Penny By Penny

I am lucky enough to have access to a military commissary and am able to save an average of 25-30% on my groceries. Normally, an additional savings on a military base is that there is no sales tax, but we do not have tax on food in CA so I save no matter where I shop. If I can save that percentage, why do I need a price book, you ask? Why go to all that trouble? Loss leaders at the local stores! Thats why! A gallon of whole milk at the commissary is normally $2.35. I got the sales papers this week and CVS had milk for $2.15 a gallon. My chicken thighs last week saved me 25 cents a pound because Safeway had them on sale. I can scan the ads and compare quickly with my pricebook. Yes, it was a lot of work, but the difference in prices can save money better spent elsewhere, like paying off our debt!
Our meals since last post
Homemade pizza. I did use a loaf of frozen bread dough ($1.00), sauce I had in the freezer, shredded cheese that I had already shredded from a purchased block, mushrooms left over from another meal, and my splurge was a stick of pepperoni. I used half of it for the pizza, so the entire thing (it was the size of my largest cookie sheet) gave us a meal and one lunch for Mark. Cost $4.12Homemade chicken potpie. Chicken thighs from that sales package, veggies, pie crust top, and the sauce made from chicken broth, milk and flour. Two full meals. Cost $4.28 (thats 2.14 a meal!)
Today I pulled some chicken breasts out of the freezer (marked to let me know there was enough to make an extra for lunch) skinned and boned them myself and marinated them in lime juice, chopped cilantro, chopped garlic, chopped jalepeno's and honey and baked them. (Next time I will freeze them already in the marinade!). Served over rice. Enough rice and that extra breast packed for Marks lunch tomorrow!
Entertainment for the weekend. Saturday we went to a Pirate Festival, free admission, loads of fun and we ate lunch before we went so there was no temptation to stand in those God awful lines for over priced festival food and I threw some bottles of water in my bag! Sunday we took a motorcycle ride to a lake about 45 minutes away, packed drinks in the saddle bags. Admission to the federal park -- free. Beauty and enjoyment -- priceless!

Old Idea's, New Times

When the kids were young and we struggled to make ends meet, I was a big fan of The Tightwad Gazette and books like it. I recently checked them out at the library and decided they were great for that time, but life has changed since then. While the principles remain the same, the chaos of life has increased and old idea's need to be adapted. This blog isn't going to bore you with simple idea's that have been around forever like turning the water off while you brush your teeth or to reuse items more than once. While we should implement the ideas if we aren't currently using them, they are common sense! So go ahead and turn the lights off when you leave a room, use air dry on your dishwasher, lets concentrate on new idea's. I also used the once a month cooking method way back when, but I no longer have a deep freeze; I'm limited to the small freezer over our economically priced refrigerator. That doesn't mean I can't plan ahead, prepare ahead, and avoid convenience foods. I realize I had become a slave to convenience foods and that has now changed. Mark commented yesterday that he thought once I went back to work, he would have to revert to prepackaged snacks, convenience foods and fast foods while I worked. I was prepared with an answer, after pondering the same thought over the past few weeks. NO! was my answer. We'll plan ahead, prepare ahead, and stick to our path. I found a book in the library loan system --do you see a theme here?--(actually two but I have not received the second one yet) that is basically a cookbook but it's concept is to prepare ahead. It wants you to buy foods when they are on sale and freeze already prepared. (Well, yea!) An example I can report because I used it this week. Chicken thighs were a loss leader at a local grocery store. I bought a package and I can get three meals and two lunches for Mark out of it. I can follow my old pattern and separate the thighs, throw them in a ziploc bag, and pull them out as I use them. But, I will be lazy or busy or too frustrated to do much more than throw them in the oven and bake them when the time comes. No wonder we dine out so much, we're tired of the same old foods! Instead, I spend a small amount of time to plan ahead. I throw the marinade in with the chicken, or throw the vegies and seasoning into the same bag. When the time comes, into a roaster goes the entire meal and voila, a healthy, frugal meal that sure beats plain ol' baked chicken. Admittedly, I hesitate to freeze a meal made from a recipe before we taste it, so I am cooking one and if it passes muster, freezing one. We haven't had a failure yet. The cost of last nights dinner for two (and a lunch for Mark) was a whopping $4.28. Healthy, delicious, and yes....FRUGAL! I want to add here that Mark has not bought a lunch while at work since we began planning ahead. Yes, we did buy some frozen foods for him (pizza mostly) but I notice he has taken his homemade planned lunches and only takes a pizza on occassion! AND, its still cheaper than eating out everyday. Cost for him to eat out is $5-8, an average weekly savings of $32.00, a monthly savings of $130 and an annual savings of $1560! That would sure be better spent paying off a debt!

A Path of Frugality

This is the first post on a year-long path of frugality. My husband and I recently transferred to Northern California from the East Coast and challenged ourselves to live as frugally as possible for the next year. I moved a month before he did (April 10th), jobless, with a month's salary in my savings account, and discovered that I can live on a lot less than I was. I started looking through my "penny wasters" and saw so many places I could cut out or at least cut down on. I have to wait for a California Nursing License before I can find a job, so I have watched my pennies very carefully. Mark and I enjoy our toys, love traveling, and our two incomes have enabled us to live like we wanted. I challenged myself to, over this year, build my savings, pay off debt, and simplify our lives. I figured Mark would be hard to sell on the idea and I resigned myself to the fact that while he may not be willing to take the challenge, I would still follow through on my journey. He raised his eyebrows when I pointed out a 10 cent savings here, a 20 cent savings there and so I painted it in a whole picture approach. Frugality doesn't mean doing without, I explained, it meant using our hard earned money the best way we can. 10 cents doesn't seem like a lot but I quickly calculated and pointed out a month and then a years savings and he was quickly won over. He jumped on board, full speed ahead, and admittedly, it might be the freshly baked snacks he has gotten, the good meals I've cooked, and the shared vision of paying off our debt that won him over. We don't do anything halfway and jumped in feet first! Shopping has become a game, we watch the gas prices closely, and plan ahead. The purpose of this blog is to, hopefully, ignite the fire of frugality in others, to share ideas, to pass along what we learn along our journey.
If you have tips, ideas, recipes, questions, or comments, please either post in the comment section or email me so I can post your thoughts to the blog. Pass the link along to your friends and let show the bad economy that we won't buckle, we'll fight back and not only survive, but to be a stronger financial community.