Savings

I officially have $25.00 of touchable money in my savings. This is big for me. The challenge is going to be not to touch it.

It's always been a challenge for me to keep a savings account, but after going through such a rough time with money recently, I'm ready to commit to one. With a dual income, $25.00 a week is feasible. Like most things though, I'm having to make putting money away a challenge and a game.

In this case, my plan is to play the carry over game. Come next payday (for either myself or the BF), half of whatever is left from the previous week gets put into savings, the rest stays to pile on top the new incoming money. This may not be feasible every week, especially when there's major bills to pay. But my hope is that by doing it this way, we'll stay motivated not to spend a whole lot of money, a tendency that we've kept at bay for awhile now but which I know I can easily fall back into.

If anyone has any tips on savings, I'd love to hear them. I'm willing to try anything at this point.

Cheese and Spinach Burgers

We found a recipe for a different sort of burger that we tried out today. I'm not entirely sold on them but the BF really liked them. They have a weird tang to them that I'm not accustomed to. However, they lend themselves to several different variations and were fairly cheap to make:

1 pack dry French Onion Soup Mix (GV brand - $.68, which is for the whole box, so one envelope is actually $.34).
2 lbs hamburger (price varies. We were able to get ground round on sale for $1.99 a lb so about $4.00)
10 oz box of frozen spinach ($.96)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (GV brand - $1.98).
Buns (we bought reduced bakery buns at WalMart for 1.34)

1. Squeeze the moisture out of the spinach and let dry
2. Mix soup mix, cheese, dried spinach, and hamburger together.
3. Form patties and grill or broil (we used a George Foreman grill).
4. Serve on a bun with your choice of toppings.

Notes: This recipe should yield 8 burgers, therefore we cut the recipe in half, which still yields two meals for each of us. Taking that into account, the cost per person per meal is approximately less than $2.50 person, and that's taking into account we ate it with Pringles (on sale for $.88 at Dillons this week).

There are several areas where costs can be cut even more. You can get standard hamburger buns for around a dollar in some places and you can find shredded cheese for cheaper than we did. Cheaper cuts of hamburger can be found, though they may have more fat and will shrink the size of the patties.

Some of the variations of this include substituting the french onion soup mix for a ranch dressing powder, using mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar, and using more or less spinach depending on your palate. Next time we try these, I will probably forego the spinace while the BF will probably want more of it.

Easy and cheap recipe. Try it.

Be Careful of the "Splurge"

Interesting story I thought I'd share.

Yesterday was my first payday and even though the BF and I agreed we were still going to be frugal, we decided to go ahead and hit the drive thru on lunch while were running errands around town. With a little bit of money at our disposal, we figuired it would be okay.

After a few weeks with no fast food and rarely eating a meal that costs more than $3.00 per person, we decided to try Burger King. The first painful part of our meal was the wait, though by that time we really didn't have time to go anywhere else.

The cost was another hit to the stomach. For two medium size value meals, the cost was $11.70. This is more than double what we've been paying for the meals we've been eating at home. I knew it was a bad idea, but to top it off, we both agreed that the food was horrible. Fairly bland, way too greasy, and completely unsatisfying.

Our lesson? There are some splurges that are worth it when you're trying to live cheaply. Fast food is not one of them. Because of what we spent, we have agreed to forego our normal after-church meal out, which, from now on, will include fare that's worth the splurge: Quizno's, chinese, Applebees, etc.

No more of this fast food stuff. Our wallets and bodies will be alot better off.

The Joys of Hamburger Helper

I have a confession...I used to be a Hamburger Helper snob!

I'm not sure why. It wasn't that I looked down on it as a meal. I think part of it was growing up and remembering how often we had noodles and meat, so the thought of it as an adult wasn't appealing. Another part of it was the preparation. Up until recently, I've never felt comfortable in a kitchen, and even now I'm still finding my feet. But it always seemed like such a pain to have to brown the meat and mix everything (I know, right? That's pretty lazy of me).

Cooking dinner tonight, which was Hamburger Helper (Three Cheese if anyone was wondering), I felt silly for being so snooty about it. HH is a really cheap, pretty tasty, easily made dinner for people who are aiming to save money. It comes in a ton of different flavors and when you get sick of hamburger, you can fall back on Tuna Helper and Chicken Helper.

Some nifty things about Helper meals:

1. Low Cost of Item - The brand name starts at about $1.50 depending on the area you live in, but it seems to be one of those items that goes on sale alot. Look for local sales on HH. The most common one brings the price to about a buck a box, so stock up when you find them to keep around for an easy dinner. If you want to go generic, there's many off-brands of this type of meal, though you might not get the same variety.

2. Budgeting for the meat - The thing that's going to drive an HH meal up is going to be the meat which has gotten more expensive over the past few years. Depending on the type of hamburger you buy, it can get really expensive. We opt to buy the cheapest/easiest we can find which is the small pound tubes of it at WalMart for $2.12 (plus tax). We're currently working with limited freezer space so these one shot servings work best, though if you can find bigger packages at a lower per lb price, buy up, divvy the meat into storage bags, and freeze away. Also remember to drain the grease too as the cheaper hamburger will produce alot of it.

Chicken breasts for CH are a little pricier and take more preparation but not much. If you really want to save time, buy the canned chicken. TH is probably the cheapest as you can get a can of tuna for less than a buck. A Helper meal covers your meat and grains, so adding a cheap veggie and a glass of milk can help cover some of the others.

3. Not a health food, but... - Hamburger Helper is a little higher in calories and fat than alot of foods, but if you're trying to save money you can still compromise. For a slightly higher cost you can buy a leaner cut of hamburger, or you can buy ground turkey instead. I haven't bought ground turkey in a long time, but last I remember, it's actually cheaper than hamburger but gives a similar taste and is much healthier. Substitute "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" for butter/margarine and use skim milk for the mix.

Portion size is also something you can control and can make your meals cheaper. Check the box to see how many it will serve, especially if you're cooking for two or just yourself. Divvy the portions up accordingly. This isn't always easy with families, as different people eat different amounts, but you can try it a couple of ways. After separating it out for one meal, decide if you want to further multiply it. A single person can get two large meals or four small meals out of one box. Two people can one or two meals, etc. The more meals you can get out of one box, the cheaper each meal becomes. Keeping that in mind will also help you stay on track with healthy portions.

The BF and I were lucky enough to have acquired three boxes of HH from a friend who was moving so our meal was a bit cheaper. But taking into account the regular price of HH from WalMart, the meal breaks down into the following:

HH = $1.50
1 lb Hamburger = $2.12
Milk = negligible, but estimated at about $.50.
Total = $4.12

We opted for no sides and we didn't go the healthy route on this, deciding on a big dinner after a long day of work. Therefore, this meal came to $2.06 per person.

Memorial Day Spending

Holiday weekends are great in theory. Some extra days off, time spent with family and friends, and good food, usually in the form of BBQ. Unfortunately, holiday weekends also lend themselves to a little bit more spending than may have been planned for. While Memorial Day weekend is now officially behind us, I've come up with some frugal ideas to keep in mind for the next holiday weekend which will be here before we know it.

Garage Sales: It occurred to me that not everyone who has the extra day off may be getting paid for that extra day. While many jobs offer a chance for people to work some holiday/overtime hours, others may be left 8 hours short of a good paycheck. Holiday weekends in most areas are good times to hold a garage sale as there are more people in town and more people with a little extra time on their hands. If you plan well in the weeks beforehand and have alot of things to sell (in good condition of course), you can make a decent amount to supplement what you may have lost in that extra day off. And hey, even if you are getting paid for Memorial Day, there's never anything wrong with making a little extra money.

BBQs with Friends: Whether you throw one of your own or go to a friend's house, a group BBQ is the summer equivalent of a potluck. The host may offer to buy the meat if everyone else brings sides, chips, and drinks. Or everyone may bring a pound of meat to share plus a side and their own drinks. No matter how it's ran, you can generally enjoy a nice big meal for a small cost, and if the BBQ runs the whole day (complete with games and chatting), you'll usually enjoy lunch and dinner.

Be Frugal When Travelling: The opportunity of a long weekend is also an opportunity to take a road trip to see people you don't get to see regularly. However, the price of gas and regular travel expenses has gone up considerably since last year and doesn't show signs of going down before the next summer holiday. Be sure to plan ahead. If you can rent or borrow a vehicle that gets better gas mileage, budget for it. Try to stay with family or friends in order to save on hotel costs. Avoid stopping for meals by packing a cooler with sandwich stuff and drinks. And if you really can't afford to travel, take the time to enjoy being at home. Pitch a tent in the yard or do a mini house trade with some friends for a change of scenery. Be creative. It is possible to have a great weekend for relatively cheap.

This weekend, the BF and I managed to keep our costs down. He worked, and even though I had a four day weekend (paid, luckily...I didn't look ahead on that whole garage sale thing), I kept gas costs down by staying home and reading or looking up recipes when we finally got our internet back. In fact, I ended up not driving anywhere on Saturday which really saved on the gas. We ended up going to two BBQs where we were asked to bring a side and our own beverages. We opted for chips, macaroni salad, and a 12 pack of Coke Zero. The pop was a splurge...normally we try to stick to either the 68 cent 2 liters of WalMart brand or the $1.00 3 liters at the Dollar Store. The chips we got on sale...2 bags for $4.00, so we took one bag per BBQ. Watch out for the mac salad! We ended up buying deli salad for $4.29 a pound. I haven't checked into it, but I'm pretty sure you can make your own for alot cheaper.

All in all, for two BBQs that ended up being 2 meals (lunch and dinner both days), we spent about $12.00, which when broken down, ends up being $3.00 per person per meal. Not too bad at all!

Hope everyone had a great enjoyable weekend and we'll be looking to the 4th of July to use some more frugal holiday ideas.

Back Online

About an hour after my "no internet" post we came back on so I'll be back to blogging once more!

I want to say thanks to al who left me an awesome looking recipe. I'll be definitely trying this one, probably this week or early next. Thanks!!! :)

No Internet!!!

We haven't had internet for several days and it's not looking like we're going to have internet for a few more. It's hard keeping track of things and keeping up on a blog when you don't have it at your fingertips.

Therefore, there will be a mini-hiatus, but once we're back up and running, I'll be back up and blogging.