FF- The Frugal BAM!

Frugal is not just about saving money. There is something I like to call the Frugal BAM! It's basically killing two (or more!) birds with one stone. Saving time AND money, having fun AND making money, building skills AND relationships.

Some examples:

1. Making your own dinner instead of McDonalds: BAM! Save money and be healthier.

2. Biking/walking and picking up cans and bottles: BAM! You get paid to exercise.

3. Fixing your own computer: BAM! Save tons of money and learn skills (that you can help other people with!).

This efficiency is something I strive for; constantly evaluating things in my life to make sure I'm using my resources wisely.

There are some things in life that are an all-around bad deal for the most part. For example:

1. Buying movies (waste time and money)
2. Reading romance novels (waste time and create unrealistic expectations for relationships)
3. Buying lottery tickets (waste money, time and breath asking for one, finger energy to scratch it off)
4. Drinking pop (waste money, get fatter, get sicker, rot your teeth out!)

Sure a small dose of these things is not going to kill you, but don't make it a habit. It's just not a wise use of resources... the opposite of a Frugal BAM!.

If we can take unfrugal habits and replace them with Frugal BAMs! think of what could be accomplished. I look forward to introducing some Frugal BAMs! in the coming weeks. How to cook cheaper, faster, healthier, and tastier.

FF- What's Not Frugal

What is frugal?

Frugal, as defined by Webster's is "careful about spending money or using things when you do not need to: using money or supplies in a very careful way". 

Here is what frugal is NOT:

1. Taking 8 ketchup packets every time you go to McDonalds so you never have to buy ketchup again.

2. Going out to dinner and not giving the waitstaff a tip.

3. Wearing holey socks to your wedding.

In my opinion, these things could be considered "stingy", not frugal. Frugality should bring you to a state of abundance, not a state of greediness.

Just because it's DIY doesn't mean it's frugal either. I tend to think that everything is cheaper if I do it myself, which is not always the case. I like to remind myself of this with the following example:

4. Spending six hours knitting one pair of socks when you could have worked one hour and bought six pairs of socks with the earnings. (This being said, I have made 2.5 pairs of socks myself, so I am not condemning the knitters! But it is a hobby.)

Another thing DIYers miss out on sometimes (or at least I do) is networking and building relationships with people. That is worth something too. Possibly worth more than the few dollars you saved doing it yourself.

 

If your goal is to be frugal, it's important to step back and look at the big picture. Are the ingredients to make this costing more than the cost of buying it already made? Could my time be worth more doing something else? Am I missing out on friendships by doing this?

Make sure an activity is in alignment with your goals and priorities before putting it on the golden gold-plated pedestal of 'frugality'.

A Tale of Two Vacuum Sealers

Left to Right: Handheld FoodSaver, discount Seal-a-Meal.

I own two vacuum sealers. Some of you might wonder why I even own one vacuum sealer, let alone two. It is a long story; one that proves that even I, in my self-perceived food smartness, can be somewhat dense at times.

After several months of thinking about it, I decided to get myself a vacuum sealer to protect my aging cheeses. This piece of equipment isn't cheap- a good sealer from Walmart can run from $80-$100. I looked on Ebay and Craigslist for used prices and didn't find any substantial deals. One day I was at Walmart looking at the different models (this is not a good hobby) and saw a $30 hand-held sealer. The packaging was convincing enough for me to buy it. I went home pretty excited.

When I got home, I tried it out. Nothing happed. I pushed the button and there was a low, grinding noise. No air was getting sucked out. "Dumb sealer!" I exclaimed. I read the instructions and it said that the battery had to be charged 24 hours before use. Boo hoo.

24 hours later I got out some dried apples from a foraging expedition this fall, and put them in one of the provided ziplock-type vacuum bags. I put the sucker device on the designated sucking circle and pushed the button. Joy! The bag shriveled up around the apples. It sucked out so much air that the apples started to crack. I removed the sucker and admired the neat package of apple chips. I threw it up in the air and tossed it around. Uh oh. The bag had lost its seal. "Dumb sealer!" I exclaimed. Unfortunately I had thrown away the packaging away* and couldn't return it to Walmart.

A week or so later, my mom and I were shopping at Kroger together. We like to look through the clearance items just for fun, and this time there was a vacuum sealer! It was a real legit sealer, not the phony hand-held kind, and at $30 it was a steal. I bought it.

When I got home I plugged it in and carefully looked at the pictures in the instruction manual. I put some of my apple chips in the back, positioned the bag in the sealer and pressed down just like it said. The bag sealed all right... without sucking any air. "Dumb sealer!" I exclaimed. What the heck... I must be using it wrong. Or maybe there's a reason it's on sale, I thought. I got out the instructions and actually read them instead of just looking at the pictures. I cut open the sealed bag and repositioned it properly in the machine and pressed down. The sealer sucked all the air out and started to crack the chips. Voila! I picked up my neatly sealed package of apple chips and threw it up in the air. I set it on the counter and watched it. Then I left to do something else, happy.

When I came back, the seal had loosened. To say I was disappointed would be a great understatement. "Dumb sealer!" I exclaimed. But on the inside I wondered if there was something wrong with me... maybe I just wasn't meant to own a working vacuum sealer.

I picked up the package and looked at it once again. Brought it up close to my eyeball and examined it thoroughly. Lo and behold, I noticed something fishy. Some of the dried apples had poked through, making holes in the bag and breaking the seal. So it wasn't the sealers after all... it was the apple chips.

I got some other items out of the fridge, including an egg and some chicken thighs (which came first? I don't remember). Using both sealers, I successfully sealed both items. "Dumb me!" I exclaimed. In the end, I had had two working vacuum sealers. But at least they were both a good deal. :)



*My mom said, "Don't you want to save the packaging in case it doesn't work?" I told her no, I didn't need to. The packaging had convinced me that it was a trustworthy machine.

Some Thoughts on McDonalds (notably cheeseburgers)

So I thought I'd poke around here a bit and write a piece that I've been wanting to write for several months now. It's about McDonalds.

What are your thoughts on McDonalds? Good, bad, ugly?

I mean, the guy who came up with McDonalds was clearly a genius. Cheap food that tastes good and you don't have to make it or clean up after. Don't tell me you can make a hamburger in your own kitchen for less than a dollar in less than 5 minutes.

Granted, hardly anything on the menu is truly healthy and opinions differ on whether it tastes 'good' or not, but to say McDonalds is evil is a stretch. There was a five-year period in my life when I did not eat ONE McDonalds hamburger (but McChickens and fries were totally okay... hypocrite much?). Then my sister convinced me to try a BK Double Stacker and I was once again a fan of fast food cheeseburgers.

That being said, in the last year I have learned some interesting things about Micky D's.

1) If you order an Egg McMuffin, request a "round egg", and they will give you a real egg instead of a reconstituted egg brick.

2) It is cheaper to order a McDouble than it is to order a double cheeseburger. The difference is paltry, if there is any difference at all.

3) It would be interesting to order 4 McDoubles and see if the amount of meat matched their $5 Quarter Pounder. The latter comes in a more expensive-looking box, but I think a superior sandwich could be made by stripping buns and condiments off three of the McDoubles and stacking the remaining meat and cheese into the first McDouble.