Monthly Archives: December 2009

An unconventional engagement ring

Engagement ringThe diamond engagement ring is one of those traditions that many frugal people shun. After all, diamonds are expensive, mining practices are often unethical, and who says you even need one?

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I have a traditional diamond engagement ring. I love my engagement ring. It is the fanciest piece of jewelry I’ve ever owned (and probably will ever own), and I wouldn’t give it up for the world. But honestly, it’s important to me because he gave it to me. It could have been anything, and I would cherish it the same way.

My best friend and her soon-to-be official fiance are trying to plan a wedding and start their lives together in this awful economy. Like a lot of people, they’re making decisions to help them save instead of spending more. So when they decided to make their engagement official, they chose an unconventional route for the engagement ring.

My best friend’s fiance’s parents are divorced, but his mom kept her diamond engagement ring. She offered to give it to him so he could propose. They’re having the stone reset in a white gold band that my best friend picked out to make it her own. The cost for this beautiful half-carat diamond ring? Just $350 instead of the usual $1,000+ most people pay.

Because the ring came from his parents, it has sentimental value, and now it will be worn proudly instead of hidden away in a jewelry box. I absolutely love this idea.

Another option for frugal fiances is the non-diamond engagement ring. My sister’s husband gave her a beautiful sapphire ring that cost a fraction of the price of a diamond.

Whatever you choose to symbolize your commitment to your fiance, remember that the important thing is the commitment — not the jewelry.

Photo by wumpiewoo

Menu plan: 12/5 – 12/11

Chicken EnchiladasIt’s finally getting chilly here in the mornings and evenings, which means we’re starting to work more comfort foods into our menus. Call me crazy, but I absolutely love when the weather turns colder. There’s nothing cozier than bundling up in the evening.

We paid full price for organic chicken for the first time this week. Bummer. It is so expensive! In the future, I won’t plan to use this much chicken unless we’ve already got it in the freezer.

Here’s our $50 menu for this week:

Saturday: Chicken wraps
Sunday: Chicken and broccoli stir fry with rice
Monday: Risotto style pasta with chicken and mushrooms
Tuesday: Chicken enchiladas
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Ground chicken meatloaf
Friday: Homemade pizza

For more menu plans, visit OrgJunkie.

Photo by The Food Network

Turkey and the Beach: November 2009 in photos

Slideshow

When I went through my photos from last month, I was bummed to realize that I just didn’t take that many. I blame the plague that nearly killed me in the beginning of the month.

Anyway, here’s a slideshow, mostly from Thanksgiving with Tony’s family. Lots of dogs and food and beaches. But who doesn’t love that stuff? (Note: clicking on the image above will take you to Vimeo.com because the slideshow somehow uploaded with a blank screen cap.)

Click here to see the rest of our Thanksgiving pictures.

Europe Update: 5 months to go

tower bridgeNow that we’ve booked our trip, there’s not a lot for us to do this month. Our flight is booked, and we’ve chosen our hotels. Our travel dates are set, and we’ve paid for the trip.

It’s been almost a month since we booked the trip, and I only have one regret so far: I didn’t use Ebates.com* when I booked the trip. I could have earned 2% back on the trip, which would have earned me about $70. It’s not a huge amount of money when you look at it next to $3500, but every little bit counts. That $70 could have bought us a pretty extravagant dinner in London. So I’m kind of kicking myself now. But I want to pass the lesson on to you: if you’re booking through Expedia, it’s absolutely worth it to go through Ebates! Don’t make the same mistake I did!

This month is all about research. We’ve made a tentative list of all the things we want to do and see while we’re abroad, and we’re making final decisions about what we’ll have time to do.

I’m also looking at discount cards for London and Paris. Both cities have discount “passes” that allow you to pay a single fee for free admission to a number of attractions. The passes are really only worth it if you plan to see a lot of the attractions available, so we’re trying to decide if it’s worth the money.

We made a list of the things we want to do without looking at the attractions available through the passes. Then we compared our list with what the pass offers.

The nice thing about the London Pass is that you can order it ahead of time and have it shipped to you. If you choose the option with transportation included, you can get right on the Underground from Heathrow and travel to the city with your pass. This would be incredibly convenient. Considering what we want to do in London and the cost of transportation, we’ve decided that the London Pass might be a good option. We’ll probably end up saving only a small amount of money, but the convenience will make it worth while. I added up all of our costs, and we’ll save a few dollars a day. But we’ll be able to skip lines, and we won’t have to worry about picking up Underground passes. I also think we’ll do more of the things we want to do if we pay ahead and we’re not counting dollars while we’re there.

The Paris Pass also includes transportation, but the attractions offered don’t line up quite as well with what we want to see. We’re still considering the option, but we might end up skipping the Paris pass and paying cash for what we want to do there.

To pay for the trip, I opted for the Capital One card. We’re charging all of our expenses on the card and paying them off right away. The card is interest free for the first year, we won’t pay any overseas transaction fees, and we’re earning 1% cash back on all of the money we spend. When we’re overseas, I plan to use the card to pay for food and other purchases that allow Visa. We’ll carry a small amount of cash, but I don’t want to get hit with high fees for ATM withdrawals and currency conversion. I also don’t want to end up with a bunch of pounds and euros at the end of the trip, so I want to keep our cash to a minimum.

That’s it for this month! Planning has actually been much easier than I anticipated so far. And next month we’ll be applying for passports, which we’re really excited about!

As always, I welcome any advice from seasoned travelers!

*referral link

Photo by anirudhkoul

For inexpensive organic meat, the freezer is your friend

meatEver since Tony and I vowed to stick with organic meat, we’ve had to be creative to keep expensive organics from driving up our grocery costs. Not only did we swear off cheap chicken, we recently nixed ground beef from our diets thanks to this terrifying New York Times story about flaws in the inspection process.

We get around using ground beef by substituting it for organic ground chicken when we can. Occasionally we still use beef in recipes, but we buy cuts of sirloin or chuck and ground them ourselves in the food processor. Using single cuts of beef reduces the risk of contamination by e. coli and other dangerous bacteria. But I digress.

Shopping for organic meats can get pretty expensive, but one of the ways we keep costs down is by watching out for expiration date specials. Even on sale, the organic chicken we prefer never goes below $3 a pound. We check the grocery store every week for packages with sell-by dates coming soon. Usually these packages are marked off by a dollar or two. When we get them home, we either cook them right away or put them in the freezer. Freezing the meat increases its shelf life by months, and buying on the sell-by date reduces the cost considerably.

For example, on Sunday we found four packages of organic ground chicken with a sell-by date that day. They were marked off $2 each. They were also on sale for buy one, get one free. All together, we bought four packages for $1 a pound. That’s much less than we typically paid for regular ground chicken.

By stock piling, we ensure that we can stay ahead of the curve and only buy when the price goes down low enough. This has allowed us to buy exclusively organic meat without increasing our grocery budget.

Photo by judybaxter

If at first you don’t succeed, try a new approach

marathonI feel like a broken record. Remember the first time I vowed to get in shape? What about last January when I joined a gym?

Well, the good news is my gym membership really has paid off — sort of. I’ve been pretty faithfully working out at least 3-4 time a week since January when I signed up. I’m in the best aerobic shape of my life. The bad news is I’ve gained weight since last January. Bummer, right? I’m exercising more than I ever have, but I can’t seem to get back down to my wedding weight.

Clearly, what I’m doing isn’t working. So I’ve decided to try something new. Focusing on weight loss is frustrating when you’re not losing weight. While weight loss remains my ultimate goal, I decided to change things up to keep myself motivated and give myself a new focus. Instead of swearing to lose weight, I’ve decided to run a half marathon.

The training process will turn the intensity of my work outs up a notch, and the new goal has really improved my motivation. To avoid doing too much too soon, I’m setting smaller goals along the way. My first goal is a 5K in March. That gives me about 14 weeks to prepare myself for the 3-mile run.

The good news is, I’m not starting at zero. After a year of daily cardio, my endurance is pretty good. However, I’ve never been a fan of the treadmill, so I need to condition my body to long-distance running. I’m following this 5K training guide, which will gradually increase my running endurance over the course of 8 weeks. Once I’m able to run 3 miles straight, I’ll work on improving my time and increasing my distance.

As part of my plan, I’m committing myself to healthier eating again. Tony and I already eat pretty healthy, but I struggle with portion sizes. I’m using The Daily Plate to track my calorie consumption and help keep me on track. Since my ultimate goal is weight loss, I’m tracking my progress in my side bar. The progress bar on the right represents the percentage of pounds I’ve lost in relation to my goal.

I’m tentatively planning on running my half marathon in November 2010, which means I have almost a year to work my way up to 13-mile runs. My hope is that by getting started on my New Year’s resolution a little early, I’ll be able to stay on track through the holiday season. Fortunately, we’re staying home for the holidays this year, so we’ll have control over what we eat and how much at Christmas.

Do you know what your New Year’s resolution is? Why not get a head start?

Photo by cdm