How do you recoup dollars already spent? We may have a 100% budget ready to go but that doesn't help us with getting ahead of months of overspending. This is where the real austerity measures kick in, but I have a plan!
If we can get through an entire months cycle without spending any money on our most variable of costs, then we can kick start this budget plan and maybe get a bit of a leg up. This translates to no money spent on clothing, groceries, toiletries, paper products, cleaning supplies, booze, medicine to deal with having no booze :), entertainment of any kind, kitty supplies, kid extras, and car maintenance.
Yikes! If that weren't enough, I am going to decrease our monthly somewhat fixed cost from NS Power by reducing our power usage by shutting off the lights by 10 pm pronto, using candles more often....(hopefully will lead to romantic entertainment time since we have no booze budget!), turning the thermostat way down (not only will our friends need sweaters but perhaps snow pants as well), reducing electronic viewing time and replacing it with board games, and sourcing out every available opportunity to reduce the vampire power that is sucking our wallet dry throughout the house.
For the grocery bill, I am a Chef on a mission to utilize our pantry, fridge and freezer with our existing inventory of ingredients to create meals that will face the scrutiny of my children and husband who have come to expect an unlimited source of bounty and have never experienced what it is like to not be able to buy their favourite foods.
We do a lot of scratch cooking but this, I can only imagine, will take us to a whole new level as we near the end of the month. Hell....it may not be as tough as I think, considering as North Americans, we tend to keep a ridiculous amount of food on hand with our giant fridges, freezers and don't forget...the extra fridges and freezers in our garages.
Have a look around.......I have, and I am astounded at how much money we have tied up in food that is just hanging around in our pantry and cupboards. We have two bottles of ketchup (unless you are Canadian, you wouldn't understand...we can't run out of this stuff with three kids), 3 bottles of BBQ sauce, taco kits, cans of beans and soup, spices, vinegars, oils and other condiments that touch on just about every aisle of the grocery store. We have chicken, beef, pork, and lobster meat in our freezer, enough varieties of pasta to start our own Italiano bistro, and baking supplies that would make the Cake Boss jealous.
Then there is the leftovers that I have neatly portioned in the freezer in case we ever get around to eating them. Why we don't take advantage of this plethora of easy food goodness is beyond my understanding, but sometimes we just don't feel like it or more often than not, we simply haven't taken the damn things out of the freezer in time to be enjoyed. This is completely embarrassing to admit.....but I don't think we are alone when it comes to leftovers or when it comes to planning. The average Canadian family has the luxury of tossing them out or freezing them till pigs fly.
Never mind, the amount of food that ends up in the garbage or compost. I wish that I could say that this never happens in our house.....but the ugly truth is that it does.
According to an article published by the CBC,
"Canadians are among the world's most well-fed people — so much so that we're wasting billions of dollars worth of edible food a year, mostly coming from our homes, according to a study.
The Cut Waste, Grow Profit draft report from the Ontario-based Value Chain Management Centre (VCMC) suggests that more than half (51 per cent) of the estimated $27 billion of food wasted countrywide ends up as unwanted leftovers dropped into household trash bins.
Expectations for larger portion sizes, confusion about safe consumption and sell-by dates, and the low cost to households of over-purchasing and wasting food were among factors blamed for the wasteful behaviour.
The food waste that occurs in Canada is largely a symptom of current processes and attitudes, primarily of abundance and affluence," the unpublished paper states."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/09/28/food-waste-report.html
Yes, I feel the shame, after reading that article and its not just because I know that we have thrown our money in the garbage, literally. But because of the morality of what food waste costs us as a society. We waste water, fertile soil, labour, and the costs associated with extensive transportation which has a direct impact on our environment. Even worse, is that I have an obligation, even if through my profession alone to lead others in how to be creative with their food supply to stop the waste from happening. I am wearing the Chef cone of shame as punishment.
Want to know if you are not alone....do a little dumpster diving through your neighbourhood come compost pick up day. I haven't done it yet, but if things get too tough, we could use this as a food source to get us through the month. No joke! I just finished reading an interesting article about Freeganism, a fancy term for the practise described above.
While I don't think that at this point I will use it as an optional food source in the days to come (I am sure it would be a great neighbour relations killer), I still recommend that you read a little bit about the practise since according to about.com "Freeganism is an anti-consumerist movement. It takes issue with society's focus on buying new and throwing away old (but still useful) items. In the simplest terms, freeganism is a reaction against the waste of resources. Participants, known as "freegans," have two main goals: to buy as little as possible and to use only what they need." http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/the-dumpster-diet/Content?oid=3131240
I think most average Canadian families would find this idealism food for thought. Ha! Bad joke, but on a serious note, isn't that why most of us are in the mess we are in? We are spending way more than what we are making on materialistic things that we justify as necessary with money we don't have. A little Freeganism could go a long way, baby!
The value of wasted food in Canada is estimated to be over $27 billion dollars each year. If the average household spends $140 per week on food and 20% goes to waste, it translates to $28 per week. Multiply that by 52 weeks and you have $1456 per Canadian family wasted annually per year.
We plan on starting a food waste diary this week. It will give us an honest account of how much we throw away and since we have zero budget for food this month, we really have no excuse.
We are your average Canadian family and we throw our money in the garbage.
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