Being Booga

SHARE Colorado is a food co-op operating in Denver that makes groceries affordable for everyone.

Unlike most food programs that are need-based or require some sort of qualification, SHARE is open to everyone.

According to their web site, you can average a 50% savings - that is, if you purchase their “Classic Package” for $25.00 they say the same products in local markets would cost over $50! They have several packages available and you can even order specific items ala carte.

Not only will you save cash but you’ll save TIME - because the packages are put together for you - all you have to do is pick up your order at a community center or church in your neighborhood. Ordering is easy. You can call SHARE Colorado or use their web site. You can view the packages and even download menus that are created around that month’s food items.

They also state on their web site that are not there only to serve low-income families, but that everyone qualifies - “If you Eat, You Qualify”.

The program helps everyone save money on groceries so they can use their money elsewhere.

How the program works:
Those who wish to participate locate their local distribution center and order their grocery packages ahead of time. Then the items become available for pick up on distribution days at various locations in Denver neighborhoods.

There are similar programs in communities nationwide. The co-op in Colorado was formerly known as WORLD SHARE and is now SHARE Colorado and serves affiliate communities in an 8-State Region. I was told that there are similar programs / food co-ops in communities all over the US.

The program is largely run by volunteers, they only employ 6 staff which includes grocery buyers. They also rely on tips from volunteers on good information about grocery pricing. They purchase large quantities of food at a discount or at wholesale and pass the savings on to us by using volunteers to make it work each month.

You can get started right now by viewing the May packages and placing your order on their web site.

The APRIL Classic Package costs $25.00 and includes the following:

Organic Meatballs 12oz - Tex-Mex Skillet Dinner 44oz.(feeds family of 4) - Bratwurst 16 oz
Breakfast Sausage links 12 oz - Ground Beef xtra-Lean 1 lb - Hamburger Dinner
Potatoes(6 ea) - Onions(3ea) -Lettuce Radishes Tomatoes (2ea)nMangos (2ea)
Lemons (2ea) Oranges(5ea) Grapefruit(2ea)

It’s too late now to order the April package, but you can preview and order your grocery packages for May. The web site is http://www.sharecolorado.com

I’ve always been interested in Food Co-Ops as a great way to involve myself in the community and save money. SHARE Colorado helps me do both. I look forward to saving money, eating well, and participating in something in my community.

SHARE Colorado serves the following Regions - The links allow you to search for an ordering and distribution center by zip code:
South Dakota :: Wyoming :: New Mexico :: Nebraska :: Texas ::Kansas ::Oklahoma :: Missouri :: Arizona :: Utah ::

Other Sources of Information:
What is a Coop? :: National Cooperative Business Association
Coop Directory

Do you participate in a food co-op or grocery buyer’s club? Do you know of similar programs in your area? What are some more ways you know of to save money on groceries?

Please Comment!

I am so excited today because I signed up for PayPerPost.

PayPerPost is a place where advertisers and bloggers can meet. What I love the most about PPP is the fact that I can still write about what I WANT to write about, what I am passionate about - and make a little money while doing it.

It’s free to sign up, too. I can log in anytime and check out open opportunities in subjects that match what my readers are interested in.

The first place I go when I log in is to the PPP Marketplace where I can browse blog ads and find opportunities to get paid for writing.

I’m hoping I can earn some extra money by writing about different products and services that I think would be of interest to my blog-audience and community members.

What will I do with the money? Well, I’m all about using the best quality cookware that money can buy and I’m slowly collecting the All Clad Copper Core pots and pans. The next one on my list is the All-Clad Cop-R-Chef 12-Inch Fry Pan.

So I think if I write some content from PayPerPost blog ads, then in a few weeks or months I might be able to afford it!

Aside from earning some extra money, I think that working with PPP might make me a better blogger.

This Post is….

Fabulous!

Hello Web Visitor!

If you’re looking for ways to spend less on groceries and stretch your dollars, you’re in the right place.

Being Frugal is becoming a hot topic with today’s scary economy. There’s lots of information available to those seeking real solutions - everything from Better Budgeting, Shopping, Saving and Being Resourceful.

Here’s a Round Up of some of Being Booga - Domestic Goodness’ information on the subject of saving and spending less.

• Save 26% on groceries in Denver (or anywhere)
• How I Saved by Shopping Ethnic Markets
• How to Survive a “no money for food” crisis
• No money for new furniture? Make something great (Being Resourceful)
• Get things for FREE - Try Rebates!
• Make Your Own? Yes you can, and you can save a bundle and help the environment. Try These:
  Laundry Detergent - Homemade!
  Cleaning Supplies - Cheap, Environmentally Friendly and Homemade Easy
• Make an easy, quick $25.00
• You Need a Budget - I did, and this software was essential to helping me get it.
  

If you’re new here and want to stay informed with the latest tips, tricks and advice about homemaking and being frugal, please sign up to our news feed. It’s free!

Don’t forget to check the RECIPES and other categories for cheap recipes and more easy solutions.

Also, please feel free to comment - I’d love to hear from you especially if you found something here to be helpful.

About the photo: This was taken very close to my home in rural Missouri. I’m back in the city now, so these photos are very special to me.

For Earth Day I thought I’d list out what I am doing that’s “Green”.

1. I make my own laundry detergent, reusing the packaging / storage container and not using harmful chemicals.
2. I make most of my own cleaning supplies, again, reusing the same storage containers / bottles.
3. I simply don’t buy things that have extra packaging. Ever notice the cheaper store brand products have less packaging?
4. Recycle newsprint, paper, cardboard, plastics
5. Wash and Reuse plastic bags and other containers
6. I buy most, if not all, my clothes from the resale shops / thrift shops
7. I don’t drive every day. Sometimes not at all in a week. Bought a bus pass. Moved to a neighborhood that’s walk-friendly (check www.WalkScore.Com to find out how your neighborhood scores!)
8. Get out and really enjoy nature, the countryside and fresh clean air.
9. Grow my own vegetables (mostly)
10. Support companies and products, by voting with my purchasing power, that I feel are environmentally responsible.

I’m going to start using reusable shopping bags, I’ve had them forever, I just keep forgetting them.

What do you do? How are you celebrating Earth Day?

For Earth Day 1990 I actually started and organized the Earth Day events in my city in California and asked the City Counsel for a proclamation stating that April 22nd was “Earth Day” in our town. Wow, Right? I remember we cleaned up our lake, river, and planted trees. We also had a little fair.

I’m not really celebrating today - but it’s a fine day to think about it at least, isn’t it? I’m a lot greener now than I was then! I even planted a tree recently.

I was tagged! MyGoodCents.Net challenged me to the “3 Random Things” meme, which was started by Ginger over at Attention Target Shoppers. So, here goes!

1. I play the drums.

2. I love the seasons, the moon and I believe in omens and superstitions.

3. I collect aprons and old kitchen gadgetry (I love to cook).

What do you think of my 3 Random?

I’m going to carry this meme on to the 5 people I’m curious about!
The Amelia :: Tight Fisted Miser :: TipsnTreasures :: Retro Food :: Frisky Wife

More Random:

Want $25.00? Who doesn’t? Well Revolution Money Exchange is the NEW “Paypal” - they’re having an account drive and if you sign up with them they’ll give you $25 in your account JUST FOR SIGNING UP! It’s safe and secure (I did it!) - and you can use your Revolution Money to buy things online, just like CASH. If you connect the account to your brick-and-mortar bank account, you can even transfer your free $25.00 to your checking or savings.

Try it out and get a free $25.00! Once you’re an account holder, tell your friends and you’ll get a $10 referral reward. Hurry before their new-account promotion ends!
Click HERE:

Furnishing a New Place or Wanting Something New? If you have no money set aside in the budget, you will have to use your wits in order to create something great. The magic happens when you see the “potential” of something and can see it though. Here’s an entertainment credenza I “made”.

First, I checked my Pottery Barn catalog for ideas. I really like the black painted look that’s popular right now. Their entertainment credenza, pictured above, was listed for $799.00.

I checked Craigslist “Free” and saw an ad for free office furniture. Turns out they had several of them they were giving away - so I went to their warehouse and picked one up.

Craigslist Free Old Office Credenza: FREE - I went to Home Depot and purchased a 2 quarts of paint - Kilz Sealer (actually I think I got a cheaper brand) - and a good quality Gloss Paint (Black) - I also bought 2 sponge tip “brushes”. I spent a total of $11.00 for Paint / Sealer & Supplies

And Voila - A nice looking entertainment credenza inspired by an $800 Pottery Barn one. It’s not as strong or sturdy OR as “perfect”. No. The key with this is to appreciate how it looks - and treat it with loving care (don’t move too often or load it down too much) . If it gets a nick or scrape, it’s easy to touch it up since I have the paint. It only took a total of 2 days to do this project - I let it dry well between layers.

My entertainment credenza doesn’t look exactly the same as the Pottery Barn one - it’s a little different. But it’s black (hip) it’s the same shape and height and has drawers instead of doors.

Here it is:

I removed the front panel doors and chose to leave the inside part there wood-grain. The drawers are good from file storage - they are complete with hanging file rails! I really appreciate the fact that this piece is super-versatile, it can be used in a dining room as a “sideboard”, in a bedroom as a dresser / valet or like I’m using it, as an entertainment credenza.

Originally I thought I’d replace the drawer handles for an updated look. After I painted it, though I decided I liked the old brass ones so I kept them. Replacing the handles would have cost an additional $10.00.

What do you think?

I saw a similar blog post somewhere that was all about using the Pottery Barn catalog for inspiration but finding a very frugal alternative solution to decorating. If anyone can remind me of that blog post, can you send it along to me? This post was a blog-post-response and I’d love to give them credit and a link.

EDIT: Amelia over at http://www.theamelia.com reminded me where I’d seen a similar post about using the catalog for inspiration then finding a cheaper alternative. It was over at FrugalHacks.Com

Thanks!

Here’s a Way to Make Some Money:

Want $25.00?

Who doesn’t? Well Revolution Money Exchange is an online bank that wants to compete with “Paypal” - they’re having an account drive and if you sign up with them they’ll give you $25 in your account JUST FOR SIGNING UP!

It’s safe and secure (I did it!) - and you can use your Revolution Money to buy things online, just like CASH. If you connect the account to your brick-and-mortar bank account, you can even transfer your free $25.00 to your checking or savings.

Sign up and get $25.00!

Hurry before their new-account promotion ends!

Click HERE:

Had a guest for dinner last night and I served Herb Roasted Vegetables.

She LOVED it and suggested I post the recipe on here - so, Gina, here it is! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 or 4 small red potatoes - washed and cubed (skin on)

1 zucchini cubed - skin on

1 small onion, quartered

2 carrots, sliced

Optional: Cubed fresh tomato, cubed / peeled squash, bell pepper, mushrooms, sweet potato

Put the prepared vegetables in a rectangle baking dish. Drizzle liberally with olive oil. Sprinkle with dried thyme, rosemary, zest spice, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Toss and mix until the veggies are covered in herbs & spice and oil is distributed evenly.

Place in 400 degree oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir. Continue to bake another 10 to 15 minutes until vegetables are fork-tender and caramelized. Roast longer in oven if you like your vegetables more tender.

NOTE: Some recipes for Oven Roasted Vegetables have you cover your pan with foil for the first part of baking. I have done this, also. When I cut the veggies up smaller, however, I don’t need to use foil. Play with this. Just keep baking until they’re as tender as you like. If they’re burning faster than you’d like - use foil!

Ha made you look!

Be Frugal, Simple, Thrifty. HOW?

Thats for each person to decide.
Something I find interesting, is that a lot of frugal blogs advise us to buy in bulk to save money. I’m also hearing a lot more about the Law of Attraction, “The Secret” to Abundance, Feng Shui - working with the “way things work” in order to manifest everything we need and desire.

So what’s my DEAL?

Today I got to thinking about it.

I subscribe to the Laws of Attraction and Abundance, I dabble in some feng shui principles, I believe in it - and I believe in letting and even encouraging magic to happen. I have a few superstitions and I believe in my fair share of old-fashioned kitchen lore. I believe, also, that it’s important to trust that God will always provide.

What’s frugal to me?

I’m on a very tight budget. I have a certain amount of money each week for food.

• We buy only what we need
• We look for sales and use coupons or rebates
• Keep a shopping list
• Shop in ethnic stores and alternative markets for lower prices
• Stretch what we can
• Make everything I can homemade / from scratch.
  
• We try our best.

I don’t buy in bulk or bulk-shop. I don’t have that much money at ONE TIME anymore - and if I did, I wouldn’t buy in bulk, because I’ve discovered it doesn’t match with my values.

I used to do the “Costco Thing”. The $1200 in a month Costco thing. Cases of BBQ sauce, flats of Macaroni & Cheese, Cola,Frappuccino, a giant box of muffins, gallons and gallons of laundry detergent and fabric softener. 6-Packs of Bathroom Foam Cleaner. 4-Packs of glass cleaner. Bottle of 8 million Tylenol. Twenty pounds of chicken.

For cheap!

Yes you know what I’m talking about. I was right in there.

We’d load up the 5 kids in the mini-van and do a day trip to Costco, completely filling up the van. Oh I still wonder what I was teaching my older children? What a spectacle we must have been unloading into our garage.

The garage freezer overflowing with otter pops for the kids summer ah no wonder our house is the most popular? Go ahead, give them away to ALL your friends. How can 10 cases of Otter Pops go in
just a week? Oh well, they were a great deal! Mom doesn’t care! Look at the wrappers littering the street!

But wow look at all we got, and at what a great price? SO? We spent $1200, in ONE month, on stuff we didn’t NEED that month. It was exhausting.

Now, looking back, I’m embarrassed. What we were doing had FEAR written all over it. Lame.

We weren’t saving money, we were spending money. On junk we didn’t NEED. On stuff that wasn’t even “good” for us.

See, while we liked to think we were doing this to save money, we weren’t. Our value was having enough “stuff” to feel content.

Meanwhile, I got tired of looking at it all. I was running out of ideas for menus. I was haunted by marching bottles of BBQ sauce chanting at me, pressuring me every day to make SOMETHING with BBQ sauce. Something, anything.

“You bought all of me, on sale, you’re going to eat me, little lady!”, it would say.

Oh the guilt. I would ignore the cries in the basement coming from all that “stuff”, what a yucky feeling.

I just wanted to go to the store, I wanted so badly to just get something fresh! I wanted, no, needed to gather for my family, to find a bargain, to experience the THRILL OF THE DEAL. So, my cabinets were cramped, over-flowing with this and that, canned goods stockpiled under the bed, did I feel content and abundant?

NO! I felt completely STAGNANT.

Now I appreciate some emptiness, some space, in the cabinets. I appreciate being off the hook from the pressure of “buying a bunch” just because it’s on sale.

Resisting the feeding frenzy when something is supposed to be a good buy is a very tough thing to do if we really believe we need all that extra. I no longer feel I need it. So for me, it’s easy. I actually appreciate having to work with a small budget - because I get to experience the thrill of the deal - I get to use my wits and my skills to gather and provide for my family using all available resources.

Now, what about the money part? I never worry I’ll “run out” of something. I just don’t. And the big one? Stay out of Costco. I even stay out of Wal-Mart. I don’t need those messages you know?

I feel abundant when I DON’T have an over-flowing pantry and freezer. Why? I feel abundant because there’s room for more in my life and I expect it will come. On sale. At a discount. With a coupon! It works like magic, it happens to me over and over again! I might go “without” for a day or so, right? Right. So? No worries! It will come. And when it does I’ll appreciate it a lot more because it’s there because I need it.

So this is how *I* feel about being frugal. There are lots of ideas and viewpoints, and, well, OPINIONS. The buying in BULK thing doesn’t work *for me* anymore but I do realize it can work for others.

Now I live in the city - I don’t have storage space for bulk purchases, I no longer have a big garden and I no longer have a big freezer, AND I live very close to the markets (walking distance) - and I’m still saving just as much, and eating fresh food. I go to the market a few times a week (walking). I still feel anxiety when I spot a good deal and can’t “stock up” - but it’s easier to resist now that I’m learning that I can STILL be just as frugal on a weekly basis, without buying in bulk. Can you save money by buying in bulk? YES. Can you save money and NOT buy in bulk? YES.

Another Viewpoint:
FindArticles - Buying lots of food? So what?
Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Feb 8, 2008

Just some thoughts I had today after my last post.

I think Frugal Bloggers have the power to help the Country not be afraid of the recession. If we lean on each other…post our best strategies, our best tips. If we represent our philosophies, beliefs and values we can facilitate change. A new way of life that doesn’t feel like panic, or “doing without” but fosters a feeling of connectedness, a feeling of sufficiency.

The County is looking for “help” to prepare for a scary, really bad recession. It’s our calling. We’ve been doing this for years. It’s easy for us.

So however mundane it seems, I’m going to keep posting the best prices I can find in Denver. I don’t have much of an audience yet, but I’m sure one is developing. I’m going to keep reaching out to the more experienced bloggers and learn what I can. It’s my hope to be able to offer those who are afraid a reason to NOT be afraid in a recession.

Just be FRUGAL.

Here’s How. Right?