ecosophia: (Default)
John Michael Greer ([personal profile] ecosophia) wrote2025-06-21 09:41 am

Frugal Friday

domeWelcome back to Frugal Friday! This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!  

Re: apologies

[personal profile] milkyway1 2025-06-21 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
A happy Solstice to everybody, and I hope you and everybody else who participates will habe a wonderful time at the potluck tonight! :-)

Milkyway
francis_tucker: (Default)

Re: apologies

[personal profile] francis_tucker 2025-06-21 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Can you say for which events or groups your two solstice rituals are being celebrated?

Re: apologies

(Anonymous) 2025-06-21 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
No worries, JMG! Like they say iver at No Tech magazine, commiting to 100% sometimes leads to fragility. I'd like to see you around for a long time!

And, I hate to admit it, but there's times I don't get to check in til Saturday or Sunday anyway.

Real life has a way of getting in the way!
degringolade: (Default)

Fine by me

[personal profile] degringolade 2025-06-21 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Sounds like post holiday compression to me. I always struggled for a week or two after I got back from travels. I figure you will be back on schedule in no time.

Anyway, does anyone know where to buy cheap bulk tea? I go through the usual suspects and I am becoming increasingly appalled by the cost. I'm not talking about snooty-poot organic free-range teas lovingly harvested by indigenous peoples. I just want a cheap Liptons/Tetley bulk variety that doesn't break the bank.

I am not a connoisseur, and while using Tetley tea bags isn't good for me in the long run, I really don't have a "long-run" available to me at this point, but maybe I do a little good by dumping the tea bags, but at this point I can't make the cost number work out in a pleasing manner.
fringewood: (Default)

Re: Fine by me

[personal profile] fringewood 2025-06-21 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
This is the first thing I ran across in my search. I've bought from them before. Sometimes the shipping is high, but they are generally less expensive than retail on many things. Good luck!
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/45177/tea.html?vendor=Lipton

Re: Fine by me

[personal profile] weilong 2025-06-21 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I couldn't say where you would go to buy it, but my local supermarket here in Japan sells bags of loose-leaf Twinings brand earl-gray tea (and a couple of other flavors, I think). It's pretty good, one bag costs about five bucks and lasts a good long while.
michele7: (Default)

Re: Fine by me

[personal profile] michele7 2025-06-21 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
I sometimes order from Upton tea. Every so often they do a buy 3, get 1 free deal. Right now shipping is free if you spend $39. They carry organic snooty teas and regular unsnooty teas. lol. Their variety is nice.

https://www.uptontea.com

Re: Fine by me

(Anonymous) 2025-06-27 09:18 am (UTC)(link)
I only use Upton Tea or buy in bulk at my coop. I drink only looseleaf tea (saying no thanks to the waste and possible microplastics of bags). You can get a good deal if you join their customer points program and also try to take advantage of the four-for-three price they run every now and then (I stock up then by buying the biggest bags). I make a pot in the morning and will pour in new hot water for a second, weaker pot in the afternoon if so inclinec in the summer I'll make iced tea or just lazily add ice in the afternoon. .
Also, as a farmer, I appreciate the time and energy that goes into growing food. I'm always happy to pay more for real food. I don't want to pay in health what I might save in wealth.
I'm in my sixties, healthy and active, on zero medications. I have always considered the investment in real food, grown or raised ethically, to be an investment in my health. Less wealth, more health. So far, so good .

Tea - Re: Fine by me

(Anonymous) 2025-06-22 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
Hi: I am in the US and I can get a box of 100 tea bags from Aldi's for less than $2.50. They only sell one brand. It's strong, plain, nonfancy tea. I prefer Twinnings tea bags though and look for sales. I find Twinnings bags are a good midpoint between the fancy stuff (which I also like) and the cheapest stuff.

Just in case you don't do this already, I highly recommend using a tea pot. If you just put the tea bag in your cup you will, obviously, be using up 1 bag every time you want a cuppa. Using a pot makes the tea bags go further. I use 1 bag for half a pot, which makes 2 cups plus a skoch, or 2 bags for a whole pot which usually makes 5 cups of tea. On occasions when I haven't had a teapot, I've made do with a cooking pot.

If you want your tea to still be hot when you get a refill, a tea cosy really does work. If you don't have a cosy, wrapping the pot in a tea towel also works (hence the name).

As well, you can warm the pot first. After your water boils fill your empty teapot with the boiled water, count ten or twenty, and then empty it. Or just fill the pot halfway and swirl the water while you count. Then put your tea bags into the empty, warm pot and pour your boiled water over them. I can generally get a hot cuppa 30 minutes after making tea and a warm enough cuppa after 45 minutes.

Using a teapot, warming it, and using a cosy/tea towel not only make your tea bags go further, they also make, IMHO, vastly better tea.

I have experimented with saving and then reusing tea bags. I think one needs to be of the opinion that bad tea is better than no tea for it to be worthwhile.

Cheers, Heloise

Bulk buy inexpensive tea

(Anonymous) 2025-06-22 07:34 pm (UTC)(link)
For black tea, I order straight from the company, not thru the slimy river or other intermediaries. I order Red Rose brand black tea, you can order a case of 12 boxes of 100 tea bags, or a case of 6 boxes of 100 tea bags, and with shipping, either one is less than .06/bag. The tea bags are made from paper, not the new synthetic mesh. https://redrosetea.com/collections/original-blend/products/red-rose-black-tea-12-pack?variant=31096006475851. I put my used tea bag out in the garden with teh rest of the organic matter from my kitchen to feed the worm and the soil.

Atmospheric River

Re: Bulk buy inexpensive tea

[personal profile] kayr 2025-06-23 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
I like Red Rose tea and until lately, I would find it in my favorite salvage store. Good to know you can get it at such a good price from the company.
kallianeira: (garden venus)

Re: Fine by me

[personal profile] kallianeira 2025-06-23 12:23 am (UTC)(link)

Tea from ethnic groceries in whose culture it is important is the best way I have found to get cheap bulk tea.
I have found good supplies particularly in Chinese/generic Asian stores and I think Indian supermarkets would serve you well too.

Re: Fine by me

(Anonymous) 2025-06-23 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
This is very true in my experience. Indian supermarkets will generally sell some kinds of cheap CTC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush%2C_tear%2C_curl) black tea from Sri Lanka or Kenya, and that's about as good/cheap as I've found. If you like your tea very, very strong, El Arosa is an Egyptian brand of Kenya dust (very low-grade finely ground) black tea that is bonkers strong. (In my house we call it "black crack".)
linden_matryoshka: (Default)

Re: Fine by me

[personal profile] linden_matryoshka 2025-06-26 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
[profile] gringolade,
The cheapest (by far) place to buy bulk tea is Indian grocery stores. If you have one around where you live, you are in luck!
Inna
teresa_from_hershey: (Default)

Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets

[personal profile] teresa_from_hershey 2025-06-21 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
So I walk regularly, with dogs and without, with Bill and without, on errands and so forth.

I keep my eyes open because you never know when you're going to spot that Visa gift card with $$ still left on it.

That oversized, framed Ansel Adams poster.

That box of fancy stones that now line part of my garden path.

That bag of clothes, which I took home and washed. Some I still wear and the rest went to the thrift shop.

The patio table.

The patio chairs.

Glass plates from dead microwaves.

The list is endless.

This stuff, ready to use for its original purpose, is Mongo. The streets and alleys are full of it, especially the day before trash collection.

It is not the same as obtainium! That's stuff you pick up and rework into what you need. Thus, the dead trampoline legs become garden fencing.

Do you pick up stuff from the side of the road?

Re: Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets

(Anonymous) 2025-06-22 11:31 am (UTC)(link)
I also do a lot of walking and bicycle riding,so I see all the castoffs just waiting for me! It's amazing what people throw away.
I really like the Walmart floor lamps. Those screw together rods are handy for many things.
I live near a military base, so there are always families moving and leaving lots of stuff behind.
I used to peruse the dumpsters, but I'm getting to old for climbing in and out of them.

Re: Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets

[personal profile] kayr 2025-06-23 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
Oh yes. I have a kitchen trolley that we use in the summer kitchen that was missing it's top. We replaced with a plastic fold up table top with no legs until we got a chem lab counter top from my brother-in-law that replaced it last year. Indestructible.

There have been many other things to numerous to mention. Such a flow of free stuff. We live in such a decedent society.
mistyfriday: Camping Shelter (Default)

Re: Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets

[personal profile] mistyfriday 2025-06-23 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
It's a phenomenon that is commonly found in mixed income neighborhoods without an HOA. I've found half a pallet of used bricks, a 1930s style office chair, over a dozen milk crates, and a glider rocker with ottoman just from keeping my eyes open while I drive home from work.

The items are always set out on the curb, usually with a free sign on them. I've noticed that the same houses usually dispose of excess this way so it's worthwhile to drive by them.
teresa_from_hershey: (Default)

Re: Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets

[personal profile] teresa_from_hershey 2025-06-25 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
I've got a routine. Some neighborhoods are definitely better than others.

When the township switched from "buy your own garbage can" to those giant green wheelie containers that PA Waste Management insisted upon, the pickings went down because you could fit two or three bodies in one those containers.

But stuff is still left sitting out, especially when someone moves.

The wealth of second-hand goods being tossed away, when at the same time people complain of being broke, is just amazing.
slclaire: (Default)

Great photo!

[personal profile] slclaire 2025-06-21 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been enjoying all of the different photos of domed greenhouses that you've adorned the Frugal Friday posts with, but this one is my favorite so far.

Happy solstice! When your post didn't show up yesterday, I guessed you were busy with solstice activities. Me too! ;-)

Scouring powder

(Anonymous) 2025-06-21 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Yesterday, as part of my summer solstice event, I prepared a year's supply of scouring powder. I put a couple of cups of baking soda into a bowl and pour in some liquid dish detergent and stir it up into a thick paste. I fill a couple of Tupperware-sort-of containers with the paste.

It cleans very well and the best bit is that store bought scouring powder tends to set like concrete in the drains. This can lead to an expensive interlude with a plumber. The baking soda simple dissolves. I don't know how much it costs but I buy the baking soda in a 2 KG and it is not expensive.

I also have a lovely rose geranium. This is a geranium with tiny pink flowers but the leaves smell like roses. I cut a bunch of stalks off it to harvest the leaves for tea. A friend swears this tea is very good to soothe a headache. I put the stalks in a glass of water and they will root. Once they root, I pot them up and have inexpensive presents to give other gardeners who always want to give me some nice plants in return. It is good for everyone.

I also completed the Rising Dragons ritual yesterday. It is from the Druid Magic Handbook and I have been having years of use out of that book and it has helped me become much happier and healthier. Cheap at the price of a book!
Maxine
jenniferkobernik: (Default)

Re: Scouring powder

[personal profile] jenniferkobernik 2025-06-23 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
For those with hard water, you may find that powdered citric acid works better. Really cuts through the calcium scale. A game changer for me.

Umeboshi

(Anonymous) 2025-06-21 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey JMG and Commentariat

I came across this article, in ”The Guardian” of all places, that describes how to make “Umeboshi” out of any unripe stone fruit you find in the supermarket or Garden.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jun/18/umeboshi-recipe-turn-unripe-stone-fruit-into-japanese-condiment-recipe-apricot-plum-peach-umeboshi-ferment-zero-waste-cooking

J.L.Mc12

Re: Umeboshi

(Anonymous) 2025-06-22 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Curious.

Fermented then dried for storage. Often, aged up to three years.

And here I thought it was going to be made into some sort of fermented jam or spread.

Caldathras
jenniferkobernik: (Default)

Aluminum cans become plant markers

[personal profile] jenniferkobernik 2025-06-23 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Slice the top and bottom off an aluminum beer/soda can (box cutter works better than scissors for this part), then cut down the side so it unrolls into a rectangle, then cut the rectangle into strips. Use a pencil instead of a pen or permanent marker so that the label is inscribed into the aluminum. Use these to stick into your seed trays or rows to label your plants. No plastic bits blowing around the garden and breaking into bits, no faded labels. You can use them year after year if you grow the same things. So much better than the little plastic stake labels that we use these even as commercial growers.