AmazinglyBlessed

Making do with less, part II

font-family: Georgia, verdana, arial, serif; 12:04 PM, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 .. Posted in Living on a shoe string .. 4 comments .. Link

I was asked to write more about doing with less and cutting the cost of living. Gladly!

Yesterday morning, I was reading an article in the latest issue of An Encouraging Word, titled: "Achieving Financial Freedom", by Kelly Crawford. I was impressed by the beginning and was hoping to learn a few things that would help us cut the cost of living a little more. While reading the article outloud to my husband, we would comment if we were already doing what was suggested or not, and this is what it sounded like:

"Cut up the credit cards... we don't have those, buy a cheaper cell phone or do without them... we don't use them, what about cable t.v.... we don't have that, cut extra phone services... we just have the basic, use the clothesline... yes, I do, eat out less... how about once every 3 years, yard sales... my favorite, don't buy convenience food... we cook everything from scratch, ... etc... My husband commented that perhaps I should write about cutting cost and saving further.

My tips about Grocery shopping:

- Something we've been doing recently is to purchase in bulk or by the case at the local grocery store. Since we juice veggies every morning (almost always) we go through lots of carrots, and although I grow a good patch of carrots, we don't grow enough to juice yet. We normally pay between 1.25 to 1.47 for two pounds. By purchasing a 50lb bag of California carrots for 19.99, those huge and sweet ones, we pay only .40 cents a lb. Avocadoes are a favorite here, great in smoothies, salad dressings, guacamole or just by itself as a quick snack. If we purchase them by the piece we pay about .99 each, but by the case @ 26.00 for 48, it equals .54 cents each. We also buy bananas by the case. We go through a dozen or so bananas a day so it's economical for us. If you have a big enough family to make buying produce in bulk practical, ask the various grocers around if they are willing to sell in bulk.

Another way to purchase cheap is to shop at salvage grocery stores. If you are not familiar with those stores, they sell slightly damaged canned and packaged goods at a greatly reduced price, from a 40% up to 90% saving. Our favorite local store stocks a big selection of organic food, something we couldn't afford if we had to purchase them at full price. Other items that are sold at these stores: name brand diapers, coffee and specialty teas, bath and hygene products, supplements, pet food, etc... Not every states allow salvage grocery stores, but I know that Tennessee and Mississippi have them. Anyone knows of other States that have them?

My last tip is to find a local bulk food co-op. Any day now I will be getting a call to pick up our order. We ordered 400 lbs of grains and legumes from Walton Feeds with the local Amish community. With shipping it will cost us 189.00 shipping included. Not bad considering how much it costs in grocery stores. Those 25 and 50 lb bags will be repackaged in 1 gallon bags and then stored inside a stand-up freezer we don't use anymore. The sealed door keeps rodents out, moths too, and if we have a question about a possible bug or two, we plug the freezer for three days and that would kill any undesirable .

Next "making do with less" post will be how to sew for the family for much less (and sometimes for nothing).

Christina

Great tips!

03:55 PM, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 .. Posted by HSBFrontPorch
Our local Amish communitites in Kentucky each have salvage grocery stores that have great prices and my husband just happens to be a sales rep for a broadline distributor so he actually sells to some food co-ops. You definitely can save quite a bit by shopping in bulk!
~Nancy

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05:30 PM, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 .. Posted by morningsunshine
Merci! j'aime beaucoup votre "tips"

and that has about exhausted the french I spoke in Montreal about 10 years ago. I could probably understand more if I heard/read it, but actually forming the language... that is what happens when you don't use it, eh?

we have a fridge not in current use. I was wondering where I was going to store my grains. also, I love avocados... what are some of your smoothie recipies?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bonjour Morningsunshine. Quelle surprise de lire en Français sur Homesteadbloggers! Don't feel too bad, even though I did 12 years in French school, I often can't remember how to conjugate a verb or how to spell something easy.

For smoothy recipes, we like to add to the Vita-mixer a banana, 1/4 cup of coconut, 1/8 cup of sesame, sunflower and flax seeds, a little tsp of coconut oil when we have some, a cup of oats, one or two eggs (raw!), other fruits like frozen strawberries, pineapple or peaches (obtional) and enough milk to make it smooth but not too much that it's liquid. My husband has this every morning as breakfast and that keeps him until 1 or 2 PM when he works in town.

Nice to meet you!
Christina

Edited by blessedmama on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 07:57 AM

Wonderfull Post

09:23 PM, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 .. Posted by shelley43022
Thank you so much for sharing the info in these posts. This is just what I needed to read. I look forward to reading the next one on sewing!

joyfull homemaker

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09:49 AM, Monday, February 19, 2007 .. Posted by hmschlrof6
Wisconsin allows bent and dent grocery stores too and our friends run two of them. They are a great blessing! I love the idea of bulk produce. I will be looking into that one. :)

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Making do with less, part II

Great tips!

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