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Frugal Friday

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!
apologies
Re: apologies
Milkyway
Re: apologies
Re: apologies
Re: apologies
(Anonymous) 2025-06-21 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)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!
Fine by me
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.
Re: Fine by me
Re: Fine by me
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/45177/tea.html?vendor=Lipton
Re: Fine by me
Re: Fine by me
https://www.uptontea.com
Re: Fine by me
(Anonymous) 2025-06-27 09:18 am (UTC)(link)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)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)Atmospheric River
Re: Bulk buy inexpensive tea
Re: Fine by me
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)Re: Fine by me
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
Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets
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 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
There have been many other things to numerous to mention. Such a flow of free stuff. We live in such a decedent society.
Re: Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets
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.
Re: Mongo or keeping your eyes peeled for useable stuff on the streets
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.
Great photo!
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)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
Re: Scouring powder
Umeboshi
(Anonymous) 2025-06-21 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)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)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
Aluminum cans become plant markers