A Mom's Advice to Millennials on Household and Budget Matters

Cooking Sprays - 4 Reasons to Avoid Them and 5 Alternatives to Use Instead

9/29/2015

NOTE: I receive no compensation for the products mentioned here. I simply know of them, or use them myself.

A lot of people use cooking sprays for their convenience and perceived health benefits.

But that convenience comes at a far steeper price than most people realize. And the supposed health benefits that come from using less fat when cooking with the sprays are not nearly as convincing when we examine the sprays a little more closely.

An Easy and Cheap Alternative to Take-Out Food

9/28/2015

Allergies are knocking me for a loop this week, so I’m unusually low energy and tired.

Today I came home from school and just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I’m pretty sure I could have slept all day if I’d allowed myself.

It was my usual grocery shopping day, so some of my perishable staples were running low. But there was no way I could muster the energy to get myself to the store, let alone cook.

It sure would have been nice to push a button on my computer to download a fully cooked meal. Particularly if it was healthier and cheaper than the take-out options available.

Obviously though, while there may not be much that surprises me about the pace of change and new developments in the tech world, we’re not near that point yet where we can click a mouse and have food magically appear, and it's highly unlikely that we ever will be.

But, luckily, I have a fallback option that is almost as convenient and easy as downloadable food.

Practical Hints For Eliminating Food Waste

9/17/2015

Throwing Out Food Is Like Throwing Out Money

I heard a statistic recently that U.S. households lose between $680 and $2200 per year because of food waste. And that doesn’t even include the billions of dollars that restaurants and farms throw out in the garbage every year.

That’s a heck of a lot of money out the window. To say nothing of the impact on planet.

You and I may not be able to control the waste all around us, but we certainly can avoid it in our own home. Here are a few strategies to help:

Recipe Marketing Traps That Cost You Money

9/10/2015

Sometimes it’s the little things in a budget that can make a difference.

We don’t think they matter, but added up over time and cumulatively with other not-so-savvy choices we make with our money, they can have a definite impact on our bottom line.

And even very smart people can be taken in by marketing ploys and enticed to spend more than they should.

An Example
A case in point occurred recently in my family. My husband – who is one of the most intelligent people I know -- was cooking a meal using a new recipe he’d found on-line.

Now, he happens to be a wonderful cook, and the recipe was in fact delicious (although more complicated than I personally like - I'm a much lazier cook than he is).

But he was doing the work, so I sat back and enjoyed the meal thoroughly.

How to Pay for Your Next Vacation

9/4/2015

A vacation spot we've enjoyed.........and few more below

Let me start this post by saying that even when my husband and I were quite poor, we always made vacations a priority and paid for them by cutting our budget to the bone in other areas of our tight finances.

We took vacations every single year. Not weeks spent at luxury resorts, to be sure, but still, very nice, mostly family-oriented, time off. For example, we'd travel every year to visit my husband's family in his Mediterranean island home and spend several weeks enjoying beautiful beaches and crystal clear waters.

Of course, we'd always buy the lowest cost airline tickets possible -- which led to some very interesting routes and layovers -- but that could hardly be considered a hardship when we were traveling to a beautiful locale for time with loved ones. We enjoyed every trip.

So, now that I've made that point about our priorities, let me talk about something that happened a little while ago in our household that might be something others can relate to.

The following exchange recently occurred between me and a recently graduated young adult son who is living with us while he saves money for his own apartment and car.

It went something like this:

Cooking Sprays - 4 Reasons to Avoid Them and 5 Alternatives to Use Instead

An Easy and Cheap Alternative to Take-Out Food

Practical Hints For Eliminating Food Waste

Recipe Marketing Traps That Cost You Money

How to Pay for Your Next Vacation

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