Why Now?

Hey, everyone!
Today is my first actual post & it needs a bit of explanation.  Please bear with me.  It might not be pleasant for a few minutes, but please know that I am genuinely doing this out of love.


This blog will be about saving money & it will be fun!

BUT, today might be a little bit scary. 

I was not ready to start posting yet, but this past week lit a fire underneath my typing fingers.  I was working on making my content all nice & pretty for you, but you're about to get it pretty raw & hard-core today. 

But, it's only because I love you.  :)  I promise we will have fun after I get this post out of the way.

I have been very heavily burdened over the last few months.  I have had an overwhelming urge to help as many people as possible to have more food & more money than they had before.

That led me to start this blog.  What led me to begin posting much sooner than anticipated is as follows:

Food prices just hit an all-time high.  I began tracking grocery prices last May & have had a very disturbed last 3 weeks.  Each week went from having a full grocery list of items that were at rock-bottom prices to only having a few.  (...and having zero meat items or cereals on those lists which made feeding my family a bit of a challenge.)

So, we need to get this party started right now!

Sorry for the buzz kill right out of the gate, but it will hopefully make this new money-saving mission very real for you.  (...and I say the United Nations is the buzz killer...not me!  haha!  Check out their graphs.)

This is from the United Nation's website.  Their Food & Agriculture Organization monitors the world's food supply.  That's our last year.


Here's a more expanded view:

That one goes back to 1990.  Obviously, I expect prices to increase over a period of 21 years, but it just gives us a wider view of the recent spikes.  Keep in mind that this is the entire world.  There were food riots where we see that 1st spike in 2008.  We have now surpassed those levels & they say we are now on a trend, not just a spike.


OK, for my fellow nerds out there...or anyone who thinks I'm being paranoid  ;) here are the numbers that indicate the trend.  This chart isn't in dollar amounts, or any other currency, it just helps illustrate the general price movement of these commodities worldwide.

OK.  That's the last one, I promise.  I just wanted to get our heads in the game before we run out onto the field. 

This is the Super Bowl, guys!

I'm not looking for everyone to be on the team.  This might be too "real" for some people & that's OK.  I understand.  This reality is an unpleasant pill to swallow.  It's not warm & fuzzy stuff.  I get it.  I really do.  We're here to help lift each other up & not to look down on anyone.  No judgment here.  :)

BUT, I am ready to coach anyone who wants in!  Let's grab our helmets and suit-up, yo!  Ignoring something usually doesn't make it change course...unless it's an annoying younger brother or a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.  Unfortunately, this is bigger.

But, fortunately, we've found a way to beat it!  I'm going to keep doing what I can to have an abundance of food & have plenty of money left over.

Sitting here writing this, I just realized something that's hilarious to me!  All the articles I read today (as illustrated in the first graph) said that prices really began to shoot up last May/June & have been steadily increasing ever since.  Ironically, that's exactly when I began my "money-saving mission". 

Using coupons & price-tracking was successful even when things began to go downhill.

Since things started getting really hairy, I've actually spent less money than when prices were low. Ha!  And we have so much food that we had to buy extra shelves!  I want the same for you.

We can do this, guys!  I'm living proof, plus, there are thousands of other people out there who have done much, much more than I have.

Grab your helmet.  We're about to run out of the tunnel screaming!  Woo-Hoo!