Well, I have pretty much been on the couch for the last week or so. I am just so tired I can hardly move so dinners have been hit and miss.

I did manage to put one together that was very yummy and satisfied an Arby’s craving. They keep having French Dips on their commercials and it looks sooo yummy!

The other day even though I was on the couch I did manage to throw together a great less than $5 French Dip Dinner.

We had:

French Dip

Tossed Salad

Carrots for the kids

Peaches

I put a frozen roast on the stove on low at noon and threw in an onion and a couple of cups of water. I let it cook all day. I did have to add water a couple more times. Before serving I put in a couple of bouillon cubes, salt, onion and garlic powder.

I then served it on large rolls with the onions. I served the juice on the side for dipping.

I was able to put together a quick salad to go with it in a moment of feeling like I was going to hurl.

The roast I got on clearance for $5.79 and used about 1/3 so it cost less than $2. The leftovers have been used for our lunches and make shift dinners the last 3 days.

The rolls were 6 for .79 on clearance.

Then the peaches, salad and carrots cost less than $2.

I had someone ask last week how I could spend so little. Well, I shop sales and clearance items. You can find all that info. in our new Grocery Shopping On A Budget e-course which comes out next week.

Here’s a run down for the last $5 dinner.

Grilled chicken (on the George Forman) - Boneless, Skinless $2.25 lb from Aldis

French Bread broiled with butter and garlic powder - .69 on clearance

Broccoli with cheese on top- The broccoli was $1 for the bag, cheese was .25, just used it for flavoring on the top.

Grapes- on sale for $1.19 /lb.

From: janice j.
How do you use styrofoam to protect an outside
faucet? It is getting colder and I am worried.
Thanks!

I would duct tape a big chunk around the faucet. Maybe break it apart so it fits around there snug and then just duct tape away until it’s on there tight.

Tawra
Depending on your faucet, I have taken 2 large styrofoam cups and put one inside of the other then taped.

Jill

Hi Tawra,

Just a tip for cheap Christmas decorations. I use the leftover nuts from Hallow E’en along with interesting pasta shapes. Spread all out on a sheet of newspaper and spray with gold spray paint. These decorations look great scattered around or in a glass jar and keep for years. I occasionally gold spray a grapefruit to place beside a golden Santa Claus and it looks terrific too.

Siobhán M.

Hi…this is from Allrecipes.com it is so yummy, and easy (use a larger sauce pan…foams up some)….good to use up buttermilk…dd

I tried this waffles and oh boy, was it ever good! Tawra

Buttermilk Syrup
“This is a great homemade syrup that we found at a little B&B in South Dakota. This syrup is wonderful on hot, fresh blueberry pancakes.”

COOK TIME 15 Min
READY IN 15 Min
Original recipe yield 2 cups
SERVINGS (Help)
Servings

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda. Bring to a boil, and cook for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla.

Tawra,

I’m hoping to enlist readers of Living on a Dime for a crowdsourcing project I think you’ll find interesting.

While writing about nasty credit card practices for a recent SmartMoney column http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/Deals/New-Face-of-Credit-Cards/, I started hearing a lot more about a particularly unusual tactic, called behavior risk assessment. You’ve probably been hearing about this too. Essentially, behavioral risk assessment looks at what you buy and where, comparing it with the shopping patterns of cardholders who have defaulted or have a bad repayment history. That risk assessment can be used to cut your credit line or increase your rate.

To better understand this and other criteria used by issuers to cut limits, we’re doing research with consumers who have experienced a limit cut. In the particular case of behavioral risk assessment, there’s little known about which purchases increase your risk.

So we’re looking for people who have recently had their credit limits cut and are willing to talk to us about their spending habits.  You can find a few more details here http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/Budgeting/Tell-Us-Your-Credit-Card-Experiences/. Readers can also write to me directly at kgrant@smartmoney.com. (I’m asking that those who email please include “Credit Line Cuts” in the subject.)

I’d greatly appreciate it if you could post this on your site, or otherwise direct readers to our effort.  I will keep you posted as our research progresses and would also plan to highlight Living on a Dime’s help when I write about this.

Thanks in advance for your consideration! And please let me know if you have other suggestions.

Sincerely,

Kelli

Kelli B. Grant
Senior Consumer Reporter
SmartMoney.com

I LOVE fruitcake of any kind and this one sure sounds good. Thanks Linda for sharing! Tawra

From: Linda C.
Hi! Ladies!

I’d like to offer one more Fruit Cake for those
who don’t like the real ones.

Fruit Cake

1 box yellow or white cake mix
1 15-16 oz. can of fruit coctail
1/2 to 1 cup of walnuts
extra marichino cherries (OP)
1 large handfull of brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix cake mix as directed on
box. May substitute applesauce for oil.Drain
fruit coctail, reserve juice. Mix in fruit and
walnuts to cake mix.

Combine fruit juice with enough water to make up
the water portion of the cake recipe. Mix well.
Pour into cake pans and stir until all
ingredients are mixed throughly.

Pour batter into greased pan and sprinkle brown
sugar on top of batter before putting it in the
oven. Bake at 350 for however long your pan size
calls for. Since I use an oblong pan, I usually
bake it for 40-55 minutes. Test with toothpick at
40 minutes, and so on till it comes out dry.

I hope you like it.

From: Brandy M.
Tawra,
I recently read your article in Countryside
Magazine July/August issue. It was great, I’m
glad you’re getting the “frugal” word out!
In the Sept/Oct issue, a couple of ladies were
asking for homemade beauty/cleaning products. I
sent a letter to the editor recommending your
website and book to these ladies, and was
thinking it would be great if you could write
another article on beauty/cleaning products.
Congrats on the pregnancy your in my prayers!
Brandy

Brandy, Thanks so much for spreading the word for us! Here some tips and recipes to help you get started.

Tips for Beautiful Nails and Hands

Pretty For Pennies

Is the Price of Relaxation Stressing You Out?

From: Ruth H.
Thanks for the great tip for the use of
leftovers.
I would like to submit a tip for using leftover
mac and cheese.  It can be added to scrambled
eggs as an extender. Just beat the eggs until
they are one color. Then add the cooked macaroni
and cheese.

Scramble as usual-delicious!
If you are short on eggs and need to make them
for a crowd, just cook some mac and cheese and
use as an extender.

From: Shari S.
Hello Jill and Tawra — Thank you so much for
living your lives so openly, and to the glory of
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!  You are such
a blessing to me.

Three questions:  When you clean your carpets, do
you have them done by a professional carpet
cleaning service, or do you rent a carpet
cleaning machine and clean them yourselves?

Answer: Usually we rent a carpet cleaner and do it ourselves. Now that we live in the country we tried it once ourselves and it didn’t work so well. I think we will be spending the $99 every year now to have it done professionally. It just didn’t do a good job at all when we did it. The clay mud is just too much I guess.

Yes, it is much cheaper to do it yourself ($25-$45 vs. $99-$200) but the results for us weren’t worth it.

What kind of savings is there in NOT using one’s
dishwasher to wash dishes, verses washing them by
hand?  Our dishwasher is a 1991 model.

I would say if your dishwasher is that old probably a huge savings. The newer dishwashers are much more efficient and can use the same or less water than hand washing depending on how you do it.
If you want to know the proper way to wash dishes you can read it here.

Do you have a recipe for making dishwasher soap?

Answer: Yes, equal parts baking soda and Borax is a great homemade dishwasher soap. Use 2 Tbsp. per load.

We have hard water so  I still use regular dishwasher detergent from the store.

Tawra

From: Leah S.
I was just reading through some saved e-mails and
came across a L.O.A.D. newsletter from over a year
ago that mentioned watching bulk purchases because
they might not always be the best deal. It brought
to mind what happened to me just yesterday. I was
at a Wal-Mart Supercenter and purchased some paper
towels. The single roll of Viva was $1.00 and not
on sale. The 8 roll multi-pack of the same size
roll(my husband and I both checked to be sure!)
was $9.02! I have noticed this a few times before
at Wal-Mart stores with other products, also. So
even if storage of bulk is not a problem, really
watch the total purchase price!

This happens ALL the time. That’s why you really need to watch those prices. A price book can be helpful if you are just starting out. Tawra