Recent comments

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Buy Apps?   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I've only owned a smartphone for a few months and haven't bought any apps yet.

  • Frugal Gluten-Free Living: Delicious Homemade Gluten-Free Bread   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Aletha. I heard on a GF site somewhere that for fluffier bread use soda water or club soda instead of plain water.

  • 25 Great, Cheap, and Easy Crock Pot Recipes   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Be careful around the hot fudge cake -- it's really yummy. I am thinking it would be perfect if you have a bunch of kids or people acting like kids at your house.

    It could possibly look elegant with some whip cream on top or powdered sugar, served in dessert cups or parfait glasses.

  • 25 Great, Cheap, and Easy Crock Pot Recipes   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Awesome. I have had mine for a while but can definitely use it more.

  • 25 Great, Cheap, and Easy Crock Pot Recipes   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Thanks for the link!

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Buy Apps?   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I usually download free versions of apps to try them out and see if I like them. Sometimes I go ahead and get the paid version, sometimes not. The last app I bought, unfortunately, was one that didn't have a free version, and I wish it had. Really poor, and it was reported on excitedly by a site that should have been more trustworthy.

  • 25 Great, Cheap, and Easy Crock Pot Recipes   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I have prepared pork this way myself (#5) -- a bit of liquid is created when you cook the roast, though I don't usually trim the fat, just let it cook with the roast and then trimmed it after cooking. I adapted the recipe from one that involved non-alcoholic beer - I had a 5-pack leftover from that adventure so decided to simplify with just spices and it seemed to work.

    In my experience, the amount (or absence) of liquid has not seemed to affect the moistness. However, cooking too long does make a roast dry -- if I cook the eye of roast too long, it gets dry, even with the soup.

    That said, I am okay with some dryness and just add some sauce or gravy to the dish.

  • 25 Great, Cheap, and Easy Crock Pot Recipes   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I've been trying to do crockpot meals at least once a week - there are some great suggestions on this list! I'm wondering if #5 (Pork Roast) will come out dry though since there's no liquid to cook it in. Anyone know?

  • Women's Saving and Investing: Is Your Money "Girl Money?"   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Nice post. I haven't heard the term "girl money" but I'm certainly aware of the concept. Women may think about money (and a lot of things) in their own way, but the advice in terms of how we should be handling it is the same. And frankly, the notion that we're somehow genetically debilitated when it comes to making money really makes my blood boil! Thanks for the perspective and sound advice:-)

  • 25 Great, Cheap, and Easy Crock Pot Recipes   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I never thought about doing crock pot desserts before. That peanut butter fudge cake sounds like a big, delicious, pile of slop (in a good way).

  • Women's Saving and Investing: Is Your Money "Girl Money?"   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I never heard the term "girl money" before this -- so condescending.

  • 10 Smart Things to Do With $25   14 years 17 weeks ago

    So maybe I'll head out to Etsy this weekend for some art. Something I had never thought of.

    Also - I think giving to charity is a good idea. I have a monthly donation to modestneeds.org and split up my $20/month between 4 cases, helping people better their lives.

  • 25 Great, Cheap, and Easy Crock Pot Recipes   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Aaaaand I just added a crock pot to my wishlist. Great recipes and ideas!

  • The Best and Worst Things to Buy in March   14 years 17 weeks ago

    If you haven't already, buy an air conditioner before summer hits! They're so cheap in the winter. And I'm actually excited for summer instead of dreading it now that I have one for my apartment.

  • SaveUp Giving Away $1000 to Wise Bread Readers   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I'm motivated to save so I can get what I need without a credit card bill. I sleep better at night knowing I don't owe anyone money.

  • SaveUp Giving Away $1000 to Wise Bread Readers   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Leaving an Inheritance motivates me to save. I want to leave something for my children.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Buy Apps?   14 years 17 weeks ago

    My wife and I do buy apps, but are very selective about it. For anything not directly related to business/school, we always start with a free download. If it's an app we use daily, we'll fork out up to $3 to remove the ads and support the developer. A few large, full-featured apps for our tablet get used for hours each day for business/school. For these, we've paid up to $15 for when a free version was unavailable, but only after lots of research and reading through forums and comments.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Buy Apps?   14 years 17 weeks ago

    My favorite app textnow recent trip to India I could text home usa for free with wifi.
    Love free travel apps with city state or country info.

  • Women's Saving and Investing: Is Your Money "Girl Money?"   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Great post! I think the tip about trusting your instinct is a good one. The worst thing in the world is when you don't follow your gut, and it later turns out your instinct was right.

  • The Fallacy of Multitasking   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I don't mind multitaskers if their multitasking does not affect another person. When they try to do six million things at once and make someone's life/job miserable, that's when I develop a deep seeded hatred for these people.

    I work in tech support and every single day I have to deal with people who want me to magically fix their issue (which 80% of the time THEY caused) but since they are also feeding the baby, taking calls on the other line, and yelling at somebody in the background, they lack the focus to understand basic instructions, like right click or left click, or terms like "upper right hand corner." I have to repeat every single step 3-4 times and explain pretty basic things over and over again because the person is not paying attention. Ultimately a 4 minute call stretches into 24 minutes because the person I am speaking to is preoccupied.

    There is a time and place for multitasking. There is NOT a time and place for multitasking. People need to learn the difference. Just like drugs or drinking or any other vice, if your multitasking is affecting another person in a negative way, it's a BAD thing!

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Buy Apps?   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I love my iPhone apps! However, I am a cheapskate and have only paid for two apps: bejeweled in a moment of weakness andgood reader but that was more for work. My facorite, if I had to pick ONE is probably the kayak app.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Buy Apps?   14 years 17 weeks ago

    Yes, but not often.

  • Fitness For People Who Hate Exercise   14 years 17 weeks ago

    I don't mind walking and did so all the time. But I stopped one because I didn't have a need or basically a "reward" like going to the mall to shop or whatever but I live in a very unsafe neighborhood and pepper spray, iPhone and a partner won't help you if you were being shot at or followed by a car full of creeps!! I do however when I run errands which aren't often. Park in a spot that's far from the store. Unfortunately I also have a bad back so there's only so much walking I can do.

    I wish they'd have better facilities that were free to go to for people like me who are willing to try. I cant afford a gym membership and even the supposed community center wants to charge money!!

    It's crazy, I think they need to go easy on the so-called obese people and realize everyone's not gonna be an anorexic or nutritious anorexic lol

  • John Cummuta: Transforming Your Debt Into His Wealth   14 years 17 weeks ago

    These debt numbers are crazy and I feel bad for people that get themselves into debt like that. I thought we had a bad debt situation because of my wife's student loans and a mortgage, and that's all of our debt. No CC's, no car pymts or anything else. We make $150k combined, but until now haven't been aggressively paying off loans and we still have paid off $62k of student loan debt in 3 years (started with $140k at 7% - yikes wifey!). With a renewed focus, the other $78k should be gone in 2 years using the snowball method + extra payments. Then it is on to the mortgage - and that should only take an additional 3-4 years. If you have a good plan you can become debt-free quickly. Obviously it helps when you have a large income, as we are blessed to have, but I know many people who make much less and still paid down large debt quickly.

  • 5 Kitchen Luxuries That Are Worth It (and 5 That Aren't)   14 years 17 weeks ago

    A garlic press is useless; use a good knife, instead, and get a decent cutting board. And skip the Silpat (it's nice, but butter does the same trick) and get the best exhaust fan you can. If culinary school taught me anything, it taught me it's all about the heat, baby.