Wise Bread (Sarah Baughman)

Healthy Eating: The Sequel

Sarah Baughman — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:11:41 +0000

A while back, I wrote about the conundrum of wanting to eat healthy but finding that most healthy choices cost more than less healthy choices. My post, entitled “Healthy Eating: It’ll Cost You!” was based on a New York Times article and on my personal experiences trying to shop wisely in rural America. I received a range of responses—many people seemed to agree that the American poor face a true dilemma when it comes to eating wisely. Some pointed out that I should just head to Trader Joe’s or a local ethnic market to save money. I don’t blame those people for not realizing that we don’t have Trade Joe’s or a local ethnic market. Sometimes when you’re used to living with those things, you forget they’re not everywhere.

My friends in more metropolitan regions of the state have Trader Joe’s, as well as a nifty place called Plum’s that seems based on the same idea as Trader Joe’s, and a smattering of other small, reasonably priced “healthy-and-organic-on-the-cheap” options around town. Here, in sum, are my grocery options within thirty miles of my small town, whose economy, for what it’s worth, is largely stimulated by tourism and whose local residents are rarely as wealthy as the vacationers who flood the place in summer and winter. I’ve listed the stores in ascending order according to price:

• WAL-MART—you all know this one. Rock-bottom prices and questionable company policies all around. I know people who drive 20 miles to shop here.
• THE REGULAR GROCERY STORE—a regional grocery chain with decent food selection, where you’ll pay more for the same items you get at Wal-Mart.
• THE FAMILY-OWNED GROCERY STORE—a small family-owned grocery with locations in four small towns. Decidedly more expensive than Wal-Mart.
• THE FOOD CO-OP—a well-stocked food co-op with plenty of healthy, but inevitably premium-priced, organic and local options.

Come summer, of course, all of this changes; I live in a beautiful, agriculturally rich area, and the farmer’s markets are unmatched. But from November to May, you’ve got those four choices. I'm sure the choices are similar throughout much of small-town America.

I think it’s really all about short-term versus long-term thinking. Am I willing to pay one-and-a-half times as much, or even over twice as much, for groceries in short-term, if I know that by doing so I can support local businesses in the long-term? For those living close to or below the poverty line, short-term thinking is sometimes the only option, which is why these corporate giants can be so detrimental to our communities. When given the choice to pay $3 or $1.75 for a loaf of bread, there are plenty of people who simply have to pay $1.75.

If you’re somewhere in the middle, check out my…

SHORT-TERM TIPS FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH LIMITED GROCERY OPTIONS:
• If you have a food co-op in your area, ask them for a coupon book. Most co-ops put one out monthly, and clipping coupons can offer amazing savings on regular grocery items. Most co-ops will also trade volunteer hours for discounts: volunteering just four hours a month at my co-op will earn you 10% off your total purchase every day of that month.
• Call your Chamber of Commerce to see if there are any incentive programs available for shopping at local businesses. In my town, anybody who works for a local business can get a Chamber Discount Card, giving them deals when they shop locally. It’s meant to encourage local businesses to support one another.
• Start small. Choose one or two items you want to buy organically or from a locally owned store each week. Maybe you’ll decide to buy organic milk, or local apples, or maybe you’ll just get a cup of coffee at the local shop instead of Starbuck’s (which we don’t have either, by the way…and I don’t miss it. Our little coffee shop is just what I need!). A friend of mine recently said she started out just buying one item a week, as well as whatever was on sale, at our food co-op. “Then, I just started buying more items there each week, and now that’s pretty much the only place I shop for my family,” she said. “I’ve made it work.” This might not be within economic reach for everyone, but you never know.
• Check your budget and weigh your priorities. Are there places where you could adjust in order to allow you to shop locally for a few items? I rarely buy a $3 latte anymore, and I rent movies rather than going to the theater, and the extra money in my pocket gives me a little extra to cover, say, the difference between shopping at a local grocery versus Wal-Mart.

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Thinking Inside the “Little White Receipt Box”

Sarah Baughman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:21:47 +0000

By Sarah Baughman

It’s no fun getting to the end of the month, thinking you’ve been frugal, only to find an exceptionally monstrous credit card bill or disturbingly meager checking account balance waiting to throw you off. My husband and I were getting sick of muttering “Huh?!” or worse as we watched our money float inexplicably away.

It didn’t help that we had about a jillion ways to spend money. We could use one of two credit cards, write a check, withdraw cash, use our automatic debit card… and we soon found that while I relied on my credit cards, my husband was debiting away, leaving me with an inflated sense of what was in our account and him with a deflated sense of what was on our cards. It was all very confusing.

We immediately took stock of the situation and made a few organizational changes. I didn’t want to give up the credit cards, because the two I have come with such great financial rewards, and he didn’t want to give up the debiting, because it produced such immediate “feedback” on what we had in our account. So, we agreed:
• Our Mastercard, which we got specifically because of its great rebates on gas and other auto-related purchases, will now only be used for gas and car repairs.
• Our Discover Card, which we got specifically because of its travel rebates, will be used only for recurring bill debits (such as the cell phone bill and my monthly orthodontist bill), as well as major purchases, which we will always discuss prior to initiating.
• We will primarily use our debit card for purchases and check the account balance online frequently prior to using. (For us, withdrawing cash felt like pouring water into a cracked cup—dollars would fly out here and there as if drawn by magnetic force—and it’s almost always just as easy to use a debit card or write a check)

Our most important change, however, came in the form of a little white box—our “Little White Receipt Box.” It sits conveniently atop our shoe rack; we see it the minute we walk in the door. We have begun saving all of our receipts, from a gallon of milk on up, and sorting through the box at the end of each week to assess our spending and make sure we stay on track. I went to a school play last night and wrote a little receipt for myself—actually, it was just a scrawled reminder “School Play--$2”—and dropped it in the box. Might sound silly, but after a couple weeks of buying $2 or $3 lunches or Gatorades and not communicating about them, $40 would all of a sudden be gone and we’d be scratching our heads. Once you have to write it down, you’ll probably end up packing PB & J instead.

Anyway, jotted on the top of the box are reminders about recurring monthly debits we’re responsible for on each card or account. Seeing the reminders every day helps us remain mindful of what life really costs—“Oh yeah, I’m still paying off my student loans. Maybe I’ll ditch that latte this week.”

More significantly, the “Little White Receipt Box” has given us a sense of responsibility, probably similar to that dieters experience when they have to write down everything they eat. We know the other person will see our purchase, so we think a little harder before we buy. We also see exactly where the money goes, dollar by dollar, avoiding any sense of mystery and also encouraging us to spend wisely. Thinking inside this box might not be creative, but it sure is easy on the wallet.

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Healthy Eating--It'll Cost You!

Sarah Baughman — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:35:37 +0000

By Sarah Baughman

Eating economically in China and Bolivia, where my husband and I lived for the past three years, meant shopping for local produce at local markets and eating plenty of vegetables and fruits. Eating economically in the United States, where we now live, apparently means shopping for imported produce at Wal-Mart (or, better yet, avoiding produce altogether) and eating plenty of canned and processed foods. What’s wrong with this picture?

Americans who want to eat healthy will pay more for their nutrition than those who stick to Twinkies. New York Times columnist Tara Parker-Pope asserted in her December 5th health blog titled “A High Price For Healthy Food” that, according to a recent University of Washington study, “Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation.” Parker-Pope’s blog brought to mind an earlier New York Times article discussing the Farm Bill and the negative influence of corn subsidies on American nutrition. When I returned home after living overseas, I was at a loss to explain why whole foods grown in the earth were so much pricier than processed junk, but this article offered a possible explanation that the U.S. economy has been set up to support mass production of the corn byproducts at the core of most junk foods.

Can you imagine the vicious cycle created for the American poor? One of the endemic plagues of poverty, poor nutrition, has been further compounded by the fact that the less money you have, the less able you’ll be to buy any truly nutritious foods. Indeed, Parker-Pope’s citation of Dr. Adam Drewnowski, director of the center for public health nutrition at the University of Washington, reveals the very real daily conundrum those on a tight budget face: “If you have $3 to feed yourself, your choices gravitate toward foods which give you the most calories per dollar,’’ said Dr. Drewnowski. “Not only are the empty calories cheaper, but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods.”

Plenty of responders to Parker-Pope’s blog objected to this study on various levels, arguing that it was simple to heat healthily on a low budget; the most popular example involved cheap meals consisting of rice and lentils. I agree that it’s indeed possible to cook responsibly in this way, and I’ve done so myself, but in my view, the study underscores a core problem for those trying to “live large on a small budget”: you can get a lot farther with $5 at McDonald’s than at Whole Foods; moreover, taking socioeconomic factors such as time, education, and geographic location into account makes “rice and lentils” much more difficult for some to manage than others.

Being a socially responsible and nutritionally responsible shopper is very difficult. I was heartened to see the Times publish a helpful list of “Five Easy Ways To Go Organic,” recognizing that the average American family can’t afford solely organic produce. Based on that article, for I vowed for a while to buy only organic milk. It was #1 on the NYT list, I enjoy supporting family farms like my grandfather’s, and I prefer the taste anyway. But after a couple weeks of spending $12 on milk for my family, I realized even that was hard to manage.

This post is more about the conundrum than the solution, because I don’t have a perfect one yet; so, Wisebreaders, what to do? If you’re looking for some great economical recipes, I recommend the More-With-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre; I grew up eating this food at church potlucks, and still enjoy it today. In addition, I personally treat myself to a socially responsible, organic purchase or two each week, though I usually can’t afford even the Top 5. I plan home-cooked meals for the week and buy ingredients accordingly; I freeze leftovers and rarely buy processed foods. I do all this recognizing that with more money, I could be a more socially responsible eater, and that with less money, education, and time, I’d probably be eating a lot worse.

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Grandpa’s Penny: “If you never spend it, you’ll never be broke!”

Sarah Baughman — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:51:58 +0000

By Sarah Baughman

Back in the days when Grandpa\ used to slyly slip us kids a penny or a quarter, he’d always accompany it with this statement: “If you never spend it, you’ll never be broke!” He grew up during the Depression and had to work as a hired hand as a young boy after his family lost their farm, so you could safely assume that Grandpa knew what it was like to be broke and took the statement pretty seriously. As a young girl with a less complete understanding of the value of money, I used to stare at the coin and ponder his statement anew each time. Though I knew I couldn’t buy much for a penny (and today, considering inflation, he’d probably have to slip us a $5 bill to have the same effect), I realized that Grandpa was right—indeed, if I never gave the penny away, I’d always have it. Therefore, I’d always have a little money. The concept is simple but powerful.
   Grandpa was also fond of repeating the saying about people whose money would “just burn a hole in their pocket ‘til they could spend it.” I’ve watched cash do similar things to my wallet. Let’s say I pull a twenty out of the ATM and slip it into its spot behind the receipts and credit cards. Then I’m walking down the street past the coffee shop I usually avoid because I don’t want to have to write a check for a latte, and I think, “hey, I have some cash; I want that mocha!” Boom—there goes $4. Who knows what will happen next? Maybe I spring for a discount book at Barnes & Noble while I’m browsing because, again, I have the cash. Maybe today is the day I decide I need a new keychain, or a toy for my dog (who, despite my best efforts, would always prefer chewing the same stuffed animal anyway). The list could go on and on.
   I’m giving myself a little challenge this holiday season, and it’s called “What can I resist buying today?” This challenge is not meant to discourage finding good deals, which is definitely a wonderful skill to use when purchasing necessary items; it simply provides another level of thriftiness, which asks, “is the item necessary in the first place?” It forces me to consider what I actually need. Back to Grandpa—he wore the same tattered sweatshirt to do his barn chores as long as I knew him. When he died, we found nice new sweatshirts people had given him hanging unused in the closet. I know the Great Depression inspired people to conserve resources out of necessity, but I was still impressed that my grandparents lived by those same principles in an age of plenty.
   I’ve realized that a lot of my buying habits are either social or direct responses to advertisement, and I’ve also realized that the small purchases are the ones that really kill my budget. For example, the day after Thanksgiving, I had breakfast with a few of my closest friends. After breakfast, everybody wanted coffee at our favorite coffee shop. The idea excited me initially because it brought back nostalgic memories of having coffee together in high school. Plus, the coffee shop has been advertising a “Snow Mint Mocha” lately, and the picture of the drink, with its crumbled candy cane topping, looked tantalizing. But when we got to the shop, I realized that a) I already drank coffee at the breakfast, and had enough caffeine, b) I ate French toast, and felt overloaded on sugar anyway, c) I was full, and didn’t feel like putting anything else into my mouth. So, despite the tempting social atmosphere, with my friends huddled around steaming cups and the espresso machine hissing in the background and that Snow Mint Mocha sign gleaming from above, I didn’t buy a coffee. Believe it or not, I survived.
   The next day, I bought the darned Snow Mint Mocha; I couldn’t stand the suspense. But I didn’t buy the book that looked so good at Barnes & Noble. I decided to get it from the library instead. I think I’m catching on and keeping my pennies in check; Grandpa would be proud.
   What can you resist buying today?

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Why mortgages have eaten Americans out of house and home

Sarah Baughman — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:57:58 +0000

By Sarah Baughman

They’re calling it a “mortgage crisis”, with home foreclosure rates higher than they’ve been since the Great Depression. What exactly happened? Just yesterday, weren’t people lauding the virtues of buying over renting, rushing to slap their downpayments on the table? Perhaps the downpayments weren’t big enough, and the loans too variable? These days, in our area, even people with good salaries find themselves out of a house they can no longer pay for, flipping through the classifieds in the newspaper for rentals.

Just last night, my father and I were discussing a recent NPR report on mortgages. “Back when your mother and I bought our house,” he said, “things sure were different. A bank wouldn’t even look at you twice unless you had 20% to put down on the house you wanted. Then they checked your salary to make sure you could afford the monthly payments.”

I hate to oversimplify the issue, but didn’t my dad just basically hit the nail on the head? At some point, people stopped calculating what they could afford long-term and started chasing what was just (or substantially) beyond reach, made possible by slim downpayments and variable-rate mortgages. On September 2, 2007, the New York Times quoted President Bush’s diagnosis, which was similar; he mentioned “both ‘excesses in the lending industry’ and unduly optimistic homeowners who took out ‘loans larger than they could afford,’ as reasons for the mortgage woes.”

The mistakes indeed do go both ways, with irresponsible lenders and uninformed buyers engaging in the dance of debt. The terrible irony is that now, even people who responsibly make their mortgage payments on time are confronted with declining equity; their neighbors are foreclosing, so their own house value is plummeting so quickly that they can’t resell.

I can understand the mentality of those who bought beyond their price range; we all want (and probably deserve) a taste of the American Dream. We all have our “dream house” in mind—why can’t we go out and get it now? The catch, in my mind, is this—my husband and I, for example, are just shy of our thirtieth birthdays, just starting our careers. Why should we be able to afford our dream house right this second? Of course, according to real estate principles, we should try to find a house that serves as a wise investment, something we’ll be able to resell—but do we need a castle? Not now! I’d rather keep financial stress at bay and live within our means.

In fact, my husband and I just made an offer on what will probably soon be our first house, and there were a few ground rules we put in place when we started looking. First of all, we were fortunate to have accumulated savings for a downpayment thanks to three years of teaching overseas, but we decided not to empty our savings account to cover housing costs. Additionally, we vowed to buy only what we could afford to put 20% down on and to calculate a monthly payment that would not stress us financially according to our current salaries. I realize it might not be possible for everyone to put down 20%--it’s hard to save money in this country—but the more, the better. What matters most is finding a monthly payment you’re comfortable with—and preferably choosing a fixed-rate mortgage that will leave you less susceptible to the windy changes of market interest rates.

Our house won’t be the one we live in forever, but it’s a wonderful little house to start with, and frankly, at this point in our lives, that’s what we can manage. Somehow, it seems right, and not too different from my philosophy on credit card usage, which basically amounts to this: “why buy anything you can’t actually pay for in the end?" Whether it’s a new outfit or a house, the principle stands.

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Call your credit card a "plastic check"!

Sarah Baughman — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:53:00 +0000

By Sarah Baughman

I was probably the only fifth grader I knew with a checkbook, and definitely the only one hunched over the dining room table trying to balance the numbers every month. Sure, I would rather have been watching Saturday morning cartoons, but this was my mother’s requirement: I had to learn, at a tender age, how quickly money slipped through my fingers and how important it was for me to keep track of it.

When she signed me up for a credit card, hoping to reinforce similar principles, my mother conditioned me to think of the credit card as a checkbook. Knowing the end of the month would bring a bill and an ensuing check written out for whatever I’d spent, I never felt the thrill of freedom that courses through many people’s veins when they get their hands on that piece of plastic. Instead, I felt something more like fear.

Credit cards seem to have been specially designed so people can live outside their means and suffer for it, but you don’t have to use them that way. Many credit cards have a great advantage over checkbooks; they offer tantalizing points systems that award you monetarily as long as you pay up. I use my two credit cards to get more than what I originally paid for by working up to a free plane ticket or a cash bonus, but as a rule, I never put anything on a credit card that I couldn’t write a check for that week.

My husband and I made some major life purchases this summer, the most costly one being a bedroom set and mattress. My husband somehow convinced me to let those charges sit on our credit card because our savings investments will make more interest in a month than our credit card can charge. Mathematically, I saw his point, but my trepidation at the “slippery slope” of credit card debt trumps what many might deem simple financial logic. Ultimately, I’d rather dip into savings to get rid of that nasty figure on the card statement, then replenish our savings from our paychecks. At least I’d be “balanced” at the end of each month, and mom’s not the only one who would be happy about that.

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No, you DON'T need to buy that...

Sarah Baughman — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:51:47 +0000

By Sarah Baughman

Within ten minutes of arriving in the Miami airport last Christmas, on winter break from teaching school in Bolivia, I coveted at least ten thoroughly non-essential, yet mind-bogglingly tantalizing items: among them, a giant teddy bear made out of the same material as a snuggly blanket, a pocket mirror with art-deco-style cats plastered across its lid, and a $4 Cinnamon Dolce latte from Starbucks. I had been living in a country where the supermarket might just run out of aluminum foil or kidney beans, and if it did, oh well— you adjusted. Now I was standing slack-jawed in Consumer’s Paradise, and panicking.

It wasn’t just the marketing; the price tags made me blanch. We might not have had as many material choices in Bolivia, but the dollar stretched pretty far there, and we rarely obsessed over a budget. Back home in Michigan, we have to think much harder about what we buy, and when, and what we’ll give up in order to purchase a certain item. I actually think this is a positive change. Money easily tossed around can be mind-numbing; thinking harder about it forces me to consider what’s necessary instead of what’s just desirable. I also enjoy the sense of accomplishment I feel when I resist buying or when I hit on a particularly savvy sale. My husband and I truly savor dinners out when they happen, and experiment more with cooking creatively at home. We have also re-discovered the wonders of the public library and the beautiful woods and beaches in our hometown.

To adjust to the onslaught of “stuff” marketed to me in the U.S., and to gain a little perspective on what I really needed, I often apply the same technique they tell you to use when eating. Rather than plunge into buying something, I wait fifteen minutes to see if the urge to purchase it has subsided. Usually, it has. Fifteen minutes gives me enough time to contemplate what I do have, at which point I give simple thanks and move on.

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