"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"

February tidings! The above is a depression era slogan and appears to be still relevant and pertinent to the times.

We Frugals are approaching just about every financial decision in our lives with the slogan above. By doing so, we have begun to find that ever elusive disposable income to enjoy the down time of a job well done.

The lastest adventure......The Great Urban Race, here in the Tampa Bay area. It was not cheap, but the family time we will have chasing the clues, working as a team and loving every minute of a mini 'Amazing Race' will be well worth the entry fee.

Here is a link to the race. Check to see if one is near you in 2010!

http://www.greaturbanrace.com/

After the race, we will give you the lowdown and our results. We are racing as Team WhatNext. Designer Tshirts and all!

In addition, we have begun to work on a new project. WhatNextASD.com. It will be an information portal for parents with kids on the Autism spectrum. We have purchased the domain and will begin to build the website and probably add another blog through Blogger. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

It's 2010! Twenty-ten or Two Thousand and Ten. How you say it does not matter but with the turning of the Roman Calendar, a new year is upon us. A new beginning and opportunity to improve ourselves.

Reflecting back on 2009 Frugality, we have found ourselves with a bit more $ in the bank, less stress at home and continued focus on ourselves, the family.

Some saving tips that actually became a reality are:

• Making our lunches everyday, contributed to the bottom line. We made leftovers, or put together some very healthy lunches. A veggie burger, a side of frozen veggies, a yogurt and some fruit. It was also an opportunity to share a small note to Mrs. Frugal.
• Dropping our spare change into a bucket worked as well. Last year we had over $90 to enjoy ourselves, this year's bucket will be cashed in shortly.
• Using coupons and shopping smartly instead of just going to the store to pick up what we need. By using the coupons and buy one/get one, we were able to just get the basics (milk, bread, etc) and eat out of the freezer or out of the pantry on multiple weeks. For the family of five, we are able to average about $130 a week. This includes our lunch meals as well!
• Paying cash/debit for just about everything. This made our budgeting come to reality and think about purchases
• Take a vacation....it does everyone good

Here are Herr Frugal's resolutions for 2010

1. Read 12 books (first one is underway, "Guide to Winemaking")
2. Write 12 letters
3. Build a vegetable garden instead of just a few plants to supplement
4. Walk the dogs or whichever one wants to go for a walk

Please leave a comment about your resolutions and frugality realizations. It's time to walk the dog....literally Herr Professor!

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!