My Dad’s Frugal Tips: The Counter-Attack!

September 18, 2007 · Filed Under · 2 Comments 

Chain Saw and FirewoodA great way to insure you get mentioned on my site is to take one of my posts and thoroughly analyze it and rip it apart if it needs ripping. This is what a guy named Gates did at his blog Gates on “Stuff” in this post Frugal Tips from the Farm?  He took both posts about my Dad’s frugal living tips, My Old Man: Frugal, Cheap, or Just Strange? and More Frugal Tips: My Dad Weighs In!, and brought up some solid counterpoints. Here are a few highlights:

The Brick In The Back Of The Toilet To Save Water

Gates: “Brick in the toilet? That’s basically just saying “Hey my toilet uses too much water” and all things considered the brick is pretty imprecise. Why not just install a toilet that’s built to use less water / flush? Then you’ll save water and you’ll get a correct flush every time.”

My Thoughts – Come to find out that awhile back my Dad installed a ‘low flow’ toilet bowl that only uses a maximum 1.6 gallons per flush where his old toilet used 3.5 gallons. The brick was removed! Check your local water district, many are offering BIG rebates if you install these ‘low flow’ toilets. The rebates will often pay for the entire toilet. Great way to conserve water.

Turning Car Off at Gate When Opening/Closing It To Save Gas

Gates: “Why don’t you just install a remote opener and save yourself 11.7 hours/year + part of the overall energy? You’re worried about saving $27/year, I’d be worried about saving 11.7 hours/year.”

My Thoughts – This is a great point, as I know I would personally either get rid of the gate or install a remote opener. As a father of three kids and a busy career I put a premium on things that save me time. It would drive me crazy to have to get out of the car to open the gate, get back in, pull forward 15 feet, then get back out and close the gate. I have in the past told my Dad that he should install an electric gate for not only the convenience but also the added security it would provide his property. He ain’t listening though!

Wood Burning Stove: He Never Turns The Furnace On

Gates: “The wood burning stove is only “cheaper” if he can chop the wood himself (and his time is worth very little) and he has the place to put the wood. Depending on location, electric heating may be more efficient (such as in Manitoba, Canada, land of Hydroelectric dams). Again, if he wanted to be really efficient he would move over to a high-efficiency pellet stove which is currently getting the most heat/$.”

My Thoughts – My Dad has never paid for firewood. He finds apple orchards that are being turned into strawberries and they let him come in and cut firewood and haul it away. He always finds free wood, not sure how, but he does. Sure it takes some time to cut and haul, but he enjoys the work and it is great exercise and keeps him young. Free wood aside, I would be curious how much more efficient pellet stoves are than the wood burning variety. Moreover, in terms of energy savings, how long would it take to re-coup the cost of putting in a pellet stove?

Also, I recommend you check out Gates full post on this subject as he has some excellent ideas on how homes can recycle water, both from our pipes and from the sky. Well done Gates!

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Comments

2 Responses to “My Dad’s Frugal Tips: The Counter-Attack!”

  1. Mrs. Micah on September 23rd, 2007 7:02 pm

    In other cases, like with our apartment, we can’t install a new toilet, so measures have to be taken.

  2. Kyle on September 24th, 2007 7:33 am

    Good point, but at least you don’t have a farm gate you have to open all the time! :-)

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