Tag Archives: money

Food Preservation Help

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1. Cheese

Save cheese from drying out and getting moldy, by making your own brine. Into two cups of water dissolve two teaspoons of kosher salt. Stir until the salt dissolves.

Make sure the cheese is completely covered by the brine. If the cheese is already quite salty, you can submerge it in plain water. Store in a closed container in the fridge.

2. Store Garlic

Like those vampires it is reported to scare off, garlic hates light and moisture. To avoid moldy garlic, store it in a dry dark place at room temperature. A great way to do this is to place it in a paper bag punched with holes to keep air circulating. You can also store garlic in the cupboard on a wire-mesh basket. You can safely store garlic like this for up to 6 months.

3. Keep Onions Fresh

Onions can be harvested and stored over the winter. They need to be kept dry and aerated. First, you need to cure them. Spread the onions out in a single layer in a warm airy spot. Once they are dry, trim the roots with scissors. Store dried onions in mesh bags. An easy and inexpensive way to do this is to place them in a clean pair of pantyhose and hang them handy for use.

4. Leftover Tomato Paste

If you have any leftover tomato paste, place it on a baking sheet. Depending on how much you use per meal, you can make a different number of portions. Then roll each portion as a candy, put all your “candies” in a Ziploc bag, and put it in the freezer. You will be able to use it for up to 5 months.

5. Bug-Free Dry Goods

Did you know that a bay leaf will deter insects from making your flour supply their home? Beetles, weevils, moths, cockroaches, ants, and flies do not like the smell of bay leaves. Place dried bay leaves in the containers of your dry goods. It works for flour, rice, and pasta. You can also tape fresh or dried bay leaves inside your cupboards and shelves.

6. Freeze Everything That Can Be Frozen

Fruits, vegetables, and fresh herbs can all be frozen and used in the offseason.

Whether you have your own garden or you are buying more of these when in season, freezing them is an excellent way to save money and have fresh foods in the offseason. To freeze fresh herbs, chop and create green ice cubes. These can be popped into soups, stews, and sauces.

7. Wilted Herbs

Place your wilted herbs on a baking tray in the oven for a few minutes. Once they are done, place the herbs in a sealed jar and use them each time you need them.

8. Fresh for longer

Ginger, green onions, and radishes will keep longer and will stay fresh if stored in a sealed container, filled with water.

9. Keep your fruits fresh

Add 3 parts water to 1-part vinegar. Wash your berries in this mixture, dry them and then refrigerate. Strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries will last longer and won’t go moldy.

10. Fresh bread for longer

Put a celery stick inside your bag of bread. Your bread won’t get moldy for more than one week.

11. Milk

Put a pinch of table salt in your milk jug and store it in the freezer. The salt will stop your milk from getting spoiled.

12. Bananas

By wrapping the stems of your bananas in a plastic wrap, they will brown much more slowly.

13. Green salad

Store your green salad in a kitchen towel. Put it in a closed container and store it in the freezer. The towel will absorb moisture and your salad will stay fresh for longer.

14. Smart Saucer

You can make a nutritious sauce for pasta with your blender or food processor. Freeze it and it’s ready when you need it. This is a great way to preserve extra tomatoes in season.

15. Try Your Hand at Dehydrating

Here’s another great idea! New dehydrators have several shelves. So, you can dehydrate several foods at once – as long as they have the same dehydration time. The secret’s in the preparation and knowing how long to dehydrate. Most foods can be dehydrated.

16. Get Creative with Appliances

Want to try drying before you purchase a dehydrator? Try these ideas: Use your oven as a dehydrator. Preheat the oven to 145 degrees. Fruits and veggies will turn out crisp and tasty. Dehydrate meat to make jerky at 150 degrees. Use parchment paper for fruit leather recipes.

Try six to eight hours or increase the temperature and dry a shorter time. Make use of your toaster oven as a dehydrator. Set your toaster oven to as low as it will go. Leave the door slightly ajar. Check often.

17. Use the Old Sun Dry Method

Sun-drying has been around for generations. It is time-consuming but easy and cost-effective. Set food in trays on parchment paper in the sun. This drying process can take several days. Cover with mesh to keep insects and flies away.

Layer Savings To Reach Long-Term Goals with Strategic Planning

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Debt is something that everyone has these days. Some have less amount of it and find it well manageable while other carry large amounts in multiple loan accounts losing their sleep and money over it.

  • These people who have large amounts of debt cannot save money for their better future or even for an emergency situation.
  • On the contrary, people who have little debts can reach to both their savings for retirements as well as paying off debts quickly very easily.

It all depends on your current cash flow, in and out. If you earn well and have fewer amounts to repay, you will save. On the other hand, if your earning is less but your debt payments are more, you will have less or no savings but will surely stay in debt more a longer time, if not always and forever!

In such situations, on useful approach that you can take is to pay your debts off more aggressively. You may assume that your savings will increase in the future as and when your income increases. This will help you to pay off your debts as well.

Layering savings

Assume that you can save up to $30,000 per year for the next couple of years by paying off your debts continually. This same figure may increase to $40,000 per year when you pay off a second mortgage.Such savings layering can transform a marginally successful looking plan into one that has a high very rate of possibility of success.

The primary aspect of layering savings is to evade lifestyle sidle. This is a situation when you suddenly realize that you have more expensive tastes in you as and when your income increases.

However, paying off debt is a longterm project for most of the people. In order to achieve this, you will have to do two things namely:

  • Prioritize your debts to find out which needs to be paid down before and faster and
  • Strike a perfect balance between retiring in debt and saving.

This will help you to pay off your debts to achieve your financial goals within its longterm context.

However, both of these are not easy tasks. You will need to make a perfect decision to find out whether or not you should use any extra cash to pay off your debt or stick to the normal way of repaying it so that you can maintain steady and free cash follow. There are a few other things to consider for this such as:

  • How much of cash flow you have
  • How comfortable you are with your debt or debts and
  • How you weigh debt payments, savings and investments.

This will help you to see which best option will work for or against you. This will also help you to avoid debt stress and the hassles of looking for debt relief options at NationaldebtRelief.com or any other for that matter.

Tips to make a choice

Especially, when you have enough money in hand left over and thing turn out to be going very well and as expected at the end of every month, it may be very difficult to make the right choice of options. To help you choose the right option, here are a few tips to follow:

  • First, you will need to have a general sense of the number that will determine your cash flow is good enough to pay your debt off and save.
  • Second, you will need to have design a detailed budget to arrive at the final number of your cash flow.
  • Third, you will need to prioritize your debts in order to manage it well as per your present economic situation.

Next up, you must find out your comfort level while carrying debt with you. Yes, it is true that most of the people in today’s society are comfortable in carrying debt but it may not be the case for you. It is all about the money you earn and have in hand for disposal.

You may be like the handful of people who simply do not like any debt amount against their name. Even if they incur any, such as while making a purchase using their credit card, they tend to pay it off as soon as possible regardless of what the numbers may imply.

Therefore, making a choice between saving and repaying debts off is a matter of:

  • Personal choice
  • Amount of money available at a particular moment to pay off the debt
  • The comfort level with or without debt and
  • The long term and short term benefits and consequences.

However, if you choose to pay your debts off quickly and then save, make sure that amount of decrease in savings associated with in in the short term is logical enough and will not threaten your ability with unbeatable challenges to meet your ultimate financial goals.

Concept of ‘carry’

You may have come across the term ‘carry’ when people speak about debt. You may have come across it a couple of times in this article as well but you may not know what ‘carry’ actually means.

The term ‘carry’ actually refers to the difference of the amount you pay in the form of interest on your loan and the amount that you could have earned as an interest on that amount saved if you invested on something else that yields. That is why debt is also considered as a ‘burden’ or ‘load.’

For example, if you have a credit card debt that charges 19.5% interest.You know that you will pay more as interest on the credit card debt than you can earn in a money market by investing the same amount. In such a case it is unwise to ‘carry’ the debt for inexplicable reasons.

Therefore, the last and probably the most important step for layering savings is to determine how much debt you should carry, and this is not a very difficult task. All you have to do is consider the rate of interest and the tenure of the loan.

 

5 Signs Your Current Lifestyle Will Lead to Your Financial Demise

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Your lifestyle is very closely tied to your finances, as it often indicates how much you spend. Living frugally or spending with abandon are two very different lifestyle experiences, and the results of each will clearly show in your bank balance.

Here are five signs that mean you are heading for a cliff edge in terms of your financial situation.

1. You’re not saving 5%

Advice from experts suggests that you should be putting aside at least 10% of your income each month, if not 15%. But if you aren’t even managing to put 5% in your savings, then you are definitely living beyond your means. It’s even worse if you haven’t been able to put any savings aside at all.

If you feel like you can’t save that much each month, then you may need to cut back on your spending. Maybe that means not going out to dinner, limiting yourself to non-luxury items when shopping for groceries, or cutting back on some of your subscriptions. If you’re already living as frugally as possible and still not making savings, then the truth of the matter is that you’re simply not earning enough. Downsizing your home and looking for another source of income could be the solution in this case.

2. You don’t have an emergency fund

Everyone should have an emergency fund – again, experts recommend that you have around nine months’ worth of living expenses set aside, the minimum amount of money you would need to live during that time if you didn’t have any income at all. Why? Because life happens. You might find yourself unable to work, or suddenly lose your job – even if you have been an exemplary employee so far. You could crash your car and have your insurance fail to pay out, or lose your home in an accident which is not covered by your policy.

Vet bills, medical bills, legal fees, a broken-down car or boiler – these are all expenses which can come up from time to time and really knock you for six. You need to be prepared for these situations. If you aren’t, then you could have a nasty surprise waiting around the corner which could leave you bankrupt or in heavy debt.

3. You’re paying overdraft fees (or credit card fees)

It came to the end of the month, and you didn’t have quite enough to get you through to the next payday. Now you’ve got overdraft charges on your account – or you might even have credit card fees to pay until you pay them off. This is a bad situation, as it is the beginning of a spiral into debt. In both situations, you are being charged extra money because of the fact that you didn’t have enough to begin with.

When this happens, you should see it as a huge red flag and stop spending right away. Don’t be tempted to put more things on a credit card.

An interesting technique you can use is to stop paying with your card at all, and instead use a cash envelope system. Withdraw your money for the week or the month, and divide it into envelopes for specific purposes: groceries, shopping, going out, and so on. When the envelope is empty, you just have to stop spending in that category – simple as that.

4. You don’t have a budget

Not having a budget in place might seem fine when you have enough money to make ends meet easily. However, it’s a problematic situation to be in when one of those emergency situations strikes. Suddenly, you are spending far more than you can afford, and you have to suddenly put on the brakes to try and learn how to budget for the first time.

Set a budget now, and learn how to stick to it, as well as what constitutes a realistic budget based on your spending habits. This will help you a lot when changes in your situation occur.

5. You spend out of fear

Fear of missing out, or FOMO, is something that can drive us to spend money on crazy things. Do you really need that new piece of Victorian furniture, or are you just scared that you’ll never get another chance like that again? Don’t let fear dictate your spending. Don’t overspend on going out just to keep up with your friends, or buy a house you can’t afford the payments on because you want people to be impressed. It’s a road to nowhere.

By recognizing these signs and making changes now, you might be able to turn things around. Don’t let the worst happen – get in control of your lifestyle now, and stop your finances from suffering.

About Alana: Alana Downer is a personal finance expert and an avid blogger, who often shares her money tips and tricks online. Alana is also a part of the team behind Learn to Trade – a useful resource for all those who wish to start trading and investing. Should you have comments or questions, feel free to contact Alana on her Twitter.

Top 5 DIY Home Security Projects By Naomi Broderick

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property-protection-trustThere are many valuables that we would like to keep protected within our homes including important documents, jewelry, and money. Although burglary and theft can’t always be prevented in your home, there are many ways that you can make it more difficult for them to find your things. Here is a list of the top five DIY home security projects to help prevent theft of your valuables.

Hollowed Book – One of the most common, but most successful and popular ways to protect your valuables, is to hollow out a book. It may take you a couple of days depending on how determined you are to finish it, but it’s a pretty simple process. First, you’ll need a hardback book, some glue, a box cutter, and a brush you don’t mind getting glue in. Mix the glue with a little water (making it about 60% glue), hold the pages together and begin gluing the outside of the book. Once it’s dried, you can begin cutting out your pages from the middle leaving about ½ in. around the edges to make it look like the pages are still in the book. Once you reach the back of the book, you can take glue to the inside of the book to make sure that everything stays together. Now, you have a hollowed out book to hide some of your valuables in!

Safe Pillow – Although this way is a little bit trickier, it is a great way to make sure that your valuables stay safe. You’ll need a throw pillow that you’re willing to cut up, some scissors, thread the same color as the pillow, and some scissors. Cut a horizontal line on the back of the throw pillow that matches the length of the zipper. Take out the stuffing and start stitching the zipper into the pillow. Then, you can put the box or valuables you have set aside into the pillow with the stuffing, making sure the valuables are surrounded by the stuffing so you can’t feel them, and zipping up the pillow. Now you have a secret hiding place, in plain sight, that can help you keep your valuables safe and away from prying eyes.

Painted Jar – A great and simple project that you can finish in a day is to paint a food jar, particularly mayonnaise jars, to make them look like they still have food in them when in fact, it is holding your valuables. Find a paint that looks like mayo and gradually paint the inside of the jar with the color, making sure that it doesn’t get on the outside. A good way to prevent this is to use a plastic bag on the outside to prevent drips. Then, once your paint is completely dry on the inside (could take a couple of days depending on the paint and how thick it is), you can hide your valuables that won’t be harmed by cold temperatures and put it in the fridge!

Potted Plant – Although it may seem simple, using a potted plant to hide your valuables or money is a great way to thwart people who would steal from you. All you need is a plant that you want to hide your items in, and an old medicine bottle or small watertight container. Then, put your valuables or money into the bottle or container and dig a hole big enough for the container in your potted plant. You can then try to remember where your valuables are hidden, or you can put down a small rock or plant decoration to remind you where you hid your valuables.

False Bottom Drawers – Hiding things is drawers is not always the best way to protect important documents and valuables, but hiding things ‘underneath’ your drawers is a great way to prevent valuables from getting stolen. All you need is fabric or wood that looks like the bottom of your drawers cut to the size that you need. Then, you can put your valuables in the drawer, put the false bottom over them, and fill up the drawer with things that you normally would such as clothes, office supplies, or less important paperwork. False bottom drawers are a great way to hid paperwork and other important documents that people might want to steal. This way, even if someone rifles through the drawer, they won’t be able to find anything of value.

 

Keep Valuables Safe At The Beach

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safe lotion keys money safe beachWhat a great way to keep your valuables safe at the beach…. and it is free at that. You can use any bottle where the top of the container pops off – not the cap but on some bottles the top of the dispenser can be popped off from the bottle. Add a washcloth to wrap money and keys inside the bottle so if someone cam upon it they wouldn’t hear it rattle and nothing inside would move. For an added bonus after you really apply lotion to yourself/family place a little on your hand and dab on the bottle for a great effect. If it looks like lotion and it feels like lotion when a would-be thief decides to steal they more than likely ill drop it and look elsewhere.