What is more frugal than free? I use a lot of free websites everyday. Some are incredibly useful and others are diversions that help me procrastinate/unwind after a long day. Reddit (pronounced “Read It”) definitely falls into the latter category.
If you are unfamiliar with Reddit, suffice it to say that it is a huge online forum that has communities organized around topics. One of those topics is personal finance and even though I am a lurker (someone who never posts comments or questions) I still enjoy browsing the topics.
The anonymous nature of the website is likely a key reason why individuals are willing to share details about their financial lives. Since personal finances are often regarded as a taboo subject (when was the last time you told someone how much you make at your job?), it is refreshing to visit a place where money is treated more objectively.
Check out the subreddit personal finance over here: http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance Please note, I’m not responsible for how many wasted hours might occur from clicking on that link.
Every week I will share our meal plan for the coming week. Making your own food is a great way to save money, explore new cuisine, and eat healthy (if you choose to make healthy foods). A good meal helps bring people together and as you improve your cooking skills you will impress more and more people! I generally use recipes as a starting off point and then experiment with different proportions or ingredients. Leftovers make great lunches for the 9-5 crowd who might otherwise have to decide between a sandwich or a pricey cafeteria.
This Week For Dinner…
Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup
I’m trying out this recipe with some substitutions. I personally love crockpot recipes but I know there are some doubters out there who claim it isn’t “real” cooking. Think whatever you want, I will continue to enjoy hearty meals that are ready when I’m hungry even if I spent the entire day working.
The changes that I made to the recipe include using dried beans instead of canned (we talked about the benefits of using dried last week). I also used a small bottle of wine instead of beer because neither of us drink beer and Kroger apparently doesn’t sell single bottles anymore. I made my own taco seasoning instead of using a packet. If you read the ingredients list on the packet you’ll see that it is usually just chili powder, cumin, and preservatives. Those spices are super cheap and as an added benefit you don’t have to worry about MSG or any other weirdo ingredient. Finally, instead of using chicken breasts, I used boneless chicken thighs. Thighs are a dark meat. White meat, like breasts, tend to dry out faster and in my opinion have less flavor than dark meat.
Stir Fry
If you’ve never made a stir fry before, you might want to find a recipe, otherwise just throw together the usual ingredients (rice, veggies, chopped up meat, & sauce) for a super easy meal. We have a small oriental grocer within walking distance and they carry all kinds of sauces at prices that put the big chain stores to shame. Check around and see if you have any ethnic grocers. The owner/clerks are usually happy to help you pick out some items to try.
Pot Roast & Mashed Potatoes
Here is another slow cooker recipe. Throw a pot roast (or really any kind of beef roast), potatoes, carrots, onion soup mix, and cream of mushroom soup into a crockpot and set for low for 7-8 hours or put in the over at 350 for 5 hours.
Crab Stuffed Flounder
This is another new recipe we’ll be trying out. You could substitute any white fish in place of the flounder. Here is an example of the same recipe using haddock.
I like to include fish into our diet at least once a week if I can. There is a tremendous variety of seafood to tickle your tastebuds and there are some health benefits such as omega 3 fatty acids (good for your brain), low cholesterol (good for your heart and circulatory system), and it is an excellent source of protein.
Living in the Midwest makes it difficult/expensive to get fresh seafood so much of what we eat has been frozen. Regardless I still think the benefits are worth the slight loss in flavor and available variety!
Snack Food…
Bananas!
Did you know that a banana can set off a highly sensitive radiation detector? It’s true! Bananas are loaded with potassium, a naturally occurring radioactive element. Don’t worry though, and don’t stop eating bananas! You would have to eat nearly 4 million bananas in a year before you succumbed to radiation poisoning.
Ordinarily, I advocate a “Do it Yourself” mentality but when it came time to reroof our house I went straight to the pros.
While roofing a house isn’t particularly difficult, the job does come with several downfalls for your average DIYer.
It is a time sensitive task
It involves heights
If done properly, you won’t need the specialized tools for another 15-30 years
It is physically demanding
I love rock climbing so you would think that #2 wouldn’t be a big issue for me, however with rock climbing I absolutely trust my belayer and safety gear. I’m not overly fond of ladders and steeply pitched roofs.
With that said, there are a few things you can do to save money when it comes time to reroof your abode.
Lay New Shingles Over the Old
Depending upon your local building codes, it may be permissible to put new shingles down over your existing roof. Usually the limit is 2 layers of shingles and then you have to tear off and start fresh. Our house only had one layer of asphalt shingles on it, so it was an option for us. We chose to pay the extra money and have the crew tear off the existing shingles so we could make repairs to the sheathing (we suspected rot damage and there was).
There are some caveats with putting new shingles over the old ones. Mainly, your new roof won’t last as long. The tear off cost us an extra $1900 and took a crew of 10 the entire morning, approximately 60 man hours.
Avoid Luxury or Designer Shingles
We did some research on shingles and chose a basic architectural shingle, Certainteed’s Landmark line. The architectural shingle is a step above the three tab in both design and lifespan but is also cheaper than the similarly performing designer and luxury lines. If your goal is to mimic slate or cedar, don’t waste your money on a simulacrum. You will know it’s fake and so will anyone else that looks at your roof.
Get At Least Three Estimates
I love using Yelp to get reviews for local businesses, but at least where I live Yelp only truly covers restaurants. So instead of getting referrals from a website I turn to my neighbors, friends, and Shae’s coworkers. After we had four recommended roofers we had each of them come out and give us an estimate. It isn’t advisable to go with the cheapest bid on any job. The trend that I noticed was that all of the roofers used very similar or exactly the same building materials. The difference in price was going to determine the skill of the labor. A properly installed “cheap” roof will last much longer than an improperly installed “expensive” roof.
You can also try out AngiesList.com for recommendations but it does cost money to join (around $14/year).
Consider a Metal Roof
Metal roofs last *forever* and they don’t sound like an old barn when it rains outside. We thought a long time about getting a metal roof but ultimately decided against it because aesthetically it would not have fit our house. A metal roof will likely cost you more upfront, but you’ll be watching your neighbors reroof while you sit under your *zero* maintenance investment.
Total Cost: $14,325
Roofing: $11,650
Tear off and disposal: $1900
Replacing Rotten Sheathing: $350
Ice & Water shield around chimney, between dormers, in valleys, and on eaves: $400
Flashing along all walls and dormers and wherever siding is removed to properly flash: $300
Removed all siding and accessories where roof meets wall. Installed necessary flashing to insure walls are sealed after new roof is installed. Install new siding to best match existing where siding will be short of roof lines.
To get a better idea of what that last sentence means take a look at these two close up before and after pictures. The problem area is circled in red.
In May of this year, we bought our first house after nearly two years of looking. It was built in 1905 in one of the older neighborhoods in town. We love old homes and the character that they bring with them. There are hundreds if not thousands of stories that the walls, floors, and guts of the house have to tell if you know where to look and aren’t afraid to get your hands a bit dirty (not to mention saving a whole bucket load of money by not having to call a contractor). It is a bit like an archeological dig and even the experienced home owners are still surprised sometimes by what they find.
The house had been foreclosed upon and after three years of sitting vacant with no water or heat we bought it at auction. One of the many projects that we wanted to tackle was to clean the unfinished basement.
One of the previous owners had hung paneling on the walls and at some point water had come into contact with said paneling.
Naturally, we wanted to get rid of all the paneling.
We still have a long ways to go on that larger project, so I thought I’d share a smaller sub project with you that we have finished.
It was obvious from examining the outside of the house that there were additional basement windows covered up by the paneling. As we worked our way from the North West corner of the basement towards the South West corner we uncovered the first of these windows.
Hmmm… somebody didn’t want anything getting through that window by the looks of it. The frame had been painted shut, caulked shut, and nailed shut. The glass had been painted (and they even used a primer). The hinges had also been graced with some teal paint.
I decided I wanted to try and restore it. After all, it had lasted for 108 years, who was I to say it couldn’t keep on living.
After prying it out, here is what the external side looked like.
and the opening. So much light!
I used a paint stripper called Soy Gel to remove the paint. It is billed as a non toxic, low VOC stripper. I still wouldn’t want to take a bath in the stuff though.
A vinegar bath plus some friendly face time with a dremel wire brush had these hinges cleaned up within a couple of days.
The window was originally designed to swing inwards, but it lacked a handle. This made it awkward to actually open. I decided to remedy the problem with some new hardware.
The locking mechanisms were also too badly damaged to salvage so I picked up a couple of cheap replacements.
I actually purchased the locks at Menards because they were a dollar cheaper there. Menards also carried spray foam insulation at a cheaper price as well as rubber weatherstripping. I wanted to really seal up any potential air leaks.
After using a wood epoxy to fill all the dings and dents in the window I put on a couple coats of paint. I managed to break the glass when I was working on the window so I got my first taste of glazing and pane replacement. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
I applied a generous amount of spray foam and caulk to seal up any gaps in the window frame. Then after some paint, I applied the rubber weatherstripping. It should help create a good seal between the window and the frame.
Here is the almost finished product. I still need to add a slide lock to the right side and finish painting the exterior.
Every week I will share our meal plan for the coming week. Making your own food is a great way to save money, explore new cuisine, and eat healthy (if you choose to make healthy foods). A good meal helps bring people together and as you improve your cooking skills you will impress more and more people! I generally use recipes as a starting off point and then experiment with different proportions or ingredients. Leftovers make great lunches for the 9-5 crowd who might otherwise have to decide between a sandwich or a pricey cafeteria.
This Week For Dinner…
Pork & Shrimp
Shae’s employer hosts six (give or take) picnic dinners during the summer. Each dinner features a different cuisine and is catered by an area restaurant. Tickets typically run around 5-6 dollars and include a full meal plus dessert. If you want a cheap dinner date, keep a lookout for local events where you live. It isn’t too uncommon for some organization to be having a dinner of some sorts!
Bacon Bolognese (with Saffron)
I put the saffron in italics because although the original recipe calls for it I’ll be omitting it due to cost. This recipe comes from a cookbook we checked out of the public library.
Ingredients:
4-5 slices of bacon, finely chopped
1 medium-size onion, finely chopped
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I’ll probably use a teaspoon or two of dried)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (I always omit salt when making recipes)
12-14 oz orecchiette (little ear-shaped pasta) or medium-six macaroni
2 generous pinches saffron threads crumbled
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese, plus additional cheese for serving
Directions:
Cook the bacon in a large deep pot or saucepan over medium heat until it begins to brown and some of the fat is rendered, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and cook until the onion softens, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the ground pork, parsley, and garlic and cook until the pork is lightly browned, about 8 minutes, breaking up any chunks of meat with a wooden spoon, adjusting the heat as necessary if the pork browns too quickly, and stirring occasionally.
Stir in the crushed tomatoes with their puree and the bay leaves, oregano, and 1/3 cup of water. Cover the pan and let come to a boil. Then, reduce the heat as necessary and let the sauce simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and the flavors blend, about 25 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring 4 to 5 quarts of water to a boil in a large pasta or soup pot 10 to 15 minutes before the sauce is done. Salt the boiling water. Add the orecchiette and crumbled saffron threads and cook until the orecchiette is al dente, following the package instructions. Set aside 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the orecchiette.
Return the orecchiette and the reserved pasta cooking water to the cooking pot. Immediately add the sauce and the pecorino romano cheese and toss to mix well. Serve the orecchiette with more pecorino romano on the side.
Squirrel’s Great Beef Steak Recipe
I’m making some room in the freezer this week. That means its time to eat some sirloin steak. Here is the recipe I want to try. I haven’t made up my mind yet as to what kinds of sides I want to serve. What do you think? Sweet corn and ??
Pizza (frozen or homemade)
It’s cheap, quick, and sometimes you just need a break from cooking.
Snack Food…
Texas Caviar
This delicious salsa alternative can be made a dozen different ways. Shae’s Aunt gave us a recipe that is packed full of beans, corn, and other goodies. I like it because it uses vinegar instead of a heavier dressing that some recipes call for. Google around for “Texas Caviar” and find a recipe that you like! If you want to be extra frugal, consider buying dried beans instead of canned. They are a little bit cheaper but do take quite a bit longer to prepare.