Is it possible that I like to save money, but that I like to do it with dignity!!!
Today I was in a produce store which everyone in our community claims is just so much cheaper than any other produce store. Well today I offer proof that it is not! Not only that, I feel that I have gone to a third world country and had to fight for food and then returned back to America.
It was truly an awful experience. I saw a man (one of the employees) with a razor blade cutting his nails by the bananas. Needles to say, we are not eating bananas this week! WHAT IS THAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I was a little sick, thank g-d my friend was there and distracted me and told me its okay just keep going!
The service was less than expected of any store, let alone one located in North America. I had a box of chocolates that I bought thrown accidentally to the floor by the check out clerk. WHAT IS THAT! I was not so pleased.
Also, the quality of the produce is by far much worse than the 'other' produce store that people say is more expensive. In fact you really have to dig for what you want to buy.
In the end this store doesn't save you money at all.
You waste time trying to find something worth buying. You waste time trying to get anywhere because it is packed with people, with small aisles that are jammed packed.
In the end I saved no money at all. I spent exactly the amount that I usually spend in my favorite produce store. In my favorite produce store, it is always a positive experience. I can find good quality produce for decent prices. Not only that, but the workers are polite and diligent at their jobs, and none play with razor blades in public view!
Can you all guess where I'm not going to any time soon???
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Instant Gratification
Coming from a generation of must have now, it is no wonder that I too as carefully as I try not to still fall into a cycle of Instant Gratification. Otherwise known as money wasting at its best!
When you want something quick and good you don’t want to wait for it. You don’t want to think about it, you just want it now. As children we were taught patients, as young adults that lesson is lost.
Yesterday falling under the MUST have it now category we went out for dinner. Was it a satisfying dinner? It was okay. The food was Okay, the service was okay, and it was marked with an okay feeling. Not one of hunger or desire or one of fullness and satisfaction it was just okay. For some people the price we paid for this feeling of blandness may not be that significant for others it might be overwhelming. For me it was a complete waste of money due in part to being an Instant gratification mongrel! I feel that I could have fed my family for a week on fruits and vegetables for what we paid for one meal. I feel that I have wasted! Maybe if the food was fantastic and the service incredible I would feel justified in spending money on it. But, since I’ve awoken with a feeling of guilt and started to speculate that truly it was not money well spent.
So, I embark on this new journey of not trying to be instantly gratified. I will try to make time for cooking, and preparing even more than what I do now. I will try not to run out of everything so that we have an excuse to go out. Most of all, I will try to learn the art of patience.
When you want something quick and good you don’t want to wait for it. You don’t want to think about it, you just want it now. As children we were taught patients, as young adults that lesson is lost.
Yesterday falling under the MUST have it now category we went out for dinner. Was it a satisfying dinner? It was okay. The food was Okay, the service was okay, and it was marked with an okay feeling. Not one of hunger or desire or one of fullness and satisfaction it was just okay. For some people the price we paid for this feeling of blandness may not be that significant for others it might be overwhelming. For me it was a complete waste of money due in part to being an Instant gratification mongrel! I feel that I could have fed my family for a week on fruits and vegetables for what we paid for one meal. I feel that I have wasted! Maybe if the food was fantastic and the service incredible I would feel justified in spending money on it. But, since I’ve awoken with a feeling of guilt and started to speculate that truly it was not money well spent.
So, I embark on this new journey of not trying to be instantly gratified. I will try to make time for cooking, and preparing even more than what I do now. I will try not to run out of everything so that we have an excuse to go out. Most of all, I will try to learn the art of patience.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Food Prices vs. Dieting vs. Working out vs. Coupons
I have now been unemployed for one week and three days. During this time I have found that food prices are just ridiculous. What is more ridiculous is everything else that is introduced into our daily diet.
My trip to the local grocery store proved very entertaining today. The prices of Kosher meat and poultry are now even more expensive than they were three months ago. Yet, when I lean over to the non kosher meet section I see that their prices have increased marginally compared to ours. Of course this has something to do with Mr. Rubashkin’s plant closing down just a few months ago. Now that there is no competitive pricing it seems to be perfectly fine to charge $5.99/lb for Chollent meat that was just a few months ago $3.99/lb. Chollent meat is typically the worst cut of meat possible, next to the roast beef that is $6.99/lb seems absurd to even buy. So, let us move onto the chicken that was $1.99/lb and is now $2.99/lb. See where I am going here?
Let’s move down the “Kosher Aisle” which is always my favorite aisle in the store. There is approximately 75% candy in this aisle, 10% sauces, 15% actual food. Now, it ALWAYS bothers me that the largest part of the aisle is dedicated to things which should be COMPLETELY ELIMINATED from every day diet. That being said I do buy sweets. Not sure how much longer I will continue to buy them. A favorite snack costs $2.59 for 150 grams. Putting that in perspective, for one pound of candy it would cost $7.80. Now, why is it that there are two choices of chicken each being $2.99/lb which is a BARGAIN compared to the mass amount of variety that we have of candy which costs $7.80/lb. Is anybody working this out? These are not even the expensive candies, they are actually moderately priced!
My husband and I have had many disagreements on how much money we spend on food. I have tried to cut back but obviously I am not doing a good enough job, since we can’t seem to get our food bill down. Now, I am determined. I am determined to cut our food bill down in half. I think we can do it. The delicacies that we used to buy will now be eliminated. No more $6.99/250g for cheese, no more $2.59/150g for candy. It will all be focused on the essentials needed, and of course me cooking the food and baking the desserts. I am tired of watching my hard earned money get literally eaten away. I’m DONE!
Now, comes the bit about dieting. With all these new resolves you knew this one was coming. We are now dieting. Our diet is of course for our health. We are fat. We need to be slimmer and now that I am determined and driven by food prices I believe diet fits in perfect. No, it does not mean that we will be eating tofu for substitutions, because that cost $9.0/lb, that is no substitution. We will eat what is in budget, and good for our health.
Working out is a mandatory part of the saving money process. You may ask how? Well, a Jewish community center membership which entitles you to separate men’s and women’s work out rooms, a wonderful pool with separate swimming is $300/year which is $25/month for a family of two. So if you eliminate 5 bags of candy (150grams in each bag), you have paid for your membership and of course your health benefits.
One last little trick to saving money, just because you have a coupon does not mean that you need to use it. There are times when coupons are cut with the best of intentions. Yet, if you do not need the product which you are about to buy with a coupon, you have wasted not only your time in cutting out the coupon but your money in buying a useless product.
Think before you buy.
My trip to the local grocery store proved very entertaining today. The prices of Kosher meat and poultry are now even more expensive than they were three months ago. Yet, when I lean over to the non kosher meet section I see that their prices have increased marginally compared to ours. Of course this has something to do with Mr. Rubashkin’s plant closing down just a few months ago. Now that there is no competitive pricing it seems to be perfectly fine to charge $5.99/lb for Chollent meat that was just a few months ago $3.99/lb. Chollent meat is typically the worst cut of meat possible, next to the roast beef that is $6.99/lb seems absurd to even buy. So, let us move onto the chicken that was $1.99/lb and is now $2.99/lb. See where I am going here?
Let’s move down the “Kosher Aisle” which is always my favorite aisle in the store. There is approximately 75% candy in this aisle, 10% sauces, 15% actual food. Now, it ALWAYS bothers me that the largest part of the aisle is dedicated to things which should be COMPLETELY ELIMINATED from every day diet. That being said I do buy sweets. Not sure how much longer I will continue to buy them. A favorite snack costs $2.59 for 150 grams. Putting that in perspective, for one pound of candy it would cost $7.80. Now, why is it that there are two choices of chicken each being $2.99/lb which is a BARGAIN compared to the mass amount of variety that we have of candy which costs $7.80/lb. Is anybody working this out? These are not even the expensive candies, they are actually moderately priced!
My husband and I have had many disagreements on how much money we spend on food. I have tried to cut back but obviously I am not doing a good enough job, since we can’t seem to get our food bill down. Now, I am determined. I am determined to cut our food bill down in half. I think we can do it. The delicacies that we used to buy will now be eliminated. No more $6.99/250g for cheese, no more $2.59/150g for candy. It will all be focused on the essentials needed, and of course me cooking the food and baking the desserts. I am tired of watching my hard earned money get literally eaten away. I’m DONE!
Now, comes the bit about dieting. With all these new resolves you knew this one was coming. We are now dieting. Our diet is of course for our health. We are fat. We need to be slimmer and now that I am determined and driven by food prices I believe diet fits in perfect. No, it does not mean that we will be eating tofu for substitutions, because that cost $9.0/lb, that is no substitution. We will eat what is in budget, and good for our health.
Working out is a mandatory part of the saving money process. You may ask how? Well, a Jewish community center membership which entitles you to separate men’s and women’s work out rooms, a wonderful pool with separate swimming is $300/year which is $25/month for a family of two. So if you eliminate 5 bags of candy (150grams in each bag), you have paid for your membership and of course your health benefits.
One last little trick to saving money, just because you have a coupon does not mean that you need to use it. There are times when coupons are cut with the best of intentions. Yet, if you do not need the product which you are about to buy with a coupon, you have wasted not only your time in cutting out the coupon but your money in buying a useless product.
Think before you buy.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Dry Cleaning
As some of my readers know I am interested in finance. So of course when a topic such as dry cleaning comes up I have a great deal of input with numbers and figures.
While talking to my mom I mentioned that my terrific husband was steaming our clothes (sort of like ironing only with a way cooler set up). Anyhow, she said that sometimes I am wrong to just wash my clothing and that really I should dry clean some items more often. So that’s when I get all on the offensive. Here are my calculations: I buy my husband a shirt (usually at T.J maxx or the like for approximately $20/$30 he says that we pay less than $20 I say we pay in between but for this example we’ll take $20 a standard amount per white shirt. He wears between two and three white shirts within a standard week (usually only for Shabbat, but sometimes there is another function). So, I took three as a standard number. So, if I were to take his three white shirts to be dry cleaned for one week I would pay $2.29 per item times 3 items $6.87. That would be for one week. Therefore the three shirts would pay for themselves after being dry cleaned approximately 9 times. That would mean that if I were to dry clean every week three shirts in two months the dry cleaning bill would equal the price of the three shirts, after that it would (naturally) exceed the price.
SO, here is my argument. Why not WASH your shirts with bleach (which is what they do at the dry cleaners too), until they are no longer in wearable condition and then buy a new shirt. Since we of course follow this rule, my husband has been wearing the same $20 shirts for the past two years and we have not replaced any yet. Of course we have bought more shirts, but we have yet to throw any out. So that means not only do I save because I wash them with all the other laundry and not dry clean them I also continue to save because it is not an item that just falls apart. So instead of paying $714.48. on dry cleaning for two years, for three shirts I spent $60 and that was it!
This is not to say that nothing should be dry cleaned. We do dry clean. Just not on a weekly basis!
While talking to my mom I mentioned that my terrific husband was steaming our clothes (sort of like ironing only with a way cooler set up). Anyhow, she said that sometimes I am wrong to just wash my clothing and that really I should dry clean some items more often. So that’s when I get all on the offensive. Here are my calculations: I buy my husband a shirt (usually at T.J maxx or the like for approximately $20/$30 he says that we pay less than $20 I say we pay in between but for this example we’ll take $20 a standard amount per white shirt. He wears between two and three white shirts within a standard week (usually only for Shabbat, but sometimes there is another function). So, I took three as a standard number. So, if I were to take his three white shirts to be dry cleaned for one week I would pay $2.29 per item times 3 items $6.87. That would be for one week. Therefore the three shirts would pay for themselves after being dry cleaned approximately 9 times. That would mean that if I were to dry clean every week three shirts in two months the dry cleaning bill would equal the price of the three shirts, after that it would (naturally) exceed the price.
SO, here is my argument. Why not WASH your shirts with bleach (which is what they do at the dry cleaners too), until they are no longer in wearable condition and then buy a new shirt. Since we of course follow this rule, my husband has been wearing the same $20 shirts for the past two years and we have not replaced any yet. Of course we have bought more shirts, but we have yet to throw any out. So that means not only do I save because I wash them with all the other laundry and not dry clean them I also continue to save because it is not an item that just falls apart. So instead of paying $714.48. on dry cleaning for two years, for three shirts I spent $60 and that was it!
This is not to say that nothing should be dry cleaned. We do dry clean. Just not on a weekly basis!
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