Goodbye, Satellite TV

We live in an older, rural neighborhood where cable providers have not pulled in lines for cable service, and as a result we were limited to satellite TV.  Our bill was around $170 a month for a DVR and two additional basic boxes for the bedrooms. But you know the routine. . . Despite the hundreds of channels available, we were pretty much limited to watching a handful of channels. My husband likes watching movies, I like cooking and decorating shows, and we both are news junkies.  The TV is on in the morning when he is getting ready for work, but stays off until he gets home. I listen to talk radio most of the day as I am working about the house.  TV was getting just too expensive, not only because of the cost, but also because we just don't watch that much TV to make it worthwhile to pay that much.

We have decided to pull the plug and subscribe to Netflix and Hulu instead.   Netflix for the movies and Hulu for TV shows.  The cost for both services will be less than $20 a month plus the one time cost of the "Roku" box of about $80. If something is not available, that's just too bad.  Though I will miss the Fox News Network, the impact will be nominal, because I already get most of my news from the radio and the internet anyway. 

It is a win win situation as far as I'm concerned. We will be saving quite a large sum of our money, and it will give me more time to read, which I love to do.  We'll see how it goes. . .  I really doubt if we will ever get cable or satellite service again. . .

Security in a Bag

With food prices on a steady march upwards, I decided I better purchase another bag of beans.  Here it is, all 50 pounds of it. It cost me $22.49 for this bag today. I purchased another bag about a year ago, and I hardly made a dent in it, so that means we have close to 100 pounds of this stuff. 

Still, this is less than half of the suggested amount needed to keep in food storage for a family of 4.  According to an LDS source the recommended amount is to have 60 pounds per person in legumes.  I probably have another 10-20 pounds in other miscellaneous types of dried beans.  I suppose this is a good start, but I need to step up the purchase. . .

Why do I do this? For one thing, I am purchasing food today that I will be eating tomorrow at yesterday's prices.  Beans keep indefinitely without losing much nutritional value, so I have the peace of mind that if prices become really high, I am assured that my family will be fed. It might get boring, but at least we will have food. . .

For another, I am convinced that we are in for some dire times ahead.  I probably sound like a nut, but I am convinced that we are facing a financial meltdown in the US in the not too distant future.  If things get really dicey, I will have a food supply stashed away until we can get into the swing of having to hunt, forage, and grow our own food.  In this respect, we are more fortunate than some. We live on an acre, so we have enough land to grow most of our vegetables if it came to that. Last year was the trial run, and we plan on enlarging the beds this year, "just in case."

As I watch the protests in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol over the proposed cutback of union representation for teachers, I feel I am seeing just a sampling of what is to come.  The teachers don't want to pay into their retirement and health care at all. They want the taxpayers to foot the bill. But the governor says without doing this, he cannot balance the State budget.  Things have reached the tipping point where the taxpayers are tired of paying public workers more in benefits than they themselves are getting.  I realize teachers are upset their cozy status quo is threatened to be changed, but if they don't give in, then they are facing layoffs! They don't see that they are going the way of Detroit where the unions completely destroyed an industry!

We are all making sacrifices these days.  I think it is time for union members to see that the status quo is not the answer.  In the meantime, I am going to continue squirreling food away "just in case."

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Sticker Shock

How can a practically empty shopping cart of groceries total up to $43.90?  I mean, really? My sons ask why I don't buy Flaming Hot Cheetos any more to pack in their lunches. . . At $3.00 a bag, I don't think it is worth it.  My older son has been loving them since he was a toddler, but I'm afraid they can only be an occasional treat now.  To add insult to injury, many companies are shrinking the amount of product inside packages to ostensibly keep the prices the same. Excuse me? I'm not that stupid.  I notice. 

We are all cutting back and trying to deal with the reality of the situation.  I wish the President and the incompetent Democrats would step up to the plate and learn to make do with less, instead of trying to grow the government to unsustainable levels.  At least get out of the way and let the Republicans try to be more grown up about what we can and can't afford as a nation, instead of whining the predictable mantra that "the children and the elderly are going to suffer."  As President Reagan once said, "we have a rendezvous with destiny," but the destiny as it stands now is not the rosy one envisioned by him but one that is far more unpleasant.  I resent the politicians who only care about re-election and who don't put the interests of the country and its citizens first. Enough already!

Coeur a la Creme

We're not big into celebrating Valentine's Day, but here's the coeur a la creme I made for my husband and my two sons that we had after dinner. I found the porcelain mold at the thrift store some time back for 99 cents. Quite a bargain compared to what the large molds go for in stores like Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table, which is around 35 dollars. I've been wanting to make this for some years, but was too cheap to fork over the full retail price! BTW, it was divine with the raspberry sauce I made. Oh, and the glass serving platter was another find, but I forgot how much I paid for that, probably a couple of bucks.

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Frugal Bathroom

This is our hall bathroom, meaning it is the one used by guests and our family when we are hanging out in the family room. It was totally gutted when we purchased the house. Although a renovation is not exactly a frugal proposition, I tried to furnish it as frugally as possible.

The only items purchased new were the black photo frame and the iron scroll over the window. Actually, they are both something purchased some time ago unrelated to the renovation. I had purchased the scroll when we lived in our former home, and it ended up as a window treatment here as it was the perfect size to fit over the window.  I felt that a curtain would have looked busy over such a small window.  I like to think of it as a quasi French prison/tower room look.  The magazine rack/toilet paper holder was a whopping $1.99 at the thrift store. I plan on spray painting it with a hammered finish paint when I get around to it.

The armoire was purchased used on Craigslist for $120. It holds all our towels and bulk toiletry supplies. The eagle mirror was a $4.99 find from about a week ago at a thrift store, as was the large full length mirror that was $25. It used to be a dresser mirror orphaned from the dresser. It was made by Thomasville, so if I were to purchase it new, I guesstimate it would cost me at least $400 or so.

Although you can't see it very well, there is a china cabinet opposite the commode also purchased on Craigslist for $200 together with a buffet that I turned into the sink vanity (I'll post a photo at some later date). When the weather gets a little bit warmer for me to work in the garage, I plan on painting the china cabinet to recreate a look I saw in a decorating magazine.  The painted cabinet in the magazine cost around $7,500.

Overall, not bad considering you could spend $50+ on a toilet paper holder alone. . .

BTW, this is what this bathroom used to look like when we purchased the house.  WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???

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Thrift Store Find

A bit hypocritical following my post on "Wants -v- Needs" the other day, but I found this mirror at the thrift store and could not pass it up. This is a federal style reproduction mirror with the requisite convex mirror. I believe this particular one was manufactured around the 60's or 70's. Even close up, it appears to be made of wood, but is actually some type of composite plastic. It is a very traditional design with 13 balls surrounding the mirror representing the original 13 colonies with an American eagle on top.

I've been wanting one of these for a long time, but true antiques run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a quick search on the Internet resulted in a RENTAL mirror of the same design going for $70 per month! This baby cost me $4.99! It's not an original antique, for sure, but good enough for me. For the time being, it resides in our bathroom until we get around to refacing our fireplace in the family room. Thereafter, I plan on hanging it over the fireplace.

My late father used to tease me that I had champagne taste on a beer budget, but this is the case of champagne looks on a beer budget, don't you think?

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Stock Up if You Can. . .

Things are getting really scary over in Egypt and the Middle East in general. . . I heard on the news that the cost of food has gone up 20 percent in the past year world wide.  Researchers calculated that the average American family spends ten percent of its annual income on food (@ three meals a day), while those in developing countries spend nearly half of their income on food (@ two meals a day).  It is no wonder that there is unrest in Egypt caused in part from the frustrations of the people who are out of work and hungry as a result.

I am no politician, but I strongly feel that things are going to escalate. It is a powder keg over there. . . And if you don't think something like that cannot happen where you live, I would think twice.  Just look at the riots in Europe over the last year in Greece, France and England.  I definitely see something similar in our future. 

Time to really get serious about stocking up on staples like beans, rice, and other staples that will keep a long time in storage.  As I said before, better be prepared and not have to use it, than not having it and having to suffer the consequences.  If you stock up on things with a long shelf life, you are not throwing your money away, since you will eventually get around to eating it.  Do yourself a favor and get prepared and stock up!

Tomato paste and American cheese

I was down to my last can of tomato paste, so I've been on the lookout for sales. They used to go on sale 4 for a dollar not too long ago for 6 oz cans, and now they are averaging 78 cents a can when they are not on sale. Kroger now has them "on sale" at $3 for 5 cans, which comes out to 60 cents a can! Talk about inflation!

Interestingly, they also had 12 oz cans for sale at 45 cents a can. Are you kidding me? I can buy twice as much for less than the current sales price of the 6 oz can? This was a no brainer. I purchased 20 cans, since I use tomato paste frequently to add flavor to spaghetti sauce and stews.

Kraft American cheese was also on sale for 99 cents. Though they are not my favorite, my sons and husband like them on grilled cheese sandwiches and hamburgers, so I purchased 10 packages. They will keep quite a while in the fridge. They regularly sell for about 3 dollars, so this is quite a savings as well.

Bottom line though, is it is always a sticker shock every time I go grocery shopping. One must save, and stock up whenever we can. 

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Soup For Dinner

Inspired by Frugal Queen's soup yesterday, vegetable soup for dinner tonight! I needed to clear out some vegetables in the crisper compartment of my refrigerator, anyways. Four carrots, one red bell pepper, one onion, two stalks celery were all chopped up and sauteed for a bit in the frying pan. Tip it all over in a pot with water with a can of Northern beans and leftover marinara sauce. Salt, pepper to taste. Then I added diced acorn squash... A pinch of hot pepper flakes, and it was done! My husband is on a vegetarian diet for the foreseeable future, and it has been hard coming up with a menu everyday.

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Making it from scratch

It was reaffirmed today what a difference it makes making your meals from scratch. Around 10 a.m. my husband was asking, "what's for lunch?" I had no answer. But he said, "I wouldn't mind some chili!" I put about 2 cups of dried pinto beans in my pressure cooker with some water and put it to boil.   It had been a LONG time since I used the pressure cooker. One hour later, the beans were all but done. I  adjusted the seasonings and let it simmer for a bit longer. I could not believe I made chili from DRIED beans in under two hours! I really need to remember to use my pressure cooker more often. Aside from the savings in time, think of the savings in energy costs!

After we were done eating lunch, I was trying to relax reading the supermarket fliers.  I complained to my husband how the price of Ranch Style Beans had come up over the price it used to be sold on sale (used to be 4 for a dollar, now about 78 cents for one can). He told me that the beans I cooked ( in the chili) tasted better than the canned ones, so don't even sweat over trying to find it at a sale price.

Goes to show, when you are used to buying it canned, you tend to forget how easy it is to make it yourself from scratch.  The chili tasted better than the stuff we buy canned, and it cost pennies per serving.  Note to self, don't forget to make things from scratch when you can, because the savings are astronomical. 

Once our supply of store bought chili is used up, I will start making a big batch and canning it at home in the future.  My chili tasted way better than those from the store, and it didn't have mysterious ingredients in it. I will be using my pressure canner that I invested in last year for just such projects.  If you are canning anything with meat or low acidity content, you must process the bottles properly under pressure. Safety first!

Buying Out of Season Part Deux

Amazing how even the price of everyday grocery items change! Before Thanksgiving and Christmas, I had my eyes glued open, waiting for the price of Libby's canned pumpkin to come down so I can stock up on it. Generally, it is at its' lowest price every year at that time.  This past season though, the lowest price I saw anywhere was about 78 cents for a 15 oz can.  Not really anything to write home about, so I gave up and didn't buy any, since it was not worth stocking up at that price.  Back then, I think I would have stocked up if they had them offered at 2 for a dollar.

Today, when I went to Walmart to buy some lunch items for my sons' school lunches, I hit jackpot! They were 25 cents a can. I had to look twice, as the sign above the shelf said $ 1.25, but the price on the shelf itself said 25 cents.  I double checked the price at the baking aisle to make sure, and it was really 25 cents.  According to the reciept, Walmart's regular price on this item is $1.50, so I think what happened here was that the store had a supply glut over its' normal level and wanted to move it quickly to clear shelf space. I happened upon a small window of opportunity before Walmart jacked up the price again.  Thank you grocery shopping fairies! (BTW, I had to go back inside the store after I checked out to get a couple of items I forgot, and they were ALL gone!)

I bought 4 cases, which comes out to 96 cans.  Yes, that is a LOT, but as I said before, buying groceries for me is a two pronged approach; trying shop smart day to day to not waste money, but also stocking up on non-perishable items so I have a food storage supply "just in case." I spent $24.00, and that bought me peace of mind.  I will be using it in the future to make pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, etc.  In addition, it is supposed to be a good substitute for oil in many baking recipes, so the end result of my baking will be healthier!

Now, I am on a quest to find a good price for canned tuna. A little over a year ago, I purchased around 70 cans when they were on sale for an incredible price (which I don't recall). The other day, I opened the last can (yes, I like tuna). What are the chances that I will find an equally incredible deal?

Buying Out of Season

As we light another fire in our fireplace, I am reminded of the cost savings of making purchases out of season. While the firewood is left over from the last cord of wood purchased last year, the fire starter was purchased last summer on clearance when the thought of starting a fire was the furthest thought in my mind. A 20 pack of starter cost me $4.75 package, which translates into approximately a quarter to light each fire. These starters retail for $8.00 per box in season. I purchased enough boxes to last us through the winter.

Which reminds me that I saw canning lids on clearance at the supermarket before Christmas, so I need to go get some before they sell out, as I am planning a larger vegetable garden come spring. If you know you will use an item, then buying out of season is the cheapest way to go.

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Christmas Decorations

I grew up in Japan raised by non-religious parents. We were Christians in name only. Although I was given Christmas presents as a child, I chose the present in advance and we never had Christmas trees with the exception  of one year when my parents decided to host a Christmas party for some friends.  When I was grown up and living in the U.S., I never decorated my apartment for Christmas.  I was single, so what was the point?

After my husband and I were married, we were almost immediately separated for about 5 months when he had to go for extended training to prepare for his new job.  I had to move to San Diego alone and find our new apartment.  He was due to come home 3 days before Christmas.  His one request for the new apartment was for a decorated Christmas tree. 

I remember scrimping and saving to buy ornaments for that tree.  Those were the days when Christmas decorations never were on sale until after Christmas, so everything seemed so expensive.  Now that I look back, I don't know how I even managed to get the tree decorated, but I somehow did.  It was all decked out in plastic icicles and angels and white lights.  It was beautiful.  It made my husband very happy to see it as he walked in the door the night he "returned" to his new apartment for the first time. 

Over the years, we continued to amass an assortment of Christmas decorations. purchased for the most part at after-Christmas sales.  Even so, I suspect we have spent a small fortune.  It has gotten to the point that we have too much "stuff" to use it all in any given year.  Still, Christmas decorations are hard to pass up if the price is right. Nowadays, I don't even take a second glance at anything retail and limit myself to items in thrift stores.  This year so far, my outlay has been $17.00. I spent $1.99 for a miniature tree to place on top of the fireplace mantle next to our Santa figure, $4.99 for a wreath to hang next to our front door, and $10.00 for two rolls of wide red ribbons to wrap four columns on our front porch to make them look like candy canes.  OK, the ribbon was purchased retail, but only because I knew I could not find them otherwise.  My husband and even the boys like how they turned out.  I don't think I will purchase anything else.  Decorating for Christmas does not have to cost a fortune if you keep your eyes and mind open!

When Life Gives You Oranges

We have an orange tree in our yard planted by the previous owners.  Last year, the tree only had 4-5 fruits on it, but this year, we had a bumper crop.  Just that the oranges were full of seeds making it not palatable to even try to eat them.  But it sure seemed like a waste to let it rot.  So I decided to juice them. . .

Let me tell you what a pain in the you-know-what it was! For one thing, picking them off the tree was a chore in and of itself.  I was a bit apprehensive about getting back on a ladder after my mishap last year.  I did the best I could, then promptly delegated the picking to my 17 year old son. He was not happy, but threatening to cut off his gas money did the trick! ; )  I then started to juice. . . and juice. . . and juice. . .  It was a bitch of a job.  Since I don't have a state-of-the-art juicer, it seemed like I was having to dump the seeds every other minute from my crappy $5 model.  This continued for THREE DAYS! 

After I juiced the oranges, I strained the juice through a mesh strainer to get rid of the pulp and stray seeds. I then bagged the juice in ziptop sandwich bags, placed the bags on a baking sheet to freeze in the freezer.  I'm hoping I will be able to use the juice in recipes and perhaps frozen drinks for my sons at a later date. 

On two of the days, I decided to give another try at making jelly.  Last year's attempt with another fruit ended with the "jelly" not jelling.  Note to self: follow a recipe. Winging it when you have never done something is a waste of time and money.  This time, the jelly jelled, after I read a recipe and found out there is a way of testing whether you have reached the jelling point.  I now have 12 bottles of homemade orange jelly to use at a later date. 

The annoying thing about the whole experience was when, after slaving for three days to "harvest" our oranges, my husband asked me how much a gallon of orange juice cost. When I said, "about five dollars," he quipped to the boys, "hey, your mom just saved me five dollars!"  I could have killed him just then. . .  But the reason I did it was to practice making jelly, so I guess it was still a worthwhile experience.  The jury is still out whether the process will be repeated next year. . .

Buying it Used, Even Under Duress!

I said before that I try to find things used if I absolutely need to buy something. . .

Last year in June, I fell off a 4 ft ladder while trying to remove a light fixture in our bathroom and broke two bones in my foot.  The human body/brain instinctivly tries to protect the head (which was my only thought in that split second before I landed), so my foot ended up in an unnatural position under my body, I think.  I quickly realized that I was going to have a hard time trying to get around on crutches, because they make you hurt pretty bad under the arms from the pressure, as well as being unsafe when you are getting tired from trying to stay standing on one good leg.  What to do?

My husband suggested getting a wheelchair, but should I? A new one was running at a minimum of $200. You could rent one for about $2.00 a day, which comes to $60.00 a month for God knows how long.  Oh yeah, let's check Craigslist!  A quick search while laying in bed turned up a model that looked brand new for $30.00!  A quick call to the seller lined up an appointment for my husband to go pick it up on the way home from work.  It had belonged to a young man who had wrecked his motor cycle but quickly recovered from his injuries. 

I used it for about a month, so that's a savings of $30.00 over the rental fees.  It still looks barely used, and I'm sure we could sell it for the exact same price as we had paid, which will make it free to us.  We are holding on to it for the time being in case my father-in-law who's had knee replacement surgery may need it later as he is getting along in his years.  It is amazing what is out there if you take a little time to look!

Spam!

Spam went on for sale at Kroger for $1.50 a can, so it's time to stock up. It normally hovers around $2.00 - $2.30 at any grocery store, so this is a good buy.  The timing was perfect as I was down to our last 7 cans from the previous time they went on sale.  Last time, I believe it was around $1.25, so that's inflation for you!  I try to buy as much as I think I will use in a year's time (though the expiration date on the can is for about 3 years into the future).  I think I purchased around 30 cans last time, so I'll probably purchase the same amount again.

I know Spam has a bad reputation as it is highly salted and processed, so you don't want to make a habit of eating it everyday, but it has its' place in a good food storage pantry. You can eat it right out of the can if you absolutely must, and it is quite good in small quantities or as a flavor enhancer in other dishes.  Due to my Japanese upbringing, I think it is quite comparable to the salted salmon fillets I used to eat with rice when growing up.  I normally use it diced in fried rice for my sons who love Spam prepared that way. Other than that, it is usually a trusty standby for times when I have no bacon in the fridge and I have to get breakfast on the table on the weekends.  Did you know the State of Hawaii consumes the most Spam per capita of any other place in the U.S.? Weird, but true.

Locking in the Interest Rate

I went to our bank yesterday to lock in a new interest rate for our preexisting home equity loans that we had taken out two years ago when we were renovating our home. We had two outstanding loans out, one fixed and one adjustable.  My husband was getting nervous that the rates might be going up soon and wanted the assurance of predictability.  After an hour, I walked out of the bank with the security knowing we locked in a lower interest rate and a lower monthly payment. That means that we will be able to knock out that loan sooner because we will be making extra payments over the minimum amount due. 

Our ultimate goal is to be completely debt-free.  In hindsight, we should have saved the money needed for projects in advance before we started it.  We now know better.  The additional work we have done since then have been on a cash basis.  That's the reason we still have unfinished projects, but it does not worry me in the least.  It will get done. . .eventually.  We went to visit Biltmore Estate in North Carolina this past summer, and were told during the tour that even that "house" had an unfinished room that was boarded up and never used when the Vanderbilts lived there!  I don't plan on not getting our projects done, but we can wait a while longer.  No big hurry.  For the time being, we have security in knowing that we will not be hit with an unexpected rate hike on the loan.

Pasta Update

Remember the 128 pounds of pasta I purchased for my food storage last weekend? I purchased 170 packages of the pasta in 12 oz packs for 38 cents each. That cost me $64.60 for the lot.  I was at the store today and noticed they were still "on sale" for $1.00 a pack (I think the regular price is about $1.30). If I purchased the same amount today, it would cost me $170.  That is a savings of $105.40 off of today's "sale" price! 

Goes to show, just because something is on sale does not make it the best deal.  One needs to know the price of the items you use on a regular basis to know if the "sale" is really a good deal!  Generally, grocery stores will have "loss leaders" most weeks to entice shoppers to come in and hopefully purchase other items at the regular price (in case you don't know, a loss leader is an item the store will have on sale at cost or at a price lower than what it costs them to purchase it from the distributor). 

If you do your homework, you will realize savings over time as you build up a stockpile of staples you purchased at rock bottom prices!  The object is to buy enough so you don't have to purchase that item again until it goes on sale the next time.  I'm still learning, but it is fun to notice the inflated prices of items already in my pantry I purchased at prices much lower than what they are sold for today!

The Case For Food Storage

Regarding the 100+ pounds of pasta I purchased the other day. . .  Before you think I went waaaaay overboard with my purchase, let me explain why I did what I did.

Just in the last few days, it was reported in the news that buyers for Walmart, Gap and JC Penny are forecasting the price of clothing will be up by at least 30% by next spring because the price of cotton futures are going up at an alarming rate.  It was leaked to the press that according to Walmart's "secret" study, inflation is already here and the price of everything is going to go up.

When my husband and I started to stock up on storable food around the summer of last year, we did not tell anyone about it for fear that people would think we were a bit wacky.  But we could see the writing on the wall and read the tea leaves, so to speak.  Though I want to keep politics out of this forum, we felt that everything our President was proposing to do was not doing Jack for the economy, and if it continued, we were in for some dire straits.  We know from studying history that if and when things deteriorate, it will happen quickly, before you realize what is going on.

So we started to squirrel away extra food in our "food storage pantry" (an unused walk-in closet).  I started purchasing extras of spices, pasta, rice, canned goods, etc. when  they were on sale.  Though we are nowhere near the point where I feel comfortable, I am confident that we already have enough to weather several months without ever having to purchase anything and still be able to feed my family fairly well if it came to that.

When we started on this journey, we thought we were the only ones feeling this way.  I certainly have not heard of it growing up.  But I had the misfortune or luck perhaps, to weather Hurricane Ike two years ago.  Our house was not damaged, but we lost power for 6 days.  Many of my sons' classmates did not regain power in their homes for close to a month.  But the power situation was really not that big of a deal compared with wondering if we had enough food.

A quick trip to our Walmart Supercenter the morning after the hurricane hit changed our perspective FAST.  The rows and rows of shelves in the grocery aisles normally stocked full of food were picked clean.  You could not buy ANYTHING.  It was really surreal to see people wandering around those empty aisles trying to find some food.  We had food in our house to tide us over; I was there to try to buy more food "just in case."  Since then, I've learned that grocery stores only carry enough food on their shelves to last 72 hours under normal circumstances. So naturally in times of crisis, the shelves get stripped clean. Because the stores had no food, there were lines of people trying to get free MREs at PODs (points of delivery) set up around the city and county by the local governments.  It was an eye opening experience and my husband and I came to the conclusion that we never wanted to be in a situation where we had to rely on our government for our next meal.

After I started researching about storing food, I realized we were not unique.  I learned that the Mormon Church teaches it as part of their religion to store a year's worth of food in their homes.  We are not Mormons, but it made sense.  I also started noticing ads on the radio for commercially packaged "food storage." We weren't so wacky after all. . . In fact, it appears that there are more and more people out there experiencing the same worries and the desire to be prepared.  Most of us have insurance policies on our home, car, life, disability, so why not for the ability to eat our next meal?  Having extra food stored in your home does not have to cost a fortune, and it will give you a peace of mind.  Wouldn't you rather be prepared and not have to use it, than not having it and then having to beg, steal, borrow, or even kill another for the next meal because you were unprepared?

It does seem like a daunting task when you begin, but if you focus on reaching a goal in increments, it is not so hard.  Aim to get enough to feed your family for two weeks, then a month, then 3 months, and so on.  Staples like pasta, rice, cereal, wheat and beans will keep indefinitely if kept dry and away from extreme heat, and not that expensive to purchase.  There are resources online to help you reach your goal.  So before you think I was crazy to buy that much pasta, think it over and get your food storage started.  I promise you will not regret it!

The Case For Buying it Used

When you are faced with having to buy something out of need or want, do you go to your local retail establishment or go to thrift stores or try searching for the item online on Craigslist and similar outlets?  Back in the day, I never thought twice and went to the nearest store to make the purchase, end of story. But for quite some time, years actually, my first option is to try to find it used.

For one thing, it is waaaaaay easier on one's wallet and balance sheet. For another, it is more eco-friendly.  I'm not one of those big time environmentalist type, but I would rather buy it used so I tread a little bit more softly on the environment. If I buy it used, that's one less thing going into landfills.  Besides, "used" in many instances only means someone else has previously owned it. I have purchased many items over the years with absolute certainty that no one has EVER used that item.  I know this because many of the items sold in thrift stores still have the original store price tags or are still sealed in the original package.

In the case of Craigslist or even your church bulletin boards, where you deal directly with the previous owner of the item you are wanting to purchase, the added bonus is that you don't have to pay sales tax.  This is a biggie for big ticket items when you are paying more than a couple of hundred bucks.  Where I live, that's a savings of 8.25% in addition to the savings you are already realizing by buying it used at a reduced cost. 

When you purchase an item at thrift stores, I do get charged the sales tax, but that is not that big of a deal when most purchases are less than $20.  With thrift stores, you get the additional satisfaction of knowing that the proceeds from the sale stay in your community doing charitable works, as is the case with Salvation Army, Goodwill, and other similar thrifts.

People who do not consider shopping at thrift stores or even garage sales might think it's a bit yucky and gross to purchase something used, especially shoes or clothes.  What I would say to that is, you almost never get to buy an item of clothing in retail that has not been previously worn by someone else, because you don't know who has tried it on already before you purchase it.  You have the added bonus of not having to worry about shrinkage. If it fits, it's going to stay that way, unless, of course, you pack on a few pounds later. 

So, before you make that next purchase, do yourself a favor and ask, "can I buy it used?"

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Don't Throw Away That Turkey Carcass!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, most of us will be roasting/frying/smoking turkeys. When you are done with your family meal, don't throw away the bones but make soup stock with it.  If you do not have the time right away, do what I do and put all of the bones in a Ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer.  You will thank yourself, I promise!

When you have a free couple of hours, throw in the bones in a stock pot and cover with water.  You can throw in some carrots, celery, garlic and parsley for more flavor, but I usually do without.  Some die hard chefs might frown, but I feel that when the time comes to use it, you will more likely than not use those same vegetables anyways, why waste it to throw away?

After you have simmered it for a couple of hours, let it cool to room temperature and then strain the bones and other gunk in there from the golden liquid. Put the liquid in the fridge overnight and skim off the fat that rises to the top if you are health conscious as I am.  What I do at this point is to ladle the now cooled and gelatinous liquid into Ziplock sandwich bags and lay them on its side on a cookie sheet in the freezer until frozen. This amount is approximately 1 cup, and you can then pull them out when preparing recipes that call for stock, or you can replace it for water to add additional flavor to a recipe that calls for water.  It is amazing how much flavor comes out of the bones! The best thing is that it was free!

I do the same with chicken bones, but you need the bones from 5-6 chickens to make it worth your while, so definitely keep that Ziplock bag in the freezer and keep adding to it until you have enough!