Going Green

I'm a supporter of the green movement.

I do my best to minimize my waste, I try to buy local organic foods, my vehicle is a gas sipper, and I try to take public transportation when possible.

That being said, I'm also a supporter of frugality.

I'm trying to be better with my money, I try to buy things that will last rather than something that will fall apart quickly, I try to repurpose and reuse things rather than throwing them out, and I try to maintain the basic skills out ancestors took for granted (cooking, sewing, gardening, etc...)

So, when I came across a post about inexpensive eco-friendly style, I jumped right in.

And I was disappointed :(

The shoes for the outfit in question were vintage, and the top and pants were sale items.

So what's the problem?

Well, I'm really wondering what we're encouraging by buying the stuff on sale. Don't beat me down with the frugal broom, please hear me out. Nearly everything we buy in North America is mass produced, and as such there are certain economies of scale that go along with it. Mass produced good are cheaper to make, because less of the production set up and cost is carried by each of the individual items. These economies can not be reproduced by small independent designers and retailers, but they still have to compete on the same playing field.

Compare an organic cotton t-shirt from a small manufacturer to a Gap t-shirt (just an example). The Gap t-shirt costs less than the organic one, and is the shirt that most people would end up buying. Most of us would wait until the organic one was on a clearance rack before we went for it, as is suggested in the post. In doing this, are we actually supporting a green movement? Nobody considers that the profit margin on the Gap shirt is much higher than the one from the small manufacturer, and by waiting for it to go on sale we're not really supporting the small manufacturer.

We've been fed a the fast food equivalent of clothing for long enough that our understanding of how much clothing costs has been skewed. Has anyone gone into a fabric store lately? The stuff isn't cheap. By constantly waiting until things have gone on sale, we're cutting into small business's abilities to grow, and I don't believe we're really supporting them that way.

I don't have all of the answers on how to mesh both movements together. By all means, they are most certainly complimentary. I'm wondering though, does anyone else see the problem with only buying certain things on sale?

2 Bucks

I mentioned a little while back that I'd be doing a post on a $2 dinner party. I was driving down Whyte Ave yesterday when I remembered a) that I hadn't done the post yet, and b) that the dinner party was this weekend and I hadn't planned anything yet! Crap.

Anyway, the $2 dinner party is essentially a cost controlled potluck where no meal component costs more than $2 a serving. The party host provides the main course, and a topic of conversation to discuss. Everyone else brings either an appetizer, salad, dessert, or something else to add onto the meal. Since the number of people attending will vary from party to party, your available funds for preparing the meal is going to vary as well.

The friend who originally came up with the idea hosted the first party in March. She prepared chicken pot pies with a biscuit topping, and rosemary focaccia bread to start. I believe she had $12 to work with, and she only went over budget slightly because she threw in a sweet potato she had on hand that wasn't actually required (there was more than enough food, trust me!). It was a tasty success.

I checked the attendee list yesterday (we organize it on Facebook), and I had 3 people attending, with 2 maybes. After asking the maybes to give me an idea if they were going to be able to make it, I had one attendee drop out, one maybe bump up to attending, and one non-response bump up to maybe. So, I'm again back to 3 attending and 2 maybes. Ah well.

I'm going to assume that 1 of the 2 maybes will actually show up, so I'll be feeding 4 people. That gives me $8 to work with for the main course. My first thought was a pasta dish, such as a carbonara, which is still my standby if need be. I can get good pasta and individual slices of bacon cheap at the Italian grocery store. However, I'm thinking more along the lines of Indian food this go around. My goal meal for the party is to do vegetarian samosas, dal (daal, dhal, dahl, etc...), and naan bread for under $8.

I'll put the price breakdown for what I end up making on here for you guys when I'm done.

If I buy something that doesn't get used in it's entirety, I'm only going to be counting that fraction of the price towards my total. I'm already planning to take the remaining tomato paste and turning it into pizza sauce for leftover naan bread pizzas anyway(Om Nom Nom). Because there are so many different spices in small quantities (does 1/4 tsp of cinnamon even register on a bulk scale?), I'm going to assume my spices/salt/pepper will cost me $0.75. That may be a little on the high side, but oh well.

So, I'm off to the grocery store this morning. Wish me luck!

Small Successes

While it wasn't a cheap weekend, this past weekend was a weekend of small successes.

I went down to Holt's on payday to pick up some moisturizing lotion for my face. I have some cream left, but with the weather changing it was beginning to feel kind of heavy. My face was starting to break out, and I was hoping to kick that before it got out of hand. They have a sales "event" coming up, but it's one where they give you 10% back in gift cards, and you have to spend $350 to qualify. Not happening. I asked the lady at the counter for a bottle of lotion and she launched into a sales pitch on how I really won't see the full results unless I also use products X, Y and Z with it. Great. My skin is a gleaming beacon for sales people, screaming: sell stuff to me! *sigh* Anyway, 10 minutes later I've left the sales counter without the bottle of lotion, but with a handful of samples! I know from last time I used their samples that I'll be able to get a couple weeks worth of use out of them before I run out. So, it doesn't appear that I'll be spending money on moisturizer this month. If I get the sales pitch again next time I go in I may just order it online.

Spring is coming in a hurry right now. Where I had snow up to my hip 2 weeks ago I now have a patch of sad looking grass that is about to turn green in the coming weeks. I did a little online hunting for a weedwacker, because the $150-$250 for a gas model wasn't really an option. Success! I went on to the Canadian Tire website and found a little electric model for $40. I'll have to drag an extension cord around behind it, but I don't care about that. I have to do that with my lawnmower already anyway.

I spent probably a good hour Sunday evening making breakfasts and lunches for the week. I now have a stack of peanut butter bagels, salami and cheese sandwiches and containers of salad for this week in my fridge. I spent  a little too long in the shower this morning so I didn't have time to boil water for tea, but having my breakfast and lunch ready for today means that my spending will be limited. Extra bonus is the fact that since I've been focussing on eating my veggies again rather than reaching for easy carbs (scones, muffins, buns), I've been feeling better. I don't feel bloated, my skin feels better, and I'm not dealing with the hunger swings and crashes. Fewer crashes = less spending. Even better is that I'll probably be able to curb the recent migration of pounds to my midsection again.

I said sayonara to the dry cleaner and handwashed a couple of my dry clean only items last night. The result? Well, I'm wearing one of the items right now and it looks and feels the same as it does when it comes back from the dry cleaner's. Minus the chemical smell. You can consider me sold. Maybe now the money I set aside for clothes will actually be used on new clothes rather than on cleaning my existing ones. Score.

I FINALLY picked up an iTunes card when I went for groceries yesterday. Now I can download music without using my credit card. That only took me... oh... 2 and a half months... Oops. The important part is that I did it.

Did any one else have an small successes this weekend?

Potato Proof

There is no such thing as "can't"

There are only excuses.

I find this is particularly true with urban gardening. Unless you live in an illegal apartment with no windows, you can garden. I offer my own proof:

 

Those right there are potato plants growing in reusable shopping bags. I had some baby potatoes from the grocery store that were sprouting in my cupboard; rather than throw them in the garbage, I decided to plant them.

They grew :)

Not only did they grow, they also produced potatoes which I ended up eating in the fall.

All of my gardening last year was actually done in containers. Potatoes, herbs, asparagus, tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, you name it. You don't need to spend a lot either, as you can see above a little creativity can go a long way towards getting started. Friends of mine grew tomato plants out of the BOTTOM of their hanging baskets. You don't have to worry about staking them that way, and they don't take up any floor space :)

I will be trying to move my potatoes into the ground this year. We'll see how that goes.

I know of at least one blogger who is planning to write a whole series on urban gardening, which I am eagerly awaiting! I'll make sure to link to it when she puts it up :)

Has anyone done any creative gardening lately?

Tracking Coinage

Okay, a little legend for the calendars below:

Green = No Spend Day

Yellow = Spend Day

Red = Used Credit Card

Here's how it went for the month of February:

February - All Spending
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		$75.00	$1.25	$0.00	$1.25	$24.00
$0.00	$2.09	$0.00	$2.85	$3.16	$117.15	$13.13
$0.00	$27.37	$199.59	$2.85	$15.24	$1.60	$0.00
$0.00	$3.57	$4.20	$0.00	$1.60	$31.66	$1.25
$0.00	$1.25

*fritter fritter*

*fritter*

*fritter fritter fritter*

You hear that? That's the sound of me frittering away money on a near daily basis buying tea and breakfast items at the university. It occurred to me about half way through the month that I was doing this, so I decided to see what my spending would look like if I took the morning treats out of there. This was the result:

February - Spending, Without Morning Snacks
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		$75.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$24.00
$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$115.00	$13.13
$0.00	$25.27	$195.39	$0.00	$12.90	$0.00	$0.00
$0.00	$3.57	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$31.66	$1.25
$0.00	$0.00

Considerably more no spend days!

However, when I totalled it up, my morning breakfasts out added up to about $30.79 over the course of the month. That's just over a dollar a day. I expected it to be much higher than that once I realized how often I was doing it.

Now I'm trying to decide whether this is something I want to stem for the sake of saving a little extra money, or just let slide for the sake of sanity? I know that the *right* answer is to bring my tea and scones from home and put the savings towards my emergency fund; but right now I am feeling a bit of frugal fatigue.

It sucks. Hard.

The savings grace of having this habit at the university is where I can go to get my snack attack breakfast fix. If I was getting a venti chai latte and scone at Starbucks, it would set me back about $8. Grabbing an extra large chai tea and scone at Cram Dunk? Closer to $2.50, $2 if they have day old baking. The tea itself is $1.25.

I have a month and a half until class is done. To be completely honest, I'm probably going to let myself fritter on this in the morning.

Frugal? No.

Sane? Yes.

I'm already crazy enough as it is, I don't need money driving me further down the rabbit hole.

Leftover leftovers?

Okay, so it's really freaking cold outside, and I don't really want to go out there right now.

Which kinda sucks, because I need to pick up groceries soon.

I looked over my fridge, tossed the items that needed tossing (how did 4 month expired yogurt get missed in the last clean out?), and assessed what was left. Not much. A couple eggs, a splash of milk, some mouldy cheese and a container of spinach cheese dip from going out with a friend a couple days ago. On the counter was some bread crusts leftover from having some friends over for an english tea a little while back.

My fridge is not usually this barren. I blame the weather.

I have a reasonably stocked pantry, but I was feeling the need to use up what was in the fridge before tapping that. Well, tapping that too much anyway.

I trimmed the mould off the cheese and cut into small, meltable pieces (there was too little to shred). After cooking a pot of penne and draining it, I threw the cheese pieces to melt, and added the remaining spinach cheese dip. The result was a cheesy spinach pasta, with a little kick. For whatever reason the restaurant we got the spinach dip from does theirs with a tex-mex edge. If I find the pasta is too dry when I reheat it, I can throw some salsa in quite easily to fix that.

The bread crusts (about 1/2 a loaf's worth?) were torn up into little bite sized pieces and spread out in a baking dish. My last 3 eggs and splash of milk were whipped together with a few handfuls of homemade vanilla sugar and vanilla extract. I say handfuls, because I was too lazy to get a measuring cup out of the cupboard. 3 handfuls - That's about as precise-ish as I can get on this recipe. On top of the crust pieces I liberally sprinkled nutmeg and cinnamon, as well as a few handfuls of crushed walnuts and a handful of dark chocolate chips, before pouring the egg mixture over it. I pushed the bread down to make sure it all soaked up some egg mixture, covered the dish in tinfoil, and put it in the oven at 350 Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes.

Om nom nom.

I have some Devon cream in the fridge at work to put on that bad boy.

I now have breakfast and lunch for the rest of the week :)

Then I really have to go get groceries :s

Has anyone made anything interesting out of their leftovers lately?

Darn It

Over the course of about a week I realized that I had not only weak spots in both of my good pairs of jeans,  but I had holes in both of them as well.

*growl*

I had never heard the term "chub rub" until I saw Daisy over at Add Vodka write it in a recent post. I laughed pretty hard at that one, and it's exactly the cause of the wear in both pairs of jeans. I'm not really ready to let these jeans hit the curb just yet, so I dug out my grandmother's jar of assorted needles and thread colours. She gave it to me before she passed away years ago, and since then I've been able to colour match every item of clothing that has needed repair.

Repairing clothing to make it last longer - frugal.

Repairing jeans that you spent $200+ a pair on? .... Errrr, I'm having a hard time calling that frugal just due to the starting price. Call it bringing things a little closer to reality?

That being said, the one pair is almost 4 years old and is well below the $0.50 per wear point. I'd buy them again given the choice.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only person out there to run into this problem before. I've never been a fan of fabric patches on my clothes, and I certainly don't need to be putting a decorative patch near my butt to camouflage a wear hole. I just want to preserve the fabric so it stays in one piece and looks as close to the rest of the denim as possible.

The first thing I did was pick a thread colour to match the colour of the denim. I'm not a fan of contrast, especially for patch jobs. After figuring out how far the weak spot went in the denim, I back stitched a border around the entire area. This was to serve as a rip stop incase the area let go on me while I was wearing it. It also gave me a defined area to work within.

After encompassing the weak area, I used the same stitch to go back and forth across the hole. You know those threads that are left holding the fabric together in one direction only? I'm stitching them back into a fabric. If your hole looks like the picture to the left, you'd be stitching up and down across the threads. Denim fabric has a rib in it, and I used the existing fabric to space my stitches. Every 2 or 3 ribs I'd do another row of stitching until I'd worked myself from one end of the encompassed area to the other. After that I worked on a diagonal and reinforced some of the really weak areas. The fabric should hold up for a few more months at a minimum. Was it time consuming? Sure it was, but so is working to earn enough money to replace the jeans. 

I got one of the pairs done last night, the other pair will have to wait for another night.

My Two Cents

I never expected anyone would ever read my blog, let alone go out of their way to tell other people about it! Yet it's happened a couple times this week. Thank you to The Asian Pear and Saving for Travel, I appreciate the shout outs. I feel all warm and fuzzy now :)

I picked up a couple pennies at the LRT station. One last night, one this morning. You can't actually buy anything with a penny anymore, I'm pretty sure that even penny candy is all five cents and up now (can you still get candy for a nickel?) Those of you in Canada probably remember the announcement back in December that the Bank of Canada is considering abolishing the penny due to the fact that inflation has eroded it's buying power to the point that it's nearly worthless. It costs more to produce them than their face value.

So why am I picking up a couple dirty coins on my way to the train? Other than because I always have?

Future value.

No, I'm not holding on to them in the hopes that they become rare items and make me a millionaire. They're going in my coin box, the one that goes towards my extra mortgage payment. Those two pennies will save me seven pennies over the life of my mortgage, and that's just assuming that my interest rate doesn't go up. If my rate after renewal went up to 6% and stayed there for the rest of the mortgage, those two pennies would save me about eleven cents. That's eleven cents I don't have to fritter away on my own.

Is seven, or even eleven, cents really going to make a difference on a two hundred and forty some-odd thousand dollar loan? Not really. But if I do it enough times it will. These pennies are my little snowflakes.

Hence the coin jar.

It doesn't take any time, and it doesn't cost anything, so why not?

In Defence of Valentines Day

I like Valentine's Day.

There, I said it. Let the hate mail commence.

I like the cards, flowers, and all of the little gestures that come along with it. I'm not going to pretend I don't, because I do. I know we're supposed to love each other every single day, 365 days a year, but here's the thing: life gets in the way. When you're tired, you have a deadline at work, the dog just spilled the garbage can, your spouse left the toilet seat up (again...), and you're changing junior's 3rd diaper before 8am, how many people are thinking "I love ____. I'm going to do _____ to show them how I feel."? Very few. If you do, kudos. My hat's off to you, but you are a statistical anomaly.

If your entire focus on this day is the price of (admittedly overpriced) roses, or how much Hallmark is wringing out of your wallet, you're missing the point. If she loves you, a piece of paper folded in half with some heartfelt words on it is going to mean just as much to her, if not more, than a purchased card. Does she NEED a card? Well, no, but it is a nice sentiment. Same with flowers. Do you NEED to buy flowers from a florist who is making a killing off you for a very brief couple weeks in February? No. (Though if you do want to get flowers, check out Costco. Really good selection, way cheaper) If the shelf life of roses irks you, why not do something about it?

Why not make the flowers?

Out of duct tape?

Silvery duct tape flowers.

I think I'd propose on the spot to the guy who ever made me those....

Why are these things important to me anyway? Am I a materialistic prima donna? (Wait, don't answer that, my consumer debt isn't really helping my argument here) I'm going to go with no. Valentines Day was something that did get a bit of focus in my family though. My parents celebrated it, as did my grandparents. When I was a kid, my dad worked 2 day jobs, while going to school in the evening so he could get a better job. My mom looked after the farm, baked bread to sell at one of the stores in town, and looked after my sister and I. They were obviously very busy, and very tired. Valentine's Day was one day that come hell or high water the rat race took the back seat to the fact that they were in love and wanted to celebrate that. No one lamented over the price of a card, or snorted in derision at the shelf life of flowers. They are simply appreciated, and they are a beautiful display of the affection my parents share for each other.

Now, I've started seeing someone over the last couple weeks. Do I expect the same grand sweeping gestures my dad tries to show my mom? Of course not. But, we are going out tonight. We're going skating. It doesn't cost us anything, but it's special to me because we're making a point of seeing each other today. Like most people, I see him mostly on the weekend when there is more free time. Seeing him today is a little gesture that makes me incredibly happy, because if it wasn't for the fact that it is Valentine's Day today, I'd probably just see him again next weekend.

That little bow and quiver of arrows may have had some questionable aim over the last couple years, but I'm not going to hold it against the chubby little cherub. In fact, I support him. The little bugger has his heart in the right place, which is exactly what I hope for everyone else today. Happy Valentines Day everyone. Go show someone you care.

Staple Soup

Kelly over at Almost Frugal did a post recently on the 6 key ingredients she uses in her day to day life to make quick easy meals. It's good to have fall back stash of multi-purpose foods you can rely on in a pinch when you need to make a quick, easy and cheap meal.

Reading through her list I realized a) I don't bake as much as I should, and b) I'm running out of my staples at home and need to stock up! Haha. It got me thinking though. While initially I looked at the list and thought "Yep, those are my staples too", I realized afterwards that they really weren't anymore. My staples have shifted.

These are Kelly's 6 Staples:

1. Flour
2. Baking Powder
3. Salt
4. Oil
5. Milk
6. Eggs

These are my 6 Staples:

1. Tea
2. Milk
3. Sugar
4. Bread
5. Eggs
6. Pepper

That's not to say that I don't use the other items, because I do, it's just that these are the 6 I use most frequently and almost always have on hand. I'd be lying if I said I never skipped meals and just had a cup of tea instead because I'm busy or on the run. I almost did that tonight :s Add on some squash, onions, garlic and canned tomatoes to this list and I'm pretty content for quite a while.

I'm not going to put up a recipe for my top 6, because I'm pretty sure most of you can figure out what goes into an omelet or french toast yourself, but I will put up one I did recently with squash and garlic. Actually, I do it frequently. It's stupid simple.

Basically:

= 

You take a medium sized butternut squash, cut it into chunks that are similar in size to a golf ball, and put them in a roasting pan. Then take the papery peel off ~8 cloves of garlic, and throw them in the roasting pan with the garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, wrap top with foil or lid, and put them in the oven at 350F/175C until they're softened and toasty (about 45 minutes). Let them cool enough to handle, and take the peel off the squash (you're supposed to do it first thing, but I find it's easier this way). Put the squash and garlic into a pot, and cover with either stock, or water with bouillon cubes/powder. Simmer on medium-low for about half an hour or so, then remove from heat. Either transfer this to a blender, or use an immersion blender, and blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, reheat if necessary.

It's really easy to make, and super forgiving. You can put the stuff in the oven and walk away to do something else while it's roasting. Ditto when it's simmering. It's really adaptable too, you can add all sorts of seasoning to it. I usually like mine with just salt, pepper, and a dollop of either yogurt or sour cream.

Anywho, I have homework calling my name. Have a good night everyone. Happy eating :)

The Cost of a Guilty Pleasure

I know that taking a bath uses more water than taking a shower. I know this for a fact. Put the plug in while you're having a shower and note the water level when you're done, almost guaranteed the tub isn't even half full. From a green standpoint it's abhorrent that I prefer baths to showers, I know. However when I come inside after walking home from the bus stop in -35, a 5 minute lukewarm shower just doesn't get rid of the chill. It really doesn't. Enter long hot bath. I've been wondering for a little while what my baths are costing me though, seeing as during the middle of winter they happen much more frequently.

Excuse me while I geek out for a bit, I've been wanting to do this calculation for a while.

If you're looking for an easy metric unit reference sheet, I'd recommend using this: http://xkcd.com/526/ Geeky, somewhat tongue in cheek, and not necessarily 100% accurate. Perfect.

The temperature of cold tap water here is close to 10 degrees celsius. I wouldn't be surprised if it's colder than that right now, but I'm going to use this as my starting point. I like my baths somewhere around 43 degrees to start, which means the water has to be heated 33 degrees.

My tub, very crudely measured to bath water level, is approximately 40cm x 60cm x 135cm. I'm not going to take my body volume out of there, we'll just assume that I'm going to warm up the water at some point. This gives us a volume of approximately 0.32m3.

It takes 4.184 Joules of energy to warm up 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius. 1 gram of water is approximately 1cm3. So, in order to warm up my bath water, I'm going to require: 

(0.32m3) x (1,000,000cm3/1m3) x (33C) x (4.184J) = 44,183,040J or 44.18 MJ

So now I know how much energy this is going to take. Kinda. This is assuming everything goes absolutely perfectly, and that every last bit of energy is converted into heat and goes directly into the water. As nice as that would be, it doesn't happen this way. My hot water tank is heated by natural gas, which isn't overly efficient. Lets assume my tank is 65% efficient.

44MJ / 0.65 = 67.69MJ

That's probably a little closer to what is actually being used to heat the water. My gas bill charges by the Gigajoule of energy. Not that they know the exact amount of energy I'm getting, they've just applied an average conversion factor to the volume of gas provided. Anyway, from my last set of utility bills:

$3.97/GJ for the gas itself
$0.53/GJ for the gas delivery
$0.23/GJ for the GST on the gas
$4.73/GJ for heat

$1.59/m3 for the water itself
$1.18/m3 to drain the water
$2.77/m3 for water

Apparently GST is charged on gas and electricity, but not water? Oh well. I'm only taking the variable charges on this, because I have to pay the fixed charges regardless of whether or not I take a bath. I'm also not taking the electricity for the bathroom fan into account, because I don't really feel like looking for the motor rating. That would mean actually finding the label! lol.

So my guilty pleasure is currently costing me:

(0.06769GJ x $4.73/GJ) + (0.32m3 x $2.77/m3) = $1.21

That's better than I was expecting. Cheaper than Starbucks, that's for sure. However, I can see how this would add up over time. Having a hot bath every day of the month rather than a quick shower? That's almost $40!

It's enough to make me think "I'll just have a shower tonight". Tomorrow, maybe not so much ;)

Food For Thought

Mmmm lunch time.

I stumbled back across this slide show earlier today:

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/slideshows/food-health/how-much-food-can-you-get-for-a-dollar.html

I've actually seen it a couple times, but it never really loses it's impact. It's 20 pictures of how much food you can buy for $1, from a couple threads of saffron to 4 somewhat sorry looking grapefruit. The prices are from New Mexico, so they don't translate to the same amount of food here, but it's still interesting in terms of scale. What's even more interesting is when you consider that many people live on $1 or less every day. I'd be interested to see this photograph experiment performed in countries all over the world. How much would $1 buy you in Nigeria, Russia or England?

It's unfortunate that the items with the largest volume per dollar are also the ones with the lowest nutritional density. Something just seems downright wrong about the idea that the more processing an item gets the cheaper it becomes. Processing and manufacturing cost money (a lot of money actually), so one would think that the more processing went into an item, the more expensive it would be. You know, like it used to.

Thanks Henry Ford.

I'm actually quite surprised by the grapefruit comparison. I don't know about you guys, but the organic produce in my area looks more like the photo of the 4 grapefruit rather than the photo of the individual grapefruit. Not that I could get either for $1. Going to the conventional grocery store I'm more likely to see the "pretty" fruit.

"Pretty" food landed me in the hospital as a kid, but that's a story for another day.

I'm just curious, when did we decide we were too good for ugly food? I feel like it's been ingrained into me, even though I grew up eating oddly shaped, yet very tasty, veggies at home. I know a couple shops I can get "ugly" fruit and veggies from, and I go to them for different foods that they carry. Purple bell peppers anyone? My Italian market sells them, but I still hesitate at the "flawed" veggies. I'm actually mildly frustrated with myself for this, because there is a substantial cost savings. Do you find yourself hesitating when faced with blemished food?

Food for thought.

Going A Little Far Don't You Think?

Don't get me wrong, I love my Starbucks, but don't you think you're going a little too far?

http://www.everydaymoney.ca/2011/01/starbucks-adds-whopping-drink-size.html

A 31 fluid ounces of sweetened beverage? 3 ounces shy of 1 liter? Is this really necessary? No, it's not. It's enabling gluttony. Why not just make the people walk out the door with 2 grandes or 4 shorts? They're the same thing!

I've always been a bit miffed by the fact that Starbucks doesn't list it's short beverage prices on the menu. I was right ticked off when I heard they were planning to take the talls off the menu as well. Marketers know full well that people order what they can see, do most people even know that they have a short option?

The problem here is twofold. Larger sizes come at larger prices. Only show people the larger sizes, and more often than not that's what they'll buy. Waistlines get larger and wallets get smaller.

I like the small coffee shop concept of Starbucks. Yes, the charm has taken a considerable hit during it's global hyper-expansion, but it's still there. Competing with McDonalds and 7-11? Come on Starbucks, I'm disappointed in you.

Mish Mash

Today's post is about as jumbled as my mind is right now. Coincidence? I think not.

Canada is changing their mortgage rules:

http://money.ca.msn.com/investing/news/breaking-news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=27283795

There's 3 fairly substantial changes with the new bill:

As of March 18:
Maximum amortization periods for mortgages with less than a 20% downpayment will be reduced from 35 years to 30 years.

The maximum you can borrow when refinancing your home is reduced from 90% of the value of your home to 85%

As of April 18:
home equity lines of credit will no longer be backed by government insurance.

I can understand the government pulling back the amortization period. For a while there the periods were getting longer and longer to the point that a lot of people were taking out mortgages they wouldn't be able to pay off in their lifetime. I could foresee them eventually pulling it back to 25 years from 30. It kind of sucks for young home buyers, especially since housing prices are still so high here, but it's a necessary evil to prevent worse things from happening. *fingers crossed*

Some of you may have read about me slapping my head about being too cheap a couple days ago:

http://diggingoutandup.blogspot.com/2011/01/technology-hates-me.html

Update, I ordered internet service to be set up. I'm waiting for them to call me about an installation appointment.

I also found another place I shouldn't have been cheap on: TISSUES! That's the last time I buy non-lotion tissues just because they're on sale. My poor nose is not happy right now.

Also, I got another Vicks Vapour Rub tip from a friend: put it on the bottom of your feet! Works like a hot damn. Check out more ideas here.

http://diggingoutandup.blogspot.com/2011/01/frugal-health-remedies.html

And finally, thank you to everyone who dropped by for a read today. I just hit 1000 page views. Love you all!

Off to the doctor's office now.

Ode to the Sugarbowl

This is my favourite breakfast spot. Quite frankly it has been since I was introduced to it 4 years ago by my then/usual/current dining companion. It’s been an institution in this area since the 1940’s. Originally a burger and fries type joint, it was converted to a Belgian style cafe in the 80’s. I can’t attest to the accuracy of the “Belgian style”, but I can promise they have an assortment of tasty Belgian beer.

 In the late spring, summer and early fall the front garage door style walls open up to allow fresh air into the interior of the restaurant, while the patio opens for patrons to sit outside. Seeing as it’s minus-freaking-cold outside, we sat inside where it’s a cozy little restaurant during the winter. There is an ever rotating selection of local art on the walls that you can usually buy, and if I’m not mistaken they hold live music nights as well. I’m kicking myself for not inquiring about some of the photographs they’ve had up in the past. They had a beautiful photograph of an arctic fox on the tundra a little while back that I would have liked to have at home.

Om Nom Nom

They do a good job of syncing with the community. It’s in Garneau, one of the older areas of Edmonton on the south side of the river. It’s somewhere that has equal appeal to older locals who have lived in the area for decades, and the ever rotating student population that filters through here. Some of us stick around, though the area is far too expensive to buy in, especially when you’re just starting out. It’s understandable, almost everyone who has lived in the area wishes they could stay. Instead we make the drive in the mornings on the weekends.

If you don’t get here before about 9:30, you’re going to be waiting for a table. Most people have discovered it’s worth the wait, as there is typically a line up out the door, especially during the summer. Why? You see that cinnamon bun, the one about the size of my friend’s head? It costs $3.50. Perfect student food! Most people can’t finish one in a sitting. I don’t know if I’m proud or ashamed to say that I can, lol. They’re made fresh every morning, and they’re still warm if you get there early enough.They’re extremely popular, and are frequently sold out by 10:30 when school is in. A cinnamon bun, a cup of tea (same kind they use at Starbucks), tax and tip comes to $7. You are FULL afterwards. I love this place.

That right there is my ode to the Sugarbowl. If you’re ever in my neck of the woods you should check it out. We’ll probably be there ;)

Technology Hates Me

There comes a point where sometimes you realize you're being too cheap. Either that time is now, or technology in general has decided it hates me and is now ganging up on me.

I had the internet set up at home, then I had a roommate who had paid for his internet up front at his old place move in. Since I was paying month to month and he still had several months left on his account which he had already paid for, we switched the internet over to his. When he moved out, I decided I could get by without the internet at home, seeing as I could check my e-mail on my phone, and I could look at things online during my lunch hour at work. It worked reasonably well; the only time I ran into issues is when I wanted to put pictures in my blog posts, and those pictures were sitting on my computer at home. A little pre-planning and a USB key could probably fix that, but instead I contented myself with not using pictures.

My phone started having problems :(

So, I took it into the Apple store to get it fixed. They gave me directions on how to fix the issue, and I went on my merry little way. I had every intention of posting today, so I grabbed my laptop and headed over to the Starbucks near my house. Free WiFi and 1/2 price chai? Sign me up! I paid for the chai and settled in for a little blogging when a login screen popped up. Wtf? I asked the barista about it, and apparently their WiFi was down. If I had known that I would have stayed home rather than paying for a drink. *grumble*

But, seeing as I had a drink beside me and a comfy place to set up my computer, I figured I'd fix my phone. I connected my phone to iTunes, synced it, pressed the sequence of buttons as I had been told to do earlier. The phone shuts down, does everything it's supposed to do... then can't find iTunes. Huh? Check the connections, everything looks fine, then the phone crashes. Crap.

All I wanted to do was write a blog post!

So now I'm sitting in the Apple store again, using their free WiFi, while my phone is being restored to its factory settings. Apparently iTunes had to be connected to the internet in order to fix the problem? Nobody told me. It's been several hours since this started, I'm hoping I didn't lost too much.

Did I mention this could have been avoided if I had just set up the internet at home? For about $30 a month? Yeah, time to stop being cheap. I'll call them tomorrow.

I'm Dreaming of a Green New Year

It's -20 outside, with a solid layer of snow on the ground, and yet all I can think about is the garden I plan to plant this spring. We always want what we cant have, don't we? Hahaha. Come summer I'll be wishing I could be skiing, but that's beside the point.

I spent the past spring fighting off the influx of weeds that was pretending to be my lawn. The place I purchased had been sorely neglected for 5 years by the previous owners, more than enough time for dandelions, crab grass and thistle to take root and choke out the actual lawn. Tackling them gave me a good idea of what kind of soil I'm dealing with when it comes time to plant an actual garden.

Absolute crap.

For whatever reason, builders here are allowed to put a layer of sod down on top of the clay and call it good. No top soil, nothing. So, I have to figure out how to make a wad of clay into a passible environment for vegetables to grow in, and I have to do it as cheaply as possible. I'm suddenly glad I started thinking about it now, rather than waiting for spring to figure out a solution.

My plan basically comes down to adding sand to loosen the material up, some cheap topsoil to give it a bit of a starter, and adding as much organic material as possible to try and enrich the soil. Friends of mine have a farm I could get some manure from, but I'm not sure I could handle a 5 hour drive in a Smart car full of manure. I'm fine with going out of my way to grow organically, but I think that well exceeds my limits. Maybe I'll do it if my allergies are really bad and I can't smell anything.

I remembered that Starbucks has a program where you can get free 5lb bags of used coffee grounds for your garden, so I figured I'd check that out.

http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/environment/recycling

I went to a couple of stores and was told that while they knew about the program, they didn't do it. Talk about wind out of my sails; I was quite disappointed, but not entirely deterred. Thankfully, Starbucks isn't the only place that makes coffee. I took an empty yogurt container into work and emptied the used grounds from our floor's coffee pot into it. I'm going to need to take bigger containers in to work, as the yogurt container was full before the end of the day. The container is currently sitting on my back porch frozen solid waiting for spring, and will soon be followed by many others. I've also been saving my used tea leaves as well to add to the mix. Egg shells and vegetable peelings will round things out until I can get my hands on some manure. I'll have to talk to some of the farmers at the local farmer's market about that. Perhaps trade a load of manure for an afternoon of shovelling?

The other half of the mix, the sand, is going to be a little more difficult. If I was up north near my parents it would be much easier because a) they have a truck to move it with, and b) there are public sand pits where you can go to get free sand. Here, not so much. I've heard there are places in town you can go to get free sand to put on your walkways during the winter while it's icy, but I'd want to make sure I wasn't leaving people with slippery sidewalks so that I can have an inexpensive garden. That wouldn't be fair to them. The other thing I'd have to check is whether or not they've mixed any salt into that sand. It would kind of defeat the purpose of mixing up healthy soil if I throw salt in there as well.

Topsoil, unless I can find some somewhere that's been screened, will probably be coming from Canadian Tire. I can get 10lb bags of the no name brand soil for $2. Seriously, using brand name soil is like drinking brand name water: pointless. I'd like to remove the cost of this one, but it's going to be difficult.

Once I've got that under control I'll be putting in potatoes, carrots, squash, lettuce, beets, peas, rhubarb and possibly asparagus. I'd like to put in onions and garlic, but they need to be put in the ground during the fall to grow to any appreciable size, as we have a fairly short growing season here.

What do you guys think, am I missing anything important? If you have any cheap tips or ideas for rehabilitating clay soil I'd love to hear them.




  

A Long Haul

Q: What is 1360km long, costs ~$80, and takes about 16 hours to complete?

A: Driving north to my parents house and back on snow covered roads for Christmas. Cheaper than flying, though I may take my time value into account once my finances are back under control. Back to blogging tomorrow :)

Quick Fix

I’ve always worked in what most people would consider atypical industries for a petite young woman. Material Testing Technician, Oilfield Operator, Construction Engineer… Unusual, but quite enjoyable for the most part. They pay reasonably well, but they do have their downsides too. For example, I worked on a large interchange project in Edmonton a couple years ago. The drive to work was super short (7 minutes, mostly waiting at red lights), but the hours were long. I’d find myself joining the other guys on site for fast food at lunch, and ordering in for dinner, because it didn’t feel like there was much time for anything else. I was tired, I was lethargic, I was crabby, my clothes weren’t really fitting anymore, and most importantly: I was sick of take out.

One week later in the construction season, I got a day and a half off for a weekend (rare!) I went home, flopped on the couch, and started listing all of the things I could make in 15 minutes or less. I posted it on my fridge, with the heading “No Excuses!” That way when I came home I could look at the list, pick something to eat, and make it in the same amount of time as it would take to drive somewhere and wait in line. Not only that, but I could control what was actually going into my food. The amount of oil, sugar and salt that was poured unnecessarily into my food at fast food restaurants was churning my stomach.

I no longer work for that company, and my work hours have gotten a lot more reasonable, but the appeal of having a list of quick meals I could make is still there. I have a busy couple of months coming up, as I’m going to be taking 2 university courses while maintaining a full time work load. Unfortunately I forgot the original list on the fridge when I moved out of the townhouse, so I figured it was time to make a new list! Here are some of the meals I can throw together quickly:

Fusili with Pesto and Ricotta Cheese

Super quick and tasty! Longest part of the who process is boiling the water!

Homemade Egg Drop Soup with Spring Rolls 

I keep spring rolls from the Asian market stashed in freezer

Omelet or Frittata with assorted fillings

Mushroom & cheese, chicken & salsa, ham & bell pepper, go nuts!

Green Salad with Nuts, Fruit and Cheese

For those days I really wanted to forget about working on site

Penne with Bolognese Sauce and Garlic Toast

If the meat is thawed, this really takes no time at all, even from scratch

Soba Noodles with peanut sauce

Cook noodles, mix with peanut butter/soy sauce/ sesame oil. Add chicken, carrot & green onion or eat plain

Pita Pizzas

Throw a little sauce and cheese on a pita with whatever’s in the fridge

Breakfast for Dinner

Scrambled eggs, pan fried ham, fruit salad, heck even cereal works

Paninis

Again, use whatever is on hand, grill and press it until it’s toasty

Miso Goup and Green Salad with Sesame Soy Dressing

Either grab miso paste from the health food/Asian store, or try it dried

Leftover scramble

Potatoes scrambled with eggs and whatever meat/veggie is leftover in the fridge

Apricot Chicken with Couscous and Yogurt

Pan fry cubed chicken breast, glaze with apricot jam/water/chili pepper

Quinoa Salad

Toss quinoa w/ nuts, chopped peppers, onion, seasonings, sesame oil, whatever…

That’s just a quick list. There’s lots of resources on the internet for this one too. Check out the recipe generator from Real Simple that churns out recipes for quick dinners. They all have pictures, and look really tasty!

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/dinner-15-minutes-selections/index.html

Shape magazine has a whole section on their website dedicated to quick healthy meals too:

http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/meals-and-menus/quick-and-easy

Eating well also has an article with a bunch of quick healthy meals:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/15_minute_dinner_recipes#leaderboardad

What are your quick go to meals when you’re in a hurry? I’d love to hear and add to my list before I start getting busy in January!

Cheap Dates

My boyfriend came home Saturday :)

He's been gone the better part of a year and a half doing training for the military.

It got me thinking a little while back about what we could do in terms of cheap dates. I don't have a lot of money to spend, and I seriously doubt he's okay with paying for everything we do together. That being said, he did take me out to eat this weekend. It was enjoyed and very much appreciated.

What else did we do? We went for a long walk in West Edmonton Mall (not to shop, it was -18 plus windchill outside so we needed somewhere we could walk without freezing), we watched movies at home, we went to the gym together (using passes I get free from work), and just relaxed. All free.

I have a pair of free movie passes at home, and a $100 gift card to one of the nicer steak houses in town. I'll probably save the movie passes for later in the month, and possibly organize a double date with friends of ours at the steak house. I think there might be a couple winter festivals coming up that we could check out reasonably cheap, if not free, and I believe they have free outdoor skating and hot chocolate at the legislative grounds right now. I'm going to ask about borrowing my dad's snowshoes; my boyfriend can borrow snowshoes from the military, and there is a park across the street from my house we could trample around in. Lululemon offers free yoga on Sunday mornings, but I'm not entirely convinced we could get out of bed early enough for it. Other than that, I'm not sure what we could do right now.

What are your favourite things to do for free/cheap with a significant other? Any ideas for cold weather dates?