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Our Readers Weigh In On The Great Milk Crisis!

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Our Readers Weigh In On The Great Milk Crisis!

Tina H Writes: Thank you for the milk article. I have been attempting to warn my friends for months. I work for the local government and periodically get to sit in on different meetings including dairy farmers, etc. What the average person doesn’t know is that the farmers are not getting the profit increase. This also drives up the cost of butter, yogurt, cheese etc. So I warn others to stock up and freeze all the butter and cheese they can afford each week. This winter will be tough on everyone. All food is going up, freeze and can all you can! Also, I recommend you purchase block chedder cheese, it is easy to grate, you use less and does not come with binders and potato starch that causes many problems for people with hidden food alergies.

Heidi Writes: I read your recent e-mail about the panic caused by the sudden rise in milk prices at the store. I appreciated your tounge in cheek humor. I just wanted to let you know, (and hopefully your readers) that dairy farmers are one of the most over-worked and under-paid groups of people that I know. I happen to know this because my husband and I are dairy farmers! We scrape by every month, many months spending more on farm expenses than we generate in income. For once, farmers are starting to get paid decently and the whole country erupts in angry protests. No one seems to take into account that bottled water costs consumers more in many cases than even milk!!!

I recieve your e-mails to help me cut costs here in the house and I do appreciate the information, I just wish people realized that behind every gallon of milk is a family trying to make ends meet!

~Heidi

Roxie Writes: The Big Milk Crisis———–One of the things I do to save money on milk (I did not see it in the article at all) is use 100% powdered milk for cooking and baking. I also mix powdered milk with whole milk for a nice tasting 2% milk for my family. If I did not make it to the store, I can get the kids to drink powered milk if I put some chocolate flavor in it. Every dime I save on food goes to help me put two little boys through college and fund my retirement, so I don’t spend money I don’t have to spend…Roxie

Theresa K. writes: I was surprised to read that some people pour sour milk down the drain. All the women in our family always used sour milk to make the best pancakes. They are very light and fluffy. Sour milk is the same or similar to buttermilk and companies sell buttermilk mix for pancakes. Try it. -Theresa

Barbara writes: I just wanted to say "amen sister" to today’s article on the price of milk going up. I am the daughter of a farm family who lived through the Great Depression and I can get livid when people complain about the price of milk, and other farm items.

First of all, the farmer gets very little, if any, of that increase. The price of milk has not risen anywhere near the price of many non-food items. It is the same way with eggs. If they go over $1 a dozen, people are hollering in outrage.

When my kids were little and I could not afford enough milk, I would buy a gallon of whole milk and dilute it with powdered milk to make three gallons. I then had three gallons of 1% milk at a cost much less than if I had bought 3 gallons of 1% milk. It was a lot cheaper and healthier. No one needs to drink whole milk. It is meant to get a calf to full grown in a year. This is also one reason why we have so many overweight kids. The other is lack of exercise, but don’t get me started!!!!

AND THEN you mention the IPod. How can anyone in their right mind stand in line for two days to put out that much money for something that will probably be obsolete in 6 months or less!!!???

Like you said, most people’s priorities are totally backward. I used to have an e-mail that compared the price of a bunch of items by the gallon that people do not complain about buying and it was really ridiculous. I wish I could find it. My favorite, though, is cigarettes. Around here they are all but $5 a pack. A pack a day habit cost more than a gallon of milk, which will usually last at least two or three days and it is only $4, I think. Personally, I drink nothing but reconstituted dry milk and I pay about $1.50 a gallon and always have it on hand! The water I use is free!!!!!

Sorry to ramble on so, I just wanted to let you know someone agrees with you.

Sincerely
Barbara

Lisa in Tennessee writes: This is in response to the milk article. We already implement most of what Jill suggested, but I have another suggestion to add. About one year ago, I heard of an acquaintance of mine who made their milk from powdered milk. I balked at the idea, but when we were out of the "real" milk one day, I decided to try it.

From that day on I WAS STUCK ON POWDERED MILK! The children didn’t notice the difference at all (we already were drinking skim milk). We don’t drink that much milk anyway, because like you said, I make other things for breakfast and we drink water all day long. But when we eat cereal or I need milk for baking, etc., powdered milk is just fine for us.

At Aldi I can get a big box of powdered milk for $8. That makes five gallons of milk. If I bought five gallons of milk at the store up the street, I’d pay about $20!

Anyway, I just thought I’d pass that along. Sometimes it’s just our mindset that we have to hurdle ourselves over, and after that, it’s smooth sailing!

Thanks for you ministry,
Lisa in TN

PS–to add to my suggestion, if someone wanted to slowly wean their family onto powdered milk, they could make some, add it to the "real" milk, and go from there. Within a couple of weeks family members would be used to it.

Judy L Writes: One way to stretch milk is to mix with equal amounts of reconstituted dried milk. Make sure to mix the dried milk into water thoroughly and get it very cold before mixing with the fresh milk. We lived overseas and did this often when milk supplies were low. My kids never knew the difference. Love your newsletter!

Judy L.

Zafar asks: I received your one article the other day that stated you can freeze milk. I was wondering if you freeze milk before it is opened and expired, how long will it last after it has thawed? I am was very happy to see that milk could be frozen. Thanks for the great tips. I am trying to live a more productive lifestyle by "making the most of what I have."

Zafar

Tawra: I just put it straight in the freezer. I don’t even drain some off anymore. It expands but not enough to break the bottle. When you defrost it, shake it well because freezing causes it to separate somewhat. Once defrosted, it will last about as long as milk that had not been frozen — about a week if kept regularly refrigerated. If you keep it longer than that and it gets sour, use it for baking! Sour milk makes great pancakes and biscuits.

Stacy T. writes: One thing I found interesting was a tidbit of advice from my mother. Since I bake bread in a bread machine, I keep around powdered milk. She told me of a friend who used to mix up a half gallon of the stuff and pour it in her milk gallons when they became half empty. Of course, no one in my family would go for that (I’m not a milk drinker myself, but my husband can drink a half gallon at dinner itself! I finally got him to drink 2%, but he would never drink the powdered skim!)

But it got me thinking. How many dishes do I cook that call for milk? Honestly, no one would really know the difference if I used the reconstituted powdered skim or the store bought 2%! What a way to save money! Especially considering how much my husband drinks! (Trust me, I’ve tried to ask him to cut back on the milk, but it won’t work.)

Stacy T.

When my daughter was about 3 yr old (she just turned 40), we switched to using powdered milk. I had figured the cost and at that time it was less than buying regular milk. To switch, at first I mixed half regular milk and half powdered milk for a couple of months, then when to powdered milk completely. With having a large box of powdered milk on hand, it meant not running to the store just for milk. Now all these years later, I still using powdered milk most of the time. Since it is low fat, it is better for you anyway. I have read that kids over the age of 2 do not need whole milk.

You are completely right about measuring milk, cereal, etc. My husband is now a diabetic. All of his food is measured at home. I am in shock when I see women at work pouring a huge bowl of cereal to eat at their first break. One bowl of what they consider normal equals about 6 servings of cereal. No wonder those women (and their kids) are grossly overweight. Americans do not know what a serving size is anymore. They need to read the labels.

You have an excellent newsletter and I am telling all my friends and neighbors about it.

Thanks,
Linda J.

 

Daughters’ Financial Emergencies Cause Financial Strain

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Susan from Texas asks:

“As a single mother of two grown daughters, scratching and clawing my way out of substantial credit card and other debt, please give me some ideas about dealing with daughters’ emergencies, specifically health issues, not life-threatening but urgent never the less.”

 

Tawra Wrote: I was going to work on your question but I was wondering why you are paying for your grown daughters’ medical expenses? Are they in college?

Susan: Thank you for your response, I forgot that I sent that question. But now that you mentioned it…my daughters work full time and dabble in college. Both have health insurance but the one who needed assistance (I volunteered) did not think that it was in effect at the time of the incident. I was going to have the cost of the dental problem put on a credit card but her Dad intervened and paid for it so I was off the hook.

I think the bigger question here is one that I have dealt with for many years and that is, living very sparingly, never having enough to cover unexpected expenses and then putting those unexpected and sometimes living above my means expenses on credit. Now that I live alone I am trying to remedy that as quickly as possible. Guilt as a single parent ends up being very expensive.

Tawra: “Guilt as a single parent ends up being very expensive.” — I would say that sounds like it right there to me.

You don’t need to worry about your daughter’s expenses. I understand being a parent you want to help out but if they are working adults it’s not your responsibility. They need to be responsible with their money and save back money each month to cover what their insurance won’t . If that means cutting the cell phone, eating out or whatever then that’s their responsibility to do it. If you are paying for your own stuff then start living below your means ASAP and try and get that debt paid off. It’s not always easy or fun but it sounds like you need to worry about your expenses and not theirs right now.

I’m not telling you to be unreasonable. If they get $50,000 in medical expenses and need to live with you or whatever to pay it off, of course help them out if you can. But if it’s minor stuff then let them take care of it.

Susan: Thanks so much for your response. Sometimes we answer our own problems when we put pen to paper and it jumps right back at us! I will always be there for my kids; however, I want them to grow up and become accountable and learn from their mistakes and life, etc.

 

photo by: quazie

Teens Don’t Have to Cost More Than Babies!

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Whenever my daughter Tawra talks about how to live frugally, she can always count on one type of feedback — from people who say, “You don’t understand what it’s like. You have young children and not teenagers. Teenagers cost more!” Most of the advice and tips that Tawra shares come from me. I have raised two teenagers on a very minimal income. My main goal in raising my children was to teach them to become responsible and productive adults. By the time they hit their teen years, they were contributing to the household income, not depleting it.

I have never understood why people always say “wait until you have teenagers”. I waited and the huge cost that I had heard about never materialized.

My house payment was the same when I had babies as it was when I had teenagers. If the house payment changes, it’s not because of the age of the children but because we want a house that we think is better than the one we already have.

My utilities didn’t increase because I had teenagers. If anything they went down, because instead of having to fill a big tub full of water to give my little ones a bath, I taught my teens to take a quick shower, which used less water. I didn’t do as much laundry because I no longer had to wash diapers. Even when I used disposables, I still had to change my babies and toddlers clothes several times a day because they spit up on them, spilled things on them or had potty training accidents. If you have had a teenage boy, you know that until he got his first girlfriend, he would have worn the same clothes day and night if you’d let him!

I admit that I spent a little more on food, but even in that case it wasn’t so much more that it led me to financial ruin the way some people make it seem. When my granddaughter was born, my daughter spent more for her special formula then I spent on food for my teenage son!

As far as clothes go, I didn’t find teenagers much more expensive than young children. The cost for disposable diapers really adds up and since babies and young children grow quickly, you have to buy them an entire new wardrobe every 3-6 months. Once teenagers reach high school, they have pretty much stopped growing so quickly and many teenagers don’t wear their clothes out as quickly as young children.

I can hear someone protesting, “…but teens need to have special clothes so they can be like their peers!” I could write a whole book on this point alone, but let me just give you a few hints and ideas. First, you don’t have to spend a lot to dress nicely. There are garage sales, second hand stores and hand me downs. If you aren’t a snob about wearing second hand clothes, your kids won’t be either.

Make your teens feel loved and secure at home. You’ll find that even though the way they dress and look is still important, it won’t become the be-all and end-all of everything! Not only that, if they feel loved at home, it will go a long way toward keeping them out of the trouble so many parents dread.

I provided my children with the basics in their wardrobe. A pair of tennis shoes, dress shoes, three or four pairs of jeans, two pairs of dress pants, pajamas and some shirts. For anything else they wanted to have, or if they wanted to “upgrade”, they paid for those items themselves. They had to work for the extras by babysitting, doing yard work and finding other ways to get a little spending money. By age fifteen, my daughter was working part time at a hospital flower shop two evenings a week.

People often fear that working will negatively affect their kids’ grades. It won’t. Teenagers have more time and energy then they know what to do with. Why do you think drugs, drinking and the lazy party attitude is so rampant among teens? I’m not saying that they should work 40 hours a week, but a part-time job doesn’t hurt anything and it teaches responsibility! Generations past understood this, and expected their teens to work. They knew that it would prepare them for responsible adulthood. Recent generations haven’t taught this, which is why so many adult children mooch off of their parents.

When a child is born, we give him everything he needs or wants every time he cries. When he’s a toddler, we wouldn’t dream of giving him chocolate for every meal, even though he cries for it. Yet when teenagers whine and complain for something that they want, many people just buy it for them, instead of letting them work for it.

What an injustice we do our children when we give up the opportunity to teach them because we are tired of hearing their complaints and challenges. Instead of using their last years living with us to teach them to be responsible, productive, hard workers, we often teach them to be dependent. I know a good education can help a person get a good job, but that education is of no use in a job if the person isn’t a responsible, productive, hard worker with some kind of experience.

In the same way we teach a baby to go from milk to soft food to solid food we need to help our children to build up their “life’s muscles” concerning finances gradually. By the time the kids are teenagers, that will require some “heavy lifting” on your part. How wrong parents are to give their children everything they ask for. If you do, you will be wondering why your grown child won’t move out, why he can’t hold down a job and why he is such a poor money manager.

Incidentally, my teenagers graduated with As, my daughter received a scholarship to a university in Sweden and my son went to school to learn drafting. They are now very responsible, independent, productive adults and parents. Teenagers don’t have to cost more than small children if you are wise in the way you raise and teach them.

-Jill

 

Update: This was written when I had little kids. I now have 2 teens. Do they cost more? No. My son has a job and is paying for his gas to go to work. They pay for their own cell phones, computers and any other “fun” gadgets they want. (no a cell phone is NOT a necessity for a teen. 🙂 ) We pay for the gas for them to go to school because it’s 30 miles a way. We do give them money now and then to do something fun with their friends but as a general rule really they aren’t costing any more. So in case you were wondering if I had changed my views on this now that I have teens, nope they really don’t cost more.

 

Teaching Kids about Money

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So many people ask how to teach their kids about money, hoping we can give them a 1-2-3 formula to use that will help their child become a wise caretaker of his money and maybe even a future Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey. Many parents ask this question because they are terrified that their children will turn out just like themselves when it comes to spending money. They hope that the “Do as I say, not as I do” method might actually work in this case.

The bad news is it won’t. Children usually become “chips off of the old block”. It really is a monkey see, monkey do world. They almost always learn by example – your example, dad and mom.

The good news is that you (parents) can change. That is the first step in the formula. Put into practice the things that you want your children to learn. I know a lot of you don’t want to hear that but I’m afraid that is the way it is. The good news is that it really isn’t as hard as you think. If you expect a 5, 6, or 7 year old to learn to handle money wisely, surely you as a grown adult will be capable of doing it too.

I read a lot of novels. You can learn quite a bit about human nature from novels. In almost every novel I read, the hero works as hard as his men and expects no more out of them than what he expects of himself and the men love and admire him for it. Now I know I’m talking about a novel but think about it with regard to these everyday life examples. How do you feel at your job if your boss places strict demands on you to do certain things that he is not willing to do himself? Resentful, angry and frustrated? Your children feel the same way if you expect them to be wise in money matters when you are not.

The second step in the formula is to teach children how to earn money before they learn how to handle it. This should seem logical and you may say “Well of course everyone knows that!” but do they? The people we deal with on a daily basis don’t seem to know that. How many people do you know (maybe even you are guilty of this yourself), who spend money they haven’t even earned. Do you instantly say not me! Hmmm… How many dollars worth of credit card debt do you have? Isn’t that spending money you haven’t earned yet? We need to keep our eyes open to how we handle money, before and after we earn it.

The best way to help children learn positive work ethics and give them a chance to earn money is through chores. There is nothing wrong with age appropriate chores and jobs. Chores help to teach children the weights and balances of earning and spending – Earn $10 and you can spend $10. A lot of parents live with the idea that one can spend $10 and then frantically try to work to get $10 to pay for it. Another alternative that seems to be gaining popularity is to mooch off of someone like their parents or to become indebted to a credit card company.

Is it surprising why children are getting confused? It is because they are receiving mixed messages from dad and mom. This is why it is so important for parents to get their acts together first.

I believe in giving allowances for chores that are done. This is a great way to teach our children the earning – spending concept. It teaches them another life skill to prepare them for when they enter into the work world. It’s simple. Do your job, do it well, do it on time and you will get paid.

Whatever you do, don’t give your children allowances when they haven’t earned them. You are doing your children a great injustice when you do this. They learn early on that they don’t have to do a thing because mom and dad will pay for it. Twenty years later, parents find themselves with a 28 year old man sitting on their couch, watching their TV and munching on pizza and chips that their hard earned money paid for. They can’t figure out how to get rid of him or what went wrong. By giving kids money and “stuff” without having to earn it, they learn to be takers and not givers. Then we wonder why, as adults, they have the attitude that the world owes them something for nothing. They have learned that they have no reason to bother to lift a finger to contribute to society.

Some people refuse to give allowances because they say that children should do things because they are members of the family. They need to learn to do things without expecting a reward. I agree with this to a certain extent so what I did was divide the jobs up into certain categories. For example, feeding the cat, walking the dog or raking grandma’s yard could be done just to teach the care and responsibility for someone else because we love them. This teaches responsibility towards those we love, expecting no reward.

Things like keeping their rooms clean and beds made could be included under the allowance category. There were also times when we would have extra large projects like painting a fence or cleaning a very messy garage. In these cases, I would give the kids a little extra because they were such big jobs and the kids had worked so hard doing them.

Like everything else there is a happy medium. Everyone likes a reward for a job well done. Even God rewards us for jobs well done. If we never give our children an allowance, they could become resentful.

You may ask, “What do I do if I really don’t have any extra to give my children at this time in my life?” First, you don’t need to give children a lot. Even a small amount can seem huge to them. You can also pay them in other ways. For example, if you do this job, I will let you watch TV or play video games for an extra hour. Sometimes these things are more important to a child than money. My grandson mows my yard for me. He would do it for nothing, but I like to pay him a little for it. One day when he was done mowing we walked to a convenience store by my house and I bought him a slushy. He was more excited about that than about all the money I had paid him before.

If you really have nothing to pay them at this time, that’s OK too. Children have a very keen sense of justice. They usually know when mom and dad are not paying them because things are in “crisis” mode. If you have been fair with them in the past, they know you will be fair with them in the future when things aren’t so tight.

Step three is to be sure and teach your child about savings and tithing. I will never forget the first allowance I ever received. I was about 7 years old and my allowance was a quarter. I remember two things about that day. The first was that my mom said that out of any money we earned, we were to give 10% to God. I didn’t know about percents at the time and had to ask how much 10% of 25 cents was. She said it was 2 1/2 cents. I remember being confused and asking how I was to give half a cent. Then she said the second thing I will always remember from that day. I couldn’t give half a cent, so I should give 3 cents because that extra half cent would show our thankfulness for all of the many other things that God had given us as gifts that weren’t in the form of money.

To this day I have always given my tithe without hesitation and I round it up to an even number. Because there are so many extras that God has blessed me with other than money; the sack of tomatoes from the neighbors garden, the used car someone sold me at a discount, the meal that was brought to me by a friend when I was sick and so on. Do you see what a big influence my mom’s words and actions had on me? She was my best example as you are the example for your child.

As far as savings goes, I always tried to teach my kids to tithe, save a little and spend a little. I have found though that the best way for a child to learn about saving is through the “hard knocks” of life. Maybe for a child, I should change that to the “soft knocks” of life. 😉 There is no better way for a child to learn to save than for that child to quickly spend all of his money at a bubble gum machine and on candy bars and then see a sibling, who has carefully saved, be able to buy a really cool toy the next time they go shopping.

Another way for kids to learn about saving is, when they desire something very much, to have mom or dad tell them to save their money for it. You can’t break down and buy it for them because you will defeat the purpose. It’s hard I know. It’s even worse being a grandmother and not breaking down and buying them everything they want, but after a while you will come to realize how exciting it is for a child to save and save and then finally reach their goal’s end.

How much should you pay a child for allowance? My first quarter was enough for me to buy four Hershey’s bars with almonds, to tithe and to save a couple of cents. I thought I had died and gone to heaven — four whole candy bars! For this reason, I have always regulated my children’s allowance to make sure that they have enough money to buy four or five candy bars. I wouldn’t want to say, since some think I’m an expert in finances, that my whole belief system revolves around the price of candy bars but hey, if the shoe fits, I must proudly wear it. Of course, as the children grow and take on more responsibilities they should get gradual “pay raises” in their allowances.

Just a couple of closing thoughts: With more money comes more responsibility. Keep the amount of money you give your children in proportion to how responsible they are. This will help them to learn to use their money wisely rather than to waste it because they have more than they know what to do with. In the same way that you wouldn’t give a ten year old a new car to drive because he isn’t responsible enough yet and doesn’t know how to use it properly, don’t give your children more money and things than they can responsibly handle.

Teach your children to use their own money to buy those things that they want so badly, rather than buying lots of things that you can’t afford. This will this teach them how to save, how to be more discerning when presented with an opportunity to buy something and how to care for things better and appreciate the things they have more.

Lastly, but possibly the most important: teach your children to use a small part of their money to buy gifts and to give to others. This could include anything from buying a family member something little at a garage sale to giving 50 cents to the humane society or to that special offering for missions at church. Remember, the whole object is to learn to be wise stewards of their money and to be givers not takers.

Jill

Do you wish that raising kids was easier? In the “Saving With Kids” e-books, Jill and Tawra share techniques to teach kids responsibility, to help them get organized and to help them have more fun. Check it out now!

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