If a pot is cooking, the friendship will stay warm
I coralled some friends and whipped up many of the veggies from our rainy day treasures into a hearty ratatouille. Then we roasted the beets, broccoli, and yam for soup. We pureed them along with some turkey broth that I had made from a carcass and frozen. We also made risotto with the scallions, some leftover wine, and arborrio rice I had lying around. Peppered with giggles and cheer, we had quite the repast.
Be fancy
Fancy people enjoy wine and hors d'ouevres, so that's what they serve at fancy clan gatherings. Feign interest in 19th c. scagliola tabletops, and get yourself to that gallery opening. Plus it never hurts to brush up on the parlance of the intelligentsia.
Picnic
In preparation for my picnic this weekend, I went on a food run at Gristedes. Freegan findings: 4 cartons of spinach, 3 boxes meatless buffalo wings, 2 boxes meatless chicken wings, 4 red bell peppers, 2 green bell peppers, 2 apples, 1 pear, 3 bananas, 2 carrots, 1 cucumber, 1 head of lettuce, 2 bags chips, 1 bag of pretzels, and 2 cylinders of biscuit dough. And with the generous aid of some condiments, I had a picnic.
Hospitality Club
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/4107887] I'd like to introduce to you what was probably my best mid-study internet procrastination discovery of 2005. It is called Hospitality Club (there is also a similar organization called Couchsurfing). It's an online network for travelers who want free accomodation (and great experiences) while traveling, and when not abroad, want to offer free accomodation (and great experiences) to travelers. You just sign up for free and make a profile sprinkled with all of your most intriguing hobbies, languages proficiency, location, and whether or not you're willing or able to provide accommodation, meet up for coffee, answer questions, or show people around. Once you've been approved as a member, you can browse the other members from whichever country you plan to travel to. It's a really great way to save money, meet people, and engage in cultural exchange. Hosting is a great way to pay it forward for your future travels. It's mostly young backpackers on round-the-world tickets or finishing study abroad, but one time I had an entire family from Poland stay with me. They wanted their children to see the world, and that was the way they could afford to do it. One guy even traveled for an entire year straight, couchsurfing every night. Being a guest has the obvious financial incentive of not having to pay for a hotel (in addition to a bed you often also get internet, access to a kitchen, sometimes laundry, and so on), but it also offers a way to get to know expats who know the lay of the land or locals who wold otherwise be more difficult to meet if you're staying in a hotel. My most remarkable traveling moments have arisen from simple circumstances turned extradinary through human interaction in magical and mysterious new settings, not from touring musems or landmarks. Join!
Lab Rat
I do love an odd job, and there is nothing more odd than being paid to participate in medical experiments. Any university runs research studies like this and they're always looking of participants. Simple questionairre or computer based tests pay about $10/hr. In college I tried to do it just enough to cover the lunches that I didnt use dining dollars for, that way I never dipped into other monies while on campus. Or if I planned to go to the cinema one night, I would try to pop into the psychology building during a break and catch an experiment. It isn't a terrible sum, but if you're already on a university campus, it's a very simple ways to make some quick cash. The big money though is in more elaborate tests like fMRIs or my gig in the ophthalmology department. There the doctors study balance in old folks and use me as a control sample. They sit me in a padded chair, strap my appendages tight, stick a mouth guard between my teeth, clamp my head down and my jaw up, and insert into my eyes thick hard plastic contact lenses with electrodes attached. Then they turn out the lights, point a mechanical red laser towards my eyes, and flip on the switch to the hydraulic pumps fixed underneath the chair. My body hurls around as I desperately track the laser with my eyeballs. I pretend I'm on some crazy mission in outer space. It becomes a game and I actually get really into winning it. Plus, the better I do my job, the better the control, and the more beneficial the study to the affected population. Also, if you do a good job, they'll come looking for you again. After a job well done at the ophthalmology lab one summer in LA, I found myself fielding calls as every vacation period approached, in the hope that I wold be returning home. After the fMRIs you can ask for printouts of your brain, and the ophthalmology gig provides me with feedback about my eyesight and tracking ability--I might never have known I had 16/20 vision. In addition, you gain valuable information about yourself like how tolerant you are of extraordinarily annoying beeps or how well you can block out dribble on your cheek when you can't wipe it away. It's the little things in life that prepare you.
Magazine File
I was in need of something to hold my magazines, so before heading to the store I poked around the house a bit looking for ideas. I found cereal boxes in the recycling bin and paired them with the leftover suede contact paper in the craft drawer. Got out the scissors, cut the boxes on an angle, used the refuse to make a band to go around the boxes, covered it all in contact paper. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Not the coolest thing I've ever made, but it has great function.
Library Sales
I love the smell of libraries, the hush of its patrons; I love perusing libraries, reading in them. The only problem I run into is that I like to write in my books and keep them on my bookshelves, both to look smart, and so I can go back to my notes and sound smart also. That's how my memory works--it needs its madeleines. So the library shelves are not ideal for me, but library sales: oh what a place for books! 25 cents! That even puts Strand's dollar racks to shame, and the selection is often really great. My dad (from whom I inherited this frugan gene) has even found scads of classic first-editions ($!). Most public libraries have sales, usually every month or two. You can find sales here. In addition to expanding your knowledge whilst saving money, you're also supporting the library, saving trees, shunning land fills, and all the rest of it.
Family Gatherings
After a weekend of chip dipping, cheek squeezing, potato peeling, and picture taking in a place where no one in your party lives (say, this rented house in Napa), a lot of food will have been devoured. In expectation of gluttony, the organizers that be are likely to have over-purchased, and in a hurry to vacate much of that surplus will be tossed. Don't let it happen! Fill ziplocs with ice (yet another gift as long as you reuse the bags) and pack it all up for safe transport.
Dinner party freecycle
If you have stuff to get rid of, why not have a "who wants this junk that I'm getting rid of?" segment during your next dinner party? Everybody loves a party favor.
Shelving
I got these wooden planks from the lumber yard (but preferably would have picked them up off the street or purchased them from a salvage yard), cheap L brackets from the corner hardware store, and plaster screws. Then I stained the wood with stain leftover from the previous tenants. I painted the shorter wood pieces with zero VOC paint leftover from painting our walls and put them up with the same screws and the smaller size of the same L brackets. I found the medicine cabinet mirror on the street. After a quick sponge bath it was ready to throw on the wall and has proven very useful. The project took me the better part of a day, but I learned a lot, it felt good, and cost about $15.
Home.
I got an early start on this frugan thing.
En route
Switching hotels in Paris? Don't waste money on a taxi when it could be spent on steak frites! Instead, throw your suitcase, instrument, and rose onto your rented bicycle and wobble on down the street.
Swim
During blistering summer days, swim in public pools like here at Hamilton Fish. Although, there are no fishies.
Stationery Stockpile
This is a good example of stockpiling refuse for future re-purposing. This yellow note came from a CocaCola tin that I acquired some 10 years ago. When at the last minute I was asked to put together a slideshow, I was trying to come up with a quick tactile way to present my contact info (phone number scribbled to acquiesce to mom's fears of identity theft). As ever, I went to my hold-for-later drawer (admittedly easier to have in Los Angeles abodes than in New York shoeboxes), and found these silly yellow paper slips. Pile that on a sheet of paper with my custom name stamp from 1991 and presto!
Dress Up
Look at how much fun a girl can have trying on frugan clothing. These items are from Grandma Eileen's closet.
Open your arms
This beauty is on loan from the Takal Gallery. When you live frugan, your friends become aware of it over time. They use you as their trash receptacle. And you happily oblige.