Why I no longer strive for 100%

Remember your school days? On assignments, tests, and quizzes we strove for 100%, but would also be very happy with a 90 or even 80? Remember how we decided we had done well if we made a high mark?

Real life just isn't like that, at least it doesn't need to be. Early in my frugal marriage I worked to do everything 100%. I hung all of our laundry to dry. I cooked with all of the most inexpensive ingredients.  I always, always batched my errands. I really didn't leave any room for less than 100%. This is an exhausting an unsustainable way to live, unless you have a houseful of helping hands.

Now that I'm trying to eat better, the least expensive foods are often not the best ones for my health. A meal of potatoes, macaroni, and bread might be cheap, but would wreak havoc on my energy levels and weight. Likewise, eating only bananas, cabbage, carrots, and onions (the cheapest veggies year round for me) would leave me nutrient-deficient. Seed oils and margarine may be cheap fats, but I'm trying increase less processed fats, like butter. But butter comes with a hefty price tag.

As I was mixing the batter for a batch of scratch brownies the other day, I considered using all butter. not only would the brownies taste delicious and buttery, but I wouldn't be using any seed oils. However, as I said, butter is expensive.  My recipe calls for 1/2 cup of butter, vegetable oil, or margarine. 1/2 cup of butter is one stick or 1/4 pound. At close to $5/pound for butter at our local Walmart, using all butter would add over $1 to the batch. Meanwhile, the same quantity of vegetable oil would add just 25 cents to the batch. Hmm, use vegetable oil (a seed oil) and save money or use butter and choose a better fat for my health. But the choice doesn't have to be either or. I can do good for my health and my wallet and use half butter/half oil. A lot of cooking choices can be made in that same way. That same batch of brownies called for vanilla extract. I have both real vanilla extract and artificial vanilla flavoring on hand. Real vanilla extract is sooooo expensive, even the homemade variety. But I'm trying to avoid unnecessary chemicals in my foods. So as I added ingredients to the batter, I thought about which way to go on the vanilla. The recipe called for 1 teaspoon. Save money or eat better? But I decided to compromise. I used half imitation vanilla and half real vanilla.

In both cases with the brownie ingredients, the choices I made  saved me half on the expensive components. That's a 50%-er. back in our school days, a 50% on anything was a score one would be afraid to bring home to our parents. But in real life, saving 50% on some of our costs is substantial and in the long run, can add up to significant savings without compromising excessively on quality.

We try to eat organic produce, when the price is almost the same as non-organic. But for the most part eating organic is very expensive. Years back, one of my sisters-in-law confessed that she spent about $1000 a month on food alone for a family of two young children, herself and her husband. When I began to probe how her grocery bill could be so high, she told me they ate only organics. I've never been able to afford to spend that much on food. The idea of the "dirty dozen" fruits and vegetable list is akin to my 50% philosophy. If one choose organic for the 12 worst offenders and eat traditionally-grown produce for the rest, you'll be doing yourself a lot of good without spending too much on foods. My approach to the "dirty dozen" list to to grow as much of the produce on the list in my own organic garden, and not worry about whether or not something purchased is organic.

I've talked about hanging some of our laundry to dry. I don't hang everything. For one, I don't have the hanging space to hang it all. But also, hanging laundry is time and personal energy consuming. But I do hang about 50% of my clothing part of laundry. I choose the pieces that most benefit from hanging to dry. Cotton pjs, socks, and undies -- maybe a no on hanging to dry. Shirts and dress jeans -- definitely yes on hanging. So I spare some of my clothing the high heat of a dryer, but get the ease of using the dryer some of the time. Again, I'm saving about 50% on my heat drying.

While I will start most of our garden veggies from seeds this year, I won't start all of them from seeds. Over the years, I've found that some plants just do better with a nursery-started plant as opposed to my seed starting under lights. I'll be buying squash and pumpkin plants at Fred Meyer or Home Depot in another few weeks. Our short growing season means I can't just pop these sorts of seeds into the dirt and expect any fruit. And my home-started seedlings lack the hardiness to grow well and fast in our garden. If I want to harvest squash and pumpkin, I really do need to buy started plants. I certainly won't be spending next to nothing on starting my vegetable garden, buying some in plants. But I will be saving substantially on all of the other plants that I can start from seeds at home. I start most of my tomato plants from seeds under lights. But also, I buy 1 single well-developed tomato plant to give us some fresh tomatoes about a month sooner than my home-started plants. It's the best of both worlds for my garden. I start many plants from seeds, but also buy some nursery started plants where it makes a difference.

I guess what I'm saying is that in order to do the most good for my life, save the most money, and give myself a break from time to time, I routinely make compromises. Half this, half that seems to work really well for me.