Cheating

So, I spent my last $3 cash after school yesterday. I bought a 32 oz. caffeine free Diet Coke for me and a 44 oz. Dr. Pepper for the kids to share. Those purchases weren't food, strictly speaking, but I used my grocery money anyway. I know it wasn't the best use of 3 bucks, but Monday's can be rough and we really needed the boost. 
I still have 2 weeks to go and there are a few factors I'm considering as I rifle through my wallet, all but empty except for a bunch of receipts showing me the paper trail of where I've been.  I think I may be breaching the integrity of my experiment, but I'd love to know what you think.

1. Maybe I should take the kids up on their offer and match to our grocery budget what they gave to charity this month.  That would give me another $15.
2. The jar of cash and change that gets collected from the laundry and other instances where kids owe me because they are late could support our soda habit for the duration.
3. A couple of weeks ago I bought a really nice food processor from Costco.  My old one, that I got 14 years ago died after a long useful life, an I figured the new purchase would help me a lot in my food prep.  However, I got it home, started this experiment and never took it out of the box.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I kept thinking I might need the 50 bucks.  It's a bute and I hate to take it back, but if I do and I get the $50 to use on groceries, is that cheating? 

 

Let me know what you think.  In the mean time, I'm grateful to report that I left $30 of grocery money in the bank so I could start the Bountiful Baskets program online, and I should get my first basket on Saturday.  I'm so excited. Also, I'm going to take inventory of what we have on hand and post it here.  Maybe that will help us all make a more informed decision on how to proceed, and whether we need  to "cheat", or not.

Birthday Traditions - An Epic Post

I survived feeding and entertaining 16 young party guests and a neighborhood of boys yesterday. One down, three to go. All of my kids have Holiday season birthdays. It’s fantastic! I only say that with slight sarcasm because, the truth is, when they were all born in November and December I was thrilled. Now that they all have so much going on, on top of the regular holiday stuff, this time of year leaves me overwhelmed and exhausted, a lot. In fact, as much as I love the Holiday’s, I tend to turn in to Ebenezer Scrooge when things get added to our calendar. I think that’s why every fourth quarter for the last few years finds me trying to simplify my life in a really complicated way. Like when I decided these things:

1. Seeing if we could go more than a month without entering a grocery store, thus having to make everything we eat from scratch.
2. Buying nothing new for a whole holiday season. We saved money and the gifts we gave were simpler, but it took lots of thrift store hunting and handcrafting to fit the bill for birthdays and Christmas that year.
3. Cutting our grocery budget in half, just to see what we can do with what we give away. I’m not sure that this actually simplifies anything, but it seemed like an interesting experiment to try.

So, the birthday party. All of my youngest daughter's girl friends from her Sunday School class, two families of siblings, and two friends from school came to help celebrate her big day. Plus, we invited the whole neighborhood out for cupcakes. Not everyone came, but we did end up with about 10 little boys and their moms from various parts of our street. Some of the best parts of the party were:

• I released myself from the notion of having a themed party . We just had a treasure hunt, played a bunch of fun games like charades and balloon stomp, and experimented with dry-ice in bowls of hot soapy water (it’s fascinating, you should try it sometime .
• I didn’t buy any pricey party favors. The day after Halloween, Hannah and I went to the candy story and found lots of cute Halloween themed specialty candies seriously discounted. We bought what we needed and only spent $3 for all 16 of our party participants.

It was a great time, and I stayed in a very small budget. Between the balloons, the dry ice and the candy I only spent ten bucks. We ate snacks we already had (popcorn and fruit from Grandma and Grandpa’s trees) and cupcakes from food storage cake mixes. Good, cheap, fun.

So, what does this kind of craziness have to do with Live On What You Give? Well, beginning last year we started a tradition of birthday service. The idea is that our birthday is a pretty big thing to be grateful for, and maybe there are things that we can do to show our appreciation.

Past Birthday Service projects have typically been simple, take a meal to a family with a sick mom, donate blood, shovel a neighbor’s driveway, help clean our church. The key is that whatever we do, we serve together. Sharing a meal - some of us help with the cooking and some of us help with the delivery. Donating blood –one of us donates, some of us are support team and some of us stay behind with the younger kids, preparing dinner and making things nice for the donor’s return. You get the idea.

For yesterday’s service, we decided to invite all of the neighborhood children for birthday treats. So, early in the morning Hannah and I got up and made 4 dozen cupcakes in two flavors, devil’s food and vanilla (we turned those purple). The day was CRAZY, I had a presentation to prepare, a class to teach, a husband to pick up in Salt Lake, and carpool to run. There was no time for icing all of those cupcakes. But, inspiration comes often when you needed most, so here’s what we did...

“Okay, Hannah and I made these cupcakes to share with everyone.” I told them as I put all 48 of them in front of them on the table.

Wide eyes quickly counted how many cupcakes there could be.

“But, wait,” one little girl said. “How come there’s no icing on them?”

“Well, we thought we’d let you guys in on that fun.” I feel like Tom Sawyer tricking all of his friends into paying him for the chance to whitewash his fence.

“We each take 3 cupcakes. One is for you to eat and two are to give away. If there are enough left in the end, everyone can eat another cupcake.” I instructed.

“This is part of my birthday service. You guys get to help me ice all of these cupcakes.”

“Wait, we’re giving them away?” All the little girls shared looks of confusion.

Then, one girl asked, “So, we’re sharing these with neighbor kids? It’s like a service, right?”

Exactly. As all of the other girls began to understood they went to work . I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happy group of cupcake decorators.

When the neighbors didn’t seem to be coming on time, they all started to get anxious that the love and effort they had put into those cupcakes would have been in vain.

“No one’s coming. What should we do?” Hannah asked, concern in her voice.

“Take the trays of cupcakes and go outside. I promise you will find plenty of kids to give them to.”

“You mean we can just go and give them all away?” a little girl asked.

“Yep. And I know those kids are going to love all your hard work.” I said.

There was a collective cheer as they pulled trays of cupcakes off the table and headed for the door. When they got there, they found a bunch of kids and moms ready to be served. It was awesome. I think it is one of the best birthday parties we’ve ever thrown.

Where We Stand Today

The Live On What You Give Experiment is running from October 20 through January 20th.  I draw cash for groceries and other food purchases on the 20th of each month.  The amount of cash we allow ourselves is set and equal to the amount of cash we donate to help individuals and families in need right in our own area.  You can read more about where our cash contributions go, here and here.

For this particular experiment I did not stock up.  I did not inventory what I had and decide what I might need in order to make it to the end of the month.  I also didn't plan any contingencies for camping, Halloween, or birthday parties (we have one tomorrow). Those all had to fall into the budget.  So, here's where we stand.

We went camping with cousins and I scrounged up all the granola bars and snack items I could find in our food storage.  I also brought hot chocolate, cereal, paper cups, bowls and spoons, all from food storage.  We bought french bread and soda on sale and made other meal contributions from our garden.  It was amazing, because in the past I remember spending upwards of $50 for a simple over night camping trip.  This time we pretty much only brought what we had.

For Halloween, I bought the big bag-o-candy.  I considered taking it back since we were going to our friends' neighborhood, but we ended up with a few of our own trick-or-treaters before we left, so the candy stays.  I hope I can make it last through the holidays. 

Earlier in the day Don had a party at work.  Food storage and garden items came in handy for the seven+ layer dip he brought.  We had beans, el pato hot sauce, and olives from the pantry.  Our garden was prolific with onions, peppers and tomatoes this year.  Only three items came recently from the store: cheese, sour cream and cilantro.

Before trick-or-treating, we had a big chili party with our friends.  There were three families and three pots of chili.  I found a white chili recipe on allrecipes and made it my own, using canned turkey instead of chicken breasts and only 2 cans of beans instead of 5 (who uses that many beans?).  I also added one cup of cream.  The cream and the cheese were the only items that did not come from food storage.  It was delicious and we ate most of it.

So, I have made a handful of trips to the store in the last 10 days and am left with less than $100 to get us through to November 20, when I can draw cash again. It may not sound that hard, but we are foodies, and there are six of us. I have to say, that in order to make it, I think I'm going to have to implement "No More Grocery Shopping" again and stay out of the store.  Costco is like a death trap in this experiment. 

I'll update again soon to give details on where we are.

Live On What You Give

I'm back for a little visit to my favorite personal blog.  Let me catch you up a bit to where we've been, where we are now, and where I hope we're headed.

1. In October of 2008 we began a month-long experiment to stay out of the grocery store.  With some preparation, lots of trial and error, a little innovation and much inspiration we made it a whole month and the experiment was a success.
2. In August of 2009 my husband lost his job and we were free-falling for almost a year.  Self employment has its perks, but financial security is not one of them.  We lived on severance pay, savings, tax-returns, unemployment benefits and food storage.  After nearly 12 months of that we depleted most of our stores.  We came through it alive, with our marriage stronger and our family closer, so I'd say that was a success.
3. In October 2009 we decided to have a Nothing New holiday season.  Some of that is chronicled here.  It was also a success, though I can't remember how much fidelity we devoted to that particular experiment.
4. In August of 2010, my husband began working for a new company for half the salary he'd made at his previous job.  Still, it was better than unemployment or the poor house, so we made it work.  The trick with that company was that they rarely paid on time.  In fact, we spent the entire holiday season from November-December of 2010 without being paid.  That was tough.  I will admit that our overdraft line of credit was what kept us going through that period.  We spent a year planing that game.
5. In August of 2011 we got a new job.  It is going well.  They pay on time and are good to work with. He is happy and in his element there.  I am adjusting to the time it takes him to commute.
6. We once had an emergency fund that covered several months of expenses, no car payment and no credit card debt.  Now we have $1000 in our emergency fund, a car payment and a little bit of debt from our year of robbing Peter to pay Paul after we got the job that rarely paid.  We are still working towards and waiting for the restoration of all things.

In keeping with fourth quarter money saving traditions of the past, I'm back with another super personal family experiment.  This one goes hand in hand with No More Grocery Shopping and is called our "Live On What You Give" experiment.  Here's how it works.
Each month we donate a certain amount of money to charity.  This is beyond tithe that is one of the tenets of our faith. I've been thinking a lot lately about the level of our giving and if it accurately reflects our ability to give.  I've also thought about just how far those funds are able to go and that's where I came to the inspiration for this experiment.  What if I had to live on what I give? What if I can't spend at the grocery store any more than I have given to meet the needs of others around me?  What if we could only provide for our children what others were willing to donate? What if my family had to live on the donations of another family, would it be enough?  How would I make up the difference if it wasn't?  These are just a few of the questions I have.

So, this time of year, as we make room for more, we give away toys, clothing, canned goods and participate in fund raisers for local food pantries and shelters.  What if this season we can only spend to the level that we give.   For instance, if I donate $X to charity, I can only spend $X on groceries.  When I buy gifts for my kids' birthdays (they are all during the holidays), that gift can only be to the level that I am also able to donate for a child in need.  If we have a holiday meal, I can only make and use items that I will also donate to a family in need.

Mostly, I want to test two quotes from wise men of my faith. 
The first is this:

“You cannot give yourself poor in this work.”

Marion G. Romney

And , the second:

“A person cannot give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return.”

Melvin J. Ballard

The Promise of Beans

So, I promised I'd post a recipe for beans. My good friend, Lindsey, posted this on her Facebook page and I tried them. Delicious. Simple. Straight forward. The only thing I did differently was add extra salt and spices. I'm a girl who likes a lot of spice.

We ate the beans and rice covered in a savory chicken broth with cheese, avocados, and home made picante. It was a perfect mix of fresh and food storage. So delicious and nutritious. And, the whole meal was gluten-free, which is one of my new pursuits.

I'm Back

So, we went 11 months without a real pay check and here we are. We reached the end of the widow's oil, the grain in our storage did not fail. Now, we're back on the pay roll at a new company, and running our own natural cleaning products business.

While the coffers at the bank are pretty empty, my storage room is relatively full of the stuff we have put away, but don't really eat. Beans, for instance. We have CASES of beans. Red beans, white beans and black beans, mostly. All dried and all mysterious to me. I mean, I know how to use them once they are ready to go, but getting them to an edible state is a true enigma. I have a pressure cooker, but it scares the BeJeeBees out of me because of that insanely rocking pressure deal at the top. Plus, our pressure cooker is industrial size (of course, because we can never do anything small around here) and I'm not sure I want to cook up 20 quarts of beans. Anyway, there are things that I still need to learn about my food storage.

Also, working for a start-up (that's my guy, adventurously jumping into a great NEW company) and running our business, we need to get a lot more out of our fewer grocery store dollars. Now, I would NEVER disrespect all the coupon shopping divas I know by dissing the whole coupon idea. I will say, though, that our family eats a lot of fresh and bulk food that you don't see running through the coupon section of the Sunday paper. The challenge now is to maintain our current level of food snobbery and save money while we're at it. To me, this equates to:

• Lot's less processed stuff
• More home made, home grown sauces, pastas, breads, and veggie dishes
• Broadening our pallet preferences

So, what is in your pantry that you guiltily gloss over every time you go to retrieve your favorite foods? I'll make a list of mine for you next time, and see if I can't decide on some ways to use that stuff.

Also next time, a detailed family dialogue on menu making and food snobbery. I'm happy to be back. I'll post in the next little bit about this Fall's challenge.

I Love Thrift Stores

So, I've been floundering through the season, cheating here and there due to sickness, surgeries and other unforeseen obstacles. Birthday season and the Holidays are in full swing at my house and I have a few good things to report. Since I'm usually writing my failures, I thought I'd share the successes for a change.

1. I got Christmas for everyone from thrift stores and/or online classified ads.
2. What I bought new, I bought before our experiment started and on sale.
3. I have everything I need already in my house for my part of Thanksgiving dinner (potatoes, stuff for rolls, green bean casserole, pie goodies), but I did get a turkey today for $6.
4. I got a VCR at the thrift store and we are enjoying all of our old videos.
5. I've already made all of my neighbor and family gifts.

I just wanted to check in to let you know that we're plugging along. I always have more ambitions than I am capable of executing, thus the infrequent blog posts. I'm actually considering abandoning it for good. I have so many other projects that bring true value, that this one feels like I'm creating another chore for myself.

Not to end on a low note, I want to wish everyone a fabulous Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Celebrate as much as you can, look for quiet time too. Don't do so much that you don't have a few evenings just to sit with your family and enjoy close family traditions. This is my favorite time of year and I'm determined to get the most out of it.