What? Who has $1000 to save on groceries anyway?

This is a $1000 bill printed in 1890, today it's worth $2.3 mil. How much is your $1000 worth?

I didn't have $1000 laying around to spend, or save on groceries, but somehow I did it anyway. I'm sorry to back track, but I have some documentation that just needs to be done. I've been reviewing financial statements and was amazed to see how much money I actually saved last month. I knew I needed to save money, robbing Peter to pay Paul is not my favorite game, so that's why I did the experiment in the first place. Before I started I figured the grocery budget for my family of 6 was about $600. Remember, I have four kids, including 2 growing boys who seem to be bottomless pits, and a husband who is all about eating lots of fresh produce. So, the first $600 I saved is a gimme. I didn't go to the store, I saved all that money. But, where did all the other money come from? Or, better stated, where did it all go in the previous months? Several places. It turns out that No More Grocery Shopping had budgetary benefits beyond my food funds. Here's what I found. Because I didn't go to the grocery store:

1. I saved an easy $100 on gas. That is comparing to the months when gas was near $4/gal.


2. I saved another $100+ on food items that didn't start out on my list but still ended up in my cart.


3. I saved $100+ on non-food items that I didn't buy because I wasn't at the store.


4. I saved $100 on stuff I might have bought because I was out-and-about.

Remember, the point isn't to never go grocery shopping again, but, what would you with $1000 saved in a month or two?

A Plentiful Portion of Poor People Food

A new theme has overtaken me. Why the rally cry, “No more Mac and Cheese” and references to Poor People Food? I’ve had a flashback, a sense of déjà vu. I remember calling my sister, Jen, a few years ago and asking, “Can you give me your best menu ideas of poor people food? We are really scraping bottom and I need to know what you guys ate when you had no money?” We were sailing through rough seas and I was sinking in my murky musings of being consigned to a fate of mac and cheese meals sided with tater-tots and catsup. I needed crucial, creative help in the one area of our financial plan I had most control over; our food budget. Maybe it’s today’s economic climate, maybe it’s the close calls we’ve had financially in the last several months, maybe it’s the fact that I have a lot of friends, neighbors and family members out of work right now, but these days, I am inclined to recall hard times and hold them forward as talismans of faith for a brighter future. I’ve had a need for nourishment in lean times, in my childhood, in my early marriage, and in my recent past, and have seen that need arise again and again in others around me, so, I want to see if I can’t pull some resources together to fill it, at least in theory.

As I write this, and you read, I want you to know I am aware that there is profusion of true poverty and suffering in the world, deeper and wider than anything I have ever experienced personally. I don’t mean to make light of that grief in my reference to “poor people food”. Even as we get and gain, there is a glut of hunger and despair in our society. Maybe you have felt these sensations in your own life; I know I have. Maybe you are struggling through them right now. If you are engulfed in the tumult and trial of your own oceans, there is not much comfort in the fact that a lot of people are treading water along with you. When you are in over your head, it doesn’t matter who else is swimming, unless they have a life vest to throw around your neck to replace the weight that pull you down. I don’t have a life vest, but I do know how to make my clothes into a flotation device (just for fun, see here) and this might help you keep your head above water until real help arrives.

Jen and I making some our favorite frugal food; corn tortillas for tacos.

My sister had some great solutions for me when I called her all those years ago. I’d like to pass along some of what she and others have shared with me over the years. Again, great aspirations from me. The best laid plans that have so many occasions to go awry. Look for the next post to see how you could benefit from helping the rest of us.

Top 10 Reasons to Avoid the Grocery Store

First, let me start by saying the title of this blog is misleading. I don't know that I will ever be at a point where I can completely quit going to the grocery store, but I have a goal and here it is.

Go one full month without going to the grocery store.

Earlier this year we made a goal to have our pantry pretty well prepared by a certain date. For some odd reason, we chose election day, November 4th. There are lots of reasons for our experiment. Here are a few.

My top ten reasons for avoiding the grocery store for a whole month:

10. Sadomasochism. How painful can it really be?

9. Use it or lose it - certain food storage items requiring a little rotation - I think we acquired some of it from my parents when we got married 16 years ago.

8. My menu was starting to get boring. Wonder what I can do with a hundred pounds of rice, 32 cans of olives and a boat load of ramen noodles.

7. I'm hypermiling and trips to the store in my fat family wagon kill my mileage.

6. I read about it here in the Reader's Digest. Who doesn't love this practical periodical.

5. I'd rather be reading. I'm trying to work my way through the unabridged Les Mis, a beautiful but VERY long book. I'm on page 36 of 1463.

4. "Walmart. Save money. Live better." That's their slogan, not mine.

3. I am the queen of impulse buys. Hmm, I think I need some travel size lint removers and a laser pen/flashlight.

2.I save so much money when I don't go to the store!

And, the Number 1 reason for avoiding the store for a month -

The government bailout didn't include my personal checking account.

More to come concerning this weeks meals and details about my last official shopping day.