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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 47,529
Re: The art of frugality
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarhead*
After deciding a couple weeks ago, that I would quit bothering the young people on this board with "pithy" comments...
Jarhead, some of us on this board are a long way from being classified as "young people". But even if you do have pants older than many posting here, you might as well join in and get "pithy" with everyone else.
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,446
Re: The art of frugality
Every once in awhile I join the Literary guild for the 6 books for a $1.00 special .I then just buy the required books and cancel.So what ,you say everybody does that .Yes but does everybody resell the six books for $70.00 on amazon .That 's frugal !!
Every once in awhile I join the Literary guild for the 6 books for a $1.00 special .I then just buy the required books and cancel.So what ,you say everybody does that .Yes but does everybody resell the six books for $70.00 on amazon .That 's frugal !!
OMG, Moemg, warn me before you do that. I almost wet my pants!
__________________
"Iron" Mike - Semper Fi
Jack of all trades; Master of none.
The most frugal thing I've done lately is realize that my $7000 Suzuki V-Strom is a thoroughly capable motorcycle, so I sold my $20,000 Harley Davidson to invest the money instead of pay the credit union.
__________________
"Iron" Mike - Semper Fi
Jack of all trades; Master of none.
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
Re: The art of frugality
AL, my chainsaw is a very old Stihl. Cuts like mad but I have never considered it or any other chainsaw anything even close to safe. What are the features that you look for that give greater safety?
Ha
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,483
Re: The art of frugality
Quote:
Originally Posted by HaHa
AL, my chainsaw is a very old Stihl. Cuts like mad but I have never considered it or any other chainsaw anything even close to safe. What are the features that you look for that give greater safety?
Ha
Body armor.............
__________________
Consult with your own advisor or representative. My thoughts should not be construed as investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results (love that one).......:)
I feel like I recently discovered at least a "frugal triple play". The previous owners of my house left a Mexican fireplace on the patio, and I now plan to use it to burn my paper trash.
1. I saved buying myself a cross-cut shredder. All my private data is going to be turned into ashes.
2. My kids and I can use it as a low cost form of entertainment (ahh, sitting on the patio with a cup of cocoa watching the nice fire!)
3. The ashes can go into the garden area, saving on fertilizer costs.
It also reduces my trash output considerably, so I only have to take my trash out every second or third week. I was going to say this made me more environmentally green and acceptable to Mr. Gore, but then I realized I'm contributing to global warming with the fires. Hmmm.
2Cor521
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"At times the world can seem an unfriendly and sinister place, but believe us when we say there is much more good in it than bad. All you have to do is look hard enough, and what might seem to be a series of unfortunate events, may in fact be the first steps of a journey." Violet Baudelaire.
I had to google what Mexican fireplace was. But after looking at it, I realized it wouldn't work out for me since I still live in an apt So I'll have to stick to the full trashbag of paper I shred every other week filled with credit card offers, home refinancing offers (I sold my house a year ago!), and various other crap.
But, to be honest, I do enjoy shredding It's therapeutic!
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 15,550
Re: The art of frugality
Want to talk about frugal.... and I would not do this EVER....
They had a guy on the public TV that would camp out and cook 'off the land'.. some of what he ate was road kill...
The guy that did the interview was skeptical, but did eat a bird.. said it tasted great...
The guy is a trained chef and said he only gets ones that were killed by being hit and that were 'fresh'...
I for one had enough cheap stuff growing up... I am very willing to pay for the things I need and get something good... but, I don't 'need' as much as a lot of the consumer people... still waiting for the HDs to come down in price... might even get cable ...
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Re: The art of frugality
Quote:
Originally Posted by HaHa
AL, my chainsaw is a very old Stihl. Cuts like mad but I have never considered it or any other chainsaw anything even close to safe. What are the features that you look for that give greater safety?
Ha
The one feature that I required was an inertial chain brake.
For you non-chainsawers, the most dangerous thing about a chainsaw is "kickback." If, for example, the tip of the chain hits something the wrong way, the chainsaw can be propelled up and back towards you at high speed. Very often, the operator will reflexively put his/her left hand up, and the still-spinning chain will cut the hand.
The newer saws have a chain brake that will automatically stop the chain if the position of the saw changes quickly. That is, if the chainsaw bucks back, the chain is stopped before it hits your hand.
The newer saws also have chains and tip shapes that reduce the chance of kickback.
Still dangerous, as you say. I'm ambivalent about using one, but I'm super careful, and have almost all the safety gear (helmet, face protector, special gloves, kevlar chaps). I'd like chainsaw boots, but they cost about $350.
A shipmate moved from Japan to the Mainland and as part of his downsizing he offered me his old Mac Mini-- free! What could be better than free?
Good: Free Mac Mini, Kensington KVM switch, Samsung SyncMaster 191T, and many many connector cables. All free.
Not so good: The cost of shipping the hardware & a foot-high stack of books was $70. (Plus whatever it cost my shipmate to get it to my drop shipper.) I also "needed" a new power strip, a PS/2-USB adaptor, & a few feet of Ethernet cable. (I shoulda stopped there but it was too tempting to add a UPS and a backup HD connector.) Let's call it $60 of "needs" and another $190 of "wants".
Let's not forget "some assembly required": an entire afternoon of furniture moving, body contortions, positioning, repositioning, connecting, reconnecting, routing, testing, tidying, downloading, tweaking, and so on. Some of the documentation was only in kanji and four-point graphics. Seven PC USB ports were barely enough. I also devoted a good bit of time to cable wrapping & bunny-proofing.
Then there's the deferred "just one more thing"-- in this case a Firewire rig or maybe a USB hub. The Mini seems a bit light on connections.
What initially seemed like "free" actually worked out to a modest capital expenditure (and hours of effort) as the tuition payment for self-paced learning. I like the Samsung monitor a lot more than our Sony (same display area) so later I'll sell the Sony and split the profits. That's probably $50 off the $130 "needs" spending.
I'm enjoying myself but there's no way that I could ever sell this as "frugal", let alone "free".
Our kid says she wants the Mac when she moves out. I told her I'll give it to her for "free"...
__________________ *
Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
Want to talk about frugal.... and I would not do this EVER....
They had a guy on the public TV that would camp out and cook 'off the land'.. some of what he ate was road kill...
The guy that did the interview was skeptical, but did eat a bird.. said it tasted great...
The guy is a trained chef and said he only gets ones that were killed by being hit and that were 'fresh'...
I for one had enough cheap stuff growing up... I am very willing to pay for the things I need and get something good... but, I don't 'need' as much as a lot of the consumer people... still waiting for the HDs to come down in price... might even get cable ...
Sick sick sick ... I hate to think that guys like that walk on the same sidewalk as my daughter.
That is why I carry a gun.
It is scary having daughter(s), isn't it? As a guy in our childbirth class (wow 12 years ago already) said, "we're having a boy.... I only have to worry about one dick - you have to worry about all of them!"
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