How to Fix Pilled Clothes

By Angela on April 11, 2016

I’m cheap, I’ll admit it publicly. I love getting a great deal on clothing and if you compliment my outfit I’ll say, “Thanks! It only cost $5!” Or something equally embarrassing. Most of the time I won’t even have the good sense to be embarrassed.

While I know I’m cheap, and I’ll gladly TELL you I’m cheap. I don’t want to LOOK cheap. I keep my clothes years and years without paying much attention to trends. I like what I like. But when what I like gets pilled…now that I don’t like.

When I was a teen, I had a battery operated depilling device that was worthless. After that failure I gave up on removing pills, concentrating on buying clothes that don’t pill often–100% cotton things and higher quality brands (from the clearance rack, ROSS or the thrift store.) Recently I noticed my higher quality brands are pilling–and some are manufactured with pills already on them. They call it slub knit. WHY?!!!!!!

My search for depilling fabric renews! I tried a razor (a daisy pink) and it worked pretty well. It removed the pills as long as I kept cleaning it out. The pills had to be taken off the garment with a sticky lint remover, but it disconnected them really well. If the fabric was delicate at all, or got a wrinkle in it, the razor would leave a tiny hole.

There are “sweater Stones” and “depilling combs” but I finally took a risk and purchased another battery operated depiller. If it weren’t for the glowing reviews I never would have done it. Technology has changed in the last 20 years. It may look the same as the old depiller but it didn’t behave the same. My clothing looked like new when I was done, and it collected all the lint into it’s own reservoir.

It works better on bulky knits like sweaters. The finer knits need more passes and to be held perfectly flat. The reservoir needs to be cleaned out frequently so it doesn’t get too full and clog the head.

Have you tried any depilling methods? Did anything work well for you?

The $20 Birthday She’ll Never Forget

By Angela on April 7, 2016

This post isn’t really about birthdays. It’s about how relatively unimportant is the amount of money we spend on our kids. It’s about how kids spell love, T.I.M.E. and how having a friend to come along beside you to give new ideas and tell you that things are going to be ok, can make a hard thing seem possible.

Things have been quiet on the blog the last few days, because I was putting all my energy into a free webinar that has been my dream for the last 7 years. Finally all the pieces came together to make it a reality. The webinar itself gives enough information to massively change a financial trajectory, but there wasn’t enough time to go as deeply as I want to go. You can see the replay right here for the next few days. I’ll need to take it down after the weekend, because some of the information is time sensitive.:

Grocery Shrink Live Replay from Angela Coffman on Vimeo.

At the end of the webinar, I announced a 2 month course/private group coaching session that starts on Monday! In this time frame we can go as deep as we need to, to seriously change lives! Several readers signed up immediately and we’ve already started the journey in our coaching private group. One mother especially touched my heart with her story. We’ve been where she is and there were so many things she said that brought back those old emotions. She gave me permission to share her story here:

C: I’m a stay at home mom of 4. I am the financial manager of our home. (LOL) I too homeschool our kiddos. We are currently trying to prepare our home to sell. What we need to sell it for, is more than it’s valued at. We have nothing to pay the difference (a $20,000 difference). We are trying to upgrade the house for a higher resale in high return areas. We are doing the work ourselves to save there. Dinners have become a nightmare. We are feeling the urgency to list the house on the market “now” in prime selling time. However, feeling overwhelmed because the work is not yet finished. I tried to earn some income on the side to help offset the building material cost but I have no time to working the business. I’m still diapering and breastfeeding a baby. The other 3 children’s birthdays are right around the corner. We feel defeated as we may have to settle for a short sale. A real kick in the teeth. Because we almost lost it once before to foreclosure after the hospital bills from birthing came in. We did a loan modification and have been great with mortgage payments ever since going into the 6th year now. ~well that was a bit of a ramble. LOL, I suppose I could have journaled all that, it’s the first time I’ve stopped to look at the big picture! Oh yes, the Goal: to sell the house and become “us” again.

You see the course is about groceries. We are going deep into groceries and everyone in the course will save the cost of their tuition the first month or get a complete refund. But the course is also about you, your goals, your needs. That’s what the private group is for. 8 weeks of personal access to me and the other friends on the same journey. To encourage each other, share ideas. Here’s what I said:

Me: Oh hugs, C–. How stressful. How old are your kids?

C: They will be turning, 10,9,6, and 2

Me: Such great ages. If you want we could brain storm low cost ways to celebrate birthdays that make the kids feel like they’ve splurged.

C: That would be awesome b/c the first one is this month the 28th and I usually order things online…

Me: How old is this one? Boy/girl? Interests?

C: Girl turning 6. She loves horses, princess, tiny figurines to play with like critter county~she loves making little families, arts & crafts, cooking/baking, and dress up

Me: I’d make it a friend only party and limit it to 2 hours from 2-4 so no meal needs to be served. For party favors buy each little girl a box of movie candy ($1 each) and wrap it in cute paper, or plain white paper and let your daughter decorate them with markers. Grap a couple of extra boxes of candy for the cake. Buy a bag of mixed baloons (Walmart has the best quality for the same price as dollar tree.) Blow them up with your own breath and tie them together with strings (or curly ribbon if you have it already) and hang them from the light fixtures and backs of the chairs. Only buy festive paper napkins (you don’t need paper plates, cups, silverware and tablecloths) and serve the cake and ice cream on your dishes and use the best tablecloth that you already have. Pull out the fancy china if you have any. If not your regular dishes will be just fine. Serve juice mixed with a 2 liter of lemon lime soda in tea cups and call it punch. Do a $1 box cake mix and $1 can of frosting and let your daughter decorate the cake with candy. Get plain vanilla icecream to go with it and pass around a bowl of sprinkles and a spoon. For the party, have the little girls decorate a couple of refrigerator boxes with markers, colored paper and glue sticks to make a castle/house. Then pull out all the dress up clothes and costume jewelry and let them play. You won’t need to buy gifts yourself because each friend will bring something and that’s 9 gifts! at 20 minutes before the parents come, stop the play, serve cake and ice cream. Then open gifts. Hand each girl her own wrapped box of candy on the way out the door. Total cost: less than $20

For the boxes, call Home Depot several weeks ahead and ask when they recycle their appliance boxes. They will save them for you if you ask, but you’ll have to go early to pick them up (like 7:30am) They are free

C: wow, just wow! that all sounds fantastic! seriously I’m stunned…this sounds amazing and I know she would have a blast!

Me: The highlight of her day will be decorating the stuff with you for her friends. The key is to let perfection fly out the window and just let her do it her way. (That’s the hardest part.)

C: yes…I can see your ways 🙂 and all this incorporates who she is,… honestly I’m humbled and stopped in my tracks…

This quick intervention literally just saved me over $300. That is impressive indeed. But, what’s more heartfelt and gets me to the core, is my daughter. I have been trying to find ways to connect with her. She’s a quirky little duck…But I shared with her the birthday plan and she excitedly threw her arms around me saying “oh mommy this is going to be the best birthday ever!” I cried…the $ saved is amazing, but that moment with my little Ellie, priceless. I will remember that for the rest of my life. 🙂

Me: I LOVE this so much <3 <3 <3

We only have about 20 slots left in the class, but if this is something that speaks to you, you can see more here.

The One Important Thing

By Angela on March 31, 2016

If you could cut your grocery spending in half and remove all your debt payments, how would your life change?

When I was a young bride with 3 small children, we asked ourselves that question. We were struggling along on a $35,000 income and wondering how we were going to offer things like music lessons to our kids as they grew. At the time, we didn’t know that 3 more children would eventually join our family. We only knew that if things continued the way they were we’d never have the life we hoped for. We had an $89,000 debt looming over us. No longer were we satisfied with limping along paying minimums. We stared it in the face, taking massive decisive action. In 6 intense months, we were debt free. On paper, it should have taken much longer. Looking back we recognize ONE IMPORTANT thing that made the difference in the speed of our journey to debt free success.

Once someone hears the details to our story, there are two responses: 1. I could never do that because I don’t have blank or blank. or 2. This is so motivating I’m going to do it.

I really hope you are #2, because no matter what your situation is, the One IMPORTANT thing will make a difference for you.

I’m hosting a live video event Wednesday, April 6th and along with our debt free details will explain it all. Reserve your spot here.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Flautas

By Angela on March 28, 2016

This low-cost entree is fast to make and really yummy. They travel well, if you find yourself needing a meal on the go. A few tablespoons of cheese in each one brings out flavor and adds protein without breaking the bank. Presenting another meatless main dish to throw into your rotation. Read more…

Homemade Lunchmeat: Pros and Cons

By Angela on March 24, 2016

My colleague, Tiffany, at Don’t Waste the Crumbs, recently wrote about making DIY lunchmeat. It sounded pretty easy, so I gave it a try. Here’s my experience:

We usually buy Black Forest Deli Ham from Aldi for $3.49 a lb. The kids love it and I buy it even though it’s “coated with Caramel Color.” That makes me cringe a little every time I put it in my cart. What is caramel color anyway? I finally decided to put aside my fears and just look it up. According to this article, it’s basically toasted carbohydrates and is not any more harmful than caramel sugar. The problem comes if you are allergic to the carbohydrate base which might contain wheat. In this case, Aldi says it’s gluten free. We’ve never had a reaction, but we aren’t sensitive to any carbohydrates.

Sodium Nitrite is the other ingredient that makes me cringe. It is added as a preservative to prevent food poisoning. You will die much faster from botulism than you will from nitrite poisoning, but it has been shown to contribute to cancer in large doses. The first Trim Healthy Mama book said that while it’s nice to avoid nitrates there are enough antioxidants in one orange to counter any harmful affects from an average serving of preserved meat. My kids won’t eat oranges :(. Sodium phosphate is a non-toxic salt used as a thickening agent. Basically you can google any ingredient that you aren’t sure about and decide for yourself if it’s something you are ok with.

I started my DIY lunch meat by buying a Kirkland frozen turkey breast from Aldi. It was $8.99 for a 48 oz package. At $3 a lb, it would save me $1.50 over buying 3 lbs of lunch meat, but there’s a catch. Inside the package was a bag of “gravy” weighing 10.6 ounces, leaving me with only 37.4 oz of meat. Uncooked I’m now paying $3.84 per pound.

I rubbed the meat all over with seasoned salt and put it in the slow cooker. I think I overcooked it a tad. I didn’t really keep track of the time and the juices were caramlized by the time I returned. It smelled heavenly. I let it cool on the counter a bit before wrapping and chilling overnight in the refrigerator. When it was completely cold I weighed it before slicing it by hand. Trying to get the slices as thin as deli meat. I wasn’t very good at it.

The finally cooked weight of the meat was 1.6 lbs. $5.61 per pound. This is 160% more than just buying lunchmeat.

I tried my mandolin slicer to see if it would be easier. It made a crumbly mess. You really need an electric knife or deli slicer if you want to automate things.

It tasted amazing, but crumbled pretty easily. This is probably because I overcooked it, which would have also reduced moisture content and weight a little bit.

I had a loaf of garlic bread on hand and used it to make an open faced baked family sized sandwich.

Too bad we were out of tomatoes, that would have been really pretty. The sandwich was delicious! A big hit for everyone in the family.

Pros:

It was delicious and not that hard.
It may have fewer questionable ingredients (although the turkey breast was brined with a sodium solution and I forgot to check the ingredients before tossing the package to see if there were any cringe-worthy ones)

Cons:

It was a lot more expensive.
While it wasn’t that hard, it took more time than just buying lunch meat.
It was hard to slice as thin as deli meat
It crumbled easily

Would I try it again? Probably not. It was delicious but not budget friendly for us. If I decide to give up lunchmeat altogether to avoid nitrites, cooking a chicken with bones and shredding the meat, would be more cost effective for us.

What do you think? Would you try it?

Calico Bean Soup and Cornbread

By Angela on March 23, 2016

Hearty bean soup is the perfect low cost dish for this spring weather that can be cloudy, drizzly and chilly in between the sunny, warm days. It tastes so good, no one will realize how cheap it is to make. Beans are full of fiber, which is so good for you and yet can feel a little terrible at the same time if you aren’t used to it. I have a hack for that.

My dad was given this soup as a Christmas Gift from his secretary one year when I was a girl and the whole family loved the mix of flavors. My mom begged for the recipe and it has been a cherished favorite ever since.

Calico Bean Soup

3 cups of mixed beans (A 6 or 9 bean mix works great)

5 cups of water

1 Tbs dried chives

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried savory

½ tsp cumin

1 bay leaf

½ tsp black pepper

1 can, 15 oz chopped tomatoes, undrained

The night before: Combine dry beans with 9 cups of water in a large bowl. Sit on the counter overnight. In the morning: Drain beans. If you forget to pre-soak the beans, this recipe will still work. Just add an extra cup of water.

Some say beans are harder to digest if you don’t presoak them. We get gas either way. Just being honest. We are saved the embarrassment if we remember to take amylase enzyme before eating. Amylase breaks down starches and helps the probiotics process the fiber. I take an enzyme blend to prevent any digestion discomfort.

Slow Cooker Method: Place drained beans in a slow cooker. Add cooking water seasonings, and tomatoes. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

Pressure Cooker Method: Place drained beans in a pressure cooker. Add cooking water seasonings, and tomatoes. Or combine ingredients in a pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 40 minutes.

Discard bay leaf and sprinkle with dried or fresh parsley just before serving.

1/8 of the pot of soup has 122 calories; 15 net carbs, and 14g of protein

Cornbread

This is a great all-purpose cornbread recipe and goes with a lot of different dishes. Corn and Beans have complimentary proteins so when eaten together you get all the essential amino acids. Ground millet can be subbed for the cornmeal for those with allergies or sensitivities to corn. It tastes very similar to the real thing. Doubling the recipe is the perfect amount for a 9×13 pan.
1 cup cornmeal (or Masa Harina)

1 cup hard white wheat flour

1 Tbs Baking Powder

½ tsp salt

2-4 Tbs coconut sugar (brown sugar or honey) (If you are used to cake like cornbread go for the higher amount of sugar)

2 eggs

1 cup milk

¼ cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the middle of the bowl. Add eggs, butter, and milk. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into a greased 8×8 inch pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve with butter and honey. Makes 9 2″square servings.

A 2” inch square has 144 calories; 23 net carbs and 6g protein

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

By Angela on March 22, 2016

I like a lot of variety in our meal planning and won’t fix the same thing twice for months and months, until it comes to pizza. I never get tired of pizza. Ever. This could be the single most dangerous thing to my fitness goals. I’ve tried cauliflower crust pizza; it’s gross. If I’m serious about fitness and have to have a pizza, I’ll put sauce, turkey pepperoni, veggies, and cheese on a Joseph’s pita. That’s the only thing that is close enough for me.

There’s nothing as good as a soft homemade pizza crust. I have the best recipe and I’m wiling to share. Read more…

Another Easy Meatless Main Dish: Frittata

By Angela on March 21, 2016

About once a week I serve a meatless main dish to save on the grocery budget. It’s important to still have plenty of protein for the people I love, so using plenty of eggs and a sprinkle of cheese makes this happen for little expense. This is a Sunday favorite, because it’s so easy and we always have the ingredients on hand.

For this dish, it helps to have a cast iron skillet that will go from stove top into the oven. Before the gas stove, we had a glass cook-top that was too delicate for cast iron. I could still make frittata by transferring the vegetables to an oven-proof dish and adding the eggs before baking.

You can vary the vegetables you use in the frittata. It’s a nice way to use up leftover side veggies from the week. I had leftover broccoli and onions on hand. That’s all I used in this dish, but mushrooms, bell pepper, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and olives are all good. You can also use bits of leftover meat like ham, sausage or bacon if you aren’t set on keeping it meatless. The recipe recommends 2-4 cups of veggies. I did 2 cups since I just had one type of veggie, but would go closer to 4 cups if I was using a wide variety of vegetables.

We went super simple on the side dishes too. Asparagus was on sale for $1 a lb, so I sauteed the spears while the frittata baked and peeled a few clementines.

Frittata

2-4 cups vegetables

1 Tbs butter

8 eggs

¼ cup plain 0% Greek Yogurt

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp white pepper

1 cup of shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in an oven proof skillet and sauté vegetables until they are hot and tender. Meanwhile, beat eggs with milk or yogurt, salt and pepper. Pour beaten eggs over the top and cook a few minutes until the eggs start to cook on the bottom. Transfer the skillet to your oven and bake for 20-25 minute or until set. Sprinkle with cheese and return to the oven until melted.

1/8 of the frittata has 12 g of protein and 164 calories

Does your family enjoy frittata? Do you have a favorite go to Sunday dinner?

Southwest Black Bean Burgers

By Angela on March 17, 2016

About once a week, I try to use a meatless dish like this. I love meat and would dream of becoming a vegetarian, but doing without once in a while saves our grocery budget and help us appreciate meat a little more. Read more…

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

By Angela on March 16, 2016

Meat and Cheese are the two most expensive categories in my grocery budget. I keep costs down by choosing less expensive proteins a few times a week like eggs. While I’m not a fan of vegan protein alternatives like tofu and TVP, I do enjoy fresh or dry roasted edamame.

If someone in my home developed food allergies to all dairy and eggs I’d consider tofutti. Until then…. nope.

Eggs, on the other hand, are little compact nuggets of serious nutrition. 2 large eggs have 140 calories, 12g of protein, and everything necessary to grow a chick = lots of nutrients. Plus at $1.50 a dozen, a serving of 2 eggs is only $.25.

We like to have hard boiled eggs on hand for snacking. They are also great chopped on top of a chef’s salad, in egg salad, potato salad, tuna salad, creamed eggs over biscuits, deviled (stuffed) eggs….you get the idea.

Boiled eggs are easy to cook, but may not be so easy to peel. When eggs are freshly laid, they are slightly acidic which makes the shell stick tightly to the albumin in the egg white and impossible to peel cleanly. The hen covers her eggs with a protective coating as they are laid which keeps this acidic level intact and the egg fresh outside the fridge for 10 days.

Commercial eggs have the protective coating washed off. This allows the natural CO2 trapped in the egg to dissipate through the porous shell reducing the acidity and the stickiness of the shell. Commercial eggs will ripen in the refrigerator to be easy to peel in about 10 days. By the time they reach our homes commercial eggs are typically perfectly ripe.

If you have your own hens, you’ll need to wash the eggs you hope to boil with warm water and a soft cloth before storing in the fridge. Label them so you’ll be able to tell the date they will be ready to boil and peel (10 days ripened.) Oiling the eggs for storage will make it impossible for them to ripen to easy peel stage.

We enjoy steaming our eggs instead of boiling them in water. They don’t crack since they aren’t in the rocking boiling water to knock them around. We think they are easier to peel than boiled eggs and don’t have the grayish green line separating the yolk from the white, unless we forget about them and over do it.

I use our combo steamer/slow cooker/rice cooker to do it, because it automatically starts timing when the water comes to a boil and sets of an alarm when they are done. I simply fill the bottom with 2 inches of water, fill the top basket with eggs, set it to steam for 15 minutes and go to something productive.

When the alarm sounds , I use oven mitts to lift out the steamer basket and plunge it into a sink of cold water to stop the cooking process. When they are cool enough to handle, I tap and roll the eggs on a paper towel (or cloth towel) to break up the shell, then slip a spoon between the shell and the egg. The spoon curves with the egg keeping it protected and the peel slips off pretty quickly this way. If the spoon doesn’t slide well, I oil the tip with a touch of olive oil.

How about you, does peeling eggs frustrate you? Do you have a family tradition for making eggs easy to peel?