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Archive for February, 2009

$64 in one month - I love my cc!

February 7th, 2009 at 04:51 am

Cashback bonus earned for January.

And I only spent $1,900 on this card in Jan. - large reward is caused by 5% cash back purchases.

So I will cash in $100 of my reward balance now.
I cashed $100 last month from my other card.

It is really nice to get money for buying stuff I would have bought anyway.
And these are not tiny amounts - it is more than our electric bill!



I've been a good girl all week. DH is coming home today!

February 6th, 2009 at 04:34 pm

I had a cheap, cheap week.

Not including rent and student loan (fixed expenses) we have spent under $200 this week (not including tolls - I won't the amount until EZ pass statement comes).

How is it possible? The main contributing factor, besides than my incredible restraint, was that DH was on a business trip to Dallas starting Monday - he is flying home today.

So all his days were NSDs -- his food and expenses were covered by per diem. Lucky him was having Texas bbq and Mexican food, breakfasts cooked for him, the bed made after him, and it is all free. I am a little jealous.

So I did not have a temptation to go out or a need to cook. I got a hot meal every day at lunch (thanks to my cooking coworker) and just grazed for anything I found around the kitchen in the evening - though mostly due to lazyness, not desire to save money.

He also saved some money by not driving to the office.

I stayed away from all stores.

And keeping it up, we are not going out today (even though it is Friday and we have not seen each other in 4 days).
I will just make a nice fresh meal at home.

Yesterday I prepared sangria so it would be ready for tonight. I used nicer wine (I got a hot deal on) organic fruit(oranges were so delicious!) and contreau for sweetening(also a very hot deal). So it should still be a nice dinner.

Reasons I love Vermont.

February 4th, 2009 at 04:17 am

Going there is my favorite winter getaway.

1) I love how uncrowded ski slopes are.
Pics from our last trip this January:










2) Draft beer selection in any eating place we went to.
3) Better skiers - no need to worry about a teenager on a snowboard running into you at insane speed. You can just look in front of you only, as you are supposed to.
4) People are nice. Any stranger will explain to you in great detail how to get some place, what place they recommend for which food, give details about their town, and in general get very easily involved in conversations.
5) Cheaper prices (though somehow you end up spending more).
6) Nature and snow!

I am drooling and can't look away! Now that is a a motivation to cook at home!

February 3rd, 2009 at 05:02 pm

I am a gourmet eater. Not so much of a cook yet.

When I do cook, however, finest quality ingredients and no cutting corners.

I just found a website after my own heart. What I needed was a gorgeous photo of every step (seeing a picture of each stage gives me additional confidense). But this site also provides motivation - if I want to eat something that delicious and high quality I will have to cook it.
I am so excited and wanted to share it.

http://fxcuisine.com/default.asp?language=2&Display=141&resolution=&page=1
Beef Bourginon


Iranian Jeweled rice
http://fxcuisine.com/default.asp?language=2&Display=93


French garlic soup.
http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=151
And the "step" pictures inflame the appetite than the finished product shots.

There are also more uncommond dishes of all cultures that look amazing. I love variety and trying new things instead of "same old".

I going to make some of these!

Cheap weekend and a ski day -- we really made some effort.

February 2nd, 2009 at 01:30 am

Yesterday afternoon we drove to Catskills to ski on Sunday.

So Saturday:
Instead of stopping to eat on the way, we stopped by an organic supermarket and picked up some groceries. (we were staying at a house our friends let us use for free) I cooked a nice meal and did laundry and we took the rest of the groceries home today.

The only splurge was $14.84 for 2 slices from Cheesecake Factory. We took them "to go" and made coffee at the house.

I also made breakfast this morning. After skiing we were hungry, but instead of going for beers and bar food right after the lifts close we went straight home and ate there. My mom was cooking today and brought over a delicious hot meal for us (she lives really close).

Our will power lasted through a 3 hour drive! I had water and juice in the car from groceries we bought the day before and we did not even stop for coffee.

The lift tickets we bought in December when they had a winter card promotion 4 days for $129. So we got a card each. at $32 per day it is really a bargain.

So we were good. We got to enjoy ourselves and spend the day exercising and breathing fresh air while keeping spending to the minimum. We'll try to keep it up.
I really want to do better this month!

Other than gas we did not spend anything today and were very reasonable yesterday.

Unrelated:
While driving to the mountain we saw a crashed car that flipped completely upside down. We were on a tiny mountain road and had to pass it very carefully on the other lane. The police and paramedics were already there, so we did not stop.