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1. How MM was your weekend?
2. Any progress toward goals?
3. Do you like to cook? If so, what is your favorite meal to make?
HeartlandHustle | Personal Finance and Betterment Blog
Re: Weekly accountability.
Then we drove to see the ILs. About $55 on gas and tolls and $68 for our hotel room (the total is low because it was subsidized by FIL and MIL). The ILs are moving out of their OH summer home to be in FL full time so we got some things from them for our kitchen that they were getting rid of and we can use like a new electric skillet and Misto.
We made $220 from BnB.
I am more of a baker while H does the meal cooking. Right now I don't have a meal that I make but I have grandma's pierogi recipe and want to follow in her footsteps making those. Practice session #1 with H went pretty well now I just need to try it again and practice some more so that I am ready for prime time (Christmas Eve family dinner). It is nice that H is doing it with me. If we really want to be able to crank out some big batches it will be easier and more fun as a team.
1. Spendy. $23 Home Depot, $77 Bj's gas and meats, $29 pet Store, $89 Vet- food/meds. Made $50 on Craigslist! Last week we had our garage door fixed to the tune of $250. Ugh.
2. No! We've had bills to catch up on, but I think we should be caught up by August so we can start saving again. We are financially ok, but our savings is lower then I would like because of the driveway and we have a Sandals vacation to pay for by February....Stressing over here.....
3.I hate to cook...when you live at home for 23 years and your mom has a meal on the table every night you tend NOT to learn how to cook....I've learned a lot of her recipes since I moved out 10 years ago...but still hate to cook...I'd like my meals to continue to appear on the table for me without having to step foot in the kitchen. I don't mind making breakfast and lunch, but dinner stinks. I can easily whip up meals, but they aren't always the healthiest. H loves frozen meals which are convenient, but I like healthy means which always take longer to make. Anyway, my favorite things to make are homemade pizza and fajitas! I also don't mind baking if that counts...
ETA: Forgot, I spent $110 at Costco on Friday. Half stuff like pantry/freezer staples, the other half was 2 new sheet sets and a couple throw rugs for the house and our camper. They were all on sale. The sheet sets were only $15 for a queen set, and we already have one set and they are super nice and our guests love them. So now we have an extra set of sheets for both of our guest beds.
I do, although not as much in the summer. This time of year it's more quick meals. I don't have one particular favorite meal to make though, as I like to try new stuff all the time. I think I'll say I like cooking "projects" where I learn how to do something new or do something labor intensive that takes all day or something like that.
- It was OK. H spent $40 at the bar on Friday and $30 on dinner when he came home. We spent $220 at Costco on Saturday. H left for TX yesterday and I didn't leave the house, so that's it.
- $300 in savings, $100 in our cash fund, $100 to our house account. The plumber came out last week to fix from where the leak sprouted last month. He's going to bill us, but I think it'll be around $400.
- I do like to cook, but I don't really have a favorite meal. I love to have people over, so I like party type food. It's easy to make and I can make a lot of different things.
I did just call the caterer to place an order for our party on Wednesday, and I figure it's going to be about $175 with tax, tip, and delivery. But we are expecting about 15 people to be there, so it will be less than $12 per person. This is just much easier on us than having to cook for that many people mid-week. Besides, they do a great job, and there should be a lot leftover for lunches and dinners the rest of the week!
2) I paid my last tuition installment and got a reimbursement that offset it! Now it's going to feel like a "bonus" every time I get reimbursed for the rest of the year! I have been waiting 18 months for this.
3) I really don't like to cook very much. I enjoy baking around the holidays, but my H is the primary cook in our family. My favorite thing he does is pizza night and filet with grilled brussels sprouts and/or baked potato. He does a great filet. He also does really good homemade fettucini alfredo (sp?)
But no, I'm really not a fan of cooking, especially for large numbers of people. Hence the caterer.
2. Not last week. We both get paid later this week and will be able to make some moves then...
3. I love to cook! Especially fall and winter foods, like bierocks and soup. I make a great Italian sausage and potato soup and butternut squash bisque. I've also been known to make a mean prime rib.
2. We will add $100 to savings tomorrow.
3. I love to cook! My favorite thing to cook is homemade fried rice.
3. Do you like to cook? If so, what is your favorite meal to make?
I don't hate cooking, but I don't especially care for it either. I'm with you, @formerlyjessica490, I don't understand why delicious meals don't just magically appear on my table like they did when I lived with my mom, lol.
To be fair, my H does most of the cooking, but his repertoire is limited. My favorite thing to cook is Filipino Chicken. I remove the skin from either drumsticks or thighs. Throw it in a pot filled with 1/3 Apple Cider Vinegar 2/3 water. Then some garlic and soy sauce. Voila. Easy. Delicious. And quick "grab n go" healthy food for the week.
2 - $33 to retirement. Dh will be moving into his new studio in 2-3 weeks. It won't be totally finished but hopefully he can get a temporary occupancy from the city and will have 2 more months to finish it all. We just can't afford 2 rents in 1 month so he's scheduled to leave his current studio the first weekend of August. We are going to start packing up his place this coming weekend.
3 - I don't love cooking but it sure beats spending tons of $$ eating out all the time. We tried a new recipe last night - pizza stuffed chicken breast - it was awesome! My standards are chicken or shrimp stir fry or pad thai, chicken fajitas, DH will grill. Sometimes I get in a rut and we tend to have the same kind of dinners all the time. I'm not one of those meal planners lol.
Yes, after much discussion and consideration, we decided to buy a camper earlier this month. With the kids at their current ages (5 and 3) and being an "outdoors" family, we felt it was a good investment. After running the numbers we found that we can do several camping trips with our current vacation fund compared to just a couple non camping vacations. For example, we can go to a really popular tourist spot about 5 hrs away - cheapest hotel room (nice but not fancy) is $250/night. Less than 10 minutes away is a super nice campground (heated outdoor pool and indoor pool, full hook up, lots of kids activities/playground, etc) for $35/night. A friend of mine said that they recently did both (hotel and camping) and their whole family preferred the camping over hotel. Also we have everything we need at our hands - food, personal items, no hulling luggage, etc. We'll take it year by year but so far it's been fun. They payment is very reasonable and we'll have it paid off early. It also won't change our savings rate/goals.
Started working on the August budget since school tuition starts back up next month.
I do like to cook but honestly week nights have been so crazy the last couple of weeks. I like making homemade lasagna, sweet potato chili, homemade pizza (dough and sauce from scratch). It really varies by the time of year.
We have a family member that started out with a travel trailer then upgraded to a 5th wheel. Last year they upgraded to a huge 38 ft? 5th wheel. It was brand new but end of year so they wanted them gone. Even being a great deal it was over $50,000. They opted to do this instead of getting a cottage; not stuck in one vacation spot. It's super nice but way more than we want/need right now.
But yeah, we don't take hardly any other vacations, so the camper and associated costs is basically our "vacation fund".