The Frugal Prosumer Blog

DEBT LIMIT - A GUIDE TO AMERICAN FEDERAL DEBT MADE EASY

2012-01-30T19:38:00.000-06:00

Good video to help understand what we are really doing when the Federal government raises the debt limit.

Changing Education Paradigms

2012-01-20T11:25:00.002-06:00

In my book The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy, I talk a lot about education. Here is an excellent video that tells about how we need to look at education in a new way. The speaker, Sir Ken Robinson, is a world-renowned educator, creativity expert, and an award winner in education.

His videos and talks at conferences have been seen and attended by an estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries.

Richest Person in the world and Relationships

2011-10-22T20:16:00.001-05:00

Here at The Frugal Prosumer we emphasize how relationships are our most important investment and asset. Without relationships we can't survive. Getting along with people is more important than how much money we have.

It now looks like Gaddafi had around 200 trillion dollars. Incredible! Can't even grasp those kinds of figures. But he couldn't get along with others and created bad relationships. Even his trillions could not save him. Yes, he tried to buy a lot of relationships with other African leaders but unfortunately true relationships can't be bought.

As one article said "The man with $200 billion died like a rat." Read more about the incredible amount of money he had in the LA Times

The Frugal Prosumer & the iPad

2011-10-22T19:11:00.001-05:00

Some may wonder if expensive Apple products and being a frugal prosumer are not worlds apart. At first glance there seems to be many less expensive products. I have been doing computer consulting for over 25 years. I set up businesses, schools, and nonprofits time and again and found that in the long run using apple products is a much better choice for the frugal prosumer. I no longer even try to argue the question. After working with windows, macs, consulting businesses especially in efficiency I believe I have valuable insights into when one system is better to use than the other.

Anyway, suffice it to say that the iPad is a whole new world. In the 25 years I was in the business I have seen many supposed "killer"products but this is only the second true one I have seen since the introduction of the first Mac computer. The iPad is not a new computer but a complete new revolutionary device. It is such a fantastic tool for small businesses that it has even seduced me to go back into the consulting field again. I have a love/ hate relationship with computers and have vowed that someday I will give them up completely. The main reason I haven't yet done that is because of the tremendous amount of info available to me and the learning I can do with the computer. Also, I'm an info junky to the extreme.

As with any new technological advance I have my reservations about the bad sides too. But it doesn't matter if you're running or planning to run a business. You won't have much of a choice. Just like with the desktop computer, the first users gained an advantage over everyone else. Then, if you didn't have a computer it was hard to stay in business. That is the way it will be with the iPad.

This post is my first from an iPad and posting from the iPad is not quite ready for the prime time. However, before you know it it will surpass what we have.

I see incredible possibilities for the small home business and the iPad. You can now do for a few hundred dollars what it used to cost my clients literally tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to do. That's why the iPad may be the ultimate frugal prosumer business tool. If you're thinking of starting a home business, it is one of the best times with today's technology. Contact me if you are wondering about ways an iPad can help your business be more efficient or are starting a home business.

Using Solar to Generate Electricty & Heat Your House

2011-10-20T01:04:00.002-05:00

My first job out of college was at a solar energy firm. I got this job as result of a major research project I did on heating with solar energy. This is also when I first found out how magazines get some of their material. A major science magazine used much of my material without giving me any credit, after I had given them a tour of our company and shared my research paper with them.

In my previous article on generating electricity we discussed how it is much better to use a bike for its mechanical advantage vs using it to generate electricity. Solar energy is similar. Heating your house and domestic hot water is a much better way to use solar than to generate electricity. This is not to say that photovoltaic (using sunshine to generate electricity) is not a good idea but that its pay back is much longer if at all in many cases.

Someone recently asked me what they thought about using photovoltaic collectors on their house. I told them costs have come way down but first things first. And the first thing before installing collectors is to reduce your electrical consumption considerably. This is a good practice for anyone and realistically saves you so much money that it is not worth putting photovoltaic collectors on the house. Here is why.

As of October 2011 COSTCO has a Coleman 170W crystalline solar kit and comes complete with 2 x 85 W solar panels, 30 A digital charge controller, 200 W inverter, wiring, brackets, screws, and a voltage tester for $800 dollars. You will still need to add a deep cycle battery for a hundred dollars. So for just under a $1,000 you have a 170 watt system that can run three 50 watt light bulbs. THAT'S IT!
Just to run your fridge you would have to spend another thousand dollars or two. To run a whole house we're talking ten to twenty thousand dollars and more.

Instead, you could build a small house correctly oriented to the sun with properly placed windows and good insulation. With little if any more building cost you could keep your house around 55 to 65 degrees even in a cold Wisconsin winter. Done right, a conventional heating system is no longer needed and all you may need for heating your house is your water heater.

So the first thing you can do to save money and prepare to go solar is to reduce your electrical consumption by 50 to 75 percent. (You are going to have to do this anyway if you want to go with solar electricity. This alone could save you so much money that after 10 years you could afford to install solar.)

In spite of all of this there are still good reasons that you might want to install photovoltaic collectors. (Emergency electric if grid is down, you're not near power lines, makes you feel good, etc.)

Apples The Ultimate Frugal Prosumer Food

2011-10-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

Washing apples in old recycled wash tub.

We have been collecting wild or should we say feral apples for over 40 years. Apples were very important to the earlier settlers therefore most farms had apple trees. As far as I know there is no other plant that is so versatile and produces in such abundance. I have collected over a 1000 pounds from just one tree.

Apples can be eaten fresh and depending on the variety, one can be harvesting them over a several month span. You can dry them, make apple sauce, can them, make apple pie and other desserts, bake them, make cider and apple juice, and on and on.

John gets the apples ready to press by running them through a garbage disposal.

It's not unusual for us to press several thousand pounds a year. All for free. Well it does cost us gas to bring them home and some electricity to run the disposal.

We also dry a lot of apples and pears. The pears are often a bonus find when gathering apples.

When we just have a few apples we run them through one of our juicers. But when we have a lot of them we get out the home made press made from recycled items: Garbage disposal, old sink, plastic pail, bottle jack, sheer curtains, wood and plastic discs, and an old stainless steel hospital tray.

Wine glasses are a requirement for the first pressing of the season.

When we first began pressing we used a pillow case. Now we use sheers and they work great. Even better than the pillow case and are easy to clean.

The apple or pear juice is used in several ways: drunk fresh, put in the freezer, made into jelly, turned into fizzy apple juice, or wine, or apple beer, or apple cider vinegar.

Filling jugs with fresh pressed cider.

Check out our Wild Edible & Medicinal Plants blog for more info on what we collected.

Generating electricity with a bicycle

2011-09-18T17:44:00.003-05:00

John taking kids for a ride

Any one who knows me, knows that I have used bikes as a major part of my transportation for much of my life. I supose this comes from living for over 25 years in Taiwan and Japan where bike riding is not a sport but a form of transportation. I own a dozen or more bikes. One for each occasion. As well as have 1/2 doz bike trailers. Both commercial and ones I have built. As a experment in Japan I onces did a house move using nothing but my bike and bike trailer I had built. Yes, even for the Japanese this was extreme and did get me strange looks.

My son on way to his painting job

People often ask me what about generating electricity with pedal power. I tell them I'm going to start an exercise gym. Instead of people just "throwing" away their energy I'm going to charge them to generate my electricity as they loose pounds. Of course this would never work because as soon as they found out I was going to sell what they were throwing out they would not pay me any more.

One of my students taking his moms bike home.

Anyone who has dabbled in energy know that pedal powered electricity isn't a very good idea. Pedal powers greatest strength is in mechanical energy. That is why bikes are such an amazing efficient tool. A very good explanation of why generating electricity is not such a good idea can be found at an excellent site called Saving Electricity. Here he says:

"Yes, you can make energy with a bicycle. But it's unlikely to save you any money, because it generates such a tiny amount of electricity versus the cost of the setup. And it might not even be green energy, once you consider the energy that's used to produce your fuel (food).

A typical bike generator can produce 100 watts. If you pedal for an hour a day, 30 days a month, that's (30 x 100=) 3000 watt-hours, or 3 kWh. Since the average cost of U.S. electricity is 12¢/kWh, that one month of pedaling saves you $0.36. Congratulations. If the system cost $400, it would take only 93 years to pay for itself.

And that's before we consider the cost of food. If you're overweight, like most Americans, then you can consider your biking energy "free" since you could be burning fat. Likewise, if you ride the exercycle instead of doing some other kind of exercise that you were going to do anyway, then the cost of your energy is also free. But if you're not overweight and not exercycling instead of some other exercise, then you'll be buying more food to fuel your effort. Since it takes about 1 calorie to produce 1 watt-hour of electricity, your month of pedaling would require 3000 calories. With the cheapest food you can buy, oil or flour, you're looking at $0.85 to create $0.36 of electricity. Some savings. Other foods are even worse: Figure $5.41 for Cheerios, $6.15 for bananas, or $22.22 for Big Macs.

But money aside, isn't bicycle power a form of green energy? The answer is that it depends on where you get your calories. Just as with the money costs, if you're overweight or exercycling instead of other exercise, then yes, the (piddling amount of) energy you create is indeed green. But if you're already at a decent weight and not substituting for some other kind of exercise, then you're going to eat more food to power your effort, and the pollution caused to produce the food for your cycling is more than the pollution caused by geting the energy from the grid. 3000 extra calories from what a typical American eats will make 30 lbs. of CO2e, or 15 lbs. for a vegan. By comparison, the energy from the power plant makes only about 5 lbs. of CO2e to generate the same amount of electricity.

But what about putting the generators in gyms where people are exercycling or using ellipticals anywway? Okay, let's take a look at the numbers: Texas State University put generators on 30 elliptical machines at a cost of $20,000. If we generously assume that each machine is used 1/3 of the time over a 12-hour period, that's 30 machines x 1/3 utilized x 12 hours x 100 wH/hr x 1 kWh/1000 wH x 360 days/year = 4320 kWh/year, which is not enough to power even one typical American house for the same period of time. And cost-wise, the energy saved at 12¢ per kWh is worth $518 per year, so the payback time is close to 40 years, not counting maintenance or opportunity cost. Yeah, it's green energy, because otherwise the exercisers' energy is wasted."

As he states and those around me constantly hear me preach when they try to promote new solutions to our energy problems. The far easier solution is to just stop using ridiculous amounts of energy in the first place. A single family can easily save more energy by making some modest changes than the entire fleet of ellipticals at TSU can produce. His website gives concrete examples of how to do this.

PS: I learned this lesson well when one of my jobs in the solar industry, was monitoring solar houses for the US government, to determine if the solar was working as advertised. My data showed me that once you reduced the amount of energy need by. incorporating simple energy savings design (2 x 6 walls, more insulation, building a smaller house, solar orientation, etc,) you saved so much money and energy it wasn't worth installing solar.

Does your Insurance Plan violate the investors rule of: Not having all your eggs in one basket.

2011-08-10T14:46:00.003-05:00

Leaving our insurance or as we like to call it, preparedness, only in the hands of the professionals opens us up to potential abuse and far too often leads to enriching them instead of ourselves. At times we need and want professionals and the consumer way of someone doing it for us. The Frugal Prosumer’s way of Living Rich on Less is educating oneself on the many free or low cost alternatives to “commercial” insurance.
At the same time The Frugal Prosumer understands:

The need to keep the balance between the extremes of blindly following the professionals and trying to do it all oneself.
The need of community and relationships to help carry this out.
The deceptions used to take ones wealth and freedom.

Most of us are concerned about being prepared for the future and insurance is a big part of this. Unfortunately, too many people think of insurance as only an insurance policy you buy from a company. Insurance, or being prepared as we like to call it, can take many forms.

We start out preparing for a life mate (dating) and insuring we can earn a living (going to school.)
As we get older our preparedness concerns center more on being prepared for medical expenses (health insurance), saving for retirement (retirement funds), and caring for those we leave behind when we die (life insurance).
Plus many other forms of insurance (unemployment, workman’s comp, house, auto, etc.).

Only investing in conventional insurance is akin to putting all your eggs in one basket. Conventional insurances all depend on the monetary systems, as we know it, surviving intact. Remember, conventional insurance never provides you with what you need but only gives you money so you can pay for the things you need. There are two possible flaws to this system:

What if they can’t give you the money because they: go bankrupt, lose it in bad investments, don’t want to give it to you, have it taken from them by thieves or governments, etc.
Even if they give you money what if you can’t purchase what you need because it’s unavailable, no one wants to sell it to you, it costs more money than they gave you, etc.

   Remember you can’t eat money, it won't shelter you from the environment, keep your car running, carry away your waste, stop someone from robbing you, etc. Yes you can buy these things with money but what if you invest in the things you will need instead, then you will be assured you have it when you need the "insurance."

   Frugal Prosumers are skilled in finding ways they can self insure when possible. They understand things like: Life insurance isn’t life insurance. It’s death insurance. Insurance companies know selling death insurance is harder since people don’t like to talk about death. Life insurance does nothing to keep you alive. What if you spent that money on real life insurance? --- Lifestyle choices that keep you safe and healthy!

   Unfortunately what used to be considered normal: (years supply of canned food in the house, your own garden with some chickens running around, having a gun, friends to call on if your barn burned down, ways to take care of your waste, etc.) are now given the radical label of “preppers” and in some cases even considered a “danger” to society. What they really are is a danger to the “Robber Barons” who prefer you to give your insurance and investment dollars to them, in return for the promise that they will take care of everything. This too often enables them, not you to Live Rich.

   There is much “conventional” wisdom on insurance, that may not be the best based on ones observations of what is going on currently in the world.

Something to Ponder!

Health insurance isn’t health insurance. It’s sickness insurance. It may even have the opposite affect if it makes you more careless. If Americans spent as much to keep themselves healthy as they spend on health insurance (around a quarter to half a million dollars in their life time), we would have much less need for health insurance.
Insurance is not about preventing problems. It’s about fixing problems. Prevention is far superior to fixing.
The best health insurance is a lifestyle that keeps you healthy so you won't need “death” and “sickness” insurance.
"UnInsurance": A paid off house, emergency fund, food stockpile, minimal fixed expenses, and a community of good relationships could be the best form of retirement, workman's comp, unemployment, disability, health, etc. insurance.
Is it possible that Liability insurance is a civilized form of paying criminal protection money or saying if you mess with (sue) me I have big guns (my insurance companies lawyers) that you will have to face. I.e. Doctors buying liability insurance to protect themselves from rogue lawyers and individuals who use liability suits as a way to rob the wealthy. Or individuals buying health insurance to protect their family, house, future income, and possessions from rouge medical of financial institutions or being put into a debtors “prison”.

Think different! Think UnInsurance! Some ideas:

Building a partially underground stone structure that reduces the need for fire or storm insurance?
Becoming judgment proof by having no assets that lawyers can get their hands on?
Have a pound of pool shock on hand. (It’s Clorox in crystal form and can last for more than ten years while Clorox after 6 months starts to lose it's power) It can purify 10,000 gallons of drinking water, used to sanitize and clean up body fluids if there is sickness or disease, used to clean out wounds (called Dakin's Solution), and we won't mention its use as a weapon.
How to get rid of your own kitchen and body waste if the system breaks down with a simple sawdust toilet.
The Frugal Prosumer knows many more!

Global Buckets

2011-08-07T00:02:00.003-05:00

Here is another way to "save the world" with recycled plastic buckets. Check out Global Buckets web site on how to use two recycled buckets to grow food in when you don't have the available ground space.
Here is their video.
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Here is another variation,

The Frugal Prosumer talks about college and debt

2011-08-06T15:27:00.003-05:00

As the economy goes sour and people can’t find jobs they think the answer is college. They believe that having a college degree will bring them a high-paying job, economic prosperity and help them get out of the economic slump.

The Frugal Prosumer understands that for many this is an unwise choice.

Lie #6 in my book “The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy” is:

You have to have a college degree to make more money!
Truth: You will make more money with an education. Going to college is just one way you can obtain an education.
College is first and foremost a big business and their product is marketed vigorously.
College is an investment and needs to be evaluated like any other investment. For a large number of people this investment never pays off because:

In the area of “cool” degrees (fashion design, game programing, etc.) especially, colleges graduate more than the number of available jobs. (i.e. Only one half of graduates from cooking school are in that field three years later, but they still have an average debt of $50,000 to pay off.)
Many college students don’t end up getting a degree for one reason or another. That means if their goal was to invest in a degree, that investment is down the tubes.
They don’t work in a job that requires a degree.

Even if they get a job because of their degree, they are in servitude to the heavy debt load.
Only about 20% of the jobs out there require a college degree.
Top schools have discovered how to make sure their students earn more. They only accept bright students that have high test scores. Graduates are smarter than the rest of the population and thus will probably earn more.

WARNING:

The federal government often guarantees student loans. That’s dangerous because the federal government is not subject to the same legal limitations as other creditors. The Federal government can ignore such protections as homestead exemptions and bankruptcy exemption laws, can seize any property, and garnish your wages and Social Security without first taking you to court. Regular creditors, unconnected to the Federal government, can not touch your Social Security benefits and have to sue and get a court judgement before they try to garnish your wages.
Parents who have guaranteed student loans are also at great risk and may even have their social security benefits garnished.
A school loan is one of the few debts that even bankruptcy cannot get you out of.
Variable-rate loans can be real killers if interest rates go up. Variable rate loans were a major factor in the subprime meltdown in 2008. Don’t make the same mistake.
As bad as educational loans are, running up the credit card to cover expenses while at school can be even more dangerous. Credit card interest rates are much higher than educational loans and can be increased at anytime. A student loan may be able to be deferred, but a credit card balance cannot. Interest starts incurring immediately. A credit card debt of $5,000 can be much more burdensome and dangerous than tens of thousands of dollars of educational loans. The small consolation is you can declare bankruptcy on it.

Run the figures to see if college is going to be a good investment for you. It definitely is for some. For many college students however, and in spite of the propaganda out there, it will not pay off. When I was a guidance counselor, I ran the figures in a spreadsheet using the same numbers the college recruiters give but with some important factors they left out (lost wages while going to school, cost of debt, etc.) In many cases the numbers showed that by not attending college one can come out ahead financially.
From John's Book "The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy"

Live Free

2011-08-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

From John's Book "The Frugal Prosumer Debt Workbook"

   In America, we have life and liberty, but do we really have the ability to pursue happiness? Why do few find happiness, and so many trade away liberty? Time is money and once spent it can never be replaced. Too many people don’t know how to invest their time to free themselves. Instead they are spending it in a way that does not lead to true happiness. Folks are chained to debt while freedom lies within arms reach. Can and will you be open to a new way of thinking?

   A commonly held belief is that money brings you freedom. Most of today’s families will earn a million dollars or even more in their lifetime. That means that all of us have the potential to be millionaires! The “million dollar” question is, how much of that are you actually going to keep?

   Financial freedom is not about how much money you earn. It is about how well the money is
managed. Many define wealth by possessions. They consider someone rich if they have a $350,000 home and a $35,000 car. But if both spouses need to work long hours to acquire these things, they may be less free than someone who has less, owes no one, and has a surplus at the end of every month. One can earn lots of money but have their personal freedom compromised through increased expenses and debt. Factor in the likelihood of emergencies and the personal economic fall can be really bad.

   Unfortunately for many, debt is stealing their freedom and wealth and the debt is being transformed into someone else’s wealth.

You can be financially free by being a:

“Filthy Rich Person”: Have more money than you can possibly spend.
“Holy Man”: Having no expenses and no need for money
“Wise Man”: Have enough money to cover expenses. Have no debt. Have an emergency fund.

Few are in the first category. That eliminates most of us. Most think this is the only way to financial freedom. Few come close to the second category and most would not desire it. People in this category are sages, priests, homeless, living primitively away from civilization, and those who are institutionalized. That also eliminates most of us. The question is why do so few achieve the third category when it is obtainable by almost anyone. To do this, they need to understand and implement the following concepts.
Keys to living free:

Spend less than you earn. It’s not how much you earn but how much you can keep.
Avoid Debt. Take the money you would have spent on debt and invest in passive income. (Passive income is money not earned from working at a job, but from some form of investment). This can give you real freedom and/or time freedom. This lets you be free to do what you want, retire when you want, to leave a job you hate, or pursue a passion.
Be a prosumer. Produce a portion of what you consume instead of just purchasing products made by someone else.

How a Prosumer can Save the World with a Sawdust Toilet!

2011-07-28T11:14:00.001-05:00

From John's Book "The 7 Pillars of The Frugal Prosumer"

The sawdust toilet is an example of how a Frugal Prosumer solves a multitude of issues with one simple solution. Even if it is not practical to make use of this idea in your everyday life, there may be some place it could be of practical use to you. I.e. Camping, big gathering instead of the unappealing port-a-potty, emergency sanitation, or just to impress your friends on how you take recycling to an extreme.

The sawdust toilet addresses a number of major world problems such as:

Sawdust toilet in my shop with bucket of clean sawdust next to it

Water shortages.
Water pollution.
Famine.
Poor sanitation (a major cause of sickness in the world.)
Using expensive chemically based fertilizers.
The cost of huge, expensive, and complicated sewage infrastructure.
Being prepared in case of disaster or breakdown of civilization.
Global warming, global cooling, and anything in between.

The Problem
The lack of clean water, sanitation, and food lead to much of the sickness, disease and suffering in this world. Once one understands the following amazingly-simple solution that is available to the people of the world, some of these world problems can be solved. Here are some facts:

What we call water “pollution” translates to over-fertilization from sewage. This over fertilization promotes the growth of algae in the water which eventually leads to putrified water and killing of aquatic life.
Urine is sterile and has a high content of nitrogen (an important ingredient in fertilizer).
Waste products such as sawdust, dead leaves, and paper are carbon products. Carbon added to urine (nitrogen) neutralizes the smell. This combination forms compost (an excellent plant-growing medium).
Recycling body waste is a major way to stop polluting our lakes and rivers. It saves thousands of gallons of purified drinking water from being transported to your house to flush down a cup of urine. Then this water is returned through miles of expensive infrastructure to get cleaned up again.
Body waste is a free fertilizer. It has been used for thousands of years by many cultures in food production. With proper processing you have a sanitary product.

The Solution:

1st step: Make the necessary mental adjustment.
It’s not really as bad as it smells sounds. We have been raised in a society that is so wealthy that we can afford to just dump and forget. We spend our time recycling things that barely make an impact on the world. Butt we’re literally sitting on the low-tech low-cost solution to major world problems.

2nd Step: Use a sawdust toilet. Here’s how to do it!
You need a 5 gallon bucket, a toilet seat, and a frame to hold the toilet seat over the bucket. This set up can be very classy or as simple as you choose. After each use throw in a cup or so of sawdust to cover everything. There is no smell if this is done right. When it starts to get full, take it out and compost it in a compost pile. Compost it for a year and ta-da you have a wonderful good plant-growing medium. Composting kills harmful bacteria. If you are uncomfortable with using this compost on the veggie garden, you can use it on your fruit trees or any plants you’re not going to eat. Maybe the first baby step could be to compost only your urine which is sterile. I’ll let you figure out how this is done.


Sawdust potty chair, Much less stinky. Old shop vac used to store clean sawdust.

In one fell swoop of recycling you have helped solve a number of major world problems. You have:

Recycled waste that was a source of pollution and made it an asset instead of a liability.
Become a major water conservationist by not polluting thousands of gallons of water.
Reduced dependency on expensive chemical garden fertilizers.
Improved the condition of the soil.
Implemented an inexpensive, environmentally-sound solution to recycling your sewage. You can also use it instead of your garbage disposal to recycle kitchen waste.
Not only that! You are prepared if natural or economic disaster shuts down our sewage and water infrastructure. No matter what happens, you have a healthy sanitary way to dispose of body and kitchen waste and a free way to fertilize your garden.
Greatly cut sewage treatment, pollution, and food production costs. And what is good for the pocketbook is usually good for the environment too.

We admit, this solution may not be practical everywhere. However, it is a very low tech and low cost procedure with a potential for a major impact. Start out slowly. Just use it as an extra toilet if lots of people are coming over? Take one with you camping or boating instead of those stinky portable potties. What about at a cabin instead of an outhouse? Have it ready and test for emergency conditions. It works in industrialized and poor nations. This is the way of The Frugal Prosumer.

Read The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, by Joseph Jenkins or go to the his web site at www.humanurehandbook.com for more details on how this can be done.

Part 1 How to Adapt & Prepare for a Changing World

2011-07-26T22:50:00.004-05:00

Observing and being aware: Is a key skill that makes Living Rich on Less possible

It doesn't matter if you're stranded in the woods, economic or natural disaster hits you, or if you just enjoy Living Rich on Less. Observing and being aware of what is going on around you is vital.
Being aware of what is happening locally and globally around you is one of the top skills needed to survive and flourish in any situation.

Being aware enables one to: take advantage of economic downturns, live rich on less, survive being lost in the wilderness, recover from a natural disaster, protect yourself or your child, or even avoid family breakups.
Being aware of your surroundings enables you to find underutilized or unused resources that can be used to enrich your live and keep you from walking unaware into bad situations.
Being aware also means you can better understand alternative ways to avoid the “conventional” ways that impoverish many.
Being aware of all the different factors that can affect us is very difficult to do on ones own. That is why The Frugal Prosumer knows that community is vital. With a mix of people from different walks of life, skills, and views we have a much better chance of accurately determining what is taking place around us.

The second part of being aware is knowing what to do based on your observations. Again, community is important in helping decide what is the best next step and implementing it.

You may have observed that there are big changes ahead and many things about today’s world will change over the coming decade. Change is not new. Look at the vast changes that have happened in just our grand parents lives. (gas is 16 times more expensive, one room school house, no TV, outhouse, no central heat or air, etc.) Unfortunately for many, some of these changes are going to be for the worst and conventional ways may no longer work.

Some observations I have made and I’m sure many of you have noticed.

The U.S. debt situation is far worse than anyone in Washington is willing to admit. We’re not even talking about paying off the debt or reducing demands but only the best way to borrow more. We keep hearing calls for more, not less debt creation. But if people would stop kidding themselves and tally up all the many demands the U.S. government has against it, the actual debt-to-GDP ratio rises to something on the order of 400%. In our personal life this is equal to spending four times what we earn each year. Be aware! Historically the usual way for governments to get out of this impossible dilemma is to inflate away debt by creating inflation. How does this work? If tomorrow, because of inflation you are now earning $100 an hour in stead of the current $10 then paying off old debt will go a lot faster. Therefore government has to have inflation in order not to collapse. Be aware of that!
China.. I have a special interest in China as my parents worked there, met there, and were married there. I grew up in Taiwan and as a result speak Chinese. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is in trouble plus it’s not as willing to lend us the money we need to keep our economy from collapsing. If things are going to become more equal, we will be forced to take a lesser and lesser slice of the worlds wealth as we share it with a nation that has one billion more people than us. I.e If every person in China were to get an air conditioner it would overwhelm the resources of the world.
Japan This is another special interest of mine as my dad was imprisoned by them for all of WWII and I lived there for 9 years. It has been in trouble ever since I lived there 20 years ago and the current problems at Fukushima are beyond what they are letting on. Be aware there is little standing in the way of the world’s third-largest economy sliding even further. This nuclear accident and effects of their economy is world changing and will affect all of us health wise, energy wise, and economically.
The Middle East is in flames. The odds of the U.S. retaining the same level of influence in over low gas prices that have helped fuel our economic growth, are slim to none. Be alert to opportunities that higher gas prices bring. I.e. starting a more local, or energy saving business; live closer to work; invest in making your house more energy efficient (insulation, LED & CFL lights); etc.
The eurozone is becoming more and more unstable as increasing numbers of still-functioning economies in the eurozone diminish or default. Who cares about that? Remember as one member in the European Union fails it affects the welfare and wealth of all members. Just as when one part of the world economy fails it affects the rest of the world.

The bottom line is that the scale of the crisis is beginning to become more widely apparent and thinking and reading about it becomes fatiguing. The cards are in place for a great change that will affect all of us. But that doesn’t mean that one can’t come through this in more or less good shape, just as our parents and grandparents made it intact through the last Great Depression. Being aware, planning ahead, and investing in the right “insurance” are crucial.
Part 2 will cover some of the things we can do.

I write about the surfer in by book “The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy”.

“Is this a message about doom and gloom? No! It’s only recognizing the facts. Once we recognize the facts, we can be like the surfer who looks forward to the news that a big storm, with big waves, is coming. With the freezing waves crashing, in a death-defying environment, with chaos all around, the surfer enjoys the exhilarating ride of a lifetime while the unprepared perish or get beat up.
The surfer with the right preparation and tools, turns chaos into having the time of his life. A surfer succeeds by:
Observing intensely and being aware of wind, waves, currents, weather, and different beaches.
Preparing for and being aware of when and where the “big one” is possibly going to hit.
Learning what makes the conditions in the chaos just right to take advantage of.
Honing skills in the smaller waves of life.
Investing in the proper equipment, knowing how to use it, and what conditions it will work in.
Taking advantage of the “perfect” conditions amidst the chaos.
The economic storms and accompanying waves are coming. Are we going to huddle in fear or be like the surfer? Vast opportunity and great hazards lie ahead. Surf’s up! Let’s ride!”

John’s Preparedness History from his book "The Frugal Prosumer Philosopy"

2011-07-18T16:01:00.010-05:00

A very important part of Living Rich on Less is planning ahead and being prepared. Being prepared means unexpected events are less likely to sink you financially. Being prepared can also lessen the damage from disasters and bumps in the road that hit all of us at some time in our lives. Here is a section from our book "The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy" on John's preparedness history.John's Preparedness History

A very good Frugal Prosumer site

2010-09-20T12:33:00.004-05:00

This site has lots of neat ideas for the Frugal Prosumer. Check out how to Make a grocery bag out of T-Shirt

When we lived in Japan we loved the Furoshiki cloth that the Japanese ladies used to carry things and give as gifts. The Furoshiki can be used in many different applications. It's ecologically sound and can be made out of a variety of recycled or new material. Also in emergency or survival situations it could be a life saver. Check out the video.

Thinking about education

2010-09-16T13:33:00.007-05:00

As some of my readers may know I have a great interest in education. Having:

Attended, taught in, and been a guidance counselor in English speaking schools from kindergarten to college in the USA, Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan, and New Zealand.
Homeschooling my son for kindergarten through college.
A masters in education plus other degrees.
An higher education experience that includes private, public, big, small, religious, online, correspondence, autodidact, and schools.

The internet and computers have brought big changes to education. Be cautious about others telling your the old ways are better! A quality, nearly free, and debt free college education is now available to most anyone.

Very Interesting podcast on the Future of Education costs Overthrow the Universities (and the Public Schools, too)

There are some very interesting trends happening in education which have been in the works for years but have been held back by the money making business of education.
Before you spend big buck and get into debt for education here are some things to consider.

Wal-Mart rolls back the cost on education.

Wal-Mart partners with online school to offer college credit to workers

Khan Academy User-paced exercises--developed as an open source project and the free classroom for the World.

MIT OpenCourseWare is a free publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT.

OpenCourseWare are openly licensed college courses from top name schools, available free via the internet.

What do you really own?

2010-06-04T12:01:00.000-05:00

Very interesting article to rethink what you really own.

Living The Dream: What Do You Own – Really?

Do you know how many dollars your spare room is costing you?

2010-05-12T23:21:00.001-05:00

I have said, "Instead of having a spare bedroom it would be cheaper to put your guests up in a hotel even at $100 a night." This article shows how investing the money saved in having a smaller house with one less bedroom comes out to a million dollars. You may live in a cheaper area so do your own math.

Been gone for a while

2010-05-12T22:33:00.001-05:00

We've neglected this blog and other writings as we have been busy implementing what we write about. Our goal for next 6 months is to spend virtually nothing on food. This year we planted 3 months earlier then usual and have been very please with the results. We have been eating from our garden daily for over a month when normally we wouldn't even be planting for 3 more weeks.
The secret is planting in cold frames. (boxes with glass over them)

"I'll Sleep On It" ............Not

2010-04-07T05:45:00.000-05:00

Recently a friend let us borrow one of their books on "green"living. I was always partial to green but at first my favorite color was blue. Anyway, this bit of info might just be of interest to someone. Or I wouldn't be putting it on the blog.

It was just a little fyi on bed sheets. Permanent-press, wrinkle free, or easy care cotton or cotton blend sheets have been treated with resins that contain formaldehyde. Maybe that's why you feel as old as a mummy when you get up in the morning.

Until these sheets have been washed enough times that they are capable of wrinkling, they can emit these fumes. And you thought it was what your spouse had for dinner. No, actually you won't smell the formaldehyde.I think.

With this info in tow, it makes older sheets (pre-treatment age) preferable to the vast majority of new sheets.

Now, you can go with "natural" cotton sheets but they can be expensive. Enter the inexpensive exceptions. I love this part. You can use flannel sheets and those made of cotton knit T-shirt material. The reason? These sheets are meant to be soft so they aren't treated with the resins. One more option are linen sheets. They may be expensive but they will last and last and last.

Night, Night

Better than Paper Towels

2010-04-07T05:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, we need a break. The world is falling apart and all the news seems bad and we still have to live life so here are some creative things you can do with a coffee filter.

Better than paper towels, and cheaper!

Coffee filters...
.
Who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing, even the large ones.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome. Coffee filters are lint-free, so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish (what's that?) Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods (I have done this when making my creams and salves). Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc., on them. It soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes (when you're not wearing them. tee hee) or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews (I have to try this one).

18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car..

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies.. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls..

23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers. Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in phone book.

25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

OH, YEAH, THEY ARE GREAT TO USE IN YOUR COFFEE MAKERS, TOO.

$chool of Money Management, A Lesson in Co-signing

2010-03-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

The following stories are shared to help people see and perhaps relate to different financial situations. Our characters are purely fictional (although perhaps only in name) and the stories are made-up (um, is anything really new under the sun?). Oh well, take a peek into Fred and Fiona’s lives. Hope you can take away with you some helpful back door advice. Take it away Fred and Fiona.

So here’s the scenario. One of thousands I might add. Fred and Fiona are “committed” to each other and stars are definitely blocking the view to reality. Read on. Fred has no money at the moment and very bad credit. Fred convinces Fiona that a new car would be the answer to his life’s problems and not to worry, he can come up with the money for the payments. Fiona says thoughtlessly “Yes, dear, anything for my sweet bumpkin.”

Fred then convinces Fiona to co-sign for the loan and the deed is done. They live happily never after. You see on that trip to Florida that Fred took in the new car, he met another Miss Right with money and ditched his beloved Fiona. Fred now has a new car and no money nor incentive to pay up. Since the loan is in Fiona’s name, she now has these menacing calls from the loan guys and big black marks showing up on her credit report. The one person she trusted with all her heart is making no payments. Oh, yea.

Fiona, like many people, did not understand the serious implications of co-signing. It may be hard to turn down a request from a friend, child, or in-law that you really want to help. After all, it would be so easy to just put your signature on that paper. You’d be helping them get that loan to relieve their debt situation or purchase that desperately needed car. Oh, kudos in heaven. But far too often that simple signature becomes bitterly complicated. By co-signing you may also be hindering them from dealing with their root issues of spending more than they earn.

Remember, if a lender is asking you to co-sign, it is because the person you are co-signing for is a bad credit risk to start with. The lenders experience is that these people usually can’t make the payments.
In the banker’s eyes you're the borrower, not the person you're co-signing for. Here are some important facts about co-signing:
Over 75% of people who co-sign end up paying off the debt, interest, late fees, attorney fees and/or collection fees. You’d be better off just giving them the money instead of co-signing for a loan.
Your credit can be damaged without you knowing it. If they miss a payment, as far as the lender is concerned, you are the one who has missed it. In some states lenders don’t have to let co-signers know when payments are missed.

If the person you co-signed for goes bankrupt, you still are legally required to pay. A scary note on co-signing for school loans. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t risk it! School loans are one of the few debts that even bankruptcy will not absolve.

If you co-sign a loan, this can negatively affect your own chances of getting a loan. It becomes part of the debt ratio that is used to figure your own eligibility.

The lender does not have to go after the person you co-signed for first if payments aren't made. You’re it.

IF they don’t pay and you don’t have the money to make payments several things can happen. Your wages could be garnished, legal action can be taken against you, or a lien could be put on your house or assets. (Most loan contracts state that if any payments are missed, the full amount is due immediately.)

If things go south, as Fred did, you not only lose your money and your good credit but jeopardize a friendship.

Throughout history, people have been warned of the dangers of co-signing. Around 1000 BC, King Solomon, one of the wisest persons to ever live wrote:
“My child, if you co-sign a loan for a friend or guarantee the debt of someone you hardly know—if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—quick, get out of it if you possibly can! You have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased. Don’t put it off. Do it now. Don’t rest until you do. Save yourself like a deer escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.” The Bible: Proverbs 6:1-5 (NLT)

Monitoring Home Energy Usage

2010-02-22T20:42:00.004-06:00

In our book "The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy" we talk about the Kill-a-Watt electric meter for monitoring how much electricity you are using. It is the most inexpensive way to do that (cost about $25 dollars.) But the down size is you can only measure something that is plugged into a 110 electric socket. That means you can measure your ceiling lights, furnace fan, central air, etc.

Now for the first time there are some items out there that can do this that don't cost hundreds of dollars. One of them is the Blue Line’s PowerCost Monitor for around a hundred dollars.

Here is a brief review by someone who tried it out.
Monitoring Home Energy Usage | Click Chick | Midweek.com

Aquaponics, Gardening Using Fish

2010-02-19T13:12:00.000-06:00

Being a Prosumer is about producing more of what you consume. Producing your own food is a major way of doing that. Here is a New York times article on some inexpensive and creative ideas.

Aquaponics, a Gardening System Using Fish and Circulating Water - NYTimes.com

Aspartame changes name to AminoSweet

2010-02-16T10:59:00.002-06:00

If you believe Aspartame is bad for you then don't be deceived into using it by its new name.
Aspartame has been renamed and is now being marketed as a natural sweetener

In response to growing awareness about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, what does the manufacturer of one of the world's most notable artificial sweeteners do? Why, rename it and begin marketing it as natural, of course. This is precisely the strategy of Ajinomoto, maker of aspartame, which hopes to pull the wool over the eyes of the public with its rebranded version of aspartame, called "AminoSweet".

If you want to see how nice they make it look, go to their web site aminosweet.info and see how they try to make it look like a good health food. Here is a prime example of how the Robber Barons work to deceive us. It doesn't matter whether you think Aspartame is good or not. They are trying to deceive people who want to avoid it.

Dealing With Debt: Credit Counselors

2010-01-22T01:44:00.002-06:00

Dealing With Debt: Credit Counselors is a very good article on debt counseling. I can vouch for what he says as in the past I did consumer credit counseling and was certified by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
It's not a solution for everyone but can be a tremendous help to many. In the right situation I have no trouble sending people to consumer credit counselors.

U.S. Car Fleet Shrank by Four Million

2010-01-22T01:22:00.003-06:00

It looks like more people are thinking like Frugal Prosumers.

"I haven’t had to use pedal power often for emergencies. I hope it stays that way, but using it in the mean time has enriched my life. It has provided wonderful exercise and contributed to memorable times with family and friends, enjoyment of the out of doors, being more ecologically minded, reducing transportation cost, and having a better sense of security. There were times in my life that the option to do without a car has meant some good savings for us." From The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy

Looks like a lot of other people are finding that doing without a car means some good savings for them.

Read the article U.S. Car Fleet Shrank by Four Million in 2009 After a Century of Growth, U.S. Fleet Entering Era of Decline

More on walking away from a mortgage

2010-01-22T01:04:00.004-06:00

The tsunami may be building. The banks and auto industry have led the way. They have shown America how to solve your debt problems. How? By defaulting and not paying their bills. Last year one million Americans followed suit by "strategic defaults." That is purposely stopping payment on their homes. In a Wall Street Journal article American Dream 2: Default, Then Rent they say:

Thanks to a rare confluence of factors -- mortgages that far exceed home values and bargain-basement rents -- a growing number of families are concluding that the new American dream home is a rental. Some are leaving behind their homes and mortgages right away, while others are simply halting payments until the bank kicks them out. That's freeing up cash to use in other ways.

"It's a stealth stimulus," says Christopher Thornberg of Beacon Economics, a consulting firm specializing in real estate and the California economy. "The quicker these people shed their debts, the faster the economy is going to heal and move forward again."

People are doing the math and figuring out how much better off they would be by just walking away from their mortgage. It could be years or decades before they gain any equity in their home. If they just stop paying it can be close to a year before they are evicted. Thus those with a $1,000 per month mortgage could have over $10,000 in the bank by the time they had to move and then rent a place for half of their mortgage payment. For many this is the difference between being an indentured servant and living OK and with considerable stress.

Before you get on the case of the people doing this, give the following factors some consideration.

The banks in one way created this problem. People used to have an incentive to keep their homes because they had equity in them. But the banks talked or conned people into taking all the equity out of their homes. Thus creating their own problem.

Staying in the home and taking care of it until being evicted protects it from what happens to many homes left to the bank. Damage from freezing pipes, vandalism, thieves stripping out all the copper wiring and pipes, etc. Resulting in the house being valueless and having to be bulldozed.

Is this really as moral an issue as banks want you to think? The contract is clear. Both sides have agreed on what will happen if you don't pay. The bank gets the house. So when you don't pay you are not breaking any rules of the contract. Your giving them the house. The banks had no trouble when it worked to their advantage. No moral issue on their part. The people lost their house and the bank made money on that.

As mentioned already, the banks and businesses have been helped by the government to default.

Another interesting article Ditching Your Home.

The Suburbanization of Poverty

2010-01-21T22:26:00.001-06:00

It's happening! The suburbs are becoming the new center for the poor. The economy and the sub prime meltdown has accelerated our predicted decline of the suburban home.

In our book the Frugal Prosumer Philosophy in the chapter Preparing for your economic future we state:

"The winds of change are blowing, and the social disruption of change, for good or bad, has already started. Many concerned with preserving the planet had moved to the country. Now rural areas are seeing major changes. Shoppers can no longer afford the gas to drive many miles to buy what they need or want. Commuters from the suburbs have started to realize their lifestyle is not economically and ecologically sustainable. They are waking up to the fact that by moving back to the city they can save on transportation costs, obtain cheaper housing, live in more energy efficient, multiunit dwellings, and have more free time.
The flight to the suburbs in the 60’s and 70’s is reversing. Without cheap fuel the large, energy-inefficient suburban homes and the accompanying long, expensive commutes will not only make sustaining the houses impossible but will lead to their devaluation, increased pollution and depleted resources. Add to this the downsizing that will be accompanying the coming retirement of millions of baby boomers, this may not be a good time to be investing in big houses."

An analysis by the Brookings Institution shows that suburbs were home to the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the country.

Between 2000 and 2008, suburbs in the country’s largest metro areas saw their poor population grow by 25 percent—almost five times faster than primary cities and well ahead of the growth seen in smaller metro areas and non-metropolitan communities. As a result, by 2008 large suburbs were home to 1.5 million more poor than their primary cities and housed almost one-third of the nation’s poor overall.
Over the course of this decade, two economic downturns translated into a significant rise in poverty, nationally and in many of the country’s metropolitan and non-metropolitan communities. Suburbs saw by far the greatest growth in their poor population and by 2008 had become home to the largest share of the nation’s poor. These trends are likely to continue in the wake of the latest downturn, given its toll on traditionally more suburbanized industries and the faster pace of growth in suburban unemployment. This ongoing shift in the geography of American poverty increasingly requires regional scale collaboration by policymakers and social service providers in order to effectively address the needs of a poor population that is increasingly suburban.

Download the complete report.

Lie #1. If I win the lottery, my financial problems will be over!

2010-01-19T18:54:00.003-06:00

In our book The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy in the chapter Myths & Deceptions That Can Ruin You we say:

Lie #1. If I win the lottery, my financial problems will be over!
Truth: Most families will earn one million or more in their lifetime. (45 years of work means your family has to earn only $22,000 per year to earn a million). Therefore you’ve already “won a million dollar lottery” and are getting the payouts. Unless you have a plan and good record keeping, you’ll waste the money away, like most lottery winners do. Most people will have nothing or very little to show for that million. My statement to you is: “If you can’t hang on to the current million you are getting, if you win the lottery, you’ll likely lose that money too.”
If, by some itty-bitty chance, you win an actual million dollar lottery, it will not make you a millionaire. Read on. A million dollar win is usually paid out over 20 to 25 years. After taxes that comes to around $35,000 a year. You're a thousandaire -- not a millionaire. Yes a nice amount, but if you think you are a millionaire and you spend like one, you’re going to become poor very fast. The chances of winning are almost zero and the money would be much better invested in other ways.

Here is a very good article that explains it in more detail. Jackpot? How much contestants really take home in game show winnings

Electric Bicycles

2010-01-19T17:16:00.006-06:00

Wow, while we sit and talk about electric cars and how they will save the environment, China is exploding with e-bikes (electric bicycles). I've always been interested in the idea of electric assisted bikes.

By some estimates there are 120 million e-bikes on China's roads—up from just 50,000 a decade ago, making it the fastest growing form of transportation in China.

I have done a lot of experimenting with recharging batteries for flashlights and emergency lighting for many years. Over the years my experiments covered several eras of recharging batteries.

My first experiments were with recharges for non-rechargeable batteries. They were horrible. I tried many different recharges not believing they could all be so bad. They were. The recharged battery lasted for 1/3 the time of a new one. You had to be sure they were charged in a contained area as they would occasionally burst open. They also tended to leak and ruin the device you were using them in. If you see these recharges in thrift stores avoid them like the plague.

Then came the NiCad and the NiMH rechargeable batteries. At first they weren't much better but they eventually got to the point were they lasted 3 times longer than regular alkaline batteries.

Current rechargeable batteries and rechargeable battery packs for electric tools are amazingly good.

Check out the following articles from the Time, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post on the the benefits and curse of this great environmental solution of e-bikes.

On the Streets of China, Electric Bikes Are Swarming

Electric Bicycles Deadly on China's Streets - WSJ.com

Electric Bikes in China

As an exercise in getting the creative juices going check out this mini bike run by a battery powered drill.

PS. After reading the Department of Transportation information regarding e-bikes in Wisconsin I realize there are some big hurdles to overcome before e-bikes are allowed in the USA. Good thing I didn't get one of my energy saving e-bike inventions on the road. Could have been thrown in jail for it.

Saw Dust Toilet in Haiti

2010-01-17T19:21:00.002-06:00

In my book The 7 Pillars of The Frugal Prosumer I talk about how the saw dust toilet can save the world.
Here is an example of how a sawdust toilet is making a difference in Haiti.

SURVIVING IN ARGENTINA

2010-01-04T22:17:00.004-06:00

I have found that the best place to learn how economic collapse comes about, is to read and follow how an actual collapse has happened. Fernando Ferfal Aguirre has a very interesting blog I follow. It helps me understand what happens and as a result to be better prepared in the event that the same thing happened here. Check out this post SURVIVING IN ARGENTINA . It shows how Argentina in the early 20th century was one of the richest countries in the world.

He has written an interesting book The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse It addresses the economic collapse and hyper inflation that happened in 2001 and how to be prepared if it happens in your neck of the woods.

Warning: Killer Stoves. Do you have one in your house?

2010-01-01T16:57:00.002-06:00

Just had to do some research on this one.

While over at a friends house on New Year's Eve their brand new stove was delivered and set up. The installer asked the home owner if he wanted the anti tipping bracket installed too. This necessitated drilling into their nice floor to install it.

The home owner declined. No sooner had the installer left than the homeowner received a call from Sears to confirm that they indeed did not want the killer stove protection installed. Wow this was so important that they even called on New Years eve evening.

So today I had to find out what this was all about. As suspected, the robber baron litigation attorneys at it again. With a little bit of research I found out. One attorney web site stated:

Most Kitchen Ranges and Stoves Pose a Serious Threat to Millions of Americans … Stove tipping has become an unrecognized epidemic in our country that has caused more than 100 reported cases of death and injury from scalding and burns due to hot foods and liquids spilling from the stove top, and from the weight crushing anyone in the path of the tipping ranges. If you or a loved one have been injured or killed due to a stove or kitchen range tipping over, you should contact us immediately. You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and/or loss and we can help.

Wow! It looks like 100 deaths. Let's take note of the little deceptions. Remember, in my book I say that a good deception must not contain any lies. No lies here but lots of making it look worse than it is. Notice they grouped deaths and injuries together so it would look like more deaths. Also they left out that it was over a 26 year time span. So it breaks down to about one death and three injuries a year. I can think of a lot more dangerous things out there than this that we could fix for less than 1/2 billion dollars!

Now any death is tragic, but we have to be sensible as resources are limited. Anyway, who really gains from this sensational disaster? I say follow the money trail. Read on.

The value of the settlement depends on how many customers respond to Sears' offer, but Public Citizen said it could end up costing the retailer more than $545 million. In addition to paying $17 million in legal fees, Sears will install brackets on all new stoves for free for the next three years.

Half a billion dollars???? How nice the dead and injured get compensated. Think again, who does most of this money go to and who pays for it. Think robber barons picking your pocket again. Dream on if you think the cost isn't going to be passed on to you.

In my book I talk about how as economic times get bad, silly laws will drop by the way side. Or even worse, silly laws are part of the cause of economic collapse. Or silly laws are the way the robber barons rob us.

Just a short lesson in reading the news behind the news to get the truth.

John says: Watch out for those rogue stoves lurking in your house. And for those who can't think of more profitable ways to make a difference in this world, you can help stop this "killer epidemic" by joining Public Citizens in what they call their killer stoves campaign.

Crowdsourcing

2009-12-30T13:18:00.006-06:00

Daily I scour hundreds of articles and several books that span many different subjects. I'm on the lookout for useful information on how to plan for the future and how any particular info might affect our future.

A fairly recent term is "crowdsourcing." That is, using the collaboration made possible by technology and the Internet, to amass a "crowd" of people to help solve a problem.

Crowdsourcing has tremendous potential for the frugal prosumer and solving many of the worlds problems. One of the goals of The Frugal Prosumer is to harness the power of crowdsourcing by having frugal prosumer gatherings and using the internet. To start a movement that gets us back to the basics and helping each other make this world a better place.

A major theme of our book The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy is balance. We talk about both good and bad changes that will come about and how we need to plan, prepare, and think through the implications of each new development that seems good. Give some thought to the following and is it good or bad?

I recently came across a crowdsourcing tool. An iphone or ipod touch app designed for reporting businesses or neighbors who are not being ecologically "sound".

For all the eco-warriors, you no longer have to gripe in vain about neighbors wasting energy. Finally, there’s a tool you can use to report environmentally negligent behavior. Individuals can report on wastage of water, energy, trash or toxic pollutants. You can view cases filed near you via GPS and add documentation using photos and commentary. You can create your own complaints. If for example, the store is leaving the parking-lot lights on during the day or your neighbor is dumping oil down the drain, you can let the world know. You can go to EcoSnoop and see what naughty businesses are wasting resources and if you live in the area go harass them or stop doing business with them. Go get them.

Is this an example of saving the earth or losing our freedom? What are the implications of using this. If we stop pollution and the waste of our God given resources we make this world a better place for us and our grandchildren. But--

The ecologist may think this is great without realizing what other things it can be used for to destroy them. What if the anti-ecology people wanted to discredit the ecology movement and post the big house, big car, airplane flights, and other waste and bad things they are doing. Even make up things and photoshop evidence.

This could be a great way to expose terrorists. Have people anywhere in the world monitor a suspects house?

Or how about the way Texas is doing this. texasborderwatch

Texas doesn't have the money or manpower to monitor video cameras they have along the border so they have real time video streaming to the internet. Anyone watching can report what they see. This allows people to do what I always say. "Don't just complain about something, do something." Now even if you are in, let's say Michigan, instead of just protesting about illegal immigrants you can now watch for them and turn them in from the safety and comfort of your home. Wow! Nearly 125,000 people signed up to be “virtual Texas deputies”.

Two other groups I am sure will find these videos very useful.
1. Vigilantes now don't have to go out randomly hunting. They can just watch the videos and be ready in ambush for "the bad guys" as they get out of video range, so no one can see what happens.
2. Or the criminal element who now may know where to wait for their next victim to rob.

As stated in our book: change "will open up opportunities for the astute and further tempt the evil and the foolish."

Social Security and Ponzi schemes

2009-12-28T23:49:00.002-06:00

Why Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme - Jan. 7, 2009 From Money CNN

I always make an effort to read the opposite side of each argument. As a result in many cases I can win a argument on either side of an issue with most people. In my old age I'm not that interested in arguing any more. I'm more interested in discerning the truth. If one isn't interested in discovering truth so be it. I let them be.

Anyway I saw the title of this article from CNN Money. This is a respected source for financial information. I was wondering if I was going to be proven wrong and already thinking how I would have to change my view and what I wrote in by book about Social Security being the ultimate Ponzi scheme.

But this one takes the cake and they were really serious. I think.

Their argument is :
1st: They state: " in the case of Social Security, no one is being misled." It isn't a Ponzi scheme because by definition a Ponzi scheme is one in which a person is misled. Social Security tells us right up front that they don't have the money. So they're not defrauding anyone.

2nd: The article states. "Social Security isn't automatically doomed to fail. Played out to its logical conclusion, a Ponzi scheme is unsustainable because the number of potential investors is eventually exhausted. That's when the last people to participate are out of luck; the music stops and there's nowhere to sit." In other words as long as we keep adding more people to it just like any Ponzi scheme, it won't fail. Oh! Oh! What if those environmentalists who want to cut population get their way? No more people to add to the Ponzi list?

3rd: "Social Security is morally the polar opposite of a Ponzi scheme and fundamentally different" they go on to say it was created to do good not bad and Ponzi schemes are created with bad in mind. Oh! Oh! Does that mean anything that was started with good intent can never turn bad. Let me think. Kudzu, Asian Carp, Garlic Mustard, etc. brought to this country and now taking over everything are not bad because they were brought in for a good reason?

I was hoping the article was a joke but it don't seem to be.

Anyway, I'm not even sure why I wasted my time on such a dumb article. Just that it was in a reputable source and one of the first articles I've seen defending Social Security as not being a Ponzi scheme. It looks like the author understands it's a Ponzi scheme but one that is different from regular Ponzi scams because they are not lying about it not being a scam, and was originally intended for good. Sure.

The 12 Months Of Default (Christmas Song)

2009-12-22T20:10:00.009-06:00

Not very funny but it is a clever way to teach the advantages of walking away from a house loan that has no equity and is underwater.

For many that are going to lose it all anyway sometimes the best option may be to make that decision sooner. I have done counseling for hundreds of bankruptcies and a very large percent who took this route (bankruptcy) to save their house just postponed the inevitable for a few more years. This made it worse for them in the long run.

True, the mental stress of walking away is hard, but the mental stress of years of trying not to walk away can be worse. Consult any bankruptcy attorney to explore your options.

Walking away from a house that is ruining you or is under water (you owe more than it's worth) can be a tough moral decision.

Some interesting things to think about?
What are the moral obligations:

Of a banker willing to lend money to someone who they knew could not afford the house?
Of a banker lending money to someone not caring how overpriced the home was?
Of a homeowner to provide for their family through the best legal means they can?
Of someone who could “afford” to make payments but at the expense of say health insurance or better providing for their family?
Of someone who signs a contract with a thief or con-artist?
If you've more then paid for the house already?

Does moral obligation only run in one direction?

What is the difference between a bank being legally rescued (government bailout) because they couldn't meet the obligations brought on by bad investments, and a home owner being legally rescued (bankruptcy) because they couldn't meet their obligations and made a bad investment in their home?
Not paying your bills is no crime by US law. Defrauding someone is. In most cases the home owner did not intend to defraud. I'm not so sure that can be said about our lending institutions.

One of the most used books in our house.

2009-12-18T10:07:00.017-06:00

Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types has been used so much in our house the pages are falling out.

The following quote is from our new book The Seven Pillars of The Frugal Prosumer. You can order it from our web site.

Understanding personality types is a powerful tool to knowing yourself and others. It helps us understand:

Who we will be attracted to and why.
Who will be our best marriage partner and why.
How to communicate to be understood and to understand others.
How our children are wired and discovering the best way to raise them.
What kind of job suits us best, our leadership style, and how to get along with coworkers and others.
Our own preferred learning and teaching style.
How to counsel and help others better.

Over the centuries, the four personality types have been included in the writings of Greek mythology (around 800 BC), Plato in The Republic (around 380 BC), Aristotle (around 350 BC), the roman physician Galen (around 200AD), Paracelsus around (1550 AD), plus many more through out the centuries. If you are familiar with personality types you can readily see that the four Gospels in the Bible are written to and possibly by the four personality types. Today it is used by businesses, counselors, and organizations all over the world. The names they use may differ, but the basics are the same.

The MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) is based on four main categories and these categories have four sub categories making 16 types in all. The MBTI, one of the most useful and widely used is the basis for Kirsey and Bates’ books, Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types and the expanded version Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence. There are hundreds of books and web sites that will help you learn these 16 basic personality types, in a few hours. But mastering all the ins and outs of the practical applications of the personality types could take a lifetime.

If you understand the concepts of personality types, you will find this to be a very powerful prosumer tool. You will be less dependent on professional help. I personally believe that without understanding personality types one is greatly handicapped. Many people already have a good understanding of personality types without studying them. Putting names to what they already know makes this even more useful.

How to negotiate with debt collectors

2009-12-15T01:44:00.002-06:00

Here is an article by one of my favorite financial writers. If you are in the position to pay off some of your debt or are thinking of helping someone pay off their debt. I.e. An adult child or parent.

Be sure and read this article first. (Click on link below)

Liz Pulliam Weston - How to negotiate with debt collectors; making a deal - MSN Money

Harvesting Windows, Bricks, and Decks!

2009-12-12T16:44:00.007-06:00

We have given titles to many of the things we do. Wild food foraging, feral fruit farming, grocery store foraging, garage sailing, Craigslist crawling, etc. But what do we call it when we harvest a hundred windows or a 600+ square foot deck? A pane in the deck? Sorry.

Again it’s about relationships. A friend called us to say they were replacing all the windows and screens in the eight story apartment complex they lived in. Aaannd.. they had permission to take all they wanted.

We finally stopped hauling at 200 windows. It was hard seeing dumpster load after dumpster load of good windows going to their doom. But out of respect for Mary and the “pretty factor” on the property, I let them go.

We now have a good number of cold frames ready for early spring planting. We also extended our fall veggies under the mini green houses I constructed.

Some parts of our land floods occasionally. Since it is futile to plant in that low area the reality of raised bed gardening has taken on an even “higher” meaning. I have raised the height of my four by four foot beds to around 20 inches. Accomplishing this could be very expensive if you had to purchase everything new.

Again relationships. Chad had been Craigslist crawling and found a deck free for the hauling if we tore it out. It was only a few years old and built out of those expensive plastic boards. Alas it had molded and the owner didn’t want to deal with it. It was a win win situation for all. He was reimbursed for his deck and we took it away. We acquired materials for decks (nothing a little bleach won’t cure) and garden boxes. We incorporated the cinder blocks Chad found Craigslist crawling (again) with the bricks on hand already and the deck posts and will see if we get a floating garden or a success.

What does “real” recycling look like?

2009-12-06T09:04:00.008-06:00

Recycled banana box filled with sawdust and carrots

Are you “doing” the politically correct current recycling fad of the day or are you really recycling? John believes in walking the walk here! Sometimes even I roll my eyes but here is his current recycling of recycling of recycling of recycling. This is how he recycles the sawdust left from his tree or pallet cutting. No landfill destination for that.

Note, he doesn’t just go around cutting trees up to get this precious by-product. Only ones that are threatening mans existence. Ever have a tree fall on your house when you were sleeping. Man they’re heavy.

Number one, he recycles the tree or discarded pallet to heat our home. For the “normal” recycler environmentalist this would be enough. No trucking fuel halfway across the world to heat your house. No adding more Co2 into the air (burning wood puts out the same carbon as when a tree dies and decomposes naturally). Local sustainable heating, good exercise, etc. etc. John however adds another recycling dimension to it all.

Number two, he is using the sawdust from cutting up his firewood to store some of the ton of free carrots we harvested over the winter. Remind me to let you know how that worked.

Are you ready for Number three recycling? After we eat the carrots he will use the sawdust in our saw dust toilet. We have a chapter in our book coming out in the this month called “How to save the world with a sawdust toilet”. It will inform you that by this method the body waste gets turned into compost. Compost grows food. The food scraps and body waste from eating this food gets recycled again in the saw dust toilet and then composted once more. Which is then recycled again and again. Now how’s that for recycling?

Don’t worry, he just didn’t come up with this. There is a very good book out on it that will explain how it all works.

Check out The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, by Joseph Jenkins.

Our two books The 7 Pillars of the Frugal Prosumer and The Frugal Prosumer Philosophy go to the printers tomorrow.

The Great Carrot Caper

2009-11-28T17:06:00.007-06:00

Thanks to Kris and a generous farmer we are in the midst of processing and distributing carrots to food pantries, friends, and others. What do you do with a literal ton of carrots? Six of us from our Free School harvested a ton in less than 2 hours. Many of the carrots were over one pound and several weighed in at close to three pounds.

The first thing we did is eat them raw. They’re deliciously sweet. We had a good laugh when one of the students opened his lunch box out in the field full of carrots to discover his mom had packed him....... carrot sticks.
When we got home Mitch helped me (John) use our rain water collecting bin and barrel two wash the carrots. We managed to get about 800 pounds washed.

We then cooked up a batch for an early thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday. Talk about fresh. Six hours from field to fork.

Next day we started out with a delicious glass of sweet carrot juice fresh from our juicer. That fortified me enough to “plow” through internet research on storing and preserving carrots. Meanwhile, Mary got busy dehydrating, canning, cooking, and pickling carrots.
Did you know that if you store them with apples and other fruits your carrots will turn bitter in a matter of weeks from the ethylene the fruit gives off? Ever get a batch of bitter carrots in the store? Improper storage with fruits could be the reason. Or they used forklifts run by propane, which also give of ethylene.

Our research shows that you should keep carrots at just above freezing and with a humidity of about 95%. In these conditions they can keep for four to six months. We and others in our community who took hundreds of pounds are all going to try different storage and preserving methods. We await the reports.

Thankful

2009-11-25T20:51:00.004-06:00

When you live a life with one foot off the grid and the other balancing precariously in entrepreneur land you can find yourself running a rather challenging yet exciting scooter on life’s road. The balancing act is sometimes more like a fumbling act. And you can be viewed more as the clown in the circus than the “professional” juggler. It may sound like complaining here but really I am just setting you up to see.

We have so many opportunities in this ride to crash.....but don’t. On this journey we have been so blessed. Unspoken needs have been met in very creative ways. We have witnessed and experienced the true friendship of others and that there are wonderful, kind people all around. We are thankful.

We are thankful for our home and all the many lessons in life we have had the opportunity to learn.

We are above all thankful for God. We have witnessed the reality of who He is, what He does and are excited about His ultimate plan. Come to think of it, didn’t we mention that life, real living, is about relationships?

Hoping for you...as you look back as well as forward to the future...a life of thankfulness.

Smart Living

2009-11-25T19:30:00.001-06:00

The key to financial security and living free is living smart. It’s not about depriving yourself. It’s about being smarter about things you buy or do anyway every day. Smart living can mean the difference between living free and just struggling along in life.

In times of economic and political uncertainty, smart spending is even more important.
Smart living is about making good decisions when saying yes. It’s not always about spending less, but about getting more value from what you are already spending.

Something you can do today!
Get quality prescription glasses for as low as $20 at the following web sites.
Check out:
www.ZenniOptical.com
www.EyeBuyDirect.com
www.glassesUnlimited.com

Clark Howard my favorite financial radio talk show host has been getting his glasses online for years. I highly recommend listening to his radio show. Go to www.clarkhoward.com to find when he’s on your local radio station.

All Families are a Million Dollar Business

2009-11-16T20:16:00.006-06:00

As I have stated many times in my books and workshops, a family is really a small business. Most families will bring in a million dollars or more in their life time.

Three important questions any business needs to ask are:

1. Is the business worth anything? In the business world this is called a balance sheet. The balance sheet tells you how much the business is worth (equity). Or in the case of an individual how wealthy they are. The formula for this is--- Assets - Liability= Equity.

Assets are everything you own such as house, cars, recreation vehicles, savings, retirement money, cash, and anything else of value.

Liabilities are everything you owe on your house, car, credit cards, loans, etc.

Your Equity (or net worth) is how much money you would have if you cashed everything out and paid all your debts. This is calculated by subtracting all your liabilities from all your assets. This is what you have to show for your life and all your years of work.

2 Is the business making a profit each month and year? That is. Are they taking in more than they are spending. In the business world this is called a Profit and Loss Statement. Families use an Income & Expense form. This form tracks all income and spending to find where it went and how much is left at the end of each month. The bigger the difference between how much comes in and how much goes out determines how fast you are becoming poorer (spending more than comes in) or how fast you are becoming wealthy (spending less than what comes in). The only way to become wealthy is to spend less than you earn.

3. How much wealth do we want the business to accumulate? That is a plan for where we want to be in the future. And this includes spending less than is earned in the present.

An interesting exercise to do to find out how much you have to show for all the work you have done in your lifetime is:

Add up everything you have earned in your life (your annual Social Security statement has these numbers).
Add up everything you own and subtract what you owe.
Subtract this from what you earned. If it's a positive number great! If it's a negative number you need to make some difficult decisions?

Unfortunately, many discover they not only have no net worth but are in the hole. This means that after all those years of work they have less than when they were born. This can be both depressing and motivating

Something you can do today!
Think about it:
The best “stock market” investments I have doubles my money every six months. Twice a year I “invest” or stock up on toilet paper when it’s on sale for half price. Can your stock broker make you this much?

We are Feral Fruit Farmers

2009-11-03T19:07:00.003-06:00

Most of us have heard the term feral cats. Domestic cats that have gone wild. Feral fruit is domestic fruit that is growing wild or unattended in people’s yards.

In my edible and medicinal herb walks I would call our finds wild fruit. I found most people were thinking that to get this wild food they would have to venture into the wilderness. The majority of my wild food foraging is around urban areas and by volume most of that is feral fruit.

Apples are the main feral fruit we collect. They are everywhere in our area. Anytime I’m out driving around I keep a watch for them. I have been doing this for 30 years and can spot an apple tree with or without apples from a long way off. It’s not unusual to collect a thousand pounds or more to make cider, jam, apple butter, dried apples, and to eat fresh. They are available from August to October depending on the variety. Last year I pressed over a hundred gallons of cider all from feral fruit.

I tell people they even have the organic seal of approval on them. Scabs and worm marks. But don’t worry, in most cases that doesn’t affect their edibility.

Pears are the second most abundant feral fruit in our area. What’s nice about them is that they aren’t bothered by pests. We dry them, mix them with apple cider, and make a wonderful organic pear sauce that is sugarless.

In our Feral Fruit Farming this year we also collected six five gallon buckets of Concord grapes, over thirty pounds of plums, a bunch of comfrey and other herbs.

Some helpful hints for the Feral Fruit farmer:

During harvest season always have buckets and bags in the car so when you spot fruit you can stop and get it right away.
An apple picker is a handy tool to reach higher up in the tree.
Take a step ladder along.
Binoculars are helpful to scoop distant trees.
I take clippers to prune the tree a bit so they produce better the next year. It also makes it easier to pick the fruit.
Have some kind of mapping system to record the location of the trees and when the fruit is normally ready to pick. A really good tool for this is Google maps. You can make a personal map that includes exact location, pictures, and notes about your harvest. For years I marked things on a detailed county map.

Feral fruit harvesting time brings fruit flies.
During harvest time we have lots of fruit sitting around waiting to be eaten, canned, dehydrated, or frozen. This usually brings out a cloud of fruit flies in our house. It doesn’t really bother us but some visitors are a little more squeamish about them.

Enter the Frugal Prosumer Feral Fruit Farmer Fruit Fly Trap.

It’s super simple, super cheap, and super effective.
Take a canning jar, put in a piece of sliced up fruit, cover the jar with plastic wrap, put a rubber band around it or use a canning jar lid ring to keep it on. Take a tooth pick and poke a bunch of holes in the wrap and you have an amazing simple and effective fruit fly trap. It works very well. We set several around the kitchen and house.

Now say feral fruit farmer fruit fly trap 3 times really fast.

Money is Only Good for one Thing! Spending!

2009-11-02T19:45:00.002-06:00

That is why we suggest that you look beyond money to find happiness, fulfillment and meaning in life.

We spend money in three time frames.

Present: The key to building wealth has always been the same. Spend less than you earn today. To do that without depriving yourself means that each and every day you must spend your money smarter.
Past: Is paying for things purchased in the past. In other words debt! Debt can be a great cause of stress. Is the original purchase worth it?
Future: Monetary saving and investing is not different from spending. It’s just deciding to spend in the future. If you save today, in your future “today” you will save more.

The power of cutting expenses is that it builds wealth and works in the past, present, and future time frame.

Cutting expenses or UnIncome as we like to call it has three distinct advantages over “earned income”:

A dollar saved is worth more than a dollar earned. You get to keep every penny of each unspent dollar. Unlike income it is not subject to taxes and other payroll deductions.
You can implement ways to get UnIncome faster than you can earn more money. The results of cutting an expense can be instantaneous while increasing income can take a long time to change.
You have more control and varied options for UnIncome than you do income. It’s not dependent on just finding someone who will hire you and being at the mercy of them or the economy.

Warning: Do not get deceived into thinking that fake immediate income (debt) is giving you more cash.

Something you can do today:
Buy rechargeable batteries if you use more than a dozen triple or double A batteries a year. If you have a digital camera or toys they will not only last 3 times longer but save you hundreds of dollars over the life time of the rechargeable battery. If you don’t use rechargeables, batteries will end up costing you more than the original device they are used in. It’s also much better for the earth!

Fewer deaths during a recession

2009-10-29T19:33:00.004-05:00

A Fortune Magazine article talks about a little known, but well documented truth, that death rates decline and healthy living habits improve in tough economic times.

The interesting thing is that following a Frugal Prosumer lifestyle reaps many of the same health benefits. There is less stress from a job, positive lifestyle changes, and more time to be healthy.

An important reason for this decline in death rates seems to be that people adopt smarter lifestyles and with those improvements you get a healthier nation. And it's even noticeable in the short period of a typical recession.

Another reason seems to be that there is extra free time. Not having to go to a job or being underemployed means more time for exercise as well as more time for sleep, which improves health.

"A lesson for health-care reformers is that their focus, our system of insurance and care, isn't the root cause of America's high medical costs. The recent downturn in dead people is a reminder that the No. 1 culprit for rising health-care costs is lifestyle."

"A lesson for companies is that it's possible to make employees work so hard that it's bad for the business. If employees can't find time for physical activity -- or are exhausted after grueling 60-hour workweeks -- the employer will pay a price in lost productivity and higher medical costs."

Check out the article.

Confusing Financial Information

2009-10-29T17:10:00.001-05:00

Many financial publications provide a confusing array of money advice that covers every possible scenario. This broad sweep makes the information close to useless because the average person has to make complicated decisions they feel ill-equipped to make.

Our goal is to show you some specific simple things you can do. If you really must get into the philosophy, engineering, theology, and many possible scenarios, John is more than delighted to discuss these with you. However, we strive to just get the gems out of him and avoid asking and thereby “getting him going”.

We do not want to restrict your freedom to choose with the information we provide. Although we give specific ideas,we do not recommend that you blindly follow all that we do without understanding it or customizing it to your particular situation. Our goal is to provide you with a framework for making a decision.

Generally we have found that people want a simple answer without all the ins and outs of why.
Too many people are so overwhelmed with the many choices for spending or investing their money that they just freeze up. They want to know what specific action they can take.They prefer the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid). Oops, we’re not calling you stupid.

Our writings will get strong reactions from those whose livelihoods depend on making finances confusing so they can make more money on complicated items. The simple things we purport do not make them much money. But the ideas we put out there will help you get control of your finances with minimal effort and allow you to make better lifestyle decisions.

Ours are not new ideas. They are the same financial advise given throughout the centuries. Our contribution is taking tons of information and knowledge and boiling it down to simple things you can do today to build wealth and live free.

Do not become paralyzed with having to do the best or exactly right thing. It is more important that you do something.

You will notice that we use triangles to cover many subjects. That is because humans tend to remember threes better. Triangles are the base of strength for all structures. So we try to keep it as simple as 1-2-3. We don’t cover everything you need to know in life, but we give you tools and ideas. You don’t need to do them all immediately but you need to do something right away.

The next few blogs will give you some basic 1-2-3’s.

Something you can do today:
Calculate how much your cell phone costs you per minute by taking the total minutes actually used and dividing that into your total cell phone bill. If it’s more than ten cents a minute consider net-ten prepaid card. Tracfone is slightly more per minute but if you’re like us we don’t use it much (less than 50 minutes per month). Our yearly cell phone bill is only $80. That’s less than some peoples monthly bill.

What is John Reading

2009-09-26T00:10:00.005-05:00

For those who want to have a better understanding of the pleasure of being a Do-It-Yourself Frugal Prosumer check out Matthew Crawford’s book Shop Class as Soulcraft.

The four Frugal Prosumer options to obtain this information are:

Read the free original essay that his book is based on.
Read the book for free by checking it out from your library. If you can't find it there see if your library can get it through an interlibrary loan. To find out what libraries have it in your area or the world go to www.WorldCat.org
Buy it discounted at Amazon
Read for free how Trent at The Simple Dollar has made similar discoveries in his own life.

For those who homeschool? It can help you understand how manual work is really academics in disguise.

What is John Reading

2009-09-25T23:55:00.008-05:00

Check out the NY Times article on the dangers of Debit Card Fees.
I use debit cards but my Bank and Credit Union have assured me they will not charge me overdraft fees.

A series of articles at bargaineering.com on how to deal with debt collectors .

Tomato Time

2009-09-24T20:14:00.002-05:00

I am totally happy these days as my tomatoes are turning red and I can now get going with dehydrating. There just isn’t anything more wonderful than a sweet little chunk of tomato in the winter when all you find is pretend ones in the stores.

It’s been a couple years since I made any. Last year was a no show year for tomatoes. This year I have huge ones.

So, the frugal prosumer tool of the day is one of my dehydrators. One of my six. I have acquired them very frugally by the way. They pay for themselves whatever the cost though.

I have learned with tomatoes that just when you think “that slice is way too thick”, that it’s just right. It seems that they measure in at a bit less than 1/2 inch thick. Slice them and put them on your trays but don’t let any of them get too cozy. Give them a little space. Some things aren’t that important to keep a distance but tomatoes are so juice laden that they can mold if the conditions aren’t right.

Put the temperature somewhere between 135 and 145. It is important to me that I have a dehydrator with a temperature gauge.

I have found that it takes about 20 hrs to dry them. They don’t get to the crumbly crispy stage (more like the slightly rubbery stage) as I package them up in zip bags and put them in the freezer. That way they crunch up nice when I need to use them.

The Food Money Fast

2009-09-22T11:12:00.002-05:00

A week ago we completed our two month “food money fast”. We fasted from spending any money at all on food items. We only told people if it meant we would have to lie to them if we were asked about buying something.

At first we were going to stock up for the venture. We determined that would be cheating. So we just proclaimed a certain day “the day” and whatever we had on hand was it. In the two months we ate from our pantry, freezer and garden.

I can’t even count the blessings that trickled in from unsuspecting friends and family. I always attribute that to them “listening” to God. I was out of eggs and my sister-in-law just happened to show up with excess. The latest incident that put a grin on me was the “creamer” thing. Now that is definitely not a necessity for life but it was a little treat I like in my tea and coffee. But I just figured I would rethink it when the time came to go off the fast. A friend walked in one day with boxes of it. He had an excess and thought of us.

There is so much that could be told here but the main lessons and “food” for thought we came out with were:

If we were caught in a national disaster that cut supplies off suddenly would we be ready? Would we have the staples to sustain us for a couple months? We passed that test. How ‘bout we go for 6? That is a consideration. But we aren’t telling.

It made us rethink the term “necessity”. We were content with what we had and just made due.

“Deliberate eating” takes planning and creativity.

Rationing comes into play.

Little luxuries and treats can be made from scratch as long as the supplies hold out. And this causes evaluation again.

What happens if we had to do this without a garden?

Relationships are invaluable. We thank all the unsuspecting people for “listening”.

Enjoy feeding friends and family even when things are low.

You are much more alert to what you can harvest and forage for.

I’m thankful for what I do know about making do.

We learned that we really did survive without certain things and that we want to be cautious about wasting our money on unnecessary food items.

After this fast we have determined to make a list of only staples we plan to purchase.

While I walked through the grocery store at different times with people I took a mental note of the things I would have grabbed in the past that we did fine without and because they weren’t really good for you anyway just leached our money away.

This is a good weight loss plan. tee hee

It was a good experiment. Now to get the nerve up to do it in winter.

And now for on the road begging. Seriously, you made need this skill someday. (by Ben)

2009-09-15T12:10:00.001-05:00

Instructions:
Step1 Get some cardboard and a sharpie
Step2 Write on the cardboard “Hungry(or hungry and traveling)”
Step3 Go to a busy place
Step4 Hold sign and look sad
Step5 Get fed

I'm not kidding this works. People are much more willing to give you food than money. In my experience you will always get fed. Feel free to be more creative with your sign. Like "food for thought" with a little smiley face and an exclamation point.

The Notorious Hobo Dinner (by Ben)

2009-09-15T12:02:00.002-05:00

The hobo dinner consists of potatoes whatever veggies and meat you want wrapped in tinfoil and cooked over the fire(and don't forget the soy sauce or whatever other seasonings you would like). This is a great meal for the hobo stove you've all made by now.

All you have to do is get some good coals burning, set the hobo dinner right inside the hobo stove, and let that baby cook . It should only take about 30 minutes maybe less. (I will probably end up making a video on how to do this).

"The Mother's" elaboration on the hobo dinner
Lay down a couple layers of tinfoil on the counter (this is an individual portion). Pull off some cabbage leaves and put a couple down first (they create a burn barrier around the food). Pile on your chopped up potatoes, onions, carrots and whatever along with chunks of meat if you're a carnivore . Plop a bit of butter on that and sprinkle with soy sauce and seasonings of choice. Cover that with another cabbage leaf . Fold up the the tinfoil around your creation and of course roll it down tight. Now do what he says to cook it.

Now Something about Food (by Ben)

2009-09-15T11:51:00.003-05:00

Let's start with rice being that it's the king of cheap. I personally can't get enough rice. And I've been eating it about 19 years for the majority of my meals. Why am I not sick of it you ask? Well let's take a look at the Japanese and how they do it. Here in America we use meat, fish, eggs, veggies and other things of the sort for the bulk of our meals, which in turn jacks up the cost of said meal. Although eggs are a fairly inexpensive source of protein.

In Asian countries (and most of the world actually) rice is used as the bulk of the meal. Meat and other things are more to flavor the rice so to say.

Now about Sushi. Contrary to popular opinion, sushi is fairly cheap to make. A California roll (avocado,cucumber, mock crab meat) which would normally cost between $6 to $7 a roll at a sushi bar costs under $1 to make yourself. Another cheap dish is a hand full of veggies with some soy sauce and you've got a healthy tasty meal on the cheap. With the small amount of condiments needed to flavor your rice you shouldn't have to ever pay more than $2 for a filling delicious meal. I'll post some cheap rice recipes for the road later(or make my mom do it). Oh and did I mention you can cook it on the hobo stove?

From "the mother"
Sweet Eggs on Rice
My Japanese version of this is a bit more involved with how you fold and cook the egg but here goes fast and easy and with recognizable ingredients:

6 eggs
1/2 cup chicken or veggie stock
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons of a cooking wine, Japanese mirin or forget that part
1 teaspoon sugar (or more to taste)
oil for pan
Mix all of this together with a fork or whisk and pour into medium heated pan with oil. Either let it set and flip it or scramble it. If you flip it you can take it out of the pan and cut it in strips to put on the rice.

A Little Something About Frugal Traveling

2009-08-20T21:59:00.002-05:00

The two most important things to consider while traveling are food and sleep. With these two things sufficiently taken care of you will always be happy and full of energy. Without them you will become a useless fool in a living hell. So Let me give you a few of the easiest ways to accomplish one of the two. . . Sleeping.

The hands down easiest way to travel and sleep well is to have a vehicle you can sleep comfortably in. I.e station wagon, truck with cab, car with folding back seat, limo with cloaking device. With a vehicle to sleep in all you have to do is park at any hotel or street with a few cars on it and count the proverbial sheep.

One concern however is the possibility of being awakened at 5 in the morning (or whenever) by the police. Technically it’s illegal to sleep in your car or anywhere in public (another money making rule). The only time I've had trouble with this is when I slept in the front seat (which is a royal pain anyway). Even when the cops do come all they do is wake you up and tell you to get out. Then they might check your ID. If you’re nice they might tell you about a place you can park where you won’t get bothered. I have personally never heard of any one getting a ticket for this. You can avoid the rude awakening by just crawling in the back seat and throwing a few blankets over you.

Do not park in rich neighborhoods, as they are the most nosey and unsympathetic places in the world. Middle class neighborhoods are the best. Most times even if people do see you they won't even care.

If you can’t or don’t want to sleep in the car, couchsurfing "www.couchsurfing.org" is a really great way to get around (maybe even the best). The thing about couchsurfing is you get a place to stay for free as well as the opportunity to see the town as a local. Even if they didn’t have a place for me to stay the couchsurfer host would show me around town. As it turns out couchsurfing is way easier than I thought it would be. If the city is big enough I've gotten last minute places to stay as late as 9:00 p.m.. I highly recommend checking it out. I'll write more about couchsurfing in a later blog post.

Another way to find a place to sleep is of course camping. But it seems that most camping prices have gone up ( to $30 even!). The nice thing about camping though is all that natural beauty and peaceful surroundings. You should also keep an eye out for places you could park your car and then hike to "free camping". If you’re traveling by yourself however, a hostel is probably better, seeing as you can get a bunk and a kitchen for about the same price.

If you are outgoing and super cool ( even a tad cool will do) just ask people if there’s anywhere to stay in the area. A lot of times they'll hook you up with a place.

Remember when on the road, relationships are king. Don’t be afraid to ask about everything anytime. You’ll be surprised how nice people can be.

So good luck and sweet dreams

Strange looking candle holder, or grill?

2009-08-19T18:15:00.005-05:00

So I said I would get back to you about a great/grill top thing for the hobo stove. Well here it is. I was in a thrift store in Colorado, saw these candle holders and thought why not. Like usual I was right and it fit. So all in all this hobo stove cost me $1 dollar to make and has already saved me over $20 in food cost. This is Just another example of how to think frugally. Ben

How Does This "Relate"?

2009-08-18T16:51:00.003-05:00

The following is an entry from a guest blogger. As you will see, if you ever get our books, good relationships are extremely valuable to the frugal prosumer.

One night Joe, a farmer, was kicked by a cow while he was putting the milking machine on her. Joe fell over backwards. The injury was a nasty one! Extremely painful. Joe was sure he had dislocated his shoulder. He was faced with a couple of choices. Should he call 911 or should he call Russ, a friend, to take him to the ER? He decided to call Russ who said he would come right away and take him.
“But I’m only half done with the milking!” Joe exclaimed!
“I can call Owen,” Russ said.
Russ called Owen, a retired farmer he and Joe knew. (Russ had called Owen once before to ask if he would milk the cows because Joe had to be away at milking time. Owen and his son, Harry, had milked the cows at that time. That’s how it happened that Joe and Owen knew each other.)
Back to our story—
When Russ dialed Owen, the phone rang, but no one answered. He tried three of Owen’s adult sons and was able to reach Harry. He found his dad and together they drove out to Joe’s farm and finished milking the cows while Joe went with Russ to the ER.
Owen continued to come twice a day to do the milking while Joe recuperated.
The important relationships in this story are: Joe, the farmer, and his friend, Russ; Russ and Owen, the retired farmer; and Joe, Owen and Harry.
This true story illustrates how important relationships are when solving problems in life.

Driving Miss Dilly

2009-08-18T16:44:00.003-05:00

How many miles do you get out of your dehydrator? This is not a trick question. I think I have come up with a top of the line frugal prosumer dehydrator. At least for some things. I haven’t tried everything . . . yet.

First you take one car. Put a bunch of dill in a brown paper bag. Put the bag in the car and close the windows. Move car to a sunny place on your property.

I’d say the dill was crispy and ready for me to crumble the weed part of it in maybe less than a week. The seeds were ready too. This is not an exact science yet. All I know is it didn’t take long at all.

Leave it in the car when you go places. It smells wonderful. And as you can see I have some rose petals started. I just picked them and threw them in the shallow basket. The fragrances didn't mingle, so my rose is still a rose.

I have my doubts about doing tomatoes or anything that would need consistent heat till it was done. So unless you live in the land of eternal sun you may need to keep the electric dehydrator.I have about 6 of them now. But leafy things like herbs and all should do fine in the car . . . hey I’m gonna run out right now and throw some parsley in the car.

How to Make Money Riding Your Bike

2009-08-17T13:26:00.004-05:00

Not only does bike riding make me money it gives me time to think up great articles like this.

As I was riding to my editor’s today, I was wondering if it really was worth my time to bike instead of drive. So I did the math. Here are some of my thoughts from the half hour bike ride.

First of all, by car I only save 20 minutes on the 14 mile round trip. If you use the standard mileage rate of $0.55 per mile that means it would cost me $7.70 to drive that distance if I were a “normal person.” $7.70 for 20 minutes means $23.10 per hour. As a Frugal Prosumer my rate is more like $0.30 per mile so that means I would only be earning $12.60 an hour.

Now don’t use this as an excuse to go and buy a new expensive bike. Use it as an excuse to go buy a used expensive bike selling for cheap! Better yet get an old junky bike that is less likely to be stolen, takes less maintenance, and is harder to ride. Harder to ride means you’re getting more exercise.

Speaking of exercise! If we factor in the hour of exercise I got from riding the bike, I could save even more money because I can cancel my health club membership. Scratch that . . . don’t have one.

My next thought as I rode along . . . what if I were to start a health club where all exercise machines are hooked up to electric generators? Then I charge people to come and make electricity. I could sell it as a recycling program. Ha Ha get it? “Instead of throwing your energy away come recycle it with us. Be environmentally sound and make sure the CO2 you are putting off is being put to good use.” Then I’ll recycle the CO2 by pumping it into the greenhouse next door to make my plants grow better. Even more recycling! Oops got off track. Let’s see . . . making money with my bicycle . . . oh yes.

Now if I took that hour I saved from not having to have a separate exercise time I could use that to earn money instead. Let’s say at $15 an hour. Humm! Now I’m up to $38.00 an hour.
Another benefit to my bike ride is that it’s so peaceful (I make sure I take a route that doesn't have cars buzzing by me all the time). As matter of fact it’s so relaxing it saves me an hour at the therapist (if I had one). I saw 3 turkeys, a deer and her fawn, wild currents, and numerous other interesting things I would have missed zooming by in a car.

Boy do I feel good. I loved my ride. Forget about writing a book. I’ll make more per hour by riding around all day. You do the math.

Pictured is John on his SUB (Sports Utility Bike) returning from the store with a 50 pound bag of rice.

"Can" you cook? More on the Hobo stove

2009-08-16T18:38:00.002-05:00

I think Ben did a great job on explaining the hobo stove concept. And while we were up north Wisconsin for a week we had a bunch of interested campers. John was Nature Center man for the week. He had a great assistant who helped keep his absent minded mind on track.

Pictured is the best little prosumer stove you ever want to light. It contains the fire as well as concentrates it for faster cooking or boiling.

Since we have started making and using the thing we can say there are as many variations on it as there are people that try their hand at making them. And there are sights you can get info on them too.

We had the camp cook saving the cans for us during the week. If you have one of those can triangle hole punchers they make tidy little holes all around the can. We punched a couple of holes at the top on opposite sides and make a coat hanger handle for moving it around. I even made a cattail reed handle. One camper took the part that was can opened off , put a coat hanger handle on it and made a little “frying pan”. You can make your own grate by criscrossing wire or hangers.

We made a little cooking implement with a soda can cut open on the side.The campers took some slices of apple, drizzled honey over them and cooked them. mmmmmmm

So you want to make a hobo stove

2009-08-13T17:14:00.007-05:00

I have spent many days cooking over the hobo stove. So I know it works. And its so simple to make its ridiculous. Now one thing I want everybody to remember is that you can do what I do and it works, but every situation is different. So if you see something else that would work use it. The idea is to take these principals and mold them to your situation.

One thing I forgot to mention in the video is where to find these tin cans. Well I found mine in a ally. But they are most commonly found in dumpsters/piles behind restaurants. If unsure you can always go in and ask someone. They usually don't care.

Just a Travelin Man

2009-08-10T19:16:00.003-05:00

Just a little explanation on “why the videos?”. Well Benjamin (the curly leprechaun to the left here) is on an adventure along with his friend Luke and wanted to frugal prosumer it along the way. So we will be waiting on his video blogging and up to the minute reports. Um, well whatever minute he manages to remember to do.

The hammocks in that first video are ones we got when he and his father were into tree climbing. I mean really high in the tree climbing. They are designed to be stable enough that you don’t flip out of them at nose bleed altitudes that make any mother dizzy with fear.

The first day they got them they went way up in a tree in our back yard to camp out (up) for the night. It started to rain and they didn’t have tarps so I did what any cool calm mother would do.I chewed my nails till they landed safely on the ground. And of course it was all fun for them.
So stay tuned. I know I am. And hey Luke, couch surfing would be a great frugal prosumer topic.

You don't need a tree to hang a hammock

2009-08-05T16:57:00.005-05:00

I'm always looking for excuses to sleep outside in my hammock. But when all the trees are on the side of the fence you don't want to be on(mountain lion country) you have to come up with something else. So here's a simple way to think outside the box and not get eaten.

Something else you might want to consider is a big knife and a friend that doesn't snore like a mountain lion.

The Picky Prosumer

2009-07-29T07:00:00.002-05:00

Prosumering has so many benefits. Healthy prosumering functions happily through great relationships. Anyway it is through a couple of those relationships that we were blessed. Blessed to pick as much as we wanted from a friend's cherry tree.

One key to being a functioning prosumer is to be able to drop what you're doing and heed the call of harvest when it comes for it waits for no one. Any farmer will tell you that. I think

So we scampered off to the tree with buckets and belts in hand. Not only was there a ladder already there but both times the weather was lovely. However your work has only begun with the picking don't you know. But we have "tools".

Pictured are some of our tools (all acquired used I might add). The one on the left leaves your cherries nicely whole without the pits and is pretty fast about it. The jar and the one on the right do one at a time but work well.That silver one is fast. If you don't care that your cherries are a bit mangled then it's fine and dandy. The arm and hand belong to a our prosumer friend.

The tray of cherries in the picture are ones I put in the freezer pitted and whole. Then I bagged them up for future pies, smoothies, cobblers and on and on. On a hot summer day pop one of those babies in your mouth and it's like a teeny tiny cherry popsicle.

Happy Prosumering

Bucket Vegies

2009-07-29T06:30:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess some plants don't mind the blood rushing to their heads. Our experiment using the 5 gallon pail is coming along fine.

Now with the warm/hot rainless weather it needs to be watered every day. And that means more fertilizing too. The trick is to water it just enough so it covers all the roots and not so much that it drips through. And since our buckets are white you can see the water flowing down in there.

Speaking of fertilizer, we decided to prosume on that too. Oh sure, you can get a 16oz bottle of fish emulsion at your local fleet farm or nursery or wherever and dilute that to feed your babies. But why miss the face making throat gagging experience that comes with making your own.

Throw some fish heads and innards in one of those extra pails, fill with water and let it sit for a couple weeks (you don't want to forget to put the cover on, trust me). Dip some out and dilute that. Then if you can stand the smell, give your plants their steroid shots.

Now before you crinkle up your nose and protest nasally, John will tell you to put about a 4 inch layer of wood chips in the bottom of the pail and then put your diluted solution on that and the chips seem to hold some of that smell. But we all know that sometimes good things come in smelly packages???????????

The Meter Made Me Do It

2009-06-06T17:31:00.004-05:00

Even though I’ve been known to not want to know I do find knowing can save you money. Take for instance knowing how much it costs to run your toaster, refrigerator etc. Or knowing how much an average meal costs to make.

My Husband (the “why” boy) came across a wonderful gadget that measures kilowatt usage for any appliance. It is called the Kill A Watt. Our library here had one available to borrow. Now we have one of our own. He even started dreaming up a home school study unit using the thing.

So let’s make this practical. In our wild edible and medicinal blog I reported on how to infuse herbs with a crock-pot. So now I will tell you what amount of energy and cost that involved running the pot for 5 hours.

It is very simple to use the Kill A Watt meter. First plug the meter into the wall socket or an electric strip as you can see in the picture. Then plug your appliance into the meter. Operate the appliance as usual.

We are only concerned with two readings. When you press the word Watt on the meter it will tell you how many watts that particular appliance is taking right then. The far right button on the meter has KWH above it and Hour below. When you press that once it will tell you how many total kilowatts you have used and press it again to see how many hours you have been using it. That’s how our particular model reads.

Now, I take a look at my electric bill to see what a kilowatt costs.I just took the total of the electric bill and divided it by the kilowatts we used. It came out to 12 cents a kilowatt. As you can see from the picture for the 5 hrs and 38 minutes the crock-pot was on I used .34 kilowatts. It cost me 4 cents in electricity to infuse my herbs. Ta Da!!!!

The Sucker Run Has Ended

2009-05-27T00:34:00.005-05:00

Sucker, rice, and apple cider (from last years harvest.)

Actually the run has been over for several weeks but here is the report for the year. We tried some new things this year. Usually I would just cooked the sucker fillets on the fire pit after being marinated in soy sauce. This year I decided to be a little less primitive and go to a little bit more work. I marinated them over night in soy sauce and vinegar (thinking the vinegar might dissolve some of the small bones but it didn't seem to make any difference.)

I dipped the chunked up fillets into a flour and spice mix. Then into a batter of eggs and milk. Then rolled them in bread crumbs. (I made these by drying some day old bread we get free from our baker friend on our wood burner.) Then fried them in our cast iron skillet in butter and corn oil. They were so good sometimes I had them with rice twice a day. Yes, they have some small "Y" bones but you learn how to avoid them.

Picture are two of our Free School students who had the time of their life catching their first suckers.

More Frugal Experimenting on the Johnston Homestead

2009-05-26T20:55:00.003-05:00

My mom got one of those topsy turvy tomato planters you see all over the place that grows the plant upside down. We got to thinking that maybe someone had figured how to “home-make” one. A friend googled it and came up with a plan.

We took a 5 gallon pail (acquired through a friend that owns a bakery) and cut a 2 1/2 inch hole in the bottom for the plant to go through.

In the ready made one there is a piece of foam to go around the stem of the plant. I had packing foam that we must have gotten a computer something in and used that. That’s the red thing in the picture. In the other bucket (picture down to the right here) we are experimenting with the black ground cloth instead of the foam.

So, we put the foam around the base of the stem, gently pushed the plant through the hole, filled the bucket up with some light compost and hung it up. Then we watered it.

We'll try to keep you posted on the results. Oh, and one place we hung them was rather windy so John stapled some clear plastic around the buckets and the plants breathed a sigh of relief. So did we.

Another thing, I asked the nursery lady what kind of plant to put in there. She seemed to think that a medium sized tomato is best. Or a cherry type. Then there’s Roma. We are trying a grape tomato and some medium sized ones. Wish us oodles of frugal tomoddles.

Prosuming on Down the Road

2009-05-23T14:16:00.006-05:00

Examples examples I love examples. So here is Ben being a fine example of a prosumer. Heading off to work with his gas saving "truck."

Not only is he going to save money on gas, he is going to be warming up for the job down the road (literally).

To start with, the kiddie trailer was purchased at a garage sale. So was the bike as a matter of fact. We have used this trailer for grocery shopping and any number of hauling adventures. Oh and the occasional child has taken a ride in it.

We suggest Ben tries hauling his surfboard someday. And yes there is good surfing on Lake Michigan. Real Men surf the lakes.

Solar Drying

2009-05-20T18:15:00.007-05:00

I was doing the wash today and thought I would write a bit on our prosumer laundering. Clothes that is. I realize that there are people that don't own a dryer and possibly never have. In our married years we only had access to one for a couple of those years.
We have a friend from the Czech Republic that says she doesn't know anyone who has one there. What a sad situation eh? (eh is Canadian for huh).

But I never thought that I just couldn't live without one. I have included a picture of my solar drier so you can get familiar with the construction of it. Two poles and laundry hanging rope to string between them.

To the right here is what I call "clippy things". This is one of the wonderful pieces of equipment we brought back from Japan with us. So weather conditions pose no problems for me on laundry day.

Dryers take a fair amount of energy and boot up the bill. So this is one thing you can save on by planning ahead and air drying. The added benefit of hanging things outside is that wonderful fresh smell that clings to them.

If you have a food dehydrator on hand and you are in a time bind for those wet socks or well you know.... you can pop those in and crank it up.

I know this may seem all so elementary to some. Why blog on something as simple as drying clothes? Because life is details, details add up, so does energy usage and there are things you can live without if you really need to. And who knows, you may get used to it. Streeeeeech.

Spring Garden

2009-05-07T19:14:00.003-05:00

Remember the empty 4x4 box? Well here it is with some tasty morsels John is munching on. This is Wisconsin, this is cold 'till July and about mid July the snow flies. Not really, but you will notice the glass panels leaning up against the box. Those go on at night and part of the day to warm the soil up. The squares to the right of the bunch of greens have four lettuce in each but they are little yet.

Also, during the day when we have the glass off we put the wire cages over them to protect from those nasty deer. Pretty creatures, but too assuming and piggish.But hey, I figure if we fatten them up....they should oblige us and fatten us up in turn.

To the left in the picture is the garlic I planted in the fall. And what you can't see are the trellises John just constructed for the peas to climb on that are about 4 inches high now. I could have started them even earlier.
Hope this gives you an idea on garden timing for some things.

Frugal! Is it the New Big Thing?

2009-05-04T21:03:00.003-05:00

It seems frugal is now hitting the big times and more and more people are jumping on the band wagon. Here are a some recent articles in the big name magazines. Check them out.

Business Week Oct 9th 2009
The cover of the Magazine is "The New Age of Frugality." Also has an interesting video on a family and how frugality made a big difference in their life.

Fortune Magazine April 20th 2009
Has an artilce titled "Thrifty is the new Frugal". Investment strategist Edward Kerschner talks about how consumers are switching from 'conspicuous' to 'conscious' consumption, according to

The New York Times March 9 2009
The New Frugality: No Passing Fad

Rice is Nice

2009-05-04T16:52:00.003-05:00

At any given week there is a happy parade of people through our house,property,kitchen.I get charged up with the sometimes constant flow. People to teach as well as teach us. Lessons in frugality as well as spiritual lessons or just plain life as it is.

Normally I love to bask in “peace and quiet”. But I also love the electricness (my computer says that is not a word. tough) of the interaction and all. And it seems that right around eating time is the interacting hour of choice.

I take care of that with the number one most used appliance in my kitchen. No, it’s not the dishwasher. He’s not always around. It is the most honorable rice cooker. We bought it brand new in 1993 (what? that’s not frugal you screech).It is if your tools save you time and money.
Anyway, It goes non-stop around here and sometimes a couple loadings a day.The rice comes out great.

Mostly people like to squirt some soy sauce on and go with it. It's the type of food that can stand on it's own or take a little topping here and there. I break out the canned tuna or chunk up some veggies or cook up some onions.

There's not a whole lot of expense involved and you have a happy bunch of tummy tappers. Why just the other day I had 7 to 8 people wearing the lid out on it. I threw some canned tuna into the mix as well as some left overs that hadn't turned green yet. John broke out the pickled bamboo shoots with chili’s. Gary ate the chili’s.

The rice cooker is an easy appliance to use and clean. You measure the rice in, add the water to the correct level, insert pot in cooker, close lid, push down the start button and that’s it. No fuss, no muss. I like the added benefit of the keep warm setting on mine. It will keep the rice warm for hours without any adverse affect.

We discovered the wonder machine when we lived in Japan. I think “not having a rice cooker” has got to be a crime over there. Anyway, once we learned of the benefits we sold the one we had before we returned state side and used that money to buy a replacement here. Found just what we were looking for in our local oriental store . Same brand and quality.

There are a lot of rice cookers out there now but not all are created equal. Not all have the capability to keep warm for hours without damaging the rice. So be picky if you are going to make this a major appliance in your house. Ours is a Tiger brand. But there are others. I like the Japanese makes myself.

The Balanced Frugal Prosumer by John

2009-04-29T19:27:00.002-05:00

One thing The Frugal Prosumer understands is balance. Being too frugal or not frugal enough can both keep you from living free. A slavish dedication to being a prosumer may not be the most frugal way. Let me show you how this works out in our life this week.

It’s the first really warm day of spring. Bad mistake thinking I would get some writing done on my book. From nine this morning till 11 at night we had 17 people drop by. We fed over half of them. Not so frugal with time or resources? That depends. Whatever, we had a blast. As I was stressing out about how I wasn’t getting any work done I realized what a blessing that I was free to spend the time with people and have such good fellowship.

In the end: People helped me clean up the yard and put up some firewood. We had a blast chasing suckers up and down the river (a new experience for many). We caught a dozen of these one to two pound fish which we promptly cooked up on a camp fire and ate with rice. To this we added food that people brought, cooked up some turkey brats, had day old toast and doughnuts that our baker friend dropped off, drank some apple cider from last years press.We had a feast.

"Contain" Yourself

2009-04-27T22:14:00.005-05:00

I have a little cottage industry where I make and sell herbal salves,lip balms,body creams etc. I am always on the look out for things to put my products in.The frugal/healthy part of this is that you are in control of what goes into what goes on your body.If you’re just making it for yourself you need not buy new containers.

Yesterday I spent a fair amount of time searching the bottle and packaging sites for the best deal on containers.Over all there was not a huge price difference. Some would sell the jar with lid and the shipping was more. Some you had to buy the lid separately. Of course I’m looking for those few more cent savings.

This time I am on the look out for sample containers. Try a little, you’ll like it. But I don’t want the thing to cost tons. And I am not adverse to recycling either. However at the craft store I came upon empty paint containers. Little bitty ones like the size you get in a paint by number. 12 to a pack for 3 bucks. At that price I was up near the better deal I found on the Internet. I know that if I were to buy them by the thousands I would come out ahead but I’m not that big a production yet and anyway I am a tad bit short on the funds.

With the added savings that a coupon provides I come out way ahead. I can go on line, print one out and have that pack at a fraction of the cost. Oh glee, oh wringing of hands.

Here are some of my resources for the containers I use. They have all been very efficient, prompt and satisfying:

SKS bottling and packaging (no minimum)
Specialty bottling (no minimum)
CPN (they have a 10 dollar fee for under 50 dollar order)
Sunburst (no minimum)
ebeehoney.com for a better deal on lip balm tubes
my mom, friends, thrift store, the craft store (specifically, Hobby Lobby)

Gardening Time

2009-04-23T20:56:00.004-05:00

It’s frugal prosumer gardening time. Actually, it’s anyone gardening time. We choose to do it the four foot square way. We now have 21 boxes prepared for planting. But wait, 4 of them already have the last year fall planting of garlic coming up. One of them houses our chocolate mint. Two are holding various greens. Half of one is stocked with peas who have been peeking out within the last few days. Well, one of them has two gorgeous rose bushes and two have strawberry plants. One has 5 chive plants. So the rest are yet to be planted.

This is the second year of intense experimenting with what grows well here in the north by the lake in a flood plain. And I must say that the chard did well last year. Along with the peas, salad greens,cucumbers,kale,carrots,beans and what have you.

We have found this 4 ft. square gardening to be efficient and easy to care for. With good size paths between we can get wheel barrels and lawn mower down. But at the end of the summer last year we came across a good load of wood chips that made both us and the wood chipping man happy. So now we have raised the land up a bit and have weed free paths.

The picture shows you my tidy box with what I planted today. Well, you can’t see see them. This box has spinach, lettuce, kolorabi, radishes.

The seeds are shivering in their earthy little beds. But listen to this. Being the fine parents we are we provided our babies with a heating system. John covers the box with windows he got somewhere on his frugal prosumer outings. It toasts them up during the day and keeps the wind off them at night. I planted one box of greens a couple days before Easter and when I came back a week later they were showing up. And that’s because of the glass. If ya don’t have glass then just make a wood frame and staple heavy clear plastic on it.

Valuable resource of the day: All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

More to follow on the progress of my garden. And don’t be afraid to ask me about it or share your thoughts and gardening experiences.

Gone Fishin

2009-04-08T12:42:00.005-05:00

It is the time of year where fish swim in more places than the river. They weave themselves in and out of John’s thoughts and wanderings as he is faced with that ever-present thread of water winding it’s way around two sides of our property.

This year it has been proclaimed that we will can the suckers. That’s not slang. Suckers are fish. I remember times when I accompanied John on his night sucker hunts. He would wade into the water and be bumping into the things. They made a sound like kissing the top of the water. I even have a fairly descent recipe that I will share with you here.

One thing about fish runs. When they happen they happen and you drop everything to get to the putting-up. So that book we’re writing may get put on hold but hey we’re only practicing what we’re preaching.

Not so much suckers, but carp, are somewhat considered “trash fish”. Common, plentiful,difficult to eat and kinda ugly. So one is scoffed at when they actually speak of catching and eating. One day we were walking the river board walk and came upon a man geared to the hilt. We asked him if he was catching anything. In a lovely English accent he said he was fishing for carp. Now this guy had expensive equipment.He told us he had heard that this area (here in our little ‘ol town?) was some prime fishing for his beloved carp.Trash fish!? What gives? Well, let’s just streeeetch here. In other countries (that are not 3rd. world I might add) people are not of the same opinion. Our trash may be another persons delicacy. Anyway John felt a bit better after that (not that that mattered in what he would do anyway). I think it was more that what he had read about and experienced was proving true.

So prosume those rivers and lakes while the fish swim and reap a bit of relaxation out of it while you’re at it.
Recipe.......
Clean and rinse fish and cut in pieces at least 1" shorter than the jar length
Pack in raw fish with skin side next to the glass
To each jar add: Quart jar (pint jar)
2 teaspoons salt (1 teaspoon)
3 Tablespoons white vinegar (4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 Tablespoons tomato juice (3 Tablespoons)
Do not add any other liquids or oil
Process in a pressure caner at 10 lbs. for 1 and 1/2 hours

Why we're taking up space

2009-03-31T00:59:00.012-05:00

Hi! We're John and Mary Johnston the authors of The Frugal Prosumer Series (Tips and Tricks to Securing Your Financial Future).

Over five decades John has earned degrees in marketing, business, and education, taught, worked in cities around the world, started small businesses, and counseled financially over 1,000 individuals.

We've experienced some of the richest economies and some of the poorest. We've had the opportunity to interact with people of many cultures and have gained from them invaluable knowledge of financial principles. We have discovered some universal financial truths that work in all times and all cultures.

Along with our son Benjamin, we live in Wisconsin. We are working as a team experimenting and implementing The Frugal Prosumer principles that we teach and write about.
This blog is based on our experiences. Our desire is to improve the lives of people by empowering them with knowledge and truth that can free them up financially so they have time and resources to follow their passions and make positive changes in this world. Our vision and goal is not only to help individuals, but to teach them how to help others.

So why are we taking up your precious time and air space? Because we obviously feel we have something of value to share with others.And we think others have something of value to share with us. Hopefully it will generate experiences from readers to help people along in their frugal prosumer journey. And maybe it will help others to take a look and realize they can do it too.
It’s really hard to know where to start with this. I(Mary) could start with my own parents who had to manage 7 children. I don’t remember any heart to heart talks on frugality or prosumerism. They just lived it.

John’s parents were very much the prosumers. Living as missionaries in a place that begged creativity and make do-ness instilled in him some skills. Or at least permission to live deliberately. When everything is there for you I believe you lose the opportunity to make the choice and take personal responsibility. We do our youth a disfavor by taking the easy way out and “supplying” for them. How many of you had to scrimp and save and furnish your first home with curb side furniture when you were first married? And didn’t you just love it? The Value was in the adventure and making due and doing something together. Frugal Posumering that paid off.

We’re going to let you take a peek into our life journals and glean from them. We’ll even give you permission to say “NO way”. That’s okay.