Today's cheap lunch

Pepper jack cheese stick $.33
Cheese and onion roll .59

Small Banana .29


Total $1.21 plus tax

I feel better now.

Exercise

It's easy to get caught up in an exercise craze. If you watch TV at all, you are bombarded with exercise equipment, beautiful people that have used the exercise equipment to become beautiful.
Why spend all that time and money? Why buy the equipment, the clothes, buy into the belief that you need all of these things to be healthy.
I'll share my motivation with you. I always get bored with an exercise program eventually. Seems you are just doing the same thing all the time. Yet, I walk nearly every day. My secret? I have a purpose to the walk. I walk across town to meet my carpool ride to work. I have to get there, so there is a purpose to the walk. It makes me feel good in the early morning and I'm getting exercise.
So have a purpose to your exercise. I've even read of people that knit while riding an exercise bike. That way is killing two birds with one stone. Exercise AND knitting progress.
What could be better? And cheaper!

Quick snack

Sometimes my boys want a quick snack and I've started making a list of things I've come across that are quick and cheap and good. That way if they want something, I have a list of ideas.
One of their favorites is cinnamon toast. I just toast whatever bread we happen to have, then butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Lately I've had red sprinkles to put on top as well. It's a hit!

Entertainment

In my hurried and stressed out life, I give myself a lot of opportunities to rest and relax and meditate. I know there is no reason I have to spend money to have fun. I know there is no reason I have to spend money to relax and rejuvenate myself. So why don't I?
Today I was sitting outside, eating my very cheap lunch ($1) and I started noticing the leaves on the trees, how they were moving in the breeze, and it occurred to me that I don't do that very often. I sit out there at least 3 times a week and I don't take the time to notice much of anything. It can be a joy just to observe nature and people. A time to meditate and relax and get my inner chaos in order.
Stop and smell the roses!

Potato recipe

Here's a little recipe I made up a few years ago. Someone had given me instant mashed potatoes. I know, yuck. So I developed this to make them more edible and they turned out really good. I was impressed with myself.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make four servings of the instant mashed potatoes according to the recipe. Stir in 3 eggs. Then add a few spices you have on hand. Salt, pepper, garlic, oregano. Any thing like that but not too much. Grease a cookie sheet and then put large spoonfuls of the mixture on the sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Remove and serve immediately.
Easy, cheap and tasty.

Katie

New to you clothing

It's morning, you've just gotten out of the shower and you head to the closet for something to wear. Then you sigh deeply, nothing new since yesterday. You know deep in your eco-heart(and moneyless heart) that it's better for the environment and better for your pocketbook (do people use that term still?) to wear your clothes until they wear out. But deep in your fashion-conscious and new-wanting ego you want new clothes once in awhile. Going to the thrift store to find a few things can satisfy this temporarily. You can find some really good quality clothes there if you are willing to look but have you thought of this?
Remember in the old days (mine anyway), people used to hand down clothing. Sometimes it wasn't a good thing, I remember getting clothes from my cousins in California and they had this odd smell. But you can make it a good thing. You don't have to beg, you don't have to go around asking people for their clothes, just a comment now and then, saying "Look at this great blouse I got! So-and-so was cleaning out her closet and gave it to me!" That way you are indicating to other people that you'd be willing to accept their clothing they don't want anymore. It may take a few months but suddenly someone will be saying "Hey, I have some nice pants I need to give away because my closet is stuffed, would you like them?" Even if something doesn't fit/look quite right, if it's good quality, you can work with it. Look to websites like Wardrobe Refashion for inspiration and good ideas.

A Good Lunch

Do you want a good lunch? Are you tired of bringing leftovers from home? But eating out is too expensive? Learn the cheap, but good lunch.
If you have a decent grocery store nearby it's easy.

Store brand box of crackers on sale $1.50
Avocado on sale $1.50
Bring your own water $0.00
Total $3.00

The crackers are a bonus because they can last 3 days.

Bagel $.55
Yogurt on sale $.50
Total $1.05

You get the idea. One piece of fruit with a bagel. Just hunt for combinations that you wouldn't otherwise think of. Look for things on sale and base a meal around that.
Be creative!

Any questions or comments, let me know!
Thanks

A quickie

You know those catalogs you get in the mail. The ones that you get because you ordered something 2 years ago? Instead of browsing through them, toss them immediately. Then you won't even be tempted to spend money. It's doubtful there is anything you really need in there. Go one step further and write them to get off the mailing list. You save your time, your money and paper.
Go to it!

Grocery Shopping

You see a lot of tips on how to save money shopping but here are mine.
1. Make a list before you go. Then you don't forget anything and you aren't as tempted by things you don't need.
2. Always check the per unit price. Usually a bigger size is a better per unit price, but not always. I have found things on sale where 2 of the smaller size was cheaper than 1 of the big size.
3. Just buy what you need. Don't be tempted by the 10 items/$10 kind of pricing. It encourages you to buy a lot of something whether you need it for not. Just buy the 2 items for $2 if that is all you need.
4. Buy things in bulk. If you like oatmeal, buy it in bulk. If you buy spices, buy them in bulk. I have glass canning jars that I refill with oregano, basil and garlic powder. Health food stores generally have spices in bulk and they are much cheaper. For oatmeal, I bought the container once and now I refill it with oatmeal that costs $.89 an ounce. And the oatmeal tastes better too.
5. Buy the brand that is on sale. Unless you know for sure that the cheaper brand is no good, you can save a lot of money on store brands.
6. Don't go grocery shopping when you are hungry. You will end up picking up a lot of things that look good but that you don't really need.
7. Do plan to buy just one goodie for yourself. That way you don't feel like you are being mean to yourself. Sometimes my goodie is V8 juice, so it doesn't have to be something sweet.
8. Buy vegetables. They are good for you and generally cheaper than prepackaged, premade things.
9. Steer away from prepackaged meals. Some seem cheap if on sale but really, you only get one meal out of each one so they really aren't that cheap.

If you take just a little extra time, you can save yourself a bunch of money.
Let me know if you have any comments or other ideas!

A great blog to read

Zen Habits

I've been reading this for a few weeks and it gives a lot of great ideas. As always, you don't have to do everything he suggests, you can pick and choose what works for you.

The death of cooking.

Do you know how to cook? I mean really know how. I'm not talking just heating up frozen dinners or chicken nuggets. I'm not talking about buying cinnamon rolls in a can and putting them in the oven. Real cooking is going the way of many other skills. We watch and listen to singers and decide that we could never sing because we can't sing as well as they do. We watch New Yankee Workshop and decide we could never make anything as beautiful as Norm Abram can make it. Skills like this have become relegated to the realm of professionals. Therefore we are required to just buy things ready made. Food has become the same way. With people like Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray and Mario Batali out there, we can't make food like they do so we shouldn't even try. Just buy it ready made and you are good.
I say, let's take back the skills. We hear that homemade food is better and cheaper and that is true. But who has the time and skills to do this? Everyone does. Living cheaply means that a few skills need to be learned or relearned. The trick is not to change everything you do all at once. Decide this week that you want to cook one thing from scratch. Plan ahead of time what you want to make and what you need. Using recipes from these shows is fine. Inspiration is always a good thing. At first you may not have many of the ingredients called for but as you do this more and more, suddenly you will have on hand many of the basic things you need for good cooking.
Just take one small step at a time. In the future I'll be giving you a few basic recipes I have used over and over. I use them because they are fast, and good, and versatile.


Let me know any comments, ideas and questions you have about my posts.
Thanks!

Basic Things

I'm starting this blog with an eye to give people cheap living tips. I did a little internet research to see if there was anything out there resembling what I want to do but I didn't find a whole lot. One cheap living blog just wanted to sell you cheap junk, one was just grand philosophical statements that really didn't tell you anything.
My idea is that people would really like some small ideas of things they can try right now to make their lives less expensive and better at the same time. Like you, I've read book after book of simple living ideas and tips and tricks but it all seems a bit overwhelming at time.
With this blog, I hope to give you just a slow trickle of ideas to try. If you like them, you can incorporate them into your lives, if they don't work for you, that's OK too. The whole simple living thing is really about doing what works for you.
Why do I think I'm qualified to do this? Well, things have been tough for me the last few years and so I've had to cut back on so many things I used to spend money on. While there is a difference (big difference) between living simply because you want to and because you have to, I'm sure some of the ideas of things I have done will work for at least some other people.
I welcome any comments or ideas or if you just have a story to share, I want to know.
Thanks for reading and I look forward some good things.
Katie