All of what you just typed is foreign to me, except 30.00 a year, can you explain or PM me so we don't highjack this thread? Thanks
MagicJack has advertised a lot on TV and they sell their product in Radio Shack, other stores, and online. Basically, it's a little device that plugs into your computer. At the other end of the device is a phone jack into which you plug your phone. During setup, you choose a phone number (which can be in virtually any area code). Then, as long as your Internet is working, it's just like using a regular phone connection. People can dial your number, and you can call anyone across the US and Canada - for $30 a year. (Sorry, I'm wrong. It's $20 a year. It costs about $40 to buy the device.) For it to work properly, though, you'd need a DSL or cable connection for your Internet. Since I've worked in the telephone industry, let me say that I believe MagicJack's business model is flawed and they will go out of business - it's only a matter of time. In the meantime, though, what harm is there in using this service? From my experience, the quality of phone calls is just fine, and you can't beat $20 a year. If and when they do go out of business, then transfer your number to another operator. Personally, I use MagicJack as a call forwarding device - because it costs nothing to forward to other numbers. Today, though, Google offers a free call forwarding service that tries to reach you at multiple numbers (it dials them in sequence or in parallel). It also saves voice mail messages as email - although the conversion to written text isn't always perfect. This is an industry where costs continue to fall and features continue to improve. Hope this helps.
We don't qualify for EBT (even though we did qualify for heating assistant...kinda like living on the edge of the knife ), so here is what I do so that we can eat organic, whole foods. I realize you might not be able to do all of these things, but for a quick list, it might give you some food for thought... 1) Hunt and fish for meat 2) Garden--freeze or can the extra...you can container garden if you lack space 3) Inquire with grocery stores about purchasing the produce they are about to throw out. My good friend buys up one stores refuse for a dollar and has so many boxes she calls each week to get rid of what she can't handle. 4) Inquire with grocery stores about soon-to-be-outdated meats and dairy. 5) Bread stores throw away cartfulls of bread each day. Most of them will sell them in bulk for a couple dollars....technically "not for human consumption", but it is usually today's date and we freeze it. By doing these things, our family of 4 spends less than $200 a month on groceries.
I have found that processed foods leave me with muscle aches and they are not as filling. Perhaps some chicken thighs on sale would be a better choice. We are all in the same boat, I choose to cut back other places and provide more nutricious foods cooking from scratch vs. processed foods. (((( ))))
I agree I think we talked about this awhile back or something like it. Where you go buy a two apples it cost you $2.08 and you go to check out and get 4 candy bars for $1.00 I don't get it either. I like the ideas about asking stores what they do with there out dated stuff around here they give it to the employees or throw it. No luck here. Farmers market hmmmmmm what grows in sand not much. everything imported. All I can say is we try and get by each day. I want sweet corn, but 2 for $1.00 little ears are just out in my books. LOL
I agree with the idea of the farmer's market. We get lots of bang for our buck when we go to the local market and stock up on fruits and vegetables. You don't have to use meat as a source of protein. My kids don't eat much meat - never have. My older son likes meat and will eat meat maybe 1-2 times per week. Other than that they have things like nuts, peanut butter, milk, cheese, or beans as their source of protein.
I have to remind myself when I read through this thread: God provides for all our NEEDS! No where in the Bible does it say He'll supply for all our WANTS, sometimes He just blesses us with those. I'll praise Him for both. Even remembering this, I still don't like the fact that two apples cost more than 4 candy bars!!
Before kids and right after ds was born I was spending about $20-$30 a week for food. Now we're mostly organic and our bill is waayyyyy higher. I could eat cheaper than we do though. My bill mostly goes up because of things like sheep milk ($12/gallon!!). You just have to think of cheaper healthy things to buy. Beans, cabbage and rice come to mind first. A lot of really cheap foods are very healthy. And if you can find space to plant just a couple of veggies, especially ones that produce well fairly easily. Maybe tomatoes, zucchuni and peppers? It all helps.
I haven't read through all the responses, but I will add a couple of thoughts: Start a garden. It's more than worth it. Don't worry about fancy raised lasagna beds or heirloom seeds to start with. You have better places to spend your money right now. I second Angel Food. It's sometimes full of processed foods, but that can free you up to spend a little more on supplementing with fresh produce. ***Fall in love with the Hillbilly Housewife. She has FANTASTIC meal plans for a family of four for dirt cheap. They are completely healthy, unprocessed meals. You may have to expand your family's pallet, but they will grow to love these meals.*** If you PM me your email address, I can send you a project I did on saving money on household expenses. Some of it may be stuff you already know, but I gathered ideas from a lot of people, so it may have some information you'll find useful.
I agree that we have the power to vote with our pocket books and that most people do vote for low cost. But I believe this is out of ignorance of how our food is produced and how the market *is* controlled to a degree by gov't regulation and large food corporations (which employ the majority of farmers). Now, I'm not comparing our current system to Cold War-era Russia, but it is controlled and influenced more than most realize. The gov't subsidizes corn so much that it costs pennies on the dollar to produce and ship corn compared to the much higher cost of producing and shipping organic produce. Then there are the food companies that are fighting against having to inform the consumer that their food has been genetically modified. Also, it is against the law for someone to sell products they produced, such as raw milk, to a neighbor unless it has been approved by the FDA. (Luckily, inventive farmers have gotten around that with their "cow share programs") Those are just a few examples of the huge disconnect between consumers and their food. But, it is true that until Americans begin to buy these fresh, organic products over the others the system won't change. OF COURSE we can't and shouldn't force anyone to do anything "for their own good"...that has caused a lot of the problems we already have with our system. But, I am very thankful I still have the opportunity to choose healthier options, despite the higher prices and limited availability to many people. But you can't convince me that we couldn't have more and better options if the system was improved! (Check out the documentary "Food, Inc" or read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" for more info on some of the things I mentioned above.)
I'm impressed! We spend twice that much a month and I feel like I'm scrimping...of course I try to buy organic as much as possible which is a greater expense (sigh). Thanks for sharing your great ideas for cutting costs!
No tomatoes-I agree. Many people complain about being broke but really aren't. They are seeing wants as needs. Some people complain about being broke cause they can't afford everything they want. (like my cousin who took 2 disney vacations plus an in state vacation this summer....if we took a vacation we'd lose the house! LOL) No car payments, no cell phone (well a free safelink one-but it's...well....free... LOL), no dish or cable. They only "luxury" bills we have are netflix and internet. And I use those for school so I don't consider them a luxury really..... it's the living off one unemployment check that is killing us. It really is that we just can't afford it. We were doing okay for a while then I had medical issues and my doctor bills and medication costs....one office visit tot eh cancer center was over $400-though we still owe on that one...hubby insulin he needs to live is $200 a month....we just can't get back above water....and that makes me mad too cause hubby wants to work, he's not lazy there just aren't any jobs-even the random 1-5 day cash money odd jobs have dried up... And we have a garden, chickens and fresh eggs. But it's not enough to live off of....it helps though. And I cook most everything from scratch and we do eat a lot of meatless meals and rice and beans and pasta but with my husband being type 1 diabetic he can't fill up on those things cause it'll shoot his sugar up and cost more in insulin.... I'm very frugal-I know all the shortcuts-it's just not enough anymore considering hubby is out of work It just gets me down sometimes. I'm okay not being able to buy my kids new brand name clothes-that's not important to me. I'm fine not having an iPhone with unlimited minutes, text and web. I'm okay not having all these things-I'm not materialistic at all really. It's just frustrating, like others said that 2 apples cost less than 4 candy bars And it's extra frustrating that it's all beyond our control cause we can't make some company hire my hubby so we can get back on our feet....
I have to second Hillbilly Housewife... we did her $40 menu (somehow it cost us $70, but we had a ton of leftovers) and it really showed me many things we could do differently to save us a bunch of money. You might want to consider reducing the amount of meat you eat. We're vegetarians and spend much less than we did on groceries before becoming vegetarians. If you eat meat, make it a smaller portion of your meals. The average person should eat around 50 grams of protein a day. That's about 6 or 7 ounces of meat... all day! That doesn't even include the protein you get from whole grains, bread, eggs, and dairy. Also, it's good to keep in mind that you should eat the majority of your protein earlier in the day, because the energy (calories) from protein is released at half the rate of carbs giving you energy all day long. Let's say, though, that you want to eat most of your protein at dinner. So, that could be 20 grams for dinner. 20 grams of protein is about 3 ounces of cooked meat. For your family, that would be about a pound of uncooked chicken? But you're getting protein from your bread So, here's a healthier, yet still cheap, alternative. Instead of white bread for 50 cents... have 1/4 loaf of whole wheat bread 50 cents. (9 grams of protein for 2 slices of bread).... you could do rice or even homemade bread even more cheaply! Instead of Pringles for 75 cents... bake homemade fries out of 2 potatoes for 40 cents. (1.5g protein per 1/2 potato)... or you could opt for a cheap salad made out of 1/3 head iceberg lettuce, one shredded carrot and a tomato. Instead of canned baked beans for free... make your own baked beans for 35 cents (6g protein/half cup) Now, you only need less than 4 grams of protein, or about an ounce of meat. A half pound of chicken would more than cover that. So, instead of processed chicken for $1.... have a 1/2 pound of chicken for $1. You've spent exactly $2.25 again, but on healthier, and probably more filling, food!
Gladly, I will add next weeks menu maybe in a new thread although it probably will not help you much. This ought to be two threads. One for how to save on groceries and one for the "should we be angry" part. One of the important things to learn when saving money is use what you have available. I live in Alaska so I end up eating lots of salmon that I get for free. No I don't hunt or fish. That's expensive!! Don't do it to save money. If it's available buy from a fisherman. Well that might depend on where you live also. I know lots of sport fisherman though that would otherwise throw out their fish so I take it. My mother even gave me some brined fish carcasses (minus the head) that we had for lunch yesterday. I prefer fish fillets to bony carcasses but I don't waste food. Most Americans wouldn't dream of eating such things though they seem to stomach processed meat. Ah ignorance is bliss. If you live in California then farmers markets would be more accessible. Also U-pick farms are great. I do go blueberry picking and get free rhubarb from places it's taken over but other then that fruit is very very expensive here due to transportation. Everything is trucked up through Canada and gas and spoilage both eat into profits. So you have to think about what is available in your specific location. Pick and choose organics. Organic grapes are great but it's not as necessary for bananas. Some things take time to implement. Every Thanksgiving I get a free turkey when I spend $100 at Krogers, buying sale items. Baking stuff goes on sale during the holidays. Walmart had turkeys at I believe it was 35 cents a pound. Hard to remember, I just look for the best price each year and get a few here and a few there. I then can turkey meat for the year and boil the carcasses to make broth and soup. The broth is very expensive in the store. It's a lot of work but in two days (mom and I work about 12 hour days, longer actually since she gets the pressure cooker started in the morning and I keep going at night later.) but I have a years worth of chicken soup, broth, and canned turkey meat which means no lunch meat$$. This would be expensive the first year and you have to work your way up to doing a years worth because you have to collect the jars. We reuse jars and rings every year. We only have to buy lids for sealing new each year. I also get lots of pumpkins around Halloween. It pays to shop around since I'm buying large quantities so I check ads carefully. My mother has went as far as to ask the neighbor what she is doing with her decorative pumpkins she had on her porch. She was going to throw them away!! So once in a blue moon we get free pumpkins too. Then I steam them mash and freeze and roast the seeds. Whenever I'm short on veggies I make a pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup or muffins. This stuff can sound overwhelming but I started with just cooking from scratch. Dried beans are way cheaper then canned. Soak them overnight instead of quick soaking on the stove to save electricity. Buying bulk flour versus buying bread and buying on sale and in season are all things beginners can start out doing. I don't do coupons as they tend to be for prepackaged material. Just be careful with hunting and gardening. Sometimes they are not as profitable as you think they are. I do garden but that is because I already have the space, use few tools, and make my own compost from grass clippings and kitchen scraps. If you buy a bunch of dirt, pot and tools it may turn out more expensive and then your plants could be eaten by a moose or aphid or whatever.
There is something we should be angry about. Government is making our food more expensive. Trade tariffs cost Americans a lot of money as do federal farm subsidies. Only those who are more well off pay for the subsidies BUT the poorest of the poor has to pay tariff prices along with the rest of us. Subsidies are often to pay farmers to NOT farm for the specific purposes of driving up prices. We should all be angry about tariffs and subsidies.
I just skimmed through all the responses as I don't have time to sit and read them all. I did see some people mentioned gardening and hunting/fishing. Excellent suggestions. Last year my husband shot two deer that we processed ourselves for free. We got so much stew meat, steaks and roasts - enough to last our family a long time - all for the cost of a hunting license. Venison is an extremely healthy lowfat meat. We just moved to the country and have a pond with catfish in it now although we will ad more to it when we can afford it. Then we will have farm raised catfish whenever we like. We are also going to put in a garden and I can't wait till next season to can and freeze all my goodies. Until then I will hit up my local farmer's market on Saturdays before I go to the grocery store. Once our chicken house and yard are finished we will be getting chickens for both eggs and meat. I figured with fish, venison and chicken all raised and processed right here there will be little need to hit the crogery store for much. I do have cattle on my land that is a family friend's and he leases the land for grazing. I have been thinking of getting hubby to talk to him and see if he would be interested in allowing us to "buy in" to a portion of a cow. I know the cattle is grass feed and very well treated. I got the movie Food Inc at the library but have refrained from watching it. I want to watch it with my husband and kids together so we have set aside Friday night to do this. I'm excited because I eat very healthy but my kids and husband like crap like pop tarts and preprocessed junk. I am hoping this movie will open at least my husband's eyes and it will allow me more freedom NOT to buy the junk for them at the store. I would love to totally illiminate any preprocessed crap from the list.
Not to be contentious but I find people don't always know the true cost of things. So you didn't need a rifle, ammo, extra ammo for practice ahead of time, sleeping bags, tent, stove or other camping equipment if necessary to camp, game bags, bags or food saver or canning supplies to store, gas to get to a place to hunt, possibly hiking boots or other warm clothes if you do not already have them, a hunting knife and depending on where you live and how far you have to go possibly time off work. Some people don't need all these things or live close to where they can hunt but if a person lives in a populated area or does not already have this stuff it can be very costly meat. Plus if a person doesn't already have the knowledge and skills in place to bag a critter and be able to store and process meat there could be waste. Wasting meat or wasting money on all that gear to go and find nothing.
Ok well for US it was only the cost of a hunting license. My husband has been hunting since he was a kid. I'm not going to say how many guns we own but we do have a small arsinal of weapons and all were bought many years ago. He also hunts dove so he needs a gun for every occassion. He hunts on our property so there is no need for camping gear although we do have everything you listed because we camp for our vacations because it is cheaper and often more fun than hotels. No need to take off work. He hunts on weekends. As far as the packaging of the meat we processed it only took some butcher paper and masking tape. Oh yes and a sharp knife of course. I'm speaking for me and my family and only giving a suggestion and saying what works for us. I don't know where the OP or you or most people here live. She may very well live in a huge city or she could just as easily live on 200 acres of land like I do. We decided to make a lifestyle change and we are currently in the process of doing so. We moved from the 4th largest city just less than 2 months ago to do so. We want to live better and eat better and be more self sufficient. We could have easily stayed right where we were and continued to shop eat crap food but we have made a different choice and are trying something different. Hunting was simply a suggestion and something that works for US.
I wasn't trying to attack you, thus I tried to preface the comment. I just wanted the OP to know that hunting and gardening is fine if that's what you want to do or if you are already using the resources for other things but it really isn't cheaper for the average person. KWIM Maybe the rhetorical question came out wrong online when you can't hear voices.
