by Carrie on December 31, 2009
As 2009 comes to a close, it’s time to sum up the year in statistics and lists.
Top 10 Most Viewed Posts in 2009
- iTunes Tip: Storing Your Media on an External Hard Drive
- 30 Quick, Green, and Frugal Meal Planning Resources
- Arm & Hammer Clumping Cat Litter Coupon
- Dyson vs Hoover Showdown
- Use Aliases and Filters to Get More Out of your Existing Gmail Address
- Oven Barbequed Chicken
- Cleaning Silver with Baking Soda and Aluminum Foil
- Homemade All Natural Face, Body, and Foot Scrubs
- How I Organize My Coupons
- Grasshopper Pie
Most Commented on Post
Top 10 Blogs Sending Traffic to It’s Frugal Being Green (Thank you!)
- Money Saving Mom
- I’m an Organizing Junkie
- Get Rich Slowly
- Coupon Geek
- Make It From Scratch
- Life as Mom
- Deal Seeking Mom
- Cheap Healthy Good
- $5 Dinners
- My Frugal Adventures
Things You Can Do to Support It’s Frugal Being Green
- Spread the word about It’s Frugal Being Green. If you see a post that makes you think of a particular friend or family member, email them a link to it.
- Subscribe via RSS or email (both are free).
- If you have your own blog, link to posts that strike a chord with you like I do in my biweekly What I’m Reading posts, add me to your blog roll, or grab my button.
- Become a fan of It’s Frugal Being Green on Facebook. Once you are a fan, use the “suggest to friends” link on my Facebook page to tell a few friends about It’s Frugal Being Green.
- Follow me on Twitter. This is my new favorite way to connect with people in 2009.
- Click through my links whenever ordering from Amazon or iTunes or sign up for and become a regular user of Ebates or Swagbucks. These are just a couple ways you can support It’s Frugal Being Green financially at no additional cost to you.
- Comment on posts you like or posts you don’t like or anytime you have something to add or a question to ask. I want It’s Frugal Being to become a conversation.
by Carrie on December 30, 2009
December 2nd I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. More than 60% of US bankruptcies are due to medical debt and I’m very, very fortunate that I won’t be headed in that direction for two reasons:
- I have fantastic insurance through work. I pay a $15 copay for prescriptions, doctor’s office visits, and hospital visits. Everything else is 100% covered.
- Work is continuing to pay me as if I were working my normal full time schedule. We’re technically only allotted 4 sick days per year and I’m well past that but they’re not making me tap into my vacation time even when I’m out for check ups, tests, treatment, or just need extra time for rest and recovery and I’m still receiving my full salary.
I first noticed something was wrong during the last week of November and spent $15 for a check up with my regular doctor, $15 to check into the hospital for my biopsy, and $13 for post biopsy pain medication. November totaled $43 in medical expenses and I received my diagnosis 2 days later.
In December I spent $105 on 10 different prescription medications (to manage pain and side effects as needed) and $75 on doctor’s visits. At no additional cost I underwent a slew of scans and tests and two chemotherapy treatments.
Total spent on medical bills related to the cancer at this point: $223.
I also spent $80 getting my long, beautiful hair cut into a bob so that I’ll be less traumatized when it falls out. A good portion of that $80 was a hefty tip for the stylist who had many wise and soothing words related to the issue of hair loss.
And after attending the free Look Good, Feel Better class a few weeks ago, I made a $100 donation back to the program.
Total spent on not medically necessary cancer related expenses: $180.
Total spent on cancer so far: $430.
I’ll be updating this Cost of Cancer series towards the end of each month until I am cancer free.
by Carrie on December 27, 2009
For the month of January (and the last few days of December), I’ll be participating in the Eat from the Pantry Challenge. It’s pretty much in line with what I prepared for before I started my chemotherapy anyway so the timing of this challenge is good for me. For easy reference and inspiration when I’m uncertain what I want to eat, I’ve created a list of what I’ve got in my pantry, broken it down by when I would eat it, and printed and posted it on my refrigerator. I’ll try to keep this list updated each Sunday as I use things up or come up with additional ideas. My goal is to buy only milk and fresh produce between now and February (and maybe some extra high fiber foods as needed depending on how my chemo side effects are going).
Breakfasts
bagels
toast
bacon
sausage
eggs
oatmeal
cereal
frozen waffles
muffins
pumpkin bread
pancakes
cinnamon rolls
yogurt
Meats/Mains
canned soup
pasta with turkey meatballs
fajitas
garlic chicken stirfry
chili
refried beans with chips
tortellini
omelets
breakfast for dinner
chicken (garlic and herb chicken penne, maple roasted chicken and sweet potatoes)
tuna (tuna cheese melts, mac and cheese with tuna)
ground beef (beef stroganoff, chili)
Starch Sides
couscous
pasta
mashed potatoes
polenta
corn bread
bread/rolls
rice
tator tots
Fresh Produce
apples
potatoes
sweet potatoes
lettuce
onion
Frozen/Canned Produce
peppers
peas
snow peas
corn
brussels sprouts
carrots
spinach
pumpkin
tomatoes
Snacks
popcorn
almonds, pecans, walnuts
string cheese
granola bars
dried fruit
crackers
chips
Desserts
ice cream
popsicles
chocolate
jello
jello pudding
brownies
yellow cake
by Carrie on December 25, 2009
I hope you had a lovely Christmas day like I did.
Several years ago now, I picked up this cute 3 foot tall lime green tinsel tree for $5 from Urban Outfitters in their after Christmas online sale. Keep your eyes peeled for awesome decorations at great prices in the days to come. (And don’t forget to click through eBates if you’re shopping at Urban Outfitters.) This year I spent $20 on new tiny glass ornaments from Michael’s (partly because they were cute and partly because I have no idea where the tiny red glass balls I’ve used in years past went).
If you’re inquiring mind would like to see what I got for Christmas this year, you can check that out here.
And if you’d like to add to my holiday cheer, I’d love to have you subscribe via RSS or email, follow me on Twitter, or become a fan of It’s Frugal Being Green on Facebook. If you’ve already done one or more of those things, consider spreading the word about It’s Frugal Being Green to a few friends.
by Carrie on December 22, 2009
Thanks to your recommendations, I’ve finally selected an ordered a crock pot! Being sick makes me tired, especially after a full day of work, so hopefully this will help me make some great home cooked food with less time and effort in the kitchen.
The main things I was looking for in the perfect crock pot were a timer, automatic shut off, and a small size.
This Cuisinart beauty was a little pricier than many of the other crock pots out there but it’s a 4 quart model which should be perfect for cooking about 4 servings of any one meal. It was the only 4 quart model on Amazon that I could pick up using my giftcards from using Swagbucks as my main search engine and my free 2 day shipping from my free 30 day Amazon Prime trial. I also trust Cuisinart not to burn my house down and have had a good experience with the automatic shut off on my Cuisinart coffee machine.
To go along with my new crock pot, I picked up Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking by Stephanie O’Dea who is the author of http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ which also comes highly recommended from you guys.
And while I was ordering cooking stuff on Amazon, I just couldn’t resist picking up the new cookbook The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare by Erin Chase who authors one of my favorite blogs: $5 Dinners.
