Freecycling

We bought this house 1 year ago next Tuesday (man time flies) and shortly after moving in we took the small gravel in our backyard and piled it up in preparation to re-landscape. We got a professional to come in and give us an estimate, but we were simply in too much debt with no extra cash. Part of the professional treatment involved removal of the gravel. Over the months we've toyed with the idea of Dad taking the gravel for personal use, Dad helping us haul it to the dump, putting a bucket full in our trashcan each week, and offering it on craigslist. Annoyed with it I mentioned on Facebook that we wanted to get rid of it and a friend recommended a site called Freecycle. I looked into it, joined our local Albuquerque group and listed it.

Freecycle is a way for people to offer items they no longer want/need to people in their local area for no cost. You can either post that you have something to offer or you can post that you are looking for something. You can even post items that need work as some people are looking for projects. Well, within 6 hours of posting there was one reply. Within 24 hours of that we received another reply. After staring at that pile in the back for almost a year we finally have the means to get rid of it. If you have things you are planning on donating I would recommend this. I have nothing against donating it to GoodWill or Deseret Industries, but from the viewpoint of someone looking for a bargain, it's much nicer to get something from someone directly for free rather than having to pay for it at a second-hand store where you have no idea what it's been through.

Frugality, thy name is dinner

* Feed a family for five bucks? It's possible if you plan right

By Andrea Weigl
McClatchy Newspapers

Faye Prosser is so thrifty she teaches classes on how to be more frugal.

The Clayton, N.C., stay-at-home mom also has written a book, "The Smart Spending Guide: How to Cut Your Grocery Bills in Half, Save on Your Everyday Expenses and Live Within Your Means." Her weekly shopping budget is $55, which covers meals for a week and bargain hunting.
Prosser recently explained her approach to meal planning.

She starts with a master meal plan, a list of meals her family enjoys. It helps jog her memory and prevents her from serving the same thing over and over, she says. Her list is divided into dinner, lunch, breakfast, side dishes and desserts.

Once a week, she plans a week's worth of meals based on what's in her fridge, freezer, pantry and on sale at the stores.

She urges people to be flexible, just plan to serve these meals at some point during the week. Every Sunday night, Prosser files her coupons and takes about 20 minutes to write out the week's menu.

Her goal is to spend about $5 a meal. For example, she recently served salmon patties, rolls, Uncle Ben's Rice, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes for dinner. Four salmon patties were on sale for $3.99 and she had a coupon for $2 off a Wild Alaskan salmon product. The rolls and rice were free with coupons. The zucchini and tomatoes came from the garden. She spent 50 cents on an onion, 50 cents onmayonnaise and 50 cents for drinks. Total cost: $3.49.

'A special meal'

Even for her daughter's birthday dinner for six, Prosser spent only $6.89 to make teriyaki chicken and vegetable stir fry with rice and an ice cream cake. "And that's a special meal," she says.

She advises shoppers to always plan to eat leftovers for one meal or lunches.

Consider doubling or tripling recipes to freeze for later, she says. Muffins, pancakes and French toast freeze well.

Don't throw out brown bananas or turn down zucchini. Make banana or zucchini bread and freeze for later.

Make the best use of the freezer space. Take frozen foods out of their boxes and label the bags, she says.

She tells her students to stock up on dry goods and store them in the bottom of closets, under beds and in linen cabinets.

To stretch that dinner dollar, she buys less meat and serves more vegetables, grains and beans. Consider vegetarian meals. Make egg salad, tuna salad or grilled cheese for dinner.

"I encourage people to remember: not every meal has to be Sunday dinner," she says.

Buy fruits and vegetables when they are in season and cheaper. Shop at farmers markets and produce stands.

Remember the rule of two, she says. When consumers find a bargain, they should buy two, so they don't have to run out and pay full price.

Even for people who don't clip coupons, Prosser says, meal planning will save them money by keeping them from dining out.

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Article in the Wednesday, September 10, 2008, Albuquerque Journal. I wanted to keep a copy of it, but don't have anywhere to store it so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and share it with you while keeping an electronic copy for myself. Hope it helps.

Midterm Grades - Redux

You're right Sarah. I shouldn't be ashamed that I'm doing well (because that's honestly how I feel). To give you a run down of how she grades, she takes out the lowest homework grade (even if it's 100). If there are any Extra Credit assignments they replace the next lowest respectively (unless the grade on the EC is lower than the grade on the homework). Then she averages and weights these according to her grading scale. The exams and quizzes are averaged and weighted as is (though she hints that could change... something about the final exam grade counting for itself and replacing the lowest exam grade). Since we haven't had a final yet (being mid-term grades) she exclues the finals grade (ex: the final grade is worth 20% so she takes the weighted grades and divides by 80 instead of 100) and that's the mid-term grade. This grade is subject to change. In my case it's more possible to go down than up, but I wouldn't omit the possibility of increasing it.

Now for the grades:
Accounting 1A (my on campus class): 100.66%
Business Math (my hybrid/dl class): 100.80%

Socializing

A short time ago I was planning on getting my Melaleuca business back up and running after a break. Unfortunately the group that I originally started with (MomsWIN) no longer existed so I had to change my work email address. I decided on SaferInHome, but never really did much with my business so the email address sat fairly dormant until a few weeks ago when I started getting emails from Twitter on that account.

Now, call me out of touch, but I didn't have a clue what Twitter was (still don't really). I thought it was just spam and deleted it.... until I realized that each email was some sort of update. I managed to hijack the account (it was my email address so I just had them reset the password and email me the new one) so that I could figure out what was going on. Near as I can tell this person had set up their account and accidentally put in my email address (still not sure how that worked). I didn't want to close the account, but I didn't have a clue on how to reset the password so that the creator could have their account back (since the password reset would go back to my email address) so I left an entry telling the person to email me and I'd give the account back. After a couple weeks of no response (I'm guessing the person who had the account either didn't know what email address she entered, or was no longer interested in it) I closed the account knowing from my research that no one could use that email address on a Twitter account once it was closed. And in my opinion, good riddance.

Having said that, I think it's quite interesting that I've always said that I would never have a blog, yet here it is. I also strongly opposed having a MySpace or Facebook account. Okay, so I haven't caved on the MySpace thing, but yesterday when Dan was so excited to get in touch with some old Pennsylvania high school friends enough to set up his own Facebook account I caved in myself since I'd received several invites and actually knew people on there. I'm not sure the purpose of this Facebook thing. It allows for chats and mini-blogging (also known as updating status as far as I can tell) and little applications (called games and quizzes). I've manage to add this blog as well as my Goodreads account (though I'm not sure how part works) and my Photobucket account. I've connected with some friends I haven't spoken with in years (except in random emails). But I'm still not sure what else it's good for. Any hints?

Midterm Grades

I've received one mid-term grade and will get the second next Tuesday. I have, however, changed my mind about posting them (and will be taking down the poll). If you are interested in the grade(s) either email me or comment here and I'll email them to you. Otherwise, know that I'm doing fine.

School Update

It's hard to believe that Midterms have just passed (not that I had them in my classes, but it does mean that we're halfway done with the term). Just wanted to let you know how things are going. I'm still finding myself working to remember terms and definitions, but it's a little easier now. At least the math and proceedures are not too hard to pick up... yet. So far, the lowest I've gotten is a 94 and that was on a homework assignment that was due the first day I had class (I started during the second week of the term). Since these are lower level classes I'm thinking of taking three next term and then dropping back to two per term as the classes get harder. We'll have to see how things work out. My teacher is planning on giving out midterm grades soon (so people can know how they stand in the class so far) and I thought about posting them here, but I don't want to seem like I'm bragging if they are good. So I put the question to you. Vote on my poll.

Pay It Forward

My nephew's wife posted this and I wanted to participate!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice.

For You.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I may ask some questions during the process.)

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year (might take a little while).

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article. It may be something sewn or crocheted. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same.

The first five people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a homemade gift from me!

Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Again, I'm doing this because I want to and because who doesn't like gifts made from love!