Shopping Responsibly

A photo and comment showed up on Facebook recently that misleadingly and irresponsibly tries to justify laziness and poor eating habits as an excuse for being overweight. Well, that’s quite a hard thing to put together, i know, so i’ll copy the article here. Clearly, the author has selected items which are likely imported and out of season as well as being convenience and snack type foods. These types of selections are nearly always the most expensive choices. Anyone on a budget needs to shop smarter. If you can’t afford organic, don’t buy organic – buy the best you can afford. Historically, food is cheaper than it’s ever been!

Item	# lbs	price/lb	total price
Carrots	2	$     0.80	$     1.60
Onions	1	$     0.90	$     0.90
Potatoes	3	$     1.00	$     3.00
ground beef	2	$     3.00	$     6.00
chicken	4	$     1.00	$     4.00
sugar	1	$     1.60	$     1.60
zucchini	2	$     1.00	$     2.00
oats	3	$     1.15	$     3.45
milk	4.3	$     0.50	$     2.15
apples	3	$     1.60	$     4.80
butter	1	$     1.99	$     1.99
eggs (doz)	1	$     1.50	$     1.50
Flour	2	$     0.90	$     1.80
	Total		$   34.79

For fun, i quickly put together a sample shopping list of items not on sale which adds up to a bit more than $32. Now, i’m going to be very clear – this list is commodity, cheap, and not environmentally friendly food stuffs and i would not buy these items where i am in my life. I can afford more costly, more humanely raised, healthier choices, including that which i raise of it in my own garden.

Real food is not expensive to buy – don’t be fooled – do your homework.

Shop responsibly and wisely.

Second Hand Saves

A child after my own heart!  Youngest son, college-bound Nathan, scored well at the second hand shops in Chillicothe today.  He has decided to spiffy up his wardrobe from jeans and t-shirts to a bit better dressed these past months.  Although his shoe purchases were high, there’s not much to be done with that.  He still did well buying new.  Honestly, he was in a shoe poor situation – everything he had is worn out and will be thrown away.

One dark blue classic styled 100% worsted wool, fully lined suit coat – $5.00. The other is half lined and not as fancy at $3.00.  Both made in the USA!

Three dress shirts: Calvin-Klein, Van Heusen, and Hathaway. Cost of all three totalled $6.00. Like new, maybe never worn.

New backpack – $3.00

Second Hand Salvation

Farm and ranch chores are hard on clothes and boots and my tattered black wool trench coat shown on the right shows it. The coat has given me three harsh winters, so the $2 purchase price in a second hand store was a fabulous investment. Thankfully, last week, after years of watching for them, i found two more wool coats for $4 and $3. These are a more feminine cut, so son, Nathan, won’t be sharing these with me!!! Still keeping my eyes open for men’s wool trench style coat.

Although our clothing budget is small (we really don’t need many clothes), boots, both mud and work, eat up the vast majority of the budget.  Most of our clothes are purchased second-hand for $1-$5.  When i can buy practically new  jeans and shirts for a buck a piece, there is no reason to spend more!  Admittedly, i can’t always find the right sizes for our family which is why, when i do, I buy in advance.

Shalom!

tauna