You gotta have a goal!

frugal strategies, personal development

How do you motivate yourself to do something that feels hard?

You’ve got to have a goal. Without a goal, there’s no fire lit under you. You have no ‘why’ to inspire you to take action when life is already full and there are so many things that need your time and attention.

>> I have a lot of things on the “save money” to do list… more like things I can do to save money (such as hanging laundry instead of putting in the dryer & baking cookies for my kids instead of buying store bought). I am currently lacking the drive & inspiration. <<

A year ago I shared my goal to pay off our mortgage early. It was very ambitious – it felt like a fantasy when I set it. It wasn’t realistic to put aside the amount per month that I based my goal on. Not at all realistic. But it gave me so much motivation and I kept finding more and more ways to save money and put the extra onto the mortgage, even though I never hit my unrealistic target number for the amount I wanted to save each month.

As I watched the mortgage principal melting away, it was a thrill of its own. I chose to shorten the length of the loan rather than have a smaller monthly payment, and each time I paid a portion of the principal off, I saw the loan length drop. It made me want to throw every extra shekel at the mortgage, and I did.

Our mortgage was split into two parts; the first part is miraculously now paid off completely. I can tell you most definitely that if I hadn’t set that goal, it would be years from being paid off.

My original intention was to pay off the entire mortgage (ie both parts), but when the first part was paid I paused. I wanted to consider if that was still the best thing for us to do. I spent a lot of time thinking about if instead of prepaying the mortgage, perhaps it would be better to use the money for something else that could be an asset for retirement.

I’ve finally decided that having a paid for home is also preparation for retirement, and have reset my goal of paying off our mortgage completely. This has given me a financial shot of adrenaline as a result of the clarity that it gives me.

Will I hit my target goal? We’ll see. It will take a lot of determination and focus, and it will mean putting other things that I’d like to spend on to the side – like renovations – I really don’t want to wait until the mortgage is paid off. But my goal is what gives me the motivation to track my expenses, budget and spend carefully, hang laundry and cook from scratch. I’m doing all of those things to achieve a goal that matters to me, and none of it feels hard. It’s the opposite of hard – it’s energizing.

Why does this motivate me so much? At this stage of my life, what’s more important to me than more money, is more time.

Paying off the mortgage shaves away years of payments and thinking about not having a monthly payment gives me a sense of freedom, flexibility and increased time.

That’s my why.

Now, sit down and write down what you want your life to look like. Brainstorm alone, or together with your spouse. (I recommend setting a shared financial goal if you’re married.) What is really important to you? Why is it important? What do you want instead? What would that look and feel like?

Clarifying and setting your personalized goal is what will give you the incentive to change your habits and do something unfamiliar or uncomfortable.

Avivah

We want more homegrown eggs!

homemaking

This summer a massive heat wave killed off all of our chickens but three, leaving us with just one rooster and two hens.

We fortunately had eggs in the incubator at the time, and the chicks that hatched out have been the foundation of regrowing our flock. Half grew into roosters who are unfortunately still around (I’ve wanted them to be processed for the past two months but there have been repeated delays and I’m somewhat exasperated about it). From the female half we still have hardly had any eggs, since it takes about five months until a chicken begins to lay eggs. Our hens came of age during the shortest days of the year, which further delayed their laying.

Finally about three weeks ago, some of them began laying. We’re now getting seven eggs a day, which isn’t nearly enough for our needs but it’s very nice to have them after so long with nothing! Some of the hens aren’t yet ready to lay but will soon, and that will also increase the number of eggs we get.

Below you can spot an a first time egg from a new layer – isn’t it adorable?

Even with all of the hens laying, we won’t have enough eggs to provide for our needs. While it’s nice to have supplemental eggs, I’d actually really appreciate having enough eggs to eat to make a difference to our diets.

I’ve collected eggs to incubate.

Although all chicken care transferred from my son to me at the beginning of last year, my seventeen year old son remains the expert on incubation. I asked him to check the heat calibration of the incubator to be sure it was accurate – last year it wasn’t and the excess heat killed the viability of all seventy eggs in that batch. I don’t want to do multiple incubator batches this year, just one big batch.

Last night he put in over sixty eggs.

All of those eggs won’t hatch; of those that hatch all the chicks won’t survive, and a percentage of those that survive the initial few weeks won’t make it to adulthood. In adulthood, there are still mishaps that can occur.

The saying, “Don’t count your eggs before they hatch” comes to mind.

I am hopeful, though, that by the summer we could have a nice amount of laying hens. That’s the goal – we’ll see how it works out!

By the way, I’ve seen suggestions for those concerned about high egg prices to get chickens. It’s really not that simple and definitely not inexpensive. You need to buy chickens (expensive), build a coop (expensive) and then raise them (ongoing feed costs and care). I don’t consider raising chickens for eggs to be a frugal strategy. It would take a long time to recoup the costs invested in raising chickens – I’m sure we’re nowhere near it. Of course, if we had done things in a more business-like way with the intention to make money, it could be we’d have done better in that regard, but that wasn’t our focus.

Having said that, it enhances our quality of life to have chickens so we have them even if they aren’t frugal.

Avivah

Excuses I made that kept me from saving money

frugal strategies, personal development

Years ago, I saw this message on the propane pump when I was filling up my car.

Here’s a close up of the notice.

Translation: the price of propane for subscribers is cheaper than the price displayed on the pump. For details, call.

I noticed it and casually wondered what it was about but didn’t take down the number.

I use this gas station regularly and a year or two after seeing this message, finally saved the number to my phone.

I didn’t call. After all, how much of a savings could it really be? They probably wanted to sell me something, and wanted to hook me by signing up for a puny discount on gas.

A year or two ago, I asked someone at the pump next to mine filling up at the cheaper price how he got that price. He told me he signed up and saves a half a shekel a liter. I resolved to call to ask for details.

I didn’t. More excuses – I didn’t want to set up a direct deposit to a gas station, I wouldn’t be able to track my spending, maybe they would compromise my bank details. Maybe it was a scam.

There was procrastination and then forgetfulness, forgetting to write into my planner to make the call. (What I write down gets done, what I don’t…well, it might get done eventually – or not).

Did I mention I’ve been using this gas station and seeing this message several times a month for years? That was a lot of potential reminders but I didn’t act on any of them.

Almost five years later, being inspired to keep my savings rate stable even as prices are going up and seeking options to do that, I finally called.

The person who answered told me there were two ways to get the discount and it sounded like both of them entailed setting up a direct monthly payment. She told me next time I was in the area to come into the office, fill out some forms and I would be signed up.

One day soon after I went to the office and told them I was there about the discount for propane. She asked me, “Do you want to set up a direct monthly payment or would you prefer a discount card?”

A card sounded better to me, but how would that work – wouldn’t I need to sign up to get it?

“You don’t need to sign up for anything. Take the card, insert it in the machine and it will set the price to the discounted rate, and then pay with your credit card like usual.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes, that’s it.” She handed me a discount card, and within two minutes I was in and out of the office. So incredibly easy and fast.

This is one of two gas stations that I regularly use – I don’t want to think of how much money I could have saved in the last five years if I had just picked up the phone and asked a question when I first saw the notice.

We all sometimes make excuses and tell ourselves stories, rather than getting information and taking action. Is there anything you’ve been postponing dealing with that might save you money?

Avivah

How lifestyle creep keeps people poor

frugal strategies, personal development

I was speaking with someone about finances a few months ago and mentioned that I’ve kept our expenses pretty stable as our income has gone up. He told me I should relax and enjoy my life more.

That was a strange thing for me to hear and it didn’t resonate in the slightest. I’ve chosen a material standard that I’m comfortable with. I have a spacious home that allows me to host my married children comfortably. I have a car that runs well. I have plenty of food and clothing for my family. My bills are paid.

If there’s something I want, I get it. But I don’t have a lot of wants. We’ve created a life that I don’t want or need to take a vacation from, and I feel abundant with all aspects of my life. I’m not living in lack or denying myself by spending our money intentionally.

This person was expressing the position that if you make more, you should upgrade your life accordingly. This is what is called lifestyle creep, and why so many people will never get ahead. As they earn more, they feel they deserve a nicer car, a bigger home, more exotic vacations and eating out multiple times a month. They can have more, so they feel they should – and they upgrade accordingly.

They’re earning more, perhaps even substantially more, but they aren’t saving or investing significantly more. Lifestyle creep will cause someone to continue living paycheck to paycheck, regardless of how much money he earns.

Money management skills fall into two broad categories- earning money and managing what you have (spending/saving/investing). My personal definition of frugality is intentional spending. Intentional spending is an inherent part of managing your money, and why frugality skills are valuable to learn.

If someone has a low income and is frugal, he will maximize what he has and can meet his needs even when the numbers are tight. If he doesn’t, he’ll be in debt and live hand to mouth forever.

We easily could have been poor and gone into debt with our income level. When we had around seven children, the accountant preparing our taxes said although he worked in the Orthodox Jewish community, he wasn’t accustomed to seeing numbers like ours. While I experienced our income as comfortable, he couldn’t understand how it was possible that not only weren’t we in debt, but we had savings. He was intrigued and impressed when I explained It was about making choices as to how we spent our money.

Since I’ve been blogging for eighteen years, the choices we made aren’t a secret – I’ve shared a lot about that.

If a person has a higher salary and is careful about his money, he’ll manage well with more just as he managed with less. Someone who isn’t intentional with his spending and engages in lifestyle creep will often have lots of expensive toys but a minimum of savings and investments- and many times he’s in debt. I used to be shocked by high earners who have little in investments and are debt leveraged up to their eyeballs, but not anymore.

Learning to mange lifestyle creep is critical to getting ahead with your finances.

I am convinced that how we spend money isn’t exclusively about what our expenses are, but a deep reflection of our values and how we define our worth.

Why do we engage in lifestyle creep? What are we telling ourselves when we decide to upgrade? Do we see ourselves as more successful or worthy people when we can buy or acquire more?

To be clear, I have no bone to pick about upgrading your life and am not suggesting that no one should ever have nicer things when they have the financial capacity for it. I strongly believe that everyone should spend his money in the way that brings him the most value. There are things I can now afford to do that I couldn’t do in the past, like pay for private speech therapy for my sons with special needs, and I’m so grateful I can do it.

I am advocating for intentionality and thoughtfulness about raising your level of spending. Learning to be content with what you already have and saying ‘no’ to lifestyle creep will be a big boost to your finances.

Avivah

Do you really need a car?

frugal strategies

Here in Israel, cars are expensive and gas is very expensive, much, much more than in the US. While a car makes life so much more convenient, it comes at a price.

We’ve been living in Israel for thirteen and a half years and though we had a large family of ten children, didn’t buy a car until six and a half years ago. At that time, we were the largest family in our apartment building, and the only one who didn’t have a car. When we bought our home, we looked for a location with good public transportation and though it wasn’t as convenient as a car of our own, it served us quite well. We took our time in buying a car, not wanting the expenses of car ownership to sink our budget.

When we finally got a car, it was because life had become very difficult without one, due to the challenges of a child with special needs who had very little stamina for walking. The bus stop was less than a five minute walk from our home but it could take a half hour for him to walk home, and when multiplied by every time I needed to go somewhere with him, it had become stressful and draining. At that point, we agreed that having a car had become a need.

Fast forward to today, we are living in an area where the public transportation is irregular and infrequent. (I wouldn’t have considered living in a place like this if we didn’t already own a car.) We have minimal shopping and services locally, and though a small number of people manage without a car, it’s pretty much a necessity for living here.

For us, not only was one car a necessity, we needed two.

Last year, after we had a series of frustrating and expensive events involving our second vehicle, neither my husband nor I wanted to replace it. We brainstormed how we could manage with one car. We talked about what we needed the second car for, how we it it, when we used it, and how could we change our car usage so it wouldn’t be necessary.

We were able to work around most of the times we needed it, but the biggest factor that we couldn’t initially get around was my husband’s travel for work. He works in the center of the country once a week, and to get to the train that goes there, he would drive a car to the station, park it and then drive home after he got off the train on the way back. This made the travel manageable for him.

Taking a bus to and from the train station could add four hours onto his day, between the longer travel time on the bus, and waiting for the bus after getting off the train (it runs only every two hours, and if you miss it by a few minutes, you have a long wait). That seemed unreasonable.

However, when we both agreed we really didn’t want to have another car, he agreed to try it.

It isn’t comfortable. My husband leaves before 5 am and gets home at 8:45. I’m not going to sugar coat it and make it sound all wonderful, because it’s not. He’s been up for sixteen hours by the time he gets home and that is a very long day.

It may not be wonderful but it’s doable. He rests on the train, has changed his schedule to take a later train in order to minimize the waiting time for a bus and he has a good attitude about it all. This one decision has eliminated the expense of purchasing, fueling, insuring, maintaining and repairing a second car, and for the inconvenience four days a month, it’s worth it for us.

Finding ways to save will usually require you to first think differently about what you’re doing, and then do things differently. Different is going to feel uncomfortable and hard, at least in the beginning. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them.

Building up the money you save as a result of these choices will create freedom and decrease stress the longer you do it, and that produces its own positive reward cycle.

If you have a car and you’re struggling financially, you might want to consider if you really need that car. I know how much easier life is with a car, believe me, and I know how irritating it may be to be asked to consider even for a moment not owning that car. But if you can’t really afford it – and honestly you can’t if have credit card debt/overdraft, or if you have no money for savings – then the price of a car is not being able to have the peace of mind that comes when there’s some positive padding between your income and expenses.

Peace of mind may be invisible but it’s worth a whole lot.

Avivah

My January food expenses and itemized breakdown

frugal strategies, homemaking

When I shared that a number of people in our family eat zero carb and others eat a very high animal protein diet, people wondered how much we spend every month. I’ve carefully tracked every food item that I’ve purchased this past month, so that I can share with you what I bought and what I paid for it. For reference, I’ve also included the dates and the stores I shopped at.

Note: food is my highest budget item, meaning that this is the category I spend the most on every month.

January 6, 20255 – Yesh Chesed – 2264.44 – in conjunction with the price increases of Jan. 1, many stores ran excellent sales the first week.

  • 21.45 kg meat x 49.90 – 1284.97
  • 19.42 kg meat x 49.90 – 1163.26
  • natural grape juice, 3 x 7.90 – 23.7
  • tilapia – (on sale 14.90) – 2.144 kg – 31.95
  • tilapia – 1.889 kg x 24.90 – 47.04 minus 8.56 sale discount- 38.48 total (only part of this purchase was at the sale price)
  • sugar, 10x 3 – 30 shekels (usually 4.90 each)

There was a minimum purchase of 100 shekels on non sale items needed to get all of the above at the sale prices, so I bought:

  • butter, 200 grams ( 11 x 8.90) – 97.90
  • 1 sour cream – 2.70

January 6, 2025 – Yavniel supermarket – 7.84 – ingredients for group my teen leads

January 6, 2025 – Yavniel supermarket – 128.83

  • carrots, 1.225 kg x 5.90 – 7.23
  • 3 trays of eggs, 30 eggs each x 32 shekels – 96
  • 3 challahs – 25.60

January 7, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef – 288.80

  • carrots – 4.80
  • Pink Lady apples – 13.2
  • peanut butter, 4 x 7.5 – 30
  • 7 trays of 30 eggs x 28.80 each – 201.60
  • station fee (3) plus non food items – 39.20

January 9, 2025 – Rami Levi – 30.81, cheese, just short of a kilo for 31 shekels a kg

Jan. 11, 2025 – Shufersal – 4.60– 2 bananas (took two of the younger kids to an orthodontist appointment and wanted to get them a snack afterwards)

Jan. 11, 2025 – Rami Levi – 195.16

  • whole chickens,6.78 x 18.90 – 128.18
  • chicken hearts, .756 x14.90 – 11.42 (dog)
  • chicken hearts, .840 x 14.90 – 12.52 (dog)
  • tilapia – 2.60 x 19.90 – 51.74

January 14, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef – 180

  • 1 package of fresh dill – 3.8
  • vitamin d drops 2 x 29 – 58
  • 4 trays of eggs, 30 eggs each – 28.8 x 4 – 115.20
  • station fee – 3

January 21, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef – 232

  • onions, 2 -2 kg bag – 3.75 kg x 4 – 15
  • sweet potatoes, 2 kg – 10
  • 4 honey, 900 grams – 17.90 x 4 – 71.60
  • dried dates, 1 kg – 14.50
  • 3 trays of eggs, 28.80 x 3 – 86.40

January 23, 2025 – Shufersal – 161.58

  • seltzer (1.5 liters), six pack, 2 x 16.90 – 33.80
  • cottage cheese, 6 shekels x 10 – 60
  • 15% sour cream, 21 x 2.77 – 58.17
  • red peppers – 1.595 x 5.90 – 9.41

January 23, 2025 – Rami Levi – 815.50 – this receipt seems to have gotten lost – it was whole chicken, chicken quarters, chicken thighs, 2 pkg chicken livers (for dog) and almost 3 kg of salmon (on sale for 50 shekels a kg)

Jan. 28, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef –266.20

  • avocados, 5.90 kg x 3 kg – 17.60
  • celery – 4.4
  • parsley – 3.8
  • sliced bread (750 gram loaf), 5.60 x 2 – 11.20
  • 10 – 1 kg bags spelt flour – 76.50
  • 4 trays of eggs, 28.80 – 115.20
  • non food items – 34.50
  • 3 shekel station fee

Jan.29, 2025 – butcher –1474.70

  • ground beef, 20.99 kg x 50 – 1049.50
  • ground beef fat, 10.63 kg x 40 – 425.2

January 29, 2025 – Rami Levi – 401.95

  • chicken wings, 48.77 kg x 6.90 – 366.55
  • chicken thighs, 2.989 kg x 21.90 – 65.46 (sale price for up to 3 kg, if there’s a purchase of non sale items over 75 shekels)

My total grocery purchases for January came out to 6487.48 shekels.

The total includes all food and also the odds and ends that I get at a supermarket that aren’t food. Our family of eight daily eaters includes 4 adults who have mostly animal products, 1 adult and three children who eat a heavily meat based diet but also have some produce and starches, and a medium sized dog.

At least one Shabbos a month (sometimes as much as three times a month) we host our married children and their families, in addition to one adult son who comes home for one Shabbos a month. Most of the refreshments for the boys’ group that my teen son runs also comes out of our food budget.

I set a goal to get down to 6000 for the month of January; in the last few months since adding two adult carnivores to the mix I’ve spent close to 7500 and I challenged myself to lower the expenses in this area. While I could have come in below 6000 if I delayed the last purchases made at the end of the month. However, I didn’t have any ground beef left, and I had the opportunity to get a large amount of chicken wings at an amazing price and don’t know if a week later that would have been the price, so I bought them when I had the opportunity.

Most of the chicken and meat I bought in the last week of January will be eaten in February. It all evens out, since at the end of December I bought a lot of meat that we ate in January.

Produce – We don’t eat a lot of produce but we do eat more than what it looks like from this post. You won’t see everything we use listed, only what we paid for. I’ll share more about produce in a separate post.

Bulk grocery purchases – This month I also did a bulk shopping run, which I do infrequently. (It’s been over a year and a half since my last bulk shopping trip.) Last month my husband took the car to work in Tel Aviv, which is not far from the bulk store, and to maximize the gas being spent, he stopped in to buy about 500 shekels of items there.

I purposely schedule a bulk shopping trip during a month that is lower in expenses. Averaging my spending for this over the year, it adds another 200 shekels to our monthly purchases. I’m including this shopping in the list of things I bought this month, but keeping the bulk order separate from the other food orders. If I need to refill anything that was bought in bulk during the coming year, it will be included in the monthly grocery category.

January 19, 2025 – 1326 – bulk shopping (the total includes 18% tax but the individual items are listed before the tax has been added)

  • coconut cream, 1 liter carton x 12 – 138
  • tuna fish, 1 kg vacuum pack x 12 – 258
  • vinegar, 4 liter – 8.50
  • tomato paste, A10 can (2.5 kg) x 2 – 42
  • mini tuna cans, 95 grams – 2.75 x 12 – 33
  • cocoa powder, 1 kg – 35
  • baking soda, 1 kg – 5.20 x 3 – 15.60
  • dried coconut strips, 1 kg – 31.50 x 2 – 63
  • sunflower seeds, 1 kg – 13 x 2 – 26
  • fish gelatin, 1 kg – 95
  • walnuts, 1 kg – 35
  • flax seeds, 1 kg – 5.30
  • dried apples, 1 kg – 22 x 2 – 44
  • cheddar cheese – 7.80 kg – x 32 – 282.80
  • kashkaval cheese, 200 gr – 9 (I treated myself)
  • dish soap, 18 kg bucket – 68

January 19, 2025 – 755.70 – bulk shopping

  • 2 – 20 kg case coconut oil – 354 x 2 – 708 (this will last a year)
  • 3 vanilla extract, 1 liter bottle – 15.90 x 3 – 47.70

Total bulk shopping – 2081.70

Total grocery shopping – 6487.51 shekels

For the month of February, I’m again setting a goal of 6000 shekels for groceries. Let me know if you found this breakdown helpful, and if you’d like to see me track the breakdown again!

How much do you spend on your monthly food shopping, and how many people are you feeding? Do you have any questions about the shopping I did? Share in the comments!

Avivah

Peaceful in the moment, grazing goats – pictures

homemaking

The wild plants are shooting up all around us and this morning as soon as I put our children on their school vans, I took the goats out to graze to enjoy the abundance!

It’s so peaceful to be with them in the quiet of the morning, watching them jump and happily pounce on their fresh salad spread. I love seeing how happy they are.

Enjoy a slice of my morning!

Dixie and Dakota, nine month doelings – Dixie is the baby goat that was on death’s door who I saved by dripping maple syrup water into her mouth with a straw
Dakota – the two doelings are completely identical except Dakota’s ears both stick straight up, and Dixie’s right ear is slightly bent – that’s how I tell them apart. Look at them in the next picture and see if you can identify which is which.
Mocha, munching on a mouthful of grass
Enjoying the lavish salad bar before them

Avivah

Save money on driving- propane for cars in Israel

frugal strategies

When I learned about propane fueled vehicles, I was intrigued – how did it work, how much did it cost and how much did it save?

This interest was a natural extension of the research I had done on running a vehicle on waste vegetable oil. I didn’t ever write about this on my blog even though my first year of blogging overlapped with driving the mini school bus we bought and converted to run on waste vegetable oil. My husband was a restaurant supervisor at the time, and restaurants need to pay to dispose of their waste vegetable oils. When my husband offered to take it off their hands, it was a win all around, since it saved them money and we got easy access to a fuel source.

It was a great project- we learned a lot, it saved money and was good for the environment. So my interest in alternative fuels goes way back.

After spending a lot of time on a forum dedicated to converting cars to run on propane and particularly reading feedback from knowledgeable mechanics, I felt comfortable making deciding to move in this direction. When it was time to replace our vehicle, we decided to buy a car that was already converted to propane. (The propane system is installed in addition to the regular gas system; it doesn’t replace it.)

That was five years ago, and in that time we’ve owned a total of four cars that were converted to propane. Two of the four were already converted to run on propane when we bought them; I had propane systems installed in the other two cars. It’s fair to say I have a good bit of experience with these vehicles by this time.

When I initially learned that propane systems are a legally recognized option, there are gas stations across the country with propane pumps, and it saves so much money – I was surprised that hardly anyone has heard of it!

When we filled up our first propane car, I felt like we and all the others using the propane pumps were members of an almost secret club who found an inside way to beat high fuel prices – only 5% of cars in Israel are converted to propane. Propane is half the cost of gasoline, and even with a a 90 – 95 percent efficiency rate compared to gas (meaning that you get 5 -10 percent less mileage per liter as compared to gas), it’s quite a savings on fuel.

At my most recent fill up, I bought 24.729 liters of gas for 3.54 shekels a liter, for a total of 87.54 shekels. Propane is known as LPG (liquid petroleum gas), or in Hebrew, גפ”ם, but usually called גז.

This wasn’t a do it yourself project – we had our systems professionally installed. The two places I worked with and would recommend are J-GAS in Haifa, and Gas Saver/ גז חסכן in Kiryat Malachi. The cost of conversion depends on your vehicle; five years ago the costs of conversion at Gas Saver was 5000 shekels (now it’s up to 6000), and we paid 7000 shekels for our most recent propane conversion a year and a half ago at J-GAS.

That’s a lot of money to spend to save a bit on gas, right? However, realize that you’re going to spend money to fuel your car no matter what. If you install and use a propane system, you begin saving money from the first time you drive your car. Once your fuel savings equal the amount you spent on the conversion, you break even.

Reaching the break even point depends on your car and driving habits – we reached that point once we drove 10,500 km. We’ve driven over 45,000 kilometers since we did our conversion just 20 months ago, so it took us about a half a year to break even. It’s as if we paid the regular price of gas for the first 10,500 kilometers, and for the next almost 35,000, we’ve paid half price.

Our car uses some gasoline each time we drive, in addition to the propane. Some cars run only on propane once they are warmed up, and their savings are higher. Very conservatively estimated, we’ve saved over 10,000 shekels in gas in the last year on just this one car. For the cars we purchased that already had propane systems in them, we didn’t have any payback time, and we began immediately saving as soon as we drove them. And since most of the time we had two vehicles running on propane, the savings on fuel costs were significant.

There are additional maintenance costs for this system; every fifteen thousand kilometers we have to change the filters. Depending where you have the filters changed, it’s around 200 – 500 shekels each time (we go to JGas where it’s 200).

A bonus for the functioning of the car is that engines that run on propane stay cleaner, since propane has a higher octane rating than gasoline, and the reduced wear and tear on the engine reduces maintenance costs. As a much cleaner burning fuel, it’s also better for the environment.

Avivah

Buying bulk portions and repackaging

frugal strategies

Sometimes buying a large size of a product will be significantly less than buying the much smaller product, but don’t assume that it’s always less. You must check the unit pricing to be able to accurately compare prices and know that you’re saving money.

Once you see it’s a good deal, you’re going to ask yourself, ‘What do you do with such a large container full of product?!’

When I saw jumbo (over 2.6 kg) cans of tomato paste for 25 shekels, the savings was so substantial that I stopped buying the standard size. Once opened, I kept the can covered in the fridge, but sometimes before I could finish it (because it’s a huge amount), the top layer would grow mold and I would throw whatever was left away. Even though I was still saving money, this obviously detracted from the savings.

For quite some time I went back to using small cans until one day I was out of tomato paste except for the two bulk cans in my pantry. At this point, I thought about a solution and now I’m back to buying tomato paste in large cans. I fill a silicone mini muffin mold with tomato paste and freeze it.

Once it’s all frozen, I remove the frozen pucks from the mold and stack them in a freezer bag. I put the bag in the freezer and remove the amount I need when I make a dish. Now I enjoy the savings along with the convenience of easy to use portions.

Another example – I bought a three kilo container of minced garlic for about 35 shekels, then separate two cups into a jar that I keep in my fridge. I freeze the rest, and refill the small jar as needed from the larger container.

I buy these items during my infrequent bulk shopping trips, at a store that sells restaurant size containers. But they can sometimes be found at larger supermarket chains as well.

My bulk shopping cart

Last week I did my bulk shopping for the first time in a year and a half, and some other things I bought that I transfer to smaller containers as needed are: baking soda (1 kg bag – 6.10 shekels), vinegar (4 liter jug – 10 shekels) and dish washing paste (18 liter bucket – 80 shekels).

There are plenty of things that I could theoretically save money by buying in large containers, that I choose to buy in a smaller size because the money savings isn’t worth the repacking and the space it takes to store. An example would be a huge can of olives, versus buying a can that is enough for one meal. I’ve seen five gallon buckets of techina for a great price, and bulk peanut butter, but I stick with the standard jar size found in any store.

No one can tell you what is worth buying in bulk, because it depends on what you use and how you use it. But you can definitely save a good bit of money by shopping in bulk wisely.

If you ever buy larger than usual sizes, what items are worth it for you to buy? How much do you save and how do you store it?

Avivah

Myth busting – I don’t have the time to be frugal

frugal strategies, personal development

Often people say they don’t have time to do money saving activities- they’re just too busy.

I empathize with how full life can be – overwhelmingly full, even.

There are two parts to my response.

The first is that very few people are completely honest with themselves about how they spend their time, and that leads them to think they have less time than they do.

Nine years ago I began tracking my time throughout my day, and I did this for many months. It was incredibly eye opening. It showed me where I actually spent my time, how much time I spend on those activities, and how much time I wasted with nothing to show for it.

Time tracking is like money tracking – it lets you know what you have and where it’s going. I’m not suggesting you track your time but I’m positive that if you did, you’d find you have much more discretionary time than you think.

I think just as big an issue as not having an accurate idea of how your time is spent, is the fact that no one wants to spend their time doing things that they associate with drudgery and deprivation.

Everything takes time. It takes time to shower, to get dressed, to make your food, to eat, to take care of your children and to drive to work. It takes time to go to the gym, or take a hike or a vacation.

Life is full of time consuming activities. Just like with money, it’s potentially empowering when you realize YOU get to choose to spend your time in a way that brings the most value to your life.

I deeply appreciate having peace of mind around finances. I like knowing that my family always has food and clothing, our bills are paid, and upcoming expenses are budgeted for. I like being relaxed when the holidays come around or when my children get engaged and married, knowing that I’m prepared for all of the related expenses. I like living without deprivation and without worry about debts. This is fundamental to my quality of life.

It’s not our income that has created that peace of mind, but how I spend what we have. Right now we have a comfortable income, but even throughout all of the years that our income was much, much lower (most of our married lives), living frugally has consistently created a high quality of life for our family.

So I spend time tracking our income, budgeting, meal planning, shopping carefully and doing a lot of things myself rather than hiring others to do it for me. I enjoy doing those things and have a sense of satisfaction around them. I see the value of them and I associate them with an abundant life.

I suggest that if you were to associate money saving activities with being able to live your life in the way you want, you’d also find enjoyment in them. It’s much easier, even with a busy schedule, to make time for the things you enjoy doing.

You have all of the time you need. But you have to use it intentionally, you need to be conscious and aware of how you budget it, so that it will add to the quality of life you want to have.

Avivah