How do Boneless Chickens Fly?

I once spent almost an hour trying to explain to a group of women how to make chicken broth. They were absolutely clueless as to why you would want to do something like that when you could buy perfectly good chicken broth in the soup aisle at the grocery store.

When I slowed down and for the third time explained that you could use the leftover chicken, bones and all, from a whole roasted chicken to make broth, a woman bravely raised her hand.

"Yes," I asked, sure that this would be the last time I drove 40 miles to speak to a mother's group in the evening when I could be home with my family.

"Um. You mean, people actually buy that chicken with the bones?"

"It's not another species," I quipped. I kind of, but not really, regretted snapping a bit.

I admit that I was slightly older than these women, but have we processed our food so far that people really don't know what it looks like in it's true, raw form? Yes, chickens do have bones. And hamburger isn't what you hope it might be.

I was actually in a room filled with people that didn't know that they could do anything, but purchase their poultry in an economy size bag of individually quick frozen chicken breasts.

I fear for what this is doing to people. I mean, honestly, boneless anything is so expensive. Have we gotten so far away from the way that food comes that we no longer can go back to that when times are tough?

It takes less than 30 seconds to take a chicken breast off the bone. You can toss the skin and make soup or broth from the bones. You'll pay much less than the boneless skinless version and end up with much more for your money. It really is worth the time.

Or cook and roast with the skin and bone on. You don't eat either the skin or the bone (or at least, you shouldn't) and, according to the food scientist that used to do the nutritional information for my business, the nutritional information stays the same whether you cook it with or without skin and bone. Plus, the skin and the bone make chicken much more moist and flavorful.

Now go out and buy some chicken. With bones. Make me proud.


One Whole Chicken, Three Delicious Meals

You can feed a family of 4, three meals, from one large roasting hen. I usually pay around fifty cents a pound for whole chickens. I'd love to always be able to afford free range, organic birds, but that's not always a possibility for my family. When I can get them this cheap, I often buy four or five of them for the freezer.



Roast Sticky Chicken



Chicken Fried Rice

chopped leftover chicken-- you don't need much. Discard any chicken skin and reserve carcass.

chopped green onions

2 cups of raw white rice, cooked and cooled

3 eggs

soy sauce

canned or fresh mushrooms, optional

fresh bean sprouts, optional

Chop the chicken, mushrooms (optional), and green onions ahead of time. Whisk eggs until well scrambled. In a large nonstick pan sprayed with cooking spray, saute chicken, mushrooms (optional) and green onions together until chicken is heated through and green onions and mushrooms are cooked to tender. Remove from pan and set aside. Scramble eggs until well cooked, add chicken and green onions back to the pan. Add rice and stir fry until heated through. You may add a little more cooking spray at this time to help the rice separate. (not too much, though!) Season with soy sauce to taste. Add fresh bean sprouts, if desired.


Italian Chicken Soup

1 chicken carcass
1 onion
3 stalks celery
garlic
2 bay leaves
carrots
1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated small cheese tortellini
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Throw chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add chopped: carrot, onion, celery and bay leaves and garlic to taste. Simmer for one hour. Strain out vegetables and return to soup or discard. I always use a fat separator pitcher to strain the fat out. Well worth the investment. (I think they're officially called a gravy strainer). Add tortellini, tomatoes, zucchini, and basil and simmer until zucchini and tortellini are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in fresh parsley right before serving, if desired.

I'm Leaving You for Another Man, Sorta

Just drop me off at the door. I'll be just fine. Go do your man stuff. I'm happy to wander his aisles in your absence.

I'm having an affair with Williams Sonoma.

My Dear Williams Sonoma,

My Darling. My Pet. I would be with you always, if only I weren't married.

Your kitchen gadgets, they tempt me. Your linens, they call to me. Your sauces, seasonings, and recipe collections make my mouth water. Would I like a sample? Of course. Would I like to watch a demonstration? Get to it. Would I like a cup of Fair Trade French Roast Espresso. Um, yes, please.

Copper pots and espresso machines that resemble little modern sculptures. I want them all. I wander your aisles and I'm instantly a capable chef.

I'm the Barefoot Contessa. I'm Bobby Flay. I'm not quite as annoying as Rachel Ray, but make food really simple and delicious just like her. I use a mandolin. I slice and dice with perfectly balanced chef knives. I can flip crepes in the air and flame my sautes.

You make me want a tureen. Your Italian tomato press tempts me. Yes, please I will take a Molcajete, cause I need to molca my jete.

Damn you for being so out of my reach. So distant. Your prices, they mock me. The cheapskate in me just can't do it.

And yet, I return, again, and again.

With much love,

Bet

The table runner pictured above is one of my love's linens. Of course I didn't pay full price. In fact I didn't pay 90% off. I got it for $1.40 at a thrift store. Score! They don't make it anymore, so I guess I can claim it's vintage.

My entire house has a little red in every room. It's my favorite color. This fits right in.

If you love thrifting or if you're very new to this full contact sport of shopping, then you must skitter on over to the Thrifty Chicks. They're trying to rouse the crowds and get a National Thrifting Month started. I think they're right, if we can have a National Noodle Month then we can certainly get this going. Be thrifty and nifty and wise, sign the petition. They explain it much better than I do and they're giving away some great stuff. What are you waiting for? Skeedaddle!

Anyone Else Want to Choke the Next Person that Talks about Being Green?Or I'm Not a Wheat Grass Shootin' Hippie,Honest

It used to be Not Easy Being Green, to reference the ever wise Kermit. Now, every Tom, Dick, and Fozzy (or Gonzo) is attempting to out-Green every one else.

Green didn't start to be cool until just recently. Talking to my Grandma about it, I had to laugh because she had no idea what being Green was. "What's all this Green stuff they're always talking about?" She's in her eighties. Wise and kind and cool in only a Grandma that taught me how to fish and camp and how to attract men (long story short: I was spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. We got a flat tire on the camper. Grandpa unhitched the camper and went in search of a spare tire. We thought we saw Grandpa coming around the corner in his truck, so Grandma pulled up her jeans leg to flash him and gave a neighboring farmer an eye full. Very shocking in the 70s, I'm sure.)

When I explained to Grandma what being Green meant, she just said, "Well that just makes sense. That's what we've always done." Use it up, reuse it, use it up again if you can. Compost in the garden? They did that, just because that's what you do if you want rutabagas the size of your head. Save your bread bags and reuse them? Grandma used her bags until the print from the Wonderbread was all rubbed off. Paper napkins? Why use them when you could use a kitchen towel or cloth ones? Paper towels? Forget about 'em. Grandma always used rags.

When we put the back splash up in the kitchen, we took down the paper towel holder. That was last Spring and I haven't used a paper towel since. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. Paper towels are expensive, they're environmentally horrific (picture razed rain forest, huge carbon footprints tracked to your door, and Armageddon--OK, not that bad, but you get the point.) Before Al Gore named his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, he called it Paper Towels are the Root of All Evil. Honest to God, he did.

Ditching paper towels was not hard. I still have the half roll that was hanging on the kitchen wall. It hasn't been touched. I bought a cute basket and keep it filled with kitchen rags. I use cut up bath towels and washcloths. I bleach them after use. And I use them as I would paper towels.

It takes some getting used to, but I'll tell you what. I don't miss those mongo packs of paper towels that take up way too much real estate in my shopping cart and in my house and in my budget. I feel like these little things are so simple, yet often overlooked.

I don't know about you, but with one good behavior comes others. It's like with weight loss. One good behavior (eating right) leads to others (working out). To me, so many of these things go hand in hand. Living a better life doesn't just mean taking care of your physical self.

And please, listen to Kermit, below. You'll hum along to that tune all day long.

Peace, love, granola, and all that crunch stuff.

Green Dreams

The seed catalogs are arriving in stacks. I've got the planning bug that comes every year at this time. I know that God intended this season of planning as a last ditch effort to get cabin fevered gardeners like me through the last weeks of winter.

Planning a garden is like planning a trip; it's half the fun. Every year, I pour over seed catalogs, draw my garden plan. Re-draw and re-plan and re-read and re-justabouteverything. At this time of year, one doesn't think of weeds or that aching back that comes only from the destruction of said weeds. One thinks of the abundant harvest that the pictures in the catalog promises. (And we all know that those pictures are a lie, especially the world's biggest pumpkin seeds that I ordered with my meager allowance when I was nine and which resulted in one tiny green pumpkin that never grew past the softball size stage.)

I dream of heirloom tomatoes, fresh from the vine, this time of year. Their ridged, imperfect, ugliness is a thing of beauty to me. Marbled tones of green and red promise a unique flavor that only a rescued seed can fruit. It tastes of sunshine and bears the history of all the gardeners who worked so hard to save these precious plants.

In the last couple of years, I've tried a few things with my garden. Last year, I tried to plant the cheapest garden possible. I bought seeds at ten for a buck. I got seedlings at garage sales and at the close out sales at the garden centers. I wasn't fussy and I had great yields. Several years back, I started ordering from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I heard about them from Farmgirl (a fantastic blog about life on the farm in Missouri written by a foodie and photographic genius). My garden two years ago was entirely from Baker Creek. Sadly, I was in a kind of dark place in my life then. Having just sold my business, I was exhausted and a bit heartbroken, so I didn't put my all into the garden. My zucchini wouldn't even produce, which is a sure sign of sadness, cause who the heck can't grow zucchini? Warning, the following statement is rated R: My zucchini weren't getting pollinated, so I determinedly "molested" them with a Q-tip and even THAT didn't produce little zucchini babies. My garden guru up the street informed me that I probably had plants of the same sex. Um, great. My poor gay plants, like their human counterparts, couldn't reproduce. Fortunately, like their human counterparts, my gay zucchini plants were able to foster and eventually adopt offspring, so I still enjoyed an abundant harvest. (Moral of this story, never tell anyone you want zucchini. They will show up by the bushel on your front porch, dropped off in the cover of night by masked gardeners.)

Anyway, long story short, in the nine years that I've planted my little 10x20 foot urban vegetable garden, I've always experimented a little. This year, I'm planning to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) again. I was introduced to CSAs by a friend and I enjoyed a summer of beautiful produce of which I had no part of except to write the check that helped purchase the seeds. If you're not familiar with CSAs, this is the time of year to hurry and get your name on a list!

Let me tell you a little bit about them. Community Supported Agriculture is a relationship between grower and consumer. You, as the consumer, provide, pun intended, seed money. You gamble, with the grower, that you're investment is going to turn into a bountiful harvest. Each week, you'll receive a goodie box of fresh produce that's in season. Most CSAs are organic. Many offer organic meats, flowers, eggs, and bakery items. Now, remember, you're gambling against Mother Nature, and more times than not, you will have made a great investment. We all know, though, that Mother can be unpredictable, so if she sends hail, late frosts, tornadoes, drought or flood, you may not get as much for your money.

I had a wonderful experience with Community Homestead, which was the first CSA that I had experience with, so I'm signing up with them again. Please take a moment to read about their work. Community Homestead provides a wonderful life and rewarding vocation for adults with mental disabilities, so I feel like this is a good place for my money to go. I researched several other CSAs and this one was also the cheapest, which, for this cheapskate, is a good fit. They also deliver directly to my neighborhood, which is another great fit for me. As well, they offer meats, eggs, bakery items, flowers, and crafts that can be added to my delivery box, if I wish.

One CSA that I wanted to plug is owned by one of my dad's former clients. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm. Not only do I think their farm name is absolutely brilliant, but they offer lamb for sale and I know I've just got to get me some of that! Robin and her partner (whom I don't know, but hope to) do not deliver to my neighborhood yet and are a little more expensive. Someday I may join up with them. If you live in my area and they still have room, I know you'll get garden goodness from Robin (her time with Melon Vine Farm provided our family with tons of delicious produce growing up).

Why am I joining a CSA again? Mostly because my 10x20 plot is more than enough for me to take care of and I've decided that I'd like to put things in my garden this year that take up more space. I'm thinking pumpkins, potatoes and maybe filling half of it with raspberries, which is a permanent leap that I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for. Also, I looked back over my spending last summer and I spent at least $40 a week at our neighborhood farmers' market. The CSA will cost me approximately $20 a week and I'll get a wider variety of produce. I will still hit the farmers' market occasionally and I know that I will still want large quantities of veggies for freezing and canning. The one thing that I'm completely sold on is the delivery to my neighborhood. It just doesn't get any easier than this!

When I participated last time, each week was like getting a box of surprises. The veggies were gorgeous and I tried a few things that I never would have before. I tried fresh fennel for the first time and grilled it on our outdoor grill. I roasted beets and gobbled them up with fresh bleu cheese from Southern Minnesota. (I come from a long line of Scandinavians. We didn't roast beets, but pickled them in sugary syrup spiked with cloves.) I'm thinking that this summer, I will take a picture of my box and then detail what I did with all the goodies contained within. (Now, don't hold me to this, I'm sure this summer will be just as busy as all the others, but again, this is the time of year for planning, so I can dream big!)

Before my dad died, we took a trip to visit Community Homestead to see where our food was coming from. It was a very hot day, but we wandered the fields with glee. Which row of corn would be ours? We took a wagon ride and enjoyed a pig roast. We visited with the residents, some disabled, some just filled with the love and peace that comes from living in a place filled with happiness. They all worked very hard and their dedication and love were the secret ingredients of such deliciousness.

They had a small pond filled with tadpoles that Young One was absolutely fascinated with. We wondered why they would have them. Were the frogs a natural pest eaters? Did they also eat frog legs? (I know, that one is pretty funny.) We asked someone on the farm why and they answered simply that it was for the fun of it. They were there for the people that lived there to watch that magical metamorphosis from swimming little black squiggle to bright green frog and wonder at the miracle of creation. Now, that's cool.

Stay tuned. I'm sending in my registration and payment now. I'm still happily planning.

Now, it's your turn. What are your garden plans? Have you checked out CSAs in your area? Don't miss out on this fantastic way to get inexpensive organic produce!

I'll Sing Along and You'll Like It

In search of inexpensive entertainment, I've been checking out my local paper's calendar section. It's surprising how many things I've missed, just because I've been too busy, or I just haven't taken the time.

Times are tough out there, I feel like I've had the "bad economy" shoved down my throat. Every errand that I ran yesterday, I heard from the clerks that times are rough, business is slow. They're scared and I'm scared for them. Time for everyone to start living within their means, something that I was raised to do. But, for now, rather than comment on all that, I wanted to escape. And escape for me means a good musical.

I'm the eternal cheapskate, though. I like to save, so that I can have other things. Lately, I've been watching the Broadway musicals march through town. I just haven't had it in me to spend on them as I have in the past. Little known fact, many famous musicals are tested here in Minneapolis before they hit Broadway in New York. Lion King? It was a hit here long before it every opened in Manhattan. They don't call us the Minnieapple for nothing!

I love a good musical. I was raised on West Side Story, A Chorus Line. Imagine several giggling teenage girls watching Dance: 10 Looks 3 aka Tits and Ass being performed at a musical theater. If you haven't seen a A Chorus Line, get your kids out of earshot and watch this. (Sorry, I think it cuts off at the end, but you get the idea) Cats, Phantom of the Opera, got me started, I then moved on to Aida and one of my favorites, Rent. The Sound of Music and Spamalot were recent dates with D. I've got tickets to The Color Purple in March and I've practically worn out the soundtrack to Wicked.

I can't get enough of them, but the price for those tickets takes a lot of scrimping and saving. I want Young One to have my love of musicals too. He's a great cello player, doesn't like the spotlight, so I doubt he'll ever be stage center, but he just might be in an orchestra pit one day.

Bethel University, about 5 miles from my house, has a wonderful music department. When I saw that they were going to do Brigadoon and that tickets were only $14 for adults, $7 for kids, I was sold. My mom purchased the tickets, so she could get hers for a senior discount (see, I told you cheapskate is genetic) and we put it on the calendar. I don't know why we haven't done this before.

It was wonderful. Every bit as delightful as the troops that travel the country. The set design was amazing and I wondered at how I've missed seeing this one. For a third of what we paid for one ticket to a traveling performance of Rent, we all got to go. Two of the actors had amazing voices and I wouldn't be surprised if they were Broadway bound soon.

The only thing I didn't like about it is that the college kids all looked about a smidgen older than Young One and I feel like it was just yesterday that I was there. Have I gotten that old? (Don't answer.)

Community Calendars are great resources for inexpensive entertainment. If you really want to cut that expense down to nothing, just check out a copy of the movie Brigadoon (or any other musical that you think they're old enough to appreciate) from your library. Set your kids down, make lots of popcorn, and enjoy it with them. If your kids are like Young One, they'll start out hesitant, but by the end of the story, he was sitting on the edge of his seat.

(If they really balk at it, start out with all the kids getting a turn to pick a movie for movie night, then when it's your turn, whammo! This works with husbands too, although you may have to sit through Alien vs. Predator to be fair.)

Popcorn Heaven

Popcorn is a Weight Watchers friendly food, but the oil you pop it in or the toppings you put on it may not be. Treat your family to old fashioned popcorn for movie night. NOT microwave popcorn. Heat up a pan, add a little oil, salt, and popcorn, cover and shake until it's done. Your family will LOVE this and will think you really did something special. A big bag of old fashioned popcorn is extremely inexpensive and will last a lot longer than a box of microwave popcorn. Microwave poppers are very inexpensive and well worth the investment for Weight Watchers. You can add your oil allowance for the day, plus the popcorn, or use no oil at all, and enjoy a great treat!

12 cups of popped popcorn (1/3 cup unpopped popcorn, either air-popped or popped in 1/4 cup corn or vegetable oil)

1/3 cup melted butter--leave out or use Butter Buds or Molly McButter as a substitute if you're on Weight Watchers

Salt

Add one of the following seasoning combos to the butter and warm thoroughly so the flavors meld. Drizzle the butter/seasonings over the popcorn, salt to taste, and toss.

Herbed Popcorn: 1 teaspoon each dried sage, fennel, marjoram, thyme, basil, summer savory, and rosemary, and 2 teaspoons minced garlic
Lemon-Dill Popcorn: 2 tablespoons lemon zest and 1 teaspoon dill weed
Tex-Mex Popcorn: 1 tablespoon each cumin and chili powder. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Pizza Popcorn: 2 teaspoons minced garlic, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon paprika, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Here are a couple of hot and spicy popcorn seasoning recipes:

Pepper Popcorn: 2 teaspoons minced garlic, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon paprika
Hot Mustard Popcorn: 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon thyme

Like a little sweet, a little salt?
Kettle corn: This is a huge favorite at our house.
Simply add sugar (about 1/4 cup white or brown, white tastes like popcorn balls, brown more like caramel corn), 1/4 cup vegetable oil, and 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn to a pan, cover and shaking continuously until popcorn is popped. YUM!

Mix Ins

• Peanut M&Ms (wait until the popcorn is cool
• Raisins and peanuts
• Mixed nuts
• dried cherries and chocolate chips

The Housewife--Stretch a Buck Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

I started making my own laundry detergents last October. My powdered recipe is here. I'm loving the money savings and it works great. I made a 2 1/2 gallon bucket of liquid laundry detergent November 12. I'm just now making another bucket because I only have a few more loads left. It's lasted a long time and costs only three cents a load!

I'm amazed at how well this recipe works. It takes about five minutes to mix up and needs to stand for 24 hours to gel, but that's more than worth it when it comes to savings. A big plus, as well, is that it's a very environmentally friendly detergent, made from simple ingredients and pure soap. And, because I've been reusing the same bucket repeatedly, I'm using less plastic for packaging.

Lovely Liquid Laundry Detergent

You aren't out much, except a few minutes and a very small amount of cash, by just giving it a try! The ingredients are extremely inexpensive. You can find washing soda, borax, and Fels Naptha soap in your grocery store laundry aisle.

3 Pints Water
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap, grated
1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, NOT baking soda!!)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
2 Gallon bucket to mix it in
1 Quart hot water Hot Water

Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket completely with additional hot water, and mix well-- do not skip this step or it will become a solid! You must add a lot more water--just fill the bucket. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. You may add additional HOT water if the mixture becomes too thick. Mix well before each use. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. Makes 64 loads.

Our Fiscal Fast-- a Quick Evaluation

"Are you kidding me? You didn't spend money for a whole week?" This is a comment from a friend of mine when I told her about our Fiscal Fast.

It felt bizarre to be spending money again on Friday. Almost like when you travel to a foreign country and you come home and OUR money looks funny. It looked funny to me. Swiping my check card was weird, in fact, I had trouble finding it in my wallet.

So, what did we learn?

• First and foremost, we realized that we've been overbuying groceries. Not we, it's me. I take full credit for that. I'm a produce-a-holic. I go overboard in the produce department. And we had stuff in the back of our pantry that I had forgotten I purchased. I think we're going to have to get pull out shelves installed. It's too hard to see everything that we have and I have been purchasing things that I already had on hand. So, know what you have, buy what you need, and know how much you need. Lesson learned.
• We learned that we can entertain ourselves very well without spending money. Our library is a great resource. We found ourselves reading more. Young One pulled out toys and games that he hasn't used in forever.
• We learned that we impulse buy more than we thought we did.
• We learned that we eat out too much on the weekends.
• We learned to look closer at every purchase that we make. I honestly thought we were doing that, but I think we could look even closer.
• I had my first Starbucks coffee in probably a year or so. It's pretty overrated at best and so expensive. I felt guilty knowing that I just paid $5 for a cup of coffee and, meanwhile, there are hungry people not to far from the coffee shop. I tried to think of it as a treat. It was good, but I think I make a mean cup of Joe myself and for a fraction of the cost.

I hit Aldi, Cub Foods, and Target on Friday and saved a ton of money with coupons. Did the same at Walgreens. BUT, I did something different this week. Unless it was something we really needed, I didn't buy it. A coupon is only good if it's cheaper than another brand and if you need it. If I can get free items or items that we use frequently like shampoo, toothpaste, soap, etc for super bargain prices, then I'll purchase them. Just to purchase because it's a deal, isn't really a good use of our money right now.

We were able to purchase several gifts for charity this year because of our Fiscal Fast. A young man from Young One's school is going to have a great Christmas because we sacrificed a little for a week. That feels great!

I'm sure we learned a lot more, but for now, this is what I can think of.

Our Fiscal Fast, Day Six

What a bizarre day. I spent most of it shuttling my mom around to physical therapy. She needed a prescription refilled at Target, so I made her get out and go in with me. She's been housebound, hospitalized, or a nursing home inmate for so long, I thought that maybe a little tough love to get her out of the car and back into life would be helpful. Turned out, it wasn't that hard to get her out of the car. She almost bounded out at the entrance to Target. Well, bounded as well as one can bound, cavort, gallop, friskily skip, dance, etc on a wounded knee only three weeks after surgery and only a few days into feeling a might better after an terrible infection.

I'm rambling. I'm also stuck on the word bound. Is that really a word? It's kind of like that time I walked around a Bible book store with some college friends repeating the word Bible until it didn't sound like a word anymore. Bible Bible Bible Bible. Bound Bound Bound Bound.

What does all this have to do with our Fiscal Fast? A great deal. Bear with me here for a moment.

You see. We were shopping. Scratch that. She was shopping. I was helping. It was bizarre. I mean, there I was exclaiming over things that Young One would just adore and that I would have to return to pick up for him once the spending freeze was over. And then, She, my darling mother, decided that she would just buy that stuff and give it to him herself. I couldn't argue with her she is a poor old lady with a walker and a cane (ha, if you knew my mom, you would laugh too!). I did protest that I had that particular DVD in mind the minute he came home from the theater exclaiming that it was the all time best movie in the entire history of movies and that he couldn't wait until it came out on DVD because he was going to use his allowance money and that he would memorize every special feature and possibly the entire script so that he could speak along with the movie and that Heath Ledger (God rest his soul) is and always will be the most superior Joker of all time and he was sure that he would want to be Joker for Halloween, not Joker with the painted face, but the ultimate Joker with the mask and the real necktie and the real vest, not just the printed one and that he knew that forever and ever this would be his all time favorite movie.

Deep Breath.

In other words, today, I probably would have dropped quite a bit of money at Target. It just seemed that everywhere I turned there were things that Young One would just love for Christmas and that, being Target, everything was relatively inexpensive. He's not asking for much, if anything this year. And, being eleven, was a bit perplexed by the fact that this was so. He just found out the magical secret of Santa Clause last year, so perhaps this is part of it. So, I told him that it was part of growing older and that soon you realize that it's not about the receiving, but the giving and that he was getting to that age. Christmas should be about the giving, and I'm excited to surprise him. Not spend a lot of money on surprises--what kid wouldn't just love a pony?-- but opening each gift as they were intended, gifts, not fulfillment of a list of requests. THAT to me, is so much more fun. At a certain age, if you make a list, you can pretty much tell what's in each and every box by the specific shape or jingle when you shake it or whatever, anyway. So, this year, for me, the giving to him will be so much fun, since he's not dropping ANY hints this year (that HE'S aware of anyway!)

(I'm not sure I'm being clear here. I had my first caffeinated coffee today in ages and I feel like I could type enough words to cover the world!)

I think what I'm trying to say is that I've never gone out shopping with the intention and the dedication and sheer will to not spend any money. This was really eye opening. I don't shop for recreation. I will shop AND buy for fun, but not just go out looking. It was bizarre. And I survived and mom survived and, although she got really tired walking around and looked about ready to fall over by the time she got back in the car, I think she's getting to know the world again. Hopefully, in a few more weeks, I will no longer have to chauffeur her around town.

I'm starting to think that this fast just might do what I hoped it would. I think I am going to be much more mindful of my spending. Even more so than a cheapskate like me thought. I think I'm going to focus more on what we actually need and I've found out this week, it's a heck of a lot less than I thought it was.

I also learned that I really don't like tagging along on a shopping trip. In fact, it remind me of the eternities that I spent as a child having to run errands with my mom. Perhaps she's just paying me back for the time I took all the price tags off of the canned goods in her cart while she wasn't looking. (Remember price tags?)

Peace.

Our Fiscal Fast Day Five

I can't get past the thought that at the end of this Fiscal Fast we may just go nuts with spending. I keep thinking to myself that, "On Friday, I've really got to_____" Fill in the blank with order Christmas cards, order gifts online, go grocery shopping, stop in at Walgreens, maybe we'll go out to eat, I need to get some new pants, Young One needs another pair of gloves, come to mention it, so do I, I need to go to Target...

Will this spending freeze actually result in our spending more money at the end of it, kind of like celebrating your weight loss with a blow out at a buffet? (And no, I've never done this.)

I guess time will tell.

Our Fiscal Fast Day Four

Here we are on day four of our Fiscal Fast, seven days, without spending any money.

This has been such an interesting experiment for our family. I have a feeling we're going to do this again and again. Maybe not for a whole week, maybe the next time we'll shorten it up. So far the benefits have been:

• Cleaning out the cupboards, the refrigerator, and the freezer.
• Using our brains and not our money for entertainment
• Being more resourceful
• Young One has learned tremendous things so far. I'll detail more at the end of the week, but I think he's looking at money and how he entertains himself in a very different way.
• And the bank account is looking good!

The biggest thing I've noticed so far, is that we spend a little here and a little there and it all adds up. I was in a huge rush to get out of the house this morning. If we weren't on a spending freeze, I would have grabbed an Egg McMuffin and coffee at McDonalds. That's something I rarely do, but I just didn't have the time to eat this morning. I didn't though. I grabbed some cinnamon raisin bread and after dropping Young One off at school, toasted it at my mom's house. I had to take her to two doctor's offices and to a medical supply store this morning. When I dropped her off at the first doctor's office, she suggested I go shopping for a bit. I probably would have if I wasn't on this fiscal fast. The other day when we were out at the library, we headed home to have lunch. Quite often when we're out as a family on the weekend, we'll eat at a restaurant and/or buy snacks. Trips to stores for quick errands can result in impulse buys. It just all adds up.

I think I will be much more conscious of that kind of spending now.

This has been a good thing for our family.

Our Fiscal Fast Day Two

I wouldn't consider us materialistic people at all. We shop at thrift stores, we don't have a lot of unnecessary stuff. We don't have to have the newest or the latest thing. We have a house full of antiques, but mostly because they were hand me downs or inexpensive purchases. We rarely hit the malls and aren't big on shopping.

This Fiscal Fast we're on caused some troubles today on the home front. Young One was out of sorts all day. I had planned a day of fun freebies. A trip to the library, to hang out and look at some of the ginormous books that we'd never carry home (or be allowed to check out). I thought we'd pick a few movies, maybe check out a museum pass (basically free entrance to many of the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area museums), and take out a few movies. Young One wanted none of this. He pouted, chose one Simpsons DVD, and then glowered from an armchair behind a giant Spiderman book. I nixed the idea of heading to a free museum. I didn't want to deal with the PoutMaster all day long.

We had planned to make our gingerbread house, an annual tradition, this weekend. But, it was a hard sell. I mixed the dough myself and put it in the refrigerator to chill. Time for a mother son talk.

Basically, he told me that he was sick of this no spending money thing. That he wanted to go out and do something fun and that most definitely involved spending money. That Christmas couldn't come fast enough and he just wanted to buy a video game or go to the movies, or go to an arcade, or go out for lunch at some kid paradise. And he knew he couldn't. And it sucked.

This opened the door to a very interesting conversation. We talked about how fun can be had without money. That we have a house full of things to do and that if we get bored enough, we'll get resourceful and start finding things to do. We talked about how much money we have spent in the past without even thinking about it and that we have to be more mindful of our spending. We talked about how we're very fortunate to have all that we do and to have the income that Dad brings home. We talked about what it would be like to have nothing.

We talked about how we'd like to share our abundance.

We talked about how long it is until Christmas. And how, even as an adult, it's difficult to wait for things. We also talked about how time seems a lot longer when you're a kid and how I could remember what an eternity it could be until your birthday or Christmas.

We talked about the superiority of Rock Band over Guitar Hero.

We talked about Homer Simpson's obsession with donuts.

And then, we talked about how keeping busy will help the time pass. And we talked about the importance of discussing our feelings and how pouting and grumping around doesn't work very well. We talked about the importance of communication.

Then he and his dad went out and had some man time, drooling at ginormous TVs, and playing demos of video games. I baked the gingerbread house pieces while they were out and thought long and hard about whether we really are materialistic. Maybe we've been in denial all along?

Our 7 Day Fiscal Fast In Progress

It's only day one and I'm already surprised at how many times in the day I've thought about spending money. I haven't acted on it, of course, but it has been really surprising to me how many times I've thought about ordering something online, running an errand that involves spending money, or just trying to get a jump on some Christmas shopping for Young One.



Probably not the best idea to start this spending freeze during the holidays. Or maybe it is. Maybe this is the BEST time to try this experiment.



While making some Christmas presents today, I realized that I didn't have enough of one crucial ingredient for the end product. Ugh. I thought I was going to have to wait. But, no!!! What Cheapskate Guru Jeff Yeager said in his book would happen. You just might finally use something that you haven't had the need to or didn't even know you had. I searched my cupboards, and sure enough, I did have a second box of the missing ingredient.



Looking into my pantry, I am amazed at how much food is really in there. Much of it has been there for a very long time. Bought for a recipe and not used, purchased on sale at a can't be missed price, or just impulse buys. My pantry is full. And I'm very excited about it getting some clearing out this week.



Young One is fully on board. We talked to him about this experiment last night and at first he seemed a bit worried. We assured him that we have plenty of money, that this is just something we're trying to clear out our cupboards a bit and to focus more on experiences and not stuff. Once that was talked about, he was just fine. I watched him start to ask for something or to go somewhere a couple of times, but then the gears shifted in his brain and he remembered our fiscal fast, and we ended up talking about something else.



I got to thinking this afternoon that I have the luxury of making this fiscal fast a choice and that so many people in our country, in our world, do not have the choice or the ability to live this way on a whim. It's day to day life for them. This week has already been very enlightening.



D came home tonight letting me know that he needs to get a haircut in preparation for a very important sales pitch next week. We did agree that work related expenses would have to continue (client lunches, gas for the commute, etc), I think he should let me cut his hair. I'm pretty good at it. I've been cutting Young One's hair for years. This would be the one time, though, that the clipper guard popped off and he ended up with a runway down the middle of his head. I guess I'll allow it. Client pitches mean you've got to look good. I'll let this one slide.



Something to think about: only 1/3 of the world's population is well fed. The rest are nutritionally deficient or starving.

The Housewife--Stretch a Buck A Spending Freeze

I'm eternally frugal. I'm a cheapskate and proud of it. I can stretch a buck so far that George's smile widens. I hate to spend more than I have to. I research almost all purchases, I use coupons and rebates, and like to do a victory dance at Walgreens when they pay me to take something home!

Cheapskates unite all over the web. I follow several frugal blogs and I just discovered, Jeff Yeager, The Ultimate Cheapskate, and am thoroughly enjoying his book, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road to True Riches. He was on the radio when I was out running errands and I sat in the parking lot of the grocery store for half an hour just so I could hear him speak. OF COURSE I didn't PURCHASE his book!! I requested if from the library (that's Cheapskate 101).

He and I see eye to eye on so much. His philosophy about how life is not about the money or the stuff you acquire, but what you experience is dead on. Life isn't about too much or too little money, but what is actually enough. And, surprisingly, you need very little stuff to be truly happy.

He brings up the idea of a self-imposed spending freeze early in his book. A Fiscal Fast, as he's coined it, where you agree in your household not to spend a dime for an agreed upon length of time. The goal, to creatively use up what you have and to find ways to entertain yourself without it costing you a dime. A side effect of this fast is that you'll save money, but it's much bigger than that.

I approached Hubby with doing this, thinking he would say, "no way, it can't be done." He thought about it for a minute and then said, "Could I still fill my car with gas if I needed to get to work?" I said sure and that we'd institute some rules, like, we'd go to the doctor and fill prescriptions if we needed them, if our furnace conked out we'd fix it, we'd leave automatic bill paying as scheduled, but really any other eventuality that we came up with could be pushed to another time. In other words, there really are very few fiscal emergencies that crop up.

We're going to give it a try. I'd like to start this Friday and fast for 7 days. Friday to Friday. And just see how it goes. My prediction is that it's going to be successful and that we'll surely survive and that we'll probably try to do it again. Jeff's rules: no stocking up ahead of time on things that you think you might need, just in case. So, no milk once we run out--we can finally clear out the frozen pancakes and waffles in the freezer and our oatmeal won't be made with milk in the morning. Young One can drink milk at school. No trips to the movies, movie rentals, arcade games, no impulse buys, and no runs to Target that turn a quick, inexpensive errand into a $100 cart full of extra doo dads. No Christmas shopping. Nothing that involves spending money.

I think it's going to be interesting and kind of fun. A week without spending ANY money. Why am I going into this thinking it's going to be easier than it may be?