Hello, everyone. Let me tell you a little about myself and the reason why I thought starting this website/blog was a good idea. I live in New York City with my three kids and husband.
Though my husband is not Jewish, we are living a Jewish lifestyle as Conservative Jews such as providing Jewish education for the kids via after school and Sunday classes, celebrating Jewish holidays including a festive shabbat dinner each Friday night, and having a kosher home. The kids are busy going to religious school, scouts, and doing sports as well as homework, friends, and various other activities. My middle child is enjoying homeschooling this year (being led by my husband) while my other two are continuing with public school.
I'm really focused on eating healthy and doing so on a budget. In fact, saving money is my hobby and obsession--always been this way. Lately, I've been making my own flat bread and hamburger buns as well as continuing to make challah (bread eaten at sabbath meals). It's fun to bake and find new foods to make that we've otherwise had to purchase. Sometimes the kids help.
I get most of my produce in Lower Manhattan's Chinatown and a particular produce cart near City Hall. For the past month or two I've been able to participate in GrowNYC Winterbox, an initiative to get city dwellers to eat better quality produce. So, every Thursday I pick up a heavy bag of produce and fruit, mostly organic and mostly locally grown food. I don't get a choice of what they give, you get what you get. But, it's great fun to try to use all the veggies many of which I have never cooked with or seldom use. It's largely been a success, though I do have a bunch of pumpkin-like squashes that I have yet to cook up. I pre-pay for the following week. It's a great deal for just $10; I suspect it's highly subsidized. The program has been so popular they've had to stop taking new members.
I have been keeping a small garden in the summer. This past year I grew lots of basil, tomatoes, and squash plus collard greens, green peppers, celery, and a few others. I'm new to gardening and trying to learn more about it.
The bulk of my food comes from Costco (especially milk, eggs, and cheese) as well as New Jersey supermarkets near my husband's office where he gets the remainder of the necessities. He does the overwhelming bulk of the shopping (excluding produce). Not to say that we don't have to occasionally run to the market down the block for something we ran out of, but I REALLY don't like doing that. We have not been entirely successful with couponing, although I occasionally give it another try. It's had mixed results.
This blog will be largely focused on saving money. I will share what I've learned along the way (both my successes and and my failures) as well what others have shared. So please send me your advice and picks for having a fun and fabulous frugal lifestyle wherever you live. It's my belief that you can live on less and feel great doing it. So many people think its hard or they "deserve" to buy _______. Just tweak your mindset and you can!!
Money is a funny thing. For some it's a power thing, some need to spend it to feel okay with the world, some truly don't have much at all and it's a struggle to get by, some can get by but don't have much in savings or college funds. It's an interesting and complex issue and something I would like to explore. Buckle your seat belt, folks. The ride has just begun.
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