rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
I once lived for three months eating only the food I could scavenge out of the local Trader Joe's dumpster. Truth be told, I never ate so well while a student.
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as far as food goes, people think im crazy for doing this....
· Couple years ago when I wanted to save up and get rid of debt in preparation for the Tesla I devised a plan to only buy groceries every quarter (literally every 3 months) I only got food that could be frozen or did not go bad quickly RESULT: reduced groceries to $350 per quarter
· I realized I need to save even more, I cut groceries to once a year, so basically only things that could be frozen or did not go bad for at least a year, this meant only cereal, meats and pasta were in my pantry and fridge. Anything I needed that did go bad often, I did favors for people and in return they would bring over milk or eggs or whatnot (not sexual favors, only fixing computers, washing their car, unlocking blackberries, framing, moving, etc). You would be surprised how many people are ok with trading milk for a fixing their laptop, I could get nearly anything from the grocery store on demand just by helping someone. RESULT: grocery bill = $450 per year
· Now that Soylent is shipping and will be available to ship to Canada soon, I can cut my grocery bill down to $255 per year which is a one months supply, im fairly confident that is all I need as I help enough people and there is always free food at work that I can get by. RESULT: reduced money for food another $195
· Couple years ago when I wanted to save up and get rid of debt in preparation for the Tesla I devised a plan to only buy groceries every quarter (literally every 3 months) I only got food that could be frozen or did not go bad quickly RESULT: reduced groceries to $350 per quarter
· I realized I need to save even more, I cut groceries to once a year, so basically only things that could be frozen or did not go bad for at least a year, this meant only cereal, meats and pasta were in my pantry and fridge. Anything I needed that did go bad often, I did favors for people and in return they would bring over milk or eggs or whatnot (not sexual favors, only fixing computers, washing their car, unlocking blackberries, framing, moving, etc). You would be surprised how many people are ok with trading milk for a fixing their laptop, I could get nearly anything from the grocery store on demand just by helping someone. RESULT: grocery bill = $450 per year
· Now that Soylent is shipping and will be available to ship to Canada soon, I can cut my grocery bill down to $255 per year which is a one months supply, im fairly confident that is all I need as I help enough people and there is always free food at work that I can get by. RESULT: reduced money for food another $195
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
Walking an extra 200' at work to plug in my car... even though I live 6 miles away... and it's Level 1... and I have solar panels... and I get paid <$0.04/kWh for my net excess so that 200' walk saves me <$0.50...
While on a budget, food quality is one area where we compromise as little as possible. Eating well and staying healthy is such a blessing.
The discipline of being on a budget has greatly helped as the only debt we have left is a couple of small mortgages (not on the home we live in). Besides maintaining a good amount of savings, we hope to pay cash for a Model X, preferably a used one or a Tesla loaner.
We don't have credit cards, and we spend cash rather than use our debit cards whenever possible, when making in-person purchases. Psychologically, it "hurts" more to spend cash than to use bank cards, which has the effect of helping to reduce spending.
In our budget, my personal "allowance" aka. "blow money" is only $10/month. If I want to purchase music, buy an unnecessary gadget, etc., then I need to save my $10/month.
All of that said, I feel that our lives are very rich. Thank God.
The discipline of being on a budget has greatly helped as the only debt we have left is a couple of small mortgages (not on the home we live in). Besides maintaining a good amount of savings, we hope to pay cash for a Model X, preferably a used one or a Tesla loaner.
We don't have credit cards, and we spend cash rather than use our debit cards whenever possible, when making in-person purchases. Psychologically, it "hurts" more to spend cash than to use bank cards, which has the effect of helping to reduce spending.
In our budget, my personal "allowance" aka. "blow money" is only $10/month. If I want to purchase music, buy an unnecessary gadget, etc., then I need to save my $10/month.
All of that said, I feel that our lives are very rich. Thank God.
I agree with the premise, but not necessarily the action. It may not be "ridiculous" but I charge *everything* to a credit card when I can, because each month I get between 1-3% of that back in the form of cash via the credit card rewards program. All of my bills are paid via the credit card, then I pay them off every month to a $0 balance. That serves several purposes -- it keeps my credit rating up (both in terms of having credit accounts and in keeping a ~1% balance), as well as gives me a general discount on everything across the board.
Of course, there are exceptions - a local auction company charges 3% over $2,000 - so I pay with a check. The local cleaners don't accept credit cards, so I pay with a check.
But overall, it saves me a good chunk of cash a month to pipe everything through a credit card, and I don't pay a dime of interest on it. The key is paying it off every month and not carrying a balance.
Indeed.
Johan
Ex got M3 in the divorce, waiting for EU Model Y!
AC1k: that Soylent stuff is far from sufficient. Do not try to live on it. You will get very sick within a year. Also no fresh food for a year. Are you serious or trolling? For me life wouldn't be worth living, rich or poor, if I couldn't enjoy fresh seasonal foods.
Also, not to nag or anything, but where I live systematically providing services for food without paying tax on it would be tax evation.
Also, not to nag or anything, but where I live systematically providing services for food without paying tax on it would be tax evation.
NuclearPowered
Member
No way buying soylent saves money. I want to switch me and wife to just eating soylent or a DIY replica. We looked at the cost and our grocery bills and buying the soylent would actually cost more.
ive been on diy soylent for less than $5 per meal with 100+% match on all nutrients as outlined by the Canadian government for recommended daily intake
AC1K's Canadian Meal Replacement | Soylent Recipe | DIY Soylent
i've actually never felt better or more fit, always awake and attentive, but whats funny is since ppl think im starving they bring me food for free sometimes so my fridge generally has something in it. the time soylent saves is ridiculous, its 15mins for both prep and consumption per day instead of hours and hours.
on the credit card thing, i actually only use my AMEX or Mastercard to buy things, but always pay it off in the grace period so ive never paid anyone a dime of interest for as long as i've had one. i sometimes go out of my way to buy things or cover the cost for someone else and they pay me back. you can make money 2 ways here.
1) you cover the cost of something for someone else for example, wiper blades cost $25.18 from Costco, i install them in like 5 seconds, the person pays you back $30 because they always never have exact change and they are thankful you helped them, profit $4.80
2) since I put the charge on my credit card i get several percents back like 1-2% so i make money in the form of a big check in Feb usually.
3) if i get things at costco i have an exec membership so i get like a few more percents back but i do have to spent over $2000 in 1 year
im kind of the same way....
100% of my paycheck from my day job goes to the car, no exceptions
my side job of fixing computers and selling stuff pay for all bills and other expenses but i dont make much here so i have to be ultra cheap on the bills.
if i want any toys like a new cell phone or tablet or computer, i have to make the side job pay for it, so either i work more, or i make the bills cheaper.
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rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
The other thing I have done to reduce food money was to plant: 2 fig trees, a quince tree, a plum tree, an apricot tree, a peach tree, an apple tree, 6 blue berry bushes, 4 huckleberry bushes, 5 raspberries, 2 boysenberries, 2 grape vines, 20 sq ft of strawberries, 100 sq feet of vegetables, and 6 oyster mushroom logs.
GasDoc
Member
Now you need a beehive. Not only will you get honey, it'll help with your fruits.
if there was a zombie apocalypse would you be able to live 100% off what you are growing?
rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
No. The very minimum for 1 person is 8,000 sq ft. and I've got 4 in my family and only an 8,000 sq ft lot. But fresh fruit and vegetables are the tastiest/healthiest/most expensive foods so I try and get the most value out of my land. Since I'm an avid hunter and fisher and live near a river, multiple streams, and a 50 acre nature reserve, I could probably subsist in a Zombie apocalypse for awhile. And I've got enough guns and ammo to defeat hundreds of zombies at a time as long as they're slow moving stupid zombies.
I agree that harvesting fresh fruit can be a great, healthy way of saving money. We live in a mountain area with many part-time homes, and our family has permission to pick from a number of apple trees in the neighborhood. There is no sense in having the fruit go to waste, and we really enjoy it.
As for credit card rewards, I'm not convinced it's worth the trouble to use cards just for 1 percent back or whatever. We used to do that. But life seems a lot simpler without the cards, and at this point, my credit score doesn't really matter since I'm pretty much done with borrowing money.
As for credit card rewards, I'm not convinced it's worth the trouble to use cards just for 1 percent back or whatever. We used to do that. But life seems a lot simpler without the cards, and at this point, my credit score doesn't really matter since I'm pretty much done with borrowing money.
1) You only need to qualify if you mean World War Z zombies.
2) In a typical zombie apocalypse you'll likely either
a) lose your family members
b) be able to take over your neighbors' lots.
So, I think you're in a good position, especially with your "hunting" skills.
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rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
I'm afraid of bees getting the kids, but I'm planning on chickens to get eggs and "recycle" the food my kids don't eat.
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I used to play a zombie tag game while in grad school, I was very good at surviving.
I have 4 boys between the ages of 1 and 13, and I keep 5 hives at home in the orchard. They watch us handle the bees and we continuously educate them on what they can and cannot do. In fact, the 7 year old loves to pick up bees from flowers and let them crawl on his hand. They share the swimming pool with us - if we turn on the waterslide, the bees love the mist and at least 2-3 of them will be drinking from the slide at any given time. Our pool also has beautiful butterfly bushes that attract bumblebees and honeybees as well.
Some colonies are slightly more aggressive than others, but in most cases you have to pull the lid off the hive and start really messing with them before they'll go after someone (and many beekeepers will re-queen a colony that is more aggressive by killing her off and introducing a new queen / allowing the colony to raise one from less aggressive genetic stock). If I'm really messing with my hives and they're angry at me, they stop buzzing my head when I get more than 50 ft from the hive or so. With bees, you get warning signs -- they'll begin bouncing off your head to let you know they're angry and they want you to go away.
Unlike wasps, who are aggressive carnivores, bees only get to sting you once - if stung, it tears out a portion of their bodies and they die. That makes them very reluctant to sting.
We keep epinephrine injectors (epi-pens) on hand just in case of a weird reaction.
My relatives are always surprised at how I changed toward bees - when I was 9, my dad was tearing down a shed and "found" a hornets' nest inside. He came out of that shed quickly, and I happened to be standing in the yard. "Stand still and they won't hurt you" was the cry, and 12 stings later I was an anti-stinging-insect monster. 20 years later I started working with bees and now I love to watch the girls work.
(Come on over to the beekeeping thread... we'd love to have you there.
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I bought 3 boxes of Rustoleum NeverWet and coated a large portion of my roof. Instead of getting the leak fixed.
I have a very low sloped roof, and water is wicking back up the shingles. They supposedly should have put a water proof layer under that section when they built the roof, but only put down tar paper. And after ~10 years the tar paper has at least one hole. My hoping is the NeverWet will prevent the wicking (doing great so far). I just don't know how long it will last. And if my roof will look discolored over time.
And discharging 8 cans (did some other spray painting at the time) of spray paint in about an hour is serious forearm workout.
EDIT: The looks you get when up on your roof apparently spray painting it are interesting. I only had my across the street neighbor ask what I was doing.
EDIT#2: It's not really working. I wouldn't try it yourself. Reduced water intrusion significantly, but didn't eliminate the leak.
I have a very low sloped roof, and water is wicking back up the shingles. They supposedly should have put a water proof layer under that section when they built the roof, but only put down tar paper. And after ~10 years the tar paper has at least one hole. My hoping is the NeverWet will prevent the wicking (doing great so far). I just don't know how long it will last. And if my roof will look discolored over time.
And discharging 8 cans (did some other spray painting at the time) of spray paint in about an hour is serious forearm workout.
EDIT: The looks you get when up on your roof apparently spray painting it are interesting. I only had my across the street neighbor ask what I was doing.
EDIT#2: It's not really working. I wouldn't try it yourself. Reduced water intrusion significantly, but didn't eliminate the leak.
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