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Archive through February 08, 2009

Reality TVClubHouse Discussions: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Jan ~ Apr 2009: Savings for a Purpose Thread (ARCHIVES): Archive through February 08, 2009 users admin

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Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Monday, January 26, 2009 - 11:54 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ladytex a private message Print Post    
I love 17 bean soup ... yum ...

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Monday, January 26, 2009 - 1:32 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
I just saw 17 bean soup mentioned. Quetion: I bought a 15 bean dried bean mix at the store, and when I tried to boil them (after soaking overnight as directed), some beans were overly mushy, or they came right out of their husks, and other beans were still too hard to eat, so how am I supposed to cook everything evenly?

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Monday, January 26, 2009 - 1:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
LOL Eeyore, I've had that happen with just one kind of bean on occassion. Think it's me more than the beans though.

There is a way to quick soak them, which my sister does all the time, but again, I'm not much of a cook and really don't know how. It's something to do with baking soda or powder and it only takes a couple hours rather than overnight. Wonder if that would work for the mixed beans?

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Monday, January 26, 2009 - 5:13 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
I think I will eventually try low long slow cooking of 17 beans in my crock pot.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Monday, January 26, 2009 - 11:24 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
Hmmm.....I wonder if the crock pot might be an answer. Maybe the need to STIR boiling beans (so they don't burn on the bottom), it is too rough on them. Maybe the slow warm lovin' of the crock pot might be more appropriate.

Serate
Member

08-21-2001

Monday, January 26, 2009 - 11:29 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Serate a private message Print Post    
Eeyore before my mom got a crock pot, when she made beans [and can I insert a big YUCK here?] she didn't boil them. Brought them to a boil, and then turned them down and let them barely simmer all day long.

Shadoe
Member

11-04-2004

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - 6:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Shadoe a private message Print Post    
17 bean mix?? That sounds great! I have Bob's Red Mill 13-Bean soup mix that I use for soup.

I soak the beans overnite in a pot of water in the frig and start with a smoked ham hock in the crock pot, with some more water and some things like unsalted diced tomatoes. Once the meat falls off the bone, I remove the bone and fat, then I toss in the soaked beans in the soaking water, so I don't lose the nutrients, then simmer on low for a day in the crock pot.

If you wanted, you could likely cook your beans mix in the oven, just bake them all.
Long and slow is the best for cooking the beans.

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - 10:55 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
LOL, I am gone for two days and now this is the bean thread! LOL!! And now I'm going to add to it! (I know we asked about slow cooking beans though.)

Thanks War for the low/high crock pot answer with the beans. Good to know you can probably use any kind of broth with beans especially since I never have any type of ham or bacon to put in with them. Thanks Bisc and Shadoe for the tips too.

Not only are these beans going to save me money, but canned beans have so much sodium.

War, I should have been clearer about Darren and my daughter having the same thing, I meant the same type of central iv line. She has an abscess. We won't know too much until Fri, she has an ultrasound tomorrow and Dr. appt. Friday. Her last lab shows her white blood count finally down to normal! Hopefully the thing is gone and she won't have to have surgery! (She went through that when her appendix ruptured and it was awful. This isn't nearly so bad as that.) As expensive as all this is, way cheaper than the hospital.

I found a way to save $15 per week! I am commuting to school quite a distance away and found people to carpool with! That $15 is just for tolls and parking. The savings will be higher because of the gas I won't have to use! I am super happy about this!

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - 11:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Woo hoo on commuting!!! Darren did it for a couple years with 3 guys he works with and then when his hours changed with just one of them but that was still great. It not only saves money, it saves wear and tear on your car too. Plus there's the benefit of not always having to drive, since there commute was half an hour long they could get a quick nap, read the paper, eat, etc. That was the one bummer to his promotion to a lead position...he now has to show up an hour before his crew to go through the orders and figure out who's doing what for the day before they show up and has no one to car pool with anymore.

Happymom, beans have gone up in price in the last year, but they're still one of the cheapest meals you can make. LOL, as I found out at Costco too, the bigger the bag you buy, the better the price too.

Ah, sorry. He had the regular IV line they just left in (the needle part) his arm. When they weren't using it they just wrapped it up and then they'd flush it out before and after treatments and rewrap it. Much better than having to insert it everytime we went in, but it was a pain too. He couldn't move his arm or bend it, it started to hurt after a while, and then too he was already having trouble walking with his knee but then he wasn't able to lean or hold onto anything on that side cuz of the iv. By the time it was over, I think he was happier to get rid of the iv than having his knee better!

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 - 11:39 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Er, that should be "Woo hoo on carpooling!" Commuting sucks, lol.

Biscottiii
Member

05-29-2004

Thursday, January 29, 2009 - 2:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Biscottiii a private message Print Post    
One thing to consider WRT carpooling, if you're doing regularly - let your Car Insurance company know. When I moved to living nearby and walking to work, my insurance company took a good size chunk off of my bill, because it was a reduced risk since I wasn't driving as much or during peak periods.

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Thursday, January 29, 2009 - 9:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
Oh, good tip Bisc! Thanks! I hadn't thought of that.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 12:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
<--- is sick and mad and really really mad! Did I mention mad?

I just got my gas bill, it's $175.49! I checked to see if it was somehow two months worth or if the bill was sent before I paid January's and nope, it's one freaking month. There's actually a teeny tiny note on the bottom talking about a rate increase and bills may be a "little" higher! It's $75 more than it was last month.

Makes me sick and really mad cuz we've done everything we can this winter to lower our gas bill. We use the wood burning stove when it's really cold. I turn the thermostat in the living room off when I get up in the morning and don't turn it on again (and set it to 70) until close to midnight cuz the fire keeps the front part of the house pretty warm. We don't turn the heater in the hallway on til 7 or 8 pm, then I turn it to low when I go to bed and Darren turns it off when he gets up at 3-4 am, by that time as long as the hall door stays closed the back part of the house will stay pretty warm til me and the kids get up. Not to mention we had a week and a half or so during this billing period where it was hot enough not to use the heaters at all!

Showers are short, though that's not for the gas bill it's for water conservation. I don't have a dishwasher, my dryer is electric, and my oven still isn't fixed (I only use the stove top to cook things like rice or noodles!) I only use hot water for washing sheets and towels.

There is absolutely no reason my bill should have gone up especially as much as it did. What really makes me mad and sick is that we've cut back on everything we can this past year to cut bills and instead they all just keep going up. Seems like we can't get ahead for nothing!

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 2:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
War, call the company. Maybe they made a mistake.

Pamy
Member

01-02-2002

Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 2:50 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Pamy a private message Print Post    
gas and electric co never adjust a bill, they always give some excuse, it is maddening! I called about electric bill last month and the girl was a total beyotch and said prices are higher and we prolly used more...we didnt have renters for that time period so I know usuage was down...cant win with them, can't change providers, they know it, so they dont give a shit about acurate charges or good service

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Saturday, January 31, 2009 - 3:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Happymom, I don't think it was a mistake. I've checked and checked and rechecked the bill and it clearly states that there's been a rate increase.

And yep Pamy, it's not like we can run out and change companies if they are too expensive. I went rounds with the gas company years ago when I made a mistake and sent them the electric company's check (electric got the gas check.) Middle of summer, gas bill back then was around $30 and electric a couple hundred. Electric co sent back the check with a letter, gas co cashed the electric co check and wouldn't give me a refund, they gave me a credit. Which might have been nice except it left me short for the electric comapny! Thank goodness the electric co was so understanding about the whole thing and gave me an extension.

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 12:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
Yeah, I tried it too once. No luck. I was sure there must have been a mistake, but the woman on the phone had me go look at the meters and call back. It had been a very wet Jan. and we probably were using the heater instead of the woodstove back then. (And the Xmas lights were probably part of it and maybe we were running the hot tub. Something we haven't done for a year or more...too expensive!) But another time, the pg&e guy knocked on the door and said the card could not be what I had marked it at. (The card had gotten dropped and the spinny circles had moved.) So he went and read the meters himself. (We keep the gate locked because of the dog. They only have to verify every 6 mos.) I think if I could be off, they could occasionally make a mistake. Even though there was a rate increase, maybe they also made a mistake reading the meter. That is such a high increase!

I hear your frustrations! It is maddening when a company makes some kind of mistake. (or even if they don't and they aren't giving nice polite customer service!) Almost always it is very time consuming for me to try to straighten it out and no one is paying me for all the time that co. is causing me!

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Sunday, February 01, 2009 - 12:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Good live customer service -- it's why I love doing business with Lands' End.

Christy358
Member

07-10-2007

Tuesday, February 03, 2009 - 10:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Christy358 a private message Print Post    
And no one pays the company for the time they spend dealing with customers that question every little thing.

You might have a real issue.....but trust me, companies would make money if they paid to fix things and charged to check.

(No I do not work for a utility. I work retail. Cant tell you how many calls I get to check to see if the price THEY HAD EVERY CHANCE TO DISPUTE AT THE TIME THEY SIGNED TO PAY was correct.)

sorry for yelling

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Friday, February 06, 2009 - 12:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
I wouldn't question it if it made sense. But, the gas isn't the only thing we've cut back on and still watched prices rise. Our water bill has tripled in the last year. Electric has gone up quite a bit and now gas. I've never questioned about my gas bill (other than when they cashed the electric co's check) but this time I think I have a real reason to do so!

So...next time I get all excited for paying off a credit card and having bills paid two weeks early, someone slap me. Oh and being happy bout Darren working some overtime. We were looking forward to the fact that we were going to have a bit extra money this paycheck but that only lasted a few damn days.

Dropped my car off last night for the brakes. They checked it over this morning and the guy just called. Says, yep, both front and back brakes need to be changed...little surprised since the car has under 60,000 miles on it. The rotors are fine though (Darren was worried about that) which will shave a little off the estimate that they gave us yesterday, not sure how much I didn't think to ask. Cuz of course they found something else wrong. Alternator belt needs to be changed, that'll be 90 some odd bucks. Oh, but that's not the worst, apparently two of the lugnuts on the left front tire are completely stripped. The lugnuts aren't the real problem, the studs they're attached to are a serious problem and need to be replaced and I guess that's a huge pain in the ass. That'll be another 170 something, as long as its not any worse than they think. Guy cautions me that this is the worst problem cuz I've only got two of the five bolts on the tire working properly.

What really ticks me off about this is that we've never done any of the work on the car ourselves. Theres so many computerized parts to it that Darren and bil (who do most of the work on the other cars themselves) won't touch it so we always take it either to the dealer or one of the auto shops. I don't know much about cars, but I don't think lugnuts can be stripped out by wear and tear alone, maybe I'm wrong about that though.

So, week ago, I thought we'd have a little extra money this paycheck. Last night I figured, ok, no extra money since that's going towards the brakes. Now I'm sitting here looking at spending another $260 out of a regular sized paycheck and wondering if I can put off buying groceries this week!

Happymom
Member

01-20-2003

Friday, February 06, 2009 - 1:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Happymom a private message Print Post    
I feel the same way, just when I feel good about saving money, like I've plugged a hole in the dam, another leak springs up somewhere else.

So sorry about your car expenses. I do sometimes put off grocery shopping. We can just do without for awhile and use up stuff here. I am going to have to do that more and more too. It's hard though because I do want to keep us healthy with healthy food. The only fruit one kid eats is fresh, frozen only in smoothies. She doesn't eat any vegs.

Re: your gas bill, can you look and see that you are at least using less even though the price went up? It might make you feel a little better. Our bill has the therms printed on it for the past mo. and for this time last year.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Friday, February 06, 2009 - 1:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
Oh yeah, it has how much we're using, didn't go up any from last month and was down a bit. When I go out to pay it I plan on asking about it.

Car expenses suck, but I can't do much about it. Most of my job is driving (to the dr, to the bank, to the grocery store, now to rehab) so I can't do without it and as Darren pointed out it's also our primary family car. Got to do what we got to do.

At least I do have enough groceries to get through til my paycheck comes. We'll have to do without on some stuff (milk, lunch foods for me, fresh fruit/veggies) and I'll have to stretch some meals, but the kidlets won't go hungry. They won't be too happy when I tell them they have to buy a snack at school (they have money on their accounts to do that) cuz the school snacks usually aren't that great, but they'll live.

That's just it, plug a hole in the damn and another leak springs. Every single time I feel like it's all good and we can start saving again, we get hit with something else.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Saturday, February 07, 2009 - 12:13 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
We had a bit of a break with the car. When the guy called this morning and told me about the lugnuts and studs, he told me they'd that they'd have a hard time getting to the studs to get them off and replace them. I speak mechanic talk as well as techie talk, but it was something about having to remove a bunch of stuff (tire, rotor, and something or other else.)

When he called to say the car was ready, he told Darren that it turned out to not be that difficult, something about there being a pocket and they didn't have to remove as much as they initially thought they would. He'd estimated $174, but dropped it down to $58. He also dropped the price on the brakes (like $9) so altogether it wasn't as bad as we expected earlier but still about $160 more than we thought yesterday.

Sadiesmom
Member

03-13-2002

Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 12:50 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Sadiesmom a private message Print Post    
This winter I got my first oil bill and it was for $500 and I don't have a large tank, so I was a bit shell shocked. Since then I have kept the house at 67 and try and heat one room up to 79. The side effect is that I only clean the same room, it is too cold in the rest of the house. I will just have to bundle up and concentrate tomorrow and clean the rest of it.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 2:07 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wargod a private message Print Post    
I'd wondered how high oil was, Sadiesmom. That's pretty bad!

If anyones interested, I went to Vons today to shop for my aunt and they're having some pretty great sales. 2 lbs of apples for $1, 1lb bananas for .59, 1lb baby carrots $1, uhm, fritos and cheetos $1 a bag. There was quite a bit more than I'm forgetting. I spent $10 for my house (the fruit, veggies, and chips.) Not a big fan of chips at snack times, but they were cheap, lol. I've been buying a lot of aunts stuff at Costco, so Vons is usually fresh fruits/veggis, peanut butter, lunch foods, dairy foods, sodas (vons almost always has sodas on sale,) and treats. Bought probably 3-4 weeks of that type of stuff and spent $120 which was pretty good. I'll probably have to go back for pb, milk, and bread before the end of the month but that'll be about it.