Or maybe this could apply to the Saturn/Uranus opposition as well. 

 Backyard chickens in the news in Atlanta

I'm planning to start a flock of chickens and have wanted to do this for ages.  Now that I'm living in a house on a few acres there are no good arguments against but it seems people all over are fighting and getting zoning changed to keep a tiny flock of chickens in their backyard for eggs.  

So pets that make your food = Capricorn type of practicality plus people fighting the system.  

I'm also looking into placing a food order with Angel Food Ministries .  It is set up through churches across the country and offers $65 worth of food for $30.  Now I've seen mixed reviews on the quality of the food so I suspect it varies from state to state but I'm going to give it a try.  The premise is that they can get wholesale prices and pass the savings along to people who could otherwise not afford good food.  You can also buy an extra box and donate it to feed the hungry programs in your area.  It is a Christian based ministry and I am not but it seems very practical to me.  The more people who use this ministry, the easier it is for them to keep costs low.  

My neighbors have chickens. I live out in the sticks though. If you set them loose they'll eat the bugs in your garden. Chicken poop really stinks but once you let it age for a while it's good fertilizer. My neighbor lets the coop/poop sit in one area of the yard for a while then moves it and lets that old spot age and then gardens on it.

My cheap-ass money saving tips:

Coffee makers suck a lot of electricity. Make a pot, put the coffee in an insulated carafe and turn off the coffee maker.

Plan your menus and you won't waste food.

When something is on sale that you normally use, stockpile it. 

When you cut up vegetables, save the scraps in a freezer bag in the freezer and when it is full, roast them and make stock from it. You can Google how to do it.

So you don't waste fresh herbs & to make them last longer, dunk them in water and freeze them. Or chop them up and put in ice cube trays and then put an ice cube in what you are cooking, to season it.

Fresh ginger is way easier to grate when frozen, and lasts longer.

Save plastic juice/milk containers and fill with water (not all the way) and keep some in the freezer so it helps cool the freezer without costing $$. If the power goes out you can move some to the fridge part to make it work like an icebox too.

Sign up at Freecycle.

Jilly - the tips re: the chopped veggies, fresh herb preservation & ginger will all be very useful to me.  Thanks!

Thx Jilly!  Posted those on my tumblr to share.

guess what Lupa? they just approved chickens in my city! i won't do it (there are skunks and raccoons abound in my very urban hood!) but i hope other people do. i buy my eggs from a guy i work with. he loves his chickens so much that one lives in the house with him. what a strange man, lol.

That's great Kashmiri!  We have raccoons and other predators all around so when I do get my little flock I'll have to give them a very secure coop to sleep in.  I don't think I'll be inviting them into the house though. 

well based on your pet photos...you sure?

Especially because I have five dogs in the house I am sure.  Cash came *this* close to having squirrel for breakfast the other morning.  If I brought live chickens in the house they would think I was providing dinner and entertainment in one tidy package.  :)

Lupa- what you mean you don't love them enough for such a treat as a fresh chicken?  We once had our dogs get into the coop and kill a good 6 or 8 chickens.  My mom tied one of the dead birds around the dogs neck and left it for a week or three.  That dog never went near the coop again.

 Money savers: weatherstrip doors and windows.  If you live in a rental sew draft stoppers.  Close off rooms rarely used and turn off the heat to those rooms.  Sew insulating curtains (this probably doesn't do much at all in Texas but I am in MN).  Buy a chest freezer and grow a garden.  Then you don't even need to know how to can.  Help a neighbor grow a garden.(get them to grow teh difficult stuff and offer to trade ;)  Walk to work if you're in the city, bike if you are in teh burbs. (I walk as I have that option - my one way commute is about 50 minutes - walking)

Use the chest freezer to buy meat on sale.  Buy T.P and beans in bulk and take a 10 percent discount - better than the stock market.

I use a pressure cooker and a zojirushi thermal pot for most of my cooking.  They use very little energy, are easy for rice, beans, chili etc.

 Jilly - about the coffee I suspect you're right.  In Japan I learned to heat a whole pot of water and pour it into a press pot which then you use to make your tea, coffee, soup throughout the day.  I used about two of them a day that way.  Very convenient and you boil teh water once.  It's good for groups too.  My grandma would agree with you on the coffee.  She always had the best coffee.  She'd put a few cups of ground beans in a glass jar with cold water and put it in the fridge for a few days.  Then she'd filter it and put the liquid in the fridge.  When you wanted coffee you added a bit of col d concentrate of coffee to your hot water in your cup.  The tea drinkers and coffee drinkers were served the same in her house.  It was awesome.  I think I need to go do that... ;)  I do love your tips Jilly - good ideas all the way around.

The best "frugal" idea in our house was for me to learn to make pizza.  It seemed one of our most common expenses that could be adjusted.  Oh and if you really want to save money - get rid of your TV, you'll find you need a whole lot less stuff all of a sudden ;)

mudlike thank you for the coffee suggestion. it's a keeper!

i am making my own bread these days. i like very dense and heavy bread, so what i've been doing is taking a non-leavened recipe like banana bread and tweaking it:

-ground flax seeds instead of sugar (i use a bean grinder for this)

-pureed tinned tomatoes and garlic instead of bananas

or whatver you like...i also grind almonds sometimes and put them in.

and this is the way i find myself able to eat hearty healthy delicious bread without being ripped off at the grocery store.

kash - I'm gong to have to try that.  I've recently gotten two bread baking books.  Mostly because I miss my mom's saturday morning bread baking.  that said, I never thought I was the domestic type you know that whole "modern woman" stuff young girls are sold these days.  It's funny how much satisfaction that virgo moon gets in homemade food!  Surprises me every time.  :)  Must be someone else's virgo moon I'm channelling not mine - lol

There is a no-knead bread recipe that was in the nytimes.  Good if you have arthritis or joint problems.

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/faster-no-knead-bread/

NPR did a version too

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102124561

I mostly eat cornbread though.

thanks jilly!

here's an easy tip that you guys may or may not have already heard of-- unplug electronics you aren't using, it apparently eats up electricity fast ( and for no good reason ). I went into my brother's room the other day and saw two power strips, each packed with cords, 80% of the items plugged in we barely even used anymore..

I came across this today www.kidsbowlfree.com

Those of you with kids 15 and under can sign up for free and get 2 free games everyday.  I'm not a big bowler, but I know it's a great rainy summer day activity that everyone can participate in.  

Hey kvk. good to see you back. :-)

Thanks Elsa.  It's really good to be back.  I certainly missed your place. :)