Creating an Emergency Fund

How many times have we been counseled to have a "rainy day fund'? How many of us have done it? An emergency fund is just that. For emergencies. Unplanned expenses come up all the time. It doesn't have to be a huge event like losing your job but it can be. Most likely it's something smaller but big enough to not fit into your planned budget. 

I think this is one thing that is so easy to put off but also one of the easiest things to complete once you get started. It's not overwhelming and time intensive like saving and planning for retirement or paying off your house. 

Yesterday while I was driving, I pulled up to a stop light and my power steering went out. Just like that, no warning whatsoever. So today my car is in the shop getting fixed and you can bet that there is going to be a hefty bill to come back with it. Now, I don't like spending money or seeing my savings account go down but I can't tell you how nice it is to not have to worry about where this money is coming from. I can't imagine the stress that I would be feeling if my husband and I were living paycheck to paycheck and didn't have an emergency fund in place. 

In the book Financial Peace Revisited, Dave Ramsey lists 7 baby-steps to follow in order to gain financial peace. The first baby-step is to build an emergency fund of 1000 dollars. That may sound stressful but you would be surprised at how quickly that will add up when you save a little here and a little there. And seeing your account balance go up will start to motivate you even further to be creative in finding ways to save more and more.

Let this be the year we control our finances! Good luck building or replenishing your emergency fund as you need it.

I've listed some financial resources below but what are some creative ways you've found to save when you needed to build up a cash reserve?

Resources: 

This is an awesome and short read about family finances. If you haven't read it yet, you should. You can get a pamphlet or download it for free here.










I love this book and can't say enough good about it. Dave Ramsey rocks! 

He's lived through it all and walks you through everything you can think of on the road to financial peace. Whether it's piles of debt, dealing with creditors or bankruptcy or just getting a plan, he has solutions for them all. Check it out from your local library if you need to. His website has some great tips and information too.
Dave Ramsey, Emergency Fund, Finance
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Using Your Food Storage- Homemade Refried Beans

This year I have a goal to eat beans at least once a week. I have one recipe that my mom calls my Black Bean Concoction that I like a lot but I want to start rotating through my pinto beans in storage too. The first thing that came to mind was refried beans. I love making burritos at home and usually just use canned refried beans but anything homemade is definitely better than the canned version.

I think the reason most people use canned beans instead of cook dried beans is the time involved. If you want to cook dried beans from a bag, you need to soak them for 8-12 hours over-night. Then when you are actually ready to heat them up, they still need half the day to cook! Sorry, but for me, that does not sound worth it. I'm not going to slave over the stove for hours just for a side-dish. So imagine my delight when I found I could cook beans in my pressure cooker in 35 minutes! No presoaking required. And what makes it even better is that beans freeze really well. You can just cook up a big batch, divide and freeze into smaller portions. Then when you want some, pull out a bag in your freezer and voila! As easy as the canned version but much tastier.

Ingredients
1 lb dry pinto beans or 1/2 lb dry pinto beans and 1/2 lb black beans
8 cups water (or substitute a can of chicken broth for the same amount of water for extra flavor)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2  tsp chili powder 
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
4 1/2 tsp oil (2 tsp of oil per cup of beans)


Directions
1.


Rinse and sort through beans and pick out any broken, shriveled beans or rocks/ pieces of dirt. You can soak them overnight if you want. It will reduce the amount of cooking time to 25 min instead of 35. But this is the beauty of the pressure cooker. You don't have to soak the beans!


2.


Heat oil in your pressure cooker. If you have an electric one, put it to the Saute option. If not, just heat it on the stove top. You need 4 1/2 tsp of oil. Oil is a necessary ingredient in pressure cooking beans because it helps prevent them from foaming and blocking your vent.


If you want your beans really authentic you should use lard for your oil. That is what real refried beans are made with. I happened to have some lard from some tortillas I made so I used half lard and half...




Bacon grease. 


Are you grossed out? You shouldn't be. Bacon grease is a little flavoring trick my mom taught me. She would save just a little grease from bacon she cooked and use it to flavor our eggs when she made them sunny-side up. It is so good. You can't even taste bacon really, just a hint of something yummy. 


Sorry it's so easy to get sidetracked. Anyway, bacon grease just adds more depth of flavor to the beans and makes them taste that much better.


3.


Saute your onions and garlic in the pressure cooker until the onions are translucent. 


4.



Add spices. Did you notice there is no salt? You do not want to add salt when you are pressure cooking,  you add it after.


5.


Add beans- it's best to only cook 1 lb at a time or depending on the size of your pressure cooker to never fill it more than 1/3 full.


6.


Add water and chicken broth. I just dump my can of chicken broth into a 2 cup measurer and add water to fill since there isn't enough broth to make 2 cups.


7. 


Now just twist on the lid and make sure your pressure release knob is in place.


8.


Select High Pressure and 35 minutes and hit start. The machine will bring it to pressure then start the cooking time by itself. You don't need to do anything. Isn't technology amazing?


9. 

When the time is up, the pressure cooker will beep at you. You have 2 options when you pressure cook. A quick release method- you release all the pressure manually or natural pressure release- you wait for the temperature to drop normally and thereby dropping the pressure too. The type of food dictates which method you use. Beans call for the natural pressure release. Just wait until the pressure indicator drops. That usually takes 20-30 minutes. 


10. 
Drain your beans and use a potato masher to mash your beans up. You may want to reserve some of the liquid to add back it if you want them a little runnier. 

11.

This is when you add in your salt. You'll want to do it to taste and probably more than you think. I used almost 1/2 Tbls. Refried beans are supposed to be salty, it's one of the things that make them taste good.

Now scoop these delicious, creamy refried beans into a bowl. They are 1000 times better than store-bought beans and definitely good enough to eat plain or with cheese on top. But if you can wait, they taste great in burritos and anything else you can think of too. 

I hope you like them. My family sure did!

TIP: Freeze the left-overs into meal sized portions to use later. Beans hold up to freezing really well.
Dried Beans, Pinto Beans, Pressure Cooking,
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Self-Reliance Goals for 2011

Goal [gohl]   –noun 1. the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

I think I like the word goal better than resolution. It seems more like I can check the box when I'm done. Whereas a resolution seems like something that has no end in sight. Like a habit you'd like to develop forever.

This year I have many goals and resolutions. Writing down your goals makes you much more likely to actually follow through with them so I sat down and listed all my goals or resolutions for different categories: Physical/ Health, Financial, Spiritual, Family, and Self-Reliance. I figure if I list my self-reliance goals here, you will be able to hold me accountable and perhaps we could help each other if you have similar goals.

Self-Reliance Goals

  • Plant and MAINTAIN a Garden- I've planted many gardens. My problem isn't in finding the time or deciding what I want in a garden. It is actually taking care of it and figuring out how to keep my plants watered while I'm on vacations during the summer. For the past 3 years I have actually planted gardens in my friend's yards since I didn't have enough garden space at my apartment aside from my potted tomatoes and herb garden. It is so hard to find the will to walk over to someone else's yard to water and weed. This year is going to be different. My husband and I are building a house and hopefully moving in at the end of this month. I will finally have my own garden! 
  • Preserve My Garden Produce- I know for sure that I want strawberries, corn, tomatoes, green beans and bell peppers in my garden. I want to can tomatoes, salsa and spaghetti sauce. I want to freeze my corn and can my green beans. 
  • Build Rack for 55 Gallon Drum of Water- Now that we will have storage space, my husband is willing to invest a little more in food storage. I went to a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) fair over the summer where I got a cool diagram of a way to store your 55 gallon water drums since they can't rest on the cement floor. I'm looking forward to doing this.
  • Bake Bread Once a Month- I think this will be a good skill to have. Homemade bread is so much better tasting than store bought and it is so economical. I always loved visiting my great-grandma and smelling fresh baked bread when I walked through her door. Homemade bread has good memories for me.
  • Eat Beans Once a Week- beans are so good for us and so cheap. I want to make them a more regular part of our diet. It is also a good thing to know how to use your food storage items so that if the time comes where you have to rely on it, you will know what to do with it.
Well, those are the big ones for me. With moving and having another baby this year, I didn't want to get too ambitious and bite off more than I could chew. 

What are some of your self-reliance goals this year? Is there something in particular you would like me to post about to help you reach it?
Goals
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Setting SMART Financal Goals

lJanuary is the month of making New Year's Resolutions. How do you want this year to be different from last year? One of the most popular topics for resolutions besides weight-loss is finance. Just thinking about your finances can be totally overwhelming. It's easy to say "I want to spend less" or "We should save more this year." But with as broad of parameters as those, no wonder we often lose motivation and fail at achieving these goals. We need to set SMART goals.
  • Specific- clear and well defined
  • Measurable- amounts, percentages, dates to accomplish
  • Attainable- realistic
  • Relevant- aligned with where you want your life to be headed
  • Time Bound- deadlines help keep you focused and also let you have a reason to celebrate!

I think January is the perfect time to reassess your financial situation and goals. Knowing how much money you have coming in verses going out is a good way to be able to tell how much you will be able to save or where you will be able to trim frivolous spending. In his book Financial Peace Revisited, Dave Ramsey advises writing down all expenses for 1 month. Every penny you spend. So that at the end of the month you will be able to see exactly where and how you are spending your money. That is a great option but I have one that works better.

My husband and I use a free online software from Mint.com. It is awesome. You just enter all your credit cards and bank account information and it keeps track of every transaction for you. I know that can sound a little scary with all the identity theft happening these days. I was wary at first but I researched and found it's been featured in Money magazine as well as many others as a safe and secure way to keep your finances in order. We've been using it for 2 years now and have never had a problem.

Not only will it track your spending for you. It also will help you set up a budget and notify you if you go over in a specific category. It will remind you when your credit cards payments are due so you can avoid those pesky late fees and will even help you set up automatic payments. You can set goals and it will measure your progress. And depending on your spending habits it will recommend ways to save. It recommends certain credit cards that will give you the best rewards for your situation.

The thing that makes it nice for goal setting is how it lays everything out visually for you. You can make pie charts or bar graphs to track your spending based off of previous months or see how much of your income goes to certain categories.

I love it and definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get serious about controlling their finances.

What are some ways you have of keeping your finances in order?
Budget Tools, Finance
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How to Make a Grocery Bag Holder Out of Fabric



I have been so excited to post this tutorial. I had to wait until after Christmas because this is what I gave to all my sisters/ sisters-in-law for Christmas this year and didn't want to give away the surprise. 

Provident living isn't just about building up food storage. It is about making use of what you have. I don't know about you, but I always save the plastic grocery bags from the store. I use them for small garbage can liners and anytime I need to bag up something. Lately, I've discovered that they are perfect to throw stinky diapers in before tossing outside. I used to use a diaper pail but man, the stink of week old diapers about knocks me out when I have to open the lid to change the bag.

So I've been using my saved up plastic grocery bags to get rid of my daughter's diapers more frequently. It started getting really annoying having to go to the kitchen where I keep my bags to get one every time I needed one for a diaper though. I couldn't just keep a stack of them in her room. I mean I could, but it would be ugly to have this massive stack on her changing table so I decided to make a cute holder for them.

Growing up, my mom always had this fabric bag in our pantry that she could stuff all her plastic bags in and just pull one out at a time when she needed one. It's a great way to make something ordinary look pretty and brighten your pantry or room.

This is so easy to make. I am not a seamstress by any means so don't think it is too hard to try. I didn't even have a pattern for this. I just got my mom's out and used it as a template.

What you'll need:
25 inch long cut of cute fabric 
9 inch piece of 1/4" elastic
sewing machine
thread
measuring stick/ ruler
rotary cutter or fabric scissors 

Directions 
1.
Lay out your fabric, it will already be folded in half lengthwise from the way it lays on the bolt at the store. Keep it folded on that line but make sure to line up your finished edges opposite the fold. Usually, it will have the brand or a white band running across one of them. See the white strip on mine? That edge looks good. It won't fray like the raw edges where they cut your fabric and aren't evenly cut. That doesn't matter, that's what we are going to take care of next. Just make sure the edges that are across from the fold line up. I did mine on a cutting mat so I could easily line everything up. If you don't have one of those, just use the edge of a table/ bar.

Now it's time to even out the side edges. Take your measuring stick/ ruler and put it as close to the edge of the fabric as you can get while maintaining a straight line of fabric from the fold to the finished edge. This is where you will make your cut and have a perfectly straight edge. Cut and repeat on the other side.

2.
So right now if you took a yardstick and measured your fabric it should be folded over to be around 25"x22". It could be closer to 24 1/2. That is fine.

Now we need to make another cut. This time only 3 inches. Line up your ruler on the left or right side of your now perfectly straight fabric. Count out 2 inches and cut all the way down. Save this 2" strip for later. (The store cut me more than 25" so I had about 4" to cut off.)

3.
Take your ruler and place it as close to the folded edge as you can get while leaving enough room to cut. Cut all the way down the fold separating the layers. You should now have 2 pieces of fabric exactly the same size. Save this little strip for later.

That was the hardest part. All the rest is super easy.

4.
Serge or zigzag stitch all the way around your 3 raw edges. This is just to keep them from fraying, you won't see them when the bag is finished. Great, now set it aside for a minute. 

5.
Remember that 3 inch strip of fabric we cut earlier? Now we are going to make it into the strap that loops around your doorknob or hook to hang your bag on. You don't need all of it. We just need about 7 inches. Zigzag stitch or serge down the length of the fabric with the right-sides together. That means that the back of the fabric should be facing out. I wasn't too precise about this. I just serged until it looked like about 7 inches then I cut off from the rest of the fabric.

6.
Now, turn it right side out. Start by folding the top over and pulling as you go. We don't want the side where we stitched along to show.

You should have a tube that looks like this when you are done.

7.
Grab your big piece of fabric again and fold it in half with right-sides together. Make sure that you folded it hotdog style so that it is 23"x11". The long side of your bag should have 2 of the serged edges together. 

8.
 This is where you can start to see your bag coming together. Use straight pins to pin your fabric together on the 2 sides where you have already serged or zigzag stitched. (Across from the fold lengthwise and down one side.) We want to leave the side with the finished edges open  because this is going to be the opening of your bag. When you get to about 3 inches from the fold, stop.

9.
It's time to stick out little strip of fabric in to make the loop. Fold the strap in half so the open raw edges are together. Stick it right along the fold of your big piece of fabric coming out the end where you are pinning it shut. Line up the raw edges of the strap with the serged edges of the bag. Finish pinning your bag together.
10.
Now it's time to sew. A normal seam allowance is about 1/2 inch. Line up your fabric with the line on your sewing machine for 1/2 inch. Sew all the way around the pinned sections of your bag making sure to pull the pins out as you go so you don't run any over.

11.
When you get to the end where your strap is make sure to backstitch over it a few times to reinforce that seam and make the strap able to stand up to a little wear and tear.

If you're too excited to wait to see what your bag is going to look like and want to flip it right-side out now to look feel free. I always like to look.

Your loop should look like this. 

OK, that's enough, flip it inside out again.

12.
It's time to make the casing for your elastic. Grab your fabric at the side that is still open. I think it is easiest to start where your long seam that you just made is. Make sure the sides are pressed open like this and fold your fabric under about 3/4 of and inch.

13.
Once you have it folded down all the way around, pin it.

14.

Still using the 1/2" marker on your machine as a guide, sew almost all the way around your folded over strip. You want to leave about 1 1/2 inches open so you have room to stick your elastic through.

15.
Cut your elastic to about 8 inches. I did quite a few bags and this was the weirdest part. I had two different kinds of elastic and one of them was totally stretchier than the other. You will need more elastic if yours is less stretchy. The way I decided was by holding 2 ends together so it formed a circle and stretched. I wanted the stretched circle to measure 11 inches. So for one elastic I used 7 inches and the other I used closer to 9. Basically, you just want to make sure your opening will be big enough to be able to stuff your grocery bags through but not so big that they fall out, or more than one can come out at a time when you pull.

16.
Put a safety pin through the end of your elastic and thread through your casing. 

17.

Your fabric should bunch together as you pull your pin through. When you get to the beginning pull the safety pin out the same place it went in.

Almost done.

18.
Using a needle and thread, sew the two pieces of elastic together forming a loop. Make sure it is good and tight. This will be getting a lot of tugging and pulling on it. When it's together, take your bag and stretch open the top of the bag. This will pull your elastic up into the casing.

19.
Close of the opening where the elastic went through. Make sure to backstitch so it doesn't come loose and also not to sew over your elastic.

Woohoo! Turn that baby right-side out and take a look at your finished project.

The opening should look like this.

Remember that tiny strip of fabric you cut off when we separated the two layers of fabric? At quilt stores they use those to tie up fat quarters and make them look pretty. I used that same idea to wrap around my grocery bag holders before I gave them away. I think it just adds a little something extra. 

Good  Job! Now you can relax and go find somewhere to display your cute fabric grocery bag holder or you can start making another one with the extra piece of fabric you have. J/K
Homemade Grocery Bag Holder, Provident Living
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Using Your Food Storage- Split Pea Soup

Winter is a great time of year to use some of the grains and legumes you have in your food storage.One of the things I love most about the cold months of winter is looking out of my window at all the snow while eating a nice, hearty soup. My favorite is Split Pea Soup.

My family always has ham for our Christmas Eve dinner and my mom gives me the ham bone and some of the extra meat if I promise to make my Split Pea Soup to share with her.

Like any good soup recipe, it is easy to make but I wouldn't recommend trying to make this soup unless you were going to be home all morning.

Ingredients
2 C. dried split peas
2 quarts cold water
1 ham bone
1 onion, quartered
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dried marjoram and/or thyme
1 bay leaf
1 big clove garlic
3 stalks celery with leaves, halved
2 carrots halved
1 1/2- 2 C. left-over ham, cubed
2 C. celery, chopped (optional)
2 C. carrots, chopped (optional)

Directions
1.

In a large stock pot, combine ham bone with garlic, onion quarters, celery and carrot halves, marjoram, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cover with water (about 2 quarts) and simmer for 1 hour.

Meanwhile...


Rinse and sort split peas. It is fine if you have some that are yellow. That is natural. You want to look for any shriveled up ones or things that just don't look like they belong. I've found things that look like little pieces of grass or hay before.

Set Aside. (Most split peas don't need to be presoaked but check your package. If they do, stick them in a stock pot, bring to a boil for 2 minutes then remove from heat to soak for an hour while your ham bone simmers.)

A word about organic.
I'm not a huge proponent of organic food. I used to be really anti, thinking it was just a trend people were going through. Call me stubborn but I hate fads. To the point where I do the opposite just to prove a point. But, as I've become a mother and have made all of my daughter's baby food, I have become more concerned with what is in the food I am feeding her. 

There are somethings that I think are worthwhile to get organic versions of. Besides organic bananas, which I just think taste better and don't leave a film in your mouth, these peas were my very first organic product I ever bought. 

I was in the store wanting to stock up on some split peas and I noticed that the organic version was on sale for about the same price as the regular split peas. I decided to check the nutrition information on the back of the bags and was very surprised when for the same serving size and carbohydrate amount, the organic version delivered almost twice the protein and fiber. 

I know it isn't supposed to make a difference nutritionally whether you eat conventional or organic foods. People are more concerned with their carbon footprint and their foods being genetically modified or having residues of pesticides and fertilizers on them. With split peas though, I could see the nutritional difference was clear. So I bought the organic version.

Sorry, back to the recipe.

2.
After 1 hour of simmering, add sorted peas. You may need to add more water to keep everything covered. Simmer for 45 minutes- 1 hour.

3.
Check to see if your peas are cooked and soft. If so, remove ham bone and bay leaf. Working in batches, blend your soup til it is velvety smooth (or use an immersion blender). I even blend up the celery, carrots and onions to give the soup a richer flavor and I figure it doesn't hurt to keep all the nutrients in there.

4.


Return everything to the stock pot and add the chopped carrots and celery. These aren't really necessary since the flavors are already in the broth. I like to have pieces to chew while I'm eating the soup. You could just chop up the celery and carrots that were used to flavor the broth but for me, they would be too mushy so I just add more. Cook slowly for 30 minutes more until veggies are tender. 

5.
Cut any good meat off the bone and add that as well as the other pieces of ham back to soup in the last 10 minutes to heat through. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve with crusty rolls and enjoy!

TIP: you can do all this in a crockpot too. Layer ingredients in slow cooker in the order given; pour in water. Do not stir ingredients. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or on low 8 to 10 hours until peas are very soft and ham falls off bone. Remove bone and bay leaf. Mash peas to thicken more, if desired. 
Recipes, Split Peas, Using Your Food Storage
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