Ladies and gentlemen lets face it, Pesach is coming. At this point it is too late to deny it. There are a few options, one: convert to another religion, two: embrace it. I'm sure there are other options, but these are the best in my opinion.
Since my husband and I have chosen to embrace it we are starting to prepare early. Really, one of the reasons we are starting much earlier is because we have not 'made' Pesach before. So a brief explanation and then onto the preparations. We have of course celebrated Pesach many times, we even helped prepare many times but we have not really done our own. Last year we were in the middle of a move and our only Pesach preparation was to of course clean (that is never a problem though) and to buy a cutting board and a knife, grand total $5, not including the cost of food of course. This year however we are extremely excited to be doing Pesach at our house and having our families over. Since the only thing we have for Pesach is China and cute salad bowls that we got for our wedding, we are really starting from scratch....which brings me to the meat of this post.
We have known for a while now that we would like to do Pesach at our house, there was toss up as to it maybe being at my brothers but it appears we have won this year. So, every time there is a sale on a good or a service we are quick to think about it for the future. Which is really how you can SAVE on Pesach preparations. I was at Target in October and they had a food processor on sale from $50 marked down to $20....now we have a Pesach food processor which from what I hear is the work horse for this chag. There was a coupon for a crock pot, that is an old fashioned one (not on a timer) which is what you need in order to use in on a chag that flows into Shabbat, the crock pot original cost $50, we paid $10 that is right you didn't miss read it $10. We were looking for water glasses, beautiful glasses, 20% off 16 pieces $10 that's right $10!!! Now these are just a few examples that I am giving to prove that Pesach does not have to be this awful thing that everyone doesn't look forward to. It can actually be quite fun. Everyone likes getting good deals and if you are on the ball you can have fun and not spend a ton of money. Granted because we are getting all this stuff for the first time we are going to spend more money this year than in years to come. Since we will not need a lot of the things that we are buying and on the look out to buy this year. However, this is just an example of how things can be managed in every day life. If a person needs something the same day that they thought of it, chances are you are not going to get it on a sale at a great price. IF however the person is reasonable, and can wait a bit you can get a great deal for what you need.
The only problem with trying to save money is that it takes time! Its a lot easier to go into a store, buy whatever it is that you need and leave. Ten seconds after you leave the store you start complaining to every Sara, Chaim and Moshe how you got ripped off and how much money you HAD to spend. WHEN in fact you did not need to go into the first store, be it Walmart (which is not always the cheapest) or Bed Bath and Beyond (which is sometimes cheaper then Walmart) and spend the asking price of whatever it is you are buying. It never seems to amaze me how people go completely nuts over holidays. Pesach is the best example because people literally need to take a zanex when preparing for this one. The only reason to go crazy over the holidays is because you are ill prepared for them. If however you are on track with coupons, advertising and a little bit of shopping (be it by foot (store to store) or on the Internet) you can find good deals.
Thoughts?
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
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7 comments:
With all that glassware to buy, I envy sefardim. According to their mesorah, glassware doesn't need to be kashered for Pesach.
The most important thing to do is ensure all your daughters marry Dutch Sephardim. Kitnoyos, glassware and only an hour between meat and milk!
There is no really economic way to get ready for Pesach. the Jewish calender has lots of distractions so the great appliance sale gets missed. Besides, it's a form of kapparah. God gave us all this treasure when we left Egypt. We used it to make the golden calf. So, in perpetuity, we hand over a good chunk of our fortune every year come the time of the Exodus, only this time for a mitzvah.
The Sephardim pay back for eating kitniyot by starting saying slichot 3 weeks earlier. Think about that :)
But they also can eat meat for longer before 9 B'Av. Though you do have a point about slichot. Though I hear they're shorter than the ashkenazi ones.
They also get to smack each other with the celery at the seder. Much more fun than "And now we dip the vegetable in the salt wazzzz..."
And they have cooler nigunim. Or maybe I'm just used to mine.
Being prepared is key in running a tight budget. I really don't notice the purchases I've made for Pesach in the past, nor the ingredients I buy for baking mishloach manot because they were picked up earlier on sale.
Perhaps we should also remember this. Pesach lasts 8 days and comes once a year. Some of the items we use in preparing are used maybe 2-3 times, maybe even 8-10 times for any given Pesach. Why are we buying "made to last forever" items at exorbitant prices when dime store articles will last for years, given how little they are used? Save the money for where it is really needed. Even at $50 a food processor would be worth it for the labor saving help it is.
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