As of tomorrow, September 1st, I am planning to decrease my consumerism in two ways.
(1) I'll limit my monthy family food budget to $600.
(2) I will only buy second-hand products for all but a few things (or make my own) -- girls' shoes, underwear, socks, and ballet tights are the only things I'll exempt.
My food budget has hovered around $900/month for the past few years -- this includes coffee and eating out. $600/ month may seem like a lot but it comes down to $5/day per family member. So, one latte and I've only got $2 left to feed myself for the day.
As for second hand goods, I have access to Goodwill, Salvation Army and two consignment shops in the area. I am amazed what people give away. Last week, I got a coffee pot for $5 at Goodwill. I got a rice steamer there earlier in the summer for a few dollars after mine died an untimely death. It was a new one, but one handle was broken. Much of my clothing already comes from these stores, but I do occasionally splurge on new clothes or shoes. It helps to wear a smaller size at Goodwill. My theory is that people buy new clothes when they lose weight then give them away when they gain weight. My 10-year-old likes shopping Goodwill because she has artistic taste in clothes and she doesn't need to look like an Old Navy/Gap cookie cutter kid. (Although, she wouldn't say no to Old Navy either.)
I plan to continue my experiment through 2010. I am most concerned about the food budget but I've learned that making things at home is much cheaper than anything processed. For example, a loaf of the plainest organic whole wheat bread at our co-op is $3.99 but I can make the same loaf for 50 cents. I'm sure we won't starve. I can make yogurt from milk and cheese from yogurt relatively cheaply. Organic milk has gotten so expensive though that I'm not sure I can afford that.
Tomorrow we'll begin.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Heading toward the challenge
September will begin a more frugal period for my family. Our family structure has changed and my income will drop rather drastically. Today, I think, was my last latte. I have been paring down a bit to get ready for the changes that are coming, but it will still be a challenge. I am going to try to decrease our food spending from about $900 for 5 people to $600/month for the three kids and myself.
I'll also try to add to my earnings through small things. I already teach 3 courses but I need to bring in more money. I am happy to use my creativity to do that. I have begun selling off my old books on Amazon -- sold two today and made about $14. I have been a book hoarder so it is good to diminish my stash a bit. I am working on my needle felted hats. They are a nice quiet activity that I can do in the evening and I love creating them. I've signed up at the winter indoor market to sell my gourmet dry mixes under my business name "Fast Foodie."
I hope this gets us through the winter and spring. I need to plant a bigger garden next spring and take better care of it. We had a terrible growing season in Idaho this year. It was a short, cold summer. With a chance of frost anytime after Labor Day, we could harvest very little from the garden.
Tonight, we did have potatoes, onions and parsley from the garden. Yesterday we had zucchini fritters for dinner (shredded zucchini, eggs, cheese, onion) and zucchini chocolate chip cookies (trust me they are good!). But, the tomatoes remain green, the onions are the size of golf balls, the corn is only 3 feet high, the pumpkins didn't fruit and there are only a few lonely peppers on the pepper plants. How sad, my worst gardening year ever. All the gardeners and farmers I know talk about what a bad year it has been and it reminds me how little we rely on local food systems. If local foods were a necessity, we would all be in for a long, hungry winter here. The large farms in this area grow wheat, dry peas and lentils so I suppose we wouldn't starve. But, we would all be fighting over the end of season onions, kale, carrots and tomatoes.
At any rate, if your garden was more abundant this year and you need some zucchini recipes here are the two I mentioned above:
Zucchini Fritters
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp salt
cracked pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients together. Fry in olive oil like pancakes on a griddle. Serve with brown rice and/or tomato sauce.
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
Blend above ingredients.
Add:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (aka white wheat flour)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Mix with wet ingredients.
Add:
1 cup zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 from 35 minutes in a greased 9X11 pan for bar cookies or place spoonfuls on cookie sheets and bake 10 minutes.
I'll also try to add to my earnings through small things. I already teach 3 courses but I need to bring in more money. I am happy to use my creativity to do that. I have begun selling off my old books on Amazon -- sold two today and made about $14. I have been a book hoarder so it is good to diminish my stash a bit. I am working on my needle felted hats. They are a nice quiet activity that I can do in the evening and I love creating them. I've signed up at the winter indoor market to sell my gourmet dry mixes under my business name "Fast Foodie."
I hope this gets us through the winter and spring. I need to plant a bigger garden next spring and take better care of it. We had a terrible growing season in Idaho this year. It was a short, cold summer. With a chance of frost anytime after Labor Day, we could harvest very little from the garden.
Tonight, we did have potatoes, onions and parsley from the garden. Yesterday we had zucchini fritters for dinner (shredded zucchini, eggs, cheese, onion) and zucchini chocolate chip cookies (trust me they are good!). But, the tomatoes remain green, the onions are the size of golf balls, the corn is only 3 feet high, the pumpkins didn't fruit and there are only a few lonely peppers on the pepper plants. How sad, my worst gardening year ever. All the gardeners and farmers I know talk about what a bad year it has been and it reminds me how little we rely on local food systems. If local foods were a necessity, we would all be in for a long, hungry winter here. The large farms in this area grow wheat, dry peas and lentils so I suppose we wouldn't starve. But, we would all be fighting over the end of season onions, kale, carrots and tomatoes.
At any rate, if your garden was more abundant this year and you need some zucchini recipes here are the two I mentioned above:
Zucchini Fritters
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp salt
cracked pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients together. Fry in olive oil like pancakes on a griddle. Serve with brown rice and/or tomato sauce.
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
Blend above ingredients.
Add:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (aka white wheat flour)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Mix with wet ingredients.
Add:
1 cup zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 from 35 minutes in a greased 9X11 pan for bar cookies or place spoonfuls on cookie sheets and bake 10 minutes.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Free food
The girls went with some friends today to pick blackberries along some old railroad tracks in the countryside. The berries are abundant this year, and it seems as the economy gets worse everyone is happy to get them. A pint sells for $3, so the girls' small yield is worth about $12. But, free food is free food -- especially free, pesticide-free, wild-gathered food. The picking and nearby farm provided free entertainment. Our friends took the girls and provided a little downtime for me and my sprained ankle.
I also dried tomatoes and made some sauce for the freezer with some cull tomatoes from my friend Kate's farm. Cull tomatoes (or other food) is too mis-shapen, too small or too blemished to sell. With a knife and a pot or a knife and a dehydrator, cull tomatoes are just fine though.
Thursday I made crab apple jelly from our friend Kelly and Russel's house and farm. Of course jelly is mostly sugar and that wasn't free but it was still fun to use the crab apples. I dried some in the dehydrator too and I think they will make a nice substitute from cranberries. They have a sweet, tart flavor.
Next week I need to check and see if the plums growing wild in a neighborhood alley are ripe yet. If I can hobble around well enough by then.
I also dried tomatoes and made some sauce for the freezer with some cull tomatoes from my friend Kate's farm. Cull tomatoes (or other food) is too mis-shapen, too small or too blemished to sell. With a knife and a pot or a knife and a dehydrator, cull tomatoes are just fine though.
Thursday I made crab apple jelly from our friend Kelly and Russel's house and farm. Of course jelly is mostly sugar and that wasn't free but it was still fun to use the crab apples. I dried some in the dehydrator too and I think they will make a nice substitute from cranberries. They have a sweet, tart flavor.
Next week I need to check and see if the plums growing wild in a neighborhood alley are ripe yet. If I can hobble around well enough by then.
About Julia and the Green Frugal Family
I am the mother of four children -- 3 still at home. Our three youngest are 10 and 4 years old. (There are two of the latter.) We have a mix of biological and adopted children. I have an education both in natural resources and in health care. I work as a lecturer at a state university.
My environmental values are strong and I try to live a simple, sustainable life with my family. After a year in Central America for my spouse's work, we came back to the US financial crisis, growing concern about global climate change and more and more financially struggling families.
My first reaction was to abandon some of our more expensive green practices like buying organic food. But, I just didn't feel good about eating or feeding my family some of the conventionally grown over-processed foods on the grocery store shelves. My second reaction was to spend a lot of time worrying about our bank account. That didn't do much good either. So, here is my third step -- to marshal all my financial and family resources and figure out what is the best mix of ecological, social and economic sustainability for a green frugal family and to pass that information on to you along the way.
My environmental values are strong and I try to live a simple, sustainable life with my family. After a year in Central America for my spouse's work, we came back to the US financial crisis, growing concern about global climate change and more and more financially struggling families.
My first reaction was to abandon some of our more expensive green practices like buying organic food. But, I just didn't feel good about eating or feeding my family some of the conventionally grown over-processed foods on the grocery store shelves. My second reaction was to spend a lot of time worrying about our bank account. That didn't do much good either. So, here is my third step -- to marshal all my financial and family resources and figure out what is the best mix of ecological, social and economic sustainability for a green frugal family and to pass that information on to you along the way.
Green Frugal Blogger
I think I was 'green' before it was the new black and frugal before it was trendy, but I have never been a blogger before. So, on that count, I am behind the times. In this blog, I'll share information about my family's attempts to live both sustainably and frugally. We always have our ups and downs. Gardens that won't grow in the cold weather, cycling trips that work well and walking plans altered due to a sprained ankle. Perhaps the sprained ankle is the reason I am getting around to posting this blog. It is late August but it is kind of hard to can peaches on crutches.
I hope you enjoy the information and please send me feedback!
Julia
I hope you enjoy the information and please send me feedback!
Julia
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