Brett and I no longer have decluttering to take on as a project but we have given ourselves a BIG challenge beginning this month: no unnecessary purchases in 2024, with no spending except for essentials until we leave Nashville.
We have another 18 months to go in Tennessee, and want to see if we can save an additional $10,000 beyond our regular savings before we leave. A no-spend year and a half will help us (hopefully) reach this goal before we depart Tennessee.
There’s really no special reason for doing this other than neither of us needs another thing – what we currently have is enough. However, we’re not planning to sit home in the dark either and will still be getting out to explore what’s around us, and hopefully go on a couple of small trips as well.
Some of the sources for our $10K savings goal are:
Underspending: when we spend less than what’s been budgeted the leftover amount will go into this account. Food shopping leftovers beyond the change and $1 and $5 bills we get back will be transferred to the account. Most of our utility amounts are set, but there will be places we can cut back. Gasoline will be another place we will aim for savings.
The change/$1/$5 bill jar: we’re going to add $10 bills this year on top of our $1 and $5 bill deposits into the jar. We don’t get $10 bills very often but they’ll help grow this savings.
Blog earnings: these are pretty meager, but every little bit helps.
Refunds and rebates: these are also few and far between, but off the top of my head there’s an annual rebate from Costco every year, another annual rebate from our car insurance, and we get cash back from our credit card (we use the credit card to pay our phone bill, buy gasoline, and cover dog grooming, then pay it off every month).
Girls’ phone payment: once a year the girls pay us the cost of keeping them on our phone plan (which keeps it super cheap for them).
Reimbursements from our daughter-in-law: whenever they arrive, we’ll put at least half if not all into this account.
Gift cards savings: Our kids are very generous with us on our birthdays and at Christmas, but we honestly don’t need anything more and have already let them know if they want to give us a gift we would prefer to receive gift cards to places we regularly shop (Costco, Trader Joe’s, Target, Aldi, and Amazon) instead of acquiring more things. They think this is a great idea, and it will help us all save.
Other odds and ends: $50 from each of my Trader Joe’s paychecks, some of the extra I earn for working on Sundays, will go into this account but otherwise if anything we receive beyond the above shows up, into the account it will go!
Can we do this? Both of us believe if we’re dedicated and mindful it should be possible to save an additional $10,000, and we are starting things off with $641.71 that we put together in December from refunds, 2023 blog earnings, and some other odds and ends. Going forward, we’ll stick to our regular budget but continue to try to spend less, work hard at not buying anything other than essentials, and keep our fingers crossed!
Nothing in the list below will break any new ground or be surprising to most, but are the habits we have developed over the years in order to live frugally and save without feeling deprived.
Have we always perfectly followed this list? NO WAY!! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve backtracked or gotten lazy with some things, but we’ve always eventually gotten back on the path and kept going.
Have a budget every month (as well as for Christmas and birthdays) and stick to it.
Make a menu plan every two weeks and stick to it (we’ve done weekly and monthly menus in the past but two weeks is the sweet spot now).
Strategically plan a menu with variety and leftovers for future meals.
Shop with a list and stick to it.
Buy store brands as much as possible.
Pay for food with cash and save change, $1 and $5 bills (doing this nets around $400/year of savings these days). We save more this way than with CC rewards.
Shop stores with known consistent low prices and high- quality food versus using coupons and/or tracking sales (we pay close attention to prices at Costco – they’re not always a good deal!). We don’t stock up anymore either.
Aim for zero food waste each month. The most expensive foods you buy are the things you throw away.
Dine out or buy coffee only occasionally and only when planned. We read the menu ahead of going out to avoid surprises and share dishes if possible.
Combine car trips and errands as much as possible.
Research local gas prices before purchasing (Costco always has the lowest here). Use CC for gas purchases for rewards
Aim for at least one no-drive day per week
Keep up with regular, scheduled maintenance on our car.
Wash our car at home (we are currently fortunate to have free car washing stations with vacuums at our apartment complex).
Turn off lights and other appliances when not in use.
Keep thermostats at 66 degrees in the winter; 80 degrees in the summer. Supplement with ceiling fans, extra blankets and sweaters if necessary.
Cook with an air fryer or a slow cooker versus turning on the oven or stove.
Limit showers to five to seven minutes and take “navy” showers.
Wash clothes in cold (tap) water; warm water for whites and towels only.
Wash full loads and use the “exact fill” setting to not waste water.
Aim for one “no spend” week each month (previously budgeted items like groceries or gas are okay if necessary)
Shop only for a specific reason – no “fun shopping” or “retail therapy” – and again, stick to a list.
Determine if an item is a need or a want and let the wants go.
Give ourselves a 24-48 hour cooling off period before making any “big” purchase. We are good at talking ourselves out of many big purchases
Never pay full price: buy used, on sale, with a discount, or with free shipping or delivery.
Get all books from the library.
Choose quality over quantity.
Repair or go without if possible, and make do with what we already have.
Share television streaming services with family members at no cost.
Choose experiences over things.
Take advantage of free local offerings for sightseeing and exercise.
It’s good for me to visually take inventory once in a while of how we spend our money, especially on food. I haven’t done it in a while, but in September we were starting out with an almost empty fridge and freezer and I thought this would be a good time to take photos of what we bought to not only see how much we spent on food (and alcohol) but also what we were able to buy within our food budget of $500.
I sort of stuck to my plan of shopping once a week: we did one “big shop” on the first and and a smaller fill-ins throughout the month. Truth be told though, I just don’t enjoy food shopping enough to do it every week. Maybe that has something to do with working in a food store.
Gluten-free (and dairy-free) products take up a larger percentage of our food budget these days as they are a bit more costly than regular items. I buy most of our GF products at Trader Joe’s – some are better than others – but we did check out what Whole Foods has to offer and bought a couple of items there. My stomach remains a whole lot happier these days without gluten (and lactose).
Anyway, here’s everything we bought in September:
Whole Foods/Sept 1: We bought two packages of GF baguettes which were on sale (and otherwise unaffordable), and a big piece of GF carrot cake that we split for dessert. We plan to get the cake again sometime – it was delicious – but the GF bread was just OK. Total spent: $23.38.
Costco/Sept 1: We hadn’t shopped here in a while but wanted to check out gluten free offerings as well as get coffee, tea, and naproxen sodium. The items we ended up purchasing were: Kirkland brand naproxen sodium, a twin pack of Rao’s sauce, a big bag of organic chicken sausage links, a 3-pack of GF cheese pizzas (which are surprisingly good), a package of rice noodle ramen, Thai-style coconut curry chicken, five pounds of organic oatmeal, a pan of stuffed bell peppers, and two packages of GF oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies. We also bought a flat of bottled diet green tea with lemon (not pictured), six pounds of coffee (not pictured), two bottles of pinot grigio, and a bottle of pinot noir. Total spent: $188.27. Some of this food and beverage will last into next month and beyond.
Liquor store/Sept 1: We bought a bottle of rum and two bottles of club soda for $25.12 (for mojitos)
Aldi/Sept 1: Less than $20 ($19.26) for two packages of mild Italian sausages, a package of cilantro, a package of fresh mint, two boxes of graham crackers, two packages of instant mashed potatoes, a can of chickpeas, a bag of mini chocolate chips, a can of kidney beans, and a can of green beans.
Trader Joe’s/Sept 1: Our TJ’s total for everything was $145.45 (after discount of $34.48). I’ve divided up what we bought into five photos.
TJ’s afterschool kid snacks: marshmallows, meringue cookies, dark chocolate-covered pretzels, popcorn, and baked cheese curls
Bakery items: two loaves GF multigrain bread, two loaves GF cinnamon raisin bread, two packages GF muffins (chocolate and cinnamon coffee cake), one box GF madeilines, one loaf of multigrain sandwich bread
Grocery items: one pound thick cut bacon, two dozen eggs, two cartons nut milk, a bottle of canola oil, a jar of minced garlic, a bottle of furikake, a jar of vegetable soup, a carton of chicken broth, and a half pound of TJ’s Unexpected Cheddar.
Frozen: frozen blueberry waffles, GF waffles, two packages of beef bulgogi fried rice, frozen green beans, frozen broccoli florets, beef birria, breakfast eggwiches, oat milk chocolate fudge bars, brownie crisp coffee bars, and dairy-free Very Chocolate frozen dessert.
Produce: An organic coleslaw kit, a pound of fresh figs, a package organic onions, organic zucchini, a head of cabbage, one pound of organic tomatoes, a package of shishito peppers, two russet potatoes, a bag of organic baby kale, a package of green onions, and five organic bananas
Miscellaneous: a package of toilet paper and a bottle of Mangotini (Bellini made with mango juice versus peach – delicious!)
This first round of shopping left us with $98.52 for the second part of the month. I did a quick shop at Trader Joe’s a week after the first big shop for few more things (mostly gluten free) and then shopped again two weeks later. The first round I spent $36.34 (after discount of $9.09).
Trader Joe’s/ Sept 8: GF chocolate chip brownie mix; GF chocolate chunk cookie dough; GF bagels; chicken salad; lactose free cream cheese; GF hamburger rolls; shaved beef; French fries; and Unexpected Cheddar spread with hatch chilis. I made beef sandwiches topped with the Unexpected Cheddar spread, French fries, coleslaw for our Friday night dinner with our DIL and grands, and served GF brownies and freshly-baked GF cookies for dessert!
When fall items started rolling in we bought the following must haves for $13.42 (after discount price of $3.35):
Trader Joe’s/Sept 14: Gluten free pumpkin pancake mix, gluten free pumpkin baking mix, and pumpkin-caramel Kringle (for Brett and the grandkids). We’ll be getting a whole lot more of the pancake and baking mixes before the season is over!
We finished up the month with another small shop at Trader Joe’s to get us through until the end of the month. We had $48.76 left in the budget; I spent $53.88 (after discount of $13.33). There were a few things I normally wouldn’t have gotten, but our grandchildren had dinner with us on two nights at the end of the month which meant pizza and pigs in a blanket as well as ice cream cones (they’re not adventurous eaters). We had also run out of dog treats.
Trader Joe’s/September 20: Bag #1: mint, cucumber chunks, a cucumber, bag of carrots, individual cheese pizzas, pork tenderloin roast; mini ice cream cones, tater tots, Pastry Pups (pigs in a blanket), vegan butter spread, and gluten free chicken nuggets,
Trader Joe’s/September 20: Bag 2: whole wheat hamburger buns, (more!) cilantro, roasted seaweed, six organic bananas, organic coleslaw mix, an avocado, one pound of roasted peanuts, bacon-pumpkin dog treats, sweet chili sauce, salmon skin dog treats, ginger-miso broth, and two potatoes.
Total spent in September: $505.12, just slightly over budget. Without all the booze we would have made it.
For all that, some of the meals we enjoyed this month included Zuppa Toscana; baked potatoes with broccoli, cheese, and bacon; zucchini frittata and Italian sausages; pad Thai; California roll salad; beef birria tacos with roasted shishito peppers; waffles and sausage “breakfast for dinner;” soup and grilled cheese sandwiches; coconut curry chicken with rice; stuffed bell peppers; shaved beef with chili cheddar cheese sandwiches; bulgogi fried rice; pork & vegetable fried rice; noodle bowls with roast pork; and more!
And, we enjoyed mojitos on the weekends!
Everything we bought fit nicely into the freezer and refrigerator and was easy to track thanks to last month’s clean out!
While I am all about saving, recognizing needs versus wants, and living frugally, I am not into deprivation. To me, depriving ourselves of certain things, or allowing ourselves to feel deprived, guarantees that we will eventually over-correct in some detrimental way.
Living a full life means allowing myself, or Brett, some extras. Some may seem like luxuries or unnecessary, but the skill has been in finding what we want at a price that doesn’t ruin our budget or hold up other goals.
Some of the little luxuries we enjoy right now are things we couldn’t afford when we were raising our kids, but with just the two of us and extra income from my work, they’re possible now and allow us to voluntarily live frugally and save for future experiences:
We set aside an amount every month for future travel. Even if we were doing a push to pay off my student loan, this amount would stay the same.
We buy what we’d like to eat versus cheaper options. We enjoy top quality food items but in moderation. My job at Trader Joe’s and the discount I receive means we don’t have to pass on some of these things like we did in the past.
We get haircuts from a stylist we know versus having to wonder what the new person we’ve never seen before at a discount salon will do with our hair. The cuts cost more, but we know what we’re getting.
I get my nails done regularly. One of the first casualties of my job at Trader Joe’s was my nails. They all broke the first week and continued to break and chip and were awful. I get my nails dipped every two weeks at an affordable salon nearby (which had gotten rave reviews from many of my coworkers).
A small thing, but we turned down our air-conditioning by a couple of degrees. It runs a bit more frequently but our apartment has been very pleasant this summer.
There are many things we haven’t changed, and things we continue to go without, even though we have enough income that we could do these things now:
We don’t stop for coffee drinks and such. We rarely go out to eat or stop for fast food (unless we’re traveling or it’s planned in advance).
I bring my lunch from home even though Trader Joe’s offers many affordable options for less than $5.
We spend very little on clothing and shoes; every purchase is planned in advance and only if we need something. We prefer to buy used if possible.
We still shop for groceries with a list and a spending limit. We’re still drinking the same cheap (but good) wine from Trader Joe’s that we did twenty years ago, and still only have three drinks each week (mainly because we don’t need the carbs).
We share our free streaming service with our children; they share theirs with us. Brett received a theater gift card for Father’s Day – we plan to see Barbie or Oppenheimer (even though I dislike theaters).
We don’t go to malls or “go shopping.”
All our reading material comes free from the library to our Kindles.
We continue to look for ways to cut back that won’t affect our current quality of life, like combining errands or running the dishwasher every other day.
It’s taken us a long time to get here, but we’ve finally arrived at that sweet spot where we can afford to spend a little extra and enjoy some little luxuries that don’t affect our bottom line or get in the way of future goals, allowing us to live simply but richly.
Meiling and K’s wedding next month is actually the second of two ceremonies. They will be officially wed the week before in British Columbia, with K’s family and their friends in attendance, several coming all the way from Taiwan. However, Meiling knew that traveling to BC would be difficult if not impossible for many in her immediate family, so they decided to hold a second ceremony for all of us in Vermont a week later . . . and we will all be there! There will be 16 people total, including the photographer who will be staying at the farmhouse with us for the weekend.
As one of our gifts to Meiling and K, we offered to provide all the food for the wedding weekend in Vermont. I will be the chief cook, but WenYu and YaYu have offered to serve as my sous chefs. I know I will need their help, and I’m already very, very grateful for their offers.
Coming up with a menu took quite a bit of work. There was a request from Meiling to consider, three special diets to work around (vegan, gluten free, lactose free), and of course the getting-everything-cooked-in-time part as well. I will be walking into the AirBNB farmhouse kitchen with no idea of what’s available as far as cookware and serving dishes. The venue is regularly used for weddings though so I am assuming (for now) there will adequate supplies. The host has informed Meiling there will be a new barbecue grill in place – all of my fingers and toes are crossed that it will actually be there when we arrive because the two evening meals have a grilled component.
I’ve just started work on the shopping list, but need to talk with WenYu first as she has volunteered to bring some things up from Massachusetts, such as eggs and bread. My shopping on this end will begin two to three days before we depart so I still have a few weeks left to make sure all my T’s are crossed and I’s dotted. I’ve been asked why we’re not shopping in Vermont, but the farmhouse location is quite rural and not very close to any sort of large town, and there’s no guarantee I would find what I need once we were there.
Anyway, below is the menu I’ve come up with for the two breakfasts, one lunch, and two dinners while our family will be together in Vermont:
Friday evening appetizers: Trader Joe’s Parmesan pups, two cheeses along with crackers, some kind of nuts; grilled artichoke hearts; some kind of fresh vegetable (haven’t figured that out yet) wine; Italian sodas
Friday dinner: grilled lemon-basil chicken thighs, quinoa salad, green salad, blood orange cake, wine & soft drinks (the chicken was a specific request from Meiling – no substitutes allowed!)
Saturday breakfast: sausage gravy & biscuit breakfast casserole, pecan sticky bun French toast casserole, waffles, fruit salad, coffee, tea
Saturday afternoon: wedding cake & champagne (Meiling & K will supply the cake; we will be bringing the champagne)
Saturday wedding dinner: grilled petite filet mignon, roasted vegetable medley, artisan bread with butter (vegan butter provided), mixed berry Eton mess, wine, sparkling juice, coffee and tea
Sunday farewell breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns, orange juice (mimosas if there is leftover champagne), coffee & tea
When I see it written out it all seems very complicated, but I’ve tried to keep things as simple and easy to prepare as possible. The most difficult part will be getting the chicken into the marinade before we leave the Airbnb the morning of our final day’s drive to Vermont as it needs to marinate all day. Another difficulty will be making sure we have a cooler big enough for everything we’re bringing along with us, but I think the one we’ve zeroed in on will have more than enough space. I’ve found vegan substitutes for some items, avoided gluten as much as possible, and the only thing that would typically contain lactose, the Eton messes, can be made with a dairy free substitute for those who require it.
I am extremely grateful to be working for Trader Joe’s right now as almost 100% of the food we’re bringing can be purchased there, and my discount is going to save us quite a bit.
I used my days off a couple of weeks ago to make hotel reservations for our trip up and back to Vermont and Maine in July. What is usually a fun task for me – comparing prices, and finding the best hotel deals – turned into two days of nearly utter frustration at times.
A drive up to Vermont from Nashville requires two nights on the road, but a couple of months ago YaYu called and asked if we would please come through Philadelphia and pick her up because she couldn’t afford to get to Vermont otherwise (she’s a research assistant and her pay is meager). We said of course although it added an additional day to the trip, so Brett recalculated our route and we adjusted our budget. Brett’s sister and her husband are going to the wedding as well, driving over to Nashville from Texas where we’ll join up and caravan up to Vermont together. They also have a dog that will be coming along, and they were fine with the Philly detour.
So with my trusty computer and my calculator by my side, I set out to find places for us to stay along the way. We and our in-laws agreed on a maximum price point for each night for lodging that was affordably pet friendly and offered a free breakfast.
How difficult could this be? I thought.
I quickly discovered it was going to be very difficult. Most hotels where we wanted to stop met either one or two of our criteria, but hitting the trifecta (price point, pet friendly, free breakfast) proved to be impossible. What happened over and over was I would (finally) find a pet-friendly hotel that offered a free breakfast, but when the date for our stay (mid July) was entered the price went skyrocketing. Most hotels though had only two of the three things we wanted.
I eventually found a good (name brand) hotel in Roanoke, Virginia, our first night’s stop, where the price dropped when I put in our date. The hotel is both pet friendly and offers a free breakfast, and the nightly price is low enough that even with the additional pet fee we will be within our budget. The in-laws were happy with the hotel and we reserved our rooms.
I foolishly thought our next evening’s stop, Philadelphia, might also provide some similar prices and options for a night. However, after a couple of hours of checking prices I was almost ready to give up the entire trip. There was nothing that fit our needs nor our budget, at least nothing anywhere near where YaYu lives. After nearly pulling out my hair in frustration, I thought to myself that it really was too bad YaYu couldn’t fly to Boston and ride up to Vermont with her sisters. This option had been problematic as Meiling and K don’t drive and would be riding up with WenYu and her partner; there wouldn’t be room for YaYu. I went ahead and looked at flights anyway and found a non-stop one for one-third less than our hotel budget! I communicated with the girls and this time they agreed to drive her up to Vermont after all. A short while later I had YaYu booked on the flight.
Brett figured a new post-Roanoke route with Scranton now our destination for the second night. Once again, hotels that fit our needs either did not exist nor if they did, were completely unaffordable. I was about to give up and admit we were going to have to spend above our budget when I got the idea to check Airbnb. Within minutes I had found a lovely house just north of Scranton that accepted dogs. The cost for our half of the rental (taxes and fees included) would be $10 less than our nightly budget! I communicated with my sister-in-law who quickly let me know they would happily split the cost for the Airbnb. The reservation was made and with that our trip up to Vermont was set.
All’s well that ends well! When I added everything up, including the cost of the plane ticket, we are are spending $82 less than we had budgeted for the trip up to Vermont. And, without the detour into Philadelphia, we will be saving on gasoline expenses as well.
While it was worth it in the end, searching was a beyond frustrating experience this time. I did not have fun doing it like I usually do (and was extremely grateful we already have hotel reservations in Maine). It felt the whole time that I had lost my travel mojo. I’m thinking now though that what I encountered over and over is just a sign of the times and what comes along with traveling with a pet, a new experience for us. I’m relieved to be finished with this part of the trip and am happily surprised things turned out as well as they did.
However . . . I still have to make reservations for the trip back. Wish me luck!
I think we’ve been eating pretty well so far this year, spending a little less than $450 each month. With careful planning and using items and ingredients we already have on hand, we’ve been able to enjoy some very tasty and satisfying dinners.
Does it make a difference that I get a discount at Trader Joe’s? Definitely! Not only does the discount provide savings, but also a larger variety of meals to enjoy these days. I’d still buy a few of these items if I didn’t have the discount, but otherwise would substitute other low cost meals. For example, instead of the Caprese salad we had this past month I might have instead made spaghetti with marinara.
Below are most of the dinners we enjoyed at home in April. Ingredients for some of them were things we already had on hand, like the puff pastry for the chicken pot pie or the Polish sausages, sauerkraut, and hot dog rolls. There are less than 30 meals pictured though because we ate out on the first evening of the month for our anniversary, our DIL took us out to dinner on Brett’s birthday, and she brought over the Japanese hiyashi beef stew one evening (a delicious surprise). Other missing days are when we ate leftovers, and a couple of days when I was too tired to take a photo (we had mini pepperoni pizzas and roasted red pepper soup with toasted cheese sandwiches on those nights).
Lunches are always leftovers, and breakfasts are cereal (for me) or oatmeal (for Brett), English muffins with peanut butter and/or jam, or occasionally pancakes.
(Apologies in advance for the poor quality of the photos.)
Clockwise from the top left: Italian wedding soup & beer bread; chicken Waldorf salad with grapes & beer bread; deconstructed Frito pie; chili-pork burritos; chicken pot pie
Clockwise from top left: katsudon; Polish sausage with sauerkraut, three-bean salad; fried rice; Caprese salad, salami, Dutch oven bread; Cuban sandwiches on Dutch oven bread, sweet potato fries
Clockwise from top left: Mississippi pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans; lemon-ricotta pasta with peas and Dutch oven bread; Cuban bowl, gorgonzola gnocchi and sautéed green beans; French dip sandwich and coleslaw
Clockwise from top left: Korean-style short ribs, bulgogi fried rice, and green beans; loco moco, apples, and carrots; “Chinese takeout” (*beef & broccoli, honey walnut shrimp, and mandarin orange chicken); hiyashi beef stew with rice (from our DIL); cacio e pepe, sautéed zucchini, and garlic toast; tuna melts and apple slices; spanakopita pie and pita bread
Our menu and spending work for us right now because there’s just the two of us. However, if we were still feeding the girls, I think another $200 – $250 per month would be enough to still provide variety and eat well. There would definitely be a few changes in the menu however.
* both the beef & broccoli and honey walnut shrimp were just OK; I will probably not buy them again.
One of my goals for the year is to not buy any new clothes for myself, and I have limited myself to only purchasing items from thrift shops or eBay (or possibly another clothing reseller).
I have been wanting some additional summer items, pants particularly, as many if not most of my worn-out summer items were left behind when we departed Kaua’i last year, but was finding selections at our local thrift stores quite limited. So, I decided to check out eBay.
My all-time favorite warm-weather pants for as long as I can remember have been J. Jill’s Easy Linen cropped pants. They were an annual staple in the J.Jill catalog (and stores) for years, always available in a variety of colors and prints. The pants’ loose style and elastic waste kept them cool, comfortable, and stylish, and I wore them daily in Hawaii. They were easy to care for, and the linen was high quality and lasted for years. They were also great for travel as there was no worry about wrinkles – linen is expected to wrinkle! At one point a few years ago I had a collection of six or seven pairs of the cropped pants in different colors, all bought on sale over the years.
Wearing my white J. Jill Easy Linen pants (and a J. Jill linen tunic) on our visit to the zoo in sweltering Sydney.
Sadly, the pants disappeared from J.Jill sometime in the past couple of years, most likely due to rising costs and the inability to find quality suppliers. The pairs I owned started wearing out one by one and this year I found myself with just one remaining pair, in white. I wanted to find replacements or a substitute to get through Tennessee’s upcoming sweltering summers (and beyond).
I have only shopped on eBay once, for a denim jacket, and felt I might get lucky again and find at least one pair of my beloved Easy Linen pants there. Not only did I find one pair in my size, I found five! As might be expected, color selection was a bit limited, but I went ahead and purchased all five pairs and all arrived in great condition and fit well. Each pair cost less than half of what the sale price had been at J. Jill (which always has fabulous sales). I am ready for warmer weather this year and into the future!
The black looking pair in the upper left is really a very dark navy blue. I never wear orange, but thought for some cool summer pants, why not? I also typically never wear patterned pants, but love this ikat-like print in black and white.
I’m not looking to spend on anything else right now nor have I bought anything more since purchasing the pants, but I occasionally find myself looking for different items first on eBay these days and the savings I could enjoy if I indulged myself. Count me in as a satisfied shopper!
I nearly went into shock at the end of last year when Brett told me our grocery spending had been nearly $1000 a month since arriving in Tennessee. I knew some of that was because of our family gathering at Christmas, but I had no idea I had been spending as much as I did. The fault was entirely mine – I went sort of crazy buying all the things we couldn’t find or afford on Kaua’i and I was not keeping track of my spending. If I wanted something, I bought it, and pretty much just went crazy every time I went into a store. I was so wowed by how low prices were here compared to Hawaii that I never stopped to consider how much I was actually spending.
After recovering from the shock of Brett’s announcement, I resolved that we would spend less on food this year. I knew we could keep our monthly food spending here at $500 a month and initially set that as our goal for 2023. However, I decided I wanted a bit more of a challenge and see if it would be possible to keep our grocery spending to $450 or less.
So far this year we’ve managed to stay under $450 but it has required constant vigilance and discipline. Tough choices have had to be made each month, and the value of what we’d like to buy and eat have been weighed carefully with costs. My shopping routine has changed as well with new rules and no exceptions allowed. I basically went back to the way we shopped when we were traveling full time and it’s working for us once again.
Food shopping at the Tennessee Homestead these days means:
We only shop twice a month and otherwise do not enter a food store. I work at Trader Joe’s twice a week but don’t carry cash or a debit card when I work so I’m not tempted to shop (but I do get lots of good ideas for meals!).
We only shop with cash, and when it’s gone, that’s it. The change, $1 bills, and $5 bills leftover after food shopping each month are a strong, measurable reinforcement for us.
The menu and shopping list on my phone go through several revisions before I actually shop.
I start a menu plan for two weeks worth of meals (on my phone) a couple of weeks before the next shopping trip and create a shopping list from that menu. Before making the menu I go through the freezer and pantry and see what can be or needs to be used and start there. I check the menu and shopping list almost daily, adapting them as necessary to make sure we’ll get the most for our money and stay on track with our budget. The shopping list is divided into four main stores: Costco, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Publix. I don’t shop from their flyers but buy what I need to make what’s on the menu. It’s surprising how often what I need is on special anyway.
While shopping at Costco made loads of sense on Kaua’i, it doesn’t here, so we only go there now for a few items that we like and are a good value. Our self-imposed rule is no more than six items allowed per trip to Costco (because six items can quickly total $80 or more if I’m not careful).
Absolutely NO stocking up is allowed on any item, no matter how good the price. We don’t have room in our apartment to store extra goods, and Brett and I just don’t need to keep ten extra cans of tomato sauce on hand or three roasts in the freezer.
My 20% discount at Trader Joe’s is a game-changer, and we’re just starting to figure out how much difference the discount is going to make. I used to buy most of our food at Aldi, but have flipped that with Trader Joe’s, for the time being anyway.
We try very hard not to waste any food, or at least as little as possible.
For all this effort at saving, we eat well and although it may appear complicated, this system is really quite simple. We end up with a lot of variety in our meals, eat plenty of produce every day, enjoy both vegetarian meals as well as those with meat, and we have (healthy) prepared foods now and again. Neither Brett nor I eat large servings and that also helps our bottom line; there are almost always leftovers available. I make our own bread now, about once a week, although we are not big bread eaters. We can still fit a couple of “take and bake” items from Whole Foods into our budget most months. We continue to enjoy a small dessert every evening whether that’s a piece of cake, some ice cream, or another sweet treat.
Do I like shopping this way? At first, I hated it. As time has gone by though I am enjoying the challenge and look forward to menu planning and shopping strictly from my list. It’s making a difference to our bottom line.
All that change and those $1 and $5 bills we’re getting back and saving? We’ve got enough airline miles for two roundtrip flights to Mexico and our savings will help cover a vacation there next year!
A couple of weeks ago, when I was checking out at our local Trader Joe’s, I was asked if I might be interested in filling out an application – the young crew member scanning my items said she thought I might be a good fit. Employees at our TJ’s run the gamut from young to old, and all work part time. For example, one employee I met this past summer lives in California, but comes to Tennessee every summer to visit family, and works a few days a week at TJ’s while he’s here. The woman I chatted with said I could pretty much set my own schedule; that is, how many days per week I wanted to work and she asked me to think about it. I thanked her and said I would, thinking in fact though I would walk out of the store and never consider it for another moment.
The funny thing is that over the past couple of weeks I have found myself actually weighing the pros and cons of working there.
Neither Brett nor I have ever needed to work or supplement our income since we retired – careful budgeting, saving, and living within our means has seen us through even when our daughters were still at home or going to college. We will be able to put all of next year’s Social Security and Brett’s military retirement pension increases into savings. I enjoy our current relaxed lifestyle; it’s what I always hoped for when I thought about retirement. However, the idea of having something to fill a couple of days a week while we’re in Tennessee has got me thinking, maybe it might be a good idea to work for a couple of days of week? Trader Joe’s treats their employees well and many consider it a great place to work and fun as well. There’s no dress code other than wearing a store t-shirt. I am a big fan of their products and would have no trouble promoting them. I have retail experience and mostly enjoyed it.
Plus, our Family Big Event in early 2024 is going to cost a bit, and some extra income would be a nice way to cover those costs so we don’t have to dip into other savings. I’d also be able to save extra for potential relocation costs when our time in Tennessee is over.
But, I also wonder whether I want to be on my feet for eight hours, even if it’s only twice a week? Do I still have the energy to put in a full day’s work (and it would be actual physical work)? I already dislike appointments – do I want to have to be somewhereon someone else’s schedule twice a week? Do we really want to pay any more federal tax than we already do (Tennessee fortunately has no state income tax)? Those are some of the negatives that constantly come to mind. And, is Trader Joe’s really be interested in hiring an older person like me, especially after all the current holiday hubbub dies off?
The idea of working a couple of days a week at Trader Joe’s is tempting, if they want me. I have no desire in starting until after the new year because of our holiday plans, but I can see advantages in waiting until the first of the year anyway. I can also clearly see the negatives, especially getting hired and discovering I can’t cut it after only a few days or weeks.
I don’t have to work, but part-time at Trader Joe’s might be fun as well as rewarding beyond earning a small amount. It could also be a non-starter or pure misery. I am fortunate to have a choice, and the time to think about whether the choice would be a good one or not.
The Occasional Nomads 