Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Save Money and Eat Healthy: Rent an Apple Tree

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When my health began to suffer a few years ago thanks to stress, being overweight, and having some intestinal issues, I started taking much better care of myself.  That meant eating organic foods, following a Paleo diet, and losing over 70 pounds.

I used to always say I didn’t have money to buy organic foods, but my health issues weren’t cheap, so I decided in the long run, eating the best food I could was a priority, even if it was more expensive.  Over the years, though, I’ve found ways to cut costs on eating organic.  One way is renting an organic apple tree.

How Does Renting an Apple Tree Work?

I simply Googled “rent an apple tree” to find one near us.  Then, I rented one apple tree for $55.  All the apples on that tree were mine.  I paid in the spring, and the Paula Red apples were ready in August.

Rent an Apple Tree

The farm called me to tell me when the apples were ripe, and then I and my family headed out to the orchard to pick the apples.  It took less than 45 minutes, and we left with 94 pounds of organic apples.

What Did We Do With All Those Apples?

Paula Reds don’t stay good for long, so we turned them into applesauce.  (And we ate a lot of them fresh.)  We ended up with 28 quarts of applesauce, which I stored in the freezer.  It took me, my husband and son working together 7 hours to process all of the apples.

We didn’t have to add any sugar because they were naturally sweet.

How Much Did We Save?

The lowest price I have been able to find for organic applesauce is $2.50 for 16 ounces at Trader Joe’s.   Just like our applesauce, Trader Joe’s applesauce only contains organic apples.  There are 32 ounces in a quart, so one quart of Trader Joe’s applesauce is $5.00.

One quart of our homemade applesauce from apples on our rented tree is approximately $1.96.  Overall, we saved $85 and will have enough applesauce to last us through the winter.

We also signed up for another apple tree in October for apples that are suitable for storage.  We’ll be able to keep them in our refrigerator for several months and eat them fresh.  If we get another 94 pounds, we’ll be paying just 58 cents a pound, which will be a significant savings over the grocery stores where I can never seem to find organic apples for less than $1.99 a pound.

It’s Not Just About the Savings

Still, it’s not just about the savings.  What matters is that we know exactly where the apples came from and how they were processed.  In addition, they are local, in season, and organic, which is the best way to eat food.

If you want to feed your family healthier foods but feel that they are out of your budget, don’t despair.  There are several unique ways to feed your family organic food on a budget.  Renting an apple tree is just one of those ways.  We’ll be sure to do this again next year.

Have you done something like this? Do you buy food direct from the farmer?

Original Photo Credit:MetaphoricalPlatypus, on Flickr.

Capital One 360 Review

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For many years, I was a user of ING Direct and their online banking products.  When word went out a while back that the US branch of their online bank was being sold I began to worry that a good thing was about to be ruined.  When we learned that the company that was buying them was Capital One, it didn’t exactly help me not worry.  I’ve had a credit card from Capital One for longer than I’ve had an account at ING Direct, and while I’ve never had a terrible experience with them, I’ve never really felt that I was anything more than just another cardholder; easily replaced and nothing worth going out of their way for.  If that level of service came to the online bank side after the purchase of ING Direct, I might have had to find something else.

The prospect of having to move my accounts at what was ING Direct to somewhere else upset me a bit.  I’ve tried several of the online bank options, and so far, haven’t found one that was as easy to use as the accounts were with ING Direct.  Now that ING Direct US is no more, and it’s been sold to Capital One, and re-branded to Capital One 360, what has my experience been?

Click here to start saving with Capital One 360Surprisingly, I have no complaints.  I truly expected that they’d start squeezing in some new fees, or making it harder to get things done, but the experience so far has been very similar to what it was with ING Direct.  There’s the obvious rebranding that came with a change of logo and color scheme, but for all intents and purposes, they’ve done a very good job of keeping the function and service levels where they were when it was ING Direct.

I suppose there may be some things behind the scenes that I don’t see that are different.  And they may just be biding their time before they start implementing some new fees and roadblocks, but if so, they are taking their sweet time doing it.  In the mean time, many of the features that I really loved about ING Direct are still resident in the Capital One 360 system.  It’s still super easy to create a new account, making it simple to have an account for each purpose and being able to segment your money by purpose.  Every other place I’ve tried this at, make it much more difficult to create a new account and that process becomes a roadblock to use.

The interface of Capital One 360 is very easy to use, with all of the major functions and features that most bank customers use right at your fingertips (or mouse pointer I suppose).  The rates that they pay on their savings and CD accounts still aren’t the best around, but they remain competitive with most other online banks, and they are double and triple what my local banks and even Credit Unions are paying.

The connection between Capital One 360 and Capital One Sharebuilder remains, making it easy to transfer money to investment accounts and IRAs at Capital One Sharebuilder.  Does that make a huge difference?  Not really, but it is convenient.

Overall, I think Capital One has done a really good job of bringing the Capital One 360 accounts into the fold and not rocking the boat.  I hope that they remain dedicated to keeping the excellent service and system in place.  Even with a new name, Capital One 360 is still my favorite online bank.

Frugality Will Change You

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Ninja, over at Punch Debt in the Face, wrote an article last week about being addicted to savings that got me thinking. Or, thinking harder, I suppose.  The attitude that he talks about towards savings is one that I’ve noticed in myself and others who have gone the way of the Frugaler.  He calls it an addiction.  I think it’s something a little more sneaky.  Something that creeps up on you and then grabs hold and won’t let go.  Something many will call “Habit”.

Views vary on how we pick up habits, but, by definition, a habit is something that you do over and over without much thought.  An unconscious task that you repeat.  It’s no coincidence that many addictions are also referred to as habits.  Smoking is sometimes referred to as a bad habit.  A pot of coffee a day is sometimes referred to as a bad habit.  But, a savings habit is a good habit.  One that many will struggle to establish.  Drug habits, smoking habits, and coffee habits are all habits that are easy to pick up because they cause a pleasure response in you body.  A savings habit is a bit harder to pick up.  But, as Ninja will attest, it can be done.

How?  Repetition.  Do something repeatedly, for a long enough time period, and it becomes a habit.  Being a successful Frugaler is a product of habit.  We start off forcing ourselves to turn off lights as we leave a room, shop for good deals before buying something, save a certain amount out of every paycheck, and set aside a certain amount each month for charitable giving.  And, before we know it, those things that we started off forcing ourselves to do become habits and we do them automatically, without having to think about doing them.  If there’s one thing anyone with a bad habit will tell you, habits are hard to break.

I know that I’ve felt it.  I often spend a month or more deciding on whether to buy something or not.  Especially if it’s on that fringe where it may or may not be necessary.  I’ve spent weeks bidding on items on eBay, determined to get an item at a specific price point.  Something that I could have paid a few dollars more for and had weeks earlier.  Like the junkie looking for his/her next fix, I’ve got a saving habit that I can’t quit.  The more I do it, the harder it is to spend any money at all.

Of course, like anything that’s good for you, there is a line where it becomes slightly less good for you, and then can become downright bad too.  Saving is good.  Pushing your savings to a point where you’re taking it to extremes is less good.  And becoming a downright miser is bad. Setting savings goals is a good way to limit the extremity of your saving.

A Frugality habit will change you.  As your savings tasks become habit, it becomes easier and easier, and eventually, you hardly notice it.  What are your savings habits?  How did you establish them?

photo credit: epSos.de