I have started to use baking soda to brush my teeth (again). I don’t do this to save money on toothpaste, which is cheap and often free thanks to the lunacy of coupon clipping (this is the only place where we do this). Rather, I do it to save money on the dentist, who is evil and sadistic. For someone who is contemplating skipping dental insurance, this becomes a concern.

Baking soda raises the pH (I knew that) while bacteria in the mouth creates acid (low pH) as a byproduct (I knew that) which destroys the enamel (I knew that too). I just did not put those things together and thought that the main reason for including the baking soda was for its abrasive effect. In addition baking soda causes a lot of saliva which is why you can just put the powder on the toothbrush and start brushing. This saliva further helps the acid disposal process.

DIY toothpaste is basically composed of bacteria unfriendly ingredients. Use any combination of salt, baking soda, and high proof alcohol. The rest is just taste and advertising. Speaking of which; did you know that Listerine was originally invented to cure athletes foot? Instead it was turned into a mouthwash. Nothing wrong with that. Just good business practice.

Of course the main action is mechanical, so you could brush your teeth without any toothpaste whatsoever, and I suppose really frugal people chew on a stick. In that case, just keep your toothbrush in the sun to fry the bacteria with free UV radiation (not behind glass, glass has sun factor 40+ and stops most UV). Alternatively, if you’re a consumer, you just buy one of those electric toothpaste where you don’t have to move your hand and UV light so you don’t have to walk all the way over to the window to put the toothbrush down, but instead have to work a job to pay for it. Also the consumer product has the side effect of stimulating the economy(!)

Originally posted 2008-07-25 08:07:54.

For those who do want a car but would prefer to keep costs as minimal as possible, I suggest (not based on personal experience at all, incidentally) buying a used car without too much electronics and doing as much maintenance on it yourself as possible. This is subject area where I am at stage 0 knowledgewise. Actually, stage -1 is more accurate, because I probably know even less about cars than the average person.

Of course such ignorance has a huge price because it means going to the mechanic and saying yes to every suggestion he makes. Presumably it does not take long for a mechanic to catch on to the fact that he is talking to a sucker and so he’ll make out like a bandit.

Conversely, when I visit the bike store, I typically get what I want with a couple of bucks worth of spare parts instead of paying $15 to have my tire changed or $100 for a tune up.

I am well aware that the challenge is all in the mind, because after all, a car is but a bunch of spare parts held together with nuts and bolts. Of course the question is exactly where in the mind that challenge sits.

I have been searching for information on the net. I know for bicycles, you can get very far with Park Tool’s Big Blue Book and bicycletutor.com. I have yet to find the equivalent for our car. There are the Haynes and Chilton manuals, but they both get very poor reviews for our model. Beyond that, I know little. Supposedly one should get the workshop manuals directly from the manufacturer(?). Another nice thing would be a central site using the prescription: Job or problem, which tools needed for this job, step 1, step 2, … for a 5 minute video, preferably with a “car map” or at least an inventory so you can just click on the general area. It is possibly that these already exist, but as I said, I’m at stage -1, so even the mention of, say, a jack stand leads me to analysis-paralysis (which one, how big, how small, the red one or the blue one? :-P).

Update: I have bought the workshop manuals (used) and found a good website.

Originally posted 2010-03-07 09:31:01.

When I first came to the US about five years ago, someone asked me if I rode bikes, as in bicycles. I replied in the affirmative, and then I was asked whether I liked to ride for fun. “For fun?”, yes, you see in the US, people mainly ride bikes recreationally, whereas in Europe, people mainly ride bikes as a form of transportation from point A to B.

This orientation is extremely ingrained. Having no longer a need to go from A to B, I find myself rarely riding my bike.

Now, in the US, walking is something you do inside the mall (also Segways are gaining popularity) and in Europe walking is something you do to get to the bus stop. Again different.

However, when it comes to running, both Europe and the US are similar in that running is a recreational activity in both places.

Hence, despite having lived in both places, it has never occurred to me to think of running as a way of getting from A to B. Until now.

Last week, I ran home from training three times. As a form of transportation it is as simple as walking, you only need a pair of shoes, but 2-3 times faster. For short distances up to three miles, it is almost as fast as slow biking, because it takes a few minutes on each end to get the bike out and ready.
It is possible to run with small loads in a tight backpack. I have one like this.

It would thus be possible to literally run small errands, like picking up small items from the supermarket, and anyone who does on a regular basis is bound to end up with sustained low-intensity endurance.

Also, if you managed to arrange your residence to be less than 3 miles from anything, you would not even need a bicycle. In that case, I would walk to work, which would take 60 minutes which could be used for meditation, brainstorming or calculating your passive income from your savings in as many ways as you can think of, and then run home which would take about 20 minutes. When shopping, I would run with an empty backpack and then walk a full backpack home. It is a more minimalist approach than the bicycle option.

Originally posted 2009-08-17 00:19:41.