Category: Tightwaddery

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To Retire or Not? That Is the Question

Car. Retire a car.

We buy used cars. Always have, and probably always will. It’s worked out pretty well for us, but after 10 years on a car we bought used, even with good maintenance and repair all along, sometimes a moderately large repair bill will start the head scratching.

And so it is now with my Wonder Woman’s car, one of our favs over the decades—very comfortable, good handling, excellent fuel economy, etc. While I agree with her desire to keep it and keep it running well, a repair bill equal to 25% of is purchase price 10 years ago is right at the edge of “noper” for me. Still, worth it for her comfort, and the rest of the car checks out as solid, so. . . I’m looking forward to writing the check. I’ll even throw in the almost worthless Haynes manual as a tip. . . 😉

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Another Lil Bit of Tightwaddery — “Cross-scaling” Tossables

You’ve seen “upscaling” DIY projects. Imagine this as cross-scaling. 😉

I have an indulgence I from which have managed to partially salvage a wee bit of tightwaddery. My breakfast, of late (say, the past few months) has consisted of a cuppa “keto coffee” supplemented with some “glucose control” protein powder (crème brûlée! *heh*). I justify the expense as supporting my nutritional needs hic et nunc, as it were.

But. Yeh, the expense kinda nags at me. So. . . the powder comes in a really nice, thick, resealable Mylar™-lined bag. Hate throwing such a thing away, so. . . wash and dry. Reuse for those long term storage items Mylar™ bags are recommended for, but which I’d otherwise simply store in vacuum sealed bags. Food item in bag (w/oxygen absorber), zip-seal started but not completed, bag in vacuum seal plastic bag, vacuum sealer run, zip-seal finished. Double-bagged Mylar™/vacuum-sealed for long term storage.

Feel less like a wastrel. In this case, less is more. *heh*

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Rational Tightwaddery

My paternal grandfather had a tendency toward tightwaddery that I suppose he would rather have called frugality. One of his tightwad practices simply spread the cost of a moderately good watch out over decades, rather than using up cash flow in one big lump. I wondered about how that worked for years, but finally embraced the principle a few decades ago.

Every now and then, the cheap Timex watch Granddaddy wore daily would fail, likely for similar reasons to why wristwatches fail on me: no matter what the mechanizm or claims of being waterproof or being impervious to this, that, or t’other I “eat” wristwatches. A really nice all stainless steel case “waterproof” watch? Eaten in a couple of years’ use, corroded away. WHen one of his cheap Timex watches failed, it went in a box for grandkids to play with, and he bought another, usually at a local “fell off the back of a truck” store (salvage, overstock, reclaimed, etc.) for quite a bit less than retail.

So, cheap plastic watches for me, the cheaper the better (and oh what a blessing when I discovered “salvage: watches in the $1 bins at my fav “fell off the back of a truck” store!). But when applied as a principle, Granddaddy’s “watch box” can be useful for other items. Take Wayfarer sunglasses (PLEASE!) for example. . .

$200 for a pair of Rayban Wayfarers OR $1 for a pair of knock-offs at my fav “fell off the back of a truck” salvage/reclaimed/overstock/returns store. Hmmm, I think I’ll purchase a few pair while they have them in stock. Should last me a few years. Sweet! They even fit over my glasses!

And now I have 5 pairs of “Stylin’ Sunglasses­™” and $195 left over for other uses.

*heh*

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*smh* Too Much Stuff

A reminder that sometimes “too much stuff” can be “just enough stuff” hit me today. Really nice Asus router (just about all the features I want in a router, mid-range price, etc.) had one critical port–the WAN port–die Christmas Eve. Yeh, getting a replacement not happening, and as for contacting Asus support for warranty claim? Nope. And yesterday was taken up with too much to bother with either, so we’ve been down to swapping the ethernet connection to the cable “modem” between devices. . . that have ethernet adapters.

Started seeing my way clear of Xmas stuff (and a break in wood “waste” cleanup) today and was reorganizing some tech equipment. In the Asus router’s box, found a retired cable “modem” (using one that complies with newer standards) and. . . a lil Netgear router that has never been used, a “fell off the back of a truck store” purchase. (Nah, really overstocks and returns place.) Now, I am not a real fan of Netgear routers, and this one is relatively low end, though it does have multiple antennas and two-band radio, so it’s not all that bad.

So, two is one and one is. . . very close to none, but not quite there, yet, and the local network is now fully “WAN-ed up.”

Sometimes, too much stuff is juuuust enough stuff.

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Moderate Tightwaddery

So, my design for lil kitchen project (transforming a moveable island with a 19”x 36”–with a dropleaf extension adding to that–top to a 44” x 50” top, with 1/2 as a dropleaf with folding legs) needed a buncha nominal 1” x 2” (3/4” x 1-1/2”) bits framing the top, and some nominal 2” x 2” bits for legs.

Buying that stuff precut is more than I wanted to do, so I sacrificed a 1/16” kerf 2 ways and ended up making “good enough” approximations by ripping a couple of nominal 2” x 4”.

LOADS cheaper. When I consider the fact that I’m using a piece of “scrap” furniture grade plywood for the rst of the top, the top isn’t costing me a heck of a lot to make/install. Oh, I did buy a couple of really nice Rockler locking hinges for the fold-down legs, and shelled out for a good piano hinge to run the full length of the drop leaf, as well as some nice plugs matching the finish wood on the plywood (‘cos I’m just gonna screw the top down to the frame, and I want the screws inset and covered), but out of pocket for the top ~$25, instead of buying something pre-made for well over $100 (saw something as nice as what I intend this to come out as for ~$340. Urm, no.).

2-piece top now cut to size. Assembly is next, and there I will get to use the nice DeWalt power miter saw Estimable Son-in-Law gave me for Xmas. Some gluing, clamping, screwing, and then staining and finishing, and that lil project will be off my list. (Oh, there are a few lil additions to make: a couple of boxes on wheels to add to each end of the island; one for a kitchen trash can and another for table linens; new drawer glides for the island’s drawer, as well as a strengthening of the drawer itself–little things)

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Tightwaddery2

Ab out a year ago, I found a belt exactly like the one pictured here ($16) for a buck at a local “fell off the back of the truck store (closeouts, returns, salvage, etc.). I liked the fact that it was extremely adjustable, and since I needed a belt at the time (intentional weight loss, pants falling down, broken buckle on old black belt I had used for years–had LOTS of additional holes punched in the leather, anyway), I purchased it.

After a few months, the part indicated with the arrow broke. Unlike the rest of the belt buckle, it was just cheap pot metal. #gagamaggot

Today, I finally decided to either fix the thing or toss it. So, I used a twist tie to emulate the functionality of the part that broke–a part which worked together with a spring-operated tongue on the buckle to grip notches in the belt.

It works, but that’s about all I can say for it. Still, “it works” is enough for me to once again wear the thing with a pair of pants I bought “too small” which now fall down if I do not wear either a belt of suspenders (or both *heh*)

So, Tightwaddery2, ;cos cheap buy of an item I needed and cheap fix of same item, broken.

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Tightwad Tip #12,826

Well, it would be #12,826–or higher–if I simply wrote down a daily log of tightwaddery @twc central. . .

Anywho, since I’ve not gotten around to adding a hose bib for the back yard, yet (yeh, the place has been w/o one for 40 years, since it was built, 22+ of them under our stewardship, so it’s not a big rush item), and one of our two hoses (needs at least 2-50′ hoses to be useful for back yard) bit the dust toward the end of last summer, I decided to keep an eye out for another one.

Found one. It’s one of those expanding/collapsing hoses. 50′. Just a couple of bucks. Seriously. Even at a “fell off the back of a truck” store, that’s unbelievable.

Believe it. But there was a reason: the rubberized fabric hose sheath had a 1” seam split. Oh Noes! Not.

1. Sew up the split.
2. Coat the repaired split with silicone gasket compound.
3. Wrap that with self-sealing silicone tape.
4. Cover the self-sealing silicone tape with pieces of the “dead” hose’
5. Rewrap with more self-sealing silicone tape.

Tried it out. Looks good.

Even if it only lasts one season, a 50′ hose for under $5 isn’t that bad, but I fully expect it to last longer than that. In fact, I do not expect the repair job to fail at all during the hose’s usable service life.

Oh, the tip? I should think it was obvious: don’t pass up a bargain just because it has one flaw, as long as that flaw is repairable. . . inexpensively (read “inexpensively” as “dirt cheap” *heh*)

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Small Pleasures

Took my Wonder Woman along with me on a jaunt to my favorite “fell off the back of a truck store,” in part to help me keep my expenditures down. Well, that worked well. *heh* Oh, don’t get me wrong, the butcher’s bill was not that bad, even for a tightwad like me, but. . .

She found a Tramontina combo ( one of Tramontina’s triple-ply stainless, small Dutch ovens and an induction plate) for half what I paid for a 12” Tramontina pan seven years ago. . . on close-out @33% off the regular price. Yeh, that was still more than my tightwad heart had set as a likely outing cost, but at less than 30% of the Amazon price for the set, I am able to at least rationalize the purchase, especially since I know I’ll at least be using the pan for years to come.

Used the combo today to make a fritata–potatoes ion bottom, layered with sauteed onion/garlic, corn, broccoli, red pepper, cheese, and egg/heavy cream. Oh, ver’ yummers.

Cooked another one-pan meal with our lil 3-piece Tramontina induction cooking set. Cheesy chicken-broccoli-rice casserole. Yummers. Liking this lil set. (Induction cooker works with the rest of my pots-n-pans, but since it came with such a nice 3-ply mini Dutch oven, no sense in not using it, right? 😉 )

Still even more pleased that my Wonder Woman found it at less than 30% of the Amazon price.

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Tightwad Tip

Like those wet wipe cleaning cloths but dislike (relatively) expensive one-use throwaways? Try this:

One part isopropyl alcohol
one part white vinegar
one part water
a few drops of dish soap
an “essential oil” that appeals to you (optional)
some clean rags (I have a bunch of cheap microfiber cloths I used for my “kitchen batch” of these)
a glass jar with a lid

That’s it. Mix the liquids. Rags in jar. Liquid mix poured on top. When you need a cleaning rag for kitchen or bath, open the jar, take a cloth and squeeze out any extra cleaning solution. Replace lid. Clean.

When you are finished cleaning with the rag/cloth, just launder it and then re-treat.

Isopropyl alcohol is inexpensive, as is vinegar. Cleaning cloths can be as cheap as just about any old absorbent cloth rag. A few drops of dish soap? *pfui* Heck, the most expensive thing, relative to amount used, might be your choice of an “essential oil.”

Pro tip: if you elect to add an essential oil, choose one with cleaning and/or disinfectant properties–preferably both. I added a few drops of melaleuca oil to my cleaning solituon, for those reasons. Oh, and I like the aroma, though it’s a bit faint with so much vinegar.

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The Tightwad in Me LOVES This Site

Ecoprojecteer My paternal grandfather would feel right at home with this guy, too. (Short rabbit trail: Granddaddy could build anything, it seemed, with just hand tools, ingenuity and a little blood and sweat. “Blood and sweat? Yeh. It’s a tradition in my family that any time one of the men does a wood working, mechanical, plumbing or electrical project of any kind, SOME blood must be spilled. *heh* Oh, none of us have yet lost body parts or required surgery for our injuries, but the “blood sacrifice” tradition has held up pretty well. Meticulous care and safety equipment, etc. seem to make no difference. If there’s a knuckle there to be barked on a bolt, it’ll play doggie. :-))

Anywho, back on point, they guy has a bunch of really fun, interesting and CHEAP TO BUILD projects detailed on his site. Love it. This one inspired me to wonder if I could build a cardboard wading pool… 😉

Gottaloveit.