Spyderco Forums

Where I live, the cost of everything is sky-rocketing. So, I look for practical ways to save money, and at the same time, improve, or at least not worsen, my quality of life.

Shaving foam, such as Gillette Foamy, costs around $15 for a small size can, here. So, I went old school. I bought a shaving brush, a wide mouthed, cheap mug, and a bar of Johnson and Johnson's white baby soap.

All you have to do is wet the brush and whip up a foam with it, then lather your face. It is actually less messy than canned foam, and does not dry out your skin. This paid for itself in a a couple of weeks.

You can get brushes at many online knife stores, believe it or not. You can spend 40 bucks on real badger hair, or 15 bucks on synthetic. I got mine at the Body Shop in the Mall.

Another money saver was the realization that the Spyderco Cat is as good of a pocket knife as anyone could ever want and stronger than most. It is a great, not good, great knife and perfect in its fit and finish, yet costs only about $40. The Delica is also a fantastic knife and for general duty, this currently less than $55 knife can't be beat.

Anyone else want to share money saving tips?

Very cool, thank you, Doc! Here is one money-saving tip that I learned: When I get jars of spagetti sauce, and other glass jars that can be reused, I scrape off the labels and wash them down with hot soap and water, and recycle them into a drinking cup. The edges are usually smooth enough not to be a danger, and they are glass, whereas unlike certain kinds of plastic that have a more limited reuse life, the glass jars make fine drinking vessels and also storage vessels for dried foods like pasta and nuts and snack items.

Using more modern, expensive, multi-bladed razors, the replacement blades last much longer than most folks think they do. Yes, replacing them is expensive, but I've made one head last as long as 4 months worth of shaving.

Shopping for certain things at the .99 cent Store is a good idea too. Though I'd avoid buying pens from there, many other items are perfectly fine to use.

Here's a tip for saving time and money: grow a beard!!! :D

Those are some good tips. I remember people sharpening safety razor blades many years ago, but I do not know how they went about it. I started shaving with those things (ouch!).

As far as the glasses, we have often done the same thing with jars. They actually make more practical drinking 'glasses' than many that are designed for the purpose. I like the ones with the handles.

Feather blades out of Japan, I can shave for 1-2 weeks with one and I have 100 blades for around $30. I suck at word problems so I'm not going there. I use the brush and wet shave and enjoy the experience.

I reload my own rifle ammo. The initial cost of the setup can be pricey, but I went form paying $1.50 or more per round to it costing about 50cents per round. Not to mention it is a very interesting and fun hobby.

chuckd wrote:I reload my own rifle ammo. The initial cost of the setup can be pricey, but I went form paying $1.50 or more per round to it costing about 50cents per round. Not to mention it is a very interesting and fun hobby.

If you don't mind me asking, are there mechanical/functional risks associated with that, ie, if not done properly, could it lead to a shell failing to properly function during shooting, or, does this equipment have safeties built in to prevent that?

I skipped the shave soap and just grew a beard. Problem solved.

I do however shave my head, so I use Neutrogena face soap for that, which will give you the best shave of your life.

> If you don't mind me asking, are there mechanical/functional risks associated with that, ie, if not done properly, could it lead to a shell failing to properly function during shooting, or, does this equipment have safeties built in to prevent that?

Sure, but no more so than the risks associated with many other things. I've had cheap factory ammo that had more issues than reloads.

Reloading is a bit like knife sharpening. It's potentially hazardous in rare cases, but greatly dependent on the skill of the reloader, and someone with great skills can get much better results than a mass production operation.

The biggest things about reloading are to follow the manuals carefully, and to PAY ATTENTION. The greatest dangers come from improper powder charges. If you double-charge a load, it will at least damage the gun, and very likely blow it into pieces. If you fail to charge one, you create a "squib" load. The pressure from the primer will be enough to propel the bullet out of the case, but it will stop inside the bore and do a fantastic imitation of a barrel obstruction. If you fail to recognize it, and put another round in behind it, you will get quite a dangerous surprise. More expensive presses, such as Dillons, have powder checkers, but your brain does the same job. Reloading is not a casual hobby, you gotta watch what you're doing. Also, live primers are nasty little buggers that, if mishandled, can burn you or leave you flash-blind. Just like shooting, it comes with a certain level of constant vigilance.

At first, you may also have annoyances with getting your rounds to feed in autos due to case length, crimping, etc. It's not really dangerous, it's just annoying until you get the hang of it and figure out what your gun likes to eat.

SpyderEdgeForever wrote:If you don't mind me asking, are there mechanical/functional risks associated with that, ie, if not done properly, could it lead to a shell failing to properly function during shooting, or, does this equipment have safeties built in to prevent that?

There definitely are risks of doing it, and when I shot my first reloaded round I was a bit nervous. You have sure of all components involved and do things like check the over all length of cases and things like that.

When reloading, you must keep your attention focused on what you are doing so as not to double charge a case.

Anymore saving tips?

When I was a child, my mother would put oats in hamburger meat and meat loaf to make the food stretch farther. Not only is this tasty, it is heart healthy and inexpensive.

Those heart-healthy organic cereals are expensive, and most have high amounts of sugar. I save money by cooking a big pot of oats. I cut up an apple and let it cook with the oats. I also add a few off brand raisins. I buy off brand sunflower seed unsalted kernels, pumpkin seeds, and whatever kind of off brand unsalted nuts I find. I throw a bunch of those into the oats and add just enough honey to taste, but not sweet. When I calculate the cost over 3 weeks I have saved a bucket of money over the boxed or bagged cereals that are supposed to be healthy, and mine actually is.

2 for 1 deals in supermarkets should be approached with caution- for fresh produce, is it with a limited shelf life (This is a neat trick that allows the supermarket to put it's rubbish in YOUR trash and get you to pay it for the privelege!)...For store cupboard stuff with long shelf-lives it's worthwhile.

Spagehetti sauces and other 'convenience' jarred sauces/foods etc come up very, very expensive on a serving by serving basis, and in truth save you little time at all
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Consider what a jar of Dolmio (or whatever costs) compared to the price for 4 cans of chopped tomatoes, a bulb of garlic, a box of dried oregano and some black peppercorns.....For the price of one meal, you'll get 4 AND you get to dictate how much salt and sugar went into the sauce (And let's not talk about the preservatives and addititves to keep that shelf-stable sauce from seperating!)

Indeed, take a very suspicious eye to all and any 'convenience' foods....If you are willing to pay 25x the price for pre-chopped onions, pre-peeled garlic or pre-chopped stir-fry vegetables that have lost half their flavour and all their texture by sitting gently rotting in a chiller for 4-5 days because taking 5-10 minutes extra to peel/chop the real deal yourself?....Well, there's no hope for your tastes or bank balance.

Avoid short journeys in your car if you can- cold engine, lots of stops= high fuel consumption

In colder weather, having your heating running at regular, frequent intervals at a lower level saves energy compared to having it off then blasting it on high for short periods- in the initial stages of heating a cold house, most of the heat escapes into the structure due to the 'thermal mass' of the material and the rest 'chimineys' straight up into the highest point of the building...If the building is warm to start with, more of the generated heat remains unconducted and unconvected within the living spaces of the building.

When you go to buy something- ask yourself: "Am I going to use it- really?" (Note: do not apply this to the purchase of Spyderco knives :spyder: )

I just recently learned to pickle, and while I have not had any of the final product (they have to sit for 2-3 weeks) I hear the woman who taught me makes the best pickles around. While making them we taste tested a jar of pickles that cost$25, the consensus was hers were better. I can't give you exact numbers because I have yet to go all in on my own, but needless to say, it will be a whole lot less than that $25 jar from the store.

demoncase wrote:When you go to buy something- ask yourself: "Am I going to use it- really?" (Note: do not apply this to the purchase of Spyderco knives :spyder: )

You had me worried there for a second!

chuckd wrote:

demoncase wrote:When you go to buy something- ask yourself: "Am I going to use it- really?" (Note: do not apply this to the purchase of Spyderco knives :spyder: )

You had me worried there for a second!

Me too! :eek:

Another thing I learned is that I can often use tomato ketchup to polish silver, I let it soak for an hour or so and then buff it out with a cloth. Then I rinse it off real good. It is not as good as real silver polish, but it works pretty well.

chuckd wrote:I just recently learned to pickle, and while I have not had any of the final product (they have to sit for 2-3 weeks) I hear the woman who taught me makes the best pickles around. While making them we taste tested a jar of pickles that cost$25, the consensus was hers were better. I can't give you exact numbers because I have yet to go all in on my own, but needless to say, it will be a whole lot less than that $25 jar from the store.

Yes, that is a great way to save. Alas, though my parents canned food and made pickles, I did not learn how to do it.

For a cheaper shave, locate an Injector. Runs just under a buck a blade, and the single edge gives a shave like a straight without having to pay attention. Been using a 1951 model the last 4-5yrs.