Healthy = Frugal = Green

I think the single most important thing an individual can do to be frugal and/or green is to be healthy. Healthy food doesn't come with over packaging that ends up in landfills, and contrary to what the media tries to tell folks, it is cheaper to eat healthy. Ever check out the price of a pound of dried beans? Brown rice? How about raw veggies like carrots, onions, and broccoli. I'm not just talking about vegetarian food either. Lean meats like turkey and chicken often go on sale for a dollar a pound or less, and one pound will feed more than one person. I can sure buy a lot of these healthy items for the cost of one fast food meal for my family, even if we only ordered off the dollar menu.

Another great benefit to being healthy is cost of health care and medications. My children and I have each gone years without having to go to the doctor due to illness. My children also rarely miss school. It is not uncommon for them to go the entire year without missing a day and one child went the entire time she went back to public school, eighth grade and all of high school, without missing a day. Now don't get me wrong, we do eat far too much crap, but I believe we are still overall pretty healthy due to some basic rules I have always stuck to - but those are for another post. Here is the biggy in regards to the environment when it comes to medications. Did you know that when you take meds they pass through your system and into the water supply. (The same, of course, goes for flushing them down the drain.) Water treatment plants cannot removed all those meds from the water. Here is one of many articles about this issue. I urge you to at least glace at it.

So here is where I tell you what a hypocrite I am. I quit smoking a few years ago. Actually, I quit smoking many times, sometimes many times in one year, over the past 20 something years. I hate to even say it - hate to admit I ever smoked! I never enjoyed it and quitting was the hardest thing I ever did. The result of finally quitting is that I let myself gain weight - a lot of weight! I have lost weight before and I knew that if I could beat nicotine addiction I could most certainly drop the weight. Well, it turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. "They" say (I have no idea who - just go with it) that your metabolism drops after you quit smoking and takes about a year to get back to normal. I really have no idea if that's true but it sure seemed that way. Fortunately for me I don't take medication for anything - yet, even though due to genetics, I am at risk for type II diabetes and high blood pressure.

So here we are, the entire point of this post - well, most of it anyway - it to say this out loud to the world. I have joined in on a weight loss competition with some of the folks I work with, and I'm going to try like crazy to win! I know I rambled all over the place with this post - let's just blame it on lack of fructose and leave it at that!

One Month Shopping Challenge - Week 3 & 4

Well, I have to confess I blew it, I went shopping Saturday. It started out harmless enough, I had some basics (milk, eggs, etc) to pick up. But the weather has been unseasonably warm so I broke the challenge and picked up a few pairs of capri pants, hanging flowers baskets to plant fuchsias in for my front porch, and some other miscellaneous items, some of which are for some craft projects I have been wanting to make. All in all I spent about $100, and since I know I won't be doing any shopping for the rest of this week (week 4), that puts my total for the month (including gas) at a little over $150. An average of less than $40 a week for all out of pocket moneys spent this month really isn't too bad.

My purpose for the whole thing was really only to break a bad spending cycle I had got myself into. This usually happens at the beginning of every year when I am doing a large chunk of my Christmas, birthday, and clothing shopping for the up coming year. I just need to know when to say, "enough!" My focus now is to clean out and use up anything and everything I can. We are still trying to decided on having a yard sale verses hauling it all to the Salvation Army. Guess I'll have to wait and see how much stuff we want to get ride of! ;-)

One Month Shopping Challenge - Week 2

Well, this second week of my month of no shopping went ok, unfortunately I did end up having to shop. It was brought to my attention that we were in desperate need of cat litter. Turns out the two plastic totes in the garage I thought were full, instead were very empty. My job is just to buy the stuff - the deal has always been I don't feed or clean up after any animal in the house. Four kids is enough for me to deal with in those regards. I knew I wasn't going to get through the entire month without shopping at all, especially since milk doesn't last very long around here. I also had some coupons for free stuff I didn't want to expire so I just combined it all into one trip. After 20 minutes at the checkout at Target, and talking to three different employees explaining the difference between one coupon per purchase verses one per transaction, I finally made it out with $60 worth of goods for $25.10 and a $5 Target gift card. Not too bad considering that is the only money I have spent in the past two weeks. I haven't even had to put gas in my car - I love that little Versa! So here it is - my menu for the past week.

Sunday
Was my daughters birthday - ate out. This was planned from the get go.

Monday
Chicken Cacciatore with Whole Wheat Linguine
Mixed Greens Salad
Rocky Road Brownies

Tuesday
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Peas

Wednesday
Shrimp Vegetable Rice Medley

Thursday
Buttered Pasta with Parmesan Cheese
Mixed Veggies

Friday
Meatloaf
Garlic Smashed Taters
Green Beans Almondine
Rocky Road Brownies (My daughter requested them again because she had a friend over for dinner.)

Saturday
Poached Salmon or Tilapia (I let everybody pick their favorite.)
Potato Galette
Left over Green Beans Almondine
Pizza Cookie

Buttered Pasta - Kids Choice

There was a time when my kids didn't get much say at all in what we had for dinner, but I have gotten older, tireder, and sometimes I just don't want to decide. So it happened tonight that thee kids and I were standing in the pantry staring at food. My first thought when someone blurted out, "Buttered pasta with Parmesan cheese," was, "No, that's a side dish." Then I reached out a grabbed a box of Barilla Plus Elbows and read the nutrition label. A 2oz serving (1/7 of a 14.5 oz box) has 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. I had no idea the protein was that high. So paired with mixed veggies on the side, tonight we had another quick and easy dinner. Lucky me!

Shrimp Veggie Rice Medley

So part of reason for this one month challenge from shopping is to use up some food stuff that has been hanging around. Although I do like frozen veggies, I don't ever recall buying them with sauce on them until the Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers came out, and the only reason I did buy them is because they were super cheap with a coupon. So there they sat and sat in my freezer. Well as it happens there were only three of us for dinner tonight, and therefore I put off what to make until the last minute. I was going to go with leftovers, but to my surprise there aren't any! They have actually been listening and taking them for lunch, and not eating out - yay!! So here is what I came up.

14oz Bag cooked shrimp
12oz bag Valley Fresh Steamers Buttery Rice and Vegetables
12oz bag Valley Fresh steamers Basil Vegetable Medley

I cooked the bags for half of the recommended time in the microwave. While they were going I got the shrimp started in a covered skillet. I just dumped them in on med high heat and covered until they were thawed and just starting to warm. Finally I combined everything in the skillet and cooked until heated through. This would be a great dish for someone living in a dorm because the whole thing could be done in the microwave. The kids liked it fine, but I probably wouldn't purchase these items specifically to make this dish again. At least not without some great coupons! ;-) Oh, and FYI each serving came out to only about 275 calories.

One Month Shopping Challenge - Week 1

Last Sunday I decided to challenge myself to not shop (except for necessities like milk, etc.) for one month because...well..Okay I'll admit it - I shop too much and a deal isn't a deal if you just can't use it. I have too much food in this house and it's time to clean it out and start all over. After a week of this I am beginning to think I could make it two or more months quite easily. Which really is a good thing with the threat of an inevitable zombie attack always looming on the horizon. My goal isn't to wipe out my stockpile completely, but to A. alter my shopping habits, B. get back to cooking 99% of our meals, and C. use up some of the stuff that has been sitting around a while.

Let me interject here a few of my feeling regarding breakfast, lunch and snacks. Except for my youngest, it's every man/woman for him/her self. I make dinner leftovers intentionally for lunches, and I (starting again this week)am making muffins a few times a week for breakfast and snacks. My muffins are made with oatmeal, wholewheat, wheatgerm and other healthy stuff like that. If cold cereal is eaten for breakfast during a school day it has to be high in fiber and low in sugar. Sugar cereals are for treats, and weekends. I also keep fresh fruit, veggies and garden salads on hand to round out meals and for snacks.

Although I have stopped doing my own reclaimed food pantry my friend still does hers, God bless her. Two years and a completely worn out minivan was enough for us. Because she sometimes has a surplus, and because my family will eat fruits, veggies, and whole grain breads that a lot of folks don't seem to care for, we are fortunate to be able to supplement our food budget with these items. So if you notice during the last few weeks I list salads and fresh fruits in my menu you'll know how that is possible.

I'd also like to point out a few other observations from this first week. I had two friends approach me with fundraiser stuff their kids were selling. I usually (but not always) would buy something even though I didn't want it, need it, and it's horribly overpriced. But because I have a specific goal it was easier for me to say thanks, but no thanks - I'm not buying anything this month. I have also found something else to divert my attention to - spring cleaning and organizing my house. It's a win win situation this month!

Week One Menu

Sunday
Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Meatballs
Garden Salad and Italian Bread

Monday
Beans and Rice
Sliced Kiwi
2 dozen Banana, Oatmeal, Pecan, Choc Chip Muffins

Tuesday
Baked Ziti with leftover Meatballs and Spaghetti Sauce
Mixed Greens Salad
Fresh Cantaloupe and Pineapple

Wednesday
Crockpot Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Onion, and Cabbage
Salt Potatoes
Mixed Greens Salad
2 dozen Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Thursday
Ham Steaks
Mixed Veggies
Instant Mashed Potatoes
For some crazy reason my kids love this TV dinner like meal.

Friday
15 Bean Cajun Soup
Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Pizza Cookie (Used a package of sugar cookie mix instead of cake mix)

Saturday
Big Fat Loaded Grilled Cheeseburgers on Italian Bread
Cole Slaw
Tater Tots (I love them!)
Peanut Butter Bars

Exceptions to the plan - Monday it dawned on me that Easter was in the middle of my shop free month. Although I have already purchased the kiddie type stuff, we are having company for dinner that day. We have decided to try and stick to the plan as much as possible and forgo the traditional ham dinner for BBQ short ribs and chicken, but there are still a few things I will need to pickup. Combined with things like milk and eggs we will need, I have set a limit of $50 for the month, but will still try and keep it as low as possible. Also, my daughter's birthday is tomorrow and we will be going out for dinner - this was planned weeks ago.

Gift Journal

I have been keeping a gift journal for so many years I don't even think about it, and am surprised to learn most of my mom friends do not keep one. Any notebook or journal will do, but a small one has the benefit of being easy to hide and will slip into my purse - if I'd ever remember to take it with me when I go shopping. I also like one with enough pages to last for a few years. Then I can reference back to previous years and avoid giving someone the same thing. Yes, I have done that and it is very embarrassing!

So what do I write in it? For my immediate family (husband and kids), I have sections not only for Christmas and birthdays, but also for every holiday I buy stuff for, such and Easter and Valentine's day. I also track back-to-school supplies and ALL the clothes I buy for the year. I list what I bought for each person and how much I spent. This really helps me stay in budget. I also list the full price of the item, as this really helps me to not over spend. I might have only spent $10 for a gift for my niece and feel like maybe I should get something else, but if I see the retail price was $40, I won't be tempted to over spend. I only give Christmas and birthday gifts for extended family and friends so I track their items on the same page. That way I can see at a glance what I gave/am giving them for both occasions. For items I bought, but haven't decided who I want to give them to yet, I just list them all on one page and then cross them off as I assign them.

One last section that is often overlooked, and can eat away at a budget, is gift wrap and party supplies. I would also include cards, craft supplies, and decorations for particular holidays. These items I especially try to find during 80%-90% off clearance sales, because they can wreck havoc on a budget.

I am really not a very organized person and I am sure someone with much more enthusiasm could find a better way. The idea is just do what works for you.

At Last

Ahhh, my seasonal job is finally over and I couldn't be happier about it. I have really missed my family and my routine. But that's not what I really wanted to talk about, I just couldn't help but mention it. ;-) If you haven't been to the mall or department stores in the past few weeks I strongly encourage you to venture out. Not only have I got a big jump on birthday and Christmas shopping for the coming year, but also school clothes shopping for the fall. Most of the larger stores have their clearance items at 75% - 80% off. Today I picked up king size pillows that were originally $60 for $7, twin sheet sets for $6.50, and a lot of clothing items for super cheap. In the past few weeks I have also found men's and boy's underwear, socks, and undershirts on clearance. I will pack up all the clothes and in the fall will have most of my back to school clothes shopping done. This is also a great time to get P.J.s, robes, slippers, sweaters, and coats. The trick to maximizing your savings is to think about what you need for the entire year, not just the season at hand, and plan ahead. Except for some jelly beans, I have Easter done too.

Proverbs 27:12 (New International Version)

12 The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

Deja Vous Church Sale Haul Part 1

Ever have one of those days when you look in the mirror and see your much younger self? I'm talking to the over 40 girls now! I just love it when that happens, as it did this morning. It usually occurs when I am feeling particularity happy, and I'm all smiley and glowy. So why am I so happy today you might ask? I am going to Ithaca. I go at least twice and month for the food pantry, and that doesn't get me excited - that's work. Today is the last day of the Unitarian Church sale - everything is .10. Yes, everything is a dime!! Last year I got 47 articles of clothing for $4.70, plus I picked up some free stuff as well. Oh yeah, I also picked up a bunch of LP's that I melted into bowls, forgot about that! Mostly I look for t-shirts for the scrubbies I sell, but I found some other great stuff as well. Mr. Left Brain Thinker and I are taking Shorty (youngest boy) with us, and I'm taking them both to Ithaca Bakery for lunch - Yummy!! If DH wasn't going, we would go to The Commons, but that's not his cup of tea. Too college town hippie for him haha! I will take pictures and post about my finds - that is if I get out of here and go!!

My Studio Transformation

Except for that ugly filing cabinet, it's finally done. Now all I have to do is mess it up using it!!

Total Disfunction!

When we bought our home it had a large, long, unfinished room on the back of it. There was one doorway into it off the kitchen. It had no heat, a concrete floor, a huge stone fireplace right in the middle, wood paneled walls, super cheap windows, and to top it off, the entire roof leaked where it was tied into the main roof, as well as the entire north wall leaking at the floor level. When we bought the house there was only one small leak under an exterior door and we could not have imaged how bad it would become, or how fast it would deteriorate. We had wanted to gut and finish the room right away, but it ended up taking a lot more time, work and money than we had anticipated, and the problems seemed to grow rapidly.

Well, last year the inside was finally done. We ended up with three rooms; a walk-in laundry room/pantry, a family room/studio for me room, and a much needed forth bedroom. We just barely got the heat installed before winter last year, and I didn't have the money or ambition to finish my "wall". My own little space in the world to create, pay bills, mend clothing, or whatever I want. Well, except for a filing cabinet that will be replaced with one that is currently being refinished, it is done!! The picture above is the thrown together mess of the last year. Tomorrow I will post the new and improved version.

Here's my frugal advise about this. Since we didn't have the cash to do this all at once - we didn't. Because the entire roof needed replaced we did end up having to finance it. We waited until that was paid off before we did anything else, and we paid as we went for the rest of the project. We traded the drywall work on two of the rooms, with a friend who has his own contracting business, for cut, hauled and delivered firewood. My MIL had some trees go down on her property last year, and our friend heats his house with a wood burning stove. Don't be afraid to ask! We are now saving for new windows for the rest of the house and new siding. I am an immediate gratification kind of girl, and it very hard to live with half finished projects. What's harder for me though, is living with debt!

Time to get Real

I strongly believe one of the most frugal things you can do is take good care of yourself. It cost a lot of money to be sick. I have put on some serious weight over the years and a few months ago I finally had enough. I had reached a number on the scale I NEVER thought would be possible. I was at that weight for exactly 1 day. I immediately joined a gym and got some personal trainer sessions. Hmm, well that doesn't sound very frugal. I figured if it gave me the push I needed to start taking my health serious, it is very much worth it! I have a family history of diabetes and cancer. At 43, and with menopause right around the corner, I felt I was way over due with getting serious. It's not that I don't know what I should be doing, I am just not doing it. We have always eaten fairly healthy. We not only eat a lot of salads, fruits, and veggies, we also eat tofu and soybean products. We eat meat, just not every day. None of my kids are over weight, they hardly ever get sick, and I have only been sick twice in the past 10 years. My problem is lack of exercise, eating too much, and snacking.

Well, I have been working on this for a few months now. Although, I have fallen off the wagon a few times, I am down 16 pounds and a few inches here and there. I have been reading up on some of the latest breakthroughs with natural remedies and will be posting about some of them.

Utility Bills

I never would have thought I would be able to achieve utility bills approximately the same as I had 10 years ago. Our local gas and electric company is notorious for it's sky high prices. (As is most everything else in the great state of New York!) I know quite a few folks who live over the border in Pennsylvania and are willing to drive the extra half hour/hour a day because they save thousands a year on their overall cost of living. About two years ago I started making small changes which included replacing almost all light bulbs with CFLs, unplugging infrequently used appliances that draw vampire energy , and most importantly, vigilantly turning off anything not in use. That is easier said than done with 4 kids in the house! We have also replaced most of the major appliances in our home. Some, like the hot water heater and the deep freezer, because they were so old. The others because they were old and broke! Remember that washer?! Well, I think the LG front loader has really made a big impact. Our last 3 bills have been under $150. For a family of 6 that's just unbelievable. In 11 years that had only happened a few times - years ago! I strongly encourage anyone to start making small changes every month and see if they don't have a big impact.

Prepare for the Zombie Attack

There are many people who just don't understand my NEED to stockpile. This isn't a new thing for me, I've just finally allowed my self to take it to the level I have always desired. Okay, so I'll never be completely satisfied, but I'm close! I could give many reasons why I find stockpiling necessary. Maybe it stems from having empty cupboards as a child, from fears and insecurities from my childhood. Whatever the reason is I really don't care. I like doing it. I like having it. It makes me feel prepared. Prepared for anything. Like Y2K, Avian Bird Flu, a collapse of the economy, or even the eminent and widely feared Zombie attack! If you don't buy into all that, how about loss of income? That did happen this past year and thankfully we were prepared. My family went without nothing. No missed birthdays, no decrease in Christmas. Everything was on schedule and according to plan because we are always ready and prepared for a Zombie Attack.

My Frugal Life Part 2

The single most important thing to do before becoming frugal is change your mindset about your life and your money, and then plan ahead. If you feel deprived, it just won't work. Accept where you are financially and then be prepared to make changes. Don't have a "poor me" attitude. Don't say things like, "We can't eat out or buy this or that because we can't afford it." Pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you are making changes to better you and your family's lives. The goal is to be able to afford what you need by looking forward and planning ahead. Because everyone's situation is different, I can only tell you what has worked for us. My hope is that others will find useful information that will work for them. I'm going to start with very broad and general suggestions and then get more specific in future posts.

Where to begin? First stop all unnecessary spending. Stop eating out, buying coffee, buying lunch, window shopping (too much temptation!), going to the movies, renting games and movies, buying expensive gifts, buying any and all unnecessary anything. You need all your extra cash to pay down debt (if you have debt) and plan ahead. Here is list one of what works for us. If you need to ease into it and just cut out a few things each month, that's fine. It will get easier!!

Food

(very) well stocked pantry
plan dinner the day before and take anything out of the freezer that I need
make lunches the night before
make salads to last 3 days
only shop to restock pantry
only buy when price is the lowest and use coupons when possible
raised my kids to eat just about anything
use leftovers for lunches and other meals
eat vegetarian meals a few times a week
garden - can and freeze food
volunteer for and receive food from a reclaimed food organization

Laundry

make laundry soap
hang clothes to dry as often as possible
tear fabric softener sheets in half - if I need to use them
wear clothes more than once when possible
use towels and wash clothes for 4-7 days before washing

Household

I only buy about 1-2 rolls of paper towels a year, instead we use white washcloths that can be tossed in with just about any load of clothes.

use vinegar and water for the majority of cleaning
replaced almost all light bulbs with CFLs
reuse, reduce, recycle
compost
stopped garbage pick up - we take our trash and recycles to the waste management station (it's much cheaper)
live in a small house


Clothing and Gifts

I do the majority of my clothes and gift buying for the year in February and March when the stores are running their 75%-90% off sales. Storing items has been a bit of a chore because we are a family of 6 in an 1100 sq ft home.

Shop at thrift stores and accept "gently worn" clothing from friends and family.

I keep a notebook with a list of everyone I buy for, the items I have purchased for them, and the price.

I'm sure this initial list is a bit confusing and incomplete, but I had to start somewhere!

Focused and Organized

Meredith at Like Merchant Shipshas a post on Frugal Hacks about finding your frugal niche. It is funny that I stumbled upon this older post this morning, because this was on my mind in more ways than one. I sell handmade items on line on Etsy and at local farmer's markers and craft shows. I feel the many different items I sell make my table and online shop look cluttered. As with this blog, it has been hard for me to find my niche and therefore showcase or concentrated fulling on what I am doing now. I realize I have this problem in other areas of my life as well, such as housework and projects I need to finish in my home.

So my goal is to start becoming focused and organized with my blog, my handmade items, my house, and my life in general. Any frugal suggestions in this area are greatly welcome!

My Frugal Life Part 1

I originally started this blog as a way for me to organize and reflect on my daily life. Much the same with journals in the past, I have been very sporadic and have found myself unwilling to be able look at past entries without criticizing them. Recently this has been true of my blog, mostly because of the horrible happenings of the past few months. I had a friend commit suicide, we had an unexpected drastic loss of income, my father-in-law has been battling brain cancer, and we are struggling to complete a much needed addition to our tiny 1100 sq ft ranch home for our crammed in family of 6. And that washer my SIL just gave us? It's leaking water as I type!

If it weren't for the frugal lifestyle we had already had in place, we would not be able to meet our monthly needs right now. On the flip side, there really isn't anymore I can cut out of my budget to free up more cash. We still have a considerable amount of debt and I refuse to slide backwards. It is time to think outside the box, and find creative ideas for income, because selling t-shirt scrubbers and other hand made items on ETSY, just isn't cutting it. LOL

I realize one of my biggest problems is organization and staying focused. I'm not only right brained with my creativity, but I also tend to bounce around between projects a lot. Therefore, I have decided to start a series of posts, first dedicated to what I already do in the way of being frugal and green, and then move on to new ideas and things to try. This will also be a great way to reflect on past accomplishments and inspire me in the future. I also hope I can pass on some useful information to my readers and encourage useful comments from you!