I can learn!

So I keep hearing about this fabulous book, the bible of frugal living, all should bow down before its magnificence! It's called The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. It supposedly has anything and everything you could possibly need to know to live a frugal life. So what did I do? Immediately went on Amazon to see if they had it. *Slap hand to forehead here* Now to be fair, I know Amazon sells used books too and I wanted to see if they had an edition for my Kindle. But of course they don't, and honestly I am hesitating at buying a book for $15 (used from $9.92) that I have never even looked at and don't know if it would even apply to me.

Then it hit me like a bolt of frugal lightening -I go to college! Colleges have libraries! I could check it out of the library! I am a genius! (Must be why I got straight A's last semester ya know) So off I go to the library website to find a copy of this fabulous book, aaaaaaaand......................they don't have it. Ok, so maybe it isn't exactly scholarly college research. That's when I discover this AMAZING thing called "Loan Shark" where you can sign up to have books from library systems around the country sent to your school and held for you to check out. Oh hellz to the yeah! It's like library magic! So I did indeed enter a loan shark request and now I just get to sit and twiddle my thrify little fingers and wait to be notified that it has arrived for me.

Instant gratification as good as clicking a button and having it download to my pretty e-reader? Well, no. But it is FREE and I can take the time to read it and decide if it is something that would benefit me to own before shelling out the $9.92 + shipping (for a used copy of course) to have a copy of my very own. See? I can learn to break the consumer habits and use the resources available to me! Sit...stay...check out books from the library...good Tina :-P

Use it up, make it last, make do, or do without

That is the tag line from one of my favorite blogs, The Non-Consumer Advocate.  She subscribes to a “buy nothing new” lifestyle.  Meaning, everything (other than a few exceptions like food, toiletries, underwear, stuff like that) are either purchased used, salvaged, traded for, Freecycled, Craig’s Listed…you get the idea.  This is a movement that started with a group of folks in San Francisco (where else!) about 5 years ago, and has picked up followers all around the world since then.  Everyone is free to make their “rules” and exceptions.  Some people will buy new if it is handmade or directly benefiting a local business, or will buy new books because that is their passion and they want to support the authors (but only from local bookstores).  Pretty much it is just about becoming conscious of our consumerism and determining how much we NEED to buy, and how much we would just really like to have in the moment, and how much we can repurpose instead of buying more disposables that will probably end up in a landfill sooner rather than later.

I have looked at this movement with envy and grand ideas of joining them for a couple of years, but every time I start to think about devoting myself to the concept I suddenly realize I DESPERATELY NEED those slipper socks/pajama pants/water bottle/earrings/new skirt/4 fleece blankets RIGHT NOW!!! And I end up purchasing said items from Wal-Mart or Target or Old Navy or whatever.  Now, on one hand those slipper socks, blankets and pajama pants have made it possible for me to keep my heat down at home and save on utility bills…but did I really need them NOW or could I have worn older stretch pants, already owned slippers with already owned socks, and hit a thrift store for some blankets (even if they didn’t match as perfectly as the set of fleece ones). 

So, without feeling the need to wait any longer I am going to jump into it and see how it goes doing The Compact for 2011 (and the last 2 weeks of 2010).  This might be really easy for me.  After all I really don’t have money to be spending frivolously on “stuff” anyway and if I could cut my spending way back and maybe even build up some savings that would be brilliant.  BUT it might also prove to be really hard for a couple reasons, #1 being that I live in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina, Wal-Mart pretty much IS where there is to shop for this stuff without driving 30-60 minutes towards Asheville for real thrift stores.  and #2 my car is pretty much a giant hunk of scrap metal that only works about every other month which makes driving those 30-60 minutes near impossible unless I bribe a friend to drive me.  I am going to make exceptions for the standard underwear, socks, even sheets if I need a new set and my big one, yarn for knitting and crochet.  But for the most part everything else I am going to do my best to see if I can do without or get it used, and if I can’t find it used then maybe I don’t need it so desperately after all!

BUT buying used isn’t the only part of this that is important.  There is the that age old axiom that I led this post off with “Use it up, make it last, make do, or do without”  Kind of like people tend to get really hung up on the “RECYCLE” part of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and forget about those other 2 R’s that are even MORE important!  So when I start jonesing for stuff that would make my life easier or things I would really really like to obtain, I look around to see what I can make do with or what I can make last. 

My example for today is – a tea kettle!  I heart tea kettles.  I think they are pretty, cozy, and can really make a place feel like a home.  I love places that just have a brightly colored tea kettle sitting on the back burner at all times just WAITING to heat up some water for you.  But I am also realistic and I realize that my kitchen really doesn’t need another item taking up space, needing to find somewhere to move it when I am cooking, spending the money on one when a small sauce pan on the stove works JUST as well.  But this morning my saucepan was in use for other purposes and I just wanted a single cup of hot water to make my miso soup for breakfast so I decided to look around and see what I could make work.  When a friend was moving out she brought me a bunch of her stuff she couldn’t take with her.  One item was a little 2 cup coffee pot that is just adorable.

 

Only problem is, I really don’t drink much coffee at home so it has just kind of sat there looking cute and unused (except for it’s brief moment of stardom when I used it as a prop in my acting final substituting Pepsi for coffee…it was a brilliant performance on the part of the coffee pot, very method)  So I decided to dig into my bag of tricks and modify the COFFEE pot to be my new TEA pot!  When I stay at motels and I want hot water for tea I always take the little coffee filter holder out of the pot (because it makes everything that passes through it taste like stale coffee) and I take the lid off the pot so that all now more free flowing the water actually ends up IN the pot and not the counters.  Well, I did the same thing on this little pot, tucked away the filter holder thingy and lid in case I want to make coffee in the future, and voila!  2 cup tea pot that doesn’t take up a ton of room and makes just enough for me alone and doesn’t make my miso soup taste like 2 week old coffee grounds were mixed in.

Honestly, if I had to buy a 2 cup coffee pot for this purpose I wouldn’t have.  It is super handy, but a pot on the stove works just as well too, even if I do have to wash it first.  But by using what I had on hand that was given to me for free instead of shoving it in the back cabinet until I randomly felt like making coffee at home (which happens maybe once a year) it was an all around winning situation.  And it helped me make this delicious, healthy (if not particularly photogenic) breakfast of miso soup, tangelo and homemade toast w/ butter.

Food and portions and stuff

So I packed my food for work today. After having a panic attack over how much money I spent on eating out during finals week ($10-$15 a day, seriously more than 50% of my weekly income was being spent on Subway, McAllister’s and Mad Batter) I decided that during break I will do LOTS of cooking, pack my food when I am working, and freeze a ton of stuff to be ready for the insanity that is going to be January 9th – February 12th (first day of rehearsals through closing night of Reasons To Be Pretty) (I should stop using parenthesis so much…but I like them…don’t judge me, I’m a theatre major not an English major)

ANYWAY…………………

So I packed some of my leftover curried lentils and brown rice for lunch today. I also packed a slice of fresh baked bread, 2 clementine oranges, package of miso soup mix, a string cheese, and an apple. I figured all that would cover me for lunch and afternoon snacks. But seriously, I think I grossly overestimate how much food I need in a day. I ate about 3/4 of the lentils and rice, the bread and the clementines and a Christmas cookie that a coworker had brought in and didn’t touch the soup, cheese or apple. It’s like, I pack every day on the off chance I am chosen to join an expedition to climb Everest and all I will have to eat is what is in my lunch bag. PLUS the tupperware I pack my leftovers in holds 3 cups and of course I feel the need to fill it full. That means I packed around 1.5 cups of lentils and 1.5 cups of rice. I mean, no wonder by 3/4 of the way through I felt like I was going to burst with curried goodness! I’m thinking maybe I need to downgrade to a 2 cup tupperware container for leftovers for a more reasonable serving size so I don’t have a curried food baby after lunch.

So, lesson of today boys and girls – you will NOT starve, or be chosen to cater a mountain climbing expedition on the contents of your sack lunch, so pack for a single meal and not a week.

ALSO! I got my Christmas packages from my mom today. Although I left the wrapped presents until Saturday (if I can hold out) I did open a box of Trader Joe’s goodies that I am SUPER excited about. My closest TJ’s is 2 hours away an I haven’t had a functioning car for almost 3 months so getting awesome care packages from across the country always makes my day. Behold the stash!Trader Joe’s miso soup and dried peaches are probably two of my favorite things in the entire world…right up there with world peace and pillows stuffed with bunnies.

The holidays don't have to be about money

I went to a holiday party yesterday. I am broke, I have no car, I stocked up at the grocery store for 3 weeks of careful menu planning and really didn't feel like I could spare much of my food for a potluck, I recently moved so I already got rid of all my extraneous "stuff" that might have made ok secret santa gifts. This could have been a time to go into pity party "Oh poor me, alone for the holidays, family 3000 miles away, no money, no car, stuck at home with the dog and Netflix for company." But instead I decided I was going make the most of my unique talents and make it festive without spending a dime!

First the Secret Santa gift - it needed to be something that could be appropriate for a man or woman since we didn't know who would get our gift. So on Saturday at noon I went through my massive yarn stash and pulled out a half a ball of red, half a ball of grey and half a ball of black. I grabbed a pair of needles and just started a-knitting. I made up the pattern as I went along and ended up with a fast, beautiful, striped scarf with awesome multi-length tassles. The funny part is, I hadn't quite finished it when my ride was supposed to get to my place. So instead I wrapped up a ball of yarn with a note saying "IOU 1 COMPLETED HAND KNIT SCARF" and took the scarf on the needles to the party to keep working on. I was knitting on it all evening with everyone admiring it, but I didn't let on my little secret. One gentleman in particular was really fascinated by it, kept asking me questions about it, how long woud it take to finish, all this. When it came time for the gift exchange, HE was the one who ended up pulling my wrapped ball of yarn which I promptly grabbed from him (because I had just run out and had 2 rows left...LOL!) and 20 minutes later was able to gift him with the finished product and he LOVED it. So, gorgeous Secret Santa gift completed and it was yarn I already had around as odds and ends from other projects.

Cost to me - $0...actual cost of yarn used, maybe $3-5 tops

Part 2 was needing to make something for the potluck. I usually like to make cranberry sauce, but when I was at the store Saturday bags of cranberries were $3 each and that just seemed like more than I could justify on my budget to make a side dish. But what I DID have in my fridge was a pitcher full of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes bread dough. I mix up a batch of this every couple of weeks and have it to make fresh bread throughout the week. So I grabbed a double size lump of dough, let it rise for 2 hours to make it nice and airy, and baked it up. Sliced the whole loaf up into small pieces and put it in a basket. At the party I had multiple people tell me it was the BEST BREAD they had ever had! Half whole wheat, no sugar, as basic a flour/water/yeast/salt recipe as you can get, but it was just as good as anything you get from the fancy bakery downtown for $6 a loaf. I had people swiping the leftovers to take home whcih was fine with me, because I had already baked a second loaf to keep for myself :-)

Cost to me - $0 (the dough was already mixed and sitting in the fridge)...actual cost of the ingredients in the loaf, about $0.50

So...without putting a penny out of my pocket I was able to go to the party, enjoy the company of good friends, a FABULOUS meal, and just the all around warm feeling of being with people you love around the holidays AND bring a gift and a contribution to the potluck without spending any money out of my rather empty pockets.

I guess the lesson is, you don't have to be fancy! Would I have liked to fix up a gourmet, fancy, gorgeous dish of bacon wrapped dates or mini stuffed potatoes or tiny spanikopita bites, maybe. But that bread was made with love and probably tasted better than most of that other stuff would have anyway. Would I have liked to give a big gift basket full of goodies from a local store or a gift certificate to everyone's favorite restaurant as a gift? Maybe, but the scarf came from my hands, my heart, and will keep someone who needed a friend and needed a scarf warm this winter. I think my simple offerings that were made with my talent and my love were more welcomed and appreciated than anything I could have thrown money at. And that is a good lesson to remember year round!

Cinnamon Love

So my new favorite dessert is cinnamon baked apples.  I have discovered that I can’t keep chocolate in the house because SOMEONE turns into a chocolate monster and eats it all when I’m not looking!!  Oh, wait, I live alone…nevermind, it’s just me.  Well in any case, my inner chocolate monster has made it so that I am taking a break from keeping any sweets in the house for the time being. 

So instead I pretty much always have a bag of apples hanging around, and this is my new go to snack-um in the evenings when I am looking for something a little sweet

Cinnamon Apples: (Serves 1)

1-2 apples – sliced thin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 deg and lightly grease a cookie sheet (or cover with parchment paper)

Combine the cinnamon and sugar – I like to make a mix of 1 part cinnamon to 2 parts sugar and just keep it mixed up in a sandwich baggie with my spices so it is all ready and the sugar gets nice and cinnamon infused.

Toss the apple slices with the cinnamon-sugar and let rest for about 5 minutes.  This macerates the apples and gets the juices flowing a bit.

Spread the apple slices out in a single layer on the pan.  Give the slices some space, but it is ok if they are overlapping a bit.

Bake for 10-15 min, stirring once halfway through, until they are a bit translucent and a nice caramel brown.

Eat!!  I like them all by themselves, they would also be delicious over icecream or pancakes, or even chopped up smaller and mixed into greek yogurt.  Nom

Also a gratuitous picture of my weekend knitting project – a scarf for a Secret Santa gift.  It’s going to be purty!

Food Inc. - My mini review

So I have seen the movie Food Inc. about 10 times. I love it, I agree with it, and I watch it every now and then just to remind me why need to make the right choices in my food every day. HOWEVER - there is one part of the movie as I am watching it right now that is really bothering me. This is the part where the family is going through the drive through and spending about $12 on lunch for the family of 5, and then they go to the grocery store and talk about the prices for healthy foods there. While at the grocery store they are walking around saying $1.29/lb for broccoli and $0.99/lb for pears is just too expensive and they can't afford to eat healthy when candy and chips and soda are the same price or cheaper.

This is where I feel like some personal responsibility and healthy choices HAVE to come into play! Yes, I could get more calories worth of candy for $1 than I can get of fruit. But if I am eating a $0.50 pear compared to a $0.50 candy bar as a snack it is a healthier choice for the same price! No one is telling you to buy soda instead of, what, water? When I am on a $30/week food budget I know that spending $3 on a bag of lentils and a bag of rice is going to feed me longer, healthier, and more satisfying than a $3 bag of chips, or choosing a $2 carton of eggs instead of a $4 frozen pizza, that is about taking personal responsibility for my shopping choices.

I fully believe that the food industry is broken, sick, twisted, uses deceptive marketing tactics to get us to desire their artificially manufactured crap and is a major contributor to obesity and diabetes in our society. I think that the ridiculous increase in obesity over the past 50 years that goes hand in hand with the ridiculous new food creations that go further and further away from natural can't all be laid on willpower or personal failing. But, to say that you just CAN'T buy fruit because candy is cheaper just seems like a real cop out to me.

Pantry cooking never tasted so good!

So my car was fixed for a nanosecond and then it pooted out on me again. Which means I am digging through the cabinets looking for foodstuff until I can get a ride to the grocery store again. Went through and cleaned out the fridge of all the odds and ends that I have let get a little too ripe during finals week, and decided to make myself up a yummy pantry dinner.

Curried Lentils and Brown Rice

I boiled up about 1/2 bag of dried lentils with 2 bay leaves until they were very very soft. Drained and pulled the bay leaves out and added a large can of crushed tomatoes, about 1/4 cup of leftover curry ketchup, and somewhere in the ballpark of 1 Tb. each of curry powder, garlic powder and dried cilantro and some salt to taste. Basically, start small and add until it tastes good to you :-)

In the meantime I used my tried and true method for a pot of delicious brown rice (The secret - saute the dry grains of rice in some hot olive oil until they are nice and toasty before adding water. Lots of flavor and it doesn't get too mushy!)

Spooned up half a bowl from each pot of deliciousness and INSTANT YUM!!! This probably cost me no more than about $3 for the entire big pot. 1 cup of rice from a $1 bag, about $0.75 worth of lentils, $0.99 for a can of crushed tomatoes, a few pennies for the various spices. The curry ketchup was probably the most expensive thing and the meal would be just as good without it, I just happened to have a bit left in my bottle from my birthday. I think I will toss some frozen spinach in the rest of the pot to up the veggie quota, but otherwise this is about as perfect a winter dinner as it gets! Add a glass of white wine and some old episodes of Star Trek Voyager and I am a happy girl this Friday night.