Get Out of Debt

Like that picture? It's us. Throwing our money away like we've been doing for 4.5 years of marriage. Money talk. It's uncomfortable, but here we go...

The Dear Husband and I have decided, once and for all, we're going to follow Dave Ramsey by the letter of the law. We've been trying to adapt it to our own thing for years and it just hasn't worked for us, bottom line. We're about to embark on Dave Ramsey's 7 Steps very closely:

1. $1000 Emergency Fund

Woo, not gonna lie. This is a tough start already. Looking at our initial budget, we have $42 extra a month after the most basic needs and already trimming back. I'm not sure what the plan is to make this happen more quickly, but I'm sure we'll discover it tonight over our budget meeting (with tater tots.)

2. Pay off debt with the debt snowball.

We somewhere in the neighborhood of $80,000. That means, not including interest, we need to clear up $10k a year for the next 8 years in order to conquer all our debt. Here is the hardest, longest part for us.

3. 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings.

4. Invest 15% of all income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement.

5. College funding for kids.

6. Pay off home early.

Yeah, we need to buy a house first...

7. Build wealth and give!

Wish us the best of luck. I can't wait to share how the journey is going!

Substituting Half the Meat with Dried Beans

Hello! So, one of the money saving things I wanted to try this week was substituting half the meat in a Mexican dish with dried beans. I tried it on an evening we were supposed to have a lot of company, but weather had different plans (tornado season! Woooohooo...not) so I just had some family come grab tacos and run back to shelter. Overall, this recipe saved me about $2.50 that I would have had to have spent on an extra lb of ground beef. Every little bit helps!
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I used one pound of ground beef that I bought at a discounted price ($2.62 for 80/20! I bought 5 lbs that day) and about a cup and a half of cooked black beans and it tasted pretty good! I think the best bargain is dried beans, just keep in mind that they take a while to cook and your best bet is to soften them first by doing something like soaking them overnight in water. Here is my usual method:

Select desired amount of dried beans, cover with water and boil. Boil for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Simmer beans with lid on for another hour, continuing to stir occasionally. Turn off heat and let covered beans sit in hot water for an hour before adding to your recipe.  Add more water as needed as the beans will absorb much of what you put in. Add a little salt, garlic and/or onion if desired.

Half-the-Meat Crockpot Tacos

Ingredients

1 LB Ground Beef
1.5 C Dried Beans (I just dumped the hot water/bean mixture in)
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Small Onion, chopped
1/4 C Homemade Taco Seasoning (Recipe coming soon- you could also use a packet of taco seasoning!)
Salt
Black Pepper
Corn Tortillas
Oil for frying
Your favorite taco fixin's! (We used cheese, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes and lettuce)

Instructions

  Brown hamburger with salt and pepper to taste. Drain grease, and add to crockpot along with your cooked beans with any leftover water. Add garlic, onion and homemade taco seasoning. Cook on low for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally. About 15 minutes before dinner, add a little oil to a pan and fry up those corn tortillas because they are delicious that way! Top with your favorite taco extras and enjoy!

7 Money Saving Tricks I Want to Work on This Week

1. Make a Mexican dish, but substitute half the meat with black beans.
2. Make a list of 15 meals I've been cooking a lot lately (5 breakfast, 5 lunch, 5 dinner) and price them per serving. Start getting a better idea of the most frugal meals for my family's taste buds.
3. No restaurant food this week.
4. Use one coupon.
5. Make one thing from scratch that I usually buy premade and packaged.
6. Don't touch the thermostat!
7. Sell one thing on Craigslist.

AoNPiR

One of my worst character flaws (probably not the most egregious, but definitely the one that affects me in more areas than any of the others) is my all-or-nothing attitude.

I'm talking about doing things like just not cleaning at all because I can't do it all in one day. Or, setting a goal to not eat out and then just giving up cooking altogether because we ended up having to order pizza on a bad night. If I can't have it all the PERFECT way (this post is really revealing because I'm also revealing my perfectionist tendencies), then I don't work for it.

I discovered this about a month ago, and surprisingly, my life has been much more pleasant even though all things stressful have picked up. I'm All-or-Nothing Perfectionist in Recover. AoNPiR.

Right now I'm doing a lot of things to organize, to save money, to make our lives earlier and I want to share them with the internet because I really have noticed our life getting smoother...getting easier.

I'm excited to share!

(But I don't have a timeline for when I'll post because in putting aside perfectionism and unrealistic expectations for myself, I admit I really don't know when I'll have time to post again! ALSO, I know I'll be able to come back and post again because hey! This blog isn't all-or-nothing, it's just a hobby!)

My Home After the Flu: One Hot Mess

Remember that "cute" story I told you last week involving puke and then vinegar? That story became really uncute when I came down with that same stomach bug Thursday. It wasn't one of those 24 hour bugs, either. My poor sore stomach is still recovering from that thing. Bleh! Just thinking of food still makes me a wee bit nauseated.

I say all of that to ask, WHAT HAPPENS TO MY HOUSE (read: apartment) WHEN SOMEONE IS SICK? It doesn't just get messy, it explodes- KABLOOM (lots of caps today, sorry.) Then it's like a complete battle to try and get on top of it again. Am I the only one who goes through this post-stomach flu aftershock of complete home disasterdom?

Just for a visual aid, here is my vantage point (unedited cell pic from my husband's phone) from my nursing station:

And that's not even the worst of it...in fact, it's probably pretty close to the best of it in this portion of the apartment. I'm not quite brave enough to show you some of the other areas! Right now I'm just tackling it the best I can with my kind of feeble body.

Here's my question- after a long/hard/nasty illness, how do you get back on top of things in the domestic sector?

Vinegar

Today started out on a gnarly note when my husband walked into my bedroom (we usually share a room but I've been sleeping in the kind of "nursery") and asked, "Honey, how do you clean puke off a mattress?"

Good question...as young parents, this was a new one for us. We gazed blankly into each other's eyes, as our pale toddler stumbled in. "I don't know...aggghhhh..." I responded eloquently. My husband shrugged and went to clean up the bulk of the mess. However, I was able to utilize one tool I knew: vinegar.

Strange as it may seem, vinegar does an amazing job at neutralizing odors. At first it has its usual pungent smell, but when it dries everything smells fresh. It does a lot of cool cleaning things, and it is so dirt cheap. Vinegar also has disinfecting properties that make it great for household cleanups.

I have heard some people say vinegar is just as good at sanitizing as bleach, but even though I don't use bleach I need to do a little myth busting on this one. Vinegar does kill a ton of germs, but it doesn't do quite the job bleach does. I'm not worried about my family being exposed to some germs and building up our immune systems and yada yada yada that isn't what this entry is about. However, if you're a nerd like me and want to do more reading about the efficacy of vinegar as a disinfectant check out this cool link! BONUS: more info from the CDC at the end of that awesome post.

The bottom line for me with vinegar and household cleaning is that it fulfills two important needs for my domestic life:

1. I'm not horribly worried about my kids getting into it like I am with bleach.

2. It's a cheap disinfectant. (Again I must mention, it does not kill germs with the same gusto that bleach does!)

Vinegar is cool.

Now, for some cool ways for you to use vinegar around the home!

Use it to disinfect counter tops, door handles, phones, floors, etc. with a 1:1 water to vinegar ratio, a spray bottle and a cleaning rag.

Again, vinegar neutralizes odors. Use the aforementioned water/vinegar ratio to clean out stinkies from the fridge or trash cans. I also pour some down the garbage disposal when it gets stinky, or if I forget to switch laundry loads and my clothes smell then I use 1/2 cup of vinegar and do a quick second wash.

1/2 cup of vinegar can also make your laundry softer.

Vinegar can also help in the bathroom. I use vinegar to remove stains from the shower (sometimes I forget to take my bobby pins out of the shower and they rust in there- oops), sink or toilet. You can also use it to deal with those icky smells I mentioned.

Basically, if in doubt- it's probably pretty safe to try vinegar or a vinegar/water mix for a cleaning project. Use your best judgment and a little creativity and see what vinegar can do for you!

I've been away, because....

I'm done with my unannounced (sorry!) hiatus! Something really incredible happened to our family, and I took a break from blogging in the final months of preparation for this little cupcake:

Happy Cleaning!