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Oct 25, 2011    |       27 comments

Lazy Cooking Wastes Money?

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My sisters make everything from scratch. They don’t buy pizzas. They don’t buy frozen dinners. They don’t buy packaged cookies. I’m not even sure if they’ve ever purchased a loaf of bread.

I figured this craziness was genetic. A rare strain inherited from my mother who used to grind her own wheat for fresh bread in the morning. I, on the other hand, take after my dad who could pull out a fork, open a can of cold Chef Boyardee, and call it dinner.

I mean really, NORMAL people don’t bake everything right?

I went to a friend’s house over the weekend. She had invited my husband and me over for hamburgers and fries. I watched in amazement as she carefully molded ground beef into patties, peeled and sliced potatoes, and pulled fresh buns from the oven. We drank homemade Kombucha and devoured fresh cookies after dinner.

She started talking about saving money and how they lived on less because she cooks everything from scratch. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that while, yes, I make dinner at home each night, the closest I’ve come to making cookies from scratch in months is slicing them off a premade roll I bought with a coupon.

Am I the crazy one here? Are all of you out there baking away while I’m buying hamburger buns and crackers instead of making them?

Oct 22, 2011    |       8 comments

No Food, No Cash, and No Active Accounts…

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Even though we promised not to, my husband occasionally surprises me with a gift on our anniversary. He’ll usually save a small amount of cash from his second job and buy something really thoughtful and sweet. This year, he purchased something but was unable to pay cash for it since it was out of state. He didn’t want me to see where the gift was coming from so he went to Western Union and put it on our debit card.

What he didn’t know? Transactions from Western Union automatically shut down our account for possible fraudulent activity – even though the charge was less than $100. No charges, no cash out, AND no online access. I didn’t know why the account was shut down and I couldn’t check the transactions online.

Being the naturally calm, level-headed person I am, I called my hubby to tell him our identities were stolen, we were destined for a life of poverty because of a thief, we wouldn’t be able to buy food for weeks, and we’ll die from slow starvation.

Accustomed to my overreacting downward spirals, he hung up on me, called the bank, and had the whole thing sorted out in less than 5 minutes. BUT, it would take them 24 hours to turn the cards back on and enable online access. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal but since this week is payday, our cash grocery fund has about 12 cents and the fridge is empty.

Dinner tonight? Pita bread and tomato soup. Breakfast tomorrow? Pita bread and tomato soup. Lunch tomorrow? Pita bread and tomato soup.

It’s going to be a long 24 hours.

Lesson learned? No more Western Union.

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