Thrifty: Living the Frugal Life with Style book

Thrifty: Living the Frugal Life with Style by Marjorie Harris was a fast read but provided little constructive information on how to be thrifty.  First hurdle was to realize that the author was Canadian (which lead to a lot of ou combos that were colourful) which meant she used were words used that were uncommon in American writting or conversation.  There are a different topics that she covers in the different chapters:  Thifty Citizen, Frugal Fashionista, Frugal Foodie, Frugal Home, Thrifty Gardener, Thrifty Traveller, and Frugal Life with Style.  There are some interesting ideas in the gardening section but since I already have my lanscaping done (for the most part- no judging on the weeds), I don't think that it provides a ton of helpful information for me.  Even though Amazon gave it 3 1/2 stars, I don't think that I would recommend it unless you are looking for a fast read that is entertaining because it doesn't provide any constructive help that isn't discussed in more detail in other books.  Hope that helps you decide whether this is something that you are interested in picking up and reading this one.  Crossing my fingers for a better one next time :)

It's Not About the Money book

It's Not About the Money: Unlock Your Money Type to Achieve Spiritual and Financial Abundance by Brent Kessel is an interesting read.  The first thing that it does is help you pick your financial personality types (page 40).  The choices are the following:

The Guardian- always alert and careful
The Pleasure Seeker- prioritizes pleasure and enjoyment in the here and now
The Idealist- places the greatest value on creativity, compassion, social justice, or spiritual growth
The Saver- seeks security and abundance by accumulating more assets
The Star- spends, invests, or gives money away to be recognized, feel hip or classy, and increase self-esteem
The Innocent- avoids putting significant attention on money and believes or hopes that life will work out for the best
The Caretaker- gives and lends money to express compassion and generosity
The Empire Builder- thrives on power and innovation to create something of enduring value

This was super easy for me to pick the main two that I currently am (Guardian and Saver) and see others that described me previously (Caretaker and Empire Builder).  Do you see any that describe you or people you know? 

It is eye opening to read the chapters that describe you to a tee and read the chapters for the other types that you can totally see family and friends fitting into.  The book tells you that it is best to balance all of the archetypes to make the most well rounded person.  It has a great point because I think that it is human nature to be one way (like a Caretaker) and get burned taking care of someone so you totally turn away from that way of being and stop sharing and flip to a totally new behavior (like Saver or Pleasure Seeker).  Balance is always best but I think that it is hardest for human nature to accomplish. 

The last few chapters have lots of information about getting a will, life insurance, investing, and other helpful financial advice.  The main point repeated over and over is to get a fee based financial advisor to go over your plans with because it could make all the difference.  There are a lot of resources listed to find a financial advisor with websites like http://www.napfa.org/, http://www.garrettplanningnetwork.com/, and http://www.kinderinstitute.org/.  If you want to check out more on the author, his website is http://www.brentkessel.com/ and he references a ton of information that is available on his website.  This is not a page turner of a book but I think that it is less heavy then other books with the same information so I guess the information is presented in a interesting way.  If that strikes you fancy, feel free to check out his books at your local library or bookstore (at least long enough to figure out what type you are).  Hope that you like it or learn something interesting from picking it up like I did.

Menu Plan Monday 2/20

Monday- Fajita Chicken Wraps
Tuesday-Shake n Bake Chicken with mac and cheese
Wednesday- BBQ Spiedies with white rice
Thursday- Buffalo Chicken Wraps with oven fries
Friday- Crunchy Taco Rice with cheese
Saturday-Sloppy Joes with tater tots/??
Sunday- ??/??

I hope to try a few new recipes over the weekend but I just don't know what they are going to be yet.  Plus I really need to go through the pantry and freezer and update the list of what I have at the house.  I know that the freezer is jam packed and the pantry is a little disorganized so I have a little work to do during my preschool days next week.  Hoping for something to jump off the shelf and make itself :) 

Family Feasts for $75 a Week book

After many reviews online at Amazon, I decided that I should check this book out of the library and see what all the fuss was about.  I read the introduction (pre-recipe section) of Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill by Mary Ostyn which goes through ways that she cuts her food budget for her family of 12- 10 kids and 2 adults. I am glad that I got it out of the library.  I don't think that I like the layout of the begining of the book as much as I like $5 dinner Erin Chase's way to save money at the grocery store in a few simple steps.  However, there is a part in the meal planning section that gives lots of different choices that I hadn't heard before.  I like to  plan and over the last year have loved the calendar filled with the different meals we are going to have each day.  It really gives me a sense of relief because I am not standing in the kitchen at 5 or 6 pm looking for food that I can make into dinner.  I also find that it gives me something to look forward to when I know what we are having.  If I don't think that I am in the mood for the dinner on the menu that night or don't have enough time to make it then I do switch it with another night on the menu.  The book lays out a plan where you have a list of what is going to be for the week (making sure all the stuff is in the house when you are at the grocery store) and each day you pick out what you are in the mood for that night.  They suggest two sheets so that you can switch between the two sheets for two different weeks and use durable paper so that you have a shopping list to reference.  There are some good ideas but at the beginning but I think that the good stuff starts with the recipes.

I made a list of the recipes that I thought that I might make and the list got a little too long for my paper.  Starting with breakfast food of Restaurant Style French Toast and Crepe Style Pancakes.  The lunch options of Easy Pizza Rolls and Crunchy Baked Chimichangas.  On to the casseroles, Spicy Chicken Enchiladas, Baked Ziti, and Chili Corn Pone Pie.  The skillet and stir fry meals includes Mexican Tortilla Soup, Thai Wraps, Jazzy Ramen Stir Fry, and Orange Chicken.  I think that this might be my favorite chapter because I had a huge list to pick from plus I don't often do stir fry so this should be a great place to expand my menu :)  The soup chapter has a taco soup, confetti pepperoni soup and southwest beef chili.  Sides include oven baked breaded zucchini and rice cookier mexican rice.  The salads highlight the Chinese Chicken Salad and the Asian Noodle Salad.  Bread, Muffins and Desserts are always my favorite like buttery garlic cheese biscuits and really big biscuits.  If you think that these recipes sound good, please check out the cookbook at your local library or bookstore (or Amazon).  I am sure that you will see some of the recipes being tried coming up so that you can try them too.  I will let you know how I think about them and most likely how I change them to meet our family needs and taste buds.  The greatest thing is that they really are cost effective recipes that work with a limited grocery budget so that you can stretch to try some things that you normally don't make but used to eat at the restaurants.  I am going to go through and try to figure out what needs to go on the menu for next month.  Let me know what sounds good to you :)

Fried Chicken for Saturday dinner

I was at Harris Teeter and the whole chickens were on sale for $0.77 per pound.  I got three more since I just can't pass up the good deal.  I put two in the freezer and one in the fridge even though I didn't know what I was going to do with it.  When my husband and I reviewed the menu, with nothing planned for the weekend.  He suggested fried chicken like we just saw on America's Test Kitchen.  Sounds like a plan so it was written into the plan.  The hard part about it is that you have to cut up the whole chicken and brine it for one hour before you make it.  Perfect for a weekend right?  Not great when the maker of the chicken falls asleep on the couch and is left napping until 5 pm!!!!  UGH!  I was still sticking with the plan so dinner was little later then normal.  I put together the brine and put the chicken in and left it in the fridge.  I put together the flour mixture and went on the hunt for where I put my new spider picker upper thingy and deep fryer thermometer that I got for my birthday.  I couldn't find them so I decided to wash the dishes in the sink and clean up a little before I made the bigger mess.  I found them both when I was putting away my cookie cutters :)  YEAH!!!  I got out my new pan and new cooling rack from Christmas.  I was ready to fry!!!

Then took the chicken out of the brine mixture and put it in the flour mixture to coat.  Then I let it sit so that I could do a second coat on the wetter parts of the chicken.  Isn't raw chicken ugly??

Then I did the second coat of breading and put it straight in the frying pan (so to speak).  The challange was to keep the oil at 350 degrees like the instructions said.  I did my best after the first time it went to high and then too low which I figure balances out :)  Then I fried them for 25 minutes which I don't usually do.  Normally I flash fry and cook in the oven the rest of the way through because the chicken is always raw.  This was easier then I thought it was going to be.  I did swimp on the oil so that I didn't waste as much as it called for which meant that I did have to flip the chicken a few times to be on the safe side.

Then I put them on the tray and put them in the oven but we were eating right away since it was so late already and here is what the chicken looked like.  It was super yummy.  I swear that I could taste the difference that the hot sauce made in the brine but I probably couldn't :)

It had a nice thick coating and tasted like the kind you get at the fast food restaurants but less greasy.  I didn't put the seasoning on the outside that the recipe called for but it was a yummy recipe with the parts that I followed.  Below is the original recipe so that you can try all or parts of the recipe that you like :)  Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family did!!


Original Recipe:

Nashville Hot Fried Chicken

Serves 4 to 6

Chicken quarters take longer to cook than smaller pieces. To ensure that the exterior doesn't burn before the inside cooks through, keep the oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees while the chicken is frying. For an extra-hot version, see related recipe.

Ingredients BRINE

• 2 quarts water
• 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 (3 1/2-to 4-pound) whole chicken, quartered (see note)

COATING

• 3 quarts peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

• 1. BRINE CHICKEN Whisk water, hot sauce, salt, and sugar in large bowl until salt and sugar dissolve. Add chicken and refrigerate, covered, for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
• 2. BLOOM SPICES Heat 3 tablespoons oil in small saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add cayenne, paprika, ½ teaspoon salt, garlic powder, and sugar and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer to small bowl.
• 3. DREDGE Remove chicken from refrigerator and pour off brine. Combine flour, ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper in large bowl. Dredge chicken pieces 2 at a time in flour mixture. Shake excess flour from chicken and transfer to wire rack. (Do not discard seasoned flour.)
• 4. FRY AND BRUSH Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat remaining oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Return chicken pieces to flour mixture and turn to coat. Fry half of chicken, adjusting burner as necessary to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees, until deep golden brown and white meat registers 160 degrees (175 degrees for dark meat), 20 to 25 minutes. Drain chicken on clean wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet and place in oven. Bring oil back to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining chicken. Stir spicy oil mixture to recombine and brush over both sides of chicken. Serve on white bread with pickles.

Harris Teeter Super Doubles Trip #3 and final

So today was my last day to shop at the Harris Teeter Super Doubles.  I made a list of things that I couldn't live without getting and then tried to figure out what else I could get and stay within my under $30 remaining budget for the month.  Not to ruin the whole story but I did pretty well.  Below is the whole counter full.  I tried to take the picture from above to see if that would help but at 5 foot 3 inches, I now need a wide angle lens for the camera in order to take grocery pictures.  I guess that is why some people pile the groceries on the floor to take the pictures so that you don't have to see the cabinets and the living room in the background :)

I got 3 whole chickens, 3 packages of bacon (YUM), 3 boxes of Ellio's pizza, 4 Kraft Homestyle Mac and Cheese, 4 boxes of cereal, 8 packages of baby fruits, 2 bags of shredded HT cheese,  block of mozzarella, 2 bags of crackers, egg roll wrappers, head of lettuce, Philly Choc Cream Cheese, Charmin, Revlon nail clippers, and loaf of bread.

My final out of pocket was $30.80 with a savings of $86.23.  It was a good savings and I got a lot of meat including bacon which I haven't had in ages.  Even though the month is only half over, as my husband points out, it is mostly over in terms of shopping.  I am at $160.83 oop for the month (I do have one return to do for a failed attempt at stage 3 pears for my son at Target which will bring me back with enough for one more loaf of bread later in the month).  Since this is the first month that I have tracked the savings along with the oop cost, I was shocked to see that the total for everything that I bought would have been $721.97.  That is a a savings of $561.14 which is 77.7% saving.  It seems like a ton of money saved when I see it in black and white but I think that it is a good representation of what I do monthly now since I have started couponing (and budgetting for the last February).  I am pretty excited to see that savings though and I guess I will decide whether I am going to track like that next month too since it does take a little more time to track that way.  Let me know what you think :)

Harris Teeter Super Doubles Trip #2

Okay, so you knew that I wouldn't be able to stay away but I decided to try to get a lot of the free stuff today or whatever was left.  I wrote my list and pulled out my coupons because I knew that I was going with my three year old in tow which limits the amount of time that we have.  We went to storytime at the library and then read some books and picked out some to bring home.  Then we packed up and went to the grocery store.

I grabbed as many things on the list as possible as quickly as I could.  I started with the crackers and then realized that I didn't have the little basket under the shopping cart so we went back to the beginning of the store.  I went and grabbed 6 packages of the Stride gum.  Then we grabbed the Ortega packages and moved down the aisle only to realize that we already passed the Kikkoman seasonings so we went back to get them.  Then grabbed the Dawn dish soap and stopped to get my son water from the water fountain.  He finished that while I was getting the Revlon nail clippers.  I wanted to get one thing for a buffer so that we had extra room for coupons and things to get done so I decided to get the won ton wrappers which were only $0.69 after coupon.  These are a new favorite at our house because I use them to make meals and make chips so they are super fun and flexible.  They were out of a few of the other things on the list but I was pretty proud that we got it all done and got back in the car to make it home in time for a playdate.

I ended with the grand total of $1.33 including the tax.  It should have been $0.50 less but for some reason, the evic coupon did not come off the total.  Probably for the best since I am sure that they would have freaked out a little.  I had the customer service person overriding three coupons which she was uneasy about and had to do twice because she didn't do them right the first time.  She actually gave me $0.31 more in coupons then she needed to (long story) but she didn't want to void and redo them since it took so long which is why I wasn't about to tell her about the $0.50 evic coupon so I called it a wash.  The total saved was $31.73 as noted on the receipt below. 

Of course that is another picture of something that I wouldn't have spent $35 to buy but the savings was great enough to make it really worth couponing.  I also got to try some new fancy crackers that I have never had before.  The roasted garlic was a little strong for me but would probably be good with something else like dip.  The sea salt kind was awesome and I am totally getting a few more bags of them when I go back tomorrow.  The best part is that I still have $29.97 left to spend which I am sure that I am going to do!!  Now tonight I just have to pull together all my coupons and see what I have left to spend and what I need to get :)