Archive results for “March 2010f 2010”
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My sister is visiting from Kansas City with her husband and four kids for the next two weeks. I’d love the fact that she visits more if she wasn’t… so… well…
Perfect.
She’s debt free other than her mortgage – and even then, she’s paying it aggressively. I’d love to tell you that her husband makes loads of money and that’s how she’s able to be a stay at home mom to four kids and remain debt free but…
He doesn’t.
My sister has found ways to live below her means and actively seeks new methods to spend less. She purchases clothing and toys for the kids at garage sales in nice neighborhoods then resells them when the kids outgrow them (sometimes, she actually MAKES money on this!), doesn’t waste money on cable TV or other ‘necessities’, drives an older yet reliable car, and she cooks fabulous inexpensive meals at home (my home cooked meals are inexpensive but they are far from fabulous).
She’s the annoyingly good at being frugal but not cheap.
Naturally, I spend this time around her basking in her infinite financial wisdom, asking questions, and learning from her example…
…and I am also the queen of England.
Sorry folks, sibling rivalry is alive and well.
So, I do the second best thing, I make my mom ask the questions and I pretend not to listen.
My advice, befriend someone frugal – even if it is your sister. I find that I don’t learn as much from the books or the internet as I do from those who may not have it all figured out, but they do a pretty darn good job.
In the process of spending half our grocery budget on a ‘loaf of bread’, my husband purchased a plastic dog food storage container. In all fairness, the recent storms and moisture have molded the dog food and we’ve had to throw some away. Not realizing the container was too small, my husband dumped the entire bag of dog food into it – a large portion of which landed on the floor. Frustrated, he went back to Target to return the container and purchase a larger size. They didn’t have a larger airtight one so he brought home a cheap plastic bin with a lid. Putting his hand to his chin, he stared at it and said, ‘It’s not air tight. I refuse to lose anymore dog food to bugs or water!’
Today at work, I received an e-mail from my husband with a ‘solution’ to our problem.
From: Chris
To: Rebekah
Subject: Dog Food Storage
What do you think of something like this for dog food storage?
Um. I don’t think food containers are even that complicated at the San Diego Zoo. A ‘blast gate’ on the bottom? Was he planning to build a dog food container or a launch pad for NASA?
I showed my co-worker the sketch from my overachieving Mr. Fix it and she laughed… then offered to give me a dog food bin from her dog who passed away 6 months ago. She wasn’t planning on getting a new dog and was throwing the bin away.
In the end, my husband came through, just not in the way we expected. We were able to return cheap bin. Woo Hoo for returns! More grocery money!
I wasn’t joking on Tuesday when I asked my husband to do the grocery shopping for the next four weeks. I can’t resist Easter candy and we can’t afford it so I thought it would be a good idea.
Thought.
Hmm.
Last night, I asked my husband to pick up tomato soup and bread for dinner. Total spending shouldn’t have been more than $5.
He spent half our grocery budget – mostly on snack items I never buy.
He was excited to have ‘helped’ and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’m not sure how we’re going to eat the rest of the month unless I can make meals out of Fritos, beef jerky, and Oreo cookies.
I had wheat bread with tomato soup for dinner last night and wheat bread with oranges for lunch today. 26 more days of 50 cent meals.
I can’t be mad. He was willing to take over the shopping without complaint and bought the things he thought I would like. Sure I’ll be eating wheat bread with carrots or oranges for the next 26 days, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m married to a sweet man… a sweet man who won’t be doing any more grocery shopping alone in the near future.
In general, I can be trusted to eat fairly healthy. My snacks for work are generally brown, wheaty, and taste like cardboard. But there is one time of year I am not confident in my food choices…
The deadly season of Easter.
It’s not the peeps that make my heart go pitter patter; it’s the tasty chocolate Cadbury Mini Eggs. I can’t resist them no matter how much they cost financially or physically. Sure the $2.50 price tag isn’t terrible but literally, I can’t fit into my pants after eating them. This is likely because I can eat a bag in less than a week and there are 56 grams of fat and 1,330 calories in each bag of yummy goodness.
I had to go to Target to buy a bag of dog food and couldn’t resist the bright sale sign resting on the heavenly purple bag (why don’t they ever put flax seed on sale?). I took the treasured chocolate eggs to work with my lunch and set my carrying bag on the table to pull out my food for the refrigerator. Distracted, I left the chocolate eggs in my carrying bag on the lunch table. 20 minutes later, I realized my mistake and went back to the lunch room to retrieve my food.
My carrying bag was there… the eggs were not.
My heart was broken (but my hips were thankful).
I’ve been hit by overspending Karma. I knew I shouldn’t have wasted the money (or the calories) and it was taken from me. Sure it seems silly to feel guilty for spending $2.50 when I’m planning on heading overseas – but saving for the trip has renewed my penny pinching ways to an unprecedented level. Since I don’t have the willpower necessary to resist the minefield of temptation, my husband will be doing the shopping for the next four weeks. Sorry Cadbury, our love affair is over.
Alas, I will eventually discover which of my co-workers has ‘sticky’ fingers – I’ll simply look for the one who can no longer fit in his or her pants by Friday.
And I’m kidding about Karma… well… kind of.
I’m a fan of recycled canvas bags for many reasons but I have a new one – 5 cents per use.
Target Stores (along with Henry’s, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, and Whole Foods) offer 5 cents off your bill for each bag used. The program started in November but somehow I missed the giant glowing red signs posted at eye level on each check stand until today.
Obviously I’m a very observant person.
The bags don’t have to be Target brand recycled bags but they cannot be regular plastic bags that you happen to be reusing.
If you know of any stores around you offering the same incentive – let me know!
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My Debt
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