With all the drama that’s happened to me over the past few months (personally and professionally), I am happy to say that I have finally gotten some relief.  I was moved from the branch I was at to another branch, only six miles from my house!  Even better, I am now three minutes away from Mr. Money’s restaurant, so on Fridays when I get an hour for lunch I am able to go eat lunch there and visit him.  I am really excited! With this move comes some factors affecting our money situation.  Sadly, I am unable to carpool right now. I’m stuck driving to work by myself and stuck paying for gas by myself.  I have almost cut my drive in half, so that should be a good thing.  Plus, the grocery stores I like to frequent are on my way home, so if I am in need of groceries, I can pop in the store on my way home, unlike now.  I have been shopping at our local Kroger and I have noticed that (even though it is so [...]

To Can or Not to Can: that is the question.  Yesterday I wrote how we save money by growing vegetables in our garden. I decided today to take it one step further and can some of the tomatoes that were overgrowing the garden. Please call me crazy.  I am still not done and I started about three hours ago!  This takes a lot more time than I thought it would.  This is an actual picture of one of our tomato plants.  It is over 5 feet tall! I anticipate getting more tomatoes off these plants.  There are some green tomatoes growing currently. Look how big these tomatoes are!!  I’ve never seen any this big. This was my process: dip the tomatoes in boiling water for about 1 minute, shock them in an ice bath, remove skin and seeds from inside, sterilize jars, put tomatoes in jar, make sure there was no air in them, seal, and put in canner.  I know it sounds easy, but trust me, it was a lot of work!  Honestly I don’t think this was a [...]

The past two years we’ve lived in our house we’ve planted a garden. Not only does it save us money on purchasing vegetables, but it’s healthier and they taste amazing. Last year Mr. Money was able to spend a lot of time working on the garden. Since he got a promotion in December, he’s been working 12 hour days 5-6 days a week. Needless to say, our garden is reflecting that. We planted zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, peas, green beans, carrots, lettuce, beets, and assorted herbs. I am really disappointed in the yield from our garden this year. I had planned on canning tomatoes and green beans to save money this year. I don’t think I’ll be able to because some of the plants have died and are looking really sickly. Next year, I have big plans for my garden. I want to plant more greens, like collard greens, collards, and spinach. I want to install a fence or netting to keep bugs and critters out. I want to make sure it gets weeded before the weeds overtake [...]