Saving money as a single can be difficult. You’d think it wouldn’t be, since there is only one of you, but cooking for one can be more expensive and time intensive. And when you’re busy and tired you don’t want to spare that extra time. You end up living on prepared foods and take out. After all, who wants to cook for one? So how to save money in the biggest money waster: food?

First you have to be willing to invest some time. How much will be up to you. One of the big money wasters is going to be lunch. Do you buy lunch at work every day? Or even once a week? It all adds up. Its much cheaper to bring your lunch, but that takes a little planning and possibly the investment of an insulated bag, thermos, reusable microwavable contains and everyday preparation of the food.

Some simple lunch ideas:

Peanut butter and jam sandwich (you’re never too old)

Chili in the thermos and corn chips or small containers of cheese, sour cream or whatever topping you like.

Packets of instant oatmeal, a small container of nuts and some fruit.  *you CAN make your own instant oatmeal. But the
savings over a bought lunch would more than justify the cost of buying a convenience product)*

A leftover baked potato and whatever toppings you like

Don’t forget to add some fruit to your meals, apples, pears and bananas are all easy to …
Continue Reading... Eating for One

There’s snow on the mountain tops where I live already. Its getting too cold to wear sandals and I need a sweater. The dark will soon do me in. Its winter and these are all normal things, and for me and many people like me, so is the depression that will set in soon. The winter blues.

Everyone gets down sometimes. And these tips can be useful to everyone. Whether they are just down or flat out depressed. SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder; the winter blues) is characterized by excessive sleeping or eating with weight gain for the last two seasons. It effects up to 5% of the population. Somewhere between 60% and 90% of those with SAD are women. The cause of SAD is still unknown, but seems to be the lack of light. In many northern countries where they do not get sunlight for months on end the suicide rate is the highest in the world. While winter depression is the most common form of SAD there seems to be a summer depression as well, occurring during the summer months and trigger by the intense light and/or heat.  We’ll get to summer SAD next may. ****If your symptoms are excessive or severe please see a doctor right away. These are just suggestions and tips but DO NOT replace good medical care and treatment by a professional.****

So what can we do about this? Depending on the severity of your depression there are many things that can be done, …
Continue Reading... Winter: Turning the blues into pinks

I had to have a group photo taken today. I was not very happy about it. I declined the personal one. Its for a board that shows all the volunteers and other places they volunteer as well. So I went ahead and took the group shot even though I will never be able to look at it.

Among other things, I’m unhappy with my skin.

And I didn’t have enough money to get a facial or even buy a product at the local drug store. While a product called “Yes to Carrots” looks interesting and is something I’d like to try, $14.99 is just too rich for my blood this week.  I’ve managed to be broke with a week to go before my next check, again. I have some emergency money. And I don’t “NEED” anything, including a facial. So being broke is not such a big deal. Until its time to take a picture. I’m also very unhappy with the fading of my hair color. But again, not much to be done. I can, however, get the individual photo taken later. Thank you, Curtis.

So what’s to do? Well, there are home facials, that you can make yourself with food stuffs. Too bad for me I didn’t think of that in time for the photos. So I’ve looked up online many recipes. I’ll compile them here. I’ll give as much credit as I can to where they came from, but I think most are just the same basic …
Continue Reading... Face to Facial ..... Good Skin, Homemade

  I’m writing this by candle light. The electric went out. Again. For the third time tonight and the second incident in a month. I have candles, but just small little votives, and only three of them. I am, of course, unprepared for this basic need. Light.

Right now I think the Boy Scouts’ motto of “Always Be Prepared” is the most brilliant thing ever. But I wasn’t a boy scout. And so I’m unprepared tonight to keep myself from running into and over everything in a dark apartment. At least I have a lighter to light the candles. I keep one for lighting my incense, which I really need to do more often. As an ex-smoker I no longer know where my several different lighters are at all times. I just have two, and one I don’t know where it is. This one I was lucky enough to have found and been using to light incense recently to show off my new incense burners.  Last time the electric went out, due to a transformer down the block blowing up, I learned the importance of keeping that lighter where I knew where to find it. Usually our blackouts don’t last that long, but we do have the.
So why am I, and we as a society, so unprepared for such basic needs? I wonder if the number of people that have extra batteries and/or adapters for their cell phones and notebooks would greatly …
Continue Reading... Emergency Lighting

Enough: Lifestyle and financial panning for a simpler life.
Betty Jane Wylie


Published in 1998 this book covers many subjects and is a fairly easy read. While it’s over all theme focus is on simplifying our increasingly chaotic lifestyles, it offers some sound budgeting and money saving strategies for every lifestyle.

While discussing consumption there is one quote she uses that sticks with me the most. “Nothing that costs only a dollar is worth having’—Elizabeth Arden. How many of use truly believe this? Maybe without even realizing that we do? Probably the majority. And that’s a great place to start. Our attitude towards life in general and our relationship with money. Where did the idea that bigger, more expensive products equaled better? Advertisements. The subtle and not so subtle message are aimed at us practically from the time we are born. Telling us that brand name is better. Trying to make us feel inferior or deprived if we don’t buy their often over priced items that we don’t really need and in far too many cases don’t’ even use after the first month or so. Advertisers spend big money thinking up new and subtle ways to try and make us believe we need their product and their brand. Breaking their hold on us and our idea that more is better is essential to simplifying our lives, and our expenses as well.

Once we begin to learn and believe that we are not deprived …
Continue Reading... I’ve had ENOUGH