CHA-CHING!

 

Yesterday we voted YES! for my lost & found idea. Mark has a related story and will blog about it later.

 

I was driving by Aldi's on the way home from work and thought that I spotted an abandoned shopping cart in the parking lot (which = $.25). But it was too late because I was already in the process of passing up the entrance and someone was following closely behind me. The next driveway is for a car wash with drive up vaccuum areas. I figured I would pull in there and get out and see if anyone had dropped any change (I have found money at this car wash in the past). So I pulled in and got out and there was a penny on the ground - YAY! Then I walked around to the other side, looking at the ground. When I was about to get back in my car,  I looked over to the left there was a pile of pennies sitting on the cement wall by the vaccuum.  $.22 pennies in that pile plus the one I found on the ground! I turned back around and went to Aldi's but there weren't any abandoned shopping carts. Feeling lucky when I got home, I went over to the next building to see if there was any lost $$ in the laundry room. As I opened the door to the building a shiny little dime was staring up at me in the doorway (no lost money in the laundry room though).

 



Lost and Found

So last week I found 2 dimes, 1 outside on the ground on my way to my car and 1 in the laundry room on one of the dryers in my apt. complex. Can I start a lost and found change jar and use the found money towards food purchases? This will be for money found outside the home.

Gross? or Net?

By gross, I don't mean the roadkill idea from the previous post ;)

Question is: Will tallying $$$ spent be based on net or gross? So if I get 10 cans of soup for $1, will I tally the $.10 once I consume it or do I count the whole dollar? What if I want to eat 5 cans pre-challenge and only use 5 during the challenge, would I just count $.50?

Also, we need to rule if gas/mileage is exempt (pre-challenge and during challenge).

Strategies

Mark, Kathy, Todd, Mom and I had a discussion on Thursday evening about some of the strategies that we can use for the challenge. Extreme couponing came up and I agreed to post some information.  I am by far not a coupon extremist. I see the value with saving money, get enthusiastic, clip coupons and for some reason don't use most of them before they expire.

I haven't used all these websites/tips but got this information while I was taking a financial class. The guest speaker, a coupon queen, shops for a family of 4 and spends only $250 mo on groceries.

Websites:

www.hip2save.com
www.gianteagle.com
www.sistersshoppingonashoestring.com
http://joethecouponguy.com/ (sign up for weekly emails)
www.bzzagent.com (try new products for free)

Tips:

Giant Eagle - doubles coupons up to $.99
CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Target - accepts mfg coupons and store coupons for the same item
Walmart - will price match with local ads and will give you money back if the coupon makes the item free

Note: I would double check with the stores to make sure that they are still offering these deals. For example, Giant Eagle is eliminating their food perks program, which I did not list above.

And here are some of my personal tips:
Nature's Bin - earn one point for every dollar you spend when you use your shoppers card. Once you get 500 points, you get $10 towards groceries
Earth Fare - sign up online for their Tomato Bank program and you get weekly coupons/freebies. If you give them your cell phone # you get 500 points which equals $5!

We need to clarify the coupon rules. For example Kathy asked if you are at Giant  Eagle and the deal is BOGO, can you use the free one for the challenge? Mark replied no.  My question is, does that apply to other deals? For example, the Earth Fare coupon that I printed today is for a free chicken or veggie burger if you spend $10.  How will that work if I'm gathering items pre-challenge?  If I'm accumulating points while doing ordinary shopping (ie, Nature's Bin), can I use those points during the challenge?

If anyone else has any tips, please post!

New Store Proposal, Return of of the Sugar Bucks

Last challenge we did an experiment with microcurrency we called 'Sugar Bucks' (which I will abbreviate as $B.) It didn't quite work out. The two biggest complaints were 'i don't know what my stuff is worth,' and, 'I don't know how many I should print.' This challenge I am proposing a new concept to revive the system. Challengers each have a 'store' where they post goods they have gathered for sale. Exempted items are not permitted in a participant's store. Only goods that are foraged, farmed, hunted, etc. are permitted. Prices of goods in a given store are set to what a current market price would be in a regular grocery store. For every $B3 in food value a given participant has in their store, they are given $B1 to spend in other people's stores. Goods can also be traded directly for equal value goods if both parties agree to such a barter, but $B generated by those goods must be removed from the participant's wallet. (so if you trade $B30 of tomatoes for John's $B30 broccoli, you each tear up the $B10 you were granted for having those commodities in your store.) Anyone who can come up with a good mechanic for posting real food available for fake money, please do share. At its simplest I suppose we could make a shared spreadsheet.

Additional 3rd Challenge Rules

Participants from the previous challenges most likely have small bits of stores or seeds saved up from previous challenges - these 'leftovers' are all exempted in this challenge. Preserved foods saved by families prior to the beginning of the collecting period (1/1/13) are also exempted. The Jackson family admit to having an unequal amount of canned preserves. They have agreed to share their stores, at a rate of 1 donated jar for every 2 they keep. The distribution of these donations has yet to be established. Participants will also be given an exemption of 5lbs of foodstuffs, to cover any spices or other small items one may have left over in their cupboards before the crisis hits. Finally, the party rule - participants are permitted to attend social events, but for every meal consumed at such an event they must host twice as many people at their own event, and provide from their stores. For 'potluck events' including non challengers,- participants must provide vittles for twice their numbers (so if 2 family members attend they must provide food for 4 people.)

Starting From Scratch Challenge III

The theme of our first challenge was primitive life, understanding where it is that our food comes from. The theme of our second challenge was the life of a settler, surviving with minimal purchased stores over a winter. We will now embark on our third challenge, and endeavor to experience the trials of the Great Depression. The writing is on the wall - participating households know that a crisis is coming. Each will be given 13 months (1/1/13 thru 1/31/14) to gather, hunt, fish, and farm for whatever resources they can. Unlike past challenges, 'urban' collecting will be permitted. Also unlike other challenges, every expense will be included - hunting and fishing licenses, seeds, fertilizer, etc. The only cost exemption (as agreed by the founding participants) will be for canning jar lids. Participating households will track their actual food expenses over this 3-month period. The household with the lowest cost per person per day will be declared the victor. Victory rewards have yet to be established. The challenge will take place over 3 months - February, March, and April 2014. Each participating household will track their actual food expenses for the challenge period.

So What Is This Whole Challenge About?

Welcome, new viewers, to our website. I don't know how you made it here but I am glad you found your way. If you have been reading along for the past 2+ years, well, read along in case I say something funny. This is the re-cap episode.

A little over two years ago, I was sitting around mulling crazy ideas in my head. I have a lot of those. After thinking about this concept for a long time I mentioned it to my wife, my pillar of reality. The idea was to try to live 'off the land' for a month.

'Why not try a week first?' The voice of reason asked.  A good point, I thought, why not try a week first. I mentioned the idea to a few friends and family members, and the first 'Starting From Scratch Challenge' was born. It was announced in late fall/early winter, and participants had until the following July to save up as much food as they could by hunting, fishing, farming, or foraging.

It was miserable. I had taken a Canada goose and a squirrel over the hunting season and found some abandoned corn fields, but for the most part all we had available were earlier season vegetables. We had a few potatoes and tomatoes but the main harvest of those was a few months away. We had a distinct lack of grains for certain. Cheating was allowed but participants were supposed to disclose any indiscretions., a few of us managed to make it through without cheating or deviating; Therese, my mom, and myself (Mark) among them.

When it ended, I vowed I would never do it again.  Following the first challenge I had cravings for certain foods, pizza, chicken wings, coffee, hamburgers, beer, cheese, everything we went without. Everything I craved was a disappointment. I had built these things up to such an ideal that nothing could meet my expectations. Food in reality just isn't that good.

Move forward to that fall - the disappointments of the first challenge have faded. The itch gets to me again, and I suggest this, the second Starting From Scratch Challenge.

The concept is to survive the winter on foods hunted, fished, farmed, or gathered. The rules were as follows, amended as the pre-challenge commenced; participants had 1 year to prepare. Each participant added $10 to their family's pool to buy staples at the store. Salt, vinegar, sugar, yeast, and other ingredients were accessible to settlers, but the bulk of their food was to be harvested by hand. For every day a member of your family cheated in the first challenge, you take a $1 penalty. My wife was interested in the last challenge for 1 meal. We took a $7 penalty and started with $13 for the family. Todd and Kathy each cheated 1 day, they started with $18. Both Sharon and Therese started with $10. Everything else we have saved has been grown in our gardens, hunted or fished at local reservations, or harvested from local woods, or estates of friends and family. We are allowed 1 'party day' exemption, where we can eat and drink whatever we want for the whole day. We also agreed that Sharon's birthday party would warrant an exemption for the duration of our stay in the restaurant that day.

The goal was to be the last survivor, or, in case of more than 1 tenacious participants, anyone who makes it to March 15th is declared the winner(s).

Sharon declared at the beginning that she would not participate past her birthday (1/16.) Sharon made it 1 week - you may think that is easy, audience, but I dare you to try it! I double dare you!

Both the Jacksons decided at Christmas that they weren't going to participate, their in-laws were in town and they weren't going to starve themselves etc et al.

So here we are - 2 weeks in, and 2 participants left. My mom and I persist, though we both know we have less than a month of supplies remaining. You can see our happy faces picture above, our first meal we didn't have to cook ourselves since New Year's Day.

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