The Debt Snowball

Have you heard of Dave Ramsey? I love him. He had a real estate portfolio worth $4 million by the age of 26 but ended up losing it all by age 30. He’s since rebuilt his financial life, and teaches thousands of people how to successfully manage their personal finances on his radio talk show The Dave Ramsey Show.

My father-in-law gave all the girls in our family Financial Peace for Mother's Day. In his book, Dave outlines 7 "baby steps" to achieving financial peace. My favorite baby step is #2 The Debt Snowball. This is a great plan to help you visualize what you need and can do to get out of debt and do it quick. It's also called The Debt Elimination Calendar and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a great example in their pamphlet called One for the Money which my husband and I read together before we got married. It is an awesome free resource and full of good advice. You can download it here.

The Debt Snowball will help you reduce and eliminate your debt fast by applying the same amount of money each month to your debts even after some of them start getting paid off. To illustrate, list the names of the months down the left side of a columned paper. (I would recommend creating your Debt Snowball table in an Excel spreadsheet.) On the top of the next column, type the name of your debt with the smallest balance and the monthly payment underneath it on successive rows until it would be paid off. Next continue organizing your debts and their payments according to the smallest balance to the highest. Dave says we should start by paying off the one with the smallest balance and not necessarily the highest interest rate first because we will start to see results faster and want to keep with it.

Once your second debt payment gets to the payoff line of your first debt, stop. On the next line below the 2nd payment combine what you were paying towards your 1st debt to the payment of your second and that is your new monthly payment amount for debt #2. Continue with the following debts until they are all repaid. See example below.

The Debt Elimination Calendar
Credit Card   1Credit Card 2Credit Card 3
March5075100
April5075100
May5075100
June
125100
July
125100
August

225
September

225
Debt Free

You can see that you keep paying the same amount of money towards your debts month after month and that they start to get paid down quicker. I think a problem a lot of people run into is that they will pay off one debt and say to themselves "oh, now that I don't have that debt, I have X amount of extra money to spend a month" and they just spend it one unnecessary things instead of attacking the next debt with it. 

I also love the Debt Snowball because it gives you a clear picture to see that it's possible to get out of debt. It is so easy to get hopeless and feel like you will never see the end of the tunnel but with the Debt Snowball you know exactly how long it will take. 

This is such an easy thing people can do to help themselves learn to manage their money. I think the key word here is manage. Do you manage your money or does it manage you? This is the peace that Dave is talking about. I will be posting more tips and strategies to help you get control of your finances in the future. If there are any topics in particular that you're interested in let me know.
Dave Ramsey, Debt Snowball, Finance
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Dehydrating Onions

What would you do if you could buy a 25 lb bag of onions for $3 dollars?


If you were me, you'd buy it. Even if you didn't have a clue what to do with so many onions.

Onions are amazing for your health. Like garlic, onions are members of the allium family and full of flavonoids and sulfur compounds that help reduce blood pressure, blood clots, cholesterol, inflammation and bone loss, improve lung function and blood vessel strength as well as lower your risk of several cancers, particularly stomach and colon cancer. They can also prevent bacterial infections such as salmonella and E. Coli.

I've been cooking like crazy, using onions in everything I can think of. I canned salsa, pickles and ground beef which all needed onions. I have even made quite a few batches of my mom's secret French Onion Soup. It is delicious!

Alas, I can only eat so much French Onion Soup even though my 11 month old can't seem to get enough.

So, what to do with the rest of the bag?

As long as onions are kept in a cold, dark place, onions would keep all winter. But, unfortunately we have neither a cold, dark storage room in our apartment nor a garage at our disposal so I needed to do something.

I could freeze them. Onions are great to freeze. You don't even have to blanch them first. Just freeze pieces in a single layer, once frozen, throw 'em in a ziplock bag. You just grab some out of the freezer when you want them and pop them into whatever you're cooking.

But, I have zero room in my freezer. So, no go on freezing.

I decided to try dehydrating.  I've done fruit leather in a dehydrator but that's it.  But, I have dehydrated onions in my long-term food storage so I know they can be dehydrated.

I've been so excited to do this post and show you the prettiest way to slice onions.

Grab your onions. It will take about 1 1/2- 2 onions per tray


Cut off both ends and cut in half.

Lay the onion flat side down and cut in half again. This will help you gauge where you will be cutting next. Take your knife and slice on a diagonal from the outside moving in.


Keep slicing all the way to the center, while keeping a firm hold on your onion so your slices don't go flying. (It doesn't matter if they do, it just looks prettier if they don't.)

 Flip the onion around and start slicing from the other side.


Keep slicing 'til you're done



Beautiful huh? So you can stop here if you just need onion slices but for dehydrating it's best to have diced onions so they will dry faster.


Now, take your trays and spread the onions around in a thin layer. Repeat with all trays. I got 10-12 onions on 5 trays.

Tip: Stick your dehydrator outside. Onions smell really bad when they're drying.

Place trays in dehydrator on med-high heat. You don't want the heat too high or it will cook the outside of your onions but leave the inside uncooked and they will spoil when you try to store them. They will take about 10 hours to dry completely.

Onions will lose 90 percent of their weight/ volume. They are done when they have no give whatsoever and give a nice 'snap' when you bend them.


Seal in a ziplock bag or mason jar and store.

Using your dehydrated onions...
  • the conversion of dehydrated onions is about 1/4 of the original amount. So 2 Tbls dried onion = 1/2 cup fresh onion because there are 8 Tbls in 1/2 cup.
  • grab some and throw them in whatever you're cooking and they will rehydrate
  • rehydrate in water in fridge for half hour before cooking in recipe with no added water
  • pulverize into powder and you will have your own onion powder which is usually like 3-5 bucks at the store.
  • mix your onion powder in a 1/3 ratio with salt and voila, instant onion salt
Canning and Preserving, dehydrating, onions,
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Provident Living Spotlight: Co-opts


The best and most economical way to be provident in regards to what you eat is to grow a garden. We all know that cooking from scratch is way less expensive, way more nutritious and can I add way yummier?


With a garden you have an almost endless supply of fresh ingredients to cook with and can bottle all the extras for your 3 month- 1 year supply.


Having your own garden isn’t always possible. Unfortunately for me, we are renting right now, so we don’t have much room to garden.


But, I decided that I just had to have home-grown tomatoes, they are so much tastier this way and I LOVE anything with tomatoes. So I decided to get some pots and grow tomatoes and fresh herbs. This is one way I have found to have fresh ingredients, but it is not the only way. I also have joined a co-opt. A co-opt is like a volunteer Costco. It is a bunch of people grouping their buying power together so they can get the bulk discount prices from farmers that grocery stores get. The difference is that there is no store. Just a predetermined drop-off/ pick-up site. I paid a $3 fee to join and then every week I sign up and pay my share for the co-opt on a Monday or Tuesday and it is ready for pickup at a certain time on Saturday. Since it is a volunteer group, they ask that you volunteer once for every 6 times you order.

So I drag myself out of bed at 6:30 on Saturday mornings to go pick up my share of the co-opt offerings.


But isn’t it worth it?



I got corn on the cob, squash, brussels sprouts, white asparagus, nectarines, blueberries, bananas, cantaloupe, romaine lettuce, grapes, oranges and tomatoes. Not bad for 16 bucks huh? To find a co-opt near you click here.


A co-opt isn’t the only way to go. There are also Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)- a farmer. Here are the basics: you can buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer who offers a certain number of “shares” (memberships) to the public. Interested consumers purchase a share and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. To find a CSA Farm near you click here.

You can also find a community garden to grow your own food, buy from farmer’s markets or roadside stands and last but not least you can find local farms near you where you can go pick your own food for a reduced price since you are supplying the labor. These are just a few ideas I have come up with. Please share if you have others.
Co-opts, CSA, Provident Living
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Provident Living Spotlight- Shop Weekly Ads

I know a lot of people cut coupons. I also know a lot of people hate the thought of cutting coupons. The time and organization required are sometimes daunting. I don't cut coupons. We rent an apartment right now so we don't have the storage space needed to take advantage of the bulk deals I could get with cutting coupons.

I do, however, shop the sale ads that come out each week. I know I save about 1/3-1/2 the price by shopping the ads, but sometimes I pay only 1/3 the price.

This past week was an amazing time to stock up on canned goods. I usually buy the bulk of my canned goods during the case lot sales most stores hold twice a year. I usually don't mind the store brands of most canned goods. In fact, there are some things, like a particular store's brand of canned corn that I like better than the name brand (and I found out that it has less sugar and sodium than the name brand.)

Luckily, I didn't stock up on store brand cream of mushroom soup at the last case lot sale. I had been thinking in my head that Campbell's has a sale around once a year where you can get their cream of mushroom and chicken soup for 50 cents. So, I was trying to hold out to see if it would happen anytime soon. Usually, when they go on sale, it's for 79 cents so it makes a big difference.

As it happened, the sale happened when I was down to my last can of cream of mushroom soup. Campbell's wasn't the only thing on sale this week. In addition to the Campbell's soups, Swanson beef and chicken broth, 16 oz packages of pasta, and store brand canned veggies and fruits were all on sale for 49 cents a piece. That's a great deal! I remember stocking up on pasta when I found it last for 77 cents a package.

So, what do you think I paid for all of this?
1 case of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 case of Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup
15 cans of store brand canned corn
12 cans of Swanson Beef/ Chicken Broth
12 cans of Del Monte diced/ stewed tomatoes
4 cans of Campbell's Select Harvest Soups (they were .99 cents each)
16 packages of a variety of 16 oz pasta


Would you believe $46 dollars?

I would have paid over $140 dollars if I had bought all this at regular prices. I might not be able to buy things for pennies on the dollar like I could if I cut coupons. But with minimal effort, I can get amazing deals just by checking out the ads every week.

What are some great deals you've come across recently?
Ads, Finance, Provident Living
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Blueberry Syrup

I love Saturdays. Saturday was the day that my dad would make breakfast when I was young. Still to this day, Saturday just doesn't feel right unless I wake up to a good, hearty breakfast. Is there anything more scrumptious than blueberry syrup drizzled over homemade waffles in the morning?

Yes. Homemade blueberry syrup drizzled over homemade waffles!
I ordered 12 pints of blueberries just so I could make my own. A little overboard maybe?
This recipe is so easy! Just three ingredients.
I use a juicer but you can totally do this in a stockpot.
Zest lemon and wash blueberries
Combine blueberries and lemon zest in steamer basket and fit over drip pan. Place over water pan and cover with a lid. Steam fruit over high heat. (about 1.5 hours)


While fruit is steaming, sterilize jars and place rings and new lids in simmering water 'til needed.


When juice is ready, unclamp juicer hose and drain into stockpot. (about 6 cups).


Sometimes to check how much juice I have, I drain it into a measuring cup then pour it back over the fruit in the juicer. I think that the hot juice helps breakdown the fruit at the top better and gives me an idea how much more time I need to wait.


Add the lemon juice and sugar to the blueberry juice in the stockpot and bring to a boil skimming off foam as it appears. Boil for 5-10 min to dissolve the sugar and reduce the syrup to a thicker consistency.


Place wide-mouth funnel in sterilized jar and ladle CAREFULLY the syrup into the jars. Wipe off jar mouth with clean washcloth before placing lid on top. Tighten bands but not too tight. I tighten all the way then back off about a quarter turn. Yield is 3 pints.


Space jars on counter and wait for that wonderful 'pop' to tell you they sealed.



Verdict: The syrup tastes amazing! The consistency is a little thin which is to be expected due to the low amount of sugar used. Most syrup recipes call for a 1:1 ratio of juice and sugar but I just didn't want to use that much. If it bothers you and you want a thicker syrup, add more sugar before canning. It will set a little after being stored and was plenty thick for me then.
Here is the recipe. Enjoy!
Blueberry Syrup, Canning & Preserving, Canning and Preserving,
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Getting Started with Canning


The idea of canning always seemed so intimidating. All I knew about it was that people used to do it in the ‘olden days’ when prepared food wasn’t so easily accessible or affordable.

I was always intrigued but too nervous to try to learn how to can because it seemed like a lot of things could go wrong if you didn’t know what you were doing. But then my husband and I moved into a neighborhood where I met someone who majored in Home Economics. Who knew that was even a college major? Finally, I felt I could learn from a master. That summer I tried my hand at pears, peaches, salsa, sugar-free apricot jam and grape juice. Wow! It’s amazing how much better food tastes when you grow and bottle it yourself. I loved that I knew exactly what was in my food. No weird additives or ingredients I can’t pronounce.

Now that I've learned more about the food industry and their questionable practices and 'ingredients' they put in our food, I am even more passionate about preserving and processing as much of my own food as I can.

The canning recipes I share here will use each canning item below. If you want to follow along, here is what you will need to become a master of your own home economics. 


JARS
Luckily, there are different degrees of canning. You don’t have to go straight to the pressure canner with no experience. I think it is easier to build up slowly using easy recipes before making the investment for intense canning supplies. In fact, there are certain things you can make where you don’t need anything else besides the jars.

There are many sizes of jars. 4 oz, half pint, pint, quart and gallons. Each are great for different things. Jam, tomatoes, meat, soup, juice. Then after you decide your jar size, there are 2 different size 'mouths' to choose from. Regular or Wide-mouth. That just means how big of an opening the jar has. If you are only going to buy one type, go with wide-mouth.

Personally, I like a variety for different things depending on what I'm canning. One great resource to look for if you don't want to order new ones is older women in your neighborhood who no longer can. I got boxes of jars when I mentioned I was just starting to can and was wondering if anyone had any jars they no longer used. That way you just have to buy new lids. You can also buy new lids and metal rings together if you want yours to look nice and shiny.

CANNING KIT
I didn’t actually have one of these the first few times I canned. And I can’t tell you how many times I burned myself by picking up the lids from steaming hot water with my bare fingers. These kits come with a magnetic wand that easily picks the lids up along with a jar lifter so you don’t burn yourself picking them out of boiling water, a wide mouth funnel to keep the jar mouths clean, jar wrench and kitchen tongs. I picked my setup from a regular grocery store on sale for about 10 bucks. 

WATER-BATH CANNER
A water-bath canner is used to process high acidic foods, like fruits and pickles, once the jars are filled. Processing is a necessary step to get all the air out of the jars to insure a good seal. Getting the air out of the food also controls bacteria, yeast and mold growth so your food won’t spoil. 

STEAMER
Some people use a steamer instead of a water-bath canner. The WSU Extension office however says research on steam canners has found that food canned in them is not heated to a temperature as high as when the same food is canned in a boiling water bath canner. The lower temperature results in less killing power of the bacteria, under processing and considered a risk of spoilage. Therefore the use of steam canners for home canning is NOT recommended.

PRESSURE CANNER
This is what I was most afraid of when I started canning. I could just envision the lid shooting up into the air and steam going everywhere because I had used the wrong pressure to can my foods. A pressure canner is what is used to process low-acid foods like vegetables, meat, fish and poultry. It is the only thing that can reach the higher temperatures (240-250°) needed to kill bacteria in low-acid foods. Boiling water in a water-bath or steam canner only reaches 212°. When you use a pressure canner, you have to make sure you get all the air out, use the right pound pressure and the right times for your foods. This is why I am saving it for last. The main thing to look for in a pressure canner is to make sure there is enough space for 1 level of quarts jars or 2 levels of pints stacked on top of each other. This canner is the best and is which one I got. It is definitely an investment but it is also one that will last forever because it has a metal to metal seal. 


OK, that's everything necessary to start canning, now all you need are some recipes. I'll be posting those as the summer goes so check back often!

 In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions!
Canning and Preserving, Frugal Tips
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