Comments on: online services and tools

online services and tools

nickyskye — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:50:16 -0800

200+ Tools for Surviving the Economic Crisis l Free printable Basic Budgeting Worksheet l Building Your First Budget l How To Create a Budget l How to Make a Budget and Stick to It l Frugal Family Recipes.

MetaFilter Wiki: Cooking On a Budget

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:57:17 -0800

The dented-can, fell-off-the-loading-dock, about-to-turn-but-not-yet, and the elderly-vegetables sections of the supermarket has always helped me through times of little cash.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:59:00 -0800

Fast twice a week.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:09:38 -0800

Get a girlfriend who doesn't eat much, and finish hers!

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:11:17 -0800

(No, not finish her.)

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:16:40 -0800

Settle down.

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:16:41 -0800

I'll be just fine. Great-grandpappy is gonna teach me the apple business.

By: jason's_planet

jason's_planet — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:32:01 -0800

Hillbilly Housewife

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:07:32 -0800

I am surprised "bang stick" did not make the list.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:26:25 -0800

1. Cut up your credit cards. 2. Yes, all of them. 3. AND the store cards. 4. AND all your other cards. 5. Seriously, you have to stop borrowing money now and just live on what you earn. 6. I *know* it sucks. 7. Stop blubbing. There's no crying in a recession. 8. Here, just give them to me for fuck's sake. I'll cut them up. 9. Jesus. Are you OK? 10. Dials 999

By: codswallop

codswallop — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:49:43 -0800

The backwoods entrepreneur eternal question: meth, moonshine, or maryjane?

By: adipocere

adipocere — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:20:59 -0800

This thread is useless without a link to the perennial favorite, cruel gruel. "It has a pleasant taste. Drink it."

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:43:44 -0800

Library card. Home cooking. Landline phone. Stop laughing!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:37:46 -0800

Smart Dalek: Library card. Home cooking. Landline phone. Stop laughing! 2nding Library Card: good for not just books, but also CDs, DVDs and the occasional X360 game or CD-ROM in Massachusetts. Land... line?

By: Kikkoman

Kikkoman — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:43:39 -0800

Let's all assume the government won't collapse! Hooray!

By: seanmpuckett

seanmpuckett — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:00:17 -0800

Cable TV vs. the torrent PVR: $80/mo. Drive-thru morning coffee you could make at home: $80/mo. Two crappy table-service meals out per month (with a friend), vs. date-night at home: $80/mo. Another silly gadget vs. making do with what you have: $80 (or more)/mo. Half-a-pack a day vs. your health: $80/mo. Two pints at the pub vs. one pint at the pub: $80/mo. Lunch with co-workers 5 days a week vs. brown-bagging 2 days a week: $80/mo. Biweekly ATM withdrawal of $300 vs. $260 (a tiny stretch): $80/mo. $80 a month is $1000 a year. What could you do with an extra grand? Or two? It doesn't take much to make a big difference in a year's budget.

By: nax

nax — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:36:41 -0800

Library card. Home cooking. Landline phone. Yes, yes. But what can I do differently. Next you'll be telling me not to replace my pre-Intel computer!

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:30:22 -0800

Biweekly ATM withdrawal of $300 vs. $260 (a tiny stretch): $80/mo. Wow. You take out $300. biweekly? I have the sudden feeling these tips are not for me. I've got to go repair some pants.

By: Fuzzy Skinner

Fuzzy Skinner — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:58:29 -0800

Darn socks! No, really, I hate these darn socks!

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:02:39 -0800

Save money by only buying the new MacBook, not the MacBook Pro. Do it for your country.

By: mitzyjalapeno

mitzyjalapeno — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:03:03 -0800

Biweekly ATM withdrawal of $300 I take $20 out of my atm, maybe once every other month or so. What are you buying with $150 a week? I'm assuming this is separate from credit/debit cards. I have to agree with The Whelk. These tips really aren't for me.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:13:29 -0800

fell-off-the-loading-dock, In college we would go over to the Providence train yards, where if they dropped a box of vegetables while unloading, they'd just leave the busted open box on the tracks. We ate a lot of iceberg lettuce.

By: deejay jaydee

deejay jaydee — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:18:39 -0800

the meals on a budget includes this unhelpful warning: "Attention Forum Boards, Bloggers and Webmasters... The recipes on this Web site are protected by copyright laws. . ." so, um, attention Michelle Jones...since these instructions are iterations of ideas or of facts (as opposed to expressions of original language), recipes are absolutely NOT protected by copyright law, as a matter of federal case law. you have absolutely zero recourse if someone copies these recipes and pastes them somewhere else. you may be interested in the united states copyright office's take on this question . . . since my guess is that they would, um, know . . . . . . that is all . . .

By: bonehead

bonehead — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:37:19 -0800

Biweekly ATM withdrawal of $300...I'm assuming this is separate from credit/debit cards. No, this is advocating cash budgeting with little or no use of credit or debit charges. I used to do something similar to avoid bank fees. As a student, I had no monthly fee accounts for my monthly budgeting, but these had few free transactions and high per transaction fees, thus the use of cash. You budget based on what's left in your wallet for the week.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:45:14 -0800

Ah okay, that makes a little more sense. I use a debit card mostly (no credit for me!), but there are no fees for purchases.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:34:03 -0800

That first link is awesome. Thanks for posting; I would have never seen it otherwise. I really think we need some collection of MeFi financial advice; there's been quite a few good posts lately (not to mention answers in AskMe).

By: eclectist

eclectist — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:00:51 -0800

Learn to solder , learn to sew .

By: seanmpuckett

seanmpuckett — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:36:36 -0800

The $300? It's cash budgeting. All groceries, meals out and sundries are purchased with cash. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

By: Belle O'Cosity

Belle O'Cosity — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:43:58 -0800

Can you tell me why anyone would copy those gag-inducing recipes in the first place? Gah. Just go buy Hamburger Helper in all it's salt laden, vomit looking variations and you could replace about two thirds or her so-called recipes. Now if any of them started with, you take your road-kill and clean it, or maybe, skin your rat, I might take her seriously. Inexpensive cooking does not have to involve ketchup or cream of whatever soup. How about black beans and rice made with an inexpensive cut of pork. Or lentils? The French make a wonderful and super cheap stew. The Indians make dal. In general processed foods cost more for dietary value. People say fresh fruit and veg are too expensive. Buy frozen, almost the same nutritional value, much more affordable, and the won't rot in the fridge.

By: Belle O'Cosity

Belle O'Cosity — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:45:31 -0800

Get your rabbits here! Pets or meat.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:23:24 -0800

There's no shame in learning the rules of Double Coupon day.

By: snofoam

snofoam — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:43:52 -0800

wow, adipocere, that was pretty amazing: I am simply suggesting you process all your food in inexpensive, energy-saving ways and eat better than you ever have for less than $10.00 per week. I hate to imagine what this guy was eating before he discovered his unique form of cookery.

By: swift

swift — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:31:38 -0800

I didn't know there was a Mefi wiki (!)

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:43:18 -0800

I hate to imagine what this guy was eating before he discovered his unique form of cookery. Care for some gopher? No, thank you, Delmar. A third of a gopher'd only arouse my appetite without beddin' her back down. Oh, you can have the whole thing. Me and Pete already had one. We ran across a whole... gopher... village. ## O brothers, let's go down #

By: pracowity

pracowity — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:29:12 -0800

Buy nothing except to replace something you need (not just want):

No bars or clubs. Party at home (yours or a friend's). Share audio and video with friends. Make drinks at home for much less than buying them at a bar. And no hitting the clubs after -- stay where you are and dance.
Buy food to prepare at home. If you can eat it straight out of the package, or after just adding water, you're doing it wrong (unless it's a fruit or vegetable). Prepare and pack your lunch.
Don't buy things when magazines tell you to buy them. In fact, don't buy any magazines.
Buy clothes when the current stuff starts to visibly wear out (you will notice before anyone else does).
Buy a new (actually, used is usually better) car if the old car is no longer worth repairing and you can't find a way to switch to public transport.
Vacation somewhere close to home. You may need to escape the house and escape the city, but you don't need to go to another continent. Now is the time for a cabin in the woods or on a lake in your state or province.
Buy only with cash (unless you're getting something you can get only online and with a credit card, but you probably don't need it).
Don't be a slave to the gadget industry. Use what you have until it breaks.

All the rest -- all the worksheets and so on -- is pointless if you can't control yourself.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:58:41 -0800

pracowity, I can check off everything on your list except #2. Sometimes my time is more valuable than the few dollars I can save on food by cooking it at home. We try to avoid sit-down restaurants, though.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:57:36 -0800

One thing we've started doing (more because we're down to one income, than anything related to the economy) is getting the ads for the local grocery stores and then planning our menus for the next week based off of the sales items. There's nothing quite as satisfying as paying $20 for $35 worth of groceries.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:30:12 -0800

Sometimes my time is more valuable than the few dollars I can save on food by cooking it at home. I know exactly what you mean. Still, it is possible to cook real meals a lot of days if you cook enough for more than one meal at a time. Sometimes it takes just as long to make a little of something as it does to make a lot of it. And don't waste a lot of time on fussy stuff. For instance, you can boil a great big cauldron of potatoes (don't peel them, just soak them and then give them a scrub with a brush) really easily and make them work in various ways -- whole, diced in a salad, thrown into a soup, fried with eggs, mashed, with a gravy or other sauce, etc. You can keep them in the fridge for days and you can toss them into tupperware for heating at work. You can make giant things of soup or stew, too, and make it last for days. The main thing is to get yourself nice big covered pots and pans for cooking and the right tupperware-style containers for storing and transporting and nuking it. And nothing beats a sandwich for fast, cheap food. You can slap one or two together in a couple of minutes in the morning or the night before and take them to work for lunch.