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Projects: Getting Started! A Growing Mushrooms at Home Case Study

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

For background on The Mushroom Project, growing mushrooms at home, check this post.

The Mushroom Project:

OK, the Ayes have!  The Mushroom Project got the green light.  The bride (and editor-in-chief) was excited by the idea.

No rolling eyes,  no OK if you want to I’ll play along just ’cause I love you…..This was genuine “lit up eyes” excitement!  (Editor comment: I love working in the yard, stupid!)

Cool.

The Mushroom Project went from an idea to a goal.

The goal: grow mushrooms at home.

Secondary goal: Gourmet mushrooms at home at  a reasonable price.

Stretch goal: Grow gourmet mushrooms and save money over store prices/quality.

Now what?

Mushroom Project Steps

We’re going to buy fungi spawn and raise them.

Becoming ‘spore spawn diddys’ (SSD) entail no adoption fees and there are no legal battles to be fought.

No one is going to turn up at our neighbor’s doors questioning our past or run our fingerprints through databases.

Nope, we just have to figure out how to get this project going.

Growing stuff background

We’ve grown rare, not found in the wild trees named for Benjamin Franklin (native to our area, but not too happy in our yard), common sun loving, heart warming, hardy zinnias, finicky (‘stop the car, what is that?) clematis, and stunningly gorgeous camellias.

Fungi spawn?  SSD?  Not on purpose.  Though I used to make a pretty good ale years ago…

Project Starting Tips

Projects, large and small, come to fruition in the same way:

  • Research.  Even on tasks well-honed from years of experience, like growing those wonderful summer zinnias, we are open to new information.  On any new project, time spent reading, checking with the experts, ‘studying on it’, is time well spent.  A thorough and ongoing  Google search is a necessity.
  • Network-finding someone else that has ‘been there done that’ is a time and pain saver. They’ve made the mistakes.  Ask around for advice.  Luckily, a national audience here has already chimed in with helpful advice and contacts, and I’m sure more will come.
  • Lists are golden with a new project.

    Project spreadsheet, or pencil and paper-Your Call!

    For a tried and true task, the mental list may do the trick.  If time is a factor, say you have to get the toilet back together before guests arrive for the weekend, spend extra prep time making sure you have every item required before you begin. For our SSD project, a careful list with easy eraser access (pencil or computer document) is a must.

  • Cost Estimates.  This is where research and an accurate list of necessary items are funneled into a budget reality.   Bulk is better when your buying many things, small quantities is a better idea when you’re starting out.  Compromise (almost) always wins the day.  We will start small with this new adventure because we’re novices. Know what the cost will be.  Your cost estimate will be accurate only if you have done a good job with the first two items in this list.  If you’re pumped for a project, but the initial cost is too great-start small, or start slow.  Buying a few items as you can.  I know you’re excited, but remember the turtle usually wins.  Also, as we are well known to do (especially the editor), substitute for something you already have, reduce and reuse.
  • Timeline, with deadlines-Set a deadline to have the items amassed and to get started. SSD’s know there is a time lag from start to meal time.  Getting started is the first requirement of having an end.  With every project there will be parts you love and parts you hate.  To prevent procrastination, set deadlines and stick to them.   Don’t let a simple project become a disaster.  Like that rotten tree that is leaning towards your home?  The removal costs may seem ridiculous, but the physical danger to your family, and  potential home repair costs are far far far greater after it falls and slices your roof in half.
  • Get’er done.

We’re on our way.  Lists are underway and the timeline is coming together.  I won’t keep you in the dark-that’s for mushrooms, silly.

Reader Questions:

All you SSD’s (aka Mushroom Dads and Moms) out there there. Help us.  Comments/Advice?

{photo credit: ivanwalsh c.c.}

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Savings: Are You A Failure?

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Saving Money

Have you ever read anything that made you feel like a failure?  Something that slammed you in your gut, made you want to vomit?

This innocuous looking article on savings rates at Smart Money hit me that way.

The article discusses the savings rate of our country compared to others in the world.  It seems that individuals who are living in the poorest corners of our world are also some of the best savers.

Ring the Bell For Others!

We complain and whine about our inability to get ahead on our income.

  • “How can anybody save money in this economy?”
  • “It costs so much to eat, buy gas-our monthly bills are just too high!”
  • “Momma, I can’t wear those no-names, my friends all wear Uggs.

The super-savers in third-world countries, whose income would be less than 1% of our so-called poverty level,  sometimes making as little as $2 bucks a day, are living on half and saving the rest.

How many of you are saving 50% of your income, or putting 50% of your income against your debt?

The current savings rate of our country is quoted to be around 5%. That means we spend 95% of what we make on average.  At the height of the boom before things crashed in 2008, we were at a negative savings rate.  That meant as a country we were all spending more than we made on an annual basis.

Our government continues to do so at a dizzying pace.

Spending, Can You Do Better?

I know why this got my attention.  We are blessed in this country to have so much in the way of material goods-most of which sits in our homes unused, just to be available if or when we need it.

We have 15 different damn ways to cook a hamburger. From a microwave, to George Forman’s grill, to our stove, to the $1000 BBQ with 5 burners and while you’re cooking- a blender for your margarita-cheers!  Cooking, that’s for losers, let’s go to __________ (insert your favorite burger joint here!)

And don’t forget the pasta maker, the tortilla maker, the bread machine, and the rice cooker.  How many ways can you cook a starch???

I’m not just casting stones here.  I’m looking dead center in the mirror and don’t like what I see.

And my wife and I are laughed at ‘cause our TV is 20 years old and both our cars are more than a decade old!  I know I’m far from the worst spender, and that just makes it even worse.

Why Personal Finance?

Many people ask why I do this. “Why do you teach others about personal finance, as busy as you are at practicing medicine?

The only answer I can give:

I’m called to do it.  I want to help you see how poor, (some would say stupid) choices are ruining your lives.  It seems like fun to buy these new shoes, eat out, I gotta have that new boat, the kids have to go to that private school..….. We borrow money for school when we could be working and paying our own way!

We delude ourselves daily!

It’s so easy to watch TV rather than study and better yourself to improve your income.  It’s easier to have a beer with your buds rather than volunteer at the food bank or ring the bell at Christmas.

It happens so slowly and in the company of so many others, that we don’t realize we’re in Overspending Hell ‘till it’s too late!

Reader Questions:

What do you think?  What is your savings rate?  What would get your attention about your spending?  Do you save 5, 10, 15% of your current income after taxes?

If you are saving more, how do you do it?  How did you get there and what would you suggest others do who say they can’t get by?

{photo credit: Monica’s Dad c.c.}

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Posted in debt reduction, personal finance, Planned spending aka budget, Quality of Life | 12 Comments »

Grocery Shopping Frugalities

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Guest post by FDL, BSN

Can I Save More?

Are you intense while grocery shopping with your spreadsheet, calculator, and smartphone to compare prices-wearing your frugality like a crown on Miss America?  Or do you go shopping hungry, with just an idea about what you truly need-an easy mark for the well placed, but highly marked up food that appeals to your growling stomach?

After housing, groceries account for the second largest portion of most families’ budgets.

Grocery Shopping, with help...

I have been on a self-imposed tighter grocery budget lately, so these thoughts occupy a portion of my ‘solve the world’s problems while I jog’ time.

This morning (and it was a gorgeous one: almost full moon, bright stars, crisp, cool air) I mentally debated the usefulness of several grocery shopping ideas that surfaced in my world over the week-end.

I know, these things seem somehow disjointed, and yet, to the frugal nutrition conscious among us, namely me, they are possibly indicative of better ways to spend my precious grocery dollars.

App in the Grocery store:

The app in the grocery store (that sounds like ‘the rum in the coconut’ song) could be helpful, but since coupons are so often for things that are new, gimmicky and over-priced, that one  sends red flags out for me.  That temptation to stray from your list would be even more enticing.

I bet I would have buyers remorse every time I used one of those ‘cool sent to me at the store coupons’.  Yo solo diggo.

Sugary cereal?

According to the cereal makers, even though a box of cereal has a purple monster on the front, kids won’t eat cereal that is not ‘sweet’ enough.  Really?  That amazes me.  It seems if a box is colorful and cutesy, kids would eat whatever was inside.

If you traded brand X cereal for the contents of the cutesy sugary kids cereal, would they really not eat it? What do you think?  Are kids addicted to sugar?

Better nutrition and saving money:

For our Open Enrollment (OE) for insurance options where I work, we can fill out an online health assessment and have the chance to win $100 in coupons.

Cool! Of course, I filled out the assessment only because I wanted to be a lucky winner.

I thought I was a healthy eater, but after answering the questions-oops, maybe not so much.

I found I needed to improve my eating habits.  Now I’m thinking I really do eat too many bad foods, and I just might drink a little too much alcohol each weekend.

Making better, low fat food choices is just plain smart.  Cutting back on alcohol consumption is much better for my waistline, my pocketbook, and of course my health.

Jog for ideas

So, there it is.  Some of the things I pondered during my early morning jog that could help in my frugal quest to save every penny possible-burning a few calories was just a bonus….

FDL, BSN a public health nurse and frequent writer for The Millionaire Nurse.

Dr Dean’s views:  I think the store apps could be useful. But just like any tool, they can be misused.  If they tempt you into buying something you don’t need or that’s overpriced, dump the app. If you find a better price on something on your list-cool. Self-discipline is the rule….(I know easy to say…)

As to kids cereal, once a sweet tooth has been developed it’s hard to break-those cereal manufacturers know what they are doing.  It’s hard to get grown-ups  who grew up drinking “Sweet Tea” to switch to unsweetened too. So the kids don’t stand a chance.

{photo credit: Symlinked c.c.}

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Online Shopping: Quicker and Better Price Comparisons!

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Invisible Hand Review

I’m shameless.  When my kids come home, which is not often enough, I cook them breakfast.

The price for scrambled eggs, bacon, and homemade muffins (I toasted the muffins, the wife made ‘em) is a little of their time for brainstorming.

No I don’t have a white board in the kitchen, though that’s a thought.

I’m not brainstorming about the next family vacation, or what they want for Christmas.

Nope, I make this captive audience come up with blog post ideas.

The Invisible Hand

This morning my daughter-in-law suggested I write about the invisible hand.  I was impressed that she knew about Adam Smith’s theory of free markets.

After the group got finished laughing at me, she said they meant the Invisible Hand, the browser online shopping plug- in.  A  browser plug-in that helps you find the cheapest price for your online shopping.

The Invisible Hand

Not too long ago I would of said “Plug-in, what’s a plug-in?”  And if you had said it’s for your browser, I would’ve said “What’s a browser?”

Now, though, I’m a high tech guy.  I’m on the cutting edge….I’ve learned all kinds of useless tech trivia.

But for my non-tech readers:

  • Browser-the thing that makes the internet go where you want to go.  It is either called Internet Explorer, Google’s Chrome,  Mac’s Safari, or Mozilla’s Firefox, unless you are a real nerd in which it might be called Rock Melt or you are living in the past and it might be Netscape or Prodigy.
  • Plug-in-it’s hard to explain a “plug-in” to those of us of a certain age as there is nothing to plug anywhere in a plug-in.  You have to “download” the plug-in, then “re-boot” your browser to make it work.  Cross your fingers for no compatibility issues….or no mal-ware or a virus….

To download your version of  the Invisible Hand plug-in check out this link.  Make sure you pick the browser version you use.  Don’t forget to reboot.

I then, being a serious teacher, decided to take Invisible Hand for a test drive.  I don’t want to recommend a product to you without making sure it works.

How Invisible Hand (IH) works:

  • After you’ve downloaded and re-booted, the IH plug-in works in the background-you don’t see anything.
  • If you do a price search for anything, if IH detects a better price, a yellow-orange ribbon pops up at the top of the page, with a comparison price and a link to the better priced site.
  • So far I haven’t noticed it slowing my browser down.

So I proceeded to purchase (yea just pretended) :

  • A Barbie-The IH saved me 19% or $3.81 from my initial search .
  • A Dyson vacuum-Saved 40 bucks on my first Google search.
  • A plane ticket-sorry, the prices on IH were almost identical to Delta.com.
  • Hotel room-that room in Manhattan I found on Hotels.com was not beaten by IH.

Two searches out of four saved real money.  And the others were harmless-as they didn’t cost me any time as Invisible Hand works in the background while you do your traditional price comps.

You don’t have to launch a program or go to another site-unless the IH price is better-then you hit the link on the ribbon at the top of the page. You can  purchase the object just like always.

Invisible Hand Limitations:

Invisible Hand does not follow every retail object or retailer.  So don’t just limit yourself to it’s results.  But in my experience Invisible Hand is certainly worth the cost.  (yea, it’s free…)

Reader questions:

How bout you? Any of guys using Invisible Hand?  Has it saved you any money?

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Grocery Budget: Week One!

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Grocery Spending

(Guest post by FDL)

Budgeting in the hard stuff (sorry Crystal):

As a seriously frugal, bread-baking, no processed food,  lunch packing,  clothes line to dry clothes kinda person, I have always resisted the confining aspect of a set amount for grocery buying each week.  As a personal finance blog reader I recognize the positives to budgeting and have embraced the concept in all areas of spending except  the grocery bill.  Until now.  I’m on a mission!

There are bunches and bunches of ways to control spending that work for scores of people.  Me?  I need simple.

I  think the only way for me to stick with this planning on the grocery bill is to use cash only-what people call the envelope method. Fill it at the beginning of the week and then stay the course.

I already look for bargains and purchase by ‘cheapest per ounce’ and all that stuff. I’m totally frugal.  When I see a great price for something, I want to buy a year’s supply.   For me, this was the part that made it hardest to stay within the budgeted amount.  I think I found a solution.

In the first week I even dodged a moon-crater sized pothole and managed to finish 7 days with my budget intact.  Whew!

Here’s what happened:

My first week of grocery-money-in-the-envelope, we invited 4 people over for dinner at the last minute.  In the past, I have used this as sort of an excuse to splurge a bit on the groceries.

The problem was unplanned company for dinner.  Actually, we planned to have them, we invited them, but here I was limiting my spending on groceries but needing to put together a tasty meal for 6 people.  Using the frugal side of my brain, I chose the cheapest meat available, cooked it in the most fabulous way possible, and scrimped on the sides.

In-season roasted vegetables and fruit. I love roasted vegetables, they have great flavor and look cool when plated.  The grapes- the ones I already had in the fridge for our lunches- now were a healthy appetizer.  Short on time, I went with cheese  cut up from the giant chunk I keep for my calcium-rich snacks and put with coupon friendly crackers.

Dessert?   I had  home-made cinnamon rolls in the freezer and just made a tastyglaze-voila.

The meal was  inexpensive. I already had most of the ingredients on hand. It was a hit.

Planned Grocery Spending-Week One:

So, one week in, here’s my re-worked strategy……

The amount I am allowing myself each week will remain the same.  My goal is to have money left over. That money I will keep in a ‘grocery savings’ envelope- to be used for those great  bulk buying bargains I don’t want to miss but would throw me off my weekly budgeted amount.

I must keep food-for-company meals in the freezer and make allowance for the “entertainment” factor of those meals.

I think the extra envelope with the ‘grocery savings’ money may do the trick for me.  Yes, I’m frugal, but sometimes I overspend at any one time just to get a bargain.  Setting a limit even on that spending will help.

This may not be so hard after all.  Finding the right strategy and then adding a little measure of flexibility could be my solution for staying with a grocery budget. Finally……

Week two is looming-stay tuned…..

Suggestions from you great grocery budgeters out there?  Let me know your secrets.

{photo credit: Polycart c.c.}

FDL BSN, is a frequent guest poster here at The Millionaire Nurse Blog.

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Vacations: Unplugged or Big City Exploration

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Vacations: Unplugged

Guest Post: FDL,  RN BSN

It’s vacation season.  Just like you, I’m having to cover for vacationing co-workers… Yea, I guess it’s ok for others to get a little time off….  As I ponder things to do while it’s so hot here in the south, I’m drawn to articles to help me plan my own time off.

A couple of  money saving vacation related articles caught my eye.

For those of you who need a little time unplugged from the digital world:

Hotels and destinations  are offering “gadget-free” stays.  If your kids wonder who you are if you don’t have your phone to your ear, or can’t help sneaking away to check work email when you are off the clock-this may be just what you need.

Computer/smart phone/iPad un-plugged and off limits!  They are even offering these vacations at a discount-if you promise to leave your electronics alone or at home.

Need an Un-plugged vacation?

  • That’s right, for a slight discount, they will store your digital gadgets and throw in a kayak or massage.  There are a couple of problems with this:
  1. The packages actually provide few extras and often ultimately cost you more compared to other available discounts.
  2. You miss snagging those timely coupons off Groupon you could have used at that marvelous restaurant down the street from the hotel-remember you are un-plugged, so no Groupon or Foursquare points for you…..
  3. You won’t be sharing pictures of your beach bodied buds or getting feed-back from fellow travelers on other super places to visit that are near by.

But if you need time away and don’t trust yourself to truly de-stress by detaching from the world without help-this may be just what you need.

US City vacation visits:

Another vacation choice popped up on my radar screen.  This one works  if you are planning a US vacation in one of the major urban areas of our great country.

  1. The company has negotiated discount rates on area attractions in many US cities (NYC, Chicago, and San Fran among many others….)  They’ve bundled them into discounted passes for their customers.
  2. You use your pass to skip ticket lines.
  3. In some cities, with Go Select, you can even customize your bundle, paying only for those attractions you want to see.
  4. If you don’t use all your passes-you can get a refund.
  5. The site provides down-loadable city guides with maps and information.

If you were headed to one of the cities listed and were planning on hitting many of the tourist sites with your family, these discounts can add up to significant savings!

Remember those hotel rooms you book through sites like Expedia and Travelocity are non-refundable.  No refunding: not weeks before, the day before, none, nada.  Book with that in mind.  It is not just the airlines anymore who don’t do refunds.

You’ve  now got a couple of choices.  An un-plugged vacation or a US city with all the tours, museums, and zoo’s at a real discount.

It’s up to you.

{photo credit: bark c.c.}

Reader comments:

Anyone here tried a true gadget free vacation?  And if you live in one of the cities quoted in the article, any other suggestions for those trying to visit on the cheap?

About the author, FDL:

FDL is a public health nurse, part-time blogger, full time Mom, and aspiring entrepreneur.

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