The bidet story

After mastering the art of cloth menstrual pads, I wanted to try using a handheld bidet. I know, you’re probably going “yuck!” but hear out my reasons for wanting to use a bidet.

First, it’s environmentally friendly. Just imagine the amount of energy that goes into producing all those toilet papers vs half a gallon of water or so needed to use to the bidet. By the way, I turned my toilet into a low-flow one simply by dropping a couple of filled water bottles into the tank. So, I shouldn’t be using much more water than before.

Second, it’s more hygienic. Washing wins hands down over wiping, anytime.

Third, it saves me money, time, and effort! No more hauling those humungous stacks of toilet papers from the warehouse stores.

Fourth, I think it’s really cool. I have a cousin who lives in Tokyo and she was telling me about the electronic bidet she has in her place. Apparently, this thing has a heated seat, deodorizer, two water nozzles, blows warm air for drying, buttons galore to control water pressure and temperature, and it even has a remote control! I told her I’m gonna go visit her just to look at her bidet

DF installed the handheld bidet I ordered over the net last weekend and I have been trying it out. I’m still trying to get past the ick factor but everything seems to be working out okay. I say maybe in a couple more weeks I’d be completely switched over. Once I get really comfortable using the handheld bidet, then I’ll think about investing in one of those fancy smanchy electronic bidets just like my cousin’s.

What to do with old textbooks?

I have a bookshelf full of my old college textbooks. They’re big and heavy and I’m very attached to them. No, I don’t use them everyday. I say attached to them because they bring back memories of my college days such as cramming, group studies, all nighters, etc. I’m a big fan of tabbing chapters and important sections with those small post-it flags. I use a variety of colors, mostly neon so my books look pretty colorful and easy to navigate.

I also remember paying bucco money on these books and I can’t bear to just give them away. By now they’re not the most current edition anymore so selling them on-line will only get me a few measly dollars. I’m sure I’ll keep my math books and photographic atlases. Math books don’t change much anyway. Algebra will still be algebra a few years from now. BTW, I found an old quiz I took a few years ago for Calculus II in which I scored 10 out of 10. I’m not really good with math and I probably kept that quiz because I hardly get perfect scores in it. So, I was looking at this quiz and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what the heck I did. I wrote all the steps out but I still couldn’t remember what it was about. Oh, well. It’s not like I use Calc in my day to day activities.  

Anyway, so I have all these scary looking textbooks (mostly sciences and math) and I’m not sure what to do with them. They’re in the guest bedroom right now until I build enough courage to let them go. Even then, I wouldn’t want to just throw them away. I’d like to donate them to a place where they would at least be used as a reference even if they’re not the most current edition. Anybody know of such a place? Don’t tell me the library because I already checked and the local libraries here only want current edition. They’re very snooty like that.

Picture by wonhai.

Diplomacy pays

So, the neighbor with an invasive plant finally hired an arborist to get rid of the shrub/tree. It was there one day and it was gone the next. I’m so happy. The tree person treated the stumps with chemicals that is supposed to be systemic and will kill the entire root system. I was afraid I’m going to have to chip in to pay for the arborist but nope, they didn’t ask a penny from us.

Although we were very annoyed at them, we tried very hard to be civil towards them to keep the harmony in the neigborhood. I’d like to think that they took care of the problem because it was the right thing to do but I wonder if it was also because of the way we approached them? I think that they would have reacted differently if we were mean and nasty. It’s interesting to see how a little bit of diplomacy could go a long way.

Eating out in expense of others

DF and I eat most of our meals here at home to save money and to stick to our budget. But thanks to generous employers, DF and I are still able to eat out from time to time. DF’s employer is more generous than mine and he gets to eat out at least 2-3 times a week. As for me, I get free breakfasts once a week at work and at least one free lunch every month.

Without these free “treats” I really think that we would have both busted the budget by eating out. When my contract ends in June, I won’t have this luxury anymore. I don’t think I can totally give up restaurant food but I also know that it could get really expensive. In preparation, I’ll be keeping an eye on some good deals over at restaurant.com and for coupons for places such as Chevy’s and Chili’s. It will also be a good time for me to expand my skills in the kitchen by trying to prepare some of my favorite foods from the restaurant. And, DF can always bring me back some doggie bags :) 

Landscaping the backyard

Our backyard is ugly. The grass has brown spots all over because of our dogs. Yeah, there are weeds in there too. Lots of it, actually. The ground is sloping down and the dogs had made a pathway all around the perimeter of the fence.

DF and I both want to take back our yard. I want it to look pretty and low maintenance for DF’s sake. Afterall, he’s the one who has to take care of it. The only problem is that landscaping the yard is really not in our budget right now. We talked about doing the work ourselves to cut the costs down but I’m afraid it’s too big of a project for us. I’m going to get quotes from landscapers to see if we can afford it or if we just have to suck it up til next year when we have money saved up for projects like this. For the meantime, here’s a picture of the lawn that inspires me.

Bad behaviors should not be rewarded

 Our neighbor has this overgrown shrub/tree that is sending shoots on our lawn. What’s worse is that DF looked under the crawl space and found roots of this plant under there. It’s so invasive we asked the neighbor to cut down and dig out their plant before it cause any major structural damage to both our houses. After some serious prodding on our part, the a**holes neighbors did cut the plant down. The man started digging the roots out and quickly realized that it is no easy task. Quotes from tree service companies were gathered in order to take care of this problem. So far, the quotes are from $425 - $500. I did not offer to chip in not even a penny for this project because it is their negligence that created the situation. 

Why should I pay when it’s not my fault? If anything they should pay me for my damaged lawn (no, I’m really not that petty. I’m just saying). DF asked me if would I fork out half if these people doesn’t take care of the problem because they don’t have the entire $500? I think that’s a tough call. I realize I could take them to court to force them to pay for the entire thing but at the same time is all that trouble worth $250? In addition, by killing this plant immediately, I get some sense of peace of mind knowing that the roots are no longer wrapping around my pipes and perhaps cracking my foundation. Isn’t that worth $250?   

I know bad behaviors should not be rewarded but sometimes, it’s easier said than done. I hope my neighbor takes care of the problem with out me having to chip in or taking them to court.

 

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Saving money on air filter

I went to Lowe’s yesterday to pick up some of those 3M Filtrete filter paper as we needed to change our HVAC filter. It is recommended that air filters be changed every 3 months or so in the house. We changed ours every 2 months because we have two dogs that shed non-stop. Needless to say, we spend quite a bit of money on air filters. The 3M brand is $9, and since we use 6 of those per year, this comes to a total of $9 x 6 = $54/year. Well, no more.

I discovered there’s a reusable, lifetime filter by WEB. I got an adjustable electrostatic one with specs that are comparable to 3M. It is washable, reusable, and high efficiency! The cost? A mere $20. We’ll save $34 the first year and then the full $54 each subsequent year (more if the price of the 3M brand increases). Yay! The bonus is that reusables are much kinder to the environment than disposables. Not only will I be saving money, I will also be helping the environment.

An incentive to lose weight

DF’s closet was a jumbled mess so I helped him clean it out yesterday. We ended up with a tub full of pants that are one size too small for him. He only has a few pair of pants that is his current size. Instead of buying more pants, I challenge him to lose weight instead so that he’ll fit into his old pants. Unfortunately, the health benefits alone of shedding a few pounds is not enough to motivate DF. He needed money (gasp!). So, I offered to pay him $5 for each pound he loses up to 20 pounds in 3 months. 

If he is successful, I will pay him the full $100 at the end of 3 months. I figured that’s still cheaper than having to buy him new pants. As a bonus, he’ll fit again into the pants we stashed away and those are definitely worth more than a hundred bucks.

Although $100 is really not a whole lot of money, DF enjoys the challenge and it’s also nice to have a small reward to look forward to. Of course, I realize he can lose the 20 pounds in 3 months, get paid and then put the weight back on. We’ll be back where we started (but I’m $100 poorer) so I stipulated that he has to keep the weight off for at least a year or he’ll have to pay me back $5 for each pound he gains back. Pretty good deal, huh?

Picture by dave77459.

I heart stir fry

Stir fry is so versatile, easy, fast, healthy, tasty, and very frugal to boot. This is definitely one dish where I can stretch out the meat by adding more vegetables instead. The key is the sauce that coats the meat and the veggies and makes it all yummy. When I’m lazy, I just use a ready made sauce in a jar I buy from the store for like a buck fifty. The entire jar probably makes about 4-5 stir fry dishes depending on how heavy I use it. When I have time, I use this simple recipe to make the sauce from scratch.  

If I make it to the Farmer’s Market, I’ll use fresh veggies. Otherwise, frozen stir-fry veggies are just as good. I usually get these frozen veggies for $1.25 from WinCo. For the meat, I alternately use pork, beef, and chicken. I use about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of diced or sliced meat which is probably about $1.50 on average (cheaper if I’m using pork and slightly higher if I’m using beef).

I simply heat a big frying pan, add a little bit of oil, and stir fry the meat until cooked. I then add the veggies and stir fry until crisp. Lastly, I add the sauce to coat everything and then heat through. Of course, serve over rice. The entire cooking time is less than 10 minutes and the prep time is minimal. I usually get three big servings from this.

Picture by ratterrell.