This week I got my first paycheque. It was so exciting. I had it deposited directly into my line of credit where it sat for 24 hours, then went to pay the phone bill, and the credit card bill. Like water through my fingers. :)
My husband and I finally sat down and went through all of our finances, our debt and our assets. Gail Vaz-Oxlade would bang our heads together if she saw the mess we were in! We added up all of our debts and assets and made a plan to pay them off. We discovered that if a) we didn't eat, b) we took the pets outside and shot them (with a borrowed gun and bullets) and c) if we never did anything fun, we could have our debt paid off in 8 years.
Or, we could sell our organs. Since neither of us have consumed alcohol for over a year, I would think that our livers and kidneys are in tip-top shape. But Canadian government frowns on the sale of organs-- your own or others. So, I guess we will have to do it the old-fashioned way--work and be disciplined.
We made a plan to spend only cash, in the jars like Gail suggests. Did out know that some people actually criticized this poor woman for trying to sell jars? Wow. We dug through the recycling bin and got a few jars out. We now have jars for gas and groceries and each have $20.00 per week for spending. We also have a few excursions this year, so we have decided to stick to a budget on the debt repayment so that we do end up with a bit of a slush fund for such things as gifts and emergencies.
Though it was a total kick in the crotch to learn that Tyson had just as much debt as I did (no, I cannot believe we never completely shared this with each other), it was good to do the inventory and sort out our exact situation. And, I get to keep my organs, and the pets. :)
Sunday, 20 July 2014
Saturday, 12 July 2014
Do Olives Go Bad?
Okay, so let me start by saying the dip was a bust. Here I was thinking I was coming up with some culinary genius, but not. I make things go from gross to more gross. I still intend to eat it, but i am out of crackers.
So, I have had a good week, I walked to work twice, which was good. It takes me less than 10 minutes to get there. I had to take the van a few times because I had to bring stuff with me. I am running summer camps for the town, and I have collected all kinds of stuff that can be used to make crafts. Recycling day is a good day for me!! I don't paw through the neighbours' bins, but if there is good stuff on top, it's mine!!
I haven't been on the computer for a few days because we decided to change our internet. It began because my husband and I discussed the point of having a home phone when we both have cell phones. We decided to get rid of the home phone. So Tyson called Rogers, and got talked into a faster internet service for the same price we are paying now. That sounded good, so he decided to take it. Then they said that this plan included the home phone. What a deal! The unfortunate part was that my husband took three days to figure out how to hook up the internet, which ended up taking less than 5 minutes.
So, now we no longer have call display, but we do have a phone and an answering machine, so that is all a plus!
My money-saving idea for today is what to do with leftover salad. We consume a lot of Kale in our house. Kale is an excellent lettuce substitute; it's full of calcium and other goodness, and it's great to dress in the mornings so that by lunchtime the crunch is perfect. That is, if you eat the salad. I took the salad to work and then was reminded of the staff bbq. Not one to turn down free food, I gleefully headed to the bbq, leaving my salad in the heat of my van for the day. Perfect crunch a thing of the past, I wondered what I could do with my kale-olive-oil-and-balsamic-vinegar concoction.
Side note. I live in a small town, which has many wonderful rewards. One of which is that if you don't know what you are doing, you can always ask a neighbour, who has likely been watching and can provide you with a full report. Another is the cheap eggs. We have eggs delivered to our door for the low-low price of $2.50. A local farmer sells his good eggs to the local stores, and is odd-sized eggs to whoever wants them! So, we get eggs delivered every week. Sometimes they are really big, and sometimes they are really small, but they are always fresh and tasty.
So, I decided to make scrambled eggs with some yumminess. I tossed the salad into my mini-food processor (ten bucks, best invention ever, except apparently for freezer burned beans), and opened my fridge to see what else was in there. Olives. Black Olives. From the deli in Metro. No idea how old they are. I can't; remember the last time I bought olives. I love me some olives, so I tossed those in too. I mixed them with the eggs, and cooked them up. Voila. Yummy egg concoction. Not terrible either--zingy, in fact. I also found some potatoes in the fridge so I cooked those too!
Being a condiment person, I have fallen in love with a condiment from Costco called Chipolte Garlic somethingorother. It is amazing, and I found myself making things just to be a vehicle to consume the condiment. But, I am nowhere near a Costco now, so I have had to be inventive. I once was at a sushi restaurant and I knew the waitress quite well. I told her how much I loved the orangey sauce they used on the spicy salmon rolls and she said it was just siracha sauce and mayo. My new favourite condiment. I even saw siracha mayo in the grocery store. Why buy it when it costs half as much to make it and you control the spice level? Now there is an ongoing supply of siracha mayo in our fridge. Like bacon, it makes everything taste better.
I realize this is not the most exciting post. But please stay tuned as I eat my way through the cupboard and the freezer and eventually cut my own hair. I also need to figure out where to buy a cheap bathing suit and how to give myself a bikini wax in the next couple of weeks!!!
So, I have had a good week, I walked to work twice, which was good. It takes me less than 10 minutes to get there. I had to take the van a few times because I had to bring stuff with me. I am running summer camps for the town, and I have collected all kinds of stuff that can be used to make crafts. Recycling day is a good day for me!! I don't paw through the neighbours' bins, but if there is good stuff on top, it's mine!!
I haven't been on the computer for a few days because we decided to change our internet. It began because my husband and I discussed the point of having a home phone when we both have cell phones. We decided to get rid of the home phone. So Tyson called Rogers, and got talked into a faster internet service for the same price we are paying now. That sounded good, so he decided to take it. Then they said that this plan included the home phone. What a deal! The unfortunate part was that my husband took three days to figure out how to hook up the internet, which ended up taking less than 5 minutes.
So, now we no longer have call display, but we do have a phone and an answering machine, so that is all a plus!
My money-saving idea for today is what to do with leftover salad. We consume a lot of Kale in our house. Kale is an excellent lettuce substitute; it's full of calcium and other goodness, and it's great to dress in the mornings so that by lunchtime the crunch is perfect. That is, if you eat the salad. I took the salad to work and then was reminded of the staff bbq. Not one to turn down free food, I gleefully headed to the bbq, leaving my salad in the heat of my van for the day. Perfect crunch a thing of the past, I wondered what I could do with my kale-olive-oil-and-balsamic-vinegar concoction.
Side note. I live in a small town, which has many wonderful rewards. One of which is that if you don't know what you are doing, you can always ask a neighbour, who has likely been watching and can provide you with a full report. Another is the cheap eggs. We have eggs delivered to our door for the low-low price of $2.50. A local farmer sells his good eggs to the local stores, and is odd-sized eggs to whoever wants them! So, we get eggs delivered every week. Sometimes they are really big, and sometimes they are really small, but they are always fresh and tasty.
So, I decided to make scrambled eggs with some yumminess. I tossed the salad into my mini-food processor (ten bucks, best invention ever, except apparently for freezer burned beans), and opened my fridge to see what else was in there. Olives. Black Olives. From the deli in Metro. No idea how old they are. I can't; remember the last time I bought olives. I love me some olives, so I tossed those in too. I mixed them with the eggs, and cooked them up. Voila. Yummy egg concoction. Not terrible either--zingy, in fact. I also found some potatoes in the fridge so I cooked those too!
Being a condiment person, I have fallen in love with a condiment from Costco called Chipolte Garlic somethingorother. It is amazing, and I found myself making things just to be a vehicle to consume the condiment. But, I am nowhere near a Costco now, so I have had to be inventive. I once was at a sushi restaurant and I knew the waitress quite well. I told her how much I loved the orangey sauce they used on the spicy salmon rolls and she said it was just siracha sauce and mayo. My new favourite condiment. I even saw siracha mayo in the grocery store. Why buy it when it costs half as much to make it and you control the spice level? Now there is an ongoing supply of siracha mayo in our fridge. Like bacon, it makes everything taste better.
I realize this is not the most exciting post. But please stay tuned as I eat my way through the cupboard and the freezer and eventually cut my own hair. I also need to figure out where to buy a cheap bathing suit and how to give myself a bikini wax in the next couple of weeks!!!
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Back of the freezer...
My husband had a brilliant idea to eat all the food in the cupboard and freezer as an experiment. I thought this was a great idea. I am always gung-ho for a new idea. And it's better when the crazy ones don't come from me.
Sunday afternoon I opened the freezer and found a bag of white beans I had cooked a while ago… just how long ago was that anyway? I defrosted them and examined them. Some seemed a little lighter in colour than the others, but how bad could they be? I put them in the mini food processor, deciding they would make a lovely dip. I thought about the White Bean Red Pepper dip from Loblaws. Maybe this dip would be even better!
The mini food processor was not interested in pureeing my legumes. I added water; I added olive oil but it was to no avail. I would have to mash my beans by hand. I scraped the mess into a bowl, added salt, garlic and siracha sauce-- my new favourite condiment-- and mixed away.
I sampled my first attempt. It was plain with a hint of freezer burn. It needed more garlic! More garlic was added, and while I was at it, I tossed in more salt and squeezed some more siracha sauce in for good measure. I mixed it all together and decided to let it sit overnight for the flavours to work their magic.
When I got home from work on Monday, I was starving. I pulled out my rice crackers and my new dip-vention and headed for the deck. The crackers were a bit stale, but they were not quite to styrofoam stage, and were therefore still edible. I sampled my first bite of the dip. Ew. Tasted freezer burned yet hot. Maybe that was just the first bite?
By the third bite it was tolerable. By the fifth I could hardly taste the freezer burn. After ten crackers of thrifty bliss, I decided I had had enough of the delicacy and put it away. I told Tyson about my dip and he didn't seem overly excited. I should have left out the freezer burned part.
Lemon Juice! I bet that's what it needs! I could cut the taste with lemon juice, which goes well with the garlic and the chill peppers.
Not hungry right now. I will add the lemon juice and report back soon. Either way, I am going to eat all of this gook!
Sunday afternoon I opened the freezer and found a bag of white beans I had cooked a while ago… just how long ago was that anyway? I defrosted them and examined them. Some seemed a little lighter in colour than the others, but how bad could they be? I put them in the mini food processor, deciding they would make a lovely dip. I thought about the White Bean Red Pepper dip from Loblaws. Maybe this dip would be even better!
The mini food processor was not interested in pureeing my legumes. I added water; I added olive oil but it was to no avail. I would have to mash my beans by hand. I scraped the mess into a bowl, added salt, garlic and siracha sauce-- my new favourite condiment-- and mixed away.
I sampled my first attempt. It was plain with a hint of freezer burn. It needed more garlic! More garlic was added, and while I was at it, I tossed in more salt and squeezed some more siracha sauce in for good measure. I mixed it all together and decided to let it sit overnight for the flavours to work their magic.
When I got home from work on Monday, I was starving. I pulled out my rice crackers and my new dip-vention and headed for the deck. The crackers were a bit stale, but they were not quite to styrofoam stage, and were therefore still edible. I sampled my first bite of the dip. Ew. Tasted freezer burned yet hot. Maybe that was just the first bite?
By the third bite it was tolerable. By the fifth I could hardly taste the freezer burn. After ten crackers of thrifty bliss, I decided I had had enough of the delicacy and put it away. I told Tyson about my dip and he didn't seem overly excited. I should have left out the freezer burned part.
Lemon Juice! I bet that's what it needs! I could cut the taste with lemon juice, which goes well with the garlic and the chill peppers.
Not hungry right now. I will add the lemon juice and report back soon. Either way, I am going to eat all of this gook!
Saturday, 5 July 2014
I Cannot Afford It
"I Cannot Afford It." No truer words were ever said. According to some famed budgeteers, these are the most freeing words in the English language when it comes to managing your finances. Indeed with the recession a few years ago, budgeting became trendy and even fun. And, for the sake of entertainment, it spawned a few crazy television shows such as "Extreme Cheapskates" and "Extreme Couponing."
I have just finished a year of University, returning after 14 years post-graduation to get my Bachelor of Education. I used up every last dollar on my line of credit (I think there may be 86 cents left!). So now I am home, and my husband and I have decided to spend as little money as possible, instead being creative in an effort to spend less dough and enjoy life more. I thought the blog would be a fun way to document our journey. I have read stories about people who didn't spend money for an entire year, which I think is pretty cool. We are going to take this one day at a time and see what happens.
There are a few deal-breakers, however. Being 37, I have now acquired eyebags, but am still blessed with acne. I use quite pricey facial care products, as it has taken me a loooong time to find something that works on my sensitive skin. I am open to anything, but I hate being 37 and running around looking like a connect-the-dots.
I also may need some new running shoes. I have weird feet, and my new orthotics make my toes touch the front of my shoes. I do have old running shoes, so if they fit better, I am hoping that they will do the job for the amount of running I do now. I used to be a big runner, but now it's not my thing. Unfortunately, I don't have a thing. I need a thing. A cheap thing. I used to do triathlons and duathlons, but after a diagnosis from the chiropractor, I have had to tone things down a LOT. Ah well, saves money. Actually, I probably spent all the money at the chiropractor that I would have spent on these sporting events!
We have already begun our money-saving venture. My husband Tyson has traded his spiky gelled locks for a shorter, low-maintenance version that will save in monthly trips to the stylist and visits to Shopper's Drug Mart for more Axe hair gel. I told him that he was going to have to learn to cut my long curly hair-- we will see about that (as my hairdresser reads this and shudders!)
I am looking forward to sharing our adventure this summer. I am a bit wacky, and Tyson is happy to let me indulge in my wackiness and even has a few suggestions of his own. This should be fun!
I hope you enjoy my blog. Please post your own comments of money-saving tips that others will benefit from!
Happy Saving!
Dawn
I have just finished a year of University, returning after 14 years post-graduation to get my Bachelor of Education. I used up every last dollar on my line of credit (I think there may be 86 cents left!). So now I am home, and my husband and I have decided to spend as little money as possible, instead being creative in an effort to spend less dough and enjoy life more. I thought the blog would be a fun way to document our journey. I have read stories about people who didn't spend money for an entire year, which I think is pretty cool. We are going to take this one day at a time and see what happens.
There are a few deal-breakers, however. Being 37, I have now acquired eyebags, but am still blessed with acne. I use quite pricey facial care products, as it has taken me a loooong time to find something that works on my sensitive skin. I am open to anything, but I hate being 37 and running around looking like a connect-the-dots.
I also may need some new running shoes. I have weird feet, and my new orthotics make my toes touch the front of my shoes. I do have old running shoes, so if they fit better, I am hoping that they will do the job for the amount of running I do now. I used to be a big runner, but now it's not my thing. Unfortunately, I don't have a thing. I need a thing. A cheap thing. I used to do triathlons and duathlons, but after a diagnosis from the chiropractor, I have had to tone things down a LOT. Ah well, saves money. Actually, I probably spent all the money at the chiropractor that I would have spent on these sporting events!
We have already begun our money-saving venture. My husband Tyson has traded his spiky gelled locks for a shorter, low-maintenance version that will save in monthly trips to the stylist and visits to Shopper's Drug Mart for more Axe hair gel. I told him that he was going to have to learn to cut my long curly hair-- we will see about that (as my hairdresser reads this and shudders!)
I am looking forward to sharing our adventure this summer. I am a bit wacky, and Tyson is happy to let me indulge in my wackiness and even has a few suggestions of his own. This should be fun!
I hope you enjoy my blog. Please post your own comments of money-saving tips that others will benefit from!
Happy Saving!
Dawn
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