when I am one of the most active bloggers!
Where is everybody? On vacation? I hope we haven't lost people.
With my available funds so low this month, I started a list of necessities that will probably come up. I have two things on the list so far: cat food and dishwasher detergent. Then I thought, no, dishwasher detergent isn't a necessity. I have plenty of dishwashing liquid and could easily wash dishes by hand when I run out of detergent. I'm actually doing this quite a bit already because I'm using pots and pans so much more with this low-carb eating plan. My pots and pans do not clean up well in the dishwasher.
There is no way around the cat food. I can make it last longer, though, by mixing it with the cheap food I had on hand for the feral cats. All the the cats I used to feed have disappeared. I'm not going to dwell on what happened to them, but I'm not putting food out any more and I have more than half of a big bag left. I can't use it exclusively for my cats, because one has a sensitive stomach and he throws up cheap food. I think he'll be okay with a mixture, though.
A haircut is a maybe. It's time, but I think I can trim my bangs and squeak out a few more weeks.
I am close to 450 on Swagbucks, but I won't count the Amazon $5 as income. I'll be using Amazon bucks for gifts this year. I not only have the usual birthdays and Christmas, but a wedding as well this year.
I will probably have to fill the tank again this month, too, but I'll try to limit my driving. When this heat wave breaks (if it ever does) I can start walking to work again.
I've had a special challenge at work. I am a veteran brown-bagger; I've brought my lunch almost every day for years. But they are remodeling the break room, so, while there is access to the refrigerator, there is no access to the microwave or toaster oven. Also, until Friday afternoon, the fridge was full of food that had to be thrown out due to the power outage. So it was not really usable yet. I went home for lunch two days this week. Low-carbing it makes bag lunches a little more challenging, even more so when the food can't be refrigerated or warmed up.
Now that I think about it, I CAN use the microwave on the main floor, so that is probably what I'll do next week.
See, that's what's so good about posting here! Just talking about it makes me think of solutions!
I know things are slow....
July 7th, 2012 at 02:14 pm
July 7th, 2012 at 02:27 pm 1341671225
July 7th, 2012 at 03:44 pm 1341675892
I always try to think, "How did people do this in the "old" days?" for clues on how to achieve things with less money. I remember being shocked to read in a very old short story set in the Ozarks that the characters fed their dogs corn meal mush! I guess they would not have fed their cats at all but set them outside to catch small animals but to have the eventual fate as did the ferals you fed.
Can cats eat eggs? Would that be less expensive?
July 7th, 2012 at 05:11 pm 1341681060
July 7th, 2012 at 06:04 pm 1341684249
I was thinking about your dishwasher detergent issue. I was going to try this recipe for homemade:
DISWASHER DETERGENT
1/4 cup Castile soap
1/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup salt
Use vinegar as a rinse agent.
July 7th, 2012 at 11:27 pm 1341703633
I'm not sure what your work situation is like, but could you take a crockpot in and have it on warm on the floor or on a counter? I used to make a low carb chili verde (no beans) and we had a small 2 quart crockpot ($13 at Target, less than $5 at Goodwill) and my husband would take it to work and have it plugged in behind his desk on warm until lunch time.
If that wouldn't work, what about thermoses? People used those long before microwaves were available. I think people forget about those, but we use them when we go on trips. Goodwill usually has a good assortment of thermoses, too, if you don't have any but don't want to buy them new.
July 8th, 2012 at 04:24 am 1341721457
July 8th, 2012 at 10:04 pm 1341785096
July 10th, 2012 at 02:31 pm 1341930710