Grocery Scrooge - Meat

While I am not personally an avid fan of anything that has a history of breathing (bones, blood, gristle and veins.... blech), we consume a lot of meat. The men in my house aren't huge eaters (thank God), but they definitely look at me funny when I try to sneak a meatless meal in once in a while, and my husband makes a big show of getting out some yoghurt or cheese while mumbling about protein.

A little while ago I did a random months tally of our grocery bills, and I have to say I nearly lost bowel control on the spot.

SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS.

For those of you who don't think that's very much - that's a $20 bill per DAY.

Granted, that included all household supplies, toiletries and baby needs, but it seems a bit much to me for three adults and a 20lb drool machine.

Obviously, something needed to be done.

So, what were we burning all of that money on?

Well, the occasional pre-packaged pizza, for sure. And cheese.

But I think it was the meat that was killing us.

So here are my MEAT MONEY tips:

(don't read this if you are a meat snob)

1) I get a 5 pound tube of ground beef at PriceSmart for between $11 - $14 (prices fluctuate). When I get it home, I cut it (still in the plastic) into 5 pieces and wrap them individually for freezing. This is WAY cheaper than buying the individual packs. For those of you that prefer extra lean ground beef (I have a sensitivity to cooked fat, so I know all about that), I just rinse the meat with hot water when it's almost done cooking.

2) Instead of buying different cuts of beef and pork for stirfry's, stroganoff and all manner of cooking, I cut up a cheap roast (or pork loin) into cubes and steaks. I know, I know, it's not the SAME, but we are talking about when you need to save money, and this is SO MUCH cheaper.

3) For tuna, I purchase the enormous can at costco (unless I hit a wicked sale on the small cans). I drain the can at home and using a heaped 1/2 cup measure, portion it out in to ziplocks, which I freeze. I got 12 out of my last can (but I forget how much I paid for it - maybe $8) and each baggie makes 2 sandwiches.

4) Sandwhich meat? Just say NO. That stuff is BAD for you. They are charging you $15 a kilo for pig lips and *ssholes peppered with nitrates. Okay, enough preaching.

5) Okay, and here's my weakness. Chicken. I just can't stomach the little wings and thighs. They still look so... chicken like. I tried. I really did - it was so much cheaper. But I'll go vegan before I do that with any regularity. So what we do is get the $26, 4 Kilo Box of frozen chicken breasts from PriceSmart. I know, I know. There's meat protein in it. But it's that or no meat for me. Yuckies....

And after all of that, you can always do what my friend does to stretch the budget. "Essence of Meat"... which means just use a little bit of meat in the meal and increase the amounts of your cheaper ingredients.

Thrifty Christmas

I am pretty sure that everyone out there is thinking about cutting back this year for Christmas - I know I am. Aside from the complete absence of extra money to throw around, there's something so alluring about returning to the earthy, homey goodness of what Christmas is supposed to be. Here's what I've done so far:

We are just starting out as a family, so I didn't actually have any decorations. This may horrify you, but I hit my local Bibles For Missions and got a box full of garlands, wreaths, stockings and baubles for $10 or $15 bucks.

Also... (deep breath)... I bought second hand gifts for my daughter. A wooden rocking horse for $10 and a big bag of duplo for $3.

I am planning ahead too, so most of my gifts are going to be homemade, and our activities will be social as opposed to costly. I am even shopping a bit now for the food stuffs to get in on early sales.

One of my best finds was a big box of vintage christmas cards for $1, so I won't have to buy the cookie cutter ones from wal-mart.

What I am really trying to say is that I think one of the best ways you can save money this Christmas is by living deliberately - not by obligation. Slow down. Choose. Don't get caught up in our strive yourself to death culture. Take time this week (while you've still got time to plan) and think about what really matters to you, what your priorities are. Dream about what you want from this season, while you celebrate the great gift that God gave us. After that, it's easy to allocate money and time where it needs to go.

This year, my dream is that we will have a childhood Christmas - a crazy, eclectic tree, gifts from the heart, snow, hot chocolate, friends and stockings hung from the fire place. I want no part of the frenzied consumer death march that most people engage in. I want quiet evenings laying on the couch by the fire reading, playing & talking. I want love. Peace. Warmth.

Mmmmm....

Roughing It - Homemade Laundry Soap 1.0, The Review

Sorry for my long absence, faithful readers! I had a busy week or so!

Okay Folks, here it is: The long promised homemade detergent review:

The recipe I used gets 6 stars out of 5 for cost effectiveness,

but only a 4 out of 5 for performance. I find that it works fine on most stuff, but for the really dirty (like pretty much anything a baby touches), it needs a boost. I had a box of oxy clean on hand and a scoop of that made a big difference. Seeing as oxy clean recommends a scoop in every load anyways, you could argue that the handmade detergent is fine, but I am going to try a new recipe when I run out.

Recommendation: If you want to give it a try, use a different recipe than I did, or wait for me to find a better one! I did read somewhere that adding extra washing soda boosts the cleaning power, so I am going to try that when I run out of oxy clean!

Roughing It - SPA 2.0

(continued)

Now on to a very touchy subject for thousands of women out there who spend between $100 and $300 every 6-8 weeks.

As I mentioned before, I colored my hair last wednesday night. As in: I colored MY OWN hair by MYSELF. I understand if you are shuddering in horror. I truly get why it strikes terror into many of your hearts. Everyone knows the dangers of dying your own hair. Irregular results. Splotchy forehead. Early morning trips to the salon wearing sunglasses and a head scarf. I myself have accidentally dyed my hair black. Twice. So, it is not the naive preaching to the innocent. No. This post is a woman-to-woman, nitty-gritty, in-the-trenches of beautification type communication.

So, with that rather self important build up, what I have to say is this: If you have that much money to spend on your hair, DO IT. I envy your hair every Sunday when I ought to be setting my thoughts on God and all things Holy. Truly, your streaks are glorious and your trendy new 'do' inspires me. You are probably the woman with acrylic nails and saucy new shoes. The one who, in my heart, I secretly hope lets herself go and stops making the rest of us look so bad. But I digress.

However, for the rest of us, who really shouldn't be spending that much on the dead thing growing out of our heads, you will perhaps feel sympathetic when I tell you that I have had my hair cut twice in the 21 months. Yes. That is, to the best of my memory, one hundred percent truth. I have also colored it (at home, with a $8.49 box color) twice in that time. And that is the extent of my hair budget. So about $100 in nearly two years.

I think you will agree with me (especially if you have seen my hair at all in that time) that perhaps I have taken the money saving to an extreme and that a middle road must be found. And we both know (if you have been at ALL paying attention for the last 67 seconds) that I am definitely not the one to be trusted with finding that middle ground for me, you or anyone else. I simply want to introduce the plausibility of spending less on your perfectly dyed-streaked-trimmed-trussed-and-tousled coif.

More Secondhand Goodness

So we've already covered the basics of secondhand shopping, but here are some rather clever ways to save using the second hand principle:

Book Mooch http://bookmooch.com/

Do you like to read? Well, join this world wide trading site and for the cost of sending a book through the mail, have one sent to you. You get .1 points for each book you list to trade, and 1 point for each book you send. Trade in one point for each book you 'mooch'.

PRO'S: There's something so delicious about being connected to the whole world (even just through book trading). You can trade old books you aren't using anymore for second hand books - hello environmentally friendly options!

CON'S: The first thing I discovered is that sending a book through the mail is not as cheap as, say, buying a book at the bookman. And the site selection is limited to what people across the world are giving away (no crochet books for me...).

RATING: Two stars out of five for practicality and frugality, but Four stars for fun.

Free Cycle http://www.freecycle.org/

This community based program is simple. I have something I am not using, so instead of throwing it away, I will give it away. You can request an item, or list an item. Joining is free (and simple). I haven't found anything to give away or pick up yet so I can't list pro's and con's, but I know someone who has and she was over the moon about it. The only thing it appears to cost you is the gas to go pick your stuff up.

RATING: Four out of Five at this point. The only downside is that there's not a huge network in my local community yet, so there's only 5 pages of stuff to look through...

Clothing Swap

Okay, I don't have a particular site for this, but you can easily create your own on face book (if you just can't abide by doing it the old fashioned way) or set one up by talking to your friends and acquaintances. This is great especially for kids, but definitely for us as well. Have a bunch of people pack up what they aren't using (with the stipulation of no stains or rips) set a time, location and date and make a plate of brownies and a pot of coffee. I am planning one of these myself, so I will let you know how that goes and any pointers for making it easier.

Cheers, V.

PS - Just to let you know, today is day two of using the homemade laundry soap. No complaints yet. I haven't noticed any difference at all, actually.