Mid and Longer Term Things to Do: This Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

So, work is shutting down but I'm the office point person.  I volunteered.  It makes sense.  With schools and daycares closed, those who were not as careful with the birth control have childcare and often elder care issues.  I solved that second bit with what is known as the "geographic fix" in the anonymous type organizations.  I moved. (Sorry Sher!)  (Sorrier Pam!)

Anyway, rather than beating people up for the last sheet of toilet paper, perhaps we could do things that might really work.  Remember: you can wipe your butt with anything, just don't flush it.
With a humanure bucket toilet (which might be a good idea to start...and which I thought I had blogged but can't find a post so maybe a blog on that) I don't have to worry about clogs so as long as I'm not using plastic bags to do the job, my wiper can go in the system.
If you're rich, get a composting toilet and paper that decomposes easily should work.

I ran into this video on one of my favorite YouTube channels.  The lady has passed away and her advice is still good.  With so many people off work without benefits and the congress busy gutting the benefits bill, frugality NOW will help you both be and feel more in control of your finances from here on out.  (I hear that that "feeling" bit is important to some people.  Not my bag but whatever.  I'd rather be in control than feel in control.)

https://youtu.be/fgq5lqd4cxc

Her basic tips:
Family
Have a garden
Use and re-use
Make your own meals
Eat healthy

I figure "friends" count as family too as does the neighborhood.   So I emailed my phone number to my across the road neighbor (she was easy to find as she is a college professor).  We don't really chat because neither of us is like that.  But when I was waiting on a tow truck, she hollered over asking if I needed a ride.  When I go to the community band concerts where she plays the kettle drums, I say hi and chat about nothing for a minute.  We're both cranky so I assume we're both effective people.
She's older than I am and may end up not allowed out.  I can drop some groceries to her if need be.  Or meds.

As for the garden...check.  Do plant one.  Lots of libraries now have "seed libraries" and may be able to get some to you even if they are closed.  Stores are open and seeds are cheap.  You don't need the best and brightest to get started.  Cheap radishes are good.  They grow fast and are tasty and pretty.  Kids and old people love them.  You can dice up the greens and put them in fried eggs or use them in salads.  Let a few good looking early ones go to seed.  Replant every week.
In my raised bed, I had lettuce coming on and a volunteer kale (not because I meant to keep seed...because I was lazy).  We had a cold snap that might have killed them but it was nice to see something get started.
Lettuce is fast too.  Carrots are pretty easy to get going and you can use the tops like parsely.

As for Use and Re-Use...maybe don't reuse the TP unless you've gone with butt-cloths and you wash them between uses.
As for food...buy the whole version of veggies.  Carrots with tops.  Celery as whole bunches.  Skip the sliced and the diced and the trimmed.  Cut off the carrot about an inch down from the top.  Cut off the green bits (the tops) and use as parsley.  THEN, put the carrot nubbin, top side up, in a shallow container of water and watch the top regrow.  You can usually do this once.  Sometimes twice.  With celery, cut the stalks (not "stocks" as I keep seeing in stores...cripes) off about 1 inch up from the bottom.  Set the bottom in a bit of water.  Little celery stalks will grow up.  Remember to dry the celery leaves by laying them on a bit of paper (not that precious TP).  Use as a soup seasoning or in salad dressing when you don't have actual celery.  There's more.  Google it or tell those kids to figure it out with all their out-of-school free time.

As for the Make Your Own Meals...yes please!  I just gave a co-worker a recipe for homemade egg noodles because she couldn't find macaroni and wanted some.  She isn't much of a cook but has a pack of kids at home so it might be something to try with them.  One of them must have a knack for cooking.  Here's the video I sent her...with a note to skip the food coloring:

https://youtu.be/W2JzYzut_FE

Making your own meals is healthier and cheaper and will keep the kids busy.  Kids need to do real things that really help when a family or whomever they live with is/are going through a rough time.  Telling them to stare at a screen or play in the corner tells them they are ineffective and that carries through to adulthood.  Helping cook, garden, regrow a carrot top, find out how to do something, help with laundry, etc...let them help; it's all good for their stress level in the moment because they are making life better for their family/group and in the long run because each kid knows that he/she CAN make things better for themselves and those around them by DOING stuff.  There's research on this.  Look it up.

As for Eat Healthy, well, obviously.  Bingeing on sugary crap to make yourself feel better won't work.  A sugary diet makes one more susceptible to infections of all kinds.  Never mind the sugar-crash that can fuel bad "feelings" that so many of you find so important.  I do not understand why "eating healthy" is left off of the lists of things to do during this pandemic.  Worrying about not getting fastfood if you have a kitchen or even a hotpot or a wood stove and a pan (this does not apply to the homeless, destitute and others with so few resources...you get to eat whatever you can get your hands on safely), but for the majority of us, it is important.  Making your own meals makes it easier to eat healthy than to eat crap.


Thanks to Clara in the first video for her tips and for her family for putting the little video out yesterday from what they'd already filmed.
Her cooking and recipe videos are excellent and fun to watch.  Easy to cook along with.

Garden Season Is Upon Us!!!

Oh Hells Yeah! 
Plant something.  Anything.

Grow food for yourself.  For others.  For animals. For insects.  Feed the worms (heh heh).
Compost.
Share some food.
Open those foods you canned or dried in the fall.  Eat them.
Eat what you've got in the pantry.

Try a new recipe.

Make an old recipe.

Give someone a decent knife and some fresh veg.

Anything we do to feed ourselves and others (including the non-human others) is positive and a move toward personal and local food sovereignty.

I have planted kale, lettuce, onion, carrot and radishes.  I checked on my fruits and berry trees/shrubs/canes.  I got a fishing license.  I threw clover seeds and wild flower seeds out on my property for the bugs and the birds.  My vermicompost, humanure compost and regular compost are all going strong.  If I can't grow decent gardens, I can share compost with better gardeners.

Today our community garden had a work day and sadly, I was the only volunteer to show up.  BUT I learned good techniques for transplanting, how to water starts in well, and helped start various seeds in the newly opened space in the seedlings room there.  All cool stuff.  Also chased a bunny out of the garden.  If it comes back we may eat the bunny...we'll see.

I hope one and all can find a way to grow or cook or share their own food.
Happy Spring!

Growing Food From Scraps

This kind of thing is fun, but cuts into my wormbin scraps supply, but still, I want to try to do more of it.  This year I started ginger for myself and another person.

When asked how long it would take before it was harvestable I said "10 years" because I didn't know.

According to the chart below, it may only take a year.  Nice.

Below are things you can regrow from grocery items or scraps from grocery items.   A warning on the potatoes:  often they are treated with a "no-sprouting" chemical and won't want to sprout.  Buy those organic.  In fact, you could by everything organic and regrow it.

More after the chart...

I have regrown celery.  I got mostly leaves and dried them for winter seasoning.  I've planted organic/local garlic and potatoes that sprouted and had great results.  You don't have to wait for the garlic to sprout.  Just stick it in the ground.

Self-reliance: Reference Library

1) Reference library.  I can find stuff out without a smartphone or even the interwebs!!!! OMG.  I'm rocking it 1990s style.
 


First: REMEMBER TO CHECK BOOKS OUT OF THE LIBRARY BEFORE YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO ADD THEM TO YOUR HOME REFERENCE LIBRARY.  

I didn't do this every time, but lots of times.  Once I decide I want something, like the Tightwad Gazette, I then start keeping an eye out at the free book bin at the Moscow, Idaho, recycling center, yard sales, and thrift stores.  If something is 25cents, I may get it and then feel free to donate it to a thrift store or little free library or the free book bin if it's not quite what I want.



Here are a few book types in the library:

--Budget/Thrift/Frugality manuals
        My favorites are The Complete Tightwad Gazette (from a thrift store) by Amy Dacyczyn, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Guide to True Riches by Jeff Yeager, various olde tyme housekeeping and thrift books from the recycling center free book bin or 25cents or less at thrift and yard sales.  I try to cull these every year or two.





--Cookbooks (real ones) and recipes
         Old cookbooks are better for me in general.  Ones where the recipes start with flour, milk, eggs, rather than "a box of cake mix."  Others might like something else.  The classic Better Homes and Gardens cookbook with guides on roasting meats, making bread and cakes from scratch, how to cut up a whole chicken, etc, is a great place to start.  I got two excellent reference cookbooks from a friend (Hi Jon!) who got them at thrift.  Debra Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass.  Both have guides to cooking many many vegetables.  I use these as guides once I've learned how to deal with a meat or veg product.  I also check out cookbooks from the library and copy out the recipes I like.  A collection of recipes from family, friends, and events needs culling right now, but often serves as inspiration.  I also have a couple of solar cooking cookbooks that I found in the free book bin at the recycling center.
         Food preservation books on fermenting, canning, dehydrating and root cellaring are also in there.

--First Aid and Home Healthcare References
       I found both at thrift stores.  The first aid manual is an scouting one.  The healthcare is based on nutrition and herbs that probably grow in the garden.          

--Basic carpentry how-to
       This mostly lets me know that something is beyond my skills, but good to have.

--Various low cost and energy efficient housing design books (Alex Wade is my hero!!!!)
       These were and are used for planning my "real" house that I hope to have built eventually.


--Beekeeping book (Thanks Hilch and the girls!!!  Great gift)
         This one is a nice basic reference.  There are tons out there so I don't know if it is the best but it is very good.   I am on the look out for an old version of The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture partly as useful reference and partly for the history of beekeeping.


--Dictionary.  Actually 2.
          One basic new one and one vest pocket type from 1906!  Both found at thrift for about 25cents. 

--Manuals for my appliances, tools, systems, etc
        These come in SO HANDY when something breaks or I get the question "what is the model number?" or "when did you buy that?" from a repair person.  Write the purchase date, or at least year, on the cover and store them either all together in a good sturdy box, or in a protective bag/cover and on the wall right by the appliance/tool/system.

--Plant/Animal Identification guides
        I have wild plants (medicinal, food, and otherwise), wildlife, birds, and would like a good mushroom guide.  I also have free e-books on weeds and local native plants.   I may print them out so I don't have to turn on the computer to find the info.



--Gardening/Orchard guides
         From the free book bin at recycling, I got the Sunset Western Garden Book from the 1970s.  Excellent!  I recently found a newer hardcover version at a thrift store for very cheap.  Currently deciding which to keep and which to put in a "tiny library" for someone else to have.  I also have a second gardening techniques book that is similar and may cull down to just one or the other.  I have an old copy of the Square Foot Garden, Let it Rot (composting), and a set of handouts on various plants from gardening classes.  I keep the notes from the garden/farm classes I attend in a hardcover notebook (that I got at a thrift store), so these notes are all together and I can find them.


--Repair and Maintenance and Hack guides.
      I haven't settled on the ones I like, but these are books on how to refinish furniture, fix household items, mend clothes, and the like.  An old housewife's guide from the 1800s has been extremely useful and was a gift from my gramma years ago.  I found a new general fix it guide at thrift that is being auditioned.

--Guide to my garden/orchard
     This is one I am putting together myself.  I haven't settled on a format but I'm thinking one page for each type of tree/shrub/cane-berry to record when/where I got it, when/where it was planted, and how it is doing.   I'll put in notes on annuals in another section or another notebook.


I switch out books now and then.

The New Addition to the Homestead!!!!!

It's pretty awesome!

3 people showed up yesterday to help at the homestead.  I was expecting 1.  3 is more than one.

Thank you to Maia, Erika and Cass and the puppies!

This made me feel completely secure.  If I lost my job today (knock on wood that doesn't happen...I would still like a well...but I'm just saying) I have a really lovely place to live.  It doesn't rain much here in the summer so this should be peachy for months! Thank you thank you thank you!

I'd asked if someday Cass could come help me with turning pallets into an outhouse to shelter the composting toilet (see composting toilet post).   Cass had replied via other folks that he'd think about it.  I thought that was fair enough because it's alot to ask.

Apparently Sunday morning he thought "yep."   They showed up with supplies, food, water and tools and 2 vehicles.  I had already been at the land before I got the message and thought I was doing something entirely different so I had no water, snacks, supplies or tools...not even the toilet!
No problem.  They dug right in.   Cass suggested that rather than construct a pallet building to shield my naughty bits from the highway drivers who may gawk (is that a tennis ball in a flesh tone tube sock?  (swerve)), he looked at the giant spruce tree next to the trailer and asked if I'd be OK with putting it back in there.  I said "Sure."

So, he got loppers, a sawsall and organized the help.  Erika was on weedwhacking and the weeds (hay really and other plants) are fully whacked.  I have a little wee yard around the camper, a path around the tree to the otherside where the bathroom is, an area for firewood and a place to stack supplies (like the mismeasured wood I had cut the other day...different story...totally my fault).  Meanwhile Maia and I are assigned to move the branches and whatnot that Cass is taking out from under the lower bits of the tree.  So we do.

Not long after there is a really nice clear spot.  It's quite a bit larger than I envisioned.  As I said, I had not brought the toilet (and was having a special ladytime issue that required access to a sink and a flush toilet) so Maia and I ran up to Plummer to retrieve one turlet and use another one.  We get back to find that Erika and Cass had cleared out the side of the tree next to the trailer, leaving branches hanging nearly to the ground.  The tree is in a sort of bank about 3 feet high. The toilet is on the west/high side and the trailer is on the low, east side.  A giant root makes a natural bench in what is now the living room.  Cass was willing to open up the space even more but I  do like to have the drapes drawn so I asked to have the cutting stop and declared done for the day.  You can cut branches off later, but you can't really put them back on.

Amazing!

Here are a few photos.  I'm sure you'll all be jealous of my bathroom, with storage area (which is important when you need buckets of dry matter like sawdust or peat to keep the thing going).

The sun was a bit harsh, but that's the toilet under the tree and the grass is actually quite green.  A few pallets behind it for a feeling of privacy beyond the natural tree branch view blockage.

The living room!  Hard to tell, but that sideways root is really comfy.  The chairs are because company is coming next weekend so I wanted to have the place all tidy.  I'd just picked up the reed rug at a thrift store for 8$.  The chairs (there are 3 in view and another out of view) were a total of about 10$.  I already owned one chair.  Pardon the badly framed photo which includes the sheet covering what I hope will be an outdoor kitchen base...but my construction skills leave EVERYTHING to be desired so I covered up my shame.

I think that bookclub when they come on Saturday will be pretty impressed.  It's shady and cool under there with a nice breeze.  Sure the breeze is off the toilet but I'll use that judiciously before they get there.  Maybe throw in a tictac for good measure (kidding...it does not stink, it's just getting set up).  You can see a bit of the toilet privacy pallets on the side by the red chair.


And the piece de resistance.....(drum roll please)...the view from the throne:



























I expect to have important insights during my morning constitutional.

Cass Erika and Maia are AWESOME!  I wish I had useful skills to exchange with them.

First Bountiful Basket Assessment

Bountiful Baskets. Is It Frugal?

So, as mentioned, I got a "Bountiful Basket" on Saturday April 5, 2014 . I'm VERY happy with the quality.

Here's how the cost breaks down:

Basic Basket: 15$

Organic Upgrade: 10$

Fuel Surcharge: 4$

First Basket Fee: 3$

TOTAL: $32

Future baskets will cost me 29$ for an organic basic basket or 19$ for a conventional basic basket.

I chose organic because as you know, organic is a priority for me. I may try the conventional basket as one person noted that when she got one it was about half organic anyway. I would like to get one just to compare.

So, here's what I got and how much and how much it would have cost at the Moscow Food

Co-op:

Co-op Price Cost for quanitity

Broccoli 2lb 8oz 3.29/lbs 8.23

Red Kale 7oz 2.69/bunch 2.69 (same size bunch)

1 Honeydew Melon 2lb No melon available

4 Bartlett Pears 1lb 8oz 2.79/lb 4.18

1 Turnip 10oz 2.19/lb 1.36

2 Grapefruits 1lb 8oz 1.39/lb 2.09

2 Cucumbers 1lb 1.39/lb 1.39

1 Bunch Celery 2lb 1.29/lb 2.58

1 Bunch Asparagus 14oz 4.99/lb 4.37

7 Carrots with Tops 1lb 3oz 1.99/lb 2.36

6 Bananas (1 Bunch) 1lb 14oz 0.99/lb 1.86

Strawberries 2lbs 3.99/lb 7.98

Co-op Total: 39.09 (but no melon)

Total weight: 16lbs 8oz

So my cost per pound: $1.94 Co-op Cost per Pound: $2.69

That's not bad for organic. Also not bad...but the melon would

crank that up maybe 8$ on the total.

With 8$ melon: 47.09/16.5 = $2.90/lb

If the melon is included, the Bountiful Basket was nearly 30% savings.

If the Bountiful Basket didn't include the $3 first basket fee: 29/16.5 = $1.76/lb

I also hear that the conventional basket is quite a bit more food than the organic so probably quite a good deal.

A few critiques:

While the Bountiful Basket was a 30% savings over buying those fruit and veg at the Moscow Food Co-op (where I shop), I would not have gotten the big ticket items like strawberries, pears, melon, asparagus. I would not have gotten the carrots with tops for $1.99/lb, I would have gotten the 5lb bad for $4.99 (dollar a pound...baseline for a pretty good deal on most things). I would have gotten valencia oranges (which I did in fact get despite having so much fruit and veg at the house. They were on sale for $0.99/lb. Also would not have gotten kale. Just too expensive. I probably could have come in for $1.20 or $1.30/lb

One last issue: I drove 10 miles each way to get the basket. The site is 35 miles from the trailer. I was already going to the land so I am only including the trip from the land. While the co-op is 50 miles from the house (25 from the land), I had a radio show on Sunday so would be at the co-op anyway.

The cost of gas is a factor to consider as well.

I don't know that I'll be getting Bountiful Baskets all that often. While it is a good deal for what it is, I can eat more frugally with careful shopping. Since the co-op is walking distance from the radio station, it's easy to get there and I can go on a day when I'm already driving to the radio. I'll be making those trips anyway.

On the other hand, it may be worth it next winter. If I'm in a wee cabin and don't have storage space to do my fall stock up, one week's worth of fruit/veg at a time will be a better way to go. Perhaps on the weeks I don't have radio show.

I really did enjoy the treats of strawberries and asparagus. And I definitely ate much more fruit and veg so far this week. I still have 1/2 the celery, all the bananas (they were underripe), 1/2 the melon, some left over stirfry with some of the other veg, and the turnip. I plan to fix the turnip tomorrow. The bananas are ripening...but I still hate bananas so I'll need to make muffins or bread or something.

The upshot: Really impressed with how much high quality and high value food the Bountiful Baskets folks, it's all volunteer, were able to round up and distribute at that cost. If I lived in the town where the baskets show up (boxes really...) it could be a great convenience as I could walk to get it. The town I picked up in does have a local grocery store, but not one with a great deal of organic fruit and veg. If I were planning on being in Plummer even longer, it might intrigue me to be part of a group to get a delivery here.

In the summer I'll have a conflict between Bountiful Baskets, the farmers market in Moscow, and my CSA. I prefer local so one of the last 2 will win.

So...is it frugal?

Well, that depends. But it's one excellent option.

Will report later on the conventional basket when I get one.

　
As if today, April 19, I've gone through every thing from the basket EXCEPT a bit of the celery.  The bananas were tough to go through since I loath them in all forms other than banana bread/muffins.  I made 2 sets of banana muffins and gave most of it away.  I didn't waste much of anything but hulls and the occasional skin, which went into compost.  I didn't let anything go bad.

Now I'm going to try a conventional (not organic) basket and see what the value is and if it's part organic as reported on one discussion board.
　

　

　

　

　

　

How to Save Time and Money in the Morning!

Ugh.   I keep reading (WHY do I go to those stupid "news" aggregating websites in the first place) stupid "how to save ____ " "news items" (hah...not new, not news...whatever).   Maybe just to feel superior?  Habit?  Because I like being irritated?  Who knows.

Anyway.  One "headline" today, and probably for the last several since these asinine sites like to recycle their "news" quite a bit by just refreshing the headline or photo, was "How to Save Time in the Morning."

Basically you should be organized with your hair and makeup routine.
Um...I save EVEN more time and a bucket of money by NOT wearing makeup in the first place.   I have a zero cost makeup system.  I just live with the face I have.   Moisturizer is coconut oil (like from the food aisle) or shea butter bought in bulk.  Just shea butter.  Not shea butter or coconut oil based lotions an potions.  Simply the actual article.  Annual cost:  about 20$.   Time savings:  who knows.  I don't even know how long people spend putting on makeup.   How much money do they spend?  I truly have no idea.

Being "organized" with the wardrobe will also "save time" in the morning.  So will not really giving a crap and buying clothes that all go together.  I have a range of colors for shirts and the shells I wear under them, and I wear jeans or other sturdy work pants, in blue, brown or black every day.  My wardrobe isn't going to win any awards for fashion, but no one seems to complain.  There are no two items I can put together in my wardrobe that will make anyone flinch (well...maybe that one lavender shell shouldn't go with the orange cowboy shirt but they never meet in the wild since the shell is for work and the shirt is for gardening).   I save time by wearing whatever is first.  Right now there are about 5 button down shirts in rotation that were worn once last week with an undershirt so they can be worn again this week with a clean undershirt.  I guess I also save time and money by working in a place and job where no one gives a crap beyond "is she clean, professional looking and able to do her job in those clothes?).   (I think I had punctuation build up at the end of that last sentence...Angela will let me know if I've messed it up.)   Obviously the clothes are from thrift stores so double cheap (and often bought when they are on sale at thrift so triple cheap.)  The shoes are bought new, on sale, and the socks are generally gifts (much appreciated gifts!).

I recently read that I could save money on shampoo by diluting it.  Uh...no I can't. I don't use shampoo.  That's right.  Still no-pooing the hair and still happy with it.  Hair still clean and healthy and whatnot.  I've read that some people even give up washing their hair entirely, not even a rinse.   I'm not planning on going that route.  But more power to them.  They are saving my estimated 10$ in annual hair care costs.

One last time saver for the morning:  Take your shower the night before.  Since I've been doing more digging at the new place (slow slow slow digging) I'd sometimes needed a shower in the evening.  I decided to not double that with a shower in the morning if I wore clean jammies, slept in clean sheets, and didn't get all sweaty.  So far no complaints.  Granted, I work in a building with IT nerds so I doubt anyone would really care if I did stink but I'm pretty sure I don't .  I'll switch back to morning showers one of these days.

What do I do with all that time savings in the morning?
Well, I sleep.   Then I make a decent breakfast.  Take out the compost.  This morning I hung out some laundry (WOOHOO!  First laundry hung outside of 2014) and returned books to the library.  I guess all of those actually save me money in the long run.

OK, enough time spend feeling superior for a Monday.

I OWNED This Quiz

So, I really like The Dollar Stretcher site:  http://www.stretcher.com/.  I'm on the chat forums but not in my own name, obviously.

At the beginning of each week there are a new assortment of articles on frugality...like the HuffPo for the CheaPo.    One link this week was this one: http://www.stretcher.com/stories/09/09apr06c.cfm
"How Tightfisted Are You?"
Well, I'm more tight fisted than the quiz allows.

On question 1: I buy in bulk and have re-used the same container for years.  I actually have 2 containers and I switch back and forth so I'm never out.   I'm also considering using soap nuts...will keep you posted.   My annual cost is about 10$, I think. 

Question 2: I didn't have kids so no kid clothes to worry about...SCORE!

Question 3: All of the above AND I put them in an egg for breakfast or lunch.  For example, today's lunch was last night's cup of left over sausage, onion and cabbage (all on super sale except the onion...I can't seem to make it through a day without chopping an onion) with an added grated carrot (5lbs of organic carrots for $4.99...a dollar a pound is an unmissable deal so eating lots of carrots this week) with 2 eggs mixed in (I tried one egg but it just wouldn't make it through the whole mess of food...it was quite a bit).    On the side:  An orange (on sale, organic, for $0.99/lb).  I kept the peel to scrub the tub with, after that it goes in the compost.  Will be using the microplane Diana gave me (Hi Diana) to take the orange peel off on the other oranges before I eat them.  I can dry that and  use in teas rice puddings and whatnot.  Also on the side was muffins made with whole wheat flour (because that is what I had), left over squash from the freezer (November...time to eat it), molasses...didn't remember buying it so using it up, failed pancake batter from breakfast (note to self: coconut flour is NOT a 1:1 substitution with regular wheat flour...it got heavy and thick and I was going for more of a crepe.  Rather than eat a crappy pancake, I put this mix in the fridge to use late in the day in muffins, and started over with the pancake batter using regular flour), and homemade apple butter.  Using up winter stores.  There was more but I'll stop now. 

Question 4:  Not my finest hour here.  I do sometimes break down and get the plastic bag even though they are so polluting.  I almost always remember my own bags when I go to the food co-op in Moscow, and they have loaner bags and reusable paper bags.  Sometimes I forget to put a bag in the car and shop in other towns or here in Plummer at lunch time (no car...ergo no bag) and forget to ask for the paper bag.   Paper bags get reused for recycling containers, and other things, then end up shredded for the worms or in the regular compost.  The plastic bags get reused and reused and reused as well and end their lives as trash bags.   Here is a link to an excellent "documentary" about the life of a plastic bag by Rahim Bahrani and narrated by Werner Herzog:


http://youtu.be/YDBtCb61Sd4

Question 5:  Mostly gifts.  I bought the couch (and hope to give it away soon) with gambling winnings.   I was at the casino with a friend and won about 400$ so I bought a couch...after a few months of looking.  It has served me well for many years, but time for it to move on.  The rest of the furniture is hand me downs, inherited, given.   A bit of the art is purchased on trips to Santa Fe and a few local artists I like to support.  One nice print from a thrift store.  So, all of the above AND gifts, handmedowns, etc.

Question 6: For the most part those options are in play right now.  I suppose the sprouts are home grown.   CSA provided some of the rest.  The apple butter is from bulk purchase at the farmers market (then I made the apples into butter), same with some of the dried fruit.  Much of it right now is purchased at the Moscow Food Co-op, a mix of local and organic as the main priorities along with that Dollar a Pound thing mentioned above.  

Question 7: I drink home brewed coffee, self-brewed tea (remember when it was ASSUMED that if you had tea you had made it and NOT bought it in a jar or can?), water and about once a week a Zevia ginger ale from a case purchase at the co-op last fall.  Still have 6 left! WOOHOO!  That stock up worked really well.  When I'm in a restaurant I do often order a hot tea.  It would be more frugal just to stick with the tap water.

Question 8: No sweetie so no one tells me what to do!  BURN.   If I do feel the need to cut back, I just do that.  I turn in my rolled coins, eat more of what's already in the pantry, and generally carry on like always.  I haven't had a financial crisis in years so this is hard to answer right now.   I guess we'll see what I do when the next one hits.

Question 9:   All of those...except I would NEVER pay for tupperware or similar items at a yard sale.  I have more food storage containers than I need and I reuse those I get from bulk purchases at the co-op (some items are already packaged in these plastic tubs (they are the best plastic they can find) but I bring my own jars and reused plastic containers and metal tins as much as possible).   A friend, Diana again, gives me her old yogurt tubs when she gives me back my jars.  Diana is the best.  I also have a Cuppow drink lid and bento-thingy to use with wide mouth jars.  Those are mostly for transport but also storage.  And I have jars of all sorts of sizes.  Canning jars and jars that food came in.  I'm actually more likely to buy a product, if it must have packaging, in reusable packaging for food storage and bulk buying.

Question 10:  Again:  no kids so no problem.   When I did have a kid around the system was he could do what he wanted with his money and obviously he knew that I really didn't care what everyone else had.  Neither did he.  So this didn't come up.