The Frugal Baby Boomer

Retirement — I’m almost, but not quite there yet. Eligible, but yet ready.
So, the flyer on the cafeteria wall grabs my attention and embeds itself in the “interested section” of my consciousness. I’m hooked by an idea. “Join your coworkers on a bus trip To go shopping in New York City.”
Hey! We can practice being retired! All the senior centers put together special bus trips! We can pretend that this is one of those
trip! So, off went my $40 check the the gal who is organizing the trip. What the heck; it would cost me more to park in “the City”, although twenty
years ago I thought nothing of driving into Manhattan and trolling for a free space on the street.
When we got to New York, we found ourselves on the edge of “Little Korea”. Though it is comprised of just a few blocks, it does offer our favorite food, so we looked for a good restaurant and dug in.
Unfortunately, the restaurant didn’t get the message about our ‘senior class trip’, and took all but a few dollars of our food allotment; but, it was worth it!
We got to visit Macy’s — something my wife has always wanted to do. We also got to see “Phantom of the Opera” on a couple of discount matinee tickets. After the show, our day was over and we returned to the bus.
Watching the bus driver deal with traffic was enough to convince me that despite the limitations of a scheduled trip like this, I do not want to drive to New York on my own. And, it’s not just a matter of age! I used to drive into the city at least once a month when I was in my twenties. Sure, age affects your ability to do things like that, but traffic seems at least twice as bad as it once was.
I’d consider taking one of the discount scheduled buses to the city. Or, perhaps, drive to one of the close-by cities like Jersey City or Newark and take a train the rest of the way. It would be a little more expensive but I wouldn’t have to deal with either the traffic or the huge parking fees, but we would be on our own schedule and can linger when we want.

A few years ago, my son, who is a writer/editor for a magazine, mentioned that he was evaluating a small-batch coffee roaster for an article he was writing about the ubiquitous brew. Being a coffee connoisseur (at least in my own mind), I paid close attention to what he wrote. Months later, after I had read some articles and books about the subject, I decided to give it the acid test: I bought a small roaster. The roaster, a FreshRoast 8, could cost about $100 at that time, but I googled the daylights out of it and found a vendor who dealt in “refurbs” and got one for $87 including shipping!

The process is quite simple, I found. You load up the roasting chamber with two scoops of green beans, set the timer, and wait for the device to do its job. Like a car, where you can drive from Point A to Point B without ever considering how or why it works, you don’t need to know any more about the roaster. The part that makes it fun is where you start considering the effects of variations: Do I use Ethiopian beans, or Mexican, or Costa Rican? Do I roast it for 8 minutes or 6 minutes? Why does an 8-minute roast look so oily? What makes it so noisy after a few minutes (called the “first crack”) and again a few minutes later (called the “second crack”)? What changes can I make which affects the quality or richness?

Once you start considering the questions and searching for answers, it captures your attention and your curiosity. What got my creative and investigative juices really flowing was the realization that I could actually make the perfect cup of java from what looks like dried green peas, controlling the process every step of the way. To my wife’s amazement (and perhaps, consternation) I researched and bought all kinds of green beans from all over the world, roasted them at all combinations of time and heat, ground them in all kinds of grinders (yes, there are many types of grinding devices, some with finite control of the coarseness/fineness of the grind) and brewed in all kinds of coffee brewers — percolator, vacuum, drip, etc. Her chagrin is triggered by how short a time I use a particular brewer before I start shopping for the next perfect device. You can really create a myriad variety of tasty — or nasty — and delightful cups of joe (my least favorite, percolator brew, will never cross my lips again!). Coffee has an astounding range of possible variations when you consider you can now choose where the bean came from, method of cultivation (full sun, shade, etc.), time of roast, temperature of roast (to some extent), fineness and method of grind, method of brewing (including type of filter), even the kind of water you use (tap, filtered tap, distilled, cold, room-temperature, etc.)! Best of all, you can control the ‘when’ of it: you can roast today and grind and drink tomorrow.

But wait, there’s more! Half of this post’s title is “That Pays”!

I found that coffee beans at the store vary in price and quality, depending on where they came from, how old they are, how you grind them, and how you brew your coffee. Some of us will pay upwards of $18 – $25 dollars a pound and convince ourselves that it’s “heavenly coffee”! But, when you consider that by the time you purchase and drink such store-bought java, it’s weeks, or more likely many months old already. Stale even as you check out at the grocery store!

On the other hand, excellent green coffee beans can be had for prices under $5.00/pound! And green beans have a very long shelf life, though even green coffee’s flavor can fade over time. Nonetheless, excellent coffee made from beans I’ve had over two years is not unusual. Find a dealer who only stocks the current year’s crop and whose coffee doesn’t roast to a mildew tainted flavor and you’ll have green beans you can depend on for more than a year. You can obtain information like that if you find and join the many discussion groups who are on the internet.

So, let’s see: I can buy coffee at $5.00 per pound, roast it to my specs, and drink it only days, if not hours, after roasting! I’d say I have a tasty hobby that pays! One great book for a comprehensive look at coffee roasting history, technique and where-to-buy is this by Kenneth Davids.

You’ve really got to be creative to eat on the cheap and enjoy it. Make yourself aware of the bargains that abound and you’ll walk away satisfied — even stuffed — with excellent victuals.

A frequent example, one that’s pretty well available country wide, is Olive Garden’s all-you-can-eat soup and salad, on their lunch menu. Not only is the salad top grade, but so are the soups: usually chicken gnocchi, vegetarian minestrone, zuppa toscano (creamy sausage soup with potatoes) and pasta fagiolo.
One thing you’ll enjoy along with the food at O.G. is the waitstaff. They are pleasant, outgoing and eager to please — something you don’t always see in a waiter or waitress. Here’s another unusual aspect of the O.G. waitstaff: we’ve gotten to know the staff at our local Olive Garden on sight, if not by name. Many of them have been there for years, something you don’t often see at restaurants: more often, you’ll see a fresh set of faces with each visit. What difference does that make? It tells you that the management appreciates the staff and shows it, and so the staff is happy, with the result that they treat us — the customer — well.
Prices will vary from one O.G. to another for various reasons, but we’ve been paying around $18 for our soup and salad lunches with coffee for the two of us. My girl will usually have two bowls of salad and most often just one, though occasionally two bowls of soup. As for me, she’ll “tchh-tchh” me for having a third bowl of soup and a third bowl of salad every time.
When you think about it, the waiter probably works harder for the all-you-can-eat meal with refills of salad, soup, coffee and (yum) breadsticks, than he/she has to work for a conventional meal. With that in mind, and considering the always excellent service, we usually leave more of a tip than when we order a meal.
If you haven’t tried Olive Garden, recently or ever, go to www.olivegarden.com and find one near you. You can check out their menu at that site, with prices, for your local O.G.  If the Soup and Salad lunch deal doesn’t appeal to you, you’ll find their entrees reasonable, and all that they offer is great. And, if you are traveling, we’ve found that they are consistently good, no matter the location, so keep them in mind as you bounce around the country!

I signed up for a special package deal through my cable company 25 months ago: Cable, Phone and Internet for only $99 per month for two years. It seemed like such a great deal at the time, since the alternatives were either slower or more expensive and one check to one provider seemed so attractive. Of course, I ignored the fine print that told me that the “free” (and addictive) Digital Video Recorder was only free for the first year. When I noticed the $16 monthly rental on my bill 13 months ago, I called and groused about the DVR charge and how slow my internet connection seemed to be. My next feat of sales resistance resulted in keeping the DVR for another year, adding some kind of warpspeed option and an additional package of channels so I could watch FoxBusinessNews. The chap I spoke with was a Macintosh fan (I do Macintosh support for a living) and so we had some rapport established. After about about 15 minutes of ranting about the PC’s he has to use he signed me up for another $20 per month, with my knowing that this would all come home to roost in a year.

Well the second year is up – and the roost is full! My first bill just arrived and I have to pony up $170 per month to keep the service.

I won’t.

I’m looking for suggestions on how to cut costs and separate as much of my services as I can.

I’d noticed for quite some time that when I cook chicken, if I fry it, it spatters like crazy and makes a mess of my stove (and most other nearby surfaces). It’s been one of those things that kind of creep up on you: I realized the other day what a mess it made and how dangerous it was to stand within a foot or so of the stove. I wondered, “why?”

Well, the answer was most evident when I removed the chicken from the pan to cut and add to my Creole Chicken and Rice dish. When I had about half of what I would like in the rice mixture, I was out of chicken: It had shrunk nearly in half — all that spattering was the water releasing from the chicken and popping and spattering in the oil I was frying the chicken in. What was left in the pan after I removed the chicken looked like about 1/3 of a cup of chicken broth; however, when I tasted it I found it had little flavor — not much good as a broth.

But, “Where’s the Chicken?” Where’d it go?

Well, I did some research and found out that it really wasn’t there to begin with. I found that before 1997, chicken processors were allowed to add water equal to 12% of the chicken’s weight. Then, inconceivably, the USDA removed the limitation! No, it didn’t increase it to 20%, or 25% or 30% — the FDA totally and completely, removed the limitation. Chicken processors can add virtually any amount of water, although they must state so on the packaging.

Is this a joke? Of course not! Now you’ll see remarks on labels like “20% flavor enhancer added”, “20% natural solution added”. What is the “natural solution”? Usually it’s just salty water — what could be more natural? So, not only are you paying $12 for $10 worth of chicken, but you are adding huge amounts of sodium to your diet: as much as 822% more sodium than natural chicken, according to the Truthful Labeling Coalition (www.truthfullabeling.org/)! So, while you thought you were reducing your sodium intake to fight your high blood pressure, a chicken is stabbing you in the back.

Often, a broth solution is used but what’s interesting about that is that MSG is often included in broth. I avoid MSG like a poison (oops, did I say it’s a poison?), why would I want it to be in my food without disclosure? More research told me that the FDA is attempting to re-regulate the water content in chicken by reverting to the 15% limit on water, the industry is fighting it beak and . . . I mean tooth and nail. Can you blame them? After all, they’re being asked to give up some of their excess profits!

If you are thinking this all affects only chicken . . . think again? I recently checked out the labels on a turkey tenderloin and a pork tenderloin both of which, in very small type, stated that ‘up to’ 30% flavor enhancer was added. Now, when I look at a package of ham and see “water added,” I have to wonder, “How much?” It will be an educational experience, I promise you, to look over the labels of the prepared foods you see in the meat cases of your favorite grocery store.

And that’s the most important message here . . . “to look over the labels” . Now more than ever before, manipulation of our food supply is striking you where it does the most damage: in your body as well as your wallet. It happens to be my pet peeve, so you can be sure you’ll hear more about it from me, in the future!

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We used to spend a good hour of each evening, after returning home from our jobs, preparing our evening meals. Saturdays and Sundays, we often spent more time preparing more elaborate meals. Think about it . . . over a year’s time, that amounts to at least 465 hours each year, considering the extra hundred or so on weekend cooking!

We gave it a lot of thought and researched methods of cutting our meal prep time and came up with a very obvious solution. I say “obvious” mainly because it should have been; however, it took an article in someone else’s blog to remind us that by doubling the amount of food prepared each time, and therefore doubling the number of meals prepped in the same time, we cut our cooking time in half.

Some trial and error is necessary to refine your technique, however. If you knew me personally, you’d realize that I have a problem with food: I eat too much of it. So, making a double batch of dinner, also doubles my temptation to overeat. That challenge can be overcome, though, by immediately packing away the 2nd meal — it’s not ironclad, but it adds a layer of security, so to speak.

One hurdle to overcome is the fact that just doubling ingredients gives you two batches: not so. Certain seasonings, notoriously salt, should not be doubled (try 1-1/2 the original amount). Others can be more than doubled, like garlic, or stock. Err on the side of caution and taste as you go.

There’s a cookbook around, called “Cook Once Eat Twice”, which gives you a recipe for the second meal in which you modify the leftovers and create an entirely new meal from it.. Not all of the combos appeal to us, so I sometimes try to modify the rerun myself. Today’s roast chicken can become tomorrow’s chicken pot pie (using low fat additions, of course) Take some of Sunday’s pot roast, cubed, and add it to some beef stock and frozen or leftover veggies, throw in some barley and a bayleaf, and you have beef barley soup. Bigger cubes and more barley and you have beef barley stew.

Some great ideas come from a menu/meal planning service called E-Mealz (www.e-mealz.com). They provide, at a cost of less than $5.00 per month, a weekly meal planner that includes shopping lists! When you sign up, you select any one of several categories. I’ve tried a couple of them, including one designed for WeightWatcher’s fans (not endorsed by WeightWatchers), a low-fat category, and one which just prescribes meals of ‘general’ type. Many of the meals may be called “comfort food”, to my way of thinking. Some of the meals are downright ingenious, like one which takes simple broth, chicken chunks, veggies and other simple ingredients, to which you add a few flour tortillas, cut in strips, and PRESTO you have quick and easy chicken and dumplings literally in minutes.

Each week’s E-Mealz edition gives 5 or 7 recipes for dinner and gives a consolidated shopping list, so that if there are two recipes calling for 1/2 pound and 3/4 pounds of chicken breast, it’ll tell you to buy 1-1/4 pounds of chicken breast.

As soon as I figure this blogging thing all out, I’ll be providing links to many of the things I’ve referred to.

I’ve often heard it asked: “If you don’t plan on where you are going, how will you know when you get there?” I’ve also heard it said that, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Many of us approach life’s major transitions without any sort of planning; we just let life happen to us. But, entering retirement is one of those transitions that have a very difficult “do-over”, if any at all.

It’s particularly true if you are already on a tight budget going into your mid-sixties. Perhaps you don’t feel confident that you have enough of a nest egg to enjoy your “golden years,” and you feel a nagging anxiety in your soul as the calendar pages slip away. Good or bad, it is essential that you have a handle on what to expect financially as you transition to living on your savings and a fixed income. It helps to know what’s ahead of you.

The first thing you might consider doing is to create a few spreadsheets and do some “proforma” projections of how your income is going to flow. If you own Excel or a similar spreadsheet program, you can begin right away to create these spreadsheets. Now, if you don’t own such applications, don’t go out and spend a couple of hundred dollars on Excel or some expensive budgeting software. Assuming you have some skill in using a spreadsheet, you could just go to Google.com and sign up for a FREE account where you can immediately take advantage of “Google Docs”. Google Docs consists of a suite of free “productivity” software, including spreadsheet, word processing and presentation functions. If you don’t have experience with Excel (or Word), remember that it costs nothing to sign up and explore Google’s free online applications.

Google Docs makes “office suite software” not only CHEAP to use, but also incredibly easy.  There are books available to help you, including the “for Dummies” series. You will likely find them in a well equipped library, but these are books you’ll want to own for reference, so after looking them over at the library (or the bookstore), pick the best and buy it so you’ll always have it close at hand. In a coming article, we’ll get into more depth on this; for now, you may want to check out some of the resources mentioned.