Homegrown economy..a barterin we will go

bfast- hot cereal w strawberry jam, orange, coffee
snack- donuts and fruit (meeting leftovers)
lunch chicken strips, taters, corn and pasta (leftovers) water bottle
dinner chicken strips, fries and juice.

Apparently this is an old term and an older practice, which Trash has lived by for years, is being reborn.. BARTER.

As an economist, money is nothing more than the means we use to transact an exchange. But what if you dont have any, cant get any, and dont feel the moral obligation to acquire any.. Well then bartering is an option.

For years Trash has used bartering to get alot of things. I work on computers for people, in exchange I get a check for my services. But what if I take part of my price for labor in acquiring the old machine or some other device or asset that I want more than money. Then the exchange becomes a legit barter. Or as occurred a few months ago when Trash picked up the vacation villa, the ol pop-upcamper, for a 6 pack of beer. Another successful barter.

Free market at its finest.
Apparently the practice is catching on with the yuppies also.. SInce they have no money, credit cards are maxed out, the jobs are gone, etc. yet they still need to get stuff. SO where do they turn.

The same markets Trash has been goiong to for years. The local freecycle site, the local dumpie diver exchange boards, the Craigslist free stuff or barter stuff etc. . Man oh man it takes them awhile to catch on .. And they have good stuff.

Part of old Trash philosophy would like to just hang out and wait for the economy to really take a crapper and the stuff is out on the sidewalk for the dumpster divers to pick thru after the repossession and foreclosure takes place. But I am not that callous. For I know but for the grace of G-d and my constant finnagling, I too could be out of luck and my stuff would be in the front yard..

Anyhow the rain is falling nicely since yesterday.. A welcome relief for my empty rain barrels and my drier than usual, not very productive veggie garden,. I love it. The rain had been teasing us for a week now. A sprinkle here and there and then gone. Now its been raining since yesterday pretty much constantly. A joyous relief.. It hampers dumpstering but it gains in insightful time on my blog and catching up with the other bloggers and sites I visit frequently.

2 more weeks until a well deserved Staycation

bfast- hot cereal, fruit, toast and coffee.
lunch- ramen noodle soup, fritos (wal-mart buy at a buck a bag) and a juice bottle ( water bottle filled with freebie packet of juice mix that was freecycled to me)
dinner $1 hot and spicey chicken sandies and $1 double cheeseburgers from McD's (gather them up while you can cause apparently McD's is going to take them the double cheeseburgers off the dollar menu due to cost..), another juice bottle and a cold beer to top it off.

What is stay-cation you may ask. It is a newer term to describe a vacation where one doesnt vacate their home and go somewhere else. Instead of vacating one stays home. Thereby a staycation.
Now the reason for the time off is obvious. Where Trash works is shutting down for the entire week of the Dem convention and noone is allowed into the plant. Therefore we are on forced staycation. That ok as I need sometime off to dumpie and build some stuff for the fall projects.

So alas, Trash will be busy that week.

Tighten Your belt in the Kitchen

I couldnt help but showing off this pic. No its not the Trash clan. But it expresses the united family front that needs to occur so we all can survive the coming events. Food is a treasure that is a vital essential in the lifestyle. Never pass on the opportunities that abound top recover those treasures and use them to your full advantage.

Here are some tips for you with some additional commentary directe towards my fellow freegans..:

1. Ditch prepared meals right now (unless of course they are found at the dumpster , in which case GO FOR IT)

Consumers have been led to believe that they don't have the time to cook and it simply isn't true. You can have a healthy meal on the table within half an hour. Prepared meals have more fat, more sugar, more salt, more preservatives, and more garbage waste than anything you can cook yourself.

2. Plan ahead: Yes, this is going to take a bit of effort, but once you get going it will be easy. Make sure you have a well stocked pantry. Canned or dry legumes, rice, pasta, canned tomatoes should all be on hand to make quick, nutritious meals.

3. Plan your week (and make alloowances for the dumpie finds): Take the time to work out a menu plan for the week. Most people grocery shop once a week (we go once a month) and they toss things into their carts, without considering what they really need. If you know what you are going to eat, and you have the right ingredients, you'll be less likely to call for takeout, or head out to the fast food joint. Then again if the dumpster haul brings you an occasional already made meal and salad thank the heavenly one and chow down.

4. Cook more meatless meals: Meat will consistently be the most expensive food item in your grocery cart. The ready availability of other protein sources allows you to expand your food repertoire and have a healthier diet.

5. If you do use meat, use less: no one needs a 10-ounce steak. Cut back on the amount of meat that you cook and increase the amount of vegetables for each serving. (At the Trash stead Mrs Trash can take 2 pounds of ground turkey meat and make it a filling meal for the Trash clan. Even 2 chicken breasts properly cut up and mixed with rice and veggies can feed all five of us.

Tuesday meanderings

bfast-banana, cheddar grits casserole, coffee
lunch- lefotver fried fish, bfast burrito (freebie leftover)- fruit and water bottle


back on the dumpie bike today and it was not easy. The arthritis that took my knees yesterday loosened up a tad bit so was ablt to put in about 5 miles. Anyhow checked the dumpies on thje way back and it was a bust. NADA nothing.I am wondering if , due to the economy the way it is, more and more people are dumpieing and grabbing the goodies. I hope that is the case. But alas.

TEOTWAWKI:

"The End of the World as we Know I" (Acronym coined by Mike Medintz) (Spoken “Tee-ought-walk-ee”)

I saw this term used the other day in discussion on the "gloom and doom factor" of living in our sold-out country. And why we need to learn how to regain our primitive ways of steading and survival in the coming years. The discourse grew out of talk on the "if you were to move from where you are ,where would you go and what kind of people would you choose to have near you."

It was broken down into 2 types of scenarios


One, an affluent or even typically middle class family suddenly has little food in their pantry and no grocery store from which to stock up, no restaurants open, no gas to put in the BMW, no X-Box to play or HDTV to watch, and no mall to go to. Their credit cards no longer work, and the personal "connections" they're used to being able to make use of to get what they need are no longer available. Used to being self-contained (which is different than being self-sufficient), they may not have meaningful relationships with their immediate neighbours.

Two, a poorer or lower-middle class family, already used to partially getting by on their homestead garden, the basics of life, a 20-year old beater of a vehicle or none at all, and none of the unnecessary trinkets of modern city life. They have no credit cards to begin with, and are accustomed to working on a limited cash basis, even bartering with neighbors. Poorer country folks in particular are used to being relatively self-sufficient out of sheer necessity, and often have a strong sense of defending what is theirs and the means and willingness to do so while remaining willing to help friends and family in times of need.

In short, I see the first family rapidly shifting into freak-out mode, resorting to whatever daddy thinks necessary in order to make a flailing attempt to continue their prior lifestyle. As you rightfully say, civilization is but a thin veneer.

I see the second family getting by with far fewer and less lifestyle-shattering modifications.

Being a member of the 2nd class and being surrounded with other people just like me already, why would I move. Except to dodge the bullets..
Do any "living with Trashdigger" readers have thoughts on this?

Sunday fun

bfast- boloney sandies and lettuce, coffee
lunch-- lettuce and cuke salad- dumpster find, water bottle
dinner-- chicken tenders cheesey fries kool aid cherry

Well it was a fun Saturday and Sunday-- while turnng on the sprinkler to water the veggies yesterday I heard the lovely sound of water gushing under the house. Apparently with the heat getting so high and the water heater being outside the pressure release valve mechanism sprung a leak. I tried resetting it and cleaning the corrosion out but apparently that wasnt good enough.

The darn thing had met its calling.. This morning I went out to assess the overnight damage and realized it was just a nice pool under the house. The crud I cleaned out was enough to take the gush down to a drip.

I figured since I was going to Lowies anyway to get a new pressure release valve I might as well geto off my lazy butt and check out the rest of the plumbing under the house. Lo and behold I founf another small leak in the kitchen hot water line.. That one was easy enough as I keep some extra fittings around just in case. So I grabbed the dumpie light and crawled under the house to fix it.. Took about 10 mins and we were back in biz. BUt the PR valve still needed handling. Went over to Lowies and picked one up after stopping at Wallies to get bike tube for daughter.

CAme home with the supplies and figured I would get to work when it cooled down (almost 100 degrees again). Took the kiddos swimming and cooled off awhile til the roar of thunder and rain began to fall. MAde it home and closed up the water heater closet and skirt just in time before the 30 minute rain storm came gushing down. After it stopped and I enjoyed the clean smell of fresh rain air I went about my biz of changing the valve.

Now the WWW is loaded with lots of hints and instructions on doing just about anything. And this time they were right on the money. They suggested shutting off the water and having the new valve ready to go as you loosened the old one . I did and the old valve came off with a few light pounds of the hammer on the plumbers wrench and a few turns later the old valve was off and I grabbed the new one, already plumber taped and screwed it in. A few wrench turns to tighten ad it was done. Turned the water on and wala no leaking valve.. Attached the overflow pipe and I was done. NO more leak.
Thank you WWW
I can now add replacing pressure release valves to my plumbing skillset.

1 man.....1 acre

I have been following all the talk lately on the different blogs and sustainable lifestyle shows with regard to your carbon footprint. and its size. Shows like Trashed in the USA show different people in the USA and how their lifestyle choices cause a greater economic footprint. Well I got to thinking. and I have come up with the one man one acre hypothesis.
Waste not want not
Reuse, recycle, and resell (or barter) is more than a philosophy it needs to be ingrained as a way of life. The yungins need to learn the value and consequences of waste and neglect in their daily activities. 2 hefty bags of real trash is what goes to the landfill from our family every Friday. Everything else that we cant find a use for is either placed in the recycle bin or compost bin.
NOw granted you can go overgoard on the lifestyle and an occasional "fling" is a norm (in our case the pizza night or the SONIC outing). But that is what makes it special. COncern for the environment and your footprint

Who the hell needs alternative fuel vehicles if they minimize the consumption of fuel to a set reality. IN our case $20 a month in gas is budgeted. I walk, ride the bike or use public tranport for nearly everything. SO do my kids.

Who the hell needs the 300k house (and its accompanying headaches and maintenance costs) when a recycleable structure or manufactured home will fit the bill. Its easier to maintain, upgrade insulate etc. I paid 18k for my double wide with with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths a garage and patio deck on a corner lot. When we want to move on we can either sell the place or have it recycled. All natural ingredients. The footprint is gone after they reattach the tires.