Absolute Essentials in my Pantry

Some items I simply cannot live without in my pantry. Many are canned or dried and therefore keep long, some are fresh and must be used accodingly. Always having these things on hand allows me those lazy times when I simply neglect to plan, or get off my organized trolley. No matter how busy things get, we can still have a delicious frugal meal because my pantry allows me to skip grocery shopping for a week.

Soon I plan to start a weekly series of recipes that are straight from my pantry. You'd be surprised the myriad ways to recombine these pantry staples into absolutely fabulous meals on the fly and without planning. I keep a  list of quick easy meals taped to the insde of my pantry door in case I'm also short on creativity and ideas.

• Dried beans (various kinds)
• Dried lentils (a bean I suppose)
• Canned beans
• Marinated artichokes
• Crushed tomato canned
• Anchovies packed in oil
• Italian tuna packed in olive oil
• Canned wild salmon
• Whole wheat capellini
• Sobe noodles
• Olives
• Pickled onions
• Dried musrooms
• Flaked coconut
• Coconut milk
• Olive oil
• Vinegar
• Sea salt
• Spices
• Garlic
• Onions
• Soy sauce

Freezer

• Shrimp
• Spinach
• Peas
• Limes
• Whole wheat nan
• Ginger root
• Canned Italian tuna packed in olive oil
• chopped cilantro
• chopped parsley

Stay tuned for my pantry recipes series.

Snow Removal & Frugality

As I write this, I am sitting pretty on my bed actually with a steaming cafe late that I just brewed.   I hear the plow guys outside clearing my driveway. This little luxury will cost me $35. Now this is not a huge amount of money, but when there is 10" of snow, well then it costs me $75. Plus there can be many snowfalls in NE that require removal.


Last year I spent at least $750 on snow removal. I am considering buying a good snowblower which costs about that same amount. I confess I am scared on many levels. Since my beloved travels a lot, I'd often be stuck handling the machine all by myself, they look so big and I am smallish; maintaining the machine looks daunting; storing the machine, my garage is already the epicenter and as yet untouched capital of my clutter issue. 


Surprisingly all the neighbors, even those who would never cut their own grass, have a blower, they are all men though. One of the men is flimsy, he's had a heart attack. I should be at least as capable as he is. No? oh, I don't know, it's not the expense of the blower, I am just scared to own such a big machine. What if it breaks? How will  I even get it home? I'm sure Home Depot delivers. Actually one of my neighbors is a single woman and she handles her own blower nicely, she is 3X my size. I am 5'6" weighing 119 lbs, she is 5"5" weighing maybe 225lbs. She packs a good bit more power than I.


I admit to having difficulties handling any domestic things going wrong. I keep my home in tip top shape because I am literally frightened of more than one thing being broken at once.  Disrepair and dilapidation gives me panic. A "fixer-upper" would never be in my cards. I would make an excellent "Hotel Resident" don't you think?


Meanwhile I sit here deliberating, my hard earned money flows, or is literally plowed from my door. I think I need to buy this monster of a machine. Stop making girly-girl excuses, be a woman, invest in the machine, and happily snow blow my driveway.

Frugality means sometimes spending to save. Over the years, how much have I already spent on snow plowing? I could have already bought a truck with a plow.

To be sure, all my emotional barriers aside, the purchase of a snow blower makes excellent fiscal sense. But I am in the process of simplifying, not adding big mean machines to my cluttered garage. Well, better a few useful machines than the useless clutter that now resides there. Poor garage.


Hopefully I can allow my intellect and good sense to override my emotional barriers. As I write this, my barriers seem sillier and sillier. We shall see.


Do you have panic over owning too many big machines, things that are not liftable? Is it just me with these issues? Is it just me that feels safer with junk than machines?

Living Well on Unemployment

An idea -
Recently I blogged about a brainstorming session where I strategized a plan for my finances and life in the event of a job loss. Out of this exercise came the feeling that I deeply want to start living as though I were already unemployed, execute my strategy, now, while still employed.

I am one of the fortunate ones that for the time being is still employed. There is no such thing as job security. In preparation for a possible job loss, I've decided to start now "living as if" - as if I were already unemployed.

Here it is:
If unemployed, I would be eligible to collect 674$ per week for 100 weeks. I realize that for many, this is a lot of money. We live in a very high cost of living east coast city, where this amount does not go far at all.

Figuring it all out -
I have calculated, backwards & forward, and designed a plan to scale back my life to be able to easily live on the $654 per week - my unemployment benefits.  This is $2,834 per month, I personally know many people who pay this for their mortgage or rent here is our beloved city. Many.

I was able to easily outline a scale-back plan for my life because I have no debt other than my home mortgage. I have lived debt free all of my adult life. I learned this value from my parents who never used the word debt free, they simply lived the example.

 Since most of my expenses are discretionary, for the next 100 weeks (which is the amount of time one can presently be on unemployment,) I will voluntarily live my life as though I were already unemployed. The difference in my pay will automatically be transferred out of my checking account into an "unemployment preparedness account" I have set up at ING direct.

A sobering reality -

I am under no delusions, these funds could very well be a saving grace should unemployment come calling at my door, and it very well could. Presently it looks like I have a job until the end of 2010, barring a would be war III or calamity of that magnitude, let me rephrase that, I will be paid my current salary until the end of 2010. After that, it is not at all clear. This experiment, challenge, could end up being a saving grace. In the upcoming 100 weeks of saving I will accumulate enough to pay off my mortgage. Imagine that.

            Here's a very high level look at my plan

Things I am cutting out completely: In recent few years, because I have no debt, I've little by little added tiny luxuries. They are nice, I appreciate them, but they are by no means needed. I will eliminate them all. Go back to living how I used to when I was saving to build my home.

House cleaner - this will cost me much time and effort. I like my home to be impeccable, and this is a good bit of work. I have researched this topic in detail, and I've settled on a system that I think will work nicely for me. There will be posts on this to come.

Landscaper - I will clip my own hedges & cut my own grass. In addition, I will also be growing all my flowers from seed at home. I will also be increasing my kitchen garden. I am sure I am underestimating the amount of labor, we shall see, I will of course post many updates.

Cafeteria meals at work (though this is no great sacrifice) - this is such an interesting topic that I have a post dedicated to it. Essentially, in summary, eating in the café at work is the single biggest rip-off there is.

Spa treatments (facials, manicures, pedis etc) - for me self care and health is a top priority. I will be learning to give myself facials, I also plan to experiment with herbals instead of always buying creams & products. Should be an interesting journey. Stay tuned.

Hair dresser - not ready to have grays - so I will experiment with color & technique - I am even considering signing up for an esthetician's course.

Clothes & shoes shopping - well - this is a gift because I definitely do not need any new clothes. There will be many posts on this topic. I have so much that can be retouched and made gorgeous. I will be creating a lot of what I need instead of buying.

House things shopping - I will make use of various Good Will stores. I did this before, but have not stepped in a Good Will for some years. This alone should be interesting. I've been inspired to do this by some of my favorite bloggers.

Vacations - these will be taken garden side - yup - toiling in the earth - I have 5 weeks available to me for vacation as well as an extra week I can spend dedicated to charity. I am lucky to presently be employed by a very generous corporation.

Restaurant meals - these will be very limited to special occasions & I will eat dishes I'm not likely to make at home.

Season Tickets to Symphony - I will go only a couple of times per season -these will be carefully selected

Other things I will be focusing on/ cultivating/ doing:

•  Focusing on health & wellbeing & learning
• Going more & more green
• Simplify
• Focusing on personal growth
• Experiencing deeper gratitude
• Connecting better and deeper with people
• Becoming more sensuous
• De-cluttering - yes this is a huge money saver
• Reigning in my scattered creativity
• Becoming much more creative
• Exploring new frugal hobbies
• Shopping only thrift stores (as little as possible)
• Eliminating fluff
• Streamlining & organizing my house
• Streamlining my kitchen
• Streamlining & optimizing my pantry & freezer
• Eliminating food waste
• Reducing my trash & recyclables
• Cooking - lots & lots of it
• Reducing my energy consumption
• Reducing my food budget drastically
• Reworking my land line & cell phone
• Eliminating cable
• Limiting gasoline budget
• Implementing modified envelope spending system
• Taking care of & pampering myself more than ever
• Using the library - lots and lots
• Riding my bike in 3 seasons
• Entertaining creatively on a shoe string
• Learning new languages
• Giving more of my time
• Exercising strict discipline by choice
• ...and much much more….

 Things I will NOT be doing:

• Giving up my yoga studio membership ($1,000/yr.)
• Giving up my late model BMW- paid for - has 40K miles - insurance expense - only drawback
• Changing oil/ repairing my car
•  Washing used baggies (I will try to eliminate them)
•  Dumpster diving (expt. interesting pieces - furniture to make over)
•  Getting things for free on freecycle to sell on ebay
•  Any illegal or questionable practices

 I am excited because I feel this is a much needed shift in my life.  I plan to learn a lot, and become more and more resourceful as I refocus my attention onto the details and blessings of consciously running our life.

 I look forward to the extreme simplification that this will introduce back into my life. Already the planning has been transformational. Despite doing this by choice, I am fully committed.

The byproduct of this endeavour is that if I do become unemployed, I am that much more ahead of the game, both in savings as well as in resourcefulness and abilities. Just imagine, by implementing and following this plan, I will save enough in the 100 weeks to pay off my mortgage, should I choose to do it. This is no small consequence.