Ann Leach

It's the beginning of the month and so the perfect time for refocusing myself to a meal planning.  Are you a meal planner?  Do you tend to make the same comfort foods?  Or do you enjoy new foods for every meal? I like the simplicity of making the same foods over and over again.  I know it sounds boring, but it works for me.  And I do change up the seasonings and add in new recipes so I think it's a good mix. As a homemaker, I think meal planning (and preparing) is my biggest challenge.  Off-the-cuff cooking rarely works for me, so a plan is a must.  But sitting down and writing out a plan is just-so-hard!  (I know.  Poor me, right?) So, here we go for November: Breakfast cocoa & toast & fruit fruit & yogurt (homemade) & granola (homemade) BLT & egg & cheese (stole this one from Bob Evans) cold cereal or granola & milk & fruit Light meal egg salad sandwich tuna salad sandwich leftovers ham & cheese sandwic...

Money, the taboo topic.   We're taught, by our parents and the culture we live in, to not talk about money.  Don't talk about how much you make.  Don't talk about how much you spend.  Don't talk about the ins and outs of credit cards.  Don't talk about how much financing really costs. And if you're in a financial mess, don't talk about that either. So we're each alone in dealing with our finances.  Oh sure, you an ask your folks.  And get the lecture.  Or you can pay for a consultation with a financial advisor, and their sales pitch (usually).  But where can you just sit and talk about the basics? What if you just want to know you're not the only one who is bearing the consequences of a bad choice?  What if you just want to share ideas and hear other people's thoughts on what is working and not working? I propose that it starts here.  My sustainable living passion isn't just about the planet, environment, and being fruga...

If you are looking for a way to reduce food waste, get a small fridge. "What??!!  Noooo..  I need a bigger fridge to put more food in because it's going bad!!" Think about what you just said.  Really, think about it.  You already have a fridge, probably a fairly spacious one.  And food is rotting in there.  Why?  Did it get pushed to the back (rotting zone)?  Is there more than one so one is good and the other bad?  Did you put it in there with all the best intentions of eating it tomorrow? And then forgot about it? See, I know whereof I speak.  I had one of those refrigerators.  It was big!  I mean really big!  It stuck out 6 inches in front of the kitchen counter.  And I was throwing away SO MUCH FOOD!  After a while, I started filling empty milk jugs and putting them in the back on each shelf, yep in the rotting zone.  That helped.  Finally when I opened the door, I could see everything in ther...

We did it!!  That's me and DD, we set the Budget, Planned the Meals (or borrowed somebody else's meal plan), got our Morning Routines done and made the big shopping trip to Aldi.  Now our stockpiles are set for a month.  whew! If I truly had a full stockpile system in place, it would be for the better part of a year, not just a month.  But this is a starting place.  And it's done!    We have bought all the necessary ingredients for 25 dinners and it came to just under $180 Aus.  This is the meal plan shared here  ( http://www.iamthatlady.com/25-meals-for-under-150-at-aldi/ ).  I bought nearly everything on the list, and made up for the few I didn't get by picking up a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread just because K loves it and a few other items. Overall, I am very pleased and surprised that food prices here in Aus are that close to what they are in the US.  In my own mind, I had figured we were paying double. In our budget, we ...