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Hot Coals Make Good Pizza

4/30/2014

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From Bear:

I've been telling people for years how to grill pizza, so I figured it was time to put up or shut up.  Here are my thoughts on the art of grilling pizza.
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BUY NOTHING CHALLENGE UPDATE- Garage Sales

4/28/2014

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From Theresa:

You may remember that one reason we wanted to try our 2014 Buy Nothing Challenge (BNC) is that we felt our spending was getting out of control, even though we already bought most of our stuff used.  We wrote that "during garage sale season we still look at shopping as a form of entertainment, and we go a bit crazy impulse buying more than we need (because it only costs $1!). Then some of our new purchases clutter our house for weeks before we find a use or a place for it all.”

This weekend was the Mt. Horeb Village Wide Garage Sale days, which we've been going to for over a decade, and we found that, in spite of our BNC, we couldn't resist going this year either.  Even though it's true that we overbuy at garage sales, it is also our only opportunity to get some really useful things at prices we can afford. For us, it’s often either buy it used or we're not able to afford it at all.

So our compromise was this: we would go to the garage sales, but anything we bought would have to come out of our $300 allowances. Since I'm holding tight to what's left of my $300, this made me feel confident that I wouldn't buy anything that I didn't really need, or that at least I wouldn't purchase a lot of unimportant little things that were cheap individually, but added up to a lot of money at the end of the weekend.

Friday

I took Friday off, picked Bear up from work at 1 pm, and we headed to the more than 100 garage sales that were being held in Mt. Horeb.  We both realized that we weren’t nearly as excited about it this year since our spending was limited.  This year would be more about getting things we needed, which is not as fun as feeling the thrill of impulse buying (why exactly is that thrilling?). We also found that as we drove around town we were much more selective about which sales we were willing to get out of the car for.  There is certainly a lot of stuff at garage sales that we do not want and that likely nobody wants, and finding the good stuff is like a treasure hunt. So unlike previous years, we only stopped at sales that looked like they had a lot of stuff to choose from, and that weren’t the houses that held a sale every year (how much good stuff can they have to get rid of year after year?). Bear says that after working 8 hours (and because of the BNC restrictions) the sale had to look very interesting for him to drag his tired butt out of the car. 

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Mixing bowls with lids
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Friday Purchases:

Nesting glass mixing bowls with plastic lids
 (Somehow we broke all our mixing bowls this year.  These are $25 new)
 $8

Futon chair bed (for unfurnished attic room)
$20

Hot dogs, treats (I was too busy gardening
 in the AM, so didn’t take time to eat lunch)
$7.25

Down pillow (Bear's pillows were losing
feathers at an alarming rate) $5

Four Guided Meditation CDs (I am trying to meditate more)  $1

A book on making Chicago Style pizza $1

Bear bought 12 Ultimate Fighting
 Championship DVDs 
$12
Friday Total for Theresa:  $20.75        Friday Total for Bear:  $33.50


PictureOur Chicago style stuffed pizza.
We were both pretty happy at the end of the day Friday.  We hadn’t spent too much, but we had both found something that gave us that triumphant consumer feeling that we had hunted and gathered successfully. For Bear, this was his DVDs that he couldn't find anywhere else for $1. He was done shopping for the weekend.

For me, it was the pizza book. Even though it was only $1, I did debate with myself about whether or not I needed it.  I was introduced to this particular style of pizza when I went to college in Chicago.  We thought we were in heaven if we could afford to buy a stuffed pizza on the weekend.  I’d unsuccessfully tried making it myself before, and the book had procedures I hadn't tried, so I got it. To prove to myself further that it was not a wasted purchase, I went home that night and made a stuffed pizza. It did not taste like I remembered from college, but it was the closest I'd come so far, and I can work on adjusting the flavor to match what I remember.

Saturday

We weren’t supposed to go to garage sales on Saturday, but I managed to talk myself (and Bear) into it.  It was supposed to rain on Sunday, so I planned to stay home and garden on Saturday.  But there was a really chill breeze in the morning, and I was really tired because the cats had woken me up early, so I convinced myself I should wait until the afternoon, when it would be warmer, to work in the yard.  After all our analyzing of reasons to go or not go to garage sales, I remembered that last year during garage sale weekends I had bought a weather station that we had never installed. I pulled it out and found that I needed some pvc and lithium batteries to install it. This necessitated going to the hardware store in Mt. Horeb, so naturally I decided we might as well stop at some garage sales at the same time.  So I used this as an excuse to wake up Bear (at 9 am), and we were off again.

Bear here:  What Theresa didn't know was that I was watching dumb but entertaining videos on YouTube Friday night and didn't fall asleep until after 3 am.  So... on little sleep I could choose to do garden work in the cold or drive around and treasure hunt most of the morning. I would rather drive around, but I coudn't really build up too much enthusiasm about shopping because I already got what I wanted on Friday (those DVDs).

Saturday there were a lot of "might be useful later" opportunities I passed up because I did not want to use up my $300 allowance.  Chances are I will find a use for the stuff I didn't buy and kick myself later. For now, I'm not kicking myself because this is how a lot of money gets wasted without really understanding it's been wasted.

Bear's question:  There's so much stuff that could be useful at garage sales that is easy to store, it's hard to resist buying it.  But is it frugal to buy something you might use because it's cheap now, or is it more frugal to not buy it and take a chance of having to pay full price for it it when you need it in the future?  
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MISC: Cutting board, cheese grater, netting, broiling pan, shelf liner, for less than $5.
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Alarm clock, 50 cents
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4 Mediation CDs, $1; CD player, $1.50
Saturday Purchases

cutting board, sketch pad,
notebook with lined paper, bamboo garden stakes, sturdy small cheese grater,
broiling pan, shelf liner
$4

netting- possible use for new catio, if not, can use as garden trellis
$1

alarm clock designed so that when the cat sits on it the time does not change itself
$.50

fencing, artwork for new catio,
box of wood screws,
bird house in good shape,
PVC for weather station,
3 prong electric cord
$8

snacks $.50

pressure cooker $5

large gallon jar for pantry storage $.25

a better feather pillow  $3

foam wedge for leg elevation during sleep $1

portable CD player so I can listen to the meditation CDs I bought yesterday
during my commute to work $1.50

Saturday Total:  $12.40 each

GRAND TOTAL SPENT BY BOTH OF US BOTH DAYS:  $79.50
From Theresa:  Overall, I don't feel bad about our garage sale weekend. I don't think we bought so much this time that it won't get put to use- I did sleep on the futon chair last night and am already learning how to use the pressure cooker.  And we got some amazing deals, which is ultimately the reason we garage sale. I did some quick checking online to see how much we probably saved.  
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6 liter, stainless steel pressure cooker, $5.
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Futon chair for $20.
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The futon folds flat for sleeping.
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Computer keyboard arm tray, $15.
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Greg Garious passed out business cards in lieu of getting an excessive amount of good bargains.
These were our best bargains:

T-fal Calipso stainless steel pressure cooker for $5 is selling for $80 on Ebay- or if you buy a new one of this quality it looks like they’re well over $100.  The person selling this said he got it from a garage sale, but had never used it.  I also have a very old aluminum one from a garage sale I’ve never used because I can’t figure out how to cook safely with it.  But this one looked newer and appeared to have the safety features I've read about.  I was able to get a manual for it from this website: hippressurecooking.com. 
The website also seems to have a lot of information about why pressure cookers are so great, how to use them, and recipes.  I've been wanting to try a pressure cooker because it cooks so much faster.  Dry beans that take 1 1/2 hours on the stove cook in less than 30 minutes in a pressure cooker.  It may revolutionize the way I cook with bulk items from my pantry. And because it cooks so much faster, it saves resources.  

Futon bed chair, cushion and wood frame, for $20- I had trouble finding a price for this online- similar ones were in Euros, which converted to between $100-$200. We've put this in our somewhat unfinished attic retreat room.  We currently have no comfortable seating there, nor any beds.  The futon chair will help me be able to take retreats before we get around to completing the renovations.

Keyboard arm tray for $15- would be at least $100 new. This will bring the keyboard to the right height to be ergonomically correct for me, which will help the pain I have in my shoulders, arms, and wrists when I type too much.  I’m cheating and calling this computer equipment, which is part of our list of exceptions, so it doesn’t have to come out of my $300.

Greg Garious here (Bear's alter-bargain hunting-ego):  You can't save money in stores by asking, "Can you do any better on this?"  or "What's the best you can do on this?" but at garage sales you can get away with it.  Bartering can be fun.  It's nice to find bargain prices on items I'm looking for:  what are $6 DVDs in the resale store I find for $1. Theresa tells me that I should mention that I am totally shameless when it comes to bartering and will make outrageously underpriced offers on anything, which people are willing to take. Even if something is priced really cheap at a garage sale, you can often make an offer for less and still take your find home.  People often seem to be happy just to be rid of it, at any price. Theresa is sometimes embarrassed by my ultra-bargaining- to which I say "Wah."

Greg was very subdued this year because of not wanting more crap around the house and the BNC, but he did have business cards for our website to hand out, so got to use his gregarious super powers to chat without being greedy.
Why Garage Sales Can Be Good

From Theresa:  Village wide garage sales are wonderful places to shop for deals if you don’t get out of control. Obviously, you can save a lot of money and buy things that are in perfect or near-perfect condition, and often still in the unopened original box. Each town in our area holds theirs on a specific weekend each summer (see their village or chamber of commerce websites for dates).  

We met someone this weekend from Arizona who was quite amazed at the village wide phenomena and wondered if it was a Mid-West thing.  She seemed very excited, but also overwhelmed by the opportunity. There are so many sales taking place at a time that there are often several near each other on a street so you can park and walk to them.  It’s sort of the used shopper’s version of a mall. Here's the map of the 100 official sales in Mt. Horeb (with a few in nearby Blue Mounds), and there are many more unofficial ones not listed:
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Village wide garage sales can be the used shopper's equivalent of the mall.
I also think of garage sales as our culture’s system of wealth redistribution, like a potlatch, if you’re familiar with that cultural anthropology concept.  It’s the richer people who have amassed more goods than they can use, redistributing their wealth by making it available to those of us who can’t buy it in the real mall. 

Some people might find shopping for used items beneath them, but I’m good with it.  I'd rather other people's unwanted items end up in my house than in the garbage.  It's a great form of recycling.

Bear notes that garage sales are also good because it gives our cats new stuff to sniff.
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Inside portion of weather monitoring station bought at last year's garage sales for $10. Similar new versions sell for $70 or more.
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One of the outside portions of the weather station, installed a year after purchase, that measures wind speed and direction.
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Why can't we be good to ourselves without buying things- like relaxing with your family in front of the fireplace instead of the TV?
Why Garage Sales Can Be Bad

From Theresa:  On Sunday morning I felt like finding storage space for all the stuff we bought was more a chore than fun.  Some purchases can take up space for a long time before they get put to use, or end up in your own garage sale. It took us a year to finally install the weather station I bought, and to use a very large stuffed alligator that Bear bought in last year's garage sale finds.

When Bear tried to talk about this year's purchases, he couldn't remember very many of them. I also find that when I return to work after garage sale weekends I can't remember what I bought when my co-workers ask me.  I always take this as a sign that we bought more than we really needed.

There's also a danger of overbuying because you can garage sale on multiple weekends in each town's village wide garage sale. In previous years we've given ourselves a set amount to spend for the season, but ended up spending that amount each weekend instead.

We did buy some things on Saturday that we didn’t strictly need, because they were so cheap, and we were both surprised that our grand total for the weekend was $80, showing that the little purchases really do matter because they add up unexpectedly.  It would have been easy to double our total if it wasn't for the BNC, and we both acknowledge that we've probably spent hundreds of dollars at garage sales in previous seasons.

When I tell people that I'm not buying something because of our Buy Nothing Challenge, including people at garage sales, they often respond with something like, "But it's okay to buy a little something for yourself sometimes" or "you need to splurge on yourself sometimes." But why is this true, I want to ask? It seems a peculiarly consumer driven attitude. I agree that most of us probably need to treat ourselves better than we do, but why does that mean we have to buy ourselves something? Wouldn't it be better to give ourselves time? Why can't it mean we decide to take a nap on Saturday afternoon instead of cleaning the house, or relax in long, hot candle-lit bath, or cuddle with our partner in front of the fire instead of watch TV on Friday night?  I think we're taught that buying things will make us happy- but I don't think it's true.  I think all the little somethings we buy for ourselves add up to a lot of money that hurt our budgets and make us unhappy.

Our Conclusion

Like many things, garage sales are good in moderation.  We got some great deals, and we didn't use up the $300 allowance we each have for the year. Here's where we currently stand with our Buy Nothing Challenge- the year is more than one third over and we've spent:

Theresa  $ 117.40
Bear        $ 145.53
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BUY NOTHING CHALLENGE UPDATE- April

4/6/2014

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PictureOur first new computer in decades.
From Theresa:

In the excitement of posting all the other information on the website, we’ve been a bit remiss about posting updates on our Buy Nothing challenge (BNC), although we have been keeping the BNC page updated with what we’ve spent so far from our $300 annual allowances and what we’ve decided to add to our list of exceptions.

Generally, the challenge has been going really well.  I do continue to feel relieved when I realize we aren’t wasting money in small increments on things that aren’t really necessary.  This has made me feel much better about the big purchases we’ve made, including a new computer.

New Computer:  Our old computer used the XP operating system, which is no longer supported, so I could no longer remote connect to my job.  We spent $750 on a new computer and printer, which we had to put on the credit card, but I know it will get paid off soon because we aren’t spending money on anything else.  We’ve been using hand me down computers from our friends for the last twenty years, and it’s been a bit of a revelation to buy a new one, which are no longer as expensive as they used to be.  Once I get everything set up and working, it will remove much frustration from our lives.

Conference Registration:  Our other big splurge was the registration fee for me to attend the Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference in June.  Like a new computer, event registration fees are something we’ve never had the money for before.  A friend invited me to the conference, which will cost us $300 instead of $400 because we can stay at her house instead of lodging at the event.  Bear was kind enough to approve this big expenditure.  At first he wanted me to use my entire allowance for it, which I wouldn’t do because I knew there would be projects for which I would need to buy supplies.  But then he decided we could list it as an exception, because he knows it will be a good time for me to experience the energy that is raised when like minded women come together, something I haven’t been able to do much of over the last decade.

Gardening Allowance:  I am having trouble with the $130 limit Bear has imposed on my gardening supplies, which is almost all spent. I talked to him about changing it, but he seemed really angry about how much I have spent on new plants in the past, so I tried to listen to his opinion.  I have spent a lot of money on plants that did not survive, although a certain amount of trial and error in gardening is necessary, especially around walnut trees, but I do also sometimes go a little crazy in the Spring and buy more plants than I have time to plant or end up having room for.  It would be good to stop that.  It’s always hard, since I concentrate on planting perennials, which take 3 years to get established, or longer to provide fruit, so I always want to get them in the ground as soon as possible and sometimes take on more than I should at one time.

Bear wanted me to concentrate on what is already here, rather than buy new stuff.  So that’s what I’m doing this year.  On the one hand, this bothers me, because we sheet mulched a large section of the yard last year which I will now not be able to plant anything in, but on the other hand, I am also excited about being able to pay more attention to what is here- because it does need more attention- especially more weeding while the perennials are getting established. There are also many edible and useful plants in the yard which I have not had time to taste or utilize because I’ve been too busy establishing new sections of the garden.
PictureMy tiny greenhouse for seed starting.
As part of this I decided I should try to grow my annual vegetables from seed this year, because it’s supposed to be cheaper.  I’ve tried to do this before with no success.  I finally read some of my how to books and figured out what I’ve done wrong in the past.  However, it’s taken most of my gardening allowance to buy the supplies I needed to start the seeds.  Fortunately, a friend of mine shared a lot of her seeds with me, so that saved me a lot of money.  I’m not sure this was a wise use of my allowance, because I grow so few annual plants that it doesn’t really cost much to buy them as plants from a nursery.  But if I’m successful, it will be a new good skill to have.  I’ve purchased some tomato seeds that are resistant to the blight, so we should get a lot more tomatoes this year if it works.  I couldn’t buy these particular tomatoes at the garden center.

Not Shopping:  I continue to be relieved that I don’t need to go shopping often.  It still seems like such a waste of time.  I needed 2 foot shop lights to use for the seed starting, but after going to five hardware stores, we could only find 4 foot ones (one store did sell a 2” plant light, but it was of course out of stock).  In the end I had to buy one online, and it cost over $30, even though the 4’ versions in the hardware stores cost under $15.  Very frustrating, bad for the budget, and a waste of a precious Saturday spent driving around.

Not Eating Out:  The biggest problem I’ve having with the BNC is not being able to eat out.  Some nights I really want to go somewhere where someone will serve me great tasting food and clean up after me.  Bear is missing this too, and decided that during his birthday week he could ignore the BNC, so we ate out several times.  What we learned is that some restaurant food really does suck, even at restaurants we’ve been going to happily for years.  I think bad tasting food really stands out much more when you’ve been eating nothing but homemade for months.  We did have really great meals at two of the restaurants, though, so can’t conclude that all restaurant food is terrible and unfortunately can’t break ourselves of the desire to eat out.

Improvement in Our Finances:  Most importantly, I do feel like our finances have improved.  Although our credit card debt is $500 higher than when we started at the beginning of the year, we are about to use our tax return to finally pay off my student loans (after 17 years), giving us $255 more a month, and I got a big raise at work, so I can envision us having everything but the mortgage paid off by the end of the year and having a decent amount of savings in the bank as back up (if I ignore that whole problem of needing a second car).  Then maybe we can start paying down the mortgage. My fingers are crossed.  I remain hopeful, because due to the BNC, I am much more certain that our extra monthly income will be spent exactly as we intend it to be, rather than on things we don’t even realize are draining our finances.


From Bear:

About the computer:  Going more than 15 years without buying a computer is almost pure luck. The first two upgrades for our old computers cost me a 6-pack of beer, then it went up to a case of beer (ah… the old days.)  A few years later we upgraded to a computer a friend no longer needed, which lasted many years. Last year I asked a friend for help to upgrade our computer and he let us have a better computer that was gathering dust in his basement. That lasted less than 6 months before problems started with it. Our computer karma was spent and now was the time to spend cash. Being new, our current computer had better last longer than the “upgraded for beer“ones did.

About Theresa's conference registration:  Theresa needs time with her friends and going to something with them that is also spiritual and helpful is a big bonus. I have no problems spending money on that.

About the plants:  One idea in the BNC is to curb cash spending in areas that we tend to overspend in. Theresa’s weakness is the garden.  Lots of money gets spent on new gardens and the old gardens get neglected due to her getting worn out (mid to late season) and me being lazy (whenever I can get away with it season). 

Rolling in to milking it:  My weakness is buying snack food. I rediscovered how much on my birthday week, which was an exception to the BNC. I could eat out one time (which somehow got changed to whenever I wanted that week) and we came up with a reasonable cash amount I could use to buy stuff with, $25. The day I had off to go to Madison and shop I went to 4 book shops and ate out 3 times. Ironically, the only book I bought was The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper (a dieting book), after which I went to Culvers to get a large chocolate shake. For the rest of March I didn’t pay attention to the BNC when I snacked at work and bought extra gazingas drinks for the road.  I think I spent around $20, but I am not sure. I have decided to take a $50 cover cost / penalty on my yearly allowance to make up for it. Sometimes being honest sucks, and I REALLY miss getting take home food when I am tired. 
PictureOur "catio"- a patio for the cats.
Back to the gardens and projects:
This is supposed to be the year of tending the old gardens and not having big new projects. Yeah right. If it is possible, we are going to expand the catio (a patio for cats) to most of the yard and have an area in it big enough for us to be in a hammock. Why, you ask? Frost is our adopted outdoor cat. We have a neighbor who does not like cats on their property and threatened to trap him. I do not want to take a chance of the neighbor killing Frost if trapping doesn’t work.  So now Frost is an indoor cat, but we want more of the yard to be accessible to him since he's used to being free.  The trick will be to find free or very cheap materials. Another project will be to build a new grilling station in the yard. Since I have a good grill now, this project will probably wait until next summer.

Buying Nothing:  The Buy Nothing challenge is tough.  I slipped a little, but now that I have to admit it in print, I am back on track.  

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Making Syrup from Walnut Trees

4/5/2014

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We've had a very successful sugaring season this year and have posted instructions on how to tap your own backyard trees (there are several types that can be tapped, not just maples), collect the sap, and boil it down to make your own heavenly tasting syrup. We've also included recipes for making two amazing treats: syrup butter and syrup ice cream.  Bear shares photos of his french toast, bacon, and syrup sandwich concoction.  

This year's sugaring season is almost over, but our instructions will hopefully inspire you to be ready for next year.  See:

Making Syrup from Our Walnut Trees
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