Okay, so I am currently doing the first of the year thing.  You know the one that so many people do at the beginning of a new year.  We work ourselves up in a frenzy to turn over a new leaf and make some changes for the good.  I have really put some thought to this and have decided to start taking better care of myself.  By that I mean losing weight, exercising, and eating correctly.  It has taken my wife and I about a week and a half to get things in order and make a plan.  Remember the post on December 30th about New Year Resolutions, read it if you have not already.  It has taken this long to formalize a plan and get the whole family involved.  

A part of the process of making a change involves getting rid of bad habits.  My family realized that if we are to lose weight and get healthy we had to get rid of some fattening food in the pantry.  If it sets there then we will eat it.  You don’t want to waste food right?  That would be a bad move financially.  However, we needed to make a change and get rid of the bad food.  I have packed it up and I am taking it to work to see if anyone else wants it.  No use throwing good food away during these hard times.  Some family will enjoy that food; those who are not on a diet.  That got me to thinking.  How many times have you bought something at the store on a whim and never opened the box.  I try to be disciplined at the store, but the stuff just jumps into the cart at times.  It must be some kind of manufacturer’s defect or something.  Just to think though, if we all surveyed our pantry or cupboards what we could find.  We could donate it to a food shelter or to family and friends.  Hey, I am not to proud to take an unopened box of stuff sitting in the break-room that I eat everyday if it was offered. 

As we were checking the shelves we found something else that disturbed us.  We started to find unused and unopened boxes of food with expiration dates.  Has anyone else out there ever bought food and it expired on you?  I started to think, ”Wow we are wasteful people.”  I like to think that I am frugal with my money, but boy was I surprised.  Now I am not a financially wealthy person by any means.  My wife is a school teacher and I work at the Credit Union.  I have my emergency savings and work by a tight budget.  I thought I had it all together.  However, I have found waste in my household.  

After all of the trash was taken out and the items tallied, we had wasted almost $60.00 in groceries that had expired.  Sounds like I do not need to stock up as much.  So my challenge to each one of you is to take inventory of your pantry and cupboards and throw out all of that old food.  But before you do so, add up all of the approximate replacement cost of all of that food and let me know what it comes up to.

I look forward to hearing from you.

- Phillip