Extreme Cheapstakes

[jcgd]

The freezer on a timer is idiotic unless she gets charged for peak hours. If that's the case, and the freezer can maintain the temperature during the day, it's ingenious. The bottled pee is weird, I agree, but urea is a great fertilizer. I can't see much issue with it. It's hers pee after all. But I wouldn't want to have any of her salad!

I pick up every coin or bill I see, $0.01 even. I'm curious how much I've found in 24 years. Probably close to $100 when you consider all the loonies, toonies and bills I've found. My GF has found multiple $20 bills in the four years we've been together. I should start a jar just found found cash.

[uptoolate]

I didn't think peeing in the garden was crazy or frugal - I thought I was just being lazy - and maybe a bit on the environmentally friendly side!

And as far as finding money... get ready to be finding a whole bunch more - these new bills are as slippery as a greased piglet! I may just have to break down and get a billfold to try to keep them in my pockets.

[andrewf]

One actual reasonable idea for saving money is to convert a chest freezer to a high-efficiency refrigerator. All you need is a thermostat switch, so when the interior temp drops below 3C, the power is switched off. Apparently a chest freezer used this way can be up to 90% more energy efficient than your typical side-by-side fridge/freezer (which are appallingly inefficient--all the cold air falls out whenever you open the door).

I was trying to find out whether you could not power a freezer for 12 hours/day (7 am to 7 pm) without allowing the temp to rise too much that would degrade the food. Even if the food was still safe to eat, you might get increased freezer burn or ice formation. Hard to say. It might be feasible. I doubt it is worth the savings, though. Chest freezers use something like 2 kwh per day. Assuming 1 kwh is used at the peak rate, going from 11.7-6.5 would be a savings of 5.2 cents/day=$18/year. Assuming no negative impact on the food stored or wear and tear on the freezer.

[groceryalerts]

I can't wait to see that show!

It is more "entertainment" but I don't know how they find everyone!