Plenty to 'Wine' about....

We Frugals enjoy a good glass of vino, 'it's good for the heart', Dr. M tells us and we want to follow our good doctor's advice.

As we have been sampling a variety of wines, we have come across a problem. The first one is that we like wine. The second one is we really like wine. The problem is finding that good, stable and enjoying brand and style and not breaking the bank investing in our cardiac health.

We believe we have found a solution to the budgetary bottle of wine. Herr Frugal's brother-in-law, Captain Frugal is the finest connoisseur of the $7.99 bottle and we follow his advice, however we believe we found a way to a $2.00 bottle of vino.....make your own.

So, after looking at some websites, a bit of research, we tried the following:

• three cans of Welch's Grape concentrate, the pure 100% juice



• Sugar



• packet of brewing yeast



• Gallon glass jar



• Stopper with a gas lock



• Time

What we got after a couple of weeks was grape juice with a bit of alcohol, a couple of weeks later a drink, just under the quality of Andre's Cold Duck.....all at about $2.00 a bottle!

We have our second batch brewing, moved it a secondary fermenter and will bottle this batch shortly. Stay tuned, if we can get the balance right, off to the five gallon carboy's!

Here are some websites we used:

http://plaza.ufl.edu/scott28/wine.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiiSh8vLo54

Curbside Recycling....

Here in the land of Frugal, there has been a multi-decade debate on curbside recycling. Either you can feel good about your efforts by putting/sorting your recyclables at the curb in a separate container, a separately prepared sanitation truck comes and takes the recyclables away and all is good.

The truth is to have that type of program, just doubles your fuel and equipment costs to maintain and the amount of $$ earned from the program is absorbed by the costs. We are capitalists, so the bottom line is what it is about, not just an offset or a ROI for the program being neutral.

The alternative we like to use is the recycling stations. Those that recycle go to the places to recycle. In our county there are several stations within 5 miles of the haus and one was even created as an Eagle Scout project for a local boy. Congratulations!

Anyhoo...the debate of curbside recycling is now part of the mayoral debates of the City of St. Petersburg. Here is the story or "Truth O Meter" for your consideration:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/local/kathleen-ford-hits-both-ends-of-truth-o-meter-with-recycling-claims/1039231

Contamination of the bins is serious, but the bins are manually sorted, but it is frustrating to see in the bins, no glass or Styrofoam and there are plenty of those materials 'dumped'; additional time and money are needed all at an expense, while some greeny is feeling good, that they at 'least' recycled it. What they have done, is recycled the problem to someone else, which is also stereotypical of a segment of the 'green' movement.

In the meantime, we Frugals continue to recycle, sort and correctly place our recyclables in neighborhood containers weekly and encourage you to do the same. Enjoy your week!

Been a while...

It's been a while I know.

I have a new position with my employer, something that is a product of a lot of hard work, increased focus and renewed energy found within myself.

For a long time, I was very unhappy with myself. That unhappiness created many waves and ripples.

Self confidence, self esteem and power of thought are very important and vital elements of a person's pyche. I am convinced I secured this position through the application of those three items. Having 23 years of experience and significant tenure in my position at work is a good thing, but also one of those, why 23 years? Where has the growth occurred? It has occurred and the recent promotion is the result.

There were others that were stronger technically than I and others that were more well versed than I, however I brought a package to the interview team.....talk about an experience. 7 interviews in three days!

Anywhooo, I was offered the position, got a nice salary bump and another rise in my step.

The new position will not change our outlook on Frugality.

For example, our power bill only went up $10 from July to August's usage. Although the A/C probably ran longer than the prior month, we maintained the thermostat at 77 degrees. Made sure all fans and lights were off, if no one was in the room and unplugged any chargers that were capable of vampire charges.

More to come as we are starting to dry some of our clothes on a clothesline, cutting out one dryer cycle for every two laundry loads!

Good times.

New Housing Trend?

Came across and article on potential new housing trends....people are starting to want a smaller home, not the "McMansions" that were so popular in the 90's and beyond.

Check it out....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090729/ts_usnews/thehomeofthefuture8innovationsinstore

The trend may be contained as this, "coming years, however, will give way to an increasingly intimate, personalized approach to home construction, with consumers viewing residential real estate as more of an instrument of self-expression."

Less to build, but more amenities than before. Think about it....do you really need a family room and a living room? The Frugals have decided to eliminate the living room with its uncomfortable and stuffy furniture and turn it into a place we can use....a library for the us to use on a daily basis.

Better yet, this will probably turn into an Ikea commercial as we are doing it all through them. Stay tuned!

Let me know what you think of the trend.....next time we will be talking about some conspiracy theories that are afoot and how you can avoid them.

Disneyland versus Disneyworld

Back from vacation fellow frugals!

One adventure we saved up for was to go to see Disneyland and its neighbor, California Adventureland. Two different, but very similar parks to what we have on the east coast of North America.

Here are some of our impressions:

• Sleeping Beauty's castle is pretty neat, you can walk through it and relive the childrens fairytale. Smaller than Cinderella's but neat. We were there 54 years and 51 weeks after the park opened. To think Uncle Walt walked through these same halls!


• It's a Small World; Hands down, Disneyland's is better. Outside, a huge glockenspiel and it is the first time we saw the new additions in the building


• Autopia.....way cooler and better than Disneyworld's
• Two words for the ultimate what started it all.......'The Matterhorn'. Disney's first and then replicated it at Animal Kingdom.


• Haunted Mansion....the same
• Pirate's of the Carribean...why call it that when it starts in New Orleans?
• Space Mountain....it feels like it is the same

Too many to describe, but we are certainly glad we shelled out the $$$ to go experience the parks. A few tips that apply here as well. It was not that crowded, don't know if it was the days we went (Monday/Tuesday) or the economy in Southern California, but:

• Use Fast Pass, we did not wait any longer than 30 minutes without it.
• Left or right? Always choose left. Shorter lines
• Look for the ala carte items to eat lunch. Cannot go wrong with Mexican cuisine
• Break the lands up and explore. We found if we did it leisurely, we lasted longer and saw everything multiple times

Anyhoo....hope you find this helpful, if your in Anaheim....go do it and compare!

Sightseeing on the cheap......

For the price of a tank of a gas, the Frugal's took part in a number of sightseeing activities in Southern California.....visiting roadside icons in the area.

Checkout these oddities in your own hometown, you'll be amazed at what you will find.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/

Included in this trip:

• The Dinosaurs of Cabazon. If you've seen "Pee-Wee's Great Adventure", you've seen these beauties
• The Dinosaurs of the Jurupa Cultural Center in Riverside
• The Giant hand-carved Indian Head by Peter Toth at the Cabot Museum in Desert Springs. There is at least one of these in every state. 3 in Florida!
• Giant VW Spider
• World's Largest Paper Cup (ok, it's really concrete)
• a huge windmill farm
• Tram at Palm Springs

So check out your area, you will never know what you may find for those fun and family moments!

Let's Play Ball....

The Frugals are on vacation. We have scrimped, saved and planned the vacation to maximize family and exploration time.

We took in a ball game, we follow the Rays closely and tried to match up a Rays game with a game on the West Coast, but it didn't happen, instead we took in an Angels game. The last time we were at this stadium, we watched the Rams play. What a difference! Angels Stadium is a fan's stadium. Cool breezes, covered seating and an exciting game to watch over our Nation's holiday.

On the agenda this week, a tour of Southern California Roadside wonders, Disneyland using Rewards points, tidepools, Legoland, desert hikes and most important, family time.

Stay tuned

3....2....1...Staycation!

Been a while since the Frugal's posted, we have been busy with vacation plans and summer.

A lot has been said about taking a staycation during these economical times. We decided to take part in an event that will no longer be around after 2010. We attended a shuttle launch a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the shuttled did not take off like the picture due to a hydrogen leak, however it still was a great vacation at a bargain price.

We stayed at the Jetty Park campground which is adjacent to Port Canaveral. Here is a link for the details:

http://www.jettypark.org/

A very reasonable and clean/open campground.

Set up was easy at the campground, there is a nearby grocery store for supplies. Fishing on the pier is a 24 hour event. Manatee sightings along with sea turtle sightings made the trip a nature outing as well.

Outside of gas to bring the camper over there, this was easily a <$200 weekend with food and extra's. Check out the world famous Ron Jon surfshop....it's an experience.

Well the shuttle is now supposed to go July 11th. We won't be there this time, but there will be the opportunity for a few more launches to go see and feel the thunder. After that, we will welcome the Constellation series of NASA.

We had a great time, weathered an incredible intense thunderstorm and even stayed dry. More to come on our real vacation!

Just heard about some soap solution you can use to combat mosquito's and using peanut butter to get dried gum out of clothes

Rain drops are falling on my head....

Greetings!

Don't know about your area, but we in Tampa Bay are in a serious drought. Although hurricane season is now here and the afternoon rains have arrived, the grass is growing again. The rain we have been receiving is not enough to take us out of this drought and we will continue to be in the drought for a long time. Some politicians, feel that since the rain is here, all is fine and water restrictions can be removed.

Phooey on that.....not only should the restrictions NOT be lifted, additional actions are needed by us, the Frugals and our extended families.

We have rain barrels to supplement the watering of our gardens. We have selected drought resistant plants and boy are they are beautiful!

Governor Crist has a bill in front of him currently that will take away from Homeowner Associations the power to dictate the maintenance and requirement of grass lawns. As long as the homeowner follows the stated protocol for architectural changes, a HO Association will not be able to stand in the way of someone who is trying to be water conservative! Please sign this bill.

Another idea to save some water includes placing a brick in the toilet tank, if you have not converted to the low flush model, keep an empty bucket in the shower and after a couple of showers there will be enough water for your potted plants.

So please be mindful when using water this summer, there is not a lot of spare water out there!

7/1/2009...Update....one rain barrel installed! Quickly found out more than one should be connected to each spout. More rain was filling the barrel than was being released! Here is a photo.

There is such thing as a 'free' lunch..

Over the past year, we Frugals have been keeping our eyes open for deals. Deals in a way, that if we spend a little money, we would be getting more value for our 'mark'.

We live in the Tampa Bay area. In the bay area, we have been fans of the Rays for quite a while.

If their pitchers throw 10 strikeouts in a home game, we can get a free 10" pizza from Papa Johns pizza. (http://www.papajohns.com/) Just go to http://www.kanesstrikeout.com/ for details. So far this season, there have been three 10 strikeout home games; that is a lot of pizza.

Everytime the Rays win, a free donut from Dunkin Donuts with a purchase.

Go to a high school athletic game? Check out the ticket, chances are there will be a free sandwich from ChickFila or some other fast food establishment.

The point here, is take a look at the offers around you during events you may participate.

Long ago in our 'poor' days, (that is beyond frugal), we used to go to car dealerships on the weekend for a hot dog or hamburger. Today, we do that at the Harley dealership. Yum.

When we were in Atlanta, there was Harry's market where you walked the rows of produce and sampled everything delicious. No need for a lunch back then! So keep your eyes out for those lunchtime deals and you will find there is a lot out there to take advantage of! Enjoy!

Farmer's Markets/U-Pick

Herr Frugal must be on a veggie kick. As the weekend is hier, it's time for our weekly grocery shop. We will be going to the big bulk store the bulk items and household staples. Fruits and Veggies are purchased through produce stands or farmer's market.....fresher and less expensive.

In addition, some of the produce is locally grown thus reducing the excess waste in energy. Nothing like purchasing strawberry's that were picked two weeks ago in California, when we have Plant City less than 50 miles away!

Take your family out this weekend or next to go to 'u-pick' farm. A couple of weeks ago we found ourselves at a bleu-berry farm. Absolutely organically delicious! Frau Frugal and I have been enjoying blueberries in our lunch for the past week. Easy to pick, eat and we supported the local farmer.

A great site to find a farm near you: http://www.pickyourown.org/

Found this article that speaks volumes for the markets. Enjoy!

http://www.eversave.com/mc/3/articles/1133/farmers-markets-save-money?ref=307311622&zip=34685&sourceid=46582

Veggie, veggie, fruit, fruit....

Summer is almost here. Don't know about you, but we Frugal's cringe when we are in the produce aisle at the grocery store. High prices, under-ripened fruit and limited selections. A frugal solution; Grow your own! Easy to get started, lots of varieties. We hear more and more in these times our grandparents growing their own Victory Gardens many years ago and the benefits from their experience. Sharing their ideas, seeds and produce with neighbors and friends.

This is not the Frugal garden, pictures to come, but we are trying some new things in the yard. A new "Topsy Turvy" with Bell Peppers, banana peppers, the ever present tomatoes and we are trying pineapple this year. The orange tree has fruit, as does the lemon tree. The freeze did some damage to the Key Lime tree, but we will manage.

On the horizon; Hydroponics's! The yard is ready, we will purchase and install in August/September and should have salad in six weeks. A simple solution that will involve all Frugal's as we enjoy the "fruits" of our labor!

Let us hear about your garden experiences!

Reward points and prizes

So say you signed up for a credit card that 'rewards' points for using the card.....you may think oh boy, look at the rewards! Airfare, electronics, household items are some of the items you can cash your points for....truth is, by the time you have collected enough of those points, the exchange is so inflated, it would have been less expensive to search for a deal for those items, if you needed them at all.

The Frugals are participating in two types of rewards programs. Coke rewards and HP points for computer games.

We have been in http://www.mycokerewards.com/ for a couple of years. Points are accumulated from the bottletops, 12 pack boxes and cases of Coca-Cola products. Prizes are actually useful and rewarding. We have developed a network of support with friends to assist with supplying the codes and keep a sharp lookout for codes in our day to day activities. Check it out! Prizes come very quickly and you pay nothing for the shipping. Yes, nothing for the shipping!

Second are HP game points. Points or coins are accumulated through playing these on-line games. You even get lucky when you come across some free coins from time to time! These games will go a long way on vacation this summer.

So, Herr Frugalmeister has provided a couple of truly free rewards programs that cost nothing to join or redeem and for the large part, have become part of our daily routine.

All that for what??

Happy Saturday, just a quick update regarding some of the 'freebies' out there this weekend for the Frugals.

Today was a busy Saturday for us. Started actually on Friday night for our youngest Frugal's school family fun night. Great time for the kids with a wristband for as many bounce house rides as possible within a 3 hour time frame. Best of all......a live concert by the Shaguars. Here is a link to one of their shows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAQD0_ZC6Ss&feature=related or http://www.myspace.com/theshaguars

Saturday morning started early with set up of a Pancake breakfast for the Boyscout Troop, then off to the March of Dimes walkathon with Frau Frugal. 5 beautiful miles of downtown Tampa starting and ending on the University of Tampa campus. Beautiful grounds established as the Tampa Hotel in 1893. Total freebies on the walk. Recyclable bags, granola bars, water bottles, ice cream and hotdogs after the walk.

Afterwards, since we were in the neighborhood, a stop at our favorite thrift store! 16 items of clothing for just over $48!

Early afternoon was spent with a young Boy Scout and the Horsemanship Merit Badge. His fourth! Good luck down the Scouting path!

Home again and off to Palm Harbor's first Citrus Festival. It blew. Can't beat Waynesville Ohio's Sauerkraut Festival, but not much can. Hang in there PH!

Good times with the family and exercise this weekend and picked up some freebies and swag! Painting tomorrow!

Dinner and a movie for how much?

The Frugal's tried something we haven't ever done in our 20+ years together. We went to see a movie at a Drive-In theatre.

We both had fond memories of our own family's experiences of packing up the station wagon, getting to the theatre, hooking up the squawking box for sound and then spending the entire movie either yelling at your sister/brother to get out of the way, going to the bathrooms or playing in the playground underneath the big picture screen. Either way.....good times.

Here is a link to a great site to give you the information about a theatre in your area:

http://www.driveinmovie.com/mainmenu.htm

Our experience was to watch "Monsters v. Aliens" by Dreamworks. Great movie. Total price to get in the door was only $16. Stopped off at Papa John's pizza for a free 10" cheese pizza thanks to the Tampa Bay Rays pitchers (10 strikeouts on 4/14/2009)

www.kanesstrikeout.com

Brought in some drinks and chips and set up the chairs. Great time for under $25 total.

So take your family out for some good times and remember what your parents did at the movies!

Have you ever "seen" this ???

The Frugal's have made a few observations regarding the health care industry lately, specifically the dental and optical genre.

When you are in an accident and need to go to the doctor, they will usually prescribe physical therapy, once you go the clinic will verify your insurance benefits and then prescribe or tell you when you will feel better after so many visits. Those visits will usually amount to somewhere around $10,000 in Florida. You may feel better after 5 -6 visits, but the clinic's will tell you that you need to go through the treatment plan, otherwise you may suffer a relapse and you will need to start all over and the insurance may not cover it. What a scam as each and every person that walks through those clinic doors will be depositing a check for $10,000 in the clinic's pocket. That is a lot of $45 ice packs that are reused over and over!

Well the new extortionist scheme in the health care industry appears to be the way of the dentists and optometrists. Since eye care insurance in now routinely offered (don't get me started on the number of uninsured American's there are today; if you are employed, chances are you have access to health care, if you don't then you choose not to have health care)

Our vision plan pays a portion of the exam. Fair enough for a $10 copayment. They will also pay a portion of the eyeglasses. We are finding the optometrist stores will then use that allowable amount as the base of their prices and add their markup on top of the allowable and therefore double dip the price. For example, you see a pair of frames you like. The price on the frames is $325. The actual price is $80. Your insurance provides an allowance of $100 and then you are paying $225 for the pair. You think you got a deal ($100 off), the store allows the insurance company to pay for their overhead. If you want to be smart and you know you have an allowance of $100, be prepared for the Clark Kent style. Not a knock against our optician's business practice, but we choose to do it differently.

The Frugals have been going to the same optometrist for a number of years; Frau Docktor Optiker. We recognized the good doctor's practice and will be putting the following in practice; We will simply be reusing our frames, they are only a couple of years old and our expense will be limited to the lenses, a minor amount in comparison to the cost of the frames. Frugality baby! So the lesson learned here, is you have been going to an optician for a number of years and have purchased eyeware from them, then there will be a surplus of lenses available, versus the frames, should not be a problem to just have the lenses replaced. If you want the frames, utilize your employers Flexible Spending Account or Health Care Account advantage to ease the impact on the wallet. Could be a savings (internally due to taxation) of about 25%.

Hope you have enjoyed this blog and let me know you have been 'watching' it!

Next up; Dentists!

Mark your calendars

Hello all, some savings tips to come your way.

Kohl's 15% or 20% off anything sale this weekend

Dunkin Donuts 50 cent iced coffee on April 21!
https://www.dunkindonuts.com/IcedCoffeeDay/?cid=6776816&jid=15179536&mc=XX&eid=1913222&cmpid=email_ext_000017

Remember Earth Day on April 17th!

TGIF Coupon! One cent appetizers with a beverage purchase at the bar and $1 entree with purchase of an entree! Good times and good through 4/30/2009

Spring Break Staycation

Good morning!

Just a quick Frugal update for vacation ideas. This week has been our Spring Break and we spent the week together as a family to slow down, catch our breath and enjoy each other.

Our plans included a great campout at Little Talbot Island State Park. A smaller sized state park for camping, but the spaces were secluded and well set up. Bathhouses were extra clean. The campground had a kayak launch into the salt marshes and a beach with access 24 x7. At one point on Friday night, it was the Frugal beach as we were the only ones there!

www.floridastateparks.org/littletalbotisland/default.cfm/


Amelia Island and Fort Clinch is nearby. Fort George is to the south and is a cultural gem with exhibits dedicated to the life of the Timicuan Indians.

The Jacksonville Zoo is about 20 miles away. The Frugals were last there over 15 years ago and a lot of work has been done to the zoo and the changes are simply amazing, Congratulations Jacksonville Zoo!

http://www.jaxzoo.org/

The rest of the week has been spent painting and redecorating (in a frugal manner) our bedroom. You cannot appreciate the changes until you do your own bedroom, but the price is well worth it. For less than $100 you can paint the ceiling, walls and trim, rearrange the furniture, put on a new bedset and the room changes from a Master Bedroom to an Owner's Retreat in a days work.

The rest of the week will include deep sea fishing, perhaps a movie and some needed time in the yard. We have had a full week, but a very productive and family focused week at that!

Thanks for checking in!

Frugality beyond your family......

Frugal can apply to more than the individual or family…..

Instead of blogging about any savings we Frugals have uncovered; there are more and more out there as you look, Frau Frugal and I spent Wednesday and one of the kinder’s school at their annual Field Days put on by the PE department. This was the fourth such Field Days we have volunteered and this was by far the best.

The time we spent at the school was extremely rewarding because not only did we help out his school by being a parental volunteer and fill in a need, we spent the day together, doing something we love together, namely being parents. Now with any type of organizational activity, you will have the doer’s and the watcher’s. Frau Frugal likes to refer to the watchers as “helicopter parents’. I thought that meant parents that swooped down and dropped off the child and then flew out of there because they did not have the time to be bothered by participating, but it is a term of endearment for those parents that will ‘participate’ to say they did, but then just ‘hover’ over their child. To get off track, we had one such helicopter parent that was there and actually did the activities with their child while other children waited for their turn. They then came to the provided lunch, got their meal and then left to eat with their child….what a waste.

Our participation allowed the school to rely on volunteers to supplement their staff. By supplementing their staff they are able to fund resources that otherwise may have been allocated to hiring and not always getting the return on the dollar, through performance or skill. Our kinder’s school is fortunate to have such a strong base of volunteerism….oh yeah there is always the same group of parents that are the doer’s but the we hope the ‘watcher’s’ group will grow smaller. (It was nice to see more Herren out there then in the past!)

In addition, the PE department shared their philosophy for character development through their involvement with our kinder. It is simply this…provide an opportunity for the kinder to learn social skills, athletic skills through peer to peer relationships and move around and exercise. All this is done through character development. The kinder will become more self sufficient and rely on themselves to seek out the opportunities as they realize the rewards. Not be dependent on others for the basics….an underlying principle of frugality in my humble opinion…

Open Letter

Thanks for checking in!


This is an open letter to those Homeowner Associations that have absolutely no control or desire to regulate their water consumption watering common areas. We are currently in a drought, or are experiencing drought-like conditions. In my commute, I drive through a number of neighborhoods and cannot believe the absolute waste of water watering the pavement or ill managed sprinkler heads just streaming out water.

The St. Petersburg Times put it pretty plainly: http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/article983732.ece

The Frugals are trying to condition our lawn to survive with minimal water and it just frustrates me to no end to see the abuse and neglect of these associations. We live in a neighborhood with deed restrictions and combined with severe frost burn and insects, are yard is not in the greatest shape. We will probably get a letter, but we would rather get a letter than have to water and water for the sake of "maintaining our property values". I'll stick to weeding the weeds, trying to limit the pests from eating what's left and continue to stew over these selfish associations.

Time to live on a compound for us!

Do your own energy audit....

One way, a frugal way to look at maximizing your energy conservation in the quickest way is to complete an energy audit. Check with your local power company as it more than likely is a free service they offer.

Although, Herr Frugal is not a tax expert, there are some energy savings or tax breaks that are available during filing time. Here in Florida, there are state programs to assist with modifications made to your home to upgrade to current standards.

I was looking around the house and we had replaced our water heater about two years ago. We thought we were doing a good thing by upgrading the size of the water heater. Longer showers! However, what I just discovered, the option we went with is very near the worst of the energy efficient models. A quick fix or assistance to this plan may be a thermal blanket. Another, but don't tell Frau Frugal, but the thermostat for the water heater may go down to conserve a bit.

Will report to you any savings or if the theory is a bust! Leave a comment if youv'e tried this as well. Thanks for reading.

Curbside Recycling anyone?

Frau Frugal and I were dropping off our weekly recyclables at the collection center near our haus over the weekend. I was encouraged to find the dumpsters there to be pretty full, which is a good sign. While there another patron stopped by and began a 10 minute tirade as to why she did not understand why we did not have curbside recycling (mandatory) in our area. 'They had it down in Sarasota, why not here?", she said.

Frau Frugal and I kept our mouths shut as we have a canned argument as to why curbside recycling is NOT a good solution to recycling and a positive impact to our environment at this time.

Think of it this way, as I heard a reinforcing argument on Florida Matters on WUSF.org last week. The same type of trucks pick up the recycling contents as they pick up your refuse. The average stop for refuse is about 50 to 60 lbs of garbage. Recycling is 4 to 8 pounds per stop. Think of the amount of CO and CO2 and hydrocarbons being released into the air just for those stops. The expert on this program stated the city of Los Angeles uses over 800 trucks for both refuse and curbside. Eliminating curbside would cut that fleet in half!

Conveniently, I received my Men's Health magazine last week and the city of St. Petersburg received a grade of "F" for their efforts. Sounds bad, but I completely get Mayor Baker's stand on curbside service. Here is the article for your review: http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=metrogrades&conitem=8033017eecf1f110VgnVCM10000013281eac____

So, the Frugal's opinion on curbside recycling is this: Curbside recycling can only be effective if done so in a responsible manner and is not done as a matter of conscious driven necessity. In otherwords, create/foster/mandate an environmentally friendly collection system, then I am on board. Use an electric or natural gas powered vehicle. Do NOT use the same type of transport as the refuse collection. Until then, we choose to go to the center as part of our routine, not a special trip, just incorporate the stop into our errands.

Thanks for visiting our haus!

What I didn't spend money on this week....

To capture the potential impact of frugality I decided I would keep track of items and activities I either did myself or found a solution or an alternative to the expense.

I've attached an article for you to review. Basically with the economy slowdown, more of us are saving. Personal savings are up 2.9% in the last quarter of 2008. That even includes Christmas with all that negative savings going on!!

Here is the article: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/01/frugal-americans-hurt-economic-recovery/

So, for instance, I just ironed/starched 17 dress shirts. I didn't spend over $25 to bring them to the dry-cleaners. The Queen of Frugal (QoF) cut my hair with our clippers a bit ago. I didn't spend $15 for the haircut. (the clippers had already achieved their ROI). We buy our produce from a farmer's market or produce stand exclusively. We have sampled about half a dozen places and just found today's to be a great one. It is every Sunday at the Palm Harbor Historical Society Center at the corner of Belcher and Curlew Roads. Based on our $12 purchase, we didn't spend another $13 if we went to the grocery store. You should see the Romaine lettuce we got! We even shop a bit of green as we brought our own bags as referenced below!

Basically folks, if we just put some thought into your purchases and choices, you too will be in a position to say, "I know I didn't spend $xx on this, because I did this...." Save a week of groceries by emptying out and getting creative with your pantry and refrigerator. How much didn't you spend then?

Just some thoughts from Herr Frugalmeister and the Queen of Frugal. Talk to again soon!

Paper or Plastic?

We hear that or a variation of that each time we go to the grocery stores. In the book referenced below, "50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save The Earth", #5 is about New Ingredients. According to the book, "If just 25% of American homes used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, we'd save over 2.5 BILLION bags a year."

We have all seen the new wave of "recycled plastic bags". Commercially suggestive guilt indicators, you need to buy these to be "green". Each grocery store, super store, even the bulk stores have them (they're bigger too!). Usually sells for about $1 each.

If you are fortunate you can obtain a few of them at shows or conferences. In a few weeks time, we Frugals collected about 10 of them. We have some in each of our vehicles and try our best to use them each time we go to the store. We do get some plastic bags when we need to get just one item, but we recycle them here at home as trash bags.

One of the tags on a washable nylon bag we obtained (yes, nylon is petroleum based), states by using these bags, "..can save the average American 300 to 700 plastic shopping bags per year, which will save 3 to 7 gallons of crude oil." That means each of our households can contribute significantly to not only the manufacturing of these bags, but prevent them from entering into the wastestream and not decompose at all!

Putting it on a larger scale, there are 300 Million people in the US. (I know Nancy Pelosi said we were losing 500 Million jobs a month, you do the math or was it the work of alarmist speech writers?) If 100,000 frugals used the bags regularly for a year, there would be a savings of over 5.4 Million gallons of gas. How many gallons of gas do you use each year? Figure it out and leave me a comment. We estimate, our current usage in the Frugal household with three vehicles and a motorcycle to be about 2500 gallons a year. That's a figure we are going to work on in 2009.

It's not that hard to use the bags, the hardest part is remembering to bring them into the store when you get there. If you are packing the bags yourself, it may take some practice, but you can do it. Stick the frozens groceries together, boxes in another and fruit in another, you'll figure it out and hopefully won't crack some eggs in the process.

Enjoy the read and leave a comment or two as Herr Frugalmeister continues to shape this blog.

50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth *

*50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth *. This is a book by The Earthworks Group I picked up at a local thrift store a few months ago. Yes, call it book recycling, but it looked good and actually has some useful items to consider. The book was printed (on recycled paper and recycled ink (?)) in 1989.

I either heard or read somewhere Ed Begley Jr, saw the book, read the book and challenged himself to try each of the 50 things. I'll try to do the same, not because of Ed, but as a challenge to myself. I consider myself pretty green and responsible but know I can do more myself. The goal here is not to produce a number of converts, but just to show folks that what can be done easily by one person can be multiplied by others. It is not necessarily a "Save the Mother Earth" type of hype, but an increase in personal responsibility.

Anyway, I'll share with you the results on the things we Frugals try and adopt in our household.

http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Things-You-Save-Earth/dp/0929634063

Can I ask about your opinion????

We all answer questions each and every day. We even provide our opinion, solicited or not, but we do. We make choices each day about what we will wear, where we will go, what to buy, how much to spend, the list goes on and on.

I decided to sign up for some research panels to earn some extra cash to fund some bicycle rehab projects on my other blog. By earning money specifically for that project, it projects a zero impact on any current savings I have going on in the Frugal house. Call it confusing, but for me, it works.

For example, we have a coffee can that holds all of our spare change we have in our pockets, find on the ground, or whatnot. When we cash it in, it specifically will pay for some activity. We do it about once a year. 2008's cash in was about $92. I believe 2007's went to a fun evening at the Derby Lane dog track. Great buffett and a lot fun on betting on the dogs!

Here are the survey companies I signed up for. They are legit as I have been contacted on one panel and I know of two friends that have been contacted as well. Pays about $80 for a couple hourse of work.

http://www.superiorresearch.net/

http://www.taicompanies.com/

http://www.accudata.net/

I was on the Nielsen Media Research panel for about a year. No monetary compensation, but I did get to use a Smartphone by Cingular with internet access. I paid for the phone service, but also received $50/month to pay for the service. It was basically a free cell phone.

I have also been playing around with some on-line survey companies. Simple point and click, a few minutes here and there. After about a week and a few hours of my time, the balance is just over $15.00 between them. Not a lot, but as referenced above, I have bicycle parts to pay for. Those companies are:

www.inboxdollars.com

www.spotsurvey.com

Lastly, I added Google's AdSense to my blogs. Just click on each of the advertisements, if they interest you and I will receive a small fee. About $.50 a click so far. Thanks for clicking!

So all in all, to generate a bit more out of the air funding, Research panels, online surveys and saving pennies. They will all add up in the end with little impact to the frugal household budget as we rebuild two special bicycles.

Thanks for reading!

Can you spare some change brother?

Guten Abend! I have attached this link for an article I found about some money saving ideas.

I was thinking about something my son once told me; if a person stopped to pick up every penny them came across in the street or sidewalk, they would have collected over $180 in their lifetime. Folks that is $180 that you don't have right now! I don't care if the penny is heads up or heads down, it's still a penny. Those do add up.

We have a frugal coffee can that holds the spare change we find in our pockets, purses or drawers, about once a year we will take the can to a change counter and cash them in. Last time it was over $90. Talk about an evening out then on your spare change alone.

Some folks I know subscribe to the envelope method for their budget. Great idea, spend only what you got, not what your gonna get. Take the change from that each week and move it into another envelope. Over the next few weeks, you will have found yourself some decent entertainment money.

Enjoy the article, it is from 2005, but still pertinent today. Follow along if you wish as well. Thank you for your time and suggestions. http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/10/pf/saving/frugal_living/index.htm

Christmas is going to come early....

To keep our lives simpler, we Frugals have decided to begin our Christmas shopping for 2009 now. No pressure here, just a perusal down the end caps at Target for the soon to be hard to get items and beat the rush this fall. Now these hard to get items may not be because they are so popular, they may be because they are last years model and everyone under the sun already has that game, widget or gadget or so I've been told.

For example, when you see a drugstore start to sell those digital picture frames just like the office type stores, you know there is a glut on the market.....hmmm gift ideas?

Now we will take the lessons learned from 2008'a holidays and apply them to this years holiday season. We strategically plan for a month for Black Friday. (www.bfads.net) Our lists are checked and cross-checked against each competitor. We will then position ourselves at multiple locations to pounce on those bargains. Oh yeah, it can get violent, but hey, if I'm saving a few bucks, I willing to bleed a little. This year we are going to concentrate our efforts at one store location....Bass ProShops.

This is a store that knows how to treat it's customers on Black Friday. Picture and feel this.....40ish degrees and windy, 5 o'clock in the morning and the potential crowd headaches in front of you. Bass ProShops is glad to meet you with hot coffee, biscuits and donuts. Man o man, I'll turn to being a hunter just to continue to shop there.

Bottlecaps!

Happy New Year.

One activity we Frugals like to participate and redeem is mycokerewards.com. The Coco-Cola company has put togther a redeeming program using their bottlecaps, 12 can cartons and case cartons.

Each one of these is worth 3, 10 or 20 points that can be entered on line here: http://www.mycokerewards.com

Over the past couple of years we collected enough to have earned a Wii game, two pieces of luggage and a Lord of the Rings swag gift. Pretty cool! Very quick turnaround and pay no shipping costs either!

Dr. Pepper and Pepsi both have similar programs for free items and music. Haven't tried these programs yet as our soda pop consumption is decreasing, but will give them a try as we play around with different money saving ideas.

Stay tuned!