Financially more than ever it is important to stay ahead. It is so easy to get caught in the cycle I see so many in. They have their paychecks spent before they get them and borrowing towards the next one. There are “cash advance” stores everywhere. They are part of the trap. The poverty trap that is from the enemy! It causes despair and depression. So with today’s post on Crystal Paine’s Frugal Friday meme I am going to encourage you to remember the sun is going to shine tomorrow! In the old days where most folks grew at least some of their own food, having seeds were important. remember reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book Farmer Boy? Almonzo would rather fast and nearly starve than eat his seed wheat. He knew the hard times he was going through would get much worse if he didn’t have something to plant come springtime. How often do we even think to remember about tomorrow? We usually buy at least half of our groceries in bulk. We buy flour, sugar, rice and oatmeal in 50 pound bags. I feed this family of 9 for probably less than most families of 4. How? Because I try to look at the big picture. It helps that we live on a farm, where we can have a cow and chickens. But even that, we probably operate this entire farm for less than most families of 4 spend on living expenses. However it is something you need to stay ahead of.
Last night I got caught with no seed! We ran out of oatmeal and I forgot to get my food co-op order in in time. Too much on my mind I guess. I usually buy oatmeal in 50 pound bags and get it for less than 50 cents a pound. I have lots of growing children and they love oatmeal with milk or fruit. Well last night I thought I could buy a couple small containers of oatmeal. Just to get by. Actually they looked small to me but I am talking about the round tall containers. I would never even contemplate those small packets, comparative by weight they probably cost more than a steak dinner. But even those tall containers of generic brand (cardboard tasting yuck) oatmeal cost at least 2 times what I usually pay for wonderfully tasting organic rolled oats! So yes, I got caught with no seed so to speak! Don’t do it girls, stay ahead. Don’t plan your shopping or your menus or your budget for just today, but rather for the long term! On the other hand I got a great deal on some pork steaks. I shop for meat according to the cost per pound not according to what the cut is. More on that next Friday.
Susan says
I enjoyed this post very much! Consumers really need to start getting back to the older ways of getting food. My grandmother raised most of her own food and what she couldn’t raise herself, she bought from local farmers. We’re trying hard to do the same. We (as a country) rely too much on being able to purchase whatever we want at the grocery store and there are some of us who would be in a lot of trouble if we couldn’t buy all that our family needed at teh grocery store. I feel secure in the fact that I know that my family will not starve for any reason. We know how to grow our own food. We know how to stock up for the lean times. We know how to save our own seeds 🙂 Thanks for the great reminder!