It’s time again for Non-Consumer Mish-Mash, where I write a little bit about this and a little bit about that.
Is it Time to Think Outside The Pouch?
A link from The Story of Stuff Project showed up in my Facebook feed this morning, which included this eye catching graphic:
The link took me to the Make it, Take it site that works to get manufacturers to take responsibility for their packaging decisions.
It’s been a number of years since having my sons involved in soccer meant I would have to take a shift or two as the “Snack Mom.” This meant bringing the Capri-Sun type juice (ha!) pouches and boxes of granola bars. It always annoyed me, but I did it anyway. I finally bucked the trend and brought homemade granola bars and a huge dispenser of lemonade, which were a big hit. (I figured that every player already had a reusable water bottle, so they just dumped out any leftover water and filled it back up again with the lemonade.)
I never bought these drink pouches for home use, although I know that a lot of people do, as they’re convenient and pretty cheap. However the issue with the packaging is that it’s an amalgam of plastic and aluminum, which means they’re completely and wholly unrecyclable. (You can collect the pouches and mail them to Terracycle for upcycling, although I would guess that .0000000001% end up this way.)
I want people to think twice before buying these types of irresponsibly packaged goods. But to put the onus of this environmental consequence on the consumer is wrong. It is the manufacturer who should shoulder the responsibility.
Click HERE to fill out a 20 second online form asking Capri-Sun to change their packaging.
Is $90,000 Enough Annual Income For a Family of Five?
My pal Kristen from The Frugal Girl posted a great article the other day as a response to a Washington Post article by Carol Morello and Scott Clement profiling a Virginia family that’s struggling so much on their $90,o00 income that they’re now two months behind on their electricity bills. This depute their envy-inducing $700 mortgage.
The blended family has three teenage girls, with each daughter having a computer in her room, as well as iPads, cell phones and music lessons. It’s painful to read, as the article is titled ” ‘Happy Days’ No More: Middle Class Families Squeezed as Expenses Soar, Wages Stall,” as it’s not their expenses that have soared, but their spending on wants over needs.
Am I the only one who is reminded of the story of The Gift of The Magi, where the wife cuts off her beautiful long hair to buy a watch chain for her husband, while he sells his watch to buy hair combs for his wife? This family can’t pay their electric bill in part because they’ve spent so much on electronics.
The father (Scott) refuses to buy anything but the most expensive school picture package for the girls:
“Scott, whose salary is more than triple Robin’s, insisted on ordering the biggest package.
”I don’t care if we don’t eat next week, I’m going to get the kids’ photos,’ he said. “That’s what you hold onto.”
The extra cost of ordering the most expensive school photo package for three kids would likely pay for a month of electricity.
It’s a very difficult article to read.
However, it’s important to remember that this is just an average family, feeling that they don’t want to deprive their kids of what their peers get without a second thought. No one is flying to Paris and there’s no mention of the parents spending on themselves.
Click HERE to read the entire Washington Post article.
Miss Your Flight? I Guess It’s Banjo Time!
My little sister Sara plays banjo for a band called The Moonshine. (I would call them a bluegrass band, but I get scolded whenever I label them as such. Sigh . . . ) Anyway, my sister was flying to Colorado last week with a certain less than stellar airline, and missed her flight because the airline’s check-in machines were broken and the check-in people scolded her for not being at least 45 minutes early, (she’d been there two hours early, but their line moved too slowly.)
Long story short, she suddenly had four hours to kill at the Portland airport.
Young Sara ended up playing her banjo on the concourse and earning an extra $30 in tips for her efforts.
Much better than everyone else who stared down at their electronic devices, and added nothing to their immediate surroundings.
I like this story.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
Yay, Sara, for making the best of an inconvenient situation! I’m surprised she didn’t make more in tips, but I guess most people don’t carry cash anymore?
Thanks for the Capri sun protest form. Those things drive me nuts and I refuse to buy them. Besides the fact that they’re instant trash, the plastic sleeve for the straw always seems to end up as litter on the ground as soon as a kid opens it, and the “juice” is gone in 2 slurps so the kids are asking for another one.
Didn’t click the link to the Post article because I’m pretty sure my head would explode.
Well, those articles are enough to make your head explode, as Michelle said.
We never did the capri sun or the lunchables, when my kids were young.
We had homemade lunchables, our own sliced cheese, lunchmeat, crackers, and a treat. Funny, my daughter now does the same thing for my granddaughter
Question for y’all:
What do you consider to be the problem with Lunchables? I can think of several possibilities but I want to know others’ answers are.
– it’s cheaper to make the equivalent at home
– the excess packaging that comes with single-serve items
– the contents (assume a sandwich lunchable: deli meat, cheese, crackers)
Thanks for the info, y’all.
WilliamB- for me the Lunchables are overpriced for the mediocre high sodium food in there. Not that I don’t love me some high sodium snacks, but I can get better tasting meat and cheese from the deli for about the same price. I do have an 8 year old that begs for the pizza Lunchable, so I’ll get him one as a special treat in his school lunch every couple weeks.
1. the cost for what you get
2. the high sodium
3. the packaging
4. the quality of the lunchmeat
Good for Sara! Busking is a time honored tradition – but let Sara know it sometimes requires a busking license! As a music business professional, I applaud her ingenuity!
I found the article about the couple who couldn’t make ends met on $90K a year appalling and disheartening. I grew up in a frugal by necessity home. My mom even packed slices of cheese in her purse for us to put on our fast food burgers so we didn’t have to pay the extra charge for cheeseburgers. Fast food was a major treat. We had one three day vacation a year. We didn’t attend college because we couldn’t afford it. But at 56 I find myself still adhering to the wise rules of frugality taught to me by my mom. As a self employed freelance writer, publicist and artist, frugal is the only way to live!
My mom never let us have Capri Sun or Lunchables and I was always so sad about it! Now that I’m a grown-up I understand, and no longer enjoy the idea of processed meat and cheese, though I do enjoy the occasional Capri Sun if it’s provided to me…
The elementary school I work at (and I’ve seen others do this) collects Capri Suns, presumably to mail them in. They also have recycling and compost, with signs of what should be recycled, composted or put in the trash. But I guess that’s what I get for living in Seattle…they’re very environmentally friendly out here.
The Post article made me pretty upset because I know if my family pulled in that kind of income we wouldn’t struggle to save money. We wouldn’t have four computers and two iPads. With four computers (including a laptop), who needs two iPads? And a $300 phone bill! It’s no wonder they can’t afford their electric bill. Like I commented on The Frugal Girl’s blog, I got the impression that this couple didn’t even realize they were being excessive in some areas. They need a good no-nonsense financial planner to reign them in and I think they would find that they actually have more than enough.
Re: the WashPost article: This is getting pretty well “facepunched” (to use one of Mr. Money Mustache’s favorite terms) all around the frugal sector of the blogosphere, so I’ll only add this proverb: “None so blind as those who won’t see.”
Re: Sara: You go, girl!
And re: drink pouches: I’ve picked up enough of these around the neighborhood to stretch from here to Manhattan, at least (I’m in far upstate NY). As Katy points out, they’re appalling on many ways.
Last sentence: “in many ways.”
Capri Sun are supposed to be less messy, but I always found them irresstible to squeeze 🙂
The couple in the article clearly has some spending and planning issues. But… It always seems to me that there is a lot of grey area and difference in priorities when people talk about money. I’ll say that there have been several times when Katy has spent money on something and it made me shake my head for a moment. Then I realize that she is not me and, additionally, there are probably circumstances that she didn’t write about to the world. Plus I live in a glass house…
Cyndi, I make me shake my own head sometimes too. 😉
Refreshing take, Cyndi
I saw Frugal Girl’s article bouncing around Facebook yesterday, and the family’s story just made me sad. The stress of living that way is not worth the extra possessions, and I can only hope they will realize that sooner rather than later. I read frugal blogs because I know I can always do better. I am a SAHM outside NYC and my husband commutes to the city every day. We live on far less than $90K, and his commute alone costs $500.00 a mth on public transportation. I have never felt deprived. On the contrary, being frugal makes me feel happy and secure since I never worry about paying our bills. I hope they really listen to the feedback on their story, and take sensible financial steps to better their future. They are not doing their daughters any favors by setting the example of living beyond your means.
“being frugal makes me feel happy and secure since I never worry about paying our bills” Amen, Maranda! Like you I’d rather have financial security than things.
Thanks for a great post! I, too, dreaded the soccer snacks. Homemade rice krispie treats were never turned down over the packaged ones, though. Schools are making it more and more difficult to bring in homemade, unpackaged treats, too. This year, you have to provide precise ingredient lists when you send in those birthday cupcakes, making it easier for busy parents to just opt for the pre-packaged ones…ugh!!!
Good for your sister! I would have loved to hear her banjo playing when we passed through PDX (and I would have tipped). The guy on the violin (I think?) who’s always there is nice, but I’m more of a banjo fan.
Our schools don’t even allow homemade goodies for birthday celebrations or otherwise. When my son’s class has a gingerbread boy lesson, we had to sign a release for a mom to be able to make the cookies!
It also doesn’t help that my son’s school REQUIRED students to bring all of their food and drinks for their field trips in disposable containers. Since we volunteered, I just brought food and drink in non-disposables, which meant the other moms gave me ugly looks. It’s so disappointing that our society chooses convenience over teaching responsibility.
We have our school field trip Friday. We are also encouraged to pack everything in disposable containers. I have been saving some small fruit containers that I can reuse. However, I will try to recover them so I can take them home to recycle.
Re: snack duties. My kids are at the age where we are just starting sports. I try to volunteer early in the rotation to help set the tone for the snack. Some weeks, parents go overboard on the amount of snacks. Given the kids each bring their own water bottles, I think they really don’t need a drink at all and certainly not a sports drink.
I love the idea of volunteering early to set the tone!
Same here – field trip next week that requires disposable lunch, and while I can use baggies for most things, I’m trying to figure out how to handle the drink without buying an overpriced bottle of water. I am not ashamed to admit I’ve been keeping an eye out at work for someone finishing a bottled drink with a cap that I can wash and reuse.
What do the rest of you that send a re-usable lunch daily do in this case?
LOVE (!) “I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve been keeping an eye out at work for someone finishing a bottled drink with a cap that I can wash and reuse”! Love that mindset so much. Also, I’ve been through the frustrations of sports and school snacks. It encourages waste and pre-packaged, soulless, cookie cutter snacks that are super wasteful. I just had a fit over this with my daughter. I agree, if permitted, everyone LOVES homemade rice crispy treats. I’ve also done caramel corn balls with great success.
That squeezed family story just makes me angry. What kind of lessons are you teaching your kids? That expensive music lessons and ipads are more important than keeping a roof over your head or electricity turned on? They are teaching their kids NOTHING. I am signing this Angry In Canada 🙂
I once got interviewed by our daily paper, it was set up through my work and I was definitely expected to say certain things to make the government of the day look bad for impacting on my family’s financial situation. Even so, the journalist made everything I did say sound so much worse. The photographer took a really cute family shot and it made the front page of the paper. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. I came across like a complete idiot – something all my friends and acquaintances made sure I was aware of. This family may well have some issues, but give them the benefit of the doubt. Newspapers are about selling a good story, and you don’t know what got left out.
Good point, thanks!
Every family has its own needs and wants and in today’s world the latest electronic gadgets are a must have for many. However, the story did make me think of my own situation and how looks are deceiving. I have very little and an even smaller income. Yet, no one would really know by seeing me or my home. I’ve learned how to live large on little and have whittled down my debt in the past 10 years from many, many thousands of dollars to a manageable amount. My goal is to be debt free at 73.
Last Saturday the snacks given my children were:
1) Pack of Mentos and a packaged cheese with dip stick thing and a large Powerade.
2) Capri Sun and two packs of chips. Doritos and Cool Ranch flavor.
3) Gatorade and individually packaged Honey Bun.
Donuts were passed around at the soccer field as well. Then there were the younger siblings with their fast food bags for the “early” game at 9:30!
Our kids seldom come home from church or Scouts without some sort of junk food “treat”. The snack offered at preschool for my 5 yo (at 10:30) was cupcakes with bakery icing piled on. It wasn’t a birthday, just what the mom felt like bringing. I am more aware of this because I have a lot of kids so I see the sheer volume of the trash and the calories being offered to kids that don’t need them.
Yes!!! Why does our society feel the need to present kids with treats for every event, big or small?! It drives me nuts when my son comes home with candy, sometimes twice a week! Are people not getting the message about obesity and its link to excessive sugar and low activity levels? I bet the dentists are doing a good business these days…
I agree about the junk food, we had a cool soccer coach who asked the parents to bring sliced up oranges, much better for the kids
The kids need *some* calories at 10:30, or at least the kids at our school do – they all started school at 7:20 which means most of them left home by 6:45 and had breakfast a little earlier than that. And the healthy food is almost always either more expensive or more difficult to serve – the last day I was class volunteering on someone’s birthday, I spent most of my time cutting up apples, because the mom had sent a paper bag of apples. One time I watched a kid try to make equal servings (for 30!) out of a big bag of Pirate Booty and a stack of paper napkins.
There’s a balance between convenience, cost, and health. And then you add in the kids with allergies and religious limitations…
That Post article made me shake my head as well. Definately they need some financial help. I don’t know how those two adults learned nothing from their growing-up years when both their families struggled and yet made out okay. They didn’t see their parents squandering money.
My own daughter has a $700 mortgage payment on her $30,000 salary. She lives very frugally and is truly happy. Nothing ‘extra’ that she can’t live without. Yes, we all drool (as the mother stated) over things but do we really need them? That is the question that family needs to really ask themselves. Just cause you want it doesn’t mean you need it or should actually have it.
The squeezed family reminds me of an article written about my town, when the largest employer had to lay off many people for a while in a recession. The article highlighted one family (a family which I knew personally) which was struggling with the loss of their only income — yes, times were tough, but in the photo, they were eating take-out Pizza Hut! No where did the article mention that their parents were professionals who were helping support the little family of three through the layoff period. As one commenter stated, the news articles don’t always tell the whole story. That being said, a family which has a $300 a month phone bill and says they are behind on the electricity needs some serious financial counseling.
My daughter uses Capri Sun for the kids, when they go on outings. They are tasty to the kids, but not good for them. I’ve been encouraging her to make flavored water with fruit. Yesterday I found two cute, small drink bottles she can fill with flavored water and take with them on outings. She’s very good about packing their own food, but the throwaway drink containers bother me and this is a much cheaper solution.
I found the “Struggling on 90K” appalling because of all the electronics they own and seem to feel like they need. It’s sad. Having said that, my husband and I make pretty good incomes combined and we were finally able to finish paying off 30K in miscellaneous debt over the past 2-3 years. Some things were repairs that we felt couldn’t wait, other things were definitely impulse purchases that could have waited or not been purchased at all.
I now consider myself a recovering Debt Slave. I hope that family can get the help they need and do the same.
Hi Katie!
I think this one works as the “explainer” companion piece to the WaPo article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/business/economy/changed-life-of-the-poor-squeak-by-and-buy-a-lot.html?hp
Leah
Interesting article. Thanks for the link.
I don’t want to criticize this family as we dont’ know the whole story–but the fact that they have 3 flatscreen tv’s in the home yet a leaking roof really gave me pause…Are they teaching their children good money management skills? Do they have them themselves? I think not. This Post article DID inspire me to try to teach our 7 year old daughter good spending/saving habits from an early age. My husband and I just taught her what I hope is a lesson about spending money wisely, that we hope she will remember: The school “Book Fair” was just held (sponsored by a national bookseller), and all week the kids were pressured by the teachers to bring in their parents and their money to buy new books at the book fair. We had to explain to our daughter that the books they sell there are too expensive for our budget (they average $5, 6, 7 and up) and we wouldn’t be buying them there. We told her to write down a wish list of the books she saw and we would look for the same/similar books at Once Upon A Child consignment store. We explained that with a few of her gift money dollars received this year, she could buy 5 times as many books there — as they are about $1 a piece. She teared up just a little at the “injustice” of it all, but I think that it did sink it–she could spend her money wisely elsewhere. She came home yesterday with a wish list, no tears or complaints. Daddy has plans to take her to the library to see if the wish list books are there and we have plans to go (used) book shopping on Saturday. She may buy a book there if she sees one she feels she absolutely must own.
What a great lesson in money management & patience! Good for you!
My library has a book sale once every 2 months of books donated from patrons and also books taken out of circulation of the library and book van collection. I purchased a “like new” baby’s picture book of animals that made animal sounds when you touched the animal…it was 50 cents! It made a perfect Christmas gift for my great-niece. Not everyone is excited about receiving used books as gifts even if they are in like new condition…wish they were more receptive because I get some amazing buys at the sale…books that have never been opened. I haven’t paid more than $2 for a book at the library sale. I don’t purchase new books any longer. Wish I had all of the $ back that I spent at our local bookstore and Amazon! I think most libraries hold at least an annual sale of books. Something to look in to.
I love library book sales. My library offers 1/2 price if you volunteer. I have always volunteered setting up the books and closing done the sale. At set up time, I can look at all the reference books and buy them because I know they will go first. I get those at the 1/2 price. $1 for hardcover. Then at the last hour of the sale, they have $1 per bag. That’s when I buy all my fiction books. There are still so many great books left at that time. During the year I use the library for any of my book club reads. I belong to a fiction and non-fiction discussion group at the library. They make sure they have enough copies for all the members to borrow. It’s free and I have made many friends through the library and the book groups.
I love books, but I really dislike the way they do those school book fairs. Each class has a time to go to the fair and each student is supposed to write their wish list. My youngest will make an initial push for books, but he knows that I’m likely not going to buy them there. Whenever possible, I have him take a look at the book(s) at the library (no pressure to buy) and then decide if it’s one he really wants to own. If I can’t find a nice used copy, I’d rather buy it from my neighborhood indie bookstore. Besides supporting a local business, they have a rewards program. I find other ways to support the school.
I read the Washington Post article and found myself wanting to give the family the benefit of the doubt. There’s so much about their financial life that’s not in the article: What do they spend on medical? What about food? Do they pay any alimony or additional child support? Are they supporting aging parents? There could be a lot more reasons why they feel $90k isn’t enough to get by on. That said, they do appear to have bought in to the “middle class” dream (is it a dream?) that says they need a newer car (and payments!) and a slew of electronics (though there’s nothing in the article that says how new and shiny they are or how they acquired them). Just speaking for myself, if I couldn’t pay my electric bill, I’d be selling stuff left and right. Though the family may have been misrepresented, to me the clues are in the number of TVs/iPads/computers/cell phones (almost one of each per person) and the belief that ya gotta have the biggest school picture package and that community college is bad. These are parents who sound like they care deeply about family, but need to learn to rethink their priorities.
Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle has a great program where kids (okay, the parents, and in our world, an aunt and both grandparents) collect the following that are usually not locally recyclable and then turn them in for points which they can buy fossils, shells, shark teeth, etc. at the Nature Exchange:
**6-Pack ring carriers and plastic multipack carriers
**Batteries
**Corks
**Drink/food pouches, cereal bags, writing utensils
**Rigid plastic lids (like milk jug lids that usually can’t be recycled).
The website http://www.zoo.org/document.doc?id=1036 includes links on recycling these sorts of items.
Speaking of packaging…. sort of. A group of us are taking meals long term to a family in great need. Mom is in last stages of cancer, there’s no dad. The two oldest are young adults, work and care for the family of 7. My concern, in this forum, is we’re providing the meals for the most part in aluminum, ‘disposable’ bakeware, bad for the environment but I’m finding, it may be for health also. They can’t worry about getting dishes back to the owners…any ideas for more healthy, economical ways to gift food to this family that won’t add burden to them at the same time?
The alleged causative link between aluminum and alzheimer’s didn’t hold up to scrutiny, so you needn’t worry that the pans are undermining their health. As for the rest … I can’t think of anything. Permanent dishes are impractical (expensive, will need to be returned or taken care of by the recipient), plastic isn’t any better for the environment and is harder to recycle, paper containers that can be reheated are hard to find. Some foods don’t need reheating or fancy containers but as for the rest, were I in your position, I’d go with what’s easiest for that poor family.
disposable aluminum bakeware is recyclable, or should be – like tinfoil, it’s the same material as pop cans and almost every place that recycles, recycles it.
Unfortunately, we’re still in the “snack mom years” for my 10 year old son’s teams. The part that drives my husband and me nuts is that kids can certainly do an activity for two hours without needing a snack, and a junk food one at that. They just aren’t going to keel over without food from playing a baseball game for a couple of hours. These aren’t travel teams, so the families all live within 2 miles of our neighborhood sports fields where there is food if their little darling is dying after going without for 2 hours. Most of the time, the kids make a run for the junky snacks and eat them in the car/take them home. It makes no sense at all.
v
Meant to type that you make an excellent point!!! Why do kids need so many snacks?
Didn’t Capri Sun have a problem with harmless but gross mold growing in the unopened pouches a while back? I understand that they have recently changed their packaging to make that less likely to happen, and that the new pouches have clear bottom panels so you can check, but EWWWWW. Do similar drink pouches also have mold problems?
It’s just me and my fiance, to be fair, so I don’t have any kids to worry about, but that Washington Post thing blows my mind. Where I am in my life right now, $90k is an inconceivably high amount of money. I could live for several years on that much.
And for the record, we have two high-end gaming computers (both bought off Craigslist and customized with used components — my beau rebuilt them to our needs), a laptop (a netbook I bought for about $150, I worked overtime to get it and have had it for several years), an Xbox 360 (purchased for Christmas several years ago), an iPhone (99 cents when I renewed my contract). We’re not exactly a low-tech household, is what I’m saying. Ridiculous.
The electronics and the soccer snacks all seem to me to be lifestyle creep. A treat that you partake in regularly is no longer a treat, but an expectation. Treats come in different forms for different folks, for some it’s electronics, others packaged foods, others clothes….
I noticed this with myself when I would spend time with my Paw-paw. He was a big man, who had worked hard farming his entire life and when he ate, he ate. He didn’t snack. He didn’t grow up that way. It always surprised me that when he went to the coffee shop in the afternoons he would have 1 cup of coffee- nothing else. He’d visit with his buddies and nurse his coffee. I was a high school cheerleader and would eat all day long! I lived off diet mountain dew and milkyways. At that time, it never occurred to me to have just a coffee and visit or to sit still. I expected to run around like an over caffeinated fool and powered myself with junk food (I was raised better, btw.) Paw-paw enjoyed family dinners and he ate plenty, it was a special occasion. But, in his day to day, he ate at meals. He took this approach with his lifestyle in general. He worked hard and he and Grandmother were comfortable. They were big savers too. (He thought a gas furnace was a luxury, no more cutting wood.) As I mature, I’ve gone back to eating at mealtime. Now, treats are actually treats. Maybe I’ll live to be 90 too (:
It’s hard to live a n.c. lifestyle when things get really busy. I brought store bought cookies to a carry in last week ): I will bake for the next commitment. I know that my work schedule is too much. I don’t have kids, so I am in awe of those who do and raise them in a n.c. atmosphere.