My Journey to Eliminate Debt: April 2009

Budget Beater Recipes: Pasta!

Pasta is one of our favourite foods here. It's cheap, quick and if I buy it on special I can get it for as low as .49 cents for 500 grams. When it's cheap I stock up on it. Adding pasta to meal is a great way to make a meal go further cheaply. You can add it to casseroles, soups, pies, stir fries and use instead of rice or potatos with a meal. It's also a great 'comfort' food in the colder weather.

One of my favourite fast pasta meals to cook the pasta and then add either tomato sauce out of a bottle, or a tin of chopped tomatos. Then grate some cheese over it. It's a cheap, filling meal that takes less than 10 minutes. Here's some yummy pasta recipes to try:

Pasta Cooking Basics for perfect pasta!

Creamy Spinach Tomato Pasta this is divine!

Leftover pasta recipes This is a from a great site dedicated to leftover food recipes: Love Food Hate Waste

Macaroni & Cheese Recipes

138 Vegetarian Pasta Recipes

Now I can't imagine pasta without cheese and if you buy your cheese in bulk and freeze it you will save a lot money. We buy our cheddar cheese and mozarella cheese in bulk, put it into zip lock bags and freeze it. I've had it last over 6 months with no problem. See Freezing Cheese for more information. But one of my luxuries is fresh parmesan cheese, I love it! I buy a block every two weeks and there really is no substitute.

We're back.

We're back from visiting Dad and getting things organised for him. I'm still off work and pretty worn out at the moment, so I guess normal blogging will resume in a day or two when I've got a bit more energy :)

It has been an expensive time for us but I am really pleased that we've been able to pay everything, make a payment off the credit card and still not dip into our emergency fund. That tells me things (financially) are changing for the better over the long run.

I will get back to more financial posts soon, I just am really knackered at the minute and I'm heading back to my bed on the lounge for a bit more sleep.

On and entirely different note have you seen the video of 10o single girls in Piccadilly? I don't know what it is about this song but I just love it!

Quick update.

I had a another call from the nursing home yesterday. So we came down to sort out things about Dad. Basically in the last month he has really deteriorated a lot. He now is wandering, confused, has terrible mood swings. He is to be moved into the locked ward for his own safety as he would wander off at the first chance now. He needs a lot more personal care than he did before and he can't find his own room.

His ability to go on outings is really limited as a result. I'm heading over to pick him up now and take him for a short drive. Then I'm coming back to motel and going to bed myself for the afternoon.

On the financial side of things we received our $900 stimulus payments yesterday. I'm just leaving it in the bank till I get back to work. So far I've been able to pay all my bills without dipping into savings or emergency funds so that feels good.

Blogtalk Radio

One of the good things about being at home at the moment is that I can spend time online listening to podcasts and radio shows. I'm kind of 'over' TV and movies this week! I often listen to blogtalk radio in the mornings and when I'm doing housework or decluttering on the weekends. So now I'm spending most of the day on blogtalk radio. They lots of different channels with some great interviews. It's a great free way to learn.

If you're looking for some good interviews why not take a look at:

Finance

Politics

If you go to the site you can do a search for any topic you are interested in.

The good news is I got a big payment and I've paid another $1200 off the credit card!

Britain really has got talent... yet again!

If you haven't seen this video of Susan Boyle yet, you must check it out. It really is worth watching. Bought tears to my eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Lost Generation?

With so much financial doom and gloom in the news, it's easy for people to become discouraged about what the future holds for them. Younger people in particular who are trying to get established in life. I found this wonderful short video called Lost Generation:

Trying to be grateful.

Things to be grateful for at the moment:

I've got a well funded emergency fund.

All my bills are paid up to date.

There will be plenty of work for me to do as soon as I am well again.

Dad is being very well cared for, he's in good hands.

The family are not sick.

I've got full control of the television remote!

At the moment the plan is to rest up and try and get down to meet with the nursing home staff before the end of the week. I will need to stay a few days and I expect the trip to cost about $300.

What Louise' Did...

When I was a kid I used to read these books called What Katy Did, What Katy Did At School & What Katy Did Next. Katy was a 12 year old girl who had wanted to do something 'grand' with her life. Then she gets injured in an accident and bedridden for 2 years. Katy starts off being a grouch and then realises she needs to make the best of the situation. So she tries really hard to be happy, loving and generally 'saintly' kind of invalid, and like all good stories, she succeeds.

Think of Pollyanna in pyjamas and you get the picture.

Now when I used to be sick as a kid I tried very hard to be like Katy, I really did. But here's the truth... I'm a terrible patient!! I just can't do it 'Katy' style, no saintly sickbed for me... I think my family is secretly glad that I can't talk at the moment! I just hate having to rest and do nothing!

I'm more of an Oscar the Grouch patient. ( I even have a pair of Oscar PJ's!)

So how am I filling my 'sick' days? I've been sleeping a lot, watching a lot of movies and trying not to get down about yet another setback. I lost one contract, lost 2 clients and got told off by one for having to cancel. But realistically most people have been very supportive.

In the meantime I'm eating lots of rice pudding. It's just the ultimate comfort food for me. I can only eat in the mornings at the minute. And when I need a break from sleeping and TV, I'm surfing the net for ideas for a sewing / art/ craft room. When I'm better I'm going to make Dad's old room over so I can get back to doing sewing and art.

Craft Room Inspirations This has a lot of good links.

And this is the ultimate ideas site: Flickr Craft Room photos!

Sewing Room Links

..and thanks for the good wishes, I do appreciate it, I'm just not getting round to much blogging at the moment, but I'll get there :)

Medical Costs

Sickness sucks when your self employed!
Costs so far:

Dr visit's $63.50
Booster Shots; $$112
Medications: $76.50

Lost Income: $$3,280

I spent almost the whole day yesterday at the dr's, the pathology lab and the chemist. We have another visit today and we should hopefully be all done.

The whole family has to be treated and we all confined to quarters for the next week. I guess it's one way to get rest! I plan on sleeping, watching videos and sleeping.

Progress Report #21

Sorry for the lack of posting, I have been quite sick for the last week and spent last night at the hospital. It turns out I have contracted a bad case of whooping cough. Apparently there is an outbreak in NSW. Believe me it's a horrible, horrible illness to get. I feel like I've been hit by a bus, and coughing till you throw up gasping for air is scary.

I had cut back my workload a lot as I felt unwell but now I have to take some time off to rest and recover fully and to not pass it on to anyone else. The whole family has to be treated. While I should be noninfectious in a week, the illness itself can last for up to three months.

Fortunately I have all my bills paid up to date, both personal and business, and although I'd prefer not to use it I have $1000 personal emergency fund and a $2000 business emergency fund.

so briefly this month I have:

Paid $1000 off the credit card debt

Paid DS first university fees installment, $1700

I have lots of work coming to me, business is just booming and thats one of the frustrating things about getting sick at this time. So in the month ahead I will not be paying extra of anything, just stashing the cash until I'm back on deck fully and returning to work as soon as I'm well enough.

My Journey to Eliminate Debt

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