January 19, 2010
Business travels can be a beautiful thing when considering your tight budget. While I am aware that not everyone works under the conditions of traveling for work, your sustenance is served well by the corporate card. When I am on the road, Jeff is eating 50% of the inventory and needing 50% less for the fridge. For this reason, I am particularly sensitive to those who do not use expense accounts. In addition, I swirl my memories around the years when I did not travel, did consume more at home, and had to come up with more innovative ways to save. Below is a helpful top ten list of how to squeeze the nickel until the buffalo poops.
1. Compare sales on store websites to strategize best prices for food and gas.
2. Water down shampoo bottles and dish soap containers to stretch their contents by 1/8 to ¼.
3. Spend some time during January to assess the costs of your bills and have a family meeting to discuss clever ways to bundle costs (Internet, phone, and cable), how to reduce energy consumption, and plan short-term and long-term financial goals.
4. Do an early spring cleaning and reorganize items that you can use but are in incorrect places and can be used if placed in appropriate placed. For instance, when you clean, gather those hotel shampoo bottles and start using them up.
5. Plant a garden of foods that naturally grow in your area. Planting kiwi vines in Colorado will prove pointless as you will consume much more water for no return on your investment. If you do not have the space to time to garden, plant window herbs.
6. Use your city library rather than buying books and renting movies.
7. Re-evaluate any charges that come directly to your credit card or checking accounts directly each month. While you may not want to give up the gym, you may have another expense, such as magazines subscriptions that you can read online, instead.
8. Eliminate one common service you use for one month. Examples include dry cleaning, housekeepers, storage rentals, or online services you no longer need. We would have visited the dry cleaners three times so far this month to the tune of about $40 each week. Washing and ironing just our shirts brought that bill down to about $20 per week.
9. Eat only seasonal fruits and vegetables as they fetch better prices than Costa Rican grapefruits during winter months.
10. Close all dampers or turn off heat in rooms you do not use regularly.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
January 17, 2010
Tip of the Day: Engage Resources (that are free)
Last year, our friend Roxy lived with us while she and her husband, Bertrand, packed up their house in Dallas to move south. Bertrand is a computer engineer, so not even the federal government could figure out our wireless network key code. That said, Mother Nature can blow it out with one breath. Bertrand advised us to call the phone company to fix the box and the wireless connection the bad weather knocked out. They did come, and it was not an external problem. Bertrand tied to work his magic again, but he could not seem to get the wireless working again. We hate to ask too much of friends when they are so good to help us out with thing Jeff and I can not manage, like electronics - though Jeff is better at it than I. The next call was to yahoo to see if there was an issue with the desktop computer. While we did extract a few needless wires, the wireless was not helped any. Five years ago, I would have called the Geek Squad at this point, giving myself the excuse that I tried what I could to repair the problem cost free. A decade of Januaries has taught us to keep engaging free resources where ever necessary.
A few google searches on the wireless router indicated that we needed a software package to reinstall the drivers, which we did not have. I was one step closer to the full retail call as I can not go too long without wireless, especially when I need to work from home.
Jeff called his best friend, Dustin, who is a computer network engineer for Whole Foods. I did not get the details, but Dustin was able to wield his magic over the phone for Jeff.
I looked online at the price for the Geek Squad to do a house call for this issue, and if Dustin had not saved the day, we would have been out $149.99, which is the entire January budget!
Last year, our friend Roxy lived with us while she and her husband, Bertrand, packed up their house in Dallas to move south. Bertrand is a computer engineer, so not even the federal government could figure out our wireless network key code. That said, Mother Nature can blow it out with one breath. Bertrand advised us to call the phone company to fix the box and the wireless connection the bad weather knocked out. They did come, and it was not an external problem. Bertrand tied to work his magic again, but he could not seem to get the wireless working again. We hate to ask too much of friends when they are so good to help us out with thing Jeff and I can not manage, like electronics - though Jeff is better at it than I. The next call was to yahoo to see if there was an issue with the desktop computer. While we did extract a few needless wires, the wireless was not helped any. Five years ago, I would have called the Geek Squad at this point, giving myself the excuse that I tried what I could to repair the problem cost free. A decade of Januaries has taught us to keep engaging free resources where ever necessary.
A few google searches on the wireless router indicated that we needed a software package to reinstall the drivers, which we did not have. I was one step closer to the full retail call as I can not go too long without wireless, especially when I need to work from home.
Jeff called his best friend, Dustin, who is a computer network engineer for Whole Foods. I did not get the details, but Dustin was able to wield his magic over the phone for Jeff.
I looked online at the price for the Geek Squad to do a house call for this issue, and if Dustin had not saved the day, we would have been out $149.99, which is the entire January budget!
January 16, 2010
Italian Lentil Soup
Saute the following in a stock pot:
One pound of your favorite sausage, chopped into small bite-sized pieces
olive oil
Once cooked through, remove the sausage and let rest in a dish. Do not remove grease or sausage debris from stock pot. Add one more tablespoon of oil if necessary, and saute the following, stirring until getting soft:
two coarsely chopped carrots
two coarsely chopped parsnips
two celery stalks
one medium yellow onion
Add the following ans saute for five minutes until all moisture is absorbed:
one pound of dry, rinsed lentils (you can also use black eyed peas)
one tablespoon of basil, oregano, and parsley (if you want a strong herby soup, use more)
pepper
Add
3 quarts of chicken stock. (If using canned, choose a chemical free, organic, low sodium option.)
Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook soup until lentils are soft enough to eat, about 25 minutes. Taste soup to assure flavor and tenderness of the beans. Correct flavors if necessary with salt, pepper, or more herbs.
Reintroduce sausage to the soup and cook for another three minutes to blend flavors.
Add five cups of your favorite greens (spinach, kale, and escarole all work well).
Serve with a side of grated Parmesan cheese. Freeze unused portions for later consumption.
Saute the following in a stock pot:
One pound of your favorite sausage, chopped into small bite-sized pieces
olive oil
Once cooked through, remove the sausage and let rest in a dish. Do not remove grease or sausage debris from stock pot. Add one more tablespoon of oil if necessary, and saute the following, stirring until getting soft:
two coarsely chopped carrots
two coarsely chopped parsnips
two celery stalks
one medium yellow onion
Add the following ans saute for five minutes until all moisture is absorbed:
one pound of dry, rinsed lentils (you can also use black eyed peas)
one tablespoon of basil, oregano, and parsley (if you want a strong herby soup, use more)
pepper
Add
3 quarts of chicken stock. (If using canned, choose a chemical free, organic, low sodium option.)
Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook soup until lentils are soft enough to eat, about 25 minutes. Taste soup to assure flavor and tenderness of the beans. Correct flavors if necessary with salt, pepper, or more herbs.
Reintroduce sausage to the soup and cook for another three minutes to blend flavors.
Add five cups of your favorite greens (spinach, kale, and escarole all work well).
Serve with a side of grated Parmesan cheese. Freeze unused portions for later consumption.
January 15, 2010
With less immediate entertainment such as dinners out or entertainment events to attend, spending more time at home brings us closer together. During January, we have game nights rather than rented movies and delivered pizza. This is a great time to rediscover games we have not played in a long time but still bring us joy such as Risk, Backgammon, Stratego, and our all-time favorite, Scrabble.
January also affords us down time to have deep, rich conversations about components of our relationship we want to improve and places we want to see ourselves. I credit Five Dollar Days of January with giving our relationship audience for conversations that we would otherwise not have or not take as seriously. It may seem as though the practice could invite some pain points in your relationship or get into family arguments about money. If that idea concerns you, I offer the following relationship development solutions.
Schedule a business meeting with your partner. Make an appointment as you would with your dentist. Articulate ahead of time that you will meet in the dining room at X time to discuss
• the current bills,
• financial goals for the coming year, and
• where you see yourselves in five years.
Make certain that when you broach this practice that you are both clear that this meeting is business. There is not an audience to discuss the emotional components of your relationship. It’s like going to work and doing your annual review with your boss. You would talk about what you accomplished, where you can improve, and where you want to be in a year, or five years, right? I argue that you follow this “business” practice to reach the highest possible goals for your marriage.
If you feel so inclined, when your financial meeting is over, you can schedule a secondary meeting to discuss emotional or relationship observations, needs, or goals that are not tied to money. During the early years of our union, Jeff and I had these meetings every three months or so. While we positioned our finances in the best possible way to make the right decisions as we aged, we were also feeling each other out, emotionally and behaviorally. For young relationships, you cannot take for granted that your partner knows that tapping your pencil when you read annoys her. She has no natural knowledge that you don’t like yams until you articulate it. Through the meetings, there are no surprises. When each partner knows that a meeting time exists, each partner has time to prepare topics and ideas to share. As well, you both have the opportunity to prioritize when is important now. Maybe you have a list of 15 things you want to get off your chest, but if you only focus on 3, the constructive criticism is manageable for your partner, you reduce egoism, and you stick to the objective. Finally, when having these meetings, remember that it’s business. Therefore, be functional. There is nothing to yell about, cry over, or dwell on the impossible. If you have issues that deep, ones that cannot be managed comfortably I suggest a trying the business meetings for a few months, and then trying the emotional meetings after you get your cadence of the dialogue. If you feel ready, employ the emotional topics. If you do not, employ a third party. Whatever you choose, use the month as an opportunity of austerity with spending and an opportunity to enrich your love simultaneously.
January also affords us down time to have deep, rich conversations about components of our relationship we want to improve and places we want to see ourselves. I credit Five Dollar Days of January with giving our relationship audience for conversations that we would otherwise not have or not take as seriously. It may seem as though the practice could invite some pain points in your relationship or get into family arguments about money. If that idea concerns you, I offer the following relationship development solutions.
Schedule a business meeting with your partner. Make an appointment as you would with your dentist. Articulate ahead of time that you will meet in the dining room at X time to discuss
• the current bills,
• financial goals for the coming year, and
• where you see yourselves in five years.
Make certain that when you broach this practice that you are both clear that this meeting is business. There is not an audience to discuss the emotional components of your relationship. It’s like going to work and doing your annual review with your boss. You would talk about what you accomplished, where you can improve, and where you want to be in a year, or five years, right? I argue that you follow this “business” practice to reach the highest possible goals for your marriage.
If you feel so inclined, when your financial meeting is over, you can schedule a secondary meeting to discuss emotional or relationship observations, needs, or goals that are not tied to money. During the early years of our union, Jeff and I had these meetings every three months or so. While we positioned our finances in the best possible way to make the right decisions as we aged, we were also feeling each other out, emotionally and behaviorally. For young relationships, you cannot take for granted that your partner knows that tapping your pencil when you read annoys her. She has no natural knowledge that you don’t like yams until you articulate it. Through the meetings, there are no surprises. When each partner knows that a meeting time exists, each partner has time to prepare topics and ideas to share. As well, you both have the opportunity to prioritize when is important now. Maybe you have a list of 15 things you want to get off your chest, but if you only focus on 3, the constructive criticism is manageable for your partner, you reduce egoism, and you stick to the objective. Finally, when having these meetings, remember that it’s business. Therefore, be functional. There is nothing to yell about, cry over, or dwell on the impossible. If you have issues that deep, ones that cannot be managed comfortably I suggest a trying the business meetings for a few months, and then trying the emotional meetings after you get your cadence of the dialogue. If you feel ready, employ the emotional topics. If you do not, employ a third party. Whatever you choose, use the month as an opportunity of austerity with spending and an opportunity to enrich your love simultaneously.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
January 14, 2010
Jeff was off for two days, and when we have the day off, we wreak spending havoc. He spent $6 on a DVD from Blockbuster and a fridge item. I was a little concerned, since we did not need the video...but we love the show, Big Love. We also had two DVDs from the library we still had to watch(Remember the "finds" I brought home on Saturday?). Even with that expense, we are still within budget. Additionally, I discovered a Visa gift card in my wallet, which has $6.17 left on it. So, it's a wash. Phew!
The pantry is starting to have some empty shelves, but we are looking good on the fridge and freezer front.
With some vegetables wilting, it was time to take action before the compost pile got more sustenance than we. My grandmother used to saute and boil up some unused veggies, maybe some rice or pastina, boil it up with chicken stock and call it "Jambaut," or Italian Jambalaya.
I started with the Italian trinity: garlic, oil, and basil. After warming that through, I threw in what was left of the celery, a coarsely chopped carrot, half an onion, and more herbs including oregano from the garden and coriander seeds. Once the mixture began to soften I salted and peppered to my taste and added the chicken stock. With some more items in the fridge, I started to get creative... or arrogant. A bunch of boc choy just had to be used up, so that went in. One green onion would compliment the choy as well. While the soup was getting a little dense, I thought a more stew like system could work and fill us up for three dinners. It tasted pretty good, but then I made the mistake of adding a handful of red cabbage. At first, the soup just started to get a little red, and I thought we'd be okay. After letting the soup rest, I waited for Jeff to come home from work, ready to feed him this home made concoction.
As gentle and and generous as Jeff is, he can get a little sardonic. I was ready for a "What the hell is that?" or "Do you expectr me to eat that?" However, upon his return to the nest, I presented a bowl of what was now blue soup, and without blinking, he ate it and gave the chef his props. "So it's blue? It tastes good" was his response.
Yay January for bringing out the best in others.
The pantry is starting to have some empty shelves, but we are looking good on the fridge and freezer front.
With some vegetables wilting, it was time to take action before the compost pile got more sustenance than we. My grandmother used to saute and boil up some unused veggies, maybe some rice or pastina, boil it up with chicken stock and call it "Jambaut," or Italian Jambalaya.
I started with the Italian trinity: garlic, oil, and basil. After warming that through, I threw in what was left of the celery, a coarsely chopped carrot, half an onion, and more herbs including oregano from the garden and coriander seeds. Once the mixture began to soften I salted and peppered to my taste and added the chicken stock. With some more items in the fridge, I started to get creative... or arrogant. A bunch of boc choy just had to be used up, so that went in. One green onion would compliment the choy as well. While the soup was getting a little dense, I thought a more stew like system could work and fill us up for three dinners. It tasted pretty good, but then I made the mistake of adding a handful of red cabbage. At first, the soup just started to get a little red, and I thought we'd be okay. After letting the soup rest, I waited for Jeff to come home from work, ready to feed him this home made concoction.
As gentle and and generous as Jeff is, he can get a little sardonic. I was ready for a "What the hell is that?" or "Do you expectr me to eat that?" However, upon his return to the nest, I presented a bowl of what was now blue soup, and without blinking, he ate it and gave the chef his props. "So it's blue? It tastes good" was his response.
Yay January for bringing out the best in others.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
January 13, 2010
Recipes for the Five Dollar Days of January
One follower suggested I illustrate how we live out of the freezer and the fridge with some recipes that work for us during January. Here is one that we have made twice and provides two meals each.
Roasted Cauliflower with Fennel
Ingredients
1/2 head cauliflower
1 fennel bulb
1 onion
Salt, pepper, olive oil
Marjoram, or other aromatic herb that you have on hand and that works with vegetables (oregano, basil, red pepper, and sage all work)
Directions:
Break or slice cauliflower into florets. In large sautee pan, bring two tablespoons of olive oil to temperature. Sautee cauliflower on all sides until brown. Add salt and pepper to taste while doing so. Transfer entire contents of pan, oil and all, to a roasting pan or casserole dish. Slice fennel bulb into eights. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to pan. Bring to temperature and sautee one side of each piece of fennel, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer fennel browned side down (and the oil) to roasting pan (on top of cauliflower). Slice onion into eights and follow the same procedure as fennel. After transferring onion to roasting pan after browning, sprinkle a liberal amount of your herb on top of the entire recipe. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until all vegetables are softened but not mushy. Serve as a tapa, and appetizer, a warm salad, or side.
Optional: Add grated Parmesan cheese to the dish after plating.
The following recipe is often used as a pre-appetizer or appetizer, but we often have it as a side, since it is so rich in fiber and vitamins
Spicy Roasted Garlin Hummus
Ingredients
One can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
Eight garlic cloves
Salt
Olive Oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
cayenne pepper
Wrap garlic loosely in a small package of aluminum foil. Roast in oven or toaster over at 350 degrees until softened but not dried out, about 15 minutes. In a food process, combine chick peas, garlic, salt to taste and lemon juice. Pulse until combined but still chunky. Turn food processor on and dribble olive oil in through the entry slot slowly, watching carefully that the mixture becomes smooth and doughy, but not too wet. You may have to transfer entire mixture to a bowl and finish combining ingredients. Once combined, transfer to air tight container and place in refrigerator for at least two hours. After the time has passed, taste the hummus and correct flavors, adding salt or lemon juice to suit your preference. Before serving, sprinkle cayenne pepper liberally on top of the hummus for a spicy finish.
One follower suggested I illustrate how we live out of the freezer and the fridge with some recipes that work for us during January. Here is one that we have made twice and provides two meals each.
Roasted Cauliflower with Fennel
Ingredients
1/2 head cauliflower
1 fennel bulb
1 onion
Salt, pepper, olive oil
Marjoram, or other aromatic herb that you have on hand and that works with vegetables (oregano, basil, red pepper, and sage all work)
Directions:
Break or slice cauliflower into florets. In large sautee pan, bring two tablespoons of olive oil to temperature. Sautee cauliflower on all sides until brown. Add salt and pepper to taste while doing so. Transfer entire contents of pan, oil and all, to a roasting pan or casserole dish. Slice fennel bulb into eights. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to pan. Bring to temperature and sautee one side of each piece of fennel, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer fennel browned side down (and the oil) to roasting pan (on top of cauliflower). Slice onion into eights and follow the same procedure as fennel. After transferring onion to roasting pan after browning, sprinkle a liberal amount of your herb on top of the entire recipe. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until all vegetables are softened but not mushy. Serve as a tapa, and appetizer, a warm salad, or side.
Optional: Add grated Parmesan cheese to the dish after plating.
The following recipe is often used as a pre-appetizer or appetizer, but we often have it as a side, since it is so rich in fiber and vitamins
Spicy Roasted Garlin Hummus
Ingredients
One can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
Eight garlic cloves
Salt
Olive Oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
cayenne pepper
Wrap garlic loosely in a small package of aluminum foil. Roast in oven or toaster over at 350 degrees until softened but not dried out, about 15 minutes. In a food process, combine chick peas, garlic, salt to taste and lemon juice. Pulse until combined but still chunky. Turn food processor on and dribble olive oil in through the entry slot slowly, watching carefully that the mixture becomes smooth and doughy, but not too wet. You may have to transfer entire mixture to a bowl and finish combining ingredients. Once combined, transfer to air tight container and place in refrigerator for at least two hours. After the time has passed, taste the hummus and correct flavors, adding salt or lemon juice to suit your preference. Before serving, sprinkle cayenne pepper liberally on top of the hummus for a spicy finish.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
January 12, 2010
At about this time of the month, we start running out of food.
So far, nothing is causing us to pine. Jeff left the opened jar of peanut butter on the counter, and the our older dog, Duke, took care of that. We are also out of butter, chicken stock, cheese, and we are running low on olive oil, napkins, glucosamine for the dog (He's 11.), and fruit. Get creative. I take glucosamine for early onset arthritis in my left knee, so I cut my tablets in half and share them with the dog until I can afford another $20 bottle (Does that mean he is taking people vitamins, or I am taking dog vitamins?). We can live without peanut butter (except we have about 16 jars of jam left), and paper towels will substitute for napkins if need be. Butter (or a healthy substitute), chicken stock, and olive oil are like air, blood and water, so we had to break down and buy those. For this reason, I include the groceries in the $5 a day budget.
Normally, we use the Discover card for groceries, so we can monitor the spending, but I really wanted to avoid charging anything. So, out came the coffee mug of change. Remember, it's not found money for us. Jeff took care of the shopping and came home with our treasures and a bill of $21. With proper food positioning, we can get buy without hitting the HEB for a while, we hope. $3 of the total was for more spray starch to support our non-dry cleaning month, which I have decided, sucks.
A temptation has come over me, however. I have to travel for work next week. The issue is that I have to work in our New York office. Each time I make this trip, which is infrequently, I like to see my family and maybe hit up a few high school and college pals, where I can. But that means unbudgeted drinks, dinners, theatre tickets, and all kinds of entertainment expenses that this month does not afford me.
As a person who grew up in the arts, has performed since the age of 12, and survived (somewhat) as a working actor for a time, I have to see shows when I get to New York. It's a given. In addition, January is the best time to get good half price seats because tourism is way down. The opportunities are endless. So, the plan is to fly home to White Plains airport on Saturday, spend the night with my brother, visit with his family and my mother on Sunday, and a few other relatives on Monday, which is a holiday. I think I can manage all three days without buying anything that is not a legitimate business expense (which would be one taxi ride and one train). Someone else has to provide all of my food. Mothers and brothers are good for that. However, on Monday, I need to get into the city to prepare for my work in the office on Tuesday. I may as well be dangling over the gates of hell, the first one to escape. My hotel will be two whole blocks from the theatre district, and Angela Lansbury is starring in A Little Night Music. I may be apoplectic by the end of this trip.
I can do this. I have to do this. I need to prove to myself, this mission, to Jeff, and to any readers that conflict will arise. You are going to have your best friends tempt you with blandishments of movies, dinners, and other excursions. But you have to fight. It's far too easy to go over budget.
So here is the strategy:
I am going to print out my current credit card bill (over $3,000.00), my car payoff amount, the contact on the new house, laminate them, and bring them with me to pour over while I am pondering Catherine Zeta Jones' rendition of "Send in the Clowns." It's just going to have to wait. My bills will be the ultimate distractor to remind me that it's just going to have to wait until summer vacation.
I will delight myself by inviting an old friend to join me for dinner, since that will be legitimately on the company expense report, and she can buy her own steak frittes.
With half a month to go and a temptation like this in my way, I will definitely need lots of votes of confidence for this one. I am sweating as I write.
So far, nothing is causing us to pine. Jeff left the opened jar of peanut butter on the counter, and the our older dog, Duke, took care of that. We are also out of butter, chicken stock, cheese, and we are running low on olive oil, napkins, glucosamine for the dog (He's 11.), and fruit. Get creative. I take glucosamine for early onset arthritis in my left knee, so I cut my tablets in half and share them with the dog until I can afford another $20 bottle (Does that mean he is taking people vitamins, or I am taking dog vitamins?). We can live without peanut butter (except we have about 16 jars of jam left), and paper towels will substitute for napkins if need be. Butter (or a healthy substitute), chicken stock, and olive oil are like air, blood and water, so we had to break down and buy those. For this reason, I include the groceries in the $5 a day budget.
Normally, we use the Discover card for groceries, so we can monitor the spending, but I really wanted to avoid charging anything. So, out came the coffee mug of change. Remember, it's not found money for us. Jeff took care of the shopping and came home with our treasures and a bill of $21. With proper food positioning, we can get buy without hitting the HEB for a while, we hope. $3 of the total was for more spray starch to support our non-dry cleaning month, which I have decided, sucks.
A temptation has come over me, however. I have to travel for work next week. The issue is that I have to work in our New York office. Each time I make this trip, which is infrequently, I like to see my family and maybe hit up a few high school and college pals, where I can. But that means unbudgeted drinks, dinners, theatre tickets, and all kinds of entertainment expenses that this month does not afford me.
As a person who grew up in the arts, has performed since the age of 12, and survived (somewhat) as a working actor for a time, I have to see shows when I get to New York. It's a given. In addition, January is the best time to get good half price seats because tourism is way down. The opportunities are endless. So, the plan is to fly home to White Plains airport on Saturday, spend the night with my brother, visit with his family and my mother on Sunday, and a few other relatives on Monday, which is a holiday. I think I can manage all three days without buying anything that is not a legitimate business expense (which would be one taxi ride and one train). Someone else has to provide all of my food. Mothers and brothers are good for that. However, on Monday, I need to get into the city to prepare for my work in the office on Tuesday. I may as well be dangling over the gates of hell, the first one to escape. My hotel will be two whole blocks from the theatre district, and Angela Lansbury is starring in A Little Night Music. I may be apoplectic by the end of this trip.
I can do this. I have to do this. I need to prove to myself, this mission, to Jeff, and to any readers that conflict will arise. You are going to have your best friends tempt you with blandishments of movies, dinners, and other excursions. But you have to fight. It's far too easy to go over budget.
So here is the strategy:
I am going to print out my current credit card bill (over $3,000.00), my car payoff amount, the contact on the new house, laminate them, and bring them with me to pour over while I am pondering Catherine Zeta Jones' rendition of "Send in the Clowns." It's just going to have to wait. My bills will be the ultimate distractor to remind me that it's just going to have to wait until summer vacation.
I will delight myself by inviting an old friend to join me for dinner, since that will be legitimately on the company expense report, and she can buy her own steak frittes.
With half a month to go and a temptation like this in my way, I will definitely need lots of votes of confidence for this one. I am sweating as I write.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
January 11, 2010
On the City Library
What has happened to the city library system? Clearly funding and donations are down, largely due to Internet activity, which depletes the need for anyone with an income to make use of the public library.
When I was a student, the library was king. Now, with the onslaught of available information, much without a charge, I suppose the need is dying off. So where does the public library system stand?
During college, most of my research was done at the 42nd Street research library in Manhattan. I would bundle myself up, take the train to Grand Central, walk about four blocks, and spend the day working on research papers for college. At the time, this process was only mildly cumbersome, and I could have used my college's library, but I did not want to wait for inter-library loans on articles I needed. So off I would go to this historic building, sit at its antique oak tables, and read beneath the glow of the green shaded lamps. It may have been cumbersome to use, but it was picturesque and memorable.
As a young teacher, I spent my Sunday's at the Dallas Public Library, researching content for my lesson plans, gathering books and visuals for my students (many of whom had never seen the inside of the library), and write lessons. It was a sanctuary as much as it was an office.
Today, I am chagrined by the quality and staffing of the Austin Public Library. I thought I really nailed it this time. I was going to find some great books, a few DVDs, and save a bundle by returning to this resource. While the staff was very kind and helpful, there certainly were not enough of them. Books stood idle at the end of the stacks on rolling carts. So, if you did not find your text, you were to check the rack, which the short-handed staff would eventually shelve. The whole place needed a renovation as well. I could not even get to the second floor via the elevator because the "2" button was missing. I went to the third floor and walked down a flight.
I really wanted to find a few books on green architecture, four of which I found in the system, but only two of which I found in the stacks, despite their status of being "checked in." The one remaining copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was in, but also not on the stacks. I did find a different work by the famed chef, which I checked out. However, when I went downstairs to the DVD and CD collection, I was nothing short of dumbfounded. When living in Dallas, I checked out most of my music, took it home and taped it. I planned to do the same (except update the "taping" to downloading on to the laptop and Ipod). The collection was nothing short of useless. Oh sure, I could check out any number of versions of some British actor reciting Troilus and Cressida or Le Tragedie de Carmen, but I was looking for some useful rock, jazz, or soundtracks. I found nothing I would want. The DVDs were not much better. Suffice it to say, and I brought home three DVDs, which I deemed the "best" to borrow for the evening's entertainment: Rear Window, an independent film called, Save Me, which we enjoyed (Gotta love that Judith Light!), and Peter Allen: The Boy from Oz, a documentary on the famous entertainer. If I were to return to the library to find other DVDs to rent, I would be forced to bring home Mountain Biking in California, Yentl, Ishtar, and and number of belly firming exercise work-outs for active women or senior citizens.
My heart does not break for me. It does so for the people who remain reliant on the library: the students, the families with small children who should be able to use public services such as this one, and those who can not afford to drop $20 a month on Netflicks. If I were a young teacher today, struggling to craft meaningful lessons for my needy students, I would have to admit that the public library could not meet my needs.
Solutions management is a tough one. Libraries are fighting extinction due to the ease of information found from the home PC. Kindall is pummeling the need for paper bound books. And I am not arguing that progressive technology is bad. Don't misunderstand. However, I am left with the question of where the public library is left but to perish.
What has happened to the city library system? Clearly funding and donations are down, largely due to Internet activity, which depletes the need for anyone with an income to make use of the public library.
When I was a student, the library was king. Now, with the onslaught of available information, much without a charge, I suppose the need is dying off. So where does the public library system stand?
During college, most of my research was done at the 42nd Street research library in Manhattan. I would bundle myself up, take the train to Grand Central, walk about four blocks, and spend the day working on research papers for college. At the time, this process was only mildly cumbersome, and I could have used my college's library, but I did not want to wait for inter-library loans on articles I needed. So off I would go to this historic building, sit at its antique oak tables, and read beneath the glow of the green shaded lamps. It may have been cumbersome to use, but it was picturesque and memorable.
As a young teacher, I spent my Sunday's at the Dallas Public Library, researching content for my lesson plans, gathering books and visuals for my students (many of whom had never seen the inside of the library), and write lessons. It was a sanctuary as much as it was an office.
Today, I am chagrined by the quality and staffing of the Austin Public Library. I thought I really nailed it this time. I was going to find some great books, a few DVDs, and save a bundle by returning to this resource. While the staff was very kind and helpful, there certainly were not enough of them. Books stood idle at the end of the stacks on rolling carts. So, if you did not find your text, you were to check the rack, which the short-handed staff would eventually shelve. The whole place needed a renovation as well. I could not even get to the second floor via the elevator because the "2" button was missing. I went to the third floor and walked down a flight.
I really wanted to find a few books on green architecture, four of which I found in the system, but only two of which I found in the stacks, despite their status of being "checked in." The one remaining copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was in, but also not on the stacks. I did find a different work by the famed chef, which I checked out. However, when I went downstairs to the DVD and CD collection, I was nothing short of dumbfounded. When living in Dallas, I checked out most of my music, took it home and taped it. I planned to do the same (except update the "taping" to downloading on to the laptop and Ipod). The collection was nothing short of useless. Oh sure, I could check out any number of versions of some British actor reciting Troilus and Cressida or Le Tragedie de Carmen, but I was looking for some useful rock, jazz, or soundtracks. I found nothing I would want. The DVDs were not much better. Suffice it to say, and I brought home three DVDs, which I deemed the "best" to borrow for the evening's entertainment: Rear Window, an independent film called, Save Me, which we enjoyed (Gotta love that Judith Light!), and Peter Allen: The Boy from Oz, a documentary on the famous entertainer. If I were to return to the library to find other DVDs to rent, I would be forced to bring home Mountain Biking in California, Yentl, Ishtar, and and number of belly firming exercise work-outs for active women or senior citizens.
My heart does not break for me. It does so for the people who remain reliant on the library: the students, the families with small children who should be able to use public services such as this one, and those who can not afford to drop $20 a month on Netflicks. If I were a young teacher today, struggling to craft meaningful lessons for my needy students, I would have to admit that the public library could not meet my needs.
Solutions management is a tough one. Libraries are fighting extinction due to the ease of information found from the home PC. Kindall is pummeling the need for paper bound books. And I am not arguing that progressive technology is bad. Don't misunderstand. However, I am left with the question of where the public library is left but to perish.
January 10, 2010
How grateful I was to hear from Gaelen and her husband, Sven, last night. They have not died from starvation. However, they have spent $40 on groceries this month. While still within budget, they have not started to use gift cards yet but prefer to use them toward the end of January when the pantry shows that it needs a paint job. With the weekend coming to a close, I have not heard from Consulea. I left a message for her yesterday, checking to see if she was starving. One personality trait Consuela has is that she can charm her way into dinner or drinks with friends and family. I need not worry about her. I don't know how she does it, but she gets a lot of goods for free, including trips to Japan. As a teacher, she can find a grant like nobody's business. Who knows? Maybe Consuela has jaunted off to Israel again to do some last minute consulting. Last year, when she was sent to Poland at the last minute to work with a touring group of educators, I asked her what she was going to do there. She said "a lot of babysitting, and a little teaching about the Holocaust." (I failed to brief you on the fact that Consuela is a noted Holocaust scholar.) Considering she was going to Poland to "teach," I deftly asked, "Are you going to show people how to screw in a light bulb?"
We can not think of a better month to be austere than January. Our taxes are due, and since we do not escrow, I have to write a lot of checks to the tune of $5500. That will scare anyone into eating egg sandwiches for a week. On top of those expenses, Jeff and I are negotiating a contract to build a new, state-of-the-art eco-friendly, sustainable home. More on that later, but suffice it to say that if we get the contract we want, we will drain the savings account of an additional $6000.00 in earnest money.
January offers many challenges, and this year, we are committed to cutting back on dry cleaning. I am a professional and Jeff is in retail management, so our respective companies expect some level of dress, which includes professional dry cleaning. We've decided that one expense we can really affect this month is the cleaning bill. Jeff pays this bill, but I think it's about $200 a month. With the taxes, the medical expenses (reimbursable, but still...), and the need to return to "the pond," we are taking one for the team and washing our own shirts. The washing part is not a problem. I can pre-treat with the best of them, and to some degree get collars spiffier than the the best Oakland California dry cleaners. Since January is going to get me to a deeper sense of myself, I am forced to recall one vital part about my personality: I hate ironing.
It takes an enormous amount of time, which I normally do not have, to iron. Crease this, starch there, did I spray this side already?, get the cord out of the way, button here, hang there, drop this, redo it. It's a nightmare. If I were to win the next scratch off lottery ticket (which I can not afford this month) and win $200, I would march myself to the dry cleaners, and ask then to take it just to put me out of my misery. When I travel for work, my ritual is get there (and deal with the pain of packing, security, flying, and unpacking), and as soon as I check in to my hotel room, I start ironing for the next day.
Again, January teaches austerity, and austerity teaches self-denial. So, I ironed one shirt, which took be about 15 minutes. Our ironing board is not the stand-up kind but a hide-away style that hangs on the back of the door. However, when we moved into this house three years ago, we lost the door hooks. That alone should inform anyone about the last time I ironed. On the bright side, I did not use up my Home Depot gift card (Remember to daffodil issue?), so off I went to buy new hooks and a new can of spray starch for the dry cleaning improvement project. Total costs, about $6, but I used gift cards, so we are still in line. Total time spent ironing: 90 minutes. I was not a fan of spending (wasting) so much time on that chore when I should be hanging out at Jo's coffee shop, taking yoga class, working out, or shopping, but I repeat to myself, "return to the pond."
While ironing, the neighbor's dog jumped the fence and ran up the street. Jeff and I have two weimaraners, and the neighbors daughter has one. Since she moved in about a week ago, I have seen this beauty of a creature across the fence, but I'd not been introduced, and neither had our boys. After dodging a few passing cars, chasing that fast beast around the neighborhood for a good ten minutes, our neighbor, Steve, caught him by the collar. During the debacle, I learned his name was Duke. A sleek, shiny-coated, energetic,two-year-old, Duke can run away like a fox, and he is as athetic as one. I invited Steve to bring Duke into our fenced yard to play with our weims for a while, if he thought that would help burn off some energy. Along with Steve's beagle, Barney, we had four happy pure breds having a high old time in the "back forty." While watching them, I met Sarah, the neighbor's daughter, her two kids, and of course, Duke. We talked dog-owner talk for a while, which Connsulea, not being an animal lover, would have rolled her eyes at. Lots of sitting, praising and crumbled up milk bones were involved, and it was actually not a bother at all. After a half hour, my dogs were duly nap ready, so I brought them in and welcomed Steve to let his dogs run our yard for a while as I prepped some meals.
Since it was Sunday, I probably have been out and about consuming away, had this day been a typical one. Yet, I was staying close to home, watching the finances, checking cookbooks to see how I could use ingrediendts I already have to save money, and something miraculous happened. I spent some time with the neighbors. Since moving here, I can not say we have been welcomed wih a lot of cookie trays from these neighbors, but when we get the chance to let them like us, it usually goes well. I think we reached a milestone today. I bonded with the neighbors, and between the two of us, we have four happy, napping dogs.
We can not think of a better month to be austere than January. Our taxes are due, and since we do not escrow, I have to write a lot of checks to the tune of $5500. That will scare anyone into eating egg sandwiches for a week. On top of those expenses, Jeff and I are negotiating a contract to build a new, state-of-the-art eco-friendly, sustainable home. More on that later, but suffice it to say that if we get the contract we want, we will drain the savings account of an additional $6000.00 in earnest money.
January offers many challenges, and this year, we are committed to cutting back on dry cleaning. I am a professional and Jeff is in retail management, so our respective companies expect some level of dress, which includes professional dry cleaning. We've decided that one expense we can really affect this month is the cleaning bill. Jeff pays this bill, but I think it's about $200 a month. With the taxes, the medical expenses (reimbursable, but still...), and the need to return to "the pond," we are taking one for the team and washing our own shirts. The washing part is not a problem. I can pre-treat with the best of them, and to some degree get collars spiffier than the the best Oakland California dry cleaners. Since January is going to get me to a deeper sense of myself, I am forced to recall one vital part about my personality: I hate ironing.
It takes an enormous amount of time, which I normally do not have, to iron. Crease this, starch there, did I spray this side already?, get the cord out of the way, button here, hang there, drop this, redo it. It's a nightmare. If I were to win the next scratch off lottery ticket (which I can not afford this month) and win $200, I would march myself to the dry cleaners, and ask then to take it just to put me out of my misery. When I travel for work, my ritual is get there (and deal with the pain of packing, security, flying, and unpacking), and as soon as I check in to my hotel room, I start ironing for the next day.
Again, January teaches austerity, and austerity teaches self-denial. So, I ironed one shirt, which took be about 15 minutes. Our ironing board is not the stand-up kind but a hide-away style that hangs on the back of the door. However, when we moved into this house three years ago, we lost the door hooks. That alone should inform anyone about the last time I ironed. On the bright side, I did not use up my Home Depot gift card (Remember to daffodil issue?), so off I went to buy new hooks and a new can of spray starch for the dry cleaning improvement project. Total costs, about $6, but I used gift cards, so we are still in line. Total time spent ironing: 90 minutes. I was not a fan of spending (wasting) so much time on that chore when I should be hanging out at Jo's coffee shop, taking yoga class, working out, or shopping, but I repeat to myself, "return to the pond."
While ironing, the neighbor's dog jumped the fence and ran up the street. Jeff and I have two weimaraners, and the neighbors daughter has one. Since she moved in about a week ago, I have seen this beauty of a creature across the fence, but I'd not been introduced, and neither had our boys. After dodging a few passing cars, chasing that fast beast around the neighborhood for a good ten minutes, our neighbor, Steve, caught him by the collar. During the debacle, I learned his name was Duke. A sleek, shiny-coated, energetic,two-year-old, Duke can run away like a fox, and he is as athetic as one. I invited Steve to bring Duke into our fenced yard to play with our weims for a while, if he thought that would help burn off some energy. Along with Steve's beagle, Barney, we had four happy pure breds having a high old time in the "back forty." While watching them, I met Sarah, the neighbor's daughter, her two kids, and of course, Duke. We talked dog-owner talk for a while, which Connsulea, not being an animal lover, would have rolled her eyes at. Lots of sitting, praising and crumbled up milk bones were involved, and it was actually not a bother at all. After a half hour, my dogs were duly nap ready, so I brought them in and welcomed Steve to let his dogs run our yard for a while as I prepped some meals.
Since it was Sunday, I probably have been out and about consuming away, had this day been a typical one. Yet, I was staying close to home, watching the finances, checking cookbooks to see how I could use ingrediendts I already have to save money, and something miraculous happened. I spent some time with the neighbors. Since moving here, I can not say we have been welcomed wih a lot of cookie trays from these neighbors, but when we get the chance to let them like us, it usually goes well. I think we reached a milestone today. I bonded with the neighbors, and between the two of us, we have four happy, napping dogs.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
January 9, 2010
Tip of the day: put a pair of scissors in your bathroom.
As I prepared for bed last night, I realized two needs: toothpaste and facial cream. Since it’s going to be a long month, I broke out the scissors. When I cut open the facial cream tube, I saw I had enough for two more uses. A lot of stuff gets stuck on the sides and in the nozzle! As far as toothpaste is concerned, when you slice open the tube, you can find about two to three more days of use if you scrape the side remnants with your toothbrush.
Great idea, right? The dark side is that it only lasts you a few days. And that is what your $5 can get you.
Luckily, we did not have to spend money on these two items. I spent the morning organizing bathroom cabinets, as did Jeff. We cleaned up the drawers and found a treasure trove of savings: floss, three tubes of toothpaste, two bottles of moisturizer, countless hotel bottles of hand cream, shampoo, and lots of loose change. Normally, I would have picked up the needs without looking around for back-up. Amazingly, we ended up with more than our share of toiletries, and we spend January emptying the vessel.
The loose change is an interesting dilemma. We all have that coffee mug somewhere in the house. My sister keeps hers in the laundry room. With five kids, she rakes in the commission. We keep ours in the bathrooms, where we disrobe from the day, empty pockets, and never think about loose change piling up. But it does.
We followed this same pattern, and promptly called Gaelen, who provides Five Dollar Days sagacity. We were divided on the whole loose change issue. She is of the opinion that it is found money and does not count toward your $5. Therefore, you can have yourself a field day at the Coin Star machine (or if you are living in the 70s, roll it yourself) and load up on groceries, movie rentals, or take yourself out for some barbecue.
We disagree.
It’s money. We earned it. It made it into this non-interest bearing coffee mug, and if we use it, it counts. With all the spare time from not going out this month, the least I can do is cash it in when the fridge starts to have an echo. So, that is the plan. We will gather the money and use it for food later in the month when it is really needed. Also, if we use the cash right away at the grocery store, we are not dipping into the checking account for food (more money to put on the crazy credit card bill), or – heaven forbid – charging groceries.
So, I provided two sides to this loose change argument for you to decide which fits best for your thinking.
As I prepared for bed last night, I realized two needs: toothpaste and facial cream. Since it’s going to be a long month, I broke out the scissors. When I cut open the facial cream tube, I saw I had enough for two more uses. A lot of stuff gets stuck on the sides and in the nozzle! As far as toothpaste is concerned, when you slice open the tube, you can find about two to three more days of use if you scrape the side remnants with your toothbrush.
Great idea, right? The dark side is that it only lasts you a few days. And that is what your $5 can get you.
Luckily, we did not have to spend money on these two items. I spent the morning organizing bathroom cabinets, as did Jeff. We cleaned up the drawers and found a treasure trove of savings: floss, three tubes of toothpaste, two bottles of moisturizer, countless hotel bottles of hand cream, shampoo, and lots of loose change. Normally, I would have picked up the needs without looking around for back-up. Amazingly, we ended up with more than our share of toiletries, and we spend January emptying the vessel.
The loose change is an interesting dilemma. We all have that coffee mug somewhere in the house. My sister keeps hers in the laundry room. With five kids, she rakes in the commission. We keep ours in the bathrooms, where we disrobe from the day, empty pockets, and never think about loose change piling up. But it does.
We followed this same pattern, and promptly called Gaelen, who provides Five Dollar Days sagacity. We were divided on the whole loose change issue. She is of the opinion that it is found money and does not count toward your $5. Therefore, you can have yourself a field day at the Coin Star machine (or if you are living in the 70s, roll it yourself) and load up on groceries, movie rentals, or take yourself out for some barbecue.
We disagree.
It’s money. We earned it. It made it into this non-interest bearing coffee mug, and if we use it, it counts. With all the spare time from not going out this month, the least I can do is cash it in when the fridge starts to have an echo. So, that is the plan. We will gather the money and use it for food later in the month when it is really needed. Also, if we use the cash right away at the grocery store, we are not dipping into the checking account for food (more money to put on the crazy credit card bill), or – heaven forbid – charging groceries.
So, I provided two sides to this loose change argument for you to decide which fits best for your thinking.
January 8, 2010
Today, I had to go out of town for business. I am honest and fairly frugal with my expense account. However, on days when I return home, I discovered an allowable practice that seems a bit like cheating, but dollar for dollar, it works out. On the day I return home, I do not eat that much, usually stay in a hotel which includes breakfast, and by extension, I have a lot of unused money for my daily allotment for meals. Today, I drove home from Houston, and of my $40 allowable expense, I spent a whopping $10 on lunch. The organization expects that since I will arrive in Austin after close of business, I will require some dinner. Instead, I stop by the grocery store on the way home, pick up some produce on sale, and head for home. At Central Market (not a store where you dollar goes as far as, say, Sprouts, HEB, or Randalls), I picked up the biggest cauliflower I could find, two fennel bulbs, and handful of beets. Total price tag: about $12.00. I am still underspent on the expense account, and we have vegetables for three days.
www.epicurious.com is a favorite website, and during January, it’s my best friend. When I arrived home with the award-winning cauliflower, I went to the site and searched for recipes with the words “cauliflower fennel.” Up came a good-looking recipe for roasted cauliflower, fennel, and onions. Awesome. I had some onions so I was set. Then I saw the best word for the month: marjoram. Remember we had two bottles of those. I set off to make dinner, which includeed this recipe and more lentil soup. It’s a vegetarian fest that will last two nights.
Not everyone has the benefit of the good old expense account, but I use this example to illustrate how you can analyze your quality world so as to benefit your tiny budget. Use your favorite recipe website and search for use of ingredients you are in large supply of. Organize your cabinets and freezer to create a pecking order for those leftovers. Control your calorie intake, so you eat enough, but less.
www.epicurious.com is a favorite website, and during January, it’s my best friend. When I arrived home with the award-winning cauliflower, I went to the site and searched for recipes with the words “cauliflower fennel.” Up came a good-looking recipe for roasted cauliflower, fennel, and onions. Awesome. I had some onions so I was set. Then I saw the best word for the month: marjoram. Remember we had two bottles of those. I set off to make dinner, which includeed this recipe and more lentil soup. It’s a vegetarian fest that will last two nights.
Not everyone has the benefit of the good old expense account, but I use this example to illustrate how you can analyze your quality world so as to benefit your tiny budget. Use your favorite recipe website and search for use of ingredients you are in large supply of. Organize your cabinets and freezer to create a pecking order for those leftovers. Control your calorie intake, so you eat enough, but less.
January 7, 2010
Today, I paid the monthly bills. The mortgage, cell phones, car payment, and savings account are all good to go. Jeff takes care of the utilities, so I know those are done as well.
Then December’s credit card statement popped up on the email. The damage from Christmas: $3000.
At this point, I was glad I had not spent an additional $100 on dinners, celebrated New Years downtown, drank five Starbucks, or gone grocery shopping (except for the quarter). Therefore, I am better positioned to pay more off on the card when the next paycheck lands in the checking account. Only eight days to go before that happens, and the bill is due in nine days. With nothing extravagant coming out of the account in the next week, I can put a large chunk down on the card and possibly pay it off by the end of the month.
Then I remember, it’s January, which means we have to pay the taxes, since we do not escrow. That’s $5000, plus taxes on a little piece of land we bought on a Lake Richland Chambers some years back. I’ve saved the money throughout the year, but boy, it hurts when we write those checks.
The bright side of paying taxes to the city of Austin is that it is a gentle reminder that we live in a city rich with free services such as Lake LadyBird, where we exercise the dogs, Lake Travis, where we swim (not in January), the Capitol building (I could go on yet another free tour and get my Texas on.), the UT museum, and the library. With time to think about services like these, I realized that never got a library card. So, this weekend will be spend running that errand, grabbing some reading material, CDs for burning, and DVDs for weekend movie fests.
Then December’s credit card statement popped up on the email. The damage from Christmas: $3000.
At this point, I was glad I had not spent an additional $100 on dinners, celebrated New Years downtown, drank five Starbucks, or gone grocery shopping (except for the quarter). Therefore, I am better positioned to pay more off on the card when the next paycheck lands in the checking account. Only eight days to go before that happens, and the bill is due in nine days. With nothing extravagant coming out of the account in the next week, I can put a large chunk down on the card and possibly pay it off by the end of the month.
Then I remember, it’s January, which means we have to pay the taxes, since we do not escrow. That’s $5000, plus taxes on a little piece of land we bought on a Lake Richland Chambers some years back. I’ve saved the money throughout the year, but boy, it hurts when we write those checks.
The bright side of paying taxes to the city of Austin is that it is a gentle reminder that we live in a city rich with free services such as Lake LadyBird, where we exercise the dogs, Lake Travis, where we swim (not in January), the Capitol building (I could go on yet another free tour and get my Texas on.), the UT museum, and the library. With time to think about services like these, I realized that never got a library card. So, this weekend will be spend running that errand, grabbing some reading material, CDs for burning, and DVDs for weekend movie fests.
January 6, 2010
With the food inventory managed for a least another week, we looked ahead at expenses and found that there was nothing looming that we may need to spend money on. That will change, but for today, we deluded ourselves, which saved us God knows how much. Of course, due to the hair cut debacle, we are still overspent by $1. We’ll survive.
To support your month of austerity, I suggest you enlist some other frugal Fannies in your life to try the practice. Our dear friend, Geleen started the practice, and we have to give her credit. Although around January 27th, we will probably be cursing her name. She’s bold with Five Dollar Days. Her family of three lives on the cash. They use a lot of curry powder in January! As the years have unfolded, we have planned our Christmas presents to them wisely, but this year, we gave them, at no great expense, the “Five Dollar Days of January Survival Kit,” which included a $20 Whole Foods gift card, puzzles and word search books for her eight-year-old son, and a few morsels from the freezer. She loves our pickled green tomatoes. She gave us a bottle of red wine, among other useful consumable such as Brie and apricot jam. Ohh baby!
Our other friend, Consuela, is single and a teacher, so asking her to live on $5 a day is not that big of a deal, until she wants a spa service. However, we gave her a pound of coffee, a Whole Foods gift card, and some frozen delights as well. Her gifts to us were not January themed, but that is okay. Fused glass from her last trip to Israel (you know, because Consuela is so Jewish) is certainly welcomed in our house!
Around the end of the first week, it’s important to check on your comrades. I started with Gaelen, the founder and CEO of the Five Dollar Days of January. I have not reached her yet, so I hope she has not died of starvation.
Consuela was doing okay, as suspected. Being single has its merits when you are monitoring the spending.
To support your month of austerity, I suggest you enlist some other frugal Fannies in your life to try the practice. Our dear friend, Geleen started the practice, and we have to give her credit. Although around January 27th, we will probably be cursing her name. She’s bold with Five Dollar Days. Her family of three lives on the cash. They use a lot of curry powder in January! As the years have unfolded, we have planned our Christmas presents to them wisely, but this year, we gave them, at no great expense, the “Five Dollar Days of January Survival Kit,” which included a $20 Whole Foods gift card, puzzles and word search books for her eight-year-old son, and a few morsels from the freezer. She loves our pickled green tomatoes. She gave us a bottle of red wine, among other useful consumable such as Brie and apricot jam. Ohh baby!
Our other friend, Consuela, is single and a teacher, so asking her to live on $5 a day is not that big of a deal, until she wants a spa service. However, we gave her a pound of coffee, a Whole Foods gift card, and some frozen delights as well. Her gifts to us were not January themed, but that is okay. Fused glass from her last trip to Israel (you know, because Consuela is so Jewish) is certainly welcomed in our house!
Around the end of the first week, it’s important to check on your comrades. I started with Gaelen, the founder and CEO of the Five Dollar Days of January. I have not reached her yet, so I hope she has not died of starvation.
Consuela was doing okay, as suspected. Being single has its merits when you are monitoring the spending.
January 5, 2010
As I started to see the fruits of my Five Dollar Days labor, otherwise known as a sagging refrigerator inventory, I began to contemplate where we came from, what is left, and how long it will last (and how can I get around the rules). That is what moving into week two is all about.
Lots of our friends and neighbors are privy to our January practice, so they think ahead when gifting for Christmas. Our neighbors brought us a few of their home made morsels – meyer lemon jam, a strudel – And a box of clementines. You may think, “Cute!”, while we think, “Two weeks of produce!”. Some friends and siblings brought or sent us wine, and Jeff’s parents gave us the fruit of the month club. It takes several years for others to catch on to our habit and remember that December does have some planning involved. I do have one warning about planning for the Five Dollar Days of January: don’t stockpile. It defeats the purpose. You are not fooling anyone, especially your checking account, if you drop $300 at Sam’s Club or fill your freezer with sides of pork during December just so you have a leg up on January. That is to say, if you happen to support a family that lives on a $300 a week food budget, December is the time to contemplate how much of that food you really need. Can you do without some of the sugary snacks and slow carbohydrates? Can you cut back on the bread and start using up all that flour to bake your own? Can you clean out all of those canned goods and older spices in lieu of buying more?
After years of Five Dollar Januaries, we have learned to stockpile wisely. Again, we re-learn how to be like our grandparents. From our garden we have prepared the following for January consumption:
• 20 pear rhubarb pies, which we have frozen (Most of those ended up being holiday gifts for colleagues and neighbors)
• 20 jars of pear ginger jam (As you can tell, we have a prolific pear tree. Too bad our 90 lb weimaraner likes to munch on the fallen pears on our white carpet all autumn long.)
• 12 jars of pickled green tomatoes
• 2 bags of pre chopped butternut squash
• 1 container of marinara sauce
• 5 containers or pesto
As you can see, we garden. There were years when we did not. We were busy. We worked multiple jobs. We were too tired or needed more fun time. However, we returned to the earth after moving to Austin and have not looked back. I encourage anyone who plans to take on this challenge to do so, and you will have some extended fruits to use. City slickers and condo dwellers certainly would find it difficult to rise to this challenge, but I do have an alternative. Although you want to avoid stockpiling, you can keep your eye out for auspicious sales as the fall unfolds. Grand openings and closings are great resources for big specials. When Sprouts, a farmers’ market grocer, opened in our neighborhood, they ran a special on ears of corn for a dime. Each family was allowed 30 ears. So, I marched myself down there and picked up my 30, shucked them, ate four that week, and promptly froze the rest for January use. Deep discounts like these I would not considered as stockpiling, just wise planning. We did the same with paper towels and turkey breasts in November (The day after Thanksgiving is a great time to buy a frozen turkey!), and onions in December. If I were really shrewd, I would have returned to Sprouts the next day and bought 30 more, made chowder for the freezer, and planned even better, but that did not happen.
As week two approached, I figured out a manageable food game plan to consume the perishables in the right order. Eat up the vegetables while they still have nutritional value or make stock from them. Consider recipes that use clementines. Drink the milk before the beer. Control portion size. Reorganize the spice cabinet and find recipes that call for cumin, cream of tartar, and marjoram because some time during the previous year we ended up with two containers of each.
Lots of our friends and neighbors are privy to our January practice, so they think ahead when gifting for Christmas. Our neighbors brought us a few of their home made morsels – meyer lemon jam, a strudel – And a box of clementines. You may think, “Cute!”, while we think, “Two weeks of produce!”. Some friends and siblings brought or sent us wine, and Jeff’s parents gave us the fruit of the month club. It takes several years for others to catch on to our habit and remember that December does have some planning involved. I do have one warning about planning for the Five Dollar Days of January: don’t stockpile. It defeats the purpose. You are not fooling anyone, especially your checking account, if you drop $300 at Sam’s Club or fill your freezer with sides of pork during December just so you have a leg up on January. That is to say, if you happen to support a family that lives on a $300 a week food budget, December is the time to contemplate how much of that food you really need. Can you do without some of the sugary snacks and slow carbohydrates? Can you cut back on the bread and start using up all that flour to bake your own? Can you clean out all of those canned goods and older spices in lieu of buying more?
After years of Five Dollar Januaries, we have learned to stockpile wisely. Again, we re-learn how to be like our grandparents. From our garden we have prepared the following for January consumption:
• 20 pear rhubarb pies, which we have frozen (Most of those ended up being holiday gifts for colleagues and neighbors)
• 20 jars of pear ginger jam (As you can tell, we have a prolific pear tree. Too bad our 90 lb weimaraner likes to munch on the fallen pears on our white carpet all autumn long.)
• 12 jars of pickled green tomatoes
• 2 bags of pre chopped butternut squash
• 1 container of marinara sauce
• 5 containers or pesto
As you can see, we garden. There were years when we did not. We were busy. We worked multiple jobs. We were too tired or needed more fun time. However, we returned to the earth after moving to Austin and have not looked back. I encourage anyone who plans to take on this challenge to do so, and you will have some extended fruits to use. City slickers and condo dwellers certainly would find it difficult to rise to this challenge, but I do have an alternative. Although you want to avoid stockpiling, you can keep your eye out for auspicious sales as the fall unfolds. Grand openings and closings are great resources for big specials. When Sprouts, a farmers’ market grocer, opened in our neighborhood, they ran a special on ears of corn for a dime. Each family was allowed 30 ears. So, I marched myself down there and picked up my 30, shucked them, ate four that week, and promptly froze the rest for January use. Deep discounts like these I would not considered as stockpiling, just wise planning. We did the same with paper towels and turkey breasts in November (The day after Thanksgiving is a great time to buy a frozen turkey!), and onions in December. If I were really shrewd, I would have returned to Sprouts the next day and bought 30 more, made chowder for the freezer, and planned even better, but that did not happen.
As week two approached, I figured out a manageable food game plan to consume the perishables in the right order. Eat up the vegetables while they still have nutritional value or make stock from them. Consider recipes that use clementines. Drink the milk before the beer. Control portion size. Reorganize the spice cabinet and find recipes that call for cumin, cream of tartar, and marjoram because some time during the previous year we ended up with two containers of each.
January 4, 2010
January 4, 2010
Today marked my first day back to work, which meant fighting the urge to order lunch, attend happy hours, buy that box of chocolates for the break room, and start tooling around for opportunities to spend after work. So, I braced myself for four work weeks of discipline.
Within two hours, an email came through from a colleague.
“Forgot lunch. Ordering Chinese. Let me know if you want in.”
Two years ago, I would have sold out and spared some money for the cause. Rationalizing is one of my strong suits, so I could easily have said, “Oh yes. I have only spent a quarter this year, so I have $19.75 to spare. Last year, I would have closed the door to my office, fought the urge for lemon chicken and settled for a bowl of hot and sour soup for $6.95. That would have been only over a day’s budget. However, I am habituated. I thought, “What does the rest of my week look like? Where do I need to spend money?” Then I think, “I need a haircut, and so does Jeff.”
After a deep breath and a will to fight the perfume of wonton soon to emanate into my office, I hit the delete button.
Needless to say, we had to spend money sometime, and we both needed haircuts. Typically, Jeff spends about $30 at our friend, Guy’s salon. Sorry, Guy. We will see you next month, kiddo (He even called to check on why Jeff had not been to see him lately.). I have not started to see Guy yet, so I spend anywhere from $10 and $25 on a haircut. At TGF near our house, they do run a $10 men’s day on Tuesdays. So, over a dinner of left over lentil soup and the last of the salad greens, we decide that we can afford to indulge in some marginal haircuts from a well-intentioned coiffeuse. My hair is straight and more Jeff's head is a little more compelling, so I had to instruct him on how to communicate with the stylist. “Have him finish you with the scissors to avoid different lengths.” We end up with unimpressive looks for a month, and we would have been well within budget, but Jeff confesses that he paid the upcharge to have his hair washed. The nerve!
Total costs for both cuts plus tip: $31.00(TGF has raised the cost of men's day to $11. Dammit!). We are over budget b y $6. He HAD to get his hair washed?!
Going over budget one day means serious discipline the next. And the next, in this case. That’s it. Hit more delete buttons, make sandwiches, thermos up, plan meals with ingredients we have.
Today marked my first day back to work, which meant fighting the urge to order lunch, attend happy hours, buy that box of chocolates for the break room, and start tooling around for opportunities to spend after work. So, I braced myself for four work weeks of discipline.
Within two hours, an email came through from a colleague.
“Forgot lunch. Ordering Chinese. Let me know if you want in.”
Two years ago, I would have sold out and spared some money for the cause. Rationalizing is one of my strong suits, so I could easily have said, “Oh yes. I have only spent a quarter this year, so I have $19.75 to spare. Last year, I would have closed the door to my office, fought the urge for lemon chicken and settled for a bowl of hot and sour soup for $6.95. That would have been only over a day’s budget. However, I am habituated. I thought, “What does the rest of my week look like? Where do I need to spend money?” Then I think, “I need a haircut, and so does Jeff.”
After a deep breath and a will to fight the perfume of wonton soon to emanate into my office, I hit the delete button.
Needless to say, we had to spend money sometime, and we both needed haircuts. Typically, Jeff spends about $30 at our friend, Guy’s salon. Sorry, Guy. We will see you next month, kiddo (He even called to check on why Jeff had not been to see him lately.). I have not started to see Guy yet, so I spend anywhere from $10 and $25 on a haircut. At TGF near our house, they do run a $10 men’s day on Tuesdays. So, over a dinner of left over lentil soup and the last of the salad greens, we decide that we can afford to indulge in some marginal haircuts from a well-intentioned coiffeuse. My hair is straight and more Jeff's head is a little more compelling, so I had to instruct him on how to communicate with the stylist. “Have him finish you with the scissors to avoid different lengths.” We end up with unimpressive looks for a month, and we would have been well within budget, but Jeff confesses that he paid the upcharge to have his hair washed. The nerve!
Total costs for both cuts plus tip: $31.00(TGF has raised the cost of men's day to $11. Dammit!). We are over budget b y $6. He HAD to get his hair washed?!
Going over budget one day means serious discipline the next. And the next, in this case. That’s it. Hit more delete buttons, make sandwiches, thermos up, plan meals with ingredients we have.
January 3, 2010
Jeff does not boast or complain much. He leaves that to me. He can also be a little sneaky. He’s the type who will promise you that he’ll swear off chocolate for a month and hide milky ways in his shoeboxes. So, at this time of the month – day three – I start to get suspicious. Is he blowing me off and going to Starbucks twice a day? Is he eating from our own food rather than picking up sandwiches?
I started poking around for clues.
I heard him grind coffee beans this morning as I woke up. The Starbucks thermos is missing. I suppose he is being good and carrying his own coffee to work. Good man! But what of his lunches? Often I will make him a sandwich to bring to work, and it will sit in our fridge for days until I eat it for dinner. The endless array of frozen meals sometimes sit idle while Jeff either starves through his work day or buys something on his own.
I can not blame him entirely for this behavior. For years, he managed restaurants. There was never a reason for Jeff to pack a lunch, grab a to go cup for his coffee, or pick up an ingredient to complete dinner on his way home. We always had access to everything. On one occasion, I was making a recipe that called for cumin, and we were out. With other things to do besides go to the store, I called him at the restaurant and asked if he would bring home a little of the spice for me. All I needed was a teaspoon, and he brought me a container the size of a can of coffee. That was about five years ago, and I am still rolling with that thing.
Since moving to Austin, Jeff has left the restaurant business. We both had it. A dozen years of tomato stained ties, really late nights, uneven eating patterns, and having split schedules did not seem so tough on us at the time. Now that we have fairly similar work schedules, and therefore spent more time together, we are having such a good time. We wonder what we did for the first twelve years besides chase down dates, visit him at the store, and have him come to shows in which I performed. With the excpetion of our vacations and about one weekend per month, we functioned as two single people rather than as a couple.
As a result of this new found togetherness, we hit the gym at the same time, plan days off for spending time, and I even let him into the kitchen during meal preparations.
I concluded that due to the missing thermos and square space in the freezer that use to house two Amy’s natural meals, Jeff is not cheating. He’s actually going with another one of my Lucy-esque schemes. He’s making it work for the good of the project and for the good of the budget.
Tomorrow, I return to work after about nine days off for the holidays. Usually, when I am home from work, I spend much more money by deciding we need a new accessory, developing a new bed in the garden, generally shopping, and the like. Even though it was still December, the wild days of spending, I kept cool and prepared for January by organizing some shelves in the garage, putting hardware back in its proper place, consolidating cleaning supplies.
With work starting tomorrow, I thought I should get some house projects complete that I get easily distracted from while working. As far as the gardens were concerned, I really wanted to plant daffodil bulbs around a new tree we planted this spring. The ground was nice and cool, bulbs were available in great supply at the home depot, and I already had some soil. With the gift card that my mother sent us for Christmas, I could buy $25 worth of bulbs and still play the January game well. Then I realized that while cleaning those shelves in the garage, I came across a bag of wildflower seed I bought about over a year ago while driving the Hill Country. It cost me $9.95 at the time. I run the idea by Jeff.
“Do you think I should buy the daffodil bulbs and plant them where I planned, or should I use up these seeds in the same spot and hold on to the Home Depot card for another purchase later in the month?”
“Does Home Depot sell milk?” He asks.
“Smart ass.”
Off he goes to work, and off I go to the yard. Twenty minutes later, he ‘s arrived at Louis Vitton, and I have successfully planted our bag of wildflowers with the seeds I uncovered and the bag of soil that was taking up space in the garage for four months.
I started poking around for clues.
I heard him grind coffee beans this morning as I woke up. The Starbucks thermos is missing. I suppose he is being good and carrying his own coffee to work. Good man! But what of his lunches? Often I will make him a sandwich to bring to work, and it will sit in our fridge for days until I eat it for dinner. The endless array of frozen meals sometimes sit idle while Jeff either starves through his work day or buys something on his own.
I can not blame him entirely for this behavior. For years, he managed restaurants. There was never a reason for Jeff to pack a lunch, grab a to go cup for his coffee, or pick up an ingredient to complete dinner on his way home. We always had access to everything. On one occasion, I was making a recipe that called for cumin, and we were out. With other things to do besides go to the store, I called him at the restaurant and asked if he would bring home a little of the spice for me. All I needed was a teaspoon, and he brought me a container the size of a can of coffee. That was about five years ago, and I am still rolling with that thing.
Since moving to Austin, Jeff has left the restaurant business. We both had it. A dozen years of tomato stained ties, really late nights, uneven eating patterns, and having split schedules did not seem so tough on us at the time. Now that we have fairly similar work schedules, and therefore spent more time together, we are having such a good time. We wonder what we did for the first twelve years besides chase down dates, visit him at the store, and have him come to shows in which I performed. With the excpetion of our vacations and about one weekend per month, we functioned as two single people rather than as a couple.
As a result of this new found togetherness, we hit the gym at the same time, plan days off for spending time, and I even let him into the kitchen during meal preparations.
I concluded that due to the missing thermos and square space in the freezer that use to house two Amy’s natural meals, Jeff is not cheating. He’s actually going with another one of my Lucy-esque schemes. He’s making it work for the good of the project and for the good of the budget.
Tomorrow, I return to work after about nine days off for the holidays. Usually, when I am home from work, I spend much more money by deciding we need a new accessory, developing a new bed in the garden, generally shopping, and the like. Even though it was still December, the wild days of spending, I kept cool and prepared for January by organizing some shelves in the garage, putting hardware back in its proper place, consolidating cleaning supplies.
With work starting tomorrow, I thought I should get some house projects complete that I get easily distracted from while working. As far as the gardens were concerned, I really wanted to plant daffodil bulbs around a new tree we planted this spring. The ground was nice and cool, bulbs were available in great supply at the home depot, and I already had some soil. With the gift card that my mother sent us for Christmas, I could buy $25 worth of bulbs and still play the January game well. Then I realized that while cleaning those shelves in the garage, I came across a bag of wildflower seed I bought about over a year ago while driving the Hill Country. It cost me $9.95 at the time. I run the idea by Jeff.
“Do you think I should buy the daffodil bulbs and plant them where I planned, or should I use up these seeds in the same spot and hold on to the Home Depot card for another purchase later in the month?”
“Does Home Depot sell milk?” He asks.
“Smart ass.”
Off he goes to work, and off I go to the yard. Twenty minutes later, he ‘s arrived at Louis Vitton, and I have successfully planted our bag of wildflowers with the seeds I uncovered and the bag of soil that was taking up space in the garage for four months.
January 2, 2010
Five Dollar Days means no partying with friends on the weekends. No $30 bottles of memorable red wine. No Arbonne Vitamin C infused facial cream. So, on this fine Saturday there will be no strolls through the malls, casual stops at the Thai restaurant, or impulsive movies we should take in. In other words, we stay home more. Naturally, if you spend a little more time at home, you end up with a cleaner, more organized, functional home. Even though it’s a beautiful Austin day, I can’t go down to Book People and sip that coffee and hang out with whatever magazine I don’t need. That would cost me about $9. What I can do is take a look around the house and see what needs to be done that I have been putting off. Water the garden and beds, walk the dogs, touch up a little paint, and plan some meals in such an order that the produce does not go bad.
I cleaned out the fridge and found we have not eaten the beets I boiled a few days ago, and we have about $7 worth of artichoke hearts. That would be about $11 worth of food we would have thrown away if we were not taking a hiatus from the dinners out. We’ll probably have a nice salad with the donated greens from last night and the beets and hearts that remain. However, I was pretty certain that we were not going to eat all of the artichoke hearts, which equal about four cups. At first I thought that we would eat a few tonight, maybe a few tomorrow, night, but eventually they are going to go bad. Then I recalled in a food magazine article that when you buy pickles, you should not throw out the vinegar brine but toss in onions and other vegetables you can pickle. Just my luck, we have a pickle jar hiding in the back of the fridge with only a few remaining pickles. In went all of the artichoke hearts, officially safe from rotting and safe from costly disposal.
As we explained our January to last night’s company, our friend, Ryan (who is very green sensitive but consumptive in the same breath) admits that he and his partner throw away a lot of unused produce. I followed up with asking them how many meals they eat out. Between the two of them, they eat, on average, one meal out per day. I can honestly say that they’d have a hard time conforming to our annual ritual. However, if they were to take on this challenge, they’d get better at using that produce they are currently wasting. After hearing that, I used the information to plan our meals better. Originally, I would have thawed out some chicken for tonight’s dinner, but with all of the unused produce, we had to go with the fibers tonight. During the fridge cleaning, I found two bags of wilting herbs, which I promptly chopped up, bagged and froze for later use.
The practice sensitizes us to where we consume versus what can be saved. If we could only live with the frugality of my poor grandparents: reusing aluminum foil, rinsing off saran wrap, using a bank account for deposits only, and walking to the corner store rather than driving to the Costco, we’d certainly spend less, live a greener life, and maybe work for fewer years due to our more proactive saving.
I cleaned out the fridge and found we have not eaten the beets I boiled a few days ago, and we have about $7 worth of artichoke hearts. That would be about $11 worth of food we would have thrown away if we were not taking a hiatus from the dinners out. We’ll probably have a nice salad with the donated greens from last night and the beets and hearts that remain. However, I was pretty certain that we were not going to eat all of the artichoke hearts, which equal about four cups. At first I thought that we would eat a few tonight, maybe a few tomorrow, night, but eventually they are going to go bad. Then I recalled in a food magazine article that when you buy pickles, you should not throw out the vinegar brine but toss in onions and other vegetables you can pickle. Just my luck, we have a pickle jar hiding in the back of the fridge with only a few remaining pickles. In went all of the artichoke hearts, officially safe from rotting and safe from costly disposal.
As we explained our January to last night’s company, our friend, Ryan (who is very green sensitive but consumptive in the same breath) admits that he and his partner throw away a lot of unused produce. I followed up with asking them how many meals they eat out. Between the two of them, they eat, on average, one meal out per day. I can honestly say that they’d have a hard time conforming to our annual ritual. However, if they were to take on this challenge, they’d get better at using that produce they are currently wasting. After hearing that, I used the information to plan our meals better. Originally, I would have thawed out some chicken for tonight’s dinner, but with all of the unused produce, we had to go with the fibers tonight. During the fridge cleaning, I found two bags of wilting herbs, which I promptly chopped up, bagged and froze for later use.
The practice sensitizes us to where we consume versus what can be saved. If we could only live with the frugality of my poor grandparents: reusing aluminum foil, rinsing off saran wrap, using a bank account for deposits only, and walking to the corner store rather than driving to the Costco, we’d certainly spend less, live a greener life, and maybe work for fewer years due to our more proactive saving.
The Five Dollar Days of January - Chronicles of a Budget
Day One, January 1, 2010
A new year. A new decade. A new budget.
My partner and I use January as a time of reflection and a time to pull in those financial boot straps after a month of holiday parties, hostess gifts, gifting, and dinners out. With credit card bills coming in and tax season drawing near, my partner and I take the month to hyper monitor spending and recreate lent for the marginally religious. We call it the Five Dollar Days of January.
The practice started about eight years ago when a dear friend of ours invented this idea. The rules are fairly simple, or at least they used to be fairly simple, and we have amended those rules since. We get to spend up to $5.00 per day from January 1 through January 31. Therefore, rather than having ungodly credit card bills on top of the Christmas bills, we’ve only spent $150 each for the month, and we (ostensibly) have more money to pay off bills than continue to let statements drag for months with their maniacal interest rates festering like abscesses on our checking accounts.
Today, I took inventory of the pantry, fridge, both freezers, and the baking cabinet. With lots to work with as the month unfolds, I foresaw a good emptying of the vessel coming our way. Then, I realized we had almost no milk. As it was the first day, I hit the Internet to find the cheapest gallon of skim to keep the budget nice and tight. The best value would be at Newflower Market: 2.29 a gallon. Ironically, I received the Review of the Day on www.yelp.com for my review of this very store. I wondered if I were to print out my review and the Review of the Day and show it to the store manager, would he give me my milk for free? It was worth a try.
As I started the car, a sudden concern overwhelmed me. If I bought this milk, I was technically spending unnecessary money on gas, since I would make one special trip for the milk. Then a miracle occured. I recalled that I bought about $100 worth of iTunes gift cards at CVS for my nieces and nephews for Christmas, which garnered me a $20 coupon for my next purchase. I headed over to the CVS, since they sell milk, and I asked the cashier if I was correct.
“Does this coupon actually mean that I have $20 of free slot play at the CVS?”
Mission confirmed, I picked up the milk and the vitamins I was going to do without once my correct supply ran out. I was really ahead of the game. Upon check out, the cashier informed me that I have to spend the whole $20 in order for the coupon to work, and I was at about $17. A couple of boxes of Kleenex brought me to $19.90. I explained that there was nothing else I need, so he sold me a caramel for a dime. My total, with tax came to $20.25. I happened to have a quarter in my pocket, so I handed over the silver beast, grabbed my three bags of groceries, and I returned home, successfully staying within budget for the day.
Five Dollar January days provides some unique opportunities. I always use up the gift cards I’ve acquired throughout the year, particularly from the Christmas holidays. Because I focused on the budget so much when planning the milk run, I remembered the CVS coupon, which would have expired the next day had I not used it. When I arrived home to put the groceries away, I found my receipt. Apparently the vitamin purchase gave me an additional $3.00 coupon that I can use before the month is out. Hello next gallon of milk!
When our friend Gaelen invented the Five Dollar Days of January, she considered some important rules and regulations. Philosophically, the practice is to have a Lenten effect where you take stock of what you do have by not buying unnecessary items. You spend less time going out, more time cozied up with your loved ones, pay more attention to your home, your relationship, your quiet time. For us, it has worked very well in this regard. We do spend more time cooking dinners together, walking the dogs instead of heading to happy hour, going to the gym instead of to dinner, and talking instead of spending.
Pragmatically, the system works like this: You get $5 per day, which you can stockpile for any number of days and go to the movies on a Saturday night if you like. The tight budget is restricted to your disposable income buys. We do not include the mortgage or car payments, utilities, gas for essentials such as going to work or errand running, and medical needs, but we do count the costs against groceries. Some other friends who have tried the project do not count groceries, but we are not raising kids, so we add groceries. We prefer to do so because January is a great chance to eat from the freezer, do some baking instead of buying, get creative with certain ingredients we have acquired (Why do we have three boxes of tapioca?).
As January 1 came to a close, I prepared a stock pot full of black eyed pea stew, which some friends were coming by to help eat and ring in the New Year. I was supposed to meet them to walk the mall for a few hours during the afternoon, but I cancelled, partly because I did not want the temptation of a fortieth pair of shoes or a twentieth pair of cufflinks. Also, I was not feeling my best. Still shaking a cold from earlier in the week and a little limpy due to a strange pimple on the back of my calf, I decided to cancel the plans and wait until they come by the house at dinner time. One of the friends, Kevin, is a nurse, and after I tell him about the cold, the strange pimple, the low grade fever from this morning, he encouraged me to go to the ER to see if a staph infection developed. After they departed (leaving an extra pound of field greens in the fridge (Hello savings!)), Jeff and I headed over to the hospital. Staph was definitely the issue (The Triad Nurse logged it as "staff infection," which sounds like a job hazzard), so we had a little gross procedure done, filled a prescription for the requisite anti-biotic, which costed us $112.83. This expense, as great as it seems, did not count against our $5 budget, since it was medical. Additionally, the flex spending will reimburse us the cost of the bills, so we really are not spending anything. Jeff spent most of the day at work, so he had no reason to spend any money. Technically, we have only spent a quarter today.
To make the practice easier to understand, I provided a table of typical expenses we incur during any given month. You can decide for yourself if you can pull in your spending and meet these restrictions.
Exceptions to the $5 Rule
Mortgage
Utility, Cell Phone Bills
Car Payments
Medical Needs
Gym Membership
Home Cleaning Service
Landscape Service
Gas for Essentials
Dry Cleaning
Boat Maintenance and Storage
Car Repair and Maintenance
Pet Food and Medical
Anything you Buy with a Gift Card (that was a gift)
Restrictions
Dining Out
Entertainment (movies, theatre, happy hour)
Groceries
Gas for Unnecessary Trips
Car Washes
Shopping without Using Gift Cards
Downloads or Online Shopping
Starbucks
Most people would probably look at these lists and think they could easily manage not purchasing most of the items on the latter list for at least a month. “Oh yeah, I can do without Starbucks for a month” until you realize you are enjoying a walk with a friend who decides you both need grande lattes at $4 each, money that comes right off the top of the essentials, like groceries.
A new year. A new decade. A new budget.
My partner and I use January as a time of reflection and a time to pull in those financial boot straps after a month of holiday parties, hostess gifts, gifting, and dinners out. With credit card bills coming in and tax season drawing near, my partner and I take the month to hyper monitor spending and recreate lent for the marginally religious. We call it the Five Dollar Days of January.
The practice started about eight years ago when a dear friend of ours invented this idea. The rules are fairly simple, or at least they used to be fairly simple, and we have amended those rules since. We get to spend up to $5.00 per day from January 1 through January 31. Therefore, rather than having ungodly credit card bills on top of the Christmas bills, we’ve only spent $150 each for the month, and we (ostensibly) have more money to pay off bills than continue to let statements drag for months with their maniacal interest rates festering like abscesses on our checking accounts.
Today, I took inventory of the pantry, fridge, both freezers, and the baking cabinet. With lots to work with as the month unfolds, I foresaw a good emptying of the vessel coming our way. Then, I realized we had almost no milk. As it was the first day, I hit the Internet to find the cheapest gallon of skim to keep the budget nice and tight. The best value would be at Newflower Market: 2.29 a gallon. Ironically, I received the Review of the Day on www.yelp.com for my review of this very store. I wondered if I were to print out my review and the Review of the Day and show it to the store manager, would he give me my milk for free? It was worth a try.
As I started the car, a sudden concern overwhelmed me. If I bought this milk, I was technically spending unnecessary money on gas, since I would make one special trip for the milk. Then a miracle occured. I recalled that I bought about $100 worth of iTunes gift cards at CVS for my nieces and nephews for Christmas, which garnered me a $20 coupon for my next purchase. I headed over to the CVS, since they sell milk, and I asked the cashier if I was correct.
“Does this coupon actually mean that I have $20 of free slot play at the CVS?”
Mission confirmed, I picked up the milk and the vitamins I was going to do without once my correct supply ran out. I was really ahead of the game. Upon check out, the cashier informed me that I have to spend the whole $20 in order for the coupon to work, and I was at about $17. A couple of boxes of Kleenex brought me to $19.90. I explained that there was nothing else I need, so he sold me a caramel for a dime. My total, with tax came to $20.25. I happened to have a quarter in my pocket, so I handed over the silver beast, grabbed my three bags of groceries, and I returned home, successfully staying within budget for the day.
Five Dollar January days provides some unique opportunities. I always use up the gift cards I’ve acquired throughout the year, particularly from the Christmas holidays. Because I focused on the budget so much when planning the milk run, I remembered the CVS coupon, which would have expired the next day had I not used it. When I arrived home to put the groceries away, I found my receipt. Apparently the vitamin purchase gave me an additional $3.00 coupon that I can use before the month is out. Hello next gallon of milk!
When our friend Gaelen invented the Five Dollar Days of January, she considered some important rules and regulations. Philosophically, the practice is to have a Lenten effect where you take stock of what you do have by not buying unnecessary items. You spend less time going out, more time cozied up with your loved ones, pay more attention to your home, your relationship, your quiet time. For us, it has worked very well in this regard. We do spend more time cooking dinners together, walking the dogs instead of heading to happy hour, going to the gym instead of to dinner, and talking instead of spending.
Pragmatically, the system works like this: You get $5 per day, which you can stockpile for any number of days and go to the movies on a Saturday night if you like. The tight budget is restricted to your disposable income buys. We do not include the mortgage or car payments, utilities, gas for essentials such as going to work or errand running, and medical needs, but we do count the costs against groceries. Some other friends who have tried the project do not count groceries, but we are not raising kids, so we add groceries. We prefer to do so because January is a great chance to eat from the freezer, do some baking instead of buying, get creative with certain ingredients we have acquired (Why do we have three boxes of tapioca?).
As January 1 came to a close, I prepared a stock pot full of black eyed pea stew, which some friends were coming by to help eat and ring in the New Year. I was supposed to meet them to walk the mall for a few hours during the afternoon, but I cancelled, partly because I did not want the temptation of a fortieth pair of shoes or a twentieth pair of cufflinks. Also, I was not feeling my best. Still shaking a cold from earlier in the week and a little limpy due to a strange pimple on the back of my calf, I decided to cancel the plans and wait until they come by the house at dinner time. One of the friends, Kevin, is a nurse, and after I tell him about the cold, the strange pimple, the low grade fever from this morning, he encouraged me to go to the ER to see if a staph infection developed. After they departed (leaving an extra pound of field greens in the fridge (Hello savings!)), Jeff and I headed over to the hospital. Staph was definitely the issue (The Triad Nurse logged it as "staff infection," which sounds like a job hazzard), so we had a little gross procedure done, filled a prescription for the requisite anti-biotic, which costed us $112.83. This expense, as great as it seems, did not count against our $5 budget, since it was medical. Additionally, the flex spending will reimburse us the cost of the bills, so we really are not spending anything. Jeff spent most of the day at work, so he had no reason to spend any money. Technically, we have only spent a quarter today.
To make the practice easier to understand, I provided a table of typical expenses we incur during any given month. You can decide for yourself if you can pull in your spending and meet these restrictions.
Exceptions to the $5 Rule
Mortgage
Utility, Cell Phone Bills
Car Payments
Medical Needs
Gym Membership
Home Cleaning Service
Landscape Service
Gas for Essentials
Dry Cleaning
Boat Maintenance and Storage
Car Repair and Maintenance
Pet Food and Medical
Anything you Buy with a Gift Card (that was a gift)
Restrictions
Dining Out
Entertainment (movies, theatre, happy hour)
Groceries
Gas for Unnecessary Trips
Car Washes
Shopping without Using Gift Cards
Downloads or Online Shopping
Starbucks
Most people would probably look at these lists and think they could easily manage not purchasing most of the items on the latter list for at least a month. “Oh yeah, I can do without Starbucks for a month” until you realize you are enjoying a walk with a friend who decides you both need grande lattes at $4 each, money that comes right off the top of the essentials, like groceries.
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