Many people buy The Old Money Book in order to learn how to spend less money and still live well, and that’s great. A large part of the book is about being smart with your money.
But there’s one aspect of the Old Money philosophy that may require readers to seemingly spend more, and that aspect is food. If you’re going to avoid fast food, canned food, and processed food for the most part, as I suggest you do, and eat fresh and hopefully organic fruits, vegetables, and lean meats, your expenditures for food may increase.
Your time spent planning, preparing, and eating may increase, too.
At first glance, many will see this as contrary to “Living Better While Spending Less”, but actually, you’re long term costs will be lower. You’ll spend less on doctors and prescription medication in the future because eating better means you’ll enjoy better health. You’ll spend less on laxatives and digestive aids; less sick time, less missed work, more energy, more happiness.
Furthermore, if you adopt the Old Money philosophy across the board, you’ll be spending less money being a consumer, aimlessly wondering through the local shopping mall in search of something to buy. You’ll reallocate those resources to feeding you and your family fresh, healthy, clean food.
So your food bill may increase, but so will your quality of life. Look at your budget. Allocate your resources.
– BGT
I recently discovered your blog and book and am enjoying both immensely. I felt compelled to comment on this post. I must disagree with your suggestion to spend more on food to eat a healthy diet. To better understand what it is like to feed a family on food stamps, I decided to spend a year living on a food stamp budget for our family of four. My husband agreed as did our children, ages 11 and 13.
Given our mix of ages, the family’s monthly budget on the USDA thrifty plan averaged $667 during the first half of 2016. This works out to an average of $5.53 per person per day or $1.84 per meal.
The smaller budget has forced us to make every food dollar count. We continue to shop at the Farmer’s market for produce and eat mostly hormone free meat, poultry and dairy. We continue to entertain family and friends several times a week. To date, there have been two big takeaways: in order to maintain a nutritious diet on a reduced budget we had to purchase a different mix of foods and we had to do a lot more cooking from scratch. In other words, we had to purchase fewer convenience foods and perform more of the preparation work ourselves.
As a result, we are probably eating a better diet on the smaller budget. There is simply very little room in the budget for junk food.
From an OMG in spirit and values, if not in dollars.
Thank you, Janet, for the comment. It’s fascinating to read what choices and discoveries you made on this journey. I think it’s something everyone can learn from. I’m glad you’re enjoying the book and the blog! Looking forward to hearing more from you. – BGT
For years many people scoffed at buying organic claiming it was just a scam. About two years ago a scientific study (sorry, I don’t remember which one) confirmed that eating organic foods results in fewer hormones and chemicals in the body.Organic foods are definitely worth it!
Thanks, Mary. Yes, paying a little more for food can mean paying a lot less for healthcare. – BGT
Hi Byron, thanks for sharing. This reminds me of a budgeting activity I completed at a summer camp, years ago. It was a group activity in which my attempt to spend more money on healthy food was overruled by my teammates. The logic being that we could use that money to afford a swankier apartment. With a simulated diet of only ramen noodles our team soon had hospitable bills to contend with. It was a memorable way to learn an important lesson!