Almost Frugal » A Frugal Family

Now Them’s Some Refried Beans

Kelly — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:30:39 +0000

I’ve been really into finger foods lately. Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s that fact that I’m a working mother of three trying desperately to pay attention to her husband and her thesis (sadly, not in that order), but I’ve been thinking recently that there’s nothing better than making finger food for dinner and plopping down in front of the TV to eat it.

The other day we had friends over to watch the US soccer team play Ghana (good game), and I served cocktail munchies from the ’60s- a veggie platter and dip, meatballs (Ikea, of course), cubed cheese, sausage rolls, chips and salsa. We ate and drank beer and yelled at the TV all night. Yum.

Finger foods are also fast, not to mention that they’re something my kids really love to eat. You’re going to think I’ve been living in a cave for the past ten years (a cave called France, I remind you), but I’ve only just discovered Rachel Ray. And her kind of cooking fits right into my life at the moment. I picked up one of her books on 30 minute meals for kids at a book sale the other day, and while not all the recipes are perfect, enough of them are that I’m going to hang onto it for a while.

Tonight I’m making nachos. Whether we end up eating them in front of the TV is still undecided, but either way they’re going to be delicious. I’m not doing anything special, but I made refried beans from scratch.

Refried beans are really easy to make. Soak pinto beans overnight, cook for a really long time, then salt to taste. At this point I separate the beans into batches and freeze most of them. Then take some beans, add more water and cook until they’re soft and runny. To make nachos I drizzle the beans over cheaps, add sour cream, salsa, corn, tomatoes and avocado. As Rachel herself would say, “Delish.”

What’s your favorite finger food?

Now Them’s Some Refried Beans by Kelly | Permalink | 5 comments

Snippets and Links

Kelly — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:00:05 +0000

I talk a lot about my mother on Almost Frugal, especially because of her tightwad ways. (In a good way, Mom! In a good way!). But beyond talking about the system that my father and I have figured out on how to pay my student loans, I don’t talk about my dad much.

My father recently wrote me wrote, however, as part of an email about how they are managing to survive in these financially challenging times, some interesting thoughts:

I actually enjoy buying my cheerios at Costco. We buy all of my soup (for lunch at the store) and my prepared dinners when they are on sale, saving a bunch of money every week. Nothing wrong with that. I hope that I buy that way when you strike it big and start supporting me as I would like to be supported. (Yes, you might notice, I have given up on winning the lottery!)

But buying just to not buy? Why? Of course we should all live within our budgets and save for the future and for our kids (and old man). And nobody needs a third car, or one that costs really big bucks and returns single digit mileage. Likewise houses, fancy clothes, etc. But a 2oth shirt that you absolutely love? Or the OCCASIONAL CD (I haven’t bought one in years, even for Christmas!) I mean life has to have some rewards, and you can’t deny yourself too much, especially when it hinges on not being worth it personally.

My attitude is live as cheap as possible 90%of the time, but well most of the rest. Like drink less but get drunk more often? No, I don’t need excess in any form. But the occasional nice dinner out is OK in my book.

I think this is a nice balance between starving yourself, and never enjoying anything, and being a total spendthrift.

What did/do your parents teach you about money?

Snippets and Links by Kelly | Permalink | 6 comments

Paying for Activities

Kelly — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:00:10 +0000

France is really dead in August- nothing happens. Shops are closed, businesses are quiet, the roads are empty. But then, on La Rentrée, or the day that the country goes back to school (the same day across the nation), everything wakes up.

And so it goes for sports and after-school or Saturday activities. Last Saturday, 120 of the Grenoble area sports associations took part in a big fair at the shopping mall. (Yes, I can use the article ‘the’ in terms of shopping malls here, as in one shopping mall, or singular!) My husband and I decided to go because we had been talking a lot about what extra-curricular activities we wanted to sign the boys up for. They had already tentatively decided on Judo and Swimming.

We found the Judo association we wanted to go through right away. And even better, the classes are going to be about a 10 minute walk from our new apartment. But we couldn’t find any swimming classes that were convenient, or even that had places (and that we could afford). So we stopped at a tennis club, and they told us about the open day they were having the next week, which was the day before yesterday. Then, during the week, I heard from an American friend here who was going to sign her son up for Little League, the first training of which was also being held the day before yesterday.

Saturday morning my husband took the kids first to baseball, then to tennis, to see what they liked, and which activities they wanted to do. Luckily, the activities won’t always be happening at the same time. My oldest son (age 6.5) decided that he only wanted to do baseball. My youngest son, however, decided that he wanted to do both activities. So now he’ll be doing three sports during the week, and my oldest will do just two.

Judo will cost €265 for the year for the two kids; baseball will cost €160 for the year for one. I don’t know how much baseball will cost, but I imagine it will be in between in price. My husband also wants to sign them up for guitar lessons, but I imagine that will depend on how much lessons cost! Basically we’re looking at €1000 for the year for lessons and activities, which is a lot, when you think about it.

I’m not worried about spending the money- it does fit into our budget and we can pay for all the lessons over the next three months and then be done for the year. I am a bit worried about the kids feeling overwhelmed, especially my second son. I hope he’ll have enough time to relax.

Mostly, what I’m feeling is gratitude. I’m feeling very lucky and very thankful to be able to pay for the activities that my kids want to do. Last year we had to stop doing their extra English lessons because we couldn’t afford them. I’m happy that this year we can afford to do the things they want to do… within reason, of course!

What activities are you or your kids doing this year… or not doing?

Paying for Activities by Kelly | Permalink | 5 comments

Can You Be Too Frugal With Your Children?

Kelly — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:28:50 +0000

Kristy raised an interesting point in her comment on my post Frugal Pregnancy Tips. She said:

A lot of folks around the blogosphere seem to be having babies and talking about the associated costs. What’s always struck me when reading the posts is that a lot of them do spend quite a bit. I don’t know if it’s just that baby costs have seriously escalated over the years or if some of them are choosing not to be as frugal in this area of their finances. Interesting topic, Kelly! I’d very much like to know from the other parents out there, is there such as thing as being too frugal in this area? I’m sure there is, but not being a parent, I don’t know.

So the question is “Can you be too frugal in this area?”

I think the answer is “It depends.” Kristy is right in that costs are higher now then they were in the past, which is no different for pregnancy and baby stuff than for any other category of goods. But I also think that our (western) culture, which encourages people to ‘buy, buy, buy’, makes us feel like every last doodad or gadget is necessary and we can’t do without it.

But I also think that you can be too frugal when preparing for a new baby, both for financial reasons and psychological reasons. Financially, you are too frugal when you don’t buy enough of something (like pyjamas or diapers) and then have to do lots and lots of laundry, more than you would have to if you had bought enough in the first place. Of course some would argue that you can never be too frugal, that instead, it’s called being cheap and I would have to agree. This was the point raised by other commenters on the frugal pregnancy post, particularly Shevy who said:

It wouldn’t be very frugal to skimp on the vitamins (especially as I believe the folic acid issue is really only critical during the first trimester and immediately prior to conception) and then have to deal with a child who had an exposed spinal cord and might never walk.

I also think that celebrating the arrival of a new baby and the rituals involved in doing so are very important. This is why so many cultures have set up rituals around pregnancy, childbirth and new babies. I think when you don’t do so, you’re being too frugal psychologically.

After having my first two children, I saved a lot of their clothes and baby things, but not everything. When I found out I was pregnant with my third, we knew that there were certain things we were going to need to buy again: diapers, a stroller, a crib. It just so happened that in a period of about three weeks, all in the first trimester of my pregnancy, we were given or found really good deals on everything we needed. I didn’t need to buy anything to prepare for the baby after about the third month. Our daughter moved into her brothers’ room as well, so we didn’t need to prepare a nursery either (which I don’t think that babies necessarily need).

I am really grateful and pleased that we were able to find everything that we needed, either as a gift, as a hand-me-down, or used. But I think that it is important to take the time to prepare for a baby, and that maybe buying stuff, figuratively feathering the nest, is part of that preparation and transition.

What do you think? Can you be too frugal when preparing for the arrival of a new baby or with your children?

Can You Be Too Frugal With Your Children? by Kelly | Permalink | 12 comments

Frugal Pregnancy Tips

Kelly — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:44:03 +0000

No, not for me! We’re definitely happy with our three-kid family. But I have a lot of pregnant friends however, and my own kids are young enough that I well remember trying to combine being pregnant and frugal myself.

So how can you be pregnant and frugal? Well the first thing I would suggest is to stay away from lists of things that you absolutely must do or have, just like before you got pregnant. Prenatal yoga, or whatever the trend of the day is might be the latest ‘must thing’, but it might not be what’s best for you. Or perhaps I just loved my pregnancy body pillow (which I did)- that doesn’t mean that you should run out and buy one.

Try to borrow one of whatever it is you want from a friend, or improvise a solution. Could you perhaps rent some DVDs or borrow them from the library to see if yoga is your thing? Maybe use a king-size pillow instead of a pregnancy pillow. And although you might think that you already know or not if you’re going to like something, I have to add my two cents here: just because you liked it before getting pregnant, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be your thing while you’re pregnant.

On the other hand, if you’re the sort of person who has always wanted a large family, and you know exactly what it is you want, then don’t be afraid to buy the very best quality whatever-it-is while you’re pregnant with your first- chances are you’ll get your money’s worth out of it! I bought a really good quality pregnancy/nursing pillow while I was pregnant with my first, and used it for all three pregnancies (and babies).

Another suggestion is to educate yourself on the risks you’re willing to take, versus the rewards you could potentially reap. For example, pregnant women in the United States are routinely prescribed prenatal vitamins- in some cases before they even get pregnant. In France, however, women never take prenatal vitamins, and as far as I’m aware, there is not a higher rate of birth defects. I am not a medical professional and only you can talk to your health care provider and decide the risks and benefits of what you are willing to do, but it’s an example of how thinking outside the box might be a good frugal decision for you.

Coming back to a less controversial topic, I would say that you probably don’t need to buy that many maternity clothes, depending on your professional status. I bought very few maternity clothes, mostly pants. I was able to get away with large t-shirts and stretch pants, which also serve afterwards as what Jonniker calls transitional pants. Then again I didn’t have to dress very nicely for work, so I was able to get away with it!

Pregnancy is an exciting time in your life, but it doesn’t have to be an expensive time. Here are some more frugal resources for young babies and children.

WiseBread has a forum discussion on frugal pregnancy tips.
When the baby arrives, here are some of my ideas for frugal gifts for new parents and new babies.
Emma from Baby-Log wrote a guest post on frugal child-proofing.
Here’s a post on frugal baby food.
I wrote about the ethics and economics of used baby clothes.

What are your frugal pregnancy tips?

Frugal Pregnancy Tips by Kelly | Permalink | 8 comments

Fun, Frugal Kid Toys

Kelly — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:20:29 +0000

I don’t know about your kids, but mine are often happier playing with the box than the toy that was inside! It seems like simple toys are often the best, and, not surprisingly, it’s also often the most frugal.

(This picture was taken last year, of my older two kids playing pirates with a cardboard box. The box had held a skateboard, my second son’s birthday present.)

Here are 19 other frugal ideas for kids toys:

Sidewalk chalk
Bubbles (here are some recipes for the homemade stuff)
Playdough
Mud
Plastic cups
A bucket of water (for the plastic cups and mud above!)
Tennis, basket or beach balls
Balloons
Paper and crayons
A small doll or stuffed animal
Large scraps of fabric or scarves
Old clothes for dress up
Mom’s leftover eyeliner for drawing scars or tattoos
Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs or wooden blocks (look at garage sales for good deals)
A bike (although the purchase might not be that inexpensive, in terms of time spent playing versus cost, they are usually very frugal!)
Small cars or things to push along the ground and go vroom
Pots and pans to cook with
Things for gardening (otherwise known as ‘digging in the dirt time’)
Cardboard boxes (of course!)

These are all things that my three kids love to play with! What are your children’s favorite frugal toys?

Fun, Frugal Kid Toys by Kelly | Permalink | 11 comments

Frugal Childcare

Kelly — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:00:53 +0000

Our single largest expense every month is childcare. It costs nearly twice as much as our monthly rent, or as our rent and groceries combined. Admittedly, we have three children, and we both have full-time occupations, myself at school and my husband at work, so it’s reasonable to expect to pay a large chunk of change to the nanny every month, but I doubt that we’re the only family with the same experience.

Quality childcare can be hard to find, and I in no way begrudge our daycare provider’s monthly salary- she is worth every cent and more. While we call her ‘the nanny’, our children go to her house, where she also takes care of other kids. My daughter goes all day, four days a week, and the older two children are with the nanny at lunchtime and after school (there is no standardized school lunch period in France). She’s been watching my kids since the oldest was 8 months old, and we’ve cut down on lots of other things rather than pay her less.

Here are some ways you can make frugal childcare choices for your family.

Family. It all depends on how comfortable with the idea of having your or your partner’s mother/father/aunt etc watch your kids, but they’re (probably) not going to charge you for the pleasure of it. While I wouldn’t want my parents or my in-laws to watch my kids every day, they are wonderful for occasional babysitting duties.

Do it yourself. I’m not saying that moms shouldn’t work, or that every family needs a stay at home parent. But if you do have a job that allows you to work at home with flexible working hours, could you arrange it so that a few of those hours are while your kid is sleeping? I do most of my blog and consulting work late at night or early in the morning.

Find a community center program. There are a great many community centers that offer childcare, and they are often less expensive than a private choice. It might be a reasonable choice for your family’s needs.

Trade with a friend. A good friend of mine lives quite close to me, and her daughters are close in age to my three kids. Every once in a while she’ll watch my brood, or I’ll watch hers. It’s a lot of fun for the kids, and helps each of us out as well.

Investigate tax credits or other government resources. Now, as you know, I live in France, so I’m really not familiar with the US (or any other government’s) childcare incentive programs. But in France, along with receiving monthly assistance with our childcare costs, we get a yearly tax break. I imagine that a good google search will reveal the same for your own tax system.

How do you save money on childcare costs?

Frugal Childcare by Kelly | Permalink | 9 comments

My Children Will Do it Differently

Kelly — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:00:48 +0000

As a parent I worry about a lot of things. My kids’ health, if they’re dressed warmly enough, if they’re eating a balanced diet. Whether they’ll be accepted into the right school and how I’ll manage the carpool run. Who their friends are. What musical instrument they’re going to play. And so on and so forth.

But I especially worry about their financial futures. I’ve read in a number of places that my generation (I was born in 1974) is the first that won’t automatically have a better quality of life than their parents. And our children will have to struggle even more than we will. Now whether or not these statements are true, I’m not sure- the point of this post is not to debate them.

Without worrying about the state of social security (in France or the United States) or long term job security or any other external factors, I’d also like not to have to worry about how my children are going to handle their own finances. I believe that like so many other things, frugality is a learned behavior. This is good, as in many ways I’m pretty frugal. But it’s also bad, because in many ways, I’m a spendthrift!

What I would like is for my children to do it differently than I did: to have an easier time of it, if you were. To be less bogged down in student loan or consumer debt. To be able to resist the temptation to buy that shiny new toy. To be able to balance their checkbook and budget their income. And finally, to recognize the importance of saving, from a very young age.

As with anything else, the best way to transform a desire into an action is through a plan of attack. Therefore this week we’re starting the oldest two on an allowance. We’ll be helping them allocate their money into three accounts: spend it now, and short term and long term savings. I hope that this will be a good first lesson in becoming more then almost frugal!

Do you believe that good financial management and frugality are learned behaviors? How can one best help kids to become financially reasonable adults?

And don’t forget to come back to tomorrow’s Share this Thursday to leave links to any posts you’ve written on the topic.

My Children Will Do it Differently by Kelly | Permalink | 11 comments

Free Online Activites for Children

Kelly — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:00:47 +0000

I have three young children, two boys ages 6, 4.5 years old and a 16 month old daughter. While my daughter’s only concern with the computer is how much time I spend on it instead of playing with her, my sons love to spend time on the computer.

My concern, above and beyond making sure that the time they spend playing computer games isn’t too excessive is always that what they are doing is interesting and informative. I don’t want them to just be driving a car around a race track, I want them to be learning something along the way.

Here are some sites that I have tested and they’ve approved. All these sites are free to use and offer a range of activities.

IXL Math has, you guessed it, math activities, divided into grade levels and targeted skills. This is more a site that reinforces knowledge taught at school or home, than teaches new things. I also have to really encourage my sons to go onto it, although they have a great time once they’re there.

Sesame Street.org is a site with all things Sesame Street. (Warning, there is a video that starts playing when you visit the site, so turn your sound down!) There are games, videos, things to print out, and even a section for adults. My oldest son particularly likes Grover’s game ‘In the Nick of Rhyme‘ and I like that they can learn to play these games and navigate the site by themselves.

Starfall is a site for preK through second graders who are learning to read and/or practicing their reading skills. It was recommended to us by my sons’ reading teacher, and has lots of activities, songs and printouts. There is even a store with materials and home school activities, although I’ve never bought anything through them.

PBS Kids is one of their favorite activity sites. It’s filled with games and things to do, and they beg to visit it. Of course everything is based on characters from TV shows, but I don’t find it to be too in your face. My youngest son loves Curious George and really enjoys visiting those games, while my oldest, who is learning to read, really likes SuperWhy, recommended to him by one of his best friends. There are games, videos, music and coloring sheets, and again, keep your computer volume on low if you’re in a library or at work!

CBeebies is the UK version of the American PBS kids, and it’s also the only TV they get to watch. It’s just like PBS kids, with favorite characters, games, printouts etc.

Jitterbug is tagged as ‘hip music for hip kids‘ and that’s just what it is- talk about fun! It’s not really a site for kids to play with, but I like to turn it on in the evenings, and let the good times (and music) roll.

What are your kids’ favorite online activities?

Free Online Activites for Children by Kelly | Permalink | 9 comments

Inexpensive Ideas for Kids’ Birthday Parties

Kelly — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:00:39 +0000

Today is my oldest son’s birthday. He’s six, and it seems like only a few days have passed since I was celebrating his birth in an entirely different way! This is the first year that’s he’s really been aware of his birthday- counting down the days, planning his party’s guest list and so on. We had his party last Sunday, with friends, and will celebrate as a family this evening.

Here are some ways we saved money while planning his party.

Set your budget

Deciding how much you are going to spend, that’s pretty obvious. But if you start planning the party a few months in advance, you can pay for it in advance as well. I bought all his presents a few months before his birthday (we’re giving him three things) and I paid the deposit on his party last month. That means that this month, I only had to pay the remaining party fees, which were less than €20.

The guest list

Don’t invite the whole class, that’s for sure! We limited my son to five friends, and I even found that to be a lot of kids. I have found that if I give my son a set number from the beginning, he willingly respects the limit. You might want to invite just one good friend and ask them to spend the whole day celebrating. Or, have a large family party, but make it more informal. We often combine my second son’s birthday with a big ‘start of summer’ potluck.

Invitations and Thank You notes

Of course you can buy invitations to fill out yourself, but your child would probably have a lot of fun making his or her own. I called some parents, and told other by email, and my son wrote two invitations on his own. I’m going to have him write a thank you note to each of his guests, drawing a picture of them together at the party, or of him playing with his gift.

Where to hold it?

Are you going to have the birthday party in your house, or will you go somewhere else? Our house is very small, so we’ve always needed to go elsewhere for our kids’ parties. This choice is further complicated by the season; January is not a good month for parties in the park! On the other hand, it would be perfect if you wanted to go play in the snow for the day, followed by hot chocolate and cake.

We shared his party this year with some good friends, and so were able to rent time at a local play area for about half as much as it would have cost us otherwise. We’ve also held parties at McDonalds (without paying the party package) or had lunch at a restaurant.

Food

The time of day obviously influences the food you are going to serve. Try finger foods, or something like pizza and quiche, if you are hosting the party yourself. Otherwise, plan your party for late afternoon, and the only food you’ll be responsible for is cake. One of my favorite cake recipes is endlessly adaptable: apple, carrot, lemon, chocolate…. and easy and cheap to make. An even more frugal alternative is cupcakes; the perfect size for children and you usually get quite a few from each cake recipe.

Party Favors

I am not a fan of party favors; I don’t like the idea of buying something cheap just to fulfill the formality of giving something away at the end of the party. That said, the mom with whom we shared the birthday party had a great idea: present each child with a picture from the party. I have some inexpensive magnetic refrigerator frames, and I think that will be a gift both the parents and children can appreciate.

I feel like we achieved a good balance of frugal and fun when planning and celebrating his birthday. He was happy with his party, and I was happy because I didn’t go over budget.

How do you save money when planning your child’s birthday party? What are your tips for keeping the fun in frugal?

Inexpensive Ideas for Kids’ Birthday Parties by Kelly | Permalink | 15 comments