Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with frugal

How can I make my rented flat warmer? On the cheap, if possible?

handee — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:58:31 -0800

I'm renting a flat and it's cold, and it's going to get colder (I'm on a 1 year contract in the alps). Is there anything noninvasive (preferably cheap, but I'm ok to spend if it's really going to work) that I can do to warm the place up? What sort of portable space heaters give the best performance for electricity/gas? Are there any decent renter-based guides to improving insulation? There's one mains gas heater in the middle of the flat that's supposed to cover the whole thing. I have shutters and decent single glazing. Local people who've visited have looked at the heater and laughed.

Aligning seams for laminate floors?

Mutant — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:53:32 -0800

Laying laminate flooring; how important is it for lines from adjacent rooms to align? So Mrs Mutant wanted new flooring in our upstairs hallway, and as the rug in place was about 30 years old I agreed (reluctantly, it was still good) to replace it.

Ripped up the old rug, painted the walls and now I'm ready to lay the new floor. For my planning purposes I've created a diagram and uploaded it here; consulting it might help in the further discussion (the three "zones" noted in this diagram helped me model the hallway not as an irregular shape but rather as three rectangles).

In August 2008 I replaced the rug in an adjoining bedroom, laying a rather nice dark laminate floor ("Bedroom with existing flooring" in the diagram). This flooring has a dark black seam, which runs parallel to the room's wall, away from the windows towards the doors. The seam is illustrated in the diagram as the vertical black lines (the bedroom is very large and only partially illustrated in this diagram which focuses on the hallway).

When we purchased the laminate we got enough to do the hallway in the same colour and pattern. But now that its time to lay the new floor, I don't think there is anyway I can get the seams from the bedroom to the hallway to align. So first question - how discordant would this misalignment appear? I do intend to lay a metal divider separating the two rooms, and covering the gap in the two sections of laminate.

Also same question - if I decide to lay the new floor so the seams are at right angles to existing flooring, how discordant would this appear?

I've laid laminate in four rooms of our flat now, but can't visualise how it might look it the seams don't precisely align. Also, I haven't seen any examples of laminate flooring that either doesn't align from room to room, or which rotates 90 degrees from room to room.

Speak to me of broke-ass students

DarlingBri — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:10:08 -0800

Are you a broke-ass student? Were you a broke-ass student? Please give me your best tips and slightly insane ideas for surviving as an impoverished scholar. I'm trying to come up with a list of topics I can distribute to a team of bloggers writing for broke-ass students.

We have a very wide remit on this blog, from food to fashion to travel to entertainment to dating, so there is a lot of scope for all kinds of topics as long as it's relevant to students. So far I've got the basics like couch surfing and freecycle and stuff like how to jazz up Pot Noodles but I'm sort of stuck and I'm sure there are entire areas of student living I've forgotten about.

I really want to avoid boring generic advice like "turn off the lights!" and "save wear on your shoes by taking care of them!" I want the stuff your mom won't tell you.

Possibly relevant to potential suggestions: I am in Ireland. There are no dining halls here; everyone is self-feeding, so food is always an issue. The drinking age is 18, so that's not an issue. There is no Greek system.

A hard luck tale of hard water

Mutant — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:23:22 -0800

London has hard water, so I've got some questions about my water closet. While on the plus side, London's water, with about 109 mg of calcium per litre provides about 12% of the recommended daily allowance of that mineral, it seriously causes problems with our appliances.

Its not too difficult to descale appliances using various OTC citrus based products. Typically you dissolve the granules in water and run the mixture through the appliance in question once or twice and its as good as new.

However our water closet is completely different. I purchased this flat in 2001 and the English woman who resided here previously (and hoarded here and went crazy here and died here) never did any maintenance.

The tank in the water closet is now taking almost an hour to refill between flushes. Its not an issue with water pressure; the water closet is on the second floor which is served by dedicated tank hidden away in our study (common for flats on this era, as the East End's old Victorian mains didn't have sufficient pressure to drive water much higher than one story). Also, the shower & sink in the adjoining bathroom, also on the second floor, work fine, if a little slowly - but their inlet pipes are much wider.

I'm competent in woodwork and basic electrical work (since acquiring the flat I've refinished all the floors, laid laminate, built a couple of walk in closets, etc) but know precisely nothing about plumbing, and I don't really have the time to learn unfortunately.

So what can I do to clear presumably clogged water pipes leading into our toilet's tank of limescale?

Just to clarify; I've already seen this question, which deals with limescale in the bowel. I scrub the toilet bowl weekly, use gel dispensers on the sides and "big blue blocks" in the tank so the bowel is very, very clean. Mrs Mutant is very happy with the state of the toilet bowl - it's the tank we're having problems with.

I've popped the lid and taken a look / see, and I'm kind of thinking we're approaching total replacement time here but, being frugal, I'd really rather not.

that would be known as clarified butter after the ayurvedic tradition

Mutant — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:23:49 -0800

So I made ghee and bombed. I made ghee but things didn't turn out as planned. I'm left with a brownish mixture that won't set at room temperature, a concoction with a strange, granular texture and rather off putting taste. Not ghee like at all.

I suspect two points of failure: first, my filter didn't properly separate out milk proteins as needed. But that is easily fixable next time around.

But secondly while boiling the butter I perhaps allowed the milk proteins to carmelise a little bit too much, as manifested by black, not brown dairy residue, both left in the pan as well as mixing in with my faux ghee, destroying it's taste as well as colour.

Any tips or pointers newbie ghee cooker? I've seen enough recipes to think I'm executing the process correctly, but I blew it when I should have stopped boiling.

Other ghee makers - how many times did you have to try before you were producing a standard product? Anything else I cook (muffins, puddings, bagels, cakes, casseroles, etc) I can crank out time and time again. But ghee seems very process & temperature sensitive, at least much more so than anything I've cooked in the past.

I realise that making ghee is an exercise in both paying attention and being patient. I think I just let the ghee heat for a little bit too long, but I'm not totally sure.

I spent a month in India in 2005 and want Mrs Mutant to acquire a taste for ghee like I did while there, but as its a little pricey at stores here in The East End I'd like to make it myself.

Ghee goes well with pretty much everything, and now that I've got a little time freed up, making ghee is top of my to-be-acquired-skills list.

Any tips from consummate and polished ghee makers would be appreciated.

WordpressFilter: Thesis, Frugal, or Headway?

Gerard Sorme — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:07:36 -0800

I am theme shopping for Wordpress and have pretty much narrowed my choices to Thesis, Frugal and Headway. You'll notice these are all Wordpress Framework Themes and can do so much more than any free theme. All three are around $75-$80 each and all have options that blow me away. The new Headway that was only released in late July is getting a lot of buzz for the drag 'n drop page layout and it is impressive. Thesis has a huge user support forum that wins a lot of raves. Frugal has many options, seems to be extremely user-friendly and is a very clean theme. They all have their good points and all have one or two things I don't like. SO.....is there anybody here with good/bad experiences with any of these 3 themes? I know Headway may be too new, but it's become a player fairly quickly in the "framework" space, so I'm hoping somebody has been able to use it and report back.

Please no "You're stupid for paying for a theme" type comments because there are no free themes that come anywhere even close to the options these three provide for customization without knowing a lick of code.

Thesis - Frugal - Headway? Are they all so good it's eeny, meeny, miny, moe?

Summertime and the livin' is easy but damn that weather is changeable.

Mutant — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:49:08 -0800

Since London's fickle summer is in full swing, I need recipes for dishes that can be eaten either hot or cold. I do all the cooking at home and have a few stock recipes which adapt well to changeable weather; in other words, dishes that can be eaten either directly out of the oven or chilled then consumed, as ambient dictates.

At times its too damn hot to eat warm food, but then its not uncommon for the evenings to get so chill we need to get warmed up a little (it went down to 9C at night a couple times last week). Trouble is, I tend to plan out the meals a week in advance and would rather not have diet and my kitchen time dictated by London's changeable weather.

So I'm looking for dishes we can eat as we like. Today, for example, I'm making baked beans for dinner which is very suitable - bake for four hours, then since its a little humid and gross, chill for later. I've also got a couple of macaroni casseroles in my repertoire but am looking for other dishes.

Veggie preferred, but if they contain meat we'd rather this was a fractional additive like the ham in baked beans.

Froogal Livin'

ian1977 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:32:16 -0800

What are your favorite links for frugal living/frugality websites? I really enjoy perusing frugal living websites. I've found a few great ones such as, Frugal Dad, zenhabits, Wise Bread...but I want more.

So, what are your favorite frugal living websites? They don't necessarily have to be a strictly frugal living website, it could also be a website that facilitates your own quest for frugality.

A thousand thank yous.

How to master ________ cooking on a tight budget?

Picklegnome — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:52:52 -0800

I need to eat cheaply. Can I do so while extending my cooking ability in a specific direction? What cuisines, categories, or focuses can my home cooking pinpoint while living on a budget? Just in case this isn't clear: are there types of foods, foods from specific regions, etc., that are generally low-cost while having a fair amount of breadth? Or is this a dumb question - do all cuisines have consistent scales that more or less overlap of low to high cost food?

Tips for living in Flushing, NY

pulled_levers — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:54:03 -0800

I am moving to Flushing, NY for 3 months. How can I live frugally while enjoying all that the area has to offer? I have a summer internship in NYC and plan to commute via public transportation from Flushing to Manhattan. Other than the fact that Flushing has the largest Chinatown in NY, I know very little about the area. I've been to NYC a few times before, but I have never lived there for an extended period of time.

So, I'm interested in what you know about Flushing and living in NYC. Where are the cheap places to get groceries? Any must-sees? Favorite place to unwind with a book? Good wifi spots?

To give you an idea of where I'll be located, the apartment is approx. 1.4 miles away from the Flushing Main St. Metro stop. I will be bringing a bicycle with me so that I can get around pretty easily.

Thanks in advance!

What places in the Bay Area have buy-one-get-one-free meal deals?

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:42:35 -0800

BOGOFilter: What restaurants in the Bay Area offer buy-one, get-one-free coupons? We're in a recession, but I still like to eat out. One of my favorite places is Sweet Tomatoes, because they have an online club you can join where they email you buy-one-get-one-free offers (BOGO).

Usually I receive an email from them about twice a month, and I really like the convenience of the print-coupon-at-home dealio.

Are there any other restaurants that have this type of offer in the San Francisco Bay Area?

Tell me how to pick offal, and what to do with it

Mutant — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:02:04 -0800

Offal. I know what it is but need your help with selection and cooking. Mrs Mutant is a carnivore and likes her meat. Although I'm basically a pescatarian I do all our cooking and genuinely enjoy preparing her meals.

I've got about a dozen stock dishes that I can prepare, and by using chicken, pork loin, beef or various mince I can present roughly three dozen meals. I cooked my way through part of my undergraduate education, and I'm comfortable with most techniques, including separate sauce preparation, even going so far as to prepare and bake meat pies so no worries there.

While doing our food shopping I've noticed that offal (e.g., chicken or calves liver) is massively cheaper than equivalently sized other cuts of meats. There are loads of of offal on offer here, but I'm not really sure how to prepare it.

So what can I do with offal? I'm looking not only for recipes but also suggestions for useful cuts (is that the correct word to apply for offal?). We've got several British butchers close by, and I know they speak offal.

Just tell me what to ask for and how to prepare it.

Best free services online

math — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:59:50 -0800

FrugalFilter: I used to do _____, but now I use _____ on the internet for free! Examples and ... Here are some of my favorite things to do on-line that used to cost money in the real world:

I used to pay for long-distance calls, but now I use Skype.

I used to buy stamps to mail my bills, but now I've discovered online bill pay at my bank's web site. I still can't believe that they mail out the check for me, to anyone in the US!

I once thought of paying for satellite radio (Sirius, XM), but now just listen to Pandora.

I used to buy blank CD's to back up my data, but now I use the 2GB free storage/backup system at Mozy.

Anyways, I'm sure that there's more to discover. What's your favorite way to save money with the internet?

Looking for rural blogging

Sijeka — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:08:10 -0800

I'm looking for pretty/ interesting blogs about homesteading and living in rural areas I'd like to read personal blogs about life in rural parts of the world - think Prince Edward Island in Canada, or Alaska, or central Missouri... the location doesn't really matter. I like blogs combining personal stories, everyday photographs, recipes and specific knowledge (i.e how to make jam, or how to butcher your chickens, what have you).

A couple of blogs I already enjoy are Meanwhile across town, Tiny farm blog, Throwback at trapper creek and Down to earth.

Bonus point for blogs also involving food politics, personal/feminist politics, and left politics as well, but I'm not picky.

Cheap cellphone plans for 1-to-1 calling?

Stoatfarm — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:30:11 -0800

90% of my calls are to one friend in another state here in the U.S.A. I might also consider buying this friend a cellphone as a gift and paying the bills. What's the cheapest option for doing mostly 1-to-1 calls: a "family plan", or maybe prepaid? Total call times and numbers of calls may be large: a few calls a day, 10-30 minutes per call. I'm in Western WA and the friend is in FL, so I'm not in an area covered by Cricket or Metro PCS, which I know are cheap. I can afford an initial outlay because I'm not doing this out of desperation, just out of a desire to not waste money over the long run.

The goal is to keep the monthly charges at a minimum.

I don't care about features very much at all, doesn't have to be a smartphone or have data or SMS. Just calling with decent quality and coverage.

Yuletide Christmas bagels

Mutant — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:05:54 -0800

Home made bagels. Christmas bagels actually. Mrs Mutant loves the bagels I've made using a variation of this recipe, and the price is certainly right (plain, about three pence each direct cost). Before baking I've dusted my bagels with confectionary sugar or chocolate chips, both of which have been received as well as good old plain (I always make mixed batches).

We're hosting kin for Christmas and as I'm doing the cooking I'd like suggestions on how to dress up the bagels into a food suitable for breakfast on the day itself, or Boxing day or pretty much anytime during the holiday period.

Am I stupid to buy OEM Hard Drives?

melorama — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:47:57 -0800

I need advice on the reliability and economics of buying OEM Hard Drives in bulk. Is it false economy? I work for a video & film production company that generates a ton of data every month, now that tapeless video acquisition is the norm, and not the exception. We used to go out to BestBuy every so often and pick up a cheap external Firewire or USB drive that we'd archive our project data off to and the end of a job.

But it quickly became apparent that the external FW/USB drive route was clunky and inefficient. The varying form-factors of the drive enclosures and incredibly annoying powersupply juggling (we'd use bus-powered drives if they were big enough and fast enough to dump all our data, which they generally arent) caused me to investigate other options.

I came up with a plan to buy a NexStar FW/USB Hard drive dock for all of our editor's workstations, and buy bulk 3.5" 1TB SATA bare drives that they can just plug into the docks and dump off the data. Then we'd put the drives into our media vault using something like these Wiebetech Protective Harddrive cases (or a cheaper, reasonable facsimile).

(We backup all this data to LTO-3 tapes, as well, for redundancy. I trust neither tape nor spinning platters of glass & metal on their own, but together, I think it's as solid a backup plan as our budget allows for)

So now the question is, what hard drives do I buy? Since we generate at least 2-3 terabytes of backup data a month, I think we'd have to buy the drives in bulk in order to get any level of economy from this plan (preferably in lots of 10 at any single time, in case drive prices fluctuate). I noticed that on sites like NewEgg.com, the prices for "OEM" drives are significantly cheaper than their retail boxed counterparts. That's fine with me, as I dont need any of the screws, brackets, cables or software that the retail units ship with.

What's disconcerting to me, however, are the seemingly large number of negative reviews about these OEM drives, in particular, this Seagate Barracuda 1TB drive (I always buy Seagate by default, mostly out of superstition, but also because I've had many more memorable drive failures with Western Digital and Maxtor drives. But I'm more than willing to be convinced otherwise).

Is this a classic case of "only people with problems post product reviews on the internet", or are these OEM drives really inherently sub-par to the retail versions?

Any advice, info or pointers to better bargains are most appreciated!

more bang for my meager buck

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:35:50 -0800

I'm going to Rome for one week in February. How can I cheap out on lodging while there? I'm traveling with my boyfriend. The trip itself is only affordable to begin with because of the awesomeness of EasyJet. We're planning on trying to couchsurf but, if that doesn't work out, do you know of any hostels/hotels/monasteries where we can stay for less than 30euros/night total cost? (if you have any other advice on enjoying oneself in Rome while not spending much money, that's welcome too!)

Jeff Smith wasn't lazy, but I am!

piedmont — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:43:19 -0800

Know any freezable and/or crock-pot-able stews that also happen to be vegetarian (or pescatarian) and go well with rice? I like good food... Unfortunately I also tend to be a bit short on time and cash.
I have me a fancy new-fangled rice cooker, now I'd like to be able to set it before work so that I can come home and zap a stew and throw it on fresh brown rice. What vegetarian or seafood stews can I cook and toss in the freezer? Alternately what stews can I make in a crockpot that consist of mainly canned and frozen goods? Recipes for curries and other spicy delights are especially welcome-I have access to well stocked ethnic markets, so lay it on me!

Fresh Ideas For Living Well In a Recession?

toomuchkatherine — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:14:28 -0800

Who has interesting ideas about how to live, travel, dress, and eat frugally during a recession? I've become quite obsessed lately with the recession and the things people are doing to weather it. I'm working freelance and, for now, close to my own subsistence level, so it's timely that the rest of the country is starting to wonder how to live well on less, too.

The other day, I began looking around for blogs that are specifically dedicated to cooking for the recession/new-great-depression/financial downturn we're in, and was surprised not to find much.

I *know* there have to be people and websites out there that have innovative lifestyle ideas for these troubled times. But what are they?

Where to live in Boston?

objdoc — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:34:36 -0800

Boston Filter: Where should I live in Boston? 20 minutes, or less, from Tufts Medical in Chinatown. Looking for a 1 BR rental apartment with a parking space, and possibly street parking or other spaces for guests, central air, clean and relatively modern appliances, a washer and dryer inside.

The catch: would like to be in a location that makes it worth while to live in Boston, someplace close to city life, someplace and walkable to what the city has to offer. Safe and minimal crime also important.

Budget: $2000/mo. Prefer less but could go a little higher.

I asked about finding my best place to live a bit over a year ago. I think I ended up picking Boston. OK- where do I need to compromise? More importantly which neighborhoods and locations should I focus my search?

Please help me overcome my aversion to staying in hostels.

jason's_planet — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:02:29 -0800

Please help me overcome my aversion to staying in hostels. I want to travel more. Unfortunately, funds are a bit tight, so staying in expensive hotels is out of the question. I understand that there are hostels serving the lodging needs of people like me, people whose horizons exceed their incomes but I'm not sure if those would be appropriate for me. I'm older than the usual age profile for hostel travelers. For that reason, I'm not sure if I would be welcome. I also have a fairly negative attitude toward hostels; I tend to view them as grubby, shady establishments filled with odoriferous, America-bashing hippies and iPod-snatching thieves.

But I recognize that my prejudices are not based on any real experiences, good or bad. I would like to open my mind a little bit and consider hostels as a possible travel option. I'd like to hear what your experiences have been and whether you would recommend them as places to stay for someone who isn't going to be making partner or winning the lottery anytime soon.

So what is it like to stay in hostels? Do they welcome people over the age of 35? Are they clean and safe? Is it possible to use them just as places to sleep? (I'm not really into the idea of hostel-as-party or hostel as a place to hangout.) I need a bed, access to a bathroom, and a place where I can lock up my stuff. Anything beyond that is gravy.

And in the event that you tried hostels and found them lacking, what sorts of budget alternatives would you propose?

Thank you very much for your time; I look forward to your answers.

Proper Lasagna consists of RED & WHITE sauce, not PINK.

Mutant — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:10:51 -0800

We love lasagna. But my white sauce mixes with my red sauce and it all ends up looking pink. I'm using a rather basic lasagna recipe but consistently have been frustrated by sauces mixing together. It seems to be happening during cooking to some extent, but cutting portions and serving doesn't help much.

While the mixing doesn't effect the taste, my lasagna is rather unsightly compared to professionally prepared portions.

What can I do to keep the sauces as distinct as possible? It seems that professionally prepared (i.e., restaurant) lasagna has distinct layers of white and red sauce, separated by the pasta itself. Mine tends to mingle, almost to the point where I'm ending up with, at times, a pinkish sauce.

I'm not sure if it is caused by my sauce recipe or technique, but it has happened both with meat and veggie lasagna. The filler for either is as follows :

Meat: 1 lb. browned ground beef
Veggies: 1 lb of coarsly chopped broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, celery, green lettuce, all raw

Here is my red sauce :

Chopped onion, one large
Garlic, four cloves
Salt
Pepper
Tomato paste, two cans

This is generally prepared once a week in a large batch that I use for multiple dishes, lasagna included. Sometimes I'll make and use the sauce immediately, other times I've frozen and reheated it, but this hasn't changed my results.

If I'm making meat lasagna I'll mix it (after browning separately) with the red sauce otherwise, I spoon out red sauce, then cover with the veggie mix.

And my white sauce, which remains the same for meat or veggie lasagna :

Munster cheese
Four tablespoons butter
Four tablespoons of flour
Two cups of milk

I melt the butter, then add in salt & pepper. Blend in the flour then cook over over a low flame for two minutes, finally adding milk. Bring mixture to boil and let boil for two minutes.

Technique:

Parmesan cheese on the bottom, then some red sauce (if veggie then layer chopped vegetables on top of red sauce).

A layer of lasagna pasta sheets, more parmesan, then white sauce.

This is repeated three times in total, with red sauce and more parmesan topping off the lasagna.

Bake and serve.

I still don't have good control, and end up with the sauces mixing. Does anyone have any tips on how to insure that the layers don't intermingle too much? The professionally prepared portions that we get at a restaurant are much more visually appealing (and I seem to recall my great grandmothers as having sharp, distinct layers as well).

Thanks for your help!

What to do at night in a small hotel room in a small country town?

b33j — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:13:46 -0800

My husband and I are going on a road trip this weekend and have plenty of places and things to do during daylight hours. It's just the two of us (yay, no kids!) and we'll no doubt chat all day during the drives, hikes, sightseeing. We need something to do between checking in and going to sleep. I'd like an activity that's cheap, and involves the both of us. Nights are in prebooked hotels in very small country towns (that is, we don't have the option to keep driving until we need to sleep). We don't drink. One laptop between the two of us, with no guarantee of internet access. Apart from the obvious bedroom romps, what the hell else do we do during the night time? Normally at home, we (introverts) work (online), study(online), interact with the kids, he plays WOW (not installed on my laptop). Not big TV watchers.

We're Australian, married 17 years, 40+, travelling through Central NSW.

More muffins more muffins more muffins!

Mutant — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:14:43 -0800

I can make apple muffins, banana muffins, and carrot muffins. So what else can I muffinise (oh, did I just invent a verb there)? I've gotten my recipes and technique down to the point where I can make, on demand, dozens of very standardised apple, banana or carrot muffins and that's great. But I wanted to expand my repertoire (and our diet) somewhat.

So what other fruits or vegetables can you recommend I include in my next batch of muffins? If it helps, my basic recipe (makes 18 muffins) is :

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted, unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioners sugar (for topping muffins pre-bake)
2 large eggs
1 cup plain (or sometimes different flavoured but always rather light e.g., peach, vanilla, etc) yogurt
1/2 cup milk

Either Apples, Bananas or Carrots to suit, coarsely chopped (four Apples), mushed (four to six Bananas) or grated (six to ten Carrots).

On a whim I'll toss in 1/2 cup of either choco chips, walnuts or raisins (all faves of Mrs Mutant and I sorta like them as well). Technique involves the usual first prepare dry, then wet ingredients separately, then mix shortly together before the oven. I'm using paper muffin cups seated in a non stick pan as well.

Many thanks!