Step Your Way to Your Dream Budget

Photo Credit: lorimarsha

It’s no secret that I believe most  households can feed their family for $50 per person per month.  If you can afford more than that, it’s okay to spend more.  But many single income families need to be at this level to pay off debt or to avoid taking on debt.  For many mothers I speak with, $50 per person is overwhelming to think about.  I encourage them to gradually step their way to that level as they fine tune their shopping skills.  This way families start saving money early, but  have wiggle room so no one has to go hungry while they are learning.

If you would like to step your way to a smaller grocery budget, try this simple plan:  Set aside your grocery money in a cash envelope.  The first month–keep the same budget you’ve always had.  Spend $50 per person per month on food you will consume immediately–this month.  Spend the rest of the money on lowest cost items as much as you can afford to put in your pantry.

The next month, reduce your total budget by 20%.  Continue to spend the $50 per person on food to consume right away and whatever is left to build up your pantry. Continue shrinking your budget by 20% each month until you are down to $50 per person per month.

Then you can divide that money between buying fresh and restocking your pantry.  At this point you will eat some out of your pantry as you replace what you eat when the low prices show up again.

While you are practicing your shopping skills, pay close attention to the sale prices you see in the grocery ads and on the shelves.  You will notice that some advertised low prices have been lower in the past and will be again in the future.  If you can, hold off buying those items until you see them reach their all time low and then buy all you can afford.  Occasionally coupons will match up with these sales, but if coupons are overwhelming to you don’t worry about it.  I’ve been able to stay at the $50 per person level without touching a coupon.

I believe in you!  Go shrink your grocery bills .

Creative Cooking

Penne Frittata and Pepperonia Kale. This meal was a prime example of substituting what I had in my pantry to save a trip to the store and also to save from buying more expensive ingredients. It is meatless (except for the pepperoni) which also saves on costs, but has plenty of protein from the eggs, yogurt and cheese. The kale is from our garden. It was overgrown but still had great flavor.

This Frittata recipe is inspired by Martha Stewart’s. I didn’t have milk, ricotta, or fresh basil so I made a few adjustments. Here’s the recipe as I used it. Next time I would use a little less salt and less basil. Darren and I loved it, but the kids did not.

6 eggs

1 cup plain fat free yogurt

1/4 cup parmesean cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 cups cooked whole wheat penne pasta

Beat eggs, stir in yogurt, cheese and spices. Fold in pasta. Pour into a greased cast iron skillet and bake at 400 degrees until eggs are set, about 30 minutes. (I put mine in a cold oven and let the eggs cook while the oven heated up. I thought this would give the cook first on the stove top and transfer to the oven feel without having to stand over it and burn the bottom.

Pepperoni Kale (What happens when I run out of turkey bacon–it was fantastic!)

6 slices of beef pepperoni, chopped (or use a meatless substitute if you prefer)

1 onion sliced

1 large bunch of kale, washed and sliced

Stir fry the pepperoni and onion together until the onion is clear. Add the kale and cook just until barely wilted. Remove from heat and salt gently.

Our Deck

A few years ago my handy husband built a deck that sits in our front yard made from wood he salvaged from a new neighborhood that was being built down the road from us.  An amazing thing happened after the deck was finished.  As bizarre as it sounds, it has made being outdoors more interesting.  Our BBQ pit (doesn’t every Texas home have one) sits right beside the deck.  My homemade (from freecycle remnants) bench sits on the end closest to the BBQ pit (for chillin’ out while your BB-quin’).  And, we’ve placed a few potted fruit trees on the corners along with some roses.

It’s absolutely wonderful for laying on your back and watching shooting stars or jumping off of in pursuit of fireflies.  My in-laws come up on their way to feed the chickens and sit down for a spell on our deck.  It’s the meeting spot for our family.  My son and his grandparents use it as the airplane when they play army and it’s base when we play tag.  And now our above-ground pool resides on it for the summer.  Despite having a porch, which we merely use for relaxing, our deck is the launching pad for our outdoor entertainment.

I hope this summer that your family finds their own “deck’ and happy place outside – the place where you gather to enjoy each other and the nature that surrounds you – whether you’re in the country or in your own backyard in a neighborhood.

How to Have a Money Making Garage Sale

Photo Credit: Morning Toast

We just finished a big garage sale and it was a great success. Not only did I clear out a ton of stuff, but I made nearly $400 to use towards our kitchen remodel. I’ve talked to a lot of people about garage sales. Some people seem to make money while others don’t. I grew up with the best garage sale manager west of the Mississippi (my mom) and thought I would pass on some never fail garage sale tips.

1. Invite a friend or 2 to join you. The more stuff you have the more people will stop. It’s also handy to have someone to take turns watching the sale for bathroom breaks, childcare breaks, and meal preparations.

2. The #1 garage sale day of the week is Wednesday. If you can’t be open 3 days (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) then pick at least one of the big days to be open.

3. Get as many tables and clothing racks as possible. In a pinch you can lay a door over 2 saw horses to use as a table. You can make an inexpensive rack from PVC pipe. Borrow tables from family, friends, neighbors or your church.

4. Take the time to clean your items. A little bit of elbow grease will insure you get a better price. Dirty items have a good chance of staying put no matter how cheaply they are priced.

5. Do price every item, or have a flat rate for certain things that are clearly labeled. “All clothes $.50” for example. “Make offer” sales frustrate the buyer because they have to stop and ask about every item and are embarrassed to offend you by offering too low. Most people walk away from a sale like this.

Tip: Cut squares off masking tape rolls and stick them to cookie sheets to make price tags.

6. If more than one person is in the sale, use a 2 initial code for each person and then keep a spiral notebook with a page for each person in the sale. Masking tape tabs on the pages will help you flip to the page quickly. Leave the first few pages in the notebook blank for writing daily totals, and when the sale isn’t busy you can transfer each person’s earnings to their page.

7. Try to organize your sale as well as possible. Put housewares together, office supplies together, group clothing by size and season. We had limited time to do this before the sale opened, but I walked around moving items as things sold until the sale was well organized. Every time a sold item made an empty spot, I shifted items to fill the spot. This spread things out so each item could be seen and kept our sale looking huge even though more than half the original items were gone.

Tip: Move especially appealing items, like a beautiful dress or a super cute swim suit, to a front spot that can be seen from the road. Keep tools and other “man” type items in prominent places too. Men can be some of your biggest customers but most will only shop a few minutes.

8. If the weather is sunny, pull tables and items into the driveway. The more stuff that can be seen from the road the more likely people will stop instead of driving by slowly and moving on.

9. If you see a person driving by slowly, wave a friendly hello. They feel noticed and are more likely to stop and look around now that they realize they’ve been seen.

10. Signs are very important! The simpler and easier to be seen the better. High contrast black writing on white signs is perfect. “Write Yard Sale” or “Garage sale” with a large black arrow in huge thick letters. Cover it with plastic to protect from the elements. Be sure you have a sign at every turn and periodically check through the day to make sure your signs are still there. Good manners require that you remove signs at the end of the day and put them out again when the sale reopens.

Tip: Don’t forget the sign in the yard. You don’t want anyone to think that you are moving or just cleaning out the garage .

11. Advertising your sale on Craigslist is free, easy to do, and will bring extra traffic. Especially do this if you have large or specialty items. Posting photos of your key items and setup will help encourage people to make the trip.

12. For safety, wear your money in a fanny pack, and start the sale with plenty of ones and quarters to make change. Periodically take large amounts of money into the house in a safe place. If someone robs you, calmly hand over the pouch. It will only be a part of your earnings from the sale.

13. Don’t price items too high. Good jeans with no holes are worth $1 or $2. Most kid’s clothes move best at $.50 an item. If you have a lot of name brand great quality items, you should try to sell them at a consignment store like Children’s Orchard first. Pricing things right will earn you a great reputation and get people coming back year after year. On the other hand, a friend of ours in the sale had a lot of new looking purses priced at $.25 each. I could have easily gotten a dollar each for them. When in doubt, get a second opinion from a garage sale buddy. If several people look at the item and put it back you can bet the price is too high. It’s fine to walk around and mark your items down while the sale is going.

Tip: I love buying clothes at garage sales. When we can’t wear them anymore I sell them for the same price I paid for them and use the money to buy at garage sales again. Contrast that with buying clothes new and then selling them at a garage sale taking the money and buying new again. The loss is substantial.

I see having a garage sale as a ministry. We could just take our items to a thrift store where they will bump the price up 6-10 times the garage sale value. (The proceeds usually go to a worthy cause.) Or we can offer our items at low prices for a few days and give people a chance to really save while we recoup some money to help our families. After the sale take what’s left to the thrift store and donate to help them raise funds for their worthy cause. It’s a win-win situation.

A question I’m often asked is: Do you save items from a garage sale for a future sale? I used to and often the items did sell at a later date. Recently I’ve felt the joy of decluttering! The thought of taking any of those things back home was terrible. It felt really good to donate them to a worthy cause.

How to Stay on the Frugal Path

You already know what to do. Saving money is just using common sense. Then why is it so hard? The emotions behind it make it hard. It’s the same with weight loss. Eat less, exercise more. It works; it’s not complicated. So why do I struggle with it? It’s how I FEEL about it that makes it hard.

When we started our get out of debt journey I pushed myself through the first pity-party by remembering the pictures the missionaries brought back of how the other part of the world lives. My poverty was riches compared to the daily life of a large part of the world.

Since it felt pretty selfish to feel sorry for myself, I started feeling sorry for my kids. They couldn’t have new clothes or all the latest toys. Surely I was depriving them. Then I saw they were happier not to be overwhelmed with things. Have you ever noticed a young child at a birthday party? All they want to do is play with the gift they just opened, only to be forced to set it aside to open another one. It often ends with tears. After a few years of that, the child learns to open a gift, set it aside and say, “Next.” This child is left with feelings of disappointment when the last gift is opened. When children learn early that there will be just one gift, they are free to enjoy it and appreciate it.

My husband was blessed with a great job last year and though nothing in life is secure, we aren’t afraid for the moment. We are catching up on household repairs and replacing our savings from our previous months of unemployment. It’s harder for me to be frugal when we have an adequate salary, but I push through by keeping my eye on the goal. I imagine what it will feel like to have the house paid off, to walk barefoot through the grass in the yard and know it belongs to me. I imagine taking my children on a vacation that involves an airplane and a boat, a beach, and a mountain. I imagine walking into my kitchen when all the appliances work properly and there’s no hole in the counter. I think about sitting on my porch watching the kids play basketball on a driveway that isn’t crumbling and a freshly painted house. I think about these things and I put the candle back on the shelf at the store. It’s worth it.

When it is hard to stay on the frugal path, I think about others who sacrifice even more just to survive. I think about how good it is for my children, and I think about the future and how much better life will be if I persevere with the plan.

Now if I could get the same discipline when dealing with food. I keep telling myself, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.” But it’s easier to believe it when I’m not hungry. I think we all have different areas of struggle, and we need each other for encouragement, support, and new ideas to make it easier.

Here is a money saving recipe:

Creamed Eggs and Biscuits

Biscuits:

2 cups whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup of butter, melted

2 cups cold buttermilk or thin yogurt

Mix flour, salt and soda. Whisk butter into buttermilk for 3 minutes or until the butter starts to form small pieces. Stir buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture just until a soft dough forms. Turn onto a floured surface and pat ¾ of an inch thick. Cut 10 biscuits with a biscuit cutter. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Eggs:

6 eggs, boiled, peeled and sliced

3 cups of milk

6 Tablespoons of flour

½ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of pepper

While biscuits are cooking, whisk milk, flour, salt and pepper in a skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat until milk thickens. Drop in egg slices and cook for a few minutes more until the eggs are warmed. Serve the creamed eggs over the biscuits. This is great paired with freshly boiled beets from the garden and steamed lamb’s quarter gathered from the yard.

Homeschool Freebies – May 11, 2010

• Worms are Fun! Recycling with Worms
• Online Field Guides
• Earth Day Mini Lapbook Helper
• The Trellis and the Seed Lapbook
• The Tale of Three Trees Lapbook
• Botany Unit Study
• Earth Day Word Search
• Nature Words
• Reed Basket Craft
• Handprint Butterflies

Here a little, There a Little—Getting Projects Done

Many of us have all of those projects lying around the house and tucked away in boxes. These are projects we would love to get to “if”… “if” I had this or that, “if” I knew this or that…or “if” I just had the time. How many times have we said that? The reality is that we already do have the time; we just have to know how to use it rightly to finish our projects.

Having many projects on the to-do list or half-started, it is easy to get overwhelmed or even give up. I used to think of all my many projects that needed to be finished. I ended up spending way too much time trying to plan how to get them all done, instead of working through each one. Each item on the list was also too vague, not accounting for some key parts involved in getting each task done. We need to get more specific, only choosing a few projects to work on at one time. It is also necessary to order the tasks on our list so that working on them becomes practical, like the top, bottom, and quilting steps to making a quilt. If we spend all our time on the whole picture we’ll get overwhelmed. Being more specific about the order of each step will help us to begin to work towards completion on our projects.

The search for the elusive time. So, we have our smaller, more specific projects in mind that we want to finish, but cannot find “The Time” for it. That always seems to be a problem, doesn’t it? I search for this time everywhere and can’t find it: those glorious huge chunks of time that we long for to finish this or that, but the “if only”s do not get us any closer to that pile of fabric in the corner. The first step that GOD has been teaching me is to not wait for those few continuous hours to appear, but to schedule an hour a day (or a few times a week) as a time specifically set aside for crafts.

A review of your daily routine may reveal that there is something that is already taking up too much time. These may be areas of your day that you probably want to cut down anyways, like computer or TV time. Replace some of that time with the crafts that you want to do. Instead of simply trying to cut down on unconstructive activities, focus on spending that time doing something else that is more constructive. It is good to have a scheduled time in your routine, instead of waiting for that miracle craft moment to appear.

It is best to take advantage of what time you do have.

To use the time that you are given for the day, especially in regards to squeezing in craft time, requires a change in perspective. The majority of people think that no significant progress can be achieved in a short amount of time. We tend to assume that, in order to get anything done, we need at least an hour or so of uninterrupted time. However, even the smallest increments add up over time. Anyone who has ever accidentally left the bathtub plugged with a slowly leaking faucet has seen first hand what amazing results can come from slow, consistent action.

It is impressive how fast those single drops fill up the bathtub. It is the same when we devote small increments of time to a given task. Scripturally this point of view is described in Zechariah 4.9-10: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that YHVH of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven…”

Now that we have covered our project focus, schedule, and perspective; let us discuss how to recognize time and use it. This is another step that GOD has been teaching me. There are many instances during our day where we end up waiting around for ten minutes or so. What are we currently doing during that time? Usually nothing. Think of the times when your hands are idle, and brainstorm how you can keep your hands busy with your craft projects.

Consider what the virtuous woman does with her hands (Proverbs 31): they are occupied in her work, in helping the poor and needy, and in producing good fruit. Keeping my hands busy with good things also helps me to think things over and pray, even for ten minutes, if that’s all I have. For example, I take my crochet work with me when I need to take the bus. I also take something portable with me to work on while I’m stuck in the laundry room for an hour. Since I have to stay in the laundry room anyway, it is like an extra hour for craft time. Recognizing small increments of time as opportunities for working rather than a waste of effort will help us to find all the available time which can be used for completing our projects.

The last thing involved in clearing out our projects corners is being consistent. Stick to your shorter, detailed project list in your small opportunities of time. Working on a few projects at a time will help you keep focused, and as you see your progress you will be encouraged and motivated to get it done.

Be consistent with your routine craft time, as well as taking advantage of small increments of idle time that come up. Be sure to change up your projects when you are ready to move on to the next few—that way you won’t get tired of doing the same thing over and over again. Lastly, reward yourself! Do a quicker, fun project when the “big bad forever project” gets done. A single drop, small beginnings, and short increments of time turn into a full bathtub, a finished Temple, and a finished project with GOD’s wisdom.

To rightly use our time to finish our projects, we need to look at our schedule. Then, using scheduled and unexpected small pieces of time consistently, with a change in perspective, will help turn our small beginnings into a finished masterpiece. “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” Isaiah 28.10.

Homeschool Freebies – April 6, 2010

• N is for Nest
• Snail Lapbook and Unit Study
• Rainbow Lapbook
• Birds of Paradise Unit Study
• Bird Orders Chart
• Birds Notebooking Pages
• How to Make Magnetic Pom Poms
• Jello Jigglers Recipe
• Sketch Tuesday
• Colors Activity Box

Fast, Frugal and Healthy Too?

Have you ever noticed that a lot of recommendations are contradictory?  For example an article on weight loss recommended parking far away from the store entrance and taking the stairs.  A different article on personal safety suggested parking close to the entrance and avoiding stair wells.  What if I’d like to be both fit and safe?

I recently read an article on making cooking at home easier and they recommended using items such as baking mix, pre-shredded and chopped produce, potato flakes, and instant rice.  Not only are those items highly processed and unhealthy they are usually double the cost of real food equivalents.

What if you are short on time, but want to be healthy and save money too?  There are several options for the busy and conscientious homemaker.

Instead of instant rice, try quinoa.  This all natural whole grain is now available at Costco and cooks up in just 10 minutes.  Rinse the grain before cooking to remove the bitter coating from the seed.  Quinoa is gluten free, and a good source of protein, fiber, magnesium, iron and phosphorus.

Instead of pre-chopped produce, keep a mini chopper on hand ($10 at Target).  Your uncut produce will keep longer and lose vitamins at a slower rate than its chopped up counterpart.  Plus you will save $$$ over buying it pre-cut.  A mini chopper will make fast work of cutting for you.

Instead of buying mixes, find simple healthy recipes and dump 4 mixes while you cook one.  I set up wide mouth canning jars with zippered baggies draped over the mouth to keep them open.  While I dump one cup of flour in my mixing bowl, I dump one in each of the baggies.  After mixing all the dry ingredients together, I have a shelf safe mix (that is trans fat free and 100% whole grain.)  When I’m in a hurry I just dump in the wet ingredients and bake.  This works well for loaf bread, rolls and pizza crust, (Yes, you can stir the yeast right in!) muffins, cookies, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, and scones.  If you have whole grains in your mix, they will last longer in the freezer, but are shelf safe for several weeks.

Here’s an easy pizza crust recipe to start with:

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 each  teaspoons of  basil, oregano and onion powder

Package in a quart canning  jar or baggie and store in the fridge.  To use pour mix in a large mixing bowl (like Kitchen Aid or Bosche.)  Add 1 3/4 cups warm water, 1 Tablespoon oil and 2 Tablespoons honey.  Mix well allowing dough to knead in the machine for 6 minutes.  Let rest for 15 minutes before rolling out.  Or Place in a bread machine (you can use the delay cycle for this.)  Makes 2 large crusts.  Top with sauce, veggies and cheese.  Bake at 415 degrees for 15 minutes.

The 3 P’s: Foundations of Frugality

Using the 3 P’s, has helped me stay within my budget.

I have found that thinking in a special way helps me save more money than the average person. I can sum up that
thinking in 3 simple words: Planning, Patience and Prayer.

1. Planning: Whether it is what’s for dinner, what the kids will need to wear for the next season or what to give for Christmas, birthday’s, or mother’s day, it’s best to have a plan well in advance. This gives you time to give your best, and also to look for what you want at the best price.
2. Patience: When you decide you want or need something, act like a grownup. Don’t buy it on the spot. Shop around, read reviews, ask questions. Being willing to wait will save you thousands over the course of a year. Pushy sales tactics create a sense of urgency and panic in the buyer. They want to make you feel if you don’t buy now, it will be gone forever. Walk away from those kinds of situations!
3. Prayer: I serve a God who created the universe and it all belongs to Him. If my little boy needs shoes, it is a small thing for God to provide them for us. God doesn’t want us to fear or worry, but to trust Him. I can’t tell you how many times we have had a need, I have prayed about it, and found just the thing at a garage sale even though I don’t stop at them very often.

The stove we are using now is a great example of my using all 3 Ps. We knew our stove was old, and would need to be
replaced soon, so we built a small category in our monthly budget to save for it (Planning).

When our old stove caught fire and died, we didn’t have nearly enough money to buy a new one. Instead of running out and putting a stove on credit or using our beloved emergency fund, I decided to use other ways of cooking (hot pad, crock pot, microwave) until we could earn the money we needed (Patience).

I made it a matter of Prayer. After several months without a stove (and eating well just the same, though much more difficult on me) my mother found just the thing at a garage sale for $10! It looked practically new and worked beautifully. She called me and said “Do you want me to try to talk them down?” I answered back, “NO!” Just pay her the ten dollars and praise God with me.

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