Budget Shopping 1937-style

I was sipping my coffee and reading the Daily Mail online when I came across this little gem. A woman found her mother's shopping list from 1937. She fed a family of nine children for £2. The Mail estimated the equivilant today would be about £40. It's a lovely little article. This part really made me smile:

She said times were hard but the family never went hungry because of her mother's careful shopping.

Mrs Read said: 'We always had a full table. We never ever wanted. She never stopped working. She was the first one up at 5.30am and the last one to go to sleep.

'She lit the stove in the morning to do the baking. Breakfast was always ready for us when we got up.'

So ladies, keep in mind that every little bit DOES help and makes a difference. You should definitely go read the whole article but I wanted to share the shopping lists here.

Emily Bonwick's shopping list from August 15, 1937 - Total cost £2

1 lb tea - 2s (shillings)
1 lb butter - 1s
1 lb back bacon - 1s 5d
1 lb cheese - 8d
1/2lb lard - 4d
3 oranges and 1 jelly - 1s 3d
1 packet of dried peas - 4B=d
Flour 4B=d
12oz preserving sugar - 2s 9d
Small Rinso - 3B=d
4 lbs sugar - 9d
2 lbs tomatoes - 1s 4d
Jar of salmon and shrimp paste - 3d
Custard powder - 5d B=lb
Biscuits - 5d
Tin of health salts - 3d
Bottle of sauce - 5B=d
Tin of corned beef - 6d
2 lbs of collar bacon for boiling - 1s 9d
12 eggs - 1s 9d
Quarter of ham - 7d
Apples - 4d
Dolly Blue - 1d
Small can of Libby's milk - 3B=d
1 lemon - 1B=d
Candles - 2B=d
Rice - 2d

Equivalent figures based on average supermarket price 2008 - Total cost £41.88

PG Tips - £3.45
Anchor butter - £2.42
Unsmoked bacon - £4.76
Medium Cheddar cheese - £2.99
Value lard - 28p
Hartley's orange jelly and 3 loose oranges - £1.14
Frozen peas - £1.67
Plain flour - 43p
Silver Spoon caster sugar - 59p
Fairy household soap - £1.53
Silver Spoon granulated sugar - £1.68
Loose tomatoes - £3.41
Jar of salmon and shrimp paste - 53p
Custard powder - 86p
Plain digestives - 59p
Andrews liver salts - £1.93
HP sauce - 89p
Tin of corned beef - £1.38
Bacon - £1.27
12 free range eggs £2.72
Prince's ham - £1.40
Six Gala apples - £1.57
Thick bleach 70p
One pint semi-skimmed milk - 45p
1 lemon - 30p
Dinner candles - £1.25
Basmati rice - £1.69

Vampire Power MUAHAHAH

These days I’ve been trying to think of easy ways to cut costs and save a little money. We all know the economy is a little shaky right now and a gal should always be looking for ways to pinch some pennies. The hardest thing about cutting costs is that most of the time it requires effort and change. If something takes too much effort or causes me to have to change things dramatically I just won’t do it. I’m bad that way.

Well, gather round sweeties because I have a haunting tale to tell!
Have any of you heard of Vampire Power? Yes, yes, I know it’s Halloween and the Vamps are out in full force but this is even scarier because it happens year-round!

Vampire Power is the electricity that is used when you have your appliances plugged in but switched off or in standby mode. My mother always told me to unplug things when I wasn’t using them but I thought she was just paranoid about fires. Turns out, yet again, she knew what she was talking about.

I did a little research and it turns out that you can spend close to $1,000 a year on your electric bill by having all of these things plugged in when not in use. Things like Cell phone chargers, computers, TV, your Xbox 360, and electric toothbrush all continue to drain energy while you think they are just sitting there!

I was astonished, and curious, so I took a little wander around the house to see just how much we had plugged in. Holy cow! Our household is a veritable smorgasbord of electronic devices and all of them are plugged in all the time.
So how do we slay the Vampire power? Do we need a stake? Garlic? Buffy?

Nope, the lovely people over at Best Buy have some super easy tips on how to rid yourself of Vampire Power. They also have an incredibly cute vintage horror style PSA explaining Vampire Power.

Unplug
Unplug things when you’re not using them. Simple.

Use a power strip
Plug everything into that and then just turn the power strip off - easy peasy!
I was happy to see that most of our things are plugged into a power strip. I don’t feel so bad now.

Turn it off
Completely shut down your computer.
Oooh I’m bad at this one. When your computer is in sleep mode it can cost you up to an additional $70 per year.

Buy Energy-Star appliances
Whenever you’re in the market for a new appliance you should always look for the Energy Star products. They can reduce your energy bill up to 40%!

Vampire Power Awareness Day is tomorrow, October 30th.
So get to it ladies - unplug! Besides, wouldn’t that money be better off in your pocketbook?

Do you Budget?