How To Raise Your Energy Level.....EVERY DAY.

I have returned! I took a small summer hiatus from the blog in order to get some life things in order, but I am back and super excited to keep blogging! So, first of all, Dallin and I have some exciting news coming up. Remember that big secret you've all been waiting to hear from me? Well, I'm not going to tell you yet. But in six weeks, you will all know. This whole keeping-a-secret-thing is kind of fun. But now you are all wondering how you can raise your energy levels every day...so let's get on with it! First of all, I'm going to write out what a typical day on the Jessica Diet used to look like a year ago:

Breakfast: Cereal, or an egg and toast
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, PB&J, leftovers, canned soup, or eating out depending on schedule
Dinner: Chicken and veggies with rice, tacos, any number of different soups with chicken and veggies in them, Pasta, etc.

Not too bad looking, right? You can throw a granola bar or cookie or two in there for a snack sometime during the day as well. There is one fairly common thread, though, in all of my meals. Can you find it?.......
....

..............

It would be MEAT. Uh oh. Here we go on another one of Jessica's Vegetarian/Vegan rants again. To be totally honest, though, I'm not a Vegetarian OR a Vegan. I have simply shifted my diet to becoming a LOT more plant based, and I have discovered that my energy levels have risen and I no longer ever want to take naps during the day. I sleep SO much better at night, which I didn't think was possible until after I discovered what good sleep is. My skin is also generally a little clearer (I know, you hear this all the time, but this is true!!). My body is just so happy eating this way, and Dallin even jumped on board and is loving it, too! So, let's destroy some myths surrounding meat.

First of all, the average American consumes WAY more protein than they need to every day. Also, people are dialed into the myth that animals and dairy products are the best source of protein and should be the main source of protein. This really isn't true or valid. Our body uses amino acids to build proteins, and ALL of the essential amino acids that we need to build proteins can be found in plants. If you are eating a varied, plant-based diet and fulfilling your caloric needs every day, you are most likely getting all of your essential amino acids. Check out this article if you want a little more information about protein. I could go on about this all day...plants have way more protein than we give them credit for.
For those Olympics fans out there, did you know that there are quite a few vegetarian and vegan athletes who compete every year...and even win medals?! Those people are out there running like crazy and propelling their bodies through water like no one has ever seen before...and they don't eat meat (or for some even any animal products). Check out this article on that.

Finally, meat is EXPENSIVE. Granted, eating plant based can add up as well, but I have found a few ways to cut my costs and not eat meat. First of all, beans are going to be your best friend. These little pods are packed to the brim with healthy vitamins, minerals, and proteins that our body needs. They are also a good source because they are SO inexpensive. Buying your beans dried and hydrating/cooking them yourself can save you even more money in that area. I personally prefer that option. Whole grain brown rice is also an excellent source of protein. Not only that, but it is a great source of fiber, calcium, magnesium, and potassium as well. Beans and rice combined make a super filling additive to any meal that will keep the meat cravings away.

As far as veggies and fruit go, learn to eat what's in season, and learn to try new things! When I go to the grocery store every week, I might have one or two specific vegetable items on my list that I need for recipes, but for the rest of my fresh produce purchases I just buy whatever is on sale or in season and get adventurous in the kitchen at home! We spend about $40 a week on groceries, and my fridge is jam-packed with fruits and veggies every single week. I will put this on this blog again....PLEASE go watch the documentary "Forks Over Knives" on Netflix or Amazon. It is an excellent documentary and you will NOT be sorry that you watched it.

So, now that you are all super motivated to change your diet a little, let's talk about two things: what my diet looks like now, and what you are going to crave and how you will feel when you first start trying to make some changes.

A typical day in Jessica's diet now:

Breakfast: fruit smoothie (two juiced oranges, blueberries, a banana, spinach, and frozen fruit mix), plain greek yogurt with blueberries and granola, or peanut butter toast and a banana
Lunch: large salad with beans, leftover rice with beans and veggies, PB&J, hummus with veggies and crackers, or a veggie burger on whole-wheat bread with some avocado
Dinner: Pasta with veggies, baked sweet potatoes with corn and black beans, (rarely) salmon and asparagus, veggie soup with rice and lentils, quinoa patties or veggie burgers made of quinoa and black beans, salad and whole-wheat bread, etc.

Not only has my diet expanded quite a bit, but I have discovered some new foods that I never tried before and now LOVE. Sweet potatoes aren't just for Thanksgiving, people.

When I first started transitioning to a healthier diet, though, I had a few REALLY. HARD. WEEKS. I was constantly craving meat, salt, and anything that could be classified as an "empty carb" (i.e. potato chips, crackers, unhealthy processed snacks, etc). I felt like I was going to go a little crazy if I didn't consume something that would satisfy one of these intense cravings, and a couple of times I broke down and ate something off of that list. But that's okay! I didn't let myself get into the habit though, and after about 3-4 weeks of eating this way, those cravings completely disappeared and the health benefits started to become apparent. Transitioning your diet will not be easy, but it will be oh-so-worth it. I have a bajillion tried and true recipes...so if you need some help getting started, send a message my way. :) Happy eating!!

Photo Cred: Google Images

You Will NOT Increase Your Wealth Until You Start Tracking Your Spending

After Christmas hit this past time (along with all of the anti-fiscal habits it brings with it), the husband and I were feeling the devastating lightness of our wallets, and so we knew we needed to take some drastic measures in order to get back to the financial place we had been before the holidays and finals week eating-out binge. It seemed like our money was just disappearing and we weren't having any huge major expenses! What was happening to it? Where was it going? Surely somebody wasn't slowly siphoning off our hard-earned money from our bank accounts....well, somebody was, actually, and it was us! So, we decided to start tracking our spending on a chart. Being the slightly more techy one in our relationship, my husband is the one who created the excel chart. We made a commitment to go over our finances every weekend and plug in EVERY. LITTLE. AMOUNT. that we had spent that past week...doesn't matter if it was a $1 water bottle on the way to class....it got put in the chart. We categorized our spending in the following categories:

-Car Expenses (maintenance, repairs, and gas)

-Groceries (mainly food, household cleaners, anything we purchase from the supermarket)

-Eating out
-Fun money (movies, entertainment, netflix, date night, etc.)

-Freak costs (amazon orders, parking tickets, plane tickets. etc. Things you don't pay for on a regular basis but that come up every once in a while)

-Regular Monthly Expenses (rent, utilities, health insurance, car insurance, cell phones, internet, etc. --Groceries do not apply here because the cost varies a little every week/month)

At the end of each week, we would add up all of the costs in each category and make goals to do better the next week. In our first two months of doing this (Jan. and Feb.), we discovered that we were spending a RIDICULOUS amount of money eating out....about $125 each month on average!! So, we kicked ourselves a few times, and then made a major goal to eat out a lot less, and by March we got our eating-out spending down to $49. We eat out much less now and cook a lot more at home, and this has started to save us a LOT of money. We have also gotten better at ordering less unnecessary things on Amazon and at reducing our utility bill by being more conservative with heat, air conditioning, making sure to turn off lights, etc. 

As we tracked, we were much more motivated to make changes in our daily routines that have allowed us to save about $6000 in the last five months that we would not have saved had we not been tracking our spending. You will have a VERY hard time understanding where your bad spending habits lie if you do not take the time to track your spending...and there's no good excuse not to. Mint.com can basically do it all for you automatically! So, start tracking your spending and start SAVING MONEY. Like the cute cartoon above, hop on your computer, start tracking, and watch that computer-tracking-habit help give money back to you. 

What to do then with all that money you're saving? Stay tuned for the next post. :) Happy tracking!!!

The thrifting game is the best one.

Ever since I had to start buying my own clothes (early high school), I've gained and appreciation for finding 'deals'. Clothes can easily be very expensive, and when you're working with a babysitting budget (like I was), you have to figure out how to stretch your money as far as possible in order to not only walk out of the store with one or two items. Now, I will add the disclaimer that I never buy just any random clothing item that is a really great deal, because I know myself and if I don't REALLY like what I'm buying, I won't wear it often enough, if ever, to have justified the purchase...even if it was a really good price. Anyhow, in my efforts to make my money go further, I started frequenting the local thrift stores, and a whole new world opened up to my wallet and eyes. Not only could I get amazing prices on things, but I also felt good about putting something to use that would have possibly otherwise been thrown away...and everyone who knows me knows I'm a little bit of a green freak, so this idea sat very well with me. I have continued to shop thrift stores/websites ever since, and I am never going back! I still shop at "regular" stores sometimes, but my definition of "regular" would include Target, Ross and TJMaxx. I can't remember the last time I went to a store other than those three, and I'm almost always to be found in the clearance sections.

So, when you have an itch for a few new shirts or a pair of pants, check out your thrift store FIRST! The biggest thing to remember here is that you have to be PATIENT and you have to be okay with walking out empty handed more times than not. Thrift stores take some digging, but there are almost always gems to be found. I would also advocate you check out thrift stores for any other common household items you might need before buying them new. Dallin just got his first big-boy job, and the office that he uses was pretty barren, so we decided to purchase some things to liven the place up. I had to go to Hobby Lobby to pick up some beads, so we checked out their office decor while we were there. We got some good ideas, but we didn't buy anything due to the expensive price tags on everything we liked. So, we headed over to a local thrift store we hadn't visited yet, and we got two lovely pots/vases similar to what we had seen at Hobby Lobby for WAY cheaper. They were originally $2 each, but we stumbled in there on Memorial Day (forgetting that Memorial Day sales are a thing) and everything in the store was 50% off, so we got each one for ONE DOLLAR!!! They are adorable and looked just as good as the ones at Hobby Lobby did. We also walked out of there smiling with SEVEN new cd's full of music that we both love...and each one was only 25 cents. We only spent $1.75 for over fifty songs!! I don't know about you, but that number puts iTunes to shame....mega huge ginormous amounts of shame.
Lastly, my most recent thrift discovery and love has been the Schoola website that sells women's and children's clothing. I've posted about it before, but it seems my $20 deal is still going! If you use my link, you can get $20 free in clothing from this website (profits from which go towards saving music and art programs in schools around the country), and I will also get $20 if you make a purchase.The credits do not work on new with tags items, but there aren't many of those items on there anyway. So far, with the credits I've gotten, I've been able to get 13 clothing items for FREE, and all of them are adorable! I like to sort the clothes by lowest to highest price, and I don't think I've spent more than $6 on one item so far...it's a great website, and you should definitely check it out. What do you have to lose? It's $20 worth of free clothes with absolutely no strings attached!! Not only that, but after you make your account you can create a "collection" and that will give you an additional $10 credit. So, click on that link and get some great deals. Even if I wasn't getting the credit I would be promoting this website because they have amazing prices and I love their mission. Happy thrifting!!!

Schoola Link:

https://www.schoola.com/stitch?ref=cp-3Xa3qi526

P.s. Don't forget to make that "collection" to get an extra $10! Also, there really are zero strings attached, and you don't have to spend more money than your free $30 to be able to use it....any extra that you don't spend will stay in your account for 60 days!! The best part is then that you can share YOUR OWN link with friends and family and start getting more credit for yourself. There is a cap on the amount you can receive free each year, but it's a lot! So, shop and share.

Photo Cred: Google Images

This Game Yields Real-Life Victory

Well, summer has finally been realized for our household, and I am starting to have a little more time on my hands, so back to blogging it is! :) I have missed this sweet little blog of mine...I love posting on here. It's good to be back!

Dallin and I are still sticking with our May challenge....and really just our new lifestyle change, and we are STILL making amazing progress and accruing some hardcore savings. After four months of really altering our mindset about money and spending habits, the best part about it is that we are STILL enjoying it. I am STILL loving being a "penny-pincher". So, my advice to you today is to make a game out of saving money. It really is a challenge to do it, but it's a challenge worth achieving and a challenge that yields a very rich reward, literally. Here are some of the ways Dallin and I turn our frugality into a game:

1. Talk about your money goals and spending habits...a lot! Don't be afraid to chide each other a little bit if one of you gets weak and slacks off a little on the goal. This keeps both of you on your toes and helps remind you not to make silly, unnecessary purchases. Example: The other day, I went to Walmart (a store I almost never visit anymore) because I was in need of some coverup and mascara as my current tube is almost entirely dried up. I came out with not only the needed makeup, but also a nail polish that I REALLY didn't need...the ones I have barely fit into my storage bin for them as it is! Anyway, I showed my new purchase to Dallin, and his response was, "Jess, you already have SO MANY different colors of nail polish...are you sure you need another one?" This was not him saying, "I am ashamed of you because you broke our goals and that upsets me", this was him reminding me in a nice way that we both have a goal TOGETHER and that I could be better. I do the same to him. A $4 nail polish doesn't seem like a big deal, but what are the $4 "nail polishes" in your cart? What do you come home with from the store that you really don't need and that's not going to make you any happier in the true scheme of things? Well, I happened to accidentally buy the wrong shade of coverup, so on my return trip to Walmart today, the nail polish will be happily returned and that four dollars will buy my eggs for the next month. Not only do we talk about it when we are trying to help each other, but we also just talk about the awesome goals we have, the amazing savings we've accrued, and the things that are finally starting to fall into place for us financially speaking. It's exciting! It is hard to stick with it until you see the money start to build up, but after that, it's SO WORTH IT.

2. Set short-term, easily achievable goals to stoke motivation and satisfaction. Nothing kills good intentions early-on like unachievable or really long term goals. You don't just go and run a marathon without any training! The training also doesn't start with 7 milers every morning...start with half a mile. I am a true believer in baby steps! So, sit down with your spouse or other person this weekend and set a goal for next week. Some short-term easy goals that Dallin and I used when first starting out this new fiscal challenge were to not eat out for an entire week, not buying anything unnecessary that wasn't on my pre-planned grocery list, and to not make any purchases online. These are super easy things to achieve! Not only did they help my wallet by the end of the week, but they also helped my health (I didn't buy junk at the grocery store). 

3. Start LEARNING. Learn how to do things yourself that maybe seem daunting or foreign but can save you loads of money. A few weeks ago I managed to convince a friend of mine to teach me how to change the brakes on my car. In return for the help, I offered one of my insanely scrumptious cherry pies as a form of "payment". So, last night he came over and taught my husband and I how to change the brakes on my car. Now I will be able to spend $70-80 to change my brakes instead of the usual $180-200 that I would spend taking the car to a shop to get the brakes changed the next time in needs to be done. It was so much easier than I thought! You just have to be a little brave sometimes. You will certainly make mistakes, but that's part of the learning curve. It's WORTH it. YouTube is a great friend when trying to learn how to do different things.

4. TRACK YOUR SPENDING. Everyone has a different preference on how to do this, but just checking your bank account once a week does not cut it here. Download the free Mint app on your phone, buy a personal accounting notebook, or get an excel sheet going. At the end of every week, Dallin and I plug in all of our spending into our Excel sheet, and it uncomfortably reveals all of the ways in which we broke our goals for that week. I am happy to say though that plugging in the numbers is now getting more exciting and less painful...because the savings are starting to heavily outweigh our costs now. This is a tiny bit time consuming to do, but I think this is one of the absolute most important things to do if you really want to fix weak spending habits and start to save a good amount of money

5. Finally, get some motivation from people who have really achieved true happiness and wealth by applying these principles. My inspiration? You've all heard of him before...Mr. Money Mustache.  Read one of his articles every day, and apply what you can! Dallin and I aren't anywhere close to as cool as he is yet, but we hope to get there someday. Be inspired by other people, too! There is so much knowledge to be gained out there....stop being idle about it. 

So, start talking about your financial goals for the future and how you can start to achieve them by taking baby steps NOW. NOW is the time to start making small changes in the way you consume products, NOW is the time to open an investment account, NOW is the time to start planning for your future. Making a goal to simply save for a house that you want to buy in 5 years or early retirement doesn't work...but making a goal to stay home and not eat out this week does, and that sets you walking on the path towards that house or early retirement in a more easily achievable and visible way. So, get going and start collecting money as you go around this game board!! 

Photo Cred: Google Images

Buying cheap clothes on Schoola to help our schools and environment!!!

So, I discovered another new favorite online clothing website today that just might be my favorite one! It's called Schoola. This company sells used, donated clothing items, and 40% of their proceeds go to help schools in need, in our country and elsewhere. These funds are used to bring back really important programs (including the arts) that tend to get cut due to budget limitations....so that's another thing that hits really close to home for me since I am a musician. The "Mission" page on their website says this:
"Today, we are 100+ employees working to support 20,000 schools. Together with thousands of community members & customers, we bring new paints to art classes, new instruments to the orchestra, new books to the libraries. Quality clothes get a second life. Parents help parents. Schools help schools. And students get the tools they need to realize their full potential at school."
Keep art like the picture above in our schools!!

Do something good today! The next time you need some certain clothing item (minus a swimsuit...I don't think they sell those), SHOP HERE FIRST! Help our schools keep their arts programs and get AMAZING prices on your clothes. I ordered FIVE items and the total came up to $38! Disclaimer right off the bat....this site does NOT offer men's clothes, only women's and children's (including boys) clothes, but it's still an incredible company.

Here's a little treat for you, too. If you use this link to do your shopping, https://www.schoola.com/stitch/referral
You will get $10 free credit to spend on clothes, and so will I! You then, in turn, can also go ahead and share your own referral link to spread the good news and earn some more credits on your own. So, try it out! Use the free $10!!!! (On a side note, I don't think your $10 will work on new with tags items, but those don't comprise the majority of the stock on this website). There is legitimately no good excuse not to...it's free stuff. I used a beloved sister-in-law's link to get a credit towards my shopping and it worked! No tricksy stuff...the $10 just comes right off of your purchase. I really am in love with this company, and I ABSOLUTELY love the idea of giving back to schools while I'm doing my shopping.

There are other advantages, too, to using this website. Buying gently used, second-hand clothes promotes sustainability and reduces waste. There is absolutely no need to use the materials, resources, labor, and energy to produce the amount of new clothes that we do in this country when there are SO many gently used ones floating around looking for new people to please. Let's be honest....what percentage of the clothes that you get rid of are LEGITIMATELY worn out? Probably not too many. I know for myself that if I get tired of something and don't wear it hardly ever, it usually ends up getting put in the donation bag and some other smart person picks it up for a really great deal. I recently made an order for summer shirts on this website and I can't wait for them to arrive! Shipping is slow, but who cares?! It's an awesome company with an awesome mission....and who doesn't want to support that sort of company these days? I do, and I'll definitely keep using Schoola.

Photo Cred: Google Images

April Challenge coming to a close! BUT you can do it for May, too!

Okay my fellow blog followers....how's that challenge coming? If you remember correctly from this post, your job was to make some financial goals and stick to them for the whole month of April. Mine and Dallin's consisted of eating out less, less/no amazon purchases, and saving at least another $1,100 dollars. I am extremely proud to say that we accomplished (for the most part) these goals and saved MORE than that! We spent about $1,100 dollars this month and saved almost $2,000.

Now, here comes the confession. I had a week where I totally took a nose-dive with our goals. My semester was reaching an insanely stressful point, I was so tired I couldn't think straight let alone cook, so we ate out 3 times that week (youch!!!), AND I bought a swimsuit from ThredUp for our upcoming graduation trip to Florida (woohoo!). My fiscal self regrets this, but my mental self does not. Having to come home, cook, and then clean up a dirty kitchen afterwards probably would have thrown me over the edge of insanity that week. So, Dallin let me relax a little and we went out to eat several times. That probably sounds extreme to some of you. "Of course you should go out to eat!" or "Treat yourself!". Treating myself has turned into something different, though. Eating out is no longer really a "treat" to myself for the most part. Treating myself is watching my bank account grow and knowing that I am financially safe and secure if something happens to us and also knowing that we are getting closer and closer to some of our bucket-list goals. It's the best feeling!!! The bathing suit though...that was just a moment of total weakness. I'm going to fix that this month. ;) For the rest of the month, though, we really maintained our goals, and it feels GOOD. Did your challenge come out well? I want to hear from some of you! If any of you were wussies and didn't do it, that's ok, because GUESS WHAT?! There's another month starting this Sunday, which means you have an opportunity to redeem yourselves and hop on the bandwagon and SAVE. SOME. CASH. Here are some tips that I have for you to help save some money this next month:

1. Like I said in my grocery shopping post, don't go to the grocery store hungry! This can legitimately save you $5-10 every time you go to the grocery store this month. If you're like me and go once a week, that's an extra $20-40 by the end of the month!

2. The weather is getting nice! Nice enough, in fact, that opening the windows to help regulate the temperature of your living space is a much better alternative than turning on that AC unit. Muscle up a little and enjoy maybe a tiny bit of "discomfort"! Dallin and I made a goal not to use our AC/Heat for all of April, and I am proud to report that I only broke down twice. Turned the heat on once and turned the AC on once (both on days when the temperature was fairly extreme). My window has been open every day for a few weeks! Save some money on that utility bill. I saved about $20 this month.

3. Do NOT go to a retail location when you are emotional or tired this month. My most guilty Ross trips always happened when I was down in the dumps. Clothes don't REALLY make you happy. So, drag yourself off the couch, grab your sweetheart's hand, and go for a walk instead. It will lift your mood no matter the weather (I promise!!!), and you won't have to spend any money!

4. REALLY consider whether or not something is necessary for basic living needs before you buy it. I'm not asking you to quit buying bread for your family or let your kids go naked, but do you really NEED that new purse that is on clearance at the store or that new athletic wear you've been eyeing? Unless you use a purse every single day and yours has so many holes that things are falling out of it, you don't need it.

5. Finally, make it a game, and get somebody to do it with you. I'm luckily married, so my husband is my "person" to do this with. We were both skeptical (okay, I was skeptical) when we first started doing this whole "live-WAY-below-your-means-and-go-without-things" thing, but I am 100% converted. Life is better when it's simpler and when you are saving money to make your goals happen.

So, pull out a piece of paper, write down the goals, and tape them to your bathroom mirror. It's time to start making some changes! For those of you who were doing the April challenge (if there were any besides us), props to you! Let me know how it went in the comments section! As an alternative, you can also post in the comments money-saving ideas that you love that MIGHT even sound extreme to help you be motivated this next month
! Isn't that what this blog's about? ;)

Photo Cred: Google Images

Bye bye "budgets" and "diets"

Wait, aren't budgets and diets good things!? No, actually. I don't think they are. What do these two words imply? Well, they imply a sense of time. "I'll do this diet for four weeks and try it out" or "I need to budget really carefully to make it to the end of the month". Wouldn't it be nice not to have to worry about these things? It would, wouldn't it! Well, you can do that. It's called making lifestyle changes. "I'm going to start eating healthier and eating less meat so that I can feel good now and improve my future health" and "I'm going to live way below my means so that I can be financially free and enjoy doing more meaningful things with my time" are much better alternatives!

So, when you decide you want to hop on the healthy green fiscal machine bandwagon, don't view it as a new "budget" or a new "diet". These things we are talking about here need to be LIFESTYLE changes, and ones that don't go away! They will make you happy, but they can only do that if you are really committed. Who doesn't want to have a really nice retirement (maybe retire early?) and be healthy in their later years?! I don't know about you, but I don't want to be sitting in a nursing home playing cards or having to use a walker to get around if I can avoid it! I've always been a strong believer that the best things come to those who work the hardest for what they truly want. What I TRULY want is to feel financially secure, have a body that is healthy and functions better than just "well", and I want to enjoy spending time with my family doing meaningful things.

How do we make these lifestyle changes actually happen, though? It's hard, and we all have moments of weakness, but dang it we are adults! We've been taking command of utility bills, car payments, mortgages, school loans, diet, and big decisions for a while now, so it's time to take command of the most important aspects of our lives (health and financial freedom), pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, admit our mistakes, and hop on the bandwagon! Dallin and I have done some pulling up of the bootstraps in the past two years, and we are so glad that we have. This big goal of ours (still keeping it a surprise!) is REALLY starting to look like an actual reality, and I gleefully spin in circles with a big smile on my face when I think about it! We are achieving some major goals, changing our health, and saving way more cash than we thought we could. YOU can do it to. So, read through some of my old posts, find some inspiration, evaluate your own habits, and then make some small goals! Take meat and dairy out of one meal every day this week. Make a commitment not to make any Amazon purchases this week. Don't "treat yourself" by getting that new dress or shirt after you survive finals. Quit going to Starbucks and buy some coffee from the grocery store! Dallin and I started out VERY small in our lifestyle changes, and we have continued to add on small goals, one on top of the other, until we've reached the point we're at now, and we are STILL GOING. We have still had our missteps and made mistakes in the past 4 months, but not nearly as many as we would have had we not really committed to making some legitimate changes in our lives. It's an incredible feeling. Get going! Starting is the hardest part...but I believe in you. Let me know what your goals are!!! I'll help you by telling you mine and we can keep each other honest. :)

Photo Cred: Google Images

Time to whip out the water bottle more and the credit card less....

Water really is a pretty miraculous substance. Just for fun, I looked up some interesting facts about water. Some of the ones that I thought were the most interesting were these: Of all the water that is on our earth, humans only use about 3/10 of ONE PERCENT. That's right. That's a TINY little bit. Our earth has a ton of water!! Our bodies are also made up of about 75 percent water....and that is why we can't go for very long without it! Also, drinks besides water are made of almost entirely WATER (that one's pretty obvious...but good to remember when you read the next part of this post). Water also dissolves more substances than any other liquid on this earth. Go read the other facts form that link that I posted at the beginning of this paragraph! They are interesting!

Now, here's what this post is really getting at. If YOU want to be a healthy, green, fiscal machine, you need to start drinking more water and cutting out the other mostly-water-but-not-as-healthy drinks in your life. Don't even get me started on soda and soft drinks...you already KNOW you shouldn't drink those. And if you don't, go read this article about what it does to your body. I am not telling you to never drink it again, but having a soda once a month should be PLENTY. This also saves you money--why pay extra money at the grocery store for something that is practically water anyway but with a LOT of added stuff that is incredibly bad for you?
As far as fruit juice is concerned, skip the juice and just eat the fruit!! This article very succinctly puts why fruit juice isn't as healthy as eating the fruit itself. For those of you who don't click on the link, I'll sum it up. When you drink fruit juice, there are a lot of things that you are missing out on health-wise. For example, the edible skin of a lot of fruits doesn't exist in fruit juice and this is one of the healthiest parts of the fruit, especially for its fiber content! Fruit juice also (generally) contains little-to-no pulp, which is also an excellent source of nutrients and fiber within a fruit. Finally, when you drink fruit juice, you are getting more sugar per calorie than when you eat the whole fruit, so it has a more drastic effect on your blood sugar. Aside from these facts, fruit juice is just really expensive! Here in Springfield, we get charged a flat monthly water-rate fee. So, I can use as much water as I need (and as is available) in that month without getting charged any extra. Our water fee happens to be about $16 dollars a month. If you buy a decent bottle of fresh-squeezed orange juice at the store, you'll pay at least $4 for it, so I can pay for my whole month's worth of practically unlimited water supply for the same price as buying one jug of orange juice every week! I don't know about you, but I don't think that 1/2 gallon of orange juice is going to hydrate my body, flush my toilets, and wash my hair for an entire week. So, DRINK MORE WATER.
Lastly, as far as milk goes, it takes an incredible amount of water by the time the whole process is said and done to produce a gallon of milk, not to mention the fact that dairy really isn't that great for you anyway. Don't agree? I guess you still need to watch the Forks Over Knives documentary on Netflix, then. ;) Milk is also pretty expensive.

Now, I completely understand needing to "change it up" every once in a while, and I do that myself! Dallin and I buy Almond Milk nearly every week because we both refuse to use water with cold cereal (blech!!!), and we have the very rare soda when we go to Firehouse subs once a month or less. Other than that, we both are just content to primarily drink water most of the time. You will feel so much better if you start doing this, your spending will go down, and consequently your savings will increase. Have you opened that Roth IRA with Vanguard yet? If not...it's time to get going! Dallin and I gleefully spin in circles every time we see our money working for us without us actually having to do any work. So, jump on the bandwagon, don't put the soda, juice, or milk in your cart, and start feeling better and saving money!!!

Photo Cred: Google Images

Eating Now For Your Future Self

This post is being written partially out of guilt and partially as motivation to myself to get back on track. This past week has been ROUGH over at our household. First of all, we only have 3 weeks until graduation, and motivation levels are plummeting at a speed faster than imaginable. Secondly, I have had so many tests this week that I cant even think straight anymore. ;) Needless to say, we definitely ate out 2 or 3 times this week, and my body was NOT happy with me for it. We still avoided anything fast-food (I don't know if I'll ever go back to it again), but I was amazed just how much my body has changed since I've been eating better over the past 3 months....and it has changed enough that it was NOT happy with me and my eating patterns this week. So, here's to getting back on track! Before you read any further, PLEASE tell me you've gone and watched the documentary Forks over Knives that I mentioned in this post on either Netflix or Amazon! This documentary was life-changing for me, and still continues to be. It not, WATCH IT THIS WEEKEND! Secondly, have any of you discovered some good vegetarian/vegan recipes you want to share? I'm still discovering new ones, but I always really love hearing what other people have done/discovered, too! Post them in the comments below!!
Now, I want to share some more helpful/motivational tips with you that I've learned (and remind myself of them!) as we have been eating a more plant-based diet. First of all, meat was not the hard thing to remove from our diets. Think about it, if you just steam a piece of chicken with zero spices/flavorings, what does it taste like? Well, not something that tastes good, that's for sure. The thing you REALLY have to make up for in recipes when you omit meat is the texture of meat. That was really difficult at first, but it's getting easier for me. I have discovered that adding a grain (like barley, lentils, brown rice, quinoa, etc) to most things helps make up for the texture immensely! You can also help make up for texture by adding hearty vegetables that maintain their texture well (like broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, etc) to a recipe.
The thing that has been more difficult than omitting meat for us has been omitting dairy. This was trickier than I thought! I didn't realize how many dairy products I used until I actually started paying attention. Milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, sour cream, etc. We started out simply by replacing our milk with almond milk, and both of us actually like it so much better now! We still haven't completely omitted cheese, but we have cut WAY back on that. A great way to help yourself cut back on cheese is by using nutritional yeast. This stuff is SO easy to find, so that's not a good excuse! You can buy it at any major grocery store, and it's available in numerous forms and varieties on Amazon. As far as yogurt goes, we haven't completely omitted that either. However, I know that some stores carry dairy-free yogurt (made out of coconut milk or other things), I just haven't been able to find it here so far. Butter was very easy to cut out, as was sour cream. I just use coconut oil and olive oil in place of butter, and I just choose to not use sour cream!
The other thing that I have heard from a lot of people (women), is that, "I could definitely be vegetarian, I just could never convince my husband to do it!" Well, I was one of those women at first, and my husband was not super easily convinced, but I was AMAZED at his transformation. I genuinely didn't believe I'd ever really get him on board. I really eased him into it at first. Instead of cooking big pieces of meat as the main dish, I started making recipes where I would just use a little bit of meat and spread it throughout the whole dish. Then I slowly just started taking the meat out of things, and finally started removing dairy, too. My husband is now completely on-board with our new diet, and he is a total believer. He loves the way he feels, how he sleeps better, and how his cravings for unhealthy stuff have almost completely disappeared. Don't try to do it cold turkey! They really will dislike you for that, but I am a pretty firm believer that anyone can be converted to this way of eating. Again, WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY WITH YOUR SPOUSE, TOO!! :)

Did I mention you should watch that documentary?

Oh, yeah, btw,  you should watch that Forks Over Knives documentary.

Anyhow, after you watch the documentary, get going! You CAN do it. It seems overwhelming and difficult at first, but it's really not as hard as you think. Yes, it does require you to spend more time actually cooking your own food instead of going out to eat or buying pre-packaged things, but you will realize (after you watch the documentary!!) that it really is an incredibly important investment into your future health, and your health right now! That guy in the picture above knows whats up! We pay good money to go to the doctors and take time to do that...why don't we take time to stay healthy in the first place by cooking and eating right? Quality of life is EVERYTHING, and I think health is the number one contributor to that. So, gear up, look up some vegan recipes on pinterest, go to the grocery store and buy some veggies, and spend some time in the kitchen! You can do it!!!!

Photo Cred: Google Images

Time to Get down and Dirty with your gardening tools....

You know, I personally hate the whole "I don't have a green thumb....I couldn't grow anything to save my life!" excuse. Both of my thumbs are normal colored....and I have grown lots of things successfully. I didn't even grow up in a farming family! Having a garden can save you an incredible amount of money, and let me attest to you that the taste of home-grown, vine-ripened veggies is a BILLION times better than just about anything you can find at the store. Not to mention the fact that it's healthier! There are other benefits to having a garden too (like helping to save our bees) that I'll discuss later in this post, but first, the savings!
Gardening does not require a ton of space in the backyard. Having 5-6 garden boxes or a small corner of the yard functioning as your garden can produce LOTS of fresh, healthy food. However, when planting things in your garden, consider the veggies that you are planting, as well--is it cheaper to buy potatoes at the store (whole 5lb bag for $2) or spend an entire summer caring for them and using up garden space to plant them...for me, personally, I will never plant potatoes in my garden. The cost is not effective! However, with things like squash, tomatoes, fresh green beans, spinach, kale, bell peppers, etc, the cost of growing vs. buying these items is VERY much cheaper!
As far as supplies go, this is another place that you can save some money. You COULD buy that expensive rototiller to till up your dirt, but if you're just starting out and have a small gardening space, water your garden with a little extra sweat and pull out the old shovel to churn some dirt! Also, not buying veggie plants from the store is a very easy way to make your savings even better....one decent tomato plant will run you $2-3 (sometimes even more at smaller nurseries), whereas an entire packet of tomato seeds would ring up at just under $1. Be brave! USE SEEDS! You have the internet...there is no excuse not to learn how to start seeds on your own. They are much easier to grow than babies...and lots of you have done that so far! ;) As far as water goes, there's no good excuse to complain about water usage. Water is dirt cheap! If you are fortunate enough, you may have a secondary water source available to you, which is EVEN CHEAPER.

Now, I mentioned earlier something about saving our bees. How is YOUR garden going to help save the world's bees? (Have you looked into that? They are dying faster than they should be, and we COMPLETELY rely on them for every fresh thing you see in the grocery store...and even all of the canned things, too!). Most of the farming that occurs in the united states today is what we call monoculture farming...this is where farmers grow one thing on a HUGE piece of land....for instance, Joe only grows soybeans on his 300 acres, and Fred only grows tomatoes on his 150 acres. This farming practice is a double edged sword. While it is efficient in producing a lot of one product, these farms are a terrible place for bees to reside. Think about it...if you have 300 acres of tomatoes, they ALL bloom at the same time for about a week or two, then the blooms are gone....when the blooms are gone, the food for the bees is gone. Did you know that most of the bees in our country actually get shipped (from Florida) around the ENTIRE country during the growing seasons of different monoculture farms for most of the year? That's right...the bees go from Florida (on trucks) all the way to California for Almond production, then they head as far as the east coast for cranberry production (and other things). This is INSANE! We have to ship bees around the country to feed ourselves because we can't locally sustain the bees (there are some fascinating documentaries on Netflix about this...go look them up! I really liked "More than Honey"). So, now does it make a little more sense why having your own garden helps our bees? Just think, if everyone grew the majority of their own fresh produce during the summer (then lived off of their canned goods from their garden during the winter), we would not only lessen the need for monocultures, but we would also provide the bees with more polycultures....Polycultures are what they need, and ultimately, they are what we need if we want to continue to be able to have fresh food.

So, BEE brave, go buy some veggie seeds, and START THAT GARDEN! Now is the time to get them going! You won't regret it...I promise. :)

P.S. Check out this lady's article...she tracked her actual savings from having her own (small) garden (as opposed to buying her veggies in the summer) for 3 years. Awesome!

Photo Cred: Google Images

Zero Shame in My Thrifting Game!!! Featured (new favorite) Company....

One of the things I like to occasionally do on this blog is feature a product/store/company that I absolutely love, and today is ThredUp! This company is awesome! Basically, it's like a really nice online thrift store that helps you save money by buying gently-used, inexpensive items, and it helps the environment by not promoting brand new production of clothing that we don't really need to produce. The best part about it?! They have GREAT Prices! My grandparents (for our graduation gift) are taking Dallin and I to the beach in a few weeks, and I was in need of a swimsuit. Due to how picky I am with swimsuits, I was having trouble finding one in the stores around here that was in my price range (definitely NOT going to pay $55 for a swimsuit!!!). So, I skeptically decided to check out ThredUp, and I found EXACTLY what I wanted.....for ELEVEN DOLLARS!!! It is in beautiful shape for being a used item (sometimes they even have new-with-tags items on there!). My package should arrive tomorrow, and I am stoked! I ordered a dress from them on a previous occasion, and it came promptly and fit exactly as expected. So, with graduation coming up for many of us, don't be stupid....skip the expensive department stores! I saw some BEAUTIFUL fairly formal dresses on there when I was perusing the site a few days ago. They also sell childrens clothing....we all know that kids ruin clothes anyway, so why buy expensive brand-new ones?! These look brand-new, but are half the price.
The other great part about this company is that you can sell your clothes to them and they will pay you for them (similar to Plato's Closet). I highly recommend this website...if you're like me, you like clothes, but you don't want to pay the typical ridiculous prices for them. Plus, it's a great feeling to know that you are recycling something that is in perfect condition and getting the same usage/value out of it as if you bought something new! One of the company's main goals is pursuing sustainable clothing practices..."sustainable clothing practices" sounds stupid, but it's something we should be aware of and try to promote. How often do you throw something away that is still in decent shape? I have been guilty of that...although, I do usually donate most of my clothing. So, give consumerism the cold shoulder and start using ThredUp....you really won't regret it. :)

Photo Cred: Google Images

Long lost blogger has returned with more advice, and the challenge is still on!

Good golly! I can't believe it's been 10 days since I posted on this blog. Where did the time go? I hope you are all staying strong on your April financial goals! Dallin and I are still doing really well! We are right on track and I LOVE watching the cash flow into the bank account, and then not flow back out again.
My discovery of the day is not long or incredibly life-changing, but it's definitely money-saving! How many of you are getting more and more creative with cooking at home in an effort to save some money?! The one thing that I have begun to discover is that having fresh herbs to use in cooking makes a DRASTIC difference in the taste of your food. Who knew! Dried herbs are an excellent resource, but fresh herbs are just out of this world. Unfortunately, to buy like three fresh basil leaves at the store will run you about $2.50. I don't know about you, but that could buy me 2 1/2 pounds of apples to last me a week or so, and the basil leaves just start to look a little wiltier once I look at the price tag... ;) So, for the past two summers, I've planted my own herb seeds! They were a great success last year, and I'm still encouraging the little seeds this year to sprout (I just planted them about a week ago). According to my calculations, I'll probably get 10-15 grocery store "packages" worth of herbs out of my little (like, really tiny) herb garden. How much did it cost me to plant those herbs? Well, I'm estimating about 30 cents in seeds...since I'm still using up my seed packets from last year. Thirty cents to plant in comparison to probably $40 in herbs at the grocery store! I don't know about you, but those are some fiscal little herb seeds sitting on my front porch! They are practically making me money just sitting there growing their little green selves (the picture above is my sprouts from last spring...aren't they cute?!). Anyhow, I would encourage you to plant a little herb garden or even get really brave and plant some veggies in your backyard. The taste is so much better and the fiscal savings are OH so much better! Need some advice as a beginner? I found this article to be pretty helpful. Growing plants is so much easier than most people make it out to be....try it! You can't really go wrong when you're only spending 80 cents on a packet of herb seeds. ;)

The high that comes from putting things back on the rack...

As many of my Facebook friends know, I've been granted a Graduate Assistantship to assist me in getting through the next two years of grad school (wahoo!). After I received my official letter about being chosen for the assistantship, which entails teaching two sections of a freshman music theory lab course, I decided that I was going to *need* some more business-y like clothing to help me look the part for this new position. I quickly hopped in my car and went down to my favorite thrifty store, Ross, to look for the needed items. I overfilled my cart with all sorts of things and went to try them on. Some of them fit, some of them didn't....I kept looking for a while, and at the end of the trip, I ended up walking out of the store completely empty handed and very much happier than when I walked into the store.
The part about this story that I DIDN'T tell you beforehand is that I already have 3 pairs of dress pants in my dresser at home, and many sufficient shirts/blouses to help me "look the part" for this new assistantship, but I thought that with this new distinguished position I'd gotten, I needed to look even newer and more distinguished by buying more clothes. I realized by the end of the trip though that I would look just as good in the pants I already had (which are not worn out in any significant way)! As I put stuff back on the rack in the store, I walked out happier because I didn't buy things that I didn't really need. Some people would say to me, "But you should treat yourself a little! That's a big accomplishment!" Well, I think I treated myself in an even better way. I treated myself to knowing that I have more than enough money for groceries, car expenses, utility money, and other such necessary things to REALLY maintain my true quality of life. All of the nice business clothes in the world can't cook me a nice, healthy, vegetarian dinner, pay to keep my house cool this summer, or put gas in my car, but the money that I save from not buying the unnecessary clothes CAN. On the other side of things, had I bought those clothes, I would have also had to work more hours to earn the money back that I spent on something unnecessary so that I could continue to pay my bills and put a decent amount towards investments and savings ventures. Those extra hours of working keep me from spending time and creating memories with those I love and care the most about.
So, for those of you who are going out into the "real world" to start jobs after graduation or even going on to continue your education, start heavily considering wants vs. needs and the things in life that will truly improve your overall quality of life and happiness, hence the wonderful high that comes from putting things back on the rack. For those of you already in this stage, start thinking about how early retirement funded by the savings from not buying unnecessary stuff could improve your quality of life (Have you hopped over to Mr. Money Mustache's blog? He retired at age 30!!!!). I'm starting to find mine, and I hope you'll join me and find yours, too!

This guy really makes me happy!! ^^


P.S. Have you made your April goals list yet for the challenge?! Get going on that! These are serious savings that we are talking about!!

*Photo Cred: Google Images (top left), Holly Hunt (Bottom center)

April Challenge!!! and a sneak-peak into our finances

I hope your week has been a bit lovelier than mine....I came down with a viral infection and had to take a couple of sick days this week, but I am on the mend and feeling a little better. This illness couldn't diffuse my elation though....want to know why? Dallin and I went over our monthly finances this week and we saved $1,100 dollars this month! No, that's not adding up all of the  "you saved this much on tonight's purchase" numbers at the bottom of my receipts, it's an extra $1,100 dollars sitting in my bank account right now. How the heck did I do this? Well, Dallin and I took some semi-extreme (but are they really all that extreme?) measures this month because we have a big goal (surprise for a future post! and no...it's not a baby haha) that we are wanting to accomplish at the end of this upcoming summer. Want to hear how we did it? Well, I'll tell you.

When we went over our finances last month, we realized that we had spent quite a bit of "fun money" at the movie store, going out to eat, etc. So, we decided we either had to cut Netflix or trips to the movie rental store out of the routine, and we opted to stop going to the video rental place. That saved us probably $15 this month. We also spent a TON of money going out to eat in February ($130....ouch), so after the first week of March we made a lofty goal to not eat out for the rest of the entire month. I am insanely proud to say that we made it!! Not even one dollar menu item was purchased for the last three weeks of March. Savings? I can't tell you exactly because I don't know how much we would have gone out to eat, but it was definitely a big savings compared to last month!!! This was not an easy goal/challenge. We had to turn down offers from friends and family (which is not super fun), but it REALLY ended up being worth it.
The other goal we made for the month of March was no little "emergency" runs to the grocery store. I am particularly good at convincing Dallin several times a month to drive to the store late at night for ice cream *guilty face*. So, we cut those out entirely. I just really had to make sure that when I made my weekly grocery store run that I had a list and was prepared! (Have you read THIS post on that? Check it out!) I was AMAZED at how much our grocery budget went down this month....We saved roughly $100-120 by just cutting out those little extra trips.

We also cut down pretty significantly on Amazon purchases....it's so easy to order stuff that you don't REALLY need off of Amazon....not having to leave your house and give any more thought to purchasing the item than the click of a button. I am proud to say that I have not gone without any needs in March by not buying things off of Amazon. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Amazon, I am just more careful now to consider needs vs. wants.
The rest of the savings came from Dallin doing a little extra work this month and I got an extra symphony gig, so that helped us to stock away a few extra $$ as well. The trick there, though, was putting it AWAY, not spending it on "things". Dallin and I don't make a lot of money right now, we have just learned how to be wiser with it in the past few months, and we are starting to see some of our goals come to fruition. I'll let you know about that big one when we get going on it....for now, make a list of goals for yourself for April, and SAVE SOME MONEY!!! Our goals are to continue all of the above and save at least that much again. You can do it, too!

Photo Cred: Google Images

Bye bye, retail therapy....

What's retail therapy? Well, basically, it's shopping to make yourself feel happier. Is shopping really something that we innately do to make ourselves feel better, or does our environment persuade us that shopping will make us feel happier? After doing some research and watching a fascinating documentary on Edward Bernays (do you know who he is? Probably not...but he is one of the 20 most influential Americans in the history of our country), I have decided that shopping indeed does NOT make us ultimately happier when we are having a rough day, but overtime does the exact opposite. I'll admit, I have definitely had those less-than-awesome days, at the end of which I usually ended up roaming the aisles of Ross or TJMaxx looking for something that was going to cheer me up a little....and I'd usually walk out with one or two items. However, ultimately it did not contribute to my overall well-being and happiness. I wasn't going to the store because I NEEDED something or it was a holiday gift for me or someone else, I was going to the store when I was at a low emotional point looking for a high...one that cost me money and eventually made me regret the decision. This post is not meant to convince you to never buy anything new for yourself, it's to convince to to decide when and IF you really need something that will truly contribute to your overall well-being and happiness. Buying your 30th pair of shoes because you're "tired" of the one's you've been wearing and are looking for something a little fresher isn't going to do that.

Earlier, I mentioned Edward Bernays. He is really a fascinating person, and he is the man we can give credit to for turning this country's population into more of a consumer-minded people. This article really introduces him really well...please take a moment and go read it!!! Right now! It's not very long...it only took me 2 or 3 minutes to read it. 

One of the paragraphs in the article says, "Today we are well-versed in buying things because they say something about us, or make us feel a certain way, but it was a complete transformation in the 1920s when most selling was done on the basis of information and function. Bernays spent a lifetime helping companies connect with the "irrational emotion" of their customer. Many of Bernays's techniques, such as press releases, product placement and tie-ins are still prevalent today. He pioneered a whole new way of doing business."

Did you catch that? In the 1920's, selling/buying was based on FUNCTION. If your coat was worn out, you would look around for one that advertised the best functioning coat for you, not the one that would make you FEEL and LOOK the prettiest...but Bernays changed that. He used the "irrational emotion" of customers to get them to buy more stuff. All of a sudden, we not only needed a practical, warm winter coat, but now we needed a fancier coat for things like church and parties, a really warm coat for the winter, and lots of various sweaters for roaming the house in and feeling comfy. Do you see where I'm headed with this? ;) 

Let's look at some examples here of modern advertising, heavily influenced by Bernay's discoveries, and I want you to think about how you feel when you look at a certain image. (all images taken from Google Images). 

How do I feel looking at this one? Free, happy, warm, springy....

Natural? I love natural! And look at that curly natural hair...this will definitely make my eyes pop, but not be too overbearing.

I'm definitely a first at a lot of outdoor things....maybe The North Face's innovative products and super high quality will make scaling this insane mountain a lot easier.

SALE! I love sale prices! I've been "needing" some new spring dresses anyway...Mine are a couple years old and starting to look a little out of date...

I had no idea that if men used this cologne it would transport them to a magical island with a super hot girl standing next to them in a bikini looking pretty fresh.......did you?

After doing the research on Bernays and really taking a closer look at these advertisements, I feel a little silly! I'm pretty surprised that I could be so easily manipulated to buy things that I don't need....and maybe not by these particular items necessarily, but I have definitely purchased things that I didn't really need after seeing it on some sort of advertisement, or even after seeing how "happy" someone looked on an advertisement. Buying those dresses "on sale" from Target will definitely make you happy, right? Well, maybe if you desperately need a new dress because you have outgrown all of yours or they each have massive irreparable holes in them, then yes, buying a new dress would make you happier. However, that is not usually the case for most of us. So, I really encourage you to think twice about going to the store on your off days. Don't deprive yourself of things that you need or the VERY occasional self-pampering item, but don't deprive your wallet in lieu of giving yourself a false emotional high. Instead of hopping in your car to head to the mall, take a walk outside, go on a run, exercise, make your menu plan for the week, try a new recipe, or settle down with a blanket to watch a good movie on Netflix, but quit buying into consumerism to "make yourself feel better". It won't work in the long run, and you'll be happier and more financially stable if you don't. :) Learn to be more satisfied with what you have! I myself have enough clothes to probably last me for a month without having to wear the same thing twice, so do I really need MORE clothes? No, I don't. I've had several off-days in the last few months, and instead of going to the store, I've gone for several walks, made a few fancier meals, and watched quite a few movies/documentaries on Netflix, and I can honestly say that I have slowly had less and less off-days, because satisfaction doesn't come from stores, it comes from YOU, and YOU can achieve real happiness on your off-days without going to the store. I believe in you, and I believe in me, too!

Easter Update: Forget the discount candy!

I hope you all had an amazing day yesterday! Dallin and I enjoy celebrating Easter, and we did it in a new fashion this year. Since we don't have any children yet, the Easter Bunny did not make a stop by our house, and I didn't miss it too much. I did miss watching my little siblings run around the yard and collect colorful eggs, though. Anyhow, our Easter consisted of attending our church service in the morning, and then we came home to make some preparations to have a birthday/Easter dinner with my aunt and uncle who live in town. It was the best Easter I could have asked for! I loved spending time with family and making homemade pizza and carrot cake (we used the recipe from my last post for the pizza! You should try it this week!!). The evening was full of laughter and entertainment....and the best part? Aside from a few minimal ingredient costs, we didn't spend any money to obtain the fun!
My first thought this morning was, "Oh, Easter candy is going to be on sale today!" Then my more newly obtained sensible side jumped in and said, "No, you really don't need any more sugar after eating cake last night, forget the discount candy!" I patted my sensible self on the back and grinned at the thought of not "buying into" something that I don't need and that won't necessarily further my health. Now, I am not saying to entirely stop eating sugar around holidays...I certainly don't do that myself.....but why should we eat even MORE sugar after the holidays? Even though the candy is on sale, you still pay for it, so save yourself some money, be a little healthier, and DON'T BUY IT. If I can resist with my sweet tooth, so can you. I just made a goal to not go to the store at all today so that I remove the temptation entirely.

In another light, after having dinner with some friends on Saturday night, I've decided what my Easter treat tradition is going to be with our family every year (thanks Ashley for introducing me to this!). My friend made this incredible Pavlova recipe--a light, meringue base that is topped with heavenly whipped cream and fresh berries. It was DELICIOUS!!! I've looked around a bit, and this seems to be the recipe that is closest to what I experienced the other night:
http://www.sweetandsavorybyshinee.com/classic-pavlova/

I love the idea of making this because every year because traditions (even if they revolve around something as small as a specific, special food item) are what we really remember about family holidays.....I can't tell you what I received for Christmas even this last year, but I could definitely tell you about some of our traditions. I see so many pictures popping up on facebook of people getting Easter "gifts" (what the heck?!? That didn't happen when I was a kid...) and can't help but think that there are better ways to spend time together...don't let gifts replace real, meaningful family time, traditions, and sweet memories. Being my kind and sharing self, I'm willing to let you use my Pavlova idea for an Easter treat tradition, too, next year. ;) Seriously though, try it, you won't be disappointed by this dessert, and you won't be disappointed by the giggles and snitching of tasty sweet berries that happens in the kitchen with your little ones gathered around helping you to make it. Do you have any special Easter traditions you love? Share them below! :)

Photo Cred: Sweetandsavorybyshinee.com

A tip for success and recipes!

A faithful reader of this blog requested some tried-and-true homemade recipes, and so this post is dedicated to that! These are all healthy recipes that I have tried in the past few weeks and have really enjoyed. They are all extremely easy, too, so like I said, get some practice and start cooking! Try them out and let me know what you think, and please feel free to add any recipes of your own in the comments section below or share them with me using the contact link in the upper right-hand corner of the main homepage. :) I will offer one piece of cooking advice before I let you loose with these delicious recipes...if you don't have all the ingredients or don't want to necessarily buy all of the specialty ingredients (like the dried mustard in the hawaiian chicken recipe below), do some substituting! I personally used a little yellow mustard in place of the dried mustard, and it still turned out perfectly. I also didn't put the Hoisin sauce in the potstickers recipe...it was expensive, and I had no idea how I would use it again, and that recipe turned out perfectly as well. Don't be afraid to leave something out that doesn't seem like a really "key" flavor or ingredient in the recipe...it will probably still be great. I do this with almost every "complicated" recipe I make, and I haven't had an insanely bad failure yet! Anyway...onto the recipes!

This one pan spinach-and-artichoke pasta is to die for! When I made this, I added a few tablespoons of pesto as well, and It was delicious. The recipe can be found here:

http://www.playpartyplan.com/2015/10/one-pan-spinach-and-artichoke-pasta-recipe.html

Normally, I am a definite believer that meat should not taste sweet in any way, shape, or form, but this recipe definitely changed my perspective (a little) on that opinion. This Hawaiian Baked Pineapple Chicken was SO good, and we ate several different veggies as sides to go with. Here's this one:

http://diethood.com/hawaiian-baked-chicken-100-target-gift-card-giveaway/

This next recipe is definitely somewhat time-consuming, but it's really not complicated. This was another really big favorite that we made a while back. I love Asian food but can't eat it at restaurants very often because it disagrees with me, so I make it at home! These homemade potstickers are a recipe to be reckoned with...

http://damndelicious.net/2014/03/01/potstickers/

How many of you buy taco seasoning in the little packets from the store? NO MORE will you do this--this INSANELY easy homemade taco seasoning mix is SO much better (tasting and health-wise) and is a lot cheaper! I haven't bought taco seasoning in almost two years since I discovered this. :)

http://thehumbledhomemaker.com/2011/07/homemade-homemaking-taco-seasoning

Another favorite in our house is homemade pizza...there really isn't an excuse not to make it with how easy it is! I also love the fact that we can enjoy something that not only tastes yummier than restaurant pizza, but it's also cheaper(!) than eating out...did you read my last post? You should!! Anyway, here is the dough recipe that I use (original source unknown...I got it from my dad).

This is enough dough to make two 16# pizzas.  Bake pizzas at 550 degrees for about 7 minutes.

4 1/2 cups bread, or all-purpose flour (I do half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour)

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon yeast

1 3/4 cups water, (110°F)

1 Tbps. Italian seasonings 

Stir 1 tablespoon of sugar into the warm water then stir in yeast and let that sit for at least 10 minutes- should get 'foamy.'  Stir the other ingredients into the yeasty water and mix for about six minutes.  The dough should be just sticky enough to not stick to the sides of the mixing bowl and only sticks to the very bottom a little.  If you have time let it rise for 30 mins to an hour; if not, just roll it out and use it- works for me either way.

Our favorite version of homemade pizza uses these as toppings: alfredo sauce, mozzarella cheese, a little parmesan cheese, fresh spinach, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, and occasionally a little bit of diced steamed chicken. Enjoy!!

Finally, this was a super easy dessert that I made for a little family dinner a couple of weeks ago. I have an uncle who can't eat a lot of sugar (and we try to avoid too much sugar, anyway), and so I looked around until I found something healthy and fresh that was still a little fancy. These fresh fruit and ricotta phyllo cups fit the bill perfectly! In contrast to the picture on the recipe website, I put strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries on top of mine. Kiwi and grapes didn't sound appealing, but it's totally up to you, and that's part of the fun! Here's the recipe for this one:

http://notenoughcinnamon.com/2014/05/09/fresh-fruits-ricotta-phyllo-cups/?utm_source=Not+Enough+Cinnamon%27s+Recipes&utm_campaign=c205142da6-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_081ed45e4e-c205142da6-98674173&goal=0_081ed45e4e-c205142da6-98674173&mc_cid=c205142da6&mc_eid=ae5123d823

Photo Cred: Google Images

An Investment that is both Delicious and Nutritious

I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this post for a while now. This is one of my favorite ways to save money AND be healthier. What is it you may ask? COOKING AT HOME. According to this article on CNN, in 2010 the average consumer spent about $2,300 eating out in one year! I did the math, and I could budget my ENTIRE year's worth of groceries at my current spending rate for that. A whole years worth of food in comparison to about 82 meals according to the same article. I know that this data is a little older, but the same principle still applies today--eating out is WAY too expensive to justify doing it more than once or twice a month. Then raises the complaint that cooking takes "too much time" or "I'm a terrible cook, I can't make anything decent to save my life". Newsflash--nobody came out of the womb wielding a spatula and whipping up amazing recipes. Being a good cook is not a talent or God-given gift, it's a lot of practice that yields both excellent, decadent successes and smoky, disastrous failures. I'll admit that cooking at home and making things as complicated and tasty as a nice restaurant meal takes some time, but this time should not be something that you feel annoyed or put off by. First of all, the time that you take to stay home and cook a meal (let's say a $28 dine-out dinner bill) can be equated to almost 3 hours of working pay at $10/hr or a little under. I have to admit, I never spend more than an hour or two preparing and making dinner, so I'm already increasing my pay to about $28/hr. Secondly, this time spent cooking at home is not only an investment as far as money goes, but it is an investment in health. I have always been a strong believer that to get restaurant food that is as healthy as what you can make at home, you have to spend WAY more.

Let's take a look at a case study from the dinner that I made last night--some delicious, vegetarian curry. I looked up the menu for our local Thai restaurant, and to order two plates of veggie curry at this place would be $20 ($9.95 each) without any sides. Here's how much mine cost:

Rice: about .50 worth

Coconut milk: $3.95 for the can

Veggies: (one sweet potato, two peppers, 3 large carrots, half an onion, and a handful of snow peas) about $1

Spices and other things: So minimal that I didn't even try to calculate them.

Side of fresh steamed brussels sprouts: about $1

Water to drink: practically free

Adding all of this up, I spent about $6.50 to make my curry recipe and the brussels sprouts. Here's the catch....it's even cheaper than that per serving, because my recipe made a TON of curry. I'm going to be eating curry literally for the next 3 days. Based on how much it made, I will get about 3 meals for 2 people out of this recipe...so six servings. According to that math, I've saved my self the time of cooking two more dinners AND each serving only cost about $1.10 as opposed to $9.95!!! There is no question here---cooking at home is both cheaper and much better for you (in almost every case). I don't know about you, but I want to live until I'm 95, and I want to go down kickin', and eating super healthy is going to help me do that. How am I going to sustain myself financially until I'm 95 though? Oh yeah, I just have to keep eating at home instead of going out and accruing MASSIVE savings because of it (which I will promptly invest in my Roth IRA* to make even more money!). So, stop complaining about the time or that you're a terrible cook. Get in the kitchen, roll up your sleeves, and make some mistakes. They won't be nearly as costly as hopping in your car to drive down to the nearest restaurant. ;) 

*See earlier article Investing: Seriously simpler than you thought

Photo Cred: Google Images

Grocery Shopping like a green, fiscal machine.

In our house, I do all the grocery shopping. With this great power comes great responsibility. ;) Responsibility to NOT come home with junky, unhealthy, pricey stuff that we don't need in our diet. All it takes is a little self-control, right? Wrong. That has never worked for me, so, I've come up with a few ways that help me in the grocery store to keep my food budget to about $40/week. 

1. DO NOT, whatever you do, GO TO THE GROCERY STORE HUNGRY. The last time I went to the grocery store hungry, I came out with orange juice, sugary cereal, poptarts, and Pizza rolls (ew? I didn't know hunger could persuade me on that one). My body was low in the blood sugar category, and so I came out with things that were immediate (but not healthy) fixes to that, and I definitely regretted those purchases later, haha. So, EAT before you go!

2. Make a menu plan before you go! Trying to come up with meal ideas while you're in the grocery store is pretty ineffective and usually ends up in you not buying everything you really need and buying a lot of things you don't need. Along with this, check your fridge while you're making your weekly  menu plan and try to base your meals off of things that you need to use up that are still hanging around in your fridge. I don't know about you, but it takes me FOREVER to use up sour cream when I buy it, so I try to plan two or three meals at least that week that will use sour cream when I do buy it. I hate throwing away food...

3. Don't go to the grocery store without a list, and make sure to check it twice. If you leave a necessary ingredient off and have to go back in an "emergency run" to the grocery store, you're likely to come out with something else you don't need during that extra trip. Having a list also helps you to avoid going down unnecessary isles full of temptation in the middle of the store--this way, you only have to go down the isles that have something you need. :)

 4. Avoid the middle isles at all costs! Almost everything that you really need (fresh veggies, fruits, dairy, meat, etc) is on the OUTSIDE edges of the grocery store. The middle isles are the evil labyrinth of pre-made, processed foods that cost you extra $$ and don't add much to your health. Only travel into the labyrinth when something on your list must be retrieved from there...

5. To save even more money, buy fruits and veggies that are in season and that are on sale that week. Luckily we are headed into the summer months (fresh produce heaven!) and there will be many more fresh items at better prices. Take advantage of it! Use tons of fresh veggies and fruits in your recipes, and extend that even further by taking advantage of sales at your grocery store. This week, I was going to use some zucchini in a recipe, but at the store I discovered yellow squash was on sale, so I substituted the yellow squash for the zucchini in my recipe (obviously this doesn't always work for every recipe, but if something on sale works as a good substitute, do it!). 

These are all things that I do every time I go to the grocery store. I don't give myself a budget anymore really, and honestly, I never go more than about $5 over my usual amount. Sometimes it even ends up being less than the usual $40 if I get really creative with what's left over in my fridge and pantry at the end of the week. :)