Living on a budget

  Here at the Hacienda the word is ..budget lol Not always everyone's fave word but when we decided when Steve lost his job at the factory and we had Kaya that he would stay home with her...budget was the word. Then last year we found out Steve had MS and budget became the BIG word. Shots, medicines, dr appts, speciality appts, you name it adds up. We as a family have never really been ill. Matter of fact I've had my insurance for almost 20 yrs and I've met the deduct twice..once when Kaya was born and last year!! Thankfully in most areas all 3 of us are healthy. But..we've always budgeted. We are also a bit environmental and fresh food aware and that shows in our lifestyle. Don't get me wrong we love a good splurge for take out on pay day night and we have ate instant mash potatoes lol but we try hard to keep our core at healthy. It's even more important now that we are finding some seriously strong links medical wise to MS and processed foods/salts etc. But that is another blog lol
  Soo I thought I'd list some of the things we do around here. Maybe you already do it, maybe you'll find a cool tip or ..maybe you'll share something of your own.
   1. We grow as much of our own food as we can. Gardening is a HUGE stress reliever for me. I've done it my whole life. We literally canned every item we ate in the winter when I was a kid give or take a few items. Even if you only grow a few plants..you are offsetting your produce budget and if you have children..teaching them where their food comes from. You also control the freshness of the item and how it's grown (we use no unnatural pesticides etc due to our tortoise that roams the yard in warm weather lol). The most common response is "I don't have space for a garden." Or some may say their homeowner's association etc won't allow a garden. If you have potting soil/garden soil, a pot..then you have a chance to grow food. Think of veggies you like, do a little research and get to growing :) 
2. Hit the farmer's market when you can. Most times farmers will sell items much cheaper than grocery stores. Keep in mind the weather and time you go. If it's near the end of the sale some farmers will mark down items significantly just so they don't have to drag it home. You can ask farmers about their items (such as how it's grown etc) but most farmers market farmers have a pretty good reputation for good produce. Markets, even our smaller ones, are expanding so if you think you might buy bread items, meat etc pack a cooler with ice. 
3.Get creative with your food items. If it's cheaper to buy in bulk at the market or you have bulk items from the garden research how to freeze or can them. Tomatoes can become paste, sauce, juice or frozen to be added to chili and recipes. Peppers can be frozen whole or canned. If you do items like broccoli you will need to blanche it before freezing it. Lettuce is the only item that cannot be frozen and reused due to it's high water content. If you have only a few veggie items left cut them into pieces, put in a baggie and label..they often make good stirfry items or soup add ins later. Large family packs of hamburger or any meat is usually cheaper than small packages. Simply divide into 1 lb freezer bags, label and date and put in the freezer. 
4. Go for fresh meat if at all possible. May sound "snobby" but we mainly butcher our own meat or buy from a processing plant that butchers fresh. Say you pay 2.85 a lb for store bought hamburger. You pay 3.85 a lb for fresh from a processing plant. It's 1 dollar more BUT when you fix it there is a significant less amount of fat so you actually get meat, not fat and a small amount of meat after fixing it! You also get a higher grade of meat than you do at the grocery. If you butcher then the cost goes down significantly. We normally do at least 400 lbs of beef in the summer and it averages out at say 1.85 per lb...for all meat cuts. We get tbones, roasts, you name it. Price steaks in a store..you'll find that rib eyes might run 8 bucks a lb  and they may not run a lot cheaper from a processing plant but they are non hormone and fresh...and if we butcher our own beef the cost is insanely cheap compared to grocery stores. Just make sure you have enough freezer room and think out how you have it processed. It costs more for say cube steak so we simply have round steaks cut then tenderize them ourselves. Easy to do and saves money.
 5. Find ways to lengthen the time of your produce and on hand items. Onion slings are easily made and can store several onions for quite awhile. Herbs can be saved easily by using ice cube trays. Simply add olive oil to the tray slots, add desired herb and freeze. Plop in soups or recipes when needed. Same can be done with left over chicken/beef broth. Freeze milk if it's on sale. Take out a cup , recap and freeze. Milk will be yellowish due to milk fat but a few good shakes will remix it and it's ok to drink but works great for baking etc. Eggs can be bought up when on sale and froze. Just break two or three eggs into a bowl, scramble and put in freezer bags.Label and then thaw out a bag when baking. Bread can be frozen...I just sock it in the freezer (I have found that cheaper bread freezes better and multi grain white bread will get an off "smell" to it if frozen) but some put a napkin in the front of the bag, retie and freeze. 
6. Think ahead and of emergencies. Freeze up several milk jugs of water. Not only will it keep your freezer running more efficiently but if the lights go out you have ice against your food that may just save it!! You also have water to drink if you thaw it. The average family of four uses apx 1 gal of water per person per day (conservative estimate) so try to have gallon jugs of water in storage. We try to keep as much as we can on hand. Worst case scenario we never need it..we simply use it to water with etc as water can go out of date. I stock up on flour. We bake a ton in the winter/fall/spring. I freeze my flour for 2 hrs before putting it storage (kills any chance of flour bugs). I also freeze up extra sugar. I make up homemade brownie mix and bag it up, write directions on the front and then all I have to add is wet ingredients when we want something sweet. 
7. Use your pantry wisely. I'm not blessed with a walk in pantry (dreams dreams lol) so I make use of the space I have. We also built pantry shelving in the garage that once done will be useable for bulk items etc. I follow the Mormon churches list for pantries broke down month by month. No I am not Mormon but those ladies can make a mean pantry lol The important thing is to build your pantry around your family. I will blog the Mormon church pantry schedule in another blog.
8.Processed foods are not great but realistically we've all had to toss a frozen pizza in the oven from time to time. Catch a sale on the ones your family likes and toss in the freezer. Add a salad, a few fresh toppings of your own...quick meal on a budget done on a busy day. 
9.Learn to COOK. So many people say they can't do it and shy away from it. I've always cooked but when I taught my cousin to cook I told her pick an easy basic straight forward recipe. Practice it till it's perfect. Then deviate from it with your own ideas. Anyone can cook if they try. A home cook meal whether elaborate or down home simple is a prize in itself. It saves on the pocket book, you control what is in it and it's healthier than processed. Plus you get the satisfaction of knowing "I did that!!"
10. If a store has a 10 for 10 sale stock up if you truly use it. Only use coupons on items you actually like. And ONLY do rebates if you will actually remember to mail them in. Otherwise you've wasted your money and time. It's fine to bargain shop at different stores but realistically if you go to 4 grocery stores then you've probably lost valuable time and gas money. If you have a store that will comp..comp!! I do it alot. 
11. I'm a tea/water drinker but others in the house are pop drinkers. I try to catch sales and they drink what is on sale lol I also make sure to keep bottles of water on hand so they can mix flavorings into it, I keep chocolate syrup with added calcium on hand, and I keep lemonade mixes, juice etc so expensive pop isn't always the answer. We also recycle all our aluminum cans so it makes money back. Kaya is pretty much milk or water and I'm thankful for no fights over pop etc. So I always keep one jug of milk in the house fridge and an extra one in the garage fridge so I don't run out. Same with all drinks..I try to keep so many in the house fridge and a set in the garage fridge. Cuts down on the electric bill and the air conditioning in the summer because they can get drinks out of the garage instead of coming in the house when outside.
12. Do laundry late in the evening. Some electric companies offer cheaper rates at that time. It will also pull less on your electricity due to it won't heat up the house as much. We don't use lights when just watching tv in the front room to save on electricity. We don't allow water to run when brushing teeth and we try hard to conserve water. We don't set acs under 72 unless just freakishly hot out and we use a time control thermostat for our furnace. We are VERY lucky to have cheap utility rates, only use basically one tank of propane a WHOLE winter, and a relatively good water bill!! We recycle all our plastics we can , our cans, our cardboard (some we save for the fire pit), and we compost all non meat/no dairy leftovers. So our trash isn't too bad to haul either :)
13. We all use tpaper, soap, laundry soap, toothpaste. Buy when you have coupons and buy up if on sale. You know you'll use it. Don't get insane like hoarders lol but it's items families use alot. Some make their own laundry soap. I've not tried it but there are good recipes out there for regular or front load washers. You can make your own fabric softner, febreeze etc. Again I've never tried it but know plenty that have. 
14. Get generic prescriptions when you can. They cannot make a generic without it testing identical to a name brand. Unless you have a reaction or are sensitive to generics use generic scripts. Also if you get a discount program along with your regular insurance have them see if it's cheaper to run the discount card then it is your insurance card. I can get some of Kaya's inhaler meds (which she rarely has to have) cheaper by not using my insurance card (it's 4 bucks either way) and using my discount card. See if mail order or 60 or 90 day orders are cheaper for you. We use mail order for Steve and with MS we've learned you research research!!!!
15. Trade clothes with others. I've been lucky until last year to have a friend that her granddaughter was one size bigger than Kaya. She trades us the hand me downs (always in great shape). Now I pass Kaya's clothes to her little cousin. Kaya is lucky to get lots of new clothes but some kids out there are not so lucky...I've heard of people in neighborhoods doing supper shares (one family tonight will make supper big enough to share with the cul de sac, tomorrow it's another person's night) but I have no experience in that area lol I do share coupons with family...we pool ours together and what I don't use gets passed to another and vice versa.
16. Lose name brand loyalty. Unless you have a food item that you truly love and know that you'd never ever eat a generic etc in it...try the store brands etc. We have some items that we just won't eat the generic brand of  and it would be a waste to even try another. Remember that with some things..you are only buying the label. Say at Walmart...store brand milk is made by Deans in a Deans facility and shipped on a Dean's truck. There is no difference in the basic make up of the milk you simply pay a higher price for the namebrand. Don't buy a half gallon unless it's on a severe sale or you will not drink up a gallon.You pay alot more for a half gallon of milk. Save a half gallon milk jug, wash it, fill it from the gallon jug and freeze the leftover milk in the gallon jug. Will save money in the long run. Generic bread is made in the same bakery as the name brand (Great Value/Sara Lee). If you do shop at Aldi's or a store of that type watch your produce etc. Sales will also run on odd days at those stores too. If you have a grocery store that offers gas points when you shop..get the card. You will always buy gas so it's a win win situation. 
17. Shop the out side of the grocery store. From the deli to the bakery then around to produce, meat then dairy etc. The outside of the shopping aisles is the healthier places to shop. Inside aisles have the processed items that are made to last longer. Think about it....meat and produce are on the outside sections of the grocery...instant mash potatoes, frozen meals, etc are on the inside. Learn to cook with items you may have never tried...legumes, rice etc. to round out meals. Americans tend to think meals are suppose to be meat heavy when most heart drs will tell you to shop the outside of the store and fill a smaller plate up with veggies and less meat. 
   So all in all you have to make your budget work for your family and your lifestyle. Our lifestyle of cooking at home may not work for people that like to eat out. You have to adjust your budget to the life you have or the life you WANT to have. Sometimes you find out that you don't have to have what the Jones's have...you can be happy with what you have :)