To clarify ... I line up 4 or 5 chairs and spread the duvet over all of them. Just realized my post reads as if I'm draping a duvet over one chair.

As for frugality I am inconsistent. I have spates of being frugal and other times of being a bit cavalier in my spending. I certainly waste far too much food and I don't always buy the most cost effective options.

That said, anything above about £50 I give serious consideration. I tend not to renew appliances or tech until it no longer functions. Though I have no doubt thrown away fixable things because I couldn't be arsed sorting out a repair, and I have inadvertently had to keep clothing that doesn't fit me because i didnt get my act together and get it back to the shop within the statutary refund period...


I'm generally as frugal as my natural laziness, incompetence and inconsistency allow.

Coupons? Rarely do I see coupons that make the name brand crap cheaper than the off-brand. There are a couple items that I will not compromise on though.
Last couple years, we are in the "do without" virtually everything group.

Even here in my swankeroony hotel I'm only averaging abt 50% of my per diem.

Sent by thought transference

I still make chicken and beef stock from bones and vegetables instead of the store bought kind. And mine tastes better and has less salt.
When I eat meat (less often now) I buy whole cuts that are cheaper and parcel them out. Especially whole chickens.
I may be the only guy on my block who mows his own lawn and does not use a service.
I hang some things out on the clothes line to dry which we aren't supposed to do in our neighborhood.

It's amazing how many people use a lawn service. Maybe I should check the prices. Is it possible I'm missing something? I've been mowing my own lawn for years, and spend about a buck on gas each time.

For me it's partly because I don't want to pay someone to do it and also I enjoy the exercise. When my wife and I did all that traveling last year we hired the service that did the house next door and it was $35 per week for basic mowing, edging and blowing. They did bag the clippings which most don't do.

I think I get it from my dad. He was still mowing his big lawn until his late 80's. When he was 86 or so he had taken a break to get some water and left the mower near the end of the driveway. Someone came by and stole it so he had to go out and buy another one... at 86! He got a nice Honda model and I ended up keeping it and that's what I use each week.

Our Safeway market routinely puts marked down meat in a big bin at 30% to 50% off. I sometimes look but seldom buy anything. Beef looks grey and the chicken is in packages that the plastic has swollen like it's expanding. I see people buying it. I read that if you pour a little Clorox on it the smell goes away!

Our Safeway does that too. But the clearance section next to the deli has prepackaged deli meats as well as deli meats and salads from the counter. They also have gourmet cheeses and pasta. All of it is usually %50 off or better.

I'm a regular customer of the clearance section in the meat aisle at Safeway. If I'm going to eat it tonight or tomorrow, why would I be bothered by some arbitrarily near "expiration date"?

I've gotten a couple cuts that didn't taste good, but that's true in and out of the clearance section.

As far as supermarket mark downs, I would probably buy fruits or vegetables that were marked down for quick sale rather than meat. But our markets seldom do that. If I am making a stew or soup or vegetable stock a less than perfect looking vegetable is fine and as long as it isn't rotten is just fine and usually has a fuller flavor.

The average apple on the supermarket shelf is between 10 and 14 months old.

I've always assumed this was probably the case, but how are some apples so damn good and crunchy at all times of the year, and others are kinda mushy and gross? It is just refrigeration? Gala apples are almost always good.

Technically, -1C and 3% CO2 and low humidity are used commercially.
Part of the chemistry is to reduce certain gases such as O2 to about 3%
and eliminate the naturally produced ethylene, which accelerates ripening.
This mainly done by physically replacing most of the air with nitrogen.

I have no idea about the storage of different kinds of apples, but I
think some kinds are also/instead (?) coated with a thin layer of non-toxic wax.

glatt - it's really just a case of the various different properties of differing varitities

My beloved Gravensteins are only really good in season, but Macs can hold up well for a year...

Also there's the texture to begin with - some are better for cooking, some are better for eating, some are really only good for juices, and some do a decent job of more than one thing.

It's all about the varietal and what it's been bred for... kinda like dogs - ya don't send a chihuahua in to do a wolfhound's job