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Posted
Aug 25 2008, 08:46 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
"Snack food" manufacturers make a fortune on things like potato chips, microwave popcorn, granola bars, pretzels, flavored tortilla chips, pudding cups and protein bars. When I was a kid, such things were expensive luxuries and bought in extreme moderation. And yeah, we had to walk through six feet of snow, uphill both ways, in order to buy them. Also, our pudding was not prefab, protein bars hadn't been invented yet and no one knew that you could cook popcorn in the "radar ranges" that were owned only by the wealthy.
When we got home from school, our choices were fairly limited. Usually it was peanut butter on saltines, or peanut-butter toast (made with "used bread," of course). If there were carrots in the fridge, we'd eat them with salt. A jar of dill pickles was fair game, too. If there were home-baked cookies, we could eat only one or two -- my mom kept track of how many should be left. Sometimes there would be a bushel of apples from a local orchard. When all else failed, my brother and I favored catsup on white bread. I get queasy just thinking about that now.
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Posted
Aug 22 2008, 12:21 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
An important part of frugal living is to do things yourself: cleaning your own house (and with vinegar instead of pricey products), cooking instead of buying takeout, cutting your kids' hair (or your own). But Smart Spending message board readers go way beyond replacing their own windshield wipers or crocheting baby blankets. After reading the "I make my own" thread on the message board, I felt pretty inadequate.
Readers craft their own cat litter. They grow sunflowers and toast the seeds. They cook dried beans and turn them into refried beans. They make their own vanilla extract, dog biscuits, bath salts, jams, hummus, laundry detergent, dishcloths, toothpaste, greeting cards, croutons, modeling clay, shower curtains, carrot sticks and granola. They brew their own biodiesel.
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Posted
Aug 06 2008, 12:52 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Want to get a roll of paper towels for 39 cents? Hit the auto supply store. Shocked at how expensive canned fruit has gotten? The drugstore might have an alternative. In the market for deeply discounted coffee, trash bags or toilet paper? Visit an office supply place.
These are some examples of the deals you can get if you stop thinking that foodstuffs and sundries can be purchased only in supermarkets. With the costs of basic foods continuing to rise, it really can pay to break out of the grocery gulag.
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Posted
Jul 30 2008, 01:17 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Starting in January, Seattle shoppers may see groceries go up 20 cents per bag. That's because the City Council voted 6-1 to institute a fee for the use of paper or plastic bags at grocery, drug and convenience stores. If that doesn't get people to start bringing their own bags, I don't know what will. Twenty cents each adds up pretty quickly.
Councilmember Jan Drago, who voted against it, told the Seattle Times that the measure might make it look as though the council is not sensitive to the economic struggles of the average citizen. "It's about timing," Drago said, "not about the goal."
Here's what I think about that: There's never going to be a good time to try and get people to break a habit. They're accustomed to doing it that way and will come up with plenty of reasons why it just isn't fair to expect them to, say, stop using handheld cell phones while driving. (That's verboten in Washington state, although only 113 tickets have been issued thus far.)
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Posted
Jul 18 2008, 08:49 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Freshly
picked Rainier cherries melt in your mouth. At $5.99 a pound, they'd
better. This pricey indulgence appears in my menu only a few times a
year -- namely, on those occasions when I visit one of Seattle's
farmers markets.
These venues are jammed with heirloom tomatoes,
feathery field greens, dusty mushrooms foraged from Pacific Northwest
woods, jewel-like strawberries, peaches that yield sweetly to the
touch, radishes flecked with damp earth, sturdy maroon beets still
wearing their crowns. Much of the produce is organic. All of it comes
from small growers. To me, the best part of shopping this way is
knowing that a family farm is getting a decent price for produce.
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Posted
Jul 03 2008, 02:14 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
"Story Girl" at the My Money and My Life personal finance blog wondered if community supported agriculture were a frugal choice. She'd be paying $25 a week for an ever-changing variety of fresh, local produce. But $25 is "nearly half my weekly grocery budget," Story Girl notes.
Now she's really glad she did it. In an item called "Why I love CSA," she explained that there was more to the decision than simple frugality. "There are a lot of reasons why I consider this to be a good choice for me," she writes, "and why it may even save money in the long term."
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Posted
Jun 25 2008, 10:09 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Feeling pain at the supermarket checkout? Don't expect relief anytime soon. According to an Associated Press article, the Midwestern floods that destroyed soybean and corn crops will send the price of beef, pork, poultry, eggs, cheese and milk higher this fall.
Anybody want to join me while I shop for flour and beans and a small freezer?
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Posted
Jun 04 2008, 09:35 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Last week's Safeway ad had a coupon for a dozen eggs for $1, a swell deal these days. I consider eggs a fridge staple because they make a quick and cheap light supper. Besides, finals are coming up, and I always fortify myself with bacon, eggs and toast on exam mornings.
However, the coupon's fine print -- there's always fine print -- said shoppers needed to spend at least $10 to use the dollar-a-dozen coupon. The thing was, I didn't need $10 worth of stuff. Just eggs. But I wasn't about to let a teeny-tiny disclaimer keep me from getting cheap protein. I have a frugal hack for just such an occasion.
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Posted
Jun 02 2008, 08:53 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
When I bought flour tortillas this weekend, I noticed that the price had gone up by 20 cents. That didn't surprise me, since the price of bread and other flour-based products has skyrocketed lately. But I'm still ahead of the game because I shop at a bakery outlet. Even with the cost increase, I paid just 79 cents for a 20-ounce bag of tortillas.
Something else I noticed: The outlet seemed busier than usual. A cashier told me that business is booming, and that some new customers are surprised to find "that it isn't old bread" on the outlet shelves.
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Posted
May 19 2008, 08:26 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
The temperature hit 88 degrees on Saturday, which is warm for Seattle, or anywhere else. My apartment has tall south- and west-facing windows and no air conditioning.
So I cranked the blinds inside out to reflect the sun, dragged the pedestal fan ($4, rummage sale) out of storage and made a big pitcher of iced tea. Sweet relief, the Smart Spending way.
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