Here I am heating my apartment with my gas stovetop, purely because the gas isn't individually metered so is included in our rent. It got me thinking, I wonder what the tightest thing ozbargain users do on a regular basis.
What are your worst tight-arse habits?
I don't have any tight-arse habits I can think off the top of my head, purely on this forum to steal some idea's.
Water saving tip that I learnt from "Meet the Fockers":
"if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down"
Isn't that the simpsons?
That's a bit racist.. :p
LOL
If it's brown drink it down! If it's black take it back.
"If it's clear and yella', you've got juice there, fella. If it's tangy and brown, you're in cider town."
Stupid, sexy Flanders.
That's kinda gross. If you let it mellow for too long, you'll get knocked out by the smell…
edit: I just realised this thread is really old.
You don't let it mellow before you leave holidays so its there waiting for you when you come back.. lol
I do this most of the time, particularly late at night.
Crank Yankers - Karl Malone Says
I have a convection heater and have never paid for wood. So when I am not splitting logs I am often scrounging or bludging it off tree loppers etc.
My girlfriend… ???
Seriously, you should be careful using your gas stove for heating. Cooking is one thing but using it for an extended period can lead to a build up of poisonous carbon monoxide. You should have the area vented so that you get fresh air, which sort of defeats the purpose of trapping all that heat.
My girlfiend too! Hahahahaha!
The OP must have seen that coming from a question like that!
I'm surprised these comments didn't come sooner…
good post. ilke taking really really long hot showers at the gym since its already included in your gym membership,with unlimited shower gel too! so even if you don't work out at the gym you still go there for the shower!!! and no need to clean up my hair like i would at home.
sticky shower floor at the gym?
Took me way too long to realise this
Magnate, I was just researching the same issue. I too have a gas stovetop that is unmetered. My research on the web kept pointing to potential hazards regarding CO2 poisoning. Surely, cooking stock or soup or whatever for extended periods would have the same risk as using the stovetop for heating purposes. Maybe keeping the vent on low. Do you just leave the stove on or do you have a pot on there?
Having something ontop of the fire should make it worse actually… the pot or whatever would limit the amount of oxygen available and cause incomplete combustion which would lead to not only the production of CO2 but the production of CO which is even worse.
Right. I guess what I'm getting at is what's the difference between leaving the gas on the stovetop on for a couple of hours for the purpose of heating your house vs. leaving the gas on the stovetop on to cook food for a couple of hours?
For one you get food and heat, and the other you get only heat?
Fundamentally there's nothing different, but if you're cooking and using it for heat you're essentially exposing yourself to twice the levels of CO and CO2 which is bad.
Generally when you cook you use the rangehood fan to vent the fumes and odours, also removing some of the heat. Using it for heating on a cold night isn't going to be a couple of burners going for an hour, it will tend to be much longer and you won't be venting the toxic gases. Read these: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/129741_health-risks-of-gas-co… and http://www3.abe.iastate.edu/human_house/aen205.asp. You can buy CO carbon monoxide detectors fairly cheaply now, and are commonly available from hardware stores etc. where you would buy a smoke detector. They are typically only good for a couple of years though.
I only had it on for about half an hour. With all 4 burners going it's about 8000W of heat, which warms up the apartment pretty quickly! Had the door open a crack to get fresh air. As this is an apartment with only 1 exterior wall it doesn't take much to warm it up and it doesn't lose much heat.
There is no difference with either a pot on or off in terms of CO and NO2 production. So I consider that doing this is completely riskless from a pollutant point of view, else people would be dropping dead after cooking all the time. If I had left it on unusually long (hours or overnight) then that might be a different story.
There are flueless gas heaters available these days, which are essentially the same thing. See http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/energysafety/PDF/Publications/… for some guidelines on their use.
However it's not riskless if you're a clutz and going to do something stupid. Be careful, it is naked flame! When I use it I don't go into the kitchen, and if I need to use the kitchen I turn it off. For the love of God if you have kids don't do this!
There are flueless gas heaters available these days, which are essentially the same thing.
After pulling mine apart, there are a few differences.
walking into a store to buy something, then looking it up on ebay on my mobile phone to see if its cheaper.
Just scan it with Redlaser.
Does any self respecting ozbargainer not do this…And then negotiate with the storekeeper for a price match?
oxymoron, as an ozbargainer the price is all that matters, what you do for it doesn't
i use lasoo sometimes
Water savings tips - Wear the undies once, then inside out, and then back to front.
… then start again. How often do you wring them out?
May someone post to us after trying it out. LOL.
Go Commando. Less to wash
Go Nudist. Nothing to wash
haha
I hate paying for the crap public transport system in brisbane so that motivates me to ride the bike, that saves me $50 a week…
That's nothing. I hate Bugatti Veyrons, so when I ride my bike it saves me $2.5 million.
As of April this year I didn't have a full time student card = twice as expensive public transport. I bought a bike too - Found it is actually quicker most of the time anyway (live in inner east sydney)
Regarding Public transport,
It' s worth signing up for any full-time uni course then get the concession card then withdraw from the course before census date. Only cost is $35 for QTAC / UAC / VTAC etc application fee
I don't care if you do that or not, certainly I doubt anyone will come checking up on you - but it is not legal to do so. The application for the concession card says you must hand in/destroy the card if you leave the course.
Wait, so you mean you enrol in a university degree and then drop out?
yes, probably easier to do TAFE.
Save on accommodation when travelling.
Take a bivvy bag + sleeping bag. Sleep somewhere cheap, dry but safely.
Take a portable rubber shower rose (Bunnings $12)
Connect hose to tap in hotel or similar disabled toilets with floor drain. Preferably with hot water. Shower in thongs. Use newspaper to mop up excess water.
Repeat when necessary to enjoy a supercheap holiday.
Great for guaranteed free hot shower at airport/train/bus stopovers between long flights/trips.
Sleep in Station Wagon when on a driving holiday - Park at a football oval or behind a church
Take an extension lead to throw over the wall of the public toilet block at night, unplug hand-dryer, charge phone, boil kettle, run laptop etc
Bacon and eggs on the free BBQ next morning
Sneak into Caravan Park after dark or early morning for a free shower
Clearly you guys aren't attached!
Au contraire - I spent 3 months in the back of that station wagon with my french girlfriend… she was even tighter than me! (um, yeah)
Notice GaryQ's French GF is referred to in the past tense.
what type of bivvy bag do you have?
You mean like a homeless
:d
Saving the shower water for flushing the toilets and watering the plants?
As of heating - we don't use heater unless necessary (Sydney is actually not too bad). Just wear more clothes at home?
the topic says "tight", not "sensible"!
When we do washing, we put a bucket under the outlet of the washing machine. All the soapy warm water is then used to scrub the balconies/veranda.
Saving the shower water for flushing the toilets and watering the plants?
Yup. Edit: Our hot water takes ages to heat up so we save the cold water that comes through first and use it for the toilet.
Was on holiday and staying at a cheap apartment for a week…bit of a cold spell for a day or two,so look for heater ah none -just musty blankets no thanks electric fanforced oven worked well with door open :)
(no good if you have youngones tho)
I didn't get an electricity bill for 8 months in my last apartment (some screw up at the billing company). I know they can't backbill you past 9 months. So I had started doing the same thing…and then the bill came :(
If the apartment has gas, maybe there is a wall outlet for a heater. You can pick them up pretty cheap second hand.
Budgeting.
When washing hands in the laundry (after loo), let water run into bucket. When full empty on outside plants. Also when washing machine water lets out rinse water I wash the cat bowls out or hand wash a delicate item.
Mum uses the last water to begin the wash of the second load.
Similar to the original post… Wife & I stayed in a hovel of a caravan park down the NSW south coast. There were gum trees and leaves everywhere like they never get picked up - so the ground was a mossy, soaked, mess. The trees also towered over the cabins - so from 4pm on it was FREEZING. Moisture was running down the glass! Nearly no-one was staying there. So I asked the girl at reception to have mercy - we were shivering - in bed! Can we borrow a fan heater? Nope - in fact, you're not even allowed to use your own in the cabins if you have one. Ok fine - so I turn the electric oven on, and left its door open. We couldn't sleep for fear of the place burning down. But at least we weren't freezing. It must've been on for 6-8 hours at least.
Make our own: Bread, pizza, muesli, crumpets, chicken salt, KFC! (look up "KFC TC34d"), handsoap… Also keep a disposable razor in an old jar with some vegetable oil so the blades last for months (I bought a pack of 20 before our second son was born. I'm still using the same pack - and he's 12). What else… We haven't paid for a movie since Chicken Run came out. Download everything for free.
Want something, ask on Freecycle. Who cares if it's not new. More money in the bank.
Bought a camping wok/gas ring and 9kg gas bottle to make our own chinese takeaway, instead of paying the ridiculous price they charge for a small container of mostly vegetables and liquid.
Local fire station had an open day yesterday with free sausage/bread. Took the kids there and that was lunch. ;-p
You are a legitimate tightarse lol
Hey, my mechanic was telling me a few weeks ago, his father used to cut shoes for him and his brothers out of old car tyres! He reckons it's why he has so many problems with his feet now. (I'm not convinced. If I work out how to make shoes out of car tyres though, give a decade and I'll let you all know.) :-O
I read on a forum somewhere that rinsing the blades of your razor in a jar of metho when finished will also keep the blades sharp for much longer.
Yeah, that would probably get rid of the water too. Although, I'm not sure it would last as long, seeing the razor would be kept in a steamy bathroom. (Even though the blades are stainless steel, they would probably still rust?)
I like the razor in oil idea might do that lol.
I tried it for a month after reading it here ^
Stopped doing it because it's impossible to rinse the stubble from between the blades.
The clogging problem can happen if the razor is 3 months old or new. My hair is quite thick, so I can clog a new shaver in just two passes. As mentioned, I shave while showering. (It softens the course hair and gives a closer shave.) I place my lips "around" the razor and blast water from my mouth through the blades several times during shaving. This keeps it clear for ages.
I place my lips "around" the razor
lol sig material right here.
I just discovered the forum dedicated to replicating KFC chicken, holy shit that is sad.
It's grate!
Not the post '87 "KFC" which is just salt, pepper and MSG.
The original Original recipe from the 1950s with the real 11. We do it about once a month and it's heaps better than KFC, totally worth the effort.
Agree 100%. I don't know that I would call it "sad" either… I mean, the KFC of yesterday must have been something special to make the old guy in the white suit a millionaire.
We've never been able to get the gravy made from "fines" to work though. With just flour it doesn't have enough taste. And with gravy powder added, it's too strong. We just can't get the mix right, so just make our own gravy. :-(
This chicken salt recipe I found on one of the KFC sites is excellent too:
Chicken Salt Recipe
6 Tblsp finely ground salt
2 Tblsp MSG (use same amount in salt again, if omitting MSG)
3 tsp Castor sugar
3 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Cornflour
1/2 tsp White Pepper
1/4 tsp Citric Acid
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Paprika
1/8 tsp Finely ground Celery Seed
Mix all ingredients and grind with mortar & pestle if available.
Allow to meld at least a few hours before use.
Put in salt shaker with a a few grains of rice to reduce caking.
Note: The mixture soon absorbs moisture. Particularly in damp weather. They say online, if it goes moist, to remove the rice and re-pulverise the mix again. But this hasn't worked for us. Instead, we just make one batch at a time, and keep most of it in an old jam jar in a dark place in the pantry. Then we pour only a small amount into the salt shaker at a time (and wash and dry it each time). We've found the mixture in the jar remains dry (longer) this way.
We settled on a different mix, and storing the excess in a Sistema tub (now look, I'm not Mr. Fancy Pants buying this new NZ-made stuff — they were 50% off) it keeps for weeks.
What's nice is, if you're coating breast (that you bought on special ;) you can cut the meat into any shape or size, nuggets if you want. Thin tenderloins also work well.
This batter does the job — coats very well, stays on the meat and protects it in the frying process. Slightly crunchy on the outside and the chicken turns out like it's steamed/poached/boiled. And no excess oil to worry about.
The recipe is on another puta, will post it tonight.
What is sad is guys ordering $$$ pressure cookers to do the job!
Yeah, we just bought 2x square Sistema containers half price at Coles. I don't normally buy plastic, but they fit loaves from our bread machine perfectly.
What is sad is guys ordering $$$ pressure cookers to do the job!
If you mean you don't need an expensive pressure cooker and a cheaper one will do, I agree.
But if you mean you don't need a pressure cooker at all, people really should do a taste test first.
We fried some pieces in just an open frypan. The outside tasted ok but inside was ordinary. Then we cooked the same thing in a PC. What an incredible difference. The chicken meat stays soft and looks like it is steamed. But the flavour goes right through the chicken - not just the outer coating.
Well I meant expensive pressure cooker, but with our method it turns out like yours — as though the meat was steamed or boiled.
We use an old metal wok to deep fry 'em.
Wouldnt that give you an oily face, even if you obviously wiped it down before you shaved? Some oil has gotta stick to it.
You mean from the KFC, or the razor, LOL.
I have a really thick beard and shave in the shower. So I guess the hot water & soap gets rid of the oil.
Take my own lunch to work. Only I wouldn't consider it a bad habit, just sensible, healthy and cheaper.
$10 a day for 5 days is $50 a week. 4 Weeks in a month is $200 a month. 12 months in a year is $2400 a year. That's a new tv or a laptop or some other shit you could be buying on ozbargain.
$2,400 on OzBargain means a new TV and a new laptop and many other sh!t…
But seriously, when I used to work in the CBD I'm amazed how much people spend on eat out lunch and coffee! $3-$4 a pop, once or twice a day — that adds up to quite a significant amount over 12 months.
And these same people complain on Whirlpool that a $100K salary isn't enough.
Good one Scotty, in fact that accounts for my tv and laptop and freebies as well [all from OzB]. Thanks again for this wonderful site.
"many other shit"
True dat.
Yep, especially when i try tell my mates not to head down the 7eleven after work and get a pack of gum/ coke/ kit kat bar. Adds up to $10 a day. Ridiculous really. $50 a week for 52 weeks = $2500 +
You could buy a new Lenovo i3 laptop ($400) Panasonic Neo Plasma 42" for $500, a new One X for $550. And that's only really $1500 there.
He thinks he's an OzBargainer but i could never justify spending $3 on a chocolate bar and $2 for a pack of gum, and get this, $4 for a 600ml coke.
@xDEFiNE — Yeah 7Eleven has to make up the loss from their free KitKat and $1 day somewhere.
Don't hate. One persons lifestyle choice may be to spend money in small amounts on a regular basis, another's may be to buy large purchases irregularly, its everybodies personal choice.
Exactly. From the guy who waits years for $5 mobile apps to come down to 99c, then still hesitates to buy… yet buys discounted games in store ($90 -> $10) with no hesitation, which get played once. Maybe it's the illusion of perceived resale value?
so after a hard day at work they got you nagging em like their mom or wife telling them what to do?
$2 a day (whooper and small chips)
That reminds of the other thing I do, take my own canned drinks which cost 40-50c each when I go out instead of paying $2 or more retail. I have a foam holder to keep it cool between the fridge and drinking. That also stops the condensation from forming.
When on hols, we goto the supermarket & place the cheap 1.25lt bottle in the freezer section, come back an hour later & tada - cold drink for the family for under $1!
Come back 2 hours later & tada - sticky mess in the freezer!
I do that and have done it for the past 20+ years. That's a LOT of money saved. And a lot of ham and cheese sandwiches, with either a jam or peanut butter sandwich for dessert.
ALWAYS have Selleys Urethane bond glue on hand to re-glue shoe soles. Clamp for 24 hours - good as new.
In fact urethane bond is better than the original glues used in shoes. The original glues are designed to fail after a certain time. Urethane bond keeps on keeping on.
Never throw shoes out until the soles are completely worn through.
Replace soles where possible.
Soak shoes overnight in White King and laundry powder regularly.
Buy black or dark colour sneakers - never white or light easily marked colours - as they are just part of the corporate marketing scam designed to make people think that they need new sneakers because their existing ones look a bit dirty and old. So they just keep on unnecessarily buying more.
I like the "vintage" look of my sneakers :(
where do you get this glue from, coles, bunnings? i've been looking for glue that work with shoes?
As he said, Selleys (or any type of) urethane bond.
I worked in shoe repair/key cutting booth for a short time. They use a glue you paint onto both surfaces, then put both halves under a heater, to "activate" the glue. Then press the two halves together. It's obviously the best to use, but I never did see a name on the tin.
So maybe try doing the same with the Selleys - with a fan heater. Before you glue though, clean the surfaces of dirt, etc. and completely dry. Any greasy/sticky stuff you can probably remove with eucalyptus oil, then remove the eucalyptus oil residue with isopropyl alcohol. (You can buy small bottles of that at BigW, near the metho & turps.)
thanks RFM. a wealth of info. r u! ;)
lol…