Our ISP has me so enraged right now, it's not even funny. Our service has been up and down (mainly down) for four days. They're making some kind of changes and it's really creating havoc with the customers. They might give us a day or two credit on the next bill but they might not. This is wireless and costs us $92 a month (that cost is split with my son who lives here) and you'd think for that much money, it would be reliable! But nooooo... we don't get cable here, ISDN is close to $300 a month and dial up doesn't work well at all since so wireless is about our only choice and there's only one company that provides right where we are. So we suck it up and just gripe.

This morning we had to run errands and rather than eat Chinese at our favorite joint we came home and had leftover fried chicken. I'd rather have had Chinese but that would cost about $14 with the tip for both of us so we used our heads and just ate at home.

One of the errands we had to run was getting DH's metformin. He's diabetic, too, but met seems to work well for him, or sort of well. At any rate, we picked it up at Wal-mart-$8.00 for two months of medication. Not bad!

I've been approved for both the Lantus and Novolog Patient Assistance Programs and I should get both insulins some time next week. The cost to me? Nada, zip, zilch, zero.

Thank Yah for His goodness!

Gloom, despair, and agony on me!!!

I got Dave Ramsey's TMMO book in the mail today (free from someone who read it and passed it on to me) and read chapters 1 through 8. I'm not sure if I should feel some hope or if despair is called for.

I feel somewhat hopeful because his plan, while obviously not easy, appears to work. And (this is a biggie!) we don't have $85,000 in debt like so many people who sing Dave's praises. We only have about $16,000 in debt, not including the mortgage. However, we also don't make $120,000 a year! We've taken a loss the last two or three years so I can't say we really make anything at all. As Dave puts it, we don't have a business - we have an expensive hobby. And there's the crux of it all. Sure, we spend money on things we shouldn't at times but the reality is that we don't make enough money to cover our basic expenses. Last year our income taxes showed our $11,000 loss. So no matter how much budgeting we do we're still in danger.

After I read the book, my man person asked what I'd learned. I told him "Not a lot" as I'd listened to so many of Dave's archived radio shows and read so much online that the book was really a refresher more than anything but that I did learn a couple of things. He asked what, of course. I hesitated a bit and finally told him I did learn something I'd suspected. He asked what and I said, "I think it will work for us but to make it work, there would need to be major changes. I mean really major changes and to be honest, I'm not sure we'll make them." There, I said it. I've hinted, alluded, and suggested but tonight I finally flat out said it. He asked me for details. "Our problem isn't just too many expenses. It's also not enough income." He agreed and I told him that the only way out of that is to increase the income.

So, we talked for a few minutes and he told me that he's decided our business isn't working and that he'll just go get a job. Whoa! He hasn't had a "job" in the 13 years I've known him. He's been self-employed in one fashion or another and nothing has made him get a job, no matter how desperate we were.

I haven't the foggiest how this will pan out. I don't think he'll actually get a job. Why? Because I've told him more than once (and more than 10 times) that a job paying him $300 a week would be better and give me more security than a business that might or might not provide $2000 a month. I've tried to explain that if I knew we had $300 a week coming in, I could deal with that one way or another but not knowing from one day to the next or one month to the next what money there will be leads to insecurity for me. In all the time I've told him this he's never understood.

At any rate, I told him I'd get a job and he said no, we can't do that. I'm not sure what he meant by that but that's what he said. Since we only have one vehicle and he uses it during the day, I've told him before that I'll work nights but he won't hear of it because the only night jobs around here are at convenience stores and that's just too dangerous for me. That's nice and I would worry, too, but we're desperate. And have been for awhile! So I don't mind getting a night job if that's what I need to do.

So I'm wondering..what if I worked days and he worked nights? That would be hard but it could be done. Many couples have done that. He wouldn't like it nor would I but it's something to consider.

Anyway, I'm just rambling. Trying to figure out where we're headed, if we'll ever dig ourselves out of this mess, and just how we're going to do things. There might be light at the end of the tunnel, though. At least he listened to me and he said he'll read the book. And he's admitting that the business isn't working out and he needs to get a job.

That's progress. I think.

The last few days have been deeply weird in my neck of the woods. The weather has been so cold and the weather geeks have predicted ice and sleet and snow for three days but we got rain and a lot of it. We finally got a tad of sleet this morning but that's it. I'm ready for it to be over so I can hang clothes on the clothes line again and so I don't have to wear longjohns under my clothes and so our internet connection and phone actually work well again. I'm not the snow bunny type, obviously. I'm not a sun worshipper, either. I don't mind cold weather but a few days is good.

The eatin's been cheap around here. We've had leftovers then leftovers turned into something else then those leftovers turned into yet another thing. Tonight it's goulash, though, made with some ground turkey and served with salad, green beans, and garlic toast. Yummy!

Ugh, DH needed cash a couple of times during the week and all I had was the $22 and some change I had in my $20 challenge. I gave it to him, though, so now I have $0.00. However, I might have saved us money giving him that rather than the debit card so I can't complain too much.

I'll start over with my challenge next week..after I have my temper tantrum and finish beating myself up!

Here's our menu for the next week. Nothing exciting or even interesting but it's all good, thrifty, filling, and nutritious.

Chicken burritos in low carb wraps with leftover chili either eaten on the side or topping the burrito (chicken is from the 5 lbs of it I cooked), served with tossed salad

Eggs, turkey bacon or turkey sausage, and toast

Chicken salad sandwiches/wraps from lettuce (chicken from the 5 lbs I cooked)

Cowboy stew made with ground turkey and homemade dinner rolls

Swiss steak, salad, green beans, and garlic toast

Jambalaya and salad

Beans cooked with a smoked turkey leg bought on sale and homemade cornbread. I'll make plenty of cornbread with this and will use it a few days later to make cornbread dressing to have with chicken or to stuff a hen or some such thing

Well, we spent more than we wanted to but hey, things happen! One thing we had to buy was a toner cartridge for one of the smaller printers we use. We had to have it pronto so we bought it at Circuit City, the only place that had it, for about $81.18. Ouch! We also bought groceries at Sav-A-Lot and spent $86.27 but that will last us through the rest of the month except for milk, eggs, and a little fresh produce. Then we had to pay the cell phone bill (it's behind and was about to cut off) and that was $63. We're going back to Tracfone, though, as that's a lot cheaper for us and we don't have to worry about a bill.

We're now about $500 away from the $1200 we need by the 28th. The water bill is due before that and the electric bill is due right after that so even if we get to the $1200 we still need another $250 or so. Arggh, it never ends! But there's light at the end of the tunnel. We think.

I've been on a de-cluttering kick for awhile. It's slow going as we have a lot of stuff accumulated and my other half isn't into getting rid of stuff. In fact, he's into getting stuff - hence, all the stuff we have! He's one of those who sees some broken item somewhere, thinks he might be able to repair it and perhaps sell or use it so he throws it in the back of his truck and brings it home.

More often than not, he rarely touches it after that, although he might move it once or twice. It generally is just in the way though causing me to mutter under my breath and even lose my temper now and then.

Our front porch was littered with this stuff until recently when I went on a cleaning binge. Now it's fairly clean but in the three weeks since we cleaned it off, he's managed to put on it a broken ice maker, a broken freezer, several pieces of plywood and I don't know what else.

Lord knows I love him and I even love his ingenuity and creativity! But..I don't love the accumulation of stuff. I'm slowly trying to weed through it all but it's taking years. Literally.

Discardia is a site I read. I imagine most of you know about it but for those who don't, check it out. It's pretty interesting reading and I've gotten some different perspectives on some things there.

I just made a big wok full of chili. DH and I make different kinds of chili. He isn't wild about mine and I'm not wild about his but we each eat the other's without complaint. The chili was very good since it's so wet and cold out. There's ice predicted for late tomorrow and Monday. Brrr!

I have 5 lbs of cooked chicken to de-bone for the coming week and the leftover chili (if there is any left over) will be used for topping baked potatoes or maybe just mixed into a stew or soup.

I think tonight's supper will be chicken burritos made with low carb tortillas. That should be good in this cold weather and they can be topped with some of the chili, too! Yummm!

Could someone please explain to me, in layman terms, what Emigrant and ING are? I've read references to them and did some searching but my brain just isn't comprehending what these two things are.

I certainly don't have money to save right now but hope to in the future and maybe one or both of those will be options for me.

Tonight we had chicken cornbread dressing with sliced carrots and green beans. Of course, with the dressing we had to have gravy! This meal wasn't at all low carb so I only ate a little bit. It was quite good, though.

I have to say my family loves cornbread dressing with chicken in it and it's a great way to use leftover poultry. I used a bit of the leftover Sticky Chicken and whipped up some homemade turkey sausage, browned that, and added it to the whole mess. My man person said the dressing was "excellent". Coming from him that's something!

There's enough left for the man person and I to have it for lunch tomorrow. There's even enough Sticky Chicken to make one more dish.

Wow, I stretched that chicken til it screamed for mercy!

I agree with TinaPBeana's opinion of spinach. It really is the almost perfect vegetable. It's high in fiber which makes it an excellent choice for diabetics and anyone else who wants more fiber in their diet. It's versatile too and so much can be done with it!

Here's my favorite way to eat frozen spinach.

Thaw some frozen spinach and squeeze the excess water out. In a skillet, heat a little olive oil, maybe a teaspoon or so. To that add some chopped garlic, a bit of chopped onion, and a handful of sliced mushrooms. When the mushrooms are tender, add the spinach and mix it all well. Let it simmer on low til the spinach is heated through then turn off the flame, add a bit of salt and pepper if you like and add some grated Parmesan or three cheese blend. Put it on your plate and eat!

That's all there is to it. It's very tasty, healthy, and frugal, especially if all the ingredients were purchased on sale.

***And I didn't know we were doing this poetically or I'd have attempted to do so***

Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables. My other half enjoys it, too, and we eat it often. My 22 year old will only eat it if it's raw or very lightly stir-fried and none of DH's kids like it at all. Regardless, it's a truly under-appreciated vegetable and when bought on sale, a very frugal food choice.

Not only that, cabbage is good for you! This lowly member of the brassica family has been found through research to help prevent cancer of the stomach, breast, and colon. Drinking cabbage juice is a help for peptic ulcers. Years ago I had horrible ulcers and drinking cabbage juice and taking red pepper capsules controlled the pain of them.

Our favorite way to eat it is baked. There are many ways to bake it but here's how we do it:

In a good sized baking pan, heat a tablespoon or so of butter or margarine (we use Smart Balance) and some olive oil (about 1/8 of a cup). Quarter the cabbage and when the pan contents are hot, add the cabbage. Flip it around some so that all sides get well coated. Season as you like, cover, and bake at about 350 until the cabbage is tender. We season with garlic pepper seasoning salt and a bit of basil and chopped garlic and cook it about 30 minutes or so. Sometimes I use the same concept but cook it in a skillet. Either way it's a great way to round out a skimpy meal.

Cabbage is also wonderful as a filler in soups, stews, and other budget dishes. There's a local taco shop that uses shredded cabbage rather than lettuce. The first time I had one of their tacos I wasn't sure I liked it. There was a soft tortilla rather than a hard shell, cabbage rather than lettuce, diced steak rather than ground beef, not a lot of chili type seasoning and a lot of cilantro! The taste grew on me, though, and it's now one of my favorite places for a quick and cheap (3/$1) taco. If you're pretty adventurous in the kitchen try making tacos with shredded cabbage. You might like 'em!

I love cole slaw, too, but rather than the kind with the creamy dressing, I make a dressing with vinegar, olive oil, and spices. I just slice the cabbage very thinly, put it in a large bowl and add some shredded carrot, a little green bell pepper, green onion, and chopped garlic. In a small bowl I mix some olive oil, a little apple cider vinegar, a dash of sweetener and some salt and pepper. I blend that well and pour it over the vegetables. Then I just toss it well, cover and let it sit in the refrigerator awhile. It's tasty, refreshing, and very inexpensive.

If you haven't taken advantage of cabbage, put it to use in your meals. And if you have a garden and haven't grown it, plant a few! They're not hard to grow and they're so tasty!

DH put gumbo makins in the crock pot this morning. Now, I'm not a fan of file so gumbo isn't something I eat. He and the guys will have that tonight with rice and I'll more than likely have breakfast; scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and a piece of wheat toast. That works for me, specially on a cold night.

Tonight's YOYO (You're On Your Own) night. We have leftover sticky chicken, leftover chicken enchilada casserole from last night, and sandwich stuff and everyone can eat what they want. I'll cook again tomorrow night and it will probably be beef tips and rice but I'm not sure yet.

Last night's dinner was very good. We had crock pot chicken enchilada casserole.

To make it I used 4 tortillas and a mixture of homemade cream of whatever soups, some canned chiles, a can of ranch style beans, chili powder, garlic, and cumin, and leftover sticky chicken. I just alternated tortillas and the soup/chicken mixture in the crock pot, topped it with cheese and let it cook on low for about 5 hours. The horde loved it and there was a little bit left but not much. Next time I'll serve it with tortilla chips and I think that will be great. I think it would be great with chopped green onion on it, too, and maybe dollops of sour cream!

I knew today was the birthdate of Elvis and I knew it was National Bubble Bath Day but no one told me it was also National English Toffee Day! Arrgh, and to think I missed it. It's almost 9 PM here, too late to go out for dinner or call friends and have them come over for some sweet toffee. Drats!

Well, I guess I'll just put on some Elvis music and read the back of my milk carton while I take a nice long bubble bath...

The
inventor of instant noodles has passed away. Before I found out I'm diabetic, I ate ramen noodles occasionally. It's unfortunate that Momofuku Ando has passed away but he had a very long life and has left behind quite a legacy that's near and dear to the hearts of many people who've embraced frugality.

I'm not much on breakfast. It isn't that I don't like to eat breakfast foods so much as I have a difficult time eating before 11 or so in the morning. And considering that I'm diabetic and really NEED to eat within a few minutes of waking, I'm always on the search for food I can eat early in the morning.

This is a tasty breakfast a fellow diabetic told me about. Thanks, Jim! You don't have to be diabetic to enjoy it, though. Make some ahead of time and store them in the fridge for a quick and thrifty breakfast. We buy eggs when they're on sale and buy a lot of them. We also buy ground turkey for .79 to .99 a lb and make our own breakfast sausage.

Preheat oven to 350F. Decide what kind of meat you want to use. I've used homemade turkey sausage in mine and it works well but you can use whatever meat you prefer. If you use sausage or bacon, you'll need to par-bake the meat for about 10 minutes. I just make the sausage and press some into the bottom of each of 6 muffin tins. Pop it into the 350 oven, let it cook about 10 minutes, then remove the tin and drain any grease. You can also use bacon and wind it around the side of the muffin tin cups. Again, if you use bacon you need to par-bake it. So, just press the meat into the bottom of the muffin tin cup, par-bake if needed then crack an egg onto the top of each piece of meat. Bake it until the egg is cooked to desired doneness.

I over baked the first batch and although they tasted good, the yolk made this weird plastic looking bubble on top. I just popped the bubble and used scissors to cut it off. So, don't over bake them. When they're done, remove them, blot off any excess grease, and store them in the fridge for a quick breakfast.

Cheese, salsa, and green onions are all great additions to this, by the way.

I decided to use Mbkonef's idea of trying one new frugal or money saving thing a day. Not sure what I'll try tomorrow but I'll come up with something good. Hmmmm, things to ponder.

We didn't spend much today though we did go to the grocery store for milk, bread, and a few other essentials. We spent $12.11 so that wasn't too bad.

Tomorrow will be a busy day, I think. The other half should be out making sales calls and I'm going to see if I can do some work online. I'm also going to vacuum the carpet and finish laundry.

This is another of our favorites from More-With-Less. I generally use turnips rather than potatoes because they're easier on our blood sugar but cauliflower, cut up in chunks, works well for the potatoes, too. When my kids were younger, I'd add carrots and peas to this, also. They ate it all!

Meat, Cheese & Potato Scallop

Make a cheese sauce with

2 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup milk (powdered milk works well)
3/4 cup cheese (I use 4 to 6 oz cheddar)

Combine in a greased casserole:

1 medium onion, sliced
4 medium potatoes, sliced
2 1/2 cups canned lunch meat or leftover ham, diced (I use turkey ham)

Pour cheese sauce over meat and potatoes mixture. Cover and bake at 300 for 1 hour. Remove cover and bake 15 more minutes.

Another great and versatile More-With-Less recipe. I've used this one for about 15 years and it's one of our favorites for using up cooked chicken. Make extra and use the leftovers for chicken pot pie, chicken a la king, chicken soup, served over dressing, etc.

Heat in skillet or saucepan, 1/4 c margarine or butter or chicken broth.
Add and saute just until soft:
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
Add, stir, and cook until bubbly:
1/4 c flour
Add:
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk (I use powdered)
salt and pepper to taste
Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and smooth.
Add:
2 to 3 cups cooked diced chicken
1 Tbsp parsley
Heat through and serve over rice, noodles, potatoes, etc.

This is another recipe from the More-With-Less Cookbook and is one I really like a lot. For carb purposes, I cut the bread crumbs in half.

Combine and mix well:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I use .79 a lb turkey)
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs or crushed crackers
1/2 cup water
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Pat out about 3/4 inch thick on cookie sheet. Refrigerate overnight. Cut into pieces, dip in flour, and brown in small amount of hot fat.
Preheat oven to 300. Lay pieces in baking dish or roaster and pour over:
1 to 2 cups mushroom or tomato sauce
Bake 1 1/2 hours.

We met our salesman this morning and he gave us checks totaling $605. That's great news! Even after his commission (which we haven't paid yet) there's $393.25. But when we went to leave, the truck wouldn't start. $90 later it started. Now we're down to $303.25 but hey, I'm grateful we had the money to deal with it! And now we find out we have to replace two rollers on the copier. We can't print anything until we replace those. That's a little over $200 and will leave us with about $80 of that $605.

At any rate, we'll get there. We only need $1200 (give or take) in the next 22 days. Arggghhh!

I'm roasting two hens for Sticky Chicken and potatoes, carrots, and onion are being roasted with them. I'm making the Buttery Breadsticks I was going to make before and didn't. One of the hens will be eaten tonight and anything left (ha! they eat Sticky Chicken like most people eat steak) will be de-boned and put in the fridge with the other hen for later use.

I think I'll use some of those leftovers in a day or so for chicken fajitas. Yum!

I know I am not the only person in a serious money crunch. In my stack of printed recipes and frugal meals I have a wonderful article written by Dee Ann Guzman.

Meals for hard times explains how to feed your family on $30 or even $20. I've used her plan a few times and it's really gotten us through some rough spots. Maybe it will help someone here, too.

So my other half is finally really on board with getting out of debt. In light of that, he actually got his credit report. He had more debt than he thought. He made a spreadsheet and we entered items from both our CRs into it. The total amount of debt on the CRs, not including our home mortgage, is $14,202. There are probably a few things we've forgotten that aren't on the CRs but that's what we're aware of right now.

Some of it has been charged off, some accounts are closed or in collections and I'm not sure yet how to deal with those. I'm afraid of "waking the sleeping giant" so to speak by paying them so I'm not sure how to go about this. I also don't even know if it's wise to pay something that's been charged off and is due to roll off the CR in a year or so.

But there we have it, the debt according to the CRs. (she says as she heaves a sigh of relief at just knowing the number)

I got this recipe from hillbillyhousewife.com and they're so easy and so tasty! We like them with parmesan cheese sprinkled on them.

1/2 cup margarine (I use less)
2 cups flour (whole wheat works well)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk (approximately)

Place the margarine in a 9 by 13 rectangular pan. Put this into the oven at 425° and melt the margarine. When margarine is melted, remove the pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a fork to stir, gradually mix in the milk. You might need a bit more milk. Stir the dough until it forms a soft ball. Coat the ball with flour if it seems sticky. Pat or roll the dough out on top of waxed paper. You should make a roughly rectangular shape which will fit into the hot pan.

Gently place the large sheet of dough into the pan, on top of the hot margarine. Use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut the dough into thin strips. The margarine will ooze up between the sticks. If desired, you may sprinkle the bread sticks with parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, etc. at this time or you can put the seasoning into the butter before adding the dough.

Bake the bread sticks at 425° for about 15 to 20 minutes. They will bake up golden brown, crunchy on the outside and soft in the center.

Cinnamon Dips: Combine 1/4-cup of sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle this liberally about the bread sticks right before baking. This makes a very nice and quick treat for the kids right after school.

We needed a few things from the store today so we went to the local grocer and dollar store. We spent $ 12.87 at the grocer and $1.08 at the dollar store. We also deposited a little over $71 in the bank.

Our salesman just called to say he had sold 8 ads and we're going to meet him in the morning to get the paperwork and money. I don't know the total dollar figure for those ads but will find out in the morning.

DH is on board! Yippeee! I'm not sure yet just how on board he is but he's almost fired up and I'm thrilled! He even listened to several hours of Dave Ramsey's archives with me. Yes, indeed, things might be looking up!

I got a nice sized sample of a Purina dog food yesterday and DH fed it to Wee, our 8 year old chow/shepherd mix and he loved it!

I really like getting freebies in the mail and am always on the lookout for more.