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Tag: Frugal Ideas
How to be More Frugal
How to be More Frugal – Avoid False Frugality!
There comes a point when we are learning how to be more frugal when we can actually go backwards by mistake! How does that work then? Well, we can simply spend too much time trying to save 10 cents and meanwhile have wasted $10 of electricity because we haven’t gotten around to installing low energy light bulbs yet! False Frugality is also the new “Chic” and you will doubtless have come across acquaintances who claim they are being frugal when all along they are still making no real changes in their lives and continue to live off the credit card. Read on to discover how to be more frugal while avoiding some of the mistakes that the MeanyGoat has made over the years!
How to Be More Frugal – Learn to Let Go!
How to Be More Frugal – That Shirt…it needs to go!
Soon after I got divorced I wanted to make some changes in my life…..so I thought “I know, I will get some new clothes”. Well, being typically male the quick and easy solution to this was a mail order catalog…a great fugal choice since it saved a lot of time and the car stayed in the garage. A good choice until the clothes arrived that is. The trousers were too tight and the shirt was too big. Did I change them? Nope…just like 99% of people who buy from catalogs! Those black trousers got disposed of pretty quickly but somehow the shirt survived and I was reminded of it just last week when I ironed it 20 years later. Why had I kept it? Well it was too big, but then the colors were ok and I thought it would shrink after a few washes. After 20 years of washes it is now rather faded, but is the correct size. Get real, get a life and learn to let go! What I should have done is use the returns policy to get replacement goods rather than giving the trousers to charity and keeping the shirt for 20 years until it eventually fitted. Something that started out with good intentions just ended up wasting time and money….
How to Be More Frugal – Spot the False Frugality!
How to Be More Frugal – Put those used coffee grounds where they belong….on the compost heap!
The other day I was emptying out the coffee machine and I thought “what else can I use these coffee grounds for?” So after a few minutes of Google searching I came up with quite a list:
- Dry the coffee grounds and put them in the refrigerator to mop up nasty smells…..hmmm, but why let a fridge get smelly in the first place?
- Save them to use as a mulch in the garden around acid loving plants like Azaleas…..hmmm, how many years will I have to save to coffee grounds before I have enough to make a layer of mulch?
- Keep some old coffee grounds to make into a paste for covering up scratches on wooden furniture…hmmm do I really need to clutter up the kitchen with boxes of old coffee grounds on the off chance that I might scratch some furniture?
And the list goes on….Basically the best thing to do with old coffee grounds is to either put them on the compost heap or wash them down the sink in order to keep the drains clear…..anything else is just false frugality because you will spend a lot of time for no real saving.
How to Be More Frugal – Experiment Carefully!
How to Be More Frugal – Fire Lighters…..hmmm, always do a proper trial before you put your new idea into mass production!
Experimentation is great…you know, you wake up in the middle of the night with that brilliant money saving idea? A couple of years ago my wife (the Nice New One..not the nasty old one mentioned in the shirt story…) came home with a bag full of shredded paper that she had picked up from an office she had visited. A few days later I had the brain wave….soak it and make paper maché balls, then poke a holes in the top, fill with vegetable oil and use as fire lighters all winter. Well that was the theory! More shredded paper was acquired…..we calculated how many fire lighters we needed to make and set about the task with gusto. Every week during the summer we would soak a box of “shreddings” for a couple of days then shape into balls with a dimple in the top and lay them out to dry in the sun. The first cold night arrived and I lined up a couple of the paper balls and poured vegetable oil into the “dimple”…hmmm, technical problem, the oil didn’t soak into the ball. So I poked a hole into the middle with a screw driver so that I could get the oil right inside. A bit better. Ok, now light the fire! The balls would not catch light…unlike my normal emergency method using a paper towel soaked in the same vegetable oil. Two years later I am still burning the paper balls a few at a time. The moral of this story is of course that it is really great to experiment…but you need to do this carefully and logically. Do a test, make up a trial batch before you go the whole hog. Because I had used vegetable oil and paper towels as firelighters I was 100% convinced that my idea would work so I didn’t bother with making up a trial batch. We live and learn!
Always Move Forwards!
By learning how to be more frugal you can gain your true freedom!
Onward to the future, learn from your mistakes and start the next project! You really can live a happy life without owning a Porsche, and also without working for a Boss who sucks blood and treats you like dirt. By taking control of your money and spending it in the way that you want (rather than the way that others want) gives you enormous power. Use that power wisely!
Take a Frugal Tip from the MeanyGoat and learn how to be more Frugal…..the less money you spend each week the less money you need. Use that to leverage your freedom!
Here is a great list of Frugal Ideas from the Zenhabits website: 50 Tips for Frugal Living
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CrazyGoat – Mystery from the French Alps!
CrazyGoat Really Kicks!
CrazyGoat is a great new drink to sparkle up your thrifty party. CrazyGoat packs a punch like no other drink, and for the frugal minded can be made at home for a very low cost. It is low in alcohol but high in carbon dioxide, so the effect is delivered to your brain immediately and you will soon relax and assume a rosy glow. Read in to discover just what makes CrazyGoat so special!!
CrazyGoat is “La Chèvre”….but what the Heck is that?
This is a special drink shrouded in historic mystery, and that makes it all the more interesting. You can only buy it in a few specialist gastro-bars and restaurants, but you can make it cheaply and economically at home once you have purchased the kit. Wow, this sounds interesting…tell me more…..
“La Chèvre” is French for Goat which is why the drink is called CrazyGoat! But what is the history? This is a traditional drink made in the French Alps, with the recipe being carefully passed down from generation to generation. It is possible that the original idea was happened upon by accident. Traditionally ”La Chèvre” was made in 80kg traditional barrels by fermenting apple juice. Special barrels were needed to withstand the high pressure of the carbon dioxide gas that builds up as a natural bi-product of fermentation. When the drink is “released” from the barrel you get a glass of light creamy froth which you need to drink immediately before it settles. It contains around 6 to 7% alcohol depending on the recipe which you use….but with the bubbles it goes straight to your head like a turbo-charged champagne but at a fraction of the cost!
CrazyGoat Ingredients:
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”La Chèvre” is a natural product so should only be made from the best ingredients and CrazyGoat is no exception. Although the full recipe is secret the main ingredients are as follows: |
- Pure organic apple juice (you can also use other flavors if you like including raspberry or blackberry etc)
- Clean water from a good source
- A special strain of yeast which produces a lot of carbon dioxide and moderate alcohol
- Vanilla flavoring and other secret spices
- Sugar to feed the yeast
- A shot of Génépi or other spirit of you choice, there are plenty of recipes on the CrazyGoat website!
How Can I Make CrazyGoat at Home?
CrazyGoat just needs a constant temperature of around 25 to 30C for the fermentation process. Put on your Frugal Thinking Cap and see what you can find…the top of an ADSL router is ideal!!
To make CrazyGoat at home you just need to buy a special kit which is effectively a small aerosol can. You don’t need a special 80 kg barrel any longer! The steps are as follows:
- Clean everything carefully before you start
- Load all the ingredients into the CrazyCan
- Do the top up tightly with the CrazyTool
- Leave in a warm place (30C) for one week to ferment
- Move to the fridge to settle and cool down for a couple of days
- Start going Crazy!
Use your frugal imagination to find a warm spot in the house….like the airing cupboard, the top of a radiator or even the top of your ADSL internet router! Only a small heat source is needed just enough to keep a constant 25 to 30C.
How do you Drink CrazyGoat?
Dispensing CrazyGoat…remember to drink it immediately….
Pretty simple really….once the drink has fermented for a week and then cooled down in the fridge you are ready for your CrazyGoat Party! You have to move quickly……get your glasses all lined up and then just undo the pressure valve to release the foam into each glass in turn. It makes a lot of frothing and spitting when the pressure is really high, but as the can empties it subsides to a steady flow of creamy foam. You then drink the foam immediately before it has a chance to settle. Alternatively you can of course cut out the middle man and just squirt the foam straight into your mouth as long as you are very careful. One can will make a whopping FIVE liters of CrazyGoat foam, which is enough to fill over 50 glasses!!!! Frugal or what!
My First Glass of Chèvre:
It was about 3 years ago that I first came across La Chèvre at a local festival in our village close to the French Alps. Every year there is a “Fete du Maude” to celebrate the apple harvest and the start of the scrumpy making season. Well, I had heard that it is good to try out a glass of Chèvre but I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. So I handed my one Euro over to the surly barman who strolled over to a large stainless steel cylinder and filled a plastic cup to the brim with foam. “Hmmmmmm” I thought….” this guy is just trying to fob me off with foam because I’m not French”……so I waited for the foam to settle by which time there was just a dribble of liquid left in the bottom of the cup. The barman was looking on with complete disdain.
“Ah hum….excuse me” I ventured in my best French
“Any chance of a top up”………
At which point there followed a deluge of complicated French with the upshot that I had been a complete idiot and had left the foam to settle instead of drinking it so if I wanted another glass I could pay another Euro for it! Not an auspicious introduction to a local specialty!!! Happily, with the advent of CrazyGoat you are now under complete control of the process and can drink it as quickly or as slowly as you please….but the “official” way is of course to just neck it!
Where Can I Get my Own CrazyGoat?
Get your own CrazyGoat system so you are always ready for a crazy party!
The CrazyGoat system to make your own Chèvre drink at home can be purchased online from the CrazyGoat website by clicking here:
The team there are friendly and helpful….look for the “Union Jack” flag to change the language of the website to some form of English & if you need to contact them then Mr Goat will be happy to help you out in English as well!!!
So take a tip from the MeanyGoat……give the CrazyGoat Chèvre drink a try at your next party….as a DIY cocktail it is cheap and economical…..as a surprise it is completely original…..full of history and full of mystery!
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Frugal Easter Ideas
Frugal Easter Ideas that Won’t Break the Bank!
You need to take care when you are out shopping at Easter because the latest statistics show that Easter has become the “New Retail Beast”. If you are not careful you will soon be splashing a lot of unnecessary cash and eating a lot of unnecessary calories, so thinking about some Frugal Easter Ideas could really help you out this year. Why not read on to find out about the real origins of Easter…
The Origins of Easter:
Frugal Easter Ideas – Hot Cross Buns actually have a Pagan origin….
We all think of Easter as a religious festival, but then somewhere along the line chocolate eggs, egg hunts, Easter bunnies, Hot Cross Buns and loads of candy got added…so what is really going on? Historically eggs have been associated with fertility and re-birth since pagan times, and these beliefs pre-date Christianity. For the early Christians the egg was used to symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus…with the idea in the background of a new life coming out of the egg. Early Christians in Mesopotamia started the practice of staining eggs red to symbolize the blood shed during the crucifixion. By 1610 Pope Paul V had recognized Easter Eggs as a symbol of resurrection. Egg hunts on the other hand hark back to the ancient idea that an egg is like hidden treasure and have no direct historical link with Easter. Similarly, Hot Cross Buns were a Pagan celebration unrelated to Christianity and were originally marked with a cross to celebrate the Greek Goddess Eostre….after whom Easter is named…..
In modern times these early, and deeply religious, motives have become widely embraced by Christians and non-Christians alike. Enter the world of commercialization, the chocolate Easter Bunny and Egg Rolling on the White House Lawn!
When you are thinking about Easter try to keep it in perspective, so if you are religious focus on the deep emotional aspects…while if you are not, don’t kid yourself and just enjoy the concept of hidden treasure and fertility as winter bows out and changes into spring!
Facts About Our Modern Easter – The Retail Beast:
Frugal Easter Ideas – Give the Calorie laden eggs a miss this year…unless you are going to spend at least half an hour walking briskly for every tiny one you eat!
So whatever the origins, and whatever we think, the Modern Easter is here to stay and the main objective is of course to move the money from your wallet into the cash tills. Along the way you might get some entertainment and will certainly be tempted by thousands of extra calories lurking behind the bright and enticing wrappings of the Easter Eggs and Bunnies. This is what Easter has now become:
- Over $14 Billion of Retail Sales Occur over the Easter Period making it the Fifth biggest spending date in the annual calendar coming just behind Mother’s Day
- Around 80% of Americans Celebrate Easter with the average spend of $118 EACH!
- 75% of the money is spent on “food” items like candy and eggs with the remaining being spent on gifts
- A Cadbury Cream Egg weighs 34 grams and contains 150 calories…over 300 million are sold every year!
- It will take you over half an hour of brisk walking to burn off the extra calories from each egg you eat
Frugal Easter Ideas don’t really get a look in when stacked up against the huge mega industry out there trying to get us to buy more stuff every day…and eat more junk! Aggressive marketing has relentlessly connected Easter as a family event but focusing on the children. Little surprise that it is so hard to resist buying those eggs when everybody is saying “oh, it’s so nice for the children”.
Frugal Easter Ideas:
If you want to buck the trend this year, and think you can resist eating a single Easter Egg until they are in the half price sale in April, what sort of things can you do that won’t break the bank?
- Grow Sunflowers – Easter is a great time to start sowing a few sunflower seeds in the kitchen windowsill so they are ready to plant out when the weather warms up. Great for kids and adults alike. Just like eggs, the Sunflowers are full of promise and surprises!
- Make a Miniature Easter Garden for Your Dining Table - Use moss and fine gravel to cover a block of Oasis flower arranging foam and then decorate with small twigs from the garden and one or two crocus bulbs and primrose flowers if you have them.
- Paint Some Eggs - Blow the eggs first by making a hole at each end and blow the contents out so that you can make scrambled egg or an omelet for your breakfast. Then paint the eggs with some nice traditional designs
- Spend Time Together - This costs nothing and is the best Easter gift ever…just spend quality time with your family and turn your back on the retail frenzy going on behind you!
Click on this link to read how to recycle and create a whole host of Easter goodies and decorations:
Take a Frugal Tip from the MeanyGoat and make Easter a family event on your terms this year…don’t give way to the peer pressure and emotional blackmail out there…leave those calorie laden eggs on the supermarket shelf and keep the bucks in your pocket! Frugal Easter Ideas really do make sense whatever your beliefs……
Frugal Habits
Develop Frugal Habits for Success!
With Frugal Habits rapidly becoming mainstream it is a good time to review the core values to ensure that we are heading for success rather than just riding the wave of the latest craze. You don’t have to be a Monk to have Frugal Habits! Far from it, you can live a 100% modern life by taking control of your finances, getting out of debt, learning to save money and discovering that less is actually more. And of course if you let the Rats in the Rat Race run right past you then you will soon feel a huge surge of happiness and pride, because in fact you are the one who is really the winner. Read on to discover the critical Frugal Habits that you need to cultivate in order to be successful….
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Define Your Target | The most critical of all your Frugal Habits is to define your target. It might be to pay off your credit card, or repay the mortgage. Or it might be more life changing like deciding you want to start your own business or cut down to a 3 day week. If you don’t define your target then you have nothing to aim for and days and weeks will soon pass by with no progress. |
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Quit Your Bad Habits | Once you know what you are aiming for you really need to quit your bad habits. It could be smoking, drinking, gambling or even shopping or snacking. Whatever your vices are you already know them well and you need to knock them on the head right from the start. There is no point having a great plan to save money if you just spend it all again on cigarettes! |
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Sort Out Your Diet | Ok, so you’ve cleaned up your life a bit…what next? Sort out your diet of course. A diet is not something you go on for a few weeks in order to lose those extra poundds…rather it is the lifestyle choices you make about what you decide to eat. Carry on eating too many take-a ways and huge restaurant meals then no matter how often you practically starve yourself you will carry on steadily gaining weight year after year. Sort it out now and your health will improve and you should save money in the process! |
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Get Fit | You are now eating correctly, but chances are that you still have a few extra pounds and you tend to be a bit of a couch potato. Well get it sorted. If you improve your fitness then you reduce the risk of all the well known “Western Killers” like heart disease and cancer. Not only that, you will have more energy and also more mental energy so you will be able to tackle life’s problems head on and create great frugal solutions! |
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Learn Portion Control | Why is portion control one of the great Frugal Habits to develop? Quite simply it will save you money by making your food go further..;and in addition it will help you to either lose weight in a controlled way or maintain your correct weight. Forget about all that stuff your Mother used to tell you about not being allowed to get down from the table until you had cleared your plate…that was in a time of food scarcity while these days we have a huge food surplus. Get your home baked portions under control and get into the habit of freezing any excess while if you eat out ask for a doggy bag! |
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Slow Down | Slow down. Yep, that’s right, no need to rush. If you rush around you tend to forget things and make mistakes..;and this will cost you money. Equally, when the new latest gadget comes out just bide your time a bit and the prices will come down…we have seen this happen with every new piece of technology every launched. |
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Network & Communicate | Don’t be afraid to let people know what you think…these days people are much more receptive and interested in alternative views. Also many people are genuinely helpful and will often put you in touch with other useful contacts. This networking can be really useful if you intend to barter for goods, share bulk purchases or simply swap ideas! |
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Get on Your Bike | Sort your transport out. The more you use your feet and your bike the cheaper transport becomes and the fitter you will get. Obviously there are a lot of factors involved here like your age, health and simply where you live…but if you can ditch the car for even a few trips a week then it will soon add up to a significant saving overt he year. Car sharing, buses, trains and ferries are all things to investigate thoroughly! |
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Use Your Brain | Use your brain and develop a “Frugal Habit Radar” so that you are constantly on the look out for good ideas and imaginative ways to save time, money or resources. Your brain is your biggest asset so get used to using it! |
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Be Successful! | Do all these things and you will be successful! Enjoy your success and the new freedom that developing Frugal Habits gives you. None of this is rocket science or even difficult to do…but it does require long term lifestyle changes to work. If you just have a “frugal phase”…then just like a crash diet when you come off it you will soon go back to your old ways of maxing out your credit card and filling the house with junk that you don’t need! |
Take a Tip from the Meany Goat and hone up your Frugal Habits right now…the sooner you start changing your lifestyle the sooner you will see some real benefits and results!
Click the link to read a case study of putting frugal habits into practice: My Frugal Resume: Contributing to Our Household’s Finances in More Ways than Earning
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Frugal Valentine
Become a Frugal Valentine!
As the Beatles sung in 1966 “Money can’t buy me love“, so think about the respect and affection you can earn from your partner by doing something personal and becoming a Frugal Valentine this year. The average American Romantic shells out $126 on Valentine’s day gifts and this figure is increasing each year. These days that $126 is often spent ordering a gift online with a credit card…so increasing the overall debt burden. But it doesn’t stop there…the latest NRF research also shows that the average consumer also spends an additional $25 on Valentine gifts for other family members…and incredibly ANOTHER $5 on gifts for their pets!! Take a reality check and listen to the Beetles right now before you start planning this years Valentine spending spree….
Top Five Frugal Valentine Ideas:
Become a Frugal Valentine and invest time rather than money to make your gifts really meaningful and personalized…
- Make a Love Scrapbook: Hunt around for ticket stubs, restaurant receipts and of course photos from the good times you have spent together. Write a few words next to each as a reminder of the happy memory. This takes some time so is a real labor of love that will certainly be appreciated and cherished.
- Personalized Cookies: Use your home baking skills to create some original cookies with a special romantic message spelled out in icing! With a bit of creativity you can make a simple box out of card covered in nice recycled wrapping paper so that the cookies can be kept in the correct order. For small cookies put one letter on each. For larger ones you should have room for a whole word.
- Create your Own Restaurant: Prices always go up on February 14th and restaurants are usually overcrowded and fully booked…hardly the most romantic environment! Create your own secluded candle lit restaurant table in your own house or apartment complete with a scattering of hearts cut out of pink paper arranged on the tablecloth.
- Make your Own Bouquet of Flowers: The price of flowers and plants explodes at Valentine’s Day…so why not make your own bouquet out of whatever garden or wild plants and flowers you have to hand? Evergreen leaves always make a good backdrop for any brightly colored flowers you can find…or you can try your hand at adding some homemade silk paper flowers decorated with your partners favorite chocolates!
- An Early Night: The most romantic gift of all is of course yourself. Have a quiet night in and take the time to talk and share some special moments…with all the mobile phones switched off! All too often in the busy modern world couples don’t carve out time to just sit and talk. More often there will be a rushed and frustrating meal in a busy restaurant with both of you constantly checking messages on your phones…or even worse playing games!
By the Way, What is the Origin of Valentine’s Day?
A romantic day to exchange personal tokens and symbols of love and affection….rather than just ordering some tacky gift online with your credit card…and your pets really don’t need presents!
The Frugal Valentine needs to know the background and history of that special day! The real origin was to celebrate the martyrdom of Saint Valentine who was imprisoned in Roman times for carrying out illegal marriages for soldiers and Christians. Later, in the Middle Ages, Geoffry Chaucer, the writer, started using it in a romantic context and by the 15th Century it had pretty much evolved into a “non commercialized” version of what we have today where lovers would exchange tokens and symbols as an expression of love.
So there you go, you are all set for the most romantic Valentine’s Day yet…fully armed with both the history and a whole clutch of great ideas that will show you really care because you have personally invested time and effort rather than just entering your credit card details online and pressing “order”!!!
Take a Frugal Tip from the Meany Goat…surprise your lover and become a Frugal Valentine this year….keep your credit card in your pocket and mobile phone switched off and prepare for a really romantic evening together!
Click this link to discover the details about Valentine’s Day Spending Habits
How about adding your favorite frugal Valentine’s Day ideas in the comments below….
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One off the Wrist
One off the Wrist for Coca Cola!
Have you spotted the new Coca Cola advertising campaign yet? Surprise surprise, they admit that sugary drinks contain calories that you then need to burn off or else you will get fat. They helpfully point out some of the ways of burning off the 140 calories in a standard can….but strangely they don’t mention “One Off the Wrist”!
History of Coca Cola:
The original Coca Cola recipe was patented as a medicine in the late 19th Century by John Pemberton….but it was not until 1944 that the name “Coke” became a registered trade mark in the USA. Coca Cola have developed an enviable business plan…..basically they manufacture a gloopy concentrate that is sold to franchise holders at bottling plants around the world. They then mix the gloop with filtered water and sugar to create the final product for local distribution. When first launched Coco Cola contained two major stimulants….cocaine from the coca leaf and caffeine from the kola nut. So with the “k” replaced with a “c” we have the dubious origin of this famous national beverage! Pemberton’s original recipe in 1891 apparently included around 5 ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, but by 1904 the fresh leaves were replaced with “spent” leaves….a recycled bi-product from cocaine production…how ecological! Today coca leaf is sill used in the recipe but it is completely denatured to remove the narcotic component by the Stepan Company, which is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant. Kola nuts have a bitter flavor and can contain up to 3% caffeine. In 1911 there was a famous law case brought by the US Government to try to get the caffeine removed from Coca Cola and related soft drinks. The case failed, but in the aftermath the Pure Food and Drug Act was amended and added caffeine to the list of “habit-forming” and “deleterious” substances which must be listed on a product’s label. Standard Coca Cola still contains a significant amount of caffeine…typically over 9 mg per 100 ml.
The Coca Cola Recipe:
The original recipe apparently really did contain cocaine…and was sold as a medicine!
The ingredients of regular Coke are as follows….
- Filtered carbonated water
- Sugar – usually Fructose Corn syrup since it is cheaper than sugar and 3 times a sweet…..
- Caffeine
- Phosphoric Acid – added to give a sharp flavor and to slow down the growth of bacteria and molds
- Carmel color
- Natural flavorings….mostly derived from the processed coca leaf
So yep, Coke is fizzy sugary water…we all knew that…big deal! Well in fact Coke hasn’t really ever shaken off the unsavory beginnings since it still contains a harmful cocktail. Phosphoric Acid is bad for teeth, and of course so is the sugar…but the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined research and found that carbonated drinks containing caffeine and phosphoric acid can lead to excess calcium loss from the body via urine. So drink a lot of Coke and you risk ending up with no teeth and no backbone!!!!
A regular Coke ends up containing around 140 calories which is the equivalent of 10 tea spoons of sugar. Oh, and it also contains nearly 50 mg of sodium...or about 2% of your daily salt intake from a single can!
In order to “put it’s house in order” Coca Cola has embarked on a huge healthy living advertising campaign. Not content with sponsoring sports like the Olympics (what irony!) it is now trying to become the champion of healthy diet and exercise…all this from a product founded on cocaine!
How to Burn off those Calories?
Learn that male or female…one of the wrist, or buffing the muff, can help you burn off the calories in a standard bottle of Coke!
A pound of body fat is equivalent to around 3500 calories…..so drinking 25 cans of Coke over and above the calories you are burning will pile on the weight…now those 25 Cokes could be spread over a year, a month…or for many people a week. In order to prevent weight gain you need to burn the excess calories…the actual maths depends on your weight, fitness and metabolic rate…but here we will just look at some average examples.
Exercise needed to burn the 140 Calories in a Coke:
| Tennis | 14 Minutes |
| Walking | 30 Minutes |
| Aerobics | 16 Minutes |
| Cleaning | 45 Minutes |
| Cycling | 25 Minutes |
However, there is a much better method. Research has found that masturbation can burn between 100 and 150 calories a pop. How about that then? Men or women, one off the wrist, buff the muff or bash the bishop and you can gulp down as much of that fizzy pop as you want! Lets face it, anybody who drinks Coca Cola in this day and age has got to be a right wanker!!!
Take a Frugal Tip from the MeanyGoat and cut out all those “empty calories” from fizzy drinks like Coco Cola and drink water or herbal teas (hot or cold) instead. If you do feel the need to imbibe a Coke from time to time then the quickest way for a man to burn off the calories is a quick one off the wrist…3 minutes and job done….of course for a woman it can take longer, but the outcome is the same! Just make sure you don’t do it in public….
Useful Links:
How much Exercise is needed to Burn 140 Calories
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Frugal New Year Resolutions
Frugal New Year Resolutions – More Ideas For a Brighter Future!
Looking for a change? Hoping for a miracle? Same old list of resolutions as last year? Better to stick to logic and common sense and make some Frugal New Year Resolutions which might help you be happier, save money and have less impact on the environment. Set your New Years Goals to help you turn your dreams into reality…read on to learn how.
Small Changes Matter:
When setting your Frugal New Year Resolutions and New Years Goals think small to get big results. Very small changes in your lifestyle and buying habits can have a big impact over time. Think about those cups of coffee you buy at work from the crappy machine in the corridor. First off, unless you drink it black then it will probably contain powdered milk or creamer which contains plenty of extra additives and chemicals….you don’t need that. Too much caffeine is pretty bad for your metabolism anyway so try to limit your intake to less than four cups a day.
Then there are the calories….
- Black coffee or Espresso 5 calories a cup
- Cappuccino 80 to 120 calories a cup depending on the type and amount of milk
- Latte 120 to 200 calories a cup depending on the type and amount of milk
So four cups of Latte a day could give you an extra 800 calories…the equivalent of eating an extra meal a day.
Then there is the cost…..
- Home made Coffee – Depends how you make it but around 25 cents a cup including the electricity
- Coffee Machine at Work – Sometimes free, but increasingly you have to pay up to 75 cents a cup
- Starbucks between $2.50 and $5 a cup depending on what kind you go for
So four cups costing around $3.50 each during the working week (ie excluding holidays and weekends) adds up to around $2500 a year….WOW!!!!! So just stopping those coffees out could give you and $2500 a year and save you over 500,000 calories, which means that if you don’t eat extra to compensate then you could loose around a pound a week in weight.
I think by now you can see that small changes can have a huge impact on your life, so start your frugal new year resolutions list right now!
Try this easy calculator for more inspiration
Frugal New Year Resolutions and New Years Goals:
Make a list of your Frugal New Year Resolutions and stick it on the wall where you can see it every day!
Here are some starting points for your Frugal New Year Resolutions list….create your own list of New Years Goals and stick it on the wall somewhere where you will see it every day….perhaps in the kitchen or bathroom. Tick off you goals as you achieve them for extra motivation….and by the way…always remember that the chances of sticking to your new years resolutions if you don’t make a list are pretty much zero! So if you are serious about change then your first resolution must always be to make a list:
- Drink water or herb tea (free herbs from your garden!) rather than expensive coffee to help save money and lose weight
- Start making your own packed lunch instead of skipping it or eating out. Regular meals are important for health and energy levels…making your own lunch should only take around 5 minutes in the morning and it means that you will save money and have complete control over what you eat….which should help you achieve you weight targets
- Start walking and using your bicycle for health, fitness, relaxation, saving money (no petrol!) and non-polluting
- Start growing some herbs and vegetables…even if you only have a balcony you can grow herbs and salad in pots….and with a modest vegetable plot you can easily grow over $1000 worth of fresh fruit and vegetables a year. Good for your pocket and good for your health
Take some advice from the MeanyGoat and get your list of News Years Goals ready now….those Frugal New Year Resolutions will really have a big impact on your life if you just take that first step and start NOW!
Frugal Gift Ideas
Frugal Gift Ideas for the Whole Family!
Christmas, Birthdays and special events are all times when we like to celebrate by giving gifts. However we don’t need to break the bank to do this and equally we can choose something that will help the recipient and maybe save them some money as well. Frugal gift ideas do not have to involve pots of home made jam or last years undrinkable elderberry wine…they should really useful and practical gifts that will last a lifetime. Here is the Meany Goat’s choice of top frugal Gift ideas for the whole family.
Frugal Gift Ideas for Men:
Honestly, men are pretty easy to please when it comes to presents. Gadgets and tools are the all time favorites and with this in mind it is really easy to find some really great frugal gifts that will save the man in your life plenty of time and money.
Home Energy Monitor – These little plug in gadgets enable you to identify the electrical devices that are costing you most money to run. You can easily recover the cost in a couple of months!
Belkin Conserve Insight Energy-Use Monitor
Price: —
(188 customer reviews)
0 used & new available from
Conserve Power Switch - Plenty of home appliances use energy in “standby mode” when they are left plugged in. Use this simple and compact power switch to turn them right off. A great stocking filler!
Solar Charger & External Power Source – Recharge your Smart Phone or run USB powered devices like MP3 players direct from this unit….all using free solar electricity.
Price: $29.99
(299 customer reviews)
4 used & new available from $29.99
Manual Log Splitter – This hand powered manual hydraulic log splitter uses no electricity…but also avoids getting a bad back from slitting logs with an axe. Great for the helping lower your carbon footprint even more.
10 Ton Horizontal Log Wood Cutter Splitter Manual Hydraulic 2 Speed Wheel
Price: $95.99
(23 customer reviews)
2 used & new available from $89.41
Frugal Gift Ideas for Women:
Well, women can be more tricky to buy “sensible” presents for…Ouch, I felt that! However, there are plenty of alternative ideas to choose from if you hunt around and use some imagination. Here are some things to get you started in the right direction.
Steamer – Steaming food is healthy, quick and saves energy compared with using an oven or cooker. Steamed vegetables contain more vitamins than boiled ones. With a bit of thought a whole alternative CHristmas or Thanksgiving meal can be cooked with one of these!
Oster 5711 Mechanical Food Steamer, White
Price: $39.99
(136 customer reviews)
13 used & new available from $18.00
Kindle E-Reader – The pocket sized Kindle is ideal for those who love reading a lot of books. There are literally hundreds of thousands of e-books that can be downloaded perfectly legally for free. The Amazon website offers free versions of out of Copy-write novels so that is always a good place to start. The Kindle saves money since the e-books are cheaper than the paper versions (or you can just read the free ones) and you don’t end up with a house full of dusty old paperbacks!
Kindle, 6″ E Ink Display, Wi-Fi – Includes Special Offers (Graphite)
Price: $50.99
(7632 customer reviews)
10 used & new available from $50.99
Freezable Lunch Box – Good quality lunch boxes are always a good investment since you recover the cost the first time you use them! Choosing one that you can freeze makes it really easy to avoid waste since you can prepare several meals in advance from left overs.
Stay-Fit Lunch 2 Go Container, EZ Freeze
Price: $8.64
(56 customer reviews)
14 used & new available from $6.79
Frugal Gift Ideas for Kids:
If you teach your kids the important values of saving and re-cycling then they will be in a much better position to survive the ups and downs of the World Economy as well as being better equipped to help save the planet!
Tin Can Robot – Learn some science and recycle a tin can at the same time. The Meany Goat would actually like to have one of these!
A Potato Clock – Make sure your kids are at the meal table on time by getting them one of these potato clocks to build. Runs from a potato so no need to buy batteries and no heavy metal pollution.
Rubber Powered Airplane – Hours of fun without using batteries! Your kids will gets plenty of exercise chasing after these planes in the yard or park. Traditional, but still great fun and more educational than a games console!
Strato Streak Rubber Band Powered Glider Guillows
Price: $5.50
(9 customer reviews)
10 used & new available from $4.07
Buck the Trend!
Frugal Gift Ideas do not have to include wooly hats and undrinkable homemade wine. There are plenty of modern alternatives. Buy them over the internet and get cheaper prices while saving time and petrol by not going to the shops!
So there you have it…some great frugal gift ideas to get you thinking! Don’t get taken in by all the glitzy TV advertising….most trendy presents are just a waste of money and will usually lie around unused or eventually get given to a charity shop. Think differently this year and choose some things that are useful, long lasting and will save money. And for the kids? Well, try to get them to ignore the trash that their friends will inevitably end up with and help them learn some core values that will guide them in later life. So, take a tip from the Meany Goat and get your thinking cap on….write down a list of your best frugal gift ideas and then start searching for the best deals on-line. If you buy over the internet then you will certainly pay less than in the local shopping mall and you will save both time and petrol into the bargain.
…….and if you are still stuck for inspiration here are some other ideas…..Ten Frugal Gift Ideas for Under $10
It would be great to get your feedback on what frugal gift ideas you will be using this year…please share with a comment
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Frugal Mindset
How to Develop a Frugal Mindset
What is so special about frugal ideas and why is it a good idea to create a Frugal Mindset? A lot of people associate the word “frugal” with simple people living close to nature without any modern technology. Well, this kind of frugal existence does exist, but that is not what the MeanyGoat is talking about. On this website we promote frugal ideas that are useful to anybody living in the modern world. We are not saying “turn back the clock and everything will be ok” but rather “Lets embrace modern technology, scientific and medical advances so that we can lead a better life and with less”. In order to do this we need to develop a FRUGAL MINDSET so that we can filter all the information we are bombarded with and just focus on the good stuff.
What is “The Good Stuff”?
The good stuff is information, products or services that can save us time and money or enable us to use fewer natural resources. For example an electric bike is a great frugal invention because it means that many more people can abandon the car and use a bike since electric bikes go pretty fast and you don’t need to be fit to ride one. A rinky dinky new sink cleaner is not “Good Stuff” because we can do the same job with vinegar and bi-carb for a fraction of the cost.
A Frugal Mindset is both a radar and a filter….you need to be constantly on the lookout for the Good Stuff using your “Frugal Radar” and then use the “Frugal Crap Filter” to reject anything that doesn’t come up to the mark. Two for one supermarket deals are a great example here….as we know they are usually designed to get us to spend more…own brand products are usually cheaper.
Tune in your Frugal Mindset
To help you tune in your Frugal Mindset here are two checklists…one for the Radar and one for the Filter:
Frugal Radar: Use this to identify potential money, time or resource saving technologies, products or services
- Will this save me time?
- Will this save me money?
- Will this use fewer natural resources?
- Will this help me to simplify my life?
- Can it be Recycled or used for something else?
Frugal Crap Filter: Use this to evaluate things from the Radar…are they really what they seem
- What is the initial investment cost?
- What is the running cost?
- Who else is making money out of this product or service?
- What am I using today & what is wrong with it? (Justify any change)
- Is it sustainable, what is the lifetime, when will it need servicing, spares or replacing?
- Do I really NEED it or do I just WANT it?
- What can it replace…can I stop doing something or can I get rid of something (sell!) that I already have?
Think “Out of the Box” and hone your skills to develop a Frugal Mindset!
Use these two tools every day help to develop your Frugal Mindset. In no time you will be able to see through the hype and scams and go straight to the real bargains. You will simplify your life, spend less and have more time!
Take a Frugal Tip from the MeanyGoat and spend a little time time creating a Frugal Mindset and you will soon find that you can dramatically improve your quality of life as well as increase your savings!
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Watering Your Plants
Solar Water Fountain
How to be More Frugal