Funny Wal-Mart Story

My partner works at Wal-Mart. For Christmas, they wanted their cashiers to wear Santa Hats. So, did they go to their Christmas section and get some? No, they went across the parking lot to the Dollar Tree store and bought them there!

So I guess the moral of the story is, when Wal-Mart can't afford to shop at Wal-Mart and must shop at Dollar Tree, it's time to worry about the economy.

Barbara

Save on Prescription Drugs

This post is for those who live in Oregon. If you don't have prescription drug coverage and are a resident of Oregon, you can get a discount card for prescriptions free from the State. I'm not sure how much the discounts are, but I do know when the measure to expand this program to everyone (not just seniors) came up for a vote this year, no one was against it and the state said expanding it would actually save them money, due to bulk purchases.

Anyway, you can send in the very very short application after December 7, 2006, when the new program takes effect.

For you Oregonians, here is a link:

Oregon Prescription Drug Program.

Barbara

Oven Fried Potato Wedges

I had a few potatoes from a ten pound sack that were getting old, so I made oven fried potato wedges. Came out really well. Used some olive oil, garlic powder and rosemary. Some organic ketchup and yum! a meal.

Barbara

Great bread again!

I made my soft crust whole wheat bread again (recipe at this link).

It came out great again. Put one in the freezer for later in the week. My partner loves that bread and so do I. We use a presto bread cutting guide I picked up at Goodwill for a buck, still in the original box. Makes nice even slices.

No cooking today, my partner is off work and she did the cooking. Nice to have a day off!!

Barbara

Changes

Well, no bread or cookies today. I did spend two hours at a bubble tea shop writing. Got my daily quota done.

I did make TVP sausage and Table for Two's Potato Corn Chowder. Unfortunately, I fell asleep and burned the brown rice I was making. Not too badly at least.

Barbara

Brussels Sprouts

Part of our dinner tonight was a recipe from Vegan with a Vengance. I love this cookbook.

I made Roasted brussels sprouts with toasted garlic. We've had it before and we both like it. Neither of us really ate brussels sprouts before.

Tomorrow I plan on making 2 loaves of bread, baking some chocolate chip cookies and maybe use up the last of the potatoes and make Potato corn chowder from Table for Two. I am also going to a Nanowrimo write-in at this bubble tea shop. Went last Saturday and it was nice. I'm about 3K words behind, but I'll make it up soon.

Barbara

A fixed oven!

Ever since we moved into this apartment, (1.5 years ago), we've had a problem with the oven. It's gotten worse as time has passed. We have an oven thermometer inside and to get the right temperature, we would have to make adjustments. For instance, to get a temp of 400, I'd have to set the dial at about 360. It made baking things quite an adventure.

Monday we had some problems with the lights in the kitchen, so I called the apartment manager about that and about the oven. The guy came today, fixed the light problem and fixed the oven. The sensor rod thing wasn't attached in the right place. So now it works.

Baking should be a lot less interesting now. I like it!

Barbara

Payclix a ripoff

I received something from my apartment management company, which is a very large company. It promoted a site called payclix.com. 'Free registration' 'no monthly fees' 'pay your rent online'. So I went to look at it.

Yes, registration is free. If, however you want to make a payment online, you pay. To save the apartment management company time and processing costs (by sending in a paper check), for that privelege you get to pay this payclix place either $4.95 for a direct debit from your checking account (ACH) or you can use Visa/Mastercard credit card, or Visa (and only Visa) debit card for a fee of $19.90. Each month. What a ripoff. They want you to pay for saving your landlord money.

Mind you, this won't work for us. Even if we were stupid enough to do it. We have a Mastercard debit card, which they don't take.

I sincerely hope no one is dumb enough to do this. Personally, I take the check down in person and get a date stamped receipt.

Barbara

Frugality vs Value/Health

I love a bargain. Even more so now that I am living a much much more frugal lifestyle. But I think a lot of people think being frugal means you buy the cheapest of everything, especially when it comes to food. In my case at least, that's not necessarily the case.

We spend a lot less on food than we used to, but we also eat much healthier food than we used to. One example is bread. We eat whole wheat bread. Sometimes I buy 100% whole wheat bread from the store (no hfcs of course) when the price is good. But I also make whole wheat bread at home. Now, I certainly could buy really really cheap flour to make bread and biscuits and so on with. But I don't. I feel it worth the extra money to buy Bob's Red Mill flour, which is a high quality flour. Now, I do try to save money on the Bob's Red Mill products. Luckily the company hq/store is about 3 miles away, and they have the best prices in the area. So I go there. If you buy a case, you get 10% more off a good price. The point is, I am willing to pay a little more to get high quality ingredients for something I make.

The same principle applies to margarine. I could buy all kinds of cheap margarine. Instead, I pay more for the green Earth Balance Margarine spread and the Earth Balance buttery sticks. They use healhier oils for their margarines, we love the taste and it spreads great. This is another case where a healthy option for food trumps saving a little money buying the less healthy product.

So, just because you are trying to be frugal, does not mean you can only buy and use the cheap stuff. I figure it's worth it. I might spend ten bucks a month more on margarine and flour, but that healthier option might one day save me 50K in medical bills. Well worth it.

Barbara