On Thinking Frugally

I was invited to a Superbowl Party which was pot luck.  I don't like football much, but the ads are fun and I really like my friend, Pat, who asked me to the party. She has an amazing old house on a peninsula surrounded by a beautiful creek.  They have added a great room to the house with a large stone fireplace, which is where we watch the game.  It has been a neighborhood tradition for many years.

I was completely stumped on what to bring and so let it go until the last minute.  I was going to buy something after church, but was totally uninspired on even that.  Finally I decided to buy two Subway foot longs and slice them into individual pieces.  I was musing aloud to my husband and we both thought that surely we must be able to come up with something that cost less than $12. 

Finally it came to me.  Hummus; a great Middle-Eastern dip made from chick peas.  I had all the ingredients in the house.  Chick peas or garbanzo beans, as some people call them, are a staple at our house.  I sliced up some flat bread, arranged some celery and carrots on a platter and I was done.  For no additional outlay of cash.

Frugality is a mindset that has to undergird everything that we do in order to be practiced successfully.  There is always a way to do things less expensively, more efficiently, and in a more timely manner.  I slip in and out of this mindset. 

However, I find that when I look at it as if it is a game, rather than a grim necessity, I am much more willing to remain in the frugal zone.    Thinking "I can't buy that" is not fun.  Thinking, "I'd like to bake some bread" is fun.  Getting a used book on Amazon for next to nothing is fun.  Planning a special meal for after church is fun.  Thinking that you can't afford to go out to lunch is bleak.  Finding bargains at Goodwill involves the thrill of the chase and is great fun.  Re-arranging things you already have in wonderful new ways is fun and is a way that I express my individuality.  Anyone can hire a decorator, spend a fortune, and have a beautiful home.  But it isn't creative and it doesn't use intelligence.

The women I admire, my heroines, Debra @ "As I See It Now," Judy @ "Anybody Home," "Manuela @ "The Pleasures of Homemaking and Kim @ "Daisy Cottage" all have created gorgeous homes using elbow grease, creativity, thrifted finds, and panache. Alex @ "Living Without Money" created amazing artwork (very Pottery Barn looking)  by printing black and white shots of local landmarks.   Frugality:  it is smart, it is creative, it is "green," and it is beautiful.

pic courtesy of the recipe exchange

Homemade Yogurt and Pizza

For all of you bloggers and lurkers out there who are hoping for a Kim from Daisy Cottage-style gorgeous blog post, this isn't going to be one! http://deardaisycottage.typepad.com/

Folks are worried about the economy and complaining about food prices. One of those people is a friend of mine whose husband eats lunch out EVERY DAY during the work week. This astounds me. If you can afford to spend over $1,400 out per year on lunch, the economy hasn't hit you yet.

Over the last year, we have vastly reduced the amount we spend and continue to look at ways to do even better They have been small changes, things like buying cheese in bulk and doing the shredding at home, buying regular carrots instead of baby carrots, shopping at the Dollar Store and Big Lots, eliminating diet soda, etc. The small changes led to the big change of cutting our grocery bill in half.

The last four pics represent a very successful attempt at making yogurt without a special appliance. I found the recipe here:

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/homemade-yogurt.shtml

Unlike the recipe, I did not buy a candy thermometer. I heated the milk to just under boiling when the bubbles formed at the sides and let it cool until my pinkie felt comfortable in the milk, but it was still hot. That would be Annie's thermometer, I guess. I let it sit overnight on the blue heating pad you see with a towel over it. If the yogurt isn't think enough for you, let it sit in a sieve lined with at paper towel or coffee filter for about a half hour. It came out just perfect.

One of the biggest changes is my commitment not to waste food. For several months, I have used up every morsel of food that has entered our house, as well as composting every bit of that which is not edible. That's not spoiled food, mind you, there hasn't been any spoiled food. It is the papery skins of onions, carrot tops, celery bottoms, etc. I have carefully utilized food in such a way that nothing has gone bad. That's the way it should be, but has not always been, here at the house at 256.

Americans waste an appalling amount of food with no excuse. It isn't that we don't have electricity of proper storage methods. We are simply lazy and inattentive when much of the world goes hungry. There's an interesting blog about it here: http://www.wastedfood.com/ There are moral implications to wasting food, as well as economic ones.

In my new effort not to waste food came last night's dinner, whole wheat pizza with dough made from the breadmaker. My recipe makes two small pizzas. I found it here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Whole-Wheat-Pizza-Crust-for-Bread-Machine-142788

I use whatever I need to use up in the fridge for pizza. Yesterday I had: a small amount of cooked, crumbled sausage; 1/4 of a package of sundried tomatoes; several onion halves; about 20 black olives, two tomatoes getting slightly soft, some pine nuts; some mozzerella and some ingenuity.

I carmelized the onions, which you can see in the first pic. I don't always use marinara sauce on pizza. This time, I brushed both pizza doughs with EEVO. I put black olives, sun dried tomatoes, sausage, fresh tomatoes, parmesan, onions, and mozzerella on one. I put black olives, 1 box of frozen spinach, two cheeses, onions, garlic, and pine nuts on the other. I topped both with crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning.

Last year, I would have thrown out the onions, the tomatoes, the pine nuts, and the olives. I'm glad that economic necessity prevented that this year. I hope you also enjoyed the shot of my cell phone. I have no idea why I left it in the shot.

The Eggs and I

I was having such a good frugal day on Monday. I went to the Dollar Store and got a great deal on shaving cream, some spices, and a replacement for the funnel Bruce decided to throw out, for whatever reason.

Then on to Farm Fresh, in the next parking lot over. Consolidating trips to save gas, don'tcha know. Got rutabagas, cabbage, and fruit that was on sale. The rutabagas and cabbage sound grim and Oliver Twistian, but we love both. Boneless chicken breasts on sale...rock on. Good price on eggs...way to go. Get three dozen. Request Monday military discount. Call to ask hubby to pick up windshield wiper fluid instead of Windex when he gets the dog food, thank you, Debra: http://debrasotherthoughts.blogspot.com/

Rush home to pop pre-made dinner in the oven: meatballs parm. Good job. Dinner will be ready on time. Carry all the food up the five steps to the house. Talk to sister on phone. Consider that if my sister and my phones were wiretapped, we would shock many. Smash six eggs while distracted. NOT FRUGAL!

Last year I would have thrown them out. On Monday, I thought about them. I could scoop them out, nuke them and mix them to supplement with dog kibble. I could make a stir fry now for tomorrow and use the eggs in an "egg drop soup" effect.

Eureka! I can make up three breakfast sandwiches for Bruce. I can do that and still talk to Kerry on the phone. I made a plain omelet and added a few bacon bits I had left over. I cut the omelet into three. I had buns in the freezer from a bargain shop last pay period. Added slices from a leftover tomato and a tiny sprinkling of grated cheese and voila!

Now before I get some comments, I broke the eggs when they slid out of my hand into the kitchen sink. It was a smooth move reminiscent of dumping the compost from under the sink all over my sneakers and the kitchen floor on Sunday when I went to take it out to the composting pile. I was fragrant. I would not use eggs that came from the store broken, because they could have salmonella poisoning.

Bargain of the Day

I am a voracious reader. I used to just buy whatever I wanted, never considering the library, reading a review, getting recommendations from friends or finding a cheaper way to buy new.

The result was that by last year, I was drowning in books. I actually threw some away. The same thing with magazines. Half the time, I wasn't so crazy about the books, which I bought on impulse. I've wised up.

My local Starbucks has a big wicker basket to exchange books. I've picked up a few and dropped off plenty of books and magazines. I borrow books from friends or my mother and sister. I get recommendations before I buy a book. I particularly like to buy books my blog girls recommend.

Yesterday, I decided to add two books to my wish list on Amazon: Housekeepinng and The School of Essential Ingredients. That way I don't forget about them, have time to consider them and family members can look there if they need a gift idea.

I noticed that Amazon has a charge card with incentives, no annual fee. Bruce and I have been using credit to our advantage, by picking a credit card with cash back or other perks. My husband uses one from a favorite store and it pays for his shoes and cowboy boots. We charge EVERYTHING and then issue a draft from our checking account the same day, paying it back.

I decided to get the Amazon card so I could start getting credits to spend there. Why should Bruce have all the fun? Imagine my surprise when I saw a message on the screen saying that I had received an immediate credit which paid for my wish list books with just sixteen cents for me to pay. The shipping was free, with orders of $25 or above. The costs are vastly reduced from the bookstore. You can also order used books for a very reasonable price.

I still do use the library, but also like to have my own books. This is a very cheap way of doing it.

The Unexamined Life

One of the best things about leaving the working world, which I discussed in my last post, is having the time and space to critically think about how we live. These days, with the economy so uncertain, a critical examination of our lives is crucial.

I guess I must drive my husband crazy with my musings about things. For instance, lately here when he says he enjoys an activity or something I've cooked, I ask him why. There's a method to my madness. In these days of scarce resources, I want to critically consider why I do what I do and what things bring joy and contentment for what reasons.

Because we are on a tighter budget, we're doing a lot fewer things that I used to think I really liked to do. Yet my contentment level is much higher. The Bible talks about being content with what you have. "Godliness with contentment is great gain," the Pauline Epistles say. I only say Pauline Epistles cause it sounds so smart and because I'm too lazy to look up where in the New Testament Paul said that.

I've finally figured out that the reason we were running here and there, eating out all the time and buying things we didn't really need was because of tension. The house was disorganized, my job brought enormous tension into our lives and instead of facing that, we escaped from it.

Nearly a year after quitting my work outside the home, our house is well-organized. I don't over-buy groceries because I forgot we had stewed tomatoes or couldn't see them. I only buy extra now when things are on sale at a great price. I store them in the deep freeze or in the basement. I don't go out and buy new clothes, I use what I have and get creative with accessories. I don't misplace bills and then stress out about whether they got paid on time.

We don't go out to dinner all the time because I plan our meals. I have time to cook them now. Our meals are far lower in fat and empty carbohydrates. I can include all the vegetables we like and the Food Pyramid encourages.

I set our dining room table with beautiful china I've been given or inherited. Why use the every day stuff all the time? I have time to wash it by hand. We put on music. Our meal times are relaxing and we want to eat at home.

We used to eat at IHOP on the weekends. Was that because I love IHOP particularly? No. I like the luxury of having someone else make breakfast. I'm not a great breakfast cooker. I actually disliked part of going to IHOP. I hate tea with microwaved hot water. I actually found out why from Martha Stewart. Microwaved water isn't aerated with oxygen like boiled water. How freakin' picky am I? I like Earl Gray tea, I like half and half, and I want a certain sized cup.

What do we do now? On Saturday and Sunday, Bruce cooks breakfast. He has a very limited cooking repertoire, but he is the King of the perfect egg sandwich on whole-grain bread. He also knows how to make my tea perfectly. He slices the oranges thinly, lets me sleep in, and brings it all to me in bed. We snuggle with the dogs and watch the morning news. No cigarette smoke blowing over from the smoking section. No noise and cussing from the kitchen. Well, usually. Total cost at home: fairly negligible, because we often make the bread. Total cost per weekend in the old days at IHOP? About $40.

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. The unexamined life is also expensive.

I spend money on some things that true frugal zealots would cringe at. I go to Starbucks and I enjoy it. However, I've considered why I enjoy it. I love the music, the decor, the quiet, the smell, the comfy chairs. I really dig their vente, three-equal, sugar-free vanilla lattes. I know I can make coffee much more cheaply at home, but I don't like it nearly as well. I love to do my Bible studies there without thinking that I should get the clothes out of the washer and hang them Bruce and I like to meet there as he exits the tunnel coming home from work and have a little date.

I make Starbucks fit into our budget because it is a lot of luxury for me at a minimal cost. There is a bang for my buck. Having critically considered that, I also charged up a Starbucks card that gave me a discount on each latte. Starbucks then introduced a premium card with an annual fee. I got one of their promotional cards for this plan free for a year because I am pleasant to the staff and they used their promotion dollars on me. Now I get my drinks even cheaper.

Our family knows that we adore Starbucks and so we get gift cards. We organized all our drawers, cleaned out our wallets and found gift cards we hadn't used. We inquired and found out we could transfer them all onto the current card. I haven't actually paid for a Starbucks coffee for quite a while.

Not everyone reading my blog likes Starbucks or even has one nearby, but once you determine what things are really important to you and why, you can do the same thing with your particular guilty pleasure. It is my opinion that nearly everything which is critically examined can somehow be done more cheaply.

This weekend Bruce and I spent a grand total of $3. On Friday, I made a fabulous roast chicken with an infuser a dear friend loaned me. This item makes the chicken "stand up" in the oven and all the grease runs off. I filled the infuser with wine, garlic and rosemary and nearly swooned when we tasted it. I hear you can do the same thing with a beer can, so that's next. The chicken was on sale for 99 cents a pound. This was a lot cheaper and more tasty than the rotisserie chickens I used to get at Farm Fresh. It was much, much cheaper than the roast chicken at Baker's Crust.

We had movie madness night and rented three from the kiosk for $3: Memoirs of a Geisha, The Queen, and And Then She Found Me. I recommend each one. Bruce made popcorn on the stove top the old-fashioned way. Far cheaper than microwave and much tastier. We planned the luxury of some Coke Zero. It was special because we don't drink soda much at home these days.

I estimate that a dinner at Bakers would cost, with tip, maybe $60. The movie tickets would have been $20 for both of us, times three at $60. Add another $5 at least for popcorn and drinks. Never mind the gas. Never mind the parking charge at the garage. $3 is a lot less than $125.00. We spent less than 2% of what we used to with even more satisfaction. What a difference a year makes!

The unexamined life is not worth living. The examined life brings contentment. The choice is yours.

Baby Come Back

You can’t watch a talk show or a news report lately without hearing about thrift and frugality. Thank goodness we, as a country, are taking a good, hard look into what contributed to this terrible problem we now face with the economy…waste, excess and greed.

Some people might observe that I picked the worst time in the world to leave a relatively good-paying job in 2008. I disagree completely. It was a job that sapped my joy, energy, self-worth and health, which is a sad commentary about a job in a church. Quitting helped me to look at many things from a new perspective, including how I view money and my lifestyle. We are happier, more peaceful and with the exception of a few ups and downs, having a better quality of life than we ever had before.

With that all in mind, I’ve been looking at TV, advertisements, what I see in grocery stores, and other ways we live with a more critical eye. You hear folks complaining about the cost of groceries, but my spying on grocery carts shows me that people are still buying totally unnecessary items. Our advertising media has created habits among us that need to be re-examined.

What follows are my top choices for ridiculous consumer expenditures:

Microwavable Raw Potatoes in the Produce Section:

Have you seen these potatoes in your local Wal-mart yet? These are plain, ole raw baking potatoes washed, and wrapped in plastic wrap. They cost four times as much as a regular potato. I mean how complicated is it to wash a potato, prick a fork into it and wrap it with Saran wrap? However, if they’re selling them, that means someone is actually buying them.

Lunchables:

Ah yes, more plastic to go into our landfills. Plastic never biodegrades. More sodium, artificial sugar, fat and additives to go into little people. How about making a nice sandwich on homemade whole-grain bread, slicing up an orange, and adding a drink from home, in a reusable container which you froze the night before? Put it all in a lunch pail and the drink will defrost by noon and keep the other food cool at the same time.

Swiffers:

Those nauseating “Baby Come Back” commercials ought to be enough to make you stop buying them, but all that Swiffer stuff is really expensive. Not to mention bad for the environment. So baby, come back to a bucket, a mop, and some vinegar and water.

Pledge/Lysol Wipes:

Use vinegar and water on a rag. Just think of all those used wipes which are Not going into landfills for our grandchildren to deal with.

Microwave Popcorn:

Last night we checked and figured out that it takes an almost equal amount of time to microwave popcorn or cook it the traditional way. It tastes better cooked on the stove and costs four times less.

Salad Shooters:

I include in this category any other single-use appliance like a special hot dog cooking appliances, etc. These items are very expensive new and take up a lot of storage space. Use a knife to cut your vegetables and a pan or your grill to cook hotdogs.


Poop Scooper Bags:

Go into a PetSmart and you’ll actually see these items for sale. We save grocery, produce, and baked good bags to clean up while our dogs are walking. They’re free and at least we use them twice before discarding them. Again, the sad thing is that someone is actually buying these.

Individually-Wrapped Servings of Anything:

Chips, cookies, pretzels, etc…whatever you purchase like this costs twice as much as the same item in a big bag. Use some ziplock sandwich bags or little plastic, lidded containers and divide them up yourself OR switch to fruit or a home-made more healthy snack.

Most Cleaning Products:

Bubbles to scrub the bathroom, something else to scrub the floor, stove-top cleaners, toilet cleaners, grill cleaners, shower stall cleaners, dishwasher gel packs and, my personal favorite, vegetable cleaners.

You can clean nearly everything in your house with white vinegar and water. Dusting can be done with a slightly damp cloth with only water in it. Bathtubs can be cleaned with a rag wrung out with vinegar and baking soda for a slight abrasive.

Vegetables can be cleaned with water and a brush or soaked in a mild vinegar and water solution if you're concerned about pesticides.

The only other products I’d include are the occasional use of bleach for toilets, lemon oil for furniture from time to time and a Windex-type solution of ammonia and water. Debra from As I See It Now uses windshield wiper fluid, which is much cheaper than Windex.

All of the items I mention are expensive and unnecessary. All have negative impact to our environment and health. Most of them are no more convenient than the traditional ways our grandmothers used.

We can continue to complain about the economy OR we can take positive steps to change those things that we can.

Project - Vintage Stepstool

We're in a major frugality mode here at the Old Shea House at 256. This isn't a huge, gorgeous project where I create a large garden bench out of stair spindles, a wooden dying rack and chicken wire. I'm not that talented. This is the little type of project I love to do. For ONCE, I remembered to take a before and after pic.

I love this vintage stepstool, but the red leather seat was split. A year ago, I would have run to JoAnne's Fabrics and bought some new red leather. Without measuring either, I would have just bought a lot more than I needed.

Today, I decide to mull it over. I took a close look at it and realized that I only had to remove four screws. Well, Bruce (germanic precision-engineering boy) only had to remove four screws. I asked for a half hour of his time.

I had a red bandana fabric pillowcase I never use. I decided to cover the small seat with it, but then thought that I couldn't wipe it off. Last week, I came across one of those heavy plastic zippered bags that bedding comes in. I almost threw it away, but it seemed so useful. I asked Bruce to add it on top.

You can see the before and after pics. I think it turned out just the way I wanted it. And for free!

I also took some shots of the corner where I keep the stool. You can see my vintage apron used as a valance at the back door. I found it in the gutter on garbage day five years ago, inexplicably there along with a rough-hewn red painted heart.

I bought the red chair at a vintage store in Richmond, VA.

The kitchen scale is part of a small collection of three. Two, including the one pictured, came from the trash bin at church when they switched to electronic scales for making the fundraiser Easter Eggs.

A cop friend of mine came in for something while we were making eggs, saw the electronic scales and all the powdered sugar. He said, "is this manufacture and sale of drugs or a fundraiser? Ya'all look like drug dealers in white aprons and you appear to have been sampling the product."

The Crockpot, My Best Kitchen Friend

I don’t know what I’d do without my crockpot. Actually, I have two and they are in constant use.

I’m often out and about during the day, so the crockpot is a great tool for having a piping hot meal when I get home. There is nothing like coming home to the smell of salsa chicken or a beef stew simmering in my crock. Since I started using my crockpot regularly about five years ago, we’ve saved a great deal of money by not eating out. The crockpot is also wonderful for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat, another cost savings.

So what do you put in there? You can find some good recipes here:
http://southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm

Here are some of my, very easy, favorites:

Salsa Chicken

4 chicken breasts, boneless or bone in
A large bottle of salsa, any type

Place one third of the salsa on the bottom of the crockpot. Place the chicken on top and ut the remainder of the salsa on top. Cook on low for 8 hours. Great by itself with a vegetable or fork-pulled with tortillas.

Bratwurst

4 to 6 bratwurst, the turkey variety is much healthier
2 cans of sauerkraut, the cheaper the better
2 apples
caraway seeds

Peel and slice the apples. Rinse the sauerkraut to remove some of the salt. Put rinsed sauerkraut in a large bowl, add a tablespoon caraway seeds and apples and mix thoroughly. Place one third of the mixture on the bottom of the crock, add bratwurst and place the remainder on top. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Crockpot Beef

London broil
28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 pkg gravy mix or Lipton onion soup mix
2 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar

Mix last three ingredients together. Place on third of the mixture at the bottom of the pot. Add London broil. Add a ½ cup each zucchini, button mushrooms, cubed raw potatoes and baby carrots. Pour the rest of the tomato mixture on top. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Other ideas for crockpot cooking include your favorite meat loaf recipe with BBQ sauce on top, Irish (steel cut) oatmeal with apples for breakfast and “baked” yams or potatoes. Scrub the yams or potatoes, prick with a fork, spray with Pam, wrap with tinfoil and cook on high for 8 hours. The potatoes are a great reason for a second crockpot. Combine them with a crocked meatloaf and you have whole meal.

Crockpots are often available at thrift stores and garage sales or through relatives who don’t use them. Before running out and buying a new one, try finding a used one. Make sure that you choose a crockpot with a removable pot, they are far easier to clean. Before putting food in a used crock, fill it to the top with water and leave on high for a few hours. It should get very hot and have some bubbles on the edges. If it does not, discard it, as the heating element isn’t working properly. If it isn’t, you run the risk of food poisoning.