I think I'm going to keep my 'is it really that hard' journal this way too... not that we get nearly as much free stuff, this just seems like an easier way to do it and I'm stuck on how I can get started.
You did fabulously for 3 people!
Yep.. that's the same as us, except that they blended the GST with our provincial tax so we pay 13% on prepared foods, restaurant stuff, and junk... but nothing on groceries.
Since I am due to have a baby five weeks from today, I'm going to start now and attempt to complete the month before I have the baby because I'm sure that our cooking/eating habits will go right out the window for at least a few weeks :)
I'm going to start with the assumption that I have what I...
I think I'd like to give this a try too... it would be interesting just to have a record of what we eat and what we spend on food in a given month, even if we don't manage to do it entirely on the $35/person/week budget. :)
Our two dogs (65 and 95 pounds) cost us about $35 every 3 weeks (that's 40 pounds of grocery store brand kibble), and our one cat (6 pounds) costs about $25/month but he's also on expensive vet prescribed food for urinary crystals. There's no way I could afford to spend $35/week on pets, I'm...
There is no way I would be able to eat WELL on $35/week... especially if I didn't garden, bake, etc.
It depends on the prices in your area too... We eat almost two gallons of milk a week, a pound of cheese, at least a dozen eggs, and just that amount of food totals $27.00 here... eggs and milk...
lol... my mom actually bought me the entire series of Green Acres on DVD because she said my house reminded her of the one in the show :) So I'm guessing I would be happy there too...
Wow... regular pasteurized store milk is $7.39/gallon here... we paid $4.50/pint? (it was a two cups) for goat's milk for Aeryn when she was first getting weaned from me, but now we just buy regular milk (however, our milk in Canada has different regulations and can't contain artificial growth...
What about setting up a little (free) website so people who don't know you would know what you have? That's how we found the guy we bought our chicks from this year... last time I bought them from the nearest feed store and had to drive almost an hour to get there, little did I know I could buy...
I voted today! (you can vote once a day, so I've bookmarked it and will go back each day)
It's my dream to make a quilt for each of my daughters, I've sewn tons of clothes but haven't tried quilting yet... I just find it intimidating.
Since my second daughter is due in 9 weeks, you've...
I like the basic forum too... we're in a rural area and are limited to dial-up internet. I can't really go on BYC anymore, it's just TOO slow for me and takes up too much time waiting for stuff to load, and I'd hate to lose this forum :)
I've been home since the birth of my daughter about 17 months ago... it's been a huge adjustment for us, and although on paper it seemed like we could afford for me to stay home, we really can't and we're drowning at this point. I'm expecting our next daughter in 8 weeks and I will have to get...
I think for our family it would look something like this:
1 dairy cow (raising one calf for beef a year, plus all the milk we would need)
2 hogs
24 dual purpose chickens so I can make my own 'meaties' and have eggs (I'd want 1-2 chickens a week to eat, so hatching batches accordingly)
3 turkeys...
Build yourself a wood gasifier and use it to power a generator or some other small engine :) Hubby wants to power/heat our next house with waste wood... but getting the system set up is expensive.