Living on $12,000 a year

rachelleblondel_2

moanymoany wrote: »

Hi all, second post because it is an entirely different subject. I saw this on a frugal site and thought of us. The payment is $20,000 - any takers?

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf60304694.tip.html

It's a wife swap prog - wants a frugal mom ...... :rotfl:

This made me chuckle as the UK version wanted me to be on wife swap here for series 8 but after alot of thought we decided not to go ahead. Although the researchers were very persuasive!
Rachelle

moanymoany

rachelleblondel wrote: »

This made me chuckle as the UK version wanted me to be on wife swap here for series 8 but after alot of thought we decided not to go ahead. Although the researchers were very persuasive!
Rachelle

Rachelleblondel, you can't just drop that little gem and leave it there! Spill the beans - I'm sure I speak for the regulars when I say we're nosey coves and we need to know more more more .....:j

rachelleblondel_2

Hi MoanyMoany

Well wife swap contacted me through a green forum that I belong to & asked if I would be interested. They wanted someone who baked from scratch, grew their own food, lived as green as poss etc etc. I kind of like the idea as whilst I do all these things we are not radical & are pretty much a slighlty off centre family & I really wanted to show that you can make a difference being green/eco/os without wearing that hair shirt, washing your clothes in the river & riding your bike everywhere and that a few simple changes to how you live (like never using plastic bags when shopping ...my big bug bear)means you are doing your bit however small.
But sadly my OH wasn't up for it as we both felt that the program is quite good at making fools out of people & he has a senior position at a bank, a rather shady past & didn't feel it would be very professional of him as we would have no control of the editing. So after much soul searching I said no sadly but it would of been fun!
Rx

moanymoany

rachelleblondel wrote: »

Hi MoanyMoany

Well wife swap contacted me through a green forum that I belong to & asked if I would be interested. They wanted someone who baked from scratch, grew their own food, lived as green as poss etc etc. I kind of like the idea as whilst I do all these things we are not radical & are pretty much a slighlty off centre family & I really wanted to show that you can make a difference being green/eco/os without wearing that hair shirt, washing your clothes in the river & riding your bike everywhere and that a few simple changes to how you live (like never using plastic bags when shopping ...my big bug bear)means you are doing your bit however small.
But sadly my OH wasn't up for it as we both felt that the program is quite good at making fools out of people & he has a senior position at a bank, a rather shady past & didn't feel it would be very professional of him as we would have no control of the editing. So after much soul searching I said no sadly but it would of been fun!
Rx

Thanks Rachelleblondel, it sounds interesting, but I can see where you oh is coming from. We were watching the Hotel Inspector yesterday and dh remarked that they can cut the filming to make the people look absolute cranks and idiots.

I'm really interested in the green things you do. What do you do with your rubbish. We recycle, but plastic bags are what we put in the wastebin and when full in the dustbin. Also, plastic wrapping is something I have become concerned about, where can that be recycled? Could you give me a rundown. As I've become more frugal I am more interested in recycling - silly as it sounds - I'm not all that sure where to start.

I remember when I was a lass, no-one went anywhere far from home and either cycled or got the bus. if I want to get my local bus to town it costs £3 return for a 4 mile round trip. Costing the use of the car at 40p a mile and paying for 2 hours parking is actually cheaper!

FBThree

moanymoany wrote: »

We recycle, but plastic bags are what we put in the wastebin and when full in the dustbin. Also, plastic wrapping is something I have become concerned about, where can that be recycled?

Hi moanymoany. I'm interested in the plastic wrapping issue too since it's the main part of our rubbish apart from cat litter! I'm really trying to stop buying veg etc wrapped in plastic but it's hard. I've seen that some wrapping from Sains is compostable, so I don't feel so guilty there, but a lot from Mr T says it's recyclable where facilities exist, but I don't think we have facilities locally.

As for using plastic bags in the bins, someone pointed out to me once that it means the rubbish gets wrapped up, then it goes to a landfill and a lot of time the rubbish truck load is wrapped up, so we're double-wrapping. I stopped using plastic as binliners after that and just wash the bin out.

Love to hear what other peeps do.

Chipps

Our council takes most plastic for recycling, the only thing we can't put in is polystyrene, clingfilm and cellophane, but most plastic packaging goes in.
Mind you, where it goes after that....?????????
(apparently it is taken to a recycling centre in Rainham, so as that is on the Thames I guess it gets shipped off to China?)
To be honest, I try not to have too much plastic to recycle in the first place, and as we tend not to buy terribly large amounts of pre-packaged stuff that's not too difficult. I certainly don't like buying pre-packed fruit & veg - although we have just taken possession of an allotment so that should be easier too.

rachelleblondel_2

hI moany

The mantra in our house is reduce 1st reuse 2nd & recycle as a last resort but I did start off recycling everything until I found out that alot of plastics are shipped off abroad. I try to buy things in containers that I can reuse eg tomato puree in jars rather than tubes. But sometimes it unavoidable. As for plastic wrapping some can be recycled some not.

There is a good link here - http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Plastics.htm

Also Friends of the earth have a really informative website - http://www.foe.co.uk/

We use a small blue bin from ikea instead of plastic bags for our rubbish that gets tipped into the dustbin when full. Food waste (which is minimal goes into the dog or wormery other stuff into the composter) No shiney plastic into the compost along with any cottons, natural fibres past their sell by.

I never use plastic bags in supermarkets/shops & have even made myself some little net bags for loose fruit & veg to keep the cashiers from getting stressed at 10 carrots making there way down the belt & then trying to weigh them:D . But we try to grow as much of our F&V as poss. (given up on root crops though)

We have a paper, can & glass bin that gets collected so that takes care of them. Foil is another thing we always recycle.

But plastic is my biggest issue. The average use of plastic bags for every person in the country is 134 per year. Thats over 8 billion bags. A plastic bag can take up to 500 years to decay in landfill. Imagine if we all stopped using them:T


I think it is really important that everyone does their bit for the environment however small so even if all you can do is stop using plastic bags or change your bulbs to energy saving it can make a difference.....

ceridwen

I think many of us are being more conscious of the mantra "reduce/reuse/recycle". I am getting very conscious about plastic bag usage amongst other stuff and doing what I can to save on fuel usage for environmental (as well as my own budget reasons). I have never had a car and my home wasnt built on a greenfield site - or someone elses garden (personal bugbear - I HATE seeing people sell off their gardens for use as building plots!).

One little thought on energy-saving lightbulbs - I DID use them where possible in the past - but I have gone right off them since reading that they have mercury in them and consequent difficulties in disposal of (just how many people - me included - are going to make a special effort to find out how to chuck their lightbulbs out safely? Nope - they are likely to get chucked in the bin, with all the other rubbish). I gather they are still problematic too with dimmer lightswitches - if people replace these lightswitches with conventional ones and forget about their light-dimming - then there is the "embodied energy" tied up in the new lightswitches they have just bought to take into account.

The "embodied energy" involved in the goods we buy is something that doesnt yet attract much attention. We are all being urged (quite rightly too!) to buy low-energy usage products - but we shouldnt needlessly chuck out perfectly serviceable existing goods we have to buy new unnecessarily (sort of defeats the object). In my own personal case - my cooker needs replacing (so I will be checking out the energy rating of new ones before buying). On the other hand - my fridgefreezer is that old that its probably pretty high energy usage - but its still serviceable - so I will keep it till it "expires" on me.

THOUGHT FOR THE EVENING:
Interesting googling on looking up Adam Weissman. He is one of these charismatic figures emerging at present - in his case, his thing is freeganism.

I have just started reading article about him

http://www.satyamag.com/may06/weissman.html

It is interesting to me to see that a (very welcome) trend that seems to be emerging generally at present is that some very committed, thoughtful people seem to be emerging as what would have been "leaders" of social movements in previous decades - but, as far as I can see to date they are doing the work, but arent doing the great ego trip bit of previous leaders. Another one that comes to mind is the founder of the transition town movement (?Rob Hopkins?)

moanymoany

DH has just sent me an email woth a frugal site link ... here it is

http://www.downthelane.net/Page_2.html

Also, he has been doing some research and has found lots of people he works with (well 2!) who keep or have kept chickens. He is getting keen, so it looks hopeful.

Fascinating website ceridwen.

My cooker is not working properly, but because I know it I can manage. My freezer is also decrepit, but it still works. Dh ahd I were discussing light bulbs the other evening (what a rivetingly fascinating life we lead!) It is difficult, items that use a lot of energy - like my old freezer - would cost a lot to replace. If I got an A rated replacement for energy saving, is the energy I save worth discarding a usable item and contributing to the consumer wastage?

This is what I like about the Tightwad Gazette way of thinking. If it isn't cost effective, forget it. I will use my aged appliances until they go to appliance heaven - then buy an A rated replacement.

Yategirl

ceridwen wrote: »

I think many of us are being more conscious of the mantra "reduce/reuse/recycle". I am getting very conscious about plastic bag usage amongst other stuff and doing what I can to save on fuel usage for environmental (as well as my own budget reasons). I have never had a car and my home wasnt built on a greenfield site - or someone elses garden (personal bugbear - I HATE seeing people sell off their gardens for use as building plots!).

but we shouldnt needlessly chuck out perfectly serviceable existing goods we have to buy new unnecessarily (sort of defeats the object). In my own personal case - my cooker needs replacing (so I will be checking out the energy rating of new ones before buying). On the other hand - my fridgefreezer is that old that its probably pretty high energy usage - but its still serviceable - so I will keep it till it "expires" on me.

Just reading ceridwen's post reminded me of something ..... printers.. dh bought me a printer a year and a half ago for about £20 (nothing expensive as I don't use it that often) and I have now run out of ink... I now have the difficulty of making the decision of what to do - the ink cartridges (having looked around) will cost me £34 to replace (and this works out the same as having them re-filled) BUT a new printer WITH ink is only £20! I want to reuse my printer there is nothing wrong with it and because of that I cannot justify replacing it BUT money is tight and we need every penny so money-wise I can only justify spending £20 and chucking/freecycling a perfectly good printer.... :mad: tis ridiculous... what would you all do??


Can I ask those of you who do live on a very low income to give the rest of us some ideas of what you do to live on this amount? thanks