lilalee

Freezer bags, can be free from your butcher, if you ask.I have gotten some that hold a turkey, so their pretty big. I clean and wrap my meat, then in a small zip bag, then put it all in the butcher bags. They do stop freezer burn! Also, in the summer when peppers, celery are cheap, I chop them up, lay on a cookie sheet till froze. Then put them in a zip bag in the freezer, and use in soups and such during the winter when prices are higher for those veggies. Add leftover meats and veggies to Ramen!

DMarcella

Wow, Lilalee these are good ideas. I wish we had a butcher that I felt was good here. I get fresher meat from my local grocer rather than at the places that have a butcher. I have the bags now; I came up with this way of storing my meat not long ago, I use to just use the sandwich bags which didn't keep the meat long but I don't store much meat at a time. I like the use of freezer bags much better.

lilalee

DMarcella, I get my meat at our grocery store, and just ask anyone working there for a freezer bag everytime I buy meat. They have them, now give them!!

anotherronism

DMarcella... If you're just out of range of that hot-spot you could try a high-gain antenna (if your wireless card supports an external antenna) or you could get a new wireless adapter with a built-in high-gain antenna. There are some external models that actually have a little satellite dish attached which you can point at the hot-spot.

You can even get a little creative. If you have an external adapter you could place it near a window pointing towards the local hot spot. The you can make a sheet of aluminum foil four or five layers thick. Make it about a foot or so long and 6 to 8 inches high. Fold a bit of the top and bottom over to maintain it's shape. Now flatten the whole thing and press it over a sofa arm or something to apply a bit of curve to it. Now set this on it's edge about four or five inches behind your adapter with the outer curve pointed away from the hot-spot.

This will act as a crude reflector which will actually work to increase your gain considerably. You can play around with the depth of the curve, the distance from the antenna and the direction it's pointing to.

I've done this before and it did actually work (sometimes).

I saw an article online about using an actual satellite dish and a coffee can. (Seriously!) If you're interested and have some techno-geek niece or nephew or neighbor I can get you that article or describe to you exactly what to do.

But the simplest route is to get the very best wireless adapter you can find. They're around $80US which is a lot but if it gets you to a free hotspot then you save every single month on internet fees. (Make sure your electronic store allows full refunds on returns so you can get your money back if a new adapter doesn't work.)

One other thought: Wireless repeaters. These are devices which connect to a hot-spot then you connect to them. The idea here would be to find a nice neighbor who is closer to the hot-spot than you. Position the repeater in their home and, once configured - you would then connect to the repeater and hence to the hot-spot. These devices aren't all that easy to configure so again - you'd probably need some nerd-assistance. And a friendly neighbor.

Good luck,
Ron

DMarcella

Does this look like what I would need?:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB763LL/A?mco=MzE2OTkyNw

DMarcella

I just joined this: http://bookmooch.com

It may be a way to have a good library good on the cheap. I have many books I can get rid of and the site give idea how to get book to give away so you can get what get a book from someone else.

Arw65

I just joined the www.thredup.com community. It's really great if you have little ones. the idea is that kids grow but clothes don't- most kids grow out of their clothes long before the clothes get worn out, so why not send them on.- it's a swapping community, you pay only for the shipping for the boxes you 'get' and for every box you post- to be sent to other thred up members you can get one.
I just got my first box in the mail- it had 18 items of clothing.-18- for $13 (the shipping-flat rate boxes)- now i'm going to send of the clothes that my girls have outgrown. - my referral code is http://www.thredup.com/Williams34636
that way if you join i can get a free month of PRO- which just lets me have a few more features

Arw65

This thread hasn't had much activity in quite a while- I thought it was worth reviving

about 6 months ago I discovered Couponing - I have essentially cut my grocery and home stuffs(paper towels, soap, pull-ups for my toddler, etc) cost down to about 1/4th of what i was paying- and i had thought i was frugal.

now that I've been doing it a while it's not just a way to save, it's fun!- I have some friends that i go shopping with- we share our coupons and make sure that everyone gets the best deal possible. it is becoming my favorite way to unwind and get my 'retail therapy'