Unemployed and underemployed people have to look for ways to save money and to stretch every penny. People who have extra time available can save quite a bit of money by making their necessities rather than buying the finished product. However, you do need to look at the value of your time when considering which avenues to take. If you consider your time as a commodity and compare it to how much you can save, you can figure out ways to cut costs by spending your time judiciously in creative ways.
Cut the Fat From Your Budget to Save Money
My mother tells family members about growing up on a small ranch in southern New Mexico. Her grandmother would get up every morning and bake 48 biscuits on an old wood stove. Her husband would eat one for breakfast and take two with him out to the fields for his lunch. My mom and grandmother would each eat one biscuit for breakfast. The rest of the biscuits were used to feed the pets and the farm animals. It was much less expensive than buying dog food and cat food. When money is tight, use your time wisely to increase you meager stash by making things instead of buying the ready to use product.
Factor in Your Time for Saving Money
On the opposite side of the coin, use your time to your best advantage. While you can easily obtain wool, cotton and other fibers for free, how much time would it take you to weave a yard of cloth? If it takes you an hour to turn the fiber into yarn and another hour to weave the yarn into a yard of cloth, you have $16 invested in one yard of cloth. Add another hour to sew the yard of cloth into a shirt and a shirt you could have bought for $3 on sale costs you $24 to make from fiber to finished product. Of course, this is assuming you have the spinning wheel, loom and sewing machine to make your shirt to start with. It makes sense to do this if you do not have the $3 and you have a lot of time to spend on the project, but otherwise, look for different avenues to save or make money.
Set up Your Pantry for Saving Money
Stockpile basics in your kitchen pantry when money is tight. Instead of buying a loaf of bread or a can of biscuits, keep in mind that with the same five basic ingredients, you can create several types of food. For example, tortillas, pancakes and biscuits use the exact same five ingredients: Flour, shortening, salt, baking powder and water. By mixing the basic ingredients in different ratios and using different cooking methods, you can create delectable food for a fraction of the cost of the convenience foods. Add a few more simple ingredients to improve flavor and nutrition and you can make a wider array of food. For example, add a bit of sugar and cinnamon and you have a coffee cake, or add eggs and cornmeal for cornbread. Replace the water with milk and you add more nutrition and flavor. The cost of creating food from scratch is a fraction of the amount you would pay for the convenience prepackaged food that harbors additives and preservatives. The investment of your time will improve the over-all quality of the food you eat.
Using convenience products to save time is great when you have plenty of money available. When you do not have the money, use your time wisely. Get your family members involved by inviting them into the kitchen to visit while you whip up a coffee cake or bake a pan of biscuits. You will find it is fun to work together to create a meal from scratch and clean up is a breeze when you work together then sit down to enjoy the fruits of your labor over a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. You will also be passing down skills to the next generation in the event they ever need to save money and cook from scratch.
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