Living on $12,000 a year

catznine

moanymoany wrote: »

Ches, you asked, didn't just dive in and take. It was clearly someone's garden. Don't feel bad, he could just as easily have said yes. From now on, if I see something interesting in a skip I will knock and ask if I can have a rummage. They may think I'm weird, but I am the one stashing away the cash to fund my retirement!!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

It is always worth asking, my sister had a lovely old wooden childrens play house in her garden, the children had grown up and the play house needed a bit of work doing on it and my sister was wondering what to do with it, when a car stopped in the road outside, garden is visible from the road, and asked if they could take it to do up for their young children, talk about timing, the playhouse has now been rebuilt in a garden down the road from my sisters and a new generation of children are enjoying it. My sister is happy as she now has space for a sun patio. Yes it took some courage for this young couple to ask but the worse that can happen is the owner says no and in this case the owner said yes.

I am loving this thread by the way, there is far too much waste these days, I used to work in a charity shop and a lot of the stuff coming in had barely been worn, some hadn't the worse thing was the books, some lovely ones, if they didn't sell within 3 weeks they were put in the skip:eek: . I used to rescue the best ones and take them to other charity shops and our local hospital. I once rescued bales of denim material from a neighbour who was about to dump them onto his bonfire, nothing wrong with them, they have kept us in p.e bags, shoppers, chair covers, etc for years.

ceridwen

moanymoany wrote: »

We sneaked up there in the early hours of this morning - well 8.15... We parked the car in the space next to the big industrial sized yellow skip. DH showed commendable concern because it happened to be a disabled space. Since yesterday the whole thing was covered with black bin bags - some come to bring and some to take away. :cool:

I think it is the community centre that is having a refit. Lots of the floorboords were wormy, so we ignored them. We got a lot of decent lengths of new floorboards, and pieces of thick board about 2' x 2'6. There were loads of unused screws as well. We got a back of the car full and went home well satisfied.

Ches, you asked, didn't just dive in and take. It was clearly someone's garden. Don't feel bad, he could just as easily have said yes. From now on, if I see something interesting in a skip I will knock and ask if I can have a rummage. They may think I'm weird, but I am the one stashing away the cash to fund my retirement!!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Yay! Everyone give that woman a round of applause. Take a bow - MoanyMoany! I've been willing you on from afar - sending out the positive vibes. Pat on back time.

Catznine - know what you mean about some of the stuff being pretty good that goes to charity shops - I ought to - I'm the one taking it there sometimes (anything my mother passes on to me that I dont want myself). Regarding the books - I gather libraries are grateful for donations of decent books in good condition - havent done this myself, but bearing it in mind.

I'm feeling reasonably virtuous right now - eating my homemade bread and some cheese from my mothers direction (part of a pub lunch that she didnt fancy having). Note for the brave - I hadnt clicked as to why my mother takes one of her bigger handbags with her when eating out in a pub (until she opened it to reveal a tupperware container she'd brought for anything on her plate she didnt want at the time! - everyone else in the pub probably heard me go "Mother!!" and burst out laughing when I saw that - but I cant complain too much as I am the one sitting here eating it right now - nice it is too.)

Looking forward to my tv programme series "Dumped" at 9pm on Channel 4 - clarified that it starts Sunday (tomorrow) and is on 4 days in a row. It'll doubtless be a bit ersatz - to "make good tv" - but will doubtless pick up a bit of inspiration.

Bogof_Babe

What a brilliant idea, the tupperware container. I always take a plastic food bag "for the cat", but your mum's way is so much more sophisticated!

moanymoany

My intention is to use the wood to make a chicken house. We would like to adopt 2 battery hens, I know we still have to build it, but no-one seems to have any chickens that need homes.

Tomorrow the wood will all be laid out and a chicken house will be designed. The cheapest I have seen ready made is £85, so it will be an interesting adventure.

Thank you for your support. I feel as though I could make an Oscar speech ... thanks to ceridwen and all those on the OS threads who have given me their support ... I couldn't have done it without them. :T

Austin_Allegro

A note on dumpster diving. I recall the 'Benjy the Binman' case a few years ago. Benjy the Binman was an eccentric gentleman who trawled through the bins of legal practices used by celebrities and picked out private information that hadn't been shredded, and sold it to the tabloids! He was eventually caught and tried and his defence was that he wasn't doing anything wrong because the rubbish didn't belong to anyone. I think the judge eventually ruled that rubbish belongs to the person who throws it out and then the company that collects it - so technically dumpster diving without permission is illegal - though I'm not sure about the overall legal implications, but it might be a good idea to ask skip owners if you can take things.

I've also heard that supermarkets lock bins or deliberately spoil the good food they throw out, so that a. dumpster divers are forced to buy things rather than get them free and b. they don't get tramps etc hanging around the bins - but I'm not sure if this is just a myth...

Sallygirl

Moanymoany I also keep hens. I'm a little concerned about your decision to keep two hens because I think three would be better. Hens that start a new life together should settle down after a few scuffles to decide who is Top Hen. However, when one hen pops its clogs, so to speak, you can't just put another new one in with it because the remaining hen will half kill the new one. Hens are not usually very happy living on their own either. If you have three, then the problem is postponed for a lot longer. This is the voice of experience speaking here......

cinnabar

OK i realise I'm coming to this thread rather late so apologies if this has already been mentioned - for books on frugal living, there's a book which was published in the 70's called 'Alternative London' by Nicholas Saunders, I'm pretty certain it's no longer in print but I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to find a copy on Amazon etc. Basically it was a kind of counter-culture guide to living in London very cheaply with all sorts of ideas for making stuff, getting stuff cheap/free - I'm sure a lot of of it would seem dated and I daresay some of the legal aspects of some of the ideas will be completely different these days, but if anyone comes across it it'd be worth a look.

Other books (which again may already have been mentioned) that might be of interest are 'Food for Free' by Richard Mabey (about collecting food from the wild) and 'Practical Self-Sufficiency' by John Seymour.

I saw/read tons of books on this subject growing up, so i will try to root out some more

ceridwen

cinnabar wrote: »

OK i realise I'm coming to this thread rather late so apologies if this has already been mentioned - for books on frugal living, there's a book which was published in the 70's called 'Alternative London' by Nicholas Saunders, I'm pretty certain it's no longer in print but I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to find a copy on Amazon etc. Basically it was a kind of counter-culture guide to living in London very cheaply with all sorts of ideas for making stuff, getting stuff cheap/free - I'm sure a lot of of it would seem dated and I daresay some of the legal aspects of some of the ideas will be completely different these days, but if anyone comes across it it'd be worth a look.

Other books (which again may already have been mentioned) that might be of interest are 'Food for Free' by Richard Mabey (about collecting food from the wild) and 'Practical Self-Sufficiency' by John Seymour.

I saw/read tons of books on this subject growing up, so i will try to root out some more

To no-ones great surprise by now (!) - yep I used to have a copy of "Alternative London". I can't remember much from it except for the fact the author used to blag his way into work canteens for lunch, dressed in a conventional officeworker sort of way as I recall :eek: (no - I'm not advocating that!).

I still have a copy of "Living on the Earth" by Alicia Bay Laurel - a 1971 book (ISBN 0-394-71056-8) - a very "period" piece by now and very much worse for wear (which I still have a little re-read of once in a while) - very hippy-ish style of moneysaving as you can imagine. I'll have to trundle off at some point and see what tips I can share from it.

A more conventional moneysaving book is "Make do and mend" by Muriel Clark from that era (a 1978 book) - slightly dated, but worth a borrow if you have the chance.

Yes - cinnabar - do have a route round and share your findings with us.

Chipps

ceridwen wrote: »

A more conventional moneysaving book is "Make do and mend" by Muriel Clark from that era (a 1978 book) - slightly dated, but worth a borrow if you have the chance.

I think I have that one. Is it the book that describes itself as a "knit your own dishcloth kind of book" ?
If so, I bought it in a library sale more than 20 years ago, and covered it with fablon to match the kitchen (yuk!) cos the cover was falling off. The only thing is, that the title of the book was only on the front cover - hence I am only guessing it is the same book - pretty sure it is, though!

Pandora123_2

ceridwen wrote: »

I'm feeling reasonably virtuous right now - eating my homemade bread and some cheese from my mothers direction (part of a pub lunch that she didnt fancy having). Note for the brave - I hadnt clicked as to why my mother takes one of her bigger handbags with her when eating out in a pub (until she opened it to reveal a tupperware container she'd brought for anything on her plate she didnt want at the time! - everyone else in the pub probably heard me go "Mother!!" and burst out laughing when I saw that - but I cant complain too much as I am the one sitting here eating it right now - nice it is too.)

In North America, it's common to take whatever food you haven't eaten home with you. Most times, at the end of the meal, the waiter/waitress will ask, "Can I box that up for you?" or something similar, and they will bring you the leftovers in a nice little box placed inside a carrier bag. It's not seen as embarrassing or unusual. Having said that, bringing your own container WOULD be seen as being different, because there is simply no need to do that. Restaurants have a supply of containers at the ready for patrons' leftovers. The attitude is, you've paid for it, you can take it home with you. The only exception may possibly be at very posh restaurants (dunno, they were never my scene).

Even though there is a lot more recycling here than across the pond, it's odd that "recycling" your restaurant food isn't commonly done (and when it is, is mostly done on the sly).

:A