Sunday, March 14, 2010

save your pennies - week one

Progress: so far so good.

We did have a couple of "extras" last week, One was kitty's vet appointment - 100 dollars and I knew about in advance. She needed to go in a cat carrier, which we didn't have. I borrowed one from my mom but it was too small, so I spent 35 dollars on a cat carrier. Which annoys me because she'll probably never use it again.

I checked my credit card (that we just paid down) to schedule another payment, and they lowered our credit limit by 3000 dollars. Leaving us just 100 dollars away from maxing out again. Are they trying to get us to overdraw? How do they just lower it 3000 dollars after I make a 3000 dollar payment? Jerk faces. I was looking forward to having a significant amount of 'free' money on there in case of car emergencies since both of our cars are such high miles right now and we just sunk a ton of cash into repairs for them. I paid down the card (so I could keep up with it without the killer interest) but also so I had a little safety net. Then they went and took it. Oh well. Prevents us from getting in over our heads again I guess.

I made both ricotta and mozzarella this weekend (more on that later) The ricotta was - eh. I'll give it another shot but I wasn't too impressed. I don't think it's really saving us any pennies, it's equaling out to about the same as store bought but I'm having fun doing it. Although last week on pizza night (we did calzones) I made everything from scratch and then had a teeny-weeny nervous breakdown because my husband wasn't going to stay and eat with us. It shouldn't take 6 hours to make pizza - but it does when you make everything from scratch. And as much as I love cooking, I was feeling very stupid for spending 6 hours making something that no one cared that much about. They would have been just as happy if I had ordered in.

So, I think what I'm going to do is take a little time here and there and make and freeze things. I have 3 jars of pizza sauce in the freezer now from a huge batch this past weekend. I'm going to make some more this week to freeze too. I'm also going to try freezing some dough after the first rise. And the cheese making book says the cheese freezes just fine - so maybe I'll put a couple batches of mozzarella in the freezer too. That way I still get everything from scratch without 6 hours of cooking every Friday for what's supposed to be a simple meal. I mean, that's just insane. Who does that? And then throws a big hissy fit about it later? Geez. Crazy women, that's who.






I've got to find balance. :sigh:


Anyway. Back to the topic. Saving pennies. It hasn't been too painful so far. I don't think we'll end up ever seeing "extra" though, because we do have a few planned expenses this month (kitty this week, car repair payment next - oh and more car repairs - fun!)


On to week two!!

4 comments:

Marianna said...

Congrats on being able to pay down that cc debt! I would call the company and request that they raise the limit back up for you...otherwise you have a negative point on your credit report and you don't want that to cancel out the positive of reducing your overall debt load.

Cari said...

I agree, you should be able to call them and get it raised a bit, especially since you just gave them such a large payment. I can't wait until you post about making cheese...I want to give it a shot. What can I say? You inspire me. lol

Jodi said...

Pizza dough freezes very well (my recipe only has 1 rise - I freeze it after it's risen). You need to share your sauce recipe, please and thank you. Congrats on paying down your debt!

Sara said...

I'm on a mission to freeze too. And six hours? You are reaching into the land of crazy lady. Step away from the stove and have some wine. :D