Vegetable Broth, oh how I adore thee

I have always read that homemade veggie stock/broth is better and easy to make, but with the box so easy I have never made it. Until (cue music) the cheap experiment...

So this past week, I made it because I wasn't spending $3 on a quart. It was easy and I just happened to have been saving my vegetable scraps for such an occasion. I was happy about being so savings and healthy, but to be honest I was a bit bitter about having to do it.

Actually, really bitter.

I realize this week, that with all my extra energy and need to chill - I bake and freeze. Jim and I have had wonderful lunches thanks to the freezer filled with baked goods that are things that resemble snacky stuff that I put in his lunch. I have found some real winners - applesauce oatmeal bread instead of baked oatmeal squares, grapenut bars instead of granola. This has been the saving grace of this.

Oh, and the thrift stores....

So shopping means spending money, but last week I went to thrift stores to kill time between appointments - each time I spent between $2-3 dollars - a cheap way to kill time. It is so interesting....I got brand new hose for 60 cents several pairs...a cool poster, etc. This is better than going get an extra meal.

Oh, the gym....

So, really if we were that hard up we would kill the gym membership and maybe that is down the road - but it really is cheap entertainment and a way to not spend more money for me. Yoga is soothing, pool is good exercise, and a good option to get away from it all for a bit without having any expense at that time.

Oh, the bike...

This summer we loaned our bike pump to a neighbor and it came back broken, I did finally break down and get another one so I could at least ride my bike once this summer! I rode it 6 miles to Uptown and my students. Wow...cheap transportation and cheap exercise.

Oh, the weight loss...

I would be remiss to say that as of last Monday I lost 3.3 lbs during the week of $36 groceries. Who says that one can't bake and lose weight or can't eat cheap and lose weight - I did both. Let's see what Monday's weigh in is like.

All in all, last week wasn't as painful...we did spend more money overall last week and I didn't feel as restricted. We will see what happens this week - we are hosting a guest which often means more money spent.

This might get interesting....

I think it started this morning, when I woke up smelling homemade vegetable broth. Or maybe last weekend, when I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do that was free. Or maybe today after church, when I let my husband know that I felt guilty for all this.

I am annoyed that I need to start pinching pennies. That is the reason for this blog.

I have no reason to think that I am beyond pinching pennies - most of the country is doing it right now. I have done it for most of my life (but we will get to that), but that doesn't make the feelings go away. I wish it would.

You see, fine public of 0, I chose to volunteer and get paid $40 a month for two years of my life. I get having no money. Back in those days, I loved getting creative - dental floss instead of string, simple meals, making due with what I had. Or what about even before that, in high school I was so cheap that my parents worried if I would splurge for tooth paste.

However, I was choosing that. Now, after falling in love with and marrying a man who had little financial sense in his early 20s, I have a lot of financial debt. One by one, his debts have become mine. I did not choose this. We recently moved to a new apartment with a slightly higher but still a smoking deal place in Chicago and started paying back yet another student loan making our good paychecks seem a bit to meager.

First, I must start by saying that my husband feels horrible that he wasn't careful and needed to take out as many loans as he did for school (In his defense, all the loans are student loans, 1 defaulted but all student loans - good debt right?). I feel horrible that I am not caring on the team spirit with this situation.

I hope this blog helps clear my guilt and my need to complain.

Its funny to me because I love to cook - really really love it. For years, years I have thought I should make my own vegetable broth, but when I smelled it simmering away this morning, I thought I might just lose it. All because I actually made it to save money - the $2.99 quart wasn't worth it in the store this week.

Second, I have no idea what this might become - maybe it will be me complaining, maybe it will be my coping mechanisms, maybe my way to not complain to my husband.