My New and Improved Push Mower

I know.... I know....  It's stupid.  It's dangerous.  But its pretty awesome too!   I've been clearing some land around my place and this thing is great for cutting paths \ trails.   It cuts down small trees, vines, brush like no other.  There is no finer thing than turning something that was otherwise useless into something that is extremely useful and somewhat bad ass!!  I suppose I could have spent 10 grand on a real brush mower... But this thing is doing the trick quite nicely so far.  :)

I do not recommend you try this at home...  I keep telling myself that its only dangerous to the people standing in front of it.

Save Big Money on Detergents, Soaps, and Cleaners

I recently became irate over the monthly cost of soaps and detergents my household was using.  "Surely there is a better way."  I thought to myself.   I began to read articles people have written on the topic, and decided to do some real world experimentation.  The recipes below have worked for my household.  We are saving a good deal each month, and I hope that you will find these useful...

Dishwasher Detergent Recipe:

1 Tablespoon 20 Mule Team Borax

1 Tablespoon Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 Tablespoon of "LemiShine"

Put it in the dishwasher and run like you normally would.

(You can mix larger batches and store in a dry place.  I mix 2 cups of each ingredient and store in a plastic container.)

Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe:

1 Bar of Ivory Soap

1 Cup 20 Mule Team Borax

1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

5 Gallons of Water

Instructions for Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe:

1. Shred the Ivory Soap (or equivalent no-name brand) into fine shreds with a cheese grater.
2. Warm up, but do not boil, a pot of water.  
3. Drop in the shredded soap.  
4. Stir slowly until soap fully dissolves.
5. Put about a gallon of cool water in a 5 gallon bucket.
6. Dump pot of hot soap water into the 5 gallon bucket.
7. Add 1 Cup of 20 Mule Team Borax and 1 Cup of Arm & Hammer SUper Washing Soda into the bucket.
8. Stir until slowly until all is dissolved.
9. Fill the bucket the rest of the way up with warm water.  Stir throughly.
10. Allow mixture to cool.  
11. Store in gallon jugs, soda bottles, etc.

(Use approximately 4 ounces per load of laundry.  This recipe should be enough for over 100 loads of laundry!)

Fabric Softener:

Add 1/4 cup of White Vinegar to the load.

Liquid Hand Soap:

Heat up but do not boil 1 gallon a water.

Grate 1/2 bar of Ivory Soap or equivalent no-name brand.

Stir the grated soap into the gallon of hot water.

Once fully desolved add 2 more gallons of water to the mix.

Stir well, and allow to cool.

Store in jugs.  Refill your dispensers as needed.
That's 3 gallons of hand soap for under $1.00!!

Reduced My Cable Bill... Bigtime!

I have been a cable subscriber for many years now.  Cable is the viable choice we have for Internet Access in the area we live in.  I was happy paying my $58 bill each month for Internet and Basic TV... But one day I came home and found a cable bill for almost $100 dollars in the mailbox.

"This can not be."  I said to myself.  But a quick call to my cable company confirmed it.  They had practically doubled my bill, and they did not seem to want to negotiate the price.  So...  I decided to make some changes.

 

1. I bought an HDTV antenna.  No more paying for TV stations.  I get about 20 channels.  And the programming isn't bad at all! 
2. I evaluated video streaming options...  Still thinking about it.  Services like Hulu.com offer streaming of TV shows etc.
3. I bought a new cable modem.  (It seems that I had been paying a modem rental fee of $7 per month.  According to my calculations I have paid over 600 bucks in rental fees for a 54 dollar modem!)  The new modem will pay for itself in no time.
4. I called my cable company and discontinued my TV service -  keeping only my Internet Access.
5. I activated my new cable modem and returned the one I had been renting back to my cable company's local office.  No more $7 rental fee!

My cable bill is now $39.99!  I can live with that!

Now...The cable company keeps calling me to offer promotional packages.  Essentially they want to rope me in for some low price for 3 months, then jack the rates up again.  No thanks!  :)

Lessons Learned:

• Never rent when you can own.
• Never pay when you can get it for free.
• TV is mostly just background noise in my home.  We hardly ever sit down and watch TV shows.  I can honestly say I do not miss cable TV at all.  Cable TV is so infected with commercials that it is difficult to grasp what you are watching.  In fact the things we watch now are more to our liking!
• Beware any promotional offering... It is merely a ploy to get you on-board so that they can increase the price later. 

Heating with Wood - Simply the Best!

For the past decade I have been spent my winters in a cold house that used heat pumps as the primary source of heat.  Let's just say that heat pumps leave a lot to be desired.  My gas logs were equally disappointing and costly to run.

I got tired of freezing last year and experimented with a rocket stove.  The rocket stove did a fair job of heating the room it was in...  But I still needed more.

This year I broke down and installed a wood stove.  Firewood is everywhere right now for free after hurricane Irene, so I figured this would be as good a time as any.  I installed a new 6 inch Duravent chimney.  (This was no small project as my roof is high and steep.)  I had to get some help with this because it was beyond the scope of what my ladder can do.

I built the hearth pad myself.  4 layers of cement board, a sheet of 1/16th inch steel, and concrete paver stones surrounded my a 2x4 frame stained with mahogany.

I picked out a Vogelzang "Durango" stove.  Caught it on sale for a good price.  I wanted a good free-standing stove... This one fits the bill perfectly.  I get some pretty good burn times out of this stove and it really cranks out the heat once you get it going.  Keep in mind that you need good seasoned wood to get heat from your wood stove.

One more thing to note...  In the stove pipe mounted above my stove I put a device called "Magic Heat".  This is a heat exchanger that captures heat from the flue gases and circulates room air through the heat tubes.  This device really boosts the performance of the stove setup.  I'm a really pleased with it.

The results speak for themselves...  Last night it got down in the 20's.  It was toasty in my den.  The rest of the house was about 70 degrees.  My heat pumps are OFF for the winter, which should cut my electric bill down significantly.  The stove will pay for itself quickly.  I am shooting for an electric bill of around 80 bucks (or less) per month this winter.  :)

All I have to say is... After a decade of runny noses and cold feet this thing is awesome!!  It adds some magic to the home, and seems to bring people together, and the comfort of wood heat is like no other.

What's New?

Sorry for the delay in posting...  I have been a busy boy lately.  I recently changed employers and have found a new lease on life.  :)  It is so nice to have a change of scenery.

So whats new around my place?  Well, we are still maintaining the ~50% cut on the electric bill.  We are getting ready for winter.  The rocket stove got moved outside because the room it was in was repurposed... I think it is going to become a patio heater!!

Hurricane Irene blew through and made a real mess, but one man's mess is another man's treasure.  Firewood is abundantly laying on the ground everywhere.  I will be buzzing up a few cords of wood for storage very soon.  I will post pictures of my stove install once it is done.  I can't wait to feel that wood heat in my house.

Also, I have been looking into the possibilities of building a low tech cottage like the one over at "Year of Mud".  The concept of building a dwelling from natural materials really interests me.  I feel that we as a nation have been sold a bill of goods of consumerism.  Just think about it...  Building a home for next to nothing?  That is just awesome.  Check it out...  This site literally set my mind on fire with ideas!

I will post more "stuffs" here soon...  Stay tuned!!

Zombie Economics - A Guide to Personal Finance

Books about personal finance are usually boring and monotone. Zombie Economics - A Guide to Personal Finance, by Lisa Desjardins and Rick Emerson takes a new approach. It spoon feeds you information in ways that you can easily relate to. It is easier to think of bills and burdens in terms of ghouls and zombies. This book helps you to visualize slaying your debt, and fighting off hordes of bills. Zombie Economics is an in-depth yet easy to understand compendium of proven methods to gain financial freedom!

Zombie Economics will teach you to be your own hero. This book provides great advice for virtually every form of financial hardship... It covers getting to know your financial self, hardships such as unemployment, debt relief, savings, and shows you in simple terms how to get your life in order. Zombie Economics also tells us how to protect ourselves from future threats so that zombies will never find their way into our lives again!

Everyone faces some form of financial difficulty in day to day life. There are many people who walk through lives each day as zombies without even knowing it... Are you infected? Are you one of the many who has no control over their own money? Are you able to pay your bills? Do you have a savings plan? Do you buy things you don't need or want? Do you fall victim to deceptive product sales? Do you have zombie moochers in your life? Do you sacrifice your own financial well being for others with parasitic intentions? Do you find yourself saying YES to people when you'd rather be saying NO?

You need to know the signs of infection. You need to protect yourself and your loved ones. Zombie Economics will help you become stronger and give you the weapons you need to fight off the hordes of financial challenges in your life. Prevent further infection... Get Zombie Economics - A Guide to Personal Finance and prepare yourself for the fight of your life!

Review: Black and Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor

I just installed a Black and Decker EM100B Energy Saver Power Monitor devices on my electric meter.  I found them on sale on Amazon and got it for next to nothing (under $30).  All I can say is... "Wow... This is what the electric companies should be giving us instead of the crappy meters they give us."

The unit installs easily.  I think it took me about 5 minutes to get it up and running.  It requires 4 AA batteries (not included).  I was actually surprised at how easy the installation was.

The data that the unit displays is very useful for people like me who are trying to cut their expenses.  The EM100B shows current usage and also estimates how much you are spending on electricity.  You can use the device to identify potential energy hogs.  For instance, I found that while my heat pumps were running it was costing .45 cents per minute.

I would highly recommend the Black and Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor to anyone who wants to spend less on electricity.  This device can pay for itself in no time!