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White Friday: 10 Things To Do Instead Of Shopping On Black Friday

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Everyone, okay not everyone but many people in North America are busy right now shopping for Black Friday deals. I have done in past, some of my close friends and family do it now and many hard working Americans can afford some niceties during heavy discount during black Friday.  I am not Christmas or gift hater, as I buy them myself but not on Thanksgiving weekend. I am simply too lazy and too broke to do any shopping during Black Friday. If you are like me, you will like this.

White Friday: No shopping day

Gifts from heart during Holidays

Irony of recession is hard on all of us, no matter how much money we make, there is always things getting expensive as I have written about it on Irony of Recession: Expensive and Cheaper things.

You can still avoid crazy rush of shopping and give gifts to your loved by Simplify Gift Giving During Holidays and Meaningful Happy Holidays From Heart, Not Wallet.

Download Free ebook: No Optin or email required:

Meaningful Celebration: Free eBook download
Rush of Black Friday 2010: Target:

I am not an early morning person, broke and not fit enough to run on Black Friday

10 Things to Do Instead of Shopping on Black Friday:

1. Get up Late:

Lure of sleeping in late in cold morning under warm blanket sounds wonderful to many. Sleep in, wake up in bed, do pillow fights with family members and catch up on Zzzes.

See: Laidback Mornings: without an alarm

2. Sip in Hot Tea:

I love my morning tea, specially the way Zenguy makes it. Sip in hot ginger tea in my pajama, not waiting in line sounds good to me.

101 Changes: Change 9 – Drink to your Health: Benefits of Drinking Tea

How to Make Best Ever Chai-Tea at Home

3. Cook something with kids or spouse:

Make some unique recipe (easy ones) with kids or a spouse and share it. If it turned out good, take pictures and share recipes with others. If it turned out bad, laugh together, take a picture and NOT show it anyone.

4. Declutter

Just look in closet, attic or garage for getting rid of stuff. You may find some brand new, unopened possible gifts to give away or donate. Best thing, it did not cost you anything, and your house got bit cleaner.

Read:

10 Ways to declutter your house

7 ways your clutter is costing you

11 reasons we hoard on things

5. Go to Park:

While many people will be busy shopping, many parks will be empty, so go ahead and enjoy in kiddie slides or swings, yes you as an adult can have fun with kids, like kids.

6. Set up Christmas lights:

You can set up Christmas lights on your house or other decoration. Many people take out their Plastic Christmas tree and decorate it and have truly early start on holidays without spending anything.

7. Cook food for Homeless or others:

We actually did this as we wanted at least one more person to have a good thanksgiving. We looked at local shelter and food banks and they happened to be close this holidays. But there are always someone hanging by local stores and you can share you extra hot food and pumpkin pie with them. Always put extra napkins, plastic spoons, fork and water bottle to it is easier for them.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes

8. Watch a movie or read a book.

I love watching movies, specially mushy romantic ones, either with dashing romantic heroes such as Mr. Darcy or Mr. Thronton, I am up for good drama, sci-fi and action movies. But with two little kids, we are watching “Cauliou” , but we still are having fun.

I am always up for reading new bestseller books or catching up on up on my old favorites novels by my favorite authors.

Great Classic Books that Everyone should Read (At least once)

8 Kids Books That Everyone Should Read

9. Write a blog post:

See, I am practicing what I am preaching. Instead of shopping, I am sitting on my laptop, sipping Chai and writing  here:-) You can write journal as well.

10. Just relax

This is something very hard for many of us do, as we are constantly on the go, doing things and checking off from our “things to do list”. We can simply take little break from everything and DO NOTHING,  on buy nothing day!

Screw productivity : at least for a day

You may also like:

8 items to spend money on;
8 items to save money on
Story of stuff : Must read and Must watch : Free

Your turn: How are you spending you Black Friday? Take a little break and don’t forget to have fun too!

Zengirl

Image Source: Media Exposed

Top 10 Saving Money Tips: (How to Save When Buying)

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Great depression happened during our grandparents time. Closet we came to seeing recession is 2001 and later in 2008, with jobs being lost, people losing houses and more economic downturn. In end of 2011, many people still feel the effect of it now, even things might be turning better for some but quite not for all.

I have been living somewhat simplified life since I decided to stay home with a child, years ago. For awhile, Zenguy was with zero to little income, so I learned more about how to save money more efficiently and without feeling deprived. Surviving without money is possible for rare few and is not for most of us.

I often get asked about saving money tips, I do not claim to be money expert but I know thing or two that has worked for us, which I wanted to share here again. It will help those in need and even if you are well off, you can save money for retirement, kid’s college or long waited vacation you may want to take.

See more related articles:

Easy ways to save Money

How to create a life that does not need an escape Part 1,

How to create a life that does not need an escape, Part 2

How to reuse Halloween Candies

Top Money Saving Tips For Everyone

Buying Tips:

1. Do not buy things that you can get for Free.

Use Local Library to  get Books (Including classic, new bestsellers, fiction, non fiction), DVDs (Kids, old, new), Music CDs, and sometimes even art pieces can be borrowed from it. Technically it is not free, if you are house owner, you are paying taxes for it anyways. Why not use it and buy it only books, movies that you really love to watch again and again.

2. Buy used when possible, new is not necessary.

Most things can be bought used with exception of a few items such as medicine, underclothes, food (dented can and boxes can be bought at reduced price), brush, diaper, tissue paper and so on.

Buying used is not only cheaper, and if you buy it from garage sale, or moving sale, you may not pay for the taxes on it. Many items such as car, house, furniture, laptop, computer, printer, textbooks, most clothes for kids and adult, shoes, art pieces, some kitchen appliances, washer and dryer can be and should be bought used. If you buy it used, make sure it is decent condition and pay fair price for it.

3. Buy things out of season.

Buying things right after Halloween, Christmas can save you tons of money, sometimes as much as 50% to 75% off, when you buy it right after the holidays. One of my friends always buy wrapping paper and Christmas decoration on Dec 27th for the next season. Same can be done for Valentine day, Buying Roses one day after Mother’s day or Father’s day can be lot cheaper.

4. Buy things locally.

Buy local produce, fruits and vegetable from local farmers. Buy and support local artist and designer, it will not only help the local community but also will help you pocket. One of my friend loves One specific designer shoes and she pays great money for it, because she has money and she loves the product. If you are not in debt, then go ahead, but if you are trying to save money and pay off bill like most of us, it is best to buy local products.

5. Buy Christmas items through out the year.

My brother always buy things on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and it seems to work well for him. But it is hectic, and crazy few days. If you are laid back like me, you may want to buy Christmas or even birthday gifts throughout the year.

If you are frugal, and creative, you can give an experience gifts to friends and family instead of buying little gadgets. You can also make some food, jams and cookie mix as gift, it will be more meaningful.

You can check out my post on how to have great Stress free thanksgiving and holiday and you can download my free ebook in pdf version meaningful celebrations for ideas.

5. Don’t buy groceries when you are famished.

This is universal truth for many of us, when we are hungry and doing grocery or any type of shopping, many of us will buy junk food, unhealthy snacks. Eat some fruit or snacks before going any type of shopping, specially buying groceries related trip.

6. Almost never lease or use “Rent to Own” product.

Leasing a car sound attractive on the surface, you pay some money, presumably reasonable monthly payment for 2 years and you get to return the car and get new lease. They may tell you that you may never have to pay for repairing a car, as you will be always driving a new car, but amount of money you end up spending is outrageous and in 99% cases not worth it.

Same things goes for “rent to own” products, you can buy used items much cheaper price or you might be better off saving money for it compared to amount you have to pay to get “rent to own” an any type of product, be it house, piano, laptop or computer. Buy used instead.

7. Buy Generic brand

Zenguy once checked the ingredient in generic headache medicine versus brand name headache medicine, he found 100% same ingredients on both medicine list. Only thing different was, generic brand did not have advertising budget like brand name. In many cases, we might be paying the extra cost of advertising and top model they use to sell the product.

Even when you have prescription to fill up, one can ask for generic brand of medicine from doctor which might be much cheaper. In most cases buying generic brand makes lot of sense over top and popular brand. If you are getting same thing, why spend extra?

8. Do Comparison Shopping

When you can not get the item for free (i.e. borrowing etc.) or buy used and you have to buy an item, you can save lot of money by comparing prices at different stores, online places before making a decision to buy it. You can get some best price or amazon or ebay, but watch out for shipping cost, as they can add up. Compare and know your option before buying anything new, specially if it over $100 priced product, you will save more money this way!

9. Before buying, sell or donate old item

I have made this rule which I try to follow. When I have to replace an item: for example a skirt, I sell or donate old skirt. This step has two benefits, first I make money if I sell it, even little bit counts, if I donate it I can use in tax break later at the tax time, again how little it may be, it helps. However I like the second benefit the most, which is that my closet won’t get cluttered. And living in clean, decluttered place is a mental bliss for me.

This tip works for almost any item, it could be old Television set, replacing bed, or furniture or car. It keeps your place clean and save you money, what is not to love?

10. No shame in haggling for price.

Many of us think that in US, we can not haggle for price, everything is fixed price and must be paid in full. While it is generally true but not complete truth. Still we  in US we can still haggle for best deal and best price. If you do not ask, you will certainly not get discounted price. Worst case people may say no, in best case, you will save some money so why not ask. Now, haggling does not mean to be so el-cheapo and be annoying, it simply means to ask politely and with respect for best price.

Some of the places in US you can negotiate the price or deal are

  • car buying (new and used),
  •  loan (lower rate),
  • credit card rates (lowering),
  • waving some bank fees,
  • cell phone contracts,
  • phone and internet contract,
  • cable contract, and so on.
  •  Lawn service,
  • kitchen, bathroom remodel,
  • a few car repairs,
  • buying a big furniture set,
  • buying big piece of art,
  • at flea market,
  •  garage sale and so on.

Always pay fair price and be respectable to seller when haggling the price to be fair.

Conclusion:

I am sure I can add many more ways to save money when we buy, but these are top 10 that are most important ones. One can keep his or his respect, save money and not feel deprived, yes all in one sentence. It can be true.

Your turn: How do you save money when you buy?

Zengirl

How To Preserve Food

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As long as human being need food to survive, there has been ways to preserve food for longer period of time. Modern refrigeration is one part of making food last much longer.

Why anyone want to preserve food?

  • One can stretch his or her budget much longer, if food last longer.
  • If you have home garden or buy it from farmer’s market, you can preserve seasonal food for later use. Preserving food fresh is healthier option when used fresh food.
  • One can retain the nutritional value of food by preserving it right.
  • If you preserve your own food, it will be chemical and toxin free.
  • It will be less processed if home made, making it much more healthy. For example drying food does not take away its nutrients.
  • It is cheaper to do it at home, compared to buy preserved food. It is easy to do.
  • You can make wide variety of preserved food such as jellys, jams and sun dried tomatoes.

Ways to Preserve Food:

There are several ways to preserve food and here are some of popular and easy ways to do it at home for anyone with little skill. People have been preserving food before fridge was available and here are some ways we can preserve food and save money and our health at the same time.

1. Canning

Canning is one of the oldest and traditional way to preserve any type of food. You will need to heat up the food and jar both, killing germs. Then cooling and sealing the food in jar for later use. There are canning tools and canning methods to follow properly. It can be time consuming at the start but it is well worth it.

Video of Canning Procedure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7sFBIurNKI

2. Freezing

One of the easiest way to preserve food is to freeze it. Once you cook or boil the vegetables or other food it can be freeze it for later use. Many people batch cook and divide food in to small trays to eat when coming from work on weekdays. Not all food can be frozen, so be careful of it. Generally speaking, egg and milk products are not suitable for freezing.

3. Drying Food:

One can dry food in sun or in oven to last longer. There are also drying racks one can buy to dry fruits, tomatoes and other vegetables. Other popular ways to dry food is by baking, sun drying, dehydrating, air drying and smoking the food.

4. Vacume sealing

There is also method of vacuum sealing cooked food in glass jars or plastic bags via using vacuum sealer product. There are several type available in market. In this technique, air is removed from the food, hence making it lasting longer as air is one way, food get mold or get bad.

5. Other ways to preserve food:

Long time reader and blog friendBetsy suggested a additional way to preserve food so I am adding it here (edit) . Thanks Betsy. Other ways of preserving food include smoking (good for meat and tomatoes) and fermenting (for instance Sauerkraut).

How do you preserve food?

Check out recipe and food related posts;

We are what we eat, really!

How to Make Best Ever Chai-Tea at Home

Upgrading Inexpensive Food In to Gourmet Meal: Ramen Noodle Hacks

Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes

How To Make Baba Ganoush: Eggplant Recipe

 

Image Source: nahysa.blogspot.com

No Spend Month Challenge Take Away and Lessons

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This month’s no spend month challenge plan of spending 0 for 31 days for 4 people, failed miserably. I went over budget 5 days before the month ended. Some of the reasons were unexpected and out of my control and others were in my control but I did not handle it well. So, I have failed in sense, but like in every situation in life, there is a lesson to learn in each one of them.

If we never make a mistake, the learning does not happen. There are very few of us who are lucky enough to know what they are doing and doing it right all the time. I on other hand need some more learning and I have given an opportunity to look back at the No month challenge and see positives in this failed attempt. After all, I know I was able to do it successfully last year, why it did not work this time?

See my past year’s challenge:

Last Month’s recap:

There are a few ways to rationalize it this time;

  • Things are much more expensive then last year (basic food, gas prices, basic necessities)
  • Kids are growing up
  • I am bit sick and tired, eating a few take outs or convenient food, last year I cooked at home.
  • A few doctors visit, unexpected long driving trips to meet someone far away
  • My Van’s smog test has to be done this month
  • I simply did not have motivation as last year
  • Could I have done better? Yes, some things I had control over it, yet I blew it. I guess to err is human.

My Take Away For this Challenge This time:

  1. Prepare for Emergency: There is a reason why, all finance experts recommend keeping a healthy amount for emergency fund. This time, it became true for us. When it rained, it poured. We had all sort of unexpected expenses this month. A couple of doctor’s visit for me, extra driving, our water heater braking (we tried to self fix it, but it needed be replaced and it is expensive), our computer router stopped working and we use internet a lot for blogging, reading, kids school and educational stuff and that needs to be replaced, our 1 fan in summer is making noise and other one is giving burning smell to replace it. Our fence has fallen off in one area. Since I was not feeling well, we had take out a few times, adding to our expenses.
  2. Pick and Choose: When we have lot of expenses and limited funds, we can not fix and do everything. So, if you are in similar situation, pick and choose what is important and fix only that. In our case router, water heater is more important then let’s say fixing the fence for now.
  3. Take care of your health: I am reminded again and again that without proper health, rich and poor alike are vulnerable. If we are feeling better, positive and energetic, it will be easier to tackle new challenges and form a better habits. So take care of your health.
  4. Thought counts: Sometimes with all of our good intention, things does not go as plan. When that happens, take responsibility but move on and see positive. I am bit bummed out about busting my $300.00 budget but I am not going to let that keep me from other challenges my life and I am crazy enough to do it publicly again. 🙂
  5. It is easier to spend: And harder to save. If it was other way around, many of us would not be in debt or situation. While we are lucky not have major debt, still it can be harder sometimes when we live in society where money spending and credit cards are norm. Many have almost become unsocial people because being social with friends meant always going out to eat, movies and doing things that cost money. No one needs to be friendless, there are always people like us out there, we just need to find them and get supported by like minded people.
  6. Learned lesson: Life is constant learning journey, and there is something to learn at every mode. I am taking a note to see what could I have done to do better and I know some of the answers as I shared above. If you are in similar situation, do not beat on yourself, find reasons and learn lesson so we can improve upon it. Like The story goes that “Thomas Edison failed more than 1,000 times when trying to create the light bulb”. (The story is often told as 5,000 or 10,000 times depending on the version.) When asked about it, Edison allegedly said, “I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.” We can always find ways to spin it positively.

My positive spin is; even though I went over budget, luckily I had savings to cover my unexpected expenses or manage it until next month.

I am glad to fail as I might have gotten over confident, if I successfully complete the 2 challenges in row. This has made me humble for all of those blogger and real life people, who go on saving challenges and work hard.

Thank you to all who supported me online and offline on my no spend month journey! I have some great ideas for next blog posts which I need to work on; while musing over my this month’s challenge. Hope you’ll had a great July.

Image source: thejourneyfortruth.wordpress.com

No Spend Month Challenge: Update 4

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I am going to make small update this time. I am doing no spend month challenge for the month of July. Actually it should be called “little spend month”, as we have a budget of 0.

4 people

31 days

$300.00

We are in California, Where gas prices and some things are expensive compared to other places. Last year, the challenge was tough and we barely made it under $300. This time it seemed hard but I was ready for it.

Now, I am honest enough to update that I have busted our budget already and there are still 6 more days left in the month. Since last month I had little over $30 left for the rest of the month: See update 3.

We had to buy some perishable groceries such as yogurt, vegetables and things it came over $32 and we had to buy some soap and shampoo as we were out, (last time we bought was months ago, it just happened that we ran out in time of no spend month challenge. While we could have managed somehow but with about 2 weeks still left and with kids, we went and bought cheapest thing.)

We usually do not fill our cars with gas or stock up groceries before the challenge, otherwise it would just defeat the purpose. Like’s murphy’s law, anything can go wrong will go wrong, has happened a bit this time.

So now we are already over $300 budget and there are still about a week left. So, I have failed at this month’s challenge. There are just a few unexpected expenses such as car smog and extra driving, and some other reasons. I can justify in my mind all the reasons, we went over budget, but the fact remains that we did over spent of our $300 budget. I feel bit let down but I wanted to write honestly as I can.

Things happens and that is why we all should have emergency fund to cover those unexpected things in life. One thing is there, being aware of why we spend money and what things, keeps me accountable here, when I write and share here, even my triumphs or failures.

Hope all of you are spending less and saving up for emergency fund. Take care.

See final Take Away Update on No Spend Month Challenge

 

No Spend Month -July 2011: Update 3

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I am half way through the No Spend Month challenge and I could tell so far that is going to be much more challenging. We have lot of things going on, including guests, driving more and so on. But, since I took up the challenge, I am going to report and make a best out of it.

A Few Problems:

There were some unexpected expenses and unforeseen travel (driving) that occurred, so obviously there are some expenses that are out of ordinary. One of them was having my car smog that I had to get it done this month only and I had to find the cheapest place to get it done. While luckily, my van did not need any repair, smog test had to be done and paid for it.

Money We Spent This Week:

I also had some health issues and blood work done but medical expenses and educational expense are not part of $300 budget. I am seeing how easy it is to spend money vs. saving or making money.

Smog test: $50.20

Gas: 97.25 (we had to travel far distance due to visiting a sick friend, so we used up more gas)

Snacks and coffee: $15.73 (We usually carry snacks with us but while we were out we had to buy some hot snacks for kids and coffee for us in day outing)

Making total of $163.18 for this week.  Luckily, we did not had to buy groceries this week, as we are using up what we have in fridge and pantry so far. Soon, we will need to buy milk, yogurt and other perishable items coming week.

I have total spent $268.21 from July 1st-July 17th.  That only means that I have only $31.79 left for 2 weeks, which seems very tough to do but I am sure going to try to make it.

Possible Reasons: Justification for Myself:

There are a few things that are coming in obstacle for my well meaning no spend experience since last time.

  • I feel bit alone in this time around somehow.
  • Prices of food and gas have increased much more since last year.
  • I have been sick (feeling tired, dizzy and so on) to leave much energy to put on life as I did last year.
  • There are unexpected expenses as always beyond my control.
  • I am lacking motivation myself right now.
  • I have been saving money all my life, and when zenguy was without job for 22 months until recently, I did even more drastic savings to survive. I might be all frugaled out!
  • Kids are growing and keeping me busy to rest, and my health does not help. I am blogging, commenting less because of that and it has effect on my blog comments as well.

One of the big reason is I lack energy to keep struggling to save, to be better. I am tired as I have 2 busy little boys and I hardly get much time to do anything proper for me. Even though Zenguy has a project/job now, we are still feeling the effect of the no income for so long, we are still paying off late payments, installments now that I feel like, I am taking small buckets of water out of water of ocean, it seems futile.

Not Giving Up: Looking for Positives

I guess I need to read up a few of my own post on overwhelming and find my groove back. I think even if I do not make this challenge, I want to be honest with myself here and try making it without giving up. As giving up would be much easier right now but I am bit stubborn to choose path that is not the easiest.

Your Turn:

How about you? How are you doing on your financial goal regardless of no spend month challenge, we all have some money goals for kids, future right?

If you want to know more about No Spend month and how badly I am doing, check out past articles;

Upgrading Inexpensive Food In to Gourmet Meal: Ramen Noodle Hacks

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As we are doing no spend month challenge, I am looking for ways to eat cheaply without losing quality of food and health. Many of the cheap food will include rice, beans, and also instant ramen noodles. Eating while saving money, does not have be dull and boring, otherwise we will not continue to save or eat healthy food. While, I have tried some ramen noodle hacks successfully and some not so successfully in kitchen, here are some of them that I have tried successfully by myself or learned from other creative cooks. Hope you enjoy it.

Ramen Noodles History:

Instant noodle were first marketed in Taiwan, which was under Japanese regime in late 1950s.In early 1970’s Japanese Company called Nissin introduced “cup Noodles”, which you can still buy at grocery store, which comes in waterproof Styrofoam cup, and all one has to add is boiled or warm water for noodles to be cooked and ready to eat in no time.

Instant noodle is one of the major inexpensive food, eaten in many countries, specially popular with not so rich, college students who can eat cheap and quickly make these noodles for their busy college life. There has been said, that about 95 billion people in world eat some type of instant noodles. Top Noodle consuming countries are China, Indonesia, Japan, and south Koreans along with many South Asian Countries such as India too.

Instant noodle have been criticized for low protein, vitamins and fiber while being rich in carbohydrates. One can add fibrous veggies with vitamins to make it much rich and healthy in nutrients.

Maggie Noodle History:

Maggi noodles is a brand of instant noodles manufactured by Nestlé and popular in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, South Africa, Brazil and Australia along with a few more countries. Ramen has started new noodles made out of “atta” to use non-refined flour in making these noodles for new health conscious people. In India, they are advertised as a quick snacks, making it under 2 minutes making easier of busy moms to cook snack or mini meals for kids. Maggie noodles comes in many vegetarian and non vegetarian flavors such as curry, daal sambhar, atta, tomato, masala and more. One can buy these Maggie noodles in USA and Canada in Indian or Asian Stores.

As a Vegetarian and Indian we do lot of rice and daal (lentils) and beans along with fresh veggies stews.  While Ramen noodle is not get award for being health food, it is inexpensive, quick and one can make it healthy by adding veggies and nuts in it. Here are some Ramen Noodle hacks.

Top Instant Ramen Noodle Hacks:

Since I am vegetarian, I am sharing vegetarian hacks that I know and have used successfully in kitchen. Ramen Noodles have come a long way in US and I have eaten a lot during my college years. Now as a parent, my taste have changed and I make ramen noodles with different way to make more fun gourmet version will feel like grown up.

Adding Veggies:

noodlesvegetable

Image source: Pax21

Adding, red onions, green spinach, Thinly sliced cabbage, lettuce, Scallion, will do wonder. Once I put home grown potato because my son wanted to try it, and it worked out so well.

I have tried also broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, sweet peas, corn, and other veggies in the noodle. Some vegetable may need to be pre-cooked before as instant noodle cooks quicker.

One can add frozen or boiled veggies inside the Ramen noodle too.

Add Sauces and Condiments

In addition to vegetables, I like to use my own spices, sauce or condiment with Ramen noodle. You can try curry power, ginger, garlic paste, soya sauce, chili sauce, miso paste, bean paste (from Chinese or Japanese store), African Harrisa paste, Garam Masala and Emli sauce  (Indian Store)

Other Cooking Suggestions:

  • I have made Vegetarian Pad Thai with Ramen Noodle instead of Thin Rice noodle and while it looks different, it taste wonderful.
  • Make Chinese sweet and sour chow mien or low-mien with Ramen noodle. You can use pineapple chucks or pineapple for sweet ingredient.
  • Make Spaghetti with sauce and wheat balls with Ramen Noodles.
  • Make a cheesy, noodle with cheese and tomato sauce.
  • Instead of Mac and Cheese with Macroni Pasta, Make Ramen and cheese for kids.
  • Make Ramen Veggie Primevera, Ramen Fettuccine, or Ramen with extra virgin olive oil and garlic to make simple pasta dish with instant noodles.
  •  If you make vegetarian Shepard pie, make it with Ramen noodle instead.
  • I have also make Green spinach salad with walnuts, and broken pieces of ramen noodles (extra crunchiness) with red wine vinaigrette dressing.
  •  You can make Instant noodle Upma, and Instant Noodle Cutlet recipes. For those who want to know how to make cutlet see here Noodle cutlet. I will have to make Ramen Upma recipe as below;

Ramen Noodle Upma:

Ingredients:

Ramen Noodle,

Cashew nuts,

1 chopped red onion,

peanut oil 2 table spoon,

2 small red potatoes,

1 yellow bell pepper,

1 cup frozen or fresh peas

3 Curry Leaves

1 Tsp Mustard seeds, Urud Daal (Optional)

Lemon Juice

1/2 cup chopped Cilantro

If you do not use Instant noodle spice, add salt, black pepper to taste.

Maggie Noodle (2 packs) or any instant noodles such as Ramen

Recipe for Maggie Upma:

Heat Pan on low to medium heat. Add oil. When oil is heated add curry leaves, mustard and urad daal.

After mustard seeds splutters and get red, add chopped cashews and stir it for 2 minutes until brown. Add chopped red onion, yellow bell pepper, peas, red potatoes. Chopped all small to cook quicker as in stir fried veggies or you can boil veggies prior to it and add it with noodle.

Once veggies are cooked and tender, add ramen noodle (I usually break it in smaller pieces) and add water, spices as needed. Most instant noodle should be cooked in 2-5 minutes. Add lemon juice and thinly chopped cilantro for garnish and enjoy while it is hot.

Final Thoughts:

You can use Ramen noodle in any place you would pasta, rice or Chinese/Japanese noodle to make a new recipe instantly that makes it grown up gourmet meals in minute. Ramen noodle can be used to make cheesy pasta dish, salad, soup, or simple dry no sauce meal such as chow mien. How do you cook Ramen Noodle?

Check out: Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

No Spend Month Challenge: Update 2 and Savings Tips

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This month I am doing an No Spend Month challenge, where our family of 4 will try to fit budget under 0 for the 31 days for daily expenses.

To see Past update click on links below:

No Month Spend Challenge

No Month Spend Challenge: Update 1

Our family usually lives pretty much every month like this, living on less and spending less but this month I am making a public account of our expenses. Only difference is this month I have to make sure and remind myself to stay under budget to make sure, as some other months, some unexpected expenses and emergency situations makes our expenditure higher. For example, we had to replace water heater last month and so on. Sometimes there might be an other situation such as health and family situation that might cause to spend more than our budget.

Last week, we spend about $80 or so, on gas, and groceries for home, everything we needed. We did NOT pre-fill gas in cars or stock up on groceries to make it easy.

This time we did much better, we spent total of $24.65 for following items, food, sand toys and 2 used books.

Week 1 Spending: $80.38

Week 2 Spending: $24.65

Total for Jul1-July10th =$105. 03

That leave us about $195 (little less) for remainder of the month.

One of the major expenses that many of us have is eating (groceries, eating out) and gas for cars. Here are a few ways to save money for those who want to save. There are a few people who have plenty, than you can spend and save you like.

Ways to save money in Gas

1. Drive less

2. Carpool with others

3. Combine errands together

4. Walk to nearby places, instead of driving

5. Fill gas at costco or cheaper gas station

6. Fill gas in morning

Ways to Save Money Buying Groceries

1. Check your pantry, stocks before going shopping

2. Never shop hungry

3. Use coupons (double or matching coupons will even help better)

4. Make a list before you go and stick to the grocery list

5. Buy generic brands

6. Watch cash register for any possible price mistakes (it happens)

7. Use in store coupons with manufacture coupons (see #3)

8. Do not buy non grocery items at grocery store.

How do you save money in Groceries? Are you saving money towards retirement, emergency?