by hand. You can buy machines that do it for less than $2 all the way into the $50’s for electric models. Nice thing is you’ll inevitably smoke less due to the rolling ceremony involved as well as saving money.
VEGGIES. If you live in the big smoke (which I don’t) you’ll be able to buy veggie/fruit packs online straight from the markets. They’re a lot fresher than the limp supermarket trash and about half the price, delivered to your door. The choices are wide and varied with equal emphasis on either fruit or veggies. Two of my munchkins have been doing it for years. No one delivers to my mountain out in the ‘sticks’ so I can’t use this service but I know many people who do.
Have you got something to share that can reduce the cost of recession ‘blues’? | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/10/2009 4:30:06 PM | Feeding the family can be a real trial on a limited budget so many years ago when living in abject poverty I learned to make homemade soups. I have a large stockpot which makes enough soup for our family for at least three meals - and I'm feeding two teenage boys who can eat as much as a swarm of locusts.
The other advantage of homemade soup is that you can freeze the leftovers in containers and it reheats perfectly. In the morning before leaving for work I chuck the frozen soup block in a crockpot and set the temp to low. On the way home I buy a loaf of fresh bread and that night we dine on a meal of home cooked soup with fresh bread. Can't beat it for a cheap, healthy, easy and delicious family meal. Mmmmmm.
<div class="quote">Nice thing is if you have PRIVATE VEHICLE registration the Government gives you $2,000.00 towards the cost.
Just wondering - which government agency does this? Not that there is any point me considering converting my tiny Toyota Echo to gas. The car's so small I may as well just glue a plastic chair to the top of a gas tank and ride it like a rocket! | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 1:08:55 AM | Microwave popcorn is $5 for a package of 3.
Make your own from bulk popping corn and a paper bag for 25¢ and add whatever healthy amounts of your own butter and salt.
Bread is going for $5 - $6.
Make your own for 50¢. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 1:13:02 AM |
Bread is going for $5 - $6.
Make your own for 50¢.
Rubbish lol I sell bread 2 loaves for $4-50, other shops have bread for $1-50. To make your own bread in a breadmaker you pay a bloody fortune.
Maybe from scratch sure but who has the time?? | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 1:16:05 AM | It's not hard in the least once you get it down. Takes no time at all if you know how to 'manage' it. I made 2 today.
More expensive here but it's mostly shipped in from the mainland that's why.
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 1:25:55 AM | | A guy I used to work with once told me that his wife had a way of getting twice the life out of pantihose. If she laddered one of the legs, she'd cut that leg off and keep the one legged pantihose... and just wear two pair of one legged pantihose at a time. I don't know if that's a common thing or not, but I'd never heard of it before. Not in the least bit sexy...but entirely practical and cost saving for women who wear pantihose to work I guess. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 1:40:11 AM | | So she would get a build up in the crotch area? Ohhhhhhhhhhh how uncomfortable lol | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 2:36:56 AM |
...and just wear two pair of one legged pantihose at a time.
She'd wanna be concentrating when she went to take a pee... it'd be all to easy to pull down one pair and remember the other just a little tooooo late. Though not if she's wearing knickers I guess.
But why not just cut the leg right off the pantihose and gaffer tape it to her leg?
That would avoid any crotch bunching, save on waxing, and speed up the ablution ritual, a win-win-win situation! | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 2:51:07 AM | ^^^ You're all class. 
Personally I think she's missing the better economic use for pantihose. I've found that if you put them on your head and go into a bank.... they just give you money.
What economic crises?? | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 2:51:19 AM |
A guy I used to work with once told me that his wife had a way of getting twice the life out of pantihose. If she laddered one of the legs, she'd cut that leg off and keep the one legged pantihose... and just wear two pair of one legged pantihose at a time. I don't know if that's a common thing or not, but I'd never heard of it before. Not in the least bit sexy...
Forgot about that - I do it too. My mother taught me that trick - think it came from the 60s when pantihose were quite expensive. And whaddayamean not sexy???? Goes very nicely with my hair bun and pearls even if I do say so myself.
Before I forget - another fabulous meal tip......dust. Dust is nutritious...full of protein....costs nothing....easily accessible (just look under the bed) and best of all....NO FAT! | |
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Naamah
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Joined: 11/1/2008
Msg: 11 | |
| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 2:57:35 AM |
another fabulous meal tip......dust. Dust is nutritious...full of protein....costs nothing....easily accessible (just look under the bed) and best of all....NO FAT!
You serious?? Man...I could open my place as a restaurant. Feed the world. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 3:04:16 AM | But why not just cut the leg right off the pantihose and gaffer tape it to her leg? Gaffer tape is not cheap you know. She should use spit and hope.
I quite often have to wear stockings and at the first sign of laddering I usually put a dab of nail polish on the weak point to extend their wear. When my stockings are totally rooted I use them to tie things up. For instance, my tomato plants to stakes in the garden.
Having this new system of cutting off the legs could save me heaps. Now I come to think about it, I don't know if I'd be able to bend down to reach my upper thigh area to spit plaster the stockings up. I'd probably need someone else to do that for me. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 3:08:56 AM | I just love this stuff - it's right up my alley [getting really excited now........arms flailing in the air.....hot and bothered)...
How much money are you wasting on dental floss? Expensive huh! And all this expense while we're throwing perfectly good toenail clippings in the rubbish bin! Heeelllooo! Yep - save those toenail clippings and use the sharp edges to pick the gunk out from between your teeth. Perfect...freely accessible.....something EVERYONE can do (except amputees?).
This tips gotta be worth at least $9 over a year alone. That's ok - no need to thank me....just send your cheques c/o MyForumSite@plentyof fish...
Course - hate to point out the obvious, but if you were only eating dust you wouldn't have gunk between your teeth.......not lecturing or nothin..... | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 3:19:39 AM | Did you know, dust combined with spit, has remarkable adhesive properties?
I don't know if I'd be able to bend down to reach my upper thigh area to spit plaster the stockings up. I'd probably need someone else to do that for me. Sure, audience participation adds to the excitement, but for those times when there's no one nearby? Another solution is right in front of your... um... in front of you!
Ta-Daaaaa!
When my stockings are totally rooted I use them to tie things up. A couple of loops round your upper thigh and a decent half-hitch will make sure those legs stay put! | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 3:27:09 AM | Really getting warmed up now....
Toothpicks? One use or not? Of course not! After you have used the toothpick (and hate to be harping on but if you were eating dust you wouldn't need one.....) rather than throw it in the rubbish bin........... use it to clean out your ears. Yep - all lubricated up from your teeth gunk that same pick is now primed to attract wax. Perfect! Cheap...accessible......
[ooops - must mention.....don't use it in stabbing motions or you could pierce your eardrum. Don't ask me how I know these things]
And toilet paper? One use or not????........... | |
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Naamah
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Joined: 11/1/2008
Msg: 16 | |
| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 3:38:41 AM | Let me guess....
Once your insides are entirely gummed up with dust, and all of your blood is pouring out of your eardrum, which you perforated with a toothpick, and the bloodflow is being sped up because you have a gaffer tape and stockings tied around both legs... you will soon use much less toilet paper... because you'll be fukcin' DEAD! That's quite a saving right there.
I save about 650 tea bags a week by pretending that I am not home when Hilly calls by for a visit. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 3:44:42 AM |
And toilet paper? One use or not????...........
Well, it has two sides...
But if there's one thing I learned from reading the OP, it's that cliches are boring! One has to think outside the square!
Or however many squares are necessary in this instance. The paper might profitably be used for some other purpose first, lining the birdcage perhaps or as table napkins, before being re-rolled onto the spool and placed neatly in the bathroom, ready for use and no one any the wiser. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 3:52:53 AM | If you buy 2 ply toilet roll and split it you then have 2 rolls for the price of one.....bargain!
One thing my Nan seriously used to do though was save all the little bits of left over soap and then melt them all together to make a new bar....genius.
I save about 650 tea bags a week by pretending that I am not home when Hilly calls by for a visit.
I save nothing as I get the inevitable text message just before I arrive saying "No milk, you will need to bring some.....ohh and chocolate biscuits cos I forgot to get them"
Its actually far cheaper to go to the local greasy spoon. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 4:09:39 AM | You people and your buying toilet paper. Bit posh. Bit spoilt are we? Sheesh.
Here's what proper savers like me do... simply go into your local McChukkas, use their toilets, stuff as much of their bog roll down your bra as can fit and voila! This is not only a great thrifty move - it also increases your chances of pulling a rich customer if you stay long enough to order food. If you've used enough toilet paper he'll pay for your dinner too. Just remember that when you collect serviettes for your meal, grab extra to take home... yet more birdcage liners/toilet paper.
On the subject of teabags, they can be re-used many times before they disintegrate. Oftentimes, if I have a visitor I use a pre-loved teabag for them and start on a fresh one in my own teacup. That way I keep the cycle of fresh and used going. More recently, I've noticed my friend's visits have dropped off to pretty much nothing. I sometimes wonder if my quitting showering has something to do with that. It's amazing what you save if you don't wash. And I'm not just talking water here - there's soap, shampoo, deoderant... | |
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Naamah
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Joined: 11/1/2008
Msg: 20 | |
| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 4:20:51 AM | * makes mental note to mention on msn that need milk and choc biscuits to save cost of text message *
save all the little bits of left over soap and then melt them all together to make a new bar....genius.
Yep sounds like a classic grandma thing to do. Wonder if there are any other things where the dregs could be saved and put together to for a new one? Little bits of wine your guests leave in their glasses...back in the bottle? Cornflakes left floating in the milk at the bottom of the kids' cereal bowl...dry them out and back in the pack? The possibilities are endless.
Although I think from now on I will take my own toilet paper, soap, wine and cornflakes everywhere I go. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 5:18:49 AM | Yeah..., check out the dumpsters outside Coles and Woolies !
You too can become a 'Freegan'...., (counter culture vulture). | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 5:41:22 AM | Seriously my mother used to drive us mad saving things. I think that generation born around the great depression were deeply affected by the saving they had to do. So they either kept it up obsessively for life or went madly the other way, embracing the 'throw away' generation.
So for anyone worrying about this new depression here are my Mum's tips.
- wash pieces of gladwrap with the rest of the dishes and hang it over the tap to dry. It actually works fine when its been washed (unfortunately).
- tear up tissue paper that you might receive round gifts and hang the squares in the loo
-mend clothes instead of buying new ones and when the material is so rotten that mending is no longer practical, take out all the zips, buttons and hooks, etc and save them for making new clothes. Use the rags for cleaning cloths.
-Use up the last of the vegemite jar, tom sauce, etc by rinsing it with a bit of hot water and putting in soup.
-save every little bit of string, tied up neatly. Actually nobody really uses string anymore but save it anyway because when you die and your daughter has to clean out your house it will drive her mental. | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 6:33:31 AM | You could save on meals by dropping in on good friends around meal times, this only works for good friends as ordinary friends will postpone their meals till you leave.
In the tropical fruit growing areas you could go to all the fruit stalls that rely on the customer being honest.
However you may need to save a lot of money to put fuel in your car to do these things unless of course you feel like a ride on the Bicycle for a few kilometres, like a couple of hundred or so | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 2:16:11 PM | | Naamah your msg 9 - was I know intended to attract a laugh but unfortunately as an ex-Bank employee with 20 years service behind me it raised goose bumps on my arms as this is a scenario that increases in hard times not only for Bank employees but for many others in service industries - as for me I have started a vegie patch - very rewarding for both myself and my Son but would save heaps more if only I could tape has mouth shut as he eats 24/7 | |
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| Cheap veggies
Posted: 4/11/2009 2:33:57 PM | Do I detect you lot aren't taking this thread seriously?
#2. MFS the agency that provides the rebate is Medicare. They do it on the spot, on presentation of your paid invoice for the conversion. One of my daughters did it just three months ago.
The pantyhose set. Simply get a new set of legs.
#22. Dime. I'm not suggesting people be frugal. I'm suggesting (and seeking suggestions) about things can be done to reduce everyday living expenses. I've come across a bit of hurt out there recently and figure the community might have an interest in helping out.
I've got a few more suggestions but I think I'll let this thread run a few more days before contributing further. I don't think I've picked an inconsequential subject. The kiddie brain deads are just running their usual interference. Don't be detered by them people. I'll chop them off at knees when it gets too much out of hand.
Be well, nice and kind everyone....... and don't get caught doing it. | |
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