Gardening!
05 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in craftables, my project Tags: self-sufficiency, tips
I am not sure why I haven’t posted about this fun news yet. It started off as something small but ended up ballooning into this amazing set of projects. The funniest thing, to me, was that prior to this year I barely gardened at all and now I am leading people down the path to green thumbdom.
It started back in September when I went to this course called “Bucket Brigade.” It was a container gardening workshop that showed you how to put together a self-watering container from old buckets, pvc pipe, and a cup. They aren’t the most attractive piece of landscaping, but they work amazingly well. Especially in climates like Florida where things shrivel up and die in an afternoon if you forget to water it. There is a video that shows what I am talking about here.
Anyways, so after taking this class it kind of snowballed from there. I began my own gardens at the housing projects with the hopes that people would see them and want their own. Meanwhile, we also hosted a community event on MLK Jr. Day (back in January) for residents in south county. The weather didn’t cooperate with us that day, but we still were able to have fun and give some families container gardens. The host site of our event was a middle school that had an amazing garden facility, albeit in terrible disrepair. We decided to see about clearing it out and working with some kids…and a few weeks later a garden program was (re)born at the school.
We have established a container garden program at work and so far 6 residents have started buckets. It is funny how gardening is such a great ice breaker. I will be outside picking off fallen pine needles, watering, or picking off fresh fruit, and people always want to ask questions or find out what is growing. Often times people are so surprised that you can grow your own food. But when you are able to turn that surprise into excitement and participation then it becomes a positive experience.
I have included a few pictures of some of the gardens so far.
Some of the more recent pepper harvest:
Bucket gardens. Green (or red if you wait long enough) Peppers on the left, Basil up front, and Tomato on the right.
Raised Bed Garden:
Our nearly finished pathway, made of discarded/broken patio stones:
The kids at school have really turned having nothing but discarded junk (rocks, old warped wood, etc.) into something awesome. I will yank a few more pictures of Facebook this afternoon and post more.
More Making…
11 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in craftables Tags: tips
I told you I was busy making things. This one is not Christmas related, but goes to show that you can really give your house some nice things if you have a bit of creativity, staples, and spray paint (some might also argue for a glue gun).
I found this step stool at an art sale for $1. The art sale itself was amazing. Tons of inexpensive gently used art supplies. I got a few things for printmaking and then of course this thing:
I didn’t really need it, but I saw it had potential. And it was only $1.
I bought a can of Jade spraypaint and a box of RIT dye. I colored a piece of leftover fabric, sprayed down the metal…and tada:
It was a small monetary investment (under $5) but I think it was worth it. I am not sure yet about the color so it might get changed later on, but for now it works 
More Crafty Christmas
05 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in craftables Tags: christmas, crafts, DIY, gifts, tips
Here is the project I have been looking forward to finishing: Star Wars peg people for my nephew.
You can find a tutorial with better quality pictures here.
There are many places that sell unpainted peg people. Michael’s (which I assume to be one of the more expensive places) sells 2 large for around $1.19. You get 3 of the smaller (Yoda) ones for the same price. I’m sure there are other retailers that sell them. I already had the paints, Fimo, glue, and gloss. So, including the 25 cent piece of felt i got from Walmart, this project cost me around $5.
You don’t have to make Star Wars guys/girls you could make your own family, a miscellaneous family, cartoon characters, movie characters. Whatever your heart desires. These are fabulous little figures made with love. They can also be light on the wallet too.
Enjoy
I have one more gift up my sleeve, and a rehabbed step stool that I got for $1 coming up in the next weeks.
Crafty Christmas
03 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in daily trials & tribulations Tags: christmas, gifts, tips
So, as I mentioned earlier in the week. I was hoping to post a few entries about crafts I have been doing. Affordable crafts, that is. I have one that is 90% done and is fabulous. I will have it finished by Sunday and post then. For now though, I have today’s craft. It cost me $1.28 (not including glue/fimo). It isn’t anything fancy, but it makes a cute cheap centerpiece for my Christmas guests and it will stay on my table through the month.
Materials:
• 3 pieces of cardstock or scrapbook paper. I did a mix of 2 scrapbook pieces and 1 cardstock. Both worked just as well. Currently Michael’s is selling scrapbook pieces for 25 cents (I am not sure if this is a deal, as I never buy them). So if you had to do a bunch of these now’s the time to buy! They also frequently have 20-40% off coupons that you could use to make this cost less than a dollar.
• Wooden skewers. I had a bag of these left over, but normally they are under $1.00 per bag of 100, and they have multiple uses.
• Glue, Scissors, a Compass (or items you can trace that are circular: cups, plates, etc.)
• A base to hold up the sticks, can use old spools, sand, clay, erasers.
• Optional: Fimo clay for the ball on the top. I made mine a bit too big 
If you had to go out and buy everything new then this craft would be a bit more money, but most of the time we have the odd spool or bit of playdoh or clay laying around.
The directions can be found at Martha Stewart’s Christmas Craft Section.
Here are how mine turned out:
Instead of spools I used bits of Fimo stuck to the bottom of my bowl and I used Fimo for the balls on top.
Not as good as Martha’s, but I am still pleased. I also like the variation of patterns rather than using just green paper.
Have fun!
Leftovers.
18 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
Leftovers. That word used to depress me. I love food, and I love eating different things each day. However, when you are on a budget it just makes financial sense to eat for lunch what you had for dinner the night before. Therefore, recently I have combated the boredom and foodie-depression that can come with this routine. The first way has been to freeze leftovers. The same night that I make something I freeze it right away for a future lunch. Usually, this lunch is a few days or a week in the future. And, if I make enough of the meal I could see the same meal feed me for lunches for a month. This depends on the meal, and some things freeze better than others, but a frozen pasta/caserole dish really lasts me a long time and provides variety throughout the week. At one time I had 4 different meals frozen. My other suggestion is to be creative. Here is what I did this week:
My two original meals were steak and mashed potatoes with frozen brussel sprouts and a refried bean/rice dish with sour cream, home made tortillas, guacamole, etc. Well I made two steaks. One for steak and potatoes and one to be cut up for future fajitas. The next day I took what was left over from my bean and rice dish and fried up some steak with spices and onion. Tonight I took the left over mashed potatoes, sprouts, and mushroom sauce I had with my steak and turned the potatoes into potato pancake with a veggie side and sauce. So, even though the bean/rice dish was very similar with steak… it changed it enough to appease my tastebuds. This means I turned two meals into four different dishes (1. steak/mashed 2. refried beans/rice 3.steak fajitas/beans/rice 4. potato pancakes). For someone who hates leftovers, I was satisfied. It also made financial sense.
One thing I am quite proud of: I have barely thrown away any food in the past two months. I am ashamed to say, this used to happen more frequently before because I hated leftovers and they would just sit in the fridge until they went bad. “Leftovers” is no longer a bad word in my kitchen.
Routines, Coupons, and Shopping Around.
21 Sep 2010 1 Comment
in recipes Tags: recipes, tips
So, firstly I am sorry for the lack o’ blogging recently. Unfortunately, I had to leave town for a family emergency. However, all is now well and I am hoping to return to my regularly scheduled blogging routine. There is something to be said for maintaining a routine, and after spending many days sleeping on other people’s floors, couches, or air mattresses I am quite happy to be back at home in my own bed, with my dog.
Despite the upheaval I have managed to find a few experiences to report back on. One of which will save me $155 a year. Prior to moving I did a lot of research on internet providers. (Un)Lucky for me, there are only two in my area: The telephone company and the cable company. Well the telephone company couldn’t offer me anything other than mega high speed fiber optic internet service. Amazing service, not great for someone on a budget. Internet was going to be my only form of entertainment, but I still had to be budget conscious. Therefore I was left with the cable company who had a few different packages with the cheapest being $42. Until I called back a different time and got a price of $32.95. Not great, but it was better than $50+ tax that I would be paying for the mega fast super amazing high speed. Well, after a suggestion from another individual I called back again this week following receipt of my first bill. There were no surprises, the bill was for $32.95 as promised, however I was told I could get the same service for $19.99 so I thought I would call and see if I could get any deals. I was not holding my breath, as I had called the company 4 previous times in order to get a good deal when I was doing my initial set up, why would they reduce the fee of an already paying customer? Well, they did. For some reason, maybe it was because I actually called and asked. So, I went from $42 to $32 to $19.99. I guess calling back a fifth time was worth it.
In more important (read: food) news I have a new recipe to share. I’m sure it is not high on the health food meter, and probably equivalent to a million WW points, but it was good and it was cheap and would have been 40 cents less if I had been able to print the coupon.
~1 package of a velveetaesq shells and cheese dinner (my generic one was $1 and would have only been 60 cents if I had been able to print off the 40 cents off coupon but couldn’t due to technical limitations).
~1 can of cream of XXX soup. I used mushroom but chicken or celery would work too—59 cents
~1 soup can worth of milk—35 cents approx.
~1 can of tuna—59 cents
~1 cup of frozen peas—25 cents
~10 or so crushed up saltine crackers—15 cents
Cook the noodles until they are al dente, mix in the mysterious cheese, the can of soup, the can of milk, peas, and tuna. Other ingredients could also be added, like onions, garlic, hot peppers, etc. Put this mixture into a casserole dish and cover with the crushed up crackers. Everything is basically cooked, but I popped it into the oven for 30 mins at 400ish.
The total cost for this meal is under $3 ($2.93) and I got 5 heaping servings out of it. That means each meal is 59 cents. Yes, it is basically a glorified tuna casserole with a rubber cheese additive and yes, it is not the healthiest meal on the planet and I want to get away from pasta centered meals, but as an occasional quick, easy, and cheap meal you’re going to be hard pressed to find something else. It also freezes well which is important for me as I pack away a lot of food for lunch the next day.
Up next will be a vegetarian pot pie. Again, using the cream of mushroom soup. I wonder if anyone ever eats these soups or are their only duties to serve as a foundation for yummy meals.
Comfort Food and Coupons.
07 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in daily trials & tribulations, recipes Tags: tips
A new grocery store opened up this weekend, it’s called Aldi and it was quite hyped up by the newspaper ads, flyers, coupons, and website. I love finding good deals (see my post about Save-A-Lot) and so after my landlord gave me a $5 off a $30 purchase coupon I decided to give it a try. Well, there were some good deals. But the funniest part was watching the other shoppers. Apparently people here have never paid a quarter to use a shopping cart (you know, the kinds where you get your quarter back when you return it) nor have they ever brought their own bags (or had to pay for a plastic bag). These are all things I have been doing and experiencing for ages. They are cost saving maneuvers, so usually not experienced at boutique or higher priced grocery stores (See: Publix, which I love with all my heart, but just cannot justify paying $1.99 per lb of tomatoes there). So, after I stifled my giggles at the people completely aghast at putting a quarter in the cart, I began to look for deals.
Some stuff was a pretty good price. There was a 10lb bag of white rice for $4.49, very awesome. A lot of soups were 59 cents, and I got a small block of cheese for $1.79 (usually this sized block is a steal at $2.00 on sale). Their produce wasn’t greatly priced, although for the first time since my arrival I spotted an English Cucumber. So, I packed my cart full of canned items so that I would hit the $30 so I could use my coupon. In my search I did get some off-brand Hamburger Helper and 2lbs of ground beef @ $1.89 a lb. I decided to make myself the (in my opinion) ultimate comfort food of Beef Stroganoff (generic) Hamburger Helper. While not the healthiest meal, it does make you feel all warm and snuggly inside, and it is very affordable.
1 box of “Hamburger Helper” ~ 59 cents
1lb of ground beef ~ $1.89
1 1/3c milk ~ 35 cents approx.
1 1/2c water ~ for ease we shall put zero.
This puts this meal at $2.83 total. The box says it makes 5 servings, so that is just under 57 cents a plate, not counting bread/butter/etc.
Top that off with a glass of $2.99 wine (also available at Aldi) and you are set for a pretty affordable evening.
Week 2: Magic Jacks and Cat Trees.
03 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in daily trials & tribulations, resources Tags: a day in the life, resources, tips
So, week 2 has come to a quick end and the long weekend of Labour Day is upon us. This week was better than the last, I think, because I had some ideas of what my next steps should be. Week one was a lot of reading of manuals/government papers/etc. but this week I got to begin some projects. I’m still in the phase of collecting community resources so that I can have answers for my clients when they say “I can’t go because…” One of the first activities that I had to advertise for the community was a Money Smart course which teaches the basics of banking. How to open a checking account, what the fine print in credit card statements say, how to repair your credit. Seemingly basic practices that a lot of people just don’t know/understand. But stuff that is integral to being financially sound in society. So, I put up some flyers around the public housing community and hopefully we can get a few people to sign up for that class. Next up is seeing if anyone in the community would be willing to volunteer themselves as a childcare provider so that single parents are able to get out of the house and go to these events.
The rest of my week revolved around purchasing a telephone at Target so I could use my Magic Jack that my mom’s friend got me. I also had to find a solution to the cats scratching up my chairs, and get the car checked over. Everyone’s favourite “Check Engine” light came on and I needed a new tire.
Well, the Magic Jack has been amazing. For $40 you get a device that truly is magical. You plug it in to your USB and within 5 minutes you have a phone number and can use your telephone via your broadband connection. Perfect, because my cell plan is for texting only. Well, while I was under Target’s tantalizing spell I decided to check out their pet section. I ended up succumbing to their marketing and I purchased a small cat tree for $27. So far the cats have shown more interest in the box it came in, so hopefully that changes. I had spent the week looking for a free cat tree on freecycle and craigslist but I was concerned about fleas/smells/etc. that were going to come with a used cat piece.
While I was waiting for my tire appointment I met this “homeless” guy on a walk through the local artist community. I say “homeless” because that was what he told me, so I have no idea if there is truth to the label he chose for himself, or to what degree he was in fact homeless. Either way, it was an interesting exchange. I was taking pictures of the neighbourhood’s colourful houses and he made some comment. Well, I responded and told him what I was doing and then he was adamant about showing me this paper mache cow they had a few blocks away. Well, truth be told, I’m not one to walk down the street and make small talk with strangers–regardless of their housing status. However, we walked and talked and he shared his feelings on Christianity and his situation. I told him that he should go and help himself at the nearby offices if he is in need of bus vouchers or food/etc. I think part of him wanted to go get the items, but part of him was just too fed up with the procedure, or really didn’t feel like jumping through the hoops that day. Fair enough, but it was a reminder that we can’t help those that don’t want to be helped.
New Beginnings.
15 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in daily trials & tribulations, overview Tags: a day in the life, tips
So, we have arrived in my new location. Almost finished setting up the apartment to my liking. I just need to find a few pieces of furniture so that I have some spots to put out my books and computer properly. We went to the nearby thrift stores yesterday and they were really disappointing. Not really well priced nor a good selection. Hopefully once I get settled in and learn the city a bit better I will know where to go for the good deals.
Unfortunately, I have been spending quite a bit of money lately. Mostly in “start up” costs. The refrigerator is empty so we had to purchase the staples like milk, bread, eggs, peanut butter, etc. I had no spices so I went down to a nearby bulk/organic shop and purchased a few spices. The prices there were decent. Buying in bulk is way more affordable. I just need to get a few of those small spice tins now.
In my travels I also found (and used) the nearby laundromat, as my apartment doesn’t have laundry facilities. The plan is to buy a clothing horse so that I don’t need to use the dryer. This will save money and energy. And honestly, using a dryer when you live in Southwest Florida just seems ridiculous. It is already blazing hot and the clothes will dry super fast, even with the humidity. Washing a large load cost $2.00 and I think I spent about $2.00 in the dryer. I am going to assume around $4.00 a week for laundry. Luckily most of my work attire is darker, so it might be possible to just get away with one load a week. It is really hard to rewear clothing here as you just sweat, sweat, sweat. Once the fall/winter comes though, I’m sure I won’t have to wash every item of clothing after only 15 minutes of use.
The laundromat was quite fun, actually. Those types of places are great for people watching because you are expected to sit around and wait. There were only a handful of people there when I went, but that is likely due to the fact that I went mid-day on a Thursday. I imagine that on a Saturday/Sunday morning it would be a lot busier. It is open 24 hours, so with the heat and the busyness factor I think I will likely go in the evenings, maybe even later on. There is something odd to be said about doing laundry at midnight.
So far my only long term purchase has been internet service. I am holding off on getting a cell phone until I get my first living allowance. I still want to purchase one for emergencies, but I think that might be it. I really like texting friends, but there is also something liberating about not having a telephone where you can be accessed at any and all hours. In a few weeks I will be receiving a Magic Jack. For $20.00 a year you can have VOIP service. I will use that to talk to friends, make appointments, etc. As well, I have decided against purchasing cable tv. Mostly due to cost, actually completely due to cost. However, there are so many tv programs available online in the US (hulu.com is amazing) that I will not go without my favourite programs.
Anyways, this post is getting rather long and I have some mopping to do.
Eating Healthily, Locally.
12 Jul 2010 1 Comment
in resources, Uncategorized Tags: major research project (mrp), resources, tips
I came across another guide to eating cheaply, Eating Locally on a Budget . While some of the ideas I think we all are aware of like, “don’t go to the grocery store when hungry,” Ms. Bravo has also shared some other great tips that I thought are worth writing about here so I/you can reference them later.
A few of the key ones I need to take advantage of:
6. Walk around the farmers’ market before you buy anything to compare prices. I most definitely need to hit up the farmers’ market in my new town. I am lucky to be moving to a place that has a much longer growing season, so I am hoping that this will be reflected in the cost and availability of food. I shall be visiting roadside stands and farmer’s markets frequently. Hopefully I will be able to supplement my actual grocery shopping visits with these stops.
14. Embrace rice and beans! Luckily for me, I love rice and beans and cheese type dishes. Love them! So this will be less difficult for me to continue to adhere to. I am even going to try my hand at creating my own refried beans from dried beans.
Yum. All this talk of food has made me hungry.
In other news I have reached critical mass on my major research paper. I am in the final editing stages with the hope of completion within a week (it is due July 27th). Very excited, very nervous.
