What's for Dinner: Chili

My Dad asked me if I had any canned tomatoes this morning, so I gave him a can of them from the pantry. He just surprised me with a big bowl of Chili, so that is what we are having for dinner tonight. What are you having for dinner at your house?

25 Terrific Recipes for Ground Beef

Deep South Dish has a new article up today on 25 terrific recipes to make with ground beef, and some of them look really good, so I wanted to share. 

Image from Deep Dish South 

http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2011/07/25-terrific-recipes-to-make-with-ground.html

What's for Dinner and other Musings...

I am still getting back into the swing of things after our vacation. Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart and picked up some groceries so that I could make spaghetti today. I managed to pick up some school supplies while I was there as well.  This is the first time I’ve bought groceries for our home in July, so my total for this month so far is 32.82, but will only have about 21 days included in this monthly total. My digital camera is dead right now, so no picture today. Here is a breakdown of what I bought:

4 rolls paper towels, 2 cans mandarin oranges, 1 pound butter, 1 jar mayonnaise, 1 loaf French bread, 1 bag popcorn, 1 pound ground beef, 1 pound Italian sausage, 2 packages spaghetti sauce mix, 10 packages cream cheese (price matched from Walgreen’s sale), 1 Clearasil, 10 bottles shampoo, 1 package index cards, and 20 spiral notebooks. 

I made a spaghetti/meat sauce using green peppers from the garden (free), onion (25 cents), garlic (10 cents), 2 cans of diced tomatoes($1.72), 2 cans of tomato puree ($1.72), one pound ground beef ($2.98), 1 pound Italian sausage ($3.50), and spices ($1.96). The French bread was $1.50, which works out to a total of $13.73. I fed six adults with this for dinner and still have plenty of bread and sauce leftover for another meal.  I was also able to use my "new to me" Pottery Barn pasta dishes that I picked up at a yard sale in Illinois last week.

Make Savings a Lifelong Habit

The America Saves.org website has an article today about making savings a lifelong habit. The article is about the lack of savings for Americans aged 65 and older and encourages people younger than 65 to save for their retirement. Here is a piece from the article:

  

These findings only reinforce the message that everyone needs to make saving a lifelong habit. With people living longer, it is more important than ever to start saving for retirement at a young age. 

  Here is a link to the article:  Make Lifelong Savings a Habit 

Earlier this year after reading Ramit Sethi's book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, I automated my savings by following the directions in his book. Ramit says that once your savings "is automated, that money will be shunted from your checking account right into the appropriate account without your even thinking about it" (129). For me, having money automatically deducted from my checking account at the first of the month has helped me to become a more consistent saver. It is something I don't even have to think about anymore as it is done automatically for me. I would recommend reading his book and I would borrow it from the local library.

Back Home & Free Credit Score

Hello everyone! We are back home after a ten day vacation near Chicago, Illinois to visit family. We had a great time and went to a lot of great yard sales too.

The Pocket your Dollars blog has a post with information on how to get your credit score  and credit report for free without having to enter a credit card number. I've read the article and visited the site, Credit Karma.com and did receive a copy of my credit score. Here is a link to her article: 

http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/2011/04/how-to-get-your-credit-score-and-credit-report-for-free-these-are-legit-offers/