NWR (Not Wedding Related)

advanced search

My Anti-Recession Plan

Online Users: 1,288 guest(s), 0 user(s). Replies: 45

ginmal Posts : 396 Registered: 1/11/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 12:43 PM Go to message in response to: carebearny1999

I have been doing something similar for quite a few months now...only I do breakfast muffins...I make bannana nut, applebran...etc. And a REALLY cheap way to make great muffins is to follow a basic muffin recepie..(ie...flour, sugar, baking powder, milk) and add jarred baby foods for extra moisture and flavor...it works GREAT and is so cheap. I also make batches of "breakfast barritos" (potatoes, sausgae, egg, and cheese) all cooked together, then rolled in flour tortia...I put them in the freezer to be heated up for breakfast in the am. Simple, healthier, and MUCH cheaper than store bought versions. I have also been buying meats in bulk at sams, turning off the a/c during the day (I am in south Fla), got rid of all extras on our landline...basic phone ONLY, and I have been using LOTS of cupons. I grocery shop on Sundays now (instead of Saturdays like I used too) right after reading all the ads in the Sunday paper.

Bless your own day, leave mine alone!Innocent

 

july_2008 , virginia , october_2008 , florida , new_york , july_2006 , september_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply


Bride2008 Posts : 3,059 Registered: 3/28/06
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 1:51 PM Go to message in response to: ginmal

Gin - would you mind PMing me the muffin recipe that you use? I would love to try making it.

DH and I made simple changes. When we buy cereal, we buy the store brand and whichever one is on sale. We aren't picky enough to make it worth it to spend on the fancy stuff.

We also stock up on things like meat and frozen veggies when they are on sale. We walk to all of our local errands not to spend money on gas.

 

Don't make me go Brooklyn on you. I have brass knuckles and I know how to use them.

P.O.O.P.E.R. - People Offended by Offended People Executive Recruiter

july_2008 , new_york_metro , virginia , october_2008 , florida , new_york , july_2006 , september_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply


mrsJLA Posts : 445 Registered: 5/25/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 2:10 PM Go to message in response to: Bride2008

We received a second hand bread-machine & food-saver from MIL as well as a second stand alone freezer from a great aunt. (Actually most of our stuff has been handed down or given to us for the wedding, we only bought a handful of pieces of furniture for our house).

Because DH is an excellent cook - BTW he made the BEST artisan crust pizza last night, holy cow I love homemade pizza - and we have the storage space AND DH works for costco, we buy in bulk and freeze anything we can in individual size servings... For example, $16 buys 12-15 porkchops which lasts us for months.

We also buy flour and sugar and the basics for baking/cooking in bulk (rubbermaid containers are great here) and we buy the cat & dog food in bulk from Costco as well. A 20 lb bag of cat food lasts us up to 2 months @ $13 a bag. I used to feed all organic cat and dog food @ $60-70 a month, but now I just buy regular stuff (sorry kitties, we have to cut back too) and use leftover chicken and vegatables to make wet food for them sometimes. Nothing goes to waste.

We basically can get away with a $200 shopping trip to Costco once every month-month and a half with maybe 2-3 mini-trips for the supermarket or local produce place for fresh veggies... or those odd items for a special dinner... Unfortunately, we can't seem to buy fresh produce from Costco and eat it before it goes bad (that's a lot of fruit).

Also- if you love smoothies - I buy the costco yogurt ($10 for 18/24 or something like that) and bags of frozen berries and use the magic bullet (along with crushed ice and a little fruit juice) to make awesome yogurt smoothies in the AM.

Wedding Pictures and the Furbabies:

http://web.me.com/me182a

Lilypie Expecting a baby Ticker

july_2008 , new_york_metro , virginia , southern_shore_new_jersey , october_2008 , florida , new_york , july_2006 , september_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply

Mrslinnben Posts : 2,286 Registered: 6/4/07
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 2:11 PM Go to message in response to: Heidibride30

Heidi, a programalbe thermostat is the best! we have the temp set for 60 while we are at work, and no more than 67 when we are home....I turn it down & dh turns it up, so I just let him tinker with it...We too just put a hot water blanket over the hot water heater, maybe about a month or so ago, can't really tell the difference yet in the water temp.

I also unplug all the appliances that we are not using....saving on the electric bill.

july_2008 , upstate_hudson_valley , april_2007 , virginia , october_2008 , new_york , september_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply


mrsJLA Posts : 445 Registered: 5/25/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 2:16 PM Go to message in response to: Mrslinnben

Oh yes and brown-bagging it to work, lunch in our cafe costs $5-$10 on average!

Our other smart move was to buy Hybrid since I commute 40 miles one way. We have a Prius that gets up to 50+ mpg in summer and 45+ mpg in winter as well as a Ford escape Hybrid from 2006 that gets ~27-30mpg (DH drives that now).

Wedding Pictures and the Furbabies:

http://web.me.com/me182a

Lilypie Expecting a baby Ticker

july_2008 , upstate_hudson_valley , april_2007 , virginia , southern_shore_new_jersey , october_2008 , new_york , september_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply


TanisJ Posts : 2,673 Registered: 4/25/07
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 3:20 PM Go to message in response to: carebearny1999

Thanks Carebearny! I've only found one bread I like since I moved here. Its a lovely flax and bran, but it is the width of a baguette so I have to make 4 little sandwiches to equal one big sandwich and most the time I don't have the patience for it.

august_2008 , july_2008 , south_carolina , virginia , october_2008 , new_york , september_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply


sjhc132 Posts : 164 Registered: 3/18/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 7:02 PM Go to message in response to: TanisJ

WOW!!!! you ladies have a lot of awesome ideas...we try to buy in bulk as much as possible too...my ils have huge hookups with some local minnownite *sp farmers in our area so we usually get bulk amounts of fresh bread,eggs,produce,jarred can goods at a really good price we also eat a lot of deer meat....when i leave for work i turn everything i can off and only heat our living room in our apartment to keep the cats warm...i try to use coupons and product points as much as possible... we only drive one car and my hubby carpools to work with his boss and i take the car to my job...i used to have plastic on the windows but the cats kindof torn it to pieces...i am a hairdresser so i get everything i need in the beauty dept at cost...im starting to learn to sew to make some of my own clothes...i brown bag or keep food in the shop to eat for lunch or if we do order out me and my co worker split something...my hubby changes the oil in my car....we usually only go out to eat after morning service on sundays and we usually share our meal...we dropped our cell phone plane to the bare minimum and rent movies instead of going to the theatre since we just invested in a big lcd screen...saved for months and got a super deal with employee discount...thats all i can think of now...

i was meant for him and he was meant for me :)



Edited by: sjhc132 on Feb 20, 2009 7:04 PM

august_2008 , july_2008 , south_carolina , virginia , october_2008 , new_york , kentucky , september_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply


SweetSunset Posts : 159 Registered: 1/15/09
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 8:23 PM Go to message in response to: Nalamienea

I just wanted to share something that I stumbled upon today. I know you ladies have cut eating out, but maybe you can have a date night with this. TGI Fridays is offering a coupon for buy one entree and get one free. Its good till march 1, heres the website www.tgifridays.com

virginia , october_2008 , florida , december_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply

CountryPrincess Posts : 673 Registered: 9/25/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 20, 2009 11:47 PM Go to message in response to: SweetSunset

Okay, so after hearing about the water heater blanket, I went and looked at our water heater which is in the same closet as our furnace. FH said he thought we had an electric furnace when we moved in, and I never bothered to look. Turns out we have a GAS furnace. Ugh! On top of that there is a little efficency meter on it saying how efficent our furance is. The lowest is 78.0 and the highest is 96.0. Our's is 80.0! So basically the least inefficent you can get.

So I'm taking the suggestions for plastic on the windows, turn the thermostat down low, and the water heater blanket. Does anyone else have a gas furnace and has figured out other ways to save? Gas furances are typically much more expensive than electric and it really showed on our last utility bill.

Also, does anyone have that thing where you pay the utility company the same price every month? FH & I are looking into that, just so we know how much to put aside each month for utilities.

"I don't care how much it hurts. I don't care if its a brick wall disaster. I'd rather fight with you everday than be happy for one second with anyone else." <3

Kevin & Mari: 11/09/06 to Forever.

virginia , october_2008 , florida , december_2009 , may_2010 , missouri
email friend | report thread
Reply


Rose217 Posts : 475 Registered: 8/9/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 21, 2009 12:08 AM Go to message in response to: CountryPrincess

We have plastic on the windows, too. I considered putting plastic over the door in my room that leads to the porch, but figured sealing the crack with sticky styrofoam stuff and pushing a towel up against the bottom would be good enough. For people who don't like being cold, the lower thermostat gets a little more bearable with each blanket or layer of clothes you put on, including long underwear. Talk about sexy lingerie! ;)

Maybe I should look into a water heater blanket, sounds like a great money-saver....

About the utility bill, I'm not sure about a plan to have it the same every month, but ours ends up being that way anyway. We've been trying to cook less often though, since we have gas stove/heat in our house too. I make about 4 servings of rice or noodles at a time and refridgerate it.

virginia , october_2008 , florida , december_2009 , may_2010 , missouri
email friend | report thread
Reply

CountryPrincess Posts : 673 Registered: 9/25/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 21, 2009 12:12 AM Go to message in response to: Rose217

Our stove is electric. But our furnance is gas, so our heat & hot water are run by gas. Our house is HORRIBLY insulated. I know we should pay to get better insulation, but we're renting so I don't want to invest in the house. Thus, I'm trying easier /cheaper ways (like NOT reinsulating the attic) that save us money.


"I don't care how much it hurts. I don't care if its a brick wall disaster. I'd rather fight with you everday than be happy for one second with anyone else." <3

Kevin & Mari: 11/09/06 to Forever.

virginia , october_2008 , florida , december_2009 , may_2010 , missouri
email friend | report thread
Reply


SoonToBeAWard Posts : 280 Registered: 5/22/06
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 21, 2009 6:11 AM Go to message in response to: Nalamienea

We moved cities last September for my husband's work and I was not working until only a few weeks ago. Although we can live comfortably off his income I was incredibly mindful of saving money where we could as I was not bringing any money in.

Air-con: only goes on when it's really hot. We live in Australia where it does get pretty warm. Luckily our house is fully fly-screened. If there is a breeze blowing, the air con stays off and the windows get opened. At night if it is hot, we just have a pedestal fan on us.

Appliances: always turned off at the wall when not in use. We did a little experiment on this a couple of years ago and saved a whopping 20% off our electricity bill.

Water: We capture all of our grey water and use that to water our lawn and garden. Yes, it's a little more time intensive but we save on the water we would otherwise tip down the sink. Yes, we do use grey water safe detergents for our laundry and washing up. The cold water that comes out of the tap before the hot water kicks in is also captured and I water my herb and vege garden with this. I am also tougher than my husband(!) and can tolerate having cold water only showers on hot days.

Food: I plan our meals and shop with a list. We don't waste food that way. I also make extra to take for lunch the next day. My husband takes his sandwiches to work every day and I take either a sandwich or dinner left overs. I buy store name brands for a lot of items - tinned tomatoes, dried pasta, rice, spaghetti sauce, olive oil. Treats such as sweet biscuits, icecream, and chocolate are only bought if on special and once they have been eaten, they are not replaced until they are on special again.

Transport: My husband rides his pushbike to and from work each day. Luckily we live in a mild climate and only live 20-30 minutes from the city so it is possible for him to do this. I take public transport to and from work and sometimes I even walk home for exercise.

Other: When we moved we looked into new phone and internet deals and chose the best value for money. We also did not get cable connected at our new place. Instead of going out to dinner I usually cook a special meal for us once a week with all the trimmings and we share a nice bottle of wine (nice, not expensive!) I joined the local library when we moved here. I am an avid reader and was always buying new books. Now I love going to the library every 2-3 weeks and borrowing a few books to keep me entertained. I haven't joined a gym since moving here. My husband set up his weights in the garage. I use them and take walks. On Sundays we tend to go for a ride on our pushbikes.

I read an interesting article online today about saving money in the kitchen. Here is the link if anyone is interested.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/tabletalk/jilldupleix/2009/02/19/10waystosavemoneyinthekitchen.html


I definitely think that everyone is feeling the pinch out there, and it is great that everyone has some ideas on how to save money on things which are a necessity. 2009 is surely going to be the year of being frugal for a lot of people!

:: Lisa x ::

virginia , october_2008
email friend | report thread
Reply


Nalamienea Posts : 2,930 Registered: 6/13/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 21, 2009 7:04 AM Go to message in response to: SoonToBeAWard

Wow, that's incredible about unplugging appliances! Craziness! I wish we had a way to collect greywater here too. Do you want to share with us how you do that?

Last summer I started a compost for feeding my garden, I haven't really used it over the winter (too cold to walk to the far side of the garden! LOL). Maybe if I go out and turn it I'll find good compost!

I really liked all your ideas!

 

IMG_7463.jpg picture by sarahandchris2008

10/26/08 

virginia , october_2008
email friend | report thread
Reply


MrsSy Posts : 504 Registered: 7/6/08
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 21, 2009 1:25 PM Go to message in response to: Nalamienea

Nala,
Thanks for the recipes. Do you know if for the bread I can use whole weath flour instead? We need to have a high fiber diet, low carb and low fat (hypogleciemia and IBS conditions).

Ginmal,
Can you post the muffins recipe?

We used to go every weekend, and now we barely go out. When we do, we choose non so expensives places. I've been cooking a lot, buying groceries on sale, packing our breakfast, lunch and my coffee (i used to spend $3 on coffee every morning). When we have warm weather, FH bikes to his work. I'm on a 10 hr/4 days schedule and I work from home one day. I go to the office 3 days. We have free gym at work. We don't have the movie channels. We spend a lot of weekends nights playing Wii and watching movies we already own or whatever is on TV.

Can't wait to be Mrs. Snyder

 




 

 

Proud Member of the P.O.O.P.

virginia , october_2008 , pennsylvania , june_2009
email friend | report thread
Reply


SoonToBeAWard Posts : 280 Registered: 5/22/06
Re: My Anti-Recession Plan
Posted: Feb 21, 2009 8:07 PM Go to message in response to: Nalamienea

I know, we were so amazed by how much power it saved! Just goes to show how much power those standby lights chew up.

Grey water is really easy to catch. It's what you do with it afterwards that takes a little time. We bought from the hardware store a couple of large plastic tubs. When we do a load of laundry we place the drain hose in the tub and the grey water goes in there instead of down the drain. We do have a front loader machine which does use a lot less water than a top loader. One load fills the tub. My husband then transfers into a watering can and waters the garden.

I know my mum and dad have a hose extension on their washing machine which they run into their garden and lawn. They also have a water tank (even though they live in the city) which they use for watering their garden, filling up their washing machine, washing the dog, and washing the car.

For the washing up (our place didn't come with a dishwasher) we bought a tub from Ikea - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40114212

It fits perfectly in our sink. I wash the dishes up in the tub and rinse them in the small second sink (I don't actually recycle this water) When I'm done, I simply walk out the back door and throw it on our back lawn.

For the bathroom my husband just catches the cold water from the shower in a small bucket. I put that in my watering can to water my herb and vege garden every couple of days.

It is easier for us I think because we have a ground level house so there is no having to go up and down stairs to take the water from the inside to the outside. Our laundry door is located close to our garden and lawn. My husband is also an environmental scientist so he is naturally very conscious on ways we can save on power and water. He doesn't mind the little extra effort that it takes to do these things, and now he has me converted too!

Just a little note: Most states in Australia have really strict water restrictions. One city we lived in did not allow you wash your car unless it was with a bucket and sponge (no hoses), you couldn't use sprinkler systems for your garden (hand hosing only and then only on certain days during certain times depending on your house number), no hosing of hard surfaces ie your driveway or the outside of your house. For the last 10 or so years I have lived with strict water rules and you do get used to it and it does feel like second nature.

:: Lisa x ::

virginia , october_2008
email friend | report thread
Reply
RSS

Join

Email

App

App

WIN

Give a Subscription to Brides Magazine as a Gift

Find Local Vendors

From Florists to Photographers...

are you a vendor? Click Here

Find your BRIDES wedding website below

Subscribe to Brides magazine