Category: Intentional Spending

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that a key to keeping my food budget low is stocking my pantry when prices are low.  That way, I have a wide variety of ingredients that I bought cheaply to use for your menu planning. 

November is always the month to stock up on ingredients for baking -flour, sugars, canned milk, etc.  Turkeys are often also cheap, though if you  keep kosher, you probably won’t find any super buys this month – if you do, please share them with me!  I don’t use most of the typical baking ingredients, since we don’t use white flour or white sugar, but what I will be buying this month is canned goods.

Canned goods are not traditionally cheap during this time of year, but due to a variety of factors involving the US and Chinese economies, they will be cheaper than usual for a short period of time – I don’t think it’s probable that it will last for more than a few more weeks. 

I look through the flyers of all the local supermarkets each week, and for the last few months have been appalled at the absolute lack of anything that I would call a bargain.  I used to stock up on loss leaders, but I haven’t found even the loss leaders worth buying.  But this week, I’ve seen canned goods on sale in every local major supermarket, and every one of the sales is worth going into the store for. 

A friend told me she doesn’t use many canned goods, and couldn’t see the point in getting any.  I don’t use many canned foods either.  But they can be stored long term (so it doesn’t matter if you don’t use them quickly), are great to have in a pinch, and anything I use a little of is worth getting a lot more of if I can get it cheaply and find space for it (like when I got canned pumpkin in the 29 oz cans for 15 cents each a few weeks after Thanksgiving – at that amazing price, can you see why I got enough to last over a year, even after making pumpkin loaves and muffins for breakfast on a weekly basis?! :)).  Canned veggies substitute well for fresh when you’re out of them, they don’t need refrigeration or freezer space, and canned fish is a cheap source of protein.  Personally, I don’t eat canned corn or peas, because sugar is added, but I would use it for a stew or casserole ingredient for my family after rinsing it.  Green beans are fine.  And canned tomatoes in all forms (whole, diced, pureed, sauce, crushed) come in very handy – I usually buy at least twenty large (28 oz, I think) cans at a time and that holds me over from one shopping trip to the next.  I can my own beans because it’s more economical, but buying canned beans is still a cheap source of protein.  Canned fruit is a nice addition to salads; I use mostly pineapple in its own juice and some mandarin orange segments, and occasionally get cranberry sauce as a side dish for Shabbos when I can buy it cheaply enough. 

Canned goods will be getting more expensive in December on the wholesale level because of Chinese steel costs going up (in case you don’t understand the relevance, a large percentage of US canned foods are packaged in China), and I wouldn’t expect it to take much longer to trickle down to the retail market.  Scrap metal was a hot item all summer – a number of times people knocked at our back door to ask if they could take something metal they saw in our yard, something that had never happened before, and suddenly there was a sudden drop a month or so ago – these little things that happen in our backyards are reflective of much larger economic forces at work, and this all will be affecting the prices of our food supply soon. 

And look at it like this – if you buy canned goods at a 25% discount and in two months they are even the same price as they are usually right now, you’ve still made at least a  25% profit, right?  So it’s a good way to invest your food budget dollars to buy ahead and lock in your investment! 🙂

 I was out today getting the canned goods I wanted, and though I usually try not to look in other people’s carts (though everyone who passes me seems to look at mine, and then take a second look as they’re passing, lol!), today I was curious if in light of the economic challenges so many are facing, if it would be reflected to any degree in how people were food shopping.  Particularly, I was interested if anyone but me was buying more than a couple of cans of veggies (name brands all at 50% off or more), or anything suitable for long term storage.  Nope, not at all – not in one of the three supermarkets I went to.   Lots of ice cream, sodas, single yogurts, though.  Sigh. And so many people say that food is so expensive and they can’t afford to buy more than enough for three days at a time…..

Also, as of December 15, 2009, I was told by the owner of a salvage store that I go to, olive oil will be going up 15%.  So if olive oil is something you use, buy some extra now.  (I use very little regular vegetable oil because it’s horrible health-wise, and extra virgin olive oil is one of the alternatives I use, so I bought several large bottles last month.)

Shop smart, shop cheap, and shop ahead – you’ll always come out ahead!

Avivah

Today my daughter was wearing the dress that I remade for her a couple of days ago, and it looked so nice on her that I thought I should share what I did with you. 

So many times clothing have a little something wrong with them, but it seems to be a big enough thing to get rid of it.  Sometimes it just takes a little bit of thinking and creativity to change it into something appealing and wearable.  This particular dress was given to us – it was a high quality jumper for dressy wear, with a filmy solid colored layer entirely covering the jumper.  You could see the jumper pattern through the filmy layer, but it was the filminess that seemed to give it an elegant look.

But I really didn’t like the filmy layer, no matter how elegant it was supposed to make the jumper look – it didn’t seem like a practical addition to the dress of a young girl.  Because it was such thin material, it easily ripped and the seams kept separating – when I resewed them, they just separated again after wearing it once or twice.  The second time or third my daughter brought it to me to fix, I told her that I had something different in mind for it.  I put it aside until a couple of days ago, and here’s what I did.

I totally removed the filmy layer – I was anticipating this would be a time intensive job; since all of the layers were sewn together, I thought it would mean unstitching and restitching all of the seams of the dress.  Before I did that, I tried to rip the layer cleanly along the edge, to see how it looked.  Amazingly, it looked fine, after I removed all loose threads along the seams, so I kept on going until I had ripped it all off.  That took just a few minutes.  After that, I was left with a plain black and white jumper – well made, but not dressy. 

But when I ripped off the filmy layer, I noticed that there were some embroidered shapes along the bottom side of the dress, which because they were almost folded in half didn’t draw any attention to them.  I removed those, and found that they were beautiful black and white embroidered butterflies.  I attached one in the middle of each jumper strap at an angle, so that each tilted towards the other.  Then I took the remaining four and sewed them across the upper middle half of the jumper, evenly spaced.   Because I sewed them so that all four sides of the butterfly were held back against the fabric, they added a really nice look to the jumper (whereas before they were almost messy, since they were attached in the middle and folded into itself), so it’s again a dress appropriate for Shabbos (Sabbath).

When my 8 year old dd wore this today, my normally observant son and husband both thought it was a new dress.  I told them I remade it from a dress she recently wore, but even with hints, neither of them could figure it out.  It looks totally different, and looks a lot nicer now than it did when it was new!  The repairs probably took a total of twenty minutes, and it was something I was able to do while supervising the kids with their chores and academic work in the morning, so it didn’t take me away from what I would have usually been doing.

Avivah

Okay, I said I’d tell you how using clothing storage strategies effectively means saving a lot of money.  First of all, if you have more than one child, it’s a big savings to be able to pass along all the items in good condition to the next child.  (I only save clothes that are in nice shape, and I also try to buy good quality clothing that looks good after repeated washings.  The low quality clothes aren’t worth buying, new or used, in my opinion; they look terrible after just a few washings.)  If you didn’t have a system to pack them away, even if you kept them, you’d end up shopping for new stuff when you needed it, because you wouldn’t be able to find what you needed when you needed it!  Believe it or not, plenty of people give away clothes that are in good condition and then buy new clothes for the next child, rather than have to find a way to store the clothes.   

In case you’re wondering, my children do each get new (to them!) clothing, in addition to whatever is passed from one to another.  But they don’t mind hand me downs; in fact, they enjoy knowing they’re wearing something that an older brother or sister wore when they were their age.  They care more about looking nice than if the item comes to them with the tags on it or not. 

I do the vast majority of my clothes shopping at thrift stores.  However, I try not to shop only when I need something.   You might recognize this principle from my description of food shopping – I buy when the price is right and stock up then, not when I decide I must have something right then.  This is where I think the big savings in clothing shopping is; buying when prices are low and then putting them away for when you need them. 

When I’m shopping, I keep an eye out for any clothes that fit my criteria – well made, tasteful, and classic.  I generally buy fairly classic styles; I don’t care for super trendy clothes that look dated six months after they are purchased.  Classic styles look great even five or ten years later.  If I see something that I like, I buy it, even if I don’t have someone that it fits right now, especially if it’s half price that week.:) 

 Last week I popped into a thrift store where I donate our clothes; I don’t usually shop there.  Since I had to take the clothes in, I did a quick browse through the store – that took about five minutes.  I saw a new pair of Bass leather loafers ($8 after a 20% coupon I had in my purse), but in a size 7.5 and my son is right now only a 6.  And also a pair of sneakers the size of my ds15, who I just bought new shoes for last week.  So what?  The nature of thrift store shopping is that you can’t assume something you want will be there when you want it.  If it’s good stuff, I don’t pass it up.  Ds9 will have good shoes in a year or so (assuming they fit him – my kids all have standard sized feet, which makes this easier, but if it doesn’t fit, no harm done – it goes back into the box to wait for someone else), and I have a backup pair of sneakers for the inevitable time when my ds15 suddenly tells me his current ones are ruined. (I’ve learned from experience that with my boys, I don’t get warning that their shoes are on the brink of destruction – it happens fast!).  I save lots of time by buying what I like when I find it, and then pack it into the appropriate boxes in the attic. 

When a new season comes, I don’t start off by taking my kids to the store.  We shop in the attic!  They go up and pull out the boxes in the appropriate sizes.  Remember, I’ve been stocking throughout the year, so it’s not like it’s a bunch of hand me downs waiting that no one wants to see; they actually look forward to it.  My shoe selection for the boys is pretty good (that includes sneakers, dress shoes, boots, some sandals and slippers); for the girls it’s weaker because of the frequent style changes, so I don’t buy as far ahead for their shoes.  If there’s still anything they need after they’ve gone through the boxes, then I’ll shop with their specific needs in mind.  It isn’t usually something very urgent, because generally there’s enough of everything for them to get by pretty comfortably.  This year, though, my almost 14 year old has told me she really needs a black shirt to go with a couple of dressy outfits.  She and the 12 year old share some clothes, but the 12 year old likes to wear her black shirt most of the same days her older sister would want it!   Next week, there will be a clearance sale at a local fashion shop, and I’ll stop in there.  Someone told me in the past that their clearance prices are great, if you can find something you like in your size.  If I don’t see something there, I’ll move on to the thrift store.   What is the thrift store doesn’t have something?  Well, I’ve never reached the point that I couldn’t find something (except shoes) and then I had to buy brand new, so I don’t know what the next step would be. 

By the way, girls are more challenging than boys, since the styles change more quickly (as I said with the shoes), and they all have different ideas of what they like.  For the older ages, I don’t store many clothes for the long term except for pajamas, bathing suits, robes, thermals, very basic skirts, turtlenecks.  The fashions change too fast and in the four years between my 12 and 8 year olds, many of the things that look great now will look dated then.  But those same items can be easily stored from my dd14 to my dd12, because the fashion shift won’t be dramatic or pronounced enough to matter, generally speaking.  So for the girls, I’m not usually shopping more than two years ahead.  And the truth is, because we have five boys, I’m not usually shopping more than a couple of years ahead for them either, because there’s always someone growing into or out of a size!

In addition to clothes I buy, I also am able to benefit from clothes that are periodically passed on to me by others (mostly one good friend), though I’ve gotten items free from CL for my little kids a couple of times.  It honestly does take effort to go through what comes and organize it all, and there are times I’d really rather not have to deal with it, but the payoff is that I have to spend very little to dress my entire family.  When holidays come, I don’t have the sudden pressure of having to buy new clothes for everyone in addition to all of the other holiday expenses.

Effectively being able to organize the clothes you buy at a discount or get for free, and have them ready when you need them makes a huge difference to how much you’ll need to spend to keep your children appropriately dressed.

Avivah

I’m getting ready for winter here, and have been thinking about some things I can do to keep our house warm without needing to increase our heating costs.  In our area, gas and electric rates are set to rise sharply this winter, and I know many other areas across the country are facing this same situation.  I just bought the oldest three kids new sets of thermals on ebay, since a warm underlayer makes a really big difference to keeping warm, in and out of the house.  That will help them stay warm even if I don’t keep the heat up too high.  Another thing I’m doing, which is addressing the aspect of keeping the house warmer, is making (and hanging) thermal shades.

Have you ever heard of people covering their windows with blankets during the winter to keep the cold air out?  Thermal shades, or window quilts, are based on that same idea.  I’m using materials that I had around the house to make them, so I don’t have any extra material costs.  The only expense is a spring tension rod (under $4) for each window to hang them on.

Here’s how I’m making ours: I’m using a layer of batting on the inside, and a layer of muslin to surround the batting on each side.  It’s like a sandwich – muslin, batting, muslin.  Then I’m stitching them all together, and I made a one inch casing at the top to insert the curtain rod in.  Since the muslin is a light cream color, they let the light come through but the three layers of material are thick enough to keep really reduce drafts.  Our windows are only ten years old, but there’s still a significant amount of air leakage – I can only imagine how bad the old windows are.  They also match all of the bedrooms, and look nice from the inside and outside. 

There are less labor intensive ways to do it if you don’t have time or basic sewing skills (though all you need to know is how to run a straight stitch on a sewing machine), and in my boys’ bedroom, I have two temporary curtains done in a quickie way.  If I had enough batting, I would have done all of them like this, but I didn’t.  One layer of batting isn’t thick enough to be very substantial, though it’s still helpful to insulate more than if I had nothing there, so I’m leaving them hanging until I have time to sew up the three layers.  If you were to use two layers of batting, you could cut small slits a couple of inches down from the top, several slits along the top, creating a row of slits where you can insert the curtain rod.  If I didn’t have batting and were going to buy material, I would buy fleece (at 50% off) that matched each room and do the same thing.  Fleece doesn’t need any hemming and all you would have to do is cut the fabric in the shape of the window, cut the slits, and hang it up.  That would probably take under 10 minutes per window.  I’d strongly suggest a light colored fabric, to let the light in.  The idea of rooms that are dark seems depressing to me, even if they’re toasty and warm. 

Here’s a link to an article that I read in the summer that first got me thinking about this:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1983-11-01/The-Homemade-Thermal-Shade.aspx.  I’ve made my own design that I think is simpler and cut the costs down involved, but their directions are much more detailed than mine, and you can get an idea of the basic concept and see if it is something that would work for you. 

After the first night, my 12 yo daughter, who sleeps next to the window in her room that we put the first quilt on, told me she was noticeably warmer.  I asked her how she could tell a difference, and she said usually she doesn’t want to get out from under her covers in the morning, and this time it was fine.  I made this on Wednesday, and since I was out all day yesterday, I haven’t yet made one for the other window in their room.  She told me there’s a noticeable difference when she stands in front of each of the two windows in temperature and she definitely thinks I should cover all the windows like this. 

Avivah

With the holidays coming, I thought you might find it valuable to hear how we keep our food expenses in check.  I know that most people spend significantly more during the holidays, but I don’t.  A lot of what I’ll share will sound familiar to you, because I just do more of what I do all year round.

 First of all, think ahead!  Don’t wait until 1 – 2 weeks before the holidays, like everyone else.  The stores will be packed, and in my area, the prices of everything seems to go up then.  Think about what the most expensive/important items you’ll need are.  For me, these are the meats and grape juice.  Fruits and vegetables obviously have to be bought fresh, but if you bake, you can also stock up on flour, sugar, oil, spices, or whatever else you’ll need. 

Once you know what you’re going to need, keep it in mind when you do your regular shopping.  Do you have roasts on a super sale this week? Don’t sigh and think ‘too bad I don’t need them now’!  Snap them up and put them in the freezer.  I bought 24 bottles of grape juice last week (64 oz each), which will hold me well through the holidays, and should be enough until there’s another sale on it, when I’ll again stock up.  I almost never buy grape juice that’s not on sale.  I mentioned that I bought salmon last week – it’s not something I usually have, but when I saw it at a good price, I bought it for the holidays.  Yes, there are 5 more weeks before we have to worry about it, but shopping ahead makes it possible to spread out the expenses associated with the holidays and significantly decrease your hassle and stress. 

I mentioned getting a case of chicken – that will be enough for five weeks, but I’ll be ordering at least one more case in another month.  That means that I’ll have some extra chicken from this month’s overlap that will be for the holidays in addition to whatever else I buy next month.  In addition to that, I have ten lb. chopped meat from last month’s shopping that I’m keeping aside, and 15 lb of lamb breast that I bought when it was 1.99 lb.  So even if there aren’t any incredible sales between now and then, I have two kinds of fish, chicken, lamb, and beef, ready to grace our holiday meals. 

This is a large part of what makes it possible for us to enjoy the holidays, without the financial stress or extensive credit card use that seem to be pervasive at these times.  It’s very freeing to know when the holidays approach that you have almost everything you need already on hand.  No need for standing in long lines, rushing into numerous stores, and maxing out your credit card or energy!

Plan ahead, buy large amounts when the prices are low, and enjoy your holidays!

Avivah

Yesterday I got a five gallon bucket of organic compost for my garden.  I think my plants will benefit from the nutritional boost.  I’m friendly with the person selling it, and it occurred to me when we were chatting on the phone that she might be open to doing a trade of some sorts.  So I asked if she was interested in trading some of her compost for some of my produce.  She hadn’t thought of it, though she had heard of others doing it, and was open to the bartering concept.

I gave her five pounds of cherries, but turns out she only eats organic (she didn’t mention it when we spoke).  I didn’t want her to feel stuck with something she wouldn’t have bought, so I took back half of them (she was happy to keep half), and told her I’d bring her a quart of homemade organic applesauce that I canned (she had an empty canning jar of her own, so she gave hers to me and will keep the one I gave her, which was perfect).  When I was back at home getting the applesauce, I decided to take her some organic pears and apples, too (some we had freshly picked).   She felt it was too much that I gave her, but I was very comfortable with the trade, and both of us were happy with the experience.

Until a couple of weeks ago when I bartered the pears we picked for some peaches, I never did anything like this, so it’s kind of a foreign idea for me.  But I like it – it feels very friendly and win-win.  It’s better than exchanging money – what I gave her cost me much less than I would have bought the compost for, and what she gave me cost her much less than what she would have bought the fruit for.  I bought the cherries for .55 lb, picked the apples and pears for free, made the applesauce from free apples – so it was under $2 for the things I traded for compost that would have cost me $25 at the special price she sells to friends at.  She would have spent $3 lb on the cherries, and I don’t know how much for the 10 lb of organic fruits, plus the organic applesauce would have been pricey in the store.  The compost she makes is composed of her rabbit bedding mixed with her organic food clippings, so it didn’t cost her anything but time to make it. 

Bartering simply means thinking about what you have that is valuable to someone, and exchanging it for something they have of value to you.  I think I’ll continue to keep my mind open to fun possibilities like this.  It makes the world a smaller and friendlier place.

Avivah