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Has anyone seen my wagon?

Has anyone seen my wagon?

June 28, 2010 by · 2 Comments

As the end of the month approaches, it would be fair to say we’ve … uh … fallen off the wagon a bit.

Perhaps jumped off the back of the wagon and ran the other way might be more accurate. Like an Oregon Trail leader on bare bones rations. Okay, I’m probably exaggerating a little bit.

While I’m going to save our final accounting for my next post, I wanted to give you a preview of things to come.

Items of note that you can eagerly anticipate:

  • My dear daughter needed new shoes. Have I ranted yet about how expensive kids’ shoes are? Don’t worry, it’s coming.
  • The siren song of the mall finally won – a couple times. Darn you, Azrieli.
  • The store that stole my yogurt money has mischarged me a total of NIS 86 this month – and yes, I’ve fought to get all of it back and have won. In Hebrew. For which I deserve an award. In other news, I’m going to avoid shopping there like the plague going forward.
  • I have no self restraint when it comes to watermelon.

Our final tally is coming on Thursday, July 1. You can also join me on Thursday when I’m interviewed on Rusty Mike Radio (click the “Listen Live” button) by Nettie Feldman on Afternoon Schmooze – the program airs from noon to 2 p.m. and I’m expected to be on around 1:20 p.m. Israel time. Topics to be covered:

  • You went on a spending diet. Why?
  • What’s included in your allotment?
  • You actually spent a lot of money on things that one would think you wouldn’t, like NIS17 for iced coffee.
  • Did you starve?
  • Did you actually only spend NIS1000?
  • How did your friends react when you told them you were going to try this? Family?
  • What have blog reactions been?
  • Are you going to do this every month?

Hope to see you later this week!

Filed Under: No-Spend Month

A Tale of Two Chickens

June 16, 2010 by · 2 Comments

It’s time for an update. The numbers are not so pretty.

When we last met, we had spent NIS 270 of our allotted NIS 1000. We were doing quite well.

You might recall that I mentioned in a previous post that we had a couple chickens and a brisket in our freezer. Funny how we didn’t actually have any meat in our freezer. Or chickens. And this is where the tale begins to go downhill.

First, let’s do the tally.

I’m not counting NIS 86 that was spent on lunch out on June 8. My husband and I forgot our anniversary, remembered, and decided to enjoy a meal out. As allowed by the rules at Small Notebook, I’m accepting that this isn’t the usual sort of spending and that one exception out of a month for a celebration is acceptable. Happy seventh anniversary!

I also got my NIS 16 from my overcharged yogurt back. Small victories.

So, what did we buy?

We were asked to host someone last weekend for Shabbat and were happy to have a guest. We also invited another guest – as we have two children under the age of two, the likelihood was that we would both be called away from the table during lunch at one point or another to take care of the kids. In our absence, at least they’d have each other.

That said, guests mean more food – two chickens instead of one, for example – we spent NIS 209 getting the week’s groceries, challot and chickens for Shabbat. It was worth every shekel and we had a really lovely lunch with wonderful discussion.

Another funny thing happened as it neared mid-June in Israel. It got really hot. Our daughter was in pretty desperate need of shorts, and we found some really cute inexpensive ones – five pair for NIS 100. Bonus – a one-piece outfit for her little brother for another NIS 5.

While we made it through the weekend, Sunday meant a relatively empty fridge. It was time for a good grocery shop – and as I had a rental car for a business meeting, it meant going to the big less expensive supermarket on the outskirts of town. While I’m really dedicated to sticking to a budget this month, I’m not willing to pass up the fact that food is significantly less expensive at the big market – Supersol Deal – than it is in town. Some examples:

  • Watermelons were NIS 2 a kilo instead of NIS 2.5-4
  • Whole chickens were NIS 10 a kilo
  • Ground beef was NIS 35 a kilo instead of NIS 45

We bought a lot and blew our budget, but we also saved a lot. Total spent – NIS 633, but it bought enough meat to last about six weeks. While not sticking strictly to our spending limit, it is certainly in the spirit of our challenge. We didn’t buy processed foods – just a wealth of good, tasty, wholesome foods that will keep up well fed for a while.

In short, had we not stocked up on the deals when we did, we could have likely kept the bill to a range that would have kept us under NIS 1000 for the whole month. As it is, I’ll be pleased as punch if we can keep it to NIS 1500 or so.

Finally, two other expenses:

  • The little filter thingee at the end of our kitchen sink faucet went kablooey and needed to be replaced. We could probably bill our landlord for it, but won’t – his good graces are worth much more than the NIS 33 it cost to replace it.
  • The husband needed deodorant. It’s hot here. This is not an optional item. Fortunately, it was buy-one-get-one at SuperPharm. NIS 28 for two.

Where does that leave us on June 16? NIS 1257 and we have almost half a month left. This is going to be interesting.

What more have we learned? It might take us more than NIS 1000 every month to live, but it’s still a lot less than what we were spending in any given month. At least now we’ll have a reasonable starting point from which to set the budget.

Filed Under: No-Spend Month Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lessons learned thus far

June 7, 2010 by · 2 Comments

If you’d asked me a week ago what we were going to learn from trimming the budget for a month, I’d have come back with a witty reply like “how to lose weight inexpensively.” So I’m pleased to say that I am learning things that I couldn’t have anticipated.

Having such a tight budget is changing the way I shop for things, but not as you might expect. We aren’t having to do without anything, so that’s not an issue. Instead, a lot of care is going into only buying what we’re actually going to eat.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but we generally stink at eating everything we buy. We’re umpteen times better about it than we were a few years ago when we didn’t have kids, but a lot still goes to waste. Half a serving of pasta – because, really, at NIS 9 for a massive box of pasta, I can’t be bothered to worry about it. And when cucumbers are NIS 2 a kilo – about 20 cents a pound – I never fussed over throwing out half of what we bought because it amounted to almost nothing. A few shekels here, a few there – who has the time to worry about it?

Well, now I fuss and worry. Now, I’m bothered.

It’s not that things are more expensive or that we’re desperately strapped for cash – we’re actually doing really well at sticking to bare-bones spending. It’s just that throwing away NIS 5 worth of produce means throwing away enough to get an extra yogurt or a coffee from Cafe Neeman. Tossing a liter of milk that’s missed its use-by date always bothers me, but it bothers me a lot more when its cost means we went without something else. So I’m buying more diligently now – and there are pros and cons to that.

The pros are wonderful – instead of buying a handful of baguettes that we may or may not get around to eating, I’m buying as we go along so that nothing goes to waste and they’re so much fresher and tastier this way. The same is true for veggies and fruits. I’m spending more time checking that nothing is bruised or buggy since I don’t want to throw anything out. As a result, everything is really the best I can find and it really makes a difference. Of course, it also helps that nothing is lingering in the fridge – the leftovers are getting eaten, even when it’s chopped salad from the night before. And there’s less random filling of the cart – if it’s not getting eaten this month, it’s not getting purchase. Finally, I’m keeping an eye on the receipts. I’ve been to the store three times in the last week (ack – more on that next) and have been mischarged TWICE in three visits. I’m still going to fight the good fight to get my yogurt money back as it amounts to almost NIS 25. It makes me wonder how much more we’ve been overcharged when we haven’t been as diligent about checking our receipts.

And not to whine, but there are a few cons to this. Three grocery visits in seven days (and this is Israel, so the stores aren’t even open on Saturday) means that I’m spending a lot of time to ensure we get good deals and tasty food on the table. But my time normally comes at a price – as a small business owner, I cannot afford to spend this much time shopping for and preparing food. The only reason it works right now is that I’m on maternity leave (sort of).

I mean this in a positive way – when you’re a mother to a toddler and a newborn and you’re also employed full time (whether in or out of the house), something has got to give. For us, it’s usually meals – we don’t really spend anything on any other forms of entertainment, but we do like to eat out. Of course, if I dedicated myself to improving my skills a bit, I am certain I would be able to bring down the amount of time I’m spending preparing meals, shopping, meal planning and the like. It’s an acquired skill like any other – one I have apparently failed to acquire thus far.

Another thing I’ve learned – it matter less how much money I spend than whom I get to spend it with. Today, I popped my littlest one in the stroller and picked up my big girl at daycare and we headed for the grocery store. We didn’t get much, but we had a great time eating grapes in the park while the baby rested in the shade on a blanket (it was HOT here today). We had a lot of fun relaxing and snacking and then came home to pasta dinner with fresh bread and salad. We had stove-popped popcorn as dessert and a good time was had by all – on the cheap.

And lastly, a tally update:

NIS 31 spent at the grocery store on:

  • 3% milk – NIS 9.5
  • Yellow peppers – NIS 2
  • Red peppers – NIS 2
  • Zucchini – NIS 4.8
  • Grapes – NIS 7.27
  • Baguettes – NIS 6

For a grand total of NIS 271.59 spent thus far.

Filed Under: No-Spend Month Tagged With: , , , , ,

Rules of the Game

June 6, 2010 by · 3 Comments

Several folks, both in real-life and online, have had some questions about our little adventure. I’m happy to answer any questions as we go forward – just email me. Also, let me know if you’re joining in and I’ll be happy to let readers here know that you’re blogging about your own No-Spend Month.

Why are you doing this? Are you guys poor?

No! We’re not poor, thank G-d. We’re actually doing quite well, exceptionally well by most Israeli standards. I’m one of the few people I know who can say that our income in Israel is higher than it was in the U.S., while many of our costs of living are lower – even though we’ve gone from two incomes to one.

If we were poor, it wouldn’t be No-Spend Month. It would be No-Spend Life. And that would be sad.

I got the idea from Rachel at Small Notebook. Although our income has increased, I can’t say we’re saving more money – and that’s something I’d like to change. We’d really like to buy a home soon. This month is a chance to do without the conspicuous consumerism and frittering away of our surplus so that we see more room to save.

There’s no way you can live on NIS 1000 for a month. What about rent?

Ah, so let’s take a minute to talk about what’s included and what isn’t.

What’s not included in our monthly allotment:

  • Rent, utilities and property tax (in Israel, renters pay property tax on the apartment)
  • Health care, prescriptions if we need them, etc.
  • Business expenses
  • Transportation to and from school/work (we don’t have a car)
  • Giving to charity

What is included:

  • Groceries and meals out
  • Clothing
  • Stuff – household items, cleaning supplies, the usual stuff
  • Entertainment

The plan should be pretty clear – spend the money on food, don’t buy any new clothes or household stuff and maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll have a little money left over for entertainment.

Are you allowed to eat things from your pantry and freezer? Isn’t that cheating?

This month is nothing if not a good time to get rid of some of the overstock around the house. Yes, we are absolutely eating from our pantry and freezer. The goal isn’t to starve – it’s to cut back for a month on frivolous spending and see how little we actually need to have a lovely life.

What about your baby? Don’t you need formula and diapers?

No and no. I’m breastfeeding and we use cloth diapers (and no, that’s not just for this month – we’ve done that since our first one was born). We do use disposable diapers for our toddler when she is at daycare (long story, that one), but we have quite the stash of them. We stock up when they are on sale. Our 21-month old daughter drinks milk, so we don’t need formula.

Don’t you want to eat good food? Isn’t this unfair to your daughter?

We are eating good food. In Israel, amazing produce is dirt cheap. For example, a kilo of red peppers runs about NIS 6 or about 70 cents a pound. We had a few chickens and a brisket in our freezer, so we’ll have nice meals for Shabbat for the month. I also had some frozen pesto sauce that’s making nice pasta and we’re using up our canned goods to make a lot of yummy tomato sauce. Once a week, we’re making grilled chicken breasts with tons of grilled veggies (peppers, zucchini, squash, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, carrots – you name it, I grill it) and a side of rice. Throw in some pitas and hummus and we’re good to go.

As for it being unfair to my daughter, I don’t think it’s unfair to give her delicious healthy home-cooked meals. Though, now that you mention it, eating out as much as we did before might have been a little unfair.

In short, we’re not having to go without anything. And if we did, that would be the end of our little game. This isn’t some socioeconomic experiment, and I wouldn’t hurt my child for anything in the world.

But it doesn’t prove anything! You couldn’t live like this every month – you have to buy clothes eventually and your food would run out.

Yes, you’re right. And that’s why I thank G-d every day that we have more than enough to meet our needs and wants. We are very blessed.

We aren’t in it to prove anything, but we are willing to learn.

Filed Under: No-Spend Month
Money Well Spent

Money Well Spent

June 6, 2010 by · 3 Comments

We’re six days into our little experiment and I think now would be a good time to discuss what’s been spent so far and where.

The first few shekels were money well spent. On June 4, I joined Kate from One Tired Ema for iced coffee and a laptop work session at Cafe Aroma in the mall. I spent NIS 17 on coffee, which is a ridiculously large amount of money for a coffee, but a very good deal when you consider that it bought me three hours of work with a sleeping baby in frigid air conditioning that I cannot replicate at home. It was so worth it.

Mark my words – the mall will be my Waterloo.

Later that afternoon, I stopped by the grocery store in the mall to pick up a few things for the weekend. Yogurt, which is really pricey in Israel (NIS 4.5 for a 150 grams – roughly $1.25 for one of those really small cups) was on sale, six for NIS 20. I stocked up – we bought 18, but again, so worth it. Our daughter thinks it’s dessert and I think it’s breakfast – either way, a nice treat.

Here’s what we got:

  • Tomatoes – NIS 2.23
  • Squash – NIS 4.31
  • Yellow Peppers – NIS 3.17
  • Feta-like cheese – NIS 7.27
  • Red Peppers – NIS 2.22
  • Zucchini – NIS 5.75
  • Little challahs for Shabbat – NIS 10
  • 18 yogurts – NIS 60 (which I just realized we were mischarged for)

Total was NIS 127.98, which will go down a bit when I get my yogurt money back.

On Friday, we splurged a bit. We bought a few more fresh veggies for Shabbat, and some fresh-from-the-oven baby challahs that looked better than the others we bought (we’ll still eat all of them, but it’s nice to have nice things for Shabbat dinner).

  • Red peppers – NIS 1.77
  • Cucumbers – NIS 1.86
  • Baby challahs – NIS 10

Total spent: NIS 13.63. Then, the real treat. We agreed to have one big meal out as a family this month, and we decided to do it sooner rather than later. We treated ourselves to breakfast at Cafe Hillel in the mall. The total for all of us was NIS 82.

So, where does that leave us?

As of the end of the day on June 6, we have spent NIS 240.61, just under a quarter of our budget for the month. We might just survive this month yet. :)

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