Family Entertainment on a Budget

We, as so many, are trying to cut back costs everywhere possible. We have cut out as many “luxuries” as possible and accounted for almost every penny that goes out. Have we given up everything from morning lattes to dry cleaning. One area we haven’t sacrificed is our addiction to good movies. Do we buy them? Not anymore. Do we go to the movies? No, on that one too. However, we have become totally enamoured with Netflix . One reason? We don’t have to get organized enough to get the movie back on time – instead we just mail it in when we are done (even if it takes us weeks to get it back). Another reason? For just over ten dollars a month we can watch as many movies as we like, and now Netflix offers a “watch instantly” feature, which means you now have the choice of watching over 10,000 movies on your computer with the click of a button. Now that is what we call bang for the buck.

Averting a Garage Sale Disaster

I have only hosted one garage sale in my life – and it was a bit of a disaster. Yes, we made money but I ended up giving away almost everything we had in the house. I walked through taking old pots and pans out of the cupboards and throwing a tag on them – hoping to get rid of as much accumulated stuff as possible. In the end I probably spent all the money I earned on new items to replace the old ones I had just sold. I had people showing up at 5 a.m. knocking on the door asking when we were going to start.  I under-priced most items and overpriced a few. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was an amateur at all this and we just started giving things away instead of trying to sell them. Well as times get more economically tight, we have talked about pooling together with some friends and having a joint garage sale. I am not sure if I can face another garage disaster, but before venturing into this domain again, I felt the need to look for a “dummies guide” to garage sales. Luckily for me, I just caught a version of this on Good Morning America and am happy to pass the link on. There are some good tips here for averting a garage sale disaster.

Our Family Budget Report Card

The challenge we set ourselves this month was to try and live on $20 a day. The first of the month we were able to do this remarkably well, and on average we spent only our allotted amount of money. It wasn’t easy and left us all cranky and tired of being so stingy. For the first half of the month - I would give us an A (and I am a tough grader). The second half of the month I wouldn’t want to say that we totally fell off the wagon of our family budget challenge – but we totally fell of the wagon. I can provide all sorts of reasons to rationalize this (unexpected bills, a trip out of town, house guests) but really I have to meet it square in the eye – we get an F for the second half of the month. It doesn’t feel good to publicly declare this – but we have to be honest with ourselves and others – $20 a day just didn’t cut it. All told, our average is a C for the challenge, which technically is passing, but it doesn’t feel like we passed. I look at the lack of savings we have at the end of month and I sigh in annoyance at our balance sheet.  But it’s not all bad. We have learned many things to help us manage our money in the future:

1. Even if we give ourselves more than a $20 a day budget, we need a budget to live by and to follow as closely as possible.

2. We will continue to use cash so that we actually see and feel the amount of money going through our hands each day.

3. We will keep looking at receipts and using coupons, because we saved over $40 this month by doing these two things.

4. We will continue to use cloth bags at the store – in total we received $5 from grocery stores this month for using our own bags.

5. Items that we consume a lot of (milk, yogurt, bread, eggs) we will buy in bulk.

6. We will continue to cut out luxuries (I haven’t bought chocolate the second half of this month to make up for our spending sins).

7. We have to spread out our spending.  If we get an item of clothing or book one pay period we have to wait until the next pay period to get something else.

8. Spending money now doesn’t feel good and we need to preserve that psychology. That might sound strange, but it is true. If we ever want to get ahead, we have got to spend less and save more – that is all there is to it!

Why Our Family Budget Challenge Looks More Like A Crash Diet

I have never been one to diet. If my pants feel too snug I know I have to eat less and walk more. I have watched friends struggle with trying to lose weight and many have moaned to me about the horrors of a “crash diet” telling me that it seems like it is destined to fail before it even begins. Well, I sort of know what they mean now. As many of you know our family has been consumed with a budget challenge this month, and we are trying to live on $20 a day. It started well, we got half way through the month and all our pennies were accounted for and we did not go over-budget. Like all good crash diets though, this sort of radical change is difficult to sustain. Since the 15th we have felt disillusioned with our budget challenge, as so many different expenses have come up – putting us way over our $20 dollars a day budget. We have had medical bills, packages to send overseas, a trip out of state, and a good friend’s birthday to try and fit into our budget. And just like a crash dieter that decides to eat the bag of cookies because they just ate the ice cream – we too feel like it is all unravelling a bit.  The upshot is – although we are still on average not spending more than $20 cash a day on ”normal expenses” - we have spent way more money than we thought we were going to and have had to dip into our ear-marked savings to pay for it. That hasn’t felt good. Just like the crash dieter who skips a meal the next day to make up for the previous days over-indulgence, we are now trying to spend even less to help compensate for the other expenses we had.  The problem with crash diets is that they really don’t work for the long term.  So that we don’t “come of the rails” at the end of the month – our family now needs to assess how our budgeting can work in the long run by anticipating expenses, budgeting for them, and by being careful of where and how we spend our money. 

How Do You Spell Relief? C-O-S-T-C-O

I have a confession to make – I have never been a huge fan of Costco. It always seems too busy, too big, and too overwhelming. I have also felt that you tend to walk out with more than you really need and impulse more than you really should. One of the things we wanted to do in the second half of our family budget challenge, was get ahead on some of the basics, spending more money upfront, leaving us with less to get by on for the rest of the month. Our solution: a trip to dreaded Costco. Boy, how things change when you are trying to save money. This week we went to Costco to stock up on some basics, and I kept lingering on every aisle saying aloud to my husband “Do you know how much this is in the grocery store?” Now I am sure that you don’t win on all items at Costco, but I felt we really did. We bought a half pound of yeast for $3.59 (two small sachets cost me $1 and only made one loaf of bread). We bought six boxes of penne pasta for $6.00 when one was costing me $1.76 for the same box in the grocery store. We bought cleaning items as well as the basics of milk, eggs, yogurt, and cheese and figured out that on each item we were saving up to a third or half the price we had previously paid elsewhere. We realized we were in risk of what many do at superstores like this one – buy too much because “it is cheaper.” So you have to use common sense when shopping in such places:

• Make a list before you walk in.
• Don’t impulse. If you see something you want that is not on your list, make note of it and put it on your list for a future shop.
• Make sure you have the room for what you are buying in bulk (if the milk goes bad because you don’t have room for three gallons what was the point of buying it?)
• Make sure you can finish the item. Although the avocados were cheaper we would have to use ten of them in the week – a bit of stretch for us.
• Don’t make it a habit to shop in these sort of places more than once a week (as over time you might spend more not less).
• Make sure you can get there often enough to make it worth the membership cost. If not, don’t join.

We walked out having spent more than half of what we had for the rest of the month, and we think realistically that we will have to “borrow” from savings to get by this month. But we did notice that since our shop on the 15th, we haven’t had to go grocery shopping once, and we are creatively using all the items we have in. So once again, we will keep you posted on our budget challenge – but more lessons are being learned every day!

Back to Bartering

The other day I caught a segment on Good Morning America which relates to what I have been writing a lot about lately – saving money. It was about how people are exchanging goods and services as a result of the economic pressures many are experiencing. I thought this demonstrates American “grit” and creativity at its best – when things aren’t going your way, change the tide if you can.  Some of the tips for bartering included:

Ask yourself what you have to trade (books, cds, dvds, clothes, toys, or a talent).

Ask yourself what you want to trade your item for (what is it you need).

Find a person to trade with. This could be a friend, family member, or neighbor. You could have a “swap” party for the block or with colleagues. Or you could seek out one of many online services that helps you exchange items. A few of these include: Barterbee, uSwapIt, Swaptree, Trade a Favor, and Zwaggle.

Happy swapping, bartering, and exchanging. At Mom’s Favorite, we think this is just the beginning of these services, and anticipate that this family will see this as yet another way to save those precious pennies.

Mom’s Family Budget Update

As many of you know, our family is in the midst of a $20 dollars a day challenge. To say that it has been challenging would obviously be repetitive, but it would also be true. We are only half-way through and we are fatigued by the whole process. We are sick of talking about money, looking at receipts, chasing down lost cents, and keeping tabs on everything. I am just being honest here. We also worry that this really isn’t sustainable going forward. However, saying all of that, our family agrees that we have learned some incredibly important lessons so far. They include:

We now see where our money is going and on what. And guess what? It is mostly on food. I tallied up all of our shopping costs so far to find that we spent almost $30 on milk, $25 on tomatoes (can you believe that???), and $10 on apples. Are we going to give up those items? No, but if we are going to need that much of one product, than we need to buy it in bulk. (We should also consider growing tomatoes for goodness sakes!).

We have realized that cutting costs has to be a priority. So we have given up dry cleaning, dinner out, driving long distances, and certain luxury goods. We also realize that we need to cut costs further or increase income to actually get ahead.

We probably spent more last month than we did so far this month – and yet $20 dollars a day adds up to be a lot of money in a month. It is a wake-up call that we are still buying & spending too much.

In the second half of the month, we are going to change it up a bit. Instead of shopping everyday (which is exhausting) we are going to do a large shop at the beginning of the pay cycle to see if our money will go further. We noticed that we were going to the grocery store every single day, and not necessarily taking advantage of 2 for 1 deals or other discounts because we didn’t want to spend more than our allotted $20. That means we will have less cash to spend for the rest of the month, but hopefully we won’t need it as much.

Little things do add up. In using coupons, bringing in our own cloth bags, and checking our receipts, we have saved more than $20 since July 1st, which isn’t too bad (and it is a whole day’s spend!).

So although we aren’t done, we are going to see if spending our money upfront on groceries & household items works. We will keep you updated on our progress. But continue to wish us luck & share your cost saving tips with us as well – we need all the help we can get.

Reasonable Health Food For Your Body & Soul

I love the concept of “soul food,” though I find food categorized as such a bit too rich for me. But the idea of “soul food” is a very important one – it reminds us that food, health, and our very well being & soul are interconnected. As such, what we eat matters. There is no big surprise there. Even on a family budget we try and pay attention to what we are eating. A lot of research suggests that the cheapest foods in the grocery store are usually the ones that are worse for you. In the last few weeks of trying to only spend $20 a day, I believe this claim. I have been shocked to see what is on sale for $1 or less – mostly cheap, sweet condiments & relishes, candy products, and what can only be described as “junk food.” But there are many foods out there that are reasonable & healthy. Some of these foods recently have had attention brought to them in a great article from the NY Times, “The 11 Healthy Foods You Aren’t Eating.” This list was originally put together by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D. at Men’s Health Magazine, and has received wide circulation recently. The eleven with Mom’s Favorite twist & tips for preparation include:

1. Beets: Buy fresh whole beets and roast them in foil with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Price: $2.99 for a bunch.
2. Cabbage: Buy a head of cabbage and grate it with vinegar, oil, sugar, sunflower seeds, and shredded carrots for a healthy version of slaw. Price: $0.69/lb.
3. Swiss Chard. This is a largely ignored vegetable in the West, but it is cheap, and easily prepared. The NY Times suggests simply sauteing it with a bit of olive oil. Price: $2-3 a bunch.
4. Cinnamon. Once you buy it, it lasts forever! Put it in hot chocolate (not kidding), in bread recipes, on top of toast or cereal, and even sprinkle a bit onto ice cream or yogurt for a special kick. Price: $3-5 for a bottle of ground cinnamon.
5. Pomegranate juice: This comes in the pure juice form, which I find to be quite expensive. Instead buy a few pomegranates in season, pluck out the seeds, and simply pop them on top of a salad (or in your mouth). Price: $4-5 for 6-10 fluid ounces (but a little goes a long way!).
6. Dried plums: Buy prunes in bulk and store them properly, and they will last a long time. You can puree them and add them as a replacement for sugar and/or butter in most recipes. Price: $2-3 for a bag.
7. Pumpkin seeds: These are pretty reasonable in bulk or already packaged. Roast them in a dry skillet or baking sheet to bring out their natural “nuttiness” and them simply snack on them or add them to a salad. Price: $2.00 a bag.
8. Sardines: These are not my favorite. But the NY Times suggests that you “choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with Dijon mustard and onions as a spread.” Price: $3.50
9. Turmeric: A reasonable spice, simply add to eggs, baked vegetables, or rice for color, flavor, and nutrients. Price: $4-5 a bottle.
10. Blueberries: My personal favorite. Buy them frozen or fresh. Eat them plain, throw them into cereal, bake a cobbler or some bread, and these will make any dish “pow” with both nutrients & flavor. A cost saving tip from Mom’s Favorite is to buy blueberries now when stores are doing “2 for 1″ deals, rinse them, and store them in the freezer (in their own container). They freeze well, last a long time, and you don’t have to buy them out of season. Price: $2-4 a large container.
11. Pumpkin. I love pumpkin and canned pumpkin is reasonable (at our Whole Foods it sold for 99 cents last Winter) and we make desserts, breads, and side dishes out of it. I have roasted pumpkin as you would a squash (flesh side down with olive oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg) and though messy, this tastes amazing (buy the small “pie pumpkins” – not the large jack-o-lantern pumpkins). Price: $1-2 a can.

This is Mom’s Favorite adapted and shared list, and I think it is easy to see that many of these foods are not only good for the soul, but that they can be good for the pocket-book too.