The thread on internet services caused me to finally start this thread that I have been thinking about here for a while.

With my early medically neccesary retirement and the wife cutting back to part time due to the side effects of her cancer treatments we have been looking at many ways to cut down our monthly bills. I figure that with the economy in the tanker and many folks out of work or underemployed it might be interesting and helpful if we had a thread about how to cut down on various bills and living expenses. We have found that we can have an AWSOME quality of life at a lower cost than what we had been spending. I will start with some of the things we have done so far to try and live within our means:

No TV service of any kind. I won't miss my TV until football season, and will try to find other places to view football games when the fall arrives.

Dropped Verizon cell service and went to a pre paid cell plan. For only $39.95/mo we get unlimited calling and texting from Page Plus, and they use Verizons towers etc. Great coverage and service so far

Dropped Charter cable internet and switched to Century Link. Faster service and downloads than Charter, for only $40 month.

No land line telephone

All meat eaten is from wild game killed (probably quite a few of us in that mode, but maybe for other reasons). On top of saving cash, wild game meat is not injected with steroids etc. and Sherri is avoiding farmed, injected meat for that reason as well, as a measure to try to keep the cancer at bay.

We now buy our home cleaning supplies from the dollar store. Great copies or knock offs of 409, Simple green, and dish or laundry detergents that work just fine for $1.00 per bottle or box.

Switched from name brand sodas (when we drink such) from Pepsi to Shasta. We looked into this at first due to the Pepsi supporting Obama thread but find that we like the Shasta stuff better. Not as overly sweet and only .22 a can.

Ride our motorcycle as oft as we can to Church, errands etc. as much as possible. 55MPG, even with an older Harley as the ride.

Lowered the liability limits on our auto insurance. We are "judgement proof" in so far as there is nothing that a trial lawyer is going to get from us in a lawsuit so why carry huge liability limits? We have enough to be responsable and more than legal, but no reason I can see for $300,000 or higher limit of liability. KEep the high limits if you have significant assets or a high income as we live in a very litigous society now.

Cheap beer can be quite allright if you keep it really cold and maybe add a twist of lemon or lime to it. Putting it and your glass or mug in the freexer 30 minutes before dinner is a great way to make it taste better. A $1.00 plastic bottle of lime juice or lemon juice will flavor up about 100 cans of cheep beer. And, I only drink any beer 1 can or bottle per evening with dinner etc. a couple of times a week.

Sell your recyclables instead of throwing them away. Aluminum cans, paper products etc.

Our health and now much lower energy levels plus high pain in my case do not allow us to garden, plus we live in a rocky former river bottom which would be a real pain in the butt to try to till or we would have a garden, too.

Obvious to most of us would be to re load one's ammunition, but I have been doing this for a long time anyway. I am glad that I bought some good guns and stocked up on primers etc. when the Communist in chief was elected the first time and I was still healthy and making good money. Very glad that I bought some good guns and a paid for truck and motorcycle when I could, also.

There are my ideas, add in yours! This thread might be really helpful to us and others here. Here's hoping....

Raised bed or container gardening will help with the soil problems plus you do not have to do all your work on the ground.

Our soil has enough clay we could make pottery. Good soil thrown on top a foot or so thick took a lot of work but has been worth the effort. With good soil on top of the clay and no tilling worms bring the mineral rich clay up into the raised beds and then take the better soil down into the clay making a much deeper bed. Sounds funny but it works.

You have seen our place, the long rows of raised beds works and you will have the benefits of fresh produce and greens for almost no cost.

A hoop style greenhouse will allow greens year round even in your climate.

i was gonna suggest raised beds aswell.....while alot of work initially to make with all your friends through church and such i bet you could get enough to volunteer to help yah out and get them put together....

BTW if you know someone that has old tractor tires that will donate to you they make pretty good raised beds, in your area i would hit them with a coat of white paint so they dont absorb to much heat....

I am also looking to cut costs. I need a new suitcase, my old one was ripped and broken.
Looked at a lot of alternatives, and wound up with buying a plastic box at WallyWorld. Most all of my constant travel is via my own 4Runner. Back and forth to Miami, Virginia, Alabama and other places. Only on rare occasions do I fly.
This will hold all the clothes I need, and was about $150 less than the most inexpensive suitcase.

I spent that saved money on a new Spyderco Native 5 folder.

Get a plastic 55 gallon drum from the feed store, drill a bunch of half inch holes in the bottom. Add six inches of dirt in the bottom, plant potatoes. When the green get six inches tall cover with dirt again. Keep doing this all the way to the top. They will set potatoes at every covering of dirt. When the plants die back in Fall tip the drum on it's side and harvest a drum full of potatoes.

My wife and I are still young in our late 20's with a little baby and to help with our costs we have done a lot such as not tv etc. But what has saved us the most is our house needed alot of work when we bought it and we have done most of the work ourselves and saved thousands of $$$. Its amazing what you can learn on the internet and reading of a few books and the building code. A little effort has saved us alot of money in the long run.

Hanging pots are beautiful. Try some with tomatoes and cucumbers. A hanging pot with a cherry tomato, and yellow pear tomato and one of the smaller cucumber plants will not only look nice it will provide a summer of salad extras.

I should give y'all my wife's email to see if you can give my wallet a break...

Send her out for a month. We will give her a place to stay and teach her how to grow even in the big cities.

Turn off the hot water to your washing machine.


Mike

An old watering trough or bathtub will grow enough mixed salad greens to keep a family of two for a summer.

She actually has a pretty good green thumb...

my wife and i looked at every bill that comes in. we found ways to cut here and there and saved ourselves $100 or so a month. we set the heat and a/c at levels we're comfortable with, and stick with them. we don't have video game systems and we don't have the latest flashy cell phones. i went to a prepaid plan and saved $50 a month right there. we cut cable tv to basic, another $47 saved there. we shut off lights when we're not in the room, etc. we eat at home when we can. it's not even stuff we notice anymore, so we don't even think of it as being a sacrifice.

we also adjusted the water heater down a notch since neither of us like scalding showers. same with washing clothes. no reason to wash with hot water, can use cold for most and stuff that needs hot, gets hot.

no home phone, no subscriptions since we can get anything we want online.

The newer LED bulbs are a big cost saver in the long run. At fifteen bucks each they are a little hard to buy but ours are rates a little brighter that a standard sixty watt and use 13.5 watts. They last longer the the curly bulbs and do not have the mercury problems.

We converted all our bulbs to LED but we only have two in our 420 sq ft so it was easy.

If you're only drinking two beers a week you can probably swing something decent instead of jumping through all the flavor doctoring and freezing hoops trying to mask the crappy beer flavor.

BTW Mark if your ever feeling bored and decided you need some reading material to get yah by i know where there is a hell of an Africana and other hunting library you can borrow from

One of the best ways is to have a budget and "stick" to it. We spend cash only on everything except bills that are paid by electronic transfer or check.

Name every dollar and have categories for everything. I spend money on guns and such but I have a gun fund and only spend my small weekly allotment. I gave up eating lunch at work to put $35 a week into my gun fund. $1820 a year buys me a very nice gun every year.

If you can heat with firewood, that would save on heating. We turn our tstats to 80 in summer and 60 in winter and wear sweaters or sweatclothes. In summer just shorts and t shirts.

Buy some food in bulk like at a Sam's club and bring home and repackage. We do our chicken and hamburger that way, repackage with vacuum seal bags. Bulk dry goods like 50 lbs of rice will last us about 5 years. Store canned goods when on sale and cycle them using oldest first. You can store up to a two year supply this way. Growing your own food, in containers if necessary or make some raised beds in your yard and fill them with topsoil. Hunting and fishing is good. Also consider trapping for some things that are legal. Years ago we bought one or two florescent bulbs at a time once a month until all were changed out. Today you could do that with LED bulbs, one or two a month over a year or so might change out all your bulbs and last 10 years or so and use far less energy.

Insulating your attic, installing storm windows or plain plastic in winter over your windows.

Find an old projection TV that is junk, take out the lens and mount it towards the sun. Get a piece of flat steel for it to focus on and use cast iron skillets and you can get it hot enough to fry fish. Just wear good sunglasses or welders glasses while cooking. It is very bright. Build you an outside wood BBQ pit and cook outside in summer more or even in spring.

Use bar soap instead of soft soap, it lasts longer and costs less. Use bleach or ammonia for most cleaning (not together makes clorine gas), instead of other cleaners. Also vinegar can clean a lot of things.

You can brush your teeth with baking soda and salt. Cleans cheaper and just as well, but it doesn't have floride.

If you have a diesel, you can make your own diesel fuel from waste cooking oil from fast food places. Actually without processing it, just filtering it, you can mix it with diesel and burn it straight as much as 50-50 mixture. Can't in winter though.

You can make your own wiskey using a pressure cooker, corn mash, and some charred oak wood.

Keep honey bees in your yard for honey.

We use Netflix streaming video for movies and Hulu for tv shows instead of cable. We have a computer hooked up to our tv for this to happen. Regular Hulu is free, Netfilx streaming is about $9.99 a month with unlimited movies, old tv shows, etc you can watch each month.

I reload, clean guns, work on my fishing tackle, sharpen knives, ride and exercise bike or treadmill while watching TV. I feel like doing nothing while watching is a waste of time. My wife exercises, but hasn't tried anything else. I do not load powder while watching TV, but decapping, sizing, and cleaning primer pockets can be done.

During summer, snaping greenbeans, shelling peas, and such can be done. Also, during fall cracking pecans. (Pecans in the south can be raked up and gathered, usually the owner will go in halves, you keep half of what you gather.) Pecans are expensive so this is a good deal. Lots of pick your own peas or other fruits and veggetable farms around. Usually they will go in halves. They can sell their half, you keep yours. That way they don't have to hire Mexicans to harvest everything.

I would say.. ,look at every bill and ask is it nessesary and if so can I do this better/cheaper. When we are flush with cash we tend to learn to spend it and unlearning becomes harder.

An example is audio books, I drive a lot and love to listen to books, I used to buy them at about $10 each from Audible, but found out that my local library has many titles for free. That saved me maybe $20 a month.

Wife loves to shop. She hates spending much money so she does her hobby shopping at yard/estate sales, Good Will and Salvation Army.
She goes across the river the West end of Richmond and hits the Salvation and Good will over there. I get 4 or 5 nearly new blue jeans, Polo Shirts, Bass loafers for a year at the cost of $20.00. She also picks up pewter for me to use as wheel weight sweetener.
Do you remember the really nice coats and jackets that the Marlboro Man catalogs had in them, well Bride found 4 at $10 each. At the end of the season Target gives the left over to Good Will.
I prefer to wear vests rather then coats, Virginia does not get very cold. Wife finds then at the two stores and yard sales
We hit the local Farmers Market every Saturday for veggies and Grand Daughter and I go over and do quality control on Mrs. Yoders donuts.
Our house was built in 1954, we bought it from the original owner. We have worked on insulating, up grading the heating cooling, replaced windows and appliances electric bill is reasonable. In the winter we have a wood burning stove down stairs, wood comes off the property or near by neighbors.
Wife would love to have a garden, the property is triple canopy jungle and we have herds of squirrels, we could use a PTO post hole digger to plant tulips for all the rocks and clay.

Living on the cheap is fun and interesting. There's a line of fake pewter ware, it's aluminum. Wife finds them at yard sale for two or three bucks. The big bowls get drilled and made into planters. Talk about class.

Jim

Just pray your wife does not meet mine! Neiman Marcus and DSW are her favorite places.

My power company just emailed information for free energy saving upgrades, they did not apply for my needs but you should check out to see where they can help you save on yours!

Our power company, a co-op, has a program to do an energy audit and help with the cost of any recommended upgrades. Our house is only 9 years old and didn't have any recommended upgrades. They also have a program to control our water heater. They give us $20.oo a month. They don't let the water heater come on between 6am and 10am mon-sat. Peak use times. We barely notice it.

Oil changes and oldr but reliable automobiles:

The oil change industry tries to tell us that we need to change the oil in our cars every three thousand miles. With todays new oils and ESPECIALLY fully synthetic oils that is total Balderdash. Buy an oil change pack of full synthetic oil at WalMart for about $25.00, then just change the oil FILTER at about 5,000 miles, and the oil at about the 10,000 mmile marker.

Before I had to quit working Sherri as well as discipleship and wisdom living classes at my church were already moving me away from car payments and such. I sold my Cadilac CTS ($750/mo!) my Ford Explorer ($360/mo) and Sherri sold her almost brand new Pontiac Grand Prix w/supercharger ($500+/mo) and we bought an '03 Chevrolet Avalance (my rig primarily) and Sherri found a great deal on an already lifted, custom wheels and big tires equipped Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo package rig for only about $2500 out the door. Almost four years later these rigs are doing great and we absolutely love them. Had to put a motor in the Avalanche two years ago but found a zero miles on it motor out of a wrecked when brand new Silverado pickup truck for only $1,000 plus $100 to have it shipped, saving over $3,000 VS a rebuild of the old motor. The '94 Jeep is nearly indestructable and by keeping the maintencnce up on it we expect it to last a good long time even yet. If the motor goes bad on us, LOTS of 318's out there in wrecking yards with minimal miles on them, and plenty of underemployed wrench monkeys who can do the switcheroo in our yard with a rented cherry picker. Traded a 243 that I didn't need and a couple of other guns for a tired, 10 year old Harley Sportster 883, bumped it from an 883 to a 1200 with a kit purchased on line and an unemployed HD trained mechanic on the cheap and have a blast riding it here and there while getting 55MPG the last time I checked it.

Sherri is looking into some student loan modification programs (she has a BA from WA State in Human services and mental health) and found that there is an income based as well as a pay as you earn program out there for un or underemployed graduates. This should knock the HECK out of the student loan monthly payment since she had to drop to part time until she becomes more accustomed to her anti cancer drugs.

EXCERCISE costs... We dropped our Gym membership partly because my kidney failure induced gout prevents me from working out like I used to anyway, but this saves us $65.00 a month. We bought a used recumbant stationary bicycle for Sherri (my gout inflamed hips and knees cannot withstand that torture rack!) and we have three (well, 2 and 1/2 <G>) dogs that need a 25-45 minute walk every day and to keep up my biceps and other upper body muscle groups we are looking for a used wieght bench and some dumbells that I can use at home.

I got rid of my TVs and just use my computer for news. My cable bill dropped from $123/month to $39/month.

I don't miss the TVs at all.

I got rid of my land line, which was costing me $75/month, and now just use my cell phone.

I got rid of my car and now just use my 3/4-ton, extended-cab pickup. It gets worse MPG than did the car, so I think twice about just hopping in and going somewhere. With a little discretion, my monthly gasoline costs should be about the same as when I had the car.

Bet that was the favorite places before you got married too. Just saying.

Eat beans,..wear a rubber.

Forget the synthetic oil. Change conventional oil/filter every 500-7500 miles and you'll be fine. My dad put 335000 on an F150 doing so.

now you know

Hate the covering so got permanently snipped 30 years ago after my third child was born in less than three years.... One of my best life decisions!

Correct, testing of todays leading brand non synthetic oil's shows they will stand up to 7k or more, but I still change oil and the filter everything.

Have benn running my 04 Dakota V8 that way and at 262000 miles it doesnt burn or leaks anything...

Getting cut certainly cuts costs

I burn wood for 90% of my heat. Saves a fortune compared to buying propane.

Drink water

Heat your house with wood you cut, split and stack yourself. Not only saves buying fuel oil/propane but you won't need a gym membership to keep in shape either.

Can no longer do this kiond of thing. My BP is 180/100 WITH five BP pills and a Clonidine patch 24/7 ad my raging gout just will not allow such. Only arely and moderately can I lift a bit of weight.

Bullschit. A MAN still needs Stihl chainsaw AND a Pendlay barbell

I don't tell most folks that I intend to say a prayer for them but I'm going to pray for you Bro.

Apple cider vinegar mixed with water will clean your whole house, mopping, counter tops. Put a drop of vanilla on a light bulb if you don't like the smell of the vinegar. (cleansers that get on the dogs paws plus the crap food from China I think has a lot to do with their health problems we see nowadays.)

Rubbing alcohol 70% / 30% water is the best window cleaner

Brake fluid for tires instead of armor all

Price match at walmart (groceries)

Shop at 3 stores for best deals

Between drugstore / wal mart figure out best deal for meds

find a buddy to do a costco run with go in halfs of the stuff you both use.

First showing for movies only / bring your own snacks

Car with best gas milage does the erins (costco for gas)

Carpool when possible

if your seeing 3 speacialists can one be the main guy you go to for follow ups to read results? Ask other wise 3 specialist Dr's at 50 - 150 per visit gets crazy.

Dog food from costco natures choice turkey $30

Good mechanics are the ones that will let you supply your own parts.

Spend money on the important good things, save on things that have no value.

dog shots at petco clinic

Coupons / cut them / clip them / seek them

There are gunstores that offer tax free day - find them and maximize purchases.

God Bless

Bullschit. My new Husqvarna cuts every bit as well as my Stihl's ever did. No need for barbells if you're horsing 3' dia. green trunkwood on a regular basis either. I cut, split and stack 4+ cords every summer and the splitting is all with a 12 lb. maul. I just cut and hauled home two cords of hard maple yesterday and will be splitting and stacking here and there when I have some free time for most of the summer..

Put up a clothesline and use it.
Wash in cold. Use a fabric softener for rinse.
Hang everything that doesn't need a spin.
Spin the pants, shirts, etc, for a few minutes in the dryer and hang them out, no ironing needed.
They smell better and no electricity.

















They smell better and you aren't using the electric dryer.

actually no............ just saying.

if'n ya got the space, add a couple of 8 week old pigs to eat slop, stuff out of the garden, and whatever else. kill one on the friday after thanksgiving. kilt the other between xmas vacation and new year's day. you'll have fresh meat into the spring that aways.

Would NOT work here. Wifey would 1) name them 2)buy clothes for them 3) mandate that they be fed and petted on each and every day and then given the very best of food, shelter, attention and veterinary care until they died of old age.

GRAND idea! I Forgot to mention that in my other posts, but a clothesline is in the works. Next decent low pain day I have (only slept three hours last night due to pain despite strong opiates etc) I will be digging a post hole and installing just that very thing.

This topic is quite timely. I just started a thread about this woman in Seattle who's saving a bundle on food costs.

Woman attempting to live on nothing but water and sunlight for 6 months

Published June 07, 2013

FoxNews.com

A Seattle woman is attempting to live without food for six months -- planning to sustain herself on water and sunlight alone.

Navenna Shine is calling her experiment �Living on Light.�

�This is a paradigm for living in which we as human beings do not have to ingest any kind of food whatsoever into our stomachs in order to thrive,� Shine said.

Shine, 65, says her experiment is an attempt to follow an obscure group of yogis called The Breatharians, who for thousands of years have claimed they have the ability to live on light alone.

"At 'Living On Light' we propose that we have a nutritional source already embedded within our body/mind/spiritual systems that can give us exactly what we need to be healthy and well," Shine wrote on her website. "Since we do not yet know exactly what that source is I am symbolically calling it Light."

Thursday marked Shine�s 33rd day without food, although she has lost more than 20 pounds.

In order to verify that she is indeed sticking to the diet, Shine has placed several cameras throughout her house to keep a record of the experiment. She also hopes to begin live-streaming her experience within the next few weeks.

Seattle doesn't seem like a very good place to try and survive on sunlight.

Mark...a tasty alternative to beer can be brewed with FREE berries of just about any variety...

ETA: You can also make preserves & pies out them.

this one sounds just like it came out of one of Shirley MacLaines books. ya know?

out of a limb? or one of the others.

what most disturbs me is when i pluck live carrots out of the ground, they scream to no end. the radishes not so much.

as far as pigs are concerned, all the Irish know that there's no cheaper source of protein available. why the hunters aren't decimating the wild hog herds is quite beyond me.

I don't care who you are, that's funny.

Maybe Phoenix??

Meat goats. We birth them, name them, train them, pet them, love them, and eat them. It only hurts until the tenderloins are on the grill.

Minimalist lifestyle is intriguing. Not much that can't be taken care of with a 45 acp, 30-06, 12ga, and a 22lr. Few cases of ammo and a fella could be done for life. My sister was along those lines. What she bought, she spared no expense, but hated fluff and bullschit with a passion.

yeah, Oscar the pet pig can easily be turned into quality BBQ.

i like goat meat, sometimes Kroger stocks it. they stock buffalo nearly all the time now.



hunting for food is quite a different perspective than hunting for a set of trophy horns. for better or worse, i've always been a meat hunter. with the tons of feral pigs running loose, one would think the hunters would be dragging them out both left and right.

Rattler, do you know if you can get those old books by the African hunters from years ago on Kindle?

Mark, can you give us an update on how your wife is doing and her treatment?

you're on a few rx's; visit various stores with your renewals and refills and ask what incentives they offer for filling there. Be aggressive. You'd be amazed the store credits you can get for groceries and gas.
Drink more cheap beer (but not so much you aggravate your BP)...beer punches above it's weight in assuaging lack of creature comforts.
Have a couple date nights a week making your own pizza. Ingredients are cheap as hell, and you can make it better than carry out with a little experimentation.

Lots of good info. I do almost all of it. One thing not mentioned is TAXES!. Living in a low tax area is going to be crucial when I get to old to work. It most likely won't be in Wisconsin neither.

Ixquick ----- Dave Ramsey.

Great thread.

I have always lived within my private sector means and then some. Daughter is off to college this fall, damn expensive.

If I water it, I eat it, includes cute Barbadoe lamb, herbs, vegetables, fruit, easier said than done in this climate and soil.

I do as many home and auto repairs within my technical comfort level as possible. Tons of information on the web that will help you save thousands annually.

Been learning to cook Indian and Thai curries at home, a couple of beers during with some music playing makes for a pleasurable and inexpensive evening at home.

Screw the Jones-es.

Reconsider riding your motorcycle as they are dangerous and you are vulnerable to things outside your control. That car turning right in front of you. That spot of oil on the curve in the road. Not sure your age but an injury is real hard to recover when you get past a certain age. Better to drive a 30+ mpg truck or car.

Kidneys are about give out, would prefer to go out in a MC crash as to rot in a dialysis lab. Been riding off and on for a few decades now. Don't have a whole lot of time left that I will even FEEL like riding if things keep going the way they are. Geerally I have tried to not let fear of the unknown rule my life. Could happen, I know well as I lost my gun show trading partner and best freind two years ago when he crashed his Harley just north of here. Still, my motto is live till you die.

Thanks for the thought, though.

how about composting all your kitchen scraps?
worms love the stuff and leave good soil behind,
also try using lower watt lightbulbs and reading during the day when lights free! just walk outside and you got all the light you need.
extra blankets on the bed = lower heating bills,aluminum foil on the morning side windows helps stop heat from building up too early in the day so you don't run the a/c so much.

Keep the TV buy a converter box. One time fee like $40

Ask your girlfriend to pay for dinner, buy the movie tickets, and put gas in your truck.

Keep a running log of every cent that comes into the household and every cent that goes out, what it is spent for, and by whom.

Continue to do this and within a couple of months or so, if you're like most average families, you will probably be surprised at how much money is nickle and dimed (figuratively speaking) away on things that could be eliminated relatively painlessly.

Not meant to be used to point fingers at any one person or persons, but as a tool to get better control of family finances and help identify, and break, old patterns and areas of unnecessary spending.

Good one.



This is worthy of a quote.

I want to ride my Harley while I still can. Even though the expense of owning one can hardly be rationalized by its excellent fuel economy.

open the blinds in the winter to let the sun in

line dry clothing or use drying racks - clothes dryers also tend to wear out the fabric faster (from the heat and tumbling action - that filled up lint collector is your clothing you are throwing away) meaning you will buy clothing more often

turn the thermostat down on your water heater

grow a garden

freeze or can garden produce

get rid of cable or satellite TV

condense trips to town

don't go out to eat very often and when you do, just drink water instead of tea or soda

install honeycomb insulated blinds for windows

well insulate your attic

If you could live off of stupid, Seattle would be an all you can eat buffet!

Good for you Mark!

I'd love to offer advice but my twenty's seem to stick together, no matter how few I make

I love the potato in a drum idea. I have a few plastic 30 and 55 gal drums and may give it a go.

Cool idea!

I am going out on a limb here but this is what we did. Sell the big house you used to raise the kids and buy a tiny home. Go solar and wind. Sell off all the furniture and gathered Treasures that no longer fit in your new home. A couple can easily live in five hundred square feet, we do it in four hundred twenty. Small tankless hot water heater run on propane for showers and dishes. Wood heat. Grow much of what you eat and trade for what you can. No TV needed when you have a laptop and a library full of good books to borrow.

Already in the small house and love it. Selling off treasures including most of my guns as we speak. Cant physically stand a rigourous demanding hunt any more so not as much need for the bigs as I once had. No TV here for some months now and I don't really miss it at all. Too sick to do much gardening and neither of us is much of a vegetable eater but we are doing well on wild game meat and inexpensive fruits and whole grains.

Thanks for the ideas, Scott and EVERYONE. This thread turned into a pretty good one, and fun as well. Lots of practical wisdome here at the 'fire and even Gus chimed in with something that was worth reading for a change. Gus must have run out of LSD for a couple of days..... <G>

You can also use old car and truck tires the same way. As the potato plant grows above each tire, add another tire and top off with another layer of dirt. When time comes to harvest your potato's just remove a tire at a time to reveal each layer of potato's. I've also heard of the same thing done using layers of straw instead of dirt. As I recall you're supposed to keep the straw fairly moist, though. Our adult Sunday School teacher was an avid gardener and used the above methods to grow potato's in his city backyard.

I hear flash backs are hell. Glad I'm over here.

The straw will work but IT MUST BE KEPT WET.

Don't ask how I know.

For those who cannot eat potatoes because of joint pain try this, grow your own and let them die all the way back before harvesting. Commercial potato growers kill their potato fields with Roundup to get an early harvest. For some reason potatoes allowed to die back naturally do not seem to bother people with joint pain.

Another thing, if you are growing potatoes look for the better verities like reds and Yukon Gold.

�Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.�

16bore,

So much truth in that comment of yours. Glad I was taught to "Plan as though you are going to live forever, but live as though you are going to die toight" and other good ideals by my father and family.

Wish we could have a new forum dedicated to this subject, very interesting stuff so far.

I find it interesting how many things we have come to accept as indispensable, are really pretty much an ever depreciating ball and chain.

They gotta be paid off, insured, cleaned, maintained, stored, heated, licensed, protected, dusted, worried about, etc.

If we could see the enjoyment to hassle ratio on our junk, most of us would, IMO, be shocked.

Outstanding observation. When my wife and I started downsizing to was a hard time. We had lots of valuable antiques. As we gave them to family members and sold some of the less valuable things it got easier to let go and it felt like a huge burden was lifted off our backs.

We are not done. We have more to get rid of. This winter we will spend time going through boxes that were packed as long as twelve years ago and set up for a huge sale. The rules are, family heirlooms got to family, what we need and use will be kept, and all else goes.

I am on the cusp of a major life junk cleaning. Not looking forward to the work, but am eagerly anticipating the peace.

Look at it as you next big adventure. That is what I did. It didn't work for me but it might for you.

Thanks a rot. ;-{>8

I can't stand the burdon of family "treasures". Sorry, but my house aint my grandparents museum. I've found parents and in laws conveniently drop things off because they are tired of messing with them. Rule #1 in my will will be " If there is something you get and don't wont, sell the schit. I'm dead and don't care"

Health and finances are requiring me to downsize my beloved (too much at times,BTW) lifes work gun collection.

I once had the luxury of being able to buy and or build a rifle and handgun to PERFECTLY suit every imaginable hunting scenario and game animal. Big bore lever actions, sometimes as many as 9 or 10 Varmint rifles of variou s persuasions, (walking varminter, bench gun, AR for coyote calling, super long range number for 1,000 yard rockchucks etc. etc. ad nauseum...) Elk Rifle, Bear special, DGR's, brush country deer hunting, long range Mule Deer blasting... and hardly ever if at all used ANY of them for thier intended purposes. When I had enough money to be buying and building these I did not have the time to go forth and use them. Now, I have lots of time but neither the health nor the fincances to take them anywhere. I have even had to bail out on my last two gopher shooting expeditions which could have been done right from my truck, just too tired and too sick and too much pain to enjoy even that. So, been selling them off one by one and hoping that each will go somewhere where they will be appreciated, used and cared for.

Very soon, I will be able to cancel my personal articles floater policy on my guns and even sell my 600lb safe. And, Praise the Lord this is really not bothering me like I thought it might. BTDT, on most everything and I am in the middle of a home full of Love and laughter. And memories aplenty. Life and God have been, and continue to be, GOOD! I would not trade my life for the life of any man who has ever walked the earth in this age or one past. Really! I cannot see how a life could have been much more blessed and fun than mine is and has been. In a couple of hours a pretty lady will walk into this home who loves me very much and likes to be close to me and snuggle, talk and all of the other good things. The guns and stuff are just stuff.

Too late smart, too soon sick and old.

Dr. James Dobson long ago on the Radio talked about the time he realized that his stuff now owned HIM rather than the other way around. Despite my best efforts to avoid this, it just comes kind of naturally to us humanoids and especially if we have a modicum of success in business.

I have the signature line below as much for my OWN daily reminder as for anyone else.

In the mid-'70's, not long after selling my last house and moving aboard my boat, I began to discover how little we actually need to be comfortable.

Learn to get along on shadow soup made with dehydrated water.

Have a perfumed chick waltz through the room to add some flavor.

Wifey does not wear much perfume, being much more of a redneck woman, jeep drivin, hard core outdoors, biker, pistol packin, gym rat, Christian lady whose beauty is so boundless from inside and out that adornment from external accoutrements is more of a distraction than an enhancement. Dang it, she has been gone a full 5 hours now. That is TOO LONG!

Or go on the rice diet �

� eat all the rice you want �






� using one chopstick.

Most all of my family treasures are gone or are in real use in our home. The pegged walnut hutch with all original hand thrown glass holds our dishes and such. The hand forged iron and walnut coffee grinder is used to, of all things, grind coffee. The desk my great uncle used in his eye, ears, nose, and throat practice is my wife's night stand. I eat my meals in my grandfathers hand made captains chair. If we do not use it we get rid of it.

safariman,
In an earlier post you said you are doing without TV. I don't watch it much except for some news and the weather guesser's.
Do you have broadcast TV available in your area?
Even the few channels available are better than none. A small digital TV with rabbit ears or a rooftop antenna might be all you need.We have never had cable or satellite, but we get by on what is available on broadcast.
BTW there is no such thing as a "digital antenna". Any decent TV antenna will work just fine. Marketers try to sell antennas "for digital TV", but they don't work any different from the regular old style ones.

Myron

Dang it. Started reading this on page 7. Had to go back though all the post just to find what Gus said that was useful.

Did you find anything?

Myron,

We do have some broadcast stations nearby, but one of my challenges is scary high blood pressure despite taking numerous bp pills and keeping my weight down to a 30 year low. I used to really pride myself on being aware and involved policitcally but now current news and even a good football game raises my blood pressure too much. BP is running about 170/100 even with all of my meds and a clonidine patch when I am at rest and happy. Once I get these two huge and blocked up Kidneys out someday - replaced by one good one we hope - I should again be able to watch TV, be involved etc. For now my survival plan is to reamain calm here at the house and use the internet for just some scanning of news headlines then plunge myself into other more pleasureable things to view and think about.

Good idea, though. When we did have our TV hooked up, about all we watched was a little bit of fox news, Discovery and history channels, and CMT or other Country music video channels, Gaither Specials when they were on.

For now, my Gather Homecoming video's and a few old Christian Heavy Metal music videos as well as some comedy movies are my only use for the TV and I much prefer hanging out here or in my gun and reloading room most of the time.

I understand completely. When you get the kidney problem resolved, you might want to give it a try.
Does the kidney problem have that much effect on the blood pressure? I didn't know that before.

There seems to be even worse news on the internet, though than what the lamestream media present.

Myron

Myron and any others interested....

My particular Kidney Problem acts in this fashion. It is called Polycystic Kidney Disease and the many cysts in my kidneys do not allow blood to freely flow through them. The heart pumps a nice big flood, blood rushes down through my chest and abdomen until it gets to the filtering system that is supposed to remove toxins, poisons and impurities from my life juice but the blocked up kidneys rise up and shout "NOPE! NOT THROUGH HERE!" And so the pressure rises and sometimes in an effort to get the blood to force through my heart rate also goes up to as high as 105 BPM. All of this plus having impurites in my blood at all times makes me feel quite exhausted most of the time and the high Uric acid levels gives me a nasty case of Gout in many of my major joints. And my back hurts as if I had kidney stones all the time. My regimen is a Clonidine BP patch at all times, 5 different BP pills every day, and some kind of strong Opiate or cannabis based pain med every four hours. And lots of naps.

Did not mean to make this thread about my illness, only in the sense that it has forced my hand to do what I SHOULD have done years ago. But, you asked and I thank you for your concern.

MARK

I pray that you can get it resolved ASAP!

Myron

P.S.
This thread made me aware of a few different options to reduce expenses. Never had heard of a "vertical" potato garden before! The thread was worth reading just for that tidbit alone.

Myron

George said it best!

Someone said he did, but no I didn't find any.

I run Mobil ONE, and change the filter every 5K, but I run the oil and change it every 20 to 25K, depending on which vehicle.

The Two vehicles I mainly drive, my 88 4Runner and a 94 Camry, both 4 cylinders... the long drain intervals are fine with Mobil ONE.... the Camry has 304,000 miles on it, and doesn't burn any oil still, but does have a small leak at the oil pump gasket, which I have to get around fixing...

the 4Runner has 520,000 miles on it..

the other older Camry Seafire Jr drives has 166K on it and the wife's 2005 Camry has 96,000 on it..

pull any valve cover off of it and the heads on anyone of them are still pretty darn clean and definitely sludge free..


and ArkyPete mentions his wife and Goodwill...my wife will get "depressed" at times and will go out like all women do and buy themselves tons of clothes that they don't really need, but it makes them feel better...

First time my wife did that, I about hit the ceiling, as my first wife would do the same thing... however wife # 2 comes home with 3 shopping bags full of clothes, and then are laid all over the bed, stacked 3 items high...

She shows me the bill... $60..... I haven't said a word to her about clothes shopping in the last 20 years, except "have fun"....

+ 1,000.

I've seen snippets of the shows about Hoarders, and I laugh at how ridiculous it seems. I've started to realize that none of them started out with their houses that full. At some point, they had no more stuff than I probably do...

FC

FC, you make a good point. It is easy to get ovverrun with ones own "blessings"

Fascinating to learn later on how much we can do without.

Shelter/clothing/food about covers it, but without health, nothing else matters much.

Some of my best times have been when I was dirt poor.

Speaking of health, dirt poor and cheap living. I went on the cheap at age 42 when I had my first open heart surgery. 25 years later the one and only childhood possession I didn't leave along the trail is my little .22 Beretta handgun my Dad gave to me instead of a little red wagon, I guess.

My last move was from a tent on a creek in Green Swamp WMA in Fl. (that was temporary living on permit (camping) to a one room..2 with bath..closed up motel that boarders 70 something miles of Shawnee National Forest. Me and my dog both love it. Lot more room than the tent and I can still pee out the front door, shoot out the windows..2 of those and walk to my hunting.

Matter of fact the other morning I was taking a leak in the bathroom and staring out this window when a big gobbler glided by. So living on the cheap ain't too bad for me anyway.

Shawnee behind the soybeans..

That says it all right there, health, along with peace of mind!
Don't remember where or by whom but a quote I once read went something like, 'Never fall in love with anything that can't love you back'.

Stuff is just stuff.

I was sitting the front yard yesterday afternoon, under the shade of the tree with the wife, dogs were playing and I was watching clouds go by like so many cars on a freeway in a blue sky whilst a slight northerly breeze blew.

I thought 'That could well be the last cloud I ever see', knowing that life is finite and these moments will eventually never be again.

Can't say that I once thought 'Gee, I miss work' or the 'extra money I had whilst working' or 'That thing I worked so hard to payoff'

I'll take the shade of the tree on a beautiful spring day anytime.

Scott, retirement obviously agrees with you and I'm happy for ya!

Your dog pack is coming along nicely too... although you do have a ways to catch up to Mickey Coleman.

John

Scott,

If I did not know better, I would swear that you are gaining in wisdom, balance and perspective. Retirement and a good woman are wearing well on ya!

I had to cancel and bail out on two gopher shoots this past week (Really bad night last night....) and am even missing church this morning due to not feeling up to it but I am hoping to get better enough to be feeling up to deer hunting this October and that you can make the journey out this way during that season.

+10 had to bump this up. Magnum Man