Frugal Living
Frugal Living
I have not forgotten that I planned to talk about this some more. I think the biggest and best change you can make is in the way you eat. Besides saving money by preparing your own meals, you also improve your health at the same time. So you are feeling better and mentally refreshed when you see you managed to save some money, even if it is only $40 or so! It is start and every bit helps and does count.
I think learning Asia style meals is a huge saving idea. Initially, it seems too expensive since there is a lot you need to get started, but it lasts a long time. A good rice cooker is important. It is a good way to have something to hand, especially if your family does not all eat at the same time.
It is myself and my 4 adult daughters living here. We love Asian food and have become very good at stir fry. But we work different times and places right now. We hope to start our media company and devote ourselves to that full time but until then, we work and try to save money. A rice cooker is good because it can store the rice easily for when they get home. So, do invest in one!
The sauces seem so expensive and make you worry you cant afford to eat Asian style food, but each sauce bottle lasts a very long time since you only use drops at a time! Really, a few drops of one are all you need to flavor your dish. It is hard to know what flavor you like best, so teriyaki is always a safe choice. We don't use "soy sauce" because one of my daughters has an allergy to it. But we find if it is mixed in another flavor she can usually handle it. We personally love House of Tang so I can recommend it to you as a safe choice!
House of Tang sauces
This is one we use the most "Classic Sauce" so if you are unsure, try it out.
This one we love also, though it is hard to find at times. It is one we have learned to grab when we see it in stock :p There are many others that are good, but these 2 are the ones we use the most.
It is also a good idea to get a steamer set, these you can find anywhere I think, those bamboo things. We are not quite expert at this one as we are the rice cooker though :p but steamed veggies are delicious anytime!
A wok is something we buy but manage to somehow break. So we are saving to buy a nice good quality one when it is on sale. Until then, our normal pans with wooden spatulas works fine.
Besides Asian food though, learning to love salads again. I mean, even with the weird outbreaks you read about with e coli or such, it is still a very healthy choice ~ if you don't overload it with toppings! People think 'salad is safe" and then add so much that they would have been better off just eating a slice of pizza! Learn to love greens! I think I do more in a protein drink then I do as a salad though :p
We bought a little "Moroccan roaster" that has proven so useful as it is a small size and there are usually only 2 here for lunch. It has such a cute shape too!
The bottom half can be used alone too, I sometimes use it to bake my oatmeal bar cookies.
Baking is a trade off since I see a lower food budget but a higher electric bill... I do love baked foods though I think we mostly try to stay with a quick stir fry most days.
Soups was another area, though we have not found a good way to make them taste good the next day. I guess we add so much to the main pot that overnight it overpowers itself. We are working on fixing this. It is also a bit hard since one loves her beans a bit crunchier then the rest of us :p But soup is filling and the smell of it cooking all day can make you feel full on a small salad!
We are what I used to call "turning" vegetarian and now we are "turning" vegan. We do buy donuts once in awhile and know they are not exactly vegan or vegetarian even, but so good once in awhile. Though I found since we began turning vegan we don't love them as much as we used to. So it went from a monthly treat to maybe three times a year.
ok, so this is not exactly a good 'how to be frugal' as just basic tips I guess. I think it is because I feel we are still at the beginning stages of it. Learning to sew was something I am teaching the girls. Mainly for our film company, to be able to make the costumes ourselves. I had the idea that we would buy the fabrics and let the costumer sewers come and sew them for us, but those big ideas are becoming much more realistic if also frustrating! :p
I think most know we are planning to kick our our multi media company with a trilogy of horror and I had hoped to get a huge grant/loan from this one group that is not working out quite as I had hoped, though I have not heard a 'no' yet. I keep them updated each new development and think someday... but until then we will need to go ahead as if, you know "this" (holds up empty hands) is what we have to build upon...
So, we can do a pretty good basic skirt. We do elastic bands so we can switch it to pleated or a-line or whatever when we feel we are better at it. We have not tried a top yet, mainly because we are very busy with lots of projects on the burners. I am learning hot glue masks too. super cool, I will show them once I spray paint them (probably not until Spring when we can use the shed to do it). I am getting good at it but cant wait until we can do the face casts and do it like that!
So much to learn, makes live so worth living! How we will do it step by step... It becomes a good cycle... I will get us whole again! I can feel it is so close! So many of the Unangan feel it too, not just me.
It is "in the air", this call Home!
But back to frugal living. It is the mindset of the Unangan, of my tribe! We wasted nothing, if we did not know what to do with a certain part we would save it until we realized what it was for. I can remember my mom saved the tall tin cans that coffee grounds used to come in, anyone remember those? She would have a bunch in the bottom cupboards and they would be full of things like onion skins. It would make me so curious as to why she would save such useless seeming items. But at Easter they became the dye for the eggs! I miss my mother so much!
So, it is easy to begin being frugal. Start thinking if there is a better way to have something. Making a mocha at home is much cheaper then going out for coffee. Buy one special cup to carry it in and enjoy how sweet it tastes knowing you saved money!
I will write more later, getting lost in reminiscing...
hugs ~Sea
I have not forgotten that I planned to talk about this some more. I think the biggest and best change you can make is in the way you eat. Besides saving money by preparing your own meals, you also improve your health at the same time. So you are feeling better and mentally refreshed when you see you managed to save some money, even if it is only $40 or so! It is start and every bit helps and does count.
I think learning Asia style meals is a huge saving idea. Initially, it seems too expensive since there is a lot you need to get started, but it lasts a long time. A good rice cooker is important. It is a good way to have something to hand, especially if your family does not all eat at the same time.
It is myself and my 4 adult daughters living here. We love Asian food and have become very good at stir fry. But we work different times and places right now. We hope to start our media company and devote ourselves to that full time but until then, we work and try to save money. A rice cooker is good because it can store the rice easily for when they get home. So, do invest in one!
The sauces seem so expensive and make you worry you cant afford to eat Asian style food, but each sauce bottle lasts a very long time since you only use drops at a time! Really, a few drops of one are all you need to flavor your dish. It is hard to know what flavor you like best, so teriyaki is always a safe choice. We don't use "soy sauce" because one of my daughters has an allergy to it. But we find if it is mixed in another flavor she can usually handle it. We personally love House of Tang so I can recommend it to you as a safe choice!
House of Tang sauces
It is also a good idea to get a steamer set, these you can find anywhere I think, those bamboo things. We are not quite expert at this one as we are the rice cooker though :p but steamed veggies are delicious anytime!
A wok is something we buy but manage to somehow break. So we are saving to buy a nice good quality one when it is on sale. Until then, our normal pans with wooden spatulas works fine.
Besides Asian food though, learning to love salads again. I mean, even with the weird outbreaks you read about with e coli or such, it is still a very healthy choice ~ if you don't overload it with toppings! People think 'salad is safe" and then add so much that they would have been better off just eating a slice of pizza! Learn to love greens! I think I do more in a protein drink then I do as a salad though :p
We bought a little "Moroccan roaster" that has proven so useful as it is a small size and there are usually only 2 here for lunch. It has such a cute shape too!
The bottom half can be used alone too, I sometimes use it to bake my oatmeal bar cookies.
Baking is a trade off since I see a lower food budget but a higher electric bill... I do love baked foods though I think we mostly try to stay with a quick stir fry most days.
Soups was another area, though we have not found a good way to make them taste good the next day. I guess we add so much to the main pot that overnight it overpowers itself. We are working on fixing this. It is also a bit hard since one loves her beans a bit crunchier then the rest of us :p But soup is filling and the smell of it cooking all day can make you feel full on a small salad!
We are what I used to call "turning" vegetarian and now we are "turning" vegan. We do buy donuts once in awhile and know they are not exactly vegan or vegetarian even, but so good once in awhile. Though I found since we began turning vegan we don't love them as much as we used to. So it went from a monthly treat to maybe three times a year.
ok, so this is not exactly a good 'how to be frugal' as just basic tips I guess. I think it is because I feel we are still at the beginning stages of it. Learning to sew was something I am teaching the girls. Mainly for our film company, to be able to make the costumes ourselves. I had the idea that we would buy the fabrics and let the costumer sewers come and sew them for us, but those big ideas are becoming much more realistic if also frustrating! :p
I think most know we are planning to kick our our multi media company with a trilogy of horror and I had hoped to get a huge grant/loan from this one group that is not working out quite as I had hoped, though I have not heard a 'no' yet. I keep them updated each new development and think someday... but until then we will need to go ahead as if, you know "this" (holds up empty hands) is what we have to build upon...
So, we can do a pretty good basic skirt. We do elastic bands so we can switch it to pleated or a-line or whatever when we feel we are better at it. We have not tried a top yet, mainly because we are very busy with lots of projects on the burners. I am learning hot glue masks too. super cool, I will show them once I spray paint them (probably not until Spring when we can use the shed to do it). I am getting good at it but cant wait until we can do the face casts and do it like that!
So much to learn, makes live so worth living! How we will do it step by step... It becomes a good cycle... I will get us whole again! I can feel it is so close! So many of the Unangan feel it too, not just me.
It is "in the air", this call Home!
But back to frugal living. It is the mindset of the Unangan, of my tribe! We wasted nothing, if we did not know what to do with a certain part we would save it until we realized what it was for. I can remember my mom saved the tall tin cans that coffee grounds used to come in, anyone remember those? She would have a bunch in the bottom cupboards and they would be full of things like onion skins. It would make me so curious as to why she would save such useless seeming items. But at Easter they became the dye for the eggs! I miss my mother so much!
So, it is easy to begin being frugal. Start thinking if there is a better way to have something. Making a mocha at home is much cheaper then going out for coffee. Buy one special cup to carry it in and enjoy how sweet it tastes knowing you saved money!
I will write more later, getting lost in reminiscing...
hugs ~Sea
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