http://www.LivingOnaDime.com/

I purchased some new shoes, New Balance, the end of May. I like them because with my Fibromyalgia my feet hurt and this has helped a lot! Well, about a month ago the tops of the shoes started peeling. It was just one spot so I was going to let it go. Last week the entire top of both shoes was peeling. Usually these shoes last me 6 months before I need to buy new ones because they are broken down and then I move them to my “Yard work” shoes. They last me a long time in that state.

I was mad that I had spent almost $40 on shoes and they didn’t even last 3 months!

I called the store, Shoe Carnival, and they were happy to exchange them for a new pair for me.

I was so thankful not to have to buy another pair because these were faulty.

It pays to ask when you get a product that doesn’t stand up even when the stores return policy is 30 days.

BTW, I think I am going to try some higher priced Walmart shoes next time and see if they will last as long.

Tawra

http://www.LivingOnaDime.com/

First, thank you all for your suggestions! We really appreciate them! I’m sorry I didn’t update you sooner. She was supposed to go back to the doctors last week and had to cancel so I was going to wait until we heard for sure.

Mom is going back to the doctor this week. She thinks the memory loss might be from stopping her estrogen. She went back on it two weeks ago and seems to be doing better. She is going to check on leg pain again, although last time he said it was just a nerve. She is going to insist on making sure that is all it is.

Also, one lady saw my post on how I think my daughter may have Fibromyalgia. We think it might be sleep apnea instead and we are going to the doctor on the 1st to get it checked out. Pleas pray that is all it is! I really hope that’s it!

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions!

Tawra

www.LivingOnADime.com

Frugal Ethics.

I have to say there are times when it’s tempting to lie, steal or break any of the other 10 Commandments while being frugal. In being frugal we need to do our best to stick to being honest. This is not always easy to do, but I want to give some examples that may help you stay honest.

You call in sick to work and you or a family member isn’t sick. Stealing.

This one really irked me! We needed some labels for the business. UPS gives their customers free unlimited labels as needed for packing to ship with UPS. A lady was getting huge amounts and selling them on e-bay. She even had UPS ship them directly to me “her other office”! The gaul! I did confront her and told UPS after we received the labels and realized what had happened. I should have known it was a “too good to be true” deal!

You need some pens because you are running short so you take a handful from a store that is giving them out. This is stealing. If you take one that’s fine but unless they tell you it’s ok, that’s not the point of them giving the pens out.

Limit One Per Customer when specials are run. This means you can buy one item one time. Not go back three or four times to get more. Again, this is stealing. They are doing this as a special deal and are loosing money on it. If it says Limit one per Purchase, go back as many times as you want.

You buy an item and you use it a few times and then return it because you’re done with it. Stealing and lying. You probably won’t tell the sales clerk you just needed to use it for a few times.
If an item breaks or is new and just doesn’t work or is the right color etc., fine return it but if you just needed it “for a few times” (like a dress for a special occasion)and know you won’t used it again, it’s not ok to return it.

If you eat some food and it just tastes nasty but there is a guarantee on the box. Fine return it.

You find a “great deal” that you can’t live without but you know you don’t have the money to pay for it now and/or you hide it from your husband that’s lying.

If you charge up a credit with frivolous things like shopping and eating out and then declare bankruptcy. This stealing from the credit card company. Unless it’s extenuating circumstances like medical bills it’s not ok to claim bankruptcy. You signed that piece of paper when you purchased the item saying you would pay them back and you didn’t. It’s up to you to pay them back any (legal way you can, even if it does me being “deprived” for a time.

You buy a house that is more than you can afford because you see others buying them and you think “they are the same age as me, I work hard, I deserve that too”. When all you think about is how you don’t have what someone else has, you keep thinking over and over about an item that you want and are depressed because you can’t have it that’s coveting. An example is “our house is too small” or “our car is a real clunker so we need to buy a brand need one to save on repair costs,(this is a huge myth!).

I could go on and on but I often hear stories of “good deals” from people who really aren’t being frugal just dishonest. Just my two cents but I thought I would share it.

Tawra

www.LivingOnADime.com

Garden Leftovers
By Tawra Kellam
http://www.LivingOnADime.com/
——————————

In April you can’t wait to taste the first tomato. By September you are sick of tomatoes and wondering if you can eat another one. Here are some ideas to use those summer leftovers from Not Just Beans and Dining On A Dime.

Watermelon Pickles
3 pounds white portion watermelon rind, cubed
5 cups sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. whole cloves
1 Tbsp. whole allspice
3 cinnamon sticks, 3 inches each
1 lemon, sliced

Put watermelon cubes in a large pot with enough salted water to cover. Soak overnight. Drain. Cover with fresh, cold water and bring to a boil. Cook over low heat until tender. Drain. In another large pot, combine sugar, vinegar and water. Tie cloves, allspice, cinnamon and lemon in a cheesecloth bag. Add to sugar mixture and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Boil 5 minutes. Add watermelon cubes and simmer until translucent, about 15 minutes. Remove spice bag and pack pickles in hot, sterilized jars. Refrigerate 2 weeks before using. Makes 4 quarts.

Fried Green Tomatoes
2 qts. water
2 Tbsp. salt
1 cup flour
vegetable oil or bacon grease for frying
4-6 medium green tomatoes, un-peeled and sliced
salt (to taste)

In a mixing bowl, mix salt and water. Soak sliced tomatoes in salt water mixture or 30-40 minutes. Drain and drop slices a few at time into a bag in which you have placed the flour. Shake thoroughly to coat. Heat the oil in a large skillet and carefully place the slices into the hot oil. Brown until crisp on both sides. Salt to taste. You can also use squash, zucchini or eggplant in place of or with the green tomatoes. Serves 4-6.

Salsa
4 cups tomatoes (canned with juice may also be used)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, diced
2 to 3 Tbsp. lime juice (to taste)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
1 small, fresh jalapeno pepper, minced
salt and pepper

Cook all the ingredients in a large saucepan on medium heat for 20 minutes. Pour into hot, sterile quart jars and seal. Process in a pressure canner for 25 minutes. We use salsa frequently enough that we don’t have to can it. If you don’t can it, store it in the refrigerator. Makes 3 pints.

—————————————————————————-
Tawra Kellam is the author of the frugal cookbook Dining On A Dime (formerly Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites). Dining On A Dime is a frugal cookbook which has over 1200 recipes and tips. For more free tips and recipes visit our website at http://www.LivingOnADime.com/ .

Don’t eat so much.

I’ve lost 26 lbs. and Mike has lost 30. After years of trying to see if we need to count carbs, cut fat, I’m just too tired, too depressed, too sick or busy and all that other stuff it really just boiled down to us to stop eating so much. I do think that you don’t need to pile on the butter and be careful to not cut everything out but like everything else it’s just moderation.

It has been a very long journey for me. There are days when I am so sick and so tired I just don’t even want to try so I go back to eating the way I used too and gain a pound or two back, and make myself really sick doing it. It taken me over 8 months to loose 26 pounds but I am starting to realize that I am still better off than I was at Christmas last year so I’m not going beat myself up because I haven’t lost the entire 45 pounds I want to loose. (I started at 200.)

I didn’t gain weight when I started writing a cookbook. I gained it 15 years ago when I had a relapse and got sick while I was an exchange student in Sweden. (The stress and the fact that they walk everywhere just put my body into overload again.) The doc told me to just rest in bed and gave me some meds. to “help”. I gained 50 pounds in 2-3 months from the meds. and staying in bed.

I didn’t gain weight while pregnant or I should say that I did gain some but was in my pre-pregnancy clothes a week after the babies were born. At one point I did go from 190 to 225 when I was on some meds. in 1996 and did loose that weight.

It is very hard when you are tired or depressed to try to loose weight. I would suggest that sleep and overworking is the reason people aren’t loosing weight and are in debt. When you are tired you just don’t care and don’t want to try doing either.

If you are depressedd, please get some help. I know that is way easier said than done but it does make a huge difference when you can think straight and aren’t exhausted and down all the time. It took about 10 different meds and 5 or 6 doctors over the last 5 years to finally find a medication that would work for me. I have been fighting it since we moved back to Kansas 5 years ago and I was beginning to wonder if anything would help. I completely relate to Marie Osmond and Brooke Shields! It seemed as if I could have put my name in their stories and it would have been my story!

I am on a diabetic diet if anyone is interested. It’s basically just counting how much you have eaten for the day and keeping a balance.
I have to say that it is nice not thinking about food all the time. Even though I’m dieting I think about it a lot less than I did before.

What does this have to do with saving money? It’s basically the same thing. When you are tired and exhausted you just don’t care. Until you just decide you can’t live like this any longer you aren’t going to change. It’s really just a matter of self-control and never giving up no matter how long it takes to loose weight or get out of debt!

Anyway, I just wanted to share on journey of weight loss with everyone and let you know that itdoesn’t cost a lot to loose weight. Our grocery bill has gone up about $10 while doing this.

Tawra

http://www.LivingOnADime.com

Thanks everyone for all the advice about mom and Elly’s health problems. Mom is going to the doctor this week to have everything checked out. She is going to push this time and make sure something is done. If not, she will change doctors.

Someone recommended that my daughter get tested for sleep apnea, that could be causing her extreme fatigue. It’s funny it was mentioned because just the week before Mike was told to get a sleep test done because he is tired all the time too. Allergy meds., asthma meds., sleep pills etc. haven’t help him so they wanted to test him. I am wondering if Elly has the same problem. We will see.

Thanks again for all the advice! I appreciate everyone taking the time to advise us!

Tawra

Recipes from Not Just Beans and Dining On A Dime.

http://www.LivingOnADime.com/
——————————

Hot Fudge Sauce

1/2 cup packed plus 1 Tbsp. cocoa 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup margarine or butter 1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
2 cups sugar 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan and heat to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Serve warm or chilled. Makes 3 cups.

Chocolate Syrup*

1/2 cup cocoa, packed 1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup water 1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sugar

Mix cocoa and water in a saucepan. Heat and stir to dissolve the cocoa. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Boil 3 minutes. Add the salt and the vanilla. Pour into a sterilized jar. Store covered in the refrigerator. Keeps for several months. Makes 2 cups.

http://www.LivingOnADime.com/
—————————–

Put bar soap on a sponge to keep “goo” from getting all over.

Spray or sprinkle cleanser on your rag before cleaning. This saves rinsing time and doesn’t waste cleanser.

Use toilet paper cores to store scrunchies.

Store barrettes on a ribbon hanging on the back of the door or inside the cabinet.

Keep cleaning supplies and rags in the bathroom. This way you will save time by not having to go to the kitchen to get them.

Use a colander to store bath toys. Drains great and you can just lift it out in one motion when mom wants to take a bath.

Just use a damp lint free rag to wipe down the mirror. No need to buy or make window cleaner.

Melt small pieces of lipstick and mix with lip gloss. Pour into an old lipstick or chapstick tub or container.

http://www.LivingOnADime.com/

Mike forgot to pay a credit card bill the other day. It was due in two days and the site was down and he couldn’t pay it online. He called and asked if they would extend the due date and they said yes.

If you can’t pay a bill on time, call and ask. Usually if you ask they will be more than willing to help if it’s not done on a regular basis. We have done this with credit cards, the utility company and medical. If it is a real hardship and you were laid off or lost your job they are usually happy to delay payment for a couple of months and set up a payment plan.

The main this is TO CALL THEM! They are much more willing to work with you if you call them before you have to start missing payments then after you have missed several.

You may not want to admit that there is a problem but it’s better to admit it to the credit card company or mortgage company than it is to a collection agency!

Tawra

www.LivingOnADime.com

We could use some advice.

For the last several months mom has been seriously loosing her memory. There is some memory loss with our illness but not usually this bad.

She will be talking and just forget in the middle what she is talking about.
Today she said she went to get a mug out of the cabinet and got a saucer instead. Then she went to sweep up some crumbs and swept the area all around the crumbs put up the broom. She went into the other room to do something else, because she forgot she was going to drink some coffee and she forgot what it was she went in there for when she got there so she came back in the kitchen and realized that she had gotten out the saucer instead of the mug and didn’t sweep the crumbs she originally was going to clean. She did all this in about 5 minutes.

In writing the new book, she will write things that make absolutely no sense at all and then re-read and have no clue what she was trying to say.

More times than not I will tell her something and she can’t remember it. She is constantly loosing things. The other day she was looking for a book and knew right where she put it. She looked there about 10 times over the last month and couldn’t find it. She went and looked again and it was sitting right out front. If it was a snake it would have bitten her!

She feels like she is loosing her mind. She asked the doc and he just brushed it off.
She’s 54 and is on high blood pressure medicine and her cholesterol is high. Non of the cholesterol meds. will work for her because they keep making her really weak and sick. She isn’t sleeping well at all. She was on estrogen, she had a hysterectomy at 44, and has just gone off it. This started happening way before she went off it.

Her dad’s family has Alzheimer’s. Her grandmother and her dad’s 2 brothers and sister have it but my grandfather doesn’t have it. (he’s 78 and doesn’t show any signs yet.)

She’s not sure what to do next. Has anyone heard of this happening? The doc doesn’t want to test her for Alzheimer’s or do an MRI or anything. I was thinking of maybe trying to go in with her and insist that he do something.

Any suggestions would be helpful. You can just email below if you can think of anything.

Thanks!
Tawra

editor@livingonadime.com

P.S.
I just talked to her and I forgot that she has been having horrible leg pains for about a month. Every time she sits down it hurts so bad she has to stand up. After talking to her we are wondering if she may have heart problems. My grandfather has had 2 heart attacks.