Good morning all. I just wanted to drop in and address the hype about food prices. I watch a lot of Youtube. It's where I hear podcasts, news clips, learn skills, and fun. However, one of the things that seems to be everywhere in my feed is either news stories about how awful the prices are, coming food shortages, and other apocalyptic videos. I find it interesting that there weren't that many news stories about food prices last administration. I complained then, and I complain now. Doesn't matter who's in office. To put it quite bluntly, while fuel prices, and Iran are causing problems with our food prices, many of the problems lie in ordinary problems that hit suppliers on a regular basis: drought, bad harvest, supply line issues, wars in other countries(not just Iran), etc.. A big problem is inflation. Like I said no one said anything last administration when prices jumped due to inflation of 9%. When the powers that be say 2% inflation is what they're shooting for; that means they're okay with prices increasing by 2% every year. Add to that the droughts, bad harvest, etc., and you can have quite a problem. Do I want us to be in Iran. No, but I don't want them to have a nuclear weapon either. So we choose the lesser of two evils.
Life happens, good and bad. Everything can be rocking along until WHAM! Everything breaks all at once. The breadwinner gets sick or laid off, or heaven forbid, dies. Even small things like forgetting to record a transaction in my checking account ( done that one), or forgetting about a bill that's due ( done that one too) can wreck havoc with the budget. These things are the main driver for my keeping a pantry. I'm not battening down the hatches due to food shortages or Armageddon. I keep a pantry to pull from in times when money is tight. Early in my daughter's marriage; she would shop from my pantry when the need arose. I was glad to have it. She doesn't really need it now ( she's a big wig now), but I was happy to help when I could.
Another advantage of having a pantry means that I've stocked up when items go on sale. That means I've only paid sale price for the items; not the everyday price. Sales are circular in that they will repeat every 6 weeks, usually. There are some items that never go on sale, but those I have to buy regularly. I always make sure I"m getting the best price for that item. Whether on sale or the best over all price; I always try to keep a large supply on hand for times when I can't get to the store for whatever reason. This last month was an example of how I choose to only shop for must haves and opted to pull from the pantry. Worth it, not only because I got to be creative, and learn new things; but I also was able to sock more away to help in paying for the new workshop for my Etsy store.
While prices at the store are rising, no mistake; we can be victims or overcomers. I choose to be an overcomer. That means I will not only shop sales, and stock up. It also means I will learn what skills I need in order to NOT be at the mercy of whatever is happening in stores. My grocery budget has grown with inflation, but it hasn't hit AS HARD as it normally would have because I keep a pantry, cook from scratch, bake from scratch, grow a garden, render fat, etc. I can't afford to pay someone or some company to do the work for "my convenience". Rather my grocery list is ingredients that I buy in bulk. It's cheaper to put those ingredients together for my own "convenience". Meat, milk, cream, butter, flour, sugar, spices(not spice mixes), etc. While these may be skills not everyone has; they are skills everyone has access to learn. There's nothing unique about what I do. Everything I know I learned through my experiences ( by doing), questions, and internet.
I will throw this caveat in. I've gotten too lax with having the ability to pick up my groceries (or have them delivered!). As a result I'm missing out on markdowns. Many of those markdowns are meat, dairy ,fruit, etc that I normally buy. I'm getting back to that. THAT is my tweak to my budget. Markdowns are your friend! They aren't expired. They're close to the sell by date. So freeze it if it's milk, meat, bread,or anything not canned. Canned food, BTW, is fine up to 6 months past sell by date.
How you avoid being at the mercy of whoever is in charge in this country is easy; regardless of your political affiliation. Get out of debt, save(any amount is better than none), keep a pantry, cook /bake from scratch, budget, live within your means. If you have a credit card, close it to further transactions and start paying it off. Get out of debt any way you can( that's legal!). We drive beater cars: 1998 Chevy S10, 2004 Honda Accord. They're paid off, and covered by Liability only insurance. We keep them maintained, and will do so as long as possible before we buy another "New to us" car.
Frugality isn't just a way to choose to live. It's a weapon to protect your family from decisions other people want to make regarding your purse! It might not protect us from everything, but it gives us a great head start.
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