Does Making My Own Save Me Money?

     I have spent the last two days making Beach Plum Jelly. I have a few things to say about this:

     First, whenever I mention either Beach Plum Jelly or Apple Butter to friends the response is either "What?" or "Oh my gosh, I haven't had that since I was a child." I don't think you can buy beach plum jelly. And the apple butter that you buy is nowhere near as good as the homemade. For all of my life these were made by either my Nanny or by my mother. This weekend was my first foray into the world of both jelly making and sterile canning.

     Secondly, jelly making is a breeze...until it doesn't work right. The juice seemed to cook up fine. The jars boiled and sterilized easily. All my jars sealed with a satisfying little "pop". What could be easier? I did just 15 jars yesterday. I needed to buy more cap collars today, so I only did one batch yesterday. It all seemed great until I checked them this morning and only 8 out of the 15 had jelled properly. I'm assuming that it was the last 8 jarred that jelled because they had more time over the heat, but that's just my very unscientific guess.  I had a lot of beach plum juice (2 gallons) so I had 3 batches (these are double batches, by the way) to do today. Jelly making is really a nice thing to do in the fall. It's still nice enough to have the windows open while you work, but it's better than spending a hot August afternoon in the kitchen over boiling pots of water.

     Thirdly, does making my own jelly save me money? Well I'm not sure. I think when you enter into the world of canning you need to be in it for the long haul. For me, I did not buy the berries or the jars (51 of them). I inherited about 1/3 of the flat tops and cuffs (when canning, the tops come in flat tops that seal onto the jars and screw on rings that hold them tight.) I borrowed the special canning tongs (to insert and remove hot jars from boiling water). I bought a wide mouth funnel for $5. I had to buy 3 boxes of tops (both parts) for about $4.50 each, 4 packets of Sure-Jell at $4 each and 20 lbs of sugar (yes, that's not a typo) for $13. Wait a minute while I get out my calculator.... That's about $47.50. That works out to a little over $1 per jar of jelly. Now some of my jars were 8oz jars, but some of my jars were 12 or 16 oz jars. Some of those jars I will give to my sister and my mother. Some of those jars will be given as Christmas gifts this December (a homemade gift fot $1? Not bad). The rest will be eaten by my family through the year or given as hostess or thank you gifts. So, even taking into account the pre-used jars and screw caps, I think it did save me money. A jar of Smuckers grape jelly (is not nearly as good, in my estimation) costs about $1.50 for 8oz. So far I'm ahead.

     Now, adding in the Time Value of Money (or maybe it's the Money value of Time), that's a little more difficult. This is quantified differently for different people. I find working in the kitchen to be therapeutic. I enjoy making food from scratch, and I love to have homemade gifts for people. So I find it hard to add more cost to the equation in this way.  So I'm sticking with a base cost of $1 per jar of jelly. My verdict? Yes, making my own jelly saves me money.

     Now...ask me again tomorrow after I've checked to see if all the jars have jelled properly.

My (Potted) Herb Garden Runneth Over

I am not much of a gardener. Most of my house plants look aneimic, I have trouble keeping the perennials going in any of the beds outside. So why did I try to grow a vegetable garden out my front door this spring? I thought it would be fun to have closer contact with my food source? Hmmm. No, I thought it would be cheaper. I planted radishes, carrots, onions, lettuce, and beets. I had planned to add tomatoes and green beans once the weather warmed up, but the first round was such an abysmal failure that I decided to forgo the rest. (I got one side dish of beets and beet greens, several bowls of lettuce, a few scallions and not a single radish or carrot.)
     Several years ago when we first moved into our house I was optomistic enough to think I could plant our sandy hill with herbs. Herbs like well drained soil, right? Apparently not this well drained. I carved out an 8 foot square on the diagonal, put in stone crossed pathways through the middle and planted different types of herbs in each corner. Nice idea, but the herbs couldn't really be convinced to proliferate.
     This year I bought small to medium pots of herbs and transplanted them into larger clay pots for my patio. Bingo! I finally hit the gardening jackpot. Lavender, Sage, Oregano, Parsley, Mint, Dill, Rosemary and Basil. Especially Basil. I've never been able to grow enough basil to make more than one measly little batch of pesto. Until now.
     So what do you do with more herbs than you can use at one time? I have dried oregano in the oven before and I has worked pretty well, but I prefer to freeze my herbs. Frozen herbs are much more like fresh than dried herbs. Soft herbs such as parsley and cilantro can be washed, dried well ( a lettuce spinner works well here), chopped and frozen in a plastic container. When ready to use simply scrape off the desired amount with a spoon into your salsa, soup or chicken piccata and return the rest to the freezer. Hardier and woodier herbs such as sage, rosemary and oregano can be washed, dried and frozen in small baggies right on the stem. When ready to use simply use your fingers to slide the leaves off the stem; chop them and add to your recipe.
     For basil, I wash it, chop it, mix it with a little olive oil. Then I spread it about 1/4" thick on a piece of plastic cling wrap. Fold it up and freeze it flat. Once frozen you can slice off 1 tablespoon at a time for soup or sauce. If you are making pesto from frozen basil, it thaws quickly in this form, ready to be mixed with garlic, chopped nuts and Parmesan cheese.
     Easy to freeze herbs. Easy to use.

So what do I do when the tax cuts expire?

    
Reading through the headlines on the Comcast homepage today I came across a small tidbit on the possibility that the tax cuts will expire in January. Without getting into my political persuasions I think it's fair to say that if the tax cuts expire we may all be in a pot of hot water come January. According to the Associated Press, "a married couple earning $50,000 to $80,000 with two children would see a tax increase of $2,200." We don't fall exactly into that category, but I think we are pretty close- actually we only have one child, so I'm doing the math and it doesn't look good.
     I've mentioned previously that my husband was laid off from his job in March. He recently accepted a job which he is starting in August. Yeah! We are all happy that the search is over. My foray into frugality, I fear, is not over. I continue to see this as a challenge in making my dollar stretch further and further.
     I'm still exercising at home. The Warrior X Fit program has become my favorite home work out. In addition, the 15 minute yoga Wake Up for a Beautiful Day found at Vimeo.com has really improved my morning tennis game.
     I'm still trying to eat up what's in the freezer rather than buying food. I think I'm generally more successful than not in this endeavor, but the freezer is not empty yet. Somehow new things keep finding their way in.
     I'm still making homemade rather than buying where it makes the most sense. A while back I mentioned reading the book Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. I'm still not quite finished with it. I bought the e-book because it was cheaper, but since I don't have a Kindle, I'm reading it on my laptop through Kindle for PC. This just means I won't be reading it during the day while I'm sitting on the beach. But anyway, I ,again, recommend this book. This woman has guts (after her success with chickens and lack of success with ducks, she went on to buy 2 of her own goats. You'll have to get the book yourself to see if she was successful.) On her recommendation, I made my own yogurt. It was cheaper than store bought, easy to make and the best yogurt I've ever had.
     So, there's no golden egg in my near future. I guess I'm in this for the long haul, but I'm still excited by the challenge to find new ways to make it work.

Love Your Library

     I feel like my last post was a little self serving. So I'm going to try and get myself back on track with this post.
     I am a reader. I've been a reader for as long as I can remember. What I mean is that I enjoy reading. In fact I think maybe there is a familial reading gene in my lineage. As I sit here typing this blog, both my mother and my neice are sitting with me on the porch reading (both under the ceiling fan, one swinging in the hammock). Sort of a perfect morning. As a young teenager, my friend Lisa and I spent hours upon hours reading Nancy Drew books. Sitting on the same screened porch where I sit now, we made our way through the entire series more than once. I didn't own many of those books; they came from the library. When I outgrew the Nancy Drew series (a very sad day for me) I moved on to books by Daphne DuMaurier, Charlotte Bronte, Phyllis A. Whitney, and Stephen King. My current library visits bring me down the stacks to Stuart Woods, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich and John Grisham. You could say I have an interest in detective/mystery books.
     But to talk just about books at the library is so limiting. The library is so much more. The library is books on CD for my long car trips to Cape Cod. It's movie DVDs. It's a cool place to sit and read in the summer and a warm place to sit and read in the winter. It's a wing back chair and the latest edition of Real Simple magazine. The library is a wi-fi hot spot for your lap top or tablet. Or sit down at one of the library's available computers.
     Every Monday our library is CT Works; a local resource for employment and career oportunities. They provide workshops, one on one sessions with job counselors and job networking groups.
     Our library offers ebooks for your Kindle or laptop.  A few months ago when I couldn't find a library hard copy of Dreams of Joy by Lisa See I was able to check out the ebook through the library. Ebooks are available for 3 weeks. There are even movies available to stream to your computer.  Our library also offers language learning through Mango Languages.
     My husband has now been unemployed for 5 months. In addition to his looking for employement we have been tossing around the idea of creating a professional organizing business. I did some research on the internet and found an online course on How to Become a Professional Organizer. The course is available for $60 from Universal Class.  Through CT Works my husband found the exact same course offered through our library- for free! How's that!
        I love free. I love my library. Check out your library and it's website to find out the wonderful offerings available to you for free.

Affordable Vacationing

When was the last time you and your family went on vacation? I'm not sure that the "Al Bundy Week in the Freezer Aisle" counts. Our last true family vacation was in 2007. We flew to Orlando, FL and spent 5 days at Walt Disney World. We scrimped and saved for this vacation. We used frequent flyer miles for at least 2 out of 3 airplane tickets. We stayed "off campus" to save money and rode the free shuttle to and from the park rather than rent a car.  Even with that, I think it took us 8-10 months to pay off the resulting credit card bill. I'm glad we waited until my son was 9 years old because, at least he was old enough to remember the Magic Kingdom. 

     This past December we took advantage of a Groupon. We spent a night at the Westport Inn for half price. We even "splurged" and got 2 half price rooms. One for us and one for our son. Westport is not far away, an hour drive, tops. We planned to make a weekend of it. Norwalk Maritime Aquarium on the way down; use the indoor pool and workout room while we were there; A tour of downtown Westport the next day; Louis' Lunch (birthplace of the hamburger) and Ikea on the way home. The weekend was mostly very nice. We love the aquarium, Westport is a nice town, Louis' Lunch is a great place to go for lunch (once) and Ikea is, well...Ikea. Sadly, the Westport Inn appeared half renovated and the pool was not in working order. Oh well. Bonus- we found a Trader Joe's while we were down there and I happened to be carrying a gift card in my wallet.

     That said, we are not a family who routinely plans a yearly vacation to (pricey) parts unknown. Working in a school system I often hear, "What did you do on your April vacation?" Hmm. How to answer? Nothing...Cleaned my linen closet...rediscovered Netflix. Hmm. Not very scintillating conversation.

     So, where do I vacation? The family homestead. This is no "staycation". No, we don't stay at home in Connecticut. Each summer we venture for a week or two  at a time (repeated several times throughout the summer) to my parents home on Cape Cod. We are lucky enough to have a place to stay, free of charge, in one of the most beautiful places in the United States. Every summer my parents graciously open up their house not only to me, my husband and my son, but also to my sister and her two children. We have the opportunity to swim in Barnstable Harbor, play tennis, sail, and enjoy friends, both old and new, without racking up huge credit card debt.

     But living with your family is not without its pitfalls. Much like the Westport Inn, you have to take the good with the difficult. While I struggle with sharing a bathroom and a certain lack of independence/control, I'm sure my parents are feeling a lack of privacy and perhaps remembering the old adage that "guests, like fish, begin to stink after 3 days". But we all grin and bear it. I'm sure my parents are conceding much more than I in this arrangement. I'm just thankful that they are so willing to adjust their lifestyles and schedules to us each year and give us the opportunity to vacation in such a wonderful and affordable way.

Do I need to join a gym?

I used to belong to a gym. In fact, it was in a gym that I met my husband. He struck up a conversation with me one evening during my after work workout. So, you could say that we became workout buddies. But really, I liked to workout and he liked to talk. Anyone who knows my husband knows that this is true. The second or third night that we worked out/talked together we walked the track for what seemed like hours. I remember that I couldn't get a word in edgewise to mention that maybe we should change activities or at the very least, change direction and I went home with blisters on my feet. Well, eventually we fell in love, not on adjacent Stair Master machines but perhaps over pizza and beer after the workout. We're still married, but we no longer belong to that, or any health club.

     That's not to say we don't work out, at least sporadically, but the cost of a gym membership is just no longer in the budget. Especially for two of us. What's a (poor) girl to do? We have lots of unused equipment in the basement. Over the years we have acquired a Nordic Track ski machine, Body by Jake thigh machine, Ab roller, aerobic step/videos, the Perfect Pull-up and some sort of all in one weight machine that I no longer remember the name of. (We had to get rid of it when we moved into this house and the ceiling height in the basement was too low for it to fit.)

     Now, I have a couple of problems with working out at home. Number 1: I get bored easily. Number 2: during the winter it's too cold in this house when I get home from work to even think about changing into workout clothes. Number 3: Now that my husband is unemployed he is often taking up space in my office, which is where I currently like to workout. Blah blah blah. I know. These are just excuses. But they are my excuses and I'm sticking to them.

     Ok, but despite that, I do try to work out and I have found a few things that work for me for very little money. You can buy hand weights, a mat, exercise ball, and exercise band in stores such as Walmart, Ocean State Job Lot, or Target for very little money. Since I like the feel of taking a class at the gym, I'm not much for those exercise pull-outs in health magazines. I have found that by Googling "free online yoga", "free online workout", or "free online exercises" I can find more than enough to suit my every workout need and mood. There are workouts ranging from a few minutes preview to full hour workouts of every type. I'll share with you a few of my favorites:

Spark People A whole variety of videos ranging from 10 to 20 minutes.

Yoga Yak Offers many yoga classes, all filmed in beautiful outdoor settings.

Warrior X Fit This is a new one for me, but it promises to be interesting and challenging. Each day you are offered 6 exercises to complete in 20 minutes. The more you exercise the farther you move up in the martial arts fitness platform.

     With these and so many other free offerings on the web it's hard to get bored. Now if I could just find a way to warm up the house in the winter. But that's for another entry.

NOTE: Consult your doctor or other medical provider before beginning any exercise program. Discontinue any exercise that causes you discomfort or pain. This blog is not meant to endorse any particular exercise program, but merely to inform you of the choices available. Use your own judgement please.



The Price is Right...Or is it?

Price Book

As I mentioned before, this is not the first time that my husband has been laid off. Combine that with the weakening economy and I have felt "the pinch" for a while now. I remember when I was first married discussing, with my husband, his mother's practice of shopping at 2 to 3 or maybe even more grocery stores each week, aiming to get the best prices for her food. Well, in my mind, my time was worth more than that. I've always been a relentless coupon clipper and a store flier fanatic, so off I would go every Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to the local grocery store (note the singular). Never mind that this local grocer is, in my opinion, more expensive than other retailers in the area, but the others were not quite as close by. In fact, this chain has another store 2 towns away which I have always heard is cheaper than the one in my town, because it has more competition. But it is 12 minutes away rather than 6, so it was always a no-go. Fast forward 12 years and I'm feeling like getting a full grocery cart for $20 less if I shop around or go a little farther is now a good deal.
So I began juggling 3 different grocery store fliers and travelling 20 minutes to access both Super Walmart and BJ's. I thought I was doing well until I bought 4 bricks of Cracker Barrel Cheddar Cheese at a BOGO sale. Now buy one/get one is almost always a better deal than you will get anywhere else. I mean, it is essentially a 50% off sale, right? Right. Doesn't get much better than that.... Until I really looked at my receipt and realized that this particular store had marked the price up so much that I paid a few cents more for those 4 bricks than I would have if I'd bought them at BJ's for their regular price. Bummer!
My mind is not a steele trap by any means. At this point it's much more like an aluminum sieve; room for the big stuff, but the details fall right through the holes. How am I supposed to remember what I paid for a 3 pound container of ricotta at one store when it goes on sale at another. It's not like I buy ricotta every week.
Solution: The Price Book
How to:  For a few weeks or a month save your grocery receipts. Your "book" can be whatever works for you. I use a small 3"x5" spiral bound index card book because I like that it fits into my purse. You could use a regular size notebook of you prefer and I would imagine you could do something similar with your smart phone, though I don't own one so you have to figure that out for yourself.
Anyway, divide your book into grocery sections such as produce, dairy, meats, bakery, toiletries, etc. Take your saved receipts and use them to write the name of the item, what size it is, how much it is and where you bought it. Write down only regular prices, not sale prices. This way when a store runs a sale you can open your price book, find how much it usually is, say at BJ's, and whether or not the sale price at Stop and Shop beats that.  Periodically, update your price book and make a note of any new products you are buying or whether the price has gone up or down on anything.

No more getting taken for a ride at the grocery store.


Include the name, size and price of your item. Include where you purchased the item.



Unexpected Shortfall?

Every week my husband's unemployment check arrives (direct deposit) on Tuesday morning. Every other week my paycheck arrives on Saturday. Except... when it doesn't. This past Monday, being Memorial Day, slowed things down and so the check did not arrive in the account until Wednesday morning. Not a big deal except when the bills need to go out Tuesday night.
We have several items that come due yearly; others need to be paid quarterly; still others bi-weekly or weekly. In all honesty, it's tough to keep straight. If the money coming in greatly exceeds the finances being paid out it may not be such a big deal. In our case it's pretty much 50/50 on a good day. When only 1 of us is gainfully employed the ratio sways in an unfortunate direction.  Throw in a late pay check or unemployment check and if it doesn't spell disaster, it spells "serious meltdown" on my part (since I am the one sitting down to pay the bills). That's where serious budgeting comes in. Every long term bill or significant bill gets budgeted every time I get a paycheck. Long term bills are any bills that get paid quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly. Significant bills are anything big (such as the phone) or potentially (relatively) unpredictable such as the credit card.
Budgeting is easy. For each bill, figure out how much the bill will be when it is due; divide by the number of weeks or paychecks until the bill is due and place that much into the designated account each time you get paid. We have a dedicated savings account just for these bills. In addition, I keep a notebook with a breakdown of how much money is currently allocated to each bill. We also have a section titled "undesignated". It would be fun if this section could be available as extra money for an upcoming vacation. Instead, for us, it is extra money in case one of the car breaks down or the well pump dies. In this way, even though we know we have X amount of dollars in the account, we also know how much of that is available to each bill. Here is a link to my sample budgeting form. https://www.dropbox.com/s/owzsq6izpl8zlaz/Sample%20budgeting%20book.xlsx
Knowing how much money we have; saving all year long for those long term bills; takes much of the pressure and anxiety off when one of the checks is delayed. It doesn't solve all our money woes, but it's easier for me to see in black and white, and it also keeps us in the black more than the red.
I hope this is helpful for you.

Make it or buy it?

So I had a big pot of spaghetti sauce bubbling away on the stove top this afternoon. I left the house briefly a few times and when I re-entered, the savory scent of tomatoes, oregano and garlic had my mouth watering. Somewhere around the time of my husband's first layoff I decided that it might be beneficial to make some foods myself rather than buy them. (read "frugal"- the new buzzword, here)
A few notes.
     I love to cook and find it very therapeutic.
     My family loves to eat, so money or not, there needs to be food in this house.
     Some things are easy to make from scratch, but let's face it, some things are a hassle and better left to the commercial industry.
So what do I make from scratch now, that I used to buy? spaghetti sauce, bread, granola bars and cookies, ketchup, jelly, apple sauce, boursin cheese. Oh- and kale chips. Not that I ever bought them. Actually I had never heard of kale chips before, but these little "chips" are easy and cheap to make. They are salty and crunchy, yet they melt in your mouth. But... they make the house smell like cabbage, so maybe make the kale chips first and the spaghetti sauce second.
Well, I think I've strayed from my topic here. I came across a fabulous book. It's called Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. It's by Jennifer Reese. I feel like Jennifer and I are kindred spirits (to borrow a phrase from Anne of Green Gables). I could have written the beginning of her book- if I'd thought of it first, darn it. In her introduction she describes her ongoing mental battles at the grocery store, debating the merrits of buying ready made, hydrogenated fat laden cupcakes versus the time taken to make cupkakes; grocery store tomatoes versus garden grown and even eggs; supermarket, farmers market, or your own free range chickens. Jennifer took the time (after her own loss of job) to determine whether a whole range of foods are better bought or homemade. It turns out that it's really easy and relatively cheap to make your own cream cheese. Who knew?
Like Jennifer, I don't advocate making everything from scratch all the time. But when you have the time and the desire, why not make it yourself? 9 times out of 10 you'll end up with a tastier and healthier, if not cheaper result.

    

The lockdown begins

So my husband was laid off back in March. A good time to learn how to "tighten the purse strings", "button down the hatches", "eliminate the fluff in the budget", "reassess priorities". Maybe so, if we hadn't already done that two and a half years ago. This is the second time he's been laid off since the beginning of the "great recession". People say the economy is turning around. I don't believe it. But...that's another blog. Back to the point.
What was the first thing I did (after having myself a good cry)? I made a list. Several lists, in fact. Lists of what non-essentials could be cut from the budget (what's your definition of "non-essential"?), what kinds of free things could we do to keep ourselves sane, what foods were already near composting in the freezer/ pantry/refrigerator., what menus incorporated those same foods so that I don't have to shop for as much food, how to avoid the high cost of coffee (coffee is, after all, an essential in my life), etc.
Eliminating the "non-essentials" is no easy task after I believed that we had already done that with the first lay off. Since my husband had only been re-employed for a year and a half, after being unemployed for a year and a half, we had not yet reinstituted many of those eliminated items.
Lockdown mode is an interesting place to find myself in. I waver in my opinion of its healthiness. It may be healthy for the budget, but maybe not so much for the relationship. Upon entering serious financial lockdown you have to be very careful that your emotions don't follow and get locked away as well.
But if I can keep it all in perspective I know that on one level I feel better knowing that I have a plan. A plan that I can follow strictly or flexibly depending on my needs and moods.
So what does my lockdown list look like?

1. Investigate alternatives to cable.
2. Costly massage, hair cut, chiropractor visits- eliminate or extend time in between.
3. Look for a different job for myself (one that includes medical benefits)
4. Cancel online movie and music services.
5. Find a cheaper coffee alternative.
6. Drive as little as possible around town.
7. Ask for camperships.
8. Make menus with cheap meals using food already in the house.
9. Know what's in the house to avoid throwing food away.

So- that's food for thought. It's a start on making it work. Time to make Spaghetti Pie for dinner- an inexpensive meal made from the refrigerator, freezer and pantry.