All posts by BudgetEpicurean

Administrative, Finances, Informative

Track Your Finances: Mint.com

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Everyone wants to have healthy finances. We all want to feel the freedom to spend our money however we please, to not have to worry about bills or making ends meet. And we probably all know a budget is the best way to make that happen.

The simplest way is to just sit down yourself and draw up a budget. You can use plain paper and pen, or fancy Excel spreadsheets. The most important thing is to be realistic and thorough. You need to know exactly how much money you bring in each month, from your job or business and investments, and how much money you spend each month.

Then, you need to make The Gap as large as possible. This means when you subtract your spending from your income, you have a positive number. The more positive the number, the more you can save for big goals like retirement, college, a vacation, or starting a business. You should also budget in some “discretionary spending” each month, so you do not feel deprived and unable to buy yourself small treats. Just make sure you keep it small.

Make sure you have an idea of how much you actually spend in various categories.

Consider the following categories of spending:

  • Housing (mortgage, HOA, insurance, taxes, rent)
  • Utilities (water, trash, sewer, gas, electricity, phone, internet)
  • Food (groceries, dining out, fast food, convenience foods, lunches at work, kids school lunches)
  • Health care (premiuims, copays, medicines)
  • Travel (gas, car maintenance and repairs, insurance, auto loans, bus passes, air fare, cabs or uber rides)
  • Gifts (birthday, Christmas, graduations)
  • Clothing (work clothing, uniforms, replacement or updates to you wardrobe)
  • Pets (vet bills, food, toys, leashes/collar, tags, shots, spay/neuter)
  • and even more categories if you’re a parent (diapers, formula, school expenses, doctors, child care, babysitter, activities, etc.)

The best way to get an idea of what you spend is to keep all your receipts for a month, or better yet a year. But who has the time and patience to collect all the receipts, keep them safe in one place, then add them all up by category?

Mint.com, that’s who!

Mint.com is my personal favorite finance tracking website and app. They have a super secure site, and amazing features. It enables you to link all you financial accounts: loans, direct deposits, credit cards, checking, savings, 401k, IRAs, and more.

Now Mint has three separate products:

  • Mint
  • Mint Bills
  • Mint Credit Score

mint product

I use the classic Mint, because I signed up with the site many years ago. The Bills feature allows you to link all your bills in one place, and set a date each month to pay them off. This automates all your payments, so you are never late on a bill again, avoiding costly late fees and dings to your credit.

The Credit Score feature helps you get your free credit score, and see ways you can make it better. There are many factors which go into calculating your credit score, including total available credit, total credit use, length of credit history, and more.

The most widely used credit scores are FICO® Scores, the credit scores created by Fair Isaac Corporation. 90% of top lenders use FICO® Scores to help them make billions of credit-related decisions every year. FICO® Scores are calculated based solely on information in consumer credit reports maintained at the credit reporting agencies.

You have the right to access your credit score for free, once per year, from three separate companies:

It is recommended that you check one site each 4 months, thus enabling you to keep tabs on your credit throughout the year. Set alarms on your phone calendar or write it in your planner to help you remember when it’s time to check.

Back to Mint. There are several features which I love. First of all, they categorize all your spending. You can set up categories if there is something you spend money on regularly, such as “online video games”, “basketball season tickets”, or “Parks pass”.

You are also able to go in and manually change expenditures and put them into categories. If the program does not know what an expense is, it goes into “uncategorized”, like checks.

mint trends

As you can see above, all expenses for the past year are laid out in a pie chart. You can click on any piece of the chart to open that category and view each purchase. For example if you click “home” you would see each month a check or charge for the amount you spend on rent or mortgage.

This is a fantastic feature because if you’ve ever looked at a credit card bill and thought “WHAT the heck am I spending all that money on??” This chart can help. You can click through the “uncategorized” and “bills” and “shopping” and see each and every charge add up. It even adds you spending over time and tells you the categories in order of spending. So if you spent 12000 on housing, and 3000 on utilities, and 1200 on food, it will list those in order.

You can also break it down over time. So you can see how much you spent this month, the past 3 or 6 months, the past year, or over all time you have been part of mint. This helps track longer term spending, if you are trying to get a better hold of your budget, you can see your progress or backsliding.

Another feature, in the regular Mint, not even the Mint Bills, is their bill tracking feature. The software learns which bills come through at the same time each month, and can track the anticipated days you will be charged. Then you can see on a calendar all your upcoming bills for the week or the month.

mint budget

And finally, the budget tracking feature. Super amazing. You can set up as many or few categories as you want, and set your expected spending amounts per category. The program then tracks each expense for you, and shows you how much you have left to spend. This is a nice visual so you can see on the 20th of the month, you have $120 left budgeted for food, so you can keep your spending within budget.

The software can also add up all your expenses and debts, as well as any income and investments, and tell you your net worth. You can track this over time, as it is the greatest indicator of your overall financial health. A steadily increasing net worth is the greatest feeling there is. Link up your car loan, mortgage, student loans, etc. and track your progress paying them down. It is great motivation, and they regularly offer advice and ways to save even more money.

Of course, this only works if you actually check it regularly and stick to it. Luckily, Mint also has an app available for Android and iPhone, so you can track and check yourself on the go.

There are many other tracking softwares and options out there. This is just one, use a few and see what works best for your budgeting style and your life. Ultimately your budget is personal and unique to you, and its up to you how you want to maintain it.

 

Disclaimer: I am in no way receiving compensation from Mint.com or any other financial entities. This piece is author’s opinion.

 

Healthy, Salads

Asian Chicken Salad

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This salad has a delightful combination of ginger, lemon, and orange. The crunchy ramen noodles combine with the greens, chicken, and citrus is sure to delight. Have an Asian night at home, or bring a big bowl to your next pot luck.
Ingredients:
  • 1 large chicken breast
  • 1 inch piece fresh ginger
  • 3-4 garlic cloves
  • 2 tbsp mustard
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 package Ramen noodles
  • 2 cups lettuce or greens
  • 2 mini oranges
  • 2 tbsp slivered almonds
  • 2 tbsp butter or margarine
  • Fresh pineapple

Dressing:
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
Step 1: Dice the garlic, and cut the ginger into slivers. Peel and section the oranges.
Step 2: Put 2 tbsp butter or margarine in a pan, and toast the almond slivers for 2-3 minutes. Add in the ramen noodles, and more butter if needed, and toast. Keep the seasoning packet for another use. Remove to a plate.
Step 3: Dice the chicken breast into cubes. Add to the pan along with the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and mustard. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked.
Step 4: Slice the pineapple into chunks for topping. Add in the cores of the pineapple to the pan and simmer.
Step 5: For each salad, add the dressing ingredients to a small bowl and whisk. Pile 1-2 cups greens on a plate, and top with pineapple chunks, orange slices, the toasted noodles and almonds, cooked chicken, and dressing.
The buttery crunchy noodles are so tasty, and the fruit adds a sweet note. The gingery, salty, garlicky chicken is delicious and could be used in so many other dishes as well.
Simply omit the chicken or use tofu instead to make this dish vegetarian. If you have actual glass noodles or other Asian noodles, you could also use those. If you don’t have or like almonds, try peanuts or cashews.
Appetizers, Healthy, Vegetarian

Mock-Caprese Goat Cheese Bruschetta

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Bruschetta is a classic Italian appetizer or snack, consisting of bread rubbed with garlic and topped with chopped tomato, olive oil, salt and pepper. Outside of Italy, bruschetta has become a word used for toast topped with just about anything. The most popular is diced tomato with olive oil and mozzarella or other cheese.

Caprese salad, or “insalata Caprese” is another Italian antipasto, or appetizer. Created to resemble the colors of the Italian flag, red, white and green, it consists of thick slices of tomato, fresh mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil leaves. Normally topped with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.

Since these are two of my favorite Italian appetizers, I decided to combine them into one delicious bite. However,  at the time I had no fresh mozzarella. Nor basil. Hence, the “mock-caprese”. However, you could use realistically any white cheese, and any fresh herb, and I’m sure it would be tasty.

Ingredients:

  • 1 thick slice farmhouse bread (or other whole wheat slice)
  • 1 fat, fresh Roma or beefsteak tomato
  • 2 tbsp garlic & chive goat cheese (or 1 thick slice mozzarella)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Step 1: Spread the goat cheese over the slice of bread, either with or without toasting it first.
Step 2: Slice the tomato into thick rings and put on top of the cheese.
Step 3: Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic. If using fresh herbs, layer them on top now.

You could easily scale this up for a lovely party appetizer, or make as few as will satisfy a snacking crave.

Comfort food, Main Dishes, Sneaky Healthy

Blender chili

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I know, the title of the post has you doubtful already. But stick with me, this will be the healthiest chili your husband/kids/friends/you ever ate without knowing it!

One of my all-time favorite ways to sneak healthy veggies into foods without detection is by juicing or blending them. This removes the physical give-away chunks that usually trigger the “ew” factor. You can get people to eat all kinds of yummies if they don’t know it’s there! I won’t tell if you don’t.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground beef or turkey (omit for vegetarians)
  • 1 can diced tomato
  • 2 cans kidney beans (or any kind)
  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 1 cup leafy greens; spinach or kale
  • 1-2 cans tomato sauce
  • 2 tbsp garlic salt
  • 6 tbsp chili powder
  • 2 tbsp black pepper
  • Sriracha to taste

Step 1: In a large pan, cut up the celery and carrots. Cover with water, and bring to a boil. You will blend these once cooked.

Step 2: Brown the ground beef or turkey if using. Drain the excess fat.
Step 3: Once the carrots are soft when poked with a fork (9-15 minutes) strain and add the carrots, celery, leafy greens, and one can of beans to a blender. Blend on high until completely liquid. This preserves the vitamins as well as fiber content from your veggies while masking the flavors. Add more water if needed while blending.
Step 4: Add the other whole can of beans to the meat, along with the diced tomatoes (best with green chilies for extra heat!) and the tomato sauce.
Step 5: Add in the veggie-licious paste and mix well. Sprinkle on the spices, mix, and taste test. Add more of whatever is needed to please the palate.
And there you have it! Super nutrient-packed chili that will still taste great and stick to your ribs. Delicious served with hot fresh cornbread, or over spaghetti like cincinnati chili.
Finances, Holidays, Informative

How to: Make a simple wreath for under $10

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This is a fun holiday craft I took on last year with really impressive results. You will be amazed by how gorgeous a piece you can make in just a little time with things you can find in your neighborhood. Could be a good kids craft or bonding time for couples. Just be careful if using real pine, the needles of some can really be sharp.
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Since you can use real pine branches, this wreath is super cheap. Just make sure you are collecting from a tree you own or are allowed to use… Then embellish with other things from nature, or some cute colorful things you can pick up at a craft store or Goodwill.
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You will need:
  • Several pine branches (real or fake)
  • Super glue/hot glue
  • Craft wire
  • Pine cones or other forest accessories
  • Embellishments, preferably in pretty colors like red, silver, green, or gold. You could go with any color theme you like.
  • Optional: Glitter, ribbons, etc.
Step 1: Begin forming the branches into a circular shape. Just move the branches around and piece it together into what looks best. Use the wire to hold pieces together once you like the look
Step 2: Once the branches are held together well, you can also hot glue them. Then start strategically placing your accessories. Intersperse colors with neutrals, like I did with the red fake berries and the pine cones.
Step 3: Spread glue around, and sprinkle with glitter for a little extra shine. If you don’t have a nail or hanger on your door, you can also now hot glue a thick ribbon onto the wreath to hang it.
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And now you can enjoy your unique, homemade holiday decoration. This would also be a great frugal Christmas gift.
Casseroles, Healthy, Main Dishes, Sneaky Healthy, Vegetarian

Acorn Squash Mac-n-cheese

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This is a recipe similar to one I have shared earlier on how to make Butternut Squash Mac-n-cheese. You could probably substitute in any winter squash you have on hand for the sauce. The acorn squash here gives it a subtly sweet flavor, and packs in TONS of fiber and extra vitamins. Try adding some squash to your mac n cheese, I bet the kids won’t even know!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 acorn squash
  • 1 box macaroni and cheese
  • 1 cup spinach

Step 1: Cut the acorn squash in half and roast, cut sides down, on a pan with 1 inch of water at 350 for 1-1.5 hours. Or you can microwave, cut side down, on high for 10 minutes, flip and 10 more minutes.

Step 2: Use a fork or spoon to pull the flesh out of the cooked sqash and mash it or put through a blender.

Step 3: Make your macaroni, and in the last minute of boiling add the spinach. Drain and add the cheese sauce.

Step 4: Stir in the squash, top with an extra sprinkle of cheese or breadcrumbs if you like, and serve!

Breads, Breakfast, Dessert, Healthy, Snacks, Vegetarian

Apple Mango Muffins

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Muffins are an awesome breakfast and snack food, when you make them yourself. The problem with most store-bought muffins is that they add in preservatives to keep them fresh far longer than is normal, tons of sugar to make them tasty and your body crave it, and other crappy additives and chemicals to fool your brain and tongue into loving them and wanting more.
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As I wrote in my vegetable scraps article and all about juicing, fruit and vegetables peels and scraps can sometimes be worked into muffin recipes to make them more nutritious and fiber-full, as well as help reduce food waste. This does depend on the type of scraps you have, so use common sense. If you juice a cucumber, grapefruit, tomato, and celery, that would likely make some weird-tasting muffins. But if you juice all fruit, save that pulp for this recipe.
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Ingredients:
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 2 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tbsp vanilla flavor
  • 1/2 stick butter or margarine, melted
  • 1/2 cup fruit pulp – (in this case apple and mangoes which I juiced)

Step 1: In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients (milk, eggs, vanilla, butter, fruit) and mix. In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder). Pour the wet into the dry and mix well.

Step 2: Line 2 muffin pans with paper or spray with cooking oil. Pour about 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup. You can see I also sprinkled a little extra brown sugar on top.
Step 3: Bake in an oven pre-heated to 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until fully fluffed and golden brown.
Step 4: Remove and let cool.
Now you have fresh baked muffins to enjoy! You can freeze these for easy on-the-go breakfasts and snacks throughout the week. The flavor can be whatever you want to add, get creative and try different combinations of fruits, vegetables, or nuts.
Appetizers, Less than 5, Main Dishes

Less than 5: Tuna Salad Puffs

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On nights when you just don’t have the energy or time to cook a whole meal from scratch, these “less than 5” meals are the perfect solution. For me to title a meal as “less than 5” it must require less than 5 ingredients, and it’s an extra bonus if it also takes less than 5 minutes to make.
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For this recipe, I had several cans of tuna I had purchased during a great sale weeks prior. I didn’t want the usual tuna-salad-sandwich, or tuna noodle casserole. So I looked in the fridge, and saw I had a can of biscuits. Viola, dinner inspiration!
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Ingredients:
1 can ready to bake biscuits (or croissants, any type of dough)
1 can tuna
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp relish
Salt & pepper if you like
Step 1: Open and drain the tuna. In a bowl, combine the tuna, mayo, and relish. Mix well.
Step 2: On a sprayed baking sheet, place each biscuit about 1-2 inches apart. Tamp down a small depression with your fingers or a spoon. Fill with 1-2 tbsp tuna mixture.
Step 3: Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown on top.
You can sprinkle these with whatever spices you have on hand, or a little bit of shredded cheese too.
They are great as appetizers, or eat several for a full meal! Feel free to add in other veggies to the tuna, like diced up cucumber or cooked egg, or lemon juice.
Finances, Informative

8 Ways to Work Out Without Whipping Out Your Credit Card

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We all know that our health is our greatest asset. I hope. Health is one of two things you can never get back; that and time. We are only given one body and one life to live. Enjoy what your body can do, use it, and work it out.

“Working out” tends to become a bit of a curse word with some people. They hear that and immediately get exhausted. You think: ‘I don’t have time’ or ‘I don’t have energy’ or ‘I can’t afford a gym’. But all these excuses are just that: excuses. Working out doesn’t have to cost any money at all. And working out can be fun.

Think back to when you were a kid. You went outside and played with friends. Maybe you had bike races or foot races, played basketball or softball, rolled in leaves and climbed trees. Hopscotch, jump rope, kickball, four square. All of these things get you moving, in a way that is fun. As adults, we need to re-discover “play time“.

My friend in college and our box fort
My friend in college and the box fort we built in our apartment.

As a society, we have become more and more sedentary as life becomes full of conveniences. We get out of bed to go sit in the car to go sit at a desk to then sit in the car to come home to sit on the couch. There is no hunting and gathering, building our own houses, gardening, running from danger. This has lead to the greatest health threats and most dire health situation humanity has know. We hear every day about the ‘obesity epidemic’ and how diabetes is on the rise.

You have the power to change that. You have the power over your own body and your own life.

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There are tons of cheap-to-free ways to work out. I’ll list them in order of free to most expensive:

1. Walking: The simplest and easiest way to do wonders for your health. Walking takes no money at all, can be done at any time, anywhere, and you can start at any comfort level. If all you can manage is to the end of the driveway and back, great, start there. If you already walk a half hour after dinner, awesome! Walking has been shown scientifically to be so beneficial for all things health related, there is no reason not to start right now!

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2. Jogging: Only slightly more challenging than walking. Start with walking, then once you can comfortably walk for 30 minutes, pick up the pace for a minute or two. If you like jogging, increase it until you can run a 5K. Who knows how far you can go! The only costs will be a good pair of shoes if you start doing longer runs.

3. Body weight exercises: this includes things like yoga and pilates, push-ups, jumping jacks, planks, crunches, squats. You can drop a few bucks on a yoga mat or something like that. Look online for ideas and free videos to demonstrate. You can get a great full-body workout for free in your own home.

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Image from the very informative website of Bret Contreras, the “Glute Guy”

4. Workout videos: This is borderline because you can find free videos online, or you can buy workout DVDs. Totally your choice. There is a HUGE amount of workout resources free online, just Google ‘videos’ and the type of workout you’re looking for, or check out one of the Top 30 YouTube channels for free workouts. These can be done on your own time in the comfort of your living room.

5. Bands/weights: This category can be very frugal if you pick up a used set of light free weights at a yard sale or Goodwill, or very pricey if you want to invest in a bench and full weights set. Again, your call. Make sure you consult an expert or at least look up information on proper form so you don’t injure yourself if you’re new to weights.

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6. Sports: Playing a club sport for fun or competition is a great way to have fun while working out, and as a bonus you can meet new people and make new friends. Check out the website of your local sports centers or Google sports that you enjoy in your area. This could be free or cheap, costing you just an application fee, or you could sink a few hundred dollars into new gear. Up to you.

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7. Classes: For this you can check Craigslist or Groupon for free or cheap classes offered near you. Or you can usually buy a single class or set of classes from a gym for a discount. Just look for fliers or ask around, you never know what neat new skill you might learn, and the friends you might make. Take a chance and try something new!

8. A gym membership: Typically the most expensive option, it does come with benefits. Most gyms do offer a free pass, or discounted first months membership if you want to just try it out. You will have access to weights, machines, and classes you otherwise might not. They usually have staff to help you use machines properly, or you could invest in personal training. Make sure you will get your moneys worth though, and actually show up.

In the end, it all comes down to the greatest exercise being one you enjoy and will consistently do. If you don’t move your body, you won’t get the benefits. Find ways to make it fun, buy a used bicycle, try kick-boxing, enlist some family or friends for a weekly stroll in the park. The options are endless once you really think about it and look.

And it all comes down to you. Why should you work out? Sure, it’s nice to look hot. Sure, it’s nice to have visible muscles. But the ultimate goal of health is just that: to be healthy. To have energy to play with your kids, to not get winded walking up stairs, to be able to lift boxes to help a friend move.

To live a longer, healthier, happier life.

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Now stop reading this and go move! =)

 

Healthy, Less than 5, Main Dishes, Pasta, Side dishes, Vegetarian

Creative leftovers: Cottage cheese & broccoli pasta

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We all know the feeling: it’s time for dinner or you need to pack a lunch, but you don’t know what to make and have little to no time. Rather than caving and just buying a pizza or going through the drive-through, try this simple recipe. With less than 5 ingredients (3, in fact) and requiring little time (as long as it takes for pasta to boil) it is a tasty time-saver.
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The ingredients are also something you are likely to have. Especially if you make pasta, make just a little more than you need for that meal, and keep the rest in the refrigerator. Pasta is very versatile in terms of just adding in a few other ingredients for a different, complete meal later.
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Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked pasta
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese
  • 1 cup frozen broccoli
Step 1: Boil 3/4 cup pasta in 1 1/2 cups water, lightly salted if you want. Add the broccoli after 5 minutes, and let boil another 5 minutes. Drain.
Step 2: Mix the drained pasta and broccoli in with the cottage cheese. And that’s it!
This shows you how very simple eating vegetarian can be. It is extremely frugal as well. Frozen broccoli often is on sale for $1 per bag or less, and you only need 1 cup. Pasta is a cheap staple, and the cottage cheese is an affordable protein. This meal is all-around healthy, frugal, and tasty.
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You can of course add to it, such as cooked shredded chicken, ham cubes, shredded cheddar cheese, or drained and rinsed canned beans. Make it your own and save a few bucks a day by not going out for lunches or save hassle with this quick dinner.