Organic & Thrifty

                                                                                    Happy New Year! For some reason, this New Years more than any other I feel like I have some real resolve to make some positive changes in the way our family spends money. Don’t get me wrong, we live pretty simply and there are really not a lot of extras around here. But I think the past several months I’ve taken that for granted, and thus been a bit lax about going beyond my budget for certain expenditures and justifying it one way or another.

Honestly, this year has been a bit tougher financially as I’ve cut back many of my tutoring hours since I’m going back to school, and that loss of income, though small, can be felt.  On the bright side, I’ve started up a little cottage industry selling Fermented Vegetables in my local co-op, and surprisingly that’s taken off to a good start. Hopefully that can bring in a bit of extra income.

I started to realize that I have complete control over what I spend. Thankfully, we are not in debt (except for our mortgage) and so therefore I really have the power to choose wisely when it comes to spending my husband’s hard-earned cash. 

We’ve stripped our life down to the bare essentials (in my opinon). We own a small, affordable condo.  We own one car. My husband has a great job, closeby, that provides for our needs and has amazing insurance coverage (thank God!).  We homeschool and utilize the local community center for a few affordable classes for the kids, we keep our driving down to a minimum, I stay the heck away from the mall.  We clothe our children with hand-me-downs or cheap finds at second hand stores.  I make most all of our meals. I try to make my husband’s lunch.  We don’t buy expensive conveniece foods.  We don’ have cable, home phones (only cells), dish network, magazine subscriptions, etc.  Our insurance is low and affordable.

So what is the problem?  Well, for some reason we’re still not able to save much money every month, and that really bothers me.  I know I go a little lavish on my food budget because I’m a food snob. I have a problem restraining myself from exotic ingredients.  Well, this year I’m challenging myself to do what this blog is all about: be truly Organic and Thrifty!

Here is my resolution for 2010:

Work to get our costs down to below my husband’s net income so we don’t have to rely on my odd jobs or pull from savings to balance the budget.

…. and ultimately save for my dream home: a yurt on 1/4 acre with southern exposure so I can have my suburban homestead! That might not be my husband’s exact dream…..we’ll see.

Action Steps:

• Grow my hair long again. Save $40 every six weeks on a designer haircut and don’t worry about vanity so much!
• Starting in January,  I’m giving myself a personal “fridge and pantry cleanout” challenge to use every last item in the fridge, freezer(s), pantry, and storage shed until I can see the back of them.  I’m going to blog regularly (hopefully daily) about what I’ve made with what I had on hand.  I am excited to see how long I can make the food last, and also will be eager to see how much we save in the process!
• I’m declaring January a “No Spend Month” (as originally inspired by Shannon of Nourishing Days) other than absolute essentials (toilet paper, etc.). 
• Learn the art of rationing: use bacon sparingly, make almond flour treats once a week only, plan a use for everything, but when it’s gone it’s gone. Learn to live in feast or famine. (No worries, I won’t let my kids starve).
• Simplify menu planning further by creating a month-long menu plan all at once.  Or, just repeat the same theme week after week for a month, and then rotate. I think I’m going to try both ideas and see which one works best.
• To optimize nutrition while saving on ingredients, I’m going to be making lots of soups with bone broth, veggies, and a small amount of meat.  These are real budget-savers, and a couple of soups a week can really make the budget stretch without sacrificing nutrition.
• My new goal is to create as many nourishing, grain-free $5 meals as possible each night. I will post the meals that are worth sharing!
• I’m going to begin making my own coconut milk using dried coconut and hot water. I mostly use coconut milk for soups anyway, so I’m hoping that this process will save a bit of money.
• Ask every dollar “Who are you, and where do you think you’re going?” before spending it (thanks, Dave Ramsey!).

 I’m really excited about sharing my journey and getting back to blogging more about food budgeting while eating real food.  Like I said before, my major motivation right now is to really try to get into a saving pattern so that within the next year or two we really can upgrade and afford to significantly increase our mortgage and purchase a house on 1/4 -1/2 an acre so that I can really work towards more self-sustainability.  This has been a desire of my heart for a while now, but I know that God is teaching me some great lessons here on my little condo “farm”.  I’m excited to graduate to chickens and goats in the near future, and to possibly have more space in my kitchen for culturing more kombucha and such in order to expand my tiny little fermented veggie business.

As always, dear readers, thank you for reading this blog and for your continued support! 

Happy New Year!