We didn’t have the money candy this year so we locked up the house early and trick-or-treated with our toddler in a different neighborhood. This little niche of suburbia really went all out – people openly admitting to spending $200 plus on candy only to have it gone in two hours. Two different houses had their garages tricked out to be haunted houses and one place had rented a bounce house for their front yard! Normally I might feel a tad guilty for getting without giving, but our toddler doesn’t yet understand the trick or treating concept. We could only get him to walk up to 3 front doors and the rest of the time he just kept staring and pointing in excitement at things like a giant Spiderman. (worn by some other kid’s dad of course)

In other news, our recent trip to Ukraine followed by significant water damage to our cabinets and floors has put our family finances severely into the red. We are just starting to make a plan that will get us back to normal. It involves attempting to do enough of the work ourselves that we don’t burn through ALL the insurance money. You know you’re living paycheck to paycheck when you contemplate putting the deductible on credit.

Most convenience appliences - Avoid buying any pseudo waffle-iron gadgets that have two iron plates you press together to make evenly formed quesadillas, grilled sandwich “triangles”, or perfectly grill-marked paninis.  Even actual waffle irons are a stretch when you can just make pancakes.  These gadgets are an unnecessary expense and a pain to clean.  Use your frying pan.  You don’t have to add tons of butter or oil, just enough to avoid sticking.  You will get over the absence of grill marks.  For better-looking quesadillas, use medium to low heat and place the flat bottom of your clean teapot on top of the quesadilla as it cooks.  The bit of extra weight will help the cheese melt and tortillas brown evenly.

**Note on blenders:  It is my opinion that if you have a blender, you DON’T need the Magic Bullet or any knockoff.  You MIGHT still be able to justify a food processor OR chopping device, especially if you can things in quantity or make your own salsa. (both great way to save $ when ingredients are purchased in season and on sale!)

More Plastic Containers for Food Storage – If you ever buy things in tubs, like butter, cool whip, peanut butter, mayonnaise, etc.  these containers are easily washed and re-used to hold leftovers.  Yes, your containers will be all different sizes and the lids aren’t interchangeable but they are free.  Get over it.

Packaged meat marinades – why overpay when it is so easy to make your own? You really just need three ingredients:  Some sort of acid, like vinegar, wine or citrus juice to tenderize, some combination of spices, and some oil to hold it all together.  I’ve been using Orange Juice, Soy Sauce, Ginger and Olive oil to marinate chicken before I grill and guests keep asking for the recipe.  Another benefit to making your own marinade is how much easier it is to control the amount of salt, sugar or preservatives/coloring going into your food.  You created the deliciousness, so you won’t spend time trying to decipher those mysterious five-syllable mystery ingredients from the paragraph of additives on the marinade label.

Soft drinks – If the empty calories, sugar and caffine weren’t enough to make you give them up, their unnecessary cost should be.  Purchased in a 12-pack, you’ll spend about thirty cents a can.   On another health note, some studies have shown the phosphoric acid in colas harms bone density.  Drink homemade iced tea or water instead.  Flavor them using the same economy-sized bottle of lemon juice you keep on hand for your marinades.

Any produce that isn’t in season – I hinted at this earlier.  We all know a balanced, varied diet is better for our health.  A great way to change things up is to buy what’s in season and ON SALE and find ways to cook with that.  The most immediate four months are below and you can find the complete list at About.com.

• March – pineapples, mangoes, broccoli, lettuce
• April – pineapples, mangoes, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce
• May – cherries, pineapples, apricots, okra, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce
• June – watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, cherries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, corn, lettuce

Men’s Health recently published a list of “The Healthiest Cheap Food in America” featuring twelve food trade-offs based on the premise that a similar item with equal, almost equal, or better nutritional content (vitamins, minerals, grams of protein, etc.) should be eaten when it saves you money.  I wanted to share the article since I agree with more than half their suggestions.

Here are three I’ve already been doing:

1.  Eating Eggs for breakfast.  Very cheap protein source.  Also try buying whey protein powder in bulk to make smoothies by . . .

2. Using frozen Blueberries and  fresh Bananas.  These are some of the lower priced fruits year round.

3. Choosing chicken legs whenever chicken breasts aren’t priced low enough.  Nutritionally they are almost equal.  Help compensate for the higher fat content by removing the skin before cooking.

Two I’ve just started:

1. I’m using cabbage wherever possible.  (getting back to my Ukrainian roots with this one)  Using the nutritional info presented in this article, I could argue coleslaw is as healthier than a tossed salad. (providing I watch the quantity of sugar and fat in my dressing of course)  Chopped green cabbage, diced yellow onions and shredded carrots; I challenge you to find three cheaper vegetables.

2. I’m learning to like cauliflower.  By now you’ve all heard of using mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes to lower your carb count.  Here’s another even more unique way to enjoy cauliflower, courtesy of my mother-in-law, famous for her 3 ingredient meals:

Break apart a head of cauliflower.  Boil the cauliflower until it starts to soften but is not mushy.  Drain.

Whisk together a couple eggs, add some salt and pepper.

Preheat a skillet on medium, have some olive oil handy.

Soak the cauliflower pieces in the egg mixture (if you’re really fancy you can also roll them in breadcrumbs)

Fry the cauliflower in the olive oil, basting with any leftover egg mixture.

Surprisingly good!

Finally, there’s one item I really don’t agree with: substituting canola oil for olive oil.  Personally I’d rather buy decent (NOT high end, just decent) olive oil when it goes on sale and use it sparingly.  I just don’t think the flavor sacrifice is worth it and I think the jury’s still out on whether vegetable oils are actually any better for you than any other fat sources used to cook with.

All this talk of food is making me hungry; its time for lunch.

The past few days I’ve been reflecting on how lucky I am.  A recent visitor to this site pointed out how it is clear from the little details I write about (saving for plane tickets, cheap Christmas gifts, etc.) that my family and I are not truly poor.  He’s right.  At least we were ABLE to see our extended family and give gifts at all.  We’ve gained quite a bit of ground since I started this site back in 04-05, when I stole condiments and toilet paper from fast food restaurants, worked 3 jobs, drove a car without heat or functional wiring and never had enough to pay the winter heating bills.  Yesterday I put in a full day at the corporate grind but was able to come home around 5, eat homemade soup and take a quick walk to the park with the family.  Sure, I had to put in extra work hours after the family went to bed.  Sure, we live paycheck to paycheck when business is slow, but things could be so much worse.

Some examples:

My uncle is a butcher.  This used to be a well-paid skilled trade but with the advent of Wal-marts and the like his hours/pay/benefits were increasingly cut.  When his father gifted him the rest of the money he needed to finally have hip replacement surgery (after 3 years of a painful limp) he was laid off, in part due to the time off he required to recover from surgery.  His daughter-in-law’s family of five lives in his basement since they can’t afford to live anywhere else while the household’s single earner looks for full-time work.  They pool resources for food and advise their son against borrowing money to go to college.

A friend inherited her mother’s home, the home she grew up in, but can’t afford to pay the mortgage.  She is trying to figure out how to create a makeshift kitchen upstairs so she can rent out the second story.  This way she could pool that money with what she makes in her minimum wage jobs and possibly stay in the house.  Single and without a working vehicle until her friend can fix it, she has to hitch rides to work and leave her 6 and 8 year old sons at home all day, compulsively checking in with them by phone when they’re not in school.  This is the only way she can put food on the table.

Sometimes what you learn to do when desperate becomes habit and continues to help save money: I stopped stealing toilet paper but still take home extra condiments and napkins.  I do my own car maintenance.  Friends know me to accept any free stuff I think I can use.

My uncle returns any clothing gifts if he knows they’re from somewhere he can buy food instead.  He figures that when he DESPERATELY needs new jeans instead of kind-of needing them, he’ll look for some at Goodwill or Salvation Army first.   He also only eats out about three times a year; I know one of those times is on his birthday.  I wish he didn’t need to do this.  At the same time, I admire his ability to plan ahead.  How would the world be different if everyone stopped eating out and sold or returned items they wouldn’t use?

One of my friend’s jobs is at a resale shop.  She looks for better work but never wants to leave entirely, in part because of the discounted and free clothes/furniture/household items she can get for her family.  She frequents the day-old produce and baked goods.  She haggles anytime she can.

For now, I can pay my mortgage and carefully scrape together money for extras.  If the time comes again where I can’t do either . . . I’m even more grateful to have family and friends.

December first is here and we’re still eating Thanksgiving leftovers.  The last of the turkey and a few slices of cheese from the meat and cheese tray went into a casserole yesterday with lots of rice, a can of black beans, a can of  tomato sauce and half a tub of aging salsa from the fridge.  Yes, a main ingredient here is white rice which is getting a bad rap all over the place but we’ll  be eating this with a serving of stir fry veggies from the freezer.   When you can’t afford a diet of nothing but lean protein and fresh vegetables, you can use your pantry and adopt portion control.

My wife has been checking into some healthy eating/living blogs for economical recipes and forwarded me 5 Ways to Stretch Your Food Dollar and Shrink Your Waistline on ronisweigh.com.  We’ve already been buying meat in bulk and bulking it up by adding veggies but I never thought to water down juices and dressings.  Genius! I already feel guilty when we don’t make our own dressing but I hate paying for a healthier ranch I can’t buy in bulk and having it gone in a week.  There’s one more thing we can stretch this month.

In case you haven’t been reading lately,  we’ve got just over two weeks until we fly home for Christmas (and to weeks of free meals) and we’re not buying any groceries in between.  This is both to save money and out of principle: we will experience restraint and our holiday snacking and home cooked meals will be that much more special.  There is ONE exception: we plan to buy just enough frozen and/or cheap fruit so our toddler can get enough fruits and veggies each day.  Plus, we’re still working on that mega bag of whey protein powder and blending it with frozen blueberries and milk is as close as we’re getting to dessert until the week before Christmas.

Speaking of which: 24 days and two paychecks ’till Christmas . . .

I highly recommend drawing names.  Last year, in the wake of more than a few layoffs, my wife’s extended family agreed to this.   Three of us (my wife, my son and I) will buy only three presents – our contribution to gifts for the entire extended family of seven aunts, two uncles, four grandparents and of course all the cousins.  They also set a modest $30 limit per gift.  I can’t tell you how it comforts me to know that her family is taken care of for less than $100.  If two of the relatives we drew weren’t under the age of 19, I’d be buying and giving everyone silver for Christmas like I’ve been saying since 2008.  I’m so glad we’ve spent the last two years building a security stash of gold and silver but I can’t project my worries about the economy onto an innocent kid.  I may be a softy but I know how I’d feel as a 10 year old tearing open the wrapping paper to see a couple hunks of metal.  Hopefully the family members reading my blog have already bought some.