The Grassroots Living Thread

ignorant wrote: seriously.. Make your assets greater than your liabilities... Anything that doesn't put money(directly) into your pocket is a liability.

Uh oh... how do I break it to the cat that he's gotta go?

My breakfast and lunch come in the form of a pbj sandwich and a banana. Fast food to me is a bag of 50 cent peanuts from the gas station or a can of beans or tuna from the supermarket. I only buy dvds that I have seen in the theater before. If I need to make local trips and the weather is nice out, I leave the car at home, strap on my helmet and get the bike out. If I go out to eat on a date or with some friends, $5 or less and a glass of water is my criteria. After I kill all the beer in my fridge, a 30 pack of PBR is going to be its contents from now on.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Costco is best for bulk if you can store it, but it can be a false economy as some fresh things come in such large quantities it's almost impossible to use them in time.

For me this is mostly true with a couple of exceptions. Coffee and liquor are actually really good buys there for me. Last month I bought a 1.5L of our usual gin, rum, and vodka for the exact same price as a 750ml at the liquor store. Aside from the rum, that will last a good while in our house.

A 2lb bag of locally roasted coffee runs about the same price as a 1lb bag at the grocery store.

I've had my membership since Christmas (it was a gift) and it's already more than paid for itself. Also, since it was a gift, it was like a double gift. In fact, I'm going to celebrate again this week by buying a big bottle of Knob Creek and a giant jar of maraschino cherries and see how long it takes before I get tired of drinking Manhattans.

Dr. Hess wrote: Hey Jerry, I graduated from Glendale High, there, homie, y0.

Boy, that explains a lot. I'm originally from CT but my lovely bride and I are holding down the fort here on Adams Hill about 300 yards from Michael Jackson's current residence.

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled thread already in progress.

Lesley wrote:

ignorant wrote: seriously.. Make your assets greater than your liabilities... Anything that doesn't put money(directly) into your pocket is a liability.

Uh oh... how do I break it to the cat that he's gotta go?

You can keep him.

Justification: He's dinner if things get really bad.

Or bring in dinner. Cats do that to remind us how bad we are at hunting...

ignorant wrote: Make your assets greater than your liabilities... Anything that doesn't put money(directly) into your pocket is a liability.

Umm... do you see the irony of this statement posted on a website forum about amature Motorsports? Motorsports being one those hobbies right up there with owning a boat when comparing ways to piss money away?

I am cheap. That's all there is to it.

I never made good money until recently, and my wife always stayed home with the kids. People tell me it's not possible, and there is no way they could do it, but that's not true. A large coffee on the way to work doesn't seem like much, but it is. Stopping at the store for a bag of chips, and a pop is a killer. I used to break things down monthly. When you do that, you realize that lunch out every day is $300/month. I work with people that have to have their Timmies ( Tim Hortons coffee) on the way to work, go out at lunch time for one, and then again in the afternoon on a 12 hr shift. That's $70/month, just while they're at work. Start adding all these little things together, and they add up. If I didn't bring leftovers to work, my rule for lunch used to be $3. I'd go to the grocery store, buy a can of soup, and a bun, or a bun, and some meat. I had no choice. The old saying that if you take care of the pennies, the dollars look after themselves is as true today as it ever was. It's all about the details.

ignorant wrote: I just sold my pimp cup

That is my new office coffee mug

BoxheadTim wrote: Or bring in dinner. Cats do that to remind us how bad we are at hunting...

My cat's are great at the hunting part, it's the consuming it part they haven't caught on to yet. They think a dead bird/squirrel in the back hall should get them an extra tin of cat food as reward. Perhaps they think I should be eating their prize! My wife tells me Squirrel taste's like nutty chicken though!

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

ignorant wrote: I just sold my pimp cup

That is my new office coffee mug

Where can i order one?

Jerry From LA wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: Hey Jerry, I graduated from Glendale High, there, homie, y0.

Boy, that explains a lot. I'm originally from CT but my lovely bride and I are holding down the fort here on Adams Hill about 300 yards from Michael Jackson's current residence. Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled thread already in progress.

I have some kinfolk burried there too. An uncle, an aunt, a grandfather, maybe a couple more. In the 60's, we used to live near what would become the Galleria in later years, and behind GCC in the 70's, before the hill burned down. Our house didn't burn, but the surrounding ones did and were all replaced with McMansions, from what I understand.

zomby woof wrote: If I didn't bring leftovers to work, my rule for lunch used to be $3. I'd go to the grocery store, buy a can of soup, and a bun, or a bun, and some meat. I had no choice.

Does anyone else have a really cheap pizza place by them. We have these places popping up all over the city that are $.99 or $1 a slice, 2 slices and a can of soda or bottle of water for $2.75, and a 16" pie for $6.00. It's not momma's special brick oven and you only have a choice of cheese or pepperoni but the price is right. Every one of them is full at lunch and dinner time. It seems almost like a license to print money if you don't already have a place in your neighborhood.

+1 for thrift stores

I bought the double breasted sport coat I wore at my wedding from a Savers. Needless to say, my wife was not initially on board with the idea, but agreed that if I could find the correct fit and color, she'd go along with it. The coat, dry cleaning, and minor alterations cost far less than it would have cost to rent a tux.

Locally, the employees have become pretty savvy about nearly everything of value, and prices are set accordingly. However, if you go the day before their "50% Off Entire Store" sale, they're so busy stocking that things slip through the cracks.

On one such occasion, I bought a Bandai tinplate Mustang for $3.99 NIB, and a Nikon EM that was hanging on the pegs in housewares for $2.99. The mustang was an easy $85 on eBay, and the 50MM lens that came with the Nikon has become my favorite portrait lens.

Put me down as another vote for cloth diapers. The upfront cost was high, but we have already saved so much more.

No cable, cheap Netflix account.

CF lights in every fixture.

Caulked/taped/sealed the house.

For the kiddo it is all about consignment sales. My wife is like a big game hunter on the Serengeti when it comes to these things.

Wife is staying home with our son. Yup, it is saving us money. Between gas money, child care, and her cooking a lot more we are saving money. I bring lunch a lot more often, we don't eat out anymore, and she is making baby food for obscenely cheap $ per serving (take carrot & peas, cook, blend, fill ice cube tray with mush, freeze and each cube is a perfect serving size for junior).

Coupons are hit or miss. We hate eating crap and it seems coupons suck now (buy 10 get 1 half off!).

We shop at the local farmer's market. Way cheaper than the big grocery store chains.

Cook in bulk, freeze. HUGE time saver especially with a rug rat.

I'm in a new house this year, or new for us anyway, we're here for the next 30 years, or until we win the mega millions jack pot. Gladly though the previously owner did alot already to save on the heating bills, he doubled up on the fiberglass insulation in all of the house, was insane with air sealing as well, which was nice to see. He also seemed to have a security fetish, each door/window has 3 locks on them, literally.

So far, I've changed all the bulbs to spiral tube energy savers, the 7 watt ones on fixtures that have more then one bulb, ceiling fans, and such. I've starting the process of repainting the 60's windows, replacing, adding seals to them, and adding caulk where needed.

The price of wood certainly is down, I'm seeing posting for 120 a cord on CL, on a pretty regular basis. If it gets any lower, it'll be cheaper for me to buy 3 or so cords and not worry about firewood for awhile. Its for oak, btw.

In the coming future we are planning on adding a deck onto the back of our house, a small one, maybe 20' by 10' or so. And underneath of it is going a rainwater collection cistern, the biggest one I can fit. I'm already figuring out how to retrofit my toilet to use rainwater to run it, a small on demand pump, and a emergency valve to switch between the rainwater and city water.

I'm gonna try the off peak using of electricity, I don't think we actually get a break, if running things late at night versus during the day, but I'll check into it. Our biggest problem is the electricity by far, parasitic loads are costing me money. We still have cable, and 2 DVR boxes, I need to wire the dvr's so they stay on, and put everything else on a separate power strip, something else on the list.

We wouldn't have cable if we had to pay for it. My fiancee works for comcast, we get phone for $7 a month, free business internet 15m down and 10m up, and cable with all the channels, plus playboy for free. We do have to pay for the rental of the 2nd dvr though, which is $3 a month. and ofcourse taxes.

Andrew

What is the cloth diaper craze? We have one on the way, due in august. So what do you do with it after its been sh1tted in? I don't get it, I mean I guess you could spray it out with the hose, but then what??

Where do you buy them at for the cheapest? online, offline?

Andrew

In reply to digdug18: You rinse it in the toilet, put it in the diaper pail, then wash the days batch in the washer. Saves money, good for the environment, healthy for the kid. We did this 20 years ago, the only time my daughter had diaper rash was when we used diposables while traveling.

Dr. Hess wrote: I did get my wife a HF green house for Christmas, using the GRM 20% off coupon, of course. Part of the problem we have where we are is that the deer, 'coon, 'possum, squirrels, fox, birds and who knows what else mean that any outside garden has little chance of growing to harvest. That and I only have a small amount of actual dirt, the rest being rocks.

Those of us who are not vegitarian call those the main dish I guess you could call them dog and cat chow

Girlfriend and I are also looking for ways to cut back, but my two biggest things I refuse to do without are Internet (fast, no dial up crap) and the HD channels so I can watch F1/WRC/WSBK.

The only other shows we watch we could easily get on Hulu or some other service.

Coupons don't work for us, like someone mentioned earlier, because we eat a lot of fruits/veggies/ fresh food, not pre-packaged stuff.

My biggest budget buster is dropping money on my car habit.

I've never had a problem living frugally but it doesn't leave you any room when something really drastic happens.

We were in really good shape and then my employer decided that over 3 years we didn't need raises. No prob, still OK.

August 08, my wife passed away suddenly... along with half of the family income. Now a little short every month.

Took some of the insurance money to buy an apartment building. Closed on the building Feb 17, on Feb 18th found out my day job was going away, which it did the first week of April 09. Guess what my new full time job is.

Now, I didn't have a lot of room to cut back but I have done most all the work on the apartment building myself... just refinished floors in 3 units. Rented the sander and learned how to do it. Probably saved 2 or 3 thousand. The building is now breaking even, when finished about 3 grand/month profit.

There are a lot of good ideas here, some new, some not. The key is to just keep some of what you make. I've never made a lot of money but I have a pretty decent net worth. There's a part of town where the "rich and famous" live... in empty houses. They don't have the money after the house, cars and such.

triumph7 wrote: There's a part of town where the "rich and famous" live... in empty houses. They don't have the money after the house, cars and such.

I always say that in those new developments with the McMansions, no one sleeps at night.
They all lay awake at night wondering how they re going to make this months house payment and the rental payment (lease) on the two new cars. I have the income to live right there with them in their same situation. I prefer my 50's bungalow and my 3 cars (paid) which are not worth $8k, combined.
The best part. I sleep at night.

A friend of mine used to work for a furniture rental service. The "rich and famous" rent furniture whenever they have a party. He said they were in that part of town all the time. We used to wonder if these people used to see the same chairs at every party.

My best suggestion is network, network, and network some more. Let it be known that you are "that guy".

The homeboy hookup has gotten me most of my great deals just for being in the right place at the right time.

-I have a big ass truck. I make money and/or get cool stuff hauling for friends and acquaintences without trucks. The fact that I live near a JC Penny furniture outlet with some of the best deals in Milwaukee helps a lot.

-I get my cable (top tier with an HD DVR) and internet (Roadrunner top tier with turbo boost) for $54 a month, out the door. Through a friend on the DSM List.

-I get my cell phone (Blackberry through Sprint, unlimited everything) for $52.xx a month. Through a friend of a friend.

-I got my home PC (Decent HP workstation with a 24" LCD monitor) for 2 6 packs of beer to a friend of mine who was moving and didnt have room for it.

-I got a free table from a friend who wanted me to toss it on my parents' burn pile. I sold it on Craigslist for $75, and gave him $20. We both were happy.

Also, I definitely agree with the PAY CASH and CHEAP INSURANCE.

Lately I've been going out daily to trash pick for burnables, I've gotten quite alot of wood, mostly maple. But so long as I mix it in with oak, it'll be fine for the chimney.

The CL free category seems hit or miss at times, the people that post stuff at the curb seem to do it at 6 or 7pm, when the trash is getting picked up the next day. I don't know why people just don't post earlier, seems to be a pita.

Andrew