Happy New Years

Happy New Years!

I will be gone the next few days spending time with family and friends. I will be back with our New Years goals, our increased dedication to save and adventures with buying a car because our old one isn’t worth fixing.

Six Dishes To Use Up Potatoes

Since we accidentally overspent our grocery budget by $10 due to bad weather and the holidays (or my lack of planning for bad weather and the holidays), we haven’t been to the store in a few days and we won’t go until the end of the week.

To stretch our food and save money we plan on using up our 10 lb bag of potatoes until we go shopping again. This week we have already made hash browns and I plan on making some potato soup tonight. Tomorrow we will bring some twice baked potatoes to a New Year’s Eve party where our friends are serving chili.

Although the potatoes I have are fresh, most weeks I forget that I have potatoes in my cupboard and when I find them they only have a little time left and so I have to use them quickly. Since I have found lots of recipes that use up potatoes I thought I’d share six family favorites.

1. Twice Baked Potatoes
We will make our potatoes similar to this recipe but omit the bacon, use less sour cream and add ranch dressing. We usually make this as a side dish but we have used it as a main dish in the past.

2. Potato Soup
I will often double this recipe and use whatever vegetables I have on hand. This soup is also tasty with bread bowls.

2-3 c. chicken broth
2 c. chopped potatoes
1 c. celery
1/4 c. onion
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
2 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. cheese
1 can corn, drained (opt.)
1/4 c. chopped bacon (opt.)
1/4 c. shredded carrot (opt)

Mix the broth, potatoes and vegetables in large pot and simmer 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. In a separate pan combine the flour and butter over medium heat and mix 1-2 minutes or until the mixture starts to brown. Add milk and constantly stir 3-5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Combine the milk mixture with the broth and vegetables. Stir in cheese, corn, bacon and carrot and heat through.

3. Potatoes and noodles
This is a Swedish recipe from my grandmother and is my dad’s favorite recipe. We make the mashed potatoes from scratch but to speed up the process we leave the peels on.

Mashed potatoes

Noodles:
1 c. flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 Tablespoons milk
2 c. chicken broth
1-2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken breast (opt)

Mix egg, salt and milk. Add flour and mix well. Roll out thin and cut into noodles with a pizza  cutter*. Bring chicken broth to a boil over medium heat. Add separated noodles and let cook 5-10 min. Add chicken. Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup cooled water and add to mixture. Let broth boil until thickened, adding more cornstarch if necessary. Pour over mashed potatoes.

*You can also just grab small chunks of dough with a spoon and drop in the broth instead of rolling the dough out. This speeds up the process but the noodles will turn out larger.

4. Rosemary potatoes
This is a simple recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook that we have frequently used as a side dish. This dish is a healthier alternative to fries if you use olive oil.

5. Baked potatoes
Baked potatoes are extremely versatile. You can top them with leftover chili, broccoli and cheese, pizza toppings, sour cream and bacon and other variations. We will often have baked potatoes when we want a lighter supper.

6. Hash browns
We will often bake the potatoes the night before and stick them in the fridge to make breakfast easier in the morning.

5-6 large potatoes
1 1/2 Tablespoons oil

Bake the potatoes in the microwave or oven. Let cool and then grate onto large pan or skillet. Add oil and fry over medium-high heat until golden brown.

Since I rarely stick to a recipe and instead use what I have on hand these are an approximation of how I make certain dishes. To make them a little healthier you could cut back on the fat and add vegetables and proteins where you think it’s needed. Don’t be afraid to experiment with potatoes, they’re very forgiving.

Little Things to Earn Extra Cash

Since we’ve had a little extra time during the holidays we found a few things around the house that could help us get extra cash to put into savings.

1. Fill out rebates from the holidays
Many larger purchases may be eligible for rebates. They take some time and effort but can be well worth the hassle. This year we bought a Remington from Dick’s Sporting Goods for our family Christmas present. The night that we brought it home we made sure to fill out the rebates for a $20 gift card from Dick’s and a $30 rebate from Remington.

2. Sell items on either Ebay or Craigslist
We sold many of our unnecessary household items before we moved across the country last winter. But we still have a modem that we no longer use yet we kept putting off selling it. We finally decided to post a listing on Craigslist and see if we can get $20-$30 for it.

3. Close an account we no longer use
Last year we got a toll pass for a close major city when Tim was hunting for jobs. Since we haven’t visited that city in over a year we decided to close the account and return the toll device. We should get back the $10 deposit and about $35 that we still have in our account.

These specific rebates, items to sell and returns are unique to our situation but there should be something that you could get a little bit of money for by just spending a few minutes filling our paperwork or posting a listing online. In some of these cases, a little bit of effort goes a long way.

Don’t Forget to Scour After Christmas Sales

If like my family, you are just starting off and don’t have a lot of Christmas supplies, today is the perfect day to search for bargains on wrapping paper, decorations and perhaps even presents for next Christmas.

Because of holiday traveling I haven’t been able to go to the store yet, but I’m hoping to hit up CVS today after we get our car’s alignment fixed.

I’m planning on CVS having Christmas bargains because I went there a day or two after Halloween this fall and I got a nice wreath, dishtowels and lots of candy for 90% off and only spent a few dollars total. I learned that you can get some steals after the holidays. I also learned to beware of storing chocolate in the cupboard above the fridge because it melts, re-melts and eventually grows mold in less than two months.

If our car gets fixed in a reasonable time and I make it to the store I’ll be sure to add some pictures of my finds.

New Site Look

One of the Christmas presents I received from my husband was that he’d help me with the site for ten hours/month. As you can tell he’s already been busy and the site has a great new look. It’s still not completely finished but we’ve got a good head start.

Since Tim is an SEO specialist and has created successful websites on the side his experience will be a great help. His talent working with the internet is one reason I believe this site can be successful at helping others live on one income.

His gift means a lot to me  because he’s taking the time and using his talents to help me accomplish my dreams. And that’s hard to put a price tag on.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I am taking a few days off to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. I will be back with more great tips about living on one income later this week. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Unwrap Your Soap for Savings

My sister just gave me this frugal tip. She said that she opens her bar soaps and stores them in the closet. Not only do they help the closet smell fresh and clean, the soap also lasts longer for her children’s baths.

I did some research and she’s not the only one to notice that unwrapped soap lasts longer than wrapped soap. Apparently unwrapped bars of soap dry in the open air and when stored for a few weeks/months they will last longer in the bath without compromising the suds factor. What an easy way to stretch your soap and your budget. Thanks Shaunda!

Keeping Track of Expenses Electronically

With the holidays coming it’s more important than ever to track your expenses. In our household we use Quicken (one of many financial softwares available) and Excel to keep current on our balances and expenses.

Quicken came with our iMac and so that has been the default program of choice. I feel Quicken has been vital in helping us stay on track financially and make ourselves accountable to our goals. Here are some of the ways that our household uses Quicken:

Balance checkbook
Every time we pay cash or use our debit card I take the receipts and enter in the amount into the register on Quicken. I then enter what category each purchase fits under (i.e. gas, groceries, utilities). I can even break up purchases into more than one category if needed. I also enter deposits on the register and assign those categories as well.

Download bank transactions
I can download activity from all of my checking, savings and credit card accounts to Quicken to reconcile my checkbooks. This is helpful as I find that I forget to enter in a few transactions each month.

Schedule payments
Quicken has a calendar feature that I use for all scheduled deposits, bills, etc. This way I know when each bill is due each month and roughly how much is in each bank account for a certain day. If I know a big payment is coming I can use the “pay it now” feature to deduct the amount from my account so I know what’s left in the account, after the big expense.

Track expenses and categories
Using Quicken I can put together reports of how much I have spent in certain categories. I can customize these reports for the current month, year to date, or other timeline that I need to look at. Quicken also allows you to create categories to personalize your reports.

Forecast cash flow
Using this feature I can choose certain accounts, and based on expenses and deposits listed in my calendar, Quicken will estimate how much money will be in chosen accounts on certain dates.

Obtain overall picture of financial resources
Because we have many different checking, savings, credit and cash accounts it is very helpful to see them all in one place. In the accounts list view I can see how much we have versus how much we owe on our student loan and credit card. Because I am very wary of debt this feature helps ensure that we have enough in our checking account each month to pay off our credit card balance.

Budget
With the importance of budgets this feature should have been listed first but I personally have had some issues with our Quicken and the budget feature. Because of this we use Excel to make our budgets. Perhaps when we create our 2009 budget, we will give Quicken another chance.

As you can see Quicken is a major cornerstone of our financial tracking system. I didn’t use all of Quicken’s features at first but added more features as I grew more comfortable with the program.

There are two areas that I feel Quicken lags behind on and where I utilize Excel:

Budget
Since we cannot use this feature in Quicken very effectively, I have moved our budget over to Excel. If you have never set up a budget before there are some great spreadsheets online to help you accomplish this. However, I would start by keeping it simple. Make a list of all major expenses or categories and then estimate a total for each. After tracking your expenses for a couple of months, modify your budget to be more realistic with your spending.

Basic math for planning unexpected income and expenses
Another way that we utilize Excel is by breaking down unexpected income (like bonuses) or rearranging our budget to fit in unexpected expenses. As an example, my husband received a bonus from work last week and we used Excel to figure out how much was left for savings after tithing, paying down the student loan, purchasing a family gift and paying for new brake pads and another medical bill. As a side note, usually I’m a big fan of putting bonuses into savings first, but this month had unexpected expenses and unfortunately savings got the last end of the deal, but was not forgotten!

The Simple Life: Dried Flowers

These are the beautiful flowers my husband gave me for our Anniversary last month. When they were on their last breath I decided to make a nice decoration from them.

I simply turned them upside down, grabbed some ribbon from a present we received and hung them on a nail. They may not fit in with the rest of our Christmas decorations but they have added a bright spot to our home and remind me of my husband.

$79 Grocery Shopping Marathon

Grocery store savings are where I try to save the most money. My monthly budget is $180 for food and $30 for household, or about $53/week. I try to pay for groceries and household in cash so that we don’t go over budget and because I am more aware of what I’m spending with cash than what I spend on a debit card. Also, when I pay in cash I round up to the nearest dollar and put my change in a savings jar.

I usually split the month in half and allot myself $105 the first half and $105 the second. If there is money left over I add it to the next week in case a good deal comes up. I make two big shopping trips at the beginning and middle of each month. I usually spend all but $15-$25 which I leave for staples for the next week and for any good deals.

The grocery portion of our budget includes soy milk for our son (at $5/gallon we spend about $25-$30/month just on the milk), meats, produce and others. The only items it doesn’t include is bulk rice and oatmeal which I buy about twice a year for an exceptional price. We are also working on setting aside three months of food for emergencies and have budgeted a separate $40/month to build up our supply more quickly.

The household portion of the budget includes cleaning products, toilet paper, medicine, paper products, and hygiene items. It does not include diapers.

Yesterday was one of our big shopping days and I hit Krogers, Aldis, Trader Joe, WalMart and Target. I usually don’t go to more than three stores in one day (Kroger, WalMart and Aldis) but yesterday I made a couple of more stops. Here is what I bought and the totals below.

Kroger:

Total: $18.00. The only coupons I used were for the Cottonelle Toilet Paper.

Aldis: (The flour and tortilla chips accidently got in the picture)

Total: $33.00

WalMart: (We had already eaten one bunch of bananas before I took this picture)

Total: $22

Target: More details here

Total $1.00

Trader Joe: More details here

Total: $5.00

Grand Total: $79

This wasn’t the best week for me, but it wasn’t the worst. I couldn’t find many coupon deals but this is our typical shopping spending. We will round this out with food we already have in the cupboard and freezer. I am also excited that we have so much fresh produce to use.

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