This Week...Beyond Money 09/28 -10/4

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Beautiful brass fan from the barn sale.

Gardening:
* When I went to the feed store, Manna Pro rabbit feed was on sale for cheaper than Purina. I needed MannaPro for the does. I'll start feeding them MannaPro and feed the rest of the regular feed to Frank. I'm hoping to breed them once before winter. Total cost for the bunnies so far: $162.
* I harvested a few dozen tiny carrots. None of them were that big, but most were Little Finger carrots anyway. It'll be enough for a mess of candied carrots. I save and air dry the carrot leaves every time I harvest them. In winter, I'll toss some in to the bunnies for some variety in their diet.
* I harvested a fair amount of snap beans for how cold it has been. I uprooted all of the dead and dying bean plants. I left them on the beds where I will bury them in compost and rabbit poo.
* I harvested a little over a cup of lettuce.

Cooking/Groceries:
* I made a big pot of bean and bacon (leftover) soup. I added caramelized onions and sauteed onions leftover from grilling out last week.
* We ate leftover chicken noodle soup.
* Generally, with Trucker being sick all week, we ate soup for most meals, sometimes with toast, sometimes with grilled cheese or quesadillas.
* I made a hot taco dip. I crumbled 2 leftover hamburgers from the cookout and mixed with a can of refried beans and the last of a brick of cream cheese that was getting a little on the old side. I topped that layer with a couple diced peppers, some diced tomatoes, salsa, a layer of cheese, and black olives. I baked it until it was bubbly and the cheese golden. I topped with shredded lettuce and sour cream.

Yummy, unsweetened unflavored applesauce. I keep it basic
so I can use the sauce in any way I want later, adding spice
as necessary.

Food Preservation:
* I cooked down loads of apples into 13 quart freezer bags of applesauce. They are now in the freezer awaiting use in baking and as a snack or side dish this winter. Or as dessert, warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Fun:
* We invited my family out for the weekend. Friday night was the party at the antique mall (see below) and they came out to show support (as did our dear friends and their too-cute-for-words baby). The next morning, bright and early, was the barn sale (see below). I went to work for 3 hours as soon as the sale was over and they went swimming at the hotel they stayed at. When I got off work, they, Trucker and I got lunch at the market. We got hot chicken and talked and laughed together for awhile. It was so nice to hang out with them for a couple days. We rarely get that now that I live farther away.
* At the antique mall party (see below), I got a Salvador Dali puzzle for myself. I didn't spend my birthday money because I've been saving it for when I saw something awesome. Dali is my favorite painter and the puzzle was $45+ shipping on Amazon. I paid $8, minus my vendor's discount.

Frugality:
* I bought gas at work where it was cheaper than in the city.
* I paid extra on both credit cards.
* I made a double payment on my last medical debt.

Waste Reduction:
* I composted lots of weird things.
* I used the last of a bottle of shower gel (too little to squirt out) as bubble bath.

Work:
* I worked 1.5 hours overtime.
* I worked an extra shift at the factory.
* We had a very busy weekend for the antiquing, so I wasn't able to work a full shift at the farmers market. I did come in for half a shift to help out my buddy who would have been working the whole shift alone otherwise.
* I got a free watermelon and butternut squash from the farm.
* We packed our lunches each day we worked.

This awesome score is a combination medicine tin and
expandable water cup!

Future:
* The mall where we sell was having a customer appreciation party on Friday. We cleaned up the booth and fully stocked it. It is advertised that vendors will be on sight to negotiate prices. I was a little nervous at first, but eventually got into the swing of things. I got comfortable talking with the customers and haggling a bit. I ended up selling a lot of items. The party was a great success. The line to check out was over an hour and a half! Lucky for me, the line went right in front of my booth! So while people waited in line, they window shopped and I offered to negotiate prices. I sold a lot of items this way. Towards the end of the night, people started to get a little irritable (the party ended at 10, but the I was the last to check out at 11:45), so I started making jokes and telling funny stories about our picking adventures. I handed out a lot of business cards with info about our other avenues of selling. It was a great night!
* We went to an epic sale. This business model is absolutely perfect. This family rents out dumpsters and the customers fill them and pay to have them taken to the landfill. But before the family takes them to the dump, they dig through them and remove anything that still has life in it. A few times a year they have a HUGE barn sale. It is epic. It is both absolutely thrilling to get such incredible scores and positively depressing to see what people were okay with throwing in the landfill, like vintage globes, 50s general electric box fans, tents, Wheaton bottles, toys from the 50-60s, and hobnail vases.  I once got a suitcase filled with toys, clothes and love letters from the Great Depression for $10! We got a lot of good scores for the booth. My entire family came with and they all found lots of items they wanted. When they had piled all of their stuff (for all five of them), with scores of items, everything from two tents to walking sticks to vases (for my mom and sister to fill with flowers to give as gifts) to glasses (for my sister who is prepping to move out on her own); it cost them $25. My dad was speechless.

These beautiful grains will reproduce
soon with enough grains to make giant
batches of kefir and to give to others.

Health:
* I went for a short walk/run one day and a couple of walks with Trucker.
* I got more water kefir grains. I'll do my darnedest not to kill these ones. I used to feel nauseous most of the time. Some time after I had been drinking water kefir daily, I realized I didn't anymore. A couple months after I killed the last batch, I started feeling queasy more often. Hopefully this helps. I paid $6 including shipping for the grains. Since they reproduce it is a great deal.
* Trucker got bronchitis. I tried to take care of him the best I could (95% of which was insisting that the most productive thing he could do was rest so he healed instead of getting worse). He is feeling better now (day 10).

Community:
* My friend gave me some seconds apples. They had a few bad spots but were overall good.

I was so excited when Trucker showed me this score! I haven't
seen one of these in years. We giggled and looked at all the
slides together. We sold it the same day we bought it.

How was your week?

This Week...Beyond Money TWO WEEKS 9/14 - 9/27

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Life gets in the way of life sometimes, it seems. Last week was crazy, I worked every day and barely recognized what day of the week it was because all I thought of was which job I was working in the morning. Phew. This week, Trucker and I had a much needed talk, ran the numbers on our bills and income and decided that it was not necessary for me to be working this much. So starting this coming week, I'm limiting myself to no more than 4 days at the farm or factory. Considering that I still have writing to do, etsy listings to post, and pricing and cleaning the booth in preparation for the big party next week, this will still be a lot of work, but manageable. Hopefully. Sorry I wasn't able to get the blog post out last week. By the time I realized it hadn't been finished, it was Thursday of the next week so I decided to combine the two weeks.

Gardening: 

* I continue to feed the bunnies tree trimmings. They love them. Nurse Ratched was the slowest to warm up to eating greens, but now, when I give her fresh food and water, she'll still beg for greens and devour them before eating anything else.

* I harvested 2 cups of lettuce.
* I harvested a cup or so of snap beans.

Cooking/Groceries:
* We had tacos one evening made with 1/2 lb ground pork (I cooked the rest and saved for later), greens from the garden, salsa, sour cream and black olives. I also served pan-fried corn with jalapenos and garlic (peppers and garlic from the garden). Delicious meal.
* One busy evening, we used our rewards to get a free pizza from a chain (the points would have expired in a couple days). We ate half the pizza and the other half was lunch (with roasted brussells sprouts and peppers on the side).
* Went on my major grocery shopping trip for the month. I had some great scores for the week and to preserve for later: 6 poblano peppers ($.61), a huge bunch of turnip greens ($.89), 2 3-lb bags of onions (BOGO, so $.33/lb), 4 lbs of popcorn ($1/lb), 2 3-lb bags of carrots ($2.39, so $.40/lb), chicken breasts for $1.10/lb, ripe bananas (4 lbs for $.29/lb), 10 lb bag of potatoes ($2.49), a pound of bacon (free with coupon), a gallon of cider ($2.99), 3 lb of ground beef ($8.49). I got a coupon for $1 off the produce.
* I made a wonderful chicken noodle soup one day when I wasn't feeling well. I cooked all of the chicken breasts (about 7 lbs) in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours. I added some chicken bouillon cubes (I don't usually use them, but I'd gotten them for almost free awhile back. I keep them on hand for days when I need soup, but don't have homemade stock). At this point, the meat was quite tender. I removed the breasts, shredded two with a fork, and froze the rest for future meals. I strained the cooking liquid. I sauteed 2 small onions, a whole head of garlic (lots of alliums to help my immune sys), a banana pepper, half a zucchini, 2 ribs of celery and 2 large carrots. I cooked 1/2 lb of fettucini, broken into thirds in the chicken cooking water, and added the shredded chicken and veggies. I seasoned it with italian seasoning and garlic salt. It was fantastic. It cost about $2.25 and made enough for 7 meal-sized portions. It was dinner that night, with plenty of leftovers for the coming week when we'll be working some opposite shifts. Neither of us likes to cook for just one (but love cooking for each other), so we tend to just nibble instead of eating real meals on days that we work opposite shifts. By putting in a little effort on my day off, we can just reheat a real-foods meal for a healthy, but easy meal.
* I had friends over for dinner one evening. I grilled: bacon cheeseburgers, bacon wrapped stuffed hot dogs (stuffed with sauteed peppers, caramelized onions and chipotle jack cheese), zucchini and bell peppers. One friend brought a hot chicken dip and chips. The other friend brought a loaf of cinnamon bread and a jar of pickled garlic scapes (which I've just been nibbling straight out of the jar). For dessert, I made grilled bananas with whipped cream, a dusting of cinnamon and a drizzle of goats milk caramel.
* I caramelized 4 lbs of onions. They are so fantastic to put on everything, but take awhile to make. I needed them for when I had company over, and since it would take the same amount of time to make a huge batch, I did. They last a long time in the refrigerator.
* I made an apple crisp for breakfasts.

Food Preservation:
* I dehydrated lots of peppers from the grocery and garden and tomatoes from the garden.

Fun:
* We got a free date at our regular coffee spot. I had a free pastry from my birthday and they had a promotion for free refills with a travel mug. Score!
* My friend took me to a meadery tasting and tour. She won the passes at a charity dinner raffle earlier this year. It was so sweet of her to take me, and I always have a great time hanging out with her. The mead was amazing, the tour fascinating and the company perfect. After the mead had worn off, we went out for tacos al pastor at this fabulous hole-in-the-wall taqueria she introduced me to. Fantastic. I got three tacos that pretty much filled me up for $4.50. Afterwards, we went to a thrift store. I got three items for the booth and a pair of winter boots ($6, new with tags, adorable black booties). Overall frugal day out.
* We went out to see a movie with our Movie Lovers Meetup group. Since we got the group rate, it was only $6 each (about matinee price around here). While we usually wait and go to the second run theatre or try to score free screening tickets, we were both really excited about this particular movie and are trying to make more friends. We really enjoy the discussions with this movie lovers group.

Nature:
* We went hiking at a lake we love. The trail is a 4 mile loop that goes through meadow, grass, and forest. It's perfect!
* Another day we went walking around a park of Native American mounds.

Frugality:
* I got gas at my job where it was $.20/gallon cheaper.
* When I went thrifting with my friend, I talked myself out of every purchase I could. I only ended up buying 3 items that I knew I could easily sell with a good margin and just one pair of winter boots (even though I tried on 10 pairs).

Waste Reduction:
* I composted lots of weird things.

Work:
* Trucker brought home goodies from his job. We used these for breakfast most mornings.
* I worked over 1/2 hour one day.
* I picked up an extra shift at my regular job.
* I worked 3 days at the farmers market over the two weeks. I think this may have been my last week at this job, but I'm not sure yet.
* I was able to bring home an overripe cantaloupe, 2 busted zucchini and several peppers with bad spots. Cut out the bad spots and it's still delicious.

Future:
* We went out picking one morning and found the yard sale to end all yard sales. Lots of great vintage finds and everything was $.25. I scored some great stuff for the booth and etsy.

Health:
* I made some tinctures with vodka and herbs from the co-op.
* I haven't been running as much since I started working 6 days a week (both of my jobs are physical; the farm more than the factory, but I'm tired after a day at either). I ran two days each week. I'd planned to run more, but got sick the second half of the second week. I pretty much lay in bed for 3 days.

Setbacks:
* I got sick at the end of week 2 and wasn't able to work any extra days that week.

Community:
* I had brought a cookie to one of my coworkers for her birthday last week (bought at an ethnic bakery on my trip). When I worked with her this week, she brought me a couple cookies she'd baked at home for my birthday. They were delicious!
* My parents gave me 5 plastic grocery bags filled with apples from their garden! Have to get cooking!

How was your week?

This Week...Beyond Money 9/7 - 9/13

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* Harvested a few cups of green beans and a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes
* Harvested tons of basil to use...in everything!
* I picked up a couple pine cones and threw them to the bunnies. They seemed to enjoy nibbling them. I fed them leafy twigs.

Mustard seeds harvested from my shade garden.

* I'm thinking that for winter, I'm going to move the rabbit hutches as the weather permits.  As soon as the first bed is bare for winter, I'm going to lay cardboard to cover the bed to smother weeds (I barely touched the garden this year, so there are lots and lots of weeds). I'll position the hutches over the bed on cinder blocks and let the waste fall directly onto the beds. I'll cover occasionally with crumbled leaves raked this autumn. As it gets a good covering, I'll move it to another bed. This will save handling the waste and get it breaking down in place.
* My mustard patch went to seed a bit ago and the seedpods were pretty dry. I pulled up three plants and took them inside. I let them dry for another couple days. I popped open the seed pods over a bowl. I ended up with about a tablespoon of mustard seed. Obviously, this will not save me a fortune or greatly contribute to our food needs for the year; however, it was still worth doing. It took 5 minutes, used something that would otherwise have just gone to waste (the rest of the plant will still go in to the compost), and will give a bit more flavor to our winter's meals. A thousand small savings add up.

Cooking/Groceries:
* I bought a container of salsa with part of my pay from the farmers market. It is perfect and lovely. My farmer friend makes it himself, and it is seriously the best salsa I've ever had.
* We grilled out one evening. I made bacon wrapped hot dogs (Oh my!), green bell peppers, cherry bomb peppers, a yellow tomato (not the best thing ever), and corn on the cob. It was a lovely meal.
* I've been snacking on overripe/damaged cantaloupes from the farm constantly. One day I got a watermelon that had a bad spot. I was still able to salvage half of the flesh. Low-calorie, high-nutrient and free. Best guilt free snack ever.
* I went to the grocery and spent $12. I got: 3+ lbs of organic bananas ($.45/lb!), a container of sour cream, a pack of 6 crab cakes (marked down to $2), a lb of prepped Brussels sprouts and red peppers for roasting (marked down to $2; I don't usually buy pre-prepped foods, but if it is cheaper per pound, I will sometimes), a loaf of bread (marked down from $1.50 to $.79), a dozen extra-large eggs (It cost $.10 more to get XLG than LG eggs, but gives an extra 3 oz of egg per dozen. I don't know why this matters. LOL) and a pound of shredded cheddar cheese.

This monster zucchini weighed over 5 lbs!

Food Preservation:
* I put 8 containers of plain tomato sauce into the freezer (made Saturday before our trip). Each container is enough for one meal of tomato sauce over pasta or a meal of tomato soup with grilled cheese. Not too bad. This will pack a lot of nutrition into our winter meals.
* I froze 3 large containers of tomato juice strained from the tomatoes as I cooked them into sauce. These will be used for a nutritious drink, added to bloody marys, or used as a soup base (I save the rinse water from tomato sauce containers as the base for my Trash Chili).
* I grated and froze 17.75 pounds of monster zucchini (free from my farmer friend) in 2 cup portions. This will be used for baking all winter long.

Fun:
* For my birthday, I like to get out of town. Need to get out of town. I get really antsy if I'm stuck in one place for too long, and my birthday gives me the perfect excuse to go. Sometimes we take a day trip and just jump on the highway and drive til we see something worth stopping. This time, we went to our old city to explore and to visit my in-laws for two days. We were able to do it on the cheap and still had a ball.
* I booked the hotel on hotel.com. I use them because I get a free night's stay after 10 nights. I booked a hotel that was cheaper, but not seedy (the last time we stayed at a seedy hotel, we were given the key to someone else's room twice and one time ended up walking in!). We stayed out of the city limits and saved $30 that way. Because we were going to be very busy both days, I didn't get a hotel with gym/pool like I usually do. It did have a free breakfast which we enjoyed. We got waffles, bananas, milk, juice, cereal and coffee. It filled us up enough to not need to eat a big lunch.
* Our first day there, Trucker's family took us out for dinner. It was nice getting to catch up a bit.
* It was Labor Day weekend, so three thrift store chains in the city were having half off days. We hit a dozen. I'm such an easy-to-please girl. Some guys have to buy expensive jewelry, plan elaborate dates, etc. Me? All I want is to go thrifting. We got items for our booth and a few things for the house. We didn't spend much, but got some cool things.
* We stopped at a hole-in-the-wall taqueria for tacos al pastor and Mexican coke. Because yum.
* I bought some produce out of a truck: 1 lb tomatillos, 6 peaches, 2 ears of corn, a huge beefsteak tomato, and a few peppers: $3.

I had been needing to get some new
art for the house. I got two farm
paintings to go in the hallway
downstairs. I also got an ocean and
sunset painting for the bathroom.
The pink of the sunset matches the
color of the bathroom walls.

Nature:
* We FINALLY got out to a metropark this week. After work one day, we were discussing how we should spend our evening and Trucker said he really needed to get out into nature. We drove to a metropark 2 miles from home and did 3.5 miles.

Frugality:
* I bought gas at work since it was $.30-.40 cheaper than the gas stations in my city.

Waste Reduction:
* Composted lots of weird things.
* I strained off tomato juice from the tomatoes I was cooking down. Not only did I save the liquid from just evaporating, giving me a nutritious drink, but I reduced the amount of cooking time and thus the amount of gas needed to make the sauce thick enough.
* I took home unsaleable produce from my farm gig (with permission, of course).

Work:
* I worked at the farmers market 3 days this week. I brought home 3 overripe cantaloupes, 2 cracked bell peppers and 1 soft tomato.
* Trucker brought home sweets from his job, including some chocolate almond biscotti that rocks my world.
* We were shut down on the holiday, but I worked an extra day on Friday to make up for the loss in pay.
* I worked an hour overtime one day.

Preparedness:
* Put lots more food into storage.

Future:
* We got our second paycheck from the booth. We increased our sales over the last period by 78%. We ended up making a profit over the booth rent and the purchase price of the items that sold. This does not factor in the amount we spent on shelving and the items that haven't sold yet. However, if we were to move out of the booth, we would still have the items to use/sell. We're learning a lot. There were a couple of items that we tried out just to see. Some of them sold immediately and so we look out for them every time we go out. For example, chicken figurines. Heaven knows why, but I can't keep them in stock. Three days between placing and selling, every time. Also, suitcases. We have had good luck finding some really nice ones.

Health:
* I've been watching what I eat and drink and am back to my normal weight.
* I wear ear plugs at work to protect my hearing.

Setbacks:
* I wasn't able to work Monday because we were shut down for the holiday. However, I was able to pick up another shift that week to make up for it.

How was your week?

This Week...Beyond Money 8/31 - 9/6

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

This week was crazy busy, so this won't be the most complete list of events. Frankly, I've worked 70+ hours at the various jobs this week, and it's been so long since I had a day off that I can't remember which things I did this week and which were last week. However, this is a short term situation that is going to get us where we want to be, so I'm sucking it up. Hopefully next week's post will be more detailed.

Gardening:
* I harvested sauce tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, snap beans, basil, and peppers.
* I fed the bunnies weeds and leafy twigs.

Cooking/Groceries:
* I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast one morning. I froze half of the rolls to use another time. Less for us to snack on in the next couple of days, and saves money later.
* I made eggplant Parmesan with the eggplant I got for free from my job (it had a scar on it, so was unsaleable). This is one of my favorite meals.
* Trucker found a steak on manager's special. One day when I got home from work, he'd made dinner: steak, baked potatoes and roasted veggies. Delicious and so sweet of him to do for me after I'd had a rough day.
* I made stir fry with 1/4 of the steak leftover from Trucker's dinner. I also used 2 summer squash, 3 cherry bomb peppers, green beans from the garden, snow peas from the manager's special rack, two ribs of celery, and garlic. I served over rice with sweet chili sauce ($2.50 for a huge bottle at the ethnic grocery).

Food Preservation:

* I preserved more tomatoes, all of the peppers from the flea market (Hungarian Wax and jalapeno), jalapenos from home, some poblano peppers from the manager's special cart and green beans from the garden. I didn't have enough of any particular thing to do an entire load, so I just mixed them all together. The tomatoes and beans might soak up a little bit of heat, but that won't be a problem.
* I froze more bananas from the manager's special cart.
* I dehydrated 20 pounds of tomatoes as pizza chips.
* I froze more tomato soup for later.

Fun:
* We took a trip to our old city for my birthday and to see Trucker's family. Since it was on Sunday and Monday, I'll talk about the trip on next week's post.

Frugality:
* I redeemed $25 in rewards points on my credit card. I used that money to pay down debt.
* I received a shampoo and condition sample set. I was able to stretch it for a week's worth of hair washing.

Waste Reduction:
* I composted lots of weird things.
* I made tomato soup with the scraps leftover from preserving tomatoes.
* I cooked with bacon fat.

Work:
* I worked at the farmers market three times. Someone gave me a free bag of kettle corn at one market and life was good.
* My farmer friend sold me canner tomatoes at just over half the going rate. I got 53 lbs of tomatoes (regularly $35) for $20.  So for that 4.5 hours I worked, I came home with $35 worth of tomatoes, $30, and a cantaloupe that was a tad overripe (which is perfect for me. $67.50 total, for an hourly rate of $15 (and the produce was a bargain at that!)
* I worked over 45 minutes one day and a half hour the next.
* I packed a lunch each day I worked.
* Trucker brought home a huge box full of biscotti from his job. It is the end pieces that are too small to cut into salable pieces. Instead of throwing them away, the baker gives them to us. I cut them down and bake them the second time. They are incredible (almond and cinnamon? What could be better). This time there are so many that I will freeze some for later.

Preparedness:
* Put up more food for winter.

Future:
* I went picking one day when I was way early for work at the farmers market. I was very picky, so I didn't spend much, but got good pieces.
* We still have a week until our next paycheck at the booth, but I saw a lot of holes when I stopped to restock and freshen up.
* I listed more items on my etsy store. After 6 months, I've figured out what sells for me and that's all I'm listing at present. Maybe I'll try more things later, but this is it for now. Etsy brings in some sales, but it isn't going to be a living wage, so it is lower priority than the booth.
* Trucker got some good items for our booth at an online auction.
* Trucker got a few articles accepted, two for a very popular website.

Health:
* I went running a couple of times, and once for a 1 hour 45 minute walk.
* Focused on drinking more water.
* I wore ear plugs at work each day.

Community:
* When I was running one day, a neighbor ran out of the house and stopped me. We chatted for a bit and she said that she wanted to start exercising with me. We went out for a power walk one morning for an hour and forty five minutes! It was great chatting and having a workout buddy. Hopefully this works out.
* I brought snacks to the farmers market to share with the girl I was working with.

How was your week?

This Week...Beyond Money 8/24 - 8/30

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* I harvested several handfuls of fresh basil.
* Harvested several cherry tomatoes.
* Harvested 1/2 cup of green beans.
* Harvested several peppers.
* Fed weeds and twigs to the bunnies. I fed them their pellets one day, refilled their water bottles then broke off some green twigs from the rowdy treeline. When I brought them to the hutches, Nurse Ratched actually squealed before devouring the leaves and gnawing on the twigs. Too cute! She's growing on me, due in large part to the fact that she hasn't drawn blood in two months.

Cooking/Groceries:
* I made beef stew out of random items from the frig: the last half of a steak, the leftover mashed potatoes, the last of a carton of mashed potato soup (from the salvage grocer) that we didn't quite care for but wasn't bad enough to toss, carrots, peppers, cauliflower (never would have planned to put that in, but it needed used up. It was an incredible addition), corn, and lots of garlic (from the garden; because everything I make needs to have garlic in it). We had it two days as is, and the last of it was served over egg noodles. The leftovers of the noodles and stew was Trucker's lunch for work one day.
* I stopped at my salvage grocer. I got lots of goodies: .75/lb bag of jerky for $5, 10 oz bags of coffee for $.99, a huge jar of tomato sauce for $1, cans of buffalo chicken for $.49 (for 1/2 lb), toilet paper (100% post-consumer material, $.99/4 pk), pickles ($.49/jar), bag of 40 protein bars for $4 (these are great for work-day breakfasts and after work snacks for the 1.5 hour drive home).
* I got some produce off of a manager's special cart: 1 lb of snow peas ($.99), a huge bag of cherry bomb peppers ($.99), a bag of green medium heat peppers ($.99), 2 lbs of yellow summer squash ($.99). Not too bad. I'll likely preserve some of the peppers for later.
* While at a flea market, I got two big bags of peppers: Hungarian Wax (one of my favorites) and these lovely huge jalapenos. Each bag was $1 for about 1 1/2 lbs.

Food Preservation:
* Continue to dehydrate tomatoes.
* Froze 5 bananas that were getting a little too dark (I stock up every time I find them below $.40/lb and freeze whatever we can't use for making my chocolate shakes or smoothies).
* I froze 2 portions of tomato soup that was leftover from another meal. These will go into work lunches.

Fun:
* Trucker and I are on a mailing list to get free movie screening tickets. This week we were able to respond in time to get two tickets. We got a free date one evening.
* Another night we went out to a free movie. This one we got on our coupon sheet from finishing the summer reading program at the library. This coupon was expiring this week, so we wanted to use it up. The other coupons are good for another movie. We got to see a movie we were really excited about; tickets usually cost $10. We didn't buy any snacks and we even found free street parking.
* We had my family out for dinner one evening. I made a nice dinner. I served bacon cheeseburgers (clearance-price beef, clearance-price bacon, store-brand american cheese) on wheat hamburger buns (manager's special for $.39) with lettuce (from the garden), pickles (salvage grocer) and tomatoes (free from my second job). I grilled summer squash (manager's special), potatoes (on sale for $.20/lb), and peppers (manager's special). We drank coffee and koolaid. Afterwards, we took my parents to see the antique booth. We'd waited to surprise them until after it was set up. They were excited to see it.
* We had one of our friends over for breakfast one morning. I made fried eggs and bacon, and served it with bacon cheddar scones from Trucker's job. We had orange juice ($.90/from concentrate) and coffee (from the salvage grocer) to drink. Afterwards, we went to a flea market together. He has been asking us to go for months, but we never had a free weekend day available. We had a good time.

Frugality:
* I curb shopped a stool while on my run. It has an ugly top, so I plan to make a little cushion that matches the kitchen.
* I paid off one of my medical debts, the biggest one. Now I just have a little one left to go!

Waste Reduction:
* I made another batch of tomato soup from scraps from dehydrating.
* I composted weird things, like dryer lint, junk mail, and cat hair.
* We shipped items we sold online using all salvaged materials.
* I crumbled up some of the scones that we didn't get a chance to eat to use as breadcrumbs. I picked out the bacon and cheddar from the scones and added it to a pot of soup. Sounds weird, but waste not, want not!

Work:
* Packed lunches.
* Worked at farmers market 2 days.
* I was able to bring home some produce that would otherwise have been thrown away: a cracked watermelon, a split pepper, and an eggplant with a funky spot.
* Trucker brought home a big bag of goodies.

Preparedness:
* At a yard sale I found some window insulation/plastic kits for $.50 each and bought two. We want to weatherize the whole house before winter this year, so I've been storing up supplies.

This picture is from early on at the booth. We've since replaced
the two small shelves behind the black end tables with taller
shelves, moved the linens over to the top of a trunk and have the
crate hidden away for now until we can use it better.

Future:
* We got our first paycheck from the antique booth! The booth was pretty bare the first 10 of 15 days in the pay period (I'd say we are just now getting to be fully stocked). Even so, we made half of rent, and there is a definite learning curve to this whole thing. So, while I still am not expecting to become rich off of this, we aren't losing money! And that is about as solid of a start as you can hope for.
* We went out picking together a lot. We've been going out for all morning picking trips. We bring our travel mugs of coffee and I pack a lunch. He's so fun to just be around, so it's really a date, even though we're working.
* We brought lots of items up to the booth. It's so fun getting there, rearranging things, looking for holes, stocking, talking with people. Love it!
* Trucker's article was accepted to a major magazine! I am so excited for him and insanely proud. I first got to know Trucker all those years ago through his writing, and I still get to learn about him through it now, after being together over 8 years.

Health:
* I've been continuing to run on a regular basis.
* My diet was a wreck this week and I'm feeling it (I am also certain I'm looking it, although Trucker tells me otherwise. Lovely man). Definitely reinforced my determination to eat better.

Community:
* My parents let us borrow their truck to move things up to the booth so we didn't have to pay $65+gas to rent a truck for 3 hours. It was at 1/4 a tank when I got it; I filled it up all the way. Even with the extra gas, it was still half the price of renting.
* I got Trucker a just-because gift. While I was at the library, I saw a book for sale that was by his favorite author. If I'd ordered it online, it would have been $8 including shipping. I paid $2.25.

How was your week?

This Week...Beyond Money 08/17 - 08/23

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* I harvested lots of basil to use almost daily in cooking.
* I harvested a few cups of green/purple snap beans.
* I harvested a dozen or so cherry tomatoes.
* I harvested a dozen small medium-heat peppers.
* I fed the bunnies weeds and twigs.

This is after I had taken one dehydrator load of tomatoes out.
Isn't this fantastic?

Cooking/Groceries:
* Snacks have been popcorn or vegetables. I've found some great deals on baby carrots, cukes, tomatoes, etc lately. We'll often just slice up veggies, lightly salt and enjoy that with out movie.
* We found a manager's special on a decent steak for $5.40. We split half of it. The other half we saved for another meal. With the steak, I served mashed potatoes and gravy and slices of tomato with salt.
* My farmer friend royally hooked me up. I asked him about canning tomatoes because I'm not getting enough tomatoes from the garden to preserve. He said he didn't know if he would have any available but would let me know. He ended up hooking me up with a bushel of tomatoes for $20! That's $.38/lb! Not only that, but he definitely didn't give me "canners" (code phrase for the tomatoes that are too blemished to sell otherwise). These were pretty close to flawless (so far I've cut out a small bad spot from a total of three tomatoes). We've been devouring them fresh as a snack or in sandwiches. I've dehydrated 6 loads worth so far. I'll finish them in the next few days.
* I had tomato, basil (from the garden) and mayo sandwiches for lunch one day. Best lunch ever.

Food Preservation:

My setup...complete with Storm of the Century!

* I preserved about 20 pounds of tomatoes by slicing and dehydrating them. I gather my knife and cutting board, dehydrator trays and 2 large bowls. I cut out any bad spots and put them in one bowl (to go in the composter). I cut out cracked spots and cores and put them in the other bowl. I cut all of the tomatoes into even slices. If I have any weird spots that don't cut well, scraps of skin, etc, I toss into the second bowl. This bowl of scraps will be used to make soup. I slice several tomatoes, then stop and assemble them on the trays. The more you cram onto the trays, the longer it will take to dehydrate. However, I often leave the dehydrators running overnight, so this is no problem. Once they are fully dry, I store in repurposed glass jars.

Fun:
* Trucker found two coupons in the trash at his job for free small ice creams at the local fancy-ice cream spot. The ice cream would have cost $10 if we'd bought it. We tipped $1 and enjoyed our free, delicious ice cream. While we ate it, we strolled around the neighborhood. It was a perfect eveninh for it: not too hot, not too cold, perfect breeze, perfect humidity, pretty spotty clouds in the sky while the sun set. Perfect date. During the recession, we used to challenge ourselves to find inventive "Dollar Dates" when we didn't have more than a dollar to go out on. It was fun to see that all these years later, we can still have such a lovely time on a dollar date.
* A week or so ago, while Trucker and I were talking, we joked about how many months we had been married. Then we decided to figure out how many it had been. It was just shy of 100 months. We decided that we had to make a big to-do about it. We told everyone about our special anniversary. We ended up going out to dinner and a free concert at a coffee house.
* We went to see a movie at the discount theater on their $1.25 day.

Nature:
* I've enjoyed watching the clouds and sunsets while running. Perfect!

Frugality:
* I got a lot of free samples in the mail after spending an hour requesting lots online: 4 pack of meal replacement drinks (for days when I forget lunch or if we are super busy), tampons, maxi pads, stevia sweetener, lotion. These also came with coupons, some of them really good ones, so I'll use those in combination with a sale if I get the chance.
* I upgraded my phone since the old one wasn't working. I actually broke down and got a smart phone. I did this for two reasons. One: with our new business venture, I need to be able to check value/maker's marks/etc while out picking. I do not use the internet otherwise. I turn off my data so I'm not mindlessly using data. When I need to look up an item I'm thinking of popping on, I have to go turn on the data before I can search, and then turn it off after. Adding that little thought process keeps me from Facebook. Two: I want to try out one of those fun running apps. I talked with the sales guy to figure out the best phone for me. I made it perfectly clear I wanted the cheapest option and didn't need anything fancy. I ended up getting a phone on a payment plan (instead of the "free" phones I usually get) because it was $10/month cheaper than not having a payment plan on the "free" phone. So all in all, I'm paying what I used to pay for a regular phone that barely worked and only put through 1/3 of my phone calls.
* Line dried a couple loads of laundry.

The scraps from one day's preserving.

Waste Reduction:
* I saved tomato scraps to use to make tomato soup.
* Composted weird things.
* Used the last of a bottle of shower gel as bubble bath.

Work:
* I worked 2 hours overtime.
* I officially got offered a job for my farmer friend. I'm working 3 days a week helping at the farmers markets. While the farm is 1.5 hours from my house, the markets are all within a half hour's drive. They pay me for my time and gas. Sometimes I even get free produce (one day they sent me home with the last 10 cukes that would otherwise have just been composted). I make a good wage and love the work. I worked for this family when I was just out of high school, best job I've ever had. The entire family is very nice, the produce is fantastic, they are active members in the community (where I grew up). The job gives me a good work out (running all over with 50-100 pound tubs of produce) and I am learning a great deal about selling at farmers markets. When Trucker and I get our farm, I'll already have some experience in this aspect of farming.
* I worked 2 days at farmers markets this week.
* I packed my lunch every day I worked at my regular job. I always made sure (at either job) to have lots and lots of water.

Preparedness:
* Put up lots of food for winter.

Future:
* We continue to go out picking on a regular basis and restock our booth. We are noticing empty spots when we check the booth. Soon we'll get paid and get our itemized list of sold items and really know where we stand.
* I wrote some on my book.
* Trucker finished the rough draft on another book. He'll soon start the self-publication process.
* Trucker submitted an article to a website.

Health
* I ran most days, 1-1.5 miles.
* We snacked on fruit and veg instead of junk food.

How was your week?

This Week...Beyond Money 8/10 - 8/16

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* I weeded and thinned the garden and fed it all to the bunnies. They loved the micro carrots.
* Harvested 6 cups of green beans, 3 cups of greens, a dozen or so cherry tomatoes, basil microgreens and a few edible flowers to toss into salads.
* I picked parsley throughout the week to use in cooking.
* I harvested a lot of yard-long beans. They are so fun! And delicious. I grew them for the first time last year and expanded the number this year. They are great!

Cooking/Groceries:
* Made BLTs one afternoon. I saved 1/3 of the bacon for future meals. All of the lettuce came from the garden, the tomatoes were from the World's Longest Yard Sale ($2 for 1.5 lbs), the bread was $.50 on clearance, and the bacon was on sale for $3/lb.
* I bought a pack of mushrooms (6 oz) for $.79 at an Asian grocer. I also found some great bargains on dehydrated mushrooms and random pickles, but didn't buy any this time since I'm working at eating more from the pantry, but I now know where to go for some fun, exotic pickles on the cheap.
* At the local Whole-Foods knock off, I got: 2 avocados for $.50 each, 2 lbs of bacon ends for $8, 3 lbs of TVP for $10, and a pound of radishes for $1.
* For company, I made enchiladas using 1/2 lb of ground pork, a can of refried beans, the last of a jar of salsa, a tomato and some peppers from the garden, topped with a can of green enchilada sauce ($.49 from the salvage grocer). I used the avocados to make guacamole that I served with some on-sale tortilla chips. For dessert, I served a plum upside down cake I made with some of the $.19 plums I got at Aldi last week.
* I used the other half of the ground pork for tacos the next night.
* We had baked potatoes for dinner one evening and topped them with random items from the frig.
* I made bacon gravy and biscuits for dinner one evening.
* I made TVP loaf for dinner one night. I lost my good recipe, and the recipe I got from the internet wasn't very good. It crumbled and didn't taste as good as my old recipe. I'll keep looking for the old one. TVP loaf is really tasty (if you have the right recipe) and is very filling.

Food Preservation:
* I dehydrated tomatoes, peppers and green beans. There wasn't enough of anything for a load by itself, so I just tossed it all in one load.
* I froze 5 peaches, 3 nectarines and 6 bananas. I sliced them, then froze them on cookie sheets before packaging in freezer bags.

Fun:
* My friend and I went out for coffee together. I used my travel mug to get a discount. We drew, colored (in my fancy Anatomy Coloring book) and talked for a few hours. Then we went walking to some Asian grocers in the area.
* My sister came over for dinner one evening.
* We went kayaking with my family one day. My parents, all my sisters, and my sister's fiance met us at the lake. Dad had BOGO coupons (He pays $20/yr for a coupon book for their county and they use that for all eating out and a lot of entertainment over the year) for subs at a local shop, so lunch for the two of us was $5. They brought soda, water and chips from home and we ate at the state park. While two of my sisters and one sister's fiance went fishing, my parents, other sister, Trucker and I went kayaking around the lake for a bit to a small beach. We went swimming for a little while. While we were standing in the water and talking, a water moccasin swam up right in the middle of us! EEK! Then we got back in the kayaks and went through some canals back to where we'd parked. By this time it was dusk. As we went back, the cranes were coming in to roost. We got pretty close to a couple. It was beautiful! When we were leaving, my dad gave us a coupon from his book for BOGO at the local ice cream shop, so that cost $2.50 to get each of us a (huge) ice cream cone.

Nature:
* I got to enjoy the flowers and wildlife at a state park.

Frugality:
* I combined several errands one afternoon to reduce gas use throughout the week.
* I cut Trucker's hair for him. This is my second time doing it and I'm getting better and quicker. It took me 15 minutes and saved $13, so that's $52 bucks an hour, tax free!

Waste Reduction:
* I composted lots of weird things.
* I fed some corn silk I'd dried to the bunnies. They seemed to like it.
* Fed the bunnies weeds and garden thinnings. This saves a lot in food and reduces waste.

Work:
* I worked over 1 hour one day and a half hour another
* I packed my breakfast and lunch each day I worked.
* Trucker brought home goodies from his job that would otherwise have been thrown away.

Preparedness:
* I put up food for later.

Future:
* We continue to put more and more items into our booth. We are noticing some gaps when we go to restock, so we are making some sales. We'll get an itemized list and our first paycheck next week.

Health:
* I went running a lot.
* I've been more conscious about the calories I'm drinking. When I want to get a caloric drink, I drink a tall glass of water before I pour that drink. Then I'm not as thirsty, so I pour a lot less.
* I actually remembered to put sunscreen on before we went to the lake. I usually forget and get burned. I'm working at being better at this, especially since I'm fair skinned and my grandpa had skin cancer.

Community:
* A few of my coworkers gave me leads for getting some new inventory.
* We gave my parents most of the week's goodies from Trucker's job. That would cover a couple morning's breakfasts for them and my sisters.

How was your week?