Cost of Living

Have you seriously checked out food pricing lately? If so, do you have the same kind of sticker shock that I do? I went to the grocery store yesterday and on every isle that I pushed my cart down, I slowly gazed at the price tags on the shelf with disbelief. I rubbed my eyes to no avail because there on the shelf still sat the small pack of yogurt for almost $6.00 dollars and the bread for over $3.50 and the butter for $3.50/pound and on and on... If you just feed yourself or one other person, perhaps the damage to your pocket book is slight but if your family is anything like my family, with two strapping boys who can chug a couple gallons of milk each week, you are trying to strategize this latest hit to your bottom line.

The hubby and I have talked and have decided that although dreadfully time consuming, we will make by hand as much of the food and other mundane household items that we normally buy at the store. We rarely buy any sort of processed foods at all let alone fully prepared items such as dinners or frozen thingys. We do however buy organic laundry detergent, soaps, organic cleaners, shampoo, lotions, cheese, yogurt, bread, crackers, other misc. baked goods, sweets and cereals all of which can be made at home. I've crunched the numbers and found that by making these staples at home we will save well over $160.00 per month above and beyond the cost of raw materials. It's not a huge amount but everything will be organic, hand made and there will be no question about it's ingredients, safety or integrity.