Category Archives: Frugal Living

Replacing Hood Release Cable on a 2003 Saturn Ion

Just a quick note on this one. We have an old Saturn with 155,000+ miles on it. Things are at the stage where lots of stuff is starting to break (exhaust, front brakes, starter) and need repairs, but it still … Continue reading

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DIY Crock Pot Sous Vide System

On a visit to some friends I became aware of the whole topic of Sous Vide “under vacuum” (SV) cooking, the concept of using a controlled water bath to cook food (particularly meats) at low(er) temperatures for more consistent and … Continue reading

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Hack: Recycled Scrubbies!

We love to save money and the environment. Aways great when you can get a two-fer, and here’s one! Do you need non-scratching scrubbing pads for cleaning around the house? Did you know that the woven plastic netting from vegetable … Continue reading

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Spicing Up Your Dance Collection with Pepperplate

In this post I will lay out some history of how I have managed my dance collection and what I am currently exploring as a way to greatly simplify the work of building and maintaining that collection and making it … Continue reading

Posted in Computer, Contra, Dance, DIY, Frugal Living, Linux, Recipes, Windows | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Better Than a Rooftop Box – Take 2

After a bit of a delay I finally got around to finish painting the trailer begun some time ago. I think it has turned out really well but is eggregiously over-engineered – hence it has a new acronym-derived nickname: MOET … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Frugal Living, Trailer, Travel | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Autumn Olive – Crab Apple Jam

I’ve become a little bit crazy about foraging for unloved natural foods available nearby. For a little over a year following a class given by Russ Cohen, we tried to find Autumn Olive (AO) in our area, checking out just … Continue reading

Posted in Foraging, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Unlimited Home Phone Service for Under $3/Month

UPDATE JUN 2015: We’re now two years in and the Anveo solution has been working great. We added an 888 toll-free number for emergency calls to home and to give out for other purposes. SPAM callers are routinely added to … Continue reading

Posted in Computer, Frugal Living, Web Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Silencing a Harbor Freight Item 93575 Safe

Harbor Freight sells a pretty decent safe for secure storage of selected items in the home, their item number 93575. With the right discount coupon the cost was about $24, just a couple of dollars more than their smaller safe … Continue reading

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Motley Fool: Immoral or Incompetent?

I have to say I feel quite let down. When I first started investing to save for my retirement (quite some time ago) I came across material from the Gardiner brothers, a.k.a. the “Motley Fools”. The information was funny and … Continue reading

Posted in Computer, Frugal Living, Investing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Password and Files Encryption/Sync/Backup: Gettin ‘er Done!

One of my to-do list items for quite some time now has been to get my computer files organized and to set up automated backup and synchronization across my computing devices. I’d kept putting this one off because I wanted … Continue reading

Posted in Computer, Debian, Frugal Living, Linux, Mint | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Palm GnuKeyring Conversion to KeepassX

I was a very early user of the original PalmPilot device. Way back when I actually had the PalmPersonal syncing with my ’90s era Sun Microsystems SPARCstation 4 work calendar and email, etc. I eventually moved on to a Treo90 … Continue reading

Posted in Computer, Debian, Frugal Living, Linux, Mint | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) on an Asus EeePC 1000HA

I’m a long time user of UNIX-based computers and have been using Linux exclusively for my primary computing for close to 10 years now. For the past couple of years Linux Mint has become my favorite distribution for desktop and … Continue reading

Posted in Computer, Debian, Frugal Living, Linux, Mint | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Better than a rooftop box, and roomier too!

I’m one half of a “new parents” team focused on our little daughter. Wow, kids require so much stuff! So, we were planning an extended car trip and I knew we were not going to be able to comfortably fit … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Frugal Living, Handyman, Trailer, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Linux Mint 11 (was Debian/Xfce) on a HP Pavilion ze4600

My brother’s Win XP laptop died. He has limited computer needs, really just needs to use some web applications like Facebook, Yahoo mail, Hulu and Youtube. In the past he has had significant virus issues under Windows and I’ve been … Continue reading

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One Year of Mobile Phone Service for ~$120, with New Phone!

Yes, I’m frugal. Not so much when I’m giving a gift to someone else, but otherwise I really like getting only what I need for what I want to pay or less. So I grew disenchanted with standard monthly mobile … Continue reading

Posted in Frugal Living | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reviving “Dead” NiMH Batteries

I prefer to use rechargeable batteries whenever possible. Recently I noticed that several of our AA cells were being reported as dead (“null” when inserted) by the charger. Some of them were rather new, so I was a bit miffed … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Frugal Living | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

A Frugal Shopper’s Bonus: Ebates

One of the earliest sites I joined on the internet was this one, way back in 2002 – wow, 2002! Seems like things have changed so much, so quickly! OK, back to the real point of this post. I’m frugal, … Continue reading

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Contra Dance Calling Log

Update 1/1/2019: This post is no longer maintained and now well out of date as I’ve been calling and leading dancing regularly for over a decade now. I lead contra dances at regular series about New England and also in … Continue reading

Posted in Contra, Dance, Frugal Living, Historic, Non-Profits | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments