Easter Dinner

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and had an opportunity to spend it with friends and family!

Last Thursday, Nick and I were asked to cook Easter dinner for our DC and visiting family. All we had to do was set the menu, hand over the grocery shopping list, and show up to cook!

We planned the following menu:

Appetizers: Homemade Baba Ghanoush and Hummus with Warm Pita and Cucumbers

While I finished the hummus, Nick set the table.

Dinner: 
Steak, only seasoning was garlic salt and pepper

Homemade Pierogies. My aunt and I started this recipe on Saturday and made a double batch, half with a white potato and the other with sweet potatoes. It took 3 hours of prep, but well worth it on Sunday evening :)

Fun tip of the day, learned from my sister, if you need to chop up fresh herbs place them in a cup and use a pair of scissors to chop. Works in a snap without the mess!

We also had a spinach salad with feta, red onion, and grape tomatoes.

Desert: Homemade Carrot Cake. One of our favorites.

The best part of the evening was kicking back afterwards and catching up with the Fam :)

A mostly unstaged photo :) 

Foodie Friday: A Barley Lunch

This week's lunch was suppose to be a change up from the "boring" rice bowls. I had had enough and was ready for something different- a spinach salad with boiled eggs, craisans, and some barley. The first day I put my salad together the barley fell all over the counter and the salad dressing was just not the taste I was going for.

On day two, I decided I would steam the spinach in the microwave (a dash of water and 30 seconds will do it) and top it off with my barley, eggs, and craisans...magically creating an amazing barley bowl that magically looks very close to a stupid rice bowl! I can't seem to get away from the rice bowls :)

So let's do the cost breakdown:
Bag of Barley- $4.99/12 portions= $0.42
Based on how much I used per day, I estimated appx.12 portions per bag.
Spinach- $5.00/5 portions= $1.00
Craisans- $2.00/16 oz= $0.125 x 2 = $0.25
Eggs- $3.79/18 eggs= $0.21 x 2= $0.42 

TOTAL: $2.09 
Not too shabby!!

I also added in strawberries with 1/2c of plain Greek yogurt as a afternoon snack! Great way to feel full and take care of that sweet tooth :)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

A Generation of Student Loan Stories

A few weeks ago, after writing about the Snowball Hybrid method of paying off our loans, the Art of Being Cheap author reached out to me. He wanted to know if I would be interested in a analysis of our student loan debt. What does the interest vs. principal snowball vs. hybrid method actually accomplish in terms of paying off our debt?

I sent over my loan numbers for his analysis. Please take a look at his write up on the Debt Snowball. 

Okay so, have you had a chance to read his post?? 

No, STOP READING THIS and go read the article...

YES, well welcome back for my reaction :)

It was sobering to see the reality of 10 years of debt repayment laid out in this manner. I felt naive for imagining that we could become debt free in 5 years (which may still happen with an amazing increase in our income), and had to face the fact that we are looking at 7-10 years of a strict budget. My gut reaction was anger. I started to think about what I really wanted to accomplish and where I saw Nick and my life in ten years. Would we ever get there with this amount of debt?

NPR had a few timely stories over the past week on student loan debt and it opened a window for me into a larger look at how other individuals are handling the long term impact of their higher education bills. One story, "Many Millennials Expect To Spend Decades Paying For College," was a snap shot of three individual stories that seemed to represent a multitude of people I've met since leaving college. I've heard their student loan stories at work, in my family/friend circle, and in current college interns. 

Taken From: http://yobucko.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/student-loan-debt-statistics.png

We all seem to have a student loan story and a reason why we are now in debt or for the lucky few not in debt. It has become part of who we are, whether we know it or not this debt is part of our life story, and impacts our future narrative; How we live and end the story is now up to us. Student loans are just like a mortgage now a days, something we learn to live with and work through.  

The three speakers discussed how they have put future life decisions "on hold" until they are in a better financial situation, but they didn't expect to pay back their loans for another 5-30 years. Which makes me question, how long do you put life "on-hold" for student loan debt? 

A staggering statistic from NPR's story "Paying Off Student Loans Puts A Dent in Wallets, and the Economy," stated that people with student loan debt now will have 60% less net-worth then peers without debt later in life. We are spending decades paying off student loans rather than investing, so our long-term net worth will not equate to those who can afford to buy a house sooner or invest in retirement at a higher percentage. 

The Financial Aid and student loan programs were originally created to bring about equality in the higher education system to the middle and lower class; however, it does not seem to be working. The speaker in NPR's second story, William Elliott, agrees that Millennials with student loan debt are still better off in terms of net-worth then without a four year degree, but we are still not reaching our financial growth potential. Creating equality through student loans does not seem to be working. 

We have instead created a vicious cycle of debt and repayment. If we have student loan payments we are not saving. So when it does come time to buy a car, we end up with a lower down payment, a higher loan, and most likely a higher interest rate due to the lack of a large down payment. We've now switched our student debt to auto debt. A cyclical patter...

  

Having all of this information at my fingertips this week was frustrating and invigorating at the same time. It is really challenging to hear that no matter how soon we pay off our loans we will still be unable to achieve the net-worth of our peers without student loan debt. Our generation is in for a very interesting future.

How will our generation mold this problem into actions?

Please feel free to share your student loan story in the comment section. 

   

Brainfood and City Paper

Last Wednesday, Nick and I spent the night volunteering at City Paper's Best of DC party. This is a culminating event to their annual contest to determine the best locations for pretty much every category of DC life.

The event was held at the Carnegie Library on K Street.  The event highlights the food and beverage winners. There were three large rooms lined with restaurants and bars. Nick and I were responsible for walking around to the tables in our designated area and checking-in to ensure they had everything they needed. I have never carried so many bags of ice up and down stairs!

The event was full of  great food and for this event sampling was encouraged- we had to be able to tell guest where to get those amazing ribs or who was serving the best guacamole! It is fair to stay that we definitely worked hard for our keep, but we ate sooo much and I was stuffed after the first few samples!

Turkish Airlines was a sponsor, so why not have Turkish dancers! 

I found out about this event through a local organization, Brainfood. Brainfood works with local teenagers through food to teach life skills in an active learning environment. This program aims to empower youth and also provide them an opportunity to be a resource in their communities.

I learned about Brainfood at my previous job and find their mission admirable. They do some full time programming that I hope to volunteer with in the future. I've only recently learned how much I enjoy cooking and how rewarding it can be, and I would love to share this with DC youth. If you're in the DC area, they are doing a Box project that provides you with 6 boxes of prepared food and produce. If your interested visit their website www.brain-food.org or email Maeve at maeve@brain-food.org

Ten Days of Meals at $41/$43

I mention in the March Review post that I had forgotten that we had an extra week of groceries to account for in the month of March. Our budget was set-up for FOUR weeks of food, but our monthly food budget begins and ends on the 10th, due to our pay schedule. 

In looking at a calendar, you can see that April 10th falls on a Thursday, so we had roughly 12 days (March 30th- April 10th) of eating to get through before our April money is suppose to be used. On March 30th our remaining food fund was $41. We later scrounged coins up around the house to buy two onions and move our total amount spent up to $43. 

Our first month of food budgeting was definitely TOP heavy :) We don't tend to skimp when it comes to eating. Normally getting by for one week on $41 would be "tight," but 12 days seemed impossible. But we were torn because honestly how could we go over budget our first month and feel accomplished? So, we took on this challenge and raided the fridge, cupboards, and freezer for anything that would make a meal. 

We kept breakfast the same, homemade granola, but shifted from yogurt to milk for a few days and also took note that we had steel cut oats in case we ran out of milk and yogurt.  We did purchase half a gallon on milk and one vanilla Greek yogurt to help us get through. 

Lunches for the work week were going to be rice bowls, so that was easy enough to make and ensures that we had leftovers for dinner, when scheduled. We also bought mandarins in bulk, so that we would have fruit to last us the full two-weeks. 

This is how we mapped out our meals and accounted for leftovers: 

Sunday- Beef Chili 
Items in Stock: Kidney Beans,  a red pepper, leftover tortilla chips
Items Purchased: 1lb of Ground Beef, an onion

Rice Bowl for Week Ones Lunch (10 meals total)
Black Beans with Peppers and Onions, usually topped off with a little salsa.
Items in Stock: Brown Rice, Black Beans, 1/4 bag of Kale, frozen veggies
Items Purchased: Nothing :) 

Monday- Brie with Homemade Pretzel roles and Strawberries 
Items in Stock: Brie (bought at Costco at double the size for $7, we halved the wedge and froze half), All ingredients for the pretzel rolls were in stock
Items Purchased: Strawberries

Tuesday - Couscous with Roasted Chicken and Brussels Sprouts

Items in Stock: Couscous, leftover roasted chicken from the previous week, 1/2 bag of brussels sprouts, parmesan cheese
Items Purchased: Another free meal!

Wednesday- Leftover Chili with Homemade Pretzel Rolls
Items in Stock: LEFTOVERS :)
Items Purchased: n/a

Thursday- Kale Pesto Pasta with Meatballs
Our apartment building had happy hour in the lobby, so we brought back some meatballs to have with dinner :) A fun addition to our meal.
Items in Stock: Pasta and pesto
Items Purchased: Nada

Friday- Homemade Pizza
Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the whole pie :) But here is a snap shot of the leftovers on Saturday.
Items in Stock: Mozzarella (Frozen- like the brie from Costco), Half a pepperoni, all the makings for homemade dough
Items Purchased: Zilch

Saturday- Dinner with Family
We went over to work on a project and got invited over for dinner. Though we did spend money on beer, we are applying that to our April budget, so I am holding true to our $41 March budget :)

Sunday- Homemade Pelmeni 
This is a Russian dish that we love to make, but it is really time consuming. We cooked enough for dinner and then froze half for a future meal. We also managed to make a few Piroshki- pelmeni's baked cousins for Thursday's dinner.
Items in Stock: Fixings for a homemade dough and vegetable stock
Items Purchased: 1lb of ground beef, Greek yogurt, an onion*
**We did need to count change and buy 2 onions for this meal and Mondays. Bringing our total up to around $43. But it did not come out of the bank account, so we are still IN budget for March:) I am all about the small victories during this process, but we may run out of change soon!!

Rice Bowl for Week Two Lunch (8 meals total- we took Friday off from work for Fun)
Kielbasa sauteed with spinach and garlic and topped with steamed green beans and brussels sprouts
Items in Stock: White and Brown Rice- mixed, Spinach, 1/2 a bag of brussels sprouts, and frozen green beans
Items Purchased: Kielbasa

Monday- Lentil Pumpkin Soup with bagel chunks :) (I just wanted a carb)
Items in Stock: Bagels, Red Lentils, Pumpkin puree, Chicken stock, and spices
Items Purchased: an Onion

Tuesday- Shepard's Pie 
Items in Stock: Nothing- but it makes a good cheap meal with leftovers
Items Purchased: 1lb of ground beef, 4 potatoes, frozen veggies

Wednesday- Volunteer Event 
Dinner was provided and more details on the event later next week.

Thursday- Piroshki and Cherry Blossoms
We made these up with the Pelmeni on Sunday so that we could take them down to the tidal basin for our annual Cherry Blossom Picnic. Nick and I have gone down to the mall every year after work during the Cherry Blossoms for a picnic date night, so we had to plan ahead for this to happen during our 10 day cheap meals! I forgot to take pictures of our picnic, so you get Cherry Blossom Pics instead :)

Today, we are free to spend money, but chances are we will make a pizza- it is kind of our Friday thing. Looking in the fridge, we have leftovers to get us through Saturday and Sunday :)

What could you make with the items currently in your cupboard for dinner?? 

Comment Today

Today is the day to leave a comment :) Don't be Shy. I need your feedback.

I started this blog with the idea of talking about ways we save money while getting out of debt. However, now that we are a month through, I'm realizing that being on a strict budget means not spending money. I love writing about our free activities and fun meals, but I would love to write a few content pieces that would be helpful to you as a reader.

I am creating a writing calendar and list of things I want to cover in the blog. Over the next few months, I will be writing a piece on The Student Loan Battle on Capitol Hill, Federal Repayment Options, Volunteer Activities, Home Brewing, and of course the Month in Review posts.

I have set a goal for myself to write THREE posts a week, so what do you want to read about? Do you have a money saving tip, that you actually want tested?

Please share your thoughts and ideas. There is no stupid suggestion!!

Seriously... I am posting a picture of my participation in Free Cone Day from Ben & Jerry's yesterday to prove to you that ANYTHING can be suggested :)

Proceeds from Free Cone Day support the Lupus Foundation. 

Please leave your topic ideas below so that I can incorporate them into the blog.

I really look forward to your feedback and thanks for reading!

Spring Goals and A Weekend Review

Happy Monday!

Last Friday, I was reading Coffee Cake and Cardio's blog post on Spring Goals. She mentioned that we had 11 weeks left in Spring, and I thought it would be a great idea to follow her lead and publish some of my own goals for those 11 weeks. If I have learned anything about debt, it's that small goals are the key to long term success. 

My three goals for the remainder of spring are:

• Run a half-marathon, not a race just be able to complete 13.1 miles
• Pay $5,500 toward our debt, to include our minnimum payments
• To write three blog posts a week, so 33 more by the first day of Summer

Today's post is a spring weekend review. It was beautiful here is DC, so we took advantage of the great weather and headed outside.

On Saturday we went to the opening day of District Flea. The market seems to have gotten bigger this year with a lot more vintage clothing stands. I am more of a refurbished items gal, so I was a bit disappointed with all the clothing stands but I still was able to find plenty of great items. If you read through my Top 10 Ways We Save Greens post, you'll know this is a great way to come up with DIY projects for Nick and I :)  Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.

After an hour or so we headed home and Nick went to work on the top to his kegerator! It is almost done and looks fantastic. I'll show it off when it's finished.

Sunday was a bit more active. We got our bikes ready for the road! I changed one of my tires out in less then 5 minutes, a true accomplishment for me. Last year it would have taken me 30 mins :) 

We packed snacks and headed to the tidal basin for an early look at the Cherry blossoms! They should be in full bloom in 2-3 days, so additional pics to come. 

Sunday was also workweek prep day, so once we got home it was time to COOK. We made a soup for the week, rice bowls for lunches, and homemade Russian Dumplings (Pelmeni) for dinner. It was fun to spend time in the kitchen, but after a day in the sun it was nicer to be in bed by 9:30!!

Total money spent this weekend: $23.00  

- Beer, our Saturday night contribution to dinner with family

- Two Onions for this weeks meals