Tip for Frugal Cooking: For One or a Crowd

I'm always checking the personal finance section at the public library. Even though most books say the same thing, I find that reading the books (same with blogs, actually) strengthens my frugal spine: I am not alone.

Recently, I perused Hot (broke) Messes: How to Have your Latte and Drink It Too by Nancy Trejos.

The book is written for the 20-30something age group. It is of the genre of much powerful personal finance writing: the conversion narrative, from sin to salvation, with some backsliding. Oh wait: that's St Augustine's Confessions. The personal finance version is debt to prudence, with some backsliding, and loads of temptation along the way.

I'm definitely too old for this stuff, and I long ago made my peace with my frugality, but, as with every book, there's something good for every reader.

In the section on entertaining, the author quotes a friend who is a "frugalicious foodie." First under the principles of frugal entertaining is Burn Your Cookbooks. This is a ridiculous way to introduce a good point:

Don't look at a recipe and create a shopping list of items you won't use again.There is probably a lot you can do with what you already have...

Good point! Years ago, I almost had a heart attack when a Wall Street Journal columnist wrote about how he made the spice blend garam masala for an Indian dish and spent $20.00 on the spices. The recipe called for under a teaspoon. Really, I almost had heart palpitations, especially because I knew what garam masala is composed of. Poor Jeff (that is his name): he probably had most of the spices in his kitchen, PLUS, you can buy a blend.

So, use what you have. You can search for recipes online by listing your ingredients. Good things come up.

What have you made from your fridge or pantry stash lately?

Almost famous!

Well, I finally got up the courage to submit a post to the Carnival of Personal Finance. I wasn't very brave, since the editor, Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, is a friendly and amiable blogger.

Anyway, great stuff there. And I'm glad to have the chance to read blogs not normally on my radar screen.

Another thank you goes to the divine Imogen of the blog Inside Out Style. You see, Imogen mentioned my blog post of last Friday, and I got a whole bunch of readers. Thanks to the readers and, of course, to Imogen.

Those of you wondering why I am even mentioning a blog on style and image. Well, aside from the fact that I am grateful for the plug, Imogen does a lot of good in the world. For instance, she explained why I (an H body-type) hate tucking things in. I am so happy! I suffered needlessly.

So...Frugality, Personal Finance, Image Consulting--all trying to bring some good to the world.

Another Budget Category: Community

There have been rumblings here and there on the topic of community, with the basic idea that supporting local businesses is GOOD and increases the quality of life for all. Once one tries to put such support into practice, things get more complex--local businesses may be more expensive than the big-box counterpart, to name only the most obvious objection.

I certainly don't know how to weigh all the facets of the issue against one another. One thing I've noticed though: sometimes local business is very personal. This may be more true for me because I live in a small town.

Here are some local business issues I have encountered.

A good friend opens a coffee shop in another town. It is located far out of my usual way. Plus, I seldom go to coffee shops as a general rule--unless I am in New Orleans or Paris. So, I don't patronize the business. After 5 years, she and her partner call it quits. Should I feel responsible--in a teeny way?

The husband of an instructor in my department opened a small restaurant near school. The husband was in my class ages ago. As a rule, I don't go out for lunch. In fact, Mr. FS and I have been lunching on peanut butter sandwiches for the last 20plus years. Should I go?

Then there are the zillions of other similar stories I could recount. Here is my idea: create a BUDGET CATEGORY for COMMUNITY. That would be separate from your food category (since you don't go out for lunch as a rule) and your giving category (since you are not donating anything). Perhaps we should (or I should) earmark a certain sum each month for patronizing community businesses or events that I might not otherwise.

What do you think of this idea? How do you weigh community concerns into your practices?

CPW and LBD: Some Thoughts

CPW=Cost Per Wear
LBD=Little Black Dress (LBD has just entered the dictionary, I read)

Sometimes I think the CPW concept just encourages overspending. All the experts--fashion mags, especially--counsel determining what's "worth it" by COST PER WEAR:if you buy a jacket for $1000.00 and wear it 1000 times, it only costs $1.00/wear, and hence is cheaper than the $3.00 yard sale sweater that languishes in your closet unworn. This seems to make sense.

I thought about a potential CPW fallacy when I was in a three-generation shopping excursion with my mother and daughter in Lenox Massachusetts. As a "resort" area, Lenox sports boutiques that tend to have very nice items and that tend not to have sales. I'm not too comfortable in these boutiques, but my mother likes the people who run one, and so buys a few things a year.

While we were there, Miss Em tried on a Michael Stars dress--just cotton, with some modal, and a bit of spandex--that was around $100.00. It was my fault, because I showed her the dress. Of course, being 19 years old, and extremely tall, Miss Em looks good in almost everything. I thought the price was too high for what was really an elongated tee shirt.

Miss Em exclaimed, "Think about cost per wear! I could wear this every week for a year!!" And, "I don't have an LBD!" And, "I need an LBD!"

I got all crabby and at the end everyone was mad at me: Miss Em and my mother, not to mention the store owner my mother likes so much. We did buy Miss Em a nice cotton gauze tunic, which she has worn a number of times.

I knew I had an argument, but I couldn't formulate it. Then, after a few days, it hit me! The CPW concept ONLY works if you have ONLY a few things.

If you have a closetful of stuff (all nice, by the way) as Miss Em does, by wearing the LBD once a week, you are displacing other items from your rotation. So, at one a week, the LBD would have a low CPW, but the other items would end up having a higher one.

Therefore, the CPW concept only works for those disciplined enough to have a very streamlined wardrobe. You can't stuff an expensive item into a full closet and talk about CPW, can you?

Interestingly, our next stop was Northern California, another very affluent area with a resort component. We were in Sonoma, where there is an excellent thrift store, The Church Mouse. There Miss Em found a Susana Monaco--you guessed it--LBD for $10.00. It was nicer than the first LBD.

Miss Em didn't want it, but I made her buy it. She recently thanked me for pushing it on her. The CPW is down to about $1.00!

What do you think of the CPW concept? Helpful? Or a marketing ploy?

If you're ever in Sonoma, stop by the wonderful thrift.

Monks and Coffins: A Free Enterprise Story

A free enterprise story from my little town has made the Wall Street Journal. If you haven't seen it, here it is. Goliath (Louisiana Funeral Industry) vs. David (monks trying to earn some money by making coffins).

I taught Shakespeare at the college attached to the monastery for a few years. Although I quit the job and said farewell to the students without a backward glance, I LOVED the monks, especially the Abbot mentioned in the article.

Are you on Team Funeral Industry or Team Monastery?

Consumption Smoothing: Financial and Gustatory

More meditations on Funny About Money's succumbing to temptation--in the guise of a hotdog. My first response--echoed by several others--was carry something with you!

I myself was last on a diet, back in the late 60s. EVERYONE was on a diet then, including my parents. The diet of choice was Atkins, which involved consuming huge quantities of meat. Since everyone was doing it, I did too. I got so dizzy, I tripped down a flight of stairs and realized I was not the dieting type.

Interestingly, my mother, now 80 years old, is STILL on a diet. She has been on diets ever since I can remember. My late father, who was a tubby child, was also always on diets. My mother's weight goes down now and again, but then goes up--higher than it was before. Her diet of choice is the modern incarnation of Atkins.

I too have been gradually gaining weight--first in my 40s and then a bit more in my 50s. But I am still OK. I am afraid that if I go on a diet, I will end up weighing as much as my mother, who is 4 or 5 sizes bigger than I am!

Sometimes I think you should just eat what you eat, if it is fairly healthy, and forget about it. That seems in line with something I read about finance by an academic, Lawrence Kotlikoff. He recommended "consumption smoothing." Here is his book for the non-expert, which I took out of the library a while back.



His basic point (I THINK) is to maximize the "use" of your resources through your life--but in a "smooth" way. So, you might not have refinanced your house during the boom years to buy a boat and a designer kitchen. You might have smoothly spent your way through--perhaps--a period of unemployment.

I guess Kotlikoff reveals the wisdom of Aristotle (Nichomachean Ethics) once more: to try to get to the point between too much and too little.

So too with dieting.

P.S. Granola bars, as my readers noted, are really candy-substitutes. My "granola bars" are usually peanuts and raisins in a zip-lock bag.

Do you agree with the concept of consumption smoothing?

What's Good for Weight, Mood, and Finances: A Granola Bar

Funny About Money started a new dieting blog. I'm not on a diet (too undisciplined), but I read it anyway. Recently, Funny succumbed to temptation and--starving--ate a hot dog. She was remorseful.

I have the solution! A granola bar, or similar. I tend to have meltdowns after being out and about for too long. Shopping makes me crazy (except at thrift stores). I seldom shop except when my daughter is around. She has learned to carry a granola bar and a bottle of water, so Mommy doesn't have a meltdown.

This is a family tradition. Mr. FS and I would take our little ones to the zoo or the aquarium on weekends. Then we would go to a coffee shop. After a while, the kids wanted more and more to eat. Then they would have meltdowns. Sometimes WE would have meltdowns because of a caffeine deficit.

So we learned to bring a thermos of coffee and a few snacks in the car. I suppose this practice has saved us, oh, $1,000,000.00.

Interestingly, Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don't Get Fat, attributes the thinness of French women, in part, to carrying the secret granola bar for emergencies. (The other part would be all the walking that Parisiennes do.)


So weight control, mood, and finances? So much from a little snack.

Do you have any similar strategies?