General

Re: Corn Cob Living

mary w. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:18:17 GMT

I have not read the Corn Cob Living section in a while. I alway find something to use, something to think about or something to laugh about. Thanks for all of it. In todays world we need a little of each.

Re: Last Post 5/09--Is Corncob living still going?

Brandy — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:04:29 GMT

Welcome to the community, Fultimers!

I hope you join us in the other discussions we have going on around here.

Re: Last Post 5/09--Is Corncob living still going?

fultimers — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I'm glad I found corncob living as well. I love hearing about extreme ways to save money.

Re: Last Post 5/09--Is Corncob living still going?

ebunni — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:32:47 GMT

glad ya found us fultimers...I don't think corncob living will ever die...seems to get a wee bit more attention in the winter, when someone finds some free wood, etc etc...

ll good ideas...I pretty much do them all...no restrictins here...I love the way ya snuck around that "no clothesline allowed"...I don't understand why any community would have such a thing...in times like this...not using a dryer, seems would save more elet then energy efficient lihgt bulbs...I can understand having dryrs for folk who have physical disabilities or something like that....but to be told..."you can't hang out your clothes" mystifies me...maybe there's a good reason for it...

Last Post 5/09--Is Corncob living still going?

fultimers — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:34:55 GMT

I just found by accident this forum and enjoyed reading through all the posts. Right now our retirement income is stable but could disappear in the future so we have been trying to put as much money into cd's as possible while we still have the income.

Most of the time I hang out the wash on drying racks (outdoor lines are not allowed in our community). I usually hang the shirts and blouses on hangars while wet and put on the shower pole. Wrinkles fall out because of the weight of the water.

One of my corncob strategies is that since we have almost an unlimited supply of free used clothes available to us, I take the ones that no one would want to wear (i.e. stained or torn or out of fashion) and if it's mostly cotton (t-shirts are great) we cut them up into rags and use them as dishcloths and washcloths. Since our supply is constant, we toss them after being used rather than having to wash them.

It's not exactly a corncob strategy but I am an avid couponer and if I can get a product at a lower price than generic (or many times free) using coupons, I do it. I have built up an extensive stockpile and when it gets too big, I donate the excess to charity.

I live in South TX so winters are mild but I had a friend in Indiana whose house was kept at such a low temp in the winter that she would go out to the car on a sunny day and read there. The solar heat in the car kept her toasty warm.

Even though I have a large stockpile of toiletry items such as deoderant and toothpaste, I use the last little bit and even cut open the toothpaste tube to get the last bit.

We live in a semi tropical environment and so there are lots of grapefruit, orange, lemon, avocado, fig, and papaya trees here. My husband asks permission and we gets lots and lots of free fruit that way. We freeze the excess. Right now I am wallowing in avocados up to my ears. I mash them up, add some lemon juice and freeze. When I want to make guacamole later when the trees are no longer producing, I just have to add a few things and I'm done.

We get many free used clothes but when we need something that is not available, we shop the thrift stores quite a bit. I have probably spent $20 on new clothes in the last two years. I even outfitted myself for a cruise using the thrift stores and no one knew the difference.

Right before the postal rates are going to go up we invest in buying as many Forever stamps as possible and this keeps us from having to pay the higher postal rates.

In the summer (we are in an extended heat wave right now where every day is over 100 degrees) we keep the thermostat at 82 usually and turn it higher when we will be away for a few hours. In our mild winters, we don't use the furnace much but use a small electric heater in a room with the door closed.

That's all for now!

Re: Corn Cob Living

Brandy — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:00:18 GMT

cooldrinkofwater:
Some are listed here, but I haven't seen a post about hanging one's clothes inside.

I don't think many see hanging laundry as extreme frugality these days, whether it's hung inside or out.

Re: Corn Cob Living

Edey — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:54:34 GMT

cooldrinkofwater:
As to the question of whether I am cutting back more right now, my DH and I talked about it and were going to, but currently are not working that method. We're just enjoying life right now. By that I mean that we use our dryer and do nothing extreme with the bath water, and just stay within our means.

It sounds like you were doing all the right things. But even in cutting back you still deserve to have some comforts in life, so if using the dryer and saving bath water isn't a necessity for saving money for something like buying groceries, then there isn't a reason to feel any guilt about it. I'm sure you are doing many other things to care for your family and for your community/environment.

Edey

Re: Corn Cob Living

cooldrinkofwater — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:24:07 GMT

I have done many things to try to save money. Some are listed here, but I haven't seen a post about hanging one's clothes inside. We don't have any place to hang the clothes outside, and we added extra shower rods and hung clothes on hangers in the bathrooms. I have also used family cloth, cloth diapered the babies, cloth wipes, and cloth at meals instead of paper towels. One thing I did for awhile to get our water bill down, was to save the kids' bath water and use it to flush the toilets. I actually saved about $15 a month that way. That seems a bit extreme to me, unless there is a need, but we had a need back then. As to the question of whether I am cutting back more right now, my DH and I talked about it and were going to, but currently are not working that method. We're just enjoying life right now. By that I mean that we use our dryer and do nothing extreme with the bath water, and just stay within our means.

Re: Corn Cob Living

sissy — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:49:44 GMT

cheap way to have a cord of wood huh???

Re: Corn Cob Living

babs — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:58:53 GMT

I like the idea fo drying the corn cobs and using them to start fires. I will be trying that. Last summer , I froze 4 bushels of corn , at 60 ears to the bushel, that is a lot of fire starters. Corn cob can go in the compost but take a few years to break down. Babs

Re: Corn Cob Living

Brandy — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:29:10 GMT

littlepitcher:
The corncob toilet paper is a bad old backwoods joke concerning a certain type of deviance, often but not always male

These discussions took place several years ago, in 1999 to be exact. His posts were very serious in tone and he posted hardcore messages on self sufficiency and survalism. He believed in preparation for Y2K. He wasn't the only one with the world is coming to an end, we should prepare message. It got fairly common for a bit as people were in a panic over what might happen and how life as we knew it may come to an end with computer systems shutting down.

As odd or extreme as the discussions and tips may have seemed from that time, some really good stuff came from them and some people made positive adjustments in their lives that continue today.

I do wonder where that poster went, what he is doing today and how he feels on the actual events of Y2K and today's falling sky concerns but I guess I will never know. I'll just have to enjoy what he did leave me with...a greater understanding of self sufficiency and the quest for how far I am willing to go.

Re: Corn Cob Living

littlepitcher — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:56:54 GMT

The corncob toilet paper is a bad old backwoods joke concerning a certain type of deviance, often but not always male. Tell him not to throw the cobs in the sour mash after he uses them, and give him a good laugh.

Re: Corn Cob Living

sissy — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:57:16 GMT

I think its better for me to study that brandy there is a lot of things I don;t know specially this thanks brandy.

Re: Corn Cob Living

Brandy — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:25:12 GMT

sissy:
I think I got it some back wood hippie thing...

I don't know if the guy who suggested it was a hippie, a survalist or just hardcore frugal but he had some wild ideas on self sufficiency.

Re: Corn Cob Living

sissy — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:41:42 GMT

corn cob with toilet wipesWellll OKEEEEEEE I think I got it some back wood hippie thing...