How much was that meal?

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This is something I hardly ever think about. I like to feed my family and guests, and not think about how much it costs. I think about the money when I’m at the store, but once I’m home, I don’t.

Last week, the school sent home a note that made me think about it a little more. They wanted to know how we felt about the quality of the school lunches and if we’d be willing to pay $3 if the lunches were better. (I know the expense doesn’t just cover food. It also pays for staff, utilities–there is overhead involved.)

$3 doesn’t sound like much at first glance. If we paid $3 per school child for lunches, it would cost us $300 a month. That’s for 5 school age children, 20 days of the month, for one meal of the day. 6″ black forest ham sub’s loaded with Veggies from Subway are $2.75. A McDouble with value fries and water is $2. (Not healthy, but $2.)

Our food budget for the month is $500. Darren gets an extra $30 for groceries to keep at work. So $530 all things considered. In a 31 day month, we eat 124 meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack.) If we paid exactly the same for each meal, it equals $.53 per person.

Some meals I spend more, some I spend less. For example a couple of eggs and a slice of toast costs $.37. A bowl of oatmeal is around $.10. Turkey burgers (just the burger) are $1 each plus fixings and side dishes.  A cup of milk is $.18 add a couple of graham crackers for $.10 more. Grant eats a tiny amount compared to the older boys and Darren. So it’s not ever $.53 per meal per person…that’s just an average.

So how about you? Do you ever think about what that meal is costing you?

Can I Afford to Stay Home With My Kids?

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mother and baby

When we first married I was a 5th grade teacher. It was a great job, but also really stressful.  I became pregnant after we had been married just 3 months.  I had already signed my teaching contract for the next year. There was a steep contract breaking fee, but it didn’t matter.  My husband was in grad school and I was the only income producer in our family.  I had to work.

This was not how I planned to be a mother.  Read the rest….

Wrapping up the Spending Freeze

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Can you believe the 31 day freeze is over?  I know some of you have already told me you are going for another month and I think that’s awesome.

 

We had a possible $200 from our basic living expenses to put back into our goal fund.  Those dollars were kept separate from my purse, where they would have normally gone.  Those budgets were: eating out, misc., hygeine, and blow money. The clothing fund also came out of my purse, but we can’t put those saved dollars into our goal fund. They need to be saved for future needs that we know are coming.

We had a few expenses and mistakes which left us $173 from money that normally disappears throughout the month.

I was gifted $200 from 2 separate places for Christmas/End of year bonuses that I decided to donate to the goal fund.

I also earned an extra $400 selling items on craigslist and online.

So the Spending Freeze found $773 for our project!  Guys, this is huge for us.  This means we can move the door, do the drywall, and basically create a finished bedroom to sleep in.  The bathroom won’t be done yet, but still I had doubts that this much was even possible.

 I’d love to hear how your spending freeze turned out–good or bad. Nobody can do this perfectly but even a little push in the right direction is awesome!

Spending Freeze Day 28: Raise Your Income

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work from home

Oh, Ladies, what a busy day!  Last night, I sent out a little email about $1 memberships ending Saturday at midnight, and I spent my day calling 72 of the most amazing people who wanted to find out all about it.  They didn’t know when they put their phone number down that I was going to call them personally.  It was kind of fun when they answered to say, “Hello, this is Angela Coffman from the Grocery Shrink” and wait for their response.  Most people were kind of weirded out and I think I would have been too, lol.  But what a joy to get to know some of the readers and actually hear their voices.

I’m already a day late on talking about Raising your income, and tomorrow I need to make more phone calls PLUS write the menu plan that goes out on Friday…..So I’m just going to write and hit publish and hope I can get my thoughts together for you.  That’s part of practicing what I preach, right?

Foreclosure

Saving money is good, but if you don’t have enough income–it can’t be your end all solution.  A reader wrote in the comments last week that she was a money saving genius (my words) and lost her house anyway.  I don’t want that to happen to anyone again.  The truth is, we are really good at saving money around here, but it’s not enough to send our kids to college, replace our 20 year old cars, or finish the remodel project gone bad.

Earning money is the hard part for me, because it involves getting money from other people.  There really isn’t any way around that.  So my goal is to provide such a great service or product that the other person is better off for spending on it.  Take this fitness program for example.  I spent enough on it that I thought about it for awhile before pulling the trigger.  Enough that I had to think about where the money would come from.  BUT when I got it, I read it all immediately and then used it and it WORKED.  If it had been free, I don’t think I would have been as motivated to get so much out of it.  And Holly spent a lot of time putting all of that together to help people.  Her family had to do without her for those hours.  She deserved every dime I gave her.

You should pay people what they are worth. Which means, YOU should get paid what you are worth too.  Being stingy when paying others can make it hard for you to accept your due when it’s your turn. 

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Here’s what you should ask yourself when you think about a business:

1.  Is the amount of your paycheck tied to the number of people you help? (The more people you help, the bigger your paycheck.)

2.  Is your product or service consumable?  Will the customer use it up and want to replace it?  (like with laundry soap, personal training, music lessons,–or gasoline!)

3.  Do you feel good about what you are doing?  Can you work with a clear conscience and with integrity?

4.  Are you tied to an hourly wage—like teaching music lessons for so much $$$ per half hour.  Or is your income potential open ended—like selling an e-course on music theory.

5.  Are you using your God given gifts?

6.  Do you enjoy the work?

The fastest way I know how to earn money is to work for an hourly wage.  You can run out and clean houses, mow lawns etc… right away.   I did that.  I taught music lessons and did custom sewing.  Then I used part of what I earned as seed money to start a business that wasn’t tied to an hourly wage. Because an hourly wage severely limits your income potential. It’s an ok jumping off point, but not a great goal.

Personal Entrepreneurial Job Ramblings

The following is not meant to be a text-book, just simply my journey so far.  If it’s helpful great.  If not, please don’t tell me I’m a mess.  I already know that.

I started earning money for my family by teaching singing and piano lessons.  Then added custom sewing for a little shop in Nauvoo, IL and then to dabbling in weddings.  As my family required more and more of my time, I moved from custom sewing for an hourly wage to designing sewing patterns and starting an online shop.  Yes, they took time to create, and there was bigger risk (what if no one bought them?), but once the pattern was finished I could replicated it 1,000 times with no new time spent.  This instantly moved me away from an hourly wage into an open ended wage potential. Eventually, I moved from physically printing patterns to selling download and print e-patterns, which removed more risk and eliminated more of my ongoing time commitment (since everything could be automated.)

At the same time I was doing patterns, I wrote my Grocery Shrink ebooks.  The same principle was there.  It took hours and hours to write them, but I could sell unlimited copies through ejunkie (who automatically collected the money and sent the download links to customers for me.)

While I was figuring out internet marketing (ok, I’m still figuring it out) I signed up with Mary Kay.  I could go out in an evening and sell products and come home instantly with cash.  This saved our necks during my husband’s 6 month job loss 5 years ago.

As time rolled on, I was no longer able to go out in the evenings.  There were too many music lessons and sports practices to take children to….I didn’t have even one free evening.  I still had a few Mary Kay customers to take care of, but the income stream wasn’t at the level I needed it to be.  I hired a business coach, who helped me realize that making meal plans for families as a subscription was the logical next step with my blog.  It was hard for me to justify the expense of hiring a coach but it turned out to be the best decision ever.  And Grocery Shrink Plus was born. I still work actively in that every week and recently added smart phone friendly shopping lists and video classes.  Fun stuff!  It has a great income potential, but I’m really hesitant about promoting myself…..so it’s not reaching it’s potential.

Work from home mom

Recently, I also joined Sandi Sullivan at MomCeo.  What a rewarding job!  I hemmed and hawed about it for 3 years before taking the plunge, forehead smack. I get to talk with amazing ladies every week and help them find natural home solutions that fit into their budgets and do business training for new associates.  I can do it around our busy schedule and completely from home (no parties!)  This appears to be the long term income solution we are looking for.

So anyhoo, that’s our journey so far.  Our dream would be for husband and wife to work together and have the freedom to travel, help others, and just be a family.  It was a reality check when my daughter turned 15 2 weeks ago, that if I wanted to realize this dream while she was still home, I needed to get a MOVE ON.  So….I did.

Where are you on your income journey?  Do you have dreams too?  Would simply saving more of your current income be enough for your family to realize them?

Spending Freeze The Final Week! (Day 26) Let’s Earn Some Dough

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It’s the last week of the spending freeze.  I’m super excited!  I’ve had to buy a few things besides food, but I was able to do it without dipping into my envelopes that I was hoping to save aside for the “goal.”  I have just enough cash left in food to grab milk or something if we need it.

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Even with all this scrimping, our wad of cash to put towards the goal is small.  It’s time to make as much momentum as possible by generating some extra cash quickly.  Then tomorrow we’ll talk about more long term solutions to tiny income woes.

1.  Sell Stuff–Do you have any clothes worth taking to consignment stores?  Anything to post to a facebook garage sale site, your general facebook page, or Craigslist.

2.  Offer a blitz class:  Can you bake bread, crochet, knit or sew, paint?  Offer a $5-10 group class or maybe more than one (if there’s enough interest.)  If it goes well, it might be the jumping point for a business :).

3.  Offer a one time service for cash.  Emergency cleaning, yard work, or the like.

garage sale signs new bench 008

4.  If the weather is good enough, grab some friends and have a garage sale.  (My last sale made $700 just for me!  That’s kind of embarrassing to admit…..I don’t want you to think I’m a hoarder…)  It’s an unseasonal 58 degrees here today….that’s good enough for a sale!

What are your fast cash money generating ideas?

Spending Freeze Day 22: Prioritizing Your Spending

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checkbook

If you didn’t have enough money one month to pay all your bills, what would you do? (while you figured out how to make more money…)

You’d prioritize your spending.

If you could only afford 1 thing, what would it be?

checklist

1. Probably Food (Not lobster tails, right?  Just basic nutritious food.)

3.  Then if you could only do 1 more thing, it’d probably be Lights.

4.  Then fuel (so you can get to your job) or internet if you work from home,

5. Then your house payment/rent

etc…..You’d make a list of everything you’d want to do and order them in importance. As money came in, you would take care of each need in order of importance to you.

shopping cart

Your food budget is a mini replica of that. Having a CASH budget makes the reality of your limitations, well, REAL. Most of us don’t have enough in our food budget for everything we’d like to do.  I’d like to have fresh berries every week of the year. I’d like to buy steaks once a month.  But I don’t do either of those things.

I don’t usually write down my food priorities, but if I did they would be:

1.  In Season or frozen Produce

2.  Healthy Protein

3.  Basic whole grains/staples

4.  Basic Dairy

5.  Snack Foods

6. Condiments

7. Treats like juice, soda, or desserts

Buy the necessary food first.  Nourish your family.  Then if there is money left, have a treat :).

Spending Freeze Day 21: Heidi’s 15th Birthday

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I’m busy today getting ready for Heidi’s birthday. She’s all in on the spending freeze so we’re pulling out the storage decorations and having a fun family dinner with board games. I still have a lot of cleaning to do, but here’s where it is so far:

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White plastic table cloth with plain dot stickers…. It was so thin, we stuck a real white table cloth underneath, but it will make clean up better.

 

I have 90 minutes to mop my floors, wash 100 dishes, assemble a cake and hang the balloons.  While I’m doing that, it’s time for your 3rd week reflection.  How is the spending freeze going for you so far?  Are you tempted to go for another month?

 

Spending Freeze Day 20: I wish you…

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Source: blog.freepeople.com

Bravery….

To add your unique self to all recipes! Substitute. Create new variations. Adapt it to your tastes. Adjust it to maximize your budget.  Fix it to fit your allergy or fitness plan guidelines.

Food prices change all the time.  Sometimes fresh mushrooms cost less than canned.  Sometimes they cost a lot more.  If a recipe calls for mushrooms that will end up cooked, don’t let food snobbery tell you that you can ONLY use one kind or the other.

Of course, I’m not just talking about mushrooms. It’s true for all foods.  Greek yogurt can stand in for sour cream and sometimes cream cheese in a recipe.  Sometimes Greek yogurt is the more expensive choice, sometimes it’s less.

Source: http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/build-your-writing-career/#more-4734

Freedom….

To Dream BIG.  (Yes you CAN be debt free!  Yes, my family CAN have the work situation it has always dreamed of.)

To make the best choices for your family without worrying what others will think.

To use canned cream soup….or make it from scratch. We love you the same either way.

To use canned crescent rolls or homemade.  We can all live in harmony 🙂

To eat wheat or be gluten free.  And to know how to do both, so if my gluten free friend comes over for dinner, fixing that meal will be no big deal.   (freedom to write poetry……ha ha)

Knowledge…..

To know stuff like a Tablespoon is 3 teaspoons and 2 Tablespoons make an ounce.

To know that sugar + Fat makes a cookie a cookie…..so using yogurt here is gross.  But xylitol chemically behaves like sugar so you could do that instead.

To know stuff like 4 cups of shredded cheese is a lb, so 2 cups is 8 oz. (Because 16 oz is a pound.)

And stuff like 4 cups of cut fruit or veggies, but 2 cups of hamburger, applesauce or yogurt also makes a pound.  (Think about air space…..hamburger and thick creamy stuff doesn’t have much room for air, but fruit, berries, and vegetables do.)

And to have your favorite recipes memorized.  So if you happen to be a place where food is needed, you can whip on an apron and save the day with nothing but your mind, and basic pantry staples.

AND Because knowing stuff makes Bravery a lot easier.

 

Spending Freeze Day 19: Every Day Low Cost Foods

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For the last 7 years I’ve been shrinking my grocery budget by using every day low cost foods as the basis for all our meals, and adding in surprise deals (foods that are normally not as affordable but I found a great deal) when I find them. By keeping these things on hand, I have the makings for almost any meal we could think of.

Here’s a starter list of every day low cost foods:

Fruits and Vegetables: (These vary by season, but year round I buy….)

  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Seasonally I also use: strawberries, grapes, oranges, grapefruit, pomegranate, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, pears, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, sugar snap peas, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes

Frozen Foods:

  • broccoli
  • peas
  • mixed vegetables
  • corn
  • carrot coins
  • pepper and onion blend (Dollar Tree)
  • Normandy blend (Costco)
  • Oriental Blend (Costco)
  • Whole Strawberries (Costco) for smoothies
  • Wild Blueberries (Costco) for THM and FYM recipes

Meats:

  • canned tuna (Aldi)
  • canned mackerel (Walmart)
  • frozen chicken breasts (Costco)
  • whole chickens (Aldi)
  • ground turkey (Aldi)
  • ground beef (when we can get it from the farmer)
  • Beef roast (when on sale or from the farmer)
  • Turkey Burgers (Costco)
  • Pork roast (When on sale)
  • Boneless pork ribs for BBQ (When on sale)
  • turkey bacon (Aldi or Costco)
  • Costco or Aldi lunch meats (for the kids to make lunches for school)
  • Occasionally, hot dogs
  • Breakfast sausage (when on sale)
  • Salmon filets—these are higher priced $3.99lb at Aldi, but I keep them on hand for my weight loss plan
  • Sometimes Shrimp ($3.99 at Aldi), Turkey Kielbasa, and Italian flavored ground turkey
  • Pepperoni (for homemade pizza)

Dairy

  • American Sliced Cheese (Is this food?  I choose to believe it is….lalala, I can’t hear you)
  • Shredded cheese (in 5lb bags from Costco) We buy a cheddar blend and Mozzarella
  • Milk
  • Almond Milk (for me because I have lactose issues)
  • Cottage Cheese
  • Eggs (lots and lots of eggs)
  • Cream Cheese (when on sale–I usualy buy Nefchatel)
  • Plain Greek Yogurt (I buy a bit for starter when I let my starter get too old, but normally make my own) Then we flavor it at home
  • String cheese—this use to be at staple for snacks for us but everyone got tired of them and I have quit buying them
  • Real Butter (I know it’s expensive, but I just can’t bear feeding my family fake butter)

Bread

  • 100% whole wheat sandwich bread (for the kids) I buy it at Aldi for $1.29 a loaf, but occasionally can find it at Dollar Tree or on sale for $.79
  • Tortillas–the kids use a LOT of tortillas.  (I buy special low carb ones for me and Heidi.)
  • Bagels (These are becoming more rare for us as prices rice, but Dollar Tree sometimes has name brand ones.)
  • Ezekiel bread–this is just for me and Heidi.  It’s $6.99 for 2 loaves at Costco
  • Bagel thins or Sandwich thins–I buy them when these are on the day old table at the discount bread store
  • Pasta–Especially lasagna noodles, macaroni, bow tie, spaghetti, egg noodles, spiral
  • Oat rounds, bran flakes, crisp rice, sometimes puffed brown rice, and Protein cereal (Millville brand)

The rest of our bread, I make.  Things like:  pancakes, waffles, cornbread, dinner rolls, pizza crust, cinnamon rolls, fat egg noodles, biscuits etc.

Canned

  • Green Beans (Usually home canned from the garden)
  • Salsa
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Spaghetti Sauce
  • Rotel (aldi brand)
  • Green chilies
  • Pinto, Black, & Navy Beans
  • Tomato soup, some cream soups (rare), chicken noodle soup (for emergencies)
  • Apple sauce (Usually home canned from donated apples)

Snacks (In a perfect world we wouldn’t need these, but I’ll be honest and admit this junk food fits into our super low budget.)

  • Tortilla Chips (Costco)
  • Veggie Straws (Aldi or coupon at Costco)
  • Graham Crackers
  • Ritz type crackers
  • Cheese Crackers
  • Sometimes club crackers or animal crackers
  • Saltines and oyster crackers
  • Brown Rice Cakes
  • Ramen noodles (the kids are crazy about these, I cringe)
  • Peanuts (sometimes)

Other:

  • brown rice
  • oatmeal
  • quinoa
  • flax
  • salt & pepper
  • spices:  cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves
  • spices: chili pepper, garlic powder, cumin, garlic salt, paprika, seasoned salt, cayenne
  • Spices: basil, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary,
  • Flour
  • Hard White Wheat Berries (for grinding into fresh flour)
  • Sugar (brown & white)
  • stevia, xylitol
  • baking powder, baking soda
  • cornstarch, glucomannan (for thickening sauces)
  • Plain gelatin
  • Oil (coconut, olive, and vegetable oil)
  • non-stick spray
  • honey (used sparingly)
  • Peanut butter–we use a lot of PB
  • Corn syrup (I sometimes use this instead of honey in cooked recipes, since honey looses it’s health benefits when heated) Not to be confused with High Fructose Corn syrup, regular corn syrup is lower in sugar than honey.
  • yeast
  • Almonds (I buy the 3 lb bags at Costco) and slivered or sliced ones from Aldi
  • Craisins and Raisins
  • Sunflower seeds (Aldi)
  • Condiments: Ketchup, mustard(s), salad dressings, pickles, BBQ sauce etc.