Q&A | Bath mats, Weight-Lifting, Tightwad Gazette, and Furniture Flipping
Time for a mid-week Q&A, mostly from my inbox! Speaking of which, if YOU have a question you'd like me to answer, you can always send me an email. 🙂
A bath mat recommendation
Someone was asking me recently what bath mat I like, and I have two to recommend.
I hate bath mats that have rubber backing on them; I appreciate the grippiness of those, but I dislike that the rubber starts peeling off over time and that it makes the mats super hard to put in the washing machine.
Also, I hate things that wear out; I want my stuff to last and last and last. 😉
So, I prefer mats that are all cotton.
Two I've owned and loved:
1. Amazon Basics banded bath mat
This mat is really thick 100% cotton, and it's usually around $16. It comes in multiple colors, including lots of different neutrals, so you shouldn't have a problem matching your bathroom color scheme.
2. Target Threshold Signature bath mat
This is also 100% cotton, it's machine-washable, it comes in multiple colors, and it's $22.
What weight-lifting exercises are you currently doing?
(Here's a 2019 post I wrote about why I started lifting weights.)
Someone wrote an email asking me about my current weights routine and ahahahaha, that's funny timing.
So...once I left my house in January, I basically did not pick up a weight for about six months.
Why?
Well, I was in a state of pretty bad distress.
Plus, I got Covid just a few days after I left my house.
Also, I didn't have my weights with me.
And I really just did not have the mental or physical space to worry about weight-lifting at all. I walked and walked and walked and walked...but I didn't do any weight training.
As a result, I lost a whole lot of the muscle gains I worked so hard to get. I obviously do not have a body type that naturally holds a lot of muscle because as soon as I stopped lifting weights, my muscles fell right off.
And now a bunch of my clothes do not fit me right.
Sigh.
I know that maintaining muscle mass is important as I get older, and that weight-bearing exercise is also necessary for me (both of my parents have bone-density issues, so the cards are stacked against me!)
So, in the last month or so, I have picked up my weights again. I'm starting back over again with pretty light weights, but the word on the street is that I might gain my muscle back faster this time than I did the first time I started lifting.
So hopefully I will be able to move to heavier weights quickly.
Mostly I'm doing exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once, such as kettlebell swings, kettlebell squats, and barbell deadlifts.
I'm also doing v-ups, reverse dumbbell flys (flies?), and dumbbell chest presses at home, plus negative pull-ups and hanging leg raises on the bars where I walk.
I have a "progress, not perfection" attitude about my weights right now; I'm taking it slowly and doing something like three sets of 2-3 exercises in each session.
Is this going to get me into super strong shape quickly? Nope.
But I figure something is better than nothing, and I need to make this easy enough for me to be consistent with it.
Which Tightwad Gazette book should you buy?
Melissa wrote:
I've never read The Tightwad Gazette! I was just born as a frugalista. But I'd like to read it, and I'm wondering what one you recommend, or if you recommend all three of them. It looks like there are three books based on the Amazon page.
I own the copy that is The Complete Tightwad Gazette...it's all the volumes in one! So, that's what I'd recommend.
Obviously, since this book is from the 1990s, some of the advice is hilariously outdated. But if you enjoy reading frugal material, you probably will still have fun browsing through the book.
What about a furniture-flipping business?
Also from Melissa:
I love seeing before and after photos of your furniture, making beauty from ashes. I've had this thought every time you post a picture of rehabbed furniture, and I'm sure it's not a new thought, but just want to throw it out there.....you could totally have a side hustle of rehabbing and selling furniture!
I could probably do this, but my main hesitation is that I might end up spending so much time on the pieces, it would work out to a bad hourly rate. I'd have to do some calculating to figure it out.
Right now, I have plenty of furniture that I need to rehab for myself! So any furniture-redoing time I have at the moment needs to be focused there.
Also: school is keeping me very, very busy right now. I have SO MUCH HOMEWORK.
I'm off from school in the spring semester, though, so maybe I will have some free time on my hands then. And if I do pursue furniture flipping, I will be sure to take you all along for the ride.
(Because that is what bloggers do: take you along for the ride!)
_________________
Progress not perfection is a good attitude for basically any goal.
The trainer at my (physical therapy related) gym told me, that at times of stress walking is much preferable to intensive weightlifting. The reason he gave, is that walking reduces stress hormones and that intensive excercise increases stress hormones. So you may well have instinctively/circumstancially driven chosen the best approach for that period in your life. There is a season for everything under the sun, after all.
So happy your semester is going well so far. You are so smart and hard working- you will do just great!
You post sparked a couple of thoughts for me.
First, the single best exercise one can do is squats. They work strength for your entire lower body, alignment, and balance. All of which only get more important as one ages. There's a quick test to check for fall/break risk: in comfortable clothes (no tight jeans), how well does one get up from sitting cross-legged on the floor? Ideally one gets up smoothly, without touching or leaning on anything, and without wobbling, and smoothly.
The other is that the way you do furniture rehab, I'd be surprised if you make even $5/hr.
Your last point: yes. For better or for worse, my parents really emphasized doing a job correctly, so I am sure I would spend too much time redoing furniture for sale!
I tried the cross-legged test, and I did have to uncross my legs in order to get up...like, I had to stick them out to the side in sort of like an M shape.
@WilliamB, I'm roaring at this one. I usually try to get to a chair or wall, if I can, when I need to get off the floor. I'm 73. My husband is 80 and avoids getting on the floor at all costs. I know we should work on this, but..........we don't.
@Kristen, Oh, thank you... I'm glad to hear that you have to contort your legs too. I can definitely get up by sticking out my legs, but I always wondered if I was supposed to be able to leap straight up like a ninja.
BTW I have a copy of Tightwad Gazette that I would be happy to drop in media mail to Melissa, if there was a way to work that out..
@Kristen, as long as we're talking about Amy D and the Tightwad Gazette along with the furniture topic, I think your rehabbing work scores high on at least two of Amy's ratings besides dollar-per-hour value: environmental benefit and personal enjoyment. Whether or not these translate into a career in furniture flipping is up to you.
@Anne, We have young grandchildren 1 and 3 and a friend asked me how I liked grandparenthood. I said we now spend a lot of time on the floor.
She answered interesting I asked another friend that question and they had the same answer.
@WilliamB, I certainly can not get up from sitting cross legged! I am doing an exercise program right now and he has us do what he calls 'get ups' - for 45 seconds, you get down on the floor on your back and then get up to standing again, as many times as you can. All his exercise models are crouching, sitting, rolling back, rolling up to sitting and standing, in a smooth graceful motion. I, on the other hand, am groaning, squatting, getting on knee then the other down, getting onto one hip, rolling down onto my back, rolling over onto my front, hands and knees and groaning back up. it is not graceful AT ALL yet is is becoming both faster and more functional, and has been an eye-opener as I hadn't realized how much of that fluidity I had lost in the last 10 years. Now, I know, with consistent attention, I will be able to do this better. VERY important functional skill.
I agree with you about squats. they are another regular part of my exercise program, and in under three months I have considerably increased the strength and endurance of my legs. My massage person insisted that I focus on doing them properly, with knees never further forward than toes and preferably closer to over the ankles (so my bottom is stuck WAY out and I and leaning WAY forward, again not very pretty yet very functional). It is exciting to see and feel the improvements.
@Ecoteri, Your description of your non-graceful attempts to getting up off the floor was the very huge laugh I needed this morning!! Thank you for that!! You have described my feeble attempts as well. Yet, I’m impressed with your efforts and progress and I’m inspired to keep trying to get up off the floor… graceful or not.
@Ecoteri, Squats in proper form are VERY pretty. Don't ever thing otherwise.
@Ecoteri,
Thank you for this great description! Hahaha! So me as well.
I find that my IKEA cotton bath mats and hand towels are totally fine. I never think about them, either in a "Ooh, these are so luxurious" or in a "Ugh, these are so scratchy" way." They fulfill their function perfectly well and are inexpensive. I'd recommend!
Yes, I second the IKEA bath mats! I have two white ones and they look and feel great plus wash up beautifully. Looks as if they're called "Toftbo" and are Cdn $8.99 and no longer available in white.
I think you wouldn't earn enough nearly enough money for your time by rehabbing and selling furniture, but you might earn money teaching workshops on how to do it.
@Ann, ooooo, you might have hit upon a GREAT side gig for our frugal girl!
IKEA has really great bath mats that fit your criteria as well. Ours are two years old and look brand new.
Kristen, I am glad that you feel up to adding other forms of exercise to your walks. Low and steady do win the race. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough.
I have worked on building upper body strength for years. Loss of muscle (Sarcopenia—defined as age-related muscle loss—can begin at around age 35 and occurs at a rate of 1-2 percent a year for the typical person) is real. I have no where near the upper body build I once had but my bone density test showed the same amount of bone in late 2019 that I had in early 2013 and at age 64 I do not have osteoporesis. My doctor said the other day that I don't need a DEXA scan again for many years. I do shoulder/arm exercises (many assigned in PT eight years ago) almost everyday and some yoga and Pilates exercises help with upper body muscles and bone density.
There's a fellow on my local Next Door group who sells furniture he's flipped, mostly small side pieces like low chests and nightstands in the $150 range. His stuff is always a mix of stained and painted. Unless he's finding items already in very good shape that need only a little paint, I would estimate he's not making a very high hourly wage and is possibly doing it as a hobby that makes a little money.
Kristen does it right, with sanding, filling, tightening joints, priming, painting, and updating handles. Her stuff is beautiful and very classy when finished. That's a lot of work!
If someone isn't going to be working a regular job anyway, and enjoys the work, I don't see what's wrong with a fairly low wage for a side hustle. Though I would branch out into bright colors--people love that stuff. I actually had a yen to buy a very nice piece someone was offering on FB Marketplace for $50 and painting it bright pink and then offering it for $250. Then I realized I have about 40 illnesses, a full time job and a mountain of unfinished home projects. So that's a no then.
I'm not sure, even when I was young and healthy and not sick, I've ever been able to get up from sitting cross legged without holding on to something. I really hate that test. Some of us have balance issues. Fortunately, that test, which resurfaces via social media every now and then, is pretty much considered bogus.
@Rose, I've also never been able to get up from sitting cross-legged without pushing up, probably not since I was a little girl. I've had bad knees since my early teens and getting up without taking weight off them is excruciating.
When I have to sit on the floor to do something, I get up like a bear, by walking my hands and feet out in front and back of me until I can squat a little and stand up, so that I don't put any pressure on my knees. Kneeling on a hard surface is a total no go. It's a safe, if ungainly way to stand up.
@Ruby, I have to have something to pull up on. Great. Last winter I slipped in unplowed snow while feeding my feral cats and I couldn't find a single thing to grab to get myself up. ("My" ferals are at a neighbor's house.) I had to crawl about 30 feet until I found something I could use to get up. Feeling like the world's most useless human. Plus of course I got cold and wet. Buuuuuut the cats were fed and I got home etc. Being chronically ill is about being humiliated a lot of the time.
@Ruby, I like your "bear" analogy, much more graceful than how I usually describe myself, as a camel who has to stand up back end first.
@Rose, I hear what you are saying! That said... I don't think we should feel humiliated about our needs. If you need something to pull up on, you do. I don't think you need to attach feelings of humiliation on it. It's just what you need.
Please don't think I'm being trite here! I have significant chronic pain and it sometimes can look quite alarming to others. For example, the other day I had a pain attack in the store (Aldi, actually!), and I ended up crouched on the floor crying in the middle of the aisle for a few minutes, then when it passed I stood back up and kept shopping. I could have felt humiliated that others saw me in such a vulnerable state, but honestly anyone who felt what I was feeling would look dramatic. It wasn't until I was leaving and saw some weird looks that I was like, oh, that's not a 'normal' thing have done. But it's what my body was doing, and I was caring for it. I don't need to give myself extra suffering to feel bad that it happened.
I know it's easy to feel bad about having more needs, or looking 'different,' but your needs are just your needs, and a neutral thing. To me, you crawling through wet snow to feed cats sounds like someone who is brave and strong enough to do hard things! Anyway, I don't want to tell you how to feel, but just give another idea to on making things easie for yourself. I'm proud of you for being in a tough and scary situation and finding a way through! And I know those cats think so as well!! =^_^=
@Rose, I'm with you---I could not pass the test even when I was young and healthier. We have ice about 9 months of the year and I live in perpetual fear of falling without something around that would help me pull myself up. I think there are some days during the winter that I use my wheelchair when we go out because then I don't have to worry. I used to swim with this 99 year old woman who could still get up off the floor per the test and after swimming while dressing she would put on each sock while standing on the opposite leg--no sitting. I was in awe of her!
@Rachel, Thanks, sweetie. My cold stone heart teared up at your comment.
Just be glad I haven't shared this summer's COLITIS AT THE BEACH episode. Duh duh DUNHHHHH! (ha) (It's funny because it was in July, not now)
@Lindsey, I swallowed my pride and bought a telescoping cane this summer. No one angrily harrumphs at me now as I sloooooowly make my way up the dunes. Now they're all "Look at that poor disabled lady. Why, she looks too young and pretty to have a cane!" (that last part totally made up)
This winter, will bring cane when feeding cats in unplowed yard.
@Rose,
My moment of pause came this past summer, when my family went kayaking. Hubby, son and I each had out own kayak,
and at the end of our trip down river, the employees pull the front end of your kayak up on a slightly sloped gravel "beach". I have a bad knee, I'm overweight, and lack upper body strength....and I *COULD NOT* get myself out of the kayak. My hubby and at least one young man employee had to pull me out. It was embarrassing, but also a wake up call to work on both my upper- and lower-body strength.
@Rachel, What a lovely caring response! I’M encouraged reading it!
I was recently diagnosed with osteopenia, so although I use small weights, my doctor said I need to start with some larger ones. One day, I will remember to set aside time for picking out some. I was told that slimmer people tend to have bone density issues as they age, and Kristen's whole family is slim, so it's smart of Kristen to get to work on this now.
I have a bathmat that I've had for so long I can't remember where on earth I got it. I think it's from a linen outlet store, maybe. It's thick white 100% cotton, so I can endorse that type,too. The woven edges finally started unravelling, but I sewed them up and that has held. I love that I can just toss it in the wash and I usually dry it on the line, which helps whiten it. I also soak it with non-chlorine whitener once in a while, and it looks fresh and clean. I can't stand the short-lived rubber backing on rugs, either.
I think furniture flipping might be fun as a side thing, but unless you have access to a lot of furniture to flip - and the time to do it - I don't see it as becoming more than a hobby that could pay for itself and might earn just a little more than that. I would think there would be the need for a steady supply of pieces that take no more than a simple clean and repaint to make up for the labor intensive pieces.
I bought the first Tightwad Gazette before the compilation, so I have the three individual books. Some of the stuff is certainly outdated - phone calling after the rates drop at night, ordering from catalogs and writing to companies by snail mail - but the overall theme of growing the frugal mindset while using frugal ways is still as valid as ever. And there are timeless goodies: the master muffin and casserole recipes; homemade cleaners, foods and gifts; achieving contentment with less; setting goals for why we are frugal and how to use your time and resources more productively, for example. I still go back and read now and then, because it inspires me.
@JD, I'm so proud. I have all the original newsletters. I was absolutely broken-hearted when she stopped publishing.
@Anne,
I had some of the newsletters but I joined the party only about a year or so before she stopped publishing them. I finally got rid of the newsletters after I got all three books, but it pained me to do that. I content myself with the fact that one of my Tightwad books is autographed by Amy.
@Anne, I too have a complete set of the original newsletters (my mother was an early subscriber; I came on board later). And although I too was bummed out when publication ceased, I've also always admired Amy D for stopping when (a) she felt she was in danger of repeating herself and (b) it became not so much fun for her any more.
@A. Marie, I had the full set in a huge binder but had to make a lot of hard choices about what to keep the last time moved and gave them away because I also have the books, which have an index.
One of my books is autographed, which I love. Amy completely changed my life.
@A. Marie, yes and I think she felt she was losing some of her privacy and the kids were suffering a bit from unscrupulous reporters. But I soooooo missed looking for her newsletter on the day of the month that it usually came. I really felt validated by her. Of course, now there is the internet and we can find our tribe much easier. And have.
I've read studies that tennis players live longest. That could be just that its a sport of people who have money(health care, food, interesting stuff to do) I'm not sure what I think of going to a lot of effort to live longer. Most of the people I've been around who are in their 80s and 90s are pretty miserable.
@Tiana, I know a number of people in their 80s and 90s who are pretty happy, spry and active. I'd rather not be ill in my old age, which is a faint hope since I've been ill since I was 24. That said, one of my two BFFs died at age 50, her heart failed, and my other is dying right now at 56. I may feel like crap and often wish to be a brain in a jar, but I'm not dying.
@Rose, my family on both sides are long lived and never exercise except when they've had a sprain or bump and the doctor orders a therapist to move their leg for them. They get to around 94 and get bored with everyone around them. They don't like their kids, they don't like their grandkids, their sight and hearing are uncorrectable and they are literally bored to death. My 98 year old aunt died last spring. She hadn't been able to see or hear for over 10 years. She had a lot of money and insurance and her kids made sure her every need was met by someone they hired. I've always been very active, an anomaly in my family so I may burn out faster.
@Rose, Brain in a jar! Cry laughing!
I hate the short life of rubber backed rugs too, but I've also known way too many people who have fallen on slippery rugs. I use a small rubber backed rug that I shake but rarely wash and put my cotton washable mat on top.
@Bobi, that's a great idea. I wouldn't even think of not having a rubber backed rug. He is 80 and goes down too easily.
About 15 years ago, I checked out the Tightwad Gazette volumes from my library. I just checked, and my current library has the book that includes all three volumes. So to the person looking for them, check your library!
I am starting a weight lifting journey. This is in part because there are not great walking areas near our new house and because I've been having weird dizzy spells that make me reluctant to walk by myself in the heat. So I'm joining my husband in the garage to lift weights 3Xs a week . . . and I'm making satisfying progress. I broke my humerus 10 years ago and never quite got full range of motion back but I am starting to push the edges of my limits which I didn't think would happen.
progress over perfection! love it for all of life!! thanks!
My husband does kettlebell sport. It's basically a competition to see how many regulation lifts of one type or another you can do in a certain amount of time. Because he is in his mid-60's there's not much competition in the senior classes and he win's golds which help him feel really accomplished. The number of women who compete is pretty small, so if you're interested you could have a lot of fun meeting other kettlebellers.
Oh man, people do kettlebells for fun?? I do it purely for the health benefits!