Category Archives: frugal strategies

Integrating leftovers into meal planning

frugal strategies, ,

If you’ve ever paid attention to how much the food you throw away is costing you, you know that letting your leftovers go to waste can really add up! Using up your leftovers is part of carefully managing your food budget, and I have a couple of ways that I stay on top of the large amount of food that we buy and prepare to minimize what could easily become a huge amount of waste.  This is another strategy that I use to maximize our food dollars so that we’re able to eat abundantly and healthfully for our family of eleven on $600 monthly.

Firstly, on Saturday night, I inventory whatever is in the fridge, and make a list of that. These leftovers are only from Friday and Saturday, nothing before then.  Often this is a little bit of this, a little bit of that; sometimes it’s enough to serve as a main dish or as several side dishes.  Then I think about ways to integrate these leftovers into whatever dishes I’m planning for the coming week.  While most people make a menu and then go shopping, I do the opposite – I see what I have and then make the menu! Really – I almost never go out to buy a meal ingredient;  if I don’t have an ingredient in the house, then I won’t make a dish that calls for it.

To illustrate this, I’ll give a sample of what this looked like in my home this week.  When I wrote my leftover inventory, I noted that I had about 4 quarts of chicken broth, a couple of cups of jellied lamb broth (very concentrated), about half a cup of lamb fat (skimmed from the top of the broth), 2-3 c. shredded meat, polenta from Friday’s breakfast, fresh cauliflower and zucchini both on the edge of freshness, soaked and sprouted chickpeas, beef stew, two fresh salads, three pints of defrosted heavy cream, a 28 oz can of pumpkin puree, and baked eggplant chunks.  Once I had this list, I sat down to figure out what to do with it all and wrote out my menu plan for the week.

I started the week with a breakfast on Sunday of pumpkin pudding – this used the can that was opened since we thought it was tomato sauce (a toddler had pulled the label off :)).  Mixed into the pudding was one pint of the defrosted cream.  One can of pumpkin isn’t enough for a meal for our family of 11, so we mixed in a triple recipe of coconut pudding with it to increase the quantity.

Next, for Sun. lunch was a cheesy cauliflower soup that used up all the cauliflower in the fridge.  I could have used more cream for this but felt it would be more appreciated served whipped to accompany a couple of breakfasts – coconut mango pancakes (Mon) and date scones (Thurs).

On Monday the polenta was turned it into corn fritter batter and fried for lunch.

Monday dinner was beef stew with a couple of salads.  Nice when there’s enough of leftovers for a full meal!

Tuesday morning we used all the zucchini, shredded into flourless chocolate zucchini muffins.  We made these last week and the only problem was we made less than three dozen – we should have made a lot more!

On Tuesday night was West African stew.  This used the soaked and sprouted chickpeas.  (I bought some dried beans that were labeled in a foreign language, but fortunately one of the packages was in English and so I knew they were ‘chickpeas’.  They are smaller and much darker than regular chick peas, but the price was right and when the price is good I’m willing to experiment. 🙂 At the end of last week I soaked them to see if there was an outer layer that would come off and leave them looking typically light colored underneath, but it didn’t.  So it’s clearly a different kind of chickpea.  Anyway, that’s why I had the equivalent of 1.5 pounds of dried chickpeas that were soaked and nicely sprouted!)  This recipe calls for eggplant, so I used the baked eggplant chunks.  A chopped onion for this was sauteed in lamb fat and the cooking liquid was the chicken broth.

By Wednesday just about all of the leftovers were used (usually they’re finished by Tuesday evening).  For Wednesday’s dinner I made a stir fry that used the shredded meat (that I put into the freezer on Saturday night so it would stay fresh).  Of all the leftovers I mentioned, the only one left is the congealed lamb broth.  It’s not an accident that I left this for last. Because it’s so concentrated, this will stay fresh in the fridge easily for a couple of weeks.  This was the cooking liquid for the stir fry.

There are other things that aren’t leftovers but also need to be used in a timely way, like the fresh fruit and vegetables we have on hand, as well as the perishables, like dairy.  These aren’t leftovers but also have to be managed carefully so that they’re used while they’re fresh; otherwise they end up getting thrown out.

Can you see how planning a menu with my leftovers in mind makes efficient use of what I have on hand?  Most of these things would easily end up getting thrown away without a plan, since they were a bit of this and a bit of that.  But it would have been a substantial amount of food when considered in total.

Then, because leftovers continually accumulate, there’s the second part of managing them.  As you know from my weekly menus, Thursday night is usually CORN – Clean Out the Refrigerator Night.  Lunch is a great time to use any leftovers from the night or two before; by the time Thursday rolls around, the only leftovers we have to work with are generally from about two days prior or less.

This process is very simple.  It repurposes leftovers into something new and delicious,  so no one is left feeling like they’re constantly being served the same food over and over. It keeps food from having to be thrown away, and it saves you money!

Avivah

How to make butter

food preservation, frugal strategies, homeschooling,

I got a great buy on organic cream a week and a half ago, and this morning I decided to show the kids how to turn it into butter.  This is a fun and simple activity for  kids of all ages, two and up – it’s like magic to see cream turn into butter before their eyes!

All you need is heavy cream and a container with a lid.  I used a glass jar, but if you’re going to let a two year old do this, use a plastic jar, like an empty mayonnaise jar with a tight fitting lid. You can even use a disposable water bottle – it doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s something that will close tightly and be easy for your child to handle.

Pour a cup of heavy cream into the container, making sure not to fill the container more than half way, and tightly close the lid.  Hand it to your child and tell them to shake it until it turns into butter.  That’s it.  🙂  At first the cream will become whipped cream – we stopped and let them taste at this point.  Then as they continue shaking it, it will form a solid ball as the liquid separates.  This takes a lot of shaking – great to use up some little kid energy!

If you’ve used a narrow plastic container like a water bottle, cut it open (since the ball of butter obviously won’t fit through the opening); otherwise just open the container and pour out the liquid. Reserve the liquid to use for soaking flour or grains; pour out the butter and put it in a closed container in the fridge.

We gave each of our kids a small container to put the finished butter in, and after smoothing it into the container, they marked their butter with their initial.  I let my ds7 and ds3 make this first, and everyone else was so interested that they asked if they could also make some.  It’s a good thing I bought a lot of cream!  For the first batch we didn’t add salt, but I told the kids who wanted to make it afterwards that they could decide if they wanted to salt theirs, and choose the kind of salt and proportions they wanted to use.

My kids were wondering if it was cheaper to make butter than to buy it, so naturally I told them to figure it out.  🙂   But I’ll do the math for you.  😀  A pint of heavy cream yields a half pound of butter.  Since I bought the cream at the low price of .79, our homemade organic butter comes out to 1.58 lb, which is cheaper than regular non-organic butter (which is what I usually buy).

Enjoy!

Avivah

Presents for our parents

frugal strategies

Tonight our mothers came over to enjoy the second to last night of Chanukah with us.  It’s been such a wonderful week!  The kids have given them gifts each of the three evenings they’ve come so far, and tonight dh and I gave them our gifts.

Remember when I told you about making first aid salve?  I made a bunch with the intent to give some as gifts.  It’s the kind of thing that is expensive to buy, but so affordable to make yourself, and useful for so many situations.  I bought tins from Mountain Rose Herbs weeks ago to package the salve in, and asked dh if he could make a label for it – that was the plan and I thought I was all set.

Then I saw that the salve that was a perfect consistency when I made it in September was too firm for the cooler temperature now.  Actually, it was downright hard!  (Now I know that I should have stuck with the measurements of the original recipe!)  All I needed to do was melt it all down and add more oil, but then started thinking that I didn’t want to give ‘imperfect’ salve and should just start all over.  Then when my husband didn’t have time to make the label, I decided I didn’t want to give it if it wouldn’t look the way I pictured it looking!

Yep, thoughts of perfectionism sneak in and I have to beat them back!  I melted the salve down, added some cold pressed flaxseed oil, and cooled it down.  Then I hand labeled the tins with a ‘product name’, a list of ingredients on the back, followed by the uses for it. This wasn’t so easy for me to do, since I had to let go of my image of what I wanted it to look like.  It was a good exercise in letting go of my ego. 🙂

But you know what?  The salve itself smelled wonderful, the texture was wonderful, and it will be a useful gift for our parents.  They both appreciated it, and were impressed that we made it ourselves. Giving nothing because I couldn’t make this perfect wouldn’t have been a better option.  Neither would buying something just to have something to give been good.

In addition to the salve, we gave my inlaws a jar of homemade organic fig preserves; I used honey as the sweetener so it’s delicious and a healthy jam option.  We made this in September when we picked the figs. I was hesitating about giving this because a) it tastes so good that I don’t want to share! and b) it’s unattractive looking.  Finally I decided that I have enough ‘currency’ with my inlaws that there’s no reason they would expect to be given something awful, and stopped worrying about it!

For my mom, I bought three different kinds of herbal tea- two are holiday blends and one is her favorite kind.  Celestial Seasoning boxes are attractive, so we stacked them one on top of another, and wrapped a ribbon around it, then popped it into the fabric gift bags we made.   She loves herbal teas and really appreciated this.

I love so many things about Chanukah, and I love giving the people I love things that they appreciate!

Avivah

Happy Chanukah!

frugal strategies, homemaking

Wow, can you believe we’re already halfway through Chanukah?

The kids spent two days before Chanukah decorating the house with Chanukah themed shapes.  We have dreidels hanging from our dining room chandelier, a large menorah and dreidels adorning the front door, and snowflakes in the window.  A day ahead we took out the menorahs and moved around some living room furniture – almost all of the kids light their own menorah, so we need a six foot table in front of the window to accomodate everyone (and that’s atill pretty squishy!).

My mother spent Shabbos with us, then my in-laws joined us for Saturday night and then again on Sunday night (when we had a surprise birthday dinner for dd15).  We went to friends on Saturday night after our parents left, and tonight we enjoyed a quiet family evening – we’ll be having friends over for dinner tomorrow night and then spending the next night with other friends.

My kids have been busy buying/making things for each other and for friends and relatives – I took them to a floral design workshoplast week where five of them made lovely floral centerpieces.  They’re small, with a floating tea light in a glass cup in the center.  I hinted to them that dh and I would appreciate having one to put in our bathroom.  🙂

We’re again using the fabric gift bags that I made last year of green taffeta and black velvet.  They worked out so well last year- they looked festive and elegant, and there was no messy cleanup after each present was opened.  Last year when I gave my mother my gift, I had to disappoint her and tell her she couldn’t keep the bag!  Dh’s father had a similar reaction this year. 🙂

I don’t make myself crazy looking for presents.  I keep an eye out for things that gifts that would be appropriate, then put them to the side.   In addition to that, if there’s something a child needs and I buy it around this time of year, I’ll put it to the side and also give it for Chanukah. This can be something small or big, but they all enjoy getting it as a ‘gift’.   And I don’t feel that they have to be bought brand new, at retail prices, either!  What’s more important to me is that it’s something the child will appreciate and use.

An example is the Shabbos yarmulkes I bought for a couple of the younger boys, which they were given before Shabbos candle lighting on Friday.  New Shabbos shoes for ds16 were also given then so he could wear them to shul.  I know it sounds boring but our children are all  appreciative for what they receive; my ds3 spontaneously thanked me several time for his new yarmulke, and tonight was so happy about new tzitzis!  I’ll even give socks or underwear one night if I happen to have them!

This year I took dd13 and dd15 each shopping to choose what they wanted, since I didn’t want to guess about their tastes.  My kids enjoy thrift store shopping as much as me, and that’s where we headed first.  Dd15 found great quality boots that she liked (like new, selling for $70 retail but we paid 3.50 :)), ds13 wanted a poncho (not for rain, the fashionable ones you wear on Shabbos) and found something she really liked for $8.   I got brand new boots for dd9 – she has two pair of boots, but neither are waterproof – so I got her good snow boots with the tag still on them (yes, from the thrift store).

Also from the thrift store I bought a couple of shrink wrapped science kits (can’t remember the company this minute, but they’re good ones), a set of toy construction tools for ds3 in the original packing, a gorgeous solid wood toy train for ds2 (it has five parts, and were giving him one car each night), and an origami kit for ds7. At the annual library book sale I got books for ds10 and dd9 from their favorite series -sometimes people donate books to the library to sell, so you can get books that have no signs of wear and no library stickers.  These books were brand new books in a series they love – .50 each; we gave it to them tonight and ds10 kept asking me how much I paid, since they’re expensive hardback versions and he knows I wouldn’t pay $25 for a book – I didn’t tell him, of course :)).  I got a couple of stationary sets for the older girls.  I estimate for everything (including the boots and shoes) that I paid less than $40, which is pretty good when you consider that almost everything I bought was new in the wrapping or like new.  I spent more than that on new socks and yarmulkes for them!

Anything we give them is supplemented by gifts from grandparents and siblings. Again, everything is kept simple, which allows us to focus more on our family traditions as well as what holiday is actually about!

Avivah

Uses for baking soda

frugal strategies,

>>On another subject, I am anxiously awaiting your post on baking soda. All of a sudden I seem to be using it in so many things.<<

>>I am always looking for ways to be more frugal and I noticed u sed don’t use coupons. I was wondering, what brand do u or did u use for diapers, laundry detergent, and I get the impression ur more “green” in terms of healthy choices. Do u use bleach or chemicle cleaners or is ther another alternative for killing bacteria or viruses in the house?<<

Since both of these requests came in within a day of each other, it looks like it’s time for me to share about the magic of baking soda!

In answer to the second question, no, I don’t use chemical cleaners, but I do periodically use bleach for whitening whites – very periodically.  Baking soda is an incredibly effective, inexpensive, and versatile replacement for many household cleaners.  It can replace some of the things you’d buy as health and beauty aids.  It seems that there are endless uses for it, but I’ll share some of what we’ve found most helpful.

I’ll start with my favorite uses that I start my day with.

  • Toothpaste – I don’t like fluoride based toothpastes (due to toxicity), and though I could have gotten plenty of name brand toothpastes free during my stint couponing, I wasn’t interested even at that price.  I keep a small container of baking soda on my bathroom counter, and after moistening my toothbrush, dip it in so there is just a tiny bit on the toothbrush.  You need only a very small amount; using a lot would be counterproductive since it would be overly abrasive.  You can also mix up your own toothpaste by using a mix of 70% coconut oil to 30% baking soda.
  • Deoderant – this is something I really love, since anti-perspirant was something I continued to buy for years, despite concerns it was inherently problematic (it’s not a good thing to block the pores that release the toxins from your body).  There are various recipes I intended to try out, but started with plain baking soda and after a year ago of using this in all seasons and situations, can say with confidence that it’s very effective – no odor at all.  I take a generous pinch and rub in on clean skin.
  • Some inevitably falls into the bathroom sink, but since I wipe it down every morning as part of my routine, it doesn’t matter to me.  In fact, baking soda is useful as a dry cleanser for sinks, tubs, and toilets.  Sprinkle a little on and rub.
  • I tried baking soda as a shampoo replacement and didn’t care for it, but I didn’t give it a fair try.  You really need to be willing to do it for several weeks, to give your hair a chance to adjust and reset its oil levels.  That’s the biggest challenge, the adjustment period.  Dd15 used it for months and it was great, but when she went to camp the water was different and her hair felt stiff, so she switched back to regular shampoo.  To do this, you mix some baking soda and water, massage it into your hair, and rinse.  Your hair will feel very squeaky clean.  Then you do a rinse with diluted apple cider vinegar to restore shine.  I kept a spray bottle in the shower with the vinegar rinse.  I’ve read that once your hair resets itself, you’ll need to wash your hair much less frequently.  You don’t have to use straight baking soda to benefit from its cleaning ability, though- you can also add a teaspoon of baking soda when you shampoo your hair to remove dinginess and residual soap build up.
  • Facial scrub – mix 1 part baking soda with 2 parts ground oatmeal, and add water to make a paste.  Gently rub on your face, leave on for a few minutes and rinse with cool water.  (I haven’t done this but it sounds good.)
  • Laundry – can be used as a booster to regular loads by adding 1/2 c. baking soda to each load.  When I wash cloth diapers (don’t use them in the winter), I use straight baking soda to wash them since my homemade laundry detergent isn’t good for diapers.
  • Vegetable wash – you can add 1/4 c. of baking soda to a sink of warm water to wash fruits and vegetables; this removes dirt and insecticides.  Rinse with clean water.
  • Appliance cleanser- For ovens, make a paste of baking soda and water and spread inside.  Let it sit for a few hours, then scrub off.  To wipe down appliances, sprinkle some on a damp sponge.  When I’m cleaning the stove top, I often sprinkle baking soda on it, then pour some white vinegar on top, and wipe it down.  The vinegar and baking soda interact chemically to make a powerful cleanser.
  • Clean crayon marks on wall – make a baking soda paste with water, and using a damp rag or an old toothbrush, lightly scrub wall.
  • Clean silver with a paste of baking soda and lemon juice.
  • Relieves indigestion and heartburn – mix a teaspoon of baking soda into a cup of water, and drink quickly.
  • Poison ivy/itchiness – relieves itchiness; add 1/2 c. baking soda to a tub of warm water and soak.
  • Bee stings, insect bites, sunburn – make poultice of baking soda and water
  • Mouthwash – mix 1/2 t. baking soda with 1/2 c. of water and swish around your mouth.  This gets your mouth clean and fresh and apparently is good to relieve canker sores (we’ve never had canker sores so I can’t say from personal experience).
  • Fridge freshener – this is classic – everyone probably already has a small box of baking soda in the door of their fridge to absorb odors.
  • Car freshener – I can’t stand the smell of commerical car fresheners.  Fill a little dish with baking soda and put it in the console where cup holders are.  A couple of days ago I noticed the van was smelling musty from all the dampness tracked in by wet boots, and I plan to do this in the coming week.
  • Ant repellent – mix equal parts salt with baking soda and sprinkle where ants enter.
  • Play clay- for a fun play dough for kids, mix 1 1/4 c. water with 2 c. baking soda and 1 c. cornstarch.  Knead until smooth, store is closed plastic bag or container.
  • Remove burnt on food – soak the pan with hot water and baking soda.
  • Clean clogged drains- we stopped using it for this since I’ve gotten conflicting information on it.  You pour in a 1/2 c. of baking soda, followed by a cup of vinegar.  Let bubble a few minutes, and then run hot water down for a couple of minutes to flush it all through.  I’ve heard that when not sufficiently flushed out, it can solidify in the drain.  Since this is a popular suggestion, I didn’t want to ignore it here.
  • Clean stained countertops – make a paste and scrub.

These are some uses, but there are lots more.  Since baking soda is great at absorbing odors, it’s good for anything where odors are a concern (eg carpets and pet odors).  Since it’s good at scrubbing, it’s good for that.  When mixed with vinegar, it increases the potential uses!  Baking soda is very inexpensive – I used to buy it in a 12 pound bag at Sam’s, now I buy a 50 lb bag (through my bulk source). (I also buy white vinegar by the gallon and keep it under the bathroom sink, as well as one next to the washing  machine.)  It’s non toxic, which means that you don’t have to worry about your little kids ingesting something poisonous. Because you can use it for so many things, it eliminates a lot of specific cleansers, saving you money, improving your health, and it’s better for the environment to boot!

If you use baking soda in your home, please share your tips with us in the comments section below!

(This post is part of Fight Back Fridays and Frugal Fridays.)

Avivah

How to make coconut cream and milk

frugal strategies, recipes

When I discovered about three months ago that Trader Joe’s carried an inexpensive and kosher coconut milk, I was thrilled!  However, it’s light, not whole fat (which I prefer), and as you know, I’m always looking for ways to maximize my grocery dollars. 🙂  I bought a 50 lb bag of dried unsweeteened coconut a while back, and it occurred to me that I might be able to use it to make my own coconut milk.

However, in trying to make it, I actually ended up with coconut cream!  This is something I haven’t yet found kosher, and was thrilled to be able to try it out in our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie – it was rich and delicious!  I also used it to make pear crisp.

It was exciting to be able to make something so tasty and incredibly frugal; here’s what I did:

Homemade Coconut Cream/Milk

  • 2 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 4 c. boiling water

Blend both in a blender.  Let sit for about fifteen minutes, to give the water a chance to absorb the coconut flavor.  Pour into a strainer lined with cheesecloth over a pot, and let it drip through.  Then press it so as much liquid as possible is removed – you want the pulp to be as dry as you can get it.  Put the coconut pulp to the side – I’ll tell you what to do with that in a minute.  🙂  Put the coconut liquid in the fridge, and in the morning the rich cream will have risen to the top and solidified, and the water will be left below.

If you want to use this as coconut milk, let it sit out and melt a little, and mix the water and cream together by hand – it’s very quick and easy to do.  If you want to use it as cream, scoop the top layer off and put it in a separate container.  Use in recipes as you would cream for a rich flavor.

Now, about the coconut pulp.  This is where this gets even more frugal and fun!  Put the coconut pulp into the dehydrator, and dry.  Blend until smooth.  I’m planning to use this as coconut flour for baking.  When you buy coconut flour, it’s been defatted and doesn’t have the coconut flavor anymore, so this seems like it should work well!  I haven’t yet purchased coconut flour because of the cost ($7 lb).  Now I can use dried coconut for which I pay less than $2 lb, and can make my own coconut milk/cream, as well as coconut flour for a fraction of what they cost at the store!

(This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.)

Avivah

Patio costs

frugal strategies

We were cleaning up the yard recently and as I admired how nice the yard looks with the patio we put in, I remembered that the post I wrote about it was one of two that were only up for fifteen minutes before they disappeared with the hacking a couple of months ago.  Since this was a really nice project, I want to share what we did with you!

As some of you remember, we decided to make our own brick patio.  There are two ways to lay a patio – one is set in cement, the other is set on a gravel/sand base. We decided to do it with a gravel/sand base, since it’s more forgiving to work with – you can pull something up if you’re not happy with it and do it again; it’s easier, and if you decide to one day use the space differently, then it’s not a very big deal.

I can’t deny that making a patio is a lot of physical work – we hauled 14,000 pounds of bricks and 8000 pounds of gravel, both of which we got free on Craig’s List.  Do you have any concept of how much shlepping that is?!?  Trust me, alot! And then there the ground had to be dug up, which amounted to 10,000 pounds of dirt.  And 10,000 pounds of sand from where it was dumped behind our house to where we needed it in the garden….yes, lots of physical work!

Because we started this project when the baby was six weeks old, the kids did most of the heavy hauling.  I found the supplies, did the driving, organizing, and my share of physical stuff, too, though I tried to do work I could stay in one place for.  Like chipping the mortar off of the reclaimed bricks that we used.   But the kids really get almost all of the credit, particularly my ds16, who took the project from the idea in my mind to reality.  He did the bulk of the heavy work, while also getting his younger siblings involved; they enjoy doing things with him.  Dh didn’t have the time to be involved, though once or twice he came home when we were working and lent a hand.

We now have a lovely brick patio that is about twenty feet by 15 feet (about 320 square feet), that cost us under $400.  My inlaws had a patio and walkway done a year or two ago, which together were a bit under the size of our patio.  And you know how much it cost?  $4000.  Even though their patio looks more professional than ours, it doesn’t look ten times more profesional!

Here’s how the cost broke down: sand – $220 – I ordered 4.5 tons and had it delivered, which was the main expense.  I got a half ton more than we needed to be on the safe side.  But it turns out that we needed another ton, and we ended up having to buy that the expensive way, in forty pound bags from Home Depot.  The additional sand cost us almost $80, whereas it would have been just another $30 if we had ordered more in the first place.  We also ran short of bricks, so I had to buy contrasting pavers.  That was another $60 or so.  We could have made the patio a couple of feet narrower, but the kids really wanted it to be the size they were planning on, so I was fine with it the extra expense and shopping.  We also had to buy a few tools, like a brick set, and a couple of diamond blades for our saw to cut the bricks on the end down to size.  For the frame that the bricks were set in we used lumber from the deck we took apart.  (The rest of the suitably sized lumber became raised garden boxes.)

So all in all, under $400!  If I could have waited to get the sand for free (which I’m confident I could have eventually found), it would have been super cheap (saving $300 of the costs). But my yard was piling up with a mountain of excavated dirt, gravel, and bricks, and I didn’t want my yard to be a long term eyesore for my neighbors or (me!).  I didn’t know how long I would have to wait before I would find enough sand.  Plus, hauling is really a lot of work and we were all feeling kind of run down by the effort to bring the supplies home. Everyone felt the expense to have a truckload of sand delivered very worthwhile!

I also could have saved on the expense of pavers by getting enough bricks when I originally got them, but the bricks had all been stacked in a huge pile, and the ones on the bottom were firmly stuck in the dried mud.  It was the heat of the summer, I was tired and running out of time to be away from the baby (since he was six weeks old so more than two hours was pushing it, and it was over a half hour in each direction to where the bricks were), and I wasn’t interested in prying them up.  So I told my kids we weren’t going to spend the time and energy on it.  They told me then I might regret it if we wouldn’t have enough for the patio, that they thought we’d need them.  I told them I’d take my changes and pay the price if necessary!  And that’s what I did.  🙂

We all agreed that this was worth the time and energy, even though there was a point that it felt endless.  This is mainly because we had to stop for the Nine Days; you know how it is when you stop the momentum on a large project – it’s hard to get it going again.  If we could have had one more day before the Nine Days began to work on it, we could have had it all done without feeling like it was dragging out.  Thanks to everyone’s work, our new patio gave us the room to expand our sukka this year, it looks so much nicer, and the yard looks larger now than it did with the smaller platform deck.  I think it’s because the patio is flush with the ground, and there’s nothing to break up your line of vision when you look out.

And it was hard to beat the cost! 😆

Avivah

Traveling to save money

frugal strategies

>>A totally unrelated question- when you write how much you spend on your food budget each month, I know you’re able to do that because you travel far to get things. I know you mentioned how even with the traveling time and the gas it is worth it financially because of all the savings you get, but i’m just curious, if you included the gas for those trips, how much would your “food and going to buy the food” budget be?<<

I’m answering this as a post because there’s a misconception here that I think other people might also have.  That misconception is that my budget stays low because I travel far to get things.  This is accurate only to a small degree.  I’ve shared about the possibilities involved in saving money by looking for grocery discount stores as one of a number of frugal strategies I’ve mentioned; staying within a budget requires more strategies than one, and this wouldn’t even be my primary one.

So I’m going to clear this misconception up right now, because otherwise some of you will be thinking you can’t keep your budget down because you don’t/can’t/won’t travel to do your shopping!  There are many, many ways to save, and most of them will be useful to most people – I don’t want anyone giving up because they pick out a little detail that doesn’t fit them.

My food budget is firm and always has been, regardless of where I shop.  I don’t stick to it because I can get great deals somewhere, I find great deals so I can stick to it!  Do you see the difference?

About four years ago I started traveling two hours away once in a while in order to buy raw milk, which I can’t get in my state because raw milk sales are illegal.  (At that time, though gas was high, my fuel costs were inconsequential since we had converted a van to run on waste vegetable oil – we sold this almost three years ago, though.)  In order to maximize my time, I eventually began looking for shopping in the area of where I buy my milk that I could do, and after a couple of years it evolved into the way I shop now.

I’ve been blogging for over three years and sharing ways I stay within a budget.  It wasn’t until less than two years ago that I started shopping monthly for the bulk of our food, so clearly this couldn’t have been my main strategy.  Now that I’ve been doing it so long and it’s part of my routine, I probably would continue doing it even if I wasn’t getting the milk; I find monthly shopping very efficient in terms of time, energy, and money.  But I’d still keep an eye on the expenses and savings involved to be sure it continued to be worthwhile.  I doubt I’d go more often than every 2 -3 months.

I use 15 gallons of gas to do my ‘monthly’ shopping.  This is usually done every 5 – 7 weeks, never more frequently than once a month.  With gas currently at 2.50 a gallon, it costs me 37.50 for about every month and a half, which works out to a little over $6 a week.  So it would add another $24 per month to my food costs.  I have a monthly gas budget of $200, and this expense is budgeted for in that category.  When gas was up to $4 a gallon, I went about every 7 – 8 weeks instead, to keep the gas costs in check.

I also have to remind you that though I say that I spend $600 a month, it’s technically less than that since most of the staples I buy last for at least 5 – 6 weeks.  So if I were going to be really accurate, I’d have to say I spend about $450 monthly, with another $24 in gas costs.  But I budget $600 a month and whether I manage to buy  a month’s worth of food with that or enough to last a bit longer, it’s still the same monthly amount that I’m spending.  (Anyway, it’s hard enough for people to believe that I can spend $600 on a family of eleven with a bunch of adult portion eaters without starving everyone; I can just imagine the disbelief a smaller number would engender! :))

As you see, I have taken into account what the travel expenses are and determined that for my needs, it’s worthwhile.  But here’s something I often wonder about when getting questions like yours.  How many people have figured out how much they spend on gas by going shopping every day, or even more than once a day?  How much are they spending by going to several stores every week and buying the loss leaders?  How many people consider how much they spend running around to three different drug stores to use their coupons to buy things they don’t need or want to ‘save’ money?  I know that most people would mentally write off those gas costs without thinking of them as part of daily living, but it’s likely they’re not spending much less! (Most of my driving is highway driving, so it’s very gas efficient.  Lots of small trips in town use more gas because of the stop and go nature of driving locally.)  And how much time are they spending?

I have absolutely no criticism of that approach, since until I started buying raw milk I used to hit three local supermarkets weekly to stock up on the loss leaders. But the above questions regarding gas costs and time/energy output are relevant for everyone consider when determining what their true costs are.

By the way, I integrate outings for my kids into my monthly shopping; I usually I make at least one special stop for them (last time I made two, one in the beginning of the day and one at the end).  I’ve taken them to parks, a chocolate factory, a potato chip factory, a motorcycle factory, a dairy, and a living history museum.  This is another way I maximize my gas expenses; spending the money to go to each of these places on their own would be cost prohibitive, but we can enjoy it as a ‘freebie’.

Avivah

Develop an anti debt mentality

frugal strategies

A couple of days I spoke with a young woman about my philosophy towards avoiding debt, and yesterday posted something on a discussion board to another young woman already in debt a few months after her marriage.  I’ve always felt my position was so common sense that it didn’t need to be stated, but I’ve come to realize that I might be more of the exception than the rule when it comes to money management.

Here’s what I do, and what I’ve taught my kids: you can only spend money you have.  And of the money you have, it’s a very, very, very smart idea not to spend it all just because you have it.  Having it now is no guarantee you’ll have it tomorrow, so setting some money aside for tomorrow is a good thing to do.  A financial cushion (this can be a savings account, a mortgage paid in advance, a full pantry) is very helpful in weathering the storms of life, and when large unexpected expenses come around, this is what keeps someone from needing to put these expenses on a credit card.

It doesn’t really matter how much or how little money you make.  You can find people who make oodles of money who you would think have money for everything who are in debt.  You can find people living on tiny incomes who have all that they need and are entirely debt free.  It’s not about how much money you have.  It’s about your attitude towards spending, about what you think you deserve, and about when you think you need to have it.

The problem is if you have no mental limitations on the money you spend and you have a credit card, then there’s no physical limitation either.  Thanks to credit cards, a person doesn’t need to have money in his pocket or even his bank account in order to buy what he wants, when he wants it.  By developing a clear awareness that there are limitations, then it’s obvious that you’ll put something back on the shelf when shopping, do without, cut down, wait until month, etc,  if your coffers are running low.  Having this mindset means you’ll avoid unmanageable debt and the accompanying anxieties that seem to be swallowing a huge percentage of the population.

Avivah

Kosher turkeys on sale

frugal strategies, nutrition

Yesterday I decided that this month I will try to buy organic chicken, at least in part.  I’ve only once bought organic chicken, as a splurge.  It’s generally at least $4 lb, which is a significant leap in price, considering that I generally pay .99 lb for chicken wings and 2.29 for quarters (those are sale prices).  With the amount of people I’m feeding in our home, that extra cost would add up quickly.

I’m not one to stand on the organic label – when I can get something organic at a comparable price, I do.  I’ve spent some time thinking about what really matters most to buy organic, and my personal conclusion is the animal products because the antibiotics and hormones are concentrated in the flesh of the poultry/meat we buy, making it more problematic than vegetables.   So I thought this would be a good experiment to try (I say experiment because I have to see how it works in my budget).

I called a couple of butchers to ask about their case prices, and I was thinking that I’d need to buy much less chicken than usual and have more broth to compensate if I go this route- I have a set amount that I’m prepared to spend on chicken, and when I hit that number, that’s it for the month.  However, to my delight when I stopped in at Trader Joes to get my monthly coconut milk (they were out – but I ordered 2 cases so then I won’t run low for a while), I saw that they have glatt kosher all natural turkeys for 2.29 lb (certified OU and another hechsher, too).  These turkeys were fed no animal by products (animals in the industrial food loop are often fed ground up diseased animals), and are hormone and antibiotic free.  I was totally thrilled, since the regular kosher turkey runs about 3.29 lb, and this was cheaper than I usually manage to find regular turkey on sale! (Though I did see it this week at Giant for 1.99 lb- a price to stock up if you’re not doing my kind of experimenting!)

I asked the cashier about it, and she said they have their own line of (*edit*) turkeys, and only for the Thanksgiving season, they do a kosher run.  That’s why they can sell it so inexpensively.  They’re going to have them through Nov. 28, unless they run out (which they did the last couple of years).  I bought three turkeys, and will see if I can swing any more for this month after I do my big shopping on Weds.

Since the turkeys are fresh, I’m hoping to roast all of them today (I’ll start as soon as I finish posting this :)).  I’ll put one in in the freezer for Thanksgiving and can the other two.  Then I’ll use all the bones for a huge pot of broth, and can that, too.  I haven’t done much canning recently, and the empty jars are building up  as I’ve been using up my home canned foods and not replacing it!  (I’ve been using the meat I canned last winter for cholent every week.)  Turkeys are too bulky to keep them in the freezer, particularly before my big stocking up trip.  So this is a great way to take advantage of this once a year price on good quality poultry.

I love seeing how H-shem (G-d) is constantly working in my life!  Isn’t it wonderful how I was sent this super priced turkey just when I wanted to upgrade our diets in this specific way?  If you have a Trader Joes near you, check it out!

Avivah