If you missed it, here’s Part 1 on how to save a few bucks in the kitchen. These are just some small tips and ideas that I use to stretch a few bucks when I buy and prepare meals and food for my family.

Add something cheap. I don’t mean cheap in quality, but something that’s just usually inexpensive. When we make homemade burritos, I used to have to use two pounds of ground beef to get a decent sized burrito for each of us, but I hated using so much meat for one meal. Now I use one of my …read more

Everyone has tips and ideas that they like to share on how to save money around the house. One of my favorite places to see if I can save a few bucks is in the kitchen. There are the old standbys, like using coupons or reusing disposable containers, and I’ve got a few that I’ve done for a few years that I’ve found help us out when times are lean.

Invest in a kitchen scale. We buy our ground beef and ground turkey in bulk, in packages of five or so pounds each. A kitchen scale lets me get exactly …read more

Since I don’t have a money tree growing in my backyard, a visit to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is the closest I’m going to get to the source of money.  They’ve even named their website Money Factory.
The “money factory” is located in Washington DC and Fort Worth, Texas, and it’s here that all the Federal Reserve notes are printed.  They also engrave all the White House invitations, and print other security documents.  These are the folks that really can show you the money.
FREE tours are offered at both the DC and Fort Worth location.  You’ll see a …read more

It took Paul and I an abnormally long time to finally get a joint bank account. Maybe this is one downside to the whole living together before marriage thing – I wouldn’t recommend combining your finances before having a formal (erm, legal) commitment. So when it came time to get married, we were already settled into a routine of paying rent and bills. Making the change to one bank account seemed like a pretty good idea, but we just never got around to it until six months ago.
When we finally got to the bank and combined our assets, debt, and …read more

In this shoddy economy, finances can’t help but rear their ugly head.
So, even though it feels unromantic, I must take note that today Perfectmatch.com announced the release of its Love & Money Assessment – it’s basically a tool to measure financial compatibility.
The tool was developed with its chief relationship expert, Dr. Pepper Schwartz and helps to measure financial habits and find the perfect economic profile of a future mate.
I just took the test, and this is the results it found for me:
Love and Money Assessment Results
Money’s moderately important to you in your choice of a relationship partner. …read more

What’s worse for a couple than facing a hard economic downturn?
It seems what is worse is facing said downturn alone.
Marty Babits, LCSW, BCD, says: “Too often people have difficulty communicating, usually because they don’t yet have the skills, which can definitely be learned and sustained through good times or bad.” Babits is the author of  The Power of the Middle Ground: A Couple’s Guide to Renewing Your Relationships (Prometheus Books, 2009). “We’ve learned over the years that love alone isn’t enough to repair the wear and tear that occurs in relationships, solid communication rebuilds love and trust.”
So, I must ask…in …read more

I have tons and tons to say about cashola today.  However, since we finance nothing we, my husband and webmaster, share custody of this computer. He’s giving me a bitchen redesign and update on my other site to empower girls, So Sioux Me. He’s totally hooking me up with Technorati and all the other blogosphere jazz that I just haven’t had time to figure out and do. New laptop for me is on the list, but new minivan (and air conditioning) had to come first.
So, I shall have to very quickly advise that you go to this Carnival of Debt …read more