I have a love hate relationship with one of those huge warehouse stores. I love that you can get a 105 oz can of tomato sauce that costs half as much as tomato sauce on SALE at the regular grocery store, that is, per ounce. I hate that the yummy chips in the ginormous bag go stale before they are all consumed. I love that larger bags of lettuce remind us to eat more salads during the week and I hate that there seems to be more wasteful packaging. But, if you buy right, with a little thought there is money to be saved by buying in bulk.
The first question I ask is:
Can you use it all? Our motto is only take what you need. What is the use of saving money on a 10 pound bag of artichoke hearts if you throw half of them away? So wasteful. We do use chocolate chips in banana bread at least a couple times a month. And we’ve been consuming ketchup in the form of slow-cooker bbq like it is going out of style this summer. These items I know we will use up in quantity.
My second question is:
Can it be saved/preserved/frozen, or does it simply have a limitless shelf-life, like laundry detergent? This is where the “brain power” comes in. Think about what is going into the cart, and this is hard for a list panner, but also an-impulse purchaser, like me. Think, “how will I use all of what I buy?”
Nuts, dried fruits, cheese, butter, milk, chocolate, flours, breads and baked goods can all be frozen. We have a chest freezer in the basement for just these times.
Meats can be decanted into meal-sized portions and frozen in ziplocs. I label them in a Sharpie, and note what I’ve got on a Master Freezer List. When we have friends over for dinner, I just pull out two meal portions.
Tomato sauce, stocks, and juices can all be decanted and frozen as well.
Make something with your purchase and freeze that. I purchased a quart of heavy cream the other week. From it I can make four loaves of gluten-free chocolate chip banana and freeze these for a sweet treat or a pot-luck dinner later on.
I am currently processing 10lbs of carrots. That is A LOT of carrots. This many carrots means: carrot soup, carrot cake, carrot muffins, carrot juice, and roasted carrots, all of which are yummm!
I freeze whole berries, or make jam or preserves, when the produce is in season. (Freezer jam is easier than water bath canning.) Make sauce out of apples or pears. My kids also love apple/pear/sweet potato juice fresh from our juicer. Juicing veggies can be a great way to get some vitamins into the picky eaters in your family.
Other pantry staples don’t need refigeration: maple syrup, agave nectar, sugar (make sure this is sealed up well, you don’t want friends in your pantry), soy sauce, oils (if kept cool and away from light) and ketchup.
Or, instead of saving it, use more of it…
I’ve found that my kids don’t mind repetitive menus. They seem to be fine with peanut butter and honey sandwich lunches five days a week.
Slow-cooker recipes generally are more frugal friendly. Tomato sauce, less expensive cuts of meat, and beans are frequent low-cost ingredients I use all the time now.
Other stuff you might be better off not buying unless you use a lot of it:
spices (they loose their potent flavor) and vanilla (the alcohol evaporates)
cerals (these go stale quickly)
produce (leave some in your fridge drawer more than a week and you’ll get my drift.)
coffee and teas (can lose flavor fast)
Anything in a large package that cannot be resealed and would go stale (like chips) or rancid (like oil) before you consume all of it.
And finally, it pays to know your prices. That is, regular AND sale prices.
Tomato sauce is $1.00 for 14.5 oz on sale. These containers of sauce came from a 105 ounce can that cost $2.50. That is a 50% savings for our chili, soups, and stews.
Shredded mozzarella cheese only saved us a few dollars per pound on a 5lb package. And soda is cheaper per can if you buy it in the regular grocery store on sale.
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I began looking at how much we are consuming and how much we are wasting when I realized we needed to pay down so much debt. I used to think that buying huge quantities at warehouse stores was expensive and wasteful. And then I realized that I needed to adapt our lifestyle to accomodate the more frugal. Consume less. Consume for less. And consume wisely. Maybe we will just get to that debt-free life someday.
P/S
Two years ago I created this…a printable of my Save $$ In Your Freezer series…might help you save some of those purchases for later!
Making things for a baby is just so much fun. And I am such a perfectionist.
This is my very first patchwork anything attempt. I didn’t have a clue about how to get all the points to match up…so I just went along blindly, and lo and behold, the points totally didn’t match up. I went on-line, found a YouTube video that shows how to make the points match up, took out my seam ripper, inhale deeply, and start dismantling all those mismatched 2 1/2 inch woven squares. I sewed them back together, the way they were supposed to be, and presto, pretty darn near perfect patchworking. Amazing where a little technique will get you.
This is Anna Maria Horner’s Baby’s Sleep Sack. Tedious yes a bit. But the result is amazing. With all the money saving, and money earning thoughts running through my head, I was so pleased with myself that this entire piece came from scraps in my fabric stash pile. Even the seam binding! Hence, this entire project is free. (Or already paid for, if you want to look at it that way.)
And these are the cutest things ever. I never thought about making booties, but they are actually so quick and easy, you almost don’t get bored making the second one like you do with socks. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Pie Pie is ready for fall weather since he doesn’t seem to want to wear these on his feet yet. Barefooted in the summer is where we are right now. Just you wait Pie Pie, the cooler weather is right around the corner. The pattern is from this book I have called The Knitter’s Bible and the yarn was from the stash. Free knitting. I love it.
Living in these parts, when you hear something go “boom” you think Pentagon terrorist attack. And that is what I thought yesterday as the earth started to shake, that low, loud rumble began to permeate everything, and my heart started to pound.
It was 1:55 PM and I had just finished nursing Pie Pie and was sitting at the dining room table with Mini Mister and Little Miss as they ended their late lunch. The house began to shake and I first thought it was a train. Freights come by regularly and some seem like they are going to come right through the house. But then the TV began swaying on the wall and the chandelier tipped this way and that and I knew it was something more.
I told the kids to quick, come with me, and that we are going outside. (Which is not what you are supposed to do. You are supposed to stand under a doorway. But all my childhood training left my brain at that moment.) As quick as light, Mini Mister slipped down from his chair and into the folds of my skirt. I secured Pie Pie in my arms and motioned to Little Miss to come quick, but she had frozen in fear. She stood on her chair and held her head in her hands and simply didn’t move. I scooped her up with my other arm and pushed Mini Mister toward the door, telling them that they had no time to put on Crocs. As we traversed the kitchen and the foyer, I could hear dishes clinking together in the sink, and the lights flickered a bit. Our flooring seemed so unstable as we bumped along and I feared it would give-way and send us all crashing into the basement. As soon as we stepped outside, the earth ceased and all was still once more.
My hands were shaking and the kids eyes were wide with terror. I quickly found my cell phone and tried to call my husband who works in downtown Washington D.C. I feared the worst but hoped for the best. All I could see in my mind was that huge, thick, column of ugly black smoke rising from the Pentagon building that September, 11th. I was crossing the Key Bridge traveling back to get home filled with fear wondering what would be hit next. My husband’s voice on the other end of the phone line said that he was fine and that it was an earthquake. As he decended in the concrete stairwell his voice faded away and died out. At least he was okay.
I turned on the news and snuggled Pie Pie in the Moby wrap as I packed the diaper bag in the case of aftershocks. I sat on the sofa yesterday afternoon, as the kids napped next to me watching the news. It was indeed an earthquake and it registered 5.8. It was centered about 80 miles away from us in Mineral, VA. I was relieved to hear that there was little damage, no early reports of injury, and that the earth had created this fear, not someone else.
Last night, Mini Mister was still scared. He snuggled up in bed with me, waiting for sleep to come, and I told his wide eyes that it would be okay.
I was a hard core Franklin Covey follower. I think I’ve used this planning system since I was in high school. Read that to mean a long time. This year we are trying to save money. Read that to mean, seriously paying down debt and trying to figure out how we are going to pay for three children to attend Montessori school. (We have a little time to figure out the school thing though, Pie-Pie is only 2 months old.)
I used Franklin Covey’s planner pages. I used their project sheets for work, for school, and for personal planning too. I attended their planning seminar, read the book about the 7-Habits of Highly Effective People. And I switched from the original design to the monticello to the 7-Habits design. (Now Franklin Covey has expanded their product line and solution services dramatically but I stopped paying attention when I left the work force six years ago.)
I tried other daily planning systems and just wasn’t as pleased. Until money became a necessity. $40 a year for fancy colored planning pages? Or $40 for two pairs of sorely needed rain boots? $40 for 365 witty inspirational quotes that promote productivity, efficiency, and leadership? Or $40+ for the gas it takes to get everyone to school each week? Hummmn. I went with the latter.
Now I use a composition book to plan daily. Its cheap. A composition book costs exactly a $1 each at the back-to-school-sale. I estimated that it takes me about 3 months or so to fill one up writing on both sides of the page. So that is a grand total of $4 of planning sheets a year and what I call a $36 savings.
It is my everything book. My to-do lists, correspondence I need to track, recipes, musings and dreams, shopping lists, weekly menus, my monthly calendar, Christmas lists, and a ton of other stuff. How do I keep track of it all? A master list, an index, and a calendar.
How To Use an Index
I write a phone number down on page 48 and some notes about our phone conversation. I note that in my Index. Mrs. Smith p# – pg 48 – Aug 8th. Now I know where to find her number should I need it again. I know where to find the notes I took about our conversation and I know what day I last spoke to her, should I need to follow-up sometime in the near future.
If a flood of blog ideas flow into my head and I am in the shower, I dry off and locate my planner composition book. I note them all down on page 57 and then note blog post ideas – pg 57 – Aug 11 in the Index. Now I know where to look when I’m twiddling around at the computer the next time. (I keep the first few notebook pages blank and use these for the Index.) (Another aside: this Index thing does work. I used it in with my Franklin Covey systems. But I haven’t implemented it yet here. I just flip back until I find whatever it was that I am looking for. But when I finish this composition book I’ll have to make an Index. With more than one archived planner book it will be helpful to have an Index I can scan to see if that bit of information I am seeking is indeed in this volume.)
How to Use a Master List
I keep a Master List of all the to-dos I can think of. Some need to get done like yesterday and others can wait until whenever and I note the “due-by” date by each item. Each day, I write a fresh to-do list for that day. I start a new page, put the day’s date at the top, and try to keep the list reasonable. (For goodness sake, I have a newborn who nurses every three hours.) I look at what I didn’t accomplish from the day before and add these items. And I look at my master list and see if anything needs to be accomplished today and I write these down. I also take a look at the calendar and write down anything I need to do to prepare for the days ahead.
Each week I transcribe the Master List tasks I didn’t crossoff, add new ones, and write the date at the top of the new Master List. (And I put a line through the old Master List.) I feel better having written a fresh list. Yes, I use white out to correct mistakes and try to make my handwriting a bit neater. It’s cathartic for a list maker like me.
How to Use the Calendar
I printed out calendar pages from a free Internet site. (Just Google it. There are plenty out there.) I cut them out and pasted them into the last pages at the back of the composition book. When I got our school calendars I noted each event in my planning calendar. And as new events arise, I note these as well. If there are general notes about events or to-dos that month, like “pick apples for applesauce in September,” I note these at the bottom of that calendar page.
Limited space in your monthly calendar is a good thing. When you run out of space to write things, you’ve probably run out of time to do it all too.
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And that is about it. It works for me. Sometimes someone under the age of 4 gets a hold of my planner book and I come across pages like this on August 4th.
It’s a nice surprise.
Every one’s planning needs are different, but this is the money saving strategy that helped me. Maybe it can help you too.
In the wake of our decision to send Mini Mister to Montessori School, I started to ponder, how are we going to afford to send Little Miss and Pie-Pie? I was shocked a couple of months ago when I looked at the state of our finances. I added up all of our debt, not including our mortgage, and it totalled more than $90,000! (Most of this is student loans from grad school.) We’d paid more than $14,000 in interest on my grad school loans ONLY over the past six years most of the loan principle is still outstanding! We are just getting by on a six figure salary! We are living pay check to pay check at this point and we have a newborn. If my husband lost his job tomorrow where would we be? How are we going to pay down this debt and save for our children’s college educations?
A million thoughts and feelings rushed through me. Fear. Confusion. Disappointment. Shame and embarrassment. Panic. Should I go back to work outside the home? What about the kids? How much would extended daycare cost? We’d have to move Little Miss from pre-school to daycare. Would the kids have to commute an hour or more in the morning with us? How much would I have to bring in to afford the extra daycare and a second vehicle? Could I make some money at home? Should I work part-time? Is there wiggle-room in our budget? Could my husband find a higher-paying job? Would that mean he would need to spend more time away from me and the kids?
My mother was a stay-at-home mom my entire childhood. I now know what a family sacrifice that was. It really gave me a sense of security knowing that my mother was there. She was a taxi, a cook, a homework helper, a confidant, and a teacher of the crafty things I love doing today. I don’t believe I’d be the person I am today if she hadn’t spent that time at home with me. (That is to say I don’t believe I’d be a lesser person if my mother had worked outside the home, but that I am happy to be the person I am because she choose to stay at home.) I feel strongly that I want to be there for my children. I know this is also a financial sacrifice, but I hope one day they will look back, like me, and feel it was the right sacrifice.
I flung myself into researching and reading about how to diminish our debt. I read the experts. I read periodicals. I read about SAHMs going back to work. I read inspirational stories about extraordinary journeys to debt-free lifestyles. And I thought…in my heart I want to be close to my children, at home…and I want to continue creating and be paid for doing what I love.
Then I took a step back. Took a deep breath and began defining some new goals. Firstly, pay off that $90,000 we owe to the world. Secondly, find ways we can consume less as a family. Thirdly, find ways I can consume for less. Fourthly, find and develop a new revenue stream. Fifthly, commit to patience, perseverance, courage, humility, and ingenuity. Accumulating and ignoring this debt took time and so will paying it off.
My husband and I talked a lot about this. Before our conversation it seemed like the elephant in the room that no one wanted to mention. Somehow we just swept that elephant under the rug and went about without changing our spending habits. Luckily, we are both on the same page about our monies. We both spend similarly and we both save similarly. And we are both committed to getting to that place where we are free of debt.
Why do I want to get to that place? Freedom. Without debt payments due each month, we don’t have to worry if our next paycheck will carry us through another thirty days. And we can spend money on opportunities we want to take advantage of today, instead of paying for the opportunities we took yesterday.
I know that there are a million different pros and cons of being a stay at home mom. All those out there who are working mothers, I don’t think I have the strength to be you. I admire you for your courage, discipline, and sacrifice. I feel extremely lucky to have a choice in this matter of going back to work and I hope that I made the correct choice to put things right before my chance disappears.
P/S
Apparently, I wrote about getting out of debt a couple years ago. Is this going to be a reccuring summer freak-out?
Getting to a Debt-Free Life
A Journey Toward being Debt-Free
Budgeting – It’s a Philosophy
Inspired by SouleMama.com: A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Click over to her blog to see more living captured in images.
More about Pie-Pie’s baptism here. Thank you Father Wilson, God Parents, and family for being there with us during this special time. Little Pie-Pie, may you grow in faith, love, and light. We love you so very much.
I am not a cradle Catholic. I converted after I met my husband. No, I didn’t do it for him. I did it for me, and the seeds that grew into the life in faith I live today were planted long before I met him. He was an enabler, yes. I had thought you might need a hall pass of sorts to enter into the church and sit down in a pew. I didn’t know anything about receiving communion, nor about reciting the prayers. But I learned and my life evolved into one that includes religion in a way I believe is unique to those who have chosen their faith.
Perhaps it is a profound consciousness that sets apart adult converts. Perhaps it is a sense of empowerment and a need to actively live the religious values you’ve chosen so purposefully. Now that I have children, I’ve vowed to share with them a living faith. To me being Catholic isn’t just about my paper that says that I’ve been baptised and confirmed. It isn’t about attending Mass each Sunday. It isn’t about going to confession or observing Holy Days. It is about seeking God around every corner, with every step, and in each breath I take. God is described on paper by so many who attempt well to illustrate who He is. But I believe the most wonderful and exciting way to understand who He is to live each day seeking his love and guidance.
All of our children have been baptized into the Catholic Church. Pie Pie was baptized the other Sunday by the priest at our parish. This was the second baptism service in English I’ve attended. My own was the first. Mini Mister and Little Miss were both baptized at a Korean Church where the rite was performed in Korean and I didn’t understand a thing. It was wonderful to understand what the priest had to say.
Little Pie Pie didn’t cry when the water poured over his head and he put back his little head and closed his eyes as the priest dried his hair. “He’ll be a quiet Catholic,” the priest noted to us. We were blessed by the priest with Pie Pie in our arms, and the community gathered ’round asked that God lend us the strength and courage to help Pie Pie grow in faith.
Mini Mister and Little Miss were there in the front pew, viewing it all. They tend to ask good questions about what goes on during the Mass and about the Liturgical calendar. What is in your mouth? (The host, or communion wine.) What is in the gold box? (The blessed host is kept in the tabernacle.) Is it my turn to put the envelope into the offertory collection basket? So to prepare them for Pie Pie’s baptism, I showed them this demonstration video. We didn’t have the time to act it out ourselves. Even so, the kids were pretty intrigued and I thought it a novel depiction of what baptism means in this world.
Two days before the baptism I realized that poor little Pie Pie didn’t have a white outfit to wear. My husband went to the store and got a cute little embroidered onesie with a cross on the front. But he didn’t come home with any pants. Who makes white pants for a baby? No one. They’d get dirty of course. So, I searched my fabric stash and found a bit of white linen to stitch together into this pair of pants he wore. I can’t think of anything more appropriate for the occasion than a bit of handmade love. It was most certainly God working through my hands. How else would these have been ready in time?
Many times I feel in this world of on-line computer games, Wii’s, Nintendo DS’s, DVDs, TiVos, and DVRs life is quickly becoming on-demand. Our children find a commercial funny, like someone bonks their head for example, and we hear them exclaim, “play it again!” Really? Play commercials again? Now dinner menus, music selections, and playdates with our friends are slipping into the on-demand realm. Though, I am trying strongly to dissuade this perception because it is wise, if not a necessity, to realize that some parts of life cannot possibly be on-demand, like letting your hair grow out. (And now that I type that, I realize that hair extensions are kind of on-demand. Geesh.)
Everyday I feel a strong pull to create. It is something alikened to the earth’s gravitation that pulls my fingers and mind toward baking projects, sewing seams, colorful paints, and soft yarns. I feel centered when I am creating something new and the pace of the world seems to slow just a bit. And with process, technique, and imagination, I can control the on-demand. It becomes, when I demand the project is done. I feel heightened when I’ve accomplished something. I feel productive and strong when I step back and look at the new thing I’ve made. And the challenge, the constant learning, and the problem solving is what keeps my mind and feet moving through the days.
I am hoping to impart a bit of these sensations in my children. To slow a bit. To take a breather. To use one’s brain. And to be creative. Creating can be its own reward. My heart feels full when Mini Mister, or Little Miss come around the corner saying, “look Mama at what I’ve made!” Sometimes it is messy creation that makes me sigh and reach for a dish towel. Sometimes it is a surprising creation that makes me wonder how safe it is to leave it intact. And sometimes it is a silly creation that makes me laugh and congratulate them on a job well done. In the back of my mind, I know that these little beings are capable of way more than a life of “on-demand.”
Please note: the picture below is Little Miss’ piggy.
A bit of sewing…not perfect, but I am slowly starting to accept “not perfect.”
A bit of knitting here for Little Miss…again not perfect, but am going out on a limb here, using a pattern as a guide, and then going the “make your own” route.
And a bit of knitting here for Pie-Pie. This looks extra cute on him, but his head…it just keeps growing and growing, and I think it might just grow out of this before any cold weather hits that might necessitate something wool on one’s head. Oh, well. We know some smaller baby boys.
And a bit of experimental knitting here for charity.
So many projects (more of each of them to follow) and so little time in the day to work on each. I feel as though I am continually shifting from one thing to the next, quietly, easily, and softly. Some of this in-and-out schedule is because of new baby nursing. Some is that we are summer bound. Bare feet, loose flexible schedules, no where you have to be, improvisational meals–like popcorn dinner appetizers, and “okay, let’s just do it” are all what is going on in this summer family home.
The planner in me has itchy fingers. I keep re-copying, updating, and refining my to-do list in my planning book. All the while wishing there where more hours in the day and feeling glad to just be enjoying what I am doing right now. One foot in front of the other. Slow breaths. Remember to enjoy just this moment. Giving thanks. And working each day with love from the heart.
Is it that time already? My mind is barely over early summer strawberry season and now the morning news is talking about what to send in your child’s school lunch bag. Retailers are advertising fall wardrobes full of the latest tween fashions, which I personally just don’t “get.” And then there are those supply lists I see moms have in-hand as they tote their squirmy elementary school kiddos around the big box store wondering why we pay county taxes AND have to supply our child’s classroom with tissues, Purell, chalk, and paper towels.
Sine we choose Montessori school we apparently don’t have a materials list. Apparently, instead of paper towels students use cloth towels to dry hands and just washed snack dishes and a volunteer parent does a few large laundry loads each week. But for the traditionaly schooled, our church recently asked for school supply donations for those children who need papers and pens and whose families simply don’t have the cash this fall.
We went to that store with the round red circle logo and amidst the tall piles of composition books, erasers, and pencil boxes I gathered ’round our kids. I showed them our church bulletin and told them that we were going to give a special gift for a few children who need pens and paper for school. I asked if Mini Mister and Little Miss liked school. Little heads of straight black hair bobbed up and down “yes, I like school.” I asked if they liked learning and if you needed pencils and paper to learn. “Yes.” “Would you be sad if you couldn’t go to school to learn if you didn’t have paper and pencils.” Again, agreement. “Well, some children don’t have the “dollars” to buy paper, so they can’t go to school unless we give them a gift of paper. Would you like to help me pick out some paper to give to them?” “Yes.” And off Mini Mister went choosing which color scissors to put in our cart, which notebook had the coolest cover, and asking, “what else do they need Mama?”
On Sunday, during our drive to church, Mini Mister asked if we needed to give the paper to someone at church so they could give it to the children. I smiled because he remembered why we went shopping. Little Miss marched up to the collection bin and dropped in our small donation. (She then inspected each of the other donation bins as well.) The ladies organizing the Christmas in August effort thanked the kids, and with smiles on their faces, Little Miss and Mini Mister were off to their next endeavor.
I plan to teach them early. I intend to teach them often. And I hope to entice my children to understand how wonderfully good the soul feels when we give of our possession and of ourselves to others. Hopefully we can all make this world a small bit better.
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thank you for stopping by my blog  I am a 35 year old mom to a 4 year old son, a 3 year old daughter, a son born in May, and a wife to my life wonderful. I write in this space when my crafty inspiration strikes or when I get to pondering about how we can live more simply and better connect with the earth around us. We are a family surviving the suburbs, contending with commercialism, and getting to a greener lifestyle. Welcome! ~Abbie a few blogs I like in no particular order Permission © Organizing-Life 2009
All images and designs are property of Organizing-Life. Please do not copy any original designs or photography without written permission. Thank you!
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