Cleaning Neurosis

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Anisa

josie-in-her-clean-bedIt’s another marathon cleaning day for me, I guess.  I started off the day (as I do many other days) with dishes and a load of laundry.  But, the thing is, I had already done most of the laundry yesterday.  So today’s laundry was the once in a while stuff.  The dog bed (ok, so that’s only a little less than weekly), curtains, rugs, bedspreads.  I don’t know where this cleaning bug has come from.  And I really don’t feel like I’m far enough along to count it as “nesting.” 

I also started cleaning out my closet and dresser, and that long forgotten bin of clothes under my bed.  It held clothes from before my pregnancy with Henry.  I just put that whole thing in the Goodwill pile, since I obviously forgot about it completely.  No sense in it taking up space.  Valuable space at that!  Like Katie Jean, I live in an old house without much storage, and we get creative about where we put things.  No room for junk! 

ridiculous-pile-for-the-goodwillAnd after finishing that, I moved on to Henry’s room.  Cleaning it out once again.  Seriously, if this keeps up, the poor kid will have no clothes or toys at all by the time I’m done with this pregnancy.

So where did I put all this *stuff*?  Well, we have an ever growing Goodwill pile down in the basement.  And, Rick and I have been discussing actually taking it to the Goodwill for some time now.  So that is where I’m headed after this post… to the basement to gather and load the Goodwill pile into the car to take to the Goodwill!  No room for junk, I say!

Yikes. 

On another note, I read a very interesting post today over at Crunchy Chicken on The neurology of spending.  It’s quite thought provoking.  I really am not a big spender, I find a lot of satisfaction in seeing how little I can spend at the grocery store, or re-purposing something I already have into something new that I needed.  But I AM kind of an emotional spender. 

Last week, for example, Rick and I got into an argument.  It was about nothing really, but those pesky pregnancy hormones kind of blew it out of proportion for me.  So I left the house, practically in tears, determined to see if I could get into the salon to get my hair done… a $60 + expense that I haven’t taken care of since October because, honestly, we just didn’t have the cash.  Fortunately for me, and the household budget, I couldn’t get in.  And I was spared the wrath of a husband and bank who would have definitely been upset by us not being able to pay out bills. 

That’s not always the case.  I’ve gone out to buy coffee, clothes or various other non-necessities under emotional stress in the past.  Sometimes it causes a lot of financial damage, but usually my “insula” (see the article for an explanation) kicked in and kept me out of too much trouble.  Even if the $4 coffee wasn’t in the budget, it usually doesn’t break us. 

Anyway, I enjoyed reading about why we are sometimes tempted to spend and what sometimes keeps us from doing so.  Do you ever spend in reaction to emotions?  What usually stops you?  And do I have an excuse other than nesting for this cleaning frenzy?? 

Tomorrow’s post (Thrifty Thursday) will be on cheap dates, in honor of Valentine’s Day.  😉 
xoxo

Categories: Recommended Reading | 3 Comments

Thrifty Thursday: NetFlix & Axing the Cable Bill

Posted on February 5, 2009 by Anisa

This week, in keeping with my Bills and Budgets theme, I wanted to share how we have seriously axed the entertainment area of our budget, without totally sacrificing a fun night! 

When we made the decision for me to quit my job outside of the home, we knew we’d have to cut the budget as much as possible to make it work.  One of the “easiest” areas to sacrifice was entertainment.  No more expensive sushi dinners (except on special occasions), very rare trips to the movie theater.  Even a trip to Blockbuster was just too expensive.   Cable… HAHAHAhahahahaha!  Like we need to spend THAT kind of money to be motivated to sit in front of the TV.

What we did do was rent movies from Red Box.  You know, those red movie kiosks at McDonald’s and other places (they’re popping up everywhere now).  A buck a movie worked just great.  That is, until we got a slew of DVD’s so scratched we couldn’t even watch them.  Not to mention the fact that I had to take the “drive of shame” into the Golden Arches parking lot to rent one. 

I’m sure all of you have at least heard of Netflix.  I had heard of it for a looong time before I gave it a try.  I had even set up an account for my grandpa!  But we never wanted to shell out the dough… I mean, how many movies can you watch?  But one day we realized we were hitting the Red Box for two to four movies a week.  That’s more than $16 a month for a limited selection of possibly scratched, guaranteed grease stained DVD’s!  We looked into Netflix for ourselves.  We have not looked back! 

We signed up for Netflix 1 at-a-time (Unlimited) Plan… for $8.99 a month.  We get about 2 movies a week now.  Any movie we want.  Or TV show, for that matter.  I can even reserve new releases like Seven Pounds or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button before they’ve even left the big screen.  And they have a nice little bonus feature called Watch Instantly.  You can watch TV shows or movies instantly on your computer at no extra charge.

So far we’ve watched Dead Like Me, Weeds, Dexter, and we’re getting ready to start Big Love.  All TV series’ on cable networks like HBO & Showtime.  Also, I’ve finally watched the Office and 30 Rock.  It’s fun watching a show “on demand” without paying On Demand prices.  And we only watch what we like! 

And when Friday rolls around, we run to the mailbox to grab the latest flick.  After Henry goes down for the night, Rick makes some popcorn, and suddenly, it’s date night!  There have been nights where we set up the highchair in the office, and we have “movie night” with Henry at dinner.  We eat our baked squash and watch The Incredibles or Wall-E as a family treat.  It’s a fun, money saving compromise.  🙂

We’re even considering NOT getting the DTV box when the switch happens… radio’s still free, and we can get any TV show we want on Netflix.  It’s ridiculously cheaper than cable, Blockbuster, and even Red Box (especially for movie buffs like us). 

Genny had a great blog a week or two ago about checking out movies at the library… a free movie option.  But if you need a bigger selection on the cheap, sans the fries, check out Netflix’s latest plans.   

See what Genny, Katie Jean, Tracy and Crystal have up their Thrifty sleeves this week!

Categories: Thrift | Leave a comment

Time for an Update

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Anisa

So, I’ve been doing this blogging thing for two years now (well, two years next month).  And I’ve had the title “Journeys and Adventures” the whole time.  But I’ve been feeling like it just doesn’t fit anymore.  I need an update!  Like a new hair cut or a great new shirt… it’s time for a change! 

But to what?

I’m thinking some sort or garden or green theme.  Like “How Our Garden Grows” or… I don’t know.  Not too cheesy, but something that speaks to what the blog has become about.  Family, the garden, food… I do a lot of posts on our weird hippie lifestyle. 

Any suggestions or ideas out there for me??

Categories: Urban Homesteading | 3 Comments

Sprouting Ideas!

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Anisa

I recently read this post on the Green & Clean Mom blog about Sprouting.  I have never heard of this before, but it’s something I can’t wait to try! 

I love the idea of quickly growing something edible in the kitchen during the winter months.  I know I would certainly eat more greens throughout the winter if I had them fresh and readily available in my kitchen every couple of days! 

Check out Green & Clean Mom’s blog for a basic overview of growing all kinds of bean sprouts in your own kitchen.  It’s very inexpensive (especially when compared with the cost of a little box of organic sprouts at the grocery store), and it looks very easy.  And for more info, just put ‘sprouting’ into Google and you’ll find tons of how-to and DIY sites that can lead you through, step-by-step as well. 

I’ll post a picture of my own sprouts in just a few days!

Categories: Food, Garden, Recommended Reading | Leave a comment

Removing the Microwave

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Anisa

micro1A while back, I noticed something interesting about our microwave.  Something besides the fact that it took up a lot of counter space.  We mostly used it for storage.  We put the tortillas and bread in it (like a bread box!).  We had a plant (not to mention junk and dust) on top of it.  If I got meat down for dinner from the freezer and had to leave the house, we’d put it in the microwave to defrost (as in sit in there, not as in using the ‘defrost’ setting) so that Josie couldn’t get to it.  We used it for all kinds of things… just not to heat food. 

I don’t really like microwaved food.  Since we mostly cook with whole foods and don’t eat a lot of TV dinners or instant foods, it was pretty much useless for cooking.  I don’t like it even for leftovers.  It makes crispy stuff soggy (like pizza crust).  It makes soft stuff crunchy (like noodles or tortillas).  It makes soup and drinks too hot.  It heats unevenly (like a frozen burrito: burning hot on the outside, icicle in the middle).  I would usually use the stove or our toaster oven to reheat stuff.  We use a teapot to heat water. 

So I started to wonder, was it just me?  Did Rick use the microwave more often?  There was already a ban on microwaving food for Henry (yes, I really do have a paranoia about the speedy cooking wonder, but that’s not what this blog is about).  I wanted that valuable counter space back.  It shouldn’t be wasted on something we never use!

But was our microwave more than just a glorified bread box?  I decided to observe.  For few weeks I hadn’t noticed either of us using it.  I admit, during that time, I made a conscience effort not to use it.  I wondered if Rick was using it in the mornings before I was out of bed.  I decided to hatch the “microwave eradication plan.” 

I told Rick that I noticed we really didn’t use the microwave all that much.  And that I was thinking if we went for a whole month without using it once, we should get rid of it.  He figured that we used it more than I thought, but agreed to go along with my plan as long as we could store the microwave in the basement, just in case we changed our minds. 

Well, a month went by microwave free.  There were a few times when both of us reached for it but, after a moment’s thought, found another way to heat our food.  The microwave was officially banished from my kitchen. 

I suddenly noticed a lot of changes that went along with the microwave’s move to storage.  We quit using plastic wrap.  You can’t really put plastic wrapped food in the toaster oven.  In fact, we really cut down on all the plastic we used around the kitchen.  We starting putting left overs in glass containers instead of the Rubbermaid or Tupperware, or wrapping them in aluminum foil.  My mom even gave me the old glass food storage containers, with glass lids, that my grandmother had (she lived 60 some years without a microwave until the 80’s).  Glass is BPA free, and both glass and foil are reusable and ultimately recyclable. 

We started paying attention to the prepackaged food we bought.  Can it be prepared without the microwave?  Is it’s packaging reusable or recyclable?  Can we make this ourselves from whole foods that come in little to no packaging?  –Packaging became really important after we cancelled the trash service!

Soon, we found it was easier and more convenient to leave the prepackaged food behind.  Not to mention tastier!  Fresh fruits and veggies, spices, real flavors.  Buying bulk pasta and making sauces (cream sauce, tomato sauce, cheese sauce) ourselves from fresh ingredients took about the same amount of time and effort, plus gave us lots of versatile ingredients in the kitchen.  I can think of tons of uses for cheese and milk, but very few (only one, actually) for the cheese sauce mix in a box of noodles.  Homemade popcorn from a pot or kettle is so much tastier and healthier then the artificially flavored microwave stuff. 

It’s been more than a year now without the microwave.  I do miss it occasionally.  Usually when I don’t drink my coffee fast enough and it gets cold.  But overall, I’m happier without it.  Although I didn’t get that counter space back,  we put a bread machine there instead…  Is it possible to live without all the modern conveniences? 

What things, big or small, have you done to live greener and healthier?

Categories: Urban Homesteading | 4 Comments

Thrifty Thursday: Eliminating the Trash Bill

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Anisa

recycle2I know it’s not Thursday yet, but I had some extra time today (Henry”s been napping extra the last two days), so this week’s tip is early. 

This week, I’m starting a new section in my Thrifty Thursday tips… Bills and Budgets.  Since it’s the beginning of the year, it’s a good time to get finances in order.  I’m hoping to have my first-ever guest author on the blog this month… she’s a banking whiz, a financial planner, former VP of a bank, and now a full time mommy.  I’m very excited to see what she has in store for my lovely readers!   More to come on that later!

One way to stretch that paycheck is to eliminate and reduce unnecessary bills.  Genny had a great tip a couple weeks ago on Budgeting Household Utilities.  In that same vein, I’ll tell you how we first reduced and then eliminated our trash bill. 

When we moved into our home, we immediately became friends with our next door neighbor, Doug.  One day, he asked us if he could piggy back on our trash service and in exchange, he would haul away any of our large trash items for us.  “Sure!” we said.  He’s a single guy, who really didn’t have a ton of trash anyway, and he saved us from ever having to pay for someone to haul away our big junk. 

Over the years, our trash service bill went up and up (and they were tacking on all kinds of fuel surcharges to boot!).  It was getting ridiculous.  So we decided to 1) shop around for another trash company, and 2) ask our neighbor to split the bill with us.  That would reduce our bill  by half at least! 

That was about six months ago, and at that time I really started feeling the “green guilt” of not recycling.  Our city doesn’t offer a recycling program, and our trash service at the time (Waste Management) charged extra to pick it up.  I noticed that our neighbor across the street put out weekly recycling bins for pick up, and decided to ask them if we could piggy back with them, and split that portion of their bill with them.  I figured half price recycling was better than full price. 

However, when we asked, they informed us that they had discontinued their recycling service because the Shriner’s had big dumpsters for recycling behind the Safeway (across the street).  For FREE.  Wahoo! 

bhg_recyclebinsSo, we started recycling for free, and along with composting (another TT tip in the making), we soon noticed that we were only coming up with a bag of trash per week.  Was one bag of trash per week enough to justify even half of a trash bill (with fuel surcharges)??  Rick decided that he could take one bag of trash per week to his work to dump in the dumpster there. 

We cancelled the trash service the next week.  Our next door neighbor didn’t mind.  He hadn’t yet split the first bill with us, and he had gotten free trash service (by piggy backing on ours) for more than 4 years. 

Although it’s not the biggest bill, for us, every little bit counts.  So by finding a local place to recycle for free, composting, and being conscience of the kind of containers you buy products in (buying things in glass, paper or recyclable plastic instead of Styrofoam and other non-recyclable materials), we were able to eliminate a whole bill, and a lot of waste in the landfills.

Find a recycling center near you at: http://www.therecyclingcenter.info/ or http://earth911.com/

Visit  Genny, Katie Jean & Tracy this Thursday for more ways to save.

*logos “recycled” from Google Image search.

Categories: Thrift | 7 Comments

Spring Cleaning?

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Anisa

So the last few days here in sunny Colorado have felt like spring.  Weather’s been in the 70’s practically all week!  Of course, we know it’s false… totally temporary.  Today it’s not supposed to be above 50, and this weekend it might snow again and should be down in the 40’s. 

But the warm weather has had me confused. And missing spring.  It’s waaaay too early to be wishing winter over… we still have two and a half months left! 

This morning one of the hens woke me up with an egg song.  They sort of “sing” or almost crow?? when they lay an egg.  I went out and looked around but I didn’t find an egg.  They molted this fall (as they do naturally, when you don’t keep them in a heated house).  And then they take a break from laying eggs for the whole winter.  I was stoked to hear the song actually.  But alas, I think it was a false alarm. 

Then, after breakfast, I had the sudden urge to clean the whole house from top to bottom.  I started in a weird place… my laundry area.  I moved the machines around to clean under them, and wiped them down completely.  I’ve organized the whole area already, and started cleaning out the cupboards above the washer & dryer to utilize them differently. 

Next up is a bath for the dog, and cleaning the office.  It feels like the kind of crazy cleaning I usually start in the spring.  I think mother nature has fooled me along with the chickens this week.

Categories: Chickens | 2 Comments

Spicy Kale Soup

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Anisa

Kale SoupTwo posts in one day, again!  Woohoo! 

Over the last few months (the last 4 months to be specific), I’ve been striving to eat more leafy greens.  Something that I need, but doesn’t always agree with my finicky pregnant stomach.  Here’s a recipe my mom sent me a while back that I finally tried last night.  Not sure exactly where she got it from??   

I made a few modifications. I did not use the chipotle peppers, since we didn’t have any.  I just added a few extra chopped jalapenos.  I think this would be really good with some of the roasted ancho (or is it ‘pablano’ after they are roasted?) peppers that we have frozen from the farm.  I also just used half a can of diced tomatoes instead of the called for tomato sauce.

Spicy Kale and Potato Soup

  • 1 TB organic extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium red onion, chopped
  • 3 TB slivered garlic (about 9 cloves)
  • 3 jalapeno peppers, minced
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, seeded and minced
  • 1 1/2 pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise
  • 1 1/4 tsps salt
  • 2 bunches kale (24 oz), tough ends trimmed, finely shredded (about 20 cups loosely packed)
  • 1 can (8 oz) no-salt-added tomato sauce
  • 2 TB organic balsamic vinegar

In nonstick Dutch oven or stockpot, heat oil over low heat. Add onion, garlic, jalapenos, and chipotle and cook 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is tender.

Stir in 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and salt, return to a boil, and cook 5 minutes. Add kale and return to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, partially cover, and cook 10 minutes or until kale is tender and potatoes are cooked through.

Stir in tomato sauce and cook 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar and serve.

Serves 6

Kale is packed with vitamins.  This soup (according to the recipe) is a good source of: beta-carotene, thiamin, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium, magnesium, potassium, lutein & zeaxanthin, quercetin, indoles, and capsaicin. 

Next time, I will leave out the potatoes all together.  They didn’t add any flavor, and they didn’t really absorb the flavor of the soup either. ??  But I will add wild rice in it’s place… this afternoon, I combined the left over soup with some cooked left over wild rice and it was awesome!    So I would recommend cooking the rice and then adding it right before serving. 

This soup would be perfect if you were sick with a sinus-y thing.  Spicy and delicious!

Categories: Food, Recipes | 6 Comments

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