Small Amounts Add Up

Today was a long, dull day, full of chores and chasing kids around.  I'm not even sure how many sinkfulls of dishes I did today.  Every muscle in my body is sore, but in a good way.  Spent the evening planning out projects for the weekend.  It's going to be a busy weekend.

I did a couple hours of bookkeeping for some extra money, deposited it, and sent it immediately to our last remaining credit card.  It was only $20, but it was little amounts like this, chipping away at the principal balance paid off our other credit cards quickly.  Never underestimate the single, small, extra payment!

The day has taken it's toll, and we needed a moment to unwind and reprogram our minds with something more positive and inspiring.  We watched the documentary, Alone In The Wilderness which follows a 51 year old man who moves out to a remote part of Alaska, builds a log cabin and furniture by himself and with just hand tools. Just the kind of movie to feed the spirit.

Much more to post tomorrow.

Live better, a little every day

Happy New Year

After another busy holiday season, we turn the page to greet a new year.  No matter what is going on the world around us, at this time of year, it is right and just to feel full of hope and optimism for a better future.  Each of us has a clean slate; a chance to improve our circumstances and make a better life for ourselves and our families.  Naturally, this leads to the traditional New Year's Resolutions.

Our household is no different.  We have set our goals as a family, and individually, for 2010.  With our eyes set on building our better future, here they are:

• Finish construction on our cabin.
• Pay off the last credit card on which we still have a balance.
• Double the number of beehives we have.
• Increase our backyard food production and food storage capacity to 60% of our total yearly food consumption.
• Source 30% of our food from local growers . (The remaining 10% is to allow for food we consume before the growing season that is purchased and not taken from our pantry, as well as the occasional "luxury" purchase- avacados don't grow in New England!)
• Increase the distance we will not travel by car (weather or emergency permitting). On foot, 1.5 miles from home.  By bike, 5 miles from home. 
• Learn at least two new skills.  Me- spinning with a wheel, and either sewing or weaving.  Eddie- hunting and plant recognition.

Some of these are hold-overs from last year, where we were able to make partial progress, but not complete the project due to either time constraints, finances, or mobility.  Becoming pregnant again happened about a year before we had planned on it, so that made getting around more complicated.  It also means that the projects I take on in 2010, like the spinning and knitting, are things that I can do at home.  With a toddler and a newborn, that's already like having two full-time jobs!  So, any skills I work on need to be things that can be done inbetween caring for the little ones.

So, with some adjusting from last year, these are our major projects and primary goals for 2010.  For each of these goals, there is a strategy as well as target dates for completion or evaluation.  What are your goals for this year?  Do you know how you will accomplish them?  Do you have target dates to evaluate your progress to help keep you on track?  Post a comment and let's hear about them!

Live better, a little every day.

Let's Start a Food Fight

Warning: Post contains political opinions.

As we prepare our Fall garden, I've been mulling over how far-reaching the ability to produce one's own food truly is. Growing your own food may be the single most important thing that one can do to promote freedom. By growing your own food, you:

1. Take control over the quality, variety, nutritional value, and safety of your food supply.
2. Reduce the amount of fuel spent transporting, cooling, and warehousing food.
3. Save money that can be reallocated to debt reduction, investing in land, equipment for off-grid living, homeschooling supplies, or to simply hold in savings.
4. Reduces the amount of money being fed into the Broken System.

The first three items are reason enough to grow a least a portion of your food. But, you may not have heard about the fouth. The Broken System is actually a network of systems. This network includes entities like the government, as well as health care, financial and food industries, and so on. Each of these entities share two things

1. a gross lack of accountability to the American public,
2. are wasteful, and operate in an unsustainable manner.

Considering the size to which these entites and industries have been permitted to grow, we are left with few real options with which to reign them in. The most powerful tool we have to take back control is through individual spending habits.

Career politicians, lending institutions, and giant manufacturers try desperately to get us to spend money. It keeps them strong, while keeping the general population weak with debt. But we have a choice whether to listen to them, or to listen to our common sense.

What we need to do is stop spending! Stop listening to the nonsense that it is supposedly patriotic to spend money you can't afford to spend. According to who? Here's the truth: it's patriotic to create strong, debt-free, American families. We can reduce our spending by growing some or all of our own food. You end up with more money in your pocket and better quality food at the same time.

There is a tremendous amount of waste of fuel and energy to grow food on large Agri-business farms, and especially on imported food from foreign countries. More fuel and energy is then wasted in the packaging, shipping, and warehousing of food. All of the fuel and utilities necessary to keep this process afloat is taxed and a source of government income. Considering that most produce travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to store shelves, that's a lot of tax revenue.

I do not know anyone who thinks the government has spent our tax dollars wisely. Yet, even with a completely different party in control of both congress and the White House, we are still subjected to the Patriot Act, paying for a horrendously expensive war, and bailing out companies and banks as a reward for mismanagement. Voting differently certainly didn't do much to help us.

The most effective way to create change is to change our spending habits. By growing our own food, we are refusing to feed into the Broken System. Growing our own food reduces our dependence on foreign oil. Growing our own food is an act of patriotism.

Live better, a little every day.

Eat Better to Save Money

Everyone is trying to save money, especially in this economy. Most of us do not have Food Independence (growing and raising most if not all you consume), and still rely on the grocery store. Meaning, most of us have a grocery expense.

Don't throw money away on cheaper quality foods for some perceived convenience. You can eat the freshest, healthiest foods available and save money at the same time. Here are my top five ways to cut back on the food budget.

1. Eat at home. Cut restaurants out of your budget entirely. You can make healthier, less expensive food at home. Cut out the morning coffee drive-thru. That can add up to $40-$60 a month! That's money you can put towards paying off your debts or into savings.
2. Cook from scratch. That may sound scary to some at first, but it's really not. You don't even need a cook book. You can find a lot of good recipes at RecipeZaar.com for free. Prepackaged and convenience foods are hardly convenient when you consider the cost to both your wallet and your health. YouTube.com has some decent videos demonstrating cooking techniques.
3. Source local foods. The food at your grocery store has huge built in expenses- shipping, warehousing, packaging, store overhead, etc. Instead, join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. Shop at local farmer's markets. Both will give you more food for less money. Check out LocalHarvest.com to see what's in your area. Also, ask the folks at CSAs and farmer's markets if they know anyone who sells items they don't have.
4. Grow an edible garden. If you have a balcony, porch, or a small patch of earth available, plant something you can eat. If you don't have a lot of sun, you can still grow leafy greens. For small spaces, there are books dedicated to container gardening. If you have more space, consider putting in a few berry bushes and fruit trees.
5. Try bulk/wholesale stores. For the things that you cannot find locally or produce yourself, check out bulk and wholesale stores. You will have to pay a membership fee, but it will more than pay for itself. Our wholesale club has wide selection of hormone-free meats at half the price of the grocery store. Not to mention all the non-food items (tires, propane, water filters, etc.) on which you can save.

The more money you can save on your grocery bill, the more money you will have for things like debt reduction, savings, investing in land, hand-powered tools, garden supplies, how-to and DIY books, non-electric kitchen appliances, and so on. Insist on the best food possible, and keep more of your money in the process.

Live better, a little every day.