When Disposable is Good

On frugal blogs, we focus a lot on replacing disposable items with reusable ones.  Out with paper plates and in with dishes, for example.  We even promote spending more to get quality items that will last, but there are some circumstances under which it pays to treat bigger ticket items as though they were disposable.

As military families know, it's important to stay light.  When you move frequently, it is stressful, difficult, time consuming, and expensive to move lots of stuff.  People who move frequently quickly learn to pare their belongings down to a minimum to keep moves as painless as possible.  One way to do this is to treat some furniture as disposable or temporary.

A great example is the couch.  Couches are big and bulky.  They take two people to move, and a lot of space in a moving truck that could be put to better use.  They are also very inexpensive to buy used.  In fact, it really doesn't make sense to buy a sofa new at all.  Shall we boil down the numbers?

• If a cheap, new sofa costs $1000,
• And a decent used sofa costs $50,
• Then you would have to buy a used sofa every year for 20 years to equal the cost of a new one.
• New sofas do not last 20 years, especially if they were cheap to start with.

So why increase your moving expenses by hauling around your couch?  Buy your sofa used in the first place, ditch it (in any number of ways) when you move, and replace it with another used couch when you get into your new home.

A similar set of numbers apply to

• chairs 
• dining tables
• Washing machines and dryers 

So the next time you are in the market for appliances, furniture, or other big ticket items, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Does it make more financial sense for me to purchase this new or used?
2. Would it make sense for me to keep it if I were to move?
3. Would the price make me feel obligated to keep it in a move, even if it caused logistical problems or increased my moving costs?

No Couch

I wrote in my recent posts about moving that we opted not to move a lot of our bulkier items, including our couch, because it would be more frugal to replace them (secondhand) on the other end.

We've now completed our move, and I've even replaced our dining chairs, but there is still no couch.

It's going to stay that way for a while, too.

There are a lot of blog posts out there, especially this time of year, reminding moms to limit their kids' screen time.  There's a lot of advice, too, reminding adults to get off the couch and stay active.  But we've learned in recent weeks that its much easier to limit screen time when there is no couch.  And it's definitely easier for me to stay active (and productive) when there is no couch calling for me to lounge.

The boys are more than happy to watch a movie while lying on the floor.  In fact, they've taken to queuing up a show on the iPad and watching it while they play in the garage (currently being used as a play room).  Even when we had a couch, they preferred to watch the television from the floor.

As for sitting, I often sit on the floor as well, but I now do my writing and email at the dining table and my reading and net surfing sitting on the bed.  Other tasks that are best done sitting, as well as resting my feet for a few minutes, are done from a dining chair.  Lounging, done on the bed, is necessarily brief, as it hinders my ability to monitor the older boys.

In the absence of the couch, I am far more productive than I used to be.  I'm even doing projects that I would normally be inclined to put off for lack on energy!  

I can tell that this new order to things is good for my health, too.  At the end of the day, I'm tired.  Tired in the way I would be if I had worked out during the day.

As for the boys, they love the open floor space.  I love it, too.  We now have open floor as a huge work space!

I've known people who have ditched their tv in order to reclaim their day and get their kids to be more active.  While I'm very much against cable, we're keeping the tv so long as we have VHS tapes and watching it from our dining chairs and the floor.  But we've achieved all the goals people pursue by eliminating the tv, AND MORE, simply by eliminating the couch from our seating options.

No couch works for me!

This post has been linked to Welcome Home on Raising Arrows and Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Eating on the Road...Again!

I wrote before about how to save money on road trips by avoiding restaurant eating. But eating in restaurants happens. With small children, it is especially convenient to stop for lunch at a fast food place with a play area. The cost adds up, though. Here are a couple things we've done to keep the cost down.

1. We love McDonalds. No, it's not fabulous, but its cheap, has a fairly diverse menu, and is pretty reliable. I also love that all their fountain drink sizes are a dollar.
2. We love Wendy's. They're not so much on the play area, but they have a great value menu.
3. Same for Subway. Their $5 Foot Long Deals are a great way to feed two at a time on a tight budget while still getting "food" that actually approximates food.
4. When it comes to feeding kids, skip the kid meals. They are a waste of money. You're better off feeding little guys from the value or dollar menu. 
5. Many fast food joints also offer a meal that has two sandwiches, a drink, and fries. With two little kids, I would order a large meal like that, split one between the boys and give them the fries and eat the other sandwich myself--lunch for three for under five dollars.
6. For a sit-down meal, a lot of places offer free meals for kids, and a lot of those places either have a value menu or large enough adult portions that parents can share.

How do you save money on restaurant meals for the family?

This post has been linked to Welcome Home at Raising Arrows and Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

More With Trail Mix...

Five more things to do with trail mix:

1. Put a handful on cold cereal
2. Add a handful to hot cereal
3. Use in place of nuts in banana nut bread
4. Put in curry
5. Put in stuffing four poultry

The last two would work best with varieties to do not include chocolate or candy, like the Tropical Trail Mix from Walmart.

For a few more ideas, check out this list.

This post has been linked to Busy Monday at A Pinch of Joy, Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family and Welcome Home at Raising Arrows.

Trail Mix

FYI:  This is not a sponsored post.

One Walmart product that I really enjoy is their trail mix.  It comes in big bags that are pretty inexpensive.  I'm sure other stores have something similar--especially places like Costco or Sam's Club--but I haven't looked.

Trail mix is one of those traditional travel foods that is incredibly kid friendly.  I especially like Walmart's 'tropical' variety, because it's full of nuts and dried fruit, but devoid of things that can melt (like chocolate chips).

For the last several days, tropical trail mix has been an important part of the boys' diet (and mine too).

In my last post, I described making a salad with bagged spinach (or salad mix), dressing, and pre-roasted or frozen and breaded chicken.  A nice addition to that salad is a handful of trail mix.  It's nice for a little variety of flavors, to make the salad more filling, and just because it tastes good!

It's really easy for travel eating to devolve into a medley of "kid foods", which can get pretty boring for grown-ups very quickly.  Combining some of that kid-friendly fare can produce combinations that are far more satisfying to the adult pallet without much effort at all.

This post has been linked with Busy Monday at A Pinch of Joy, Welcome Home at Raising Arrows, and Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Eating on the Road

We arrived in our new home town about two weeks ago. The road trip was fine, and we've enjoyed getting to know the area. We found a new place to rent, too. It's just about perfect for us, except for ONE THING...the landlord is working on remodeling it.

So here we are, stuck in a motel, waiting. All five of us in one room (although dh does go to work, so it's really four of us most of the time). Overall, everything has been pretty good. The really hard part is food. Fast food gets very expensive (and tiresome) very quickly, and there is no food to which the boys and I can walk during the day. So here's my top advice for eating while on the road (or in a motel):

BUY FOOD AT THE GROCERY STORE!

I know that can be hard if you don't have access to a microwave, but even prepared food from the deli section is better (and often cheaper) than eating out all the time.

Here are our top buys:

1. Crackers.  We've enjoyed these with peanut butter and honey, with beef summer sausage, and with sardines.  No refrigeration necessary, and depending on what you pair with them, crackers can be the basis of breakfast, lunch, or snacks, especially for kids.
2. Peanut Butter.  Dh hates the stuff, but it's nutritious and shelf stable.  Spread it on crackers, or use it as a dip for apple slices or celery sticks.  It's also very filling.
3. Roast Chicken.  Grocery store delis often sell hot, roasted chicken for about the same price as an uncooked chicken.  Pairing that with a couple other things makes a hearty, hot lunch or dinner.
4. Bagged Baby Spinach.  Instant salad.  Just top it with a salad dressing.  Or, for the kids, serve it as finger food to be dipped in dressing.  The boys like to eat baby spinach like chips.
5. Salad Dressing.  Normally I make my own, but the bottled stuff is pretty shelf stable.  Just avoid ones that feature egg as a main ingredient.
6. Frozen, Breaded Chicken Breasts.  You can buy these cooked or uncooked.  The uncooked ones are cheaper, but you'll need a microwave for them either way.  I've taken to cooking up one of these, slicing it, and serving it on top of baby spinach with some salad dressing.  It makes a filling and cheap lunch.
7. Fresh Fruit.  A bag of apples or mandarins does particularly well on the road.  Strawberries, grapes, or whatever is in season are nice when you won't have to carry them far.
8. Dry Cereal.  The boys like dry cereal, and we almost never buy it, but extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures.
9. Milk.  Not only does it go well with cereal, it's a good supplement for less-than-ideal meals.  In the absence of a fridge or cooler, I buy it one quart at a time, and it will generally last two days before spoiling.  We try to use it up in time, but even if it spoils, it's a better buy than soda or fruit punch.  Cereal for breakfast is also still cheaper than fast food.
10. Fruit Cups.  Yes, they're sugary, but they satisfy the boys' sweet tooth inexpensively.

What are your go-to items for eating cheap and healthy-ish on the road?

Finally, we've been eating out one meal per day, if for no other reason than to get us out of the room!  Tips on managing that expense next time!

This post has been linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family

and Welcome Home at Raising Arrows.

Moving

Posting is going to be erratic for the next few weeks, as I pack up my family and move halfway across the country. We're leaving the mountains of California for the plains and hills of Oklahoma!

I'm looking forward to this new chapter in our life. It will be the first time I have ever lived in a state other than California.

Stay tuned as I learn and share ways to make moving more efficient and traveling with kids more manageable!