Yep.

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Okay, how’d I do?

OMG, the grocery budget.

I went overbudget. Way WAY OVER. As in, I spent almost half again as much as I had budgeted.

I budgeted $450 — a figure, admittedly, I picked at random, but it turns out it’s only slightly more than the average cost for a family our size (two adults and 7-year-old) on the “Thrifty Plan” according to this USDA chart. However, last month, I ended up spending slightly more than $600 (still more than $100 less than the “Moderate-Cost Plan,” which makes me feel a bit better).

I know exactly how I ended up going overbudget: multiple trips to the nearby-but-somewhat-overpriced supermarket. Trips during which I also tend to go, well, as long as I’m here, I’ll get this, too… and that thing… oh, hey, they have those things I was thinking about… hmm, do I need that? I’ll get one, just in case… Yeah. In retrospect, why am I even surprised we I spend so much?

Seeing as publicly committing myself to doing all the laundry last month made me actually do it, I’ve decided that this month, I’m going to keep track of all our household grocery purchases here. I’d like to come close to the $442 on the USDA’s Thrifty Plan and see if that’s a reasonable amount for us.

Total so far: $6. Last night, my husband picked up two jars of spaghetti sauce (his go-to standard when it’s his turn to cook) and a jar of peanut butter. Meanwhile, I’m headed to the Greenmarket this afternoon for our fruit and veg of the week, which will probably add about another $20 to that (I’ll be giving between-post updates over on Facebook).

Lastly, do you write out a month-long menu? I’m trying to plan out a month-long menu this month, to see if that cuts down on unnecessary grocery store trips — let me know if you have any tips on making that work.

Addendum, 3:30pm: Went to the Greenmarket and bought some carrots, a pound of onions, about 3.5 lbs of tomatoes, a bag of grapes and 5.5 lbs of apples for $15. So, current total: $21.

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I’m the first to admit that not only am I not well-versed in housing economics, I can honestly only hear/read so much on the subject before I space out and start singing “Spanish Flea” in my brain.

Fortunately, this article on the realities of home ownership both lays out an apples-to-apples comparison of renting or buying and deconstructs some of the myths of renting (renting is throwing away your money, owning your own home is a forced savings plan, etc.) far better than I ever could.

So, what does this all have to do with frugal life in NYC? Well, I spent some time using the interactive widget on NYTimes.com mentioned in that article.

Right off the bat, buying in NYC — even something in my unfashionable neighborhood — definitely won’t be cheaper. So, let’s say I theoretically move out of NYC, but remain in the northeastern US (current median home price $244,300). Initially, it appears as though after 6 years, I’d have more money if I owned a home rather than if I rented… but I don’t own a car.

If I consider the additional cost of one car (using the national car-cost averages I cited last time) as a utility I would now have to pay (while also factoring in the heat, hot water, and municipal water bill that are part of my rent now), buying becomes better than renting after 26 years.

And that’s assuming I just have one car. Lower housing prices, particularly in the north-east, often mean longer commutes, which would possibly make two cars a necessary evil.

I could go on like this for a while, inventing various scenarios and coming up with plausible figures to plug into the calculator, but I think you get the general idea:although many NYC rents often appear to be exorbitant, factoring in transportation costs can often mean that you’re paying nearly as much as you would for a suburban mortgage + car(s).

There’s still one last factor I didn’t cover here, because it’s something that can’t really be quantified — the simplicity of renting.

Here’s the best example of what I mean: I have a subscription to Consumer Reports and with nearly every month’s issue, I read comparisons of products that, as a renter, I will never have to research, purchase, repair or replace. Stovetops, water heaters, kitchen counters, leaf blowers, gas grills, refrigerators, roofing, desk sealants… a seemingly endless list of stuff.

It makes me wonder, how many hours would I spend just thinking about those things? How much of my life would be taken up by wanting/buying/fixing/shopping for all that stuff? Suppose I could remodel my kitchen — would food taste better if it was prepped on a slate countertop? Would a $4,000 Viking range really make me a better cook?

Renting where I live forces me to step off that treadmill of keeping up with the Joneses — even keeping up with the frugal Joneses across town who do all their own appliance repairs and home remodeling.

Do you still favor buying rather than renting or is a backlash against home ownership long overdue? Sound off in the comments below or over on Facebook.

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After last week’s laundry discussion, this week’s Follow Friday is about all the other stuff clothes need: how to get rid of stains, how to iron (shirts, because who irons anything else?), and how to do common repairs.

Removing Stains: The Basics
My husband and child are stain-making machines. Before finding this site, I sometimes made things worse by treating it the wrong way. Print out the two PDFs on that page and you’ll never go wrong again.

How to Mend Clothes
I admit it, it delights me to fix stuff and give it a second life. And if you don’t know how to sew, mending clothes (that you would just get rid of anyway) is a great place to start.

Video: How to Iron a Shirt
Okay, this is more of a “watch” rather than “follow,” but I genuinely had no idea how to iron a dress shirt (which my husband now wears to work all the time) before watching this video.

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[crickets chirp; obligatory tumbleweed rolls by]

Okay, it’s only been a couple of days, and to be fair, those days have been gray and rainy (giving me an excuse for some much needed catching-up with my down comforter).

The first rainy day was quite nice, but after three days, I was starting to get crabby about it: I had stuff to do, that needed to get done, but I couldn’t find it in myself to get up and do it.

Instead, I was frittering my day away (hello, stupid Facebook games!) until suddenly, it was late afternoon, I hadn’t done anything much, I still had no motivation and now I was annoyed/depressed about having wasted most of the day.

So… what sort of little tricks do you employ when you can’t seem to get started?

Do you set a timer for 15 minutes and tell yourself you’ll conquer a chore for at least that long? Do you bribe yourself with a small reward during or after a task? (Self-bribery via potato chips is what got me through several laundromat trips last week.)

Leave your suggestions in the comments below — check in with the gezellig-girl.com Facebook page to see my top picks.

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What did I learn from my week-long laundry adventure?

White vinegar is truly the best fabric softener ever. I have three cats, all of which have at least some white fur—and the white downy undercoat of that fur which sticks frigging EVERYWHERE. I also have a lot of black clothes—which, as a New Yorker, I am obligated to own. When I pulled the first batch of laundry out of the washer, I was utterly dismayed to see white cat hair on everything. I suspect there had been one or two things that were really covered in cat hair, and in the wash, it redistributed evenly over everything else.

I used a couple of Bounce dryer sheets (which smelled gross and are not the greatest choice in general) on that load, which helped a little. I didn’t want to switch to liquid fabric softener because I usually wash towels and clothes together and fabric softener + towels = less-absorbent towels. The next day, I used about half a cup of white vinegar in the rinse. Much MUCH less cat hair, plus soft clothes and super fluffy towels (and no, everything does not smell like a salad).

I now have absolutely no excuse to use as many paper towels as I do. Holy crap, I had no idea I owned this many towels. I had to rearrange a kitchen cabinet just to have a place to put all the dishtowels AND I’ve got a huge stack of former dishtowels (now too ratty for display) under the sink as well. Still deciding what (if anything) to do with the unlovely bath towels I have, but I’m looking at some tutorials on turning old towels into bathmats (something I could really use).

I had some clothes to get rid of—but not nearly as much as I expected. Of everything that I washed, we donated about one-seventh of it (one full laundry bag’s-worth), but much of that was kid clothes; either cold weather stuff she’d already outgrown or warm weather stuff she’ll certainly outgrow by next summer (44 things in all, including some I had weeded out earlier). I got rid of some items I only wore when I had nothing better to wear (12 items) and my husband got rid of a pair of pants he didn’t like but overall, not as much as I thought would go.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, I can finish a project when I set my mind to it. Honestly, I think I even surprised myself by getting everything done this week. It helped that a.) I publicly announced I was going to do all this laundry and then kept updating as I went along and b.) yesterday, my husband and I went to the laundromat together and did all the remaining laundry—which would have been at least three trips for me on my own—saving me from almost certain burnout.

Now that that’s done, I’m already looking about for a new project. Maybe decluttering?

Guys, if you’re not already a fan of gezellig-girl.com on Facebook, you might miss out on my first-ever giveaway. Details to come later this week, so go become a fan today!

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To give you an idea of the epic mountain of laundry I’ve been doing, I’ve filled (and emptied!) that laundry sack four times this week… and I’d estimate I have another three more to do.

Why am I so obsessed with this saga of laundering? Because, I will confide to you, my reader — I almost never finish anything. I have more 6″ scarves and cut-out pattern pieces than I would care to admit, because I suck at follow-through.

Not this time, though. So help me, I will wash every goddamn item of laundry in this house.

And once that’s done, doing the laundry once a week or so will be CAKE.

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Photo credit: “Laundry Night” by FlySi

I have two weeks left before my fall classes start so I’m trying to do at least a couple of the projects I’ve been meaning to do for the past 2.5 months.

This week: conquer the massive backlog of laundry we have.

I could blame this summer’s heat or something for the laundry that’s piled up… but that would be a lie. In truth, we always have those blue IKEA shopping bags full of laundry in our bedroom—sometimes up to half a dozen at a time.

Why? Because doing the laundry in the city can be a massive pain in the ass.

If you’ll indulge me, a brief rant about laundry (as well as those who may complain about it):

I really seriously cannot grasp AT ALL why people who live in the suburbs can’t keep up on their laundry. Do you know what I have to go through to get the laundry done? Pack it into a bag (weighing AT LEAST 30+ pounds), heft said bag onto my back or balance it on my hip while also holding the hand of a small child (who hopefully has brought enough books/games/whatever to keep herself amused), walk a couple blocks to the laundromat, sit in a hard plastic chair (and oh, I hope to god there IS a chair for me) for at least two hours, heft it back home and after all that walking to and fro and standing in laundromat, I need to get this 30+ pounds of clothes UP THREE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS. So, other bloggers/Facebook friends, I do not have ANY SYMPATHY AT ALL for your bitching about how much laundry you do, because I’m pretty sure you can just dump the clothes in your washer in your basement and then go back to your goddamn couch while watching ‘Dancing with the Gray’s American Housewife Idol or Whatever’ until it’s done SO SHUT YOUR WHINE HOLE.

Gosh, that felt good.

Anyhoo, this week (and possibly next week as well) is all about doing the laundry here in Maison Gezellig. (In my brain, I’m calling it CLEAN ALL THE THINGS! Week even though I’m only doing the laundry.) Here’s what I’ve been reading (when not at the laundromat) and/or thinking about (when I am there):

Ugh, how much of this do I even wear anyway? Okay, I could not pull off the same dress for 365 days but I am interested in the six items or less project. Although, at the same time, I could really use new jeans. The ones I have currently (yes, I own one pair, not including a second pair in black) are a little too big now (you’re sad for me, I know) and have been repaired multiple times.

My towels are shameful. They’ve all gotten pretty ratty and I have no idea what to do. I don’t want to drop a lot of (okay, truthfully, any) money on new towels, but at the same time, cheap, conventionally-grown cotton is not the greatest choice either. Plus, what do I do with the fugly towels? Most suggestions for reusing old towels involve washing your dogs and/or cars (which is no help at all) and my local animal shelter says they’re all set with towel donations.

What if I made my own laundry detergent? Okay, it’s a bit… Marge Simpson makes her own Pepsi (“It’s a little thick, but the price is right!”), but it seems dead simple to make: grated soap + borax + washing soda. I’m still trying to work out if it’s actually cheaper, though, than the Seventh Generation detergent I use now.

So… DIY detergent: cheaper or no? And where can I find good jeans for stubby legs like mine? Leave a comment here or join the discussion on Facebook.

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The past six weeks or so (ugh, has it only been that long?) have comprised just about the grossest, sweatiest midsummer I think I have ever lived through. For instance, July 2010? ONE-TENTH of a degree away from being the hottest July in NYC everrrr.

And for at least the past four weeks (usually while sweltering slightly less in the relative cool of each evening), I have said to myself, okay, I am most definitely going to clean up in here, tomorrow, definitely, FOR SURE THIS TIME. So far, this has yet to happen.

While I’ve been sitting in front of a fan and not tidying up, I’ve been reading an assortment of great blogs on decluttering your life and living with less stuff because it’s less sweaty than actually getting up and doing so.

Unclutterer
I can (and quite often do) burn up an afternoon just browsing through this site, especially their posts on kids and their rooms (and dealing with things like all the fiddly little toy pieces). Go take a read—just dont blame me when you don’t do anything else today.

RowdyKittens
If you read this recent NYTimes article about Tammy Strobel, you may have already seen her blog, but if not, it’s worth reading. I mean, the woman winnowed her possessions down to just 100 items. How can you not (at the very least) be amazed by that? Her Ultimate Simple Living Guide is a good jumping-off point.

Minimalist Knitter
Okay, you don’t knit. That’s fine. But if you have any hobby—particularly one that’s creative and “requires” you to have a lot of materials on hand—you can learn something from this blog. And if you don’t have any hobbies, here are her Ten Ways To Improve Your Mood Without Spending A Dime to make you feel better about your sad, hobby-less life.

Becoming Minimalist
As soon as I read 12 Reasons Why You’ll Be Happier in a Smaller Home, I knew this was a blog I could love. The posts run towards the spiritual enlightenment aspects of minimalism at times, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Addendum: After I wrote this post, I absolutely could not take it any more and filled a trash bag of things I’d been meaning to get rid of and another bag of paper to be recycled. It felt awesome.

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She has made this proclamation before, although I suspect some of those announcements were part of a scheme to get me to buy some vegetable I’d recently declared to be out of season (e.g. asparagus), because said announcement was often followed by something like, “I just really love asparagus…”

In the past, she’s lasted a week or so, before, in her own words, “going back to being a meatatarian,” but this time it seems to have stuck, which is fine with us, her parents. Before we were parents, we were both vegetarians for years (and yes, we did serve a vegetarian meal at our wedding almost 10 years ago). We only broke away from full-time vegetarianism because I really, desperately wanted meat while pregnant with said kid (the irony is not lost on me). While pregnant, I ate enough roast beef sandwiches to make me think I might possibly give birth to a wolf pup.

Fast-forward to the present day and for the past couple years, we’ve only been eating meat once a week or so anyway, but this kid is really standing firm on her full-time vegetarian beliefs. (“I just feel bad for cows,” she says.)

Here’s where I need your help: I really need some new vegetarian recipes.

I kept a couple vegetarian cookbooks around even once I stopped being a full-time vegetarian, but in most cases, I’ve had these cookbooks for 10+ years already—if I was going to cook something out of them, I’ve probably already made it, tweaked it, and gotten sick of it by now.

My only caveat: an absolute minimum of soy products and/or vegetarian “fake” food. Things like soy “chick’n” nuggets, nutritional yeast “cheese,” seitan loaf… no thanks. Not because I believe there’s anything bad or inferior about them; I just don’t like them. Beans, eggs, milk, cheese, et cetera are all fine. Vegan cookbooks (like the excellent Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, which I really should buy already) are good too, as are recipe collections online.

So… help a vegetarian kid (and her mother) out? Leave your cookbook suggestions in the comments below.

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