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| Saturday, July 11, 2009 |
| Why buy something if you don't have to? |
 Back in June I was invited to my oldest Niece's high school graduation party. It was a fun day and since this was the first graduation of this next generation, all of the relatives turned out for the event. It was a backyard gathering type of affair and my Sister provided the main meal and drinks. But she asked various invitees to bring things for the party. Neighbors loaned her chairs, many provided deserts, others brought coolers for the drinks, my Mother brought her stash of paper plates and plastic utensils, and on and on it went.
When I asked what I could bring my Sister said ice. Lots and lots of ice to help cool the six coolers she was filling with drinks for the event. At first I assumed that I would just buy bags of ice the day of the event and bring them over. I even looked around my neighborhood to spot the local shops with the ICE coolers. Then I realized that I had a couple of weeks until the party - why the heck should I buy ice when I can just make it myself?
Maybe it is just me, but every so often I still get these frugal awakenings type moments. Why had I never thought to just make my own bags of ice before? Perhaps it is because I have never owned a freezer with an ice maker. Maybe it is because the stores in my area all have those ICE coolers. But I am used to filling the cooler and putting it in my car without ice and then buying a bag on the way out of town and dumping it into the cooler and going (doesn't everyone both gas and ice up before road tripping?)
So I called my Sister back and asked her how much ice she needed me to bring and explained that I was planning on just making bags at home. Since she has an ice maker in her freezer, she figured she should be able to provide two bag fulls but no more since her freezer was already pretty full. Then we figured my Mother, who also has an ice maker, could bring a couple of bags. So she estimated that I should bring 4 bags of ice.
Finding bags around my house was not a problem, since I have been saving bags for a future project. A bit of trial and error with different types of bags finally had me settle on plastic bread bags as the perfect bag for the job. The plastic is strong enough to hold the weight of the ice without tearing when handling the full bags. Also, the shape of the bags makes stacking and storing full bags easier within the freezer.
I ended up making eight bread bags full of ice for the event. Each bag took four ice trays to fill completely. Since I only have two ice trays in my freezer, it took me a bit over a week to fill all eight bags from the two trays. Luckily, my freezer tends to have plenty of room, so having room to store all of the bags was the easy part for me. I ended up doubling the amount of bags since the bread bags looked smaller to me than the ice bags you buy in the store. It turned out that my eight bags and the ice from my Sister and Mother was the perfect amount - this was pretty amazing since the coolers all ranged in size, so I think we just got lucky.
Since I am sure someone will ask - I would have spent between $12 and $15 on four bags of ice (depending on which place I stopped on my way to my Sister's house). Making the ice myself was almost free. My freezer was running anyway, so calculating the energy used to cool is a moot point. Since I was using trays and not an ice maker - again, energy used is a moot point. The bread bags were upcycled since they had already been used once (to contain bread) and at my Sister's house they went into her recycle bin after the ice was dumped out. So the only cost to me would be the water used. The volume of water used in 32 trays of ice could not have cost me more than $2.00.Labels: Saving Money, Upcycle |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 10:15 AM *
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| 14 Comments: |
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Hi BG! I really enjoy reading your blog - especially posts like this and the candle/bath salts. It's neat to see the ways you save money little by little. I had a question for you about Boston rent...or rent in general. What's your general rule of thumb as to how much to spend on rent? I rent a single apartment for $2000/mo in Beacon Hill (~$6K/mo in post-tax income)...and lately that amount has been making me queasy. I am probably only going to be in Boston for another year so I'm wondering if it makes sense to pay for a move elsewhere in town for cheaper rent. Other considerations are (i) safety - I'm a female living alone without a car so I have to walk home late at night sometimes and (ii) location - I work in the financial district and have really gotten used to the 15 minute walk to work. Maybe you don't even answer questions like these, but I figured it was worth a try to see if you have any thoughts...! Thanks!
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Hi Anonymous,
It sounds like you are currently spending 33% of your net pay on housing. That is within acceptable limits of most financial expert advice. However, to really understand where your financial queasiness is coming from - you might want to do some math and see if you are following the advice of Elizabeth Warren. She is my favorite financial expert and local Gal (prof at Harvard) and she recommends that you spend no more than %50 of your after-tax net pay on "must have" expenses. Below is her list of typical "must have" costs:
Mortgage or rent
Utilities (including phone and television)
Transportation (gas, car payment, car insurance)
Other insurance (life, health, property, disability)
Groceries
Child care
Minimum loan payments
Child support or other court-mandated payments
Do a little math and see if all of your costs are $3,000 or less.
If not, then you need to take a look at all of your list amounts. Generally housing is the biggest dollar amount. For me, keeping my housing amount low has enabled me to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle and still save and invest for future goals. But that has also meant that I have never been able to claim a Beacon Hill address nor have I ever had to luxury of a 15 minute stroll to a downtown office building as my commute.
Do I think you could find a great apartment in a safe area within easy commuting distance to the financial district for less than $2,000 per month - heck yes! You can half that number if you are willing to take the subway. If you are willing to stretch your legs a bit further you can still be within walking distance (but maybe not 15 minutes) in the Back Bay or North End and save yourself between $200 - $400 per month.
But you really need to look at everything on the list. Perhaps you have a large amount of student loan debt or maybe you are a big spender on expensive groceries - I can't really say since I don't have enough information. Perhaps cutting down in other areas of the list makes spending $2,000 per month affordable.
If this is helping provide some more details and I will keep commenting...
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Thanks for the tip! Now I know what to do with those bread bags!
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This just reminds me of the Simpsons episode where arctic explorers go to this iceberg to chip off a chunk. It is then broken into smaller pieces and delivered to the ice chest at the Kwik-e-mart. Delivery Man: "You've got to start charging more than a dollar a bag. We lost four more men on this expedition!"
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Awesome idea Boston Gal. After reading your post I just fetched a bread bag out of my recycle container and have it half filled now with ice from my ice trays. I am going to finish filling it tomorrow when the second round of trays are done and keep the full bag in my freezer. With summer finally here I figure having a bag of ice ready to go is just good planning :)
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And if your freezer is as empty as you say it is, you might actually have saved some money. Modern freezers work more efficiently when they are full.
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Awesome idea on the bread bags!! And to the Anonymous writer living in Beacon Hill, I'd most definitely move if I were you. I worked in the Financial District and lived in the North End, no more than a 15 minute walk away (among the tourists at Mike's). I definitely felt safe as a single female, especially because the landlord lived right in the building and they were always around. I rented one apartment for $1450 and decided that was too much so downsized to an apt for $1000 a month (and I earned a bit more than 6K/mo post-tax)...both were 2 BR apartments that I lived in alone but the cheaper one didn't have washer/dryer or a dishwasher and wasn't as modern as the more expensive one. Did I miss the amenities?? Sometimes...but as my bank account grew, I cared way, way, less. You will too.
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Fun post, I would totally do something like that but my partner loves to buy the store ice...because it's pretty and clear unlike the "homemade" ice. Although now since I purchased a new fridge with an ice makder she doesn't ask for store bought ice as much.
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I've always hated paying for ice and make bags of it a week ahead for a party or if I am going camping. For camping I also freeze water in plastic containers about the size of a bread loaf for the bottom of the cooler. Because they are bigger they last for a number of days. Some people freeze water in milk containers also.
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This is the Anonymous Beacon Hiller again - thanks to both BG and the Anonymous North Ender for the responses. The 50% metric is a good one. I would say that I try to keep ALL my other expenses around $1K per month, but no more than $2K (recently it has been more like $1K - I don't have student loans or a car, but this includes food/travel/entertainment/etc.), so I end up saving 35-50% of my monthly income. Still, it would be nice to shave off some rent and save more.
The North End is a good suggestion. I am looking into some places there. I am also thinking of going back to my landlord and asking for either:
1- a rate reduction (although the location is great, I am on the 4th floor with slanted ceilings and a completely dated kitchen/windows/bathroom floor); or
2- a more flexible lease, so that if something were to happen to my job, I could give 60 days notice and then move out.
Stories that I have heard make it seem like this really is a "renter's market" - there are a lot of "no fee" apartments out there, and I've heard rents are going down.
Thanks again for your thoughts and let me know if you have any others!
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I do this all the time. We tailgate a lot during football season and buying ice weekly just irritates me, so I have gotten very good at making own bags of ice. Glad you thought to do this. I love being frugal like this. :) Hopefully your post has inspired others to do the same.
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That's pretty smart! For someone who had a lot of parties (and freezer room) the money would really add up.
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Excellent! :) Having a bag of ice around is an excellent idea for the summer! I might have to repurpose a few bread bags to store ice in my freezer.
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Hi BG! I really enjoy reading your blog - especially posts like this and the candle/bath salts. It's neat to see the ways you save money little by little. I had a question for you about Boston rent...or rent in general. What's your general rule of thumb as to how much to spend on rent? I rent a single apartment for $2000/mo in Beacon Hill (~$6K/mo in post-tax income)...and lately that amount has been making me queasy. I am probably only going to be in Boston for another year so I'm wondering if it makes sense to pay for a move elsewhere in town for cheaper rent. Other considerations are (i) safety - I'm a female living alone without a car so I have to walk home late at night sometimes and (ii) location - I work in the financial district and have really gotten used to the 15 minute walk to work. Maybe you don't even answer questions like these, but I figured it was worth a try to see if you have any thoughts...! Thanks!