Angel Food Ministries is a non profit organization where you can purchase a box of frozen and fresh food items for $30. If you visit their website, there is a locator on there of where you can stop by to buy a box of food.  Depending on your state, the contents of the box may vary. Currently for $30, you will receive:

1.25 lb. Sirloin Strip Steaks (4 x 5 oz)
2 lb. Salisbury Steak Dinner Entrée
2 lb. Split Chicken Breasts
2 lb. Breaded Chicken Breast Fillet
1.5 lb. Meaty Beef Ribs
1.5 lb. Pork Chops (4 x 6 oz.)
12 oz. Philly Steak Portions
12 oz. Peanut Butter
4 oz. Chicken Noodle Soup (makes 64 oz.)
9 oz. Frosted Corn Flakes
16 oz. Frozen Fresh Corn
16 oz. Frozen Fresh Carrots
2 lb. Fresh Onions
2 lb. Fresh Potatoes
15 oz. Sliced Pears
1 lb. Black Eyed Peas
1 Dessert Item

The average retail value of these items is $60. One $30 box of food normally will feed a family of four for about a week. The food is all high quality food that you would find at the grocery store, and is not dented cans, damaged, or expired. They don’t ask for your income or any prying questions. You can just go pick up your box of food, pay, and leave! I think this is a wonderful idea and is very beneficial to many families. Have you heard of or used Angel Food Ministries before?

I decided today that I was going to calculate my net worth because I had never done so. I was surprisingly astonished when I received a net worth of $37,337! This took into consideration myself and my husband’s information, but I was really expecting to be in the red!

To explain our financial situation a little deeper, I am still in my early 20s and my husband is in his early 30s. We both make a decent income for the area of the country we live in. In fact, we earn almost twice more than the median average household income for our state. We own our own house, have a first and second mortgage, both have Roth IRAs, I have a 401K, and we’ve got a nice chunk of savings kept in a high yield savings account at ING. We both work full time as managers in our respective fields, I work in finance, and he works in the food industry.

I was pretty shocked to see the number come up that was displayed. We’ve had a little bit of a financial crisis lately, with a tree falling on our house, tearing a hole in our roof, and totaling one of our vehicles. We’re going to have that extra expense of the deductible on our home owner’s insurance and we’re going to have to buy a new vehicle in a year or so. Luckily a family member sold us her car for something we could afford so we don’t have a car payment right now.

Throughout my life I have lived frugally. It all stemmed from the lessons my mother has taught me. I remember working my first job training horses, where my Grandpa would give me $50 or so when he sold the horse because I helped out. I always saved that money, and was glad I did. We don’t buy fancy cars or spend money on expensive clothes or electronics. We live well below our means, and to tell you the truth, I love it. I love being as close to debt free as I can. Hopefully in 10 years or so we will be completely debt free. I think one of the keys to long term wealth is not generating more debt than you can handle. For instance, don’t go out and buy a new plasma TV if yours works fine. You don’t have to have the nicest things to “keep up with the Joneses”.

I am going to try to “bank on myself”, where next time I need a loan, say for a car, I’ve got that money saved up so I don’t have to get a loan. I’m going to set up a pre authorized transfer of at least $350 a month (same as a car payment) so that I can pay cash for the vehicle of my choice when the time comes, or at least have a good amount to put down on a vehicle so my loan amount isn’t outrageous.

This was a really interesting exercise and I strongly encourage you to do it as well. You may be as surprised as me to find out your real net worth!