Our family has some very exciting news! Read more right over here.
BJ’s Wholesale Club
For those of you with a BJ’s Wholesale Club nearby, did you know you can use manufacturer’s coupons there (including printable coupons)? You can also stack these with BJ’s store coupons found here.
But it gets even better: BJ’s allows multiple coupons to be redeemed on multi-packs of "individual-for-sale" packaged items (i.e. if you buy a pack of toothpaste that includes three individual toothpaste tubes, you can use three coupons on the one item, most store only accept one coupon on an item like this.)
If you are not already a member of BJ’s, it might be worth a trip to price compare and see if you could save money by becoming a member. You can go here to download a free one-day pass (you will be charged an extra 15% if you purchase anything, though, so it’s not exactly "free").
Have you shopped at BJ’s Wholesale Club? If so, I’d love to hear whether you think purchasing a membership is worth the investment.
Financial Shape in 2008: Monthly check-up
In case anyone was paying attention, I completely skipped this feature last month. Vacations, sickness, and other things got in the way and I just decided to take the month off from an official update. But never fear, Financial Shape in 2008 didn’t go away permanently and with the dawn of September, here’s a quick look back on how we’re doing on our goals for 2008:
Here’s our update:
Short Term Financial Goals for 2008
1) Have our fully-funded emergency fund in place (6 months’ worth of living expenses) by the end of April. As of March 11, 2008–DONE!
2) Switch health insurance plans and open an HSA. We
were approved for our new health insurance plans in April and have also
set up our HSA. Done!
3) Start up an IRA and invest at least 5-10% of Jesse’s income in this. Started in March. (We plan to increase this to 12-15% of Jesse’s income as soon as we purchase our home.)
4) Open up a mutual fund for each of our children and invest $50 per child per month in it. Started in March.
5) Save up and invest $30,000 this year towards paying cash (100% down) for a house in 3-5 years. Now
that Goals 1-4 are finished, we’re working super hard on Goal #5!
The past two months have been much more encouraging for us–which was a real blessing after a few months of car problems, unexpected expenses, and medical bills. Not only were we able to purchase a new-to-us van (thanks to the payout from our insurance after the wreck combined with some extra income-earning things we did), but we were also able to build our six-month emergency fund back up, and put a couple thousand dollars in our house savings.
We look back and aren’t exactly sure how all of that happened, but we are humbly grateful to God for His blessing and provision! He never fails us!
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How did you do in July and August? Whether
or not you posted financial goals for 2008, please take a moment to
post about your financial successes and failures in July and August and the areas
you hope to improve in September. Then, come back here and leave your link
below. If you don’t have a blog or would rather share anonymously, feel
free to leave your update in a comment. Let’s all keep each other
accountable to be better stewards of
our resources!
Super Savings Saturday: This week’s $40 shopping trip and menu
Super Savings Saturday: This week’s $40 shopping trip and menu
Back by popular demand and because I actually went shopping this week, here’s what $40 total bought at CVS, Aldi, and Hen House:
Our CVS deal is worth mentioning since it would work well for a newbie:
Bought 2 Children’s Advils at $5.79 each, used 2 $1/1 coupons
Bought 2 boxes SmartStart priced at $4.59, on sale B1G1, used 2 $1/1 coupons
Paid with $12 in ECBs and $0.59, Got $11.98 ECBs back!(Read more about these deals and where to find the coupons here.)
Another deal I was excited about from Hen House: we got Kathrynne’s ultimate favorite yogurt Yoplait yogurt drinks for $0.48 per pack of six. (They were on sale for $1.98 and we used the $1.50 coupon here.)
Our combined three-store trip wasn’t anything incredible, but we got enough groceries to last us for the week, along with a few extra treats, and we spent right at $39!
Here’s the menu for this week:
BREAKFASTS
Cereal, fruit
Yogurt, fruit, homemade bread
Banana bread, fruit, yogurt smoothies
Fresh juice, English muffins, scrambled eggs
Homemade cinnamon rolls, fruit, yogurt
Breakfast burritos, fruit
Cereal, fruit
LUNCHES
PB&J, fruit, carrots
Cheese quesadillas, veggies
Baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese
Leftovers x 2
Split peas, brown rice, cottage cheese
Yogurt, banana bread, veggies
DINNERS
Lasagna casserole, homemade bread, salad, green beans
Beef hot dogs, potato salad, veggies, fruit, icecream bars
Italian meatballs over rice, homemade breadsticks, salad, steamed veggies
Beef sausage and onions, scalloped potatoes, grapefruit, homemade bread
Burritos, salad, fruit, corn
Grilled chicken, salad, homemade bread, fruit
Leftovers or dinner out
SNACKS–Veggies, banana bread, yogurt, fruit, cereal, cheese quesadillas, toast, cheese
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How’d you do this week? Post about the deals and
bargains you were able to snag this week or other ways you saved money
on your blog (with pictures, if possible!) and then come back here and
leave your link below. **To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post. Links
going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog
besides the direct link to your Super Savings Saturday post will be deleted.**
Frugal Friday: Fresh juice, winners, politics, and a short break
Frugal Friday: Fresh juice, winners, politics, and a short break
It’s Frugal Friday right over here. You won’t want to miss
my post on making fresh juice on a budget and the over a hundred other great contributions by penny-pinching zealots around the blogosphere!
Oh and I said I was going to announce some winners last night, didn’t I? Well, I’ve sort of been wrapped up in politics the last 24 hours (My hubby and I are self-described "political junkies" and this election go-around has certainly kept us on the edge of our seats!) so it slipped my mind to do the drawing. Sorry about that!
Without further ado, the five winners of Celebrate Simply are: Blaire (blaireruch@); Bethany (bethany.schenk@); Alison (alisongentry@); Holly (hrosener@); and czukowski (czukowski@). I’ve sent an email to each of you with further information. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Since this is Labor Day weekend and my husband is off from work for the long weekend, I’ll post the usual Super Savings Saturday and Saturday evening deal posts but will likely not be around much besides that so we can enjoy lots of quality family time. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
(Just had to share this picture of the girls taken last Saturday while we were out having a family day! Kaitlynn–in the stroller–just wasn’t quite so sure about the whole hat-wearing thing. It was hot and we were outside most of the day at an airshow and we had quite the time trying to keep it on her!)
Inbox Dollars: Make money reading emails
For those of you looking for something simple you can do to earn a little money on the side, you’ll want to check out InboxDollars. Back when
Jesse was in law school and we were barely making ends meet, getting
paid to read emails from InboxDollars was one thing I did to help add a little stream of
income.
Like CashCrate, you won’t get rich from InboxDollars, but if you are willing to take five minutes every day to read emails from various companies, you can earn a small bit each day. Just set up a separate free email inbox and then sign up with InboxDollars. Every day or every other day, take five or ten minutes to look through the emails and slowly start seeing your earnings add up!
Speaking of income-earning ideas, my best advice for you moms looking for something you can do from home would be to set aside an hour every day (I recommend naptime or late at night/early in the morning, if you have young children.) to focus on learning, researching, and trying out different money-making things.
Pick one or two things to start out with that only require an investment of time, not money–things like CashCrate, InboxDollars, Cash4Books, eBay, or blogging. Research online, observe what’s working for others, talk to others moms, and try things out to see how they work for you.
Don’t expect that you’ll start seeing money pour in right away, but if you see a little trickle, be encouraged and keep at it. Once you’ve gotten a couple things figured out, feel comfortable with those, and are seeing a little bit of income coming in from them, try adding in a few new things.
Over time, you’ll find two or three or five small things that work well for you and you can drop what’s not working for you and stick with what is. However, my biggest piece of advice is to work towards having multiple streams of income. If you do five small things everyday that take you around 12 minutes each and earn you $5 each, that’s about an hour of your time and $25 dollars per day! In many cases, diversifying your income-earning possibilities can dramatically increase the return on your investment of time.
That said, don’t try to do everything at once unless you want to create a recipe for disaster! Start slowly and be careful not to bite off more than you can chew! And don’t give up if something doesn’t work for you; not everything will. But keep trying, keep learning, keep at it, and you will eventually start seeing results.
Budgeting 101 – Part 2
I started off this series by encouraging you to set aside your excuses for why a budget won’t work and asking you to join me in this budgeting adventure. I’m excited that so many of you are listening in and considering how a budget might help you with your finances.
Determining
to step out of your comfort zone to try this budgeting thing is the
next step toward financial success. When there’s a will, there’s
usually a way. And we’ve certainly found this to be true in our own
lives.
Before we got married, my dad challenged my husband and I
to set down and make out a workable budget on paper. Talk about a great
exercise to really get to know one another during our engagement!
I
would highly recommend all engaged couples consider embarking on the
exercise of budget-making. It may be eye-opening to both of you!
Actually, whether you are engaged, newly-married, or celebrating your
thirty-five-year anniversary, I’d recommend you consider this
exercise–especially if you are struggling financially.
Where do you start?
Jesse
and I began by talking through every expenditure which we felt was a
necessity. Many people recommend writing down your income first and
then divvying it up into percentage brackets for the various
necessities and extras your budget might contain. If you are really
detail-oriented and a numbers person, this might work for you. But for
most of us, this would be overwhelming and we’d chuck the whole
budgeting thing before we even began.
Sit
down with your spouse (if you’re married) and start by listing your
basic living necessities: Tithe*, Shelter, Food, Clothing, Utilities,
Transportation.
There are other items which are likely
almost-necessities, but we’ll get to those later. I want you to focus
on keeping it simple! So we’ll start with the big items:
*Tithe:
If you are a Christian, I heartily encourage you to set aside 10% of
your gross income first thing to give to your local church. By
cheerfully giving of our firstfruits to God (even if we don’t feel like
we have extra for this!), we are demonstrating that God is the first
priority in life. God will bless you for your obedience to His commands
and your willingness to honor Him first
with your finances and to selflessly give to Him. And God can make the
90% of your income go farther than you ever thought possible–I’ve seen
this so clearly in our lives and in many other lives.
How much are you spending on rent or your mortgage per month? Write it down under the "Shelter" heading.
How much are you spending on groceries and eating out per month? Write it down under the "Food" heading.
How much are you spending on clothing per month? Write it down under the "Clothing" heading.
How much are you spending on utilities (electricity, water, gas bill, etc.) per month? Write it down under the "Utilities" heading.
How much are you spending on transportation (gas, car payments, car repair, etc.) per month? Write it down under the "Transportation" heading.
Now,
for some of you, you keep meticulous records and know exactly how much
you spend in all of those areas. For most, you probably have a very
basic idea but don’t know specifically. You might know how much your
rent or house payment is, or how much your car payment is, but that’s
about it. What do you do then?
Well, start by giving a basic estimate of what you think would cover all of your expenses in that category for a month. This
will likely not be totally accurate, but it’s just your starting point.
I’d recommend that you estimate high when you first start out–you’d
much rather get to lower the spending in that category, than to have to
raise it.
If you are paid weekly, divide the monthly amounts by
four and set aside that much each time you get paid. If you are paid
bi-weekly, divide it in half and set that aside with each paycheck.
If
your income is variable, we’ll talk more about how to budget on a
variable income in the near future, but for now, I recommend you take
into account how often and how much you are usually paid and then divvy
up the paycheck accordingly.
If you have no income, well, we’ll talk about that later, too. 🙂
When you get your paycheck, automatically deduct from it the above amount that you have alloted for each category. The main reason for doing this is to encourage you to begin developing the discipline of covering your most important expenses first. This will save you much financial headache and turmoil.
I
recommend you go ahead and pay the rent or mortgage payment (at least
write the check), pay the car payment (though I hope to convince you
soon that you shouldn’t ever take out a car payment again–ever! But that’s for another post!), and pay the utility bills as soon as possible.
I recommend you take out cash for clothing and food and stick those in two different envelopes to only
be used for food and clothing, respectively. If you’ve never used cash
like this before, we’ll talk more about the envelope system and why I
recommend it later. I just encourage you to try it for now. If you’re
like us, you’ll find that taking real cash with you to the store
instead of a credit card or even a debit card means you find it much
harder to part with and so you’re instinctively more careful about your
purchases.
For your gas, I’ll let you decide what is best. We
use our debit card for this and set aside a certain amount every two
weeks. This allows us to pay at the pump and saves us some time and
effort. It’s especially nice when I need to stop for gas while I’m out
by myself with the two girls. This is one of the few things we use our
debit card for. If you prefer cash or check, use that. I don’t
recommend using a credit card for anything,
but I’ll leave that option up to you if you’re still not convinced
about shredding those up yet. Again, we’ll talk more about that in the
future.
At the end of the month, stop and evaluate how this system worked for you. Do
you need to increase any of the categories because your estimations
were off? If so, re-work your budgeted amounts. There is absolutely
nothing wrong with doing this. In fact, it is to be expected. Your
budget is not a strict slavemaster, it is a guideline and tool that
grows and changes with you as you move throughout life. It will change
with the ebbs and flows of life and when you are first starting out, it
will need lots of tweaking.
If you have money leftover in any of
the categories, roll it over to the next month. I recommend you wait at
least a few months before lowering any category as you’d rather have
some extra than not enough.
Once you feel confident in the above
exercise of budgeting your basic necessities, you are now ready to move
on in the direction of budgeting more or all of your income. We’ll
discuss that more in-depth in the next installment of this series. Stay
tuned!
If you have a budget, I’d love to hear how you got started with budgeting and the blessings which have resulted from budgeting.
Originally published February 2008.
24-Hour Giveaway: 5 copies of Celebrate Simply
My friend and author, Nancy Twigg, who writes on simplifying our lives, frugality, and focusing on what’s most important in her newsletter, has generously offered to give away five copies of her book, Celebrate Simply, to my readers here.
Have you ever dreamed of family celebrations that leave you exhilarated
rather than exhausted? Overjoyed instead of overwhelmed? Well, then
you’ll want to get a copy of Nancy’s book!
Celebrate Simply is your guide to simpler, more meaningful holidays. It’s a small book that is jam-packed with encouragement and practical help to allow you to take the stress and expense out of special occasions.
Dave Ramsey says, "…Not only will Celebrate Simply teach you how to save money, it will also show you how to enrich and add meaning to your celebrations as well."
To enter to win one of the five copies I’m giving away, just leave a comment on this post in the next 24 hours. Include your name and a valid email address in the spaces provided. I’ll randomly choose and post five winners Thursday evening.
Work-from-home idea: LiveOps
Lauri emailed me about a work-from-home idea she’s done before which I thought some of you might be interested in. She wrote:
I’m a single mom, working full-time, but I did this job
before I had my baby and now when I can get a sitter for a couple of hours
during the week.I work for a company that operates a virtual call
center. There are several popular companies to contract with, the one I
have the most experience with is LiveOps.
I take inbound direct response calls (there are some outbound lines, but no one starts there). Basically, it’s people calling to order
something they saw on TV or in a magazine. Here are some of the details:Requirements:
- A dedicated landline (no voicemail, caller ID, etc. on the line, bare
bones)–I write off the $30 a month for a landline I use as a business expense on my income taxes since I don’t use this line for anything else.- A phone with a headset, no wireless–mine is a Plantronics
all-in-one phone and headset that cost about $75 (there are cheaper ones
out there). This also was another business expense that was a tax write-off.- A computer with broadband (certain system requirements, but not too stringent)
- $30 for a background check once hired.
The work:You are an independent contractor making at least $0.25 per talk
minute (there are bonuses available at times as well). Shifts are available
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are no guarantees of talk time per 30 minute
shift but calls usually at least trickle in and increase over time as
you build stats with different products after successful calls.To stay
active you must take at least one call per 42 days. So it’s something
you can schedule yourself as much or as little as you like. Lots of
stay-at-home mom’s do the job from what I see on their inter-company
forums. And work will be picking up with the busy holiday season
coming.Honestly, I find it pretty easy–you just follow the scripts
that pop for whatever product the person is calling you for. Follow the
script, be friendly, rinse, repeat. And I love the extra money.There are a few other companies out there besides LiveOps that do this as well. I
worked for ACD Direct, who take calls for NPR and PBS pledge drives. It
was great work, but I couldn’t meet their minimum requirements after
having my son.
I’d love to hear from the rest of you if you have experience working with LiveOps or a similar opportunity. Tell us how it worked or works for you and what advice or helpful tips you’d have for other moms who are interested in getting started with something like this.
**Note: If you work from home and would be interested in sharing your story to be an inspiration to other women, please email me with a brief paragraph or two telling me about yourself and how you are earning an income from home.**
My Swiffer came!
I was so excited to get the mail yesterday and find a box containing a brand-new Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kit in it! I can’t wait to try these out on our floors–it might be just the motivation I’m needing right now to do some cleaning!
A big thanks to CouponMom for giving away 500 Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kits and for letting me know as soon as she posted about it so I could sign up for one before they were all gone.
Did anyone else get one, too? I hope I’m not the only one!
By the way, if you regularly use Swiffer products, there are a bunch of printable coupons here. (Thanks, Samantha!)
Tired of Missing Deals?Join Our Hot Deals List!
Click here to sign upSuper Savings Saturday (and winners of the Bertolli giveaway!)
Super Savings Saturday (and winners of the Bertolli giveaway!)
The five winners of the Bertolli Premium Pasta Sauces are: Sue (marklovessue@), Shaunta (taychambers@), Michele (mflaherty@), Ram (ram1118@), Hil’Lesha (LilacButterfly@) Winners have been notified via email. Thanks to everyone who participated!
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And now for Super Savings Saturday… I have nothing to report this week since I stayed home all week. My husband was kind enough to make a quick trip to Aldi for us and that was it. I’ve not so much as even touched my coupon box and am just trying to get our home back into our and some semblance of a routine back into place.
However, next week, I hope to hit some deals hot and heavy seeing as we’re running low on a few things. I also hope to bring the $40 weekly menu feature back to life, too. So stay tuned!
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How’d you do this week? Post about the deals and bargains you were able to snag this week or other ways you saved money on your blog (with pictures, if possible!) and then come back here and leave your link below. **To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post. Links
going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog
besides the direct link to your Super Savings Saturday post will be deleted.**
Guest Post: Living long-term on lower income
Guest Post from Lyn
My husband and I since we have been married (4+ years) have been living on a lower-than-average income. He works with teens in a group home. It is a very challenging job but he enjoys it very much. I am at home and live with chronic illness. We live only on my husband’s income.
My job is being "keeper of my home" and a helper to my husband. With the limited energy I have, I cook, care for my home and try to be as frugal as possible to the best of my ability. There are days I am successful and days that I am not. The amazing thing has been that I have been able to remain home on one lower-income salary. God continues to look out for us.
Several years back we wanted to simply get out of debt. At first, we started to chip away at medical bills–bills we had due to a terrible health insurance plan at the time. We progressed onto consumer debt and have fully paid one debt off and are hoping to pay off the rest in the very near future.
Last year we had to come up with money for a roof repair of $2,000, numerous car repairs, and have recently had to have a new toilet installed. The encouraging part though has been that we have paid off well over $10,000 the last 2 years in medical bills, debt, home repairs and car repairs, all while living on a very modest income.
We were still able to achieve this when last fall due to a downsizing of my husband’s work hours we lost $800-$900/month in pay. It was difficult but it also showed us how to scale back to our basic needs and to be thankful for all that we do have.
Our salary this year will be around $21-22K net. It is only from the Lord, really that we are able to do all of this. My husband has never made more than a mid-30K net income (this was one year with much overtime, often working 70-80 hours per week). Otherwise it’s always been in the $20K range or less.
We live in New England, where the winters are very cold and the cost of living is high. We own a small modular home and are responsible for all repairs, upkeep, taxes, and insurance.
Some practicals on how we achieve this:
::Putting all extra cash (holiday pay, income tax refunds, government rebate, extra from 3-pay check months twice per year) towards debt (*Tip, once you are out of debt, do the same to build savings.)
::Not going out just to spend (extra money is always put towards debt, bills or future expenses).
::Padding some of our bills ahead as we can (planning ahead really helps)
::Not going on vacations (for now). Our last vacation was our honeymoon.
::Giving up cable and reducing all categories of income (We cut everything when husband’s hours were reduced.)
::Utilizing coupons–I tend to use those that are for healthy foods and will use coupons for free or close-to-free items (thanks to moneysavingmom!). This really helps our budget. (One of the only non-necessity items we have kept is our internet because I feel it saves me so much more than what I pay for it.)
::Stay home most days/live with one car
::Eat out minimally and when we do it’s done inexpensively
::Make a game out of being frugal. This helps you to be creative with what you have, instead of focusing on what you don’t.
::Shop at home with what you already have and look for solutions to your needs instead of buying more.
::We each have a small stipend each pay day and can do with that amount what we please (the rest is budgeted). It really helps our mindset to have something to be able to spend if desired.
::Choosing to live in smaller and less expensive housing (reduced utilities, less to clean and maintain)
The best thing anyone can do if they live on a smaller income is to get out of debt. Do whatever you can to accomplish this as it will help you to better manage your money in this challenging economy.
Once we are out of debt we will have a little wiggle room. However, we will still need to be able to manage on a smaller income, and we shall.
There are times I am discouraged by this, but for the most part I am grateful to be where we are at and to have what we do. I find my efforts and abilities are best utilized in helping to maximize the income we do have. In this season of my life it is easier to try and spend less than to be concerned about earning more.
To be honest, it can be challenging to put more money into savings on a lower income. I continue to be positive and look for ways to cut back and spend less. The more creative and proactive I become, the less time I have to worry, feel defeated or feel sorry for myself. We are blessed and there are so many in this world that have much less than we do.
Lyn is a full-time homemaker who resides in lovely rustic New England. She enjoys frugal and simple living and strives for a balance of both while living with long-term chronic illness. Although living on a smaller income, she feels blessed with all the Lord provides, as many have so much less. She can be contacted at spendingsimply (at) yahoo (dot) com.
Frugal Friday: It’s been a quiet week and I’ve loved it!
(My mom just gave me this quilt. It was made by my great grandma using pieces from the dresses my grandma wore when she was a little girl!)
It’s Frugal Friday on my other blog today. You won’t want to miss all the great tips and hints shared there. And I’d love to have you weigh in on my question on getting rid of set-in stains.
It’s been a really good week here, despite some bumps in the road. After weeks of going-going-going, I’ve stayed home every single day this week. And I’ve loved it.
I’ve been cooking and cleaning and just enjoying my family. It’s been wonderful and I’m hoping the trend can continue now that our vacations and travels and other things are behind us.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy short seasons of excitement and adventure, but I always love coming back to our quiet, peaceful home and routine. I’m itching to take back up my handwork, do more experimenting in the kitchen, spend more time playing and reading with the girls, and keep the house more organized.
What about you? Do you like staying home, or going and doing, or a little of both?
Hospitality on a budget
My
family of 5 has been keeping a grocery budget for two years now, but I
have had to create a separate money envelope for "hospitality" to set
aside cash for extra groceries for when we bring dinners over to
friends and when we bring snacks to church and Bible studies.I
just can’t seem to fit meals for our friends into our weekly grocery
budget. I also feel that if I sign up to bring a meal, it needs to have
bread, salad, and a dessert. Is that what you do as well?Last
night I took a meal of taco salad, corn bread, and brownies over to a
family (all relatively inexpensive items, or so I thought…) but I
ended up paying $12 for all the ingredients (it was actually double
that, but I made two meals for different families out of all the
ingredients I used).With
what we are putting to pay off a school loan each month, we have little
room to spare in the meals we take to our friends. But I still want to
be able to help them out. I still have 3 more meals to go before the
month is up!! Do you have ideas on money-saving meals for friends you could help me out with? – JoAnna
Great question, JoAnna! I think that having a giving, hospitable spirit–even when you are on a tight budget–is so
important. Giving to others blesses us so much in return! However,
giving to others on a limited budget usually means we need to get
really creative!
I remember once when my husband was in law
school and we were on a bare-bones budget a family we knew had gone
through a really traumatic time. We wanted to take them some food and
show them that we cared but we had next to nothing left in our grocery
budget to work with.
What did I do? I put on my thinking cap,
and got to work! I looked through my freezer and cupboards and was able
to scrounge up some snack goodies (that I’d gotten free with coupons!)
and then I made them some homemade pizza and a few other simple frozen
foods.
To spruce things up a bit, I wrote out pretty little
notes with encouraging Scriptures on them and taped them to each item.
Even though we couldn’t do much, I could do what I could do from a
heart of love and I know that meant more than if I’d brought them an
elaborate, five-star dinner.
So, my biggest advice is to keep it simple and focus on showering others with love and I’m sure your friends will be blessed–even if it’s a very frugal meal!
Just a few practical ideas:
-Plan your company meals around what you already have on hand and what is on sale. When
we are going to have company or bring food to someone, I look first
through our cupboards and through the store fliers and plan the menu
based upon that–just like I plan our own menus.
-Plan in advance for hospitality.
If you have a little extra room in your budget one week, buy some
ingredients to make up muffins or soup to stick in your freezer and
have on hand for taking meals to people. Or, double up your own meals
when cooking and freeze one to share. If you already have a few things
in your freezer to work with, it really makes it much easier to take
food to people or to have people over on the spur of the moment.
-Bring breakfast on Saturday morning.
A lot of times, breakfast or brunch foods can be less expensive and a
nice change of pace for a family–and who wouldn’t love a good homemade
breakfast to wake up to on the weekend. A pan of homemade cinnamon
rolls and some fruit would be simple to make and quite
inexpensive–especially if you used in season fruit. Or what about
bagels, muffins, and juice?
-Make up a pot of soup and a loaf of bread. There are so many soups which are inexpensive to make and can be so filling and delicious!
-Pair up with another friend.
If you know of another friend who might also be short on finances or
time, ask if she’d like to help you with making a meal. One of you can
make the main dish and bread, another the salad and dessert, and you’ve
just pulled off a great meal for half the cost. Or you could even go
together with three more friends and each only make one thing!
-Make homemade pizza, a green salad, and cookies or brownies. This is another very inexpensive, filling, and delicious dinner.
-Offer to bring over a basket of frozen goodies instead of a whole dinner.
Look through your cupboards and freezer and figure out some items you
can make with what you have on hand. Sometimes instead of making a full
meal, I’ll just make up some banana bread, muffins or rolls, and some
cookies and put them in a pretty basket with some notes of
encouragement taped onto them. Bring it over and tell the family they
can stick everything in their freezer and use them when they need to.
-Make up a basket of mixes.
I’ve always thought this was a nice gesture and can be done quite
economically. Best of all, the family can use them whenever they like!
You could make up a simple bean soup mix, bread mix, and cookie mix and
you have yourself a meal in a basket!
Those
are just a few ideas. I’d love to hear from the rest of you: How do you
afford to be hospitable or to take food to others on a limited budget?
What ideas do you have for JoAnna and the rest of us?
Originally published March 2008.