Thanksgiving on a Budget – Can it be done?

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Image by digitalart

We’re heading into a pretty scary time of year for families who are struggling financially and trying to live on a tight budget and save money.  The first of the major spending holidays is coming up on Thursday … Thanksgiving.

I know sometimes it’s hard to find something to be thankful for this time of year.  I struggle with that, too.  And when we are expected to provide a feast for our family that is intended to outdo every other meal we will prepare this year, that’s a lot of added pressure. 

We got lucky this year.  We originally thought we were going to be hosting, but my brother jumped at the opportunity.  He loves to cook, so this will be his year to shine.  The pressure is off and our only Thanksgiving Day costs will be the gas to get down to Tacoma and two pies.  Not too shabby.  In that light, I thought I’d put together a list of some ideas to whittle away at your holiday food budget.  While it might be too late to implement some of these this year, you can store them away for next year or keep them in mind for another holiday.

5 Ideas for Thanksgiving on a Budget

1.  Take advantage of those free turkey deals.  Many stores offer free turkeys in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, providing you purchase a certain dollar amount (usually about $100 to $150).  I know I’ve been working hard to keep our weekly grocery bill less than $100, but that can be pretty difficult the week of Thanksgiving.  Even if you aren’t hosting and your bill comes to over the amount that week, get that turkey anyway (if you have a place to keep it).  Roast it up in March or so, and you’ll have cooked turkey for casseroles, soups, sandwiches, or whatever for quite some time, not to mention a lovely carcass for making broth.
2. Can you go somewhere else for Thanksgiving?  Surely some family or friends would love to have you over.  Offer to bring a dish and you can have Thanksgiving for the price of a 10 lb. bag of potatoes or a can of pumpkin.
3. See if anywhere in your area is doing a bundled deal (like the one we found here). 
4.  Plan ahead.  If you can start planning your meal at least a month ahead of time, you can start nabbing items you need as they go on sale.  Adding a little bit here or there to your regular grocery trip will break up the hit so you don’t feel overwhelmed.  For example, one week add a can of pumpkin.  The next, add some green beans and stuffing mix. 
5. Have a Thanksgiving potluck.  If you are hosting, make sure everyone else brings a dish.  You can be responsible for the turkey, but assign a dish to everyone else.  Let your sister bring the ingredients to make mashed potatoes, have your mom assemble the green bean casserole, tell your brother to pick up dinner rolls, and so on and so forth.  This will make dinner easier for everyone. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.  And even though things might be tough right now, don’t forget to say a huge “thank you” for everything that is wonderful in your life.

Our Trip to the Trading Post

I'm always on the lookout for a great grocery deal.

Image by digitalart

Grocery prices keep rising, so finding the best deals on food has been a real challenge.  We usually shop at Fred Meyer, watching the ads and planning our meals around any good deals we can find.  Some weeks, we can score a great deal, while other weeks we fall flat.  I hate paying more than 1.99 a pound for any kind of meat, and I can’t figure out when ground beef, originally the staple of most cheapo diets suddenly became just as expensive as most cuts of steak.

While at a dinner this week held by Wraparound (a service that helps us coordinate care for our son), we were told about a special deal going on at a local store called the Tukwila Trading Post.  I vaguely knew where they were, but I had never checked them out.  The deal was pretty good:  For twenty bucks, you got a 4 lb. boneless ham, a 3 lb. boneless turkey breast, gravy, a can of corn, a pack of biscuits, 5 lb. of potatoes, and 1 lb. of carrots.  That’s enough ham and turkey for several soup and casserole recipes. 

Something I noticed when I worked it out though – it was a good deal, but not a “OMG THAT’S INSANE” deal. The way the show it in the ad, it’s buy the ham for $20 and the rest is free.  Okay, but it’s a 4 lb. ham.  That $5 a lb. and I wouldn’t spend that much on meat.  Once you subtract the regular prices from the $20, you get about $14 for the meat, which works out to about $2 a lb.  About what I normally aim for. 

They did have some pretty decent sales.  I scored a ton of pork loin, also at 1.99 a lb. and I’m going to get a bunch of meals out of that.  But the rest of their prices were, for the most part, higher than Fred Meyer.  The ad had a number of one-day deals, for example, if I had gone on Thursday I could have scored boneless, skinless chicken breasts for 1.49 per lb. as long as I got more than 10 lbs.  We would definitely go through 10 lbs. of chicken breasts, and that’s about the lowest price I’ve ever seen them at, so I wish I could have caught that deal. 

I think the trick with this place is going to be to keep an eye on the ad and just make a special trip for the super good deals.  The meat all looked like it was in pretty good shape, but some of the produce was kind of funky.  The apples that were on sale were a bit mushy (except for the Fujis, those were in pretty good shape), and some of the kiwis had mold.  Considering that it’s the weekend before Thanksgiving, I was actually surprised by how empty the store was.  Maybe everyone else got their cheap stuff and left already.



EDIT:  Please see this post to see why I will never be shopping here again.....

Republic Wireless: Testing a New Type of Cell plan!

Let’s face reality, your cell phone is here to stay.  Everyone has them... well, almost everyone.  We actually had ours get cut off, because we couldn’t afford it.  We didn’t have iPhones, or even “Smartphones,” with the expensive data plans.  In fact, I think I am the only person in my IT department that doesn't have a smartphone of some sort.  The plans are very pricey and even the “cheap” ones would run us up to $100 a month plus taxes between both A’mee and me.  So we are actually cell-less for the time being (and that has taken some real getting used to). 

A couple weeks ago I was on Engadget and saw something that really turned my head… a beta program for Republic Wireless.  They were offering a new type of prepaid service that highlighted an “unlimited everything” plan for just $19.95!  OK, they had my attention!  Like any other prepaid program, you have to buy the phone.  I signed up on the website to get news about the launch, which was scheduled to happen about a week later.  I then got an email offering a discount code for their phone (the LG Optimus) for just $99.00, saving $100 off the top.  So we made plans for the launch day to sign in and get two phones and test this service, since this was right around when we were expecting to get our money in.  Being a beta test, I knew it would have some bumps, but wow.

The site went up and down all day.  Apparently, the site received well over one million hits the first day.  I don’t care who you are, that will crash just about any server around.   We were finally able to sign in, and we got our confirmation emails shortly afterwards.  Hers was from Republic Wireless, but I was confused when mine came from Phonebooth.com.  After checking the forum, I found out there was a transaction issue that caused a number of orders to be routed to a sister company by accident.  I sent a message over, but their communication is a bit spotty right now.  I honestly believe they got absolutely hammered.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are pissed off that they didn’t get instant shipments.  The forums are full of trolls right now.  Luckily, you can easily see the patient ones who are saying, “I am surprised they are still trying to work through it all.” 

Yesterday, we got our promised updates.  A’mee got an email stating that she was in the beta and to stay tuned for her ship date (since they have to prep the phones manually); my e-mail stated there was an “issue” with the transaction, and I have a slot in the beta, but not in the first batch like A’mee.  I am frustrated by it, but I am trying to be patient with them. 

So that drama aside, here is how the plan works….

You get a phone loaded with their software.  They have partnered up with Sprint to offer the cell coverage side of the plan.  The main focus of the plan is based around Wi-Fi.  They are asking users to primarily connect via Wi-Fi, since there are hotspots just about everywhere most people go, be that work, home, Starbucks, or even McDonalds.  You are monitored on your usage, and they have what is called the “Customer Use Index” or CUI:   an app on the phone that will help track your usage between cell and Wi-Fi connections to help keep you on track. There is a catch, and for some it may be a deal breaker:  If you go over the cell allotment too often (stated in forum posts as being for several months in a row, etc.) they can actually cancel your service with Republic.   Personally, I don’t see that to be an issue.  We have Wi-Fi at home, I have it at work, and most of our usage will be with texts, but even then, it won’t be hard to stay within the cell tower usage.  So we wait for our phones.  The hardest part for me is that I am pretty sure A’mee will get hers well before I get mine.  The beta is slated to run for at least the next 60 days, so we will see how it goes.  I will be updating as soon as there is anything worth reporting.    I just know that even with any cancelation fees we pay to get out of our contract, we come out ahead with the drastic reduction in the monthly plan.  

Check out their site or find them on Facebook or Twitter for any other information.  I am really excited about this, being as how this is not only cheap, but they are also going to be our first smartphones.  

Dressing on a Budget, Part Two: Grownups

Well, I'm not this slender, but you get the idea!

Photo by Photostock

Okay, as promised, part two of our clothing on a budget series!  Better late then never, right?  (Try telling that to the bill collectors, though...)

Clothing Gavin

Gavin is rather challenging to clothe.  He wears unusual sizes and he’s practically as rough on clothing as Elias!  Thanks to his job, he gets tears in unusual places that can’t be easily repaired.  I have almost zero sewing skills – I can sew on a button and repair a seam, but that’s about it.  He wears through shoes quickly and is incredibly picky about which ones he likes.  I’ve groused at him before for buying a pair of shoes and then never wearing them again.  He complains that a lot of shoes rub him on the heel and cut into his Achilles tendon.  We can avoid this by sticking with New Balance, but those are usually pretty expensive. 

For Gavin’s clothing, we can get some stuff at Walmart, but (Walmart aversion aside) they tend to be poorly made and just not very attractive.  Gavin’s job requires him to dress a certain way – not suit and tie, but khaki pants or slacks and a polo or dress shirt.  The place we’ve had the most luck for Gavin is K&G.  You have to dig through a whole lot of weird stuff, but you can find some gems and their sales are fantastic.  We recently hit a great sale where dress shirts were buy one, get one free, and the shirts themselves were only 19.99 (and they were REALLY nice shirts) so we were thrilled. 

K&G is also a great place for pants.  Like I mentioned, Gavin wears an unusual size that can be hard to find.  For a small fee, K&G will tailor your pants on site, which is incredibly handy.  Gavin only has to worry about finding pants that fit him in the waist – we can then tailor the leg to length as needed. 

Clothing Amee

My biggest hassle is being plus size.  Plus size women’s clothing is an absolute racket.  As Kirsten mentioned on a previous post, somewhere someone made the decision that plus size women either want to wear clothing covered with nauseating kittens or deep cut cleavage, leopard print and weird baubles.   As I’m a fan of neither of those, I get pretty frustrated.  Since I’m working from home I don’t have to worry about any sort of dress code, but I still have my own sense of “what looks nice” and I’d like to be able to stick with that.  But my choices are limited.

My best luck is usually at the Avenue.  They have great sales and since I’m signed up for their mailing list, I get notifications of those, plus additional coupons.  I’ve walked out some pretty good deals.  My last good shopping trip there a few weeks ago landed me two bras (have you ever priced plus-size bras?  It’s horrifying, truly), a beautiful loose-knit sweater, a lavender button-down blouse, and eight pairs of socks.  My total was about $80.  Those of you who shop for plus size know – that ain’t half bad.  Usually the two bras alone would cost that much.

The other place I’ve recently had good luck at was the Goodwill.  I have to be willing to dig through a lot of junk and I’ve discovered that I can’t go to just any Goodwill.  The Goodwill in Bellevue has the best selection, based on my size and style.  For those who don’t live in the Seattle area, Bellevue is a suburb directly to the east, known for being a bit swanky.  If you have expensive designer tastes, you can also score famous designer products there.  When I was last there, they had shoes by Prada and Jimmy Choo in a display case.  My friend scored a Hermes handbag for $30.  I don’t know enough about high fashion to tell you if the darn thing was real or not, but if it was, that sucker retails for $2,000.  I’m not kidding.

I was able to hook myself up with a beautiful long, dark green corduroy skirt by Lane Bryant that goes nicely with either a T-shirt or a blouse, a pair of new khaki pants from Old Navy that still had the original tags attached and a cashmere sweater with a ruffled scoop neck that looks lovely with camisole or tank under it, also by Lane Bryant.  My total for this little shopping spree?  Less than twenty bucks.  Seriously.  All three pieces were in excellent condition.  If they had ever been worn before, I couldn’t tell. 

Where’s your favorite place to shop cheaply?  And what's your recommendation for cheap shoes for Gavin???

My Conversion to Homemade Household Cleaners

Homemade spray cleaners are super cheap and much 

easier to make than you might think.

Photo by Ambro.

This is something I’ve pondered for a while, but never had the guts to actually try.  Could I really save money doing this?  Was it worth the extra effort?  What is the benefit… really?

Looking for more ways to cut our grocery budget down finally inspired me to give it a whirl.  I had noticed that Gav had added “spray cleaner” to a recent grocery list.  We were running low on our usual cleaner, a Seventh Generation product I liked.  It smelled nice (thyme and lemongrass!), didn’t have freaky ingredients and cleaned well. It’s pretty pricey though (we had purchased it with a coupon on a half-off sale) so it wouldn’t be practical to keep purchasing it.  Store-brand cleaners usually aren’t that awesome, so I figured now would be the time to give this experiment a go.

I researched cleaners on the internet, found one that looked easy and cheap to make and I had all the ingredients except one.  So I put Borax on the list and went for it.  At the store, I was astonished at how cheap the Borax was!  Only $3 for this huge box – and I only needed 2 teaspoons for the cleaner I was making!  So for less than the price of my normal cleaner, I would get… well, I’m not going to do the math, but suffice to say, it’s a LOT.

So the Borax sat up on the shelf in the laundry area for a week or so until we actually ran out of cleaner.  Today was the big day.  We’ve got company coming over and I needed to clean the bathroom.  I rinsed out the old bottle (hey look, reusing plastic bottles too!  Shouldn’t that be worth bonus points or something?) and mixed up a batch:

Homemade All-Purpose Cleaning Spray

In a 26-oz spray bottle combine

4 Tbsp. vinegar

2 tsp. Borax

Hot water until almost full.  Gently swish to combine and dissolve the Borax.

Add a few drops of mild dishwashing detergent, and about 10 drops of your favorite essential oil.  You could leave out the essential oil if you don’t care about whether it smells nice or you don’t have any on hand.  I had lavender on hand so in it went.

Clean!

IT WORKED.  Like a charm.  It cleaned the toilet nicely, along with the counters, the light switch plate and the cupboard doors.  And it smelled really nice.  My son has toilet issues, so our bathroom can sometimes get icky, but this stuff cleaned it all.  Plus, the vinegar is a natural disinfectant, so I don’t have to worry about germs.  

When we run out of laundry soap, I’m planning to try making my own batch.  Since I already have the Borax, all I’ll need is some washing soda and Fels Naphtha.  It only takes a couple minutes to mix up and it’s a huge savings.   I can't wait to see what else I can make! I confess -- I’m converted!

Dressing on a Budget, Part One: Kids

Your kids can still look nice, even when you're shopping on a budget.

Photo by Stuart Miles

One of the biggest challenges for our family is keeping everyone dressed relatively well, without breaking the bank.  Fortunately, none of us are slaves to trends and we prefer clothing that looks decent without being super fancy.  At the same time, I don’t think any of us are going to be wearing handmade dresses and pants made from homespun wool. 

Elias has enough challenges that dressing “poor” would only be more fuel on the fire.  Maddie is a three-year-old girl with a quickly developing fashion sense.  While Gav and I are not exactly fashionistas, we have the challenge of being, well, plus size, which brings a whole new set of clothing challenges.  Here’s how we keep everyone clothed, including two growing kids, without going into the poor house.

Madeline

Maddie is probably the easiest one of the bunch to clothe, believe it or not.  She’s cute, and little girl clothing is fun to buy, so she gets clothing as gifts on a regular basis.  She also gets adorable hand-me-downs from several friends.  End of season clearance sales at stores like Fred Meyer can fill in the blanks.  One of my favorite shopping opportunities for Maddie is at a local consignment store, Quadoo’s.  Not only are consignment stores a great way to stretch your dollar, they will also take clothing your kids have grown out of off your hands, providing credit.  Each season, I’m able to turn in Maddie’s outfits from the year before and score some new goodies.

Elias

Elias is really challenging to clothe.  He’s eleven, and that age just isn’t quite as much fun to buy for.  Plus, like most boys his age, he’s just really hard on clothes. He wears through the knees of jeans quickly and his shoes fall apart like they are made of tissue paper.  Plus, he’s already 5 feet tall.  He grows out of his clothes fast and he is terribly picky about what he wears, since he has sensory issues.  He’s in that awkward in-between period and consignment stores don’t carry his size.  I can get away with getting items for him at the Goodwill, and by combining store coupons with clearance sales, I can get some good deals at Fred Meyer. Last week we found ourselves having to replace his winter coat (the other one was destroyed).  We were able to catch a 50 percent off sale and scored a nice coat for $30.  Not quite as great a deal as the London Fog coat we found for Maddie for a measly $12.99, but I can’t argue.  It’s hard to find coats in good condition at thrift stores.  My sister likes to take Elias school shopping every year.  She has more fashion sense than we do, so Elias always manages to start off the school year looking sharp!

Tomorrow I’ll tell you how Gavin and I shop.  The truth is, we are far more likely to buy new clothes for the kids then for ourselves.  Show me a parent who isn’t, right?

Braving a Cold on a Budget

You don't have to break the bank to fight a cold.

Photo by David Castillo

I have a nasty cold this week.  It is kicking my butt left, right and sideways.  I raided the medicine cabinet and tracked down some pseudoephedrine that hadn't expired yet and I'm dosing myself up with that so I can keep going and get some work done today.  It looks like Gav might have caught it, as well.

I thought I'd look into some cheap and even free ways to treat a cold.

Obviously, medicine you already have on hand is a good bet.  Check the expiration date, though.  People tend to stash remedies, even if they don't need them for a long period of time.  That Nyquil with an expiration date from three years ago might only make you sicker.  Don't take a chance.

Don't buy name brand medications.  Seriously.  It's a waste of money.  I worked in pharmacy for nearly 10 years.  I can promise you that the generic has the exact same amount of medication in the exact same delivery system.  It's required by law.  If you think the brand name "works better" it's entirely in your head.  There's even a name for this -- it's called the placebo effect.  If you need to hit the store for cold remedies, go ahead and buy the store brand.  It's usually less than half the cost of the name brand.

Need to treat your cold without spending any money at all?  Try some of these ideas:

• Breathe in steam.  Heat up some water and add some chopped ginger or eucalyptus oil.  Drape a towel over your head and breathe in the steam.  This will help loosen congestion and unclog your airways.
• Take a hot shower.  The warm, steamy air will work just like the steam treatment above.  Plus, the warm water will help ease your body aches.  If you have a fever and have been sweating, it will feel great to rinse away that grimy feeling.
• Drink lots of fluids.  At least eight cups of water daily.  Try drinking hot tea for the steam effect.  Plus, many types of herbal teas work as cold remedies as well, like ginger, thyme and fenugreek.
• Saline irrigation.  An irrigation or neti-pot can help get clogged mucus out of your sinuses and prevent a cold from turning into a nasty sinus infection.
• Get some rest.  Don't try to function on all cylinders.  Your body needs some time to recuperate.  Get to bed early.  Take a sick day and chill out on the couch.  

Hopefully you'll be back up to snuff soon.  If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hit the showers.