Thursday, April 9, 2015

consuming to invest 18

( before we start today, here was the link I forgot in Monday's article for the new Grid Down book:
http://www.amazon.com/Grid-Down-Perceptions-Reality-Volume-ebook/dp/B00T27FPE8
)
*
CONSUMING TO INVEST 18

Thrift Store Clothes

Thrift store shopping is something that every swinging cheese dingus out there needs to be doing.  First, you are helping a good cause.  Second, you give Mother Gaia a big wet sloppy french kiss by encouraging recycling ( although, looked at another way, you are also encouraging mindless consumption and waste, but since that ship sailed decades ago I wouldn't worry too much about giving evil a helping hand ).  And last, you save lots of money.  Perhaps not at some places, like Goodwill which charge $5 for a crappy busted item you can get new at Wally for $10 just because the flaming stupid craphole of a CEO who runs the thing for way too much money decided all stores must not only stay in too high rent areas but they must send higher amounts of sales to corporate so he can get a raise this quarter, but at most independently run thrift stores.  You can’t always find everything you need or want, but enough to put a serious dent in your clothes budget.  I can never find slacks, as most seem to be waist size 99 and leg size 29, like all men look like Jackie Gleason.  But polo shirts and wool sweaters are always available.  And so cheap I can stockpile years ahead.  Which is important.  Not only can you clothe yourself cheaper, AND stockpile ahead, you still come out money saved.

*

You don’t think clothing is going to be available from the cheapest slave labor country forever, do you?  With food production shrinking due to weather events and drought, food fields will eventually take over cotton fields ( once the higher price of cotton is no longer a sufficient motivator, since they can’t buy food from anyone since everyone has export embargoes in place ).  And then you have a nation full of cheaply made clothes with no more coming in.  You had better have plenty of them stocked up.  Which is why I am amazed I see so much clothing being donated to our thrift store.  I’m glad for the sake of my job security, but I shake my head in disbelief so many people hold them valueless.  They think the heater will run forever, the fracking fields never decline and population never outgrow resources.  Don’t be one of those idiots.

END-ANOTHER ARTICLE BELOW

E-SHAVER UPDATE

You’ll have to excuse me this week ( I’m writing a week ahead to take into account non-writing too cloudy days.  None for awhile, but I’m prepared in case ) if some of my articles have been a little weak.  I’ve had a heck of a week.  I’ve been breaking in a new computer, which is always frustrating.  I went with another Windows, since they lowered their price to match Google Chrome machines.  I simply can’t do anything off-line with Chrome, although otherwise a vastly superior product.  I did have to spend an additional 50% getting the latest Word version, but hopefully that will pay for itself ( knock on wood, I’ll make some money with it as I’m planning to finally go ahead with the survivalist advertising magazine-details in a few weeks ).  Monday night, I barely scrapped by with a smidge over four hours sleep ( a restless night is a warning to remove another blanket as I get too hot- but I’ve rarely had one this restless ) and three days later I am still suffering from it.  I’m groggy even after seven hours sleep last night and a twenty minute nap after work.  I’m barely concentrating on this article.  I was so tired, I managed to totally delete a nice long article which I then had to rewrite.  Don’t know how I managed either.  Then, I don’t know if it was related or not, I’m getting mild flu symptoms ( everyone else at work has already been sick and taken days off.  I mega-dose vitamin C year round, and exercise, and take in plenty of cold fresh air-thank you Ben Franklin, so I only get very mild signs of a sickness which brings others down ).  Anyway, sorry about that.  Here is some puffery and drivel just to jack today’s word count up.

*

I’m bitching and moaning, as is my wont, to one of the intake clerks on a donation pick-up.  My damn $50 electric razor only lasted a year.  Well, it turns out he also had one, a top of the line $130 one, and it only lasted a year and a quarter.  So obviously these things are now like disposable five blade razors, built to be profited off of the replacement blades.  He didn’t say, but I assume he ponyed up the $30 to $50 the replacement heads were to keep using the thing.  This has got to be engineered in.  So, still wanting to stay cleaner shaven on work days ( I can‘t shave with a regular blade on consecutive days as it tears the crap out of my skin, but I can alternate days between safety razors and an electric razor ), I was resigned to buy another replacement e-razor.  But I wasn’t going to be ripped off again.  Certainly, I wasn’t going to give $30 to those robbers for replacement heads.  What if the motor burned out?  Then I’d spend yet another $50!  The answer is a travel e-razor.  They are only $14 for a Panasonic ES3831 at Amazon.  They use two AA batteries rather than a wall socket plug in.  And, a bonus, it is a wet/dry unit for those days your skin is battered and bruised you can use shaving foam.  I’m only using them three times a week, so a set of batteries are good for a month.  Maybe longer, but that is sufficient ( look in the comments section for a review testing how long the batteries lasted ).  I’ll grant you, it is a rougher shave than a plug in.  And you definitely must go slow or it bogs down ( I do the light touch shave, clean, then the heavier pressed down shave ).  But for the price?  I can shave without feeling the cost, AND have back-ups in stock, just like my hair clippers.

END
 
Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon ad graphics at the top of the page. You can purchase anything, not just the linked item. Enter Amazon through my item link and then go to whatever other item you desire. As long as you don’t leave Amazon until after the order is placed, I get credit for your purchase.  For those that can’t get the ads because they are blocked by your software, just PayPal me occasionally or buy me something from my Amazon Wish List once a year.
*
 
The Old Bison Blog on CD
Over five years of work and nearly two million words of pure brilliance. Here is the link to order:
http://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00KX7Z1I                        
 
Also as a free e-book, but not cleaned up or organized, at Lulu
 
 
 
 
 
 
 my bio & biblio
*
My books on PDF ( ALL free!!  If you like it, most are available for sale in paper versions )  available at
http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=james++dakin&sorter=relevance-desc
*
By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there.
 

 

 

 

 

21 comments:

  1. I buy only Carhartt garments, because they are built well, excellent materials, and they last under extreme use. 9 years experience proves it. You can buy cheap many times, or you can buy good once. I'm most frugal with my time as I only have so much left and I don't intend to spend it buying shit all the time just to spend more time getting rid of the old rags.

    Boots, hikers with aggressive tread all the time, and almost always LL Bean. Again, built good and they last. I'm wearing 8 year old boots right now. Yes, the treads are worn smooth but today's rainy so I'll be indoors all day and tread isn't an issue.

    Socks. Duluth Trading, wool, $8 a pair. They last, and they work. At the end of the day you can wring a quart out of em. And they hold up good. My dogs are cloaked in a 6 year old pair right now that still feel as lustrous and thick as the day they were born.

    Underpants and shirts. Never. What's the point? Just more money and stuff to clean. No, I'm not rubbed raw, I'm used to it.

    Long pants and shirts. Only when it's lower than 20 degrees, otherwise it's shorts and t-shirts, all the time. (t shirts must have a pocket on the front and a picture on the back) Less money, less shit to clean. Long pants and sleeves are too restrictive and serve no purpose. If it's chilly, in the fall/spring, I wear a Lands End down vest with giant pockets. I can get a weeks worth of tools in each side pocket. Those vests will work down to 20 below, under that and I break out the big gunz, the Carhartt 620 (I think), feels like I'm wearing a house with that thing on. Can't get much done in it but it will keep you warm for hours.

    Speaking of pockets, they are mandatory for serious people.
    Here's my Every Day Carry:
    Left front pocket: keys, tactical folder knife, unserrated
    Right front pocket: 1 AA LED flashlight, Bic lighter
    Left rear pocket: 18x18 blue bandana
    Right rear pocket: Bifold nylon wallet, Buck 112 folder knife.

    There ya go, with that shit I can survive and thrive anywhere on the planet for an indefinite period. Oh yeah, lots of know how and experience stored in that spherical file folder on top of my neck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just don't wear the blue bandana in an urban environment

      Delete
    2. We hit Urbania every 6-8 weeks or so and when that happens the Beretta Bobcat is at 4 o'clock inside the waistband in a pancake holster and 2 extra 8 rd mags visit the bandana. Oh yeah, when I leave the compound the "smart" phone slammed with appropriate apps is in the left front shorts pocket. The most likely scenario for that bandana is to serve as a tourniquet on someone else.

      Delete
    3. As long as it isn't for flashing fellow gang members.

      Delete
  2. I'm a little confused.... you have hair clippers, and you need an electric shaver? I use my hair clippers for my everyday shaving needs. Granted, I start off with a five-o'clock shadow, but that's generally good enough for my purposes. If I need smoother, then I go to my Gillette Fusion Power, but I only do that a couple times a month, so I only use a disposable blade cartridge or maybe two a year. What I particularly love about that model is that the blades do rinse very clean, so it shaves cleanly until it is truly dull.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why not just be careful and use the hair clippers on your face (without a guard)? You will have almost no hair, and it cuts your number of stocked items.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As my skin is oily, I need to scrape off all the build-up, keep from getting boils ( why I don't do a beard ).

      Delete
  4. Lord Bison,
    I have used those AA powered razors and they seem to last about 2 years before i buy another one. I was going to suggest the vitamin C but you have that covered. Costco has cheap prices on vitamins (their kirkland brand). The kirkland mature multi vitamin is a knock off of Centrum silver at a lower price. Not the best vitamin around but a better mix than most. It would pay to take 2 per day rather than 1 as the amounts of the various vitamins in the pill is low. I don't know why most multi vitamins contain iron. The animal research show that iron supplements shorten lifespan.




    th

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, licking my cast iron skillet isn't a good idea?

      Delete
  5. I tried one of those travel e razors from wally world once, and would rather use a piece of broken glass to shave with. Plucking with tweezers would be less painful. Maybe I got one of the factory defects allowed for that day, but turned me off them things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never thought my expensive e-razor was all that smooth a shave. So, even if the travel one is relatively rougher, it isn't all that much of a difference. Any extra rough is worth the one third price.

      Delete
  6. Sir Lord BaltimoreApril 9, 2015 at 2:09 PM

    James,

    Try this bad boy.

    http://www.amazon.com/Wahl-5-Star-Shaver/dp/B003K1R162
    It is the electric razor a barber friend recommended to me. I have facial hair like barbed wire. Conversely my skin is sensitive like a poet. Razor bumps galore. I've had mine for two years and am about to need a new screen and blade replacement. It is a professional quality shaver. Cheaper than the norelco crap and easier to clean/maintain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay, I can see the value in this, as the replacement head is under $20. Not sure about the rechargeable part, being off-grid I tend to avoid that stuff if 110v. I'll think on it though- mine doesn't like neck hair the second day in a row of use.

      Delete
  7. You paid money for Word?!!??!?!


    LibreOffice is an open source version of office.... It's interface looks like the 2003 version but it's fully compatible with office..... And has the word processor, spreadsheet database, etc, for free.... Very strange since version 4 came out...... Highly recommend...... c in ks,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm trying not to spend any time futzing with software. Better to just purchase the product that does the work for you. As I said, this should be a business expense. If it was for personal use, I'd put up with the hassle. In effect, I'm paying to have time.

      Delete
  8. I saw a really good article on curing pneumonia and influenza using vitamin C James. There is a video, but also, if you read through the comments, it is mentioned that a good quality vitamin C in natural form (Rose hips) is a must. The doctor in the video cured his own pneumonia in a half an hour. These subjects were really overdosing on vitamin C to get the desired results, to the point of losing their bowels. But the curative results were positive.

    http://www.naturalhealth365.com/natural_cures/pneumonia.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My "megadose" is only 3k a day. I'm sure no where near bowel loosening levels.

      Delete
  9. Thrift stores are the best kept secret in town James. For the price of a paycheck or two, I wouldn't doubt that one could stockpile a lifetime supply of clothing (assuming only yourself here).

    You will easily, and quite often find high quality dress clothes made of wool at a small fraction of their original purchase price. You might look ridiculous walking around looking like a throwback out of the 19th century, but then again, who's really going to see you?

    Sometimes you will come across outdoor specific clothing. I saw a Pendleton wool shirt on my last trip down there, but it was not in my size. Assume that most of the wool clothing that you come across at such establishments is of the dress variety. You will need to determine a suitable way clean these often “dry clean only” garments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A bucket, Woolite, cold water,hand wash. Wring out gently, lay flat on towel. Wait for days. Leave out of sunlight. If you have a cheap item, you can try a gentle cold cycle in the washer, but I remain skeptical on that.

      Delete
  10. If you're handy with one of them manual sewing machines you can skarf up all the cheap wool products that don't fit you at the thrift store, cut them up and make your own custom made patchwork wool garments that will fit you properly. Might even make a fashion statement that sweeps the globe making you an overnight sensation with fat ass pockets out to here and adoration of herd class.

    ReplyDelete

COMMENTS HAVE BEEN CLOSED