MAGIC GROCERY SAVINGS HACKS!!!

 Ok, not really but good lord the headlines.  Like there is a "hack" that will fix crap.

This is in response to multiple news outlets having well paid consultants talk with well paid reporters about how to "hack" a grocery bill if you are an actual poor person.  Those well paid people don't have any special knowledge and are working from some sort of fantasy of how the people I know actually shop.

Here's a hack, if it's too expensive, don't buy it! 

Try prioritizing and keep reviewing want vs need per like all the previous blogs.

Priorities: 

Air (still free but I'm sure someone is trying to find a way to privatize and monetize it).  

Water.  drink tap water.  UNLESS you know that your tap water is specifically toxic in the short term (is there a city boil order?) just drink it.  It's cheaper than every other option.  You do not "need" any other beverage and certainly do not pay for bottled water if you are at all trying to cut costs.  You also do not need a fancy vessel to get the water to your lips.  Whatever you already own is the very best choice.  

Food.  Yes, most of us need to eat.  And we need to cook some of it because raw diets don't go well in the long run.  Look at your cooking and storage options and work with them.  Buy what is cheap, use the food banks, little free pantries and other free resources if you are in a giant bind.   It's OK.  Buy the most nutrition for the dollar, given your storage and cooking options.  I get lots of eggs and canned fish because they work for me.  I can cook, but it's hard to store left overs.  These things come in roughly single serving options.  Popcorn is great and lasts.  UNPOPPED (remember when that was assumed?) and just from the bulk bin or the big bag of cheap kernels.  Then, I pop it myself in whatever oil/grease I have.  Or in the office airpopper.  For fruit and veg, start with the discount bin/area if the store has one.  After that, look for the lowest cost per pound.  Grapes...I can't even! You can almost always get onions, cabbage, potatoes and big-bag-o-apples for under 1$/pound.  Those last at room temp for ages.  Same with carrots which are also generally cheap.  For oil/fat to cook with or get enough calories, Go with the size you can store before it goes off.  I don't buy it by the gallon because ick.  And right now it's cheaper for me (given my storage and cooking options) to buy pig fat from a butcher shop I know at 2$/lb, cook it down to lard and store that at room temp.  I also usually get a bottle of olive oil because I have enough money and it keeps well and I can use it to fry, put it on salad, or bake with it.  I don't care for corn oil or other cheaper oils on salad and I don't have room for a wide selection of oils sitting around.  It's good to eat greens.  Get cheap ones or fry up dandelion greens or buy some sprouting seeds.  Cabbage counts too.  DO NOT buy prepared meals unless you truly have no way to cook.  Dry beans store for ever, and you can sprout them.  But, they take cooking.  So, if you can't cook, try a can of black beans, package of tortillas, and dice up an onion with cabbage and throw on vinegar or lemon juice and some hot pepper (sriracha, cayenne powder, dried peppers, a fresh one, whatever) and voila...tacos.  If you eat cheese and can afford it, you can add some.  Cheap, easy, fresh.    

Shelter.  We need that.  Cut the cost.  I friend of mine just moved from a shared house costing over 1000$/month per resident to a room in a more shared house for 500$/month.  This also cut the utilities.  Be creative if you can, but we can't all move that quickly with those big expenses.  So, when you are going to change housing, go for half or less of what the bank/online-calculator says you can afford.  That way if you lose some income, you have a bit of time because you were saving that other 50%...right?  Hope so.

Focus on total spend, not imaginary "savings".  If you buy steak at 50% off to "save" 15$, you still spent 15$ for a couple of meals of protein.  You could have bought 15 cans of beans, 3 lbs of ground beef, 15lbs of dry beans, etc.  So you "saved" nothing.  You spend 15$ poorly.

Good luck and stop with the hacks.  Spend less. 

Things to Cut When Money Is Tight...2026 April Edition

 If you  need to cut big ticket items....

1) Cut the streaming NOW.

   Drop the internet services unless you work from home in a way that brings in actual cash, not just selling odds and ends on ebay and facebook market place.   No netflix, no hulu.  Just stop.  This also cuts advertising making you feel poor, and frees up time to do things like cook from scratch and find things to sell or swap with neighbors, mend clothes, actually talk to your kids about how they won't be in sports this summer because you are broke but they will get plenty of exercise walking to school!

2) Cut car payments.  

Have N+1 cars ( or more) where N=number of licensed drivers in the house?  Do you owe a car payment on any of those cars?   Then cut back to 1 car for whomever MUST commute to work (assuming they will start carpooling and charging the rider for the gas and a wee bit over for insurance...I rode with a colleague for a while and loved splitting the gas and insurance cost with him for the privilege of not driving daily), and 1 car to be at home IF there is a family member at home all day during the day.  If there are 2 job commuters (or more) who absolutely must drive and there is NO WAY to share rides, carpool, walk, take public transport, ride a bike/scooter, or share a ride with the other family driver(s) even if it means someone goes a bit out of their way, then, you can have 1 more car.

The other car(s)?  Sell, unload, get rid of.    Cut the insurance to the minimum and compare premiums.  

If you still must carry a car loan because you were upside down on it or whatever, find a way to pay principle ahead to keep costs dropping in the future.  

3) Cut housing costs.   

If you own your home but make a mortgage payment, that means the bank owns your home.  Pay ahead if you can, but do not miss a payment.  That will cost more.  Do look at ways to cut the mortgage payment without paying less against principle. For example, if you put less than 20% down and had to add that extra insurance, check again.  Likely the value of the house has gone up even if you haven't paid a full 20% against principle.  If the mortgage is 80% or less than the current assessment, then you can probably drop that insurance even without refinancing.  Don't ask the loan holding entity first, ask someone else.   Find the assessed value on zillow or similar and argue that as the value.  Check the mortgage for any other payments, fees, insurances that can be dropped.  Keep an eye on the housing market including rentals in case you have to sell or just want to.  An idea of cost/benefits is good to have.   Maybe look into renting out a room or the garage or a spot for people to store crap in the back lot. Check with your homeowners insurance before you do that.

If you rent, can you lower the rent?  You can ask.  If you can help manage the property, do repairs, take on grouds maintenance or something sometimes a landlord will cut a rate for that.   Look at rental listings so when the lease term is up, you can move if you need or choose to.   Think about going smaller. Children can share rooms without dying.  It has been done.  

4) Cut food costs. 

Transportation and housing are usually the big costs in the US.  We don't spend a large percentage of our income on food...or we didn't pre-constant-delivery.   When you check your food costs count EVERYTHING YOU SHOVE IN YOUR MOUTH (well, not everything, don't be gross).  Coffee/lattes, restaurant foods, cookies and chips at the gas station, groceries, meals out, vending machine soda and candy,  pastries, groceries.   And yes, if you bought food, junk food, beverages to consume but end up throwing it out...that cost counts too.  

Start cutting with dining out, vending machine and convenience store stuff, and the like.   Cook food to take with you.  This can be done!  Actually, just cook a bit extra for main meals and package it up in those baggies you already own so it's ready to go. Do not buy a bunch of crap pre-packaged snacks or those godforesaken lunchables.   Certainly not "uncrustables".  All are vile and expensive compared to just making a sandwich or grabbing a hand full of crackers and a chunk of lunch meat.  

1 loaf of bread, peanut butter or cheese and meat for sandwiches and you are ready for the week.  If you want to pre-make, bag and freeze they will but nearly as disgusting as uncrustables!  Youll love it!

Cook from scratch.  Save money on food and medical care.  I'll redo the easy basic recipes in a later post.

5) Cut interest costs.   

I have been debtfree for ages now.  It was a heavy lift.  If you owe on multiple credit cards then that is the place to start.   First...STOP USING CREDIT.  Seriously.  NO credit card purchases.  If you don't have the money, you don't get the thing.  Done.  

Pay 1 card off first.  Either the lowest balance (that gives a faster reward of "HEY!  I paid a thing off!!!), or the one with the highest interest (takes longer, but saves more).  I started with the lowest one.  OK, there was only one.  But I would have chosen the lowest one because that reward will keep me going.   Make the minimum payment on all cards, pay over that, as much as you can each month or even every 2 weeks, on the chosen card.   When that card is paid off, throw the money at the next one you want to pay off.  It doesn't really matter which one, just pay them.  Say you have 3 store cards (those count) and a visa and an american express.  Pay minimum on all.  If you find 53$/month to pay extra on one, then do that.  When that 1st card is paid off you now have that minimum payment PLUS 53$ a month to put against the next card.  So, if the minimum was 20$, that's 73$.  Your next highest balance card you may have been paying 32$/month minimum so now you're paying 32+73 (that's 105$ for those who like totals) going there, and that 105$ will be added to the next card's monthly pay off.  The amount of interest savings will amaze you.

Once the cards are paid off, get rid of that ill-advised 72+ month car loan you took out.  Those can have odd rules about paying interest before principle so make SURE it goes to principle.  Same with any student loans or other loans.

When the rest is paid...throw the cumulative debt payment amount (you may be pushing 1000$/month now) toward the mortgage but make sure it is goin against PRINCIPLE not prepaying interest.  If you must refinance to make that happen, this is when I would think about it.

Things to Cut When Money Is Tight...2026 March Edition

So...Everyone is out of money again. Well, the 99%. And my youtube algorithm is chock full of budget cuttery. To them I say...BEGINNER! Novice!!! 

 But still, you do have to begin at some point and that will indeed make you a novice. So, things to cut...just some thoughts probably not in a resonable order because my brain does not work in a normal order. 

 1) Cut out avoiding facing facts. 

 Figure out ACTUAL income (the paycheck, no the hourly wage. You don't take home the hourly wage, the gubment, insurance company, retirement fund, union etc etc etc take their cuts first). 

To do that take a look at your auto deposited paychecks or whatever (or, if your pay amount varies take as many as you can find and make and average and subtract 10% as a precaution). Make a note of how many hours are on that check. 

 A fulltime job is 2080 hours per year. Just keep that number in your brain pocket NOW, look at your spending records. If you use a credit and/or debit card or online, virtual venmoy type stuff...look at those records online. If like me you rock it like it's 1826 and pay cash, then gather receipts. Figure out about how much you have been spending. Use that info to estimate a budget for the next month. WRITE THIS ALL DOWN. 

 This won't happen in a day. Baby steps. START recording everything you spend in real time or like me (because I'm awesome) at the end of the day on graph paper with a pencil (for real). Be honest. EVERY spend. It's in pencil so I can got back and put in things I forgot. The top line on the sheet is "income" so if I find a dollar on the street, that goes into "income". In a month or 2 you will figure out categories (rent, electric, phone, streaming services (don't worry...you won't need that one for long)), beer, weed, coffee. WHATEVER. Just be honest and record everything. Now that you've started to face facts... 

 2) Quit buying lunch out if you can bring lunch with you. 

 Left overs ARE lunch. So is a bag of nuts and an apple. It doesn't have to be "lunch" but whatever meals you are buying out and about, STOP IT.  Again, baby steps. 

Also, do not buy equipment to bring lunch in or a fancy warmer for your lunch that plugs into the USB. NO. You have that giant bag of bags under the sink. Use one of those bags. Bring the whole loaf of bread going stale on the counter and jar of peanut butter from the cupboard to the office, or throw it in the work truck. TA DA! You packed lunch for the week. Good job. 

No...do not buy a fancy set of bamboo carbon neutral cutlery to spread the disgusting palmoil based peanut "spread" on your indestructible 99cent loaf of industrial bread shaped product. Grab a spoon or knife from the drawer at home. Find that plastic spoon from one of the last 2000 to-go meals you got at a drive-thru and throw that in the vehicle or office drawer. I dedicate one cupboard at work to the "office pantry" and keep a bowl, bit of silverware and salt and pepper in there along with the food. No one cares. If there is a shared fridge, embrace it and be polite (each monday or friday throw out the crap you forgot to eat). 

 3) STOP with the Unplanned purchases. 

 STOP and think first. Do you really need a new outfit for the concert (which will be your last because...seriously, if money is tight do not buy concert tickets, sing to yourself while you ar packing your lunch, that's your concert now).  Check the closet. Shop the hoard! Think about borrowing or swapping with a friend. 

Do you really need a countertop mixer? No, you do not. If you needed one, you would have one. Move on. 

Do not run to the store for a shallot when you have an onion sitting right there on the counter. No onion? Leave it out of the recipe. Find a recipe that uses what you have. New subscription to a streaming service...NO. NO NO NO. NO unplanned purchases and DEFINITELY no new subscriptions. 

 4) No More Buying coffee out. 

 Make it at home. You will save on the coffee, the health care needed due to constant consumption of liquid candy bars (Seriously saw a "Snickers Latte"...EW!), they cost a mint and are not that great. 

You also save on the gas burned idling in the line to the coffee hut. I set my coffee up the night before so it's ready to go. I have a couple of really nice travel coffee cups that I found at thrift and/or was given as presents. Use a cup you have. Don't have one? Use a portable water bottle, a thermos bottle, or like an old colleague of mine...just a mug from the cupboard, though his car carpet was indeed the thing of nightmares with the crust of years of dried coffee spills. But he did not care so it worked for him. 

 5) Put and End to Grocery shopping without a plan. 

NOT a meal plan necessarily. That is advanced thrifting, we're talking beginner cuts. 

Here's how to make a basic plan for grocery shopping. First 2 things...

A) look at the food you have on hand. Do you really need to shop? Fresh salad greens are not a necessity so maybe you can wait a bit. Can you make 2 or 3 days of meals from what you have? If the answer is no, get more creative and think again. Still no? OK, you're a beginner. But by now you know what you have and probably have some "I can almsost make that" things in mind. 

B) MAKE A LIST.  Really.  If you can ALMOST make soup and grilled cheese sandwiches but don't have the "right" veg.  Search for a recipe that will use up that 1 cup of chopped kale you were DEFINITELY going to eat but now it's limp, that lone can of diced tomatoes with the dusty top in the back of the tupperware cupboard, and 2 half peppers in the veggie drawer (Hint...all you need is an onion).  So, "onion" goes on the list.  Those keep pretty well so knock yourself out and get a couple.  You will use them in the next "stuff about to go off soup" aka "friday night dinner from here on out".  Figure out work lunches (bag of bread, jar of peanut butter).    

Great list!  onion, bread, peanutbutter.  Good first list.  I would add "cheapest fruit I like to eat" on there.  Remember that the "cheapest" is determined by the PER POUND price, not the per piece price.  If there is a cheap price on a 3# bag of apples ...divide it by 3, compare it to the loose apples.  If it is equal or close...here is your first advanced savings tip....weigh a few of the bags.  Some will be a half to a full pound over.  That cuts the cost even more.  

As noted...veg about to go bad is good for soup. But you noticed there is no "broth" on the shopping list.  You do not "need" broth. Do you know what is in broth? BOILED VEG (and/or meat). How do you make soup? YOU BOIL VEG (and/or meat). If you want it to be even tastier, fry some of the veg first. ...oh, sorry...I mean "saute' in oil heated to a shimmer"...Just fry it a bit. When it smells good, pour in water. Boil/simmer till the veg is the texture you like or the meat is cooked enough to be safe. TA DA!!! You made soup AND broth. If you sing to yourself while you do it you just saved the price of a concert ticket too. Way to go! 

Now.. Keep up with the income/outgo tracking. Facing facts is hard but gets easier with practice.

 Later I might to a post on what to stop immediately if you have a sudden money crisis. This is more longer range planning by shaving down the budget and knowing where you are at financially. Good luck!

So...I'm Ticked at Blogger But I'm Posting Anyway

I tried to do cordwood building updates but inorder to upload a picture, blogger wanted ALL MY INFORMATION and to put it all in the cloud. I know it's already there, but I'm not ticking the "yep, I agree to be spied on" box. I'd rather be secretly spied on, apparently. ANYWAY, I like to do wierd stuff (not news). Since around here rainbows are now signs that say "Please verbally confront me in public about things you assumed inside your own head based on me wearing something that isn't camo or 'tactical'", I wear more rainbows. I don't even actually like to wear bright colors. But I do like a fight. For the next weed or more, I'm going to ROY G BIV my shirts. Monday this week I wore red. Today, orange. Tomorrow is yellow which is harder in my shirt repetoire, but I do have a vintage batik that is mostly yellow. Thursday will be green. Friday blue (that's an easy day). Next monday Indigo (not sure how I will make that different than "blue" and "violet". I may have to wear purple twice or make violet more of a lavendar (double coded day?).
I suspect, much like the winter when I picked 5 sweaters and wore them on a loop for months, no one will notice. But I will be amused and that is what counts. Sadly...no pictures will be posted due to draconian cloud requirements.

Forever Foods Instead of Forever Chemicals #6

 Forever foods instead of Forever Chemicals done so far:

1 Vinegar

2 Honey

3 Chicos 

4 Manoomin  

5 DRY Posole.

And NOW....

6 SALT

Not a source of calories but it is extremely useful.

You don't even need to keep it dry to avoid rot, though if you set it out in the rain it will disappear so...not actively wet but don't worry about humidity or a bit of damp  No temperature issues either.  Can't over heat it or freeze it too much.  If it was ground and turns into a block, you can regrind it.

It can be used to preserve other foods like meat, fish, lemons (salt preserved lemons are amazing) by packing the salt around the food in large quantities.

Salt is also excellent for fermenting foods.  You can massage or pound it into the food as with sauerkraut or kimchi, or make a bring for cucumber pickles or gingered carrots.  The salt keeps the bacteria balanced to allow lactobacilli types to dominate which ferments and actually ends up enhancing nutrients like vitamin C in the final product.  Sauerkraut can be kept over a year if properly fermented with salt.

Salt makes a diet heavy on blander storage foods more palatable to many of us.  I can now eat unsalted beans, hummus or lentil soup but a bit of salt does improve the flavor.  I don't know if that preference is part of growing up in a salt-centric food culture or a natural preference.  It doesn't really matter.  At a minimum the option to salt or not adds the potential of varied tastes/flavors to a diet based on a few available base ingredients.

Salt also changes the texture of bread.  I like the "over proofed" unsalted yeast and sourdough breads but others don't like their bread as stretchy and poofy.  It also changes the crust.  Again, I don't mind either way.

Mix salt with vinegar and you get a serious cleaning product.  I've also used salt as a scalp scrub and found it quite nice.  Course salt...not just  big old rock.  I was not rubbing my head on the salt lamp in the hippie crystal incense shop.   But now that's I've described the scenario...it sounds  hilarious so I might do that.

Another ODD product

 

EW EW EW EW EW EW EW

How is this a thing???? GROSS.

Here's the "ingredients"

There appears to be so little actual "cheese" in there that my nondairy self could eat a full can cold with a spoon and be fine...but VOMIT!

Who asked for this?  

Why is there sugar in it?

What is "cheese paste"?  I see the ingredients but why is it a paste?

What is the potassium salt doing for me?  Not keeping the sodium down which is 480/serving (1200 for me if I just eat the whole can...I give it a 9 cankle rating out of 10...salami is worse)

Is it for people who want a grilled cheese sandwich without the hassle of chewing...at all.  A grilled cheese is gummable. 

This will haunt my nightmares.

What???? Odd Product Rant

 Ok...sometimes products make me stare that them because I. DO. NOT. GET. IT!

They solve problems that don't exist.

Yesterday at the grocery store...scanning the aisles of this particular one for super cheap deals (they do that sometimes).

Once it was mirepoix at a Trader Joe's....WHY?????   Just chop an onion, carrot and some celery. The cost per lb for the prechopped was BONKERS.  

Yesterday....BAGS (like plastic single use heavy bags) for something over 6$ each.  

Bags of....  INSTANT CHIA PUDDING!   Um...what??  A 1pound bag of chia seeds costs me under 5$ and these above bags are about 2 oz of seeds and some flavorings and some odd food processed extracts and products.   There is the incredible "convenience" of putting water in the plastic bag which is designed to stand up.   And then still need to find a spoon or maybe mostly close the bag and squeeze the chia/processedstuff-sludge into my mouth.  EW!  

So...expensive, pointless and saves like NO TIME OR EFFORT.  If you need "instant" chia pudding, put chia seeds and flavors and stuff in a series of little jars (or one big jar with a scoopy thingy).  Then, when you want it, add water or whatever.   
CHIA is already INSTANT.

So, after way too long, like maybe a minute, I managed to wander off and get a good deal on some non-UPF chocolate treat that is a pain in the butt to make.