I highly recommend if you don't have one purchasing a Food Saver. You can buy in bulk and seal your food up and lasts alot longer than using freezer bags as it removes all of the air prior to sealing.
We use our bread machine at least 3 times a week. I make bread in it, process dough for breads that need to bake in the oven and prep pizza dough we leave in the fridge. I can make a fresh pizza start to finish in 15 minutes. I also use it to make jam and ketchup.
We also bought a rice steamer. We use that for rice, lentils and have been learning more things we can cook in it. It also has a timer so you can set it to start just ahead of dinner.
We use the crock pot frequently also. I make roasts in it when we are going to be busy all day. I also use it to make dog food. The bonus with the crock pot is it can cook without me having to watch it or be home. That is they key with all of these. I can set them off and they do the work while I am doing something else.
The mention of fresh pasta caused me to look up doing pasta in a bread machine on the dough cycle. It appears you can.
Budgets are good as long as they're not written down to the dollar. A man who thinks and uses common sense to budget, to me, is hot. If he's smart enough to rationalize that he can afford some desirable electronic gadgetry *if* he cuts back on eating out or leisure expenses, then he's the man for me! If, on the other hand, he's so inflexible in budgeting that he can't compensate for spending a bit overbudget for groceries one month by cutting back somewhere else, then he is NOT hot.
We were pretty dumb about finances when we first married, not spendthrifts, just oblivious. Our ability to budget and plan grew over the years and it's brought us closer, improved communication, helped us establish lifegoals and priorities. We budget rather tightly, as it's great to have what you need in hand when you need it. Like when our car died, and we had to dig in to find the cash. There's power in being able to negotiate because you're paying cash up front. You already know your limits. Married life has enough challenges in it, squabbling over money doesn't have to be one of them.
We never explicitly talked about it, but from the first time I had M at my place for dinner, I unconsciously knew that we both were the same type of person in terms of money.
In other words, she didn't mind that I didn't have a whole lot back then.
I invited her over to dinner at my efficiency apartment that only had a bed in it. It didn't hit me until I brought her plate over and realized the bed was all there was. Figuring that would be a little forward/awkward, I asked her if she minded sitting on the floor. She was fine with it.
Her memory of it isn't of eating on the floor, it's that she thought it was sweet that I was making her dinner.
The difference in taste is obvious between my daughter's horizon organic milk and non-organic milk but i really hope horizon's milk truly is organic, or at least what i have stored in my fridge, because i just bought another two half-gallons of it. Either way i'm switching brands.
Yea. Really a big thank you for your uplifting comment.
Thank you for being positive but still "reasonable". - If I may put a label on it.
It would be nice to see your experiences in other blogs or as other articles as well.
Have a great day and take care.
These are definitely hot right now, but they aren't easy to stick to, unfortunately. I'd put these on the same level as going to the dentist or getting my car fixed. Not fun...
but I think dividends are among the sexiest things on earth. Especially for stocks you have held over a year. Then the tax rate you receive is equally sexy.
Not so sexy? Rates on student loans (aside from subsidized loans, which begin accruing interest eventually anyway) on higher than those on mortgage. I know you cannot secure a student loan per se, but I think it might say something about our nation's priorities when it is easier to buy a house than go to school.
Sexy things include sales, paying off credit cards and then cutting them up, rising credit scores, and public transit.
I always work within a very loose budget (loose because I overestimate how much I will spend on gas, and sock what I don't use away). My boy does not operate the same way, choosing instead to purchase what he likes when he likes, without thought as to later on. He says once we get our lives together, I'll be the one managing our money.
Making dough is a process in itself. The dough can be frozen once made. Skip the last rising part, package accordingly (bread loaves, breadsticks, rolls, etc) and freeze. As these items are needed, you can take out of your freezer. As it thaws, it creates the last rising action and then cook as needs be. If you spent an afternoon doing this, not only are you saving the money of cooking from scratch, but saving so much time during the week. Cinnamon rolls can also be created and frozen. As the same goes for cookie dough. Make a large batch of cookie dough. Form into balls, freeze thouroughly, then combine into a plastic bag or ice cream bucket. Only take cookies out as needed. This saves time, money, and your waist line by not having all the cookies to eat at once!
Cooking large batches of hamburger and adding certain seasonings, then freezing in family sizes, will also save time. Taco meat for example. Brown hamburger, add your taco seasonings and freeze. Label your bag. The next time you are making tacos or a mexican dish, it is cooked. All you have to do is thaw and reheat. Many many foods can be cooked, prepared, then frozen. Planning your meals will allow for thaw time during the day, easy and fast meal prep at night. And more time for whatever it is you enjoy doing.
I have lived in the Middle East, Asia and Romania for a total of 5 years and lived on less than $700 a month. I left Romania 2 years ago to come back to the U.S but I hear from friends in the The Mid East and Romania that prices are actually going down on rent because of the economic crisis.
I am disabled and lived on Social Security. Here in the U.S living on $700 means living in poverty so I decided to see the world and in the countries where I lived I was considered well off :) . I had a budget but I lived very very well. I took taxi's everywhere, enjoyed weekend getaways in 3*& 4* hotels , bought nice clothing, ate at restaraunts 2 times a week and paid for my own healthcare.
Healthcare did become an issue because of a few emergencies but generic medications, Dr fee's and testing were very cheap.
Catscan in Romania of the whole body $300 Dr visit $10
Root canal $75-100 Pennicillin 10 day suppy $1
I am now married back in the U.S and things are much easier but I will never regret living abroad it was the greatest experience of my life.
Use your crockpot to cook meals instead of oven or stove top. Reheat food in your microwave. Make knock off restaurant meals at home instead of going out to dinner. Try to drink more water than soda or coffee or juices. Unplug anything not in use and air dry your clothes. Use regular dishes instead of paper plates or plastic utensils. Use dishtowels and dishcloths instead of paper towel or napkins. Save plastic bags to use in small garbage cans. Use store brand items wherever possible. Shop rummage sales, thrift shops or free online listing services. Carpool if you have to drive. Its pretty boring to constantly remind yourself to do these things.
Went to public school in San Francisco from K-8th grade. The middle school I attended was a JOKE. I started hanging around with the wrong crowd, cutting classes and failing all my classes. My parents didn't even find out I was cutting classes until half the school year was over. When they found out they enrolled me in a private catholic school, which I attended from 9th to 12th grade. The experience changed my life and I vowed that if I ever had children I would NEVER send them to public school. I agree with comment from the public school teacher that the majority of kids in public school (especially in urban communities such as SF) are unruly and disrespectful. I now have 3 children ages 10 to 19. They are all in private school from the time they were in kinder. Yes, it is expensive, especially in SF, but I consider it an investment in their future. The teahcers from private school don't take crap from the kids. I agree with another parent who commented that there were no bullies, no fighting, no name calling or teasing. Of course there's a small number of rebellious students, but they are usually put in their place fast. Disrespect is never tolerated in private school. The consequences for bad behavior or poor academics - you get kicked out. There's no time for nonsense in private school. Unlike public school, where kids are talking back to teachers or behaving badly. Kids who act up in private school get expelled and get thrown into public school.
I disagree with one parent who thinks that private school kids are not living in the "real world" because they are not dealing with real life issues. The high school my kids attend has a 100 hour committment from each student that requires them to do volunteer work directly related to the Sick, aged, homeless and disabled. My oldest son, even after he graduated, volunteers at the homeless shelter and food banks. Public schools don't have this requirement and alot of kids never even exposed to that experience.
I'm not saying that all public schools are bad, but in SF, the public school system is disappointing. My son's friend in 8th grade who attended private school and barely passed with a D average - now goes to the local public high school and now takes honors English class. What does that tell you about the school system.
I would never trust my kids education to the public school system in SF. My oldest son begged us to send him to public school in 9th grade, we flat out refused and told him it was for his own good and he'd thank us later. He graduated last year and did thank us for it. He now attended a small private university.
Kids that attend private school come out to be well rounded, confident, repectful and behaved kids. I like that fact that private school impose a LOT of rules and expectations on kids.
I'm an Iranian Ex-pat. I had joined Twitter a couple of months prior to this June's Iranian Election, and had not tweeted; just joined. Then a day after the results were known (around mid June), it is in Twitter that I heard the rumours of fraud. A Twit friend told me to follow #iranelection. The amount of information is mind-blowing. The links people post take me places, and show me things I would never have had the time to find on my own. I have an IranElection mailing list of around 40 people. My daily routine is to go through my e-mails, and post the good information on Twitter. Then I go through Twitter, and copy&paste information/sources/URLs into my e-mails to my mailing list. I've started putting Via Twitter in the e-mails to entice more people to join. During people's uprising, it was beyond addictive. Vidclips were being posted as soon as Iranian Twits arrived home. You'd get Tweets from them saying things like "they got one of my friends, have to move to safer place"; or they were coordinating their protest on Twitter. Twitter has turned out to be an amazing tool for a protest and uprising; and I love it. Long Live Twitter.
I understand your uneasiness around cooking utensils like crockpots. We left one running in the kitchen and it's started burning (it was over 20 years old when it burned). Fortunately we were home at the time.
Now we use a thermos pot. Basically you heat it on the stove and put the entire pot into a vacuum jacket made for it. It comes as a set and we've yet to find it in New Zealand. It's very common in Asia but expensive (about USD120). However you only heat it once, after that the food stay hot for hours. Once we left porridge in it for two days. It came out between hot and very warm with steam piping out. Not bad with only 20 minutes of cooking (and electricity).
Besides the benefits of cheaper power bill and great food; it's hard to find it outside of Asia. It's also comes in one size only (so far) which is family size.
Happy cooking everyone!
No, budgets aren't hot. When someone has this magical invisible bottomless pocket to splash cash around with gay abandon, that's exciting and sexy and that's going to make you want to hang around this enigmatic free sprit (and reap some of the rewards).
Of course, that's also a difficult façade to maintain and usually only lasts a little time. Then a hole is burnt through that not so magical pocket. What's left then?
I don't think budgets are meant to be hot. Is that really the point? It's about something slightly less sexy but definitely more long-lasting and therefore satisfying.
I highly recommend if you don't have one purchasing a Food Saver. You can buy in bulk and seal your food up and lasts alot longer than using freezer bags as it removes all of the air prior to sealing.
We use our bread machine at least 3 times a week. I make bread in it, process dough for breads that need to bake in the oven and prep pizza dough we leave in the fridge. I can make a fresh pizza start to finish in 15 minutes. I also use it to make jam and ketchup.
We also bought a rice steamer. We use that for rice, lentils and have been learning more things we can cook in it. It also has a timer so you can set it to start just ahead of dinner.
We use the crock pot frequently also. I make roasts in it when we are going to be busy all day. I also use it to make dog food. The bonus with the crock pot is it can cook without me having to watch it or be home. That is they key with all of these. I can set them off and they do the work while I am doing something else.
The mention of fresh pasta caused me to look up doing pasta in a bread machine on the dough cycle. It appears you can.
Budgets are good as long as they're not written down to the dollar. A man who thinks and uses common sense to budget, to me, is hot. If he's smart enough to rationalize that he can afford some desirable electronic gadgetry *if* he cuts back on eating out or leisure expenses, then he's the man for me! If, on the other hand, he's so inflexible in budgeting that he can't compensate for spending a bit overbudget for groceries one month by cutting back somewhere else, then he is NOT hot.
We were pretty dumb about finances when we first married, not spendthrifts, just oblivious. Our ability to budget and plan grew over the years and it's brought us closer, improved communication, helped us establish lifegoals and priorities. We budget rather tightly, as it's great to have what you need in hand when you need it. Like when our car died, and we had to dig in to find the cash. There's power in being able to negotiate because you're paying cash up front. You already know your limits. Married life has enough challenges in it, squabbling over money doesn't have to be one of them.
I'm not sure why it is that writers tend to grow out their hair. My father is a professional writer, and he has a ponytail longer than mine!
We never explicitly talked about it, but from the first time I had M at my place for dinner, I unconsciously knew that we both were the same type of person in terms of money.
In other words, she didn't mind that I didn't have a whole lot back then.
I invited her over to dinner at my efficiency apartment that only had a bed in it. It didn't hit me until I brought her plate over and realized the bed was all there was. Figuring that would be a little forward/awkward, I asked her if she minded sitting on the floor. She was fine with it.
Her memory of it isn't of eating on the floor, it's that she thought it was sweet that I was making her dinner.
A keeper.
The Writer's Coin | Follow me on Twitter
A Moveable Feast is one of me favorite books of all time. The best part? I was reading it while I lived in Paris for three months.
It was amazing!
The Writer's Coin | Follow me on Twitter
These are all awesome, everyone! Keep it up!
Want to hear about boring? Coming home and throwing some pasta in pot, boiling it, and sprinkling some parmesan cheese on it.
Dinner. Can anyone top that for a quick/cheap dinner?
The Writer's Coin | Follow me on Twitter
The difference in taste is obvious between my daughter's horizon organic milk and non-organic milk but i really hope horizon's milk truly is organic, or at least what i have stored in my fridge, because i just bought another two half-gallons of it. Either way i'm switching brands.
My comment does pertain to the article but was actually mainly intended for Tricia L (comment #2).
Yea. Really a big thank you for your uplifting comment.
Thank you for being positive but still "reasonable". - If I may put a label on it.
It would be nice to see your experiences in other blogs or as other articles as well.
Have a great day and take care.
These are definitely hot right now, but they aren't easy to stick to, unfortunately. I'd put these on the same level as going to the dentist or getting my car fixed. Not fun...
What a great post! I would love to travel the world, seeing places where I could get farther with my money than here.
but I think dividends are among the sexiest things on earth. Especially for stocks you have held over a year. Then the tax rate you receive is equally sexy.
Not so sexy? Rates on student loans (aside from subsidized loans, which begin accruing interest eventually anyway) on higher than those on mortgage. I know you cannot secure a student loan per se, but I think it might say something about our nation's priorities when it is easier to buy a house than go to school.
Sexy things include sales, paying off credit cards and then cutting them up, rising credit scores, and public transit.
and will hopefully continue to be so. I love that I'm taking control of my financial future and security at such a young age.
I always work within a very loose budget (loose because I overestimate how much I will spend on gas, and sock what I don't use away). My boy does not operate the same way, choosing instead to purchase what he likes when he likes, without thought as to later on. He says once we get our lives together, I'll be the one managing our money.
Making dough is a process in itself. The dough can be frozen once made. Skip the last rising part, package accordingly (bread loaves, breadsticks, rolls, etc) and freeze. As these items are needed, you can take out of your freezer. As it thaws, it creates the last rising action and then cook as needs be. If you spent an afternoon doing this, not only are you saving the money of cooking from scratch, but saving so much time during the week. Cinnamon rolls can also be created and frozen. As the same goes for cookie dough. Make a large batch of cookie dough. Form into balls, freeze thouroughly, then combine into a plastic bag or ice cream bucket. Only take cookies out as needed. This saves time, money, and your waist line by not having all the cookies to eat at once!
Cooking large batches of hamburger and adding certain seasonings, then freezing in family sizes, will also save time. Taco meat for example. Brown hamburger, add your taco seasonings and freeze. Label your bag. The next time you are making tacos or a mexican dish, it is cooked. All you have to do is thaw and reheat. Many many foods can be cooked, prepared, then frozen. Planning your meals will allow for thaw time during the day, easy and fast meal prep at night. And more time for whatever it is you enjoy doing.
I have lived in the Middle East, Asia and Romania for a total of 5 years and lived on less than $700 a month. I left Romania 2 years ago to come back to the U.S but I hear from friends in the The Mid East and Romania that prices are actually going down on rent because of the economic crisis.
I am disabled and lived on Social Security. Here in the U.S living on $700 means living in poverty so I decided to see the world and in the countries where I lived I was considered well off :) . I had a budget but I lived very very well. I took taxi's everywhere, enjoyed weekend getaways in 3*& 4* hotels , bought nice clothing, ate at restaraunts 2 times a week and paid for my own healthcare.
Healthcare did become an issue because of a few emergencies but generic medications, Dr fee's and testing were very cheap.
Catscan in Romania of the whole body $300 Dr visit $10
Root canal $75-100 Pennicillin 10 day suppy $1
I am now married back in the U.S and things are much easier but I will never regret living abroad it was the greatest experience of my life.
Use your crockpot to cook meals instead of oven or stove top. Reheat food in your microwave. Make knock off restaurant meals at home instead of going out to dinner. Try to drink more water than soda or coffee or juices. Unplug anything not in use and air dry your clothes. Use regular dishes instead of paper plates or plastic utensils. Use dishtowels and dishcloths instead of paper towel or napkins. Save plastic bags to use in small garbage cans. Use store brand items wherever possible. Shop rummage sales, thrift shops or free online listing services. Carpool if you have to drive. Its pretty boring to constantly remind yourself to do these things.
Went to public school in San Francisco from K-8th grade. The middle school I attended was a JOKE. I started hanging around with the wrong crowd, cutting classes and failing all my classes. My parents didn't even find out I was cutting classes until half the school year was over. When they found out they enrolled me in a private catholic school, which I attended from 9th to 12th grade. The experience changed my life and I vowed that if I ever had children I would NEVER send them to public school. I agree with comment from the public school teacher that the majority of kids in public school (especially in urban communities such as SF) are unruly and disrespectful. I now have 3 children ages 10 to 19. They are all in private school from the time they were in kinder. Yes, it is expensive, especially in SF, but I consider it an investment in their future. The teahcers from private school don't take crap from the kids. I agree with another parent who commented that there were no bullies, no fighting, no name calling or teasing. Of course there's a small number of rebellious students, but they are usually put in their place fast. Disrespect is never tolerated in private school. The consequences for bad behavior or poor academics - you get kicked out. There's no time for nonsense in private school. Unlike public school, where kids are talking back to teachers or behaving badly. Kids who act up in private school get expelled and get thrown into public school.
I disagree with one parent who thinks that private school kids are not living in the "real world" because they are not dealing with real life issues. The high school my kids attend has a 100 hour committment from each student that requires them to do volunteer work directly related to the Sick, aged, homeless and disabled. My oldest son, even after he graduated, volunteers at the homeless shelter and food banks. Public schools don't have this requirement and alot of kids never even exposed to that experience.
I'm not saying that all public schools are bad, but in SF, the public school system is disappointing. My son's friend in 8th grade who attended private school and barely passed with a D average - now goes to the local public high school and now takes honors English class. What does that tell you about the school system.
I would never trust my kids education to the public school system in SF. My oldest son begged us to send him to public school in 9th grade, we flat out refused and told him it was for his own good and he'd thank us later. He graduated last year and did thank us for it. He now attended a small private university.
Kids that attend private school come out to be well rounded, confident, repectful and behaved kids. I like that fact that private school impose a LOT of rules and expectations on kids.
I'm an Iranian Ex-pat. I had joined Twitter a couple of months prior to this June's Iranian Election, and had not tweeted; just joined. Then a day after the results were known (around mid June), it is in Twitter that I heard the rumours of fraud. A Twit friend told me to follow #iranelection. The amount of information is mind-blowing. The links people post take me places, and show me things I would never have had the time to find on my own. I have an IranElection mailing list of around 40 people. My daily routine is to go through my e-mails, and post the good information on Twitter. Then I go through Twitter, and copy&paste information/sources/URLs into my e-mails to my mailing list. I've started putting Via Twitter in the e-mails to entice more people to join. During people's uprising, it was beyond addictive. Vidclips were being posted as soon as Iranian Twits arrived home. You'd get Tweets from them saying things like "they got one of my friends, have to move to safer place"; or they were coordinating their protest on Twitter. Twitter has turned out to be an amazing tool for a protest and uprising; and I love it. Long Live Twitter.
I understand your uneasiness around cooking utensils like crockpots. We left one running in the kitchen and it's started burning (it was over 20 years old when it burned). Fortunately we were home at the time.
Now we use a thermos pot. Basically you heat it on the stove and put the entire pot into a vacuum jacket made for it. It comes as a set and we've yet to find it in New Zealand. It's very common in Asia but expensive (about USD120). However you only heat it once, after that the food stay hot for hours. Once we left porridge in it for two days. It came out between hot and very warm with steam piping out. Not bad with only 20 minutes of cooking (and electricity).
Besides the benefits of cheaper power bill and great food; it's hard to find it outside of Asia. It's also comes in one size only (so far) which is family size.
Happy cooking everyone!
No, budgets aren't hot. When someone has this magical invisible bottomless pocket to splash cash around with gay abandon, that's exciting and sexy and that's going to make you want to hang around this enigmatic free sprit (and reap some of the rewards).
Of course, that's also a difficult façade to maintain and usually only lasts a little time. Then a hole is burnt through that not so magical pocket. What's left then?
I don't think budgets are meant to be hot. Is that really the point? It's about something slightly less sexy but definitely more long-lasting and therefore satisfying.
A stand mixer is key if you enjoy any sort of baking.
For bread, I'm partial to the 5 minutes a day version:
http://www.foodess.com/2009/03/artisan-bread-in-five-minutes/
It really is easy.
Contrary to popular belief, budgets are actually Sexy! That is all.