One of the local grocery stores had a penny pincher booklet earlier this month. They had coupons on stuff that went beyond the regular sale price. On three of them, if you used your loyalty card, spent $20 overall, and used one of these coupons on the advertised item, you could receive another print out for 10% off your total grocery bill later on in the month, excluding alcohol and cigarettes. Not too bad of a deal.

So, DH and I went through the ad last night since this was the week the 10% ticket was good for. We made a list and I pulled coupons for stuff. We did a little stocking up on things we normally buy anyway, but with the coupons and the 10% off, we felt we had a good deal.

Last night we hit Kroger's and Walgreens for some of their loss leaders and he went to Aldi yesterday morning for our usual shopping. I like the idea of having a full pantry and getting bargains besides.

Today after our little stock up run, I reorganized the pantry and put the new stuff in. It is crowded, but I can at least see things.

Someone posted on Facebook a photo of a wall of canned goods from someone's garden. I will admit it, I drooled. Someday I hope to be adept enough at canning and have the produce to do that.

Besides the house we have shelves in the garage where we keep some of our things. I'm getting quite a collection of things that we bought on sale or had a deal. Nothing like Extreme Couponing and their stockpile, but it makes it nice to have things on hand so I don't have to buy some of the same things every week.

A gal I used to work with used to go the store before every meal. I wonder if she still does that with three kids and a full time job. I tried to convince her she needs to look at the grocery ads and plan her shopping that way and and if something nonperishable is on sale this week, buy a couple of extra so you have them instead of paying full price next week or the week after. She thought I was nuts. I wonder if she has changed her ways.

Where do you store your extra things?

A gal at work brought in some of her extra produce this week: tomatoes, zucchini, hot peppers. The first day the tomatoes were disappearing rapidly. The zucchini also left and the peppers...what peppers? The second day? Well, one of the two zucchini was taken and most of the small tomatoes were left. I took the second zucchini since no one else wanted it. I assumed people would gallop and get the rest of the tomatoes by the end of the day.

Nope. They were there yesterday and were starting to ge soft. They came home with me and I used them when I canned some of ours. I didn't have a huge amount to can and the extra 3-4 helped. I just hate seeing food go to waste. And I like the idea of having stuff preserved in some form. I have dried herbs and frozen some tomato sauce earlier as well as minced garlic and put it in olive oil in the fridge. I imagine I will be shredding the zucchini and freezing it for zucchini bread.

In our paper was some article about a Korean official eating Ramen noodles five times a week and how unhealthy they are and what poor choices he's making. Yeah, food high in preservatives can do that to a body. I heard a Pepsi commercial saying they are currently offering their product made with "real" sugar for a limited time. I wonder if the sales are good if they will continue to offer it. I wonder if many producers will get away from the mostly preservative laden processed lines. Probably not. I'm sure the bottom line will be profits. Plus people love cheap, even if it isn't healthy.

I realize some people have to have the Ramen noodle diet due to financial issues. But when there is free food available like the produce, I'm shocked that people don't want to be bothered with cooking or preserving it. There's something reassuring to me knowing I have a few things in the pantry ready for use. And free is always good!

Yesterday in nonfiction at our library was a book by Kevin O'Leary entitled, "The Cold Hard Truth On Men, Women, and Money." I read the book jacket, sounded good, and so I checked it out.

Let me preface this with I had no idea who Kevin O'Leary is. He is a business man who sold a company that I was familiar with since I'm in education. But I didn't realize he was on the Shark Tank.

But, after reading his book, I felt like we could be friends. He's similar to Larry Winget...he doesn't hold back, but he isn't as crude as Larry.

Most of what he had to say was common sense and I am, of course, kind of partial when he said women usually make the best investors.

One thing he pointed out, which most of us on SA already know, is people who spend Monday consistently on things like fancy coffees, lunches out, will have problems come retirement time. He said the folks in their 20s and 30s who have to spend big money on fancy coffees and lunches every day will probably be working pouring coffee or serving lunches into their 70s and beyond.

I finished the book in a couple of hours so it was an easy read. Nothing earth shattering, but good validation, especially when we sometimes need that in a society that is always pressuring us to keep up with someone.

Speaking of which, we were watching HGTV today. I said to my husband shows like Love it or list it and House Hunters probably make more homeowners dissatisfied with their homes than people who don't watch them. I know I've mentioned it before how frustrating it is to see these people who never ever want to compromise and have to have everything now. I really like my house. We have spent money to fix it up. I could have lived with some of the things, but we did update and remodel. But, we didn't take out loans to do it. We did it as we saved up for it. O'Leary mentioned that in his book too...people shouldn't be borrowing money to remodel if they don't have the money available to pay it back if something comes up. He said not to look at one's home as an investment because so many times the market fluctuates and one also has to figure in moving costs, closing costs, taxes.

For three days this week, I had training for school. So, I was delighted to have some time for some kitchen therapy today.

Many people I know do not like cooking, but I do, especially when I have time to take my time and work in my kitchen. A friend graciously shared some green beans with us from her garden. I cleaned and snapped them and cooked them in some chicken broth I made earlier this week.

DH's tomatoes are doing quite well, so I used some of them to make marinara sauce. He brought in some onions for me to use as well as basil. The kitchen sure smelled wonderful.

Kneading dough is relaxing so I have also baked some honey wheat bread for tonight's meal and beyond. What is it about the aroma of baking bread?

Supper tonight is turkey tenderloins, mashed potatoes, green beans, sliced tomatoes, bread, and cottage cheese.

Plus I think my stress level has dropped!

We will have leftover turkey for another couple of meals and extra bread...good sandwich making and saving some money as well!

For the record, I don't collect bricks.

My husband would disagree. He swore I put bricks in the garbage bag in the kitchen. I tried to tell him I was helping him stay healthy by doing some weight lifting, but he didn't buy it.

Actually, I'm not sure what was in the bag. I don't remember putting a lot of stuff in there. We recycle as much as we can and I don't use a large amount of stuff with wrapping. I think he just likes to gripe about something.

We had another meeting with our financial adviser today. After our discussion last week, we decided to move some of our money out of money markets and ladder CD's so it is still basically liquid, but makes a little more than the pittance we are getting now. We have our money in a bank and a credit union. The credit union was great, but the bank, well, they were a pain when we tried to make a withdrawal. They wanted us to work with their financial adviser whom they called over and he said he could put our money in an annuity. We explained we didn't want it tied up like that and he said it was our best bet. We asked if it was linked to an insurance company and he said yes and how wonderful it was.

Sorry, we aren't interested! It shouldn't be that difficult to withdraw your own money. We weren't taking it all out, just part of it and the hard sell didn't endear them to us.

I've worked with our financial adviser for 28 years. He was decent to me when I had little and is still nice...it isn't the money or investments. He's just a trustworthy, kind man.

DH was telling him how we shop at Aldi, hit loss leaders at the grocery store, and how I rework leftovers. Last week we had a pork tenderloin roast for one meal, then I cut it up and with the broth from the roast, cooked it with onions, carrots, zucchini, and celery to make a stew with crushed tomatoes. After the stew, I let it cook down a little more so it was thicker and served it over rice. Three different meals from one piece of meat.

I roasted squash tonight as well as potatoes. Since they were not all eaten, I put them with stew meat and other vegetables and some leftover green beans and we will have beef vegetable soup tomorrow night. I have been freezing the leftover soup so I can thaw and heat it up on those days when I get home too late to fix something. Fortunately DH loves soup.

Our squash plant is doing quite well and I look forward to making soup from it. Anyone have a good recipe they are willing to share?

Last week when we went to the library, I ran across a book in the new section entitled, "Bargain Fever" by Mark Ellwood. It stated that paying full price is so "passe'" It was an interesting read and as I told DH about it, he wanted to read it as well. It was a pretty easy ready and pointed out some interesting facts, so I would suggest it if you are going to the library. The author explained how some high end stores have secret sales and how Americans no long want to pay full price.

As far as bargains, I think I found one the other day. A friend was having a garage sale and we went. She had two new packages of sheer curtains and they were a dollar each. Just what I wanted for my husband's den. I had bought some curtains on sale a few months back and put them up, but didn't want to pay for sheers since they weren't on sale. So glad I waited.

We picked our first zucchini and our tomatoes are starting to come on as well.

We met with our financial advisor as he did a review and a projection. He felt we were in a good place and our frugality pays off. It was nice talking to someone who "gets" it. He understands about saving money, even the little stuff. It is always nice to be validated.

My dear husband has a very small area for a garden, but what he does have, he makes good use of. He was delighted tonight to bring in 5 ripe cherry tomatoes. With the lettuce and radishes from his garden, it made a nice salad for our supper.

I tried a new recipe tonight called parsley potatoes. DH planted parsley and I wanted to use some of it. He liked the recipe. I found it on this site:

http://www.copykat.com/2011/09/27/parsley-potatoes/

I also made herb biscuits with some of the herbs he has planted. The biscuit recipe is simple -- 1 cup of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, 3/4 cup milk, 2 tablepoons of may, 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Mix together and bake in a greased muffin tin. I have baked them at 400 degrees and today I baked them at 325...just extended the length of the time ... I had them with turkey tenderloins as well as green beans and it made a good meal and lots of leftovers.

We recently returned from vacation. We saved and paid cash for the entire thing. It was a bus trip with a church group and we have traveled with them before. We had a great time and some fabulous meals. We toured the Biltmore, Charleston, Savannah, and Chattanooga. It was nice trip, but I am so happy to be home. A dear friend watched over DH's garden and watered from our rain barrel and things look lush.

DH has planted green onions, carrots, and bell peppers too and we look forward to enjoying those in the future. We planted garlic last fall and hope we get a good crop of that as well. It's nice eating homegrown stuff. And eventually, it pays for itself.

There's a little ditty going around through email talking about an older person going through a grocery check out and how the young cashier told her she didn't know about being green and then it talked about growing up reusing stuff and returning bottles, etc.

Ah, gone are those days.

I saw on Facebook last night where someone posted about how could it be easier to have petroleum products mined, refined, sent to a manufacturing plant, and then the product sent to store where on buys it, uses it, and disposes of it...and the question was is it truly easier to do this than to wash the metal spoon and put it away.

Amen.

As many of you, I take my lunch. I take my utensils too. I have an old set of flatware I use just for that purpose. We bought a new set a number of years ago simply because we had so many spoons and knives go missing it was difficult to set the table.

DH and I were talking about what we do to try and save things, not only for frugality, but because it makes sense for the environment.

I go through a ton of kitchen towels to save on using paper towels. I often use dust cloths and I bought one of those mops that you can put the liquid in and reuse the pad by washing it.

We use cloth napkins for our meals. We use our dishware and I store stuff in glass. I take my coffee in a Thermos and do the same with water and iced tea. (My lunch bag gives me a work out with the glass and Thermoses, but oh well.

We try to use cloth bags for groceries.

We recycle as much as we can. Our city eased up on some of the requirements and take more types of plastic. The other night DH said he wasn't putting the garbage out because it was so windy and we had so little because so much had been recycled. The recycled bin, on the other hand, was pretty full.

I have a love affair with Mason Jars. There, I've said it. I have bunch of them. I started buying them at thrift shops reasonably priced and buy new lids. I use them for a ton of stuff. Right now I have two outside for sun tea. When I have leftover coffee I put it one and put it in the fridge for the makings of iced coffee. When I make chicken broth that I know I'm going to use within a day or two, in the Mason jar it goes.

I think I'm torn between trying to do what is right for the environment as well as save money. Why would I want to waste things?

So, are you green?

Where, oh where, is the weekend? It seemed like it was just Friday night with the anticipation of the weekend showing ahead. It is aleady Sunday night and I'm preparing for work tomorrow.

My dad used to quote this to me: "Saturday night is my delight and so is Sunday morning. Sunday noon comes much too soon, and so does Monday morning." I have not looked it up, but what a very accurate saying.

Our weekend flew. It was fun and the weather was delightful so that made it even better. We went to Arthur and Arcola where are small towns by us and looked around. We stopped at the Amish run bulk food store to stock up on a few things, and we browsed some different shops. Other than the bulk foods, we didn't spent a lot, but had a delightful time. We ate at a buffet called Yoder's which I don't believe it totally run by Amish, but it does have some Amish cooks and the food although not a huge selection, is quite tasty. We met another couple and had a nice time eating and visiting.

Today was church and then home to eat brunch. I had enough leftovers for two lunches. We had sausage, pancakes, and scrambled eggs and fruit salad for dessert. Last night I had snapped green beans, made a fruit salad, and made sloppy chicks because we planned to run around today. It was nice coming home this afternoon knowing all I had to do was heat up the sloppy chicks for supper and making a salad. While I was heating it up, I chopped vegetables and added my homemade chicken broth and some stew meat to the slow cooker. I have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow after school and I wanted to make something in the slow cooker so it would be ready. DH, fortunately, loves beef and barley vegetable soup, so that is what I put together. I made it in my huge one so we will have leftovers for lunch and possibly enough to freeze.

Last night I froze what we had leftover of pork stew. The pork stew was made of leftover pork roast and some vegetables. We had enough for supper and a lunch and still some leftover.

Since we don't eat out very much, it is a treat. Last night was fun not only because we ate out, but also because we met some good friends. They are like us...very frugal and she cooks a ton and they eat leftovers too. We know another couple who are to point they eat almost every meal out...they are the ones complaining they don't have money. No kidding.

Well, I guess I better get back to my school work. Monday will be here before you know it.

I had to share this chuckle before I write anything else...the neighbor was complaining that is seems like her kids' school is always sending home something for them to buy. I chuckled because every time these kids have a fundraiser, this parent sends them over to us to buy something...I believe the irony was lost on her, but I did get a chuckle out of it anyway.

We hit a bunch of different stores this weekend. Two are our regular haunts, but there were things on sale at others that we wanted, so we stopped and bought there as well.

I made out my grocery list for this week and planned the weekly menus:

Sunday brunch: scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit
Sunday supper: sloppy chicks, salad, chips
Monday: chicken tenders with barbecue sauce, baked potatoes, green beans
Tuesday: pork tenderloin roast with carrots and onions, fingerling potatoes, green beans
Wednesday: pork stew made with leftover pork, carrots, onions, potatoes and zucchini and celery added.
Thursday: Salmon patties, cous cous, green beans, cottage cheese
Friday: Quiche made with leftover sausage, salad

Lunches will be made up of leftovers. I had scrambled eggs, sausage and pancakes leftover for two lunches.

Walgreens has eggs for 99 cents a dozen and they had canned salmon on sale. For Easter dinner we are going to have a ham; one of our extra stops was to buy a small ham before they are all picked over. Hence, so many stops.

DH planted onion sets yesterday. He had hoped to plant lettuce, radishes, and carrots today, but it rained pretty hard around lunch time today and things are kind of muddy. We don't have a huge garden spot, but DH uses what he has and I think it really helps with the grocery bills. We are starting some herbs from seeds too. Are you planting a garden this year?

We try to hit the library every week. Like everything else, our library has had to make budget cuts. As subscriptions to magazines run out, they aren't being renewed so the magazine selection is dwindling, but I'm still happy to read those that I can. Not only does it save us money, I feel like borrowing and returning the magazines also is a way I don't waste resources by having to figure out what to do with magazines. We get the AARP magazine one and I recycle it when we are finished, but I just feel like it is wasteful to have a ton of magazines.

On the new book selection at our library, I found one called "The Working Class Foodies Cookbook" by Rebecca Lando. It must be a popular one because the stamp says the library got it in July 2013, but I saw it Saturday for the first time.

It has a lot of common sense stuff that I already incorporate such as making my own stock, baking bread, etc. It also reminded me to get up and put the dough together for No Knead Bread.But it sure is nice to be validated. Especially in the past few weeks with some of the comments made about me.

One person told another that I was the frugal one like it was a bad thing. Another made a comment that I must be cheap to always bring my lunch. But this week it seems like the tide is turning. I attended a meeting and like usual, brought my lunch. Someone said she needs to start bringing her lunch since her husband has gotten on her about her spending. Another woman said she and her husband realized they have no savings and had hoped to take their family on vacation this year so she was going to scrounge for snacks at her desk. I kept my mouth shut...I could have given them ideas, but they didn't ask so I didn't offer. As the year progresses, perhaps they are thinking of saving since with the end of school coming, paychecks stop.

DH is itching for spring to get here because he wants to start his vegetable garden. It seems like spring is delayed with our below normal temps. Today is sunny which has lifted many spirits around here.

We don't have a coin jar like many of you on this site, but I have a bank and when it gets heavy, I empty it. I usually ask DH for pennies from his change bowl and he gives them up and usually other change too. He's going to take it to the credit union and put it in savings. I don't get a lot of change because I don't buy a lot of stuff on a daily basis, so it takes a long time for me to get very much change. It's a painless way to add to savings, that's for sure.

A friend I work with stopped to talk to me the other day. She was all excited. In the past few months we have been talking finances when we are alone and a couple of months ago she decided to make some changes in her life. She started a diet and she started looking at ways to truly save money. She figured getting a control on different areas of her life would help her.

She was so excited to tell me about a couple of things she started doing. Around Christmas she and her hubby paid off their credit card bills. They found they had extra money since she was dieting and not going out to eat. So she then decided she was going to try and save up for things and pay cash.

She also decided to start meal planning and cooking ahead. She made up some casseroles and put them in the freezer. She said she is looking for ways to use up foods and it has saved her money.

The other day she went to Kohls to buy something. If she used her credit card she would save extra and get some special deal. So, she used her credit card and then immediately took the cash she had saved and paid off the credit card. She said she had a difficult time describing how happy it made her feel. She feels successful...she has lost weight and has taken control of her finances. I would say she is a success story!

Sometimes I think we need to reflect on our own successes. It is easy to get bogged down by a problem or situation. I am going to make a generalization, but I think everyone on Saving Advice has the desire to improve their finances. Some are willing to make bigger sacrifices, but we each had to start somewhere. For some it is easier than others. But, we need to celebrate our success whether it is large or small.

I look back on my own life. I'm not rich by any means, but I am comfortable. I have far more stuff than I need, far more clothes, a good house, a nice vehicle, and money put aside. I am blessed. Yet I get frustrated when I let something slip by me. I feel guilty if I spend money a lot of the time. If I compared my life to my parents' lives, they would consider me rich. They grew up during the depression and their retirement years were pretty slim. It was a hard scrabble life for much of their time. I had the idea of getting an education basically beat into my mind because they wanted me to do better. And, I believe I have.

I started saving money earlier. I earned a degree and have worked hard to continue to improve so I had the opportunity to make money. And, I have been blessed that I did not have a lot of unemployment in my life.

Sometimes I compare my life to others I grew up with. One person has done extremely well and I think part of it is because they came from some money and weren't afraid to take risks. I am not a risk taker and I wonder if I had taken a few risks, if I would be better off. Then I look at another person who did take some risks and this person is barely scraping by. Who knows what my life could have been.

Anyway, take a moment to pat yourself on the back for the fact you are taking the time to think through how to improve your life and celebrate that!

We had every intention to do some spending today. But, the weather had other plans.

Every so often we go to a small town, Arthur, and shop at at Amish run bulk food store. We buy their sausage patties as well as different other bulk foods. Every Sunday after church I cook up the sausage and we eat some of them and I use the leftovers for other meals in the week. We are using the last package. I normally buy quite a few packages and have them in the freezer.

Well, today's weather was just bad. Not horrible, but bad. We had snow but then the temp raised enough to have rain and the temp kind of bordered around freezing. It was kind of slushy, but kind of chunky too, so we just stayed home.

Lunch was a sausage and pasta tomato based soup I made from leftover sausage, tomato sauce I made last summer and stashed in the freezer, and some medium shells from the pantry cooked together with some homemade chicken broth, celery, and mushrooms. The afternoon was house cleaning and laundry and I also whipped up some laundry detergent.

Supper was a turkey breast I out in the Crockpot this morning, mashed potatoes, green beans, peas, and cottage cheese. I made gravy and we have some turkey, potatoes, and gravy leftover.

Temps are starting to drop and we are to receive freezing rain. I only hope we don't have power outages.

School was called off today because of the cold temps. Someone posted on Facebook that the Farmer's Almanac is calling for 40 inches of snow in February. Not sure if that is true, but if the book says it, I hope it is wrong! That's a lot of snow! Yikes!

This morning was spent cleaning. I cleaned the bathrooms and wiped down the walls. I disinfected toothbrushes and door handles and washed rugs and towels.

This afternoon was tidying papers and cleaning up different spots. I did the coffee maker cleaning thing with vinegar and water and then more water. I need to scrub the pot and I'll be ready to put a filter, coffee, and water in it for tomorrow.

DH delivers books to a shut in once a month and he did that while I was cleaning. This afternoon he took some clothes to donate to the food pantry (they have a free clothing room) as well as egg cartons. They get large containers of eggs and need the cartons to use to give them away so we always save them. It's nice we can help out with something like that. It was on his way to the mall for his 4 mile walk. It is too cold to walk outside!

Judging from the comments on Facebook, my teacher friends are ready to return to work.

Lunch today was the leftover sloppy chicks. There isn't enough for DH's lunch another day so I'm going to add some tomato sauce and red beans for chili for my lunches this week. I fixed ham and beans yesterday for tonight's dinner so he will have leftovers of that for his lunch. I also need to brew tea for iced tea. We usually have 3 pitchers going. A few years back we used to meet some friends at a local sandwich/soup shop and when we would get ready to leave, the woman would always empty her glass of ice and take a glass of their tea home. I thought maybe it was because she liked the tea so well or the blend or something like that. Nope, she said it was too much trouble to brew tea at home so she would have it for a glass later. I tease DH that he is working me to death because I seem to make a lot of tea. We chuckle over it. We drink that with our meals...far more economical than soda and a lot healthier too!

Supper tonight was a turkey casserole made with leftover turkey, gravy, dressing, and creamed corn. Pretty tasty on a cold, winter night plus enough leftover for DH's lunch. Tomorrow night is the turkey soup I blogged about earlier.

Lunch today was potato soup I made with turkey broth and leftover mashed potatoes. I was repeatedly asked if it was homemade.

We celebrated my birthday last night with friends last night...a week and a day delayed due to the bad weather. Finances came up and it was mentioned how people don't get it on how to save money. I see it every day. And yet, the spending is always rationalized...I worked late, it is only a dollar, I deserve it...our friends said they are seeing the same thing. We discussed how few folks actually cook and how many eat out every day. We don't because it costs extra, but also, eating out no longer is special when you eat out all the time.

Before Christmas a gal I work with did a staff invite to one of the hottest home parties in our area: you pay a set fee and attend the party and then when you get there you put together meals to stuff in your freezer so you have meals available. Supposedly you get ten meals at 5 servings each. The price is about $120.

I guess I'm an old prude, but it just doesn't appeal to me. I'm sure if you broke it down, the price isn't outrageous, but one is at the mercy of the host/hostess on what the chosen meals are. We don't like hot/spicy stuff and if that was on the agenda, that would be money wasted.

I'm all for free enterprise, but personally, I'm not paying someone to chop some vegetables and cut up meat and this sort of thing. And, I kind of wonder about the 5 servings, but alas, I'm a skeptic.

I have noticed quite a few sites popping up about cooking for a month or making stuff to put in jars. Someone posted this link on Facebook today and I did look at it and it looks like it has some possibilities:

http://www.savebiglivebetter.com/2013/04/472-easy-meals-in-a-jar-recipes.html

First of all, I like the fact jars are used. I do use plastic bags, but I really prefer using glass. But, I'm also kind of liking so much isn't in the freezer. Right now my freezer is kind of full of chicken stock, tomato sauce, and turkey breasts.

Anyway, eating at home saves money and I'm sure my friends probably saved money by heating up some of the stuff they did at the party, that is, if they remember to fix it. But, do you cook for a month or make many freezer meals in advance?

Years and years ago when in college, I remember asking my mom for a hot pot. She found one on sale. I think I got it for Christmas or my birthday. Since they are so close together, it is hard telling.

I was covetous of this white metal electric pot before I received it. It barely held two teacups of hot water, but this magic little pot in the dorm room meant hot tea or hot chocolate or hot water for instant soup. And believe me, when I got one, it was well used by both my roommate and me.

Back when I was in school, we had pop machines (soda vending to those of you not from Central Illinois) and that was about it on our college campus. My snack cache' consisted of a jar of peanut butter and saltines and an air popcorn popper and popcorn. I didn't have a fridge so I couldn't have butter and didn't know about the salt with the artificial butter. Money was tight for me back then. My parents didn't have a lot either. So, having the pleasure of hot tea or instant hot chocolate was such a treat.

I believe I wore that hot pot out and by then I was out of school. I thought I wouldn't need one because I had a stove and tea kettle.

And there's some pleasure to having the tea kettle boil and whistle...but it isn't as efficient or economical as a hot pot.

So a few years ago when a store was going out of business I decided to buy a hot pot to use at home. I got quite a bit off of it and I bought a Rival because I have had such good luck with Rival Crockpots. This puppy has to be almost ten years old and I use it frequently.

I brew tea for iced tea quite a few times a week. I love a cup of hot tea so I often use it for that. When I need hot water for something, out comes the hot pot and it is pressed into service.

A friend gave us some hot chocolate mix and DH loves anything with chocolate. He shoveled around the mailbox and said he was really cold. I suggested a cup of hot chocolate and he was all for it. I return to work tomorrow and I told him how he could use the hot pot for hot chocolate himself. He was astounded it was that easy.

I love DH dearly, but he's not a mechanical type of guy. He can make toast and reheat in the microwave, but other than that, I'm not sure he feels comfortable with appliances. He was pleased the hot pot was as easy as putting in some water, plugging it in, waiting for the water to get hot, and unplug and use.

I do think it saves us money. I can't imagine buying already made iced tea. And although you can put tea bags in water and it makes tea, I do think brewed tea has a little different flavor. Plus, since it doesn't take a lot of power and time to heat water, I think it is more economical than using the stove. I know someone could say use the microwave, but I'm always unsure of heating water in the microwave. I either get it too hot or it isn't hot enough. But that's just me.

So, something as simple as a hot pot is such a pleasure. And I think I hear another cup of tea calling my name!

Like much of the country, it is cold out there! Brrr!

We received 5 inches of snow over night and did shovel the driveway and sidewalk up to the front door. We did it in two stages. We went out and did half and then came in and warmed up and then went back out and finished. We didn't want to overdo it because neither of us are in the best of health.

Lunch today was leftover soup from Tuesday which was great the second time around, and sandwiches made from the turkey breast we had last night for supper. Tonight's supper was a casserole made with the remainder of the turkey. DH said it was a hearty meal on a cold night. I think he liked it. It was a recipe I came up with simply to use what I had on hand.

Turkey and macaroni

2 cups of elbow macaroni -- cooked according to package directions or however you like it, drained
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 Parmesan -- shredded
Leftover turkey -- I believe I had about a cup or so
Buttery crackers -- one sleeve
1 cup turkey gravy
1 tablespoon of cornstarch

After cooking the macaroni, drain and put to the side.

Heat up milk and melt cheeses. If it is still soupy, add the cornstarch to thicken. When it gets to the consistency you like, add turkey and macaroni and stir until coated. Add this mixture to a greased casserole dish.

Crush the crackers and add to the top.

Depending on the depth of your casserole dish, base your baking time to this -- if it is a less deep dish, bake at 350 for 30 minutes, covered. If it is deeper, add some time, but be sure it covered.

It was pretty tasty and I think adding different cheeses could change the flavor. We have enough leftover for another meal. If you don't have the gravy, I imagine you could subsititute cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup.


For lunch tomorrow we are having pork stew -- just love using those bits and pieces from the fridge and pantry to make a hearty, reasonably priced meal. It is simmering on the stove. I had turkey broth from last night's turkey, so I am using it. DH made a comment that I certainly got plenty of meals from one small turkey breast.


Stay warm!

The new year is quickly approaching. I don't make resolutions because I'm a realist. If I decide to make a change, I don't do it because of a date on a calendar.

I was thinking of things to do this new year. I have some projects we've been saving for. When we bought our house over 15 years ago, one thing that really bugged me was the previous owners put carpeting in the utility/laundry room. This room is where we come into the house from the garage. Why in the world would they put berber carpeting, and light carpeting at that in there? Well, I think the reason is it made it look brighter and it probably was cheap. Anyway, I know that carpeting is not clean and I'm sick of it. I want plain old vinyl in there.

Another project is I'd like the door replaced on the side of the garage. I've painted it many times, but to be honest, it is an icky looking door and I don't think it is something that would keep anyone out if they wanted to get in. Of course with all the junk in front of it, a would be burglar would have a challenge getting in.

So, now the savings has begun. I noticed in the SA columns Jeffrey had talked about the 52 week challenge and having a separate account for it. I'm not doing the challenge, but I'm on board with having separate accounts. Our credit union is great about letting us have separate accounts. We have a Christmas Club, vacation, regular savings, Golden E, and money market. The first two are pretty self evident. The Golden E, because DH is over 55, gets a little better rate of return, not that any bank or credit union is paying much, so we decided that is our house fund. We've been putting in money to save up for stuff around the house. In a few years we will need a new roof. So, we add money each month to this account for around the house expenses.

Some friends of ours complained the other day that they needed some work done on their house and weren't sure where the money would come from unless they tapped their home equity loan again. Yes, I wrote again. They think we are weird because we pay cash for stuff. Of course they think I'm cheap because we eat at home so much. We could afford to eat out a whole lot more, but to be perfectly honest, I'd rather eat at home, know where the food came from, and have leftovers. And, I know we save a ton of money!

Do you have separate accounts for things?

Today was a bit of a spendy Sunday. Not horrible, but...

This afternoon we went to a Christmas tea at one of the major historical homes in our city. It is always nice and basically free unless you buy something or donate money. It is always pretty lovely and a good way to visit this historical home.

After that we stopped at Walgreens. A few weeks ago they had flour on sale, but had run out. DH had gotten a rain check, and we have checked off on and on, but it hadn't come in. They had it today. They also had peanut butter and tomato sauce on sale, and also some allergy medicine and there was even a $5 coupon on the allergy medicine so we did some money. I've been trying to restock my pantry has things go on sale. A few weeks ago one store had Del Monte vegetables on sale for 69 cents a can. We bought some. Then another store sold them for 50 cents a can, but there was a limit. But we stocked up and have quite a few.

After we came home I paid some bills and renewed our AARP membership.

None of this was super expensive, but it all adds up.

We had a dusting of snow this morning. It was a bit slick in spots, but fortunately nothing like other parts of the country have been having.

Last week about every meal had some sort of leftover in it. One day we had a pork stew made with leftover broth and pork. Another day we had spaghetti made with the leftover sloppy chicks. One night we had leftover mashed potatoes that I mixed with cheese and baked like a twice baked potato. And when we didn't finish that, I made potato patties and rolled them in Panko and sauted them to go with the fritatta I made with leftover vegetables and sausage. And, we finished up the turkey and gravy by mixing it with dressing for another meal. DH said he thought I got more mileage out of most of these leftovers than ever.

Hope it's a good week for everyone.

This is a snarky entry. I'm apologizing in advance.

One neighbor claims she's broke. She and hubby have full time jobs and she is selling make up on the side. I think she's taken off days from her regular job to attend functions out of state for this make up company. Their car broke down and she posted how she needs to sell things to pay for repairs.

Yet, the extravaganza is up and lit across the street. Christmas lights across the front the house as well as lit decorations and a blow up thing. She usually has three blowups in her yard.

Most of the stuff she's had, but for someone who is pleading poverty, the extra on her electric bill has to come from somewhere.

That, of course, isn't counting the decorations she's had on inside her house and showing through the windows since before Thanksgiving that are plugged in 24/7.

Am I being a humbug or being practical?

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with plenty to eat and people to love.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful; my brother and his wife joined us and we had a good meal and good fellowship. We are truly the dysfunctional family poster children. My brother is 19 years older than I am. We have the same mother, but different fathers. He was basically an adult when I came along so we didn't grow up together. When I was a little kid he and my mom got into some fight and they didn't talk to each other after that. Forty some years later my mom dies, I call him to tell him, and since then we have tried to work on building a relationship. I know that sound weird as adults, but my mom was the type of person if I had tried to be friendly to him while she was alive, she would have made my life absolutely miserable.

I did some baking yesterday. I tried a recipe I tore out of the paper a few months ago. It is a honey sweet bread and it was pretty good. Below is the recipe if you want to make it for yourself or for treats to give away for Christmas:

Honey loaf

3/4 cup coffee
3/4 cup honey
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teapoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Slowly add the wet ingredients and whisk smooth.

Scrape batter into a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake about 45 minutes. If the top is starting to brown too much, at this point, cover with foil and bake another 15 minutes. Cool 30 minutes in the pan, then tip out and cool completely on a wire rack.

I served it with some butter spread on it...yum!

Just got off the phone with a friend who is a retired teacher. She has been retired 28 years and we were discussing the pension system in Illinois and the changes in insurance.

She and her husband were savers when they were young and when they retired, they had investments that were decent. Her husband has since died and she has been careful with both her pension and her savings. We were talking about how the market in the years before she retired went up and down and although they didn't save vast amounts at one time, the compounding interest throughout the years certainly paid off.

A person we both worked with retired ten years ago. His pension is over double what she draws. And he put nothing aside all those years although he made far more money than she did because he wasn't always in the classroom.

Right now Illinois has some major pension problems. One of the things the legislators are looking at is possibly doing away with the cost of living raise. It isn't that pensioners wouldn't get one, but it wouldn't be compounded like it is now. This person is scared that they will no longer compound because he isn't sure how he can make it.

It is sad, isn't it? No, I'm not saying it is sad about his worry about the cola. It is sad that he never planned ahead to put anything away in case something came up. Although he draws a large pension, he cannot make ends meet and often gets a loan from his home equity to give him spending money.

I find that scary. Especially since this is someone who is educated. Yet he lives for the moment and buys expensive toys. He has made fun of me for being "cheap." He's usually making fun of me for something so it really doesn't bother me, but we figure he has quite a balancing act when it comes to paying bills. Yikes!

Educated yes, but lacking common sense. Wouldn't you agree?

This has been a busy and spendy weekend. The expenditures were planned so I'm not going to beat myself up over them, however. Suze Orman might disagree, though!

We went to concert and I had purchased the tickets last summer. Since it was in a town an hour away, we decided to make a day of it. We had received our Christmas Club check so we did some Christmas shopping, had a nice dinner out, and went to the concert. It was a fun time, although a late night. It made getting up for church a little difficult, but we did it.

Today was spent cleaning and fixing. DH raked leaves and cleaning gutters. I did some housework as well and then replaced our mailbox. Seems the neighbor kids liked playing with the door a few years ago and weakened it. It finally fell off on one side. We bought the new mailbox last week as well as new towel rack that would replace the other one that we had tried to fix with no success. I have that replaced and clean towels. I also put peeled and cored apples in a Crockpot to make apple juice and applesauce, so I think it was a productive day.

My comment about Suze Orman...we watch her most Saturday nights and usually agree with her, but we have noticed she seems to want people to do nothing anymore, except save money. Or maybe that is just what we are picking up on. We have savings and investments, and our house is paid off and we don't carry balances on our credit cards. But somehow, I think she would say not to buy Christmas gifts, but invest the money instead. If we were in debt, I would agree, but I guess I'm getting to be a rebel to some extent. We think if we have money in the bank, no debt, we should feel like we can splurge and go out to eat once in awhile, take in a concert, and buy gifts.

Watching certain shows just appall me at times.

I'm a sucker for those home improvement shows, especially when they are redoing the kitchen. Yet, people love to tear up cabinets, sinks, countertops, etc. Now, granted some of the cabinets are pretty bad, but many are just considered "out of date". I'm not saying they should keep them in the kitchen, but why not remove them and recycle them? Years ago when we bought new cabinets, the neighbor asked if they could have them for the garage. Our contractor was thrilled because he didn't have to figure out a way to dispose of them...so he left them in the driveway and the neighbors came and got them. When they have their garage door open, I get to "visit" my cabinets.

There's a new show on the Food Network with Robert Irvine about restaurant redos and they take a charter bus and run over tables, chairs, and such for the ad. Why are we such a destructive society?

I was contemplating the things I try not to throw out. A local food pantry asks for egg cartons because they get eggs in bulk and can then divide them up by the dozen so we save our egg cartons to donate.

A gal I know runs a small restaurant since they cannot sell food that was made that day at another day, they are always looking for plastic lidded containers. I save our cottage cheese, sour cream, and other plastic lidded containers for them. They take the leftovers home and don't have a lot of money invested in the containers. They also have chicken broth they give away from the chickens they cook for chicken salad so they use these plastic containers for the giveaways. She in turn saves the box tops and bread labels that our school saves.

Whenever we have clothes that are so stained we no longer wear or would donate, I cut off the buttons. I've been doing this for years and kept them in a fruit jar. I sold the jar of buttons at our booth for $4 last month. I keep one for us for odd buttons too so if we lose a button we hopefully won't have to purchase a new one.

On some of the cooking shows, they mix something up and have quite a bit left in the mixing bowl and just throw it out. How wasteful. My DH's aunt who grew up in the Depression couldn't get over this wastefulness.

Unfortunately society in general has become fairly wasteful. So much of everything is disposable. My brother said they just bought a new appliance and were talking about how appliances don't last. My mil had a chest freezer that was over 30 years old and still working...it was disposed of because the bottom rusted out since it was in the garage and ... well, the moisture rusted it out. But, imagine, an appliance lasting 30 years? I realize it was an energy hog, but still...30 years??????

A few years ago I happened upon some overripe bananas and I pulled some kids from a class and asked if they wanted to bake with me. They were grossed out about the bananas...I told them they were far sweeter than ripe ones. We made the bread, talked about using up what we have, and when it was baked, they certainly enjoyed it.

I'm sure there are many ways to not waste things...what are some things that come to mind?

Or so they say. By they, I mean the weather forecasters. It is inevitable, since today is halfway through October in the Midwest.

I had been drying herbs here and there to keep some available for the winter. DH decided we needed more so he brought in a bunch today and I spent a big share of the afternoon drying them and putting them in jars. I have more sage than I can probably use, but I was thinking of making gift baskets with biscuit mix in them for Christmas, so maybe I can add some sage in a small bag to use if they wish.

He picked all the bell peppers we still had, pulled all the carrots and onions, and picked all the ripe tomatoes. My kitchen looks similar to a root cellar. Which is OK.

Tomorrow while I'm at work, he's going to pick the green tomates and wrap them in newspaper so hopefully we will continue to have some ripening after the freeze.

The past couple of weeks have been very busy with work. Plus, I broke a tooth and had to spring for a crown. I have a temporary crown until the permanent one is made. That was an unexpected $821! However, the dentist did point out, it might have been a blessing of sorts...my tooth was also cracked right where there was a root and it hadn't broken off, but he said seeing where it was, if it had, I probably would have had to have a root canal, so maybe this saved me money in the long run. At least I wasn't in any pain other than the financial one.

I have a relative who asks to eat out with them at the spur of the moment. We usually turn this person down. Like many of you, I plan my meals for the week. Often I have taken meat out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge and I don't want to put it back in the freezer or waste it. He complains how they are having money problems, yet they eat out every day. Hmmm...wonder if there is connection there? Anyway, I have repeatedly told him we eat most of our meals at home. I don't mean to be rude or thoughtless, but I hate the thought of wasting food.

I did score a lovely suit at a thrift shop a couple of weeks ago. I had to hem the slacks and then had it dry cleaned since there was a stain on the slack and it was dry clean only. I normally do not buy dry clean stuff, but it was well made, and lined and I will wear a blouse under the jacket. It is for cold weather. So, with the cost of dry cleaning and the original purchase, I have a nice suit for $23.50.

DH brought in some cherry tomatoes...guess I better get busy making tomato sauce!

It's true, I have a love affair with Mason.

Mason jars that is!

I find these jars the handiest things. Yesterday I had the opportunity to make 2 quarts of tomato sauce. What handy creatures those jars are for storage.

I use them to make tea and store in the fridge. When I make apple juice and apple sauce, they serve me well.

I have one where I throw extra buttons to keep them so when I need a button, I can find them.

I do have Mason jar envy, though. We visited a friend Saturday and she has been canning up a storm. She has over 40 quarts of green beans and over 40 quarts of tomatoes. There's a jewel like quality of seeing all those vegetables in those shiny glass jars!

On Pinterest there are always great ideas for decorating with Mason jars.

When I was growing up, the mayonnaise jars were glass and my mom used them for canning. She thought she had hit big time when she went to a rummage sale and bought a case of "real Mason jars." I wonder if that is where my esteem for them started.

So, DH isn't jealous of my crush on Mason jars. He says he reaps the benefits of my using them. Plus, it saves us money by using and reusing.

So, the love affair continues!

There's an article about paying with cash costing Americans money.

Not the surface kind of answer, but the fact people are paying fees to pay with cash. I can't figure out if the gist of the article is to go cashless or just reporting. I don't trust media anymore because gone are the days when they just reported the facts...so many stories are so biased.

Here is the URL:

http://www.today.com/money/paying-cash-costs-americans-200-billion-year-8C11363366

This has been a nice weekend, but I have spent money. We walked around our downtown area yesterday. We have lots of small locally owned shops. I like the idea of supporting local small businesses. One place had 20% off things and I did buy quite a few things, but they were things I would have purchased anyway. Two things were presents so saving the 20% was nice. We also went to a local wine store. We aren't wine drinkers, but we were looking around for a nice bottle to give as a present and found one, I think, this person will like. We made our way to the grocery store and came home so I could begin supper.

Today we hit a flea market and an antique mall. We didn't spend much, but we had a nice time looking. We came home to get to work.

DH picked cherry tomatoes. I dried parsley and put it in a jar for this winter. After DH brought in the tomatoes, I washed them and went out and picked some of the onions we have left, some basil, and DH picked a bell pepper. I made two quarts of tomato sauce...that is a lot of cherry tomatoes for that much sauce!

We had sloppy chicks for supper (sloppy joes made with ground chicken) and I used half of a quart of sauce. The leftovers will be lunches for this week. But, I will now have 11 quarts of tomato sauce in the freezer. Not bad for those little tomatoes!

Today was "Take Out Thursday" at our house.

I'm not talking about buying take out by any means, but taking stuff out of the fridge and using it.

Supper tonight was a pork stew. The pork was leftover from last night. I had roasted some yellow squash with onions a few days ago, and I took some leftover fresh vegetables (carrot, onion, mushrooms, celery, and zucchini) out of the fridge, saute'd them, and used the chicken broth I had made earlier in the week from leftover chicken parts. As it simmered last night, I also added a pint of my homemade tomato sauce I had made earlier in the week as well. DH said it was very good and bet I could sell it if need be. I don't know about that. To go with the stew we had crackers taken out of the pantry and sliced tomatoes taken out of garden and we finished up the fruit salad taken out of the fridge. There was even enough to DH to have a hearty lunch tomorrow. Not bad with bits of this and some leftovers.

I did try a new recipe this week for chicken casserole. It was pretty easy and DH liked it.

Chicken casserole

1 cup of cooked chicken, cut up
2 eggs
2 cups of dressing (or stuffing)
1 tablespoon of fresh sage
1/2 cup of milk or half and half
3/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons of butter

Whip eggs, milk, and sour cream together. Put dressing in a greased baking dish. Add chicken and mix with the egg mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes (covered). Take out of oven and put butter on top. Serve. It was pretty tasty and I think there could have been different things added to it to give it different flavors. It was easy and quick. I actually used raw chicken and baked for an hour and it was great.

It has been a busy week. Last Sunday I felt I had things planned and under control and then on Monday morning I learned I was to attend a meeting after school.

It really angered me. The meeting had been planned the week before and the folks in charge did not bother to tell me.

Which means I not only had to attend a stressful meeting I wasn't counting on, I also did not have something ready for supper. I plan my meals and this was a week I didn't need to put stuff in the Crockpot.

So, we wound up eating out and I resented every bite. We could afford it, but it was an unexpected expense. But, I've moved on.

My goal this year is to try and save half of my take home pay from September to May. Unexpected things like this drive me crazy. Oh, well.

I had a chance to make chicken broth this week with some leftover chicken pieces so I made over a quarter and a half.

DH picked a bunch of cherry tomatoes and I made 3 quarts of tomato sauce with them. That is a lot of cherry tomatoes! I freeze it so that makes 7 quarts so far. Not a huge amount, but we only have a couple of cherry tomato plants; DH's garden space is small.

I have a meeting tomorrow after school so the Crockpot will be coming out...glad the temperatures have cooled off...we eat soup even when it is hot, but it seems more seasonable when the weather is a little cooler.