The Challenge

After laying out a bit about us, we now come to the point of this journal. With the end of every year comes a review of finances. The taxman will soon be knocking. This is the point in time when we scrutinize, pinch, bite and end up with a headache over where our money went. A lot of things jump out. Auto maintence and fuel. Rent. Utilities. Insurance. Finance charges and interest. Same ol' same ol'. This year, something bothered me more than usual. Our food bill. In 2009 we spent over $8900 in food and groceries. This included dining out, fast food, and supermarket bills. It didn't include what we paid cash for, so I can easily assume we spent $10-11,000 on food and household items. Maybe this isn't a shocker to most of you, but for a three-person family this made my eyes squint and my jaws clench! I looked back at 2008. Similar story. $7300 in trackable food/household expenses. I'm guessing it was slightly less because both of us were home through September to share cooking duties. When we took the job in GFalls, my hubby was still home to take over. Admittedly, I think he does them better than I!

I will also admit that we are not penny pinchers. I enjoy eating out occassionally. I also enjoy shopping at Eddie Bauer. My husband likes to buy good tools, not cheapos. We are sending our daughter to one of the spendier daycares. We pay our taxes in full, and we tithe every year. We pay off credit card debt as soon as possible. We like having a nice home, but it's not new and has no granite countertops. We also don't have a lot of "toys". No boat. No 4-wheeler. No golf /ski passes. No flatscreen television. Our Ford truck has over 200k miles on it, and our family van is approaching 130k. I push mow about half an acre of lawn each week (spending an hour after work it takes me about 4 days). I finally broke down and bought a $60 Christmas tree, because our old one had a broken base and a few of the limbs were missing. Our daughter is getting older now, and a lopsided tree doesn't work with horseplay and balls being kicked around. Thankfully, she is still young enough, however, not to understand the difference between our $60 tree and the $160 tree further down the line.

My point is, we're not the most frugal, but we also try to curb spending. I'd consider us an average 30-somtheing family. My challenge this year is to try and whack away at that $10,000 grocery bill by growing fruits and vegetables myself, canning/freezing them, and making as many meals as possible at home. I also hope to get chickens someday, as we eat a lot of eggs and poultry. Between the chickens and the deer we got this year, we'll hopefully be able to cut our meat bill down. All this while holding down my 9-5, M-F job, and keeping my sanity, wife and mother relationships all in-tact. I hope to prove that this is possible, and that growing at least a portion of your own food can make a difference on your wallet.

I also understand my boundaries. There are certain things that won't be replaced in our grocery bills, like dish soap, shampoo, and bleach. Also we won't replace certain food items like milk and butter. I grew up with cattle and I don't want any of my own. The point of this project isn't to change our lifestyle entirely. In fact, just the opposite. It's not even about growing things organically or locally. It's simply a challenge to find out whether I can bring down our food bill by being a little more dilligent, efficient, and self-sufficient. There will be challenges I've never faced. While I've gardened nearly all my life, I've never canned. Frankly, it scares the be-Jesus out of me. I've heard stories of my grandmother losing an entire batch of canned peas to the walls after an explosion. I've also heard horror stories of the lids not popping properly and a whole crop going bad. Until this point, I have frozen all surplus fruits and veggies. Safe, but not exactly flavor-saving.

I hope someday, if all goes well, my daughter can use this journal to understand how and why we did what we did. She may also learn where her college fund came from!