Being a Good Steward
We made a trip to Costco a few nights ago. It had been a while and we couldn’t avoid it anymore. I generally pick up things like laundry soap, dish soap, organic soy milk, cat food, kitty litter, and much more. I keep a price book (and have for a very long time) and while we were picking up items I noticed that everything and I mean everything had gone up in price some as little as 40 cents and others as much as $3.
In Montana, fireworks are legal and this time of year there seems to be a stand selling fireworks every half mile or so along the main roads / highways. Saturday when we went for our hike, we met our friends at a gas station before heading to the trailhead. The friends were running a bit late and we watched the fireworks stand across the street – in 20 minutes not one customer came by. I notice the stands I drive past on my commute are similarly empty, in years past I remember lines outside these stands. I also don’t hear them going off as much as in previous years in my neighborhood. By now, I expect to be hearing them going off quite frequently and can only think of a handful of firecrackers that I’ve heard in the last week or so.
Both these little stories, tell me a little something about our local economy and perhaps the economy at large. I know there have been many layoffs and a few lumber mill closures. I know folks are scared, hurting, and looking for answers. I know my neighbors are taking gardening and food preservation more seriously. I know because my classes are selling out – classes a few years ago that barely had enough students to hold. I know because classes are dehydrating on being put on and selling out, gardening seminars that I’ve taught and attended have been so well attended as to catch the organizers without enough seating. I know because I see gardens in yards that haven’t had them in the 9 previous summers I’ve lived here.
It is interesting from a community perspective and I hope I do well in helping my neighbors in the classes I present (for a fee) and in my willingness to answer questions and help out (for free). All of this, however; has me thinking towards our home as well. What can I do better or differently in the face of rising costs? What have I been doing right and what have I let slip, because we can afford “it”? These questions are deeply interesting to me from both a personal level and from a community perspective, because what I figure out, I can share.
An example, I’ve never made my own laundry soap. I have tons of recipes for it, I know plenty of people who have and continue to do so, but its just one of those things I decided I didn’t want to put time into when Costco sold a soap I liked very much and we could easily afford. However, that soap is the item that went up $3 in about 3 months time. I’m going to re-visit those recipes, check prices on the necessary ingredients, and decide which is the more frugal choice. If making my own is cheaper than the soap I like from Costco, then I’ll find the time to start making my own, if not I’ll continue buying from Costco (or other store if Costco isn’t the cheapest).
I’m on the lookout for more wild edibles than ever before and hoping to learn much more about them so I get collect more than the obvious. This is partly wrapped up in a waste not, want not philosophy, but its also a frugal choice that is healthy for our bodies. I’m working hard to eat every edible leaf, root, seed, or fruit that comes from our garden. I’ll preserving when its time for that too. I’m trying to get to stuff before it bolts and am doing my best to save as much as my own seed as possible.
I’m not sure where we’re headed as a local economy or a more global one for that matter. It’s not a matter of worrying about the end of the world so much as it is a matter of being a good steward of everything that has been given to me. I’ll do my best in these endeavors and as always I look forward to learning from everyone who visits here as well.
More people need to begin thinking as you do. Like you, we are doing what we can to max out the garden and learning what else can be eaten that may be around year round (plantain, common mallow). BTW, I make laundry detergent it costs about .25 a load (not including my ‘labor’ to make the soap). Lasts about 3 months, washing for two adults and two teens.
Annette, Will you e-mail me your recipe, please? Does it do well in cold water (I only wash in cold)?
Sure thing chickee! It’ll be later this eve. =)
I started to make my own laundry soap but since I do laundry by hand it was a problem with rinsing and itching. I find that buying laundry soap, even the good stuff which for me is Mrs. Meyers, goes a long way in marital happiness. Honestly, I haven’t priced it per load but I use 1 bottle every 2 months.
p.s. I just checked and it’s gone from $66 per 6 bottles to $84 for 6 bottles. Wow!
I’ve been kicking around making my own clothes detergent, too. Let us know what you find.
We expanded the veggie patch this year 4x, and I’m going to be canning quite a bit for the first time ever. I’m concerned about inflation. I’ve found we buy less every shopping trip but it costs about the same….
I’ve been keeping a garden spreadsheet of money in (seeds, plants, etc) vs. money out (as compared to grocery store prices). I plan on posting my findings at the end of the year. But for now, according to the spring crops, we’re ahead.
We have planted over 70 tomato plants, all grown from seed. We should get about 350kgs of fruit from them during the season! This will be made into soups, pasta sauces, ketchup, passata etc. We will then enjoy them for the next few years. We have only just finished enjoying 2006 soups.
I have not thought about making my own washing solutions but may consider it if the prices become too high – but for now they are OK.
Good luck with your venture, it’s always good to hear of others trying to do their bit not only for the environment and their family but for their pocket too!
I kept a price book for many years, but now The Professor does the shopping so I don’t do that. He keeps a pretty accurate record in his memory.
I’m impressed by that. I have a good memory for most things but for some reason prices just don’t stay in my brain without that price book.
Sometimes the best stewardship choice is not the cheapest. (Often it isn’t) Stewardship is more than $$ it’s choosing a product that generates the least amount of waste – toxic, plastic or otherwise, helps pay a worker a decent wage, supports a local farmer over a huge corporation.
Because these choices cost more we’re forced to purchase less. Not every decision we make is like this but we’re trying. By the way, I too shop at our local Costco like store. The wild frozen blueberries they sell are the best price around – and they’re from Maine so I feel it’s an ok compromise all around. I’d love to pick and freeze them myself but there is only so much I can do!
I often think the best choice is not to buy at all if at all possible. I believe its possible more often than I put it into practice currently (much more possible than the mainstream culture thinks it to be). Its a huge goal of mine right now, to really focus on not looking for solutions with my wallet but rather make do without or in a different way.
I do agree that often the best stewardship choice isn’t the cheapest. The laundry soap I buy now certainly isn’t the cheapest choice out there, but its the cheapest of the kind I’m willing to purchase (biodegradable, not tested on animals, made from sustainable ingredients, etc.) but I can afford to do that. However, making my own might be cheaper and still very much in harmony with my own values. I buy organic soy milk – nonorganic is cheaper but doesn’t fit my values and (most importantly when finances are tight) I can afford to do so without worrying about making my mortgage payment or keeping the lights on.
Like you, there is only so much I can do (or we can all do). However, I think that’s the important part doing as much as we can. If everyone did as much as they could, imagine the change that would create… Oh, but I’m a pollyanna and I like to dream, too.
It’s funny that while our local online gardening group has increased, it still only has a few hundred people (compared to a city with 2 million!). I think so few people actually believe you can grow veggies in Las Vegas. I haven’t seen too many other changes here either. The buses are carrying only a tad more people, only a few extras bikes on the road. Still loads of fireworks being sold. I’d have to ask my BIL how his grocery store has weathered. But we hear a lot of talk about how businesses in Vegas will start hiring again soon and how the economy here is turning around and our lame houses will start skyrocketing again so none of us will be upside-down.
I swear more people than not are just sticking their head in the sand. ::Sigh:: Even the people who are *thinking* about making changes are dragging their feet – there is no sense of urgency, regardless of the fact they are laid off! Really, I just don’t get it.
~Tara