Frugal Moms

I simply must blog. I know no one wants to come to a money saving blog and hear about the economic crisis, but it’s like watching an acrobat fall from a high wire in slow motion. It’s so awful you have to watch, especially we frugal folks. The housing slump looks like it’s only about halfway to rock bottom. The only good news is that we know rock bottom is coming, unfortunately no one knows when or how bad it will be. For all those souls that have lost their homes already, Bless You. For those who haven’t heads up! Rate hikes look like they will be happening in the next 2 years, or else the dollar will fall. That’s right the dollar will fall and inflation will be higher. So tighten those belts and bone up on your frugal skills, or face losing your homes. I am blessed in that my home is paid off. However, I do have school loans to pay, so I am not out of the dark either.

Also, for every working Joe you might like to know, that gas is suppose to rise to $3 if not $4! That’s right they are saying oil will hit $100 a barrel, and get this the poor refineries are getting skimped so they will “have” to raise the price. I say it’s BULL%$#&! This article claims they are eating the higher costs, but we ALL know they had record profits recently, one, two, and three years ago. Just chuck it up to the elite sticking it to the broke folks again. Just Google oil profits, you’ll see plenty of news about record profits. If that doesn’t make you want to save up for a hybrid, or a scooter, nothing will! Also, this will cause a hidden inflation as currently most food is trucked in via diesel. So your food, medicine, toys, clothes, … will cost more. There’s more hidden inflation too, with heating bills rising ten percent, and electricity up what will we ever do?

So to sum it up. Your dollar is worth less to the point the government won’t tell you (Heaven Forbid we should March right?). The oil companies are fleecing you 1981 style. The rail road is fleecing Coal companies which in turn are fleecing electric companies that in the end fleece you. Products cost more than ever. Wal Mart can’t compete with the local dollar store, their whole business model is crippled by gasoline prices. The world is changing folks!

How can you keep up?
1. Save more of those worth even less dollars through frugality.
2. Opt into an alternative currency. Euros are good as investments, but for common practice HOURS and BREAD programs work too. Alternative Currencies can be found all over with lots of different systems. You could have local businesses work on these if they all will agree to it.
3. Barter. Oh it’s older than dirt, but it works in a pinch. Even the south has a good barter club right here in Arkansas.
4. Make sound investments. This might be hard to do on an international level, but wouldn’t you consider a motorcycle a sound investment in such high gas price atmospheres? Other sound investments may be foreign currencies, new technology for your business, gold and oil stocks, worker training, …. the point is invest in what you know. This will keep what little money you do have, at pace with inflation we hope. (fingers crossed)

So by fighting inflation, you will be saving those dollars from slipping through you fingers like water. That’s all for now The Conservative Pagan.

Here are the basics of saving on food…for my friend. I hope he sees it.

1. Organic Gardening with FREE supplies. I don’t care if it’s a recycled milk jug with kitchen scrap compost on a patio in a big city. Do it! 1 meal a day can be gotten this way! When I lived in New London I had salad for lunch every day for the whole growing season, straight from my patio.

2. Buy in bulk, like 100 lbs at a time. rice at 100 lbs could be had for 20 dollars. Brown rice was more expensive. 100 lbs lasted me and mine 4-6 months back then (with 2 fewer children) and now it lasts just three months. 100 lbs of oatmeal, 100 lbs of beans or lentils and you get the idea. Where do you get this stuff? Co-Ops, Restaurant Supply stores (especially Asian), Survival stores, on the internet (shipping almost negates the savings though).

3. Have livestock. Oh I know you think I am kidding…I am NOT. Hens can be kept as “pets” with benefits…if you can have a huge parrot why can’t you have a pet chicken? By the way, chickens give eggs even with out a rooster, but they give much less. Also they eat kitchen scraps, bugs, and grass seeds. If you have a bug infested yard they are the best! Rabbits multiply like well Rabbits, can be kept in indoor hutches, and are very low fat. Also Angoras provide excellent spinning wool. Which can be spun to yarn, then knitted to sweaters, and when there are too many you could eat them. I know how cruel, but they really are good. Bees can be kept on very little land, but you might want to ask the neighbours first…and NOT for the indoors.

4. Left overs. Be a Left over King or Queen. Make enough for two lunches or dinners at once to save on cooking and thus fuel. It also saves when you actually use left overs and not send it out to Rover.

5. Found Food, Wild Food, and Recovered Food. All are wonderful ways to stretch the food budget. There are tons of things you can eat from nature. True story, My kids and I were walking down the side walk and found a peach tree growing in the middle of it. We knew no one owned it, but apparently the city never cut it down either. It was loaded with ripe, juicy peaches. We hauled off about 20 pounds, and there was still enough left on the tree to made the branches bend under the weight. I made the sweetest peach jam from those Mmmmm…. Also the same day I had a delicious pear my husband found in the woods…that was a wonderful day.

6. Fishing, not just a sport, it’s what all the homeless guys used to live on in New London. Hungry? Go to the pier and toss out a line. It’s a nice way to watch the sun go down and you just might get some black fish. It doesn’t take much…I took a stick, yarn, a safety pin, and smashed snail I found on site as bait. I pulled 5 great black fish from the waters.

7. Hunting, if you can do it. i don’t have the heart to kill them…deer are so cute! However, my husband loves to hunt deer. Too bad he isn’t very good at it.

If you do all of these your food bill WILL lower. I promise. Have a nice night.

Hello all! I have been away for awhile, I’m sorry. I went back to college. At any rate I have been surfing the net, trying to get back into the scope of the economy and came across numerous You Tube videos. They seem very accurate and on top of the current situations. At MoMoney you cane learn plenty and satisfy any frat boy interests too. Another good channel that seems very straight forward is Back of The Envelope. This engineer has some very good basic monetary advice. He makes it VERY clear this is his laymen’s opinion, but it seems professional enough.

Now let’s get to what this blog is about, SAVING MONEY. How can one save money when inflation seems to eat it up?

1. Traditional frugal means: This means gardening, creating it yourself, recycle items, reduce consumption, and reuse as much as possible. Your trash can should not be full. Your pocket book should be dusty from non-use. This means you are saving more of your income from consumption….

2. Reducing Consumption with out Reducing your lifestyle:Paying all bills on time to avoid late fees. Cut up credit cards and pay them all off a higher then minimum rates. Avoid over drafts. This reduces how much you pay for items without impacting your lifestyle.

3. Invest in markets which are safe and growing faster than inflation! the government says inflation is at 2.2 percent, but this leaves out food and oil. Since high oil prices drive inflation, it seems kinda stupid to leave them out…so assume it is higher, because in reality it is. They fiddled with the numbers to make everything look nicer. As proof look at receipts from 2005 or 2004. Only two years ago diapers ( disposable ) were 2.50 USD a bag of 20. Now the same bag of 20 in the same brand in the same store is 3.50 USD. That is high inflation.

Markets and areas of good investment are not hanging out in your local bank or in a CD. Even money market accounts seem weak. The best thing to do would be to invest in oil, gold, silver, commodities, or Euros. Even the yen would a be ok. I personally like the Euro as it seems to increasingly rise against the dollar. The point of doing this is to make sure your money doesn’t lose value and get eaten up by inflation. Literally this means your 2.50 USD now will be worth the 3.50 USD of tomorrow (see diaper to get the point).

If you do all of this you should be on a sound road to success. I want to emphasise something, our dollar is being pushed down the drain. You should protect what little you have now to save yourself tomorrow. It isn’t that the economy is bad so much as the accumulated affect of things. The fact that the dollar is losing ground, interest rates (for me at least) are rising, legitimate full time work a person can live off of is impossible to find, people are losing their homes, businesses are closing up, and everyone is having a rough go of it. I know not everyone is in this boat, but those of us on the lower economic spectrum see this. I have seen no less than 25% of the local businesses close their doors in the past 4 years. I’m not talking about restaurants either, but 2 tire shops, 2 gas stations, 2 clothing stores, 3 second hand stores, 1 restaurant, several farmer market stands, and even a pharmacy. These are vital to a thriving town. These are part of the fabric of America. The shame is those business owners now have to find jobs in an already tight job market, so most get part-time work. Now you see why so many people are having a rough time.

I am self employed and my typical weekly pull has dropped from 200 a week regularly, to 70 dollars on average. That is a dramatic decline in income. To make matters worse, prices are rising faster than ever, I have some debts which have higher interest rates now, and I lost a couple of additional sources of income. So you see, those of you still making good money, I am looking out for you. Hind sight is 20/20…and I can see my mistakes now. Take my advice and don’t lose out on a chance to avoid this trouble.