by Claire
This weekend has been full of urges to spend on various things. Thankfully, Steve and I weren’t on the spending page at the same time so major spending was avoided. We did spend some money on real food but that didn’t exceed the regular grocery budget. It turns out that the boys’ schedule has them eating elsewhere for at least some of their meals this coming week…so we didn’t have to stock up on groceries for them! While we could have saved that money I guess…we decided to explore “real” food with it instead. Since Friday, we have followed a strict real food diet just to see what happens. I don’t know if we will continue this and see it gain momentum or not…for now we are just going day-to-day. Real food cooking is expensive! So we didn’t go crazy but instead tried some new things. The challenge has been good and in many ways I think it kept us–at least this weekend–from going out and spending money on things that we could argue we need…but when we step back and remember the true definition of “need”–we know we don’t need to spend.
My only commentary thus far on a real food diet is I get full faster and stay full longer. Steve said it best when he noted that our hunger comes on in a gradual manner instead of going from “gee I might be hungry” hungry to “I’m going to eat my arm if I don’t get some food soon!” hungry in a matter of minutes. There has to be money saving in that reality–although it doesn’t feel like it at first b/c making the real food is costly.
Another weekend observation…as we found ourselves discussing things we want to buy (we need a vacuum cleaner since ours completely died…we both need clothing and the clothing budget is still building…we really need new towels with our selection being well over 5 years old…I want that bread machine…just random stuff), it seemed that I kept being confronted with examples of excess. From things on television to people in the neighborhood discussing that they have too much stuff to my own mother expressing that she wishes she had not bought so many things in this life—all unsolicited commentaries but oh so very helpful! I love those moments as they unfold in front of my eyes and ears and I love that I “got it” this time. I think those moments happened before my debt reduction plan too, but I wasn’t willing or able to hear them.
Born and raised in Texas. I’ve at least driven through every state in the US courtesy of a roadtrip loving Dad.
I’m single with two children and a good parenting relationship with their father.
I am a “life is just half full of funny” kinda gal. Humor is my saving grace and I am thankful for it every single day. I have a strong Catholic faith and am thankful for that foundation.
I read a lot for a living but still enjoy a good book. I love biographies but in recent years have found the need for fun fictional books–sadly, for a long time I just didn’t enjoy fiction!
I love live theatre of any kind–from local productions to Broadway.
I love to scrapbook and pride myself in my kids’ albums.
I love being a mom but also love my career. I’m blessed to have found a balance allowing me to be at everything my kids need and want me to be at–while also having a career.
Favorite Quotes: Well behaved women rarely make history.
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. -James Bryant Conant
I think my towels are about 20 years old.. I´m 32 and still haven´t bought anyone for my own money. Still, i know that quality has gone down at lot since that time.
I hope you are able to get a bread machine! I LOVE my bread machine! I make homemade buns and bread every week. When I am short on time, I love to use my bread machine for simple white, wheat loaves or pizza dough. And I saw someone had mentioned earlier, you can freeze the pizza dough for later use. The house smells wonderful afterward! I use a Breadman bread machine the model number from the website is BK1060S – this model has a “dough only” option and I highly suggest purchasing a machine with a dough only option. My only issue with the machine has been to add a little flour or a little water depending on the heat and humidity otherwise she runs beautifully AND I save so much money this way!
Well, real food may be cheaper in the long run if you feel fuller sooner and stay fuller longer.
Have you considered yard sales? I bought my husband 2 new pairs of shorts and jeans for $1 each. I know some people are not wanting to wear worn clothing….but I just wash it and figure it’s not too much different from wearing a pair of pants that someone else already tried on in the store.
Try checking out ‘artisan bread in 5 minutes a day’ from the library. It changed my life. I now have bread dough always ready to go in my fridge. You don’t knead it….so it’s somewhat similar to a bread machine.
Cooking real food from scratch might seem more expensive at first, but in the long run, it’s one of the best–and healthy–ways to save money, both in food costs and health costs.
When I first started cooking from scratch, meals were expensive because I had to buy a bottle of each spice, sometimes a pan or bowl, etc. I think the first time I made lasagna, it cost me over $50! The key is a well-stocked pantry (which took me about a year to do, a little at a time). Now, I can make just about anything I want without a trip to the store. (I buy my meat in bulk, freeze fruit and veggies and have a very well stocked pantry). We usually spent between $75-$100 a week for our family of three, and that usually includes at least one meal where we have cook for company. However, every few weeks, we have a “shop from the pantry” week, and only buy perishable essentials like milk, and give ourselves a budget of $5 or $10 for the week.
This is a great post. I love it. My favorite part is the comment by your mother, wishing she had not bought so many things in life.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell which is more important, being out of debt, or learning to live a simpler, more content life. Sounds like you are really starting to make some internal changes. Very cool.
For some of those things you mentioned, I suggest giving Goodwill and consignment shops another look. We buy a lot of our clothes there. Austin even has a Goodwill boutique, where I got about 5 brand name work shirts in great condition for $15. These stores have come a long way in the last few years. They probably even have bread machines. (If not, also try craigslist).
You should ask around about a bread maker, a lot of people have bought one and never used it and might be happy to get rid of if to clear up some space. There is rarely a time when it is necessary to pay full price for clothing, there are so many thrift stores and rummage sales that there just is no reason to. I volunteer at a thrift store and it is amazing how much comes in new with the tags still on, I have a large family and we dress in all name brands. Our store is great that we earn “Thrift Store Dollars” for every hour we volunteer, my older kids volunteer too and we usually don’t pay much for clothing for our family of 8.
If you want a bread machine put it on your gift suggestions list. At your next BD, Christmas etc. have all the kids give you the one large item rather than many smaller items you may not need. For Father’s day this weekend, how about all the kids jointly give him the most needed clothing item? We always wait for a gift giving occasion to get these types of items which are useful/sensible but not needed urgently. I’d much rather wait and receive an item I need and want, rather than run out and buy it myself now and then get something totally useless for my BD because someone feels obligated to give me a gift.
I’m still using some of the towels I bought when I went to college… in 1990. They are still great. I have added a few over the years.
I’d suggest buying just a couple of new towels and taking the worst ones out of the rotation to use for dirty jobs like in the garage or something.
Heh… I’m using towels that were hand-me-downs from my mom, and a set of hand towels I use are over 30 years old!! They still dry – they’re just in that wonderful avocado green and harvest gold motif 😉
Every now and then I think about buying a new set, but I can’t decide on the color, so I don’t.
Sometimes indecision helps you to save money 🙂
I have a bread machine and I hardly use it 🙁 A big part of the reason is i live by myself, so it can take a while for me to eat a whole loaf before it goes bad. Also, it’s kind of a pain to slice it evenly.
However, since you have a full household you’d probably use up all the bread each week, especially since you can make sandwiches for the children’s lunches!
Claire, I’m not sure if you’re religious or not, but I’ve noticed that sometimes God just provides things you need or want out of the blue. I’ve always wanted to try a Dyson vacuum and we thought it would be nice to have a second tv (definitely not things we would buy). Totally unexpectedly, our son moved to Europe and we received both. This has happened with so many things, I can’t even begin to count. Many times people want to get rid of things but want to find a good home for them, and if you let your wishes be known, they’ll be happy to share. As for the vacumm cleaner, I would consider that a necessity and use some of your emergency fund money for that (unless one is given to you). You don’t have the money to buy a top of the line vacuum of course, but I would check garage sales or thrift stores too. As for the clothing, have you guys done a closet cleanout lately? I just did and found a lot of clothes to wear that I’d totally forgotten about. I sell things on Ebay, so I definitely know there are a lot of brand-name, like new clothes at the Goodwill and Salvation Army. As for “real food,” my hubby developed Stage IV prostate cancer in his 40s, and we have moved to hardly any processed foods except for cereal and yogurt for me, and we don’t feel like the cost is really that much more. I think you will really enjoy it once you get used to it.
Eating “real food” can easily be much, much cheaper than processed crap. First, base your meals around stuff in the bulk foods section – brown rice, whole grains, lentils, beans. Those are some of the cheapest foods on the planet. And focus on produce that’s in season and on sale. Apples, bananas, broccoli, etc are usually much cheaper than any other non-real foods. “Real food” doesn’t necessarily mean that everything has to be gourmet and organic and perfect.
As for the things you want to buy – towels, vacuum cleaner, clothing, bread maker – get them for free or a few bucks at a garage sale, thrift store, freecycle or craigslist. Get out of the mentality of just running to the store to buy new crap. And stop using the word “need”!!! No one “needs” new towels because theirs are 5 years old!!!! What’s wrong with American consumer culture?! The towels still remove water from your body, right? Yes, new towels would feel more luxurious, but that’s a luxury. My grandparents used the same towels for over 40 years. That was an admirable generation. As for clothing, there’s enough of it in the US that people give away for to never need to buy it new. And just make bread without a bread maker! It’s what everyone did before about 10 years ago.
I see new bread machines on Craigslist for $20 – i would not pay a store price for that item.
Start asking around, surely someone has one in their basement you could borrow until you see if you’d actually use it. Seems like something people buy and never use… though I want one to try one, too!
Or just learn to make bread – it can’t be that hard.
Try checking out Craigslist and FreeCycle.org for appliances, and definitely check a few garage/yard sales if you have the time.
Maybe even tell some friends and family that you’re looking for a vacuum and bread machine, they may hear of someone looking to get rid of one.
Bread machine…totally check out garage sales or Craigslist. So many people buy these and don’t keep them…you can always find them and they were probably only used a few times.
Towels…Most of mine are so thin and frayed…I asked for them one year for Christmas and got a ton…but another idea is check out clearance and Kohls and Target…if you don’t care what color they are you can get really nice towels cheap. I have super thick large bath towels from Kohls that were Chaps brand and I got them for 5 bucks each!
Good luck! you are doing such a great job and help me on our journey as well!
we keep a list of needs and wants and definaty look in thrift stores and garage sales. Sometimes we find the items soon, other times it takes some patience but eventually we always find our list items at these places. We do buy shoes new though, however not expensive ones but it is hard to find womans size 11 at garage sales and I have two children where their slight disabilities requires brand new shoes.
When I have the urge to spend, I remind myself of my goals. I also walk through the Goodwill shop. After all, the worse I can do is to spend $5 and that won’t break the budget.
Also, buy used when you want something new.
As for the vacuum cleaner, my died a year or so ago and I needed a new one but didn’t have the money. I also couldn’t go without a vacuum cleaner. So, I played a little game with myself and looked around for the best vacuum cleaner under $50. I read reviews and found one on Walmart.com for $39, with only 1 cent to ship it to me and I debated on that! I went to the store to pick it up but really. It had a 5 star rating and does a great job. It’s small but I live in a small space so it’s perfect for me! It’s lightweight and so much easier to push than a larger vacuum and picks up cat hair great. It’s a Hoover NanoLite (not sure if they still sell the “Lite” version. Anyway, my point is that if you are determined, you can figure things out.
Also, regarding the bread machine, I’ve made all my own bread since 2008 (only have bought 2 loaves from the store since then!). I did it to save money however the first thing I noticed was that I was able to stay full much longer. I read somewhere that when they make store bread or commercial bread they use 11 times the amount of yeast (I am sure it’s because they need to stretch the ingredients!). When you do that, you get those flimsy, soft pieces of bread. When you make your own bread, you get a real piece of bread that keeps you full! I love making my own bread and making my own food. I always imagine when I make my own sandwich how much a restaurant would charge. I think to myself about how much those pretty little restaurants charge for a delicious lunch, like the ones I prepare at home and I am just so proud of myself. I remember afternoon shopping trips with my lady friends and we’d pick these nice little restaurants overlooking the lake or something and then pay big money for fresh salads or sandwiches like what I make at home! You’ll find out that when you start to save money, you don’t end up with less but you end up with more. Better food, fewer distractions and a better life. I have a Zojirushi bread machine which is a little more expensive but I got mine as a gift from my sister. I also believe in investing in quality tools. I researched bread machines for months before I decided on the one I wanted. You can however get bread machines used at Goodwill for under $10. They’ll also refund your money if the machine doesn’t work. Most instruction books can be found online.