My attempt at making impromptu clutter on my desk

K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid. If its one thing that I have learned so far in life, it is that simplicity is often equal to happiness. I think that one of the happiest times of my life is when the company I worked for closed down and my roommate and I (he also worked there) did nothing but lounge around and play video games for a whole month. We were flat broke (our idea of eating was looking for misplaced change and hitting up the dollar menu of mcdonalds), we lived in a crappy run down trailer and had almost no bills… and no responsibility.

First, a note on what brought me to this post. I was sitting at my computer this weekend and decided to sign up for Twitter. After spending considerable time setting up my account, profile and phone… I promptly was forced to ask myself  “What are you doing?”. I have a full time job, am a full time student, have a family, cook and occasionally post something here on this blog… plus whatever else goes on. Twitter is one more thing that I would have to manage and take care of and frankly… I just don’t want to add it to my plate. I promptly deleted my account.

Less is more. It is something that my mother always told me and is something that I have found to hold true (good job on at least SOMETHING mom). I am a person that thrives on progress. Once I have something down, I tend to try to add more on top of that and I just keep going until I have too much and I am unhappy. Its almost like I have some aversion to being happy. It feels unnatural lol. It is because of this that I think it is important to sometimes take time and de-clutter and simplify your life. I think it is time for me to do this as well. Don’t worry, I am not going to stop doing the blog just yet lol

Here are some suggestions from the SoG on how to de-clutter and simply your life:

1. Clean out your closet. Go through every single thing in your closet. If you have not worn it in a year, get rid of it. I don’t care how much you like it… ask yourself “when am I really going to wear this?” and get rid of it.

2. Clean out the garage, junk drawers or junk closets. That place where you stick everything so you can “deal with it later”? Well now is later. Go through it in the same manner you did your clothes closet and get rid of stuff.

3. Bills. Bills are stressful, especially when trying to keep up with a lot them at all different times. You can do a couple things here… Reduce your bills by getting rid of those that you can truly do without. Consolidate your bills into one payment or adjust your due dates to be on the same day. Set up your bills to be on an autopay system so you do not have to stress as much over them.

4. Reduce your responsibilities. Sit down and look at all the responsibilities that you have in a day (helps to write it out). See if you can live without some of these. Maybe you are stretched to thin and that women’s gourmet cookie club that you are the treasurer for really isn’t all that important to you right now. Maybe SoG content has been terrible lately and you can eliminate that deep felt obligation you feel to go read it (but i hope not!) lol. Maybe you can consolidate several responsibilities into one time frame… for example, doing all of your grocery shopping on one day instead of three.

5. Be aware of new responsibilities and stresses that you are adding into your life! Before you add something else to your plate, ask yourself if it is really worth it. Think about the short and long term affects on you and weigh that against the possible benefits. Always know what you are getting into and when to say no.

6. Remember that it is OK to have time where you have nothing planned. I go through this sometimes where if I end up with extra time and nothing to do, I freak out. I am worrying that there is something I could or should be doing and I feel lazy for not being occupied in something productive. It IS ok to chillax sometimes. Breathe… downtime can be productive too… for your wellbeing.

7. Look for other ways to simplify. Primal is all about simple and optimised happy and healthy living.

This isn’t a planned list or post. i am just rambling off ideas as they come to me. Feel free to add yours in the comments!

I am Rich!

I know that there have been a bajillion “Eat on a budget” posts around the blogosphere over the past couple months. I figured that instead of regurgitating the same old advice, I would sit down and think about how I personally would actually save money on the grocery bill if I had to.

Here is what I came up with:

1. Drop the booze.Booze is a wholly unnecessary evil in the grocery budget. While a glass of red-wine here and there is great for anti-oxidants, you really don’t need it to survive. Booze adds up to a lot of money when you look at it.

2. Cut back on the fancy coffee.I buy fancy organic coffee and espresso. Fact of the matter though is that there is free coffee at my workplace. It may not be the best or most flavorful but it does the job. I could easily cut back on buying expensive coffee from the grocery store in a pinch.

3. Cut back on expensive meat cuts and increase eggs and less expensive meats.You really don’t need a freezer full of porterhouse steaks to eat primally. Pick up several pounds of ground meat (be wary the trans fatty ones). Eggs are also a great, inexpensive, healthy protein and fat option. Also, bone-in full skin poultry is pretty cheap! Ditch the expensive boneless skinless chicken breast and buy a whole chicken. Not only will you be getting more nutrition from it but you will be saving yourself a ton of cash. I actually recently stopped buying canned tuna which is getting awfully expensive($1.99 per can for real tuna in water – Most canned tuna is in vegetable broth with soy) and started buying extra eggs instead to save on some grocery cash.

4. Save money on your produce.Buy the produce that is in season. Grok only had what was in season available to him anyways. You really don’t need 6 different veggies in every meal (although it is delicious). Focus on one veggie one week and another the next. Certain veggies are almost always a steal too… like a good head of romaine lettuce. You can fulfill your veggie needs inexpensively.

5. Shop the sales. You can almost always find one vegetable, fruit or nut that is on sale for a great deal. Stock up on that one! For example, almonds are on sale at my local grocer for $3.99 per pound. This is a heck of a lot cheaper than the other nuts at about $7 per pound so right now I am focusing on almonds for my nut consumption. When they go back up, I will switch to another nut that is a better deal. If I was limiting myself to say… walnuts, I would be missing out on $4 per pound!

6. Buy in bulk where possible.If you have the freezer space, buy a 1/4 of a cow… it will save you a ton in the long run. Ground meat is also usually significantly cheaper if you buy it in bulk. Other bulk deals to lookout for are nuts, fruits (the pre bagged apples and oranges and grapefruit… etc), almond flour etc.

7. Do it yourself.Many of the foods that you may be buying pre-made can be made from scratch simply and easily at home. They are often more nutritious this way too. For example, I have started making my own mayonnaise… this is saving me a ton of money. My homemade mayonnaise is also WAY healthier than the store bought which is made from soy oil and some chemicals and bleh. Some other do it yourself items that are easy and will save you cash… salsa, guacamole, jerky, salad dressing etc.

8. DON’T save on the grocery bill.That’s right, I said don’t save or skimp on the grocery bill. What could possibly be more important to your health and well being than eating well? Look first at other areas in your life that you can save… movies (a movie ticket is worth like 5 pounds of ground beef), premium television, nights out at the club wherever. Prioritize what is most important to you and if it is your health, then start saving in some of the areas towards the bottom of the priority list before your start diving into the grocery budget.

Anyways, I hope this has implanted some ideas in your head and got the gears turning. I also hope that this is a little more involved and personal than some of the other “budget eating” posts you have read.

What are some other ways that you save dough on the grocery bill?