I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Archive for the ‘frugality’ Category

When I was in graduate school and living in an apartment, I had a garden on my patio.  For a patio garden, it was a rather large one, and practically free for me to supply and upkeep, since through my graduate program I had access to free plants from yield trials for everything from tomatoes to peppers to herbs to peas and anything else that could grow in a bin on a patio.  I looked forward to the fresh produce every year, and gardening itself was one of my most relaxing and enjoyable activities.

And then, I finished graduate school and started having kids.  My son had priority over a garden, and besides, he needed the patio space to play.  By the time I had my daughter, we were looking for a house, and I was excited about the idea of starting another garden, outside, of my very own.

And this year, the second year we’ve lived in our house, I started that garden.  Only the very beginnings of it – two tomato plants I bought for $3 each already grown into small plants.  Someday, when my children are a little bigger, I want to grow plants from seedlings in my sunroom and transplant them outside, but with a 1 year old afoot that would be a recipe for disaster.  So I;ve started small, with a Roma tomato plant and a Beefsteak tomato plant.  I planted them two months ago in wooden buckets on the edge of our front walkway, and have watered them and given them soil ever since.

The Roma plant has done well from the start, and has been producing tomatos for several weeks now.  None are ripe yet, but the very first are starting to turn shiny and red.  The Beefsteak plant seemed to be a failure – the edges of the leaves seemed to yellow a bit, and flowers came and went without any sign of fruit.  But this week, it has started producing little tiny tomatoes.  I don’t know what will become of them, but it is a step in the right direction for sure.

With weird warnings about tomatoes in the news lately, I’ve been afraid to buy them at the store, so I can’t wait to harvest my very own.   Hopefully pretty soon, we’ll have our own Roma tomatoes, and later this summer, some Beefsteak as well.  I am sure we’ll end up with more tomatoes than the initial $6 investment.  And next summer – I’m digging up the back flower beds and putting in some more veggies.  As long as I can figure out how to outwit the herds of neighborhood bunnies…

When I was a kid, I drank water straight from the tap.  I wasn’t allowed soda, and juice was a rare treat.  Drinks were milk with meals, and water any other time.  I’ve always enjoyed water, and I didn’t know any other way than straight from the tap.  In fact, I used to be too lazy to get a cup most of the time and stuck my head under the faucet like it was a drinking fountain.

But now, as an adult, the only time I drink water from the tap so to speak is from drinking fountains.  I don’t drink bottled water generally, but we do have a Brita pitcher in our refrigerator and we filter all the tap water we drink.  Not because I think it is unsafe, but I honestly think the tap water we have now tastes weird.  In fact, when the water in the pitcher starts tasting weird to me, I know it is time to change the filter.

I wonder when this happened.  When did tap water stop being something I drank and start being something that needed treatment (even if only for taste)?  I could tell myself that the tap water would be better cold, except that my filtered water is cold and as I said, when the filtered water starts tasting weird is when I know the filter needs to be replaced.  Is tap water now really that different from tap water 25 years ago, or have I just become a water snob?

The filters aren’t that expensive (compared to the cost of bottled water) and we’ve had the same pitcher for over 6 years now with no signs of replacing it, so it isn’t a very significant expense.  I don’t change the filter at the suggested intervals – it takes many many months for the water to indicate the filter needs a change.   But still, I’d like to eliminate the expense altogether and drink water directly from the tap (with maybe a stop in the refrigerator first for a nice chill, but no filter).  But yet I can’t.

Do you drink your water from the tap?  A filtration system?  Bottled?   have you always, or did it change over time?

One of the ways that I have tried to cut my grocery bill is to shop at more than one store when I grocery shop.  This can backfire, in that you can end up spending more on gasoline than you save on your total bill, or the amount of time it adds to your shopping could not at all be worth it.  For me, I have found because of the proximity of the three stores to my home (I literally pass the first two stores to get to the third, where I do the vast majority of my shopping) the first isn’t true, and it only adds at most a half hour to my shopping to go to all three as opposed to just one.  For me – the strategy works, and more than works, it has been very beneficial to my bottom line.

The centerpiece of my strategy is doing the majority of my shopping at Aldi.  Aldi is a chain of grocery stores that sells primarily generic items, and there are many mixed opinions out there about shopping there.  I have heard everything from people thinking that only cheap peoiple shop there, to the idea that the stores are hideous and dirty, to the idea that the food itself is seriously suspect.  I actually both agree and disagree with many of the things I have heard said.

I have shopped at quite a few different Aldi stores in the past, and I have found some of them to be run down and not pleasant to shop at.  The one where my brother used to live was like that.  But the one where I live now is very nice and well kept.  I also have both positive and negative experiences with the food.  The food has a double money back guarantee on it – if you aren’t satisfied you can return it for both a replacement and a cash refund.   That being said, I primarily only buy non-perishable and frozen items there.  I have had a lot of problems with produce not lasting more than a few days (at most) after I brought it home.  The non-perishable items however (rice, pasta, beans, canned items) and frozen items have all worked out very well.  As I’ve talked about in previous posts, I discovered some of the same exact generic items at higher profile chain stores (at a higher price) as what Aldi carries.

For me, going out and trying a different store, Aldi, has helped cut my grocery budget significantly.  I used to spend $100-$150 a week on groceries for two people 4 years ago, which would be a much higher number now with how the cost of foods has gone up.  Now I generally spend $50 or less a week for the bulk of my groceries at Aldi and then supplement them for another $~30-$40 at Walmart and Kroger for items not available at Aldi or produce (at Kroger).  And that is for four people instead of two.   Aldi has really helped us lower our monthly grocery bill even while our family has grown.

As I’ve mentioned before, I do the vast majority of my non-perishable shopping at Aldi.  Aldi is a chain supermarket that carries primarily generic brands.  Once I am done shopping there each week, I go to Walmart and Kroger to fill in the things I can’t get at Aldi.

Two of the things I buy regularly at Aldi are chewy granola bars and cereal and fruit bars.  Last week, however, I forgot to get them at Aldi, and didn’t realize it until I got to Kroger.  So I sucked up the extra cost and purchased the generic Kroger brand instead.  I figured they’d be close enough to the same as Aldi’s ones to fool my picky four year old.

When I got home, I made a really hilarious discovery.  Not only were they both close enough to make my four year old happy, they were in fact, the exact same bars.  The exterior packaging (boxes) were different, but the wrappers inside around each individual bar was identical to the Aldi brand.  Absolutely 100% identical.

So what i did I pay for my forgetfulness?  Regular price of Aldi chewy granola bars:  $1.69.  Kroger:  $1.97, but were on sale for $1.69 so I lucked out.   As for the cereal fruit bars, Aldi’s price is $1.79 per box and Kroger’s regular price was $2.28 but on sale for $1.89, so only $0.10 a box (I bought two).  Because I timed my mistake well and forgot on a week where the equivalents were on sale, I only spent an extra $0.20.  But I could have spent an extra $1.26 – $0.28 for the box of chewy granola bars and $0.49 each for two boxes of cereal fruit bars.  For the EXACT same thing.

Generic is generic is generic all right – I didn’t realize that the Aldi generics were actually sold other places like Kroger.  Score one more point for Aldi. 

The Fourth of July is a great holiday because it can be a very frugal one, and still fun.  No gifts to buy, no big dinners to plan (although many may have a barbecue), and no fancy outfits.  For us, it is all about togetherness, family time, and free light displays.  Here are five things you can do today that cost very little:

1. Attend your local fireworks display.  Plan well, and you may not even have to pay for parking at the event.
2. Go to the park.  Bring a picnic lunch and spend an afternoon hanging out and having fun.
3. Get some of that yard work done.  Depending on who you are, it might not be fun, but if you make it a family event it can be.  It worked for us raking leaves last fall.
4. Take a walk in your neighborhood or on local walking trails.
5. Lie out on the lawn and watch the stars.  Oh, and the fireworks your neighbors may be setting off. 

My family and I will be doing much of the above today, although we may add a trip to the local zoo into the mix.  We have a membership so although it cost us money up front, our individual visits don’t cost us anything additional.  In fact, the more we go, the less each trip costs.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July!  And if you are not in the US and don’t celebrate the fourth – have a happy Friday!