Of budgets & curried eggs with tomatoes
Keep your mouth from crooked speech, & your lips from deceitful talk. Let your eyes look straight ahead of you, fix your gaze upon what lies ahead. Look out for the path that your feet must take, & your ways will be secure. Swerve neither to right nor left, & keep clear of every evil thing. – Proverbs 4:24-27.
HOUSEHOLD HINTS:
Do you have a dried-out marking pen? Here’s another use for acetone nail polish remover. Pour a bit of the remover into its bottle cap, & give the tip of the marking pen a good though short soak in the remover. Cap the pen again, & wait overnight before trying to use it again.
When you plan a vacation to the city, try to time your hotel stay to be on the weekends, when rates are lowest due to the relative absence of business travelers. It’s just the opposite in the country, where bed-&-breakfast inns prevail. They are the busiest, & have the highest rates, on the weekends.
In the blog dated October 1, 2004, I told you that you can keep brown sugar soft by adding half of an apple to the container holding the sugar. Check that apple a few times a year – now is a good time if you put the apple in when I told you about it. You may find that it needs to be exchanged for a new one (it might have begun to “go bad.”).
BUDGETING BASICS:
Around this time of year, with tax time rearing its ugly head, many of us are planning to budget better for the rest of 2005 & beyond. This is not the only time that I’ll be addressing budgets, but here are several ideas to start:
First, WHERE to budget? If you enjoy working on the computer, & are frugal, a regular Excel spreadsheet will save you money over a specialized program. But I have a better idea for those of you who prefer paper-&-pencil. Do you still have in your house an extra 2005 calendar? So many businesses give them out free that you may well. Devote that calendar to recording all of your expenses day-by-day. At the end of each month, you can add up the totals spent in each category that is important to you, such as Mortgage/Rent, Household, Insurance, Transportation, Health-Care Visits, Prescriptions, & so forth, with the categories grouped by your personal outgo. (Just staple a piece of paper giving the items & their totals on the corresponding calendar page.) In 2006, assign a new calendar for the same expense accounting purpose, & so on each year. You will have an easy way to compare year-by-year, without needing a computer.
Secondly, HOW to budget? You’ll need to see how much money you have spent in the prior year in each category for which you have decided to record on-going spending. This can be done by looking back next year at your 2005 records. For this year, look at your checkbook, your credit card records, & use some guesswork on the uses you made of those ATM withdrawals for which you have no record. (Those should really be assigned to “personal allowance,” & they are the most discretionary of any money that you have.) Compare your total income last year with your outgo. If you are carrying debt beyond mortgage, such as credit card debt, you are likely to have a deficit rather than a surplus in your historical spending. Try to finesse savings in every category that is discretionary. These discretionary expenses can be both fixed (rent – you can move to a cheaper apartment) or variable (workday food – you can bring your lunch & your coffee). There are also non-discretionary expenses, both fixed (mortgage – you see, a similar housing expense can be either discretionary or non- depending on the type of contract you have signed for it.) & variable (groceries, which, next to personal allowances, is the single easiest category of expense to decrease. Another variable fixed expense is utilities costs).
You want to come up with a spending total for the year of 2005 that (a) takes into account the monies already disbursed last month & this, & (b) adjusts expenses for subsequent months so that by the end of the year you have a surplus that (i) you can save OR (ii) use to pay down debt. The second goal [(ii)] trumps the first [(i)]: there is no sense in gathering savings at a low interest rate while you are paying through the nose for the use of credit. Again, a mortgage is an exception, but, even there, you can generally pay down an amount in excess of the given monthly payment (unless your contract calls for a prepayment penalty.)
Thirdly, WHAT should come off the top of your budget monthly? If you are self-employed, you need to set aside monies for tax & social security assessments. If you have an employer, check to be sure that you are not having deducted from your gross pay more exemptions than necessary. (There is no reason to give the government a tax-free loan.)
Many financial advisors recommend taking 10% of your after-tax income each payday for savings, but I’d say that this is a minimum, & that it’s best to squirrel away monthly whatever you are able to amass through a variety of savings techniques, which we’ll begin to specifically address in next week’s issue. (Obviously, saving money is the leitmotif or constant theme of this blog.)
The Biblical idea of giving 10% of your income to charity such as your place of worship seems to spur many people on to prayer to be given more income, & a surprising number of folks do find such prayer to be answered affirmatively. And perhaps it is not all that surprising that “tithing” does that, since it is a type of prayer – as is that for good health – that reverberates in one’s own heart & mind, setting up a cognitive loop instilling ever-greater efforts towards the desired end.
RECIPE:
Curried Eggs & Tomatoes:
2 T canola oil
½ large onion, diced
1 carrot, grated
1 T curry powder
1 tsp salt
freshly-ground black pepper to taste or ¼ tsp ready-ground black pepper
2 T flour
28 oz canned tomatoes, chopped in can with scissors, drained but reserving the juice
2 c fluid – juice drained from the tomatoes plus water to bring total to 2 c
8-10 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
Place oil in Dutch oven. Saute onion & carrot for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add curry powder, salt, & pepper, together with flour. Saute 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add fluid, bring to a boil, reduce heat, & stir constantly while the sauce reduces in volume & thickens. Add tomatoes & eggs, & heat through. Serves 3.
HOUSEHOLD HINTS:
Do you have a dried-out marking pen? Here’s another use for acetone nail polish remover. Pour a bit of the remover into its bottle cap, & give the tip of the marking pen a good though short soak in the remover. Cap the pen again, & wait overnight before trying to use it again.
When you plan a vacation to the city, try to time your hotel stay to be on the weekends, when rates are lowest due to the relative absence of business travelers. It’s just the opposite in the country, where bed-&-breakfast inns prevail. They are the busiest, & have the highest rates, on the weekends.
In the blog dated October 1, 2004, I told you that you can keep brown sugar soft by adding half of an apple to the container holding the sugar. Check that apple a few times a year – now is a good time if you put the apple in when I told you about it. You may find that it needs to be exchanged for a new one (it might have begun to “go bad.”).
BUDGETING BASICS:
Around this time of year, with tax time rearing its ugly head, many of us are planning to budget better for the rest of 2005 & beyond. This is not the only time that I’ll be addressing budgets, but here are several ideas to start:
First, WHERE to budget? If you enjoy working on the computer, & are frugal, a regular Excel spreadsheet will save you money over a specialized program. But I have a better idea for those of you who prefer paper-&-pencil. Do you still have in your house an extra 2005 calendar? So many businesses give them out free that you may well. Devote that calendar to recording all of your expenses day-by-day. At the end of each month, you can add up the totals spent in each category that is important to you, such as Mortgage/Rent, Household, Insurance, Transportation, Health-Care Visits, Prescriptions, & so forth, with the categories grouped by your personal outgo. (Just staple a piece of paper giving the items & their totals on the corresponding calendar page.) In 2006, assign a new calendar for the same expense accounting purpose, & so on each year. You will have an easy way to compare year-by-year, without needing a computer.
Secondly, HOW to budget? You’ll need to see how much money you have spent in the prior year in each category for which you have decided to record on-going spending. This can be done by looking back next year at your 2005 records. For this year, look at your checkbook, your credit card records, & use some guesswork on the uses you made of those ATM withdrawals for which you have no record. (Those should really be assigned to “personal allowance,” & they are the most discretionary of any money that you have.) Compare your total income last year with your outgo. If you are carrying debt beyond mortgage, such as credit card debt, you are likely to have a deficit rather than a surplus in your historical spending. Try to finesse savings in every category that is discretionary. These discretionary expenses can be both fixed (rent – you can move to a cheaper apartment) or variable (workday food – you can bring your lunch & your coffee). There are also non-discretionary expenses, both fixed (mortgage – you see, a similar housing expense can be either discretionary or non- depending on the type of contract you have signed for it.) & variable (groceries, which, next to personal allowances, is the single easiest category of expense to decrease. Another variable fixed expense is utilities costs).
You want to come up with a spending total for the year of 2005 that (a) takes into account the monies already disbursed last month & this, & (b) adjusts expenses for subsequent months so that by the end of the year you have a surplus that (i) you can save OR (ii) use to pay down debt. The second goal [(ii)] trumps the first [(i)]: there is no sense in gathering savings at a low interest rate while you are paying through the nose for the use of credit. Again, a mortgage is an exception, but, even there, you can generally pay down an amount in excess of the given monthly payment (unless your contract calls for a prepayment penalty.)
Thirdly, WHAT should come off the top of your budget monthly? If you are self-employed, you need to set aside monies for tax & social security assessments. If you have an employer, check to be sure that you are not having deducted from your gross pay more exemptions than necessary. (There is no reason to give the government a tax-free loan.)
Many financial advisors recommend taking 10% of your after-tax income each payday for savings, but I’d say that this is a minimum, & that it’s best to squirrel away monthly whatever you are able to amass through a variety of savings techniques, which we’ll begin to specifically address in next week’s issue. (Obviously, saving money is the leitmotif or constant theme of this blog.)
The Biblical idea of giving 10% of your income to charity such as your place of worship seems to spur many people on to prayer to be given more income, & a surprising number of folks do find such prayer to be answered affirmatively. And perhaps it is not all that surprising that “tithing” does that, since it is a type of prayer – as is that for good health – that reverberates in one’s own heart & mind, setting up a cognitive loop instilling ever-greater efforts towards the desired end.
RECIPE:
Curried Eggs & Tomatoes:
2 T canola oil
½ large onion, diced
1 carrot, grated
1 T curry powder
1 tsp salt
freshly-ground black pepper to taste or ¼ tsp ready-ground black pepper
2 T flour
28 oz canned tomatoes, chopped in can with scissors, drained but reserving the juice
2 c fluid – juice drained from the tomatoes plus water to bring total to 2 c
8-10 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
Place oil in Dutch oven. Saute onion & carrot for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add curry powder, salt, & pepper, together with flour. Saute 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add fluid, bring to a boil, reduce heat, & stir constantly while the sauce reduces in volume & thickens. Add tomatoes & eggs, & heat through. Serves 3.
posted by THE PENNY ORCHID -- "Thrift with Flair" at 11:52 AM
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