Changes I have made to take $$ out of "The Man's" pocket

[adigal]

Here are a few things I have done: I would love if you could add things you have done. Together, we can start a movement!

I have done these so as to not spend money to help the greedy CEOs at corporations that hate us:

- I bake my own bread now - the Peasant Bread recipe from allrecipes.com is so easy - no kneading, four ingredients, and the bread is incredible!
- Only buy organic from local farms
- Only buy meat from local farms- and I buy very little meat now. Maybe beef once a week, chicken once or twice a week
- Haven't shopped for clothes, went to the local Outreach/Goodwill and got some sweaters. I dropped off my kids' outgrown clothes there, too
- Haven't upgraded my i-phone in two years; went to bare minimum plan
- Have one TV in the house, which we rarely use
- Bought the reusable bags for grocery
- Compost much of our waste
- Planning a big garden, to avoid buying any GMO vegetables and fruits
- Looking into ways to collect rainwater for the vegetable garden
- Buying all used doors, windows, bathroom fixtures and kitchen for new apartment we are putting on property above a barn, in case my kids ever have to move home
- Trying to convince husband to get chickens, goats for fresh eggs, milk and cheese. Almost anyone can have chickens nowadays!

If we all would not have to have the latest thing, we would be opting out of the "system" the media tells us we need to be in. We have a great consignment shop around here, my daughter and all her friends bought their prom gowns there. They are gorgeous!

Please add changes you have made, are making, or are contemplating making.

[gateley]

1. Good job, adigal!

You know, this is how we should have been living for years, much like our grandparents. Carry on! :headbang:

[NV Whino]

2. I built raised beds for veggies about 5 years ago

in anticipation of hard times. Looks like they are here. Bought my first new clothes in eons just last summer, which consisted of 10 T-shirts because there was a nice sale. I buy eggs from a friend who has chickens. I hate my hoity-toity farmers market, but my local stores carry a lot of locally grown products.

[WinkyDink]

3. Planting herbs, tomatoes, peppers. Not much!

[NYC_SKP]

4. You should be able to find free 50 to 60 gallon plastic barrels for rain collection...

...I've gotten them from the local carwash, their liquid soap comes in big blue drums.

I hope that the used windows you find have a good thermal insulating value.

:patriot:

[adigal]

7. I love really old windows, but they aren't energy efficient

so we are buying used ones, that were over-ordered and stuff. There is a warehouse near Ellenville, NY, that has windows like this, we are going to check that out, too.

And any growing is better than no growing. Our grandparents were right!! We should all do this.

I am also making quilts, table runners, my own bowls and mugs, I am determined to buy as little as possible for the rest of my life!

[NYC_SKP]

12. You're a "Compacter" of sorts... Have you heard of "the Compact"? You probably have...

But for others, just Google it, people who've vowed to buy nothing new, at least for one year.

http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/

The Compact1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc; 2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er); 3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

[roguevalley]

14. learn to can. use the water bath method if you don't want to

use a pressure cooker. lots of info on line. I buy fruit and can dozens of jars each summer in honor of my grandmothers and mom. You will need a pressure cooker to can meat. Don't water bath green beans. those are the ones that will give you botalism if you get it.

grow tomatoes inside in those hangars. Also strawberries can go that way too. Weather be damned if you have a good southernly window for light.

I wear my mother's clothes. I lost a lot of weight when my parents died and wearing her clothes makes me feel good. It also means I don't have to buy any like forever. Did I tell you my mother was a clothes horse? <shout out to Dorothy Bishop!>

recycle everything. Learn to use your freezer like a friend. Make freezer jam. It rules in winter.

do vertical gardening. go online and learn how to maximize mininal space doing this. There are also lots of flowers that are edible. Friends of mine deep fry nasturtium flowers. (Spelled that wrong. maybe)

You are doing awesome, my friend.

I will be getting out my summer car as soon as the roads melt off: my bicycle. :)

[EC]

16. Nasturtium leafs are really good on sandwiches

or in salads too. The flowers are also good in salads (kinda black peppery).

[adigal]

18. I am really north, upstate NY, do you have any suggestions?

I want to do as much as possible. I am going to can this summer!! I am so excited.

This makes me feel less helpless when I read about our jobs going overseas, and corporations paying no taxes, and getting bailout after bailout. I feel that I am not powerless!

[zeemike]

5. I might suggest you try to network with others like minded.

It can be a great source of encouragement as well as being able to trade things....you have too many carrots someone else may have to many tomatos...
And chickens are easy but a milk goat must be milked morning and night...but the rewards are truly great.
Good luck and may many more join you.

[adigal]

8. Thanks! There are homesteaders and such around

and I find lots and lots of people are now talking about self-sufficiency. Really, I am not a paranoid worry-wart, but if we couldn't get food into our stores, my family might starve unless we make some changes!

[Tippy]

6. I do several of the same things you do

No longer bake bread, we are putting out a much larger graden this year and compost, we have one cell mphone to carry when out and about min plan. Get eggs from neighbor.The only clothes I bought in the past three years I bougth on a rummage sale. Collecting rain water, trash cans might work if you have guttering on your house it would help.....just my 2 cents.

[adigal]

9. I have metal roofs, but no gutters, any ideas??

Thanks!

[LiberalEsto]

11. Try the DIY forum on DU

They are an extremely talented bunch.

[LiberalEsto]

10. Check Craigslist.com for rain barrels

I bought our rain barrel at a garage sale for $10 and it's great.
My house is mostly furnished from garage sales, and many of our clothes come from them too.

[mysuzuki2]

13. Much of that would not be practical for me

I don't think my condo association board would look kindly on my keeping chickens or starting a compost pile. I do grow tomatos and cukes and make my own beer. I'm thinking about making my own bread.

[adigal]

19. I think if we each do what we can, there will be changes

I wasn't criticizing anyone who is less able to do things. I was just hoping we could share some.

[Sanity Claws]

25. Compost indoors with red worms

Vermiculture will allow you to turn your food waste into great soil amendment. Here's a link to vermiculture, http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System You can do it even in a small apartment. It's catching on in NYC.

[surrealAmerican]

27. I'm in a condo too, so gardening and livestock ...

... are impractical. I bake my own bread, make my own granola bars (my son eats a lot of those), and I've started sprouting our own bean sprouts.

Just focus on the things you use a lot of, and try to replace them with a homemade equivalent.

Apart from lessening your environmental impact, the homemade versions are generally more nutritious, and tastier too.

[mysuzuki2]

30. Yeah, condo living has its drawbacks.

Don't you love some of the people who get elected to the condo board? Petty, narcissistic Hitler wannabes some of them. It might be fun to get a couple goats to graze in the common areas just to watch their heads explode! Oh well, at least we don't have to shovel or mow.

[WillyT]

15. Your Goats Lay Eggs ???

Sorry...

:spank:

:hide::evilgrin::hide:

Great list BTW...

:kick: & Rec !!!

:hi:

[bvar22]

17. Congrats.

in 2006, we moved to The Woods and started doing the same.
It is a process.
After 4 years, we are producing a good percentage of our food.
We are expanding the Veggie garden again,
and planting more fruit trees, berries, and grapes this year.

Most recently, we are exploring ways to combine our buying power with a few like minded neighbors,
and bulk purchasing some of the things we can't grow. We are excited about this, and should be making our first wholesale purchase soon.

We are still investigating several organizations that offer wholesale bulk purchasing.
Here is a couple we are looking at:

Barry Farm Foods
http://www.barryfarm.com/

Country Life Natural Foods
http://www.clnf.org/


Good Luck.

[adigal]

20. Thanks for the information! :)

I want to plant berry bushes, too. I LOVE blackberry jam, and strawberry jam, and I can put up with blueberry jam!! Homemade is the best!

[bvar22]

24. Blackberries are wild here,

and we make good use of them, and anything nature wants to give to us.

Strawberries are my favorite, and grow well here (Central Arkansas),
but they are a butt load of back breaking work, and no guarantee of a good harvest.
After 3 years of marginal results I was about ready to give up on them , but last year's bumper crop made it ALL worthwhile. (High Maintenance/Low Production)


BlueBerries are the easiest.
The grow well here requiring little work (Hi-Production /Low Maintenance)
They have few diseases or predators, you don't have to bend over to pick them (like Strawberries), and they are easy to freeze or "dry".
Of ALL the berries, BlueBerries are one of the healthiest and easiest.

Since it is too cold for citrus here, we have focused on Berries and Grapes for that nutrition block.
Plant your grapes, Blueberries, and fruit trees ASAP,
because it takes several years before you will see any production.

Along that line,
we planted Asparagus almost 3 years ago,
and harvested our very FIRST spears yesterday.
They were sublime.

[adigal]

26. Yummy!!! You are growing everything organically?

I know it takes longer to get good harvests, but is much better for the long-term gardening of your property. Can't wait to have my first blueberry pie!

[bvar22]

35. Pesticides, Herbicides, non-natural fertilizers, and GM crops ....

...are forever banned.
We keep HoneyBees, so we are especially careful about anything that could harm them.

Almost everything is recycled.
What the chickens don't eat, goes in the compost.

We either Hand Pick bugs,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=246&topic_id=8830

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=246&topic_id=13329
or use garlic, pepper, and soap for pesticides.
We only spray those after the Bees go to sleep (at night).

For weeds, we use raised beds and newspaper as a weed barrier.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=246&topic_id=11812

Under the fence lines, we use 1' wide strips of Black Plastic.

So far, so good.

[adigal]

38. Wonderful suggestions, and links, thank you very much!

I am going to grow the same way - we have cool weather here, so bugs are not the problem they are in other areas, also.

[pansypoo53219]

21. estate sales are great

for good quality furniture. i've gotten sweaters. hell, i haven't shopped at a real store in ages.
also have found 'heirlooms. and increased my collections. and irecycle stuff to ebay.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

22. Get thee a copy of The Bread Bakers Apprentice! It will change your life!

This book went "viral" as they say on the internet tubes a few years ago and many people think it single handedly created an artisan bread baking revolution.

If you enjoy making your own bread now, a few weeks with this book and bread will become one of the true joys in your life. I got mine from "the Man" at Amazon. You may be able to find a used copy somewhere but for the life of me, I can't imagine anyone wanting to part with theirs.

As to staying out of stores, the first place I look for almost everything is e-bay. I just finished buying a closet full of Tommy Bahama shirts for what one would have cost at the Tommy store. All of them were described as gently used but, without exception, every one that I recieved looked brand new to me. I ended up getting one of my favorite ones for $4.99 plus a few dollars for shipping. I also just bought a brand new, in the box, Quisinart food processor for less than half of what they were asking for it in the stores. Tennis shoes, sunglasses, you name it and you can probably find it on e-bay for less.

Another great asset to keep you out of the stores is a food saver. I will periodacally make a trip to Costco (a blue company) and buy several hundred dollars worth of food in bulk. Then I bring it home, break it up into two people servings, shrink wrap it all and freeze it. About a year ago, I did the math just for kicks. It turned out that the average cost of a main course for two worked out to about $1.25 by doing it this way.

Canning. you betchya!

Just some thoughts. Like many here, I absolutly DETEST shopping in corporate chains

[adigal]

23. Great suggestions!! I have a BJs near me,

anyone know if they are a "blue" chain?

[Obamanaut]

28. I didn't get an iphone, we get by on a basic cell and a land line for dial up internet.

Get gutters and downspouts for rainwater collection. Downspouts directly into barrels.

[adigal]

32. Thanks, I will look into them - on craigslist, of course!

And I would have gotten rid of my i-phone, but I would have had to buy a new phone to get a basic phone, and my i-phone, with stripped down service, costs 1/3 of what it used to cost. :)

[old mark]

40. I have been using pre-paid cell phones for years - NetTen. I use it only for calls

it offers nothing I don't need, and it actually provides more calling time than I use, that rolls over-I had hundreds of minutes at one point. It is reliable and very cheap.

mark

[OneGrassRoot]

29. K&R :) n/t

[Initech]

31. I try to pay as little attention to advertising as possible.

[wovenpaint]

33. Highly recommend chickens

You don't need a rooster to get about a dozen fresh eggs a week from 3-4 chickens during the summer (they lay less eggs in winter). Bonus is that the birds are smart and funny!
I also make my own laundry powder (recipes all over the net)and use white vinegar instead of fabric softeners.

You're doing really well to cut what you have so far! :hi: :yourock:

[Horse with no Name]

34. From my previous post on the topic

Everything we do is little but those things add up.

We lower the thermostat.

Changed out lightbulbs.

We use dishtowels and cloth napkins--only paper product we buy is toilet paper.

Utilize Goodwill/yard sales/thrift shops when making purchases.

I made my own swiffer mop covers with old diapers. I LOVE the way they work. I posted this in the frugal forum a few years ago. I think it is catching on!

Cooking more, eating out less.

Cloth grocery bags.

Our old clothes either go to a resale shop or a local clothing charity.




There are a few other little things that we do to conserve but these are the easiest to incorporate into your lifestyle.

This year, my family sat 3 goals.

1. Use more coupons. Shop better. The things that we get good deals on that we don't use--we send to the food pantry or the homeless shelter.

2. Reduce our belongings. Pare down to necessities and sentimental things. Get rid of STUFF! I have an implemented a "100 things moratorium" in my house. EVERYONE must find 100 things--to get rid of in 100 days. It isn't easy. We aren't hoarders but we do tend to accumulate a lot of stuff it seems.

3. A garden. This is where I fall short every year. I think I try to hard each year, but this year I limited to peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. The peppers, tomatoes and onions will also be utilized for homemade salsa for Christmas.

I have picked up one thing we didn't plan for this year--and that is making my own detergent.

AND after your thread, I am going to attempt making bread!

[brooklynite]

36. Speaking for "The Man", thank you...

As an Apple stockholder, I appreciate the fact that you bought an iPhone, when you could have just gotten an ordinary phone instead.....

I also have a two year old iPhone and a basic plan, because it meets my neads; I don't feel the need to trumpet the fact.

[MissB]

37. I second the chicken recommendation!

I have three which includes one that is from our original flock from seven years ago. I picked her and three other chicks up at a farm back then, bringing them home in a lunch sized paper bag. (One turned out to be a rooster, quickly craigslisted and the other two were eaten by coyotes at which time I figured out how to clip wings.

They are easy and fun, plus they eat a lot of scraps. I still have two big composters plus I'm planning on a worm bin.

Anyway, fresh eggs are great, and watching them eat weeds and sun themselves is entertaining. Dust baths are fun to watch too.

I fence my garden, but that's mostly because of the deer not the chickens. They will roam through gardens and flower beds so keeping them in a run is a good thing. We had an enormous dog run that we fenced in half, giving them plenty of room.

Easy pets, and they give a great product!

[Hannah Bell]

39. Do you have a job? If so, you are working for the system & building its power.

That is one change most of us can't make, & it's the most fundamental one.

The basis of systemic power is that most people have to work for "the man" to survive.

[old mark]

41. We also have been doing a lot of this stuff for years. Also:

Join a credit union and stop using banks-you will save money and have fewer problems.
Replace all the incandescent bulbs you can with the CFL twisty bulbs. We did that almost 10 years ago, and cut our electric buill by 30%-every month.
Get a large freezer and take advantage of seasonal fruit by freezing it. We still have last summer's blueberries and peaches, and about 10 pounds of figs (we grow them in our yard) frozen, plus we started freezing our Haloween pumpkins for pies-still have about 4 pies worth.
(Don't carve the pumpkins, just use them as decorations-or buy one or two after Halloween when they are very cheap. Cut them in quarters and bake them with the shell on, then scrape the meat out with a spoon.Any type of pumpkin can be used, and they are very good pies!)
We also freeze leftover chicken and ham bones to make soups.

We have an inline filter on our cold water tap in the kitchen so we always use filtered water for drinking and cooking and for the pets.Very effective and not expensive.


Lots of good ideas and things to do.

mark

[Lucky Luciano]

42. Far too much work, but if I were retired, it could be a hobby.

Though I would not intentionally deprive myself of some conveniences like vacations and really good restaurants.