How will the rising price of Gas and Food effect you?

I hear what you are saying.  We are well aware of the rising prices, and it is a bit frightening.  I have seen the pasta machines for $50 and more, I would hold off on that and try it the old fashioned way.  My husband makes it by rolling out the dough, and then making the ravioli or cut noodles from it then.  coat with flour and hang to dry a bit.  It is good and there is no machine necessary. 

Other than that we are doing what we always have done, dry our clothes on the line or rack, keep the furnace down to a minimum, burn wood, can food, eat in and pack our lunches.  We rarely go out and the only real luxury we have is that we both drive our own vehicles to work.  My husband and I work for the same company, he starts early (about 6 a.m.) and I don't have to be there until 8:30 a.m. so we drive our own vehicles.  It is only 2-1/2 miles away so we don't feel too bad about it, but if it gets much worse we will carpool.  I will hate to give up the freedom I have with having my mornings to myself to get things done - get dinner in the crock pot, do a load of laundry or just sit on the deck and read the paper with my morning coffee.  My children laugh at my one extravegance.

Janet

Gas here in Northern WI is $3.49. I'm relocating to the town where I work as it's a 23 mile comute one way 4-5 times/wk. I carefully plan my trips to town. Uff da, flour is sooo expensive, eggs are rising, meat isn't cheap. I buy when on sale and can or dehydrate what I'm able (which is pretty much anything LOL). Use coupons and stock up when it's on sale - I keep a list of everything I use at home and have figured a very close aprox of what I use in a year. I keep a par level of those items and try very hard not to fall below that number. Good thing as for the last 3 months I've been living off of what I have in store. I air dry my laundry, have access to a ringer/washer which saves on the water bill, make my own laundry soap for peanuts, rarely eat out, utilize the library for DVD's and books, no cable, no internet (I don't have a computer - just the one here at work),utilize our 3 dollar stores and the Good Will, am very fortunate that I have a couple friends who hunt and share the bounty. I can a lot of venison, chicken, veggies, fruits, soups, stews, sauces, jams, jellies, salsa, BBQ sauce, ect. Just hanging on for the ride right now and working 2 jobs and cleaning for my Aunt when she needs help. Uff da!! Hang in there, I don't see relief in any near future.

I would love to have your recipe for laundry soap....

Thanks, Shannon

The cost of gasoline is the biggest drain on my budget.  I hardly drive anywhere except to and from work, to the grocery store, and absolutely necessary errands. Food costs are not affecting too much because I am alone, and I get by pretty inexpensively for food. I bought a shoulder roast last Saturday and paid $3.49 for it on sale. It lasted me for 3 meals. I feel sorry for those who are trying to feed a family.....seems every week the prices at the store are higher. My son has 3 kids and they are really feeling the hit.

We are planting a garden this year because of the rising cost of food.  My husband hunts, so hopefully, that will make the winter much easier on us.  Now, I just have to learn to can!  My grandmother's going to help me, so hopefully it will be ok.

The best investment we made was purchasing a small chest freezer last summer at sams.  7 cubic feet for $140.  It's saved us that much money!  (We live in a small home, no room for bigger, unfortunately).

If any of you shop at a Hays they have shank hams for $.88 lb.  And Kroger has boston butts for $.97 lb.

The price is gas is going to affect me more than the rising cost of food.  All my pork and beef come from my daughter and a friend that works in a pork and beef plant. I also have a friend that keeps me in supply with deer meat. He brought me a duck but I am not to keen on that. I also inherited some Buffalo meat (steak) which I am going to try. Which makes it very reasonable. I then add chicken and fish so meat doesn't cost me to much. I did notice a big increase in flour and of course eggs. Our eggs hit 2.49 a dozen this week. Thankfully, last week their was a sale at a farmers for 99 cents and I brought 20 dozen. My flour went from 69 cents (Gold Medal) to 2.99. Their will be no breaks at all when it comes to gas tho.  I have my own garden, so that helps with veg's. Tomatoes went to 3.49 a pound here and thankfully last year, I caned and froze what I could.  I also am going to start buying in bulk so that might save me some money. I am blessed with good friends and luckily learned from my Aunt how to can. I sure hated it then, but now am glad I know how.

Annette  :)

We do a lot of the things already mentioned, which isn't difficult since we've been doing it for years. Heat with wood, gardening,purchasing items on sale, and stocking up when it's a real good sale. Our clothing is probably 9o% thrift store finds. If it's not from the thrift store, then it's shoes, underclothing, or gifts. We're expanding our garden this year. By the time we're finished (we're getting close) we should have about 3 times the garden space we did in previous years. We'll freeze what we can, and can the rest. Rarely eat out, maybe twice a year at a reasonably priced spot, and when we travel to visit relatives, which happens once or twice a year. No cable TV, and internet is the cheapest dial-up we could find. At less than $19. a month we figure it's a bargain, especially since it is our news source as well as a huge asset for our homeschooling.

We're eating less meat, and the kids are eating more cooked cereal, rather than the cold cereals for breakfast. They don't eat the sugary cereals, and their other options are rather limited so they were getting a bit bored with the selection anyway

BTW, I just posted my laundry detergent recipe on my blog (Boondock Babble) yesterday. What a coincidence! LOL It's a real easy "recipe".

Just combine 1 box each of Borax and Washing Soda, and 1 bath size bar of soap, finely grated. (A lot of folks prefer the Fels Naptha, I like Ivory). Mix it all up good in a large bucket, then dump it in a couple large coffee cans (the new plastic ones work great). I then pop a little medicine cup (such as you get with liquid cough medicine) in each can. You only need to use 2Tbsp. per load (even a large oader such as ours) because there are no fillers, so the medicine cup is just the right size Just don't use it with silk or wool items, because of the washing soda. 

Here's the laundry soap recipe I use. It's very similar to the one Danswife uses.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, if using ivory, grate and use the whole bar

½ cup washing soda (not to be confused with baking soda)

½ cup borax powder 

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~ I prefer a bigger one for stir factor LOL

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.  Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.   Now add your soap mixture and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.  You use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load.

My DH and I are retired and only have Social Security for income. I am so thnkful we don't have kids at home in these times, as I don't know how families do it. We have always had a big garden and I can/freeze, plus nowadays we don't eat big meals or have large appetites. We also have a Bent and Dent Amish store near by, from which I can buy a lot of canned or boxed items, I wouldn't even think of purchasing for full price at the grocery store.

The price of gas is what is hurting us the most. We live in the country and it is 12 miles to the town where I shop, but that is only  for groceries and the $1 store. For Walmart and other type stores it is 25 miles one way and for major stores, it is 50 or more miles in any direction.  Driving is VERY limited, not only with the price of gas, but neither one of us feels comfortable driving in large city traffic anymore. Don't like asking our kids to take us anywhere with the price of gas, even tho' we pay them.  We used to enjoy going to rural area casinos for entertainment ($20 each using penny machines can provide a good afternoon), but they are between 150 miles and 200 miles round trip, which makes the entertainment expensive.  Summer isn't so bad, as we enjoy working outside, but another hard winter like this one (lots of snow and hard to get around) may drive us completely bonkers!!!!

Thankfully we read a LOT and utilize our public library, bringing home armloads of books every week.

 Hey everybody, I just want to say hello first.   I read everything all the way to the bottom and have to say that I found it all very interesting.  The recipe for soap really popped me out of gear and I really want to try it now.  I'll let you know how it goes.  As for the rising costs, gas is definitely effecting us more than food.  I live in Los Angeles where gas is ranging $3.85 a gallon.  All three of us in the family drive our own cars because we all leave the house at different times and go in three seperate directions.  Food prices have never really effected us all that much from what I can recall.  Everything you all talked about sounds really extreme.  The pasta maker sounds like fun, but possibly not worth it for us.  However, if that is how you are saving on costs, good for you.  We used to get canned goods from a friend with a large garden, but most foods come from the grocery store simply because it is easier.  Some weekends we take a trip to the farmer's market to pick up fresh vegetables.  I think we were just brought up in different cultures and it is very interesting to me to understand the differences.  Thank you for sharing.  

This thread gave me a lot of good ideas and suggestions on how to cut corners and save money. Thank you all.

Here are some of my changes:

1.  My DH and I are fortunate enough to work fairly close to eachother, so we are now car pooling. We've had to work out our schedules to coincide with eachother, but it's definitely worth the money we're saving.

 2. I don't pay full price for ANY health or beauty needs, and buy generic as often as possible. We wait for the weekly circular at Rite-Aid Pharmacy and there are always items that we use that are on sale so we stock up as much as we're able. Also, Rite-Aid has a great rebate program. Check it out on-line.

3.  Peanut Butter Sandwiches have replaced costly lunch meats, and old-fashioned oatmeal has replaced expensive ready to eat cereals.

4. Night time snacks are toast with jelly or homemade muffins. No more chips, dips & expensive crackers.

5. When boxes of Jello are on sale we stock up since they make a refreshing and inexpensive dessert. (DH loves Jello with bananas in them).

6. I never buy anything that is pre-portioned for just one serving, not even the little cups of applesauce, which I used to buy in the past.

All these little things add up. Have a good day all!

Linnie

imspecl:

Here's the laundry soap recipe I use. It's very similar to the one Danswife uses.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, if using ivory, grate and use the whole bar

½ cup washing soda (not to be confused with baking soda)

½ cup borax powder 

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~ I prefer a bigger one for stir factor LOL

 

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.  Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.   Now add your soap mixture and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.  You use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load.

I actually use this recipe in a larger quantity but I don't liquify it.  Use 2 TBS dry powder for normal soil or 3 TBS for heavy soil works just fine.  I use plain lye soap in combination with the Fels Naptha for a scented version or just plain lye soap for an unscented version.  Another plus to this type of detergent is that it lasts a long time and you don't really need a softener.  Plus, it's excellent for the environment and is especially good for the new high efficiency washers.  Also, keep a chunk of Fels Naptha handy for a stain stick...just moisten the soap chunk and rub over the stain and launder as usual. 

 The less commercial products I have to buy the better.  I make all my own soaps, perfumes, grocery bags, and barter for landscaping services.  Have a great day everyone.

Alice

I would like to have other recipes for soaps and cleaners besides ther laundry soap. I have been using the laundry soap for quite sometime and it works great.

I love this post!  Here's one I can share--I use this cleaner in my shower & it doesn't drive me out with fumes!  I usually increase the amount of vinegar & spray it, then let it sit for about 5 minutes before scrubbing.

 1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp lemon juice

1tsp Borax

1 tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp dish washing liquid

2 c hot water

Mix together in a spray bottle & away you go!