frugal zeitgeist

Garbage City – Now That’s Entreprenurialism

Forest — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:00:32 +0000

Yesterday I had an eye opening experience that definitely fueled my belief in people and the way people can fight adverse conditions to survive. We often think of the entrepreneurial spirit as something that is used by people to escape the 9-5 and follow their dreams but in the case of Garbage City in Cairo the entrepreneurial is used by this amazing community to survive.

Not long after I moved to Cairo I started to hear about Garbage City, a fabled place where a lot of the garbage is taken and all useful items are separated and readied for resale and reuse to local buyers and international corporations This amazingly progressive initiative is completely people led with no help Governmental help and hardly any international help. In Garbage City the saying “One Man’s Rubbish is Another Man’s Treasure” has never been more true.

Garbage City is not a place that will be in any guidebook, on our taxi ride in we started to see the piles of rubbish littered around the edges of the city including a foul smell and even a dead donkey out in the open. At this point I still was not fully sure what to expect when we hit the actual city. As we drove deeper in we reached typical Cairo back streets absolutely spilling with life and wormed our way through the streets up to an area known as the Cafeteria.

The Cafeteria was at the highest point of the city and it was here that we started our education. The minute we stepped out we was greeted with nothing but friendly smiles, broken English and a real sense of joy from the locals. Although the ride in started bad with the piles of smelling Garbage it was clear that there was something amazingly special about this community.

We met our guide Hana and he started us on our tour. Hana has been introduced to us by a friend and he is a truly amazing guy. His English was learned from reading books he found in the garbage as a child and he is now one of the most innovative people in the city building solar heaters and methane gas tanks that produce from organic waste. All of this built for next to nothing, really flying in the face of what green technology involves…. Hana and his cohort are flying in the face of wisdom that green technology is expensive and only for the rich!

Throughout the tour he took us from the cafeteria, showing us one of the most amazing churches I have ever seen and then down through the streets of the city to his home for tea with his beautiful family.

There is no mistaking that Garbage City is poor and the rubbish lined streets could hard to deal with for the average holiday maker however but people are working highly efficient systems that the rest of the world really can learn from and it has to be seen to be believed. Plastic is sorted and shredded to be sold back to manufactures in large bags. Useful items are reconditioned and re-sold. People use scraps to make recycled paper, material for rugs, clothing and more. Every single item has a use. The organic waste used to be eaten by some 300,000 pigs but after the Swine flu issue the Egyptian Government had every single one of these pigs slaughtered, leaving the people of Garbage City with an ongoing dilemma! Goats and Sheep just don’t eat enough!

I just wish the people of Garbage City has some more help and in return NGO’s and organizations can learn from the highly advanced recycling and re-use innovations being refined daily by this highly efficient operation. It really is inspiring!

Ok let’s take you on a little photo tour.

The unfinished building known as the cafeteria at the high point of Garbage City.

At the high point in Garbage City next to the awesome St Simmons Church is the largest Crucifix in the Middle East!

St Simmons, A church cut out of the mountain side... Probably the most impressive church I have ever seen and the center of the Garbage City community

The stands of the 20,000 capacity St Simmon's Church!! Wow, just wow!!

The view of Garbage City from the top of the Cafeteria

A close up of one of the many self built Pigeon lofts that line the Cairo skyline... This one is particularly tall!

Piles of sorted rubbish on one of the Garbage City rooftops.

A man restoring some iron fencing, likely for resale

Chawna, Lara and Hana (Our Guide) on a Garbage lined alleyway

Hana's self built solar hot water heater.... Bringing hot hot water all year round

Hana's self built Methane Tank. It uses a tea compost to produce Methane from organic waste. Sometimes it produces so much he has to let some go!

Organic methane is powering this gas ring

Everywhere I go in Cairo there is a cheeky old lady!! This is one of Garbage City's many friendly residents

Local Garbage City kids, they all rished to see the photo after I took it.

Our awesome guide Hana with his wife and 7month baby.

I hope you enjoyed an insight into Garbage City and found it inspiring. The residents of this city prove what a little hard work and innovation can do even if the odds are stacked against you.

If you visit Cairo, I urge that you visit Garbage City. Hana is an awesome guide and can be reached by email cghannaschaap@hotmail.com.

I’d love to know what you think about this and any comments you have at all.

Realizing The Frugal Monster You Have Become!

Forest — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:36:28 +0000

For the last few years I have not had a whole lot of cash to play with. Much of this was due to an overwhelming debt which is now under control via a debt management plan and the fact that I have not been earning a high monthly wage. However during this period I have lived in 3 countries and done many wonderful things, not lavishly but I have done things and I owe all of this to the frugal nature that I have acquired.

I wasn’t always a frugal being. When I was back in London (my home town) earning a high wage I would always blow it on the weekends and expensive items (By the way this is not how I got in debt, read my post Me My Debt And I for info on this). Now days I really have to think before hitting the town or buying the newest iWhatever…. But I would 100% say I am happier now. I live on far less, so I need far less. Needing less to live on greatly reduces general stress and expectation of money. Sure I would like more money but it’s not the most essential thing….. This I guess is why I am and what makes me Frugal.

Over the past few weeks we have had a guest visiting us in Sunny Cairo. My partner has been slaving away at University so the guest and I have been out and about doing touristic things and normal life duties as well. Her spending habits are what I would classify as normal in USA so having a normal spender with me has made me realise a lot of things…

I have become a tightwad!

I stand in the supermarket working out the price per gram of cheese to see which feta is cheaper, I argue with taxi drivers over 5LE ($0.85) and generally just monitor every situation when it involves money leaving my possession.

I asked my guest “I am being tight?” and she replied “No, you are just a very very frugal person!”.

My first reaction was a little negative, I felt attacked but when I sat down to think about it I realised it’s probably a good thing and to coming over as frugal or tight isn’t the end of the world if it helps me in my overall life.

To the normal spending folks us frugal minded types seem a little extreme, I mean who cares about a $0.10 difference in cheese? Is such a decision worth the 45seconds it takes to work out?

In our frugal bubble we all make sense to each other. When Jeff showed us how to practically get free Gillette Fushion Razors that seemed great to me, to others it would just seem a tad extreme. Many of us frugal bloggers talk about how we scrimp and save and we rejoice in the fact that we spend less money even if it does take a lot of our time. Some excellent recent examples from other include the articles How To Become A Coupon King (or Queen), Buying Used Clothing For Kids and Cheap Meals: Dine for Less.

The internet has created many monsters but the strong frugal beast is nothing but good in my mind. I struggle with money at times and work hard to live well on my budget. Without the frugal and personal finance community online I probably would have my frugal ways beaten out of me by the normal folks. In fact I would have probably resorted to getting even more in debt!!!

To others we may seem like odd creatures, obsessively humped over our computers crawling for deals, banging numbers into our calculator and hoarding our wallet like it’s our “Precious” but I am proud of my frugality and I think you should be too…. “I Am Not A Monster” (Now which movie did that come from?).

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter and if you have had any attacks against your frugality and money saving ways from the “normal” people.

Trade in Your Car for a Horse, Would It Be Cheaper?

Forest — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:09:28 +0000

With all this money saving going on and people referring back to “The Old Ways” I thought it would be fun to look back at our past and consider the option of replacing your car with a horse…. Who wouldn’t want to ride into town for a few beers and a pizza on the back of a giant stallion?

Traveling by horse was the old Wild West way, and also the way still employed in many countries and areas with large poor populations. Here in Cairo it’s not uncommon to see people traveling by a horse / donkey pulled cart and usually these people are from the poorer demographic…. They would suggest running a horse is cheaper than running a car, right? But I have always been led to believe that horse ownership was something for the rich, at least in USA and UK, so let’s take a brief look over the financial s and see how it pans out.

Disclaimer: I really don’t know a whole lot about horses, I just thought it would be fun to see how this would work out and this is by no means a comprehensive guide.

The Cost Of Buying A Horse – $3500
The initial cost involved in making the switch will be actually purchasing a horse. According to Horse Trader Classified you can pick up a working horse in the United states for anywhere between $1500-$8000. A mid range of around $3500 seems to be normal.

Housing The Horse – $ 4349
To even think about making this idea viable you will have to keep your trusted stead at home. This requires a fair space of land in the Garden and ideally some land nearby to house the horse. If you go the kit route then Barn Pro’s offer a simple Pasture Barn for $4349.00. However you could possibly build from scratch using some barn plans or your own ingenuity!

Kitting Up – $ 1764.95
Your horse needs equipment for carrying your daily items and comfort-ability for you and the animal when riding. Outfitters Supply have some Saddle’s available at $1,675 and reasonable sized sadle bags for available at $89.95.

Basic Start Up Costs – Approx $9613.75

Ok, already getting a horse is looking like a bad option as you can pick up a reasonable used car for a few thousand less! But there is the running costs to consider, if a horse is much less to run than a car, then maybe, just maybe it’s still a viable option

One Years Running Costs – Approx $2899 – $6086

I found an excellent article on Equine World (UK Site) that listed the rough costs for livery, food, Vet’s Fees, Insurance, Farrier, Dentist, Working and some cash for unexpected Extras. As we talked about stabling the horse in your back yard they estimate owning a horse will cost approx £1935-£4061 per years. A straight convert to dollars gives you the figure you see above…. Actually looking at this it seems to be comparable and possibly cheaper than running a car.

Impracticalities

I don’t have to go on about this too much but owning a horse is probably like adding another family member. You will have to become friends and treat each other well. Some days the horse may just not want to go and stand in your work car park all day! It may want to join you in the bar and if you drink more than a bottle of beer you can’t leave your horse at the bar and take a cab home!

Also from a family perspective, at most the horse will take two people so you would need more than one horse for the family. Your local town may not welcome a horse being parked just anywhere and I don’t think they meet the minimum requirements for riding on the highway!

How to further save money…

The start up costs could be dramatically reduced by building your own stable and buying items used rather than new. You could probably knock a few thousand off the estimates with no real problem.

On the running costs you just have to look after your new friend as best as you can and you could save on medical costs. If your friends and family need their grass cutting you could kill two birds with one stone and save a bunch on feed. Also the manure could possible be sold on to a local garden store for a small bit of helping cash.

My Conclusion, What Do You Think?

Playing with the idea of replacing your trusty Ford with a stead and playing out your Clint Eastward fantasies sounds fun but for the majority of us it’s a little too impractical. Cross country travel would take weeks and your general pace of life would have to slow down. However for the Green minded folks in us it’s not going to necessarily cost more than owning a car and is probably far better for the local environment. Grass instead of gas and useful emissions!

What do you think about this whole idea?

I would more than love to know your thoughts in the comments and if you can help me improve this article then I would be entirely grateful.

Thanks a million for reading.

PS: I was inspired to write this quirky article by fellow Yakezie Member TJ’s awesome recent article on How Green Is Your Sex Life… It’s a fun read so I suggest you go check it out.

Now Insanity – Continuing The Workout At Home Trend

Forest — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:12:55 +0000

For those of you that have been following for a while you will know that I recently finished p90x, the 3 month home workout routine. It thought it was awesome and it really did catapult my home fitness and it more than fitted my budget. I lost a bunch of weight, gained a lot of strength and in general ending up feeling very good about myself. However I still have around 10lbs to lose and would like to get my Cardio strength up a little more.

After a few weeks off of intense exercise I am now ready to start my next batch of home workout…. This time I am starting another Infomercial fave from Beach Body called Insanity.

Insanity is a 60 day home workout, led by Hip Hop Abs Shaun T, with high cardiovascular and plyometrics training using some made up thing called max interval training. Basically you work really hard and get quick 30 second breaks in the 40-60min workouts. You are expected to workout 6 days a week.

Today I did my Fit Test, read the guides and watched some of the other workouts…. My initial impression, yeah it’s a little American and Cheesy but it’s actually pretty damn good and looks darn hard! I am looking forward to the results! It involves a lot of running (on the spot) jumping, squatting, reaching and pushing and pulling, all with no extra equipment (how frugal is that!). My fitness test results were not amazing but I think I did ok.

The diet guide was also a good read. They give you a pretty attainable healthy eating plan for a 5 meal a day cycle and it comes with a large range of suggestions and alternatives if needed. It’s unlikely I will stick to this fully but i’ll definitely be looking to it for advice.

Working out at home really is a lot cheaper and in many ways more satisfying. When no one is watching you can make silly faces, try silly moves and really push yourself without the chance of embarrassment. Also you save a bunch of cash on travel to the gym and the membership itself. If you want further convincing to stay away from the shiny lights of the gym read Fiscal Geek’s article Why The Gym Is A Waste Of Money. (I also read an amusing post today where Financial samurai left his car at the gym and accidently took the bus home, oops!!)

If you want to jump on the fitness band wagon with me then you can grab the Insanity workout at a reasonable price from Amazon .

If you don’t have enough time for 1hour a day 6 days a week then you may want to look into other options that will still get you into excellent shape such as The Two Year Fitness Program, a post by Early Retirement Extreme.

Let me know what you are doing or planning on doing for home fitness.

Cut The Fat – Losing Things You Don’t Need

Forest — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:00:36 +0000

I really think that being frugal transcends saving money and can work well in all aspects of your life. To be truly frugal it helps to stand back, take a look at yourself and cut the fat every now and then. By this I mean just getting rid of everything you don’t use or need… There may be a few creature comforts you want and that’s fine but they should still be put under some serious scrutiny.

Finances

You have probably read a lot about cutting back your finances so I won’t over-indulge in reiterating tips here but I feel it needs some mention at least. After all most of us begin our career as a frugalist to save some cash.

Start by sitting down with a pen, a few highlighters, paper and your financial statements and budgets.

On your budgets and bank / credit card statements highlight using different colors to show if an outgoing is essential or extra. Essentials include rent/ mortgage, health insurance etc etc.

Write every “non-essential extra” on a piece of paper. When done writing with your list, be honest with your self and cross out everything from this list that will not be absolutely missed. This could be things like a subscription to a magazine you never finish reading an over the top cable package or morning coffee (I know everyone always uses this example!). Get rid of them… If recurring cancel the bills, if they are things you do then stop doing them.

For the non essentials you have kept you now need to assess each one. Look at them and see if they can be cut back in anyway. For example for your cell phone bill (this should be in non-essentials ) check that you are not paying for any extras you don’t use.

Now the fat is cut on that stuff you need to tackle the things you marked as essential. This is difficult but you may be surprised at how much cash is being wasted. For example you may be able to merge utilities for a cheaper monthly payment. You may be able to find a cheaper insurance quote for your health and car and you may be able to walk/cycle for one part of your daily travel expenses.

Around the Home

Pretty much the same principle applies here. List everything you can see in your home. This may take a while so you can do it detailed, room by room, or you can start with a general list. Obviously things like a frying pan are essential. But what about that ice cream maker and the instant bread machine! If you don’t use them then start using them or put them on the ‘get rid’ list. The kitchen is an easy room to start for this but you will likely find something in every room. Even in the living room you may have a chair that is never used or a table that just gets in the way. Unless it has genuine sentimental value, get rid of it! Less clutter and more freedom from objects will make you feel richer in many ways.

At Work

Take a look at your workspace. I am sure it’s a mess and full of post-its, random papers and nick nacks that you think make getting through the day easier….. Trust me they don’t, and this goes for home workers too. Either organise or get rid of all un-needed stuff. The minute I organised my work space, work became more productive. Use this process for digital desktop too. Think of files on your computer like a real desktop, file them or get rid of them (obviously do a back-up first!).

Now work also entails a work life and there is plenty of fat to cut here! If your time is flexible in any way then you may want to replace your irregular breaks and office chats with more regulated breaks and routes round the office. Only turn on skip and messenger tools at certain times of the day (You may benefit from limiting your hours on certain sites). Your random 20-30min breaks here and there can be replaced with 15min breaks every 2 hours where you have a quick chat, grab a tea/coffee but are ridged with time…. You will likely find so much more work being done and if you work on flexible hours you may be able to actually leave early every now and then! I’m not suggesting you lose your social life at work, just organise it and make better use of everything.

Diet!

I love eating, I REALLY love eating. But I am careful about not wasting money on food I don’t like that much. I realised I was buying too much candy, I would eat it really quickly and not really benefit from the enjoyment of eating it… It was more like a habit. This is the kind of thing that needs trimming. Create a food diary and strike off everything that is not essential, cut back your meals in size by around 10% (you won’t notice the difference really) and once you have the diet of a Tibetan monk regulated it’s time to start bringing extra’s back in for pleasure, not just for the sake of eating. I must admit I am still not perfect in this area but am writing about an ideal here

What else?

I have hardly begun to cover all the areas that the fat can be cut in but it’s a start in some major areas. My fat cutting has taken a few slow years but it could have been done much quicker. I feel lighter in many ways and I think my more frugal mindset has helped me save stress and cash in the long run.

Abit More About Getting Rid of Objects

In the work and home areas you may end up with a bunch of objects that you need to get rid of. Throwing them in the trash can isn’t really a good option and you need to sensibly dispose of this stuff even if you don’t have the willpower to deal with it.

Firstly any items that can should be listed for sale. Ebay and Craigslist are both excellent choices but you could post in your local classifieds or notes in a local shop too. If you are getting rid of clothes you may even be able to sell some of them to reuse clothes stores such as they great Plato’s Closet chain.

For items that don’t sell you can try freecycle or asking friends and family if they need them. For example an old ratty chair may be perfect for a local furniture maker or even for someone just starting a home. You can also donate them to places like Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

Finally you will be left with some stuff that you can’t even give away. It’s likely more than 90% of this can be recycled! If you have a serious amount of scrap metal and paper you may be able to sell if but most people don’t have this amount (some old electronics may contain some valuable metals so it’s worth investigating this stuff). I urge you to recycle these objects even if you have to go out of your way… You will feel much better for it.

Continue This Discussion…

Right now my new forum is in soft launch… Meaning that I am building a cozy small community before a full scale release. You got this far so I would be honored if you would come over and continue the discussion and give some of your tips and ideas.

Continue The Conversation “Cutting The Fat” On The Forum

Alternatively just leave a comment below.

Easy Peasy Yakezie!

Forest — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:03:06 +0000

This is my announcement post to say I am joining the The Yakezie Alexa Challenge. Now before I go on about this you may want to know what Alexa is and also what Yakezie is….. I know the answer to the Alexa bit but not sure on Yakezie, however I want to be able to call myself one very soon!

What is The Yakezie Alexa Challenge?

Financial Samurai created this Alexa challenge in his post Creating Powerful Friends: Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenge and basically laid out a plan to get all participants into the top 200,000 blogs in the world (as ranked by the Alexa system). If you manage to do so then you can safely call yourself a Yakezie. Being in the top 200k in Alexa also is likely to get you a top 100k spot in Wisebreads financial blog list… Which in turn could bring great things to your website.

What is Alexa? - Owned by Amazon, Alexa is a toolbar currently downloaded by over 40million worldwide users. The toolbar tracks website visits and other stats to use the data to determine where sites rank throughout the world.

At time of writing I rank no 282,182 in the world and 147,033 in the United States…. Only 182k spots to move up to call myself a Yakezie!

I found out about Yakezie through an awesome fellow wannabe Yakezie called Jeff from Deliver Away Debt in his post: Yakezie Challenge Carnival. I loved the idea so I hoped on board and now I am looking forward to having an awesome community around me to help me rise to the top 200k….

Wish me luck and join in if you want….

Get Over The Fear Of Cooking At Home…

Forest — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:44:26 +0000

I love to cook at home, but it wasn’t always this way.

I remember thinking that boiling vegetables and grilling a chicken breast (pre Vegetarian days) was an adventurous task. If I was feeling particularly frisky I would put some black pepper on before cooking… oh la la!!

I ate plain and reasonably healthy but didn’t cook very exotically not because I did not love exotic food but because I had a fear that it would come out tasting awful. Many people have conveyed this same excuse to me when expressing why they don’t cook at home.

Then I became Vegetarian (see my post about Why I became Vegetarian). Shuffling round the supermarket with a budget in mind I ended up finding myself filling my basket with vegetables, fruit and beans. Faced with a dinner of boiled rice, beans and veggies every night was not the greatest feeling in the world so I was forced to start thinking about the idea of actually cooking something a little exotic.

I have always loved Indian food and even pre-Vegetarian I had often ate Vegetarian meals at the curry house. So I knew this was a good option. After convincing myself that I could run to the chip shop anyway if the food came out awful I started scouring online for recipes and my cupboard quickly became full of Indian spices that I had previously never heard of!

Later on I became extremely budget conscious and found that Italian food was especially cheap to make so started experimenting with pasta sauces created totally from scratch and often also attempted Chinese style dishes and more and more Indian food. Through necessity I had become a home chef and I loved it. A lot of the food I created and still create is pretty awful but you learn something about a new spice or a new way of cooking every time. I was forced to get over my fear but I am certain that anyone can get over it with just a little push.

Here are some tips to get you over the fear and turn you into a regular Gordon Ramsey (just be careful with the cuss words).

Start simple. Try and recreate something easy that your mother used to make you as a kid. Even give her a call and get the recipe, Spaghetti Bologanaise or a roast dinner are both great places to start.
Get an online mentor. I have fallen in love with Manjula’s Kitchen (see my French Indian Roti Manjula competition entry). The great thing about Manjula is that she is a normal middle aged Indian lady just showing you via video how to cook really yummy Indian dishes. They don’t always come out as great as hers look as I don’t have the same effortless skill as her. But every recipe I have followed has tasted great. Youtube is full of valuable cooking videos and possible mentors in any kind of food you want.
Pay for lessons. Cooking lessons for a day or two may be the perfect way to kick off your new hobby. Having a professional show you a few simple tricks could really give you the starter confidence that you need. You may find some very affordable options at your local community college.
Experiment! Even if you have no idea what you are doing start playing with bits you have to hand. I often buy spices or ingredients that I have never heard of and try them out. If really stuck you can go online and find a recipe to help you out.
Commit to cooking for a date! This is really adventurous but if you commit to a date to cook for a potential partner, friends or even your husband/wife then you will be thrown in the deep end and will often swim to the surface. If not then you can always call in a take away, there is nothing to lose and so much to gain!

I hope these ideas give you some help and I would love to know if you have a fear or got over a fear of cooking.

Thanks a million,

Forest.

French Indian Roti! – My Manjula’s Kitchen Competition Entry

Forest — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:32:37 +0000

I absolutely LOVE Indian food. So when I found Manjula’s Vegetarian Indian Cooking videos on YouTube I was in Heaven!!!

I have been following her updates for over a year and made many successful recipes. Recently I started following on her website and blog. Every month now it seems she is running a competition where you need to create a variation on one of her recipes. Prizes are $50 and $25 in Amazon vouchers, Awesome!

I love Manjula because she is a real human. She makes awesome affordable recipes at home and you see the whole cooking process. Every meal she makes also seems to be a fave of someone in her family…. Very lucky family to have her .

For Manjua’s Feb 2010 Competition she asked that you create a create variation of her Indian Roti or Paratha recipe.

I thought about something creative and originally wanted to make one of the flat bread recipes with Chocolate chips but realised this would not work in the pan with the heat melting the chocoltae. So after a little thought and keeping with the sweet theme I came up with dipping the breads in French Toast mix and drenching them in Maple Syrup….. They were awesome and other people in the house used them for savory meals too.

Ok so onto the recipe and some pics.

French Indian Roti

Ingredients (for 16):

2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour for rolling
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup lukewarm water (Use more as needed)
2 medium eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
Dash of milk
A little veggie oil for the pan

Method:

Mix flour, salt and water together to make a soft dough (add more water as needed).
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface to make the dough smooth.
Put the dough in a warm place with a damp tea towel over the top for around 10mins
Break the dough into 16 equal parts, rolled into little smooth balls.
Take each ball and press onto flour on either side to make flat discs.
Roll each ball into a roughly 6″ flat disc, they may need very light dusting with flour.
Wipe a little veggie oil over your pan. Heat your flat pan or skillet to a medium heat, splash a few drops of water on it and if they sizzle the pan is ready.
Place your first Roti in the pan and using spatula keep turning it and pushing on any bubbles that form to help them puff up. Turn and cook the other side ofter a minute or teo. You should see little brown spots and the bread should still be pliable.
Place each cooked Roti into a kitchen towel Tupperware and replace the lid as each is cooked.
In a bowl mix the two eggs with the mixed spice and cinammon. Beat them until they are all mixed well (This can be done while the bread is sitting too)
With the pan still heated on medium, dip the first Roti into the egg mixture, covering completly, and place into the pan.
Cook until the egg is cooked on both sides.

Serving:

These are best served hot. I ate mine with Vermont Maple Syrup but other people in my household ate them with yoghurt and hot sauce. Also they worked with cheedder cheese and fresh spinach to make a sandwich.

Problems:

This was yummy but as with most first tries a few things didn’t work 100%. I followed Manjula’s Awesome Roti (Chapati) recipe but I think the flour I found was too heavy (it was just called Brown Flour) so they didn’t puff up like Manjula’s do! Also I don’t have a rolling pin so I used a glass jar and I could roll them perfectly round… I will definitely be trying this again though as it’s a cool quick meal.

What do you think?

So do you like this recipe and what do you think of Manjula’s Kitchen? What would you have done differently?

I would love to hear from you, oh and wish me luck with the competition (you may also want to try and enter March’s comp).

Re-Starting The Frugal Zeitgeist Frugal Living Forum

Forest — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:14:28 +0000

It’s easy to keep writing and preaching and giving my point of view but what I really enjoy is when people leave comments, send me emails and teach me things, challenge my thinking and generally socialize. This is the best thing about the awesome Frugal community that thrives on the web.

A while back I did a soft launch of a forum for this website…. In all honesty it bombed and I did not push it enough to really get a community going. Just this morning I was thinking about it again. I found people were coming to this site looking for Pam Coupons. I don’t have any posts on Pam Coupons and I didn’t want to write an entire post on one coupon…. So I made the decision to give the forum another go. This would be the perfect thing to add as a forum post amongst a million other things I can think of.

So it should be a week or so but I really wanted some feedback. Either here in the comments or by email. What would make you use my forum, what would you like to see? what base topics should we have?… What else can you think of?

I would really love you all to be a part of this so I hope to hear from you all…

10 Ways To Get A Cheap Haircut

Forest — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:02:08 +0000

Have you ever sat down and worked out how much you spend on getting your hair cut? If you have then you will realize it’s a lot! Finding ways to get a cheap haircut will help in your frugal ways and help you keep budgets on track.

Here are 10 ways that you can consider getting your hair cut for less.

1. Cut it yourself. For people who want short hair some high quality clippers can be purchased for fairly cheap and it will only take a few home cuts for them to pay for themselves. Longer hair trims can be done with some styling scissors, a mirror and some practice (you may mildly mess up the first few attempts and end up going to the salon to get it fixed). You could also ask a partner to help with the tricky bits.

2. Find a local hair styling college. Hair dressers need to be trained and often local colleges are looking for willing victims. There is a small amount of risk involved but mostly you will come out with a decent and free cut.

3. Look for deals. Especially in this economy many hairdressers are offering things such as cut price day cuts, two for one offers or one cheap evening per week. You may have to queue or even come back week after week but you will save some good cash.

4. Look for a home visit hairdresser. Many hairdressers moonlight as hairdressers too. They will often visit you in the comfort of your own home, bring all the equipment and cut your hair for less than your local salon or barbers.

5. Travel out of town. Out of town places will usually have slightly cheaper prices so it may be worth your while finding an excuse and mixing a haircut with an out of town errand.

6. The Razor cut! A bald head is by far the easiest to maintain and it can look great for men and women. Cut your hair short with some scissors and then slowly and using a lot of shaving soap clean shave your head, you may need help. Once this is done it’s extremely easy to maintain.

7. Ask for a cut that will grow well long. A good hairdresser will be able to cut your hair in a way that will mean that as it grows it should keep a good shape. By getting such cuts you will be able to lengthen the time between cuts and save money in the long run.

8. Trade for a cut. You may well be able to advertise a swap of services in a local newspaper or somewhere like Craigslist. For example you may be able to do some gardening in exchange for a cut, or help with some DIY.

Looking forward to hearing what you think about these tips or if you have any alternative ideas.

Thanks,

Forest.