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Archive for January, 2011

February Goals Check-in and the Lunch Challenge

January 31st, 2011 at 02:30 am

Howdy, financial friends and neighbors. I am plugging right along with getting my goals accomplished.

I am right on track to pay off Hospital Debt #2 in March. Because the last payment will only be $52.00, I will have $25.00 to spare. I think I will put this towards my car repair fund. After March, I will put the whole $75.00 to my Conference Challenge until June, then start whacking away at the credit card debt.

I am going to a conference in June with funds I already have put aside. With my reimbursement from work, I will pay off hospital debt #1 and the lawn mower debt. I will have some leftover, which I will probably slap on the credit card.

This coming Friday, I am planning on taking the afternoon off and going to the hardware store for parts to repair our toilet. It runs frequently, and as evidenced by our recent $55.00 water bill, it is costing us money. I also plan on buying some expanding foam to fill in some holes in our walls that are probably making our gas bill higher.

My lunches for the coming week are gluten free pasta salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, black olives, and salmon with olive oil and cider vinegar for dressing. I have apples, cashew nuts, and water also.

I have a $20.00 survey check coming in about 5 weeks that I will put towards the Conference Challenge.

And the Lunch Challenge Continues

January 23rd, 2011 at 06:32 pm

Well, on Friday, when I was at the grocery store, chicken tenderloins were on sale for $2.49/lb. Not a bad price at all. So, I bought two packages. One went into the freezer, but I am not sure what I will do with it yet. I cut up the other package into little pieces and fried them in olive oil and spices. I also bought some lettuce and tomatoes.

My lunches this week will be the following:

Lettuce salad with tomatoes, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, chicken, and oil and vinegar for dressing. Fresh fruit, handful of nuts, and filtered water.

Next week, I have planned eating salads with a packet or tuna or salmon along with fresh fruit and nuts.

On goes my quest to eat healthy, gluten free, and not go broke in the process!

Coupon for Silk Almond Milk or Soy Milk Products

January 19th, 2011 at 02:57 pm

Here is a printable coupon for Silk Soy Milk or Almond Milk products. I use the almond milk. It's delicious and dairy and soy free.

http://www.drinksilk.ca/coupon/13307_SK_Canada_eCoupon_Opt-en.pdf

Saving Money Using Less Hot Water

January 15th, 2011 at 09:21 pm

When the hubster and I moved into our new-to-us house, there was only a bathtub in the bathroom. The bathroom is designed such that short of major redesign and renovation, putting in a shower is impossible. There is a wooden storage cabinet right above the bathtub faucet.

However, there was also a shower in the basement. It had no shower enclosure and only an extremely moldy shower curtain. The cement flower is sloped so that the water drains into a pipe that goes outside. It is the same pipe that is used by the sump pump. First, we got rid of the moldy shower curtain. Then, we had to buy a new curtain. There were already rings. Well, when we finally got it all put together, it was not how I would usually take a shower, but it does work. I feel pretty confident that because I take pretty short showers (about 7 minutes or so), that we will use substantially less water and gas that we were with taking tub baths.

I feel great about this. Any "extras" that I see we would have normally paid towards our water bill I will put towards our challenge.

Click here to see some pics of a vacation home. Of course, they are not pictures of our house, but the one of the shower looks very similar to ours. Ours is in the basement and the frame the curtain hangs on is made of pvc pipe.

Text is http://www.keylife.com/vacation/homes/275/ and Link is
http://www.keylife.com/vacation/homes/275/

Just to be clear, we don't plan on keeping it this way forever, but we need to pay off some other debts first and fix some other things on the house before we begin to remodel the bathroom. After we replace the ceiling fan/light, we will start saving up to replace the four windows on the back side of the house.

No Spend Day and Cooking for the Lunch Challenge

January 9th, 2011 at 07:44 pm

So far, it has been a no-spend day for me. Hooray.

I have, however, been working on cooking all day. I made breakfast for the hubby and I. Yesterday, I bought 2 3-lb packages of ground beef and divided it up into patties and put them in the freezer. It takes a lot of work, but it is worth it since the large packages cost less per pound. Then, I got right to work on making my lunches. I made the following gluten free recipe for Chicken Cacciatore.

Text is http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/celiac/cc.html and Link is
http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/celiac/cc.html

Don't worry. If you want to make it, it's delicious. I spiced it up a bit by adding cumin, red pepper flakes, substituting roasted canned tomatoes for the can of tomatoes, and adding about 4 ounces of canned corn. Yummy. I made rice to go with it. I only needed enough for 5 lunches, but I got 5 lunches, plus a little extra. Yea for me!

If I had a digital camera, I would take a picture, but I don't.

I just found out a survey check is on the way. I should get it tomorrow or the next day.

Beezag Referral, Payday, and Other Stuff

January 7th, 2011 at 03:44 pm

If any of you would like to earn a little extra money by watching videos and answering surveys, click here to sign up with Beezag.

Text is http://www.beezag.com/index.html?utm_source=beezag&utm_medium=1_1_1_9b12ca983b8985697eee9c5a1a335bab95614ed43bd430fe&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=invitation and Link is
http://www.beezag.com/index.html?utm_source=beezag&utm_mediu...

I get paid today, so I have pre-allocated money to make payments on Hospital Debts #1 and #2, as well as the mortgage. I have also paid the internet bill and one other bill that I cannot remember. There is more money going to savings and retirement. More money is going to the conference challenge. This is great.

I already have my lunch and dinner menus planned out for the next two weeks and am going shopping today to do that.

My lunches for the next two weeks will be:

1) Chicken salad sandwich on gluten free bread, fresh fruit, handful of nuts, filtered water
2) Chicken cacciatore with rice, green peppers, and spices, handful of nuts, filtered water, fresh fruit