Sometimes Making Do is Bad Economy

From Nov 11, 2009

Some recent events have me focused on doing things the right way instead of my usual slap dash and make do. I had some little hens for eggs and spent a lot of money buying some Buff Orpington chicks. The Buffs are a dual purpose heritage breed of chicken. They lay lots of brown eggs and  make nice meaty birds to eat. While not listed as endangered by the Livestock Conservancy they do need more breeders out there keeping them alive. [some older varieties of livestock have actually become extinct because people quit keeping their own farm stock]. Well 2 dogs attacks and a skunk have killed off my chickens. I have 2 left out of 20. So there went a lot of time and money down the drain as well as my future meat and eggs. [edit May 31, 2011 A few nights later another skunk got those last two. I, at least, was able to get the skunk. But these events took the wind out of my sails and in the time since I gradually let the garden and what not go. However, I am resurrecting things and coming back with renewed energy.]

What does this have to do with Cottage Economy? Just this, I made do in building my pens. I just slapped them together with just the thought of keeping the chickens IN and didn’t think about keeping other things OUT. I have learnt my lesson. In the future my animals will have secure pens and cages. In fact they are going to be living in Fort Knox. Because it certainly has not been an economy to make do.

This will mean more capital outlay in secure fencing and housing before acquiring an animal. But it will also mean that the animal will not be destroyed before it fulfills it’s destiny in my household. In the end it will add to my economy, not detract.

Shopping Lists

From Oct 31, 2009

One of the best aids to staying within your budget is to make a shopping list and stick to it. I have typed up a list for my regular shopping. One side of the paper is for the discount store for household items. The other side is for the grocery store. I post this on the ‘fridge and just circle the items I need.

As I make and do more things at home the list actually gets shorter because I am buying few items and these are the most basic foods. When the sale papers come out I take a look and see what is on sale. I really try not to buy anything that is not on sale. Things that will keep on the shelf or in the freezer I try to stock up on when they go on sale. Butter, cheese and milk all freeze well, so if you have the space, stock up.

Learn to do your own canning so that when your garden is producing well or there is a terrific sale on fresh produce, you can stock your shelves with home canned goods. Yes it takes a little investment to start this, but you can buy things a little at a time. Yard sales are great places to pick up extra canning jars and sometimes other equipment that will make it easier and faster. The canning kettles will last nearly forever and the glass jars will make many round trips before they are retired because of nicks or chips in the rim. Even then they can hold dry goods on the shelf.

I bought a gadget on Ebay that peels, cores and slices apples and will also work on potatoes, for less than $20 with the shipping. Now when apples are on sale or friends have bumper crops it is a breeze to process them, especially for making apple chips in the dehydrator. Have you priced dried apples lately? I dip mine in an acid solution (so they don’t turn brown); made with lemon, lime or even just vinegar and water. Then  add a little bit of cinnamon. These make great snacks or additions to home-made granola. If you have a dehydrator, live in a warm sunny climate or even have a pilot light in your oven, you can dry fruit and vegetables without too much trouble. Any time you have a dab of this or that which is going to be spoiling and you can’t use it up fast enough, just slice it and dry it. Then instead of being wasted it is right there on the shelf, ready to use when ever you need it.

I’ve done this will celery, onions, mushrooms, carrots, then mix them together for nearly instant soup or to flavor roast chicken or beef. This year I’ve dried grapes, plums, apples and bananas. Extra 7 bone steak became beef jerky. (marinate in soy sauce with crushed garlic and a little brown sugar first)

But I have digressed. Make your list. Make sure everything you will need until your next payday is on your list. Check your sale paper and plan negotiable things like what fresh produce and which kind of meat you will buy based on what’s on sale.  Write your budget amount for this shopping trip in big red numbers at the top of your list. Take your list to the store with you along with your calculator and any coupons you have. Try to leave your spouse and children at home if you can. Comparison shop, always compare the price by the ounce, pound or other unit. Bulk packaging is not always the cheapest, sometimes, especially with a sale, a smaller size might have a cheaper per ounce price. Also, compare prices between stores. It might be worth it to shop 2 or more places, at least occasionally for great sale items.

Most of the time I do not bother with coupons. 99.9% of the coupons out there are for packaged convenience foods which have too much salt, sugar and chemical additives and not nearly enough fiber, protien, vitamins and minerals for the price. You can make them much cheaper at home, so why pay extra?
My list for household goods is even shorter, toilet paper, laundry soap, bleach, ammonia, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant. Occasionally trash bags and light bulbs. Again, I try to wait for a good sale and stock up. This coming month I’m going to try doing this shopping just once for the whole month. The less time you spend in that discount store the less you will be tempted to buy things that are not on your list, just because they are a good buy or on clearance.

Stretching Your Food $$

From Oct 26, 2009

When we think of economy, we perhaps think of saving money or we think of skimping, saving, deprivation. At one time Americans were big savers. We kept a fair amount of our earnings in the bank, where it made decent interest. Our national economy was strong and healthy.

Today though, the average rate of American savings is actually a negative number! Not only do we not save any money, we are spending more than we make, both nationally and personally.

This trend is a disaster, as we have all seen, with the bank bail outs, housing market crises and job losses this past year.

How do you protect yourself from the next $ crisis? You have to sit up and pay attention to your money. Where is it going and why? Is your money actually helping to make your life better? Is it taking you where you want to go? Or is it going down the drain, spent mindlessly on junk and frivolous items? Your money is a tool and you are supposed to be in control of it. Don’t be a slave to credit card companies, working just to make ends meet because you wanted instant gratification. Now you have to pay for things that are perhaps already worn out and discarded, while you are stuck with the bill for months or years.

Start today telling your money what to do. Sit down and make a list of all the bills you pay each month. Ask yourself if you really need or want this. Does it really make you feel good? Do you really love it and want it? If not, get rid of it! I am talking about negotiable items in your budget here. If it is a debt, then of course, you owe that money and you need to pay it back, however long that takes.

But if say you really don’t like your car, think of how you could do without it. Could you walk, bike or carpool to work? Could you trade it in on another car, perhaps one you like better or that costs less?
Do you really need 100+ TV channels? How can you watch them all? Perhaps you would be just as happy with fewer choices. Or even try going without TV at all.  I got rid of television in my home 20 years ago. An amazing thing happened. My kids got up and went outside. They played with each other. They made new friends. They read more books. You might be surprised  to find out that TV isn’t a necessity afterall.
The bottom line is using your money to make your life better does not mean having all the latest and greatest electronics and gadgets. It can mean having money in the bank, a financial safety net that will give you peace of mind.

More $ Thoughts

From Oct 25, 2009

When we think of economy, we perhaps think of saving money or we think of skimping, saving, deprivation. At one time Americans were big savers. We kept a fair amount of our earnings in the bank, where it made decent interest. Our national economy was strong and healthy.

Today though, the average rate of American savings is actually a negative number! Not only do we not save any money, we are spending more than we make, both nationally and personally.
This trend is a disaster, as we have all seen, with the bank bail outs, housing market crises and job losses this past year.

How do you protect yourself from the next $ crisis? You have to sit up and pay attention to your money. Where is it going and why? Is your money actually helping to make your life better? Is it taking you where you want to go? Or is it going down the drain, spent mindlessly on junk and frivolous items? Your money is a tool and you are supposed to be in control of it. Don’t be a slave to credit card companies, working just to make ends meet because you wanted instant gratification. Now you have to pay for things that are perhaps already worn out and discarded, while you are stuck with the bill for months or years.

Start today telling your money what to do. Sit down and make a list of all the bills you pay each month. Ask yourself if you really need or want this. Does it really make you feel good? Do you really love it and want it? If not, get rid of it! I am talking about negotiable items in your budget here. If it is a debt, then of course, you owe that money and you need to pay it back, however long that takes.

But if say you really don’t like your car, think of how you could do without it. Could you walk, bike or carpool to work? Could you trade it in on another car, perhaps one you like better or that costs less?
Do you really need 100+ TV channels? How can you watch them all? Perhaps you would be just as happy with fewer choices. Or even try going without TV at all.  I got rid of television in my home 20 years ago. An amazing thing happened. My kids got up and went outside. They played with each other. They made new friends. They read more books. You might be surprised  to find out that TV isn’t a necessity afterall.

The bottom line is using your money to make your life better does not mean having all the latest and greatest electronics and gadgets. It can mean having money in the bank, a financial safety net that will give you peace of mind.

From Oct 22, 2009

Right now I am very focused on my money. What is it doing, where is it going, how much do I have coming in? In just 2 weeks of being very focused I have discovered about an extra $200 this month. Right now it is just staying in the bank, instead of going to yard sales or Wal-Mart. If you want to save money stay out of Wal-Mart, the $1 store and all those other places.

I very much want to get a buffer of one month’s income in the bank as soon as possible. That will give me great peace of mind. [edit May 31, 2011, I achieved this in July 2010]

Our local grocery ads came out today, so I went over them and checked my list, cut out a couple of coupons, so everything is all ready for shopping on Friday.

So how’s your cottage economy this week? Are you on budget or do you need to work on one? Do you have a list of the things you need to buy? Shopping with a list and a firm amount of money that you will spend (& no more!) will help keep you from overspending. If you know that you should really only spend $50 on groceries, then make a list and write $50 in big red letters at the top. Keep at least a rough count of what you are putting in your cart.

Get the most nutrition for your $1 by buying wisely. Skip the prepackaged junk and make things from scratch at home.

Tonight at my house we had a homegrown/homemade dinner: Spaghetti made from home grown tomatoes and other veggies with home made Italian sausage and home made 100% whole wheat noodles.  I did buy the pork the sausage was made from, the flour the noodles were made from, some olive oil and the parmesan cheese grated over everything. Here’s hoping in a year or two the pork will be homegrown too.

[edit May 31, 2011 Unfortunately a lot of life got in the way of homegrown meals. See my garden blog for an update on how I am currently resurrecting my garden and again working on this goal]

Home Made Vinegar

From Oct 21, 2009

Vinegar is amazing stuff. Yeast eats sugar and excretes alcohol. If that alcohol is exposed to oxygen then along comes the vinegar bug [I don't remember if it is a bacteria, fungi or what] and makes lactic acid. Lactic acid is a wonderful preservative. Bacteria that cause food spoilage and food poisoning cannot live in a very acid environment. Pickled foods have been with mankind for eons. The pickling process changes the taste and texture of food, giving a new taste sensation, while also making the food store longer on the shelf.
Making vinegar at home is an easy thing. I have been doing it for a long time. sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose. Whenever I am processing a lot of apples, I toss the cores, peels and bruised bits into a jar and mash them up. Add a little water if needed. In a few days they will smell a little alcoholic. A few days later they are distinctly vinegar.
Fresh vinegar is sharp tasting and cloudy. I let it sit around for a few months before I start using it. Slowly the sediment settles and the vinegar clears. It grows a ‘mother’ which is a jelly like mass. I siphon the cleared vinegar into more jars and let it settle again. I add the mother to the next batch of vinegar in the works. You don’t have to start with a ‘mother’, but it does speed up the process.
Different flavors of vinegar start with a different alcohol. Apple cider vinegar of course is made from apple cider. (Though you should read the label on the cheap commercial variety. I discovered it was just distilled vinegar with flavor and color added!) Malt vinegar is made from malted alcohol, similar to beer. Of course red wine vinegar is made from red wine.
Vinegar is useful for cleaning as well as having a lot of kitchen uses. Use it in salad dressing, pickles, marinades, et.  Use light fruity vinegars like strawberry or blueberry for salads. Apple cider, malt and wine vinegars are good to marinate tough meat in. The acid tenderizes the meat and the sharp flavor disappears in cooking.
While making your own vinegar may only save you a few dollars a year, it is just one more step down the road to independence.

budget

From Oct 20, 2009
 
When I really need to, because money is very tight or I really want something, I can  stick  to my spending plan, aka budget,  like glue. But there are times when I drift and stop paying attention to what my money is doing.  Unfortunately these periods of inattention are usually ended by the solid reality check of being overdrawn or receiving a utility shut off notice.

I recently managed to over draw not one, but TWO! checking accounts. I have decided I really need something that will make me sit up and pay attention for the rest of my life.

Enter YNAB, or You Need A Budget software. This software doesn’t do a lot of fancy graphs and charts, doesn’t make projections or plot trends in  your spending. It is a very simple and easy to use program that tracks your income and  out go  each month. There is a 7 day free trial, but I think I went ahead and bought it about day 3.  http://www.youneedabudget.com/

Now I could probably go back to my old paper and calculator style budget, but I’m hoping that with YNAB open on the computer most of the time, where I am staring at it on a daily basis, maybe, just maybe there will be no more financial crisis in my life.

So far, so good. I started on Oct 8 and since then not one penny of my money has been frittered away mindlessly. It is all there sitting in the bank, waiting for 1) my new box of checks to arrive and 2) my next paycheck to come in on Oct 23.

The next few months will be slow going. While I have no credit card debt (I have already been down that road to the tune of $18,000. No thanks, not ever again.) I do have a line of credit on my home, payments on my van and a line of credit on my checking account that kicks in when I’m in overdraft. Funny how that works; my checking account hits the red and instead of charging me a fee, the bank just gives me more money!

In addition to these and the basic monthly bills, in November my property taxes are due along with my house insurance. So I am trying to squeeze every dime to pay the insurance (there is NO grace period) and at least the first half of the taxes, because they will go to 15% at 5:00 pm on Nov 2. The second half is then due in March.

But I have a plan. I will carefully follow my YNAB. I will not spend a single extra penny. In fact now that I am focused on my money I will try to come in under budget in every category so that I can put some money in the bank for emergencies. A little cushion to smooth out the bumps in the road.

One of the ways I will do this for the next few weeks is to eat down my food stores. I have been spending a lot of money at the grocery store this summer because they had some terrific sales. I canned and dried a lot of fruits and veggies, both from the store and from my garden. Therefore my cupboards are stuffed. I’ll need some meat and some milk, but otherwise things are looking good on the food front. While I do have $100 left in my grocery budget for this month I may very well be able to do it for under $75.00.

For some tips on how to save money you can check out an article I wrote for Associated Content, Seven Ways to Save Money Today

[edit; May 31, 2011 Not only did I meet my goals as above, I achieved my buffer, that is, having all the money I need for the month in the bank on the first day of the month in July 2010. That has been such a great stress reliever, you wouldn't believe it. At this time my van is paid for, I owe less than $5000 on the house and I'm going to take my second trip to Italy this summer. ]

What's going on here?

I am slowly migrating this blog over from another service, post by post. As I cut and paste them all in, I will mark them with the date they were originally published.

From Oct 19, 2009

The idea of Cottage Economy comes from William Cobbet (1762-1835). In 1821 he published his book of the same name. In it he instructs the reader in practical self sufficiency. From baking and brewing, raising animals for meat, milk, eggs, hides and wool along with growing fruits and vegetables.

I will post on these topics as I can. I do many of these things myself. I have made it my goal to retire when I am 55. (which is only 4 years away) No I won’t be eligible for social security at that age, but I have a plan, which I will post more about later. For the moment it suffices to say that my plan requires I really pay attention to every penny that comes to my hand. Benjamin Franklin said “A penny saved is a penny earned”.

This blog will help keep me on my toes and keep me focused in the right direction. so I hope you follow along through my successes and failures as I try out my new plans and ideas.