Eating from the Pantry Challenge Summary

It's been an interesting month of eating. For the most part, I'd say we ate pretty normally, we were more careful about how many eggs we used (which wouldn't have been an issue at ALL, if our chickens were laying....) and we didn't drink big glasses of milk as often as we might have had we not been trying to make it last.

Our total money spent on groceries for the month of January was $92. That's quite a bit over the planned $60, however, 15 of that was to replenish my son's lunch money account (he eats school lunch one day a week), and that doesn't come out of our regular grocery budget. That puts us pretty close to $15 over budget, which is how much we spent on wheat. After years of storing hundreds of pounds of wheat, we've finally used all of it up, and didn't pay enough attention to our supplies.

Some thoughts from this experiment:
I need to store powdered milk- if I used it in baking more often, I wouldn't need to buy as much milk, and also would be covered in case of emergency.

I also learned that it's really useful to have eggs around. I might look into powdered eggs for use in baking- as a back up for times when our chickens are not earning their keep.

Limiting trips to the grocery store made a big difference in how much I spent. I've been in the habit of going shopping every week, but have discovered if I buy an extra gallon (or even half gallon) of milk, that we do just fine going longer in between.

I've missed fresh produce. While I bought some at the grocery store (3 times during the month), it really wasn't enough. My parents shared some apples and pears that they received as a gift. But today as my Mister finished up a race, and approached the table with bananas, bread and gatorade, I had a "I NEED a banana moment". I'll be looking into joining a food coop again for fruits and vegetables, we've done one in the past and really enjoyed the variety.

I'm thrilled to have some extra grocery money this month to split between our camper fund (which is where the wheat money will come from), and The Road Home.

Our list of things that are needing some serious restocking has grown pretty long this month, so it will be interesting to try to resupply over the next couple of months without killing my grocery budget. (I admit to having thoughts of using part of our tax return to shore up our food storage....).

There but by the grace of God go I

Saturday night my Mister and I went out to dinner and then to a movie with friends. We ate at the Rio Grande, I hadn't been there before, but it was so good that I ate more than I should have. The movie was also enjoyable. On the walk back to the car, my stomach hurt from eating too much and I was shivering because it was cold, and I made the comment that there's "nothing worse than having a full stomach and shivering", to which I immediately added, "except maybe an empty stomach and shivering". We were walking near the Road Home shelter, where people were lined up waiting to get in. I don't know if everyone did, or if some people spent the night on the street.

I felt selfish and wasteful to have spent money on a night out, when there are people who have no place to spend a night in. It's so easy to go about our lives and not think about the homeless.

From their website: The Road Home provides support and shelter for overcoming homelessness. We have a wide variety of programs that provide services to people. The Road Home operates out of The Salt Lake Community Shelter, the largest homeless shelter in Utah.

We begin by providing people with basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, while immediately working with them to develop a plan for housing. Our programs are designed to connect people with resources and help integrate them back into the community.

Housing Programs
Emergency Services
Self-Sufficiency Programs
Advocacy/Collaboration

You can donate money online here, or you can go here for a list of items they are in need of. There are also opportunities for volunteering, including Eagle Scout projects.

That homelessness exists shows how far we need to come in truly caring for the least of these. The homeless are one of society's most vulnerable populations. If I can afford to go out to eat and to a movie, I can make room in my budget to support emergency shelters in hopes that someday no one has to spend a cold night on the street.

Worth every penny?

The Tribune has a follow-up story on Paul Moore defending his $214,000.00 Salary from the BSA Great Salt Lake Council.

Here's a gem...

Wiping away tears during an interview, Moore was worried that public disclosure of compensation could hurt fundraising efforts and other activities. Scouting ''is a treasured part of this community, and I would hate to think that my compensation damages in any way our ability to make a difference in kids' lives,''-- Paul Moore

If he cares, perhaps he should take a pay cut.

Just a few weeks ago, I donated to our local Friends of Scouting drive. I kind of always figured that the money I donated went to pay for our local scout troop and their activities. After talking to a scout leader, I discovered that is not true. The local troops don't see any of that money, at least directly, and even indirectly it's questionable.

The troops still have to come up with $1600 a year just to be an official troop. All books, awards, and uniforms purchased are done so by the troop, and are not purchased at cost, or anywhere near to cost. It's interesting that I can go to the distribution center and pick up a manual for cost, or very close to cost (I don't know, I haven't researched it, all I know is that they are inexpensive) but if I want to pick up a dinky little merit badge book, they're at least $3. That adds up fast.

Friends of Scouting not so Friendly Afterall...

Voice of Utah posted about the salary for Great Salt Lake Council Executive Paul Moore.

I don't personally enjoy sending money to support exorbitant salaries, so I think I might just say no thank you, or pass along a note explaining why I'm not donating the next time the friend's of scouting drive comes along.

I'll happily buy scout shirts for boys who need them, and I'll do anything else I can to support scouts. I'm sure as a mother of three boys, I'll be sending plenty of money along to scout headquarters. But really, $215,000?

I thought there was some sort of salary cap on non-profits...