Quality Investments

Ok, Two posts in one day is kind of strage, but it did not quite fit with the other post.

When making a purchase, think about its usage and how much things really cost.

I have to replace a 4 slice toaster sometime, I am not sure when because it is currently working as a two slice toaster and I am GOING to find out what the best toaster is out there before I buy another one.

I paid $20 for this toaster about 8 months ago, that means it cost me $2.50 per month to make toast. That is pretty expensive toast, don't you think? It was a cheap toaster, I needed a toaster, but I am not happy with the money I wasted. Is a $10 toaster a better deal if it lasts only 6 months? Yes, it cost $1.66 a month at that rate, but say it only toasts two slices, is it still a better deal? Possibly, but maybe not, because being used twice as much, it may only last half as long, at that rate, it is now over $3 a month to use.

I am not going to be replacing my $20 toaster with another cheap toaster, but rather hoping to find one that will last more than a year. A $30 toaster that last two years only cost about $1.25 a month.

Now, even at $2.50 a month, it is still saving us money to have a toaster, that saves us from going out to eat, I can put a bagel in the toaster, add 1 Tbsp cream cheese and I have a good meal for under 50 cents a day. When I was working at Breakfast time, I could not even buy a bagel at work for under 75 cents.

How much do you REALLY pay for what you own?

I got a New Toy

Ok, so its just a piece of bake ware, but its a toy to me.
I have had the worst luck with homemade pizza. It's a favorite dish around here, DH and Bug absolutely adore pizza, I think the only thing dh likes more is Mexican.

Well, I have a few different crust recipes, but no matter how I rolled it, tossed it, or stretched it, my poor cookie sheet just was not a good pizza pan. With the gift card from my in laws, a trip to Meijer (not a smart idea, it was a mad house) and 14.99 gone, I got a HUGE baking stone. Not only will it come in handy for pizza, but also french bread, cookies, and odd shaped breads.

I plan on learning how to make things like pita bread this year and enjoying my stone a lot.

Being frugal, does not mean being cheap, quality things get more use because you are not tossing things that got ruined.
My baking pans are old and not very good (the best one though, is the OLDEST one inherited from my grandmother, back then they actually made things to last)

New Years Resolution?

Ok, Technically its not a NEW resolution, its one I have been working on for MANY years, My goals for 2008 are to become more financially stable.
I recently joined Frugalvillage.com and was really encouraged by some of their challenges to stay within budget.
My Budget for 2008?
$70 monthly for gas
$200 monthly for groceries
$103 Phone, Internet and Cable
$752.54 Mortgage (this includes a little extra towards principle every month)
$165 Utilities (Gas, Electric, and Water) l
$145 Car Insurance, I hope its lower than that, but I wont know for at least a month but we do know its going down from its $182 mark as we will only be insuring one vehicle this year.
Our tax refund covers our Property Taxes and House Insurance for the year.

My goal is to keep tabs on where the bills go and to make sure all extra income is going towards something useful. And to get the untilities down a bit, hopefully we will also be able to refinance the house in the springtime.

Frugal Gift

I do not usually like Budget 101, but in the crafts section this past week I saw the COOLEST gift for my Brothers in Law. http://budget101.com/crafts/fcp4.htm
I could not do it 100% the way the directions tell you to because I could not get the hands off the clock, but for $4 plus a battery, We have a beautiful clock with a wedding photo now how cool is that for a frugal gift.

I am waiting on my mother in law to email me a better photo of other BIL and SIL because the first one she sent was too dark, they may just get an IOU because I need a Perfect Photo first.

Crunchy Cookies

Lands End sells these really amazing cookies for $20 for 1lb. To me that is a ridiculous amount to spend on cookies or almost anything else for that matter.

I use Nabisco Famous Wafers (chocolate wafer cookies in a yellow package, sold in our Kroger near the ice cream cones) for $3.99 for 40 cookies, I dip these in white chocolate, a half a pound of chocolate goes a LONG way. and add pulverized candy canes to the top, or other varieties of sprinkles.

A pound of MY crunchy cookies cost a mere $6 and would be less if I ordered the cookies in bulk or found them on sale, the chocolate cost me 1.79 for 1 lb, so 89 cents, the candy canes, I use the mini ones, cost 1.50 and I use half the package so they are 75 cents. $5.63 divided by at least 3 people who I give these out to (40 cookies is too much for any one family especially when used as part of a NO Bake Cookie tray) I package them on plates with Reynolds wrap so altogether this recipe costs me $1.87 per family.

Three other cookie recipes complete the tray and I have never seen anyone unhappy.

Aldi and Price Book

Ok, I dont actually HAVE a price book, but I do stay aware of what things cost and where.

Today, I went to Aldi, I had a few things I needed to help the Bare cupboards and Aldi has the best prices even with sales. One of those things, Kidney Beans, At Kroger they are on sale for 50 cents per can, a typical sale price around here, and a good price for most people, at Aldi however, the same can of Kidney beans is regular only 39 cents per can, that's an 11 cent difference per can.
I know 11 cents isn't much, but it all adds up.
Another Item that I was surprisingly shocked to get, Aldi carries a generic version of Rotel Tomatoes, a favorite in our house, 49 cents a can, Here is where the savings really come out, our local Shoppers has Rotel's on sale, for $1 per can, that's a 51 cent difference. Now there are many more deals like this, Aldi brand is just as good for most of their items and so far, the only ones my family hasn't liked are things that we really should not be buying anyhow (like little Debbie snack cakes)

Basically, be sure you know what your prices are, know where you can get the best deals you can for your family and do not be afraid to try a new brand if its cheaper.

Chaos, Confusion, and Confessions

This has been anything but a frugal week.
For starters, it seems when one thing goes wrong, the rest seem to fall apart too.
I did stay out of the grocery stores this past week, but I don't think it helped us since I was not doing a pantry challenge.

Yes, we have eaten at home a bit, but the bit certainly hasn't been enough.
Tonight, we are having a freezer meal, tomorrow hopefully the same, except tomorrow, my goal is to have it be MY freezer meal and not the out of the box kind.
Today its all about Angelfood Ministries We are having Salisbury Steak we got from there and Green beans that came from them, the Baked Potatoes are the last of the Kroger's just before Thanksgiving sale, when I got them for a good price for baking potatoes.

I guess I had better go pull down that meatloaf now then, huh? Ok, that's done, now tomorrow I wont have any excuses to not have it. Today I have been cleaning a lot, I finally got my furniture rearranged for Crystal's Make Your Home a Haven. My living room looks pretty good, next I have to tackle the dining area so I can take a picture and post it on the other blog.
I guess that's as frugal as I have been as cleaning doesn't cost me anything and actually saves me money in the long run as I don't need to go get something I found while de-cluttering, there is always at least one or two things I find that I have been missing.

Cheap winter meals, Chili

Well, we haven't exactly been as frugal as we could have or should have this past few weeks. I have been busy with doctors appointments, tests, and still have some to go.

I guess frugality is truly a seasonal thing, some weeks or months we do really well, but when Mom is barely functional, I guess frugality goes out the window.

Tonight, though, I am making Chili, which will net us a minimum of 2-3 meals out of a mere maybe $5-6

Now to figure, out of 17.90 worth of ground beef I got 14 packages for the freezer, that is 1.27 for the ground beef, my quart of tomatoes with chilies cost me 83 cents, and I canned them last season (I figured that cost in an argument I won, but it was still worth the effort) The beans, I use two cans at never more than 50 cents a piece, eventually I will be trying to use dried beans, but I am not that confident in my bean making skills yet. The onion, cost merely 3 cents (thank you sales) and the seasoning, may cost a whole quarter, but I doubt it (I have never measured how much chili powder fits in my HUGE jumbo sized jar, but I know I have had it for almost a year and its not half gone yet, and I have made LOTS of chili)
So the grand total $3.13, plus my loaf of bread that doesn't cost $1 and that will give us at least two or three meals.

Unfortunately, I don't use a recipe for chili, so I can share it, I toss the ground beef in with a quart of home canned rotel tomatoes add onion, granulated garlic, chili powder and beans. Maybe a can of Corn or mushrooms if I remember, if I add both of them, it only ups the cost by about 82 cents. still under $5

Homeschooling While Sick

Although not a totally frugal post, I wanted to share this to remember that its Okay to need to take a break.

I have a rare condition that right now is getting the better of me. Bug is home schooled.
Put those together and some days, you don't get much accomplished. Since Wednesday last week I have barely been able to get out of bed. I get up, do somethings and try my hardest to not fall back asleep while she is playing.

Children learn even when scheduled learning is not taking place. Bug is playing computer games, will be getting regular games that stimulate the mind, and is learning to care for a sick person. She is doing really well at all three tasks.

I do not need to send her to school because she isn't getting a total education at home, she is still getting a more complete education here and she is learning skills that will take her further in life.
No school can teach her how to care for the sick, no school can allow her to be happy all day and learn all the way til bedtime (homework that lasts well into the night DOES NOT COUNT as they don't remember much if any of it later)

The Sorted Pantry

Oh how I would love a REAL pantry, but that's not going to happen for a while, and when it does, it will be a space saver version in my kitchen (we plan on removing some useless cabinets to place two prefabricated pantries in that area)

In the meantime, I use the closet that is under our stairs as a pantry, it holds a short and a tall set of metal wire shelves, I also have a set of these shelves in my kitchen, they are strong and hold quite a bit. I got them in store for about a third of the cheapest I can find them online though.

In my pantry right now, its a bit naked as we have been living out of it a lot this past month since we are trying to avoid dipping into the savings account.
We have
2 cans of Tuna (will be replaced when I find it for under 50cents a can)
4 cans Re fried Beans
5 cans Kidney Beans
1 can Chili beans
3 cans Black Beans
2 cans Great Northern Beans
2 cans Pork and beans
3 cans baked Beans
1 can vegetarian beans (pork and beans with no pork)
Can you tell we use a lot of beans?
5 cans Mushrooms
6 cans Corn
1 can Potatoes
1 can Sauerkraut
1 can Peas
2 cans Pineapple
and about 8 jars home canned Peaches
5 bottles Barbecue Sauce
1 jug cranberry Juice
1 container Miracle whip
1 5lb bag All Purpose flour (I also have bread kits for my bread machine out of a 5lb bag of Bread flour, 1 5lb bag of Rye Flour)
3 cans Green Enchilada sauce
2 containers Bread crumbs
2 6packs of Kroger Soda
1 jar of GOOD peanut Butter (1 jar of Peanut Butter Cookie Peanut Butter too)
several cans of Beef Broth (I couldn't get at them to count them without knocking the stack over, but I should not need Beef Broth for another year or so at the rate we use it, lol
We also have 6 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
4 cans of ready to eat soup
and 3 cans of Chili (lazy mans Nachos)

We also have 5 hamburger Helpers (yuck)
5 pasta roni, 7 boxes macaroni and cheese, 7 rice a roni, 5 packets onion soup mix, and 1 packet spaghetti seasoning.

4 boxes pasta, 1 taco shells hard, 1 flour tortillas, 32 oz quick oats, and one box of Frosted Flakes (til tomorrow when they get used to make treats)

And that is the total of my pantry. Tomorrow, after I go shopping for my empty refrigerator and freezer, I will share those lists.

Waste Not, Want Not

This morning, while making DH's Lunch, I stood at the counter thinking that packing a lunch was supposed to save me a significant amount of money, after all, he isn't going out and spending $5 at the local fast food place every single day, right?

However, rising prices seem to have lead to the cost of his daily homemade lunch DOUBLING.
Granted, it still cost a lot less than going out, but why did the cost double?
Looking at how I made his lunch, I realized that, while he was not taking a larger variety of foods, he was however, taking more meat and cheese in his sandwiches. He was needing more protein to get through his afternoons, and the carb snacks were making him drag through the afternoon.

I think we may have to find a protein snack to replace the extra meat in his lunch.
While all prices have risen, we need to find ways to use less expensive ingredients to their highest potential. This time of year our favorite nut goes on sale (we don't buy them throughout the year because they are priced way too high the rest of the time) so I guess instead of a large sandwich, he will get a handful of Pistachios or Almonds. I am already cutting his cheese on his sandwich in half (my 8 ounce package of sliced Provolone went from a sale of $1 last year to a sale of $1.99 this, but get this, not only did the price go up by double, the size went DOWN, its now only 6 ounces, so I lost 1/4 of our cheese and got the price increase too)

It may be time to start thinking about using the deli now, as I can buy exactly the amount I need for the week each week.
Waste Not, Want Not, No sense in paying for things that will go bad over the weekend (when DH refuses to eat sandwiches, who can blame him)

Once A Month Cooking

Today we got our local grocery ads. I was totally befuddled. Of course we all know prices are going up, but I guess that means its time to start more cooking from scratch.

So what did I do today? I made a list of Twenty meals and some side dishes. Eight Chicken meals and Twelve Beef, all of which require very few convenient components. (Tortillas is the main one that I have yet to make from scratch) I also came up with a few sides that can be made ahead (twice baked Potatoes, potato wedges, Tater skins, hash brown casserole, Broccoli casserole) most of the rest of our sides are Rice or steamed veggies or salads or Pasta sides, none of which taste good if pre-made)

Now, I do not actually do technical once a month cooking, but I will do Cooking Kits.
I precook ground beef with onions and garlic to be used in things like, Tater Tot Casserole, Chimichangas, Burritos, Tacos (yes, we eat A LOT of Mexican foods), stroganoff and spaghetti Sauce. Altogether, I fry up 8 1/2 lbs of the ground beef for those meals and package another 1 1/2 lbs of meat into patties for hamburgers. I use quite a bit of meat in my spaghetti sauce because its a Huge batch. I use the recipe my grandpa used to make to feed their family of eight two meals, but it feeds my family closer to six meals.

Grandpa's Spaghetti Sauce (my version)
3lbs Ground Beef
1 large diced Onion
1/2 a head of Garlic Crushed and sliced
2 Quarts Diced Tomatoes
1 15 ounce can tomato Sauce
1 6 ounce can of Tomato Paste
1 8 ounce can mushroom drained (optional)
2 packets store brand spaghetti seasoning (looking for a substitute ore homemade version of this)

Brown Beef, Onion, and Garlic til no longer pink. Drain, add Tomatoes, sauce, Paste, mushrooms and seasoning. Simmer 30 minutes, adjust seasonings (to me, that means Add LOTS of Oregano, Basil and Dehydrated Garlic)
Reduce heat to low, simmer 2 and a half hours. stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

after 2 1/2 hours, begin water for Spaghetti (always first nights meal from the sauce) come back in 20 minutes, add spaghetti and cook ten minutes)
Put away leftover sauce into quart bags or prepare 2 batches (9 inch square) lasagna, and put the rest into bags each holding 3 cups or so) I usually end up with 5 quarts of sauce leftover.

When I use the leftover sauce, I thin each bag with 1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce.

How much do you spend?

On Gas?
On a Meal out?
On a meal at home?

DH works fairly close to home (about a 15 minute drive) Has a car that averages 25mpg city, and fills up the rest of the tank about once a week (we don't let it get below half if we can help it)
We put in $20 a week (give or take, that's what it averages out to) We could often eliminate one tank every 3 weeks or so though.

On a meal out, fast food cost our family of three between $13 and $18, Slow food, costs us the same because Bug does not order (she shares with us)

On a meal at home? Are you ready for this? A meal of Tacos (same as we would get at one of the two favorite taco places down the street) cost us about the cost of feeding ONE of us there, between $3 and $6 depending on how elaborate I am.
I know that sounds like a lot for tacos at home, but lets be real.
Summer is over (and my tomatoes are JUST NOW ripening) so I have had to purchase those. That's nearly $1.79 just for one tomato. Taco meat cost me a whopping $1.36 (including seasoning) an onion is pennies. Shells range quite a bit, but they cost about $1 a package and cheese just went up through the roof, what a year ago I could routinely feed my family for on 25 cents worth of cheese NOW cost our family 41 cents almost double. And my saffron rice is still 89cents a tube (which makes up for the cost of the saffron to make it from scratch because I can't ruin the mix,lol)
So total that up, $5.45 give or take a few cents.
While that isn't bad, I think we could do better.

Last night we had a glorious meal of Surf and Turf, ok, a bit elaborate, but DH deserved something special and going out wasn't an option.
Shrimp, on sale $2.66 lb (buy one at $7.99 get two free)
steak $2per pound which is how much we used.
Mushrooms, purchased at Sam's, 33 cents a can
two Onions (same pennies as for the tacos, I got 4-2lb bags for 33 cents each a few weeks ago, they will last half of winter...hopefully, but doubtfully)
baked potatoes, 4 small probably about 10 cents total (out of a 10lb bag for 1.49)
Butter and sour cream, about a quarter.
now to calculate.
$5.39
ok, so now tell me, why do we have think we have to eat like paupers because we don't have money?
That steak dinner cost less than my homemade tacos.
If I didn't buy the stuff on sale, or in bulk (which is how I shop) This meal still would have only cost me less than $12 total.

I know I haven't mastered an inexpensive menu, but at the same time, if you start somewhere in getting those finances in line with your goals, you will be further ahead than if you just wait til you are bringing in more money.

Where does the Money go?

All money that comes in has a place....where is it all going?

DH brings home $339 a week, of that $240 automatically goes into our Money Market account so it can build interest, that is used to pay our mortgage, and the interest, well, that's savings, that I am being PAID rather than me having to add it in myself.

$20 of it goes in the gas tank (DH's car gets great mileage, we use about $60 a month in gas)
That leaves me with $79

Now to pay the bills, We pay out, on the 15th of the month, for Mortgage, $727.54 the overage that I stuck in The Money market pays the Utilities, leaving a mere $6 to continue growing (but we also got interest on the whole month of having the rest in as well.

We have No car payment, but the insurance is 181.96 per month this is taken out of the money added to the checking, and only comes out 11 months per year. This leaves us $214 for luxury and food. Our taxes and Insurance are put in a CD in April, so they earn money from our tax refunds.

Cheap Meal Sick Kids

Yesterday my bug spiked a fever of 102.7 she was miserable. A little Tylenol and a lot of sleep went a long way to make her feel better. The Generic versions of Tylenol work just as well. Even though Bug is 5 we are still using infant Tylenol and Baby size doses because we don't want her having a lot of meds and getting a high drug tolerance like her momma has.

On Wednesday I spent the day in the hospital having tests run to check on the function of my shunt. Before we left, I made dinner (although we didn't eat it when we got home because it stunk-Hospitals make everything smell bad) but Taco soup is one of the worlds Cheapest meals.

3/4 lb ground beef (1.34)
1 Can Kidney Beans (.50)
1 can Chili Beans (.50)
1 quart Tomatoes (1.00)
1 packet Onion soup mix (.39)
1 quart water (free from Drips)
1 can corn (.50)
1 packet Taco seasoning (.50)

throw all in crock pot undrained all day on low. Tastes best a day or two after its been cooked

$4.23 I get approximately 3 meals out of this, 2 soups and a taco Salad We serve the soup with either Home baked bread or Baked Potatoes. The salad, is just bagged Lettuce, 1 tomato and a bag of Doritos (making none of the 3 meals over $5 for our family and we get lunch the following day out of all three as well.

The Cost of a Loaf of Bread

How much do you pay for store bought bread?
Here, it cost about $2.19 for whole wheat bread (and thats the cheap bread)

Using Expensive whole wheat flour at $0.82 per pound 4 1/2 cups per pound
Yeast $1.93 lb 112 teaspoons per pound
Powdered milk $0.55 quart
Sugar $0.72 lb 2 1/4 cups per pound 108 teaspoons per pound
Bread Flour $0.82 lb 4 1/2 cups per pound
Butter $2.50 lb 32 Tablespoons per pound
Salt $0.33 lb 113 teaspoons per pound

At that rate,
Going through the recipe for a 1 1/2 lb loaf
1 cup of Milk $0.13
3 Tablespoons of Water (free from the drips)
4 Teaspoons of Sugar $0.027
1 Tablespoon Butter $0.078
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour $0.273
1 1/2 cups Bread Flour $0.273
3/4 Teaspoon Salt (do we really need to figure this one out?)$0.0029
1 teaspoon active Dry yeast (bought in bulk) $0.017

Now to add it all up, 80.09 cents per loaf
compared to 2.19 on sale, 1.49 is the Aldi price. so I think I better get to work making a loaf of Bread, since I can get the ingredients Cheaper than the prices I used in the example

Joyful Momma

While Highlighting the authors, bloggers, or websites that have blessed me by helping our journey, its time to highlight Joyful Momma.

I purchased a wonderful package that included some of Kimberly's work, I was very impressed. I actually met her through a weblist I no longer even read but I could so relate to her financial situation at the time. She had been through a lot with her husbands job and was asking for prayer. At this same time, the company my husband worked for decided that it was not in their best interest to pay their employees. We found a new job and Lost $2 an hour worth of income and all the overtime, after that job didn't last, my husband got a third job, at yet another $1 an hour pay cut. Now no matter where you live, pay cuts are not easy. We had Just bought our house that June and in 9 months went from making nearly $28,000 per year, to just over $20,000, I only wish that I had bought her book back then instead of waiting.

Thriving on One Income is one of the best books for those in need. It offers a good reality check as well as a lot of spiritual meat. She also has a book entitled Grow your Own Groceries which we already try to do, but now I have a lot more inspiration to keep trying, maybe one day my garden will actually produce enough to actually can (first I have to get it organized like she suggests)

Menu Plan for October 15-21

This weeks menu in No particular order since I only know What we are having Today and Wednesday at this point.

Monday- Tacos, Corn and refried beans (pantry Meal)
Tater Tot Casserole
Wednesday we are having Crock Pot Chili as we wont be home most of the day thanks to my tests.
Burgers with all the fixings and Potato Wedges
Taco Salad (fixed with leftover CHili)
Spaghetti with homemade sauce and Meatballs
Homemade Pizza

Looking at how they came out on the list, I think it just might stay this way as its a good progression to not havign nasty leftovers every day. And my total grocery list, includes nothing more than Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Doritos, I have EVERYTHING else we need already in the house, How cool is that. I can live on a $5 weekly budget, if only that were truly the case. Last week I got Better than excellent deals on Chicken, tortillas, Ground Beef and a whole lot of other stuff. So I stocked up with $72 worth of groceries, so for the next 3 weeks $5 is more like all I can really afford to spend. Although I do have some tucked away in case we get another fabulous sale....its not at Kroger or Meijer this week though.

Cindy's Porch

Shop at home is her motto. Dh loves her site as well because of how much learning to CHECK before we bought has helped us.

We have a grocery budget of only around $80 a month plus whatever DH gets in overtime in a month and how low I can keep the Electric and Gas bills as they are the only ones that move.
Every month, we print her Inventory lists and dig through the pantry, fridge, and freezers and make our lists. Last month I was so impressed since I actually had enough to make more than a weeks worth of meals just off of our stash at hand. I had forgotten most of that stuff was even there since the freezer had gotten buried with a laundry basket and forgotten about.

Hillbilly Housewife

I think one of the most frugal sites I have ever found for ANYTHING would be Miss Maggie's Hillbilly Housewife. Her site happens to be the one I recomend to almost anyone who asks for anything frugal. I have gotten ideas, recipes, and more inspiration from this site than Any others I have found in a LONG time.

I come across Lots and Lots of frugal findings almost every day. I usually file them away and can never find them again. This Blog is specifically so I can find what I have learned from and refer back to it at a later time.

Thank you to all the bloggers who have shared your frugal findings and blessed others with them already.