Reducing expenses

[AnnaRaven]

Activity levels are important. I mean, if you look at history, the people who had problems with high weight were the rich who had servants to wait on them. The average lower income person rarely did - and it wasn't just an issue of not being able to afford excess food, it was high activity levels.

I think "exercise" is a fallacy. I think it is just like food supplements. A replacement for something better, made necessary by a modern life which lacks sufficient physical action. Hard work is the best thing.

This is why our long term plan is a large enough property to have to walk a lot, and why bucking hay is part of what we consider to be necessary labor.

I don't want to have to spend half an hour to an hour of useless time every day replacing what I should be getting from the daily labor.

I actually agree with you. I prefer to be able to work activity into my daily routine than to have to formally "exercise". The problem with it is that for me, my work involves the computer, so getting enough activity *consistently* to keep my body in shape requires scheduling something, so if I don't have something in my daily labor, I can make up for it with something else, like walking the dog.

I will say that one way to reduce expenses and overbuying on groceries at the same time is to drop the gym and walk to the grocery store and back. I'm always a little amused at people who pay for a gym membership, drive 6 blocks to the gym, and then get on the treadmill...

 

[lwheelr]

I'm always a little amused at people who pay for a gym membership, drive 6 blocks to the gym, and then get on the treadmill...

Yup!

Scout camp this year was great. Annoying, but good for walking. It was half a mile from the RV to the dining hall. And everything happened at the dining hall. That was the only place you could get a cell or internet signal. Kevin was working out another half mile in another direction, so if I wanted to catch up with him during the day, I had to hike about a mile to get there.

So I'd hike up to the dining hall three or four times a day, and out to see Kevin now and again. Loved hiking out to the edges of the camp area also, a couple of miles.

Made me realize that this is the kind of life I really need. I don't want to have to hike up a hill to get internet, but I think that having to walk around to get the daily work done IS what I want.

I want a house with stairs, with my bedroom upstairs.

And enough property to really have to work it.

 

[Wifezilla]

Not everyone wants to do low-carb.

We evolved eating low carb. It just wasn't called that until very recently. Before that it was just called "eating food" because we didn't have access to flour, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, etc...

The thing that keeps getting missed is there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Every single vitamin, mineral and nutrient in grains and starches is available from other foods. Unless you are preparing your grains and starches through fermenting and soaking, those nutrients aren't even in the food. They have to be added artificially.

Real food by its very nature is low carb. Meat, butter, cheese, leafy greens, etc... all low carb. Heritage fruits and vegetables, low carb and high in nutrition. Things get tricky when grains and beans are involved. People don't eat handfuls of wheat berries. It has to be processed. How it is processed and to what extent makes all the difference between food and not food. The devil is very much in the details. I think it is safe to say that 90% of the general public who eat grains and legumes think they are eating something nutritious when they are really robbing their body of nutrition and causing long term health issues.

As for this being an argument, I am not arguing. I present information people apparently are not familiar with. I post my sources so people can see where these ideas are coming from. I suffered through years of being unhealthy. I would like to think people would like to avoid that for themselves. I was prediabetic, had hypertension, I was obese, etc... I'm not anymore. There are very specific reasons. I see nothing wrong with posting them.

 

[Calliopia]

The $100 a month feeds my husband and I. Honestly. I am VERY careful with what I spend and because we have most meat from our backyard I don't have to buy much but some veggies and grains.


This doesn't include things like going out to dinner, etc which come out of our splurge budget.

 

[tortoise]

The $100 a month feeds my husband and I. Honestly. I am VERY careful with what I spend and because we have most meat from our backyard I don't have to buy much but some veggies and grains.


This doesn't include things like going out to dinner, etc which come out of our splurge budget.

Teach me! Most of our meat is venison, rabbit, fish. I try to stock up on meat that is close to $1/lb (loss leaders).

Can you give me a typical shopping list? What is a typical lunch and dinner at your house?

And do you spend this amount because you want to or because you have to? (Just curious, please don't be offended!)

I would love to cut back that far, just because I would feel proud of the accomplishment!

We have a $60/mo budget for eating out. We don't eat out that much, but we'll take friends or family out to every once-in-a-while so it evens out. We've been staying in more, tired of the restaurants around here. Maybe our out-to-eat budget will shrink a little bit for 2011? That is something I don't make decisions about.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Buy in bulk from a co-op
We use www.azurestandard.com.
We also spend very little on groceries monthly in part because we fill our freezers with moose, bear and salmon that we harvested with our own hands.
www.cookingtf.com is an wonderful resource in how to do it.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

The $100 a month feeds my husband and I. Honestly. I am VERY careful with what I spend and because we have most meat from our backyard I don't have to buy much but some veggies and grains.


This doesn't include things like going out to dinner, etc which come out of our splurge budget.

yep! us too.. especially in the summer and the dairy goats are meeting all our dairy needs.

if i only had a cow i could get that down even more! whoooot!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

The $100 a month feeds my husband and I. Honestly. I am VERY careful with what I spend and because we have most meat from our backyard I don't have to buy much but some veggies and grains.


This doesn't include things like going out to dinner, etc which come out of our splurge budget.

yep! us too.. especially in the summer and the dairy goats are meeting all our dairy needs.

if i only had a cow i could get that down even more! whoooot!

One thing that we often forget, is the chickens, goats or cows are part of the grocery budget in the long run.
Its just where the money is applied in the budget.

 

[Wifezilla]

We also spend very little on groceries monthly in part because we fill our freezers with moose, bear and salmon that we harvested with our own hands.

That squirrel in the freezer just doesn't sound quite as good as moose steak, but it will do

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

We also spend very little on groceries monthly in part because we fill our freezers with moose, bear and salmon that we harvested with our own hands.

That squirrel in the freezer just doesn't sound quite as good as moose steak, but it will do

You need to deer hunt!
Find your local BOWS and a hunting partner. Or find one on the Outdoors Forum.
I love doing it.
Where my parents live, they are allowed 5 deer each.
I am thankful they are getting back into going that route.