Old Mother Hubbard No More

My cupboards are full. And my freezer, too. I picked up the food that I ordered this morning and that, in addition to my Thursday grocery shopping, has filled them up. The plan is to make all this food last for two weeks and only purchase produce and milk.

I can already see the difference that Owlhaven's 30 Days of Nothing challenge has made in our checkbook balance. And I've noticed that I have been thinking twice about buying things, about shopping in general.

I mentioned before that I ordered some food through Angelfood Ministries. They offer a monthly box of food (which is what I bought), prepared meals, and produce and meat specials. The offerings change every month. This month I bought:

1.5 lb. Top Sirloin Strip Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)
2 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
3 lb. Breaded Chicken Chunks
1.5 lb. Boneless Pork Fillet
20 oz. Supreme Pizza
1 lb. Ground Turkey
1 lb. Cheddar Cheese Bratwurst Sausage
1 lb. Green Beans
1 lb. Stir Fry Vegetables (Broccoli & Bell Peppers)
35 oz. Crinkle-cut Fries
32 oz. Borden 2% Reduced Fat Shelf Stable Milk
7.5 oz. Macaroni & Cheese
15 oz. Pork & Beans
7 oz. Chicken-Flavored Rice & Vermicelli
1 lb. Pinto Beans
One Dozen Eggs
One Dessert Item (which turned out to be a box of chocolate chip cookies)

This is supposed to be enough food to feed a family of four for a week (dinners). I was a little disappointed with the breaded chicken chunks. We haven't tried them, but they just look like little balls of breading to me. But I will try them.

Even if the chicken and the turkey (which I'm also a little wary of just from the packaging) turn out to be a waste, I think that it will still be $30 well spent.

I don't know how well spent, though. So I'm going to check prices and see what I would have paid had I purchased these at our local stores.

The pick up went really well. There was a line of people waiting to pick up their food but it moved really quickly. The volunteers were fantastic, helping people fill up their boxes and bags and searching for boxes for people that neglected to bring them.

I'm still undecided about doing this again for October. I want to actually eat some of the meat to see if the quality is equal to that of our local stores.

Well, I'm off to find some new recipes to try to use up the food on my now well stocked shelves.

30 Days of Nothing

Over at Owlhaven, I've been reading for the last week or so about 30 Days of Nothing. I really like the concept of it and kept thinking I should try it.

Then I thought of a bunch of excuses: She's almost half way through, it's a little late for me to join in. And I'm new to blogging and not sure this is where I should start. And we have plans in the next 30 days that will make this a challenge.

But, um, I guess it's supposed to be a challenge, right?

And I really identify with her posts about entitlement and the relative luxury that we live in here in the Western world. I have photos of D's foster grandparent's home: their dirt floor, their kitchen area, their sleeping mats. I struggle with the disparity of this reality. Do I really need the things I buy? Or do I just want them?

So here are my rules:

If I don't have to go out, I will stay home.

If I have to go out, I will walk if at all possible. If I must drive, I'll take the shortest route and batch trips together.

I'll limit shopping to groceries and necessities.

And I'm going to try to cut our grocery budget. We spend about $80 per week to feed our family of five. So that's about $320 over 30 days. Now, I went shopping Thursday for two weeks worth of groceries (not including perishables). And I preordered a box of food through Angelfood for $30. So I'm going to try to keep our food/supply spending to $250 over the next 30 days.

I picked these goals because I spend less when I'm home and it has the added benefit of allowing me more time at home to work on some projects here.

One of our financial challenges is fuel. We live in a small town and my husband has a big commute. If I want to visit family or shop somewhere other than the two grocery shops in town, I have to drive at least 25 minutes to get there. I'm hoping we'll spend less in this area over then next 30 days.

Our food budget is an area that I've been working on over the last few months. I've been using coupons, shopping sales when possible, spending a bigger percentage of our budget at Aldi, and checking our refrigerator often so I don't let food spoil.

I've never tried Angelfood before but I ordered a box last week. So I'm going to work hard to build a menu around the items in their September box even though there are things there that I would never usually buy. Um, bratwurst?

I'm not sure that $250 is the magic number, but I think it's manageable. Today I spend $2 on the Sunday paper. I count that as part of our grocery budget because of the coupons. So, we have $248 to last until October 14.

I'm off now with the three little mudgies to make some thank you and birthday cards. Our first foray into 30 Days of Nothing. No store purchased greeting cards.

When's the last time you reviewed your auto insurance?

We just received our Auto Insurance renewal in the mail. For years we stayed with the same insurance company. We were happy with them. We had a good claims experience. The rate seemed OK.

But after I left my job to stay home with my kiddos, I started reevaluating our expenses- all of them. I was shocked to find out that when I called around and checked on-line, there was a huge disparity in the rates. We had been overpaying for our insurance but hadn't ever checked. Here I was, clipping coupons and saving a few bucks. I could have saved hundreds over the years by making some calls.

Here are some things to remember about auto insurance

• The insurance market is volatile. Rates go up and down. So just because GEICO was cheaper six months ago, does not mean that it will be now. They also vary greatly by location, even within the same city. So you can't always go by what your friends or family found to be the cheapest company.
• Make sure that you are comparing apples to apples. Have your declarations page in front of you. A policy may be cheaper but have a higher deductible or lower liability limits. It's important to know that the price you're being quoted is for the coverages that you need.
• It doesn't always pay to have all your insurance with the same company. You may save money by having multiple policies with the same company. Most companies offer a discount if you insure your home and vehicles with them. BUT you may not save any money at all. Our homeowners company offers a discount. However, even with the discount, I found cheaper insurance elsewhere.
• While you're calling around for rates, check your coverages to make sure that they fit your needs. I'll post in detail about this soon. It's important that you have enough insurance. But being overinsured can cost you money.

Consistently checking insurance rates at renewal time can save a lot of money.

Cutting Back to Stay at Home

I am a Stay at Home Mom. I don't really like that title- it sounds odd to me. But I love being at home with my girls. Otter Dad and I have been married for 16 years and I worked outside the home for 13 of them.

I've always thought that it was important that children, especially very young children, be surrounded by family as much as possible. In fact during our marriage preparation classes, one of the exercises was a test that asked us the same questions so that we could compare our answers. We were on the same page in almost every area. But the True or False: It's important that one of the parents stay home with our children" got opposite responses.

Otter Dad is not one of those, "My wife must stay home with the kids" kind of guys. I've occasionally wished he was. But not really, because that's just not him. He does understand how important it is to me though. And is completely supportive of the decision. But, it was primarily my decision.

I worked when my oldest was a baby. ODad didn't have to leave for work until 2pm and I could pick C up around 5. I thought that three hours a day in a child care situation was not that bad. But after E was born, ODad's schedule changed and I really didn't want the kiddos away from home for so long.

This choice cost us financially. I made considerably more money than ODad. So this was not a case of losing some extra pocket money. This was a 60% family pay cut. I'll be blogging more in this series to tell you what we did to make this possible: what's worked for us and what hasn't. I'm hoping it will help others who are struggling to make this decision but think they can't afford it. I know that there are situations out there that really require both parents to work, and many single parent families who have little choice in the matter. But for people that really want to make it work, maybe some of our strategies will work for you.

Recycling

I'm a firm believer in recycling and reusing. I've tried to teach my girls the importance of this. At their ages (3,4, and 5), they understand more than I thought they might.

So in our family, we don't call clothes (or shoes or toys) hand me downs. Reusing clothes keeps them out of landfills. It also keeps money in your pockets.

There are a many ways to do this.

• Check out thrift shops. Really. You may be surprised at some of the finds there. And not just clothing. Some shops have better quality than others. Just step inside and check out a few in your community and see what you can find.
• Browse in consignment shops and second hand stores. The prices will be higher than a thrift shop and you're more likely to find brand name items. But you can get clothes at a significant discount over retail and many times the items look brand new.
• Stop at some yard sales. Some people do this all the time. I wait for community or neighborhood yard sales so I can hit a bunch of sales in a short period of time. This saves gas by avoiding driving all over and it saves time. I have gotten some great deals at yard sales. In fact I bought my daughter's soccer cleats at a yard sale this summer for $2. She's five and will play 8 soccer games and have 8 practices this year. I bought them from a Mom of another five year old who wore them "about fifteen times." Who wants to spend $20 or $30 (or more) for something that gets such little use?
• Let people know that you're open to hand me downs. I don't mean to go around and ask for things from every Mom at the playground. But you can certainly let your friends and family know that you appreciate them. I've had people say, "I hope you're not offended, but I wondered if you'd like..." Offended? I love hand me downs. I love to look at my girls in a beautiful outfit and think that their cousin wore that last year. I have a beautiful dress coat that was a hand me down gift from friends. Their daughter wore it, then all three of my girls and now their little cousin wears it. It always makes me smile.
• Freecycle. Been to www. freecycle.com ? You can often find children's clothing, furniture or other items at no cost. We happen to be near an Army base and it seems that when soldiers move around, some don't want to take much with them. There are always furniture, bikes and such looking for a home.
• Craig's List. I'm sure you've heard of this one. But if you haven't used it, go check it out.

I constantly get comments on how cutely dressed my girls are. I rarely buy anything retail for the kids. In fact, it's usually only if someone gives me a gift card for my birthday or Christmas (and then I'm usally checking out the clearance rack and buying for next year in bigger sizes). I have to admit that I find it much more challenging to find gently used adult clothing. But I'm working on it.

Of course, it's equally important to "share the love". I sort clothes into bags as my girls grow out of them. Some are for specific friends who share my love of recycled clothing. Others I drop off at a local thrift shop that supports the food pantry in our area. That way the clothes can bless another family.