Hubby has challenged me to cut 10 to 15% of our monthly budget. Any ideas?

Quote from Dr. J : I'll echo others: Ditch the organic food kick - you are probably wasting 50% of your food budget on this marketing scheme. As someone else said, you can re-evaluate your insurance deductibles, just be sure you have enough cash on hand to cover an increased deductible. On the subject, re-evaluate your insurance carriers yearly or semi-yearly - you can save a TON sometimes; assuming that whatever company gave you the best price last time will have the best price now can cost you! Also re-evaluate your energy usage - switch to CFL's where possible (they can be had for cheap). I started supplementing our heat with wood (from oil) which is about 1/2 the cost of oil per BTU.

I like to buy the organic (hormone free) milk for the kids. Hubby and I drink regular. I've been buying local produce - some of it organic, some not. I'm probably adding 30% to the bill for that. Imported foods have some of the worst contamination. It's cheap to get grapes from Mexico but I worry about the sanitation system and the lack of gov't oversight on the use of chemicals down there. We've cut back on red meat, more fish and chicken. Maybe I've been too picky. I can skip the organic for me and hubby but I would like to keep the hormone free meat and milk for the kids. Probably keep the organic foods (the ones most prone to contamination and high pesticide count, like grapes) for us. Bananas and other thicker skinned foods tend to be better and have lower pesticides in them. I don't need to buy organic bananas. http://www.living-foods.com/artic...elist.html I'll have to be more choosy in what I buy that's organic and locally grown. I can make it work.

And I seriously hate our heat pump. All electric heat stinks and it gets expensive when the temperature falls below 35. Next house is gas or geo-thermal. Too bad the gas line is at the street. It would cost 2 to 3K to get it to the house and that's not including replacing the furnace. I'm jealous, Dr. J, of that wood burner. There's the way to go.

You can buy regular non-hormone free milk--read the labels. Even Wa;mart milk is free of growth hormones (Giant food retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced that its store brand milk in the United States will now come exclusively from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones.} That will save you a lot right there!
Another trick is to buy conventional fruit, veggies and wash with a mild bleach solution. Mom did this while we were growing up because one of us kids had an immune problem. She also peeled apples and pears--but that was more for mouthfeel.
Cook every meal at home, take thermos bottles of drinks, etc. Cutting 10-15% is easy. It is hard when you are already doing all this and then have to start cutting out!!

Quote from StarNova : My only thing is I'm buying higher end food - like organic milk for the kids. I worry about the hormones on their little bodies. Local produce is awesome but it's so expensive. Maybe I could do a mix of organic and regular produce to keep the budget in check.

I think you're looking at it wrong. Shopping wise for high quality, nutrient dense food will pay for itself over the long run: less Dr's visits, less sick time off work, less garbage food which is the most expensive food you can buy.

I was going to mention getting rid of cable TV, but you go that covered. Good for you for taking the kiddies to the library.

You're losing using a debit card in the long run. Makes no sense to me. Consistently charging to revolving accounts and paying them back is the best way to keep your credit high. Plus you miss out on miles, cashback, and other perks CC's give you.

Quote from SueM : You can buy regular non-hormone free milk--read the labels. Even Wa;mart milk is free of growth hormones (Giant food retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced that its store brand milk in the United States will now come exclusively from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones.} That will save you a lot right there!

True, but that milk comes from cows that live in fields of shit and eat GMO corn and soybeans. They might not juice the cows up which is a bonus, but that doesn't mean the milk from them is healthy. Pasteurized and homogenized milk is an allergen and should be avoided.

If you're worried about not getting calcium, then eat what gives cow's milk that calcium: grass. Well, not really....but green leafy vegetables. Cooked in butter or steamed with butter. I'm talking real, yellow butter from a local farmer, not the tubs of imitation stuff at the grocery store.

Saying pasteurized and homogenized milk is an allergen is a gross mischaracterization. That's akin to saying peanut butter is poisonous. Assuming you were lactose intolerant, raw milk will still act as an allergen. Raw milk can also contain deadly pathogens such as TB, salmonella and E.Coli.

Your line about GMO is also BS. To quote from a research paper from the NRC

Quote : Genetic engineering is one of the newer technologies available to produce desirable traits in plants and animals used for food, but it poses no unique health risks that cannot also arise from conventional breeding and other genetic alteration methods.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?re...=10977#toc

Skip cow milk and just get Soymilk. Its comparably priced and from experience, Silk SoyMilk Vanilla flavor is absolutely amazing, not to mention its healthier than regular cow milk and has all the vitamins and nutrients to help your kids.

On the food side, you can be healthy and cheap at the same time. Because of health consequences, you are not looking for the cheapest price. It is understandable and commanded. There are ways you can save in this route by playing it smart and using substitutes. For example, if you care about pesticides, organic makes sense on lettuce and tomatoes, but not something you can peal, such as bananas. You can buy organic cow milk but also organic almond and rice milk. Trader Joe's sells the half-gallon rice milk for I think $3 and the almond for slightly more.

Metered electricity is a tough call. It depends on your usage and climate. You can run laundry on a timer when rates are cheap, but that may be a small expense relative to your overall usage such as the house' air/heating.

Share your Costco card with a neighbor and split the yearly fee. To save on gas, have hubby run errands while to/from work. Call the phone company and ask for a discount on internet (there is a great thread on that) and, if you are keeping the landline, maybe you don't need all of the addons or you are paying for a plan even though most of your calls are on the cell or GoogleVoice.

In Jan 2009 the WSJ [wsj.com] ran a nice article titled "Cable Bill High? Phone Costs Up? Now, Let's Talk." The best thing is like you have done is to cut the cord, but if you have to keep a service, such as with phone and internet, there are ways to save by simply picking up the phone.

To cut 10-15% when you have already reduced/eliminated top expenses is a stretch, but it can be done.

Quote from L3thal : Skip cow milk and just get Soymilk. Its comparably priced and from experience, Silk SoyMilk Vanilla flavor is absolutely amazing, not to mention its healthier than regular cow milk and has all the vitamins and nutrients to help your kids.

I have skipped soy for the past year because many nutritionists consider it unhealthy, I think because of the way it is processed.

Quote from himarty : I have skipped soy for the past year because many nutritionists consider it unhealthy, I think because of the way it is processed.

95% of those studies were funded by the dairy industry but none of their claims have been proven. Matter of fact, this site explains this pretty well: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA40...-safe.html

You also have to choose the brands of soymilk you are buying and that is why I stick to the Silk brand, considering they use only organic, pesticide-free, soy beans. More info on that here: http://silksoymilk.com/content/faq#ingredient

I was surprised and googled it, but it is coming from a highly respected person with decades in the alternative medicine industry, who was referred by a retired person that is nearing the century mark. His research came out well before soy milk became a fad, with research coming out of both side for and against.

Quote from L3thal : 95% of those studies were funded by the dairy industry but none of their claims have been proven. Matter of fact, this site explains this pretty well: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA40...-safe.html You also have to choose the brands of soymilk you are buying and that is why I stick to the Silk brand, considering they use only organic, pesticide-free, soy beans. More info on that here: http://silksoymilk.com/content/faq#ingredient

Quote from StarNova : We've cut back on red meat, more fish and chicken.

I don't know if you cut back on red meat due to cost or what, presumably so, but a recent study from Harvard(?) studied 1600 previous studies and found no link between unprocessed red meat and heart disease.

I could now get into how the high-grain/carbs/low-fat (and by-product low-protein) diet the government and various scientists pushed on people for decades has hurt or killed who knows how many people, but that's a full topic for another time. Anyone curious, though, look up things like whether the Lipid Hypothesis is based on facts, and whether there are any facts that show cholesterol causes heart disease.

Quote from StarNova : I like to buy the organic (hormone free) milk for the kids. Hubby and I drink regular. I've been buying local produce - some of it organic, some not. I'm probably adding 30% to the bill for that. Imported foods have some of the worst contamination. It's cheap to get grapes from Mexico but I worry about the sanitation system and the lack of gov't oversight on the use of chemicals down there. We've cut back on red meat, more fish and chicken. Maybe I've been too picky. I can skip the organic for me and hubby but I would like to keep the hormone free meat and milk for the kids. Probably keep the organic foods (the ones most prone to contamination and high pesticide count, like grapes) for us. Bananas and other thicker skinned foods tend to be better and have lower pesticides in them. I don't need to buy organic bananas. http://www.living-foods.com/artic...elist.html I'll have to be more choosy in what I buy that's organic and locally grown. I can make it work. And I seriously hate our heat pump. All electric heat stinks and it gets expensive when the temperature falls below 35. Next house is gas or geo-thermal. Too bad the gas line is at the street. It would cost 2 to 3K to get it to the house and that's not including replacing the furnace. I'm jealous, Dr. J, of that wood burner. There's the way to go.

I know the pain of electric heat - we moved from a 1400 sq ft CONDO (all electric) to a 3000 sq ft house (oil / wood) and the heat bill is roughly the same for both places even though we have the tstats set 5F higher in the house and the living room area is always in the mid 70's.

On a side note, the introductory rate on our internet service just expired and the rate almost doubled. I called Comcrap and told them bluntly that they need to give me a better price for the same service otherwise I was walking to DSL (which I had for years before moving). I told the CSR that I wanted to speak with Retentions and she seemed kind of shocked that I knew such a dept existed!

Yes drop the organic food. That is very expensive. I know you may think that its more healthy but not really, its mostly all BS, there are chemicals and all kinds of junk in everything and its virtually impossible to get away from it unless you live like Amish person even then...its not. Beans are cheap, fish, eggs, vegetables, rice, pasta, use turkey. shop at a different grocery store like Aldi's Turn off Lights when your not using it, change over to the halogen light bulbs that use less energy if you havn't. Think with your head about fixing things, don't just go out and buy something because it broke, learn to fix things. Like yesterday my ferrets needed a new sleeper bag, they wanted like $20 for one at the pet store, but I just got some fleece folded it and sewed it up and they havn't really been out of it since. Took me about 30 mins. I am full of ideas. I live on a fixed income of about $1300 a month along with my husband. Shop at thrift stores, sell some of your things to bring in extra income on craigslist or ebay. Save all of your change and put in a jar and at the end of the month you will be suprised. Tons of stuff you can do. I hear you about the all electric heating bill. In the winter I have to refinance it, its so high about $300 a month if not more. Here in kansas they have the cold weather rule and it runs from november to march. They can't shut your electric off, but you just refinance the payment but I don't think I would do that unless your really tight for money, I have a $1300 balance and it adds about 100 onto my bill. But sometimes you don't have a choice. We are looking for a new house that is more efficient, that is something you may want to consider as well. I don't know what kind of heating set up you use, but I use space heaters in my house and I block the rooms off with blankets or curtains to make it more efficient.

Quote from Deusxmachina : I don't know if you cut back on red meat due to cost or what, presumably so, but a recent study from Harvard(?) studied 1600 previous studies and found no link between unprocessed red meat and heart disease. I could now get into how the high-grain/carbs/low-fat (and by-product low-protein) diet the government and various scientists pushed on people for decades has hurt or killed who knows how many people, but that's a full topic for another time. Anyone curious, though, look up things like whether the Lipid Hypothesis is based on facts, and whether there are any facts that show cholesterol causes heart disease.

Not very much time to respond, but I'll try to clarify...

Paper is this one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20479151

It's a meta-analysis from a group at the Harvard School of Public Health in the cardiovascular journal Circulation, which is one of the most significant in that field.

They took 1598 studies and applied some fairly stringent criteria to attempt to isolate the effects of red meat on CAD, resulting in the selection of 4 studies for analysis. That's a huge drop in sample size, and draws questions as to the validity of the analysis. Even more so, since the criteria demand only otherwise healthy individuals - difficult for CAD, as it rarely occurs in isolation, so screening out the majority of the affected population. They have essentially proven that red meat doesn't cause CAD without causing other medical problems as well. This is pretty apparent in their larger set of 20 studies, where the patient population has a ~1.5% rate of CAD without other ailments... Which doesn't reflect the ~5% prevalence in the general population.

In other words, I'm not very inclined as a doctor to tell my patients that lots of red meat is fine, based on this paper.

The interactions of cholesterol and free fatty acids for plaque formation is complex and reliant on blood pressure and a wide range of vascular factors. More fat ingested does not necessarily absolutely cause greater plaque formation, but it makes a lot of sense to limit fat consumption, as fat (adipose) tissue causes a wide variety of disease by generating hormones in ways that we are only beginning to understand. Two of the key things that it does do, are to raise blood pressure and to produce a chronic inflammatory state, which are the exact conditions required for plaque formation within arteries and eventually coronary artery disease.

Overall - less red meat is good (I'm not saying to not have any at all, but try to keep it to a small amount), fish and chicken are a good way to go (it's good to get protein in your diet). Get some fiber, get moderate carbs, and you'll be well on track. Balance is what we're aiming for.

Before I forget - soy milk is perfectly fine. You are more likely to be allergic to soy protein (it's the second most common food allergy after peanuts) than cow's milk, but it's pretty rare. The processing of soy milk does not lead to more contamination, nor does regular, processed cow's milk pose a medical threat.

HOWEVER: Unpasteurized, unprocessed animal milk can pose a risk to you and your children in certain circumstances, and is best avoided if you have access to pasteurized sources.

Soy milk or cow's milk generally don't confer any substantial benefit over each other as part of a reasonable diet. Soy protein provides a full range of essential amino acids, which is nice, but you'll get those if you eat any vegetables and some meat in your diet, too. Therefore, if you're a vegetarian/vegan, soy milk is really beneficial. If you aren't, then it doesn't matter. Cow's milk is commonly fortified with vitamin D, but you'll often get that from other places too... Rickets is very, very rare in the US these days, despite so many people having relatively unbalanced diets.

There's a persistent question about whether large amounts of soy cause estrogen receptor activation and might lead to slightly more breast and endometrial (lining of the uterus) cancers, but the studies have been back and forth for a long time - so if there is an effect, it's probably tiny, since we can't obviously see it either way. I'm not telling my female patients to avoid soy milk or soy products.

Choice of milk won't make or break your health (again, unless you are vegetarian/vegan). Myself, I just drink cow's milk, because it's cheaper and doesn't make much difference, but I do go for fat-free if I'm going to drink a lot (with cereal, for example).

Also - lactose intolerance isn't an allergy; you just can't absorb it, so you poop it out along with some extra water, hence the diarrhea. In that case, soy or lactose-free milk, or lactase pills are the way to go.