Can I Live On My Small Fixed Income?

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I must say, that I have never been one to be frugal at anything, especially when it came to spending.  Not that I bought really expensive things at all but when my husband was alive, I just never thought about money!!

In fact, I must have been in that mind-set even when I was young.  I remember my father always telling me "that I thought I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth!"

Hmmmm

It really wasn't till recently, when of course, I knew the stock market wasn't doing too well, that I thought possibly I should pay attention to what I had and how it was doing!

Hence, deciding to put myself on an actual written down budget.

Up to that point, I never did have a budget!!

Well, I had a rude awakening.

A wide-eyed moment!

Not the good kind.

I discovered that I was spending more than was coming in!

Every Month!!

That is the first "no-no" of living without going broke!

Kind of scary!!!

I started listening to Dave Ramsey about getting rid of my debt I had on credit cards and using only cash for the things I needed.

I bought his book, "The Total Money Makeover"

(Recommended by the way!)

I took the credit cards out of my purse and put them away.

I successfully got rid of my credit card debt and only have the debt of an equity loan that I had taken out when I redid my kitchen and a couple other rooms in my old house.

I use an online budget tracker called "EveryDollar" that Dave Ramsey recommended.  

(That's when I found out I had a spending problem.)

Or rather a money management problem.

So now, at the first of the month, I take a certain amount from the bank and distribute it into the envelope system that I carry with me to be my spending money for the month.

Of course, first I had to work out a budget and budget categories and figure out what I could spend.

I'm still working on that somewhat to tweak it so it works better.

Because I still am not being FRUGAL enough!!!!

I have to do more.

So that is what these next few posts will be about.

Me finding ways to cut my budget still further.

Things that work for me and things that don't.

I am trying to develop a frugal mindset that will work for me without sacrificing my quality of life.

I don't want to have to stress over money!!

In my next few posts, I'll discuss the things I am trying that are working and some things that haven't worked for me.

Shirley 

Pantry Soup

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I am trying my best to stay out of the grocery stores except for perishables.

I was very tempted to go today as I had a list of things I thought I needed.

But last week I read a blog of a very frugal woman with a family that talked about making "Pantry Soup".  

The rule being that everything has to come from your pantry, fridge or freezer.

Being that it is 11 degrees outside today and I was so tired because I watched the late Ohio State football championship game, I thought this was a great idea.

Potato soup sounded wonderful to me.

I had potatoes, I also had celery and an onion.

I only had one lone can of chicken broth but found some dry chicken soup base that had never even been opened!

So I used 8 small to medium Russet potatoes, cut into chunks, about 1/2 cup of chopped celery, 1/2 cup of chopped onion put into some water with the soup base and the can of chicken broth.  Boiled this until the potatoes were soft, added a can of cream of corn that I had, and about half a small package of grated cheddar cheese I had in the fridge.  Salt, pepper and some garlic powder.

I used my stick blender to mix it a little.  I left some hunks of potato.

It was really delicious.

Plus I have plenty for leftovers.

The perfect soup for this cold day.

I'm going to try and see how many pantry meals I can make!!

Shirley

  

Oatmeal

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I eat a lot of oatmeal!

I eat it a lot of times for breakfast 

but also either oatmeal or Cream of Wheat (flavored) for a bedtime snack.  

Makes my tummy all warm and full!

I have always bought the boxes of Quaker Oats with the little individual envelopes that you can add water to and cook up in the microwave.

Easy!

My favorites being Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal and Cinnabon Cream of Wheat.

Heaven knows how much I've spent just for the convenience!

I recently saw an idea on Pinterest about just bagging up your own!

Simple and much healthier.

Why didn't I think of this!!

Just look at all the added stuff in those envelopes!!!

Doing it this way, it is just 100%whole grain rolled oats,

plus whatever you add like brown sugar etc.

Much healthier and a whole lot cheaper!

I made up my bags with 1/2 cup of quick oats and a healthy tbsp. of brown sugar.

(and maybe a little swirl of sugar free maple syrup after it's cooked!)

To make it I just pour it in a bowl and add about 3/4 cup of water and microwave it for 1min 40 sec.

Came out perfect!

I use Walmart's quick rolled oats so that alone is cheaper than Quaker and it has a softer consistency which I like it.

An added plus is that you get more to eat for a little less carbs somehow.

1/2 cup of oats this way is 27 carbs plus of course about 12 carbs for the brown sugar.

The envelopes had 34 carbs for much less an amount!

This way is a very healthy helping of oatmeal in the morning!

(You can cut it in half for kids using 1/4 cup of oats.

You'd have to experiment with the amount of water to get it right.)

Here's the site where I saw this.

http://amylovesherlife.blogspot.com/2012/01/who-likes-saving-money.html

There's some good ideas in the comments of different things to add.

Try it, you like it!!

I'm going to try making Cream of Wheat next.  I think it's farina??

Shirley