So, frugal people, what DO you allow yourselves?

[Jay_Gatsby]

Now, do you wonder why Swedes enjoy sex so much?

Really? This is a piece of trivia I was unfamiliar with...

 

[Dreamer]

I might have one soft drink every month or two.

Dreamer

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm

I thought it was because Swedes were lousy Pinocle players.  One lutefisk was enough - in my youth - Washington state. I also passed on glug(hot current wine) - egg nogg for me.

 

[Nords]

I spent a good part of the last 3 months learning to catch, prepare and cook crabs. OMG Crab meat, stew, cakes, chowder, cocktail, etc. Very good eats!
Natures perfect food.

A friend of mine ran a Navy diver school in Hawaii. These are people who think that SEALs & Army Rangers would be nice guys to hang out with if they were a little smarter and had better water endurance.

I learned real quickly to loiter by the BBQ grill in the back of the building when the divers returned from the day's training. OTOH divers don't have many finicky dietary habits-- one of them used to catch octopus during training dives and snack on them raw. So you had to ask questions about what was put on your plate.

Having said that, the one seafood that my friend absolutely would not touch in any form was crab. He had been a recovery diver during the salvage of TWA flight 800, and the primary method for locating human remains was to follow the line of crustaceans.

If anyone posting here attended any of the military survival schools, it's not likely anyone who missed out on that "opportunity of a lifetime" will be able to measure up. Be thankful you won't.

A shipmate of mine spent extensive time in psychotherapy after graduating from that course. But he never worried about where his next meal was coming from!

No sodas here, either, ever since reading about the evils of high fructose corn syrup in drinks last year (doubled the risk of adult-onset diabetes in 5000 Boston nurses with just 2 drinks a day -- diet drinks and real fruit drinks didn't have any negative effect, which is good for the Tab drinkers out there, I guess.)

I prefer ice water or iced beer. A month or two of those beverages and sodas just taste too sweet, something we have a hard time getting our kid to appreciate.

the most 'memorable' dish i had was haggis on robert burns night one year. (chopped up offal boiled in a little intestine pouch.) It is made somewhat more palatable by pouring single malt scotch liberally on it and eating it that way.

Some of the best restaurant meals I've ever eaten were at Ardfyllane's in Dunoon, Scotland. I've never understood why the Scots, surrounded by lochs containing the world's best fish, persist in eating haggis. I think it's a gross-out contest with the lutafisk diners.

 

[deserat]

Hmmm - back on topic:

1) We spend on travel, but then look for good deals - will be leaving for a weeks skiing in Canada here in December. Went to Italy this summer to hike (that wasn't a cheap trip) and skied in Italy last Christmas - I guess skiing is one of our more expensive things to do, although, here in Northern CA, there are some good deals for lift tix and we already have our gear
2) Used to buy lots of nice yarn for knitting hobby. After I put all the yarn in one shelf and have a 'wall - o - yarn', put myself on a yarn diet - no mas!
3) Knitting books - have also cut down on that and have found the cheap source on the net - even has free shipping and no sales tax - yeehaa!
4) Do not eat out much - actually went to a Napa restuarant (Mustard's Grill) for our 1st anniversary lunch - set us back a bit, but you know, I'm getting to really like my own cooking such that the restaurants *really* have to be outstanding for me to want to pay them and then the waiter/waitress - and then the markup on booze.....yikes!
5) My husband is even lower maintenance than I.....hobbies are cheap, isn't a clothes horse, looks for deals or negotiates them for us -
6) We save ~40-50% of our income plus are pre-paying the mortgage - that's our treat: the knowledge that we will be able to retire early and then become PTs like Billy and Akaisha.

Off topic - just got the Bob Clyatt book and am really looking forward to diving into it. Got it at the Nolo Press bookstore here in the People's Republic of Berkeley. Great books in there - all about self-sufficiency of one sort or another.

Bridget

 

[Sheryl]

Then you're in for a holiday treat....

"Seattle-based Jones Soda has brought back its line of goofy holiday sodas, including such flavors as turkey and gravy, wild herb stuffing and pumpkin pie.."

Gag.  I saw a boxed set of these in the store last week.   

 

[dougdo]

I'm in Mexico for the winter but I hardly consider this a luxury that I allow myself--I can actually save $ traveling in Latin America every year.

The sublet on my condo is about covering my hotel expenses and other expenses are often cheaper.

Plus it gives me lots of inspiration on things to write about which in turn makes it a write-off since that's what I do for a living.

Here's where you can view my Mexico Blog Index on Travelblogs.com