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• Recycled toilets and other strange ways to save money

  Posted Aug 26 2008, 12:58 PM by Karen Datko
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  Filed under: extreme savings, saving, dining, Karen Datko
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  "Captain Frugal" may be a crazy Brit, but he's familiar with that quaint U.S. custom of recycling old toilets as outdoor planters. That, and using old bathtubs as lawn art -- "You can put it next to the toilet!" he observes -- are among his "10 of the strangest things people do to save money" at the Money Saving Blog.

  As he says, "Some people do some pretty weird things to save the green."   Read More...

  Discuss ( 4 comments) 1,338 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• DIY: This home-brew is for you

  Posted Jul 14 2008, 02:05 PM by Karen Datko
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  Filed under: extreme savings, saving, dining, Karen Datko
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  With American icon Budweiser becoming a foreign-owned brew, and the cost of hops and other ingredients driving beer prices up, maybe it's time to get downright domestic about beer.

  Honestly, folks, it's not that difficult to make beer at home, as Lise notes in a two-part post at Frugal in the Fruitlands. We used to do it -- and were amazed at the quality of our results. Some upfront investment is required for carboys, fermentation locks, bottles and some other equipment -- but you may be able to find them on Freecycle. You can also have your friends save their beer bottles, Lise says.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 1 comments) 1,146 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Solar ovens really do work

  Posted Jun 26 2008, 01:37 PM by Karen Datko
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  Filed under: extreme savings, saving, dining, Karen Datko
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  Frugal Babe has boiled water, made both oatmeal and rice, baked biscuits and reheated lasagne in her new-to-her solar oven/cooker. Pretty impressive, no? Next she's going to bake a chocolate cake.

  We've been reading about solar ovens and wondered if they really work. In her post and the comments that followed, Frugal Babe answers a lot of questions about them. For instance, does solar cooking take more time? Just a little bit more with the one she bought, she writes. Hers gets to 350 or 400 degrees quickly and stays there if the oven's position is changed every half-hour as the sun moves.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 5 comments) 2,384 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Find out what cooking at home really costs

  Posted Dec 13 2007, 04:09 PM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: extreme savings, spending, saving, dining
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  If you make a coffee cake, the cost of the ingredients in one slice is just 8 cents. How do we know this? Sense to Save has prepared a recipe cost calculator. File this away under "cool tools." In an example, she demonstrates how to figure out the cost of ingredients for tacos for two people. It's only $2.47. That doesn't include the cost of using the stove or your labor. (In our case, it's free. No one is paying us to be a chef.)  She also provides her weekly dinner menus and the cost of each.   Read More...

  Discuss (no comments) 1,244 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

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