Making Vanilla Extract!

Vanilla Beans from Amazon, Vodka made from grapes (not grain or potatoes), sharp knife, instructions from Surviving the Stores.

Slice vanilla bean lengthwise.

Make sure to open up the pod a bit.

Pour out some of the vodka, and begin placing cut beans into bottle.

New vanilla compared with 4 month old vanilla.


Place in a dark corner of your pantry. Shake every few days.

When ready (from 3 to 6 months) pour into old vanilla bottles. :)
Top off the bottle with more vodka. Some cooks have been topping their vanilla extract off with vodka for 10 years or more. We shall see.

Busyness or Business

Have you ever noticed how close these words are.

I can be busy with business. Hmmm. It makes my head tilt with how much there is to stay busy with.

What is on your to-do list lately?

...I think what is on your list is on mine too.

Christa

No spend month - Wrap-up

The wrap-up of our No Spend month somehow got deleted. I will try to pull it together again here soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Christa.

No Spend month - Week 3

Well, we blew it. Ok, I blew the budget of my no-spend challenge.

Here are few things that contributed to the failure.
First, don't go to the store hungry, it gets ya every time.(Groceries)
Second, really think through your budget before committing to it.(vitamins)
Third, PASS BY THE SAVINGS! (Groceries, again) More than likely you will see that sale again in the future. However, I did not pass the sale, my bread mix was 1/2 off!
Fourth, if you are a caffeine-head like me, then invest in coffee to make at home so you don't end up with a headache out and about (2x Starbucks!).
Fifth, plan your outings so you don't end up somewhere about to pass out due to hunger! (Eating out). Bring along bottled water and snack bars to tide you over. However, I did not plan to get the shakes 3 hours into a "research" trip.

Week Three Spent:
Groceries $63
Starbucks 5
Dry Cleaning 12
Eating out 7
Parking 3
Groceries 10
Vitamins 13

Total: $113

Reimbursable Expense
Home Depot $20


Ways we saved this week:
Another trip to the local library on our bikes. Saved $5.
We saved by visiting friends for a late lunch on Sunday. Though this was not our goal to save money, it worked out that way. We were invited to lunch at 1230 although we didn't eat until 2. We stayed for another 3 hours and continued to eat from their spread. We had a great visit with 4 other couples and didn't spend a dime. Although, I did bring a pan of brownies. For the savings calculation, we did not spend on 2 meals. Saved $20.
Christmas Cards- I began crafting Christmas cards for the coming season. I was able to create 20 cards from my stash of scrapbook supplies on Friday. I plan to do another round of card making this week, maybe not Christmasy this time. :) Saved $10
David and I repaired a hole in the outside of our home this weekend. As crazy as it sounds it took only $20 to liquid nail up 8 pieces of siding around 2 poles, putty and paint them too. We saved the home-owner over $150 in labour for this job.

Other ways we gave back:
I must admit that I didn't do a good job this week of decluttering or cleaning for that matter. I also did not journal any of our progress though this week of the "no-spend" challenge.

I reference you back to "Small Notebook" for awesome inspiration on this project.

Here's Our breakdown:

Spent
Week One: $135
Week Two: 166
Week Three: 113
Total Spent this month: $414

Saved:
Week One: $215
Week Two: 270
Week Three: 185
Total Saved this month: $670

Here's to a no-spend 4th week for us!

No Spend month - Week 2

This challenge is allowing me to think through purchases we are making. In a way it is freeing, because I don't feel the need to browse by the clearance racks. I know our home has more than enough to survive another two weeks and possibly more. Like many homes in America, I have extra cleaning supplies under sinks, I have extra toothpaste and toothbrushes in our overnight bags, I have extra. America has extra. In that mind frame, I also donated some of the "extra" in my home. I didn't count this as a savings or "spenditure". But, it needs to be noted.


Week Two Spent:
Groceries $46
Eating out 16
Starbucks 3
Computer Repair 58
Dog Food 43
Total: $166

Ways we saved this week:
-We put off a special class I was wanting to take. It would have been $125 for each of us.
Savings: $250 (this month, although the class is probably in our future)
-Business lunch savings: I sent David to work with his lunch, then he ate at his desk. I picked him up "for lunch". We drove around downtown, drove out to Memorial Park and sat and watched the squirrels and birds. Saved $20
-Food savings: I cooked a 3 pound brisket (think pot roast) in the crockpot for 24 hours. We had 2 meals this weekend on it and we have enough for 3 lunches this week. I served the brisket over brown rice with a basic salad. Spent $12 on brisket used spices on hand to marinate the meat. Five meals for two for $20!!

Other ways we gave back:
Donated 3 bags of clothes to Salvation Army.
Plus 6 more boxes of books, house ware and kitchen supplies to Goodwill.

Our budget is under attack for the remaining two weeks. I didn't budget for a computer problem, nor did I budget for dog food. Ughh.. Those two alone were $101 this week. This will definitely challenge us to watch our spending over the next two weeks. It can be done, I have watched "Small Notebook" get through a whole month on $250. Here's our money breakdown:

Spent
Week One: $135
Week Two: 166
Total Spent this month: $301

Saved:
Week One: $215
Week Two: 270
Total Saved this month: $485

No Spend month - Week one

Week One totals:

Bus fare: $25
Gas: 35
Eating Out: 25
Massage: 25
B/Lunch/Din@moms 20
Coffee/kolaches 5

Total Spent: $135



Things we did for free this week:
-Went online and reserved/ordered books from the big downtown library. Rode our bikes to the library (no parking fees) and checked out those books. Saved $5
-We cut our hair at home over the weekend. I just trimmed mine, David's cut was a bit more involved. Saved $45.

Other ways we saved money:
-Cancelled subscriptions to 2 magazines. Saved $125
-Cancelled newspaper account. Saved $40
Total Saved: $215

We ended up going up to the lake this weekend. We planned to grill for lunch and dinner while we were there. Instead of buying food along the way, I used an old Girl Scout cooking tip. I created pouches of food ahead of time and we were able to put them on the grill. The basic idea is to assemble these foil packages at home, transport them to the grill, and have an easy meal with easy cleanup.

For the foil pouches I used 4 layers of aluminium foil about 12"x12" in size. I then sprayed the foil with PAM, placed cooked rice, frozen broccoli, diced cooked shrimp, shredded cheese, butter and spices (Italian dressing, garlic, salt and pepper) in the middle. I folded them over and placed in a large ziploc bag. Because I used frozen food items, they travelled and held well in the cooler. These packages can be made up ahead of time and put in the freezer.

Here's a great list of foil pouch recipes on About.com

We are looking good for week 2 of the challenge.

No Spend month - Plan

I am following the basic plan from Small Notebook. She posted her plan for July here.

Our goal is to spend less than $400 for the upcoming month. After following Rachel at Small Notebook, I have done a few no spend weeks here and there. Our challenge is to limit and control our spending for an entire month. I love that Rachel has done this "No Spend Month" annually. She is quite an inspiration.

We are going to strive to only spend money on what is necessary and basic to living. This budget is for a two person household (my husband and myself). Our biggest obstacles will be with groceries as our normal budget for the entire month for food is $400. I will be doing lots of pantry cooking.

Here's the Killingsworth's plan for September:

What's included: (estimates)
Groceries $125
Gas $70
Eating out $50
Entertainment $50
Home maintenance supplies (cleaning, etc) $20
Doctor visits $30
Bus fare to work $55


What's not included:
Rent
Insurance(s)
Utilities
Tithes
Credit card payments

What we have cancelled already:
Netflix
XM Radio
Trip to the country


We are starting with a bare pantry, full freezer, and a bare fridge. I do not have many pointers on this but will refer you back to Rachel's post and updates. She did an excellent job of describing her project and providing links for helpful items. I will update on Monday our progress.

No-Spend month...

September is official our "no-spend" month..

I will put more details here soon..

But, you are now my accountability partner!