Frugal Food

When I moved out on my own, I could not cook. Well, I could not cook most things. I remember one night trying to make dinner and getting so confused I called a friend's parent and had her walk me through how to cook whatever I was cooking though I do not remember what it was. I have gotten much better now and also have bought a crockpot which helps a lot. I have learned to watch sales and stockpile but it is just a fact of life that certain types foods will be cheaper than other types. For example ground beef is cheaper than steak but I can get a good deal on both. Since I am trying to say money on food I am going to start pricing out some of my favorite frugal recipes and posting it. Today's is crockpot chili.

Chili
ground beef or turkey-$1.99/lb using one pound
can of black beans .69/can
can of kidney beans .69/can
taco or chili powder depending on the size it would be at max .79/each
tomato soup .69/can use two

Brown the meat, then throw everything in the crockpot and leave on low for 8 hours.
You now have about 4-6 servings of chili for $5.54, about one dollar a serving. If you can afford or want to, you can add cheese and/or sour cream once it is in bowls. Adding that might increase the cost to $1.50 per serving.

Now I hate eating the same thing day after day so I understand if you are sitting there going but I am not eating 4 meals of chili in a row. I would not do it either. What I do is put half in the freezer for a later date and eat one bowl of chili and then the next meal we cut up a potato, fry it in vegetable oil and pour the chili over it and make chili fries. I may spend a little more on the vegetable oil and the potato but not much (maybe another .50) and it makes me willing to eat the leftovers.

Some people may say that these are not health meal because there are no fruits or vegetables in them. You could add in some frozen corn to the chili or stewed tomatoes but I found I did not like it that way. Some people might add some vegetables on the side but for me, I am ok with an occasional cheap meal that does not have everything in it. We can't always be good.

Anyone else who has a great frugal meal, let me know in the comments.

New Financial Website

I received from daily worth about a new FREE website https://www.gosimplifi.com. This site is similar to mint.com or quicken that you add your assets and liabilities but it does not ask for your passwords and you can update it as much or as little as you like. I just spent about thirty minutes adding all my information and it had pretty simple directions though a few confusing parts.

I think their budget part of their website is bad and will not use it but the net worth part was great. I ended up having a higher net worth than I thought and it forced me to write down and think clearly about my current goals. I normally write my budget and net worth in excel and it is fine but this site help remind you and gives you advice. Not all of the advice is useful and the site even admits this, but all of it is worth considering. I would very much recommend this site for almost anyone.

Yakezie Challenge

I am joining the Yakezie challenge, thanks partly to a kick in the butt from the saved quarter at http://thesavedquarter.com/. I have been working on improving my blog for the last couple months and except for my wedding/honeymoon I have averaged at least two blogs per week which is one of Yakezie's requirements.

One of the main focuses on this blog is choices. The choices we chose between may both good, both bad or one of each but they are still choices and we need to choose what path we take. This point is especially important to young adults whose choices will influence the rest of their lives which hopefully will be a long time.

My path has taken me places I would never have expected, and I expect to have some more twists and turns along the way. Because of joining yakezie I will be highlighting some of my favorite blogs and authors that have make a difference in my financial, and sometimes personal life.

Prices are going up

And deals are going down. As I look for deals I my grocery stores I am finding many less stockupables and higher overall prices. I am trying to get my average weekly spending at the grocery store down to $50 yet the last two weeks have both been over $65. I have been finding less coupons for what I need or want and my stockpile is shrinking. There are even fewer extra buck deals at CVS than there used to be. It is frustrating and I almost feel like I have no choice but to just spend more money. But if I did that where would the money come from? I would have to take it from my savings and I do not like that plan.

My car insurance has already been increased and even with cutting some coverage I cannot find insurance for the price I used to pay. I could cut the coverage even lower but I am not comfortable with doing that. And of course, the difference is coming out of my savings. However, the choice to not increase coverage is mine, I could choose differently. Even when we only have two bad choices we still have to make the choice.

I may feel like I have cut all my expenses to the bone but when it gets tough, the tough relook at everything. I may have to make choices I dislike but those choices are still mine. Part of what I am doing is changing my main store from wegmans to price rite. I may prefer wegmans but pricerite on average is cheaper. This should save me some money though not the amount I need it to. What else can I do to get my budget where I need it? I am going to work on increasing my coupon usage and try to check the coupon sites more than I do now. Other than that all I can think of is to cut back some of the treats we get. However those treats make food fun and keep us from eating out more than we should. It is a balancing act and can be hard. I am going to continue looking for another solution for now but may soon have to make the hard choices.

Update on the millionaire goal- May

Well it looks like the market did not cooperate with us last month. As of May 1, 2011 we have $9894 in retirement savings. We ended up putting $298 into my DH's Roth IRA's because he is rolling over his Roth IRA from T Rowe Price to Fidelity and the rollover did not complete before the scheduled deposit to T Rowe Price.

We do have the cash to deposit the almost three hundred without removing money from emergency fund now that the wedding is over so that is not a problem but it is not fun putting in almost three hundred dollars yet the accounts only raising by one hundred and fourteen dollars over May because of a drop in the markets. I did feel like just adding the extra one hundred and six just so I could reach ten thousand but decided against it. I felt like that would be dishonest because the one hundred and fourteen would be a May contribution not April one. Well, that is life when you invest in the market, there are ups and down. Hopefully we will reach and surpass the $10,000 mark this month. Unless it drops more than one hundred and five we will reach our minigoal but as this month and the recession has shown, it can drop more than ten percent.

How to Save Money While Flying

Flying is just getting more and more expensive, but what can you do if you need to travel far? Personally I have found southwest and jetblue to be the cheapest for airfare but still check Kayak.com just in case there is a great deal. Sign up for southwest and jetblue tweets and check them before booking, because a lot of those deals cannot be beat. Before deciding on what flight to go on, check for baggage fees. It may be cheap to ship your bag via fedex/ups/usps or go with the slightly more expensive airline that has free check baggage. Both southwest and jet blue have free check baggage (jet blue allows one free bag, southwest two). Other airline, like Hawaiian, may charge for the bags, however they may allows you to check in online and pay less.

Once you have found the cheapest rates for flying are there still other ways to save money? Sure, there are. You can bring a empty water bottle or travel mug so you can refill it with water once you are inside the security check point. You should also bring snacks like fruit or granola bars to snack on and avoid paying the crazy prices at the airport. Bring a book or ebook to read so you do not get tempted to buy anything at the shops. My DH and I did that but I read all the books I brought during the flights to San Jose and to Hawaii. However, we happened upon a used book store in Hawaii and bought a couple more for the trips back to San Jose and on to Buffalo.

If you are flexible let the gate attendants know they can bump you and you can get credit towards a latter flight. They may also give you food credit or a night at a hotel room depending on the wait for another flight. This does not always work, it worked once for us but the last three times I have asked, it has not worked. Do not rely on it.

Frugal Movie Watching

During the summer some of the best movies come out, yet at ten dollars per ticket, how can people afford to go? My DH and I afford it by finding the cheaper theaters (here AMC Theaters is cheaper than Regal Theaters), by going at the matinee time and by buying AMC gift cards online for a discount.

On plastic jungle AMC gift cards are 18% off so we were able to get a twenty-five dollar gift card for twenty dollars and fifty cents. You may be thinking all right, you saved four dollars, big deal. First, that four dollars can add up quickly over time and second I am not done yet. My DH and I go to matinee movies at AMC for four fifty per person instead of regular priced movies for nine dollars or going to Regal for nine dollars and fifty cents. We do splurge and get popcorn at the theater, though.

Let's add it up then, shall we? Normally tickets cost nine to nine fifty a person, so eighteen to nineteen dollars for my DH and I plus popcorn at seven dollars for a medium adding up to twenty five to twenty six dollars. By using the matinee at AMC and getting the gift card we only spend thirteen dollars and twelve cents. That is a savings of almost fifty percent and we get the same movie experience.

Being frugal is not about giving up your fun but finding the best way, financially, to have that fun.