Frugal Framnett

One idea I keep coming back to is that of tracking and measuring. Now, many computers come with Quicken, MS-Money, and even my OS of choice Slackware Linux and my windows manager choice of KDE comes with a personal finance manager (I even had In-Charge for OS/2 when I ran that system). However, I have never much cared for any of the available choices and most often the software was at least a waste of storage and at worst money flushed down the drain when the idea is to wisely manage the money..

I recall purchasing Managing Your Money some years ago and noted this to a colleague. He asked why not use spreadsheet software for this purpose, after all, these pieces of software are nothing but spreadsheets without cells. Well Vince, whereever you are and whatever you are doing you were correct it has come down to me putting together a system of spreadsheets.

In this topic I hope to give spreadsheet tips and pointers allowing you to become a Spreadsheet Samurai! I can hear the countless and nameless samurai whose bones are long turned into dust rolling and cussing at their class being associated with geekly pursuits such as computers and money.

• Most people talk of setting, recording, and tracking goals. I do that with this post.

1. Retiring Debt
   1. A loan against my 401(k) plan

   This loan will be paid off at the end of this month. I plan to put that to use to:

   2. Pay off the loan on our 2002 model impala car

   We have roughly one and a half years to go on the loan but with the retirement of our 401(K) loan we can double our payment on the Impala and get it off the books. Additional savings will kick in by dropping comprehensive coverage on the vehicle. We have two vehicles I am okay with dropping comp on one of them or looking into a way to just insure against a total loss or major damage.

   3. This is not a complete set of loans just a few we can pick off easily and in the near future. When those two are paid off I will revisit this situation. I hope to be in that happy state by October of 2008. However, by that time I have the feeling our home loan and taxes will be be taking up a fair amount of resources.
   4. Paying off our credit card bills every month.

   So far from this summer we have been doing that but we need to keep those bills small enough.

2. Saving at least a little bit every month.

It is not going to be a lot but at least a little bit, we will place the savings into a remote account (i.e. one not so easily transferred back into checking) so it will be harder to spend and if we can get used to going without the amount we are saving we can increase a little bit more every so often.

3. Tracking our spending.

As I have discussed here before what you can not measure you can not improve. To improve our spending habits we need to find out what they are. To accomplish this I will take every receipt we have and enter it into a spreadsheet I have set up for this purpose. Right now, expenditures are my priority. I expect, it will not be 100% on (e.g. pop machines do not issue receipts) but we should know with a fair amount of certainty where our money is going.

4. Developing other income streams.

I do not want to talk too much about this one.

The Frugal Duchess blogs on eating in rather than going out for a “quick-bite”.

A good idea and I want to expand on it and in a few spots critique.

Yesterday, in a fit of stubborn frugality, I refused to eat my money. But it was a hot debate between the $20 bill on my dining room table and the bag of pre-washed baby green lettuce in my frig. I have a weakness for salads, especially overstuffed, exotic salads with a wild assortment of tastes. My ideal meal: a big salad and a fabulous dessert. But after tax, tips and other charges that ideal meal usually costs about $20. The Frugal Duchess –Salad Plate Lessons: Eating Green; Saving Green

$20 for such fare? Wow, good start to her post recognizing a financial weakness and going about correcting it. She then goes on and details the salad she herself put together.

One word caught my attention: organic. I translate organic as expensive. Another attention grabber is a vegetarian chicken patty, sorry, if it is vegetarian then it is not a chicken patty. Also, oreo cookies without the filling are not oreo cookies, perhaps another cookie can be found? Okay, the food critique is over! Now onto her lessons learned.

1. Keep the kitchen well stocked.
   Agreed! A well stocked kitchen is one where most any food crave can be satisfied. However, this invites the question (please, don’t ever say beg the question in this context) what is a well stocked kitchen? A well stocked kitchen would have:
   • An assortment of spices

   A brief list includes: salt, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, thyme, sage, garlic powder, basil, and oregano. Our kitchen has many more spices than this, but the above list, in my opinion, is a good solid foundation and should cover most American cooking needs.

   • An assortment of sauces.

   Another brief list: soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, a couple cans of tomato sauce, and Tabasco sauce.

   • Staples.

   Such as white & brown sugar, butter, oil, flour (all purpose is sufficient), rice, pastas (noodles & spaghetti), baking powder, and baking soda. All sorts of recipes call for many of those items.

   • Soups

   Whether for direct consumption or for use as an ingredient.

   • Legumes

   Many dishes require beans and peas, get a basic assortment, red beans, lentils, great northern beans and the like. Learn to think ahead as beans usually require an overnight soaking prior to cooking with them.

   • Cheeses

   You do not need a whole lot, I always keep a block of medium cheddar, a block of swiss, parmesan, asiago, and romanno cheeses. Don’t get too worked up about moldy cheese, just shave the mold off and use what is left, that is called aging your cheese!

   • Vegetables

   Carrots, potatoes, garlic cloves, celery, and onions. Those vegetables keep well others do not, get any others you may need as you need them.

   • Meats

   I do not suggest storing up meats, buy them fresh and per need. If there is a deal on somewhere buy what you will consume before the meat spoils, perhaps some for freezing (remember, there is a cost to putting things in the freezer - loss of storage, and you may forget what you put in there). Planning and organization can help you take advantage of meat specials.

Find recipes calling for less & cheaper cuts of meat. Not only will this help with your finances, it will also help with your health.

2. Visit your local Goodwill store or area thrift shops.

Look for cookbooks there. The Joy of Cooking is a good book it disucsses the ingredients and technique as well as just giving recipes. Most likely you can find an older edition of the Joy Of Cooking in any thrift shop, it will probably even be clean!

Also, you can find pots, pans, and the other tools of the cooking trade there. Don’t feel you have to go to Williams & Sonoma to become a good cook.

3. Some easy recipes

Learn them and learn them well. You can then start to improvise and vary your recipes, remember recipes are suggestions and not ironclad laws to follow.

4. Sharon also urges you to be creative

Kitchen creativity starts with following recipes and practice. Find varied recipes and follow them to the letter a number of times. In each and across the recipes notice how the ingredients work together especially the spices! Then as you learn how each ingredient accomplishes the dish then start to vary to suit your tastes or add other ingredients.

From time to time I bake a chocolate cheesecake. The basic recipe is straight chocolate cheesecake, but I have developed a number of variations on the theme. Add a tablespoon of instant coffee or add some mint flavoring (creme de mint is my way of doing that). A cookie recipe we executed does not call for any milk in the batter, we add a 1/4 cup per batch softens and improves the recipe (makes it messier too).

When you take a dish and your creativity makes it your own, you are much more likely to want to eat it.

5. Large batches

While Sharon did not talk about batch size, I like to cook large batches. This way you can get economies of scale on your time. Make sure you can safely store your work. Winter in Wisconsin helps, now we put our large pots full of soups and sauces in the garage.

I do not mind leftovers and it is not uncommon for me to eat the same thing day in and day out for a week at a time. People have suggested to me this is not good from a nutritional standpoint as a certain dish may be lacking in nutrients. The argument continues on to say eating different meals will cover the deficiencies through random chance. I am not a nutritionist and I understand the argument, but I do not believe a week will hurt.

6. Time and Patience Considerations

Sharon confesses she often justified going out on time considerations. She figured it would be quicker to step out to eat. However, she thinks about that idea, experiments, and applies an analysis using numbers. Guess what? It takes less time to fix her own salad than it does to step out and order one.

While the cooking I am talking about takes longer than preparing a salad if you plan things out and cook in larger batches my guess is the time used to cook your own meals is less than going out. Now mind you, I am not talking about the drive-through at McDonald’s but instead I am talking about sit-down restaurants.

In addition, enlist the help of your family! Not only do you save money and time you stay close to your family.

In the end, I think you can save a fair amount of jingle by doing your own cooking. Even though prepared meals are cheap I get the feeling they are not as cheap as cooking your own.

Bon appetit!