Saturday, June 28, 2008
I have noticed something most frugality sites have in common - they spend a lot of time talking about groceries and food. There are a few really good reasons for this - food is one of the easiest budget adjustments for most people to make and, currently, food prices are skyrocketing. The increase in food costs combined with the rise in gas prices are causing a lot of households who were getting by o.k. on a tight budget to have some worries and definitly causing compromises to be made.
Ways your budget can get a benefit by paying attention to food costs (including making more at home):
1. If you eat out a lot - eating out less will put quite a lot back in your pocket. Just taking lunch to work saves a bunch. I did the math - with the places available to me near where I work I tend to spend $7 - $10 dollars per lunch. Taking my lunch (and some snacks) averages about $4.00 per day. So I am saving 3 to 6 dollars per day. That is $15 - $30 per week or $60 to $120.00 per month. I am not even going to count the gas savings from not making several extra trips a week. I had also gotten in the habit of getting a latte in the morning (4.50 x 5 = 22.50 or $90.00 per month) and picking up dinner 3 or 4 times a week. I now limit going out to dinner to social occasions with friends, only get a latte about once a week (although I make them at home now - it is about .30 per latte) and the money I end up with at the end of the month is great - in my case the savings from dinners, lattes and bringing my own lunch and snacks comes out to about $320.00 per month.
2. Not using a lot of prepackaged and prepared frozen foods. Some of these are quite cheap - but the less expensive they are the worse they tend to be health wise.
Even if you do not cook a lot you can learn to make a few things well and can make a lot of simple things that are quite good.
We have the idea in the U.S. that dinner needs to be a big meal with sides etc. Actually, this is not born out nutritionally in the slightest. Dinners can be simple and satisfying. A nice sandwich (grilled if you like), with lots of veggies on it or a salad to go with, quesidillas with fresh salsa or pico de gallo, some pasta with a veggie laden sauce, various egg dishes (a comfort meal for me in winter is simple scrambled eggs with some good cheese and herbs and some toasted sour dough bread). Right now there are tons of options as all the summer fruit and veg comes in. I tend to eat a bigger dinner once or twice a week and a simple dinner the rest of the time. The bigger dinners satisfy any need I have for the "traditional" dinners and the lighter meals satisfy me the rest of the time.
I love cooking, but know a lot of people don't. And even though I like to cook, coming off of a full day of work and a commute does not make me want to go spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
Here are some ideas for those of you who, like me, often need something easy:
Baked potatos - you can actually bake some of these on the weekend and store in the fridge. Then nuke in the microwave for 5-10 min (depending on size). Add steamed veggies (can also be done ahead and stored in the fridge), cheese, chili, salsa, left over chicken or other meats, pasta sauce and mozzerella, etc. etc., potatos are a great add to - esp if you are careful with the amount of fat.
Sandwiches of all kinds and grilled sandwiches. I love fresh tomato sandwiches in the summer, fried egg sandwiches in the winter, grilled ham and cheese, grilled cheese with tomato, or grilled havarti and dill on rye, etc., etc. Sandwiches are wonderful, things like egg salad, tuna salad can be made ahead for lunches for the week, cheese can be precut (I tend to like sharp cheddar, mont jack and others that are cheapest in blocks, so I will cut up lots of slices and put in a baggie for the week of lunch or dinner making).
Salads - I cut up a lettuce mix, cucumbers, tomatos, mushrooms, celery, shred carrots and keep the mixture in my fridge. I make enough for about 3-4 days as that is how long this mix will usually last with an airtight lid. I then add stuff to it for lunches and dinners - steamed veggies, tuna, other fish I have left overs of, salmon, grated cheese or crumbled feta or blue, hardboiled eggs (I also like hardboiled eggs sliced on toast with a little brown mustard) - really, anything that adds protien, more veg. Left over taco meat is great with salsa and a little sour cream on a salad. This is fast, easy and lets me use up the veggies in the crisper drawer and there are tons of combinations.
Soups - very easy to make, but I also break my rule about prepared foods here. Trader Joe's does an organic cream of tomato I love. I do eat a lot of soup in the winter - it is easy to take for lunch, put in a microwave bowl and nuke. I just watch the lables and opt for low sodium, low additive and, often, organic. I also love chili and add stuff to make it more varied - salsa, cheese, etc. Chili baked potatos are a fave in the winter.
Pasta - love it and it is easy to make. If you do not want to make a pasta sauce by hand there are several on the market that are very good. I look for the brands I like on sale and buy several jars at a time. If you want, adding to pasta sauce is very easy - you can add steamed or sauteed veggies like zuccini, mushrooms, cauliflower, onion, garlic, more whole or diced tomatos (esp if you like a chunky sauce). You can also add left over or other meats - split open a few italian sausages and brown in a frying pan then add to the sauce, brown some beef, add some shrimp.
One of the easiest meals I do is with a good bottled pasta sauce - take a shallow roasting pan and cover the bottom with chicken cutlets (I use the frozen ones from CostCo - and the size of the pan depends on how many people you are feeding). Pour a bottle of pasta sauce of your choice (I really like the mushroom and olive one by Classico) then cut up fresh mozzerella and layer over the top. Bake at 350 until chicken cooked through (depending on size of chicken cutlets, or if you used chicken breasts, 45 min to 1.5 hours). If you used chicken breasts and need the longer cooking time, cover in foil until the last half hour and then remove foil - it will stop the cheese from getting too done. This is a fairly rich meal. I serve it with salad and bread for mopping up the sauce. I usually aim for leftovers as it makes great lunches and reheats wonderfully. Although you need to allow for the cooking time this meal is really easy and it is one of the most requested meals in the winter.
Here are some links you might find helpful:
Home Made Lattes (no machine needed).
What's in Season in my area?
Sandwiches on Recipezaar - lots of different sandwiches
Baked Potatos
I do a lot of stuff ahead of time on the weekends. Here are some of my preps:
I cut up cheeses and put in baggies. I also cut up veggies for snacks.
I make up the salad mix
If I need chicken for salads or chicken salad sandwiches during the week I bake up a few skinless breasts
I steam veggies to take with me for lunches or have at dinner time.
I put most of my lunch stuff together on one shelf in the fridge and have non fridged lunch stuff gathered together in one spot on the counter.
Ways your budget can get a benefit by paying attention to food costs (including making more at home):
1. If you eat out a lot - eating out less will put quite a lot back in your pocket. Just taking lunch to work saves a bunch. I did the math - with the places available to me near where I work I tend to spend $7 - $10 dollars per lunch. Taking my lunch (and some snacks) averages about $4.00 per day. So I am saving 3 to 6 dollars per day. That is $15 - $30 per week or $60 to $120.00 per month. I am not even going to count the gas savings from not making several extra trips a week. I had also gotten in the habit of getting a latte in the morning (4.50 x 5 = 22.50 or $90.00 per month) and picking up dinner 3 or 4 times a week. I now limit going out to dinner to social occasions with friends, only get a latte about once a week (although I make them at home now - it is about .30 per latte) and the money I end up with at the end of the month is great - in my case the savings from dinners, lattes and bringing my own lunch and snacks comes out to about $320.00 per month.
2. Not using a lot of prepackaged and prepared frozen foods. Some of these are quite cheap - but the less expensive they are the worse they tend to be health wise.
Even if you do not cook a lot you can learn to make a few things well and can make a lot of simple things that are quite good.
We have the idea in the U.S. that dinner needs to be a big meal with sides etc. Actually, this is not born out nutritionally in the slightest. Dinners can be simple and satisfying. A nice sandwich (grilled if you like), with lots of veggies on it or a salad to go with, quesidillas with fresh salsa or pico de gallo, some pasta with a veggie laden sauce, various egg dishes (a comfort meal for me in winter is simple scrambled eggs with some good cheese and herbs and some toasted sour dough bread). Right now there are tons of options as all the summer fruit and veg comes in. I tend to eat a bigger dinner once or twice a week and a simple dinner the rest of the time. The bigger dinners satisfy any need I have for the "traditional" dinners and the lighter meals satisfy me the rest of the time.
I love cooking, but know a lot of people don't. And even though I like to cook, coming off of a full day of work and a commute does not make me want to go spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
Here are some ideas for those of you who, like me, often need something easy:
Baked potatos - you can actually bake some of these on the weekend and store in the fridge. Then nuke in the microwave for 5-10 min (depending on size). Add steamed veggies (can also be done ahead and stored in the fridge), cheese, chili, salsa, left over chicken or other meats, pasta sauce and mozzerella, etc. etc., potatos are a great add to - esp if you are careful with the amount of fat.
Sandwiches of all kinds and grilled sandwiches. I love fresh tomato sandwiches in the summer, fried egg sandwiches in the winter, grilled ham and cheese, grilled cheese with tomato, or grilled havarti and dill on rye, etc., etc. Sandwiches are wonderful, things like egg salad, tuna salad can be made ahead for lunches for the week, cheese can be precut (I tend to like sharp cheddar, mont jack and others that are cheapest in blocks, so I will cut up lots of slices and put in a baggie for the week of lunch or dinner making).
Salads - I cut up a lettuce mix, cucumbers, tomatos, mushrooms, celery, shred carrots and keep the mixture in my fridge. I make enough for about 3-4 days as that is how long this mix will usually last with an airtight lid. I then add stuff to it for lunches and dinners - steamed veggies, tuna, other fish I have left overs of, salmon, grated cheese or crumbled feta or blue, hardboiled eggs (I also like hardboiled eggs sliced on toast with a little brown mustard) - really, anything that adds protien, more veg. Left over taco meat is great with salsa and a little sour cream on a salad. This is fast, easy and lets me use up the veggies in the crisper drawer and there are tons of combinations.
Soups - very easy to make, but I also break my rule about prepared foods here. Trader Joe's does an organic cream of tomato I love. I do eat a lot of soup in the winter - it is easy to take for lunch, put in a microwave bowl and nuke. I just watch the lables and opt for low sodium, low additive and, often, organic. I also love chili and add stuff to make it more varied - salsa, cheese, etc. Chili baked potatos are a fave in the winter.
Pasta - love it and it is easy to make. If you do not want to make a pasta sauce by hand there are several on the market that are very good. I look for the brands I like on sale and buy several jars at a time. If you want, adding to pasta sauce is very easy - you can add steamed or sauteed veggies like zuccini, mushrooms, cauliflower, onion, garlic, more whole or diced tomatos (esp if you like a chunky sauce). You can also add left over or other meats - split open a few italian sausages and brown in a frying pan then add to the sauce, brown some beef, add some shrimp.
One of the easiest meals I do is with a good bottled pasta sauce - take a shallow roasting pan and cover the bottom with chicken cutlets (I use the frozen ones from CostCo - and the size of the pan depends on how many people you are feeding). Pour a bottle of pasta sauce of your choice (I really like the mushroom and olive one by Classico) then cut up fresh mozzerella and layer over the top. Bake at 350 until chicken cooked through (depending on size of chicken cutlets, or if you used chicken breasts, 45 min to 1.5 hours). If you used chicken breasts and need the longer cooking time, cover in foil until the last half hour and then remove foil - it will stop the cheese from getting too done. This is a fairly rich meal. I serve it with salad and bread for mopping up the sauce. I usually aim for leftovers as it makes great lunches and reheats wonderfully. Although you need to allow for the cooking time this meal is really easy and it is one of the most requested meals in the winter.
Here are some links you might find helpful:
Home Made Lattes (no machine needed).
What's in Season in my area?
Sandwiches on Recipezaar - lots of different sandwiches
Baked Potatos
I do a lot of stuff ahead of time on the weekends. Here are some of my preps:
I cut up cheeses and put in baggies. I also cut up veggies for snacks.
I make up the salad mix
If I need chicken for salads or chicken salad sandwiches during the week I bake up a few skinless breasts
I steam veggies to take with me for lunches or have at dinner time.
I put most of my lunch stuff together on one shelf in the fridge and have non fridged lunch stuff gathered together in one spot on the counter.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Great day for the household today - sunny, warm weather had everyone in a great mood. Household member L had a birthday today, so we took him out to see the latest Raiders of the Lost Ark movie and also out for Mexican food. A good time was had by all and we are now hanging out in the computer room.
All our computers are in a common room downstairs and we have a mini-lan system going, so computing is not actually a solitary endeavor in our house. Unless one of us needs to be quiet (and we just have to tell the group) we tend to call out web finds, comment on things, have discussions or share games.
Since I pay all our bills and do the grocery shopping on line this also gives me a chance to touch base with everyone else on last minute items.
Right now I am finalizing some of the groceries - L does not know it, but birthday cake or cupcakes are in his future. He is a culinary student and his specialty is bbq - he let us know that he picked up ribs and shrimp for Memorial day and is going to bbq for us. R and I are contributing her great potato salad, asparagus and the cake or cupcakes.
R also agreed to make her great turkey chili this week and I have purchased the ingredients. It is a really good ground turkey chili with a nice balance of beans and tomato and spices. The great thing about it is that it is really flexible - leftovers make a variety of tasty dishes from cheese n'chili pie to casseroles to chili mac. We are trying to eat in a lot more because it is great for everyone's budget. It is nice that we all cook and that we like each others food.
One of the joys of spring/summer is the amount of fresh produce around - we are taking full advantage and hitting the farmers markets and stands. Latest good buy? Cherries!!! Our local market has them for less than 2.00 per pound right now and they are so sweet - the berries and other fruits are so good right now we are serving them for desserts. When we had people over for mother's day, our dessert was vanilla bean ice cream covered with macerated strawberries. Basically you can take any ripe berry (or peach, nectarine, apricot), cut them up in largish chunks, add a little sugar and stir. The sugar helps release the juices and break down the berries just slightly. Let sit covered in the fridge for 3 or more hours and then just spoon over the ice cream. Yum. Use what is in season and it makes a great dessert when you have a lot of people to feed.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
All our computers are in a common room downstairs and we have a mini-lan system going, so computing is not actually a solitary endeavor in our house. Unless one of us needs to be quiet (and we just have to tell the group) we tend to call out web finds, comment on things, have discussions or share games.
Since I pay all our bills and do the grocery shopping on line this also gives me a chance to touch base with everyone else on last minute items.
Right now I am finalizing some of the groceries - L does not know it, but birthday cake or cupcakes are in his future. He is a culinary student and his specialty is bbq - he let us know that he picked up ribs and shrimp for Memorial day and is going to bbq for us. R and I are contributing her great potato salad, asparagus and the cake or cupcakes.
R also agreed to make her great turkey chili this week and I have purchased the ingredients. It is a really good ground turkey chili with a nice balance of beans and tomato and spices. The great thing about it is that it is really flexible - leftovers make a variety of tasty dishes from cheese n'chili pie to casseroles to chili mac. We are trying to eat in a lot more because it is great for everyone's budget. It is nice that we all cook and that we like each others food.
One of the joys of spring/summer is the amount of fresh produce around - we are taking full advantage and hitting the farmers markets and stands. Latest good buy? Cherries!!! Our local market has them for less than 2.00 per pound right now and they are so sweet - the berries and other fruits are so good right now we are serving them for desserts. When we had people over for mother's day, our dessert was vanilla bean ice cream covered with macerated strawberries. Basically you can take any ripe berry (or peach, nectarine, apricot), cut them up in largish chunks, add a little sugar and stir. The sugar helps release the juices and break down the berries just slightly. Let sit covered in the fridge for 3 or more hours and then just spoon over the ice cream. Yum. Use what is in season and it makes a great dessert when you have a lot of people to feed.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Playing is part of living well.
Our household recognizes the importance of socialization with in the house and we do a lot of stuff together. Some we started deliberately and some we just fell into. I think it is a good thing for any group of friends to have regular get togethers, but it is especially important for a group sharing a household. It is a change from the financial, nuts and bolts living together discussions and just fun.
We have ended up with several things we do:
1. Have movie nights - sometimes we go out, sometimes share netflix and sometimes we all get together and do pay per view. Last two more often as we are helping each other budget. Popcorn and snarky movie comments as company.
2. Three out of the four of us do an online game together - I cheer them on while I do other stuff at my computer.
3. Robin bought us the Wii and we have all the sports games. Living room racket ball anyone?
4. We love cooking together and have friends over on a reg basis for meals or tea.
5. We are avid readers - we share each others books, go book browsing together, talk about what we are reading. I end up reading really good stuff I just would not have found by myself.
6. We try out new restaurants - and budgeting for that encourages us to eat at home most of the time so we can afford the night out guilt free.
7. Robin and I are avid knitters - we share a lot of craft and art skills. The guys do not so much, but they like to do their own thing in close proximity and are understanding when we go yarn shopping.
8. The guys? Role playing games are their thing.
9. We plan vacations together.
10. We houseclean together - it sounds weird, but we go faster and have fun when we are all doing it at once. Bop along to the music and it all gets done in about 2 hours.
11. We play games - board games, card games. Some of our favorites are CLUE, Killing Dr. Lucky, Illuminate, The Haunted House, Munchkin (and all the extras), Empire Builder, Pretty Corpse, et. al. Just about anything by Steve Jackson or Cheapass Games.
What do you do? We always look for suggestions.
On a financial note - I found this nice little Build a Budget worksheet over at frugalliving.about.com. Very simple way to list expenses. It is located here: http://frugalliving.about.com/b/2007/07/10/free-budget-worksheet.htm
I was reading up on coupon sites and grocery savings. Along with gas going up, groceries have gone up more than 21% over all in the last year. It is not your imagination - we really are paying more. frugalliving.about.com has some great lists - what fruits and veg are cheapest by month, ingredient substitution lists etc. Worth checking.
Also - if you are trying to eat at home more and trying to eat seasonally it sometimes means looking for new recipes for what is plentiful at the moment. I have always had wonderful luck finding recipes at www.recipezaar.com You can list an ingredient (i.e. chicken, sweet potatos, etc) and they will list all kinds of recipes for that item. I have found a lot of great stuff on this site.
Our household recognizes the importance of socialization with in the house and we do a lot of stuff together. Some we started deliberately and some we just fell into. I think it is a good thing for any group of friends to have regular get togethers, but it is especially important for a group sharing a household. It is a change from the financial, nuts and bolts living together discussions and just fun.
We have ended up with several things we do:
1. Have movie nights - sometimes we go out, sometimes share netflix and sometimes we all get together and do pay per view. Last two more often as we are helping each other budget. Popcorn and snarky movie comments as company.
2. Three out of the four of us do an online game together - I cheer them on while I do other stuff at my computer.
3. Robin bought us the Wii and we have all the sports games. Living room racket ball anyone?
4. We love cooking together and have friends over on a reg basis for meals or tea.
5. We are avid readers - we share each others books, go book browsing together, talk about what we are reading. I end up reading really good stuff I just would not have found by myself.
6. We try out new restaurants - and budgeting for that encourages us to eat at home most of the time so we can afford the night out guilt free.
7. Robin and I are avid knitters - we share a lot of craft and art skills. The guys do not so much, but they like to do their own thing in close proximity and are understanding when we go yarn shopping.
8. The guys? Role playing games are their thing.
9. We plan vacations together.
10. We houseclean together - it sounds weird, but we go faster and have fun when we are all doing it at once. Bop along to the music and it all gets done in about 2 hours.
11. We play games - board games, card games. Some of our favorites are CLUE, Killing Dr. Lucky, Illuminate, The Haunted House, Munchkin (and all the extras), Empire Builder, Pretty Corpse, et. al. Just about anything by Steve Jackson or Cheapass Games.
What do you do? We always look for suggestions.
On a financial note - I found this nice little Build a Budget worksheet over at frugalliving.about.com. Very simple way to list expenses. It is located here: http://frugalliving.about.com/b/2007/07/10/free-budget-worksheet.htm
I was reading up on coupon sites and grocery savings. Along with gas going up, groceries have gone up more than 21% over all in the last year. It is not your imagination - we really are paying more. frugalliving.about.com has some great lists - what fruits and veg are cheapest by month, ingredient substitution lists etc. Worth checking.
Also - if you are trying to eat at home more and trying to eat seasonally it sometimes means looking for new recipes for what is plentiful at the moment. I have always had wonderful luck finding recipes at www.recipezaar.com You can list an ingredient (i.e. chicken, sweet potatos, etc) and they will list all kinds of recipes for that item. I have found a lot of great stuff on this site.
Friday, May 09, 2008
I have been doing what every reader dreads - culling my library. I have literally run out of places to store books and my housemates, while very patient people, tend to object when I start using their spaces.
Once I am in the process I do kind of enjoy it, however. I do two things with the books I have culled - I let my friends go through them (you can take anything you want, you just cannot bring it back) and I take them to the local used book store.
I actually cull books on a regular basis. I also need to regularly cull magazines. And lest you think I am one of those people who just keep a shelf or two, let me explain. I am a reader who collects books in a household of other avid readers. Bookshelves line our bedrooms, our hallways, are in our common room and even line part of my dining room. I started culling books when I realized I personally owned over 15,000. I cannot imagine the house with out books, but we also do not need to drowned in them.
I finally realized that although I am a re-reader I was having trouble finding the volumes I wanted to reread. And although I had a lot of wonderful books on my shelves, many of them were not things I had ever felt the urge to reread (while others of my books I reread fairly often). My friends borrow books from me on a regular basis, but even they were limited by what they could see - I had books in boxes and under the bed, in closets, etc.
I finally realized I had to cull out books. First I got rid of the obvious - duplicates (oh, yeah - if you cannot see all your books you may forget you have a title or two) and ones I actually had not really cared for. That was so liberating I took the next step - books that had been good and/or useful but that I was not going to reread or use as a reference again. It has been like peeling an onion - the more I give away, them more books I am willing to cull. I have much fewer books now, but when I go over my shelves I can find my old friends and comfort reads. I also feel that all the books that were just sitting gathering dust are now being used - my friends who raided the to go boxes have been having a fine old time (several of the novels have made it into more than one hand as things get traded), the books I sold will make it out to people who will read them. Oh - and much fewer books is a true statement, but my personal library still has several thousand volumes. I think I will be able to find something to read.
The thing that did surprise me - I do not miss the books that have been culled. In fact, I feel lighter. Next I am doing what a lot of readers love - I am going to play with my books by making sure they are all arranged by subject and author. Now that I can see them all I get to play, er, arrange them. This will take awhile because there will be pauses while I reread or revisit favorite sections. Looking forward to it.
Oh, and living with other readers? It's great, I read things I would never have chosen for myself but really end up enjoying. Robin just lent me all the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. graphic novels. They are really good and I would not have found them myself. Love being lead into temptation.
Once I am in the process I do kind of enjoy it, however. I do two things with the books I have culled - I let my friends go through them (you can take anything you want, you just cannot bring it back) and I take them to the local used book store.
I actually cull books on a regular basis. I also need to regularly cull magazines. And lest you think I am one of those people who just keep a shelf or two, let me explain. I am a reader who collects books in a household of other avid readers. Bookshelves line our bedrooms, our hallways, are in our common room and even line part of my dining room. I started culling books when I realized I personally owned over 15,000. I cannot imagine the house with out books, but we also do not need to drowned in them.
I finally realized that although I am a re-reader I was having trouble finding the volumes I wanted to reread. And although I had a lot of wonderful books on my shelves, many of them were not things I had ever felt the urge to reread (while others of my books I reread fairly often). My friends borrow books from me on a regular basis, but even they were limited by what they could see - I had books in boxes and under the bed, in closets, etc.
I finally realized I had to cull out books. First I got rid of the obvious - duplicates (oh, yeah - if you cannot see all your books you may forget you have a title or two) and ones I actually had not really cared for. That was so liberating I took the next step - books that had been good and/or useful but that I was not going to reread or use as a reference again. It has been like peeling an onion - the more I give away, them more books I am willing to cull. I have much fewer books now, but when I go over my shelves I can find my old friends and comfort reads. I also feel that all the books that were just sitting gathering dust are now being used - my friends who raided the to go boxes have been having a fine old time (several of the novels have made it into more than one hand as things get traded), the books I sold will make it out to people who will read them. Oh - and much fewer books is a true statement, but my personal library still has several thousand volumes. I think I will be able to find something to read
The thing that did surprise me - I do not miss the books that have been culled. In fact, I feel lighter. Next I am doing what a lot of readers love - I am going to play with my books by making sure they are all arranged by subject and author. Now that I can see them all I get to play, er, arrange them. This will take awhile because there will be pauses while I reread or revisit favorite sections. Looking forward to it.
Oh, and living with other readers? It's great, I read things I would never have chosen for myself but really end up enjoying. Robin just lent me all the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. graphic novels. They are really good and I would not have found them myself. Love being lead into temptation.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
I have not been updating or writing about sharing a house hold with other adults because I have been busy experiencing one of the main advantages of a healthy house hold - a support system.
I ended up going into the hospital in March after having what we thought was pneumonia for the end of January and most of Feb. Well, I did have pneumonia, but I also had several pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in my lungs). This really interfered with my breathing and I am recovering really nicely, but am still dealing with shortness of breath issues.
My household rallies wonderfully. Robin took me to the clinic that did the x-rays on my lungs and the cat scan and then drove me to the emergency room to get me checked into the hospital and stayed until they had me settled for the night. This was amazing since it took several hours (the hospital was very efficient, I was in a room in the emergency wing while they arranged to get me into the ICU). She and her husband checked in with me everyday and brought anything I needed from home - since Robin and I are both avid knitters and readers she brought me a lovely book bag full of knitting, books and necessary things. I had not realized when we started out I would be in the hospital so needed a few things from home.
I was home after five days but still in recovery and still very short of breath. My house mates have been handling most of the daily stuff - taking out the garbage, house work, animal corralling. Since I can sit at a computer (for much longer now, when I first came home ten minutes was basically my limit) I have been taking care of things like ordering the groceries for the household, paying the bills (I have most of our bills on line and I let everyone know what the monthly total is and they give me a check for their portion) and dealing with any calls that need to be made for maintenance etc. As I am getting better I am doing more housework, but that is still not the main focus - I am at a stage where I can empty the dishwasher but it takes two sessions - I need about a 20 minute rest to finish. Putting away the groceries takes me 3 or 4 sessions - so Robin has had me have them delivered when she is home and I assist with the sorting and organization (that is for Leonard, those are for kids lunches, that needs to be saved for the potluck, your conditioner should be in one of these bags, etc....) and she puts away the bulk of the items.
We do about the same thing we do with groceries as we do with utilities - everyone lets me know what they need for the week, I order it and then break up the receipt. We share a lot of meals and bulk buy a lot of items, so mainly I am just splitting up the grocery bill, but if we need a lot of personal stuff (cosmetics, items for office potlucks, what ever extras) those come out of the user's pocket. One of the nice things about grocery delivery is that it comes with a very detailed receipt and just like the bills I have them available for anyone to go over. We do buy most of our paper products, batteries, computer ink, light bulbs, cheese, some canned goods, fruit, laundry and dish washing soap and misc items at the local warehouse store (I price check against grocery stores on a regular basis and the above items always are cheaper at our local warehouse store) and right now the other house hold members do that run as I cannot lift most of the packages. We do the same thing - split the receipt among us and reimburse the shopper.
Once the items are brought into the house I sit down at the table and do some repackaging. If bulk meat, chicken, fish or other perishables were a good deal (sometimes the grocery store is better) we purchase them at the ware house and I break the packages down into freezer bags. For instance, in the case of meats I put enough servings in one bag for one meal for the house hold. In the case of cheese or other items like bread, we leave out enough for the week and break the rest up into week amounts. We then date the bags and put them in the deep freeze.
This can save a lot if you do two things: remember to check the freezer before shopping - I often do not have to buy any protein on a regular shopping trip and remember to move things like the meat to the fridge to thaw the night before you want to cook it. Takes some habit building, but also can make life a lot easier. Bless my housemates - they have been doing the runs up and down the stairs to the freezer for me.
One of the things about living with other adults with a balanced and calm house hold - you need to be transparent about money. The house hold members need to communicate about what they can afford, what they are willing to pay for and what the priorities are. Just because a household member can afford something, it does not follow that they want it or feel a need for it and conversely, just because someone would like something (like cable, fillet Mignon etc) does not mean it is in their budget.
In my house hold we currently have myself, Robin and John (married couple) and our friend Leonard. We have had very frank conversations about how much we earn, what our goals are and what we think is reasonable to pay for rent, utilities, other household expenses.
For instance, Robin and John pay the highest rent - this is because they have 3 of the bedrooms (kids). I pay the second highest rent - I have the master bedroom and Leonard pays the least because he has one regular bedroom. There are not huge gaps between what we each pay, but we also all discussed it and agreed what was fair. We also use all the other spaces in the house as communal - our computers are all in the downstairs living room along with the big screen t.v., the living room upstairs has the smaller t.v. but this is also "adult space". Leonard and I are both single and have no children, so although we are very fond of Robin's kids we needed a place that could sometimes be child free. The trade off is our computer area/t.v. room downstairs is considered a child friendly zone. We have rules for that also - a whole separate subject.
We talked in depth about the utilities. I pulled the bills when Leonard moved in and when Robin and John moved in and let them know what the basics worked out to for water, power, and waste. Also let them know we are on a septic system and we would need to do a pump out every couple of years as well as having the chimneys cleaned yearly if they wanted to use the fireplaces. These are necessary expenses, but it helps that we also agree on things like turning off the lights when not in use, not running loads of dishes or laundry unless we have a full load, using drought resistant local plants etc in the yard (it helps that Robin rocks in the garden - go horticultural majors!), using a programmable thermostat that turns down the temp while we are at work (or during the day in general) and moving up a few degrees when the temp drops in the evening. In other words, everyone is on board about keeping what we can control low. The other utilities are the more optional - cable, Internet and phone. We ended up getting a really good deal on bundling them together but before we got to that point we had the big discussion - did we want these things. In my house Internet is just a given. O.K., then we discussed cable and decided what we were willing to pay for. Phones were last - we tried not having a house phone as we all have cells. This did not work for varying reasons and we gave it almost a year trial. So I went shopping, checked back with everyone and, hence, the Internet, cable, phone bundle. Because everyone had a vote and agreed I do not hear any grumbling at bill time. I do recheck periodically - we went for one of the premium cable bundles. So far, so good - between us and the kids we are using it (as opposed to renting movies). If that changes, we may rethink and move to a lower pkg.
Same thing if you share groceries. If one person wants a chicken and potato diet and the other person wants a caviar and champagne diet there are going to be problems. We discussed what we expected out of meal sharing, how much we thought was reasonable for groceries on a weekly basis (budget), if we were brand loyal (I am on some items and not on most - for most things I will go for the sale item if I think it is the same quality, but a particular brand may be important for someone - if it is I have them tell me and look for sales or just get it if it is not really out of the range of the budget agreement), what we liked to eat, etc. etc. We are lucky in that our household is omnivorous, likes lots of veg, several of us cook so we discuss food and we are flexible. We are also a pretty considerate group, we know our likes and dislikes and food allergy issues and are willing to work around it. We are also into all sorts of different food types and willing to eat seasonally which helps the grocery bill. I have shared a house with vegetarians, with people with restricted diets for health reasons, and it can be done, but requires a lot of flexibility and tolerance to share the fridge much less the grocery bills (I have also been on the other side of the fence - I was a vegetarian for 10 years).
Another reason for being financially transparent to your housemates is it allows for better emergency planning and boundaries. A good example - one of my housemates changed jobs and jumped into a new career area. Great opportunity, much happier. But it meant they ended up with a two week unpaid gap and then a first pay check that did not hit until 3 weeks into the job. They were able to let us know this was coming up, that they had rent but would be short on utilities. It worked out - the other house hold members knew ahead of time and had no problem absorbing the extra utilities, it was paid back after a few paychecks filled the bank account back up and we have a happier, less stressed house mate (trust me - if you have never lived with someone who is really unhappy with their job it is not something you want to do - no matter how they try to keep a good face on things the stress shows). We have dealt with larger financial emergencies as a house hold (loss of job due to a company reorg that resulted in a 3 mo job hunt, a few other things) but since we had talked about some of these issues ahead of time and were used to talking about money they were easier to deal with. Job hunt case? Unemployment covered rent, household covered groceries and utilities, job hunt was rigorous, household was not judgemental - it does not help - and job hunter agreed that if no job found with in a set time period would go for temp work. Had actually registered with some temp companies when the permanent job with the right fit came through. The household was repaid in various ways. Money was repaid for a chunk of it but we also used the opportunity to get things done that required some one to be home during the day or would take up a chunk of the weekend (roommate agreed to take deliveries, stay home for repair people, do postal errands, take dog to groomers). Rule was interviews get priority, everything else is flexible.
So the rule is, for a happy household, talk about money and money issues that impact the household. Have monthly check in meetings if necessary - quarterly if not a lot is changing, but make sure you set aside some time to make sure everyone is on the same page and that everything is still working as it should.
I ended up going into the hospital in March after having what we thought was pneumonia for the end of January and most of Feb. Well, I did have pneumonia, but I also had several pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in my lungs). This really interfered with my breathing and I am recovering really nicely, but am still dealing with shortness of breath issues.
My household rallies wonderfully. Robin took me to the clinic that did the x-rays on my lungs and the cat scan and then drove me to the emergency room to get me checked into the hospital and stayed until they had me settled for the night. This was amazing since it took several hours (the hospital was very efficient, I was in a room in the emergency wing while they arranged to get me into the ICU). She and her husband checked in with me everyday and brought anything I needed from home - since Robin and I are both avid knitters and readers she brought me a lovely book bag full of knitting, books and necessary things. I had not realized when we started out I would be in the hospital so needed a few things from home.
I was home after five days but still in recovery and still very short of breath. My house mates have been handling most of the daily stuff - taking out the garbage, house work, animal corralling. Since I can sit at a computer (for much longer now, when I first came home ten minutes was basically my limit) I have been taking care of things like ordering the groceries for the household, paying the bills (I have most of our bills on line and I let everyone know what the monthly total is and they give me a check for their portion) and dealing with any calls that need to be made for maintenance etc. As I am getting better I am doing more housework, but that is still not the main focus - I am at a stage where I can empty the dishwasher but it takes two sessions - I need about a 20 minute rest to finish. Putting away the groceries takes me 3 or 4 sessions - so Robin has had me have them delivered when she is home and I assist with the sorting and organization (that is for Leonard, those are for kids lunches, that needs to be saved for the potluck, your conditioner should be in one of these bags, etc....) and she puts away the bulk of the items.
We do about the same thing we do with groceries as we do with utilities - everyone lets me know what they need for the week, I order it and then break up the receipt. We share a lot of meals and bulk buy a lot of items, so mainly I am just splitting up the grocery bill, but if we need a lot of personal stuff (cosmetics, items for office potlucks, what ever extras) those come out of the user's pocket. One of the nice things about grocery delivery is that it comes with a very detailed receipt and just like the bills I have them available for anyone to go over. We do buy most of our paper products, batteries, computer ink, light bulbs, cheese, some canned goods, fruit, laundry and dish washing soap and misc items at the local warehouse store (I price check against grocery stores on a regular basis and the above items always are cheaper at our local warehouse store) and right now the other house hold members do that run as I cannot lift most of the packages. We do the same thing - split the receipt among us and reimburse the shopper.
Once the items are brought into the house I sit down at the table and do some repackaging. If bulk meat, chicken, fish or other perishables were a good deal (sometimes the grocery store is better) we purchase them at the ware house and I break the packages down into freezer bags. For instance, in the case of meats I put enough servings in one bag for one meal for the house hold. In the case of cheese or other items like bread, we leave out enough for the week and break the rest up into week amounts. We then date the bags and put them in the deep freeze.
This can save a lot if you do two things: remember to check the freezer before shopping - I often do not have to buy any protein on a regular shopping trip and remember to move things like the meat to the fridge to thaw the night before you want to cook it. Takes some habit building, but also can make life a lot easier. Bless my housemates - they have been doing the runs up and down the stairs to the freezer for me.
One of the things about living with other adults with a balanced and calm house hold - you need to be transparent about money. The house hold members need to communicate about what they can afford, what they are willing to pay for and what the priorities are. Just because a household member can afford something, it does not follow that they want it or feel a need for it and conversely, just because someone would like something (like cable, fillet Mignon etc) does not mean it is in their budget.
In my house hold we currently have myself, Robin and John (married couple) and our friend Leonard. We have had very frank conversations about how much we earn, what our goals are and what we think is reasonable to pay for rent, utilities, other household expenses.
For instance, Robin and John pay the highest rent - this is because they have 3 of the bedrooms (kids). I pay the second highest rent - I have the master bedroom and Leonard pays the least because he has one regular bedroom. There are not huge gaps between what we each pay, but we also all discussed it and agreed what was fair. We also use all the other spaces in the house as communal - our computers are all in the downstairs living room along with the big screen t.v., the living room upstairs has the smaller t.v. but this is also "adult space". Leonard and I are both single and have no children, so although we are very fond of Robin's kids we needed a place that could sometimes be child free. The trade off is our computer area/t.v. room downstairs is considered a child friendly zone. We have rules for that also - a whole separate subject.
We talked in depth about the utilities. I pulled the bills when Leonard moved in and when Robin and John moved in and let them know what the basics worked out to for water, power, and waste. Also let them know we are on a septic system and we would need to do a pump out every couple of years as well as having the chimneys cleaned yearly if they wanted to use the fireplaces. These are necessary expenses, but it helps that we also agree on things like turning off the lights when not in use, not running loads of dishes or laundry unless we have a full load, using drought resistant local plants etc in the yard (it helps that Robin rocks in the garden - go horticultural majors!), using a programmable thermostat that turns down the temp while we are at work (or during the day in general) and moving up a few degrees when the temp drops in the evening. In other words, everyone is on board about keeping what we can control low. The other utilities are the more optional - cable, Internet and phone. We ended up getting a really good deal on bundling them together but before we got to that point we had the big discussion - did we want these things. In my house Internet is just a given. O.K., then we discussed cable and decided what we were willing to pay for. Phones were last - we tried not having a house phone as we all have cells. This did not work for varying reasons and we gave it almost a year trial. So I went shopping, checked back with everyone and, hence, the Internet, cable, phone bundle. Because everyone had a vote and agreed I do not hear any grumbling at bill time. I do recheck periodically - we went for one of the premium cable bundles. So far, so good - between us and the kids we are using it (as opposed to renting movies). If that changes, we may rethink and move to a lower pkg.
Same thing if you share groceries. If one person wants a chicken and potato diet and the other person wants a caviar and champagne diet there are going to be problems. We discussed what we expected out of meal sharing, how much we thought was reasonable for groceries on a weekly basis (budget), if we were brand loyal (I am on some items and not on most - for most things I will go for the sale item if I think it is the same quality, but a particular brand may be important for someone - if it is I have them tell me and look for sales or just get it if it is not really out of the range of the budget agreement), what we liked to eat, etc. etc. We are lucky in that our household is omnivorous, likes lots of veg, several of us cook so we discuss food and we are flexible. We are also a pretty considerate group, we know our likes and dislikes and food allergy issues and are willing to work around it. We are also into all sorts of different food types and willing to eat seasonally which helps the grocery bill. I have shared a house with vegetarians, with people with restricted diets for health reasons, and it can be done, but requires a lot of flexibility and tolerance to share the fridge much less the grocery bills (I have also been on the other side of the fence - I was a vegetarian for 10 years).
Another reason for being financially transparent to your housemates is it allows for better emergency planning and boundaries. A good example - one of my housemates changed jobs and jumped into a new career area. Great opportunity, much happier. But it meant they ended up with a two week unpaid gap and then a first pay check that did not hit until 3 weeks into the job. They were able to let us know this was coming up, that they had rent but would be short on utilities. It worked out - the other house hold members knew ahead of time and had no problem absorbing the extra utilities, it was paid back after a few paychecks filled the bank account back up and we have a happier, less stressed house mate (trust me - if you have never lived with someone who is really unhappy with their job it is not something you want to do - no matter how they try to keep a good face on things the stress shows). We have dealt with larger financial emergencies as a house hold (loss of job due to a company reorg that resulted in a 3 mo job hunt, a few other things) but since we had talked about some of these issues ahead of time and were used to talking about money they were easier to deal with. Job hunt case? Unemployment covered rent, household covered groceries and utilities, job hunt was rigorous, household was not judgemental - it does not help - and job hunter agreed that if no job found with in a set time period would go for temp work. Had actually registered with some temp companies when the permanent job with the right fit came through. The household was repaid in various ways. Money was repaid for a chunk of it but we also used the opportunity to get things done that required some one to be home during the day or would take up a chunk of the weekend (roommate agreed to take deliveries, stay home for repair people, do postal errands, take dog to groomers). Rule was interviews get priority, everything else is flexible.
So the rule is, for a happy household, talk about money and money issues that impact the household. Have monthly check in meetings if necessary - quarterly if not a lot is changing, but make sure you set aside some time to make sure everyone is on the same page and that everything is still working as it should.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Well, the new year is on its way and I am zooming along with it. One roommate just moved out today and another (actually 3 others, my friend Robin, husband John and daughter Ryan) are moving in next weekend. Good for the house, hectic for everyone. The two of us in the household currently are looking forward to our friends moving in even as we will miss the friend that moved out. This is a big house, not a huge mcmansion, but a 1970s style ranch that was built for a larger family, so we have six bedrooms and two kitchens, one upstairs and one down. We also have a yard that is just slightly over an acre. It is good for kids, cats, plants, dogs.
I have found as an adult that I do not care for living alone. Despite the compromises I do better living with friends. As prices go up and salaries do not seem to keep pace it also makes sense to combine living expenses. Sharing rent and utilities also makes other expenses like inter net connection and cable much more affordable. We have found sharing expenses on bulk buys also helps (paper products, garbage bags, light bulbs, etc.) and more cooks in the house is a good thing - we eat in more, pay attention to both cost and nutrition and end up eating a fulfilling and healthier diet.
An added bonus - it is really unusual that we need to find a baby sitter or kennel the animals when one of us travels. We can cover each other when our cars are in the shop. If we are going to the same place (and, often, we are) we can carpool. If you are sick, someone will go to the store and make chicken soup. I really think that in some ways, our society insisting on the norm being one family unit per dwelling robs us of a support group. Many of my friend also live in shared households, made up of all adults or adults and kids and for the same reason - we have a better standard of living when we share resources and security against some of life's knocks.
The flip side is you need to be good at boundaries and willing to communicate. Household meetings can be interesting. Living together is often fun, but also comes with its own set of problems and compromises. Taking on new roommates, even though they are long time friends, is going to put us into the area where we all need to learn the new rhythm. Should be interesting.
I have found as an adult that I do not care for living alone. Despite the compromises I do better living with friends. As prices go up and salaries do not seem to keep pace it also makes sense to combine living expenses. Sharing rent and utilities also makes other expenses like inter net connection and cable much more affordable. We have found sharing expenses on bulk buys also helps (paper products, garbage bags, light bulbs, etc.) and more cooks in the house is a good thing - we eat in more, pay attention to both cost and nutrition and end up eating a fulfilling and healthier diet.
An added bonus - it is really unusual that we need to find a baby sitter or kennel the animals when one of us travels. We can cover each other when our cars are in the shop. If we are going to the same place (and, often, we are) we can carpool. If you are sick, someone will go to the store and make chicken soup. I really think that in some ways, our society insisting on the norm being one family unit per dwelling robs us of a support group. Many of my friend also live in shared households, made up of all adults or adults and kids and for the same reason - we have a better standard of living when we share resources and security against some of life's knocks.
The flip side is you need to be good at boundaries and willing to communicate. Household meetings can be interesting. Living together is often fun, but also comes with its own set of problems and compromises. Taking on new roommates, even though they are long time friends, is going to put us into the area where we all need to learn the new rhythm. Should be interesting.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
