Coffee Talk With Moíra - April 1, 2012

Broads On A Budget

With all the negative prattle about the economy dancing across our television sets during the six o'clock nightly news, money, finances, and the household budget are subjects sure to crop up. We've felt the pinch in our household. My husband is an RN, and with the Medicare cutbacks, hospitals and nursing homes are cutting expenses. Those expenses are cut in wages (lack of raises for two years running), benefits (our cost doubled while coverage was halved), and overtime.

Add in the latest kick in the pants with rising gas prices, and you've got a household budget emergency broadcast. 'Attention homemakers, the price of meat has doubled, so your grocery budget is a joke. Your gas tank has consumed its weekly quota of cash from running errands, and the kids are whining to go to an overpriced movie. Mutiny is imminent. This has been a test. If an actual emergency had been...' Uh, yeah. You get it.

What's a Broad to do? Mina and I have been talking (Oh! The talking. My husband claims that we know just enough to be dangerous - ha!) Anyhoo, we're rather attached to reading scads of books a month, chatting endlessly on the phone, decorating our homes and yards, and trying new recipes on a whim. Pretty basic pleasures of life, but under threat with the current economic situation. I jest, but many people are losing their jobs. It's disconcerting.

The Broads are going Frugal! Now to any who knew Mina and I way back when this will not come as a surprise. We used to play 'Little House On The Prairie' when we were girls, pretending that we had a farm - complete with animals and a butter churn. No kidding. (Ah, the 'good-ole'-days' when my most pressing concern was whether I'd missed 'Please Don't Eat The Daisies', or whether I'd be caught riding my bike across 'The Hill') No. Mina and I have always had an affinity for things au-naturel, homemade, earthy - if you will.

So, we'll still be featuring new recipes in 'Braised Broads' and 'Broads On The Bake', but we'll be adding in more ideas of how to be creative with inexpensive ingredients. We'll also be looking for ways to save money around the house. Mina, for example makes her own laundry soap - so does Kelley. I cut my boys' hair. Kelley is a coupon-ing whiz.

Being I love books, I'll link up to Maria Zaninni's book, The Frugal Way: Smart Budgets For Busy People. It's filled with the basics. If you're already a frugal Broad, share your favorite ways to stretch your dollars!

- Moíra ♣

Comments

Braised Broads

Homemade Yogurt! Yes, that's right, homemade yogurt. This is something I've been wanting to try for a while now. I mean, I've been making my own detergent and started making my own granola, why not yogurt too? So this started me browsing through all of internet land looking for a recipe I liked. I guess I really shouldn't say recipe, as this implies differing ingredients. The recipe for yogurt is pretty universal: milk and starter. Starter being yogurt with active cultures in it. If it has it, it will say somewhere on the container. If you do not have this you will not make yogurt, you'll only make milk that has been heated, left to sit, and cooled. Not very tasty. Now there can be additions like dry milk powder or even gelatin for extra thickening if you're using, say, skim milk. The biggest difference really is how many ...

Tuesday Teaser ~

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading . Here's how it works.. Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share does not give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author too so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Hi, All! I've been absent the last two weeks, catching up on my reading. Now I've got a new teaser to share. Mina reviewed one of Katie MacAlister's books awhile back, and that review left me eager to search out this author. When I saw this title, I had to give it a try. One hilarious escapade after another, Men In Kilts is sure to elicit a giggle even from the staunchest of readers. If you like humor sprinkled throughout your romance once in awhile, this is ...

Ahh, vacation...

Well, I did it. I survived my first family vacation. I'm pretty sure I have a little less hair and an eye tic, but dammit, I'm alive!! Yes, we have taken little vacations in the past. My grandparents had a cottage on a lake about 2 hours from here and we'd go for long weekends, but this was different. This was the 9 hour drive-stay in a hotel kind of vacation. Everyone better thank their lucky stars it was on the beach, too. No shoes makes Mommy a happy girl. While I was somewhat mollified by the "Yay! No Shoes!" thing, the planning and keeping in-line of the entire family and their things was slightly less enjoyable than stepping on legos in your bare feet...in the dark....while sick. Yeah, for me, it's like that. As my dearest sister Moira can attest, I am not up for any organizational aw...

Brazen Broads Book Bash

Search This Blog