Pennywise

Brandywine Zoo

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Many of our refugee friends long to visit the zoo. I had promised the boys I would take them over the summer, but the pricing at the Philadelphia Zoo is prohibitive, especially since so many people were interested in coming along. Also, there are so many costly extras, you're in the position of spending even more or disappointing the kids.

Brandywine Zoo

Tea cooler recipe, revised and improved

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Sunday, February 1st, 2009

The last experimental batch of tea cooler was heavy on the lemon and weak on the tea for Paul's taste, so I dropped the sugar to 1-1/2 cups, the lemon juice to 3/4 cup and increased the tea bags to six for the gallon. It was an improvement, but still a bit heavy on the lemon. That was still a little too lemony. We decided to drop the lemon to only 1/4 cup for the next batch, expecting it to be too weak, in which case, I could add lemon juice a tablespoon at a time until I hit the proportion of lemon Paul likes.

Liquid soap dispenser

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Martha Stewart sold me on the idea of using attractive refillable containers for items you tend to keep handy on the sink or counter to avoid being constantly assaulted by advertising and unattractive products. I invested something under a dollar in a pour spout that I added to a Prussian blue liter bottle that once held mineral water or something, and I've been using that ever since for my olive oil.

Liquid soap dispenser

Tea cooler

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, January 24th, 2009

One of Paul's staples is Swiss Farm's tea cooler, and he's kept a gallon or two in the fridge for years. We haven't kept records, so don't know how much he actually consumes, but it's at least a gallon per week, and possibly two, especially in the summer. At $2.69 a gallon, tea cooler is hardly a luxury item, but there are some other concerns. First, allthough we try to reuse, we've found no way to reuse the 50 to 100 plastic jugs that we pick up along with the tea cooler each year, so they must be recycled. Second, the quality of the product is debatable.

A clothesline

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Thursday, January 15th, 2009

When we were children, clothes were hung on the line to dry, and sometimes instead on a wooden rack. Automatic dryers were introduced as conveniences, but over time they have become viewed as necessities of modern life. What a shame. Dryers are expensive to operate, increase the temperature in the house, and stress fabrics, decreasing the useful life of clothes. What's more, clothes from the line smell like sunshine, something you can't fake with a detergent or fabric softener.

Coffee, staple or luxury?

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

A friend wrote to me that her brother-in-law (Matt) in Ohio has started up his own coffee roasting company, and she asked if I would be interested in purchasing some. She included this note from Matt:

Dear Friends and Family,

Pen in hand

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Giving up disposible pens and relearning how to write with a fountain pen is not likely to result in a great financial savings. The most obvious benefit is that I will be keeping the disposibles out of the landfill, but the greater benefit will be symbolic. Every time I take the pen in hand, I'll be reminded of my resolution to avoid disposible products wherever possible.

It's about more than the money

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Today I came across a blog post "Morning Lace" in which an American expatriate in Japan reminisces about a large box of lace. Before his move to Japan he had left a corporate job to pursue other interests that included a flea market table stocked with items

Tips on stocking the pantry

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Why clutter up the pantry with pale imitations of real foods that are easy to prepare, vastly superior in taste and quality, and often less expensive? Mark Bittman's article from The New York Times takes a decidely upscale approach

NY Times photo

Simple living, frugality and my pledge for 2009

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Frugality. I wish I had a better word. It used to be a virtue, but even when I was young I thought there was something a little unseemly about frugality. Waste not, want not. Is there a way to make frugality seem more appealing? I’ll have to work on this. In the meantime, I’ll start a frugality category ("Pennywise") for this website, because in a quest to live the simple life, frugality is essential.

My pledge for 2009:

Freecycle baby steps - a "new" sewing machine

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Monday, December 22nd, 2008

I took my first baby steps as a Freecyclist by responding to an offer of a sewing machine in a cabinet. Before I was ten, I learned to sew on an old Pfaff, in a cabinet, but my own machine is a portable. I've had it for years and have always regretted not having a cabinet. My biggest peeve with a portable is that the machine is raised up on the table, and you have to support the fabric by hand while simultaneously feeding it through the machine.

Syndicate content