January 2012 Budget Challenge

[sotsuguyou]

I like that it has a nice and long shelf life. Will definitely give this master mix a go. Thank you!

[sweetproserpina]

Wow! So many kinds of muffins! I'd like to try the pb and banana, or the pb and jelly, yum I think i will have to try this out- a batch a week would be easy, and we'd always have a quick snack at the ready.

Thanks!

[ZumbaQueen]

Have you tried the flour mix with half whole wheat & half with white flour? Trying to reduce our white flour in take.

The rest sounds great....thanks for sharing!

[MrsSunshine]

wow thanks so much for all the great tips, ideas and recipes.. great day here as well. a ton done. very proud. really hoping to get some baking done tomorrow.

[Valiant]

Well, I used the Silk soy today for baking a pan of cornbread, and a dozen blueberry muffins. It worked out great!
In fact, I'm having a Little House on the Prairie supper...cornbread and milk.
Once in a while, I have a Heidi supper...toasted bread & cheese and milk.

It was a good day, and tomorrow I hope to use up the rest of the Silk soy while it is freshest. It would make good crepes or regular pancakes, and a nice pan of baking powder cinnamon rolls.

Work went well; I got paid, and it's nice to see real money again.
But assets are also very valuable...all those cooking and baking supplies that save lots and lots of dollars by providing lots and lots of homemade meals on hand.

And now for some movies to relax a tired body and chase away the doldrums.

[carebearhamm]

Have you tried the flour mix with half whole wheat & half with white flour? Trying to reduce our white flour in take.

The rest sounds great....thanks for sharing!

I grind my own flour and i just add alittle extra levening agent and its great!!!

[Valiant]

More To-Do's:
FOOD:
- finish baking with the Silk Soy: pancakes/crepes, cinnamon buns, more cornbread
- some frugal shopping (DONE)

CLOTHING:
- laundry

- sort clothing in dresser drawers keeping only the clothing that gets used. Stack the rest on the closet shelf. Anything with metallic fibers is getting removed because I've become allergic to it. It would still make great rag-rugs, and the gold or silver threads in the fiber would add interest.
GOAL: find 3 hours to do this

- cut up some unusable clothing for rag-rug strips;
GOAL: 3-4 pieces each time, 3 days per week

- some essential mending at the sewing machine
GOAL: find 4 hours to do this

- continue sorting sewing dresser drawers; 3/7 completed;
GOAL: 1 drawer for each hour spent in the spare room at computer

- rip apart some unusable knitted articles for the yarn;
GOAL: find odd moments or 2-3 hours to work on and complete this goal

- sort yarns for immediate craft projects; stack the rest in closet again
GOAL: find 2 hours to do this

[MamasitaDonna]

Thank you so much for this...I am guilty of buying the prepackaged mix because it is so fast to make for the kids in the morning, but this is super fast as well. I love it!

[Valiant]

Errands and shopping completed.
Got some great produce on sale, and bought some things for the stockpile, also some snacks with sales & coupons.
This year, I plan to buy more basic food supplies, and fewer snack foods.
It's getting harder and harder to get a good deal on snack foods, even with coupons...and I'm not willing to justify that kind of spending any longer, though it was fun for awhile.

For Example:
1 box of Thinsations has 5 small bars, and each of those bars is the equivalent of 1 of my homemade Brownies. And I prefer my Brownies.

Well, gotta reign in the spending a bit now...except for milk and produce, or a great deal on meat. Chicken was on sale...a nice big one for only $8, but I have no more room in my freezer; unless I roast it and keep it in the fridge, and do all the other food preps with it, and eat them till it's gone. Theoretically...a good problem to have...enough/too much food.
But I still have to finish up my baking with the rest of that carton of Silk Soy, so will have a hard enough time finding room to freeze most of it.

PS: For those who may be wondering, I never use a food bank, or accept a Christmas hamper. I do just fine the way things are with my budget.
Hopefully, I will not lose more employment though, as that would be a very different challenge to face, as I don't qualify for EI.

[sotsuguyou]

Today was an expensive day. Redemption day tomorrow.

I'm curious about your rag-rug, Valiant. Do you do the "crochet" kind where you loop 1 strand around another? If so, do you use a special tool? I've been using a safety pin that sort of works but I'm likely a lot slower than I should be.

[carebearhamm]

Trying to stay at home and out of the stores - I have some very big purshases I want/need so really trying not to spend $$ on nothing. Went to the co-op got 5 bags of cheese, 2.2KG of pork, grapes and cucumber spent $45.00 (grapes were $13 but they taste great).

[recessionisnotfun]

Sandwich Spreads:
1. Egg salad: hard-boil 2-4 eggs; peel; mash with mayo, basil & chives.
Make sandwiches and freeze each one in a sandwich baggie.
2. Tuna: mash with mayo & chives; make sandwiches & freeze.
3. Roast Beef slices, Cheese slices: make sandwiches & freeze.

If you have an electric carving knife, or if you chill your homemade fresh bread first, it will be easier to slice to make sandwiches.

Won't the bread be all soggy and gross after dethawing the sammies or no?

[bobbiegirl2010]

Valiant:

I have been thinking the same thing about buying pre-packaged snacks and food. It's convenient but homemade stuff tastes better and is cheaper. I made 4 banana breads for about $1.25 each. A box of cereal bars cost about the same (if on sale and coupon used) but they don't taste as good and the banana bread yields more servings. I also am interested in trying your muffin mix recipe. I think the muffin mix sold at stores is gross (I always thought blueberry muffin mix contained dried blueberries until I read the ingredient list and found out it is "blueberry flavoured bits")

As for losing your employment I am in the same boat running a home daycare. I just started this past summer and only have 1 family. I have not had any luck advertising for more children so far as I live in a small town. If I had no employment I wouldn't qualify for EI either. In your situation would you qualify for a Disability Pension if you lost your income?

[aljen01]

Reading through this is really inspiring me to get my butt in gear and get organized. For far too long we have been spending with no clue as to how much we are spending. We are usually out of money before the next cheque, and our credit cards are a mess. So, I have vowed that this year we get on the straight and narrow. I will be doing up a budget and figuring out some numbers. We really want to move to a bigger house (we've added to the family this year and our house is on the small side) and until we get some things straightened out we won't be able to move anywhere. The sad thing is we are in this mess and my dh makes a great living for us

[Jasminenicole]

This week will be really expensive, I am dreading the text book buying. So far 2 textbooks at 180.00.
I am really considering using my Visa card for these purchases.

Canceled Gym member ship today, this needed to happen it was costing us 109.45 monthly. Have decided to use the gym on Campus for free.

Also, DH treated me to Swiss Chalet tonight both of us got sick (it's normally so good! what happened?) so we will not be eating much of anything for a while and certainly no take-out.