A Look at the Pocketbook

This post yesterday was a very timely one for me, and a good reminder that life is enriched by how you spend your time, not your money. I start school tomorrow, and intend to spend the next two years (maybe longer) earning my Master of Public Health (MPH). That means a certain amount of student loans, although I am going to keep it to the smallest amount of debt possible. But I'm starting out on close to nothing, and today signifies a pretty big change in how Matt and I will be spending our money. We've been prioritizing our spending in a different way this summer (I'll get to that below), but from here on in, we'll be living extremely frugally.

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

When we arrived home from New Zealand at the end of May, we didn't have a whole lot of money, but the experience we got for our money was more than worth it. We came home expecting to be able to find jobs for the summer, and then hopefully ongoing ones, in particular a part-time one for me while I attended school. Things haven't exactly gone that way. We came home into some of the highest unemployment rates Oregon (and the rest of the U.S.) has ever seen. These days, our college educations mean very little, and Matt was happy to find work for ten weeks as a kayak instructor, while I took the first thing that came to me, a temporary data entry job. I started that job at the beginning of July, then got pneumonia two weeks in, then after two more weeks of work developed a repetitive stress injury from using only a mouse (no keyboard) for hours on end, and had to quit. I was not eligible for unemployment benefits. Since returning from NZ, I have only worked for one month. The summer hasn't really gone as planned (although it's been a good one!). We each had to spend $120 to fend off our respective bouts of pneumonia. Neither of us can afford health insurance. I've been searching for a job since mid-August, and have only found three positions to apply to. I won't be able to work more than 20 hours per week while I'm a (full time) student and stay sane, and I'm also limited geographically, because we don't live centrally and I commute by bike and public transit. Luckily this week the school year started, and through PSU I've suddenly found four great positions to apply to, so hopefully something will come through soon. Matt is job searching again too, while trying to change career paths; it's a very hard time to try and transition out of one field and into another. He is getting unemployment benefits, though.

We're certainly not going to founder; I have student loans that will cover all my tuition and living expenses (just barely) and Matt has savings from this summer and some inheritance that we can call on if absolutely necessary. Still, some regular income wouldn't go amiss.

One of the reasons things are so tight now is because when we first moved into our house, we made the decision to spend up front on some things that would enable us to continue on in the lifestyle we wanted. I don't regret that we did this, but it's kind of biting us in the ass right now, financially. There are a lot of things we could have gone without that give us more satisfaction in the long run, and take out some stresses that could have created larger problems later. We spent $300 on a brand new mattress, and don't regret it one bit; we are sleeping better than we have in the last year and have far fewer aches and pains that we used to. We bought a snazzy food processor and are in love with it; it saves us so much time in cooking, which is so valuable as we go into a period of our lives when we'll be on different schedules (my classes are all in the evenings) and our time together is limited. I bought a rear rack and pannier bag for my bike, so I don't have to carry everything in a backpack. We could have continued sleeping on our old futon, tossing and turning and waking every morning with sore backs and necks. We could have decided to forgo the food processor and taken the time to do that work by hand. I could have carried all my textbooks on my back, ending every ride with a backache. We'd rather spend the money up front to be comfortable and happy, frankly.

And there are some benefits to both of us being unemployed at the same time. We got so much done around the house and garden. We completed all the projects we wanted to finish before I got sucked into school. We got to spend a lot of time together before my schedule gets busy again. We had time to fill up the freezer with ready-to-cook foods and made sure the "pantry" was well stocked so we wouldn't have to think about shopping for awhile. I had time to scout out my new bike route to downtown and research the cheapest options for obtaining my textbooks (I'm renting them, for a grand total of $90 for Fall Term. They would have cost me about $370 new).

 Our "pantry" in the basement. The plastic bin and trashcan are full of bulk foods: rice, oats, beans, potatoes, etc.

Our freezer is packed full of good quality meat, fish, containers of beans, lentils, and stock, veggies and berries, herbs and baked goods (and ice cream...)

Ultimately I am happy when I reflect on where our money has gone. There are certainly some "wants" thrown in there with the needs, but I'm happy with our choices. From here on out, there are very few major expenses that we anticipate in the next year, and we have set ourselves up to live the way we want, and not feel that we are depriving ourselves of anything. Truly, we spend so much less than most of those around us. Our everyday expenses are incredibly low. Rent is our biggest cost (we are currently looking for a new roommate, so it's a little more expensive this month. John's friends from Alabama all moved up last week and they got a house together, so we are back to just the two of us until we find another roomie). The only things we regularly buy from the supermarket are milk, cheese and free range eggs, and we can get those very reasonably at Trader Joe's. In just a couple months, eggs will no longer be something we buy at the store. Everything else we buy in bulk and have stored away in the kitchen or basement. I can't remember the last time we went out for food.

However, I know we have it great compared to so many people in these times of financial turmoil. And I know we are not alone; there are so many people, particularly in our age and education bracket, setting out in life, who are coming up against big barriers to paying for further education or for a house or property, or who are laid off or have a medical emergency while uninsured. By tightening our belts, making instead of buying, changing our standards a little and saving a few dollars here and a few cents there, we'll get to where we're going. It will take longer and be a little harder than we imagined, but we'll get there.

Our Daily Bread

We got in the habit of making our own bread when we lived in Nelson, New Zealand. At that point we were so glad to be settled in one place for a little while and to take advantage of being able to buy things like flour and have a fully functioning kitchen, and it was also far cheaper than buying good bread. We lost the habit between mid-May and a few weeks ago, with all the chaos of traveling and moving, but now we have gotten it back! We make bread once or twice a week, and we've gotten John (our housemate) into the habit as well, so between the three of us we usually have a loaf of good homemade bread in the breadbox.

 (Click on Photos to Enlarge)

 Matt kneading a double batch of bread last night.

My favorite recipe remains this one from Rhonda at Down to Earth. I've never really had it fail, and it's basic but very tasty. We usually do about a 60/40 mix of white and whole wheat flour. When I double this recipe (which then makes for two good loaves of bread) it calls for 7 1/2 cups of flour, so I use 4 cups of white flour and 3 1/2 of whole wheat. We buy our flour from Bob's Red Mill, which has a whole grain store and mill near us. I did a lot of comparison shopping for flour, with the suspicion that Bob's Red Mill would be the best option, and I was right. I could have gotten cheaper prices elsewhere but that would have been for bleached, enriched flour. Bob's flours are far more natural and less processed than most brands. Most flour is bleached simply for looks, and "enriched" because all of the natural nutrients in the wheat are stripped out during the processing, and since we would rather pay a bit more for good products to avoid the processed ones, we buy from Bob's Red Mill. I have always been a huge fan of their products; they make naturally processed flours and baking mixes of all kinds, and for every kind of dietary restriction: gluten-free flour, rice flour, graham flour, etc. In addition, they produce all kinds of whole grain cereals and sell grains like spelt, kamut, and quinoa. Their whole grain store is like a wonderland!

 Bread rising next to the breadbox that Matt found and refurbished for us last year.

We buy 25 lb sacks of flour, for around $16 apiece. We go through a bag of white flour in about two months, between bread and other baking. By my calculations, all ingredients included, we pay about $30 for two months' worth of bread. If we were eating the same amount of store-bought bread of the same quality, we would be paying for 1-2 loaves of bread per week at a price of around $4 per loaf. For 1.5 loaves per week for eight weeks, this comes out to a total of $48. That's a clear savings of $18 (and a dozen plastic bread bags) for us, and we get the added benefits of knowing exactly what goes into our bread, and the satisfaction of making it with our own hands, in our own kitchen.

Someday soon we hope to get a bread machine, to save us a bit on time and kneading. I can't knead bread, as it exacerbates an old repetitive stress injury in my wrists, so usually I mix up the dough, and Matt or John does the kneading. I'd love to have the option of just throwing in a batch and not having to worry about one of the boys being around to do that part for me!

At the moment we only have one loaf pan, so with a double batch we make a free form loaf or rolls. I'm on the hunt for another nice (cheap, secondhand) pyrex or ceramic loaf pan. 

For a long time, bread making seemed really intimidating to me, like it would take a lot of time and effort, but the fact is it doesn't, and it's easy to fit into your routine. It takes 15-20 minutes of mixing and kneading up front, and then it's all proofing and baking, during which you can work on other activities. So if you haven't tried making your own bread yet, try it- it's so worth it! I grew up on my dad's wonderful homemade sandwich bread, cinnamon swirl bread and cinnamon rolls (he would make massive batches, then put several loaves in the freezer), then lost out on the goodness of fresh bread for most of a decade. I am so glad to have it back! 

Early Potato Harvest

Sunny weather has created a major turnaround in gardenworld here. I got back from being out of town for a week (my neighbor Julie was watering my garden while I was gone), and found everything about a foot taller!

Some discoveries made:

My squash plants are beginning to travel.

...and make their way up the fence!

My onions are beginning to grow bulbs, in spite of the dense soil.

Cabbages! Cabbages cabbages cabbages!

My garlic is now drying out (and blown about by high winds) and ready for harvesting later this week. 

My sweet peas are blooming!

Alas, not all is well. I noticed some brown spots on my potato plants a few weeks ago and kind of ignored them in hopes that they would go away. But, of course, that never works. I came home from vacation to find this:

And this:

Sigh. With advice from my mom, and assistance from the WSU Hortsense website and that of the Cornell University Extension, I diagnosed this as Late Blight, the infamous disease that led to the Irish Potato Famine. Everything I read noted that it is associated with high moisture and medium temperatures- exactly what we experienced for all of June. Since it can affect tomatoes as well, and since my neighbor's potato plants are right on the other side of the fence, I made the decision to have an early potato harvest, in hopes that it will prevent the blight from spreading, and to get the potatoes themselves out of the ground before they are affected.

Regardless of circumstances, harvesting potatoes is one of my absolute favorite things to do in the garden. It is the most satisfying of harvests, the best kind of treasure hunt, and I have really good memories of digging potatoes with my dad while growing up. I was really tickled to see that Rhonda over at Down to Earth feels the same way about potatoes, which she wrote about in this post last month.

From left to right: Russian Bananas, Yukon Golds, Red Norlands, and Yellow Finns. 

Not a bad harvest, considering how early it was in the season, and certainly enough to last me and Matt for the next couple of months. Only the yellow finns were misshapen, so hopefully I caught everything before the blight got too far, or else it was a strain of the blight that only affected the leaves. Has anyone else dealt with potato blight and can you tell me more about it?

We also had to catch up with the rest of the garden, so there were bunching onions, kale, peas, nasturtiums, and of course the potatoes to make a dinner of steamed potatoes and a salad with a marjoram/lemon thyme/lemon oregano vinaigrette. Oh, and of course I can't forget the first four ripe sungold cherry tomatoes, each about the size of a marble!

My Kitchen on Down to Earth!

I am so thrilled to have my kitchen--and a link to my Mother Earth News article--featured as the final one in the "You, Me, and the Kitchen Sink" series at Down to Earth (even if it didn't make it through the interwebs to Rhonda the first time!).

Click here to read the post.

Thank you Rhonda, for including me, and a big hello and welcome to all you DTE readers! Thanks for stopping by!

Matt and I are off to Smith Rock State Park for a weekend of rock climbing and camping, I hope you all enjoy your weekend, and thanks for reading!

Liz

Spring Budgeting Update

I blogged here in January about starting a real budget rather than just "curbing my spending," since that wasn't working. And guess what? Budgeting works! I adapted my budget system from the cash-only system described at Down to Earth here.

After tracking my spending for a couple months, I calculated how much I was spending outside of rent and utilities--between $450 and $500 per month. So I cut that figure down to $400 and decided that was how much I would allow myself every month for spending on food, entertainment, and of course all the random things like toilet paper and shampoo. I also wanted to keep my credit rolling, but wanted to put a limit on how much I would put on my credit card every month. I always pay off my credit card completely, but decided to spend only cash for the first month (February). So I paid off the entirety of my credit card balance and let a month go by without putting a single cent on my card. I withdrew $400 from my checking account at the beginning of the month and that's what I spent. I do not set aside certain amounts for entertainment, groceries, etc, and that works for me. Other people might need to put aside money for each of these categories, but I just evaluate as I go, and it works well for my life. I had around $5 left over at the end of February, which I deposited into my savings account (yes, the bank teller thought I was nuts). It strikes me now that starting this budget on the shortest month of the year was an interesting, if unintentional move!

I am now still operating on $400 per month, $250 in cash and $150 on my credit card. I find that setting a limit on my credit card spending also helps me spend less- it's hard to hit exactly $150 so the total usually hovers around $140!

By the way, if you are an REI member or want to be, I will put a plug in here for the REI Visa card, I don't usually promote things like that, but their customer service has been impeccable and you will receive rebates from all purchases, and these will end up in your REI dividend, which equals free stuff! My caveat to this is, if you use a credit card, please please try to pay it off as soon as possible. Credit card companies make a killing off of people who make only the minimum payment. Please pay attention to that. Happily, there are new laws in affect now that are here to help raise awareness about the treachery of credit card interest rates! If you look on your next credit card statement, you should see a warning and a calculation showing how much extra you will pay over the next couple years if you only pay the minimum payment each month. Please be aware and save yourself some grief and money. If you don't think you can pay off what you put on your card every month, than I suggest going with the cash only system until you feel like you get your spending to a manageable place. It's amazing what you can live without without your quality of life decreasing.

I was worried that budgeting like this would put a lot of constraints on me, but I don't really find myself wanting anything extra. If I know I have a big purchase coming up (e.g. buying a dress for my brother's wedding) then I stock up on groceries in advance and pay for that big purchase within my budget. I have also been helped along by the fact that Matt chips in for food costs since he's at my house so often, by the Chinook Book coupons, and Bernard at Full of Life Farm giving a free dozen eggs to any customer who filled out a survey about his products this month! We only go out to eat a couple times a month, and our fallback for dinner out is the taquería two blocks from my house, where tacos are $1.50 apiece.

The only obstacle I have run into that did not fall into my budgeted spending was taxes (once again, I screwed up my W-4 this year and did not have enough withheld, so had to pay a big chunk to the fed all at once). Also, I recently decided to begin contributing regularly to my IRA which I had set up at my previous job. I have never actually contributed to it, but that company did. Now I am planning to deposit $25 per month. It's not much, but it is what I can afford right now, it will add up, and will create larger interest. It's never too early to start saving for retirement, I suppose, and I might as well contribute while I am steadily employed! I'll put in another plug here as well, for Calvert investments. While I am no investment expert (whoa. Far from it.), I am pleased that the Calvert Group invests in socially and environmentally responsible companies.

I am very satisfied with my budgeting  and pleased that it actually works, and here's the biggest reason: I am managing to put $500 into my savings account every month now!

My blog mentioned on Down to Earth!

Rhonda at Down to Earth, one of my very favorite blogs, has given my little blog a mention in her post yesterday about Simple Living in Your 20s! Check it out here. I'm thrilled!!

The Garden Commences...and Compost Tribulations

While I will try to integrate other subjects into the blog as I am able, since we are almost to Spring here in Portland you will be hearing a lot about gardening. I hope you find it interesting, because it is at the front of my thoughts and what I want to write about! My love/obsession for gardening has made Matt think I’m a bit of a nutter (possibly the correct conclusion to arrive at when you find your significant other lying on floor by the grow lights, telling her onion starts to “grow, little plantlings, grow!” But hey, this is the first year I’ve had garden possibilities of this caliber, so do I really need a disclaimer?)

I had the day off on Monday for Presidents’ Day, and the forces that be must have been looking kindly on me (which I already knew- Matt and I had already had two days of amazing weekend, but that’s another story) because the entire day was sunny and warm like you wouldn’t believe for February 16th! I already had planned to spend most of my day gardening, and as it was I found every excuse I could to work outside, and ended up spending 4 solid hours in the yard and garden- in a t-shirt. I even had to wear sunscreen! Naturally, it started raining at night, but what a jewel of a day!

Cherry blossoms (!!) outside my bedroom, looking toward the garden.

I had planned simply to plant a few more starts to go under the lights, which I did- Coreopsis, a beautiful tall yellow flower that was always in the garden back home, and some pansies (a long time favorite since the days when my parents tested seeds of new varieties for Organic Gardening Magazine. I was always put in charge of the flowers, and they always had gorgeous new hybrid pansies). This year I planted “Horned Viola Mix” from Johnny’s.

Planting the starts involved mixing another batch of planting mix in a Rubbermaid tub (meaning I got to play in a box of dirt): approximately equal parts peat moss and soil from the garden plot, and then as much good compost as I could find- unfortunately it’s in short supply. Because I failed to lay in a stock of dry leaves in the fall (everything I gathered went on the garden for mulch), I have no “browns” to mix in with the “greens” that are all the kitchen scraps from my apartment, Julie’s apartment, Matt’s apartment, and my office. I love that we are keeping so much food waste out of the garbage, but I really need more browns (dead leaves, straw, sawdust, etc.- carbonaceous things that mix in and help break down the nitrogen-packed kitchen waste). Well, now I have learned my lesson, and this fall, I will lay in a supply of leaves to last the duration. Currently, my compost bin is very wet, kind of stinky, and with hardly any good black compost at the bottom. For now, I am attempting to remedy the problem by adding shredded newspaper and any dry leaves I can find. Funny timing that this had been on my mind, as I got onto the Down to Earth blog this morning, and Rhonda has a series of posts going about enriching soil and making good compost- it’s a really good rundown on the process.

One garlic patch all tidied up (see the tulips invading?)

I spent the rest of my garden time generally cleaning up the yard and garden space- pulling out all the sticks and twigs that had fallen down during the winter, taking down the stakes and twine marking off the garlic beds (now that the garlic is six inches tall they are no longer necessary), tying up the clematis vine on the fence behind the garden and pulling out the dead vine, scouting out all kinds of sprouting bulbs, planting snap peas (Oregon Sugar Pod II from Nichols Garden Nursery), and raking all the sticks and winter debris out of the yard, and stirring the compost.

Everything looks neat and tidy now, and it felt good to get so much sun and so much done!

My Collection of Easy, From-Scratch Meals

I was just reading an old post at Down to Earth about quick-prep, healthy, from-scratch meals for when you don’t feel like cooking or don’t have the time. These span from things that you have ready to go in the freezer to recipes that use up whatever leftovers or half-veggies you have in the fridge from the past week. These are some of my stand-bys that fall into this category, perhaps a step above what my family calls “foraging”: digging out and reheating whatever you could find in the fridge on a given night.

• Pasta and simple sauce

I nearly always have some form of pasta on hand, so this is probably my most frequent non-labor intensive meal. Boil some pasta, chop some garlic and/or whatever fresh veggies I have in the fridge, or add some frozen peas to the pasta. Add butter or olive oil and cheese and I’m set to go. I also try to have lots of herbs and spices available (dried ones in winter) so these make it a little more exciting sometimes. My most recent combo was fresh fettucine (I had a coupon for a free pound of fresh cut-to-order pasta from Pastaworks), chopped apple, feta, olive oil, salt, and dried oregano.

• Cornbread and steamed veggies

Cornbread is one of my favorite quick carb foods. I use the same recipe I grew up with, which includes the stipulation (NOT optional) to bake in a pre-heated cast iron skillet.

Here's the recipe:
1 cup white flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cornmeal
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil

Mix the dry ingredients together, and in a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix well. Bake in an oiled pre-heated 9-inch skillet for 20 minutes or so at 375.

If I have canned sliced jalapeños on hand, I like to set them into the top of the batter before it goes in the oven. It comes out tasting like a chile relleno!


If it’s summer, I usually have fresh veggies of some kind to steam or sauté, and in the winter, frozen green beans or peas or edamame to steam quickly.

• Crispy Kale

Crispy kale has become a staple within my group of friends and could probably be considered its own food group. This is a great way to eat your fill of greens in the winter, since kale is in season and available everywhere.


Rinse the kale, and strip it from the stems, or at least from the tough parts of the stem. Tear into tortilla-chip sized pieces and pile on a baking pan. Keep in mind that baking will reduce this heap to a generous layer! When you have a satisfactory amount of kale torn up, drizzle with olive oil and toss and squish with your hands until every piece is coated. Spread evenly on the pan. Then stick in the oven at about 375°F for ten minutes or so. The timing will depend on the amount of kale and heat of the oven. Keep checking it; it is done when the edges of the leaves feel crispy. Take out of the oven, toss into a bowl, and season with lots of salt or nutritional yeast. Eat with your fingers!

• Beans and rice

This is fairly self-explanatory. I buy dry beans in bulk and cook big batches of them to freeze, so I always have some on hand. I switch around between black beans, navy beans, and pinto beans. I just pull out a container from the freezer or fridge and heat them up, cook up some rice (I really love jasmine rice, I know it’s not as good for you as brown rice), and eat a nice plate of beans on rice, with grated cheese or chopped tomatoes. I also really like the flavor combination of lime juice and ground coriander seed on black beans.

• Roasted potatoes

If I have potatoes handy, I just cut them into smallish chunks or wedges and throw them in a baking pan with some olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and chopped onions. I also like to top them with Old Bay, Cajun seasonings, Worcestershire sauce, BBQ powder, or some combination thereof. It takes about an hour to bake them at 375°. My favorite potatoes to roast are fingerlings like Russian or Austrian Crescents. They are really moist and have an amazing flavor.


• Stir-fry or fajitas

An old standby from my childhood. Slice sweet peppers, onions, and any other available veggies (water chestnuts are really good for stir-fry). Chop garlic, and lots of fresh ginger if you’re doing stir-fry. For protein, use either chicken or beef cut into small pieces, or else make a quick omelette and then slice it up and set it aside for the moment. It’s easiest to cook everything together in a wok, but a big skillet will suffice. Saute the meat first in some oil and flavorings, and put it aside once it’s cooked. Fry up the onion and garlic in olive oil and then add the rest of the ingredients and fry until you are satisfied. Add the meat or egg back in at the last minute. To flavor stir-fry, use ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, and basil. For fajitas, use Worcestershire sauce or BBQ flavorings. Serve stir-fry over rice, and fajitas with tortillas, cheese, and salsa. Homemade tortillas are easy: equal parts flour and masa (finely ground corn flour) and enough water to make it all stick together but not actually be sticky. Roll out between plastic bags, using a rolling pin, and cook on cast iron.

• Chicken and dumplings

I have had this one twice in the last week. I try to always have some frozen chicken broth and stock around, so I just pulled out a container of it, heated it on the stove top, and made some quick dumplings. I used a basic recipe from How to Cook Everything, but as Mark Bittman points out, you can make dumplings from just about anything. I just mixed up some flour with butter and an egg and some marjoram and salt and pepper. Chopped onions are good mixed into the dough too. Because I used one of my eggs from Full of Life farm, the dumplings came out bright yellow from that dark yellow nutrient-packed yolk! Once the broth was boiling, I just dropped in a few tablespoonfuls of the dumpling dough, and put the lid back on for ten minutes. I scooped out the dumplings I wasn’t going to eat right away, and set them aside so they wouldn’t get soggy. The whole thing took about 20 minutes.

And with that, I bid you all a happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Revival!

As fall sets in, the GRE is behind me, and I have more time on my hands, I am endeavoring to restart my blog in an effort to keep up my writing and provide some dialogue (or at least a monologue) about sustainable living, homesteading in the city, and other issues affecting lives like mine. I am inspired by the Down to Earth blog (thank you Heather for the recommendation), Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and a number of other writers and friends who are addressing issues around healthy, local eating and simple living. I am hoping that this will maybe serve as a follow-up to my Mother Earth News article last year about growing up as the child of homesteaders. If you would like to read (or re-read) the article, the link is here. I also plan to incorporate general blogging about my life, and any travels that happen, as well as photos. Hopefully anyone reading this can get something out of it, and if not, I will very much enjoy writing it!

It’s worth noting that I often do the typing on a word document during down time at work, transfer it to my blog when I get the chance. I don’t, in fact, write and post several blogs from scratch on a single day.