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Archive for November, 2012

What's With All the Spam?

November 19th, 2012 at 03:32 pm

I have noticed on my blog, and on others on this site, that there are spam messages being posted. I deleted the one on mine, but I thought it's strange that it seems to be happening all of a sudden.

This Coming Week

November 18th, 2012 at 10:29 pm

Hi, every one. This coming week is going to be a use it up week for us. My husband is trying a new diet that means he is severely restricting his calories and not eating our normal food. So, I have decided to use this opportunity to use up some food we already have rather than buying a bunch of stuff. We will be at home for the holiday, but that's just fine, because I am not much for socializing.

1) I made a large pot of chili with roast beef, great northern beans, canned tomatoes, chili seasoning, garlic, serrano peppers, sea salt, and black pepper. There's no real recipe here. I think this should give me about 6 dinner meals. I already had the roast beef, beans, tomatoes, seasonings, garlic, serrano peppers, sea salt, and black pepper, so this meal is an almost free meal.

2) Chicken and garbanzo bean salad. I used 3 cans of albacore tuna, 1 can of garbanzo beans, mayo, 1 can of olives, 1 clove of garlic, oregano, cilantro, sea salt, and black pepper. There is no real recipe here. I just made it up. I put 3 cans of drained tuna into a mixing bowl, then added mashed up garbanzo beans, 3 heaping tablespoons of mayo, 1 can of sliced olives, 1 clove of garlic, and sprinkles of cilantro, oregano, sea salt, and black pepper. This should make 3 lunches for me. I already had the garlic, oregano, olives, cilantro, mayo, sea salt, and black pepper.

3) Caron's Kicking Quinoa Salad. I have not made it yet, but I will put 1 can of drained albacore tuna, some cut up celery, mayo, sea salt, black pepper, and quinoa into a bowl. I will add lemon juice and probably an onion. It will probably make 1 lunch meal for me. I already had the celery, mayo, sea salt, black pepper, lemon juice, and onion.

I will get paid "early" on Wednesday this week because Thursday and Friday are holidays, but I plan on making my own lunches and dinners anyway and diverting the savings to the credit card with the biggest balance. I will mail payments for bills on Wednesday. I also need to set aside some money for a trip I have to make to a nearby city later this month. I will also set aside funds for the car account, house account, and trees account. The money that normally get automatically deposited to my regular savings, I will divert to the credit card also. I want to get it paid down as soon as possible.

Happy Veterans Day to All Military Veterans

November 11th, 2012 at 06:41 pm

I just want to give a salute to all military veterans out there, including my father who died in 1981, my husband, my brothers, and my uncles. No matter where you served in war or peacetime, thank you for serving. Regardless of how we feel about war, these guys (and gals, too!) work hard every day to protect us and protect democracy.

Major Savings on Grocery Shopping Today!

November 10th, 2012 at 12:44 am

I had the afternoon off and decided to do grocery shopping early. I usually do it on Saturday. Apparently, I had previously loaded e-coupons for $3.00 off meat if I spent $15.00 on meat and also a coupon for chicken and totally forgot about it. There were various other small ones, too and they all totaled to $13.20. But where I normally used to spending $80-$100 at that store, I spent $59.76! It was funny, because I had looked at the clerk's monitor and saw 70 something dollars. So, I was searching through my wallet to get out four twenties. When I looked back up, it said $59.76. What a surprise. At Dollar General, I spent $18.65 using two coupons. At another store, I spent $20.45. At Big Lots, I spent $2.50. I didn't spend much there, but they are the only ones in town that carry the brand of bread my husband eats. It does not have HFCS in it and he is trying to lose weight, so I make a special effort to buy it. Altogether, I spent $106.42 and most of it was in cash. This dependence on cash for grocery shopping is good for me. It makes me think about what I am putting in my cart. And I wasn't depriving myself of anything and even stocked up on dishwashing liquid (bought at Dollar General for $1.00 minus $.50 coupon), more dried beans, and extra canned tuna. I'm loving this.

I took my coin jar to cash it in. I had a total of $2.02. I split up the $2.00 and deposited $1.00 each to the house account and trees account.

I don't have my whole week's menu figured out yet, but I am going to having the following:

1) leftover pea soup from last week. This was my first venture into making pea soup. All pea soup I had ever even smelled just had an awful smell and so I wouldn't even try it. I decided to try making it myself and it turned out wonderful. That will make 3 lunch meals for me.

2) Broccoli slaw with albacore tuna and garbanzo beans. It probably sounds a little weird, but it's quite delicious. I mix in some mayo and some kind of seasoning. This will probably make 2 lunch meals for me.

Doing Well Til Payday and Food Challenge Plan

November 4th, 2012 at 03:58 pm

Well, I have been conducting an experiment for a couple of week regarding buying most groceries with cash only to see what kind of effect it would have on my overall grocery spending. When I did all the shopping with a debit card, I went a little crazy, even while using a list and my expenditures could total up to $165.00 a week. With cash, I think it's like I know I am limited to a certain amount of money, so I am a little more careful with what I put in my cart. Even so, I actually stocked up on a couple of things, like dried beans, peanut butter, and cocoa. I am on a quest to stock up in anticipation of approaching winter weather or any tight budget times. Winters here have been mild the past year or two, but we always seem to have at least one bad storm and I thought it would be a good idea to keep some food on hand just in case. Well, back to my cash only grocery buying venture. In the past two weeks, my purchases have been $120.00 the Saturday before last and $100 last Saturday. Woo-Hoo! That meets my goal of $120 per week.

Well, I have about $24.00 left in checking now (allocating for 40.00 for mowing, but I don't think our mowing man will be coming by anymore this season). Our grass hasn't grown at all recently and will probably start to die off soon. So, if we still have it in the account on Thursday due to no mowing, I will send it to the credit card with the higher balance. Also, I am expecting a rebate of about $10.00 this week. It will go to the same credit card. I will not have anything I have to pay for this week until Wednesday when I have to buy some raw fruit for a fruit tray I am taking to a work party.

In my quest to reduce expenses, I have also been looking for tasty, and inexpensive to fix, recipes. I am also looking for ways to use stuff I already have. Here is my meal plan for the week.

1) Garbanzo Bean Salad (I add some chicken for a little more protein) - 2 lunch meals for me -

Text is http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegetarian-chickpea-sandwich-filling/detail.aspx and Link is
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegetarian-chickpea-sandwich-fi... - (already had mayo, chicken, onion, and garbanzo beans)

2) Pea Soup - The recipe says this is for 8 servings, but it looks more like 2 or 3 lunch meals to me -
Text is http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-split-pea-soup/detail.aspx and Link is
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-split-pea-soup/detail.aspx (already had dried peas and broth)

3) Leftover Ham and Bean Soup - 1 lunch meal for me -
Text is http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-ham-and-bean-soup/detail.aspx and Link is
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-ham-and-bean-soup/detail....

4) Mediterranean Kale Salad With Beef - 1 dinner meal for me and dh -
Text is http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/63344509/mediterranean-kale-salad/detail.aspx and Link is
http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/63344509/mediterranean-... - (already had onion)

5) Oatmeal with steva, almond milk, cinnamon, and ginger - 4 meals for dh and I - (already had oatmeal, stevia, almond milk, cinnamon, and ginger)

6) Eggs and Ham. Side of grapefruit. 3 meals for dh and I

7) Green Salad with turnip greens, chicken, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, carrots, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil - 1 meal for dh and I (already had turnip greens, sunflower seeds, carrots, and apple cider vinegar)

8) Green Salad With Chicken and Pecans - 1 meal for dh and I

9) mac & cheese - 4 meals for dh

10) tuna sandwiches - 3 meals for dh