Cooking
I try to make everything I can from scratch.
- Baking bread
- I invested in a good bread machine--it works for GF and regular and I just follow the recipe. I buy yeast in bulk and flour, in regular 4lb bags but if the cost of food continues to rise I'd buy flour in bulk too. Storing it in large plastic tubs work.
- I personally make a GF flour blend that is from Bob's Red Mill brand. I put in one bag of each into a large plastic storage tub
- White Rice Flour
- Sweet Rice Flour
- Tapioca starch/flour
- Brown Rice flour
- It's 4 equal parts- each bag is about a pound. That is what I use cup for cup in any recipe and for pancakes etc. I add 1 tsp of xanthan gum to each cup of the blend that I use.
- I also try to do no-waste. So I reserve the chick-pea liquid to use as an egg white replacement- you can reserve it and add to egg whites or use by itself, or just add it as a liquid in say the base of french toast.
- I buy rice in bulk and use my rice cooker, rice and beans are a cheap and plentiful side dish to any meal. I particularly like lentils mixed into my rice- so 1/4 cup of lentils to 1 cup of dry rice. Into the rice cooker and cook as normal. It adds fiber/protein and it fills you up. So if you are a meat eater you can reduce the amount of meat you make for a meal.
- I'm also into making casseroles. I have opted to do 2- 8x8 casserole dishes of say lasagna, and freeze one.
- I'm not super great at meal planning, but I buy red peppers, onions in bulk and chop them all up on a Sunday. I then freeze them in a freezer container to use in quiche/frittatas, or for stir frys or pasta dishes. More cost effective to purchase in bulk and freeze.
- I find that if I also only shop the sales- I will also save money no matter where I grocery shop. Aldi is a good resource for cheaper food, but I find that if you shop sales any place you shop it can be a good deal as long as you stick to your list and stock up as items are on clearance/sale.
- I also do not snack. I find that snacking can be mindless and easy to just consume for the sake of consuming. I'd rather eat a small meal, say yogurt, with a cup of nuts (which some might say is a snack) than buy snack food (pretzels etc).
- I also make my lunch and my kids lunches (adult children) if they go out of the house. My 20 yr old daughter goes to college at the local community college and she brings any and all food she eats with her. Saves a ton of money and doesn't go to starbucks or the like for any on the go food. Instead- she fills her lunch bag and takes it for her days out of the house.
- We get take-out once a week--rotating choices. So one time it's Thai food, and another it might be pizza. It's food we normally do not cook at home because if I can make chicken stir fry that's delicious, we better not be buying it out. But complex drunken chicken (hard for me to make) is a welcome night off of cooking. We do take-out vs dine in which saves on drinks and the extra temptations.
- If you are learning how to cook--start out with easy meals like sheet pan chicken--toss some chicken thighs on an oiled pan, spice with greek seasoning. Toss some zucchini, carrots and potatoes (all cubed) into a bowl. Season with salt/pepper/21 seasonings from trader joes and some olive oil. Bake for 30 min at 400 and poof--dinner is made. And cheap.
- I love one pot meals- toss a cup of rice, some cubed chicken, cubed veggies, and 1 1/2 cups of water or broth and simmer adding spices you enjoy. Jerk spices, or greek spices. Whatever flavors make you happy. In 20 min or so- you'll have dinner. YUM!
- Frittatas--yes, eggs are expensive--but you can make a nice frittata that serves 4 with 4 eggs, a little bit of cheese, some of those cut up onions/peppers from the freezer and spices. Use an 8 inch cast iron pan. Heat up some olive oil, and toss in the veggies, saute, then add some seasoning, your eggs, and top with cheese cook till white bubbles show thru the eggs, then pop it in the oven with the broiler on for 5-7 min till golden brown. YUM. a meal for breakfast or lunch or dinner.
- Beverages- drink water or make your own iced tea (caffeine or no caffeine)--it's cheap and easy. I love my electric kettle- I make tea all day long- and buy my tea in bulk so it's easy to make. I also use a lot of loose teas so I can make my own blend to suit me. I buy coffee too and pour over. I'm the only coffee drinker in the house.
Cleaning
I have never been big on chemicals. I use lemons--vinegar, and soap. About once a year I'll get a few lysol wipes which I only use if we have a bug or virus that I feel like I gotta kill the germs. Otherwise, it's a good vacuum, dust cloth, and elbow grease.
Health Care
- We use homeopathic treatments as much as possible and rarely except annual labs/physicals go to the doc.
- Oregano oil is my go to for illness
- Quercetin, Bromelain, Stinging nettle is what we use for allergies and works great (two of us have to take it daily)
- I have a stethoscope and pulsox for when we are ill and as a former home health aide I am trained to use both.
- Hydration is key to good health as is getting enough Vitamin D and Vitamin C in your diet or with supplementation
Financial tips
- I think the biggest thing that helped our family recover from bankruptcy was getting a financial advisor. I suggest finding a place that doesn't charge for their financial services, instead one that only charges if you earn money with them. We did that, and at first we transferred an old 401K that was worth 50K and doing nothing- making a few grand a year- in one year our advisor earned us 15K and from there we dedicated at first $500 a month (but they will work with you with less per month) and over the years gradually saved up $1,000 a month. It took ten years but we have made well over 100K in the stock market with our advisors' assistance and that has given us the gift of paying for our kids' college.
- One thing you can do is go to a cash envelope system and make a budget.
- Start slow- write down all you spend in a month. I was shocked to see that I was spending $25/mo on coffee. I chose to eliminate all but one, so $5/mo was what I reduced my spending to. My husband was surprised he spent $30/week or more on lunches. He now works from home and only eats out once a month for lunch so that is a huge savings.
- Once you get a budget- be sure to include gas for the car, or bus passes and really see what you can save. Building an emergency fund is the first step. Our financial advisor said we needed 25K in an emergency fund but this all depends on your situation, where you live, cost of living and what 6 months worth of expenses looks like to you. Let your financial advisor tell you how much to set aside.
- Once you build up your reserve, be sure to do so while paying down any and all of your debt. We still own our 2010 Hyundai Elantra despite being able to afford a newer car, it enabled us to save a car payment per month for many years. We are now gifting that car to our oldest- when he graduates in May. Old- but trustworthy- he will drive it till it's no longer drivable, saving him valuable funds.
- Advice for your adult kids--live at home, work locally at home and invest what would be your rental funds. If your family needs the adult child to offset costs- then charge them a reasonable rent- but that should still allow the adult child to save funds for their future. Investing will let their money work for them and for you.
- Phone plans--stick to a plan that allows you to keep. your lines together. I pay for the 5 of us plus my mother. Far cheaper than if we each had our own. Now that the kids are adults- we keep the same plan. When Quinn graduates he can start paying his $40 for his line, but again- keeping him on the plan saves him money in the long run. I know a lot of friends who kick their kids off their plan, causing the adult child to pay far more per month for the sake of saving the $40/mo. I'd rather he just pay us for now, at least while he's planning to live at home.
Entertainment
We have no TV/cable, we only have internet, and we stream. I use Netflix--despite it going up to $24.99 a month, all 5 of us use it as does my mother so it's worth it. We also have peacock, and hbo/max. That's how I get to watch CNN and we all use it.
HVAC
We set the heat to 68 in the winter, and 74 in the summer. If we are away for the day- 60, 80 for AC. Most folks I know keep it at 70 year round- we have newer AC/Furnace so our bill for a 2200 sq ft house is $250/mo all year round regardless of summer or winter including electric/gas.
Buy what you need/ save for what you want
- I do not buy new clothes just to buy them. If I have an itch to shop- the 2nd hand thrift store is where I will go. I only buy new shoes when they wear out but are otherwise used. I try and just not shop. In 2013-2015 we saved 15K to put a down payment on this house from simply not shopping for anything except groceries. I did a "no shop" 2 year period. I got hand-me-downs for the clothes from the homeschooling group we were in at the time and I literally bought nothing except when grocery shopping.
- You'd be surprised how much money you can save once you analyze your spending. Do you really need all those streaming services? Do you really need to eat out as much? Do you really need that extra car? (you may only need one). We realized that one is enough for John and myself and that Quinn and Erin can share the Hyundai till Erin gets a job after college. That's going to save quite a bit of money. We do not live in an area where public transit is an answer either, so a car is needed to go to the grocery store etc.
- Your situation might be different. Do not be overwhelmed, try not to be. I have to say that when we moved from MA to IL in 2013, we had zero saved, an old 401K that we had no idea was sitting there earning us nothing, and a house that wouldn't sell in Boston. The company that relocated us backed out of the sale of the house and we were left with two mortgages and that was awful. We ended up having to file for bankruptcy to short sell the old house. The bank still got well over $150K more than the loan was originally for but we didn't cover all the interest the loan required. We had nothing, so we started over. In just two short years, because we didn't include the cars or any of our credit cards in the bankruptcy--we were able to get a loan (high interest) for a home and we bought the home we are in today. We didn't shop for the two years to save the down-payment but we also didn't shop for the first several years we lived here as we still homeschooled until August of 2017. That saving helped us pay down our debt. We have since refinanced and have a reasonable mortgage payment.
- Tightening up our belt/budget was good and fairly easy for the kids too. They opted to "save for what they wanted" so after a birthday they'd tally up any money given by relatives and go by that gift they'd been waiting for. It helped them learn to be thrifty.