Baking Sweet Potatoes and Peppers to Keep Warm

I am sure our hardwired frugal efforts will elicit either chuckles or exasperated eye rolls. After all, Mr FS and I are getting close to normal retirement age and we retained our jobs while witnessing the elimination of a few programs. We have not gotten raises in many years, but still, we are more than OK.

So tell me, why did I balk this morning when Mr FS--usually the more stoical member of our household--suggested we turn up the heat? It is warmer outside than inside. We could not simply open windows, because it is very humid out there.

Mr FS and I were wearing our normal chilly house garb: regular clothes topped off with--for me--a fleece jacket and--for Mr FS--a down vest. Isn't this what everyone wears indoors?

Finally, I hit upon a solution: baking the cheap sweet potatoes and reduced for quick sale bell peppers we had. I can't even figure out how many levels of frugality this is. We didn't turn on the heat. Turning on the oven heated the house, WHILE cooking--and thereby prolonging the lifespan of--cheap for Thanksgiving sweet potatoes and a lovely melange of orange and red bell peppers reduced to around 30 cents a piece.

Why do I even think about such things? I COULD be reading Proust. Actually, I AM reading Proust, having finally, after many failed efforts, made it to the middle of the third volume. However, I can only read a few pages a day, before mental fatigue sets in. But frugality--either hardwired or habitual--produces no such fatigue for me.

Also, I am reminded of Amy D. of Tightwad fame. She considered the question of whether one can be too frugal. As she considered her darned sock--even though she could darn well buy a new sock--she realized that the darned sock made her happy. She opined that asking whether one could be too frugal was akin to asking whether one could be too happy.

How's this for an incongruous duo?

Frugal Travel Accessory: Prescription Bottles!

We're helping Miss Em get ready for her year-long stay in Serbia. More to the point: we are watching Miss Em, world's most organized and least procrastinating person, put the final touches on her packing. Mr FS contributes a family tip for travel. It's the ultimate in frugality, since it's FREE.

Do not throw out those orange plastic prescription bottles. They make great travel companions. The tops are secure. Obviously, you can take your vitamins in them. But Mr. FS realized a while back that you could take greasy stuff in them, such as my beloved petroleum jelly, great for lip balm and general dry skin relief.

A few years ago, we refined the idea. Mr FS packed instant coffee in one. That way, we could have our caffeine fix on the road. (We carried a small empty water bottle to effect the alchemical process).

Now Miss Em is taking the idea a step further, with PEANUT BUTTER!

It's so nice when you are en route or in a new place to have a little something to pick you up, especially when you are unsure of the currency or the language. Poor Frugal Son arrived in his new home in France with a growling tummy and a single granola bar: all the stores were closed on Saturday night and would remain closed on Sunday. Who wants to explore in a state of exhaustion and/or hunger? Coffee and peanut butter: what could be better?

My Broken Door Handle Saves me $8 a Day!

In our graduate student years of poverty, Mr FS and I would look longingly at some of our friends who were married to people gainfully employed: we would sigh, "I can't wait till we're in the middle class." And even many years later, we still can't believe our good fortune: here we are, in the middle class.

At the moment, we have a sub-middle-class car situation. Frugal Son--who is trying urban life sans car--borrowed our "new" (10 year old) car for a trip. We were left with our older car: a sturdy Toyota Camry circa 1998. We love it!

A few months ago, Mr FS opened the door on the driver's side and the plastic handle broke. With some duct tape, he managed to fix it. A few weeks ago, I opened the door on the passenger side and broke that handle. Sadly, Mr FS cannot fix it. We will probably get a new handle, but we have been busy.

We did wonder: was this a sign from the universe that we should get another car? I told Mr FS that many frugal types (our role models) believe in saving $250 per month in a car fund. That way, when you need a car, you have the money. We have managed to save for our next car. But--as in “O God, make me good, but not yet” (is that really from Evelyn Waugh?)--we are thinking "We are grateful that we have saved for another car, but we don't want to buy one yet."

I figured that each day we hold on to the old Camry, we are saving about $8.00. And how often does anyone sit on the passenger side? At most, twice a day, during our commute, which is only two days a week. Therefore, we are saving about $8.00, every day we hold on to this car. Think of how much money one would need to generate that kind of interest payment--especially in this day of ridiculously low interest rates!

Every time Mr FS and I go somewhere together--which necessitates opening the door with a screw driver--we say "Yes! We are in the middle class." We said it today in the parking lot at Whole Foods (Miss Em wanted to try the $2.99 wine), where we had by far the worst car, not even counting the door handle.

Do you ever put off a major purchase even when you've saved enough?

Can You Get Rich With Burritos?

Even though I read lots of blogs dealing with (supposedly) frivolous topics, I am at heart a frugal girl. Married--thank heavens--to a frugal guy. And the parent of--even more thank heavens--two frugal offspring.

As a frugal girl, I crave contact with other frugal types. Sadly, with the exception of my colleague Merton, I have no one to discuss such topics as "What is the best stock-up deal at Piggly Wiggly this week?" Yes, even though I am a teacher of literature and love to show my students how certain words reverberate through Hamlet, I find such discussions compelling.

Needless to say, the blogosphere was a godsend to frugal girl in search of frugal friends. Sadly, most of the frugality blogs seemed to devolve into "Make more money blogs" stuffed with ads for payday loans. Then I discovered Mr Money Mustache. Get it?

A lot of people must be in search of frugal friends, because his posts get 100 comments! He's a guy who saved 3/4 of his engineer's salary for about 10 years and retired. Not to sit around, but to do other stuff. And yes, he has a family. While I don't aspire to early retirement (in fact, MR FS and I are at the age OF retirement), I believe in frugality as a general principle. So I've been blissing out reading through his posts. Ahhhhhhhhh.

One of his themes is "Get rich with." Get rich with the library. Get rich with your bicycle. These are not new ideas. Even the great Amy D of Tightwad fame admitted there was nothing new under the frugal sun. But how much more compelling to say "Get rich with" rather than "Save money with."

I have some new frugal apprentices this year: Miss Em's friends Mr C and his roommate C. They are Americorps volunteers. Mr FS and I send Miss Em off with 100 frozen homemade bean and cheese burritos each semester. We learned last year that Mr C was eating a lot of them.

Guess what? Mr C is a very smart fellow, having achieved knockout scores on his SATs and--we hope--on the MCAT. He learned how to make burritos himself. Then C started eating them. Now they make burritos together.

Can you get rich with burritos? They cost around 30 cents a piece. If you eat two or three for dinner a few times a week instead of the usual more costly options, well...you do the math. I may ask Mr C to work it out: he majored in Economics.

Why Aren't You Frugal Anymore?

So asked two of my students who found my not-so-secret blog. The post where I discussed my luxe-on-a-budget lunch at Restaurant August.

First, I should point out that my being LESS frugal than I am normally would be EXTREME frugality for others--not quite in the Amy D. of Tightwad Gazette category, but pretty darn close.

What I said to my inquiring students was this: I had three major financial goals, and I've reached two of them. Goal one was HOUSE. Goal two was COLLEGE for kids. Goal three is retirement, a scary proposition, but the only one left.

Once I realized that, we decided to live it up a little more. Just a little.

Have you reached any of your financial goals?

Free Lunches for College Students

By Frugal Son


It seems to be a requirement that at some point in life, in order to successfully complete the metamorphosis from adolescent to adult, one must go through a period of voracious appetite, limited income, and even more limited cooking skill / desire / capability. Instead of the more elegant process undertaken by caterpillars wishing to become butterflies, humans appear to require a steady diet of Twinkies, queso dip, and Chinese take-out to make the transition to adulthood. College is often looked back upon with nostalgia, though rarely for any lost gustatory pleasures. College, however, does not have to be a desert barren of delicious food, and especially now that more and more universities are improving their dining hall facilities. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned in previous posts, dining halls can be expensive, and even though I’m not the poor, starving college student of yore, I still enjoy seeking out alternative avenues of alimentation.

One of the avenues I have been taking advantage of this year is something that can probably be found on any campus: free church lunches. Though I have known about these lunches since my freshman year, either my schedule or my conscience has interfered. Not being a member of any Christian denomination, I always felt like a fraud when I went to the lunches. It would have been better if I could have a few friends to go with, a sort of group camouflage, but it was hard enough to find time in my schedule, let alone that of even one friend. So, I normally went alone, and anyone looking lost or friendless is immediately descended upon my hordes of (well-intentioned) people wishing to draw you into the fold. The prospect of this kind of attention kept me away on the few occasions my schedule would have allowed and during my year in France I mainly forgot about free lunches.

This year, however, the free food gods have smiled on me; not only does my schedule allow me to go to all three lunches offered per week, but at least two and sometimes even five friends, are able to go with me! So, since the beginning of this year, we have been faithfully going to three churches per week: the Baptists on Monday, Episcopalians on Wednesday, and Catholics on Thursday. The food is often quite good, although there have been a few dud lunches, filling but unexciting, where the church just ordered pizza or made pasta with sauce. This being Louisiana, however, I can count on having red beans and rice or jambalaya at least once per week, but other highlights have included gumbo, rice and gravy, meat pies, and fried chicken. Each church also has its own flavor. The Baptists always have great desserts (homemade brownies, cupcakes, cake, and cookies) but they often have small group discussions at the table, which can be rather intense and uncomfortable. The Episcopalian church has great desserts as well, but where they really shine is in their salads—whether they be fruit or vegetable they are always fresh and tasty—and in their generosity. They always offer seconds and on one occasion, the servers even came around to bring us seconds of meat pies! The Episcopalians also have a short talk during each meal, but, since the theme of the lunch is “Lunch with C.S. Lewis,” it is always a discussion of one of his books, which is often interesting. The Catholics have the most impersonal lunch (it’s also the largest; probably 500 meals per week versus about 200 for the other two): you just walk in, stand in the long, snaking line, get your food and eat wherever. Perhaps because of the size of the crowd, their food is often the least interesting, tending towards the types of meals that are easy to make in quantity and the desserts are cookies from a store. No complaints, however, because for the Catholic lunch we are free to eat outside on the grass.

There really aren’t many things better than stretching out on the grass with a plate of hot jambalaya and enjoying the company of friends, especially if, as luck would have it, it is one of the precious weeks of Louisiana’s fall when heat and humidity are replaced by crisp, cool air and beautiful blue skies. Moments like that, regardless of one’s faith, are something that I think everyone can agree to be thankful for.

Will Frugality Be on the Wane in the New Year?

Not wanting to influence your spending one way of the other (who knows what effect THAT would have on the world economy!!!), I saved this post for the post-holiday period of reflection.

As I write (December 23), I have just learned that, according to the Wall Street Journal, people are spending. Other indicators that I read here and there suggest that the economy will improve in 2011. Something--as Hamlet said--"devoutly to be wished."

I wonder: will frugality fly out the window too? The easiest time to be frugal is when you don't have to be. To inoculate myself against the temptations of spending, I looked at a video done by New England Public Television in 2009. The video features Amy Dacyczyn, someone who practices a far more pathological mode of frugality than I do. You can see the clip on Boston Gal's Open Wallet, which is where I first saw it.

If you don't want to take the time to watch Amy, let me paraphrase some of her words of wisdom. The reporter asked her for ONE PIECE of ADVICE. Amy said she would urge people to practice frugality during the good times, so that when the bad times came, they wouldn't be so bad.

if you want more Amy--for philosophy as much as for tips--see the book. Take it out of the library. Interestingly, if you look at Amazon, you will see that the book retained its value better than most of its genre and vintage.

Do you think the lessons of the financial meltdown will stay with people as we--hopefully--move to better times?

Skirting the Edges of Too Frugal?: Garbage Edition

Now that the temperature is no longer in the 90s, Mr. FS and I ventured out for a stroll through our neighborhood after dinner. As I mention now and again, my neighborhood is filled with big fancy houses and little tiny houses. There are even some medium-sized houses, such as the one in which I reside. I like the diversity, so unlike the cookie-cutter suburbia in which I grew up.

It happened that one of the streets has garbage pick-up tomorrow. As an amateur sociologist I find it interesting to scan the recycling bins. People drink so much alcohol and diet coke!

You can probably see where this is leading. To add a bit of suspense, let me ask: have you ever read Laurie Colwin? I love her fiction, which features urban people with lots of education and interesting careers. She also wrote wonderful books on cooking.

One of her novels, Happy All the Time, features a character named Misty Berkowitz. I kind of identified with Misty because she has these great one-line zingers, not that I could ever have thought of them. Misty is also sullen and moody, just like me. In spite of her moodiness, the wealthy Vincent Somebody-or-Other falls madly in love with her. He lives off a trust fund, but works as a garbage analyst, writing important studies.

One of Misty's zingers to her garbage analyst is "Rich people make me sick." I can't remember what prompts this comment, but it does not deter the smitten Vincent.

Anyway, Mr. FS and I passed the once-beautiful, now falling-down house, that, according to Frugal Son who knew two of the girls who lived there, has rooms filled with garbage.

We went by the new, fancy house that sold for almost a million dollars. It was built on the site of a house that was torn down. A man who had killed his mother had lived there after he was released from a mental institution. The new house is quite ostentatious. There, next to their garbage can, was a giant cardboard box. I stepped closer to investigate. I never did figure out what was originally in that box, but I saw a grocery bag filled with hangers. At the top of the bag was a new-looking pair of white shoes.

Now I don't wear white shoes, but I took them anyway. I will donate them to Goodwill, where someone will be delighted to get a pair of Sesto Meucci flats.

We continued on our walk, stopping to talk to people who run a business called Holistic Pet Care. When we got home, I said to Mr. FS, "I'm going to go back and get the bag of hangers. The thrift stores are always asking for donations of hangers."

So I walked back and got the bag. Once I was home, I peeked inside. Under the hangers--neatly folded--was a pile of clothing, quite current, from Talbots and Rickie Freeman for Teri John. The latter, especially, were of the genre I call "rich lady clothes."

UGH. Why don't people donate these things? How horrible to just throw them out.

What would Misty say?: "Rich people make me sick."

Misty, by the way, ends up marrying the garbage analyst.

If you need some wonderful escapist reading, check out Laurie Colwin.

Her real masterpieces, I think, are her books on cooking.

FS vs BFS: Plasma Donations

Oh, BFS aka Budgeting in the Fun Stuff threw down the gauntlet. She listed plasma donation for pay as one of the EWWWWWW YUK things that were too too frugal. Or, as she put it, "going too far to save money."

Actually, her post came in response to an article from Yahoo Finance. Reading BFS and looking at the original article showed me--yet once more--how value-laden many decisions are.

For instance, I have no opinion one way or the other about dumpster-diving at cemeteries to get flowers. I wouldn't do it, but I don't mind that someone does. I DO think it's awful to refill your condiment jars with the contents of the tiny packets that can be stolen from any fast-food place. Strangely, I'm not upset that the packets are stolen (or are they? how many packets per customer are OK?); I'm upset that the packaging is environmentally wasteful. In my value system, one should use as little of items in wasteful packaging as possible. Besides, I can get a container of ketchup for under $1.00. It would probably take hundreds of tiny packets to fill it up--a lot of wasted energy on the part of the environment and me.

Back to plasma. I must admit that Mr. FS donated plasma several times in grad school. Following the family tradition, Frugal Son found a donation place when he went to college. Two donations a week give him $70. That more than covers his need for spending money. The donations have become annoyingly slow this year, he says. Even so, he is being paid a decent hourly wage. The real EWWWW comes when you learn that the centers sell the plasma for many, many times what they give to the students and "real" poor folks who donate.

SO: BFS vs FS? What's your value system?

Good Question: How Little Do You Need?

Although I am not particularly interested in attaining Early Retirement Extreme, the blog of that name gives me comfort. That is because the blogger, who has a definite philosophical bent, sometimes asks questions that I need to ask. To wit: not how much do you need to retire, but how little do you need?

How little do you need to retire? So though I do not aspire to early retirement, or to extreme frugality, or to living in a trailer, or to eating beans and rice for a week straight, I am so happy to know it can be done. SOMEONE is doing it.

Isn't it nice to know that in a time of on-going Employment Uncertainty Extreme?

Have you asked yourself any "How little" questions of late?

Book P-review: Possum Living

****UPDATE: Re comment below that refers to another blogger talking about the book. It seems that the book was discussed on Oprah! Well. Truly it must be the zeitgeist, because I don't watch Oprah nor do I read the blogger. I saw the book mentioned on Amazon, under "People who are interested in X book, might also be interested in Possum Living." Isn't it strange? Harmonic convergence.


I love reading books about frugality, not so much because I learn many frugal tips (since I know many already), but because I sometimes need a bit of affirmation from the universe. I have exhausted all the books in my local library on the topic. I just requested Possum Living, which is a reprint of a book published around 30 years ago, written by "Dolly Freed" (took me a while to realize that is a pseudonym).

Why a p-review? I don't know. Perhaps because I read a bit on-line. Also, it sometimes takes a while for the library to order the books I request, especially in the present budget crisis.

The gist is that Dolly and her Dad lived on a biggish piece of rural property 40 miles from Philadelphia. She was (illegally) removed from school and spent her teen years in the library, eventually becoming a NASA engineer. They lived a life of fishing, gardening, swapping, napping, and so on. They lived on around $1400/year.

Now many of us can't be possums. We are locked into high property taxes and other "necessary" expenses. Dolly and her Dad lived a version of extreme frugality. But her point was that she and her Dad looked perfectly middle-class.


Dolly shows that IT CAN BE DONE. How about if you don't want to be a possum? What about a semi-possum life? I think that would be available to many of us.

I started thinking about fun family activities. How about possum weekend? That could consist of eating the food in your pantry, cooking up some soup, going for a walk, whatever. How I wish my children were little; we could have had a lot of fun.

Many of my fave bloggers are already living a semi- or occasional possum life. I wrote about Simple in France a few days ago. And Revanche, a city girl, newly re-employed after a lay-off, and with heavy family responsibilities (financial and emotional), shows that even in expensive California, you can practice frugality by making chicken soup.

Have you read Possum Living? Are you ever a possum?