Wow.  That seemed a little harsh.  The last thing I expect at the grocery story is judgement from my cashier.  I mean, I wasn’t buying anything that out of the ordinary.  A pastrami sandwich.  A lint roller.  Oh yeah, I also had 24 cans of coconut milk, 17 scour pads, and 22 packages of  mai fun, a thin rice noodle common in Chinese cuisine. 

Okay, maybe it was a bit weird.  But only in quantity.  I mean really, am I going to need 17 scour pads over the next week?  I really hope not.  But I couldn’t pass them up.   Normally priced at $1.89, they were marked down to $.99.  Knowing I always have a scouring pad around my kitchen sink, I figured I couldn’t go wrong stocking up and saving $16.83 on a household item I traditionally buy at full price.

And this is how I’m getting through the recesssion.  I’m a self-employed contract worker who has seen a 40% cut in her income over the last two years, and boy has it hurt.   Just like everyone else, I’ve had to make cutbacks.  Sure, I’m clipping coupons, and shopping two for one sales.  But I’ve also taken it one step further.  Last year I started a price book.

For those not in the know, a price book is a list of all the items you regularly keep in their home, and how much they normally cost where you shop.  I keep track of prices at two stores in my neighborhood.  Everytime my items are on sale, I note the sales price in my price book.  After a couple of months, I generally knew where I could get my grocercies for the lowest prices when they were on sale.  It’s completely changed the way I shop.

Instead of heading to the store when I need something (and being tempted by other things in the store), I have a specific system.  I go grocery shopping once a week with my price book.  I go up and down every single aisle.  When I see that one of my regular items is on sale for the lowest noted price in my price book, I buy it. Even if I have it at home.  And I buy as much of it as I can, thus 22 packages of rice noodles in my cart when I still have seven packages at home.

Am I turning into my mother?  Perhaps.  But I’ve been tracking my spending for a number of years and I find that my price book not only insures I always have what I need on my shelves and in my pantry, it’s literally saving me hundreds of dollars every month. 

Is it a little odd to buy two cases of coconut milk at a time?  Perhaps.  But being a freak for frugality is allowing me to maintain aspects of my lifestyle that I thought the recession was going to eliminate. 

If you want to try your hand at keeping a price book, check out this easy to use template for price books from Organized Home.

I’ve heard rumors that someone’s bringing homemade egg nog and spiced cider. In addition to the dip and Ruffles with Ridges, I’m bringing my about-to-be-famous cream cheese frosted spiced banana bars. But there are far better chefs bringing taste sensations beyond imagination.  Crab and corn bisque.  Creamy new England clam chowder. Savory white bean turkey chili.  These, along with pumpkin bread, pickled and garlic spiked vegetables and myriad other delicious morsels, should keep the crowd well-fed.

This is my first party of the holiday season. It’s also the day I choose to make a conscious decision about the holidays and food.  Do I go insane, eating and drinking as much of everything I want and accept the consequences?  Or will I decide that I’d prefer to live without consequences from the holidays and enjoy a little bit of everything I want to try?  There’s no right or wrong answer, but it will certainly have a drastic impact upon my life over the next six months. 

Case in point, January 2^nd, 2006.  That was the day I woke up, put on my ‘fat jeans’, and realized that unless someone was willing to convert the denim waistband to elastic, I literally didn’t have pair of pants I could get into.  My shirts looked like sausage skin.   I had slapped 14 pounds of junk into my trunk, and onto my belly and if memory serves, I grew my first (and hopefully last) double chin that season, too.

While it was a fun exercise in abandoning dietary responsibility, the consequences were pricey (spent over $800 on a new wardrobe), and time consuming (did double workouts for six months to get back into the clothes I really wanted to wear), and risky (gaining over a pound a weeks hurts your body). I also didn’t feel so cute.

While the holiday season brings dietary temptations left and right, this Frugal Baby can’t help but relate those temptations to the same ones we face in the shopping malls. I confess that more than one of my youthful Christmas pasts resulted in a hefty credit card bill that took longer to work off than those 14 pounds.  

While I don’t suggest we stop the gift-giving traditions that put those gorgeous smiles on the faces of friends and family, let’s be reasonable and plan ahead.   No one wants you to go into debt to buy them a gift anymore than you’d want them to go into debt for you.  Use the following tips to create your money saving strategy for the season and avoiding putting a bunch of junk in your financial trunk this year. 

• Know Your Number.  Decide the total amount you’re going to spend this holiday season before you hit the shops.  Make a list of the people you’re buying gifts for and decide how much you’re spending on each of them.  Keep that list with you at all times so that spontaneous holiday shopping trips don’t result in breaking your budget.  Shop keepers know the recession has most of us on tight budgets and there’s a vast array of nice gifts available for as little as $10. 
• Get Crafty.  Okay, we’ve all received sucky homemade gifts in the past, but there are so many cool gifts you can make that feel elegant to the recipient and go easy on your wallet.  Crate and Barrel carries cool 8 ounce bottles with stoppers for next to nothing, just the right size to fill with homemade syrups or liqueurs. Cool photographs you’ve taken suddenly become perfect homemade note cards when attached to nice stock and tied up in a bow.  Bath salts infused with essential oils make any girl happy, and no one is going to turn down a plate of rumballs if you’ve put it on a cute holiday themed platter from the dollar store.
• Host a Pot Luck Cook Off.  Do you tend to play host during the holiday season but find your party planning dreams bigger than your bank balance?  Host a pot luck and let your friends vote on their favorite dishes.  Give a $10 gift card to the prize winning chef and crown them with a paper coronet or cardboard scepter. Yep, it’s silly.  That’s what makes it super fun.
• Be Honest.  This economy is hard on all of us right now, but some more so than others.  If you’re out of work, worried about your savings, or just don’t feel like you can afford to participate in gift exchanges, tell that to those expecting to exchange gifts with you.  There’s no shame in the truth, and keeping quiet about financial concerns only gives them more power.  Chances are that you sharing your fears about holiday spending could inspire a similar revelation from them.  We get together during the holidays to share our lives with one another and the joys of the season, not for the purpose of receiving gifts.  Friends and family will appreciate your honesty and you’ll enjoy the celebration more for having lived within your means.