Money Saving Mom’s New Budget Book

I have mentioned Crystal Paine several times, because her blog was my first introduction to effective couponing. So I am pleased to recommend her new book,

The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands a Year

It’s available in Kindle or Softcover formats, but it would be most helpful in print,  because it has useful worksheets in it.

 

Although it’s not a comprehensive book like the one above,  you can also read her grocery shopping series on her blog:

 

Or “like” her Facebook page for more helpful advice.

She’s smart.

 

Dave Ramsey Cash Envelopes

Dave Ramsey didn’t invent these fancy envelopes, of course. The ones we got from him were boring. I got the envelope template here and the idea for a cover here .

I made a lot of changes in the cover, but the envelopes are pretty much as written in the directions. I didn’t have two-sided paper, so I cut 12″ sheets of 1-sided paper into 8 1/2″ x 11″ and then printed freebie digital scrapbooking page patterns on the back side.  I used glue instead of double-faced tape.

I don’t have a lot of scrapbooking supplies, so I used what I have… some is super cheap dollar store stuff and some is from Archivers!

Practice envelope

I made 8 of them and then bound them as shown in the second link, with grosgrain ribbon in the stitching. I made a cardboard cover and covered the outside of that with scrapbook paper. The flap is pink because the 12″ paper was really too small to cover the cardboard piece well. (the cardboard piece was 12″ to start with).

I should have added a strip of decorative paper down the center of the inside spine before I glued the ribbons down. The bare cardboard is visible when the book is open.

I faced it with another piece of paper, to over the ribbons. I can’t bring the paper all the way into the center to cover the exposed cardboard because of the crease. It won’t stay there.

The back

stick-on velcro closure

Oh – I need to put labels on the flaps of each envelope! It’s too late now… I think I will do that tomorrow!

If you decide to make this, I recommend cutting the envelopes from the pdf version of the file. THEN, do the sewing before you glue the envelopes into “envelopes”. It’s important! Take my word for it.

Speedy Dinner

Chicken Fajita Soup

I can make this from scratch, but to tell you the truth, it’s just as good from cans.

The fresh ingredients:

Chicken breast – cut bite-sized pieces and cook in a pan with just a little butter, until they are done.
Cilantro

The convenience foods:

Canned diced tomatoes with peppers
Canned black beans
Canned or frozen corn
Canned chicken broth
Diced garlic (I use the stuff in jars)
Cumin, chili powder or a pre-made Mexican spice mix
Salsa

Topping:

Tortilla Chips

Dump it all in a pot. Use scissors to mince up the cilantro.  I use a lot of cilantro. I usually put it in a crockpot so I can serve it when it’s convenient, but it can be made at the last minute if necessary.

Serve the chips separately so each person can crumble them into the soup like crackers.
You don’t need to add salsa unless you want to. I like it spicy.

Priceless.

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Stocking for Two

After my last post, I grew somewhat smug about my ability to create real meals in spite of our hectic schedule.  When we got news that we were going to have guests, I assumed that it would be easy. Unfortunately, it was a work-all-day day. I was scheduled to work from 7-8, 10-1, and 3-9. With those brief breaks, it should have been simple to whip up a meal and leave it in the crockpot. I didn’t need anything fancy, so after consultation with my daughter-in-law, I decided that sloppy joes and store-bought potato salad (perhaps with a lettuce-y salad, too), would be ideal.  Between clients #1 and #2, I ran to the store and bought potato salad and ground beef, as well as some chicken breasts and pork chops. I dumped the entire package of ground beef into a pan, cut up some onions and cooked it all up. Drained it. Dumped it in the crockpot. Chili was starting to sound good, though, especially after I realized that I’d forgotten to buy buns. Yep, chili was a much better choice all around. I could make some 5-minute artisan bread to go with it. Normally, I would cook up dry beans, but I didn’t have time for that. I dug through the pantry and found several cans of black beans. No red beans or kidney beans. Well, it looked like I would have to cook some up. If I boiled them hard for a little while, they would finish cooking in the crockpot. But there were no kidney beans and only a handful of red beans. Okay. We like black beans.  I hadn’t yet opened the cans of beans when I realized that I had no tomato sauce. None. I had several cans of diced tomatoes, which would be good to add to tomato sauce for chili, but they really can’t replace ALL of the sauce.  Back to Plan A. I could pick up buns on the way home from client #2. I rummaged through the pantry and refrigerator and found one partial bottle of BBQ sauce. Not enough for sloppy joes.  I could have made more, if only I had some tomato sauce, of course.

It looks like my cupboards are bare of all those “ordinary” things I always took for granted.  The kind of things I picked up and put in the grocery cart from habit. Things I bought in the largest package available. Lately, I’ve just been shopping for things on my immediate horizon.  That sounds sensible, and it goes along with the good habit of using a monthly meal plan, but really… there are some things that I “should” keep on hand.  Many years ago, I used a master grocery list.  That helped me ensure that I had those basics in the cupboard.  Now, even though I rarely use it, I run out of ketchup! On the other hand, I have at least 8 cans of diced tomatoes and even more of refried beans. I keep buying those things because I can’t remember how much I have at home.

On a more important note, I’m nearly out of coffee. You would think that I could remember that. It’s a vital part of my day, but apparently not while I am shopping.

It’s a good time to reinstate that grocery list, ideally in conjunction with the menu planning.  Cooking for two is very different from cooking for a family, but it still requires organized lists! Starting one now: coffee, buns, BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, ketchup…

Fast Food

Sometimes I am surprised by how fast I can throw a meal together. Since I have started working part-time, we have had to adjust our lifestyle to suit an odd schedule. Yesterday afternoon, between clients, I stopped at the grocery store and bought two pork chops. I ran home, popped them into a big cast iron kettle, scrubbed and added a couple potatoes and some baby carrots.  I covered the pot and put it in the oven. I cut an acorn squash in half, scooped out the seeds and put the halves upside down on a cookie sheet. It went in the oven, too. When I got home an hour later, it was all done and we had a lovely meal!! Including the stop at the store, it took less than 20 minutes to prepare.  I served it with some applesauce (home canned) and frozen blueberries. yummmmm…..

Harvest Season

Whether you are putting a garden to bed and getting everything put by for winter or doing your shopping at the grocery store, it’s time to think about winter. It’s a season of warm food.  Spicy cookies and pies. Soups. Bread. All of the things you didn’t even want to think about during the hot summer. Here in Wisconsin, summer is very short, and some days were cool enough that I did make soup and bread, but this is the real season for it.

Apples and pumpkins and other late-season produce are readily available, and it’s a good time to start processing them for winter. Apples are so useful and versatile – it’s easy (but time-consuming, I admit) to make applesauce, cider, apple butter, apple pies and cakes and breads, and to freeze slices and diced apples for use later in the winter. Dried apples, too, are a sweet treat.

Pumpkin is good in a variety of forms. The pies are the most common form, but pureed pumpkin is good in soups, bread and muffins and even pancakes. Sweet pumpkins can be eaten like other squash. Last year, I used the pressure cooker to cook pumpkin. Cut off the stem, cut in pieces, scoop out the seeds and pressure cook for a little while.  When it’s safe to remove it from the cooker, spoon out the flesh. No need to puree… it’s already done.  If I had cooked mine for one minute longer, I could have pureed the skin, too, because it was so soft. If it’s too runny, cook it down. Freeze it in Ziploc bags.

Even if you don’t have a garden or orchard of your own, it’s a good season for putting food by.

Coupons at Walgreens

Walgreens Coupon Policy

If you shop at Walgreens, print this out and keep it in your coupon binder in case you run into a cashier who doesn’t know the rules!

Pumpkin Pancakes

http://www.momadvice.com/blog/2009/10/fluffy-light-pumpkin-pancakes.html

I made these for breakfast this morning. I tripled the batch, thinking I would freeze leftovers, but I don’t know if there will be any left to freeze. They were very good!!

I made mine with regular pumpkin. I cooked up a big one yesterday and froze most of the puree, but I left out one package to try this recipe.

I used sour milk instead of fresh (because I had it!) and I eliminated the salt because it already had so much sodium from the baking powder. I used white sugar and 1/2 WW flour and 1/2 white flour.

One thing – they are pretty sweet, so if you like to put syrup on your pancakes, you might want to eliminate the sugar from the batter. I had one pancake without syrup and it was perfect.

I was afraid that they wouldn’t be fluffy, but they were! They tasted a little like pumpkin pie, of course, with all that spice in them.  YUMMY!

Mail Call

I’ve been a slacker lately and not been shopping much. If I stay on top of things and shop at least once a week, I do better, but I am lazy and like to stay at home.

In the mail today: A full-size can of Progresso High Fiber Chicken Tuscany soup and ten coupons for $1.10 off a single can at the store!

Also in today’s mail, a full-size bottle of L’Oreal Revitalift Deep-Set Wrinkle Repair and four addition smaller samples with coupons. That will go really well with yesterday’s mail: Olay’s new ProX Wrinkle Smoothing Cream. That also came with coupons.

I’m seeing a theme here.