scfr's Personal Finance Blog

It's no secret that I am NOT a gardening whiz.
It's also no secret that I believe in focusing on both the big AND small things when it comes to my personal finances. Here's an update on a small thing - my attempts at container gardening.

The soil in my yard will NOT grow veggies. To amend the soil or build raised garden beds is, for me with my brown thumb and gardening laziness, an absurd thought.

In the spring I planted 4 items in containers. 2 were dismal failures. The containers were not nearly big enough to grow daikon (what was I thinking?) and the cherry tomato plants yielded only a handful of fruit.
But, the sweet basil starter plants have been a success (still yielding). My biggest success by far was green onions grown from seed. DH & I have been enjoying piles of fresh green onions, and I only planted half of the packet. Since we live in a hot climate (Texas), I will plant the second half of the packet in a week or two for fall / early winter harvesting.

Next spring I'll plant green onions again (they are so expensive at the grocery store and have proven so easy to grow - definitely worth it), and will try basil from seed instead of from starter plants so that I can (hopefully) get a lot more. I'll probably experiment and try one other item as well.I'm going to look through my "Healthy Mind Cookbook" to come up with some ideas. I want it to be something easy to grow in containers, expensive to buy in stores, and beneficial. Something that I can get 2 plantings out of would be nice too. Hey! Maybe I'll even try something new this fall. Why not?

I'm open to suggestions if anyone reading this has any.

This morning I made myself an open face sandwich: 1 slice of whole wheat bread + organic cheddar cheese + 1 sliced small avocado. 12-cents for the bread (regular price, store brand) + 0-cents for the cheese (had a cash register coupon for free cheese) + 33-cents for the avocado (they were on ad at 3/$1).

I had coffee with milk as well but am not able to calculate the cost of that very easily. I'm definitely under $1 even with the electricity & water costs for prep and cleanup.

Now that I am fueled up, I am going to start on my year-end and year-to-year review. I'm just getting around to it today because on the 1st we hit the Dillard's New Year's Day sale followed by 2 parties (with potluck prep for 1 of those parties), and yesterday I was job hunting and emotionally needed to just chill in the evening.

I'll check in later when the numbers have all been checked and run.

I splurged at the grocery store yesterday and purchased 2 prepared hatch chile salmon patties from the seafood case ($5 for 2). We will have those for dinner tonight with homemade cream of vegetable soup which contains five different vegetables including leeks, also a splurge at $2.97 a bunch!

The soup will last for several days, and is supposed to be good cold.

Instead of hiring someone to re-landscape our yard, we are taking the DIY approach. This weekend we are cleaning out the backyard bed, pushing it out a bit (to reduce the amount of grass, something I really want to do to reduce our water consumption), and creating a border using free bricks left over from our home's construction. Next we'll put in a few low plants (or annuals or perennials, we haven't decided yet but there will definitely be some milkweed for the monarch butterflies) in the pushed out area and spread mulch.

DH bought a 15-lb bag of Texas red grapefruit for $3.98 today. I love grapefruit season in Texas!

What are the current seasonal deals in your neck of the woods?

DH is out of town, which means lots of salads & sandwiches for me. I like them, and I LOVE the fact that they result in little cleanup work.

When he leaves, I buy a 6-pack of romaine hearts and other salad fixings (other veggies, tuna, dressing, etc) so that I know I can always throw together a quick salad even when I come home from work tired and not wanting to cook.

Today's lunch was salad (romaine heart + tomato + yogurt caesar dressing) plus a whole grain bread round with margarine & a nice dollop of Sarabeth's.

No protein (except for the teeny amount in the yogurt dressing) because I had a salmon patty for breakfast, I'll grab a handful of raw almonds for an afternoon snack, and I'll probably have sardines for dinner.

As you can see, I'm not a big meal planner other than to make sure I have things on hand that fit with my lazy home "cook" (or perhaps I should say little or NO cook) mindset.

Eating economical and healthy foods at home can be done without much work and with just a bit of advance planning, even if cooking is not your "thing"!

Recently there was a post by a newer SA member who is trying to do more home cooking. It included some comments made by her children about the appearance of the food. Some of you suggested that adding fruits or veggies are a great way to brighten up a dish. I decided to post these photos of our dinner tonight as a form of encouragement to her.

There are a lot of gourmet cooks on this site (Lucky Robin, ceejay, Disney Steve, and Brooklyn Girl come immediately to mind.) I am NOT like them!

I have stated many times that I am a "lazy cook." I can do a big blow out fancy meal occasionally when the mood strikes me or I feel obligated, and I do know how to handle a knife and follow a recipe, but really I don't want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen.

But we eat at home all the time. (Thank goodness DH likes to cook.) In the last month, we went out to eat exactly once.

I decided to share some photos to show how a bit of color can perk up a dish prepared by a lazy, non-gourmet home cook like me.

This is one of our favorite winter dishes, called nikujaga. It's braised meat and potatoes with other veggies (in this case onions, carrots, and edamame ... the recipe I use calls for green peas but I had an open bag of edamame in the freezer I wanted to use up).

3 photos:
1. straight out of the pot
2. picked out the carrots & edamame (to show it without color), which messed up the bowl
3. sprinkled the carrots & edamame back on top (bowl is still messed up but it shows what it would look like with even more orange & green, or if the veggies were used as a garnish on top of a bland colored dish).

Doesn't a bit of color make a difference? Not only does it improve the nutrition of the dish, I think it looks so much more appetizing.

So, there you have it. Adding a bit of color to your home cooking, even if you're far from being a master chef, really can make a difference.

Don't give up on your efforts to cook at home!

We got our Target gift cards at a 10% discount this morning.

I thought that would be our only Black Friday shopping but DH went to Dick's and purchased a dozen golf balls for $5. Excellent deal on something he buys regularly! These balls aren't one of his preferred brands, but he'll save them for times when the odds of losing a ball to a water hazard is high.

Garlic bulbs have been roasted.
Cornbread has been baked.
Rice is cooking.

Tomorrow I'll prepare quick buttermilk whole wheat bread, Low Country Stuffing, and succotash and then we'll head over to the neighbors for dinner. I'm going to teach their son how to make homemade butter (shake whipping cream in a jar), and will take their sweet dog for a walk after dinner.

I have a big service project I'm working on that I hope to wrap up by the end of the day on Saturday. (I'll spend most of the day Friday & Saturday working on that, in addition to a couple hours tonight and tomorrow.)

I'll get up early on Friday to get the Target Black Friday gift cards, but that is the only shopping I plan to do.

Life is good.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We potlucked out on the sidewalk with neighbors. That has become an annual tradition. It's low-key with good but not fancy food, so no one spends any more than they normally would for dinner, and we really have fun.

I spent $22 on treats. We had about 120 kids come by. There is nothing left over. I ate exactly ONE treat.

"Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School" by Andrew Hallam (2011)

This is an EXCELLENT beginner personal finance and investing book, written by a private school teacher who built a million dollar investment portfolio on a teacher's salary. His advice is down to earth and sensible (spend less than you earn, start investing early, invest in low-fee index funds, resist the sales pitches from financial planner salespeople, etc.) What I especially liked was the way concepts were explained intelligently, clearly (in plain English), and with humor. He uses an analogy that compares the stock market to a dog on a leash that helped me understand stocks even more clearly than before. Of special note for our non-American friends is a chapter devoted to investing if you live in Canada, Singapore, or Australia. This is my new favorite basic PF book. I wish my niece were old enough to read it, but at 13 she's probably still a little young.

To give you some idea of just how credible this book is:
- The blurbs on the book jacket recommending the book include those written by Burton Malkiel, Scott Burns, William Bernstein, etc.
- The authors he quotes in his book include Thomas Stanley, John Bogle, Larry Swedroe, Burton Malkiel, Daniel Solin, etc.
He's in pretty good company.

This book is worth a read (check your local library, which is where I got the copy I read over 2 days) and would make an excellent gift for a college student or grad.

Me: "Will you trim my hair this weekend?"
DH: "Sure!"

"Salon" appointment has been scheduled!

And this morning we went to the "gym" (dropped him off at the driving range and I took a 50-min walk along along a lovely tree-lined street while he hit golf balls) and then went to a couple "entertainment megaplexes" (the public library where we read the paper and I got some DVDs, and then to a meet & greet to visit some adoptable dogs).

Such a lovely, low-key yet fun & frugal start to the weekend. Perfect after a rather hectic week at work (busy season has begun).

I have never been able to understand when people say that they want to save but not at the expense of enjoying life now. I say it's possible to do both!

I took another stab at re-growing green onions in a cup with water after reading the information again and figuring out what I had done wrong the first time. My mistake was treating them too delicately,like herbs (cutting off a green stalk here & there).

Instead, what I needed to do was just whack the entire thing off near the top of the white portion, and then place the root end in a cup with a bit of water. Voila - regrowth starts right away.

Where we live green onions are 68-cents a bunch which I think is really expensive for something that yields just a handful of garnish. Yes, they are tasty and have nutritional value, and there are some dishes (like noodle soup) that they really elevate, but you can get much more nutritional bang for your buck buying other veggies so we very rarely bought them. Now they are back on the menu! As you can see, all the space you need is enough for a glass or two. We decided to go with 2 bunches so we'd always have plenty grown out on hand.



P.S. - I've heard that they lose flavor after a couple re-growths, but still this is a way to stretch a bunch 2-3 times over.

DH is away on a 27 day trip. I'm budgeting $5 per day for food & beverage for those days for myself, plus an extra $40 for 4 days when my brother will be here. Total = $175. What will make this somewhat challenging is that I know there will be some eating out when my brother is here, plus I want to have $45-50 left over on the last day for a big "re-stock" shopping trip since my plan is to eat down much of the inventory in the pantry & freezer, to ensure that nothing goes to waste, and I'll want to replenish so DH doesn't come home to bare cupboards. My plan is to buy only perishables until that last day.

Today is Day 2. Yesterday I spent nothing. Today I spent $8 at the Farmer's Market (for those of you who like to know about food prices that was for a 3-1/4 lb bag of organic mixed root vegetables and a 3/4 lb bunch of rainbow chard).

When I order something by weight from the seafood/meat/deli counter, the server ALWAYS goes over a little and asks if it's OK. While I KNOW that this is a way to increase their sales, most time I just say "OK" (unless it's a really expensive item in which case I ask them to put some back). Surely I'm not the only one who is a bit wimpy this way?

Well, today I decided to take a different approach when ordering some hamburger, because I really didn't want any extra. I asked for "$3 worth." Low & behold, just a tad under at $2.95!!! This will be my approach from now on. I know that for some items like a slice off of a fillet of fish, it is not possible to get it exactly right, but for something like hamburger or shrimp or deli meat, where they can just put a handful or slice back, it's easily doable.

Wish I had thought of this about 20 years sooner!

Usually when I have a purchase to make I take the time to shop around for the best deal. But not always.

On Friday I found out that a neighbor's dog (who we jokingly called the "girlfriend" of our late pooch) was diagnosed with cancer and is going to have an eye removed on Monday. She's a sweet little dog and the owners are fantastic people. To illustrate how kind-hearted they are, when our "boy" died they made a donation to the animal welfare group where I volunteer.

Yesterday I went to a local doggy boutique and bought a stuffed animal and bag of treats, paying full retail price. This morning I wrapped them up and will deliver this afternoon when I take my walk. No time to bargain shop this time.

People and pets first, then money, then things.

Bought 3 kinds of fruit today at the neighborhood HEB.

Bananas: 48 cents per lb ... 80 cents for 5 bananas = 16 cents per banana

Grapefruit: "small" (weighing just under 1 lb each!) @ 3 for $1 = 17 cents for half of a heavy, juicy grapefruit

Organic Gala Apples: $2.98 for a "2-lb" bag that actually weighed 2.3 lbs ... 9 apples in the bag = 33 cents per apple

Bananas are a staple in my house. I like to have one each morning. I chose the grapefruit because it's grapefruit season here in Texas (lucky us). And when organic apples go on sale, I usually buy a bag.

Not gourmet or trendy choices for sure. Pretty basic stuff. But "really expensive" or unhealthy? Naw ...

What does a candy bar cost these days?

OK baselle, since you asked:

Did something recently that I never thought I would do ... I purchased a Series EE Savings Bond in my Treasury Direct account. Until recently, I've been able to find better options for cash not needed in the short term (such as CDs or High-Yielding MMAs). And although I own TIPS and used to buy Treasury Notes, it has been quite awhile since I bought a Treasury since, to be blunt, the yields suck. And Series EE Bonds always seemed to be just about the worst.

That was then. Welcome to 2010, and the age of ever-shrinking yields on bank accounts.

Last month I was looking for a place to park a bit of cash that I knew we would not need until our retirement years. (Our IRAs would have been my first choice, but they had been maxed out.)

After scouring rates on CDs and MMAs, I was getting frustrated at the low rates I was finding. Not expecting much, but figuring I had nothing to lose, I decided to poke around on the Treasury Direct site.

Found out that Series EE Bonds Savings Bonds purchased through Oct 31 are earning 1.4% interest. Not so good. For some reason I kept reading & I learned some interesting tidbits:

- A Series EE Bond earns interest for 30 years
- You have to hold the bond for at least 1 year
- After 1 year, you can cash out the bond any time
- If you cash it out before you have had it for 5 years, you will pay a penalty of 3 months' interest
- That means that if you hold the bond for 5 years, you can cash it out any time after that for no penalty
- THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING: Your bond is guaranteed to double in value in 20 years! (I had to double-read that part to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.) Based on my calculation, that means that if I hold the bond for 20 years, the US Treasury will add enough value to the bond so that my interest earned equivalent will be 3.5%.
- TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE ATTRACTIVE: Interest income on federal taxes is deferred until the bond is redeemed. (I think state income tax is also deferred, but I'm in a no income tax state so didn't verify that.)

What this means for me is that I'm guaranteed 1.4% (tax deferred) holding the bond for 5 years, and 3.5% (tax deferred) if I hold the bond for 20 years. In 5 years, I'll see where interest rates are and decide if I want to cash the bond in and move the money or continue to hold it.

If anyone else is interested, I recommend going directly to the source and confirming all information on the US Treasury's web page: www.treasurydirect.gov

And if you have children & are saving for their college education, be sure to read about the tax advantages to using Series EE Savings Bonds to pay for their education. (If I had a newborn & knew I could earn 3.5% for 20 years, probably tax-free, I'd be buying an EE Bond!)

My clothes washer is washing our sheets right now. DH's pillowcase had a small blood stain on it. Before starting the wash I treated the stain as I have for 99.9% of my adult life: I measured my regular laundry detergent in to the cup, got the stained area wet (use COLD water for blood), poured a little bit of detergent on the stain, rubbed the fabric together with my hands, did a quick rinse (again use COLD water), repeated these steps one more time, and the stain was gone.

I have owned one bottle of special stain treatment stuff in my life. I bought it during an especially busy time in my life, thinking it would make doing laundry a bit easier. It didn't. In fact the case could be made that using my tried-and-true method is faster since I don't have to take a special bottle down from the cupboard, open it, close it, and put it back (and remember to buy it when it runs low).

And while I haven't done an ounce-for-ounce comparison, I KNOW that using plan old laundry detergent is cheaper than using a specialized product.

This post is not just about treating laundry stains. It's about questioning whether you really need a specialized product that a manufacturer has done a great job selling you on, or whether an everyday (less expensive) product would work just as well. For the newly-frugal, as you go about your daily routine today, why not ask yourself: "Do I really need this product? Does it really make my life easier and save me enough time to make it worth the extra cost? Or is there another less-expensive product that I already own that could work just as easily and well?"

For all the parents, homeschoolers, teachers, and adults who like to color, this is a pretty cool site:

http://www.coloringcastle.com/

(I discovered it when putting together "informational packets" for our 7 relatives who will be visiting from overseas. I wanted simple & clear maps of the USA & Texas, so they could get a sense of where Austin is. The maps on this site fit the bill exactly.)

My "workouts" this weekend included...

1. Watering my little veggie garden
2. Giving my dog a bath
3. Walks with above-mentioned clean dog
4. A bit of routine housework and laundry
5. Cleaning out all the window tracks (The grimy parts that are under the bottoms of the windows ... they are partially exposed to the outside & get filthy ... you have to lift the windows to clean them. I don't know if "tracks" is the proper name or not.) Gosh - we have a LOT of windows!
6. Sanding & painting 2 old dressers (this included carrying them out to the garage, and moving a bunch of bricks around that I used to anchor the newspaper I used to protect the garage floor. That was followed by over 3 hours hours of bending & squatting & scrubbing & rollering & brushing. Carrying them back in to the house, re-stacking the bricks, and cleaning up will be my "workout" in a couple days (I will let them dry much longer than necessary before I dare to put them back on the carpet.)

Who needs the gym when you have a house, a yard, and a dog?

When I was in my 20's, I would have done the above and then gone out dancing! But now ... well, I'll admit I'm tired & sore (it was re-furbing the dressers that did it) and I think I'll just crash on the couch this evening with a movie (I have "Wall-E" from Netflix).

All my containers are planted.

Previously Planted:
Green Onions
Romaine Mix

Planted Today:
- Basil
- Chives
- Okra (Clemson Spineless, the type used in gumbo, not a vine ... thanks for the clarification Joan.of.the.Arch ... In my mind I was thinking "vine" because I need to figure out if they are going to need supports of some type)
- Rainbow Chard (wanted to do tomatoes but as I learned and others here pointed out they don't go in fall gardens even here in hot Texas ... Also I'm curious to see how it grows here vs in the Pacific NW, and if it's as easy to grow as it was when I was in WA I'll be guaranteed success with at least one item.)

If the okra grows well, we'll probably have way more of that than we can consume, but I know it will freeze VERY nicely. The Basil, if it's prolific, I can make pesto & freeze. The other items I limited to quantities that I think we can consume as we go.

I used only about 1/3 of each seed packet. I'm thinking I can do a 2nd planting very early spring (Feb or so), and a 3rd next fall. All packets are stamped sell by 11/10. The basil says "annual" so I'll either add another container or give the rest away ... I'll see how much my one little container produces.

We're in to Stage 2 (out of 3) watering restrictions effective tomorrow due to the drought here. We can use our sprinklers only once per week. Since our landscaping is new, we will need to hand water the bushes once a week and the trees once or twice a week so they don't die, and we'll need to make sure all the vegetation around the foundation also gets hand-watered once a week to prevent foundation cracks. That's the most important thing! We can replace a dead plant, but we can't grow a new foundation! (Hand-watering is allowed as long as it's done by 10am.) The grass? It's gonna go brown, but it should come back.

A couple weeks ago I did an entry called "Kitchen Garden Dreaming":

http://scfr.savingadvice.com/2009/08/02/kitchen-garden-dream...

Welcome to the new Kitchen Garden Part 2: Grounded In Reality.

Dreaming is great. That's the phase of any plan when you can let your imagine run wild and ... really THINK BIG. But sooner or later (hopefully) reality sinks in and you make decisions that are, tho inspired by the dream, based on what is practical. (For example, when I was furniture shopping, I did allow myself flights of fancy, looking at $4K dining room sets and ostrich leather Williams-Sonoma beds ... yes, really ... It helped me crystalize in my mind what I wanted ... but eventually I came down to earth and bought pieces that would allow me to furnish an entire house attractively for less than what one of the dreamy pieces of furniture would have cost.)

So, in order to avoid having to get permission from the HOA (which would slow down the process and probably mean not being able to start a garden this fall), to GREATLY reduce startup costs, to eliminate worry about how our automatic sprinkler system would fit with a veggie garden, and to take in to account that fact that I am still a newbie gardener and don't know how successful I am going to be, I have decided to go for a modified container garden.

Yesterday I got a large & attractive container on clearance at Lowe's. This morning I planted green onions & a romaine mix in it. I also plan to repurpose 3 plastic black industrial-looking trash cans by having DH drill holes in the bottom and bury them half-way underground (camoflauged from the street by some taller bushes) and I will plant 2 tomatoe & 1 okra vine in those. In addition to keeping weeds at bay, I'm hoping the containers will be tall enough to keep the rabbits out of them and (with sufficient supervision from us) keep the dog from doing his business on the plants we plan to eat from! If for some reason the HOA objects (which I don't think they will because I am really trying to make things attractive/hidden/blended with the rest of the landscaping) I can easily move the containers. And if I fail miserably, I will not have invested a lot of money in this project. (I'll give you a total once the tomatoe & okra plants are in the ground.) Also, the "pretty" container I bought can easily be repurposed for flowers.

Somewhere on-line I read about an article in a Japanese magazine that taught how to start growing Daikon in bags, and I've asked DH to ask one of his friends in Japan who is an avid gardener if he can tell us how to do that.

I'll probably add a couple little containers of fresh herbs on the front steps ... not only consumable, but will provide a nice fragrance when people come to the door.

If I succeed with my modified and greatly scaled-back plan, I'll probably add a few more containers and scatter them in with the rest of the landscaping. And if I prove to have a green thumb and decide it's worth the cost and effort ... who knows ... the full-blown kitchen garden dream may still some day become reality.

In 2007 I tried my hand at a bit of vegetable gardening for the first time for the SA $20 Challenge. I was in a rental house, so I could only do "container" gardening (the containers were anything free I could scrounge up like plastic buckets from Freecycle and no-longer-in-use recycling bins).

Now that I'm in a house I own, I think I may plant an honest-to-goodness kitchen garden. I knew that here in Texas you can plant both fall gardens and spring gardens. The idea of a fall garden is more appealing than a spring garden, both because of the temperature in the fall and because my work schedule is lighter. I thought I had plenty of time still to plan a "fall garden" but today when I was researching on the net (Texas A&M web site has a wealth of info and Gardener's Supply has some pretty nifty stuff too including an interactive plan-your-own garden tool) I learned that fall garden veggies are planted as early as 16 weeks before the first expected frost which is Dec. 1. That means if I'm going to plant a fall garden I need to get cracking!

Here's my to-do list:
- Check HOA rules. See if I have to submit a plan for approval, and if so does that mean I won't be in time to plant a fall garden?
- Figure out where to put the garden.
- Figure out if we'll need to do anything special with the sprinkler system, such as shutting off one or more of the sprinkler heads? (A sprinkler system was not something I had to deal with in 2007.)
- Decide what to plant (I know I want to plant green onions, daikon, okra, tomatoes, and lettuce. Beyond that I have lots of ideas but am not sure.
- Plan the garden, and make a list of necessary supplies.
- Get supplies.
- Get starter plants and/or seeds. I think I'll use starter plants this time as much as I can, since I'd like to have more variety and less of each item than I had in 2007 when everything was started from seed.
- Plant the garden, tend it, and hopefully harvest the fruits of my labor.

For anyone interested, here's a link to the Gardener's Supply site:

http://www.gardeners.com/Kitchen-Garden-Planner/kgp_home,def...

Back in May I posted about how we were switching to OTA (over the airwaves) TV:

http://scfr.savingadvice.com/2009/05/10/we-are-switching-to-...

Wanted to do a quick update for anyone interested in doing the same.

While the process of installing the antennae was harder than expected (ended up hiring an installer), we are VERY happy with the switch.

We get 14 channels. 2 are Spanish language channels, 1 is geared towards people in the military (Pentagon channel or something like that), and 1 is just a weather map with recorded weather updates, so really 10 channels that we actually will watch.

Picture quality is crystal-clear. We are extremely happy with the reception. I'm sure the recent conversion to digital helps.

This is what we spent:
$68 for the antenna
$215 for professional antenna installation
$11 for the digital converter box ($50 - $40 government coupon + tax) ... the purchase of a big flat screen that is digital ready is still in the works, but on hold for a bit, so we went ahead and got a converter box.
TOTAL: $294
In addition, the digital converter box has to be plugged in to an electrical outlet, so we are using a bit more electricity that we would be with cable ... I think ... unless cable jacks also use electricity ... I don't know if they do.

If anyone's interested and wants more info, feel free to ask.

No more monthly cable bills ... Yippee!

OTA = Over The Airwaves
This is the "free" TV that is available to anyone with an antenna. This is the type of TV anyone my age or older grew up watching.

A move is such a great way to re-evaluate lots of things in your life. In addition to evaluating what things we really want to keep (as in, "Do I really want to lug this ratty object to the new place, or is it time to ditch it?"), you also start evaluating services and weighing the costs vs. benefits.

When it came time to order utility hookups at our new house, I really started evaluating our "need" for cable TV. In our apartment, cable is included, so we have not been paying seperately for it for 1-1/2 years. When we lived in the Seattle area, we used to have a semi-expensive cable package, because that was the only way for DH to add channels from his native country. Since his country's channels are not available where we live now, he started looking for other ways to watch TV, and now subscribes to a service where he watches TV from his homeland over the internet.

Other than a bit of CNN & CNBC (with a smattering of Animal Planet), the only TV I watch is major networks. So I started thinking that cable was not really necessary. I did some research, and the more I learned the more I liked the idea of living without cable.

In addition to loving the idea of not having to pay a monthly cable bill on top of the $25 we're paying for DH's internet viewing, I really like the idea of better reception. I learned that picture quality is better if you DON'T have cable, and this will especially be true once the switch is made to digital TV (June 12).

DH has been patiently waiting to buy a big screen flat panel TV. I asked him to wait until we had our new house and prices have come down. Once we're in our place, I'll give him the green light to go ahead and buy his big toy. I'll have him get an integrated HDTV one; that means it will already have an HDTV tuner built in, so we won't have to buy a seperate tuner. All we need is an antenna.

I ordered this antenna today:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_209TV55/Terk-TV55.html?o=v&sear...
With shipping, it came to $68.

DH will be installing it in our attic. According to on-line reviews I read, it is fairly easy to install. (It's an indoor/outdoor antenna. I knew an outdoor antenna would not go over well with the neighbors.) I don't know if we will have to buy any hardware for mounting, or if we have all of the tools we need, but even if we do have to run to Home Depot and buy something small, I figure we'll come in at $75 or less total. With cable at $49+tax, we will have recouped the antenna cost in 1-1/2 months or less!

If anyone else is interested in making the switch to OTA TV (and with the digital conversion coming up, can you think of a better time?), these were the sites I found most helpful in researching:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-IOdgy2Geib8/learn/learningcente...

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Once we're settled in to our new place, I'll let you know how we like our "new" (actually retro) way of watching TV.

Has anyone else noticed grocery prices coming down a wee bit?

While the "HEB Banana Price Index" is holding steady at 49-cents per lb, I have noticed actual price CUTS on some items.

While everyone would agree that food is a "need," I am one of those people who mentally separates grocery items as to whether they are "more on the need side" vs. "more on the want side." That way, when I buy grocery items that are "more on the want side" of the equation, I know I'm making a little splurge and I realize that I'm treating myself, even if I'm not running to Starbucks or the manicurist. It's a way to get genuine pleasure from a relatively simple thing.

This past week, I've been able to treat DH & myself at the grocery store with the following purchases that are very much wants and not needs, and in some cases are things that we have not bought for quite a long time:

- A box of Bagelfuls (DH loves them) for $2 --- I used to wait until they were on sale for $2 or less. HEB has cut their price and this is now the regular price. You should have seen DH's eyes light up when I came home and told him.

- A carton of Tropicana for $1.99 (w/ Target coupon) ... And I see that Randall's has it on sale this week for $1.97 with coupon, so I'll probably be buying a 2nd carton. Wow! As much as we appreciate our usual OJ from concentrate (it has nutritional value, tastes good, and the price is right), honestly we do love Tropicana. What a nice splurge!

- 5 Lean Cuisine entrees (Spa Selections Butternut Squash Ravioli w/ Veggies ... my favorite) + Carton of Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches for $10 (This was one of HEB's Combo Deals). The frozen entrees will be a very nice treat for lunch at work, instead of my usual almond butter sandwich. And the ice cream sandwiches are a treat any way you look at them!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend, and I hope everyone is able to enjoy some frugal treats in the week ahead!

I saw on baselle's blog that you grow your own Broccoli Sprouts. Any chance you'd be willing to share how you do that? My husband LOVES them, but they are far too expensive to buy at the store, and when I have researched how to grow them on-line, I've gotten scared off because of safety concerns.

DH got up in the middle of the night the other night and turned the heat on for a couple hours. I did not complain. We had a couple days of unusually cold weather (we even got a bit of snow!), and I've been sick with a cold for the past several days, spending most of my days in bed under many blankets while wearing long underwear, turtlenecks, etc.

So, I'm out of the contest! I thought we'd last until January (we're in Texas after all), but with the unusual cold snap and me not feeling well, it just wasn't worth trying to tough it out.

I've been meaning to write more about our househunting trip to San Diego, but I feel too foggy (not because of the house hunt, but because of my cold) ... I'll just say summarize by saying that we have decided to just keep waiting to buy.

DH asked if I would cook our turkey yesterday (Wed), and at first I resisted because it would go against tradition, but DH reminded me that we were not having company over, that it is just the 2 of us, and we can do as we please, so I decided "why not?" I also went ahead and made instant pumpkin pudding ... slaved for a whole 3 minutes making that! I'm glad I went ahead and cooked yesterday, because it freed up my time today.

We had turkey yesterday, leftovers today, and will have more leftovers tomorrow. Then, I will pick the bones and freeze the remaining meat for sandwiches and soup.

We had talked about going to a movie today, and I was interested in "Australia," but when the reviews came out they were pretty tepid and I did not want to spend $14 for 2 matinee tickets to a movie that is only so-so, so we decided to skip the movie.

We came up with a much better idea. The weather was lovely and I knew traffic to downtown would be light, so we decided to go take a long walk with our dog at the Town Lake Hike & Bike Trail in downtown Austin. It was one of the things on my "To Do Before We Leave Austin" list.

For anyone interested, here is a link to a map of the trail:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/downloads/tlake_kiosk.pdf

"Town Lake" is not actually a lake but part of the Colorado River which runs through downtown Austin. Lady Bird Johnson worked to have the trail developed as part of her national beautification efforts. It winds through over 300 acres of parks that run along the river.

The trail is a bit over 10 miles, but we of course did not attempt to do the entire trail. We walked for 1-1/2 hours and probably covered over 3.5 miles. It was beautiful; it was sunny and the leaves are still on the trees, tho many fell as we walked. We all got good and tuckered out, especially our 4-legged little man. There were many other dogs for him to check out, lots of things to sniff, and squirrels to chase. He even got scared off by an irate goose when he got a bit too close!

We noticed several families BBQing and having Thanksgiving picnics in the parks. Only in Texas, eh?

Our only cost was the gas to drive us there and home again. I just love exploring places I have not been to before, especially if I can learn something new or get out and exercise in nature. It's the best of frugal fun!

After we got home and ate our turkey leftovers, DH had a bit of work to do and he recruited me to help him out a bit. The thing about being self-employed is that when there is work, you do it, no matter what day it is. It does not mean that you do not get time off ... my DH has plenty of free time to go to the driving range and hit balls, for example ... but he works at least a little bit every single day, 365 days a year. And I help him out whenever he wants my help. We are truly thankful for the work; it pays for the turkey and the gas to Town Lake and all the other necessary and good things in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!