Today is my first day of training at Starbucks. I'm a little nervous about it but am also kind of excited. I like to learn new things so this will be fun, I hope. But I can't help be nervous about it. So, wish me luck, y'all, and if you pray, say a little prayer for me that I'll do well and like it!

You know, a lot of the blogs here deal with saving and investing and those things are so important. Some of the members are real financial pros in my opinion. I hope to be like Julie (Ima Saver) when I grow up and be able to save money seemingly with each breath and have investments for the future. But I'm not there yet.

It isn't just that I never learned how to save, though that is a factor. It's also that for most of my life I've lived at, just below, or just above the poverty level. I make minimum wage or slightly above and my other half has struggled with several failed businesses. Technically, we're poor. He tells people we're so poor that where we come from it's spelled poooor. He jokes but there's some truth to it.

The 2007 poverty guidelines show this for a family of two:

100% of poverty is an income of 13,690, 120% is 16,428, and 133% is 18,207. For the last few years I've generally been somewhere around these figures, sometimes a little higher. But you get the picture.

It's not easy to live day to day with that kind of income, much less save. Yes it's manageable but it can also be incredibly stressful and wreak havoc in lives.

I'm really working to improve the saving issue and am making headway on it. But it's an uphill battle because, simply put, after bills are paid, food is bought and gas is put in vehicles, there's precious little money to save.

There are things we do, though, that help us not just get by but get a little put back here and there. It's a work of progress, learning to save and the folks here at SA have helped me tremendously. Someday I'll need advice on investing and when I do, I know where I'll look. In the meantime I want to share some suggestions that can help anyone, rich or poor, get by just a little better. So my next entry will be Part 1 of Thrifty Ideas.

My challenge money is up to $30 now. I found some change in the truck and ate two meatless meals today so $30 it is.

I bought my $20 Target GC today and spent almost all of it! I forgot I had pictures being developed there that I needed to pick up. That was almost $8. And I bought three food items before heading home so that was another $8 spent. So now I have about $4 left on it. I didn't think $20 would be enough but I have to try it and see how it works. Of course, the food items and film could have been purchased with cash but I didn't have any on me. I might take what I spent from other areas and put it back on the card since that's supposed to be personal and not household money.

Anyway, I got paid today and it was a pretty decent check. Well, for retail in this area it was. Then DH and I went to Wal-Mart and spent about $75. Between putting gas in the truck and buying groceries, it seems like holding on to money is getting harder and harder!

Oh well, at least his business seems to be slowly growing and I have a job. We're making it!

Here's how I feel about it:

I started my challenge with $20 and yesterday added $4 to it. We both had meatless breakfasts so that was $2, then I didn't get a soft drink or snack while we were out and about so that added $1 and last night at work I did eat something from the grill but it was a meatless pizza so that's another $1. By the way, the pizza was purchased with a gift card I had $3 and some change on so I didn't spend money out of my pocket for that.

So yesterday I added $4 to my $20! Go Denise, go Denise, go go!

Unfortunately, this morning I spilled coffee all over my white work shoes. They're not good for anything but gardening now so I'll have to spend money today or tomorrow for work shoes.

One step forward and two steps back!

I really have good intentions to blog regularly and I do try! But life gets in the way, I get busy, and the blogging slides until I get this wild urge to do it again. I'm sorry I'm such a lousy blogger. Forgive me, please.

So, what's new with me? Well, DH and I are getting counseling and working to save our marriage. That's a wonderful thing! He opened up a business after we split and it's doing well. We pray its successful and I believe it will be.

I got a job at the new Target store here. I really like it (I might be crazy but I LIKE retail!) but am switching to the Starbucks at that same Target on January 6th. The pay is a little better than cashiering and I hope I like it and do well at it. Hey, the coffee is a nice perk, too! Since finding a job was a goal for me, I feel great that I've found one that I like and pays halfway decent. Though I know I won't get rich in retail!

Tonight I've been planning our meals for the next week. Between having a job with irregular hours and the recent and ongoing increases in food prices, meal planning is more important for us than ever so that's something I want to get done. In a separate entry, I'll post our food inventory right now and the meals for the next week.

To Carol in Australia, who reads this blog regularly - would you please email me? I can't find your email address and want to email you.

Today is Blog Action Day and while I'm not the greenest person, I do try to take the environment into consideration when I drive, shop and cook. I do all I can to run errands one day a week, saving gas and the ozone layer, I limit items in disposable packaging and try not to throw out food so there's less waste to deal with. I have a garden when I can and love the produce from it. When I can afford it, I even buy products of environmentally conscious companies. I wish I could do more of that but most of the products are quite a bit a bit more expensive than their non-green counterparts...at least they are here in my part of the world.

In honor of Blog Action Day this morning I did some little things. It was raining pretty good so I didn't get as much done as I wanted but here are a few things I did:

I organized my seeds and containers for Spring. The more vegetables and herbs I grow, the less I buy and that makes sense financially but it also makes sense on a greater level. No, the few tomato plants I'll have won't make a huge dent in things but what if everyone did it? Well, we wouldn't all be driving to the local grocery for tomatoes now, would we? Things that make ya go hmmmm.

I organized the tiny kitchen cupboard that holds containers and lids I use for the refrigerator and freezer. If I can actually find a container and lid I need, I won't use a plastic bag and that bag won't end up in the trash can and eventually in a landfill. Again, it's a little thing but what if we all did that?

I finished taking myself off a ton of postal mail lists I'd been on and changed several subscriptions from postal to email only. This has been a project that's been going on awhile. What a waste paper flyers and circulars are! I even dislike paper magazines. I just throw most of that stuff in the trash and we know what happens from there. Once again it's a little thing but....well, you get the picture.

There are other things I've done this morning and they're all small and seem to not be important. But they're important to me and in a small way, they're important to our planet. And if we all did just a few things a day and continued to learn a few more new things we could do, wow, what a difference we could make!

October 15th is Blog Action Day and even though I'm not nearly as green as I could be or should be, I have a few things planned to commemorate the day.

I'm going to organize my seed containers and seeds, try to organize my cupboard that holds freezer containers and do a few other little things. I'm also going to blog about what I do!

You can read about the event here:

http://blogactionday.org/

Do the rest of you have any plans for the day?

and I really want to go back to school. Working retail and cleaning houses won't get me where I want to be. Well, it might but a college education would probably do more in that arena.

There are a couple of problems, though. I suck at Math. I mean I really do. Years ago, when my kids were young, I went to college for about two years. A good portion of that time was taken up by what I refer to as the "Developmental Math Disaster". I took that class five times and flunked it five times. I finally gave up and went back to being a full time homemaker and mom.

The other problem is that I don't know what I want to do! I really don't. And that's a major problem.

Now, here I am, on my own, with the kids grown. And I finally have time to go back to school. But now I'm terrified. I'll have to take that blasted DM again. Add to that the new required entrance tests and it makes me one nervous nellie.. no, terrified tammy!

Have any of you been through this? If so, what did you do that helped? There must be a solution but I haven't the foggiest what it is.

But according to weather underground (http://www.wunderground.com/) by the end of this month we should be averaging temps in the low 70s. Oh please, please, come a little sooner! I miss Fall! Not that we really have much of one here - it goes from green to brown to dead, basically, but the cooler weather means no need to run the AC and possibly not even the fans and that means a lower electric bill.

Of course, on the tail of that is winter and that means trying to stay warm and a higher electric bill. But hey, it isn't so bad in Texas. We can put off using the heat for quite a while and enjoy those lower bills.

But really, I want Fall.. now, please!

wow, that Cowboys/Bills game was something! That's one of the weirdest and best Cowboys games I've ever seen and I'm surprised I have any finger nails left! I was on the edge of my seat the last quarter and I didn't even bet on the game.

or get the inkling that I might be, I'm going to go back to this website and get a reminder of how rich I really am:

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

According to it, I'm the 708,428,706th richest person in the world. And to think I never knew.

Funny thing is, even though I've been literally destitute in my life, I don't remember ever actually feeling poor. I wonder why...

I got to the house I was to clean at about 11:30 after a very fitful night of not sleeping. The back door wasn't unlocked and there was no key to be found. I called the client and he had someone come let me in. So, I got in and started working. I thought it would take about 3 hours to clean but it took 4 and 1/2 hours. There were messes that I wasn't aware of but I managed it. Pay wise, it works out to a little over $13 an hour. It's hard around here to make that kind of money, especially if you're 'undegreed and uneducated' so I think I did well.

The client just called me and told me he was very pleased with the house and that it smells good. That made me feel nice! "Make it smell good" was his big request for the day so I succeeded!

But I am one tired girl! My back hurts, my feet hurt, and my head hurts. I was hungry when I got home but so tired all I could do was open a can of vegetable beef soup and eat it right from the can, no water and no heating. Now that's pretty tired!

Anyway, I survived and I hope he ends up being a regular or semi-regular client. Of course, if he does, it shouldn't take that long each time. I think I could do it monthly in 3 hours. That would be great!

And the best part is I have 60 more dollars to add to the bill envelope.

Right now I have $17.48 on hand and $15 of that is spoken for. Wooohoooo! I won't get too far on $2.48!

But my bills are paid for this month, other than electricity and storage, neither of which is due yet, I have enough food to last a couple of weeks, and I have a full tank of gas in my car. I also have a house to clean tomorrow and will get $60 for that but it all goes into the bill envelope.

Oh well, I'm set for at least another week and a half to two weeks so all is well. It's just kind of sad to only have $2.48 in my pocket...maybe I need to run a coin rescue like baselle does!

Smelly in a good way, that is. I'm not a crafty person and this as about as crafty I get. This is a simple and inexpensive thing to make for yourself or others. Kids can even do it with supervision.

I make about half this recipe.

Easy Spicy Potpourri

4 oranges
4 lemons
1/2 c whole cloves
1/2 c whole allspice
10 cinnamon sticks, broken
10 bay leaves, crumbled
8 oz decorated jelly jars with bands lids

Using a vegetable peeler, peel fruit carefully, removing only the peel. Cut or tear into pieces about one inch in size.

Spread peels on paper towel lined pan. Place in preheated oven to 175 degrees F., or set oven to WARM. Dry for 1 1/2 hours, tossing now and then. When dried, peels should be leathery and/or slightly crunchy.

Spread the peels on dry paper towels and let air dry for 24 hours.

Combine with the cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and bay leaves.

Fill jars with the mixture and place lids on. Screw bands on tightly.

Yield: 3 or 4 half pint jars

To use: Remove lid and leave band on for decoration to fragrance a room. Or put one Tbsp into a jar and fill jar with boiling water to release fragrance.

My favorite way to use this is to just add a tsp or two to a small saucepan or kettle of simmering water and let it sit on the stove. Yummy!

Part of starting over, at least for me, is building my pantry contents. I'm a real believer in keeping a well stocked pantry and it surely keeps me from having to run to the store for one or two things and coming out $50 poorer.

I haven't been too concerned about food partially because I wasn't sure if I need to stock up like I used to and partially because, well... I wasn't in the mood. But now I am in the mood so I just started the process this week.

It's going to take me awhile and without the large pantry room, generous kitchen cupboards and deep freeze, I'll have to be very creative about how and what I buy and how and where I store what I buy.

As of tonight, here's what food is in the house, excluding the contents of the fridge (whole wheat bread, eggs, milk, cheeses, fresh vegetables and fruit, etc):

Non-Perishables

Two 1 lb 9.6 oz bags of powdered milk
Three 1 lb bags of instant potatoes
Two 14 oz bags of farina
Two 30 count family size tea bags
Five pounds regular plain coffee
One lb flavored coffees
7 oz instant coffee
2 boxes taco shells
18 oz can Uncle Buck's Biscuit Mix
One 14 oz box whole grain brown rice
One 7 oz box instant rice
One 6.9 oz box chicken rice mix
One 7.5 oz box quick cooking wild rice
about 10 lb of long cooking white rice
10 lbs various beans
4 lbs various pastas
3 sleeves saltines
10 oz onion soup mix
1 large bag Splenda
1 small box Splenda packets
4 lbs white sugar
68 oz olive oil
Two 28 oz cans Italian green beans
Three 7 oz cans mushrooms
Four 14.5 oz cans stewed tomatoes
Two 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
Three 10 oz cans Ro-tel tomatoes
One 15 oz can chili
One 14.5 oz can carrots
One 14.5 oz can green beans
Two 10.5 oz cans vegetable beef soup
One 16 oz jar Alfredo sauce
Two 16 oz jars mild Salsa
Diet Pepsi
Miscellaneous baking ingredients and spices
Several packages of gravy mix, spaghetti sauce, etc.

Meat & Frozen Goods

Two lbs boneless beef rump roast
Six lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
2.5 lbs lean ground beef
4 bags frozen vegetables

It's almost depressing to look at this list but hey, I have to start somewhere! Over time I'll get the kitchen stocked as I want it....

It all started back in the 80s when my first husband and I got our first credit cards. In the beginning we treated them with great respect, only using them for emergencies and diligently paying them off each month before any payment was due. Before long we were making payments that were more than the minimum but less than what we'd been paying but we paid them on time, faithfully. Then, sometime later, we made only the minimum payments and those would be a day or two late.

Of course, it went downhill from there to the point where all the accounts had been canceled and we owed more than we could pay, even in monthly installments. When we got divorced, nothing about those debts was in the agreement. I don't know if he got notices about those credit cards but I sure did. I paid what I could on them but ended up with several charge offs.

Fast forward to the late 90s. New relationship, different house, and I responded to a credit card offer. Lo and behold, I got the card! In fact, I got two or three for which I applied. (Were they nuts or what?) Apparently I hadn't learned my lesson yet as the same thing happened with those cards. I treated them with great respect at first but that didn't last long.

Eventually, my mother got me a card on one of her accounts and I would use it when I "needed" something and pay it off each August when I got my yearly payment from a lawsuit my first husband and I had been involved in years before. I could sit here and put some of the responsibility on the other half of the 12 year relationship that ended in late July of this year. But I won't. That card was mine and regardless of what he did or didn't do, I wasn't responsible with the card or my mother's trust. And I paid for it, dearly.

Each August I owed a little more than I had the previous August. In truth, the card was often used to pay the electric bill, buy food, and more times than I care to admit, get cash to prevent foreclosure on our home. It was definitely reassuring to know it was there in case of emergency but it was also a crutch and I abused it.

In 2006 I paid almost $6,000 in August. This year it was more than $9,000. After I paid the balance, Mom canceled the card with my wholehearted blessing. I wanted to celebrate after it was done!

My credit is ruined but that's not such a bad thing for me. If I choose to, I can work on improving and rebuilding it.

I do things on a cash basis now and don't have access to any credit cards. Nor do I want access to any. If I can't pay cash for it, I just don't get it.

So, I get a certain amount of cash each month to pay my bills and live on and when it's gone, it's gone. There's no more until the next month. I have money set aside in case of an emergency but getting to it would be deliberately difficult.

Honestly, it's hard at times living this way. I don't like it when I'm out of money for the month and have to make do like I am right now. But I don't know any other way to handle my finances. I have to be fierce with myself about money, almost ruthless. But it's working.

Oh and when I get credit card offers, they immediately go into the trash..unopened.

It is what it is.

Well, it's been a long time since I posted an entry here. I could give a hundred reasons why but honestly, I'm not sure why I haven't posted.

Anyway, my life has taken a sudden change...for the better? for the worse? I think it's the former.

I'm now separated and have been since the very end of July. It's a long story I won't go into here but I'm starting over and what an adventure it's been so far! Not all good but it is what it is.

So, here I go on a new journey. I have new goals, new ideas and hope to keep track of them here.

It's 86 outside, 83 in the house. I'm debating turning on the air conditioner. I really want to but it's just the end of April and we can't afford it right now. Of course, it IS 86 degrees. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold off but I'm trying. I really am trying...

So it wasn't a no-spend day for us but it was a little-spend day!

DH deposited his check and got $20 cash. I stayed home all day but donated $5 to my favorite online forum. I'd like to give them more but that's all I can afford right now. Maybe I can give a little here and a little there. I know it all adds up.

It's 77 degrees and the AC is on again. I turned it on when it was over 80 but will turn it off right before I go to bed. That seems to help quite a bit.

It was so hot, still, and humid last night that we turned on the central air conditioner. We'd hoped to wait til May but it was ridiculously miserable so we caved in. However, I did turn it off when I went to bed so it didn't run all night. Self-kudos for not being lazy and letting it run the electric bill up too much.

I watered the container planted vegetables and herbs by the house this morning but I need to water the planting tables and get some leaves that I raked into piles into the wheelbarrow and take them to the leaf pyramid (called that because it's so large) out near the garden. Rain is forecasted, though, so I'm holding off in the hopes that nature will do the watering for me. I also plan to transplant more irises.

DH and DS14 are gone on jobs and they'll be gone most of the day, I think, so I'll vacuum, dust, and work on painting more of the bathroom door and frame around it.

Dinner tonight is plannedovers from last night's beef roast and gravy. There wasn't much left but I'm going to cut the beef into small pieces, make more gravy, season it all well and let it simmer awhile and serve it over wild rice with a salad and some Normandy Style vegetables.

Today should be a no spend day for me though DH will spend something while he's out, I'm sure.

While watering this morning, I thought of what DH says about gardens - their entire purpose is to make his tomato plants look good.

Anyway, here are some pics of our container vegetables, taken just a few minutes ago.



The cauliflower is doing very well in the containers we got for .50 each



And the green pepper and carrots are doing very well, too. I think they will need to be moved to a sunnier spot but so far, so good



More green pepper and some zucchini



An upside down tomato, happily hanging off the front porch



More tomatoes, one planted in an old Macintosh computer case



Yet another tomato plant, this one about to produce fruit



And last but not least, squash plants in buckets

Some of the tomato plants have fruit on them and we should have ripe tomatoes very soon!

The garden is already watered and I'm going to transplant some more iris bulbs today. I have about 50 to go but a few here and a few there will get them all done.

I'm also experimenting with one of my new kitchen toys, the Cook's Choice
Gourmet Bowl Maker found at cookschoice.com. So far I've made breakfast bowls with biscuit dough, eggs, cheese and homemade turkey sausage, enchilada bowls, and some desserts. Everything I've tried has been great but today I'm experimenting with a new dessert recipe I'm creating. Hopefully I'll have it perfected today and if I do, I'll post pictures of it.

I just love this Bowl Maker and really recommend it to anyone who loves to cook, entertains a lot, goes to church dinners, etc. And nope, I don't make a cent if you buy one - I just highly recommend it.

Well, my youngest, aged 22, headed off to truck driving school today. Fortunately, he's only going to Dallas which is about 2 hours from us. I have a sister and nieces and nephews there and most of them aren't far from where he'll be so if he needs some kind of assistance they'll be there for him.
I miss him already, though, and he's only been gone an hour or so...

Today I've washed and hung outside a load of clothes, dug up and replanted 5 cucumber plants that didn't survive the recent frosts, planted more spinach where what was previously planted didn't grow, watered the garden and transplanted some irises. I have about 50 more to move but I'll do a few a day until I have them all where I want them.

Dinner is going to be something with ground beef, though I'm not sure what. It might just be goulash, garlic bread, and green beans. Simple yet tasty and definitely frugal!

Okay, so I've been AWOL for a month. Life got in the way in a big sort of way but things are back to 'normal' now, I believe.

I'm trying to catch up on other people's blogs and respond to some comments left on my entries but I've missed reading every one!

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Today's been another no spend day for me. DH had to do an install and needed something from the hardware store so he's spent something. I don't know how much since he isn't home yet but it shouldn't be more than a few dollars.

We have more greenies peeking out from the soil today than we did yesterday and it's great to see the growth! Especially the tomatoes since gardening is all about the tomatoes for me. We have all varieties up out of the ground now.

My son and his girlfriend went out for Mexican food and brought me back beef fajitas. They were great and they were free! So the leftovers that don't get eaten tonight by DH will be eaten tomorrow for lunch.

I'm going to bed early tonight since tomorrow is going to be a busy day at my mother's house. Relatives from Iowa are coming in so Mom and I have some things to do before they arrive.

It's after midnight and I can't sleep. It's 63 degrees out and I sat on the porch awhile hoping the beautiful night might help me relax and feel sleepy. No such luck. There's not much on television but I have some old John Wayne movie playing. I can't see the screen from where I sit but I can hear it. I still love the sound of his voice...

I have way too much on my mind. The wireless install jobs are going okay but there aren't very many of them yet so DH isn't making much money. We're getting behind on things again and it makes me very nervous. I've filled out job applications but there isn't much hiring going on right now and going to another town isn't an option. We've gathered some things to put on eBay so I hope that works well. The last few things we listed didn't sell or sold for very little so I'm a tad reluctant but we'll see how it goes. Hopefully they'll bring in a little cash.

At any rate, it's a good thing I don't have plans for later today. I have the feeling I'm going to be tired...

So, this morning bright and early we walked outside to have some coffee and check on our plants. Here's a bit of what we saw:



This is bed 2. Right now all that's visible is broccoli but there's also fat man beans and a lot of other good stuff planted there.



This is a closer picture of the broccoli plants which are doing very well.



And here are the 24 tomato plants we got FREE at the local hardware store. Most of them had gotten a wee bit cold recently and had a bit of brown on them so they just gave them to us. We think we'll lose 2, maybe 3, of the 24 and that's not bad at all.



And here are the two beds we've planted so far. The tires in the background are stacked and used to grow tomatoes and squash.

And now for something completely different...I figure we all should
Make our own conspiracy theory at least once in our lifetime. Why not?

Because Spring is here!



This is my Lady Banks Rose that is entwined with a Pin Oak tree. This time of year it begins to bloom and it's just lovely.



And this is Carolina Jessamine growing on one of our fences. I just love this stuff. It's so bright and colorful and smells so good!

My oldest son was on spring break from UT in Austin and came to spend a few days with us. It was great to have him here. I always enjoy his company and miss him when he isn't here. Here's a picture of him taken two days ago:



As you can probably tell, he wasn't really impressed with me taking his picture but he at least looked at the camera!

Two of my five step-children have been visiting, too. They're going home today but we've had a great visit and I'll miss them when they're gone.

Oh yes, we've been working steadily on our garden beds, trying to revamp the ones we'd made back in 2004. We're doing square foot gardening again and have two beds made and planted at this point. We also have 24 tomato plants in pots and quite a few other seeds being kept toasty in the yard which is just loaded with sun shine these days. I noticed this morning that we have Straight 8 Cucumbers and squash and melons sprouting and there's one tiny roma tomato plant sprouting.

I also have some black elephant ears seedlings I've been pampering. They're finally starting to come along, too, with all the sun and warmth.

Today I worked in the yard quite a bit, mainly cutting dead stuff from around the Lady Banks bushes. They've been on this property for quite awhile and think they're the bosses. Sometimes I think they are, too. Man, those things just go where they want and do what they want! The things are about 20 feet tall now and reach above the oak tree! I'll post pictures of them when they're fully bloomed.

Today's been a no spend day for me. I've just piddled around the house and yard and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tonight's dinner is Great Northern Beans and cornbread. We'll probably eat dinner while watching a movie borrowed from an acquaintance. Tomorrow we won't do much but we'll more than likely check the garden and sit on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather.

Happy spring to everyone!

My cat, Bob, was in a tree in our front yard this morning. Of course, he was in the tree because he thought he could sneak up on the birds that were also in the tree. I got a couple of pictures of Bob...





Bob's just a plain old gray Tabby cat but he's special to me.

Let's see. We made a deposit of $240 into checking today. We have to pay the electric bill tomorrow, though, and it's $216.51 so there goes most of that.

In today's mail I got four .50 off coupons from Del Monte. I'm not big on canned vegetables but when I buy them, they're generally store brand vegetables. However, Del Monte's carrots are, in my opinion, the best of the canned ones so I'll get some of those when they're on sale and use my coupons.

I've been cleaning the house and doing laundry today. Two loads washed and dried, another load washed. I'll take it with me to Mom's house tomorrow when I go to clean her house and will use her dryer. I'll also pick up any ironing she needs done and bring it home to be ironed here.

Dinner was scrambled eggs and toast. We're all tired and no one wanted a big meal. It hit the spot.