Choosing Life

Archive for the ‘Finances’ Category

As a part of my efforts to live less expensively I am determined to eat healthfully for less. Part of this has equated to using more of my provided meal plan. Another part of it is a larger life lesson- making food that can be remade into something different.

Case in point- Fajita Soup

Here’s the background. One of my local grocery stores has a weekly meal deal. They pick an item, that when you purchase a full price, you get a TON of other things to make a full meal for free. A couple of weeks ago the meal deal was fajitas. I purchased pre-seasoned fajita meat for about eleven dollars and got the following for free: sour cream, cheese, tortillas, salsa, a tortilla warmer (bet people outside of Texas don’t know about those). I could have also received some soda, but I don’t particularly like what was free so I passed on the offer.

Now, this meal deal is enough to feed an army, but I was strategic. I froze the cheese and tortillas. Have used the salsa and sour cream for other meals (including snacks for the Bible Study I lead) and separated the pounds of meat into one-two person sized baggies. They were then consequently frozen. Enter, a stocked freezer with enough supplies to make at least 7 one person fajita meals.

So, one day last week I made my first bag. Turns out, I stink at cooking the meat and I wasn’t terribly impressed. But, I was DETERMINED to make full use of my left overs. So, when I came home for dinner I used the left overs and a bunch of other things I had on hand to make soup. And, I must say, for an accidental-on-purpose-leftover meal, it turned out well!

Here’s the accidental recipe. Feel free to alter and or add to as you see fit with things you have on hand.

Ingredients:
All my left over fajita meat (don’t ask me how much, it was the left overs of 1/7 a pre-seasoned package.)
One can of chicken broth
One can’s worth of water
1 to 1/5 tsp of chicken bullion
1 can of corn
1 can of black beans
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of mushrooms
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of diced tomatoes with chili’s
Some brown rice
1 package of Fajita seasoning
Extra frozen, precooked chicken strips

I literally threw all of this in a pot, brought it to a boil and then simmered it until the rice looked cooked. I thought that the extra fajita seasoning would make it too spicy, but I almost think it needs a bit more flavor. I measured absolutely nothing for this soup, and it was liberating.

I made some cornbread to eat with it, but it would also be good with tortilla chips. And in my humble opinion, Coke Zero is a must.

I have a TON of soup left over, so I think I’m going to freeze some of it to save for a day when soup sounds good and I’m too lazy to make it. Not that this required much work. I actually managed to finish a last minute project for work while the stove did all the cooking.

I just never cease to be amazed at how one small item, like chicken fajita mix, can multiply into sooooo much more! If you live in Waco– come over and have some soup. It is like an accidental loaves and fishes scenario.

When I was in college I dabbled a bit in selling Avon mainly because I enjoyed the products Avon offers. After months of spending more than I sold I decided to call it quits.

However, I am now a much more mature, disciplined individual. Right?

After a bit of thought I’ve signed up to sell Avon again. I love the products, and the company. I think the products sell themselves. What’s cool about Avon now, is that each representative can have their own webpage where their customers can shop, order and pay for their Avon products. Gone are the days of needing to have a representative where you are– you can order online and have your product mailed to you.

That’s a pretty sweet deal.

Seriously– check it out.

So, if you are in the mood for makup, bath products, shampoo/conditioner, and a wide variety of other things (kitchen gadgets, clothes, bags, etc) check out my avon site. I can give you a real brochure if you would like as well!

Have family or friends that might be interested? Pass this site along to them as well!

America seems to be king of living paycheck to paycheck. According to a 2007 article on CareerBuilder.com, 41% of workers in the US claim to live paycheck to paycheck. The article also says that these individuals do not save for rainy day, because they do not believe that they make enough to do it. If they could only get a better paying job, they could save more. However, a study from MetLife in 2003 says that 52% of Americans report living paycheck to paycheck. This study also negates the idea that by making more, you are less likely to live this way. According to this study, of those making more than $75000 a year, 34% report living paycheck to paycheck. Harper’s Index said in December of 2008 that 47% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and that 21% of them report making more than $100000 a year. In his book Financial Peace Revisited, Dave Ramsey sites the U.S. Department of Commerce and says that “the typical American saves 2.2 percent of after-tax income, while NLI Research says the average Japanese saved 27.0 percent of after-tax income” (Ramsey, p. 107).

We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We are blessed beyond measure. Yet we live way beyond our means and find ourselves in financial pitfalls that we could avoid if we tried.

Living paycheck to paycheck sure is stressful. I’ve done it– most of my college career to be exact. As a sophomore, our RA paychecks were unexpectedly cut (do to lack of budget planning at the university level, oops), and I went from earning $200-$400 a month to about $90. Talk about stressful. Most of my friends did not have to work because their parents provided spending money, whereas mine made it very clear when I left for college that I would have to earn any spending money I needed. Since responsibility is an overactive blessing and curse in my life, I took that charge to heart and made some financial decisions that were dumb and cost me a lot (i.e. my first credit card). That year’s pay cut, coupled with my inability to say no to my friends and ask for my parents help, has ended up costing me a lot more than the price tag on those few movies or dinners out.

Fast forward a few years to 2009.

I realized this summer that I still continue to be a poor manager of my resources. I make more than $90 a month now, but I still could not seem to shake that habit of living paycheck to paycheck. Not only do I get a decent salary, I have a paid for apartment, a meal plan, free gym membership, and free or severely discounted entrance to division one sporting events. Despite that, I still found myself, most months, waiting for the next paycheck. Despite my renewed focus on budgeting last November, I do not have much to show for it (minus a small emergency fund).

I have a job that I love. I have an apartment that I love. And, I have the chance to make some good, but tough decisions now for the future. Decisions that mean when the day comes that I have to be a big girl and pay for my apartment, utilities, etc, I can with little stress. Decisions that mean when I ring in 30 in a few years, I will ring it in with no debt.

For the last six weeks I have been taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class. It’s a 13 week course focused not only on teaching people how to manage money, but helping break some of the strongholds years of habits have formed in peoples’ lives. The more I learn, the more I am convinced, many people are poor, and living paycheck to paycheck that do not have to be. They just routinely making choices that keep them there. Most are doing things they only way they know how, most have never learned any better. Most live broke, and will die broke.

I do not want to be like most people.

I am daily choosing to live like no one else, so that later I can LIVE like no one else!

I am now living a different kind of paycheck to paycheck. When I got paid at on September 30th, I paid off my first credit card.

That same card that I opened years ago so I could live like all my friends. That’s right, it’s history. Like the lifestyle I chose to create it in the first place.

I did some projecting that night, and realized, that with my next paycheck, on October 30th, I will pay off the next one. I have been looking forward to the next paycheck all month!! In a few months, I should have paid off the next one, and be on to knocking out my student loans.

I have a brand new perspective on what it means to live paycheck to paycheck. This perspective is WAY more fun, and WAY less stressful. The longer that I live this way, the more I am convinced that our country would be in a very different place if people chose to pay themselves first and not be a slave to debt.

I still have a long way to go, but I’m getting there– paycheck to paycheck.