Re-reading Tightwad Gazette

[cercis]

We can't even buy the good stuff in the stores here. I have to mail order it. It's amazing how much a difference in locality can make.

[PrincessPerky]

We can get halfway decent bread for 69 cents a lowaf, and it would cost more (though healthier) to make it, except I am terrible and unreliable, somedays my bread rocks, others you can use it as a door stop! I like reliable, so we buy it.

I do make my own buiscuts, muffins, and cookies/cakes though, I figure the health benifits outweighs the possible cost difference.

Oh and yogurt, it would be cheaper to buy the cheap stuff, but we like to uyse the good no sugar added organic as a starter for homemade. cost per serving is almost the same as storebrand, but heathwise much less sugar. (and of course no preservatives)

[lrjohnson]

Princess:

I've been gearing up to do yogurt. I admit I've been gearing up for years, it took me a long time to get to the muffins. I buy the non-fat plain large tubs, sometimes fancy organic, sometimes not.

Tightwad Gazette III, pages 140-143 (not sure there in the "Complete" Book") has a long detailed article on how to make yogurt work.

Do you follow Amy's recipe? Have you ever used non-fat tor low-fat yogurt? Any tips to add? I wouldn't be getting less sugar, because I don't get the sugar stuff to start with. I'm trying to decide if it'd be worth it for me. With muffins, I can freeze them and use them for a long time. How long does your yogurt last? If I could make a month's worth once a month I'd be more into it. I mix yogurt with granola or bran or wheat germ, or I make breakfast shakes with fruit.

[Tightwad Kitty]

Originally Posted by lrjohnson

I've been gearing up to do yogurt. I admit I've been gearing up for years, it took me a long time to get to the muffins. I buy the non-fat plain large tubs, sometimes fancy organic, sometimes not.

Tightwad Gazette III, pages 140-143 (not sure there in the "Complete" Book") has a long detailed article on how to make yogurt work.

Do you follow Amy's recipe? Have you ever used non-fat tor low-fat yogurt? Any tips to add? ....

The article is ‘No More Culture Shock’ Vol 3 p718-721 (CTG)

I have never made Amy’s recipe. I do remember that you must make sure that your starter culture is a live active culture, most of the cultures here are not live cultures. So if you do have a failure don’t think you have done something wrong, first look at your starter. As we are lucky here as one NZ company, Easiyo http://www.easiyo.com has come out with a system, that you buy yogurt in powder form, mix with cold water put in a special yogurt maker jar filled with hot water. You need to buy the yogurt maker, which you can now buy in thrift shops & garage sales. It workout to around 50% less than buying fresh yogurt, rarely a failure. Each 140g pack make 1kg (2.2lbs) of yogurt, I use Slimmer version.

[PrincessPerky]

I never read amys recipie, I use the one that came with my yogurt maker, I am to chicken to trust my oven to stay the right temperature (I have enough trouble getting it to make muffins right!)

My kids tell my whole milk yogurt is terrible, we use I think lowfat starter, and 1% milk (it is what we drink)

Mixing in a tablespoon of dry milk makes it thicker, but the kids don't like the taste as much.

I have found boiling it (light boil) longer helps flavor and thickness, but leaves a lot less yogurt (it reduces the milk)

[Tightwad Kitty]

A fun article to read this time is ‘What to do with’ Vol p216 (CTG)

Frugal tips to reuse items from readers. I will just list the items here.
A Wire Coat Hanger, Broccoli Rubber Bands, Butter Wrappers, Frozen Juice Lids, Watermelon Seeds, Bread Bags, Old Towels, Potato Peels and Chicken Skins, An Old Sock, Old Roll-on Deodorant Bottles, Old Mattress Pads, Aquarium Water, Cold Cereal Boxes, Mesh Bags. They are many more articles of this kind in the book, all from readers at that time. (1990-1996)

My thoughts on this article … I wonder if anyone who had read some of these tips then is still doing them today, nearly 16 years since they were written. How much and how little has charged in those 16 year since Amy started to write back in 1990. We all are still looking for ways to s-t-r-e-t-c-h our dollars further than we did in the last week, month, year or decade before. With the high price fuel these days we need too!

My budget is a lot of $ s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g strategies to s--t--r--e--t--c--h it as far it will go and have a life also! When I can find the time and write a Personal Finance Blog, this will be my main theme. May be by the end this week or next week . At the moment I am in the process of this new idea as ‘$-t-r-e-t-c-h strategy’ putting it on paper and downsizing my stuff which will be my other theme. It funny when you have done something for so long then you give it a name when you want to analyze it a bit more first.

Does anyone else have this problem? At the moment I am analyzing each and everything that I do to see if it has a pattern or not and which strategy in Amy’s D. mind would it come under or in my own mind.

[lrjohnson]

I still reuse mesh bags and breadbags. I reuse lots of packaging; I got concentrated juice in a little plastic bottle-no juice can lid on these, but the bottle is great for dressings, etc. I reuse Pump shampoo bottles by pouring in the cheap stuff. The cheapest dish detergent has no squirt lid, but I pour it into an old squirt lid bottle. Old clothes become pajamas. I just put my muffins in a old Tortilla bag. I took flat promotional magnets and made nice gifts by gluing on artwork and photographs. I put the water eggs were boiled in in my houseplants. I compost - that's a way to re-use trash. Hand-me-down big Ice Cream tubs are my compost buckets. My bulk food collection is in 48 oz PB Plastic Tubs, and the huge Red Vines plastic tubs (not ones I bought). Bulk food creates little packaging to convert! I put TP in old square Tissue containers. Bottles from sauces and such are candidates for bath oil or bath salts. Broken costume jewelry I find (there seems to be a lot out there), old weird keys, trinkets, all go in the gift wrapping box to make a unique wrap.

[PrincessPerky]

We reuse bread bags for packing...bread/ sandwhiches

I think the longer you do something the less you think about it, the easier it is.

When I started recycling paper, it was hard to remember, but on vacation last week, I had the hardest time not packing up all the paper to bring to the recycle center! (not to mention the plastic bottles)

When I started tossing food out for the backyard err whatever eats it... I had to remember not to put it in the disposal. On vacation last week I had to ask my DH what I was supposed to do with it! (we have small kids, there is always food dropoed on the floor or left on the plate)

[Tightwad Kitty]

I recycle Gift wrap, rubber bands, baggie ties, bread bag tags, wash baggies, plastic shopping bags & fruit produce bags, glass jars, old rags the list is endless. Save % off vouchers even if I don't use them and give them to others, if they do!

I also dumpsters dive at times, DIY if I am able to do the job. & make my own laundry gel.

Take anything given to me & past it on if I don't use it!

[boefixepa]

I'm going to weigh in on the bread thing....I HATE CHEAP BREAD! There I said it. I can not buy the cheap bread at the stores, or the day old bread at the thrift stores. I'd rather just do without honestly...better for my waist line too. Frozen bread ---tastes blahhh--- I love the smell of homemade bread baking! It's cheap as far as the basics go...but when I have it I eat it. I learned how to make and I've found it's the old bread I manage to eat all of before it molds!!....that living single thing again. If I buy bread at the store I have to buy the kind I like and it's generall like $3 a loaf!! Plus it molds before I can eat it all....a waste!!

I've just accepted the fact...I like my own cooking. I'll make my bread thanks. Who want's to come over from some hot bread with honey butter?

[Fern]

Originally Posted by Tightwad Kitty

Hi Cercis I agree with you on the texture issues that cause projectile vomiting is best avoided if possible.

In my family both adults and children were picky eaters too! Today my son and his wife won’t eat onions or fish still. I eat very different from them as I like exotic fruits that I grow, and lentils and beans along seafood, very spicy foods from many different parts of the world that they will not eat at all.

War and Peas Vol 3 (p792 CTG)
Theme - food –‘overcoming picky eating’

TG – Quote – ‘Picky eating often results from one or all of these parental mistakes.’
(in brief)
1. The child has not been given enough limits. He dictates what is bought and when and how it served.
2. The child ‘s eating has become the entire focus of the meal.
3. One or both parents are picky eaters. (In my son’s case it was his grandfather that was the picky eater as he was raised in a four generations household.)

My thought on picky eaters.

Another problem, I see is ‘brand loyalty’ when you have to buy that ‘brand’ or two different brands for different members in the household. I see this is OK only if that person in question has a special diet issue.

I do think, 2 or 3 small to medium mouthful depending on age rule, unless the child has food intolerance to it, is the best method to try first. Another method would be to disguise the food in the dish by blending/ puree or any other method you can think of. Some foods are required taste and need to be induced very slowly.

My own required taste of unusual foods came from my mother’s father. As small child, my grandparents would put the food in a small bowl that had my favourite picture of old world horse and cart on it, if I wanted to see the picture then I had to eat the food on top of it. funny what you remember after fifty years.

I am not today a picky eater...at all...

However, there is one food i can't eat much of, and that's cooked spinach. The smell and taste nauseated me as a child, but i was forced many a time to remain at the table, alone, until i had finished eating it. I actually threw up once cus i hated it so much. So forcing a child to eat something is a big mistake, becus i wasn't a difficult child or a stubborn one, i really just did not like it. I do like it raw in a salad today, and can handle small amounts of cooked spinach WHEN MIXED WITH SOMETHING else, but that's it.

[lrjohnson]

I didn't think that my smaller town was so great for shopping, but I think I'm pretty lucky now be be able to buy such high quality bread for such a low price. If I had to pay $3 for a $3 loaf, I'd balk too. My bread thrift place better stick around.

[klove]

I used to buy a couple of loaves of bread at Costco but my family was never able to finish both before they went bad. Now I put both loaves in the freezer and just remove what I need at the moment. If you don't have time to wait for it to thaw pop it in the toaster for a few seconds!

[Tightwad Kitty]

Welcome klove to Saving Advice

As the topic has gotten on to bread. An article worth reading would be “Are Bread Machines A Good Value?” Vol 2 p 455-458 (CTG) This is long article Amy D wrote on this topic under discussion now! It covers, ‘The Machine Versus Traditional Home-Baking Methods’ & ‘The Machine Versus The Store’ and well worth a read.

I own a bread machine but I don’t use it very much lately! As I only use 3 loaves per month. So it’s cheaper to buy special Low-GI Multi Grain Bread when on special and freeze.

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by boefixepa

I've just accepted the fact...I like my own cooking. I'll make my bread thanks. Who want's to come over from some hot bread with honey butter?

Me! I really miss homemade fresh bread, and my making it is hit or miss, so I often pass on attempting

[boefixepa]

I Ordered the gazette on line today. I tried all weekend to find it and couldn't, so I went on line and bought it and Debt Free Living. I'll let you know what I think once it gets here. (I want to read it so bad I was willing to pay the over night shipping rate!! Definatly NOT a fugal idea there! But I did it anyway.)

[Tightwad Kitty]

An article worth reading this time is ‘Calculating the net value of second income’ Vol 1 p25 (CTG)

As the figures used in this article are very out of date about 1990.
You will have to substitute with your own incomes and variables. Amy, I don’t think included Networking that you need to do these days to get up further up the ladder! Even if you do plan to stay in the workforce and have two incomes, I do think it’s a good idea to see how much its costing you for that second income. Even, if it’s just to see if you can come up with a better plan!

I never had to do this exercise, as I was the breadwinner and the only full time income in my household.
At one time we had three aged pensioners, toddler and myself.

[PrincessPerky]

I worked (when I worked) in a daycare, the baby room gal was pregnant, in order for her (with emloyee discount) to afford her little addition to stay at the daycare she would have had to sigh her whole check over! (not including the cost of gas to get there and whatnot)

[getforfree]

Yes, if you have to pay for childcare, the second income won't bring any money in. Thats why I work nights and my dh works days. I could work in an office and make atleast $15/hr, but after the childcare and higher tax and gas I would make probably $5/ hr or less.
So I don't use my education, I work doing completely different thing,but I make more than $10/hr(probably because I have more education than most of my coworkers and sell more products). And because I work part time only, we qualify for wic, electricity and gas discount, and we get free medical for kids.
I don't have medical insurance for myself. I might get one if I get pregnant. I probably work less and qualify for something that doesn't cost much. When my kids will be old enogh to go to school and stay home after school, I will get a normal ft job. Unless you are ready to make a big jump from low to high income don't try to climb the lather, its hard to be in the middle when you don't make enogh to pay for everything yourself and don't qualify for any help.
Some people might talk about the pride and stuff, I don't care about that. What I do care is that so my kids would have everything they need and want, and what I din't have. When I take them shopping I usually buy them what they want or bring a snack with me, so they don't feel deprived because I can't affor one or other thing. I care more about MY family than I care about other people. Forget the pride. My parents have too much of it and they were missing out a lot because of that and worked too hard.

[stngymama]

A Precautionary Tale:
"Way back when" when my kids were little, I had to work after we bought our home (SF Bay Area), despite not being paid much and my kids being in childcare fulltime, the little extra I brought home was absolutely necessary. Then, Eureka, interest rates plumated and we could refi with a resulting mortgage payment half of what it was. I quit
BUT, since I was used to being Sooo busy, I felt like suddenly I had ALL this free time, and promptly helped to get us in major debt which led to the proverbial "wake up call" , Amy D, etc...
The moral of the story is obvious: if you quit, you MUST have a spending plan in place and have the self discipline to stick with it!