Clothes. We all need them.
How much money do you spend in a year on clothing, including shoes and outerwear? 2011 was a heavy clothing expense year for us at this little place here; kids needing shoes and boots, both girls needing dresses for the winter formal, some sports related clothing (embroidered warm ups) for school sports teams, and DS2 needing a new winter coat as he headed off to college (something about not being cool to wear your high school varsity coat at college. . .so guess what his Christmas present was, a bit early.) I spent about $1800 on the five of us. That's huge for us. Usually we average less than $1000 in a year. Less than $200 per person. According to info I found on the IRS website, the 'national standard' clothing expenditure for a family of four is $244 per month (so, $61 per person, or $732 in a year for just one person). Even with spending approximately $360 per person in 2011, we were still way below average.
So, how do you save money on clothing? Or, should I say, how do I save so much?
Discipline that you don't need the latest fashion. That, right there, will save you a lot of money. The clothes you wear this spring will work for next spring, unless you've worn them completely out in one season. In which case you should be buying better quality clothes! You don't need a whole new wardrobe each time the seasons change.
Winter outerwear should last you years, if not an entire decade (OK, not high school varsity coats. I guess they have a 3-4 year max). Buy classic tailored stuff, not the latest fad. I've been wearing a Land's End Squall Parka as my going-out-in-public winter coat since 2002. I bought it on clearance for something like $60. You know what? It looks just like the ones in this winter's Land's End catalog. Ten years later! Even the color, royal blue, is still stylish. Compare that to DH, who insisted on getting a cheaper quality winter coat at a local store, in season, for $50. Three years later, he had to replace it because the zipper broke, and he'd worn holes in the elbows. Quality is always worth paying for. But don't pay full price unless you absolutely have to! Catch it on sale, or wait for end-of-season clearance, which is usually only a few months into the season.
Give clothing as gifts. The new winter coat that became a Christmas present did double duty: gift and needed clothing at the same time. I should say that is how all my kids have acquired their varsity coats, which run up over $300 by the time you get all the stitching, letters, and patches put on. DH and I made a deal with the kids when they each started high school: they earn their varsity letter (and/or academic letter) and we would pay for their varsity coat. BUT, the coat would be their birthday and most of their Christmas gift for that year. If there is something trendy that your child is absolutely dying to have, and you know it won't be worn after this season, give it to them as their birthday gift, or as one of their Christmas gifts. They're happy, and you saved money by combining gift expense with clothing expense.
If you have children, or are planning to someday, know that it is perfectly okay for a younger sibling to wear clothes than the older sibling has outgrown. So save those baby clothes if you are planning to have more than one child! Little girls can wear navy and black and red, not just pink, so it doesn't matter if their older sibling is a boy. And little boys can wear pastel blue and green and yellow. It's okay. My girls never had snow pants that weren't black or navy blue. Because they had older brothers, and if the boys didn't wear out their snow pants, they got passed down to the girls. No sense buying pink ones when we had perfectly useful dark colored ones!
When buying "new" (or should I say "new to you") items, it's all right to buy gently used ones. Be a savvy shopper. Check garage sales, consignment stores and thrift shops (aka Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent's. . .) before hitting the clothing stores and malls. My kids wore Osh Kosh B'Gosh when they were babies and little kids, which was not just fashionable, it was very durable. I handed that stuff down from DS1 to DS2 to DD1 to DD2, and then sold it at our "No More Babies!" garage sale. I think a few nephews may have even worn it along the way. Did I get their name brand duds from the mall? Heck no! I scoured garage sales and consignment stores, never paying more than $1 for a piece (usually overalls or denim jumpers), getting most for fifty cents or less.
If you've been through the garage sales, been to all the consignment shops, been to Goodwill, and still haven't found what you're looking for, then and only then go brand new. Start with the clearance or sales racks. You'd be amazed at the great finds you can get sometimes. I've gotten brand new jeans for $5. Now, those aren't high dollar designer jeans, but I don't care about that. A $20 pair of jeans works for me, and if I can get those $20 jeans on clearance for $5, all the better!
Also, keep your mind open to future needs. You just can't beat a $110 prom dress that you happen across at Goodwill for $7.99 in August! So what if DD1 was just a sophomore at the time? I knew she'd be going to Prom as a junior or senior, and the dress was a classic color and style, not to mention the exact style she'd been drooling over when we'd gone shopping for a winter formal nine months earlier.
Affordable clothing is out there. You just have to know how to look for it, and be willing to spend a little time doing so. Be below average! ;0)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Frugal February #11: Kick The Soda Habit
Soda. Pop. Coke. Cola. Soft drinks.
Whatever you call it, if you drink it (most Americans do), you can save a lot of money by quitting. Not to mention what you can do for your health by stopping drinking the things.
What then, should you drink? Well, water. Water is zero calories. Water is nutritious, containing minerals. Water has no sugar or artificial sweeteners. Water has no preservatives. Water doesn't create cravings. And, even if you choose to buy it prebottled (versus pouring some from your home faucet), water is definitely cheaper than soda.
Prices for a twelve-pack of 12 oz cans of pop locally are about $4. That's $4 for 144 ounces of drink. For $3.50 you can buy a 24 pack of 16.9 oz bottles of water. That's $3.50 for 405.6 ounces of drink. See the difference?
But I don't like water, you say. It doesn't have any taste, it's flat, it's boring. Get over it!! Once you get through the chemical and sugar withdrawals from not drinking pop, water won't seem so unappealing. And, if you must, you can even flavor it.
If you have a source of mint or lemon balm leaves, a handful or two of freshly picked leaves in a pitcher of water will give you a nice hint of flavor. Similarly, you can float a few slices of lemon in a glass of water and have flavor (this is what I do on the rare occasion we go out to eat--order water, then use the lemon wedges intended for iced tea to flavor my water). There are many other things you can use to flavor water, but I don't recommend those packaged flavorings sold at the store, mainly because: 1. they add expense, and 2. they have more chemicals and sweeteners than other things you could use. Instead, do some research on natural things you can use to give your water a more appealing taste. I'm sure there are lots of ideas on the internet.
You can also drink juice--always get real juice, not something that says "cocktail" or "juice drink" as those have added sweeteners--but you need to do so in moderation. Fruit juice has a lot of natural sugars and you shouldn't drink more than about 6 ounces at a time, and not more than 2 servings in a day. Besides, water is cheaper than juice. So stay within a reasonable 2 glasses of juice, then drink water for the rest of the day.
You can drink milk, but again, that shouldn't be done to excess. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Those calories add up, when mostly what you need from a liquid is hydration. And water does that quite nicely.
Coffee, tea, are not for me. I don't care for the taste and I'm not about to add a bunch of stuff to them to make them palatable. If you want to drink them, go ahead. But not all day long. A little is okay. Pots and pots of the stuff is not.
Water, nice clean water, is good for you. It's cheap. And it's pretty much impossible to consume more than you should in one day.
Whatever you call it, if you drink it (most Americans do), you can save a lot of money by quitting. Not to mention what you can do for your health by stopping drinking the things.
What then, should you drink? Well, water. Water is zero calories. Water is nutritious, containing minerals. Water has no sugar or artificial sweeteners. Water has no preservatives. Water doesn't create cravings. And, even if you choose to buy it prebottled (versus pouring some from your home faucet), water is definitely cheaper than soda.
Prices for a twelve-pack of 12 oz cans of pop locally are about $4. That's $4 for 144 ounces of drink. For $3.50 you can buy a 24 pack of 16.9 oz bottles of water. That's $3.50 for 405.6 ounces of drink. See the difference?
But I don't like water, you say. It doesn't have any taste, it's flat, it's boring. Get over it!! Once you get through the chemical and sugar withdrawals from not drinking pop, water won't seem so unappealing. And, if you must, you can even flavor it.
If you have a source of mint or lemon balm leaves, a handful or two of freshly picked leaves in a pitcher of water will give you a nice hint of flavor. Similarly, you can float a few slices of lemon in a glass of water and have flavor (this is what I do on the rare occasion we go out to eat--order water, then use the lemon wedges intended for iced tea to flavor my water). There are many other things you can use to flavor water, but I don't recommend those packaged flavorings sold at the store, mainly because: 1. they add expense, and 2. they have more chemicals and sweeteners than other things you could use. Instead, do some research on natural things you can use to give your water a more appealing taste. I'm sure there are lots of ideas on the internet.
You can also drink juice--always get real juice, not something that says "cocktail" or "juice drink" as those have added sweeteners--but you need to do so in moderation. Fruit juice has a lot of natural sugars and you shouldn't drink more than about 6 ounces at a time, and not more than 2 servings in a day. Besides, water is cheaper than juice. So stay within a reasonable 2 glasses of juice, then drink water for the rest of the day.
You can drink milk, but again, that shouldn't be done to excess. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Those calories add up, when mostly what you need from a liquid is hydration. And water does that quite nicely.
Coffee, tea, are not for me. I don't care for the taste and I'm not about to add a bunch of stuff to them to make them palatable. If you want to drink them, go ahead. But not all day long. A little is okay. Pots and pots of the stuff is not.
Water, nice clean water, is good for you. It's cheap. And it's pretty much impossible to consume more than you should in one day.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Frugal February #10: Bake, Don't Buy, Those Cookies
How often do you eat cookies? How often do you bake cookies? If those two numbers aren't the same, you can make a frugal change.
Cookies are simple. There aren't too many complicated cookie recipes. Cookies are also cheap to make. Not to mention all the extra garbage. . . er, 'ingredients'. . . that come with cookies from the store. Things like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. Things your homemade cookies won't have. You could even, maybe, say they are healthy cookies, since they have so many fewer bad-for-you ingredients.
Like most things, cookies don't take a whole lot of time to make. An hour, tops, and you've got several dozen cookies cooling on your counter, the dishes are washed and put away, and your house smells heavenly.
I'll even give you some of my tried and true (and sell at the farmers' market) recipes so you can try cookie baking for yourself. (Extra incentive: if you use farm fresh eggs--vs the ones from the store--you can even snitch a few fingerfuls of cookie batter without worrying much about salmonella).
Chocolate Chip
makes approx. 3 dozen
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1/2 cup lard or shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (real is best, imitation will do)
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (real if you can find them, imitation will do)
Cream butter, lard/shortening and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla, stir until blended. Add the flour, soda and salt, stir until thoroughly mixed. Add chocolate chips, stir again to distribute.
Onto ungreased cookie sheets, place large spoonfuls of cookie dough about 2" apart and 2" from sides of pan. I use what we call "big spoons" at this little place here--the large spoon a man would eat soup or cereal with--as opposed to the smaller spoons kids and I use. (In other words, a tablespoon versus a teaspoon size difference). On a large cookie sheet, I can easily fit 4 rows of 3 cookies each, or a dozen cookies.
Put the cookie sheets into an oven preheated to 375 degrees. If you have a convection oven, and enough large cookie sheets, you can bake all the cookies at once. Otherwise, in a regular oven, just use the center rack and do one sheet at a time.
Bake 9-11 minutes, or until cookies are desired doneness. We like ours lightly browned on bottom, but not brown yet on top, so they are still slightly soft when cooled. The darker you let your cookie get, the crisper it will cool. Remove from oven, carefully take cookies off sheet with a spatula and place on a wire rack to cool.
Peanut Butter
makes approx. 3 dozen, needs time to chill
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix the sugars, peanut butter, shortening and butter until creamed. Stir in egg. Add dry ingredients, and stir until well blended. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 3 hours but not more than 24.
Heat your oven to 375. With a small spoon, scoop dough and then roll between your hands to make 1 1/4" balls. Put about 3" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using a fork that has been dipped in water, flatten each dough ball, making a criss-cross pattern with fork. Bake 9-10 minutes until light brown. Cool on cookie sheet about 1 minute, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
makes about 3 dozen, needs time to chill
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1/4 cup molasses (I use blackstrap for extra flavor and lots of iron!)
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
sugar
Mix brown sugar, butter, and shortening until creamed. Add molasses and egg, stir well. Add all dry ingredients except the sugar, stir until well blended. Cover and put in the fridge at least 1 hour, no more than 24.
Heat oven to 375. Shape dough into 1 1/4" balls (like w/the peanut butter cookie recipe), then roll each ball in sugar. Place balls about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Do not flatten. Bake 10-11 minutes or just until tops of cookies crack. Cool on cookie sheet about 1 minute, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
makes about 3 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups rolled oats (oatmeal)
1 1/2 cups butterscotch flavored chips
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix butter and sugars until creamed. Add eggs and vanilla, and stir well. Add in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and stir again until well blended. Add oats and butterscotch chips, then stir some more until well distributed.
Onto ungreased cookie sheets, place large spoonfuls (the big eating spoons, not big serving spoons) of dough about 2-3" apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on if you want soft or crispy cookies. Remove from oven and let sit for 1 minute before taking cookies off sheet and placing them on wire cooking rack.
You may have noted in my recipes using chips (chocolate, butterscotch), I do not use an entire bag for one batch of cookies. The bags of chips will have recipes on them that tell you to use the whole package. But, by reducing the number of chips I use, I have found an amount that still flavors the cookies while allowing me to be a bit frugal. I can make one bag of chocolate chips stretch to 2 batches of cookies if I only use 1 cup per batch. And for the butterscotch chips, I can stretch 2 bags of chips between 3 batches of cookies. Sneaky, I am ;0)
Cookies are simple. There aren't too many complicated cookie recipes. Cookies are also cheap to make. Not to mention all the extra garbage. . . er, 'ingredients'. . . that come with cookies from the store. Things like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. Things your homemade cookies won't have. You could even, maybe, say they are healthy cookies, since they have so many fewer bad-for-you ingredients.
Like most things, cookies don't take a whole lot of time to make. An hour, tops, and you've got several dozen cookies cooling on your counter, the dishes are washed and put away, and your house smells heavenly.
I'll even give you some of my tried and true (and sell at the farmers' market) recipes so you can try cookie baking for yourself. (Extra incentive: if you use farm fresh eggs--vs the ones from the store--you can even snitch a few fingerfuls of cookie batter without worrying much about salmonella).
Chocolate Chip
makes approx. 3 dozen
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1/2 cup lard or shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (real is best, imitation will do)
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (real if you can find them, imitation will do)
Cream butter, lard/shortening and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla, stir until blended. Add the flour, soda and salt, stir until thoroughly mixed. Add chocolate chips, stir again to distribute.
Onto ungreased cookie sheets, place large spoonfuls of cookie dough about 2" apart and 2" from sides of pan. I use what we call "big spoons" at this little place here--the large spoon a man would eat soup or cereal with--as opposed to the smaller spoons kids and I use. (In other words, a tablespoon versus a teaspoon size difference). On a large cookie sheet, I can easily fit 4 rows of 3 cookies each, or a dozen cookies.
Put the cookie sheets into an oven preheated to 375 degrees. If you have a convection oven, and enough large cookie sheets, you can bake all the cookies at once. Otherwise, in a regular oven, just use the center rack and do one sheet at a time.
Bake 9-11 minutes, or until cookies are desired doneness. We like ours lightly browned on bottom, but not brown yet on top, so they are still slightly soft when cooled. The darker you let your cookie get, the crisper it will cool. Remove from oven, carefully take cookies off sheet with a spatula and place on a wire rack to cool.
*********
Peanut Butter
makes approx. 3 dozen, needs time to chill
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix the sugars, peanut butter, shortening and butter until creamed. Stir in egg. Add dry ingredients, and stir until well blended. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 3 hours but not more than 24.
Heat your oven to 375. With a small spoon, scoop dough and then roll between your hands to make 1 1/4" balls. Put about 3" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using a fork that has been dipped in water, flatten each dough ball, making a criss-cross pattern with fork. Bake 9-10 minutes until light brown. Cool on cookie sheet about 1 minute, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
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Molasses Cookiesmakes about 3 dozen, needs time to chill
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1/4 cup molasses (I use blackstrap for extra flavor and lots of iron!)
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
sugar
Mix brown sugar, butter, and shortening until creamed. Add molasses and egg, stir well. Add all dry ingredients except the sugar, stir until well blended. Cover and put in the fridge at least 1 hour, no more than 24.
Heat oven to 375. Shape dough into 1 1/4" balls (like w/the peanut butter cookie recipe), then roll each ball in sugar. Place balls about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Do not flatten. Bake 10-11 minutes or just until tops of cookies crack. Cool on cookie sheet about 1 minute, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
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Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
makes about 3 dozen
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups rolled oats (oatmeal)
1 1/2 cups butterscotch flavored chips
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix butter and sugars until creamed. Add eggs and vanilla, and stir well. Add in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and stir again until well blended. Add oats and butterscotch chips, then stir some more until well distributed.
Onto ungreased cookie sheets, place large spoonfuls (the big eating spoons, not big serving spoons) of dough about 2-3" apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on if you want soft or crispy cookies. Remove from oven and let sit for 1 minute before taking cookies off sheet and placing them on wire cooking rack.
***********
Now that you have some tried and true recipes to get you started, fire up that oven and bake cookies next time you're tempted to go buy some. It's much cheaper, and is also a great activity to do with your kids.You may have noted in my recipes using chips (chocolate, butterscotch), I do not use an entire bag for one batch of cookies. The bags of chips will have recipes on them that tell you to use the whole package. But, by reducing the number of chips I use, I have found an amount that still flavors the cookies while allowing me to be a bit frugal. I can make one bag of chocolate chips stretch to 2 batches of cookies if I only use 1 cup per batch. And for the butterscotch chips, I can stretch 2 bags of chips between 3 batches of cookies. Sneaky, I am ;0)
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Frugal February #9: Trash--Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
How much do you pay for your weekly trash pickup? Is it possible you could pay less by reducing the amount you throw out each week?
I know that for some people, trash pick up is a monthly fee mandated by their municipality. For others, though, trash is a negotiable thing. At this little place here, we have to arrange for our own garbage collection. We can choose not only what company to use for this service, but also a variety of plans. The one we have is 2 bags (or one wheeled cart that holds the equivalent of two bags) per week. From what I hear, this is usually the 'single person' or the 'old couple' plan. Most people with children generate more trash than that, and have the 2-6 bag per week plan. Hmm. Even when both sons were living at home, making the population at this little place here six humans, we didn't have more than two bags of trash in one week. Usually only one, but there isn't a one-bag plan, just a 'not more than 2 bags' plan. Someday I'd love to have a one bag once a month option ;-)
How in the world did I manage to have six people and only one bag of trash, you say? Well, I'm sure you've heard the buzz words before: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce: I buy very little prepacked stuff from the store. In other words, I don't have cardboard boxes of toaster pastries or waffles or breakfast cereal. I don't have plastic wrappers and foam trays from packages of meat. I don't have potato chip bags or cardboard tubes from biscuit dough. No shiny foil granolar bar wrappers. If you're buying ingredients, not ready-to-eat stuff, you have a whole lot less packaging to tote out to the curb on trash day.
If you raise more of your own food, you buy less, therefore also reducing packaging.
If you burn wood for heat, you shouldn't be throwing anything paper into the trash can. Paper goes in the wood burner, where it can make a useful contribution to you instead of costing you money to dispose of. Even if you don't burn wood, you can compost your paper in the compost bin or by shredding it and using as mulch in the garden or flowerbeds.
If you have ever thought about canning some fruits or vegetables, you might want to consider how doing so can reduce the amount of trash you create. Canning jars are reusable. Tins cans or plastic containers from the store aren't. At least, not for the food you're going to preserve at home.
So, by buying ingredients rather than snacks and all ready prepared meals at the grocery store, burning my paper, growing/raising/hunting a lot of my food, and canning my fruits and veggies, I reduce the amount of trash my family produces.
But what about that old worn out mattress, or that broken down couch that can't be repaired. How do I get rid of that? Well, it just so happens I have figured out ways to dispose of both those items. A utility knife works wonders. A hammer comes in handy on the couch. For both items, I used the knife to open them up and expose their frames. Cloth upholstery on the couch and the mattress is decomposable, or use able in the garden as mulch. The foam cushions can be reused on something else if in good enough shape (like giant throw pillows--my kids toss them on the basement floor to sit on while playing video games) or they can be cut into smaller pieces and put into trash bags. The trash man charges extra for big items like furniture, but doesn't charge for regular bags, put out within the weekly bag limit. The wooden framework on a couch can be burned in the wood burner for heat, or in a campfire. Metal framework on a couch, and the springs from the mattress can be sold/recycled as scrap metal. Bed springs are also good for dragging across a garden or yard you want to seed, making a nice level seedbed.
Reuse: Before you throw something away, ask yourself if that's the best thing to do with it. Does it have any use left? Plastic containers with lids are always useful. Yogurt cups can be repurposed into seed starting pots. Margarine tubs can hold buttons or safety pins or a myriad of other small things. Coffee cans now have handles formed into them, and make great places to store screws or nails in the garage--when you have a project to work on, you can just grab the handle of the can, and away you go!
Unless you live in an apartment or a place with no yard whatsoever, food should never go in the trash can. With the exception of meat, bones and fats, all food scraps can be composted. If you have dogs or cats, give them the meat, the bones (except cooked poultry and pork), and the fat. They'll love it, and it's a more natural diet than processed grains made into bite-sized kibble. If you have chickens, they'll eat just about anything. So will pigs. If you have an outdoor wood burner, it also will dispose of those bones that your pets can't eat, or if you don't have pets. Toss the bones in with the firewood, and think no more about it. It's a wood burner. It's a crematorium. Even the ash from this can be reused as fertilizer.
Recycle: We have never lived in a place that offered curbside recycling. But, I have always recycled. There is always somewhere you can take your glass, metal, and plastic items to. Some places charge a small fee, others are free. Some even take cardboard, newspapers and magazines. Even electronic items can be recycled now. Do an internet search for a place near you to take your recyclables, no matter what they are.
So, if you apply the three R's of reduce, reuse, and recycle, how much trash are you left with now? Would you qualify for a lower plan through your rubbish removal service? It might be worth checking into.
One other thing that you might want to ask about, is a discount for paying for your trash pick-up six months or even a year at a time. I pay by the year, and get a 15% discount for doing so. With this being the season of tax returns, now might be the time to hand over twelve months worth of trash pick-up fees in exchange for paying 15% less in the long run. Ask your company if they'll do this.
I know that for some people, trash pick up is a monthly fee mandated by their municipality. For others, though, trash is a negotiable thing. At this little place here, we have to arrange for our own garbage collection. We can choose not only what company to use for this service, but also a variety of plans. The one we have is 2 bags (or one wheeled cart that holds the equivalent of two bags) per week. From what I hear, this is usually the 'single person' or the 'old couple' plan. Most people with children generate more trash than that, and have the 2-6 bag per week plan. Hmm. Even when both sons were living at home, making the population at this little place here six humans, we didn't have more than two bags of trash in one week. Usually only one, but there isn't a one-bag plan, just a 'not more than 2 bags' plan. Someday I'd love to have a one bag once a month option ;-)
How in the world did I manage to have six people and only one bag of trash, you say? Well, I'm sure you've heard the buzz words before: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce: I buy very little prepacked stuff from the store. In other words, I don't have cardboard boxes of toaster pastries or waffles or breakfast cereal. I don't have plastic wrappers and foam trays from packages of meat. I don't have potato chip bags or cardboard tubes from biscuit dough. No shiny foil granolar bar wrappers. If you're buying ingredients, not ready-to-eat stuff, you have a whole lot less packaging to tote out to the curb on trash day.
If you raise more of your own food, you buy less, therefore also reducing packaging.
If you burn wood for heat, you shouldn't be throwing anything paper into the trash can. Paper goes in the wood burner, where it can make a useful contribution to you instead of costing you money to dispose of. Even if you don't burn wood, you can compost your paper in the compost bin or by shredding it and using as mulch in the garden or flowerbeds.
If you have ever thought about canning some fruits or vegetables, you might want to consider how doing so can reduce the amount of trash you create. Canning jars are reusable. Tins cans or plastic containers from the store aren't. At least, not for the food you're going to preserve at home.
So, by buying ingredients rather than snacks and all ready prepared meals at the grocery store, burning my paper, growing/raising/hunting a lot of my food, and canning my fruits and veggies, I reduce the amount of trash my family produces.
But what about that old worn out mattress, or that broken down couch that can't be repaired. How do I get rid of that? Well, it just so happens I have figured out ways to dispose of both those items. A utility knife works wonders. A hammer comes in handy on the couch. For both items, I used the knife to open them up and expose their frames. Cloth upholstery on the couch and the mattress is decomposable, or use able in the garden as mulch. The foam cushions can be reused on something else if in good enough shape (like giant throw pillows--my kids toss them on the basement floor to sit on while playing video games) or they can be cut into smaller pieces and put into trash bags. The trash man charges extra for big items like furniture, but doesn't charge for regular bags, put out within the weekly bag limit. The wooden framework on a couch can be burned in the wood burner for heat, or in a campfire. Metal framework on a couch, and the springs from the mattress can be sold/recycled as scrap metal. Bed springs are also good for dragging across a garden or yard you want to seed, making a nice level seedbed.
Reuse: Before you throw something away, ask yourself if that's the best thing to do with it. Does it have any use left? Plastic containers with lids are always useful. Yogurt cups can be repurposed into seed starting pots. Margarine tubs can hold buttons or safety pins or a myriad of other small things. Coffee cans now have handles formed into them, and make great places to store screws or nails in the garage--when you have a project to work on, you can just grab the handle of the can, and away you go!
Unless you live in an apartment or a place with no yard whatsoever, food should never go in the trash can. With the exception of meat, bones and fats, all food scraps can be composted. If you have dogs or cats, give them the meat, the bones (except cooked poultry and pork), and the fat. They'll love it, and it's a more natural diet than processed grains made into bite-sized kibble. If you have chickens, they'll eat just about anything. So will pigs. If you have an outdoor wood burner, it also will dispose of those bones that your pets can't eat, or if you don't have pets. Toss the bones in with the firewood, and think no more about it. It's a wood burner. It's a crematorium. Even the ash from this can be reused as fertilizer.
Recycle: We have never lived in a place that offered curbside recycling. But, I have always recycled. There is always somewhere you can take your glass, metal, and plastic items to. Some places charge a small fee, others are free. Some even take cardboard, newspapers and magazines. Even electronic items can be recycled now. Do an internet search for a place near you to take your recyclables, no matter what they are.
So, if you apply the three R's of reduce, reuse, and recycle, how much trash are you left with now? Would you qualify for a lower plan through your rubbish removal service? It might be worth checking into.
One other thing that you might want to ask about, is a discount for paying for your trash pick-up six months or even a year at a time. I pay by the year, and get a 15% discount for doing so. With this being the season of tax returns, now might be the time to hand over twelve months worth of trash pick-up fees in exchange for paying 15% less in the long run. Ask your company if they'll do this.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Frugal February #8: The $25 Date
With Valentine's Day coming, I thought perhaps suggestions for nice frugal dates might be in order. Going on a date doesn't have to be expensive, all you adults. Look at teenagers. They sure aren't spending $50-$100 on a night out with their sweetie (unless it's Prom! oooh, another idea for a Frugal February post!), so why do adults think unless they have oodles of money to spend, they can't take their special someone out on a date?
The main idea of a date is to have a good time with someone you care deeply about, right? It's not about money, it's about time and enjoyment of the company you're in. So, let's look at some ideas of things you can do with your spouse or significant other that won't break the bank.
The main idea of a date is to have a good time with someone you care deeply about, right? It's not about money, it's about time and enjoyment of the company you're in. So, let's look at some ideas of things you can do with your spouse or significant other that won't break the bank.
- Go to a matinee. You can go to the movies without spending an arm and a leg if you're willing to do it earlier in the day, and forego the popcorn, candy, and drinks.
- Go for a walk on a nature trail. See the sights. Get some fresh air. My goodness, you can even hold hands! Don't know where to find one of these trails? Most likely there's a website with a listing you can search by zip code or city. Try the website your state tourism board maintains.
- Go out for ice cream. Who doesn't like ice cream? Well, maybe those who are lactose intolerant, or vegans. But everybody else does, and an ice cream cone is pretty cheap. You could even split a sundae or banana split. Remember doing that with your high school flame? Why not do it with the current love of your life?
- Find a local brew pub or micro brewery, and go for a pint. Microbrewing is all the rage, and brew pubs are springing up all over the place. DH and I recently heard of three new ones that are either just opening or will be in the spring, all within an hour of this little place here. There's been one about 8 miles away for years, and that is our normal "Hey, you want to grab a pint?" place. It's a nice cheap date,just don't drink more than $25 worth of beer. And there's usually free peanuts!
- Get a movie from the library or video rental place, and stay in. Make popcorn, cuddle up on the couch with the lights out. Who says you have to go away from home for a date? If you don't have kids, if they are grown and moved away, or if they are at a friend's house or grandma's for the night, make it a date night!
- Try a Mom and Pop food place. You know, one of those little locally owned restaurants with a homestyle menu. If you don't try to eat more than you need to in one sitting, you can have dinner for two for around $25. If portions are huge, choose something you both like and split it.
- Have a lunch date. Instead of going out for dinner, go for lunch. The lunch menu is usually cheaper, and just as filling.
- Pack a picnic lunch. Nothing cheaper than food from home! You could combine this with a walk on a nature trail, or a trip to the local beach.
- Go roller skating or ice skating. Depending on how you feel about this. I love it, DH doesn't. But if your sweetheart is willing, this can be a cheap and fun thing to do together.
- Go bowling. This is pretty cheap. Just don't buy anything from concessions! That's where they get you.
- Find a sledding hill, grab a sled (or even buy one at Wally World--they're cheap) and take your honey for a thrill ride.
- Rent a canoe. I confess, I don't know how much $25 will get you, as we own several canoes and kayaks (DH's uncle runs a livery in Arkansas). But canoeing is definitely something two people can do together pretty cheaply for a few hours. You'll see nature and get exercise, too.
- Go to a show of some sort. You know, there's always one going on somewhere: craft show, boat show, camper show, gun & knife show, motorcycle show. . . Admission fees are cheap. It's up to you whether or not you spend any money while you're there.
- Go to a drive-in. Depending on where you live, there might still be an operating drive-in theater within a reasonable distance. This website has a listing for all the drive-ins in the US: http://www.driveinmovie.com/
- How about a museum? Whatever your flavor; art, history, science, you can probably find a museum within a reasonable driving distance. Admission fees usually aren't too outrageous.
- Go to the zoo. Not just for kids. Grown-ups can have fun looking at animals too.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Frugal February #7: What Do I Do With a Chicken?
I was actually asked that once: "What do I do with a chicken?" The mom of one of DS2's friends was the one doing the asking. Her son had recently volunteered to help us with butchering that year's flock of meat birds, and in gratitude for his assistance, at the end of 3 hours of butchering I had sent him home with a genuine local pasture raised chicken. Three and half pounds, whole.
His mother is a friend of mine, but one of those friends that isn't your bestie, is not your closest friend who is so like you that you know each other's thoughts. She's one of my many mom friends--our kids are friends, and so we too are friends. She knew what to do with chicken legs, or chicken breasts from the store, but apparently, even though she is about five years older than I am, she had never cooked a chicken before that didn't come pre-cut into serving size pieces. She really wanted to use that awesomely delicious and nutritious chicken her son had worked for, but didn't have a clue how to.
You may not know this, but whole chicken is the cheapest way to buy it at the store. Cutting it up adds cost. Last week, when I was at the store, I peeked at chicken prices to see what I'm missing by raising my own: a whole chicken, uncut was 89 cents a pound (store brand, name brand was more). A whole chicken, cut as I'm about to show you, was $1.19 a pound (again, store brand). So, for a 3 pound chicken, you are paying almost a dollar more to have it cut.
Maybe paying an extra dollar for that doesn't bother you. But let's put it into perspective:
So, if you don't all ready know how to cut your whole chicken into useable pieces, let me teach you.
Take your whole chicken. If it's from the store, rinse it well, inside and out. If it's not from the store, and you freshly butchered it yourself, you should do this too. If it's from your freezer, and you raised and butchered it yourself, hopefully you rinsed it before packaging and freezing.
1. Put your chicken on a cutting board.
Turn the chicken upside down if necessary. You should hear the hip joints pop. Once that happens, you can easily cut the thighs away from the body .
5. Use the same technique to remove the wings from the body.
6. I prefer boneless skinless breasts, so that is what I will demonstrate. You can also have bone-in breasts, just cut the breastbone (keel) down the middle, and don't separate the meat from the ribs. For boneless breasts, find where the meat attaches to the keel, and carefully cut the meat away from the bone. Gently pull the breast toward you as you slide the knife between the ribcage and the meat. Cut away at the bottom, and you have a boneless breast!
For the back, you can cut through the spinal column, or just leave it attached to the carcass and use the whole thing for soup. I prefer to do it that way, using the meat on the back in the soup.
Ta Da! You now have a chicken, in pieces, just like you can pay more for to buy pre-cut at the store. It is now ready for any recipe you want to use it in. (I'd like to say, looking at these pictures of such a scrawny chicken, that this one was the runt of the bunch, only a 2.5 pounder. Usually the pieces would be a bit bigger, and the whole thing more rounded. Not all homegrown chickens look this puny.)
Here's one of our favorite recipes for a cut-up chicken:
Oven Fried Chicken
1 3 to 3.5 pound chicken, cut into pieces
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp rosemary
Heat oven to 425 degrees. While oven is heating, melt shortening and butter in a 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish.
Mix flour, salt, paprika, pepper and rosemary. Pour into a gallon sized ziploc baggie (or you can use a brown paper lunch sack). Place chicken pieces into bag, seal, and shake to coat chicken thoroughly with seasonings.
Place chicken skin-side down in melted butter/shortening mixture in baking dish. Do not cover. Put in oven on middle rack, and cook for 30 minutes. Turn chicken over, and cook 25- 30 more minutes.
We like to serve this with mashed potatoes and corn or butternut squash.
Maybe paying an extra dollar for that doesn't bother you. But let's put it into perspective:
- Cutting a chicken is not hard.
- Cutting a chicken is something anyone can learn.
- Cutting a chicken is not time consuming. Once you do it a few times, you can whip it out in about 5 minutes.
- There are 12 5-minute increments in one hour.
1. Put your chicken on a cutting board.
2. With a sharp knife, make a slit in the skin where the thigh and rib area of the chicken meet.
3. Grabbing the drumsticks (legs), one in each hand, firmly press down, pushing the legs backward.
4.If you want to separate the drumsticks from the thighs, you can now make a slit in the skin where they meet, and push them away from each other. You should hear the joint separate, just like the hip joint did. Cut them apart now.
5. Use the same technique to remove the wings from the body.
6. I prefer boneless skinless breasts, so that is what I will demonstrate. You can also have bone-in breasts, just cut the breastbone (keel) down the middle, and don't separate the meat from the ribs. For boneless breasts, find where the meat attaches to the keel, and carefully cut the meat away from the bone. Gently pull the breast toward you as you slide the knife between the ribcage and the meat. Cut away at the bottom, and you have a boneless breast!
For the back, you can cut through the spinal column, or just leave it attached to the carcass and use the whole thing for soup. I prefer to do it that way, using the meat on the back in the soup.
carcass: keel bone, ribs, with back still attached
Ta Da! You now have a chicken, in pieces, just like you can pay more for to buy pre-cut at the store. It is now ready for any recipe you want to use it in. (I'd like to say, looking at these pictures of such a scrawny chicken, that this one was the runt of the bunch, only a 2.5 pounder. Usually the pieces would be a bit bigger, and the whole thing more rounded. Not all homegrown chickens look this puny.)
1 3 to 3.5 pound chicken, cut into pieces
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp rosemary
Monday, February 6, 2012
Frugal February #6: Join the Library!
Are you a member of your local library? If so, great! You all ready have access to one of the places that make living much more frugal. If you aren't all ready using your library, you should be.
My local library is free to join and use. That's because a portion of our property taxes go towards funding the library. But, I've lived in places where that wasn't so, where the library charged it's members an annual fee. Even if your library isn't free, you still should join. Membership fees are usually very low, and pay for themselves in no time with the savings you'll get from borrowing books and materials from the library instead of having to buy them in order to read/use them.
Libraries aren't just about recreational reading (fiction books) or educational reading/research (non-fiction books) any more. Libraries also offer:
Think about how many books you read in a year (most of us at this little place here are voracious readers). If you could read every book this year for free, how much money would you save versus having to buy each book in order to read it?
What about every movie you watch on DVD? Every new release that would cost you $20 at the store, you could view for free by borrowing it from the library. Or even that monthly DVD rental program you're in--you wouldn't need it anymore, because the library doesn't just have movies on DVD, it also has TV series on DVD. How much money would that save you?
How many music CDs could you listen to before deciding if you liked them enough to purchase? How many could you listen to, decide you only liked one or two songs from it, and then purchase online just those couple of songs for your ipod or mp3?
How much money could you save by not subscribing to every magazine you were slightly interested in? How many of those you currently own do you read all the way through? Read more than once? Save and have room in your home to store? You could borrow them from your library, read the articles you were interested in, maybe photocopy the few articles you wanted to be able to refer to at a later date, and then return the magazine to the library, without having to worry about where to keep stacks of magazine back issues in your home.
This is a technique I do with cookbooks. I have a collection of old faithful cookbooks at home, the newest one acquired five years ago. Because since then, I've been borrowing cookbooks from the library, copying the few recipes I wanted to have, and returning the cookbook. It's a whole lot easier to store a few sheets of recipes in a folder in my kitchen that it is to store dozens and dozens of cookbooks that I'll only use a few recipes from.
For books that I borrow from the library, absolutely love and want to have on hand regularly, I look online for used editions, and only when I find one in good shape for a good price, do I buy it. No impulse shopping at the book store where I'd have to pay full price. Nope, a free preview courtesy of the library, then smart, frugal shopping.
Use your library. It's a wonderful resource. Your taxes may all ready be paying for it anyway. Why spend more money to buy books, magazines, or movies you'll only view once?
- computer usage with internet access and printers
- DVD 'rentals' (free at my library, unless you return it late, in which case it's $1 per day late fee)
- music CDs
- magazines and current newspapers (magazines can be checked out, newspapers have to be read in the library)
- book clubs
- children's summer reading programs
- fun and educational activities for adults
- books containing the local residential building codes (these came in sooooo handy when we were building the house at this little place here ourselves)
Think about how many books you read in a year (most of us at this little place here are voracious readers). If you could read every book this year for free, how much money would you save versus having to buy each book in order to read it?
This is a technique I do with cookbooks. I have a collection of old faithful cookbooks at home, the newest one acquired five years ago. Because since then, I've been borrowing cookbooks from the library, copying the few recipes I wanted to have, and returning the cookbook. It's a whole lot easier to store a few sheets of recipes in a folder in my kitchen that it is to store dozens and dozens of cookbooks that I'll only use a few recipes from.
For books that I borrow from the library, absolutely love and want to have on hand regularly, I look online for used editions, and only when I find one in good shape for a good price, do I buy it. No impulse shopping at the book store where I'd have to pay full price. Nope, a free preview courtesy of the library, then smart, frugal shopping.
Use your library. It's a wonderful resource. Your taxes may all ready be paying for it anyway. Why spend more money to buy books, magazines, or movies you'll only view once?
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