A Frugal--Maybe Squeamy--Moment in Paris

Well, after all the anxiety with the visa chronicled earlier, Frugal Son is now in Paris! He'll be wandering around a bit before he begins his semester in Nantes. Oh lucky boy. He is living my dream. One of them, anyway.

So, here is a bit of an email, describing a squeamy moment.



It’s now 1pm and I’m in the Tuileries where I just had lunch. Lunch was a delicious and, more importantly, FREE pizza courtesy of wasteful American tourists. A huge gaggle of Americans—must’ve been some sort of school trip because there were about 20 kids and 5 adults—came to the hostel last night and left this morning. I know they left because they were making such a racket this morning so I went to the window and saw them all gathered in the courtyard with their luggage. I also noticed that a couple of them were holding pizza boxes which I assume were left-over from the night before.

I went about my business getting ready for the day and then at about 7:45 I went down to the cave to get breakfast. On my way down, I noticed two pizza boxes left on the table but, for the time being, I ignored them. For breakfast I had chocolat chaud, jus d’orange, pain chocolat, AND a section of baguette (with butter and confiture de groseille…what exactly are groseilles?). Feeling quite satisfied I went out to the courtyard and of course I had to check out the pizza boxes. JACKPOT! Inside one was a FULL pizza (probably 9” in diameter) with jambon, olives, capers,Coeur d’artichaud et champignons. YUM. The other box had about half of a pizza but I didn’t take a good look at the toppings because I was absolutely smitten with the first one. I sat at the table, surreptitiously scanning the surroundings to see if there were any straggling Americans who might claim the pizza. After checking to be sure that no one was watching and preemptively opening my backpack, I moved the full pizza box to my bag and zipped it up in one fluid motion. Then I briskly walked out of the hostel and began my day.

After St. Chapelle I walked along the Seine, past the Louvre and to my present location where I found a nice shady spot to eat lunch. I thought I was going to be able to stretch the pizza to be both lunch and dinner but I was famished so I ate the whole thing. Too bad I couldn’t fit both boxes in my bag. In the shade, with the wind, it’s actually almost chilly after sitting down for a while! I think I’ll wander around here a bit more and then head across the river to Musee d’Orsay. Update later.

Tightwad Gazette and Philosophy: Supermarket vs Stock Market

The justly famous Tightwad Gazette is, I believe, misunderstood. I think most people think of it as a collection of tips. There are tips aplenty, most of which I either already did or found useless (to me) or irrelevant (again to me).

Even though I was pretty advanced in the frugal way by the time I got a hold of these books, first by borrowing them from a friend and then by snagging them at a thrift store, I love the books and will probably never pass them on. I re-read them all the time. Not for the tips, but for the philosophy. Plus, Amy Dacyzyn is an excellent writer.

So, here's a bit of her philosophy: an essay in TG II called "The Supermarket versus the Stock Market" (pp. 51-52). She responds to people who have urged her to write about investing. She counters by saying that, first of all, she feels like she's not qualified. Then she goes on to wonder if anyone really is. That's a thought that has crossed my mind of late. I'm not just talking about bloggers here; I'm talking about all the so-called "experts" with or without MBAs who have been declaring that "no one could have seen the financial meltdown coming."

She later points out that "Tightwaddery gives you a great financial return [on investment]." Her example is a family that follows her frugal shopping tips and saves $250.00 a month. This is in the early 90s, by the way. You would need $50,000.00 earning 6% a year to get the same $3000.00. Yes, I am ignoring compound interest.

Fast forward to now. My Vanguard Money Market is earning less than 1%. Even at 1% I would need $300,000 to earn the grocery savings. Oh, and what if I had done a cashout re-fi as all my mortgage broker acquaintances were urging me two summers ago? And invested the proceeds in the stock market as they were advising?

You get the picture. The only sure things these days--or any days, really--are paying off your mortgage and learning to save on necessities. Somehow no one in the financial press was saying this during the boom years. Or bubble years.

Thank you, Amy, for your timeless wisdom.

Paperbackswap, Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and Cucina Povera

All one topic, in spite of the tri-part title. I just got the Zuni Cafe Cookbook in the mail, courtesy of a nice member of paperbackswap.com. This has been on my wishlist for a while. The sender was very generous; the cheapest you can buy the book on Amazon is around $9.00, plus shipping.

I emailed the sender, thanking her for sending this beautiful book. She replied that she had gotten it at a yard sale for 50 cents! How thoughtful of her to get it for me!

The restaurant and the cookbook are acclaimed mostly for roast chicken on bread salad. Maybe I'll make that, maybe not. Most of the recipes are rather baroque--both the prose and the style of cooking. This is fun to read in small doses, but I'll leave it to my son to make some of the recipes. He is unfazed by picky and complex recipes.

There is one recipe I will try: the panade. As always, I gravitate to the most humble recipes. That this is made with day-old bread is a bonus, since I have ample homemade bread courtesy of Mr. FS.

The panade I am most likely to make consists of 6 cups of onions cooked waaayyyy down, layered with cooked chard (which I will have in my garden one of these days), dried bread, broth or water, and cheese. BAked for a while till it "oozes liquid."

Leftovers can be fried in an "amorphous patty." Then topped with a poached egg.

I have been dreaming of this all day, but, even in the interests of research and public service, this will have to wait a while. It's still in the 90s here and I am NOT turning on my oven. I'm hoping for an early fall.

Always in search of humble but good recipes, dear readers.

Homemade Broth: RIP

Home cooks learn pretty quickly that homemade broth is a treasure, making as much of a difference in a finished dish as, say, decent parmesan cheese as opposed to the vile stuff in the shaker box. We eat so little meat around here that I ration broth as a precious nectar.

So I just have to get this off my chest. When we were in California, we made enchiladas, using a convenient rotisserie chicken. From the carcass, we made a yummy broth, for which we did not have an immediate purpose. As our time there wound down, I looked with anxiety at the broth. I made tortilla soup for lunch with about 1/3 of it. The rest languished.

I asked my sister-in-law if I should freeze the rest. No, she said, we'll give it to Pixie.

Pixie is the DOG. Somehow, I just don't think Pixie fully appreciates homemade broth.

This event recapitulates another. In my role as advice-giver and nag, I was explaining to a colleague who is always lamenting her money problems, hatred of cooking, over-reliance on fast food, and lack of time, how to solve all at once. She had a slow cooker, so I told her to buy a pot roast. I explained that the pot roast, plus one onion, and a little water, would yield several meals for her and her children. Day 1: success! For Days 2 and 3, I explained, she would eat left-overs the first day, followed by a beef and whatever (pasta, barley, vegetable) soup made with the abundant broth the slow cooker yields.

Oh, she said, we have no left overs.

WHAT?????

The second day, I fed the pot roast to all the little boys who came over after school.

OKAAAYYYYYYYYYY. But what about the broth?

Oh, she said, we gave it to the dog. He looked so hungry while we were eating the pot roast.

Thank you for letting me get these upsetting events off my chest. Now I can move on.

And Dog People, am I a bad person to deny dogs homemade broth?

Dorm Supplies for My Little Princess: Squeam Factor in Practice

A while ago, I wrote about the squeam factor, noting that the more squeamish an item makes the buyer in the used marketplace feel, the cheaper it will be. And the better. And the more plentiful. Now we will move from theory to practice. Or praxis, as befits the academic setting.

Case in point: bedding.

My wonderful daughter, now away at college, wrote a lengthy email about her first few days. She also mentioned her wonderful bed:

I'd also like to say I have the most comfortable bed known to man. I can't explain it. SO much better than LSMSA. Is it that foam? The soft sheets? The wonderful down pillows? I don't know, but it's lovely and I can fall right to sleep in it. Also, how could I ever have lived without a fleece blanket?! I'm in love!

Even though I am definitely of peasant stock, I am the mother of a princess. We wouldn't want the princess to feel a pea, now would we?

The bedding is comprised of squeam factor items:

Foam: a piece of very good memory foam, about the size of a twin bed, that seems to have been cut off a larger pad and donated to Habitat. Cost: $3.00.

Fleece blanket: a polarfleece blanket from LL Bean, twin, blue. Not only does this have the squeam factor, but it is monogrammed AWSF. Frugal Son suggested that--should anyone ask--Miss Em say the initials stand for Alaskan Wilderness Sealife Foundation. Also $3.00.

Down pillow: can you think of anything more squeam-inducing than a pillow? Several years ago, I learned that down pillows can be machine washed and dried. So obviously, all squeam is removed by such treatment. Cost for 4 is only $4.00!!

Total of $10.00 plus lots of very hot water and soap. A bed fit for an academic princess.

Visa Woes and Other Anxieties

This is not about credit cards. The OTHER kind of visa.


Well, Frugal Son just got his visa for 5 months in France (pauvre petit!). Problem is that he was supposed to leave this morning. When it was clear that the USPS would not get it here on time, we re-scheduled his flight.

Whose fault? That's what God says in Paradise Lost. The answer: our fault. "Whose but his own? I made him just and right." Then God goes on to say the words that I tell my student are the key to understanding Paradise Lost. "Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall."

So, the fault lies with Frugal Son who underestimated the time it would take to get a visa, which entailed an appointment (only 5 available per day) and a trip to the French Consulate in Houston. Then he had to wait over a week for the paperwork to be done.

The French Consulate came through.

But a bit of fault lies with USPS. The fellow behind the counter did not tell me that express mail was not really overnight, though I asked. And that Sunday delivery cost extra. We were ecstatic to see that the item arrived in New Orleans Saturday at 6 a.m., so we assumed we would get it that day. We live only 40 minutes away.

I called the USPS and the operator said "Didn't you get an estimated delivery date on your receipt?" What receipt? I wasn't given one.

So 90% on Frugal Son, who was nagged by us all summer.
10% to USPS for poor customer service at point of purchase.

Meanwhile, postal truck has been outside for 20 minutes with worker just sitting in there. After 15 minutes, he put one foot on the ground.

Stress Level: huge. Cost of nagging son all summer: huge.

What about the financial cost? Strangely none: the price of the ticket has gone down (a LOT, thanks to the recession?), so even with a $250 penalty and the loss of a one-way ticket to New York, we came out a little ahead.

Frugal Son is more cavalier than most about deadlines and bureaucracy. All this was a good lesson for him. But the stress has taken some years off my life, I'm afraid.

Frugal Son accepts 90% of the responsibility. But he also says FEDEX, which we've never used, has a customer for life!

Does anyone have tips for dealing with cavalier and procrastinating youth, when they are still supported by you? One friend, with an even more cavalier son, said, "Let him fail." To which I replied, "But we have to pay for whatever happens." Even if it "come out of his bank account," it's still all on us. Right?

Any tips or wisdom appreciated.

School Supplies the Frugal Way: EASY

Inspired by a jaunt around the blogosphere and trying to avoid thinking about the real stress-inducing event in my life.

One blogger wrote that school supplies can REEK HAVOC on your budget (Sorry, I know I have my fair share of typos too, but this one is funny. No link for obvious reasons). Over the past ten or so years of parenting, I have found that school supplies remain one of the great deals of the back-to-school season. Notebooks and 10-packs of pens for a dime. Lots of 4 for a $1.00 and 2 for a $1.00 specials. In fact, I stocked up so much that I refrained entirely this year, since I have a big bin chock full. Miss Em took a bunch to college yesterday and there's plenty left for next semester . . . and beyond.

As for backpacks: just get the one from LL Bean with its lifetime warranty. My late father said You are paying for the warranty. In other words, it's built into the price. So use it! Frugal Son got his in 4th grade and has had one replacement; the zipper on Miss Em's second one just started messing up and so will go back.

Tip 1: Get the LLB credit card for free monograms and shipping. I suggested this to a student who was mooning over the catalog before class. She said, "But I already have too many credit cards." I said, "Just use it for this one thing and never use it again." She looked dubious. An alternative would be to find a friend who has the card and will order for you. I did this for a friend.

Tip 2: Miss Em went off to college with a box of school supplies. College bookstores are not the place to buy your supplies, except in case of extreme emergency. One blogger recommended waiting till you got to school for supplies. Big mistake, in my opinion. Take advantage of the sales now. Best ones are at drugstores like CVS and Walgreens (Walgreens is better, usually). Those companies have been in a death match for a few years, so take advantage!

Tip 3: Back to school supply sales only happen once a year. So, for your college student, stock up for second semester, or second and third quarters.