Templar Connect

A discussion forum vaguely associated with the webcomic Templar, Arizona.

Templar Connect » Inconsequential Prattle

61. 

    Ubik
    Member

    Okay, I need to combine this with the whole milk crate garden thing. Transportable hops? Hell yes!

    I'm not sure that would work for hops (they need a good 10 feet or so of trellis, cord or rope to grow on, and I think they also grow a decent-sized root system), but it's worth looking into. There's a good article at http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/10/growing-hops-in-the-garden-how-to-grow-beer-hops/ .

    Also, if you have dogs, make sure to keep them away from the hops! They can be lethally toxic, as they send dogs into a malignant fever that's very difficult to reverse.

    Posted 1 year ago #
62. 

    fishcake
    Member

    If you have the time, try and find out if anything laying around your house can be easily sold for cash. I did this with about half of my CD collection for the past semester; whenever I was going downtown, i'd fund the whole little trip by dropping into the local independent record store and selling off a couple of CDs that I either ripped onto my laptop or just don't listen to anymore. If you need $10 real quick, and don't want to dip into your tuition for a latte, this might be a convenient route.

    Posted 1 year ago #
63. 

    KoryBing
    Member

    And if you want to put some extra time and effort into it, selling books and cds through Amazon will give you far more money than walk-in used cds or book stores. If you just want a couple bucks fast those stores are great, but if you would like to try to get a bit more money for them and you have the time, Amazon is amazing.

    I sold almost all my unwanted books, movies and CDs through Amazon a few years back and I got a nice chunk of money. My sister did the same before she moved to Oregon and snagged about 2 grand (she had a LOT of books and cds and movies). Usually if an item is being listed for under 5 bucks it is not worth it (VHS tapes are practically worthless nowadays, for example), but I got upwards to 30 bucks each for a few of my specialized books (apparently people love books about dollhouse miniatures, who knew). If you want to get rid of it fast, just see what the cheapest one is going for and make it a few cents cheaper. It's free to list and Amazon even reimburses you for shipping, sometimes for more than the shipping actually costs. Then you can take everything that you can't list or never sold and eek out those last few bucks at local stores.

    Posted 1 year ago #
64. 

    BrigidKeely
    Member

    If anyone in Chicago wants to join forces for Costco stuff, let me know. We have a membership card courtesy of N's mom and some of their bulk stuff is good and cheap. Last time we were there they had some very good looking meat for a very good looking price per pound. A lot of their bulk dry goods also look reasonably priced. However, I always worry about wastage. There's only the two of us eating actual food and I hate throwing stuff out.

    Posted 1 year ago #
65. 

    Wagner
    Member

    Costco rocks if 1) you can work the membership fee into your budget, 2) you have some way to transport stuff in bulk, and 3) you have room to store stuff in bulk. I lack the last two (no car, small apartment) so I let my membership lapse.

    Posted 1 year ago #
66. 

    Rustin
    Member

    A brief note on medical stuff. First of all, look to see if there's a workplace safety store in your neck of the woods. Places that sell stuff like this: http://northeastgastech.com/content/details.aspx?id=7000000000342

    They'll have an excellent selection of everything from bandaids up to goggles (great garb suppliers) to burn kits. Chances are you won't recognize the brand names but, trust me, these are the places that people managing things like big carpentry shops go. The stuff is usually top notch and considerably cheaper than the same quality at a place like Walgreens. In fact, just walking through there is an education in handling certain kinds of medical care on your own, as well as things like fire safety, which should matter to you if you're planning to do your own brewing, let alone make your own biodiesel or any number of other such ventures. I publish something called the D.I.Y. Manifesto, so I end up talking to a lot of people about a lot of homebrew activities and the general level of blithe obliviousness to safety chills me to the bone. Or at least it would if forty percent of my body weren't covered in burn scars from one of my own not so careful rounds of DIY activity.

    As for other medical concerns, what I see more people having problems from than anything else when they try to live very frugally is problems that come from taking in too much salt and MSG. That stuff drains your body of all sorts of nutrients, makes you tired, and generally makes your life suck in just the ways that will make you give up on the whole frugal living deal. Folks, ramen is bad, mac and cheese is awful, and most prepared vegan stuff is a fracking disaster on the sodium count. Read the ingredients, read the nutrition panels, and be sure to be realistic when you convert their reliably bogus "portions" to how much of something you'll actually go through at a sitting.

    Btw, one of the reason I came up with the milk crate planters in the first place was so I could have my own fresh herbs and veggies year round and hence save money and address the stuff above.

    Now I just need to get around to setting up some dwarf lemon and limes trees and ...

    Posted 1 year ago #
67. 

    Rustin
    Member

    A note on trellises. Gridwall, baby. Google the term; I promise that you've all seen the stuff a thousand times already. It's cheap if bought used from retail supply stores, ends up on Craig's List periodically, and ends up in piles in dumpsters just about any time a mall or big tacky store goes belly up. You can't kill the things. They're tough, modular, and easy to customize.

    I have fantasies of someday building an entire twenty or thirty foot trellised walkway out of gridwall and using it as both an auxilliary shelter and place to grow ungawdly quantities of stuff like grapes, figs, etc.

    Posted 1 year ago #
68. 

    BrigidKeely
    Member

    Costco rocks if 1) you can work the membership fee into your budget, 2) you have some way to transport stuff in bulk, and 3) you have room to store stuff in bulk. I lack the last two (no car, small apartment) so I let my membership lapse.

    1) Membership fee is paid for by someone else (AND some friends of ours have a Sam's Club membership we use sometimes as well).

    2) We totally have a car. It rocks. We also have access to a full size ~~van~~ although we've never done so much grocery shopping we've had to use it. Mostly we borrow it for moving furniture or people.

    3) Storage is a bit more of a problem, which is why I'd like to split the bounty with someone else. It really sucks to buy 10 pounds of granola, eat it for three weeks, get sick of eating it, force yourself to keep eating it, and then it goes stale anyway and you throw half of it out. WHY YES I AM SPEAKING FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE HERE.

    Posted 1 year ago #
69. 

    LouisatheLast
    Member

    (Hi, first post!)

    I work as a tailor- I love saying that, because it makes me feel like I'm living in the Victorian era or something. But seriously, that is what I do. And every day I fix something, for money, that normal people SHOULD know how to do themselves. Literally, I get asked to fix seams that have ripped perfectly open, and buttons that have popped off. For money.

    This brings me to two points:
    1- you can make money from your skills, if you get good at repairing clothing. Do alterations for your neighbors, put up an ad on Craigslist. All you need is needle, thread, pins, and a sewing machine. No need for a storefront. I got mine for free from my mom; you can probably pick one up at a garage sale. It can also get you a better job- a well-tailored suit, even if you did the tailoring yourself, makes a good impression at an interview.

    2- Some suggestions for needed subjects in the needlework section, and I'd be happy to provide descriptions of some of these: How to sew on a button, how to measure and hem a pair of pants, how to take in/let out the sides of a jacket, and how to shorten the sleeves of a jacket. You might also want to include directions for a basic running stitch, a backstitch, and a blind hem stitch.

    On the subject of gardening, while I am a HUGE fan of food gardening and edible lawns, it's important not to get in over your head. Focus on the things that you love to eat but are expensive at the supermarket...corn is probably not worth growing unless you want some special variety, as it's super cheap at the store/farmer's market. Butternut squash, tomatoes, berries- these are worth growing. Blackberries and raspberries are especially a good return on your investment. They grow like wildfire and produce heavily.

    Almost anything can be grown in containers...and containers don't have to be especially designed for holding plants, as long as you put some drainage holes in the bottom. And the most important bit of gardening advice: compost, compost, compost! It's free, it's easy, and it improves your soil enormously.

    Has anyone mentioned using greywater? It allows you to re-use water that you've already paid for. Some people have rigged systems that allow them to use the water from their sinks and showers to flush the toilet, and there's this $150 project that turns your washing machine water into your outdoor irrigation system to grow all those healthy fruits and veggies: http://www.greywaterguerrillas.com/project-drumless-laundry-h.html

    Posted 1 year ago #
70. 

    fishcake
    Member

    There should be a brief reference guide for common diseases that you may encounter when growing certain crops.

    For instance, at first glance potato scab might look very unsightly (and unappetizing!), but the potato itself isn't affected and is still edible; all you have to do is peel off the ugly stuff. Potato scab is caused by a fungus, and therefore a bed that has yielded scabby potatoes will probably continue to do so year after year; however, this can be mitigated somewhat by watching what you add to the bed (anything that raises pH, such as lime, is a no-no), and starting off with disease-free potatoes in the first place.

    Another important one is potato blight, which on the other hand WILL ruin your entire crop if you aren't careful. Symptoms of blight are blotches on the leaves and a white mold on the underside, and later on the entire plant will turn diseased and start to wilt (although by this time, your potatoes have pretty much gone to mush). Catching potatoes in the early stages of blight - before it travels down into the soil - is crucial to salvaging whatever you already have grown. If you're lucky enough, immediately cut off the stem and dig up the potatoes. And since blighted potatoes can go for a while before rotting, you must NEVER store them along with unblighted potatoes, or use them as seed.

    It's a best bet to get some sort of detailed reference for your specific crops, and have it on hand while you're growing. Good ones can be found on the internet, or at your local library.

    E: I myself am a fan of potatoes, since they are "the lazy bastard's plant" - just stick 'em in the ground and watch over them every week or so. Water if (at all) necessary. If you don't have the time to be hovering over your super-high maitenance mongolian butternut whatever every waking hour of your day, or if you're just getting into veg gardening, potatoes are a good choice.

    Posted 1 year ago #
71. 

    Rustin
    Member

    Things like potato blight are one of the reasons I'm such a fan of raised beds and (deep) planters. As the permaculture people have been pointing out more and more, a lot of why modern food raising is so subject to blights is that things spread a lot more and a lot faster when you've got rows and rows of the same plant, all providing a nice, happy highway for the bugs/microbes/whatever that are infesting your food supply. By keeping the soil in different and separated batches and by doing as the pre-Columbian Americans did by companion planting and mixing stuff up in "less orderly" layouts, you can cut such problems way down by breaking up that highway into dozens of separated "country roads". Also by varying the varieties you plant both in a given year and between years, you can cut such risks down further yet.

    Btw, one emergency measure to remember is that, worst comes to worst, you can keep at least *some* of the utility of a batch of soil while killing most problems by literally baking or boiling it. This obviously isn't practical for an entire backyard and kills all those wonderful microorganisms that you will have been fighting so hard to preserve but it's better than throwing it all out.

    Posted 1 year ago #
72. 

    BrigidKeely
    Member

    Btw, one emergency measure to remember is that, worst comes to worst, you can keep at least *some* of the utility of a batch of soil while killing most problems by literally baking or boiling it.

    You can do this by pouring boiling water over the area, right? I've also heard that this works well for getting rid of invasive plants like mint or purple loose strife (as well as everything else in the area).

    I love the idea of raised beds because you can custom tailor the nutrients and pH level of each bed. Also you don't have to kneel/bend/stoop so much so it's easier on your back and knees.

    For those of you with small scale farming experience, what would you recommend growing if you have weekend access to a nice bit of land (a few acres, 1-2 hours away in Southern Wisconsin)? What's something you could easily throw in, fertilize, mulch (to keep weeds down), and expect decent yield if you're only coming up every 7-14 days? Assume water/irrigation isn't a problem and loss of crop to animals isn't pressing. (tentative plans include garlic, yellow onions, potatoes, zucchini, plum and apple trees, and some berry bushes. and tomatoes, ew.)

    Posted 1 year ago #
73. 

    Coldwater
    Moderator

    I would say potatoes and trees.

    Tomatoes need lots and lots of fussing over them. Trust me. Potatoes, though? My grandparents had a plot out in the woods, in addition to their government-granted one acre subsistence farm. They grew potatoes on it. The most one was supposed to do, aside from planting and digging up, was to pile earth around the stalks once the plants got big enough to be in danger of snapping the stalk under their own weight. And you'll only need to do that once.

    Flee thee, icy Lucifer.

    Posted 1 year ago #
74. 

    BrigidKeely
    Member

    Thanks for the tomato feedback. I'll probably toss those in a planter at ~the new place~ (we are moving next month-ish) or else skip them entirely as I dislike tomatoes.

    We will have ~a sun room~ and I want to put in herbs there and then try really really hard not to kill them, assuming said sun room gets actual sun (I haven't actually seen the place yet.)

    (Nesko wants plum trees so he can make slivovitz.)

    Posted 1 year ago #
75. 

    Rustin
    Member

    Yes, I've heard that you can "clean things out" by pouring in great steaming buckets of boiling water. I guess that I'm just a bit cynical about the idea since I've seen way too many people who would attempt to do so using, say, one stewpotful per yard of soil. Since this will only work with, in fact, about fifteen stewpotfuls per yard, each at a rolling boil and all applied in a carefully even distribution and poured out slowly to allow it all to evenly soak in down to below where the potatoes grow, I was reluctant to even suggest it.

    One of the things that I learned when I first tried to use my planter-learned habits in the realm of actual soil in the ground was what I now call "the relentless tyranny of arithmetic". Geometry is an implacable taskmaster, indeed. Many things that are so cheap or easy that you don't even remember the step when doing something in planters becomes forbiddingly difficult and/or expensive when done on square yards of soil that may, itself be yards deep. Things like putting in high concentrations of "watersaving" gel/crystals. I love that stuff (it holds water in reserve and lets it go when the soil dries out) but geometry makes it a thing of limited use. Ten typical large planters equals about one square meter. Thirty or so large planters equals one cubic meter. Most people I know who use water saving gel do so for, say, six or seven pots. This costs about ten dollars and takes about half an hour to place and is actually kinda fun in a get-your-hands-dirty way. A typical small plot is at least six or seven cubic meters. This would require about TWO HUNDRED planters worth, i.e. about three HUNDRED dollar's worth, and requiring about fifteen hours of focused, physical labor. Except that those numbers are artificially low since reaching the areas further down takes over twice as much work and real world soil tends to have things like rocks and tree roots and so on to be addressed.

    What's my point? When you set off to use a technique from small-scale gardening for actual dirt-in-the-ground gardening, sit down first and run through EVERY LAST STEP before you start. Aspects that have never been an issue at all before may make your plan prohibitively difficult or expensive when scaled up.

    Otoh, keep in mind that sometimes this works in reverse. So very many of us have spent hours lugging little bags of soil blocks to our apartments, up in the elevator/stairs, and over to where we have opened the bag and laboriously transferred that soil, tiny bagful by tiny bagful, to planters. If you ever need to buy many yards of soil, you will discover that at that scale the prices may literally be one percent of what you're used to (you can even find people giving away entire truckloads on Craig's List) and sometimes if you buy that much, they'll deliver it for free in a truck that will drive right over to where you want it and drop it in a tidy mound exactly as you please, leaving you no labor to deal with beyond leveling it out.

    The same is true of lots of materials for a D.I.Y. life, from lumber to office furniture. If you're used to buying your plants one at a time, the cost of commercial "flats", the large squares of sixteen or more little plants, will blow your mind and make you weep with joy. If you can use what are called "plugs", little bitty starters that are sold in flats of, say sixty-four, oh my, do unit costs go down. Otoh, things like that are usually not sold in cities at all. To get those you need to drive out to where the commercial nurseries are. If you're lucky, a gardening store relatively near you can order some for you to pick up there. Again it's a whole different process.

    My overall point? Don't expect a change in scale to make things necessarily harder or easier. But do be sure to think it all through, every last step, and check out options appropriate to the scale of your venture. 'Cause when you seriously change HOW MUCH you do, you change WHAT you do as well.

    Posted 1 year ago #
76. 

    Rustin
    Member

    Sorry that my posts are always so long it's just that, well, I am writing an entire BOOK about this, I've been livng this way, on and off, for over twenty years now (not including stuff I learned from my very frugal parents, one of whom grew up on a farm), and it seems better to explain properly than to worry too much about brevity.

    Posted 1 year ago #
77. 

    BrigidKeely
    Member

    Rustin, holy crap, please do NOT apologize for writing long. Your posts are awesome and informative.

    I worked for a landscaper/horticulturist for a while, and when we wanted to kill stuff we'd chemical the hell out of it. But we were dealing almost entirely with lawns and ornamental stuff, not stuff for consumption. I've seen the boiling water trick referenced mostly for people who are worried about chemicals, and who have already tried to rip out the plant and mostly want to kill off remaining roots.

    Posted 1 year ago #
78. 

    Rustin
    Member

    Here's a video of a friend of mine. Got some good stuff in it about low-effort, low-cost, high yield, environmentally sensitive gardening.

    http://www.biohabit.org/node/1065

    And yes, he really is at least that geeky all the time.

    Posted 1 year ago #
79. 

    Rustin
    Member

    Btw. one funny counterpoint to the boiling water thing - if, as I used to have, your kitchen garden is actually right by your kitchen, whenever you have extra ice (after a party, ice that fell on the floor, etc.) put in on the most fragile parts of your garden that need watering. The ice will melt a bit at a time and gently spread water where you need it without disturbing the soil.

    A related trick to keep the soil from getting pushed away by water pouring down too hard/quickly in one spot is to use non-organic mulch. In other words, by having things like flat stones over your soil and pouring onto the stones, you won't get the little pits and exposed roots that are so common with loose soil and hand watering in dry weather. Personally, I tend to use a combination of "forcing stones" (the reddish porous clay balls meant for hydroponics or growing things like orchids), scraps and shards of slate from broken up old rooftops, and random other flattish stuff. I even use things like little plastic lizards and turtles.

    Posted 1 year ago #
80. 

    Rustin
    Member

    Here is what I mean by forcing stones - http://www.planetnatural.com/site/hydroton-grow-media.html

    Posted 1 year ago #
81. 

    fishcake
    Member

    The most one was supposed to do, aside from planting and digging up, was to pile earth around the stalks once the plants got big enough to be in danger of snapping the stalk under their own weight. And you'll only need to do that once.

    
    Huh, and I thought trenching potatoes was to keep them from getting sunburned.
    The whole snapping stalk thing is true, though; I lost a couple of plants last year after a nasty storm snapped them clean off.

    Also, is turnip generally considered to be low maitenance?

    Posted 1 year ago #
82. 

    Coldwater
    Moderator

    Ahhh, it's known as trenching.

    God knows what it's for, because I sure don't. It's just something my grandparents did to their potatoes. I never had it explained, just got handed a hoe and told to get to it.

    Posted 1 year ago #
83. 

    IronSpike
    The Management

    Okay, so here's the table of contents: Second draft.

    I've reconsidered the working title, and think POORCRAFT: A Cartoon Guide to Frugal Urban and Suburban Living would be ideal. We aren't aiming for a survivalist or living rough guide; while I know a little about urban poorcrafting, I don't know the first thing about living in the boonies, and would feel completely at sea. And a nice, specific title like that would really help the book find its audience. Anyway, the outline/ToC.

    Poorcraft: An Introduction
    - What is Poorcraft?

    Explanation that poorcraft is the fine art of living frugally while living well.

    - Who would want to learn Poorcraft?

    Anyone for any reason. People trying to save money, people who have better uses for their money, Earth-conscious hippies, folks on a fixed income, cheapskates, cheapskates-in-training, wannabe cheapskates, people whow ant to simplify, self-sufficiency types, practical types, people who want to learn how to do more with less and do it better.

    - Why bother with Poorcraft?

    You can work less, have more free time, make your money go farther, live better, save for hobbies, property, kids, pets, or trips. There's a better way!

    Note: I see the WHOLE INTRO being a comic, staring Penny and Nickel. It would be maybe three pages.

    Chapter One: Housing

    - Living communally will always be easier than living alone
    - How to set up a commune / co-op, or What to look for in a communal home / co-op
    - Ways to keep the bills low, if you live communally or not

    Chapter Two: Food / Clothing

    - Which foods are cheapest

    In-season fresh fruit and veg, potatoes, onions, rice, beans.

    - What to buy, and how to buy it

    Farmer's markets (REAL ONES), ethnic groceries. Get your spices at the dollar store. Chinese groceries, for example, often sell fresh bulk noodles, tofu, and giant bags of dried mushrooms.

    - What to grow, and how to grow it

    From kitchen gardens to milk crate gardening. This section should treat the reader like they don't know the first thing about gardening, and be clear about what needs indoor and outdoor exposure. Where to look to find out what crops would grow best where they live, how to keep a garden free of weeds/pests and healthy, and the UTTER USELESSNESS of lawns. I like the idea of emphasizing variety in the garden, locally compatible crops, and no neat rows of identical plants, which encourages disease and out-of-control pest infestation.

    If someone here knows ANYTHING about backyard chickens or meat rabbits, it should go here, too. With an added caveat that, while most neighbors won't care if you plant a bunch of cucumbers, rabbits and chickens are another matter with a whole fresh set of concerns.

    - Stuff you're better off making yourself

    Booze, bagels, yogurt, etc.; were not going for Martha Stewart in this section, just stuff that's cheaper/easier to make at home than buy.

    - Some words on nutrition

    Meat every day? No, you don't need that. I'd really like to get someone who knows the first thing about nutrition (a qualified dietitian or nutritionist) in on this to help debunk the food pyramid. Also, a list of vegetarian protein sources. The book shouldn't demonize meat consumption, but it should stress that a low-meat or meat-free diet is definitely cheaper, and that's what poorcraft is about.

    - Goodwill!

    Goodwill stores vary in quality and usefulness; you might have to check several or find places online like Yelp! that rates them.

    - Drug stores!

    Three-dollar, plain, color t-shirts are everywhere in local Chicago drug stores.

    - Craft stores!

    More cheap clothing, as well as other cheaper goods.

    Chapter Three: Cooking

    - Cooking in bulk
    - Canning / freezing

    Dunno the first thing about this, but would go hand-in-hand with the gardening section! If you're doing it right, you'll probably end up with more fresh produce than you can immediately eat. Someone who knows about pH, water baths, disinfecting, etc. can write up this section.

    - Some recipes

    Beans and rice, staple of the planet, and all its variations! Also, other simple dishes, like stir-fry, soups, and roasted veggies. Also helpful might be a section on spices: What makes stuff "taste Mexican," "taste Chinese," "taste Indian." Many, many people don't know the first thing about spices and need the help.

    - Communal cooking

    Either one person cooking for the whole house one night a week, or everybody getting together to cook enough food for the next several days. Both could work!

    Chapter Four: Entertainment

    - Free stuff is everywhere!
    - Fairs, festivals, parks

    Most good-sized towns and cities will have these places and events. Take advantage of them. Many museums, zoos, and aquariums have free days, as well.

    - Discount movies, theaters, clubs

    Second-run theaters, Ladies' Nights, Shakespeare for the Family, Shakespeare in the Park, etc.

    - Hosting parties on the cheap

    BYOB, pot-lucks, BYOM (bring your own meat) barbecues.

    - Getting into events for free or on the cheap

    Be a volunteer or usher at a concert, convention or festival, wait for half-price or free days.

    Chapter Five: Skills, Employment and Education

    - A word on college educations

    This might be a touchy subject, but I don't feel we live in a world anymore where college, depending on what you major in, is worth the expense at the end of the road. Having a college degree no longer gives you a huge advantage, or is even particularly meaningful. Experience is more important.

    - The library: Your good, good friend

    Free books! Cheap film rentals! Audiobooks! And when they have book sales, some of the cheapest books you can buy.

    - Internships and apprenticeships

    Depending on what you do, they maybe superior to college.

    - A weekend fucking around with C++, and other things that'll put you a mile ahead of conventionally educated peers
    - Leaning basic carpentry, wiring, and plumbing

    I totally want a section on this, but I'll need help.

    Chapter Six: Transportation

    - Bikes, trains, and buses
    - Car-shares and you
    - Life without a car in America

    Chapter Seven: Get it for free

    - Freeganism

    Hwere to start, how to start, where to go. Again, I don't know anything about this, someone else will have to write it.

    - Dumpster Diving /Curb Crawling

    Good places to do it, What you can expect, how to get the stuff home.

    - Craigslist / Freecycle

    Chapter Eight: Pitfalls

    - Fake Frugality ("Real Simple" magazine and other ploys)
    - Phony Environmentalism / "Green" Marketing
    - Consumer credit
    - Theft! Don't steal, idiot!
    - Shady dudes and chicks, and how to deal with them

    Chapter Nine: References and Resources

    italics = I would love everyone's input on this, as my own knowledge is limited
    bold = I don't know the first thing about this, help me with this section!

    Thoughts?

    There is always room for comics!

    Posted 1 year ago #
84. 

    BrigidKeely
    Member

    iasshole.org raises chickens on the West Coast.

    There's an illustrated book on dumpster diving you might want to look into. It's insanely condescending and irritating, so you might want to check it out both for interesting content (dude talks about how, for instance, you can rip out a dish washer and use the space for storage, how you can store stuff in unused attic space, etc) and how not to be a self righteous dick. Sorry, I forget the name of it, but it's probably a freegen staple.

    Posted 1 year ago #
85. 

    fishcake
    Member

    The short answer on theft is this: whatever you may gain is extremely tiny compared to what you will eventually lose when you get your ass caught and hauled downtown. Trust me on this.

    Specifically, this refers to shoplifting, receipt scams, scrap copper anything outlined in the magazine Evasion, and anything else that is justified with CAPITALISM IS EVIL.

    In my last year of high school, I earned most of my pocket money through all sorts of non-violent petty crime, thought I mainly stuck to receipt scams and shoplifting. During that time, I was into the anarchist group Crimethinc, whose basic goal was to live out what Abbie Hoffman outlined in Steal This Book.

    The first few times I boosted something, I felt an incredible surge of power and excitment. And if you do become a habitual shoplifter, this adrenaline rush will become very addictive to you. You'll find yourself heading into the same store every other day, only to get dirty looks from the staff as they realize that when the fat kid shows up, all the D&D books disappear!

    Also, as you continue to shoplift, it to will eventually become a habit. The few dollars you get from pawning CDs won't be enough. You'll find that your shoplifting runs will eventually become indistinguishable from actual shopping trips; it is during this that you'll get lazy, or cocky, or unaware that YOU JUST STUFFED $20 OF CHEESE IN YOUR POCKET FIVE FEET AWAY FROM THE DELI WORKER.

    If you're lucky, you'll see them notice, and will have enough time to ditch your load and book it before security clamps down on your ass.

    But most likely, you wont even notice, and when you head out the door you'll be headed off and nabbed by goons in sweater vests, who'll embarrass you in public and then hand you over to the cops. You WILL get convicted, and then you can forget about getting advancing your life financially within the next ten or fifteen years.

    A small note: I can't really see Penny or her dog going through chapter eight. Would adding a "Goofus" character to Penny's Gallant complicate things?

    Posted 1 year ago #
86. 

    Ivan the Terrible Poster
    Member

    The first few times I boosted something, I felt an incredible surge of power and excitment. And if you do become a habitual shoplifter, this adrenaline rush will become very addictive to you. You'll find yourself heading into the same store every other day, only to get dirty looks from the staff as they realize that when the fat kid shows up, all the D&D books disappear!
    Also, as you continue to shoplift, it to will eventually become a habit. The few dollars you get from pawning CDs won't be enough. You'll find that your shoplifting runs will eventually become indistinguishable from actual shopping trips; it is during this that you'll get lazy, or cocky, or unaware that YOU JUST STUFFED $20 OF CHEESE IN YOUR POCKET FIVE FEET AWAY FROM THE DELI WORKER.
    If you're lucky, you'll see them notice, and will have enough time to ditch your load and book it before security clamps down on your ass.
    But most likely, you wont even notice, and when you head out the door you'll be headed off and nabbed by goons in sweater vests, who'll embarrass you in public and then hand you over to the cops. You WILL get convicted, and then you can forget about getting advancing your life financially within the next ten or fifteen years.

    Haha damn, the only things I ever stole were literally bolted down and worrying about getting the job done before anyone walked by and noticed was traumatic enough that I never had to worry about doing that shit accidentially.

    Addendum to the horrors of 'don't steal things' - if you're selling stolen goods, don't be surprised when the customer stiffs you on payment, moron.

    Dumpster diving seems really unnecessary to include - if you're so utterly desperate you need to eat out of dumpsters you're so far beyond the point where you'd be reading a guidebook on thrifty living, and the awful middle-class hippie poverty-tourists don't need any encouragement to go poison themselves pretending to be tramps. If you really have to include something IIRC Lars Eighner's autobiography has pretty excellent accounts of homeless life and dumpster diving that go into all the technique and stuff. He doesn't try to pretend it's a science or anything, but it's good reading and probably more reliable than some slumming guide written by god knows who.
    I can only imagine that any actual instruction manual on the subject is going to be of the same dangerously idiotic strain as those old usenet guides on how to make pipe bombs out of gasoline and match heads.

    Posted 1 year ago #
87. 

    maecrab
    Member

    I guess I'm really just kind of a baby poorcrafter, but I've been pretty poor my whole life. The number one thing that has made things possible for me so far is the support of my family and friends- people who I love and who love me and who are willing to give away their castoffs, add me to their accounts for anything from their unlimited netflix subscription to costco membership, and help me move. The most important things I have to say about this is BE AWESOME TO YOUR FAMILY and MAKE AWESOME FRIENDS. Nothing will fuck your shit up like your asshole slacker friends. Don't move in with anybody you've known less than 2 years, if you're looking for a communal living, rather than roomate, situation. Be careful about the people you let be close to you; in your home, business, day jobs, and life in general. When you're living on the edge, it's the people around you who push you off or keep you on the safe side. I don't mean "trust no one" by any means, but just like I said: make awesome friends and treat them better than they treat you. In a living situation with a bunch of people: avoid factions, destroy passive aggressiveness, and if there's a problem, kill it with kindness.
    My only other big tip is to GET A BIKE. It makes public transportation SO much easier, and many buses have bike racks on them. Don't buy a fancy new bike; it will get stolen. For that matter, so will a cheap new one. Take your bike inside with you anywhere it is possible; get a chain-type lock that can go around a tree or something weird in a pinch, and loop it through both the frame and the front tire. Where to find used bikes depends on your city; yellowbike is the place to go in Austin; you can get one for free for volunteering or for less than $75 otherwise. Craigslist is always helpful. Goodwill. Ask anyone you see on the street on a bike that looks more than 5 years old. The best kind have a basket mount over the rear tire, where you can attach a milk crate, improvised saddlebags, or pretty much anything else. To that result, ALWAYS carry bungee cords, preferably in a variety of sizes. Like the dude said earlier, carry a bag with extra bags in it. Little nylon grocery bags that fold up small are all over the place these days, but cheap nylon string bags like cellphone stores hand out sometimes will suffice, as will plastic grocery bags, even.
    A note on public transportation from a teenaged girl: the best defense against creeps at bustops and on the bus is earbuds and/or a book. If your music is loud enough to be heard by the person next to you, so much the better, but don't be obnoxious. Avoid eye contact.

    Posted 1 year ago #
88. 

    maecrab
    Member

    Something I forgot to mention: it's not universally applicable, but my iphone has been a great boon. It was $200, and it's been worth every penny. My awful, awful roomate is awful, and thus I have not had Internet access for over 2 months, but I can surf the web on my phone. I found the house I'm renting with friends next week on craigslist on my phone, arranged the lease rental and utilities on my phone, I have my email with me all the time, if I miss my bus or get dropped off somewhere weird I can place myself on a map and look up bus schedules, I can take pictures on the fly and, with a pair of big gray computer speakers from ten years back you can get at any thrift store or pawn shop, I've got an alright stereo.
    Also, for entertainment purposes, a cheap VCR is a good investment, if you don't mind movies more than 10 years old. Used media stores, movie stores, thrift stores and the like are all unloading VHS tapes like crazy, and you can find heaps of tapes for free or cheap on craigslist. It only costs $10 to relive your childhood today! (seriously, go to a half price books and gorge your nostalgia on the likes of Benny and Joon and the Brave Little Toaster)

    Posted 1 year ago #
89. 

    Furious Sterling
    Member

    The most important things I have to say about this is BE AWESOME TO YOUR FAMILY and MAKE AWESOME FRIENDS.

    
    I agree with this completely, in fact I"m staying with extended family right now, rent free, while I look for work. Having a big support network is always a big help.

    It is always high school on the internet.

    Posted 1 year ago #
90. 

    AngryRobotsInc
    Member

    For cheapie DVDs for the kids, Walmart's had a rather large selection of DVDs for $5 every time I've gone. I picked up Little Nemo for the kid the other day, as well as several other cartoon selections including Tom & Jerry, and the like.

    Posted 1 year ago #

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