Joy of Frugal Living

There are no special coupon deals next week at Giant, but they are starting their free turkey promotion. I won't spend enough to qualify, I'm sure, but some of you who have larger families might find this very helpful.

There are a couple of things I like about this promotion. First of all, you get a choice of a free turkey, or a free Stouffer's Party Size Lasagna. Not everyone likes turkey or does Thanksgiving at their house. A lasagna might be more practical for them. Also, there are three kinds of turkey for free - two brands of whole regular turkey, one brand of kosher turkey, and one brand of turkey breast. More and more people I know are not opting to do the whole turkey any more, so this is good. Also, if you don't like the brands of free turkey, you can get a steep discount on several other brands of turkey.

You have to earn 300 Rewards points for your free turkey, or you can get a 10% off savings certificate with 450 points. I believe you generally earn one point per dollar spent. The points must be earned between 10-12-08 and 11-15-08.

I know there will be at least one family meal in here, so I'm just planning six meals. If we don't eat all of anything, I can just freeze it for later.

I'll be taking a blogging break for a few days. My husband's grandfather is dying. We are thankful that he had a long and productive life - he's 90. It's still just a very sad thing.

See you soon - have a good weekend.

"Tightwaddery without creativity is deprivation. When there is a lack of resourcefulness, inventiveness, and innovation, thrift means doing without. When creativity combines with thrift you may be doing it without money, but you are not doing without."

- Amy Dacyczyn of the Tightwad Gazette

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

- Gandhi

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn."

- Abraham Lincoln (quoted in the TG - I guess once upon a time politicians did know a thing or two about money.)

Catherine at Frugal Homemaker Plus has a new article over at Frugal Hacks, called, very appropriately, Don't Panic. Check it out. It's encouraging.

There is SO much we can all read about this stuff. I suggest, however, that if it starts to give you a headache, or in some other way you know it is wearing you out, just stop. Do something active. Read something encouraging. We all need all the energy we can get.

One of the first things I thought about, when considering how I could be more prepared for a recession, was a stocked pantry. That way if food prices went up a lot, or food was harder to buy for a bit, or if I couldn't get at my money in the bank for a little while, it wouldn't be a problem.

I always keep some dry and canned food around, but hadn't really built up much of a supply since we moved almost a year ago. Fortunately, I managed to save a little extra from last month's food budget that I could use to stock up. There were also some great coupons and sales to take advantage of recently. I did a little advance shopping at Aldi yesterday too. So I'm feeling more prepared now. I'll add to it as I can, but I don't want to blow too much of my food budget there.

If you want to stock up on food, remember - don't panic and buy stuff you don't usually use. Buy stuff you know your family will enjoy eating. If you are going to experiment, make it something free or near free. We've all had the experience of buying something we're not really excited to eat and letting it sit in the back of the pantry for years.

Also, remember to use the stuff in your pantry and rotate through it. Don't put the new stuff in front and just eat that first.

This principle can apply to other things too. Is your car filled up with gas? Might be a good idea. Do you have some cash on hand? Also a good plan. (Though please, let's not create any more bank runs - things are bad enough without us making it harder for them to function.)

No matter what happens, it just feels good to be well-stocked when the world is looking scarier than usual.