Att. Frugal ones - can 2 ppl live on $800/mo

spinkles

Wed, Apr 03 2013, 7:20 pm

Quote:

OP. We don't use disposables. We do use a lot of Swiffer cloths. I guess you can clean and dust with a rag? And then what, do you just wash it in the washing machine?

We don't get takeout. We buy some prepared food. I can cook but not bake. Does it make sense to invest in a bread machine? Is it easy to learn?

How do you know what's in season?

For rags you can use cut-up old t-shirts or you can buy cheapo washcloths at Walmart (the kind that I got a few weeks ago were 18 for $4). You can wash them in the washing machine (but do them with towels, not with clothing, in case there's something messy you wiped up that could ruin your clothing).

It's easy to learn to bake. The internet will help...you can look at how-to videos to learn techniques if you're not sure. Baking your own bread requires planning ahead but is so much cheaper and healthier. Bread machines are a waste of money imo. You can buy a big bowl or a big dishpan and knead the dough by hand. That's what I do.

What's in season? Well, it's winter/early spring, so buying summer fruits like peaches, melon, and berries, for example, is silly. They're expensive and usually not very tasty. Wait until the summer when there are great sales on those fruits, plus they'll taste a lot better. That's just an example. But basically take the time to look around the stores and compare prices and figure out what veggies and fruits are cheaper right now and then base your menu around them.

If you're not used to cooking frugally, get a cookbook from the library and experiment. Make it a fun thing to do with your dh. Try cooking grains (brown rice, quinoa, etc.) and then add sauteed veggies and spices. You can make really good bean and lentil salads with different veggies. Some soups are really cheap. If it's just the two of you then you can really eat leftovers for a couple of days and only have to cook every third day. Whole grain muffins or oatmeal for breakfast is cheaper and healthier than cereal. Lunch is also pretty easy to make frugal. Sandwich, salad, fruit--voila. Snacks can be homemade popcorn, carrot sticks, things like that.

Think of fun free things to do together so you don't feel deprived by your tight budget.

You'll learn a lot of new skills and once you feel more confident it will be easier. $800 is very doable.

granolamom

Wed, Apr 03 2013, 9:18 pm

amother wrote:

swiffer cloths are disposables. rags are machine washable.
prepared foods are less healthy and more expensive than home made.
if you can read, you can bake. or not. there is no law that you need to eat cookies.
does not make sense to invest in a bread machine. if heavily used, they burn out relatively quickly (at least mine always did) and you can bake bread or challah by hand with a bowl. its easy to learn. look for some youtube videos.
start paying attention to the price of fruit. when the price of a fruit or vegetable begins to fall, its in season. when its way high, its being imported from guatemala or italy or wherever. now's a good time to start, spring/summer means more locally available produce. they also taste better when in season. I no longer buy tomatoes in the winter. they taste like plastic. you can ask the produce manager at the grocery store which fruits/vegetables are in season or google it before you shop.

seeker

Thu, Apr 04 2013, 12:24 am

Convenience comes at a price, as do most commodities in life. Each person needs to choose which conveniences they want and can afford. If you have a lot of time and little money, you will likely forgo most convenience products and services and do more things on your own. If you have more money than time, you will likely choose to pay for some work to be done for you. If you have neither time nor money, you need to ~~develop some superpowers~~ er, do without some things entirely. For example, a stay-at-home balabusta on a budget might sew her own yomtov wardrobe, a busy working mom with a steady paycheck might purchase a yomtov outfit, and a busy working person with no budget space will simply not have a new yomtov outfit at all. Translate as needed to your own circumstances. You might decide that the convenience of swiffering is worth buying the disposable 'cloths' (it is for me) and set aside the $10 a month or whatever that takes (hint: you can get them on Amazon.com through subscribe-and-save for a very decent price) On the other hand, you might decide that while you love fresh asparagus, if you have a total of $x to spend on produce, you'd rather get whatever happens to be on sale for under $2/lb and learn to like it.

imamiri

Thu, Apr 04 2013, 12:38 am

amother wrote:

http://localfoods.about.com/od.....s.htm <---- That tells you the seasonal produce for your area, in this case, NY.

Basically look at the produce. Where is from? Everything in the grocery stores this time of year is coming from California, Mexico or South American countries. That tells you most of it is NOT in season. Look around outside and think for a minute. Would strawberries grow this time of year where I am? Melons? Oh wait, no they would not. Not even close.

Watch the ads from the grocery stores. Learn to shop around. Keep a Price Book, here's a link on how to do this: http://kosheronabudget.com/how.....oney/

Use coupons when you can.

You aren't going to starve, you are just going to have to learn to be careful with your money. People have lived forever being mindful of where their money goes. Even if you are well off, it's just smart to not overspend when you don't need to.

finallyamommy

Thu, Apr 04 2013, 7:20 am

As others have said, cook from scratch. Limit chicken to Shabbos and meat to YT. Since it's only two of you, you could go out to friends/family for Shabbos more than you will in the future. Let's see...lentils and beans are excellent sources of protein. Homemade bread is wonderfully inexpensive, and tasty too. I bake every week, and I wouldn't know what to do with a bread machine! Don't bother buying one.

Do you have a dryer? Don't use it but hang your laundry on a clothesline instead. Run only full loads.

You can save dishwater to flush the toilet with, to lower your water bill. Limit showers to ten minutes or so, every other day. (Seriously. If you're not an athlete, and you wear deodorant, and you change your clothes, you're not going to stink.)

Do you really need cell phones and internet? If so, consider getting rid of your landline if you have one.

Don't pay for haircuts. You can cut your DH's hair with an electric shaver thingy and get a friend to cut yours. You can wash your own sheitel, or better yet, don't wear one.

Fun can be frugal. Go out for picnics (uh, can you do that in Brooklyn?). Browse libraries instead of stores. Scour the internet for free concerts/shiurim/whatever in your area.

Consider taking on a side job (selling things on ebay? freelance writing?).

I can't stress enough DO NOT use a credit card!!!!! Too many otherwise sensible people fall into the trap of "oh it's free money." But then you have to worry about interest accruing and you end up spending more than you need to. We've never had a credit card and G-d willing we never will.

We live on not much more than $800/month, in Jerusalem (which is supposedly comparable with NYC?), before expenses, and we make it work. You'll be fine :-)

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, Apr 04 2013, 1:42 pm

If you want to manage on just $100 a week for food --- and you'll need to if you want to squeeze internet, utility bills, and metrocards into your remaining $400 ---- you'll need to make careful choices. A price book is a great idea but even more important is focusing on several low-cost items that you can plan meals around.

To stay at $100 a week, I'd suggest:

--- Having an egg-based dinner 2-3 times a week. Omelettes, frittatas, things like that. But choose inexpensive fillings.

--- If your stomach can tolerate it (mine can't), center one or two meals around dried beans or lentils. I wouldn't recommend quinoa; although high in protein, it's an expensive grain.

--- Center one or two meals around a hearty vegetable soup, something like pea soup or cabbage soup.

--- Not buying prepared cereals. Buy rolled oats (e.g., large containers of ShopRite or other generic brand oats; bulk is sometimes but not always cheaper) and cook that.

--- Give up all red meat except for 1 lb. of ground beef for Shabbat; make that into sweet and sour meatballs or meatloaf.

--- Buy one chicken per week, for Shabbat dinner. I know people who roast a chicken and carve it, as opposed to cutting it up into serving pieces; the advantage is that there is often enough left over on the bones that you can get another meal out of it.

---Sticking for the most part to a few types of fruits and vegetables that are relatively inexpensive, such as bananas, grapefruits, carrots, cabbage. As much as it helps to buy foods in season, and as much as it helps to buy things at good prices, the fact is that it's almost impossible to get an apple for as little as you get a banana. (I can buy a banana for as little as .25; I can almost never get an apple for less than .65, and even that is rare.) Red peppers even on sale are quite pricey. That doesn't mean you can never have an apple or a red pepper, but it does mean that your staple fruits and vegetables should be those that have a lower per-serving cost. Remember that price per pound isn't the only consideration; it's how much a serving costs.

-- Don't buy snack foods like cookies or chips, ever, period. Once you open the floodgates, it's hard to close them again. Not only are these foods pricey, but they make you hungry, so that you'll eat more.

--- Don't drink anything but water. Same reason as above; not only do juices and sodas cost money, but they make you hungrier.

--- Baking bread and challah does save money, but it's hard to do if you work full time. Try it once or twice with dry yeast packages, and if you can see yourself continuing to do it, buy bulk yeast in jars; much of the cost of baking is in the cost of yeast. But keep the yeast jar refrigerated; it spoils quickly.

--- It's very hard to afford things like fresh fish on a tight budget, but you can probably make room for a few inexpensive cans of sardine or tuna (as in $1 each) per week.

--- You can use a container of baking soda, a bottle of vinegar, and a bit of dishwashing liquid for almost all of your cleaning needs. (Even water cleans well if applied with enough force.) You can use half the amount of detergent in the washing machine, especially if you give your clothes a quick rinse before you put them in the wash.

oliveoil

Thu, Apr 04 2013, 2:28 pm

JoyIntheMorning - $400 sounds like a lot for a few bills! I also live in Brooklyn. Our internet is $30 per month, our cell phones together are $50 per month, and utilities averages to $100 per month (less during winter, more during summer). So that's about $200, which leaves $600 for everything else. Oh, maybe you're right. I forgot about the metrocards. Well, OP, are you commuting daily or just occasionally need to get somewhere? That makes a huge difference.

OP - divide that $800 down so you can really see where everything's going. How much are you paying for utilities, phone bills and internet?

Pomegranate is one of the most expensive places to shop.

I actually don't think you need to do anything drastically frugal, but if you haven't had to think about prices at all until now I can see that it would feel overwhelming.

You need to decide what's important to you.
I don't use swiffers because I feel they don't clean properly, so I use a mophead that I can throw in the washing machine when I'm done. Rags can also go in the washing machine. But, at times I switch to bounty and I make it work because it's important to me.

Or, another example. It's important to me to eat healthy, and it's not easy for me. I make sure to prepare my food in the morning before I go to work, but healthy food tends to be "container food" and I HATE shlepping home and washing out used containers. So I often (not always) buy disposable containers and yes, I throw them out at work after I'm done. But, I don't mind eating very little animal protein, so I save there.

You need to work out what's important to you and what you can live without, and go from there.

What kind of foods do you eat? Sometimes, small changes can make a big difference financially. If you buy a lot of yogurt, switch to big containers where you spoon out as much as you want. They are cheaper for 2 reasons - 1) because they're not individually packaged, 2) you take just as much as you want - there's no feeling of having to finish it because it's 1 container like with the individual ones.

Sometimes there can be huge differences in prices between stores. Last night I was in one store and was going to buy lettuce, but it was $6.40 for the 3 andyboy hearts of romaine. I left it and went to my other (almost always cheaper) store this morning and got the same thing for $3.00...

Do you use 6 different cleansers? You can usually use the same one or two for pretty much everything.

Often buying bulk is actually cheaper, as long you stick to buying things you reallyl need and use.

celestial

Thu, Apr 04 2013, 3:38 pm

I really don't like cell phones. I saved a lot of money by getting a tracphone that I use for emergencies (you pay in advance, so I'll put $20 and not have to pay again for a few months). Every other communication is through email, facebook, or google voice. I text exclusively through google voice, and place and receive calls through it, too. It just so happens that works for my situation - I work near home, don't really need to have long phone conversations for much of anything (and when I do I plan in advance to be by the computer), and texts are usually not about official or time sensitive things and can wait to be answered until I get to a computer.

celestial

Thu, Apr 04 2013, 3:48 pm

I'm finding the tips very helpful!

I also try and budget my food to $100/month. Really I can afford slightly more but I am for 100. This is much easier when I shop through allfreshkosher.com. They may not be rock-bottom prices, but it helps for me to have the total tallied as I go, and be able to sit and ponder as much as I want in my PJs without having the pressure of trying to do math in a crowded store. And I can definitely keep it to about $100 a week, and that's even with getting juice and yogurt and other stuff like that.

That, and the fact that I plan every meal in advance, has been the most helpful thing to me. If I just went according to whim I wouldn't cook that much (because I would get distracted and tired and succumb to takeout) or I would go to the most convenient store and get way too much because I was shopping on an empty stomach. That's when I could easily spend over $200 a week on groceries without putting that much thought into it.

Oh - another thing that helps a lot is that we usually go out for Shabbos meals. That's a necessity less so for money and more so because otherwise I would be bored out of my mind spending all Shabbos in my apartment, and I can't always afford guests.

We often do Friday night at home, though, and it's always really simple. Buy an eggplant, roast it, babaganoush. Can of chickpeas, zaatar hummous. Simple challah. Vegetable soup. Lettuce salad with avocado. Sometimes I bake cookies. That's it! Always more than fills us up and we sprawl on the couch with books more than satiated, and the whole thing was not expensive in the least.