Skip the soup, pass the hash

My family is not big into soups.  I like soups, but not too frequently.  My husband even less so.  Therefore, all of those 'cheap meals' cookbooks have huge sections I don't use.  However, I tried something last night that might be a new breakthrough for me.

My husband is a meat and potato man.  So, we eat a lot of meat and potatoes in various concoctions and contortions and whatever.  He also only likes leftovers once.  Well, okay - new challenge.  I know that soup is a cheap meal, and the idea of soup of leftovers is catchy among tightwads like me.  But if the family does not like soup, what do you do --make hash!

Easy Leftover Hash

Meat
Veggies (fresh and leftover cooked)
Diced Potatoes (about 1 cm so they cook quickly)

Put potatoes in skillet with a little olive oil and cook for about 10 minutes until they are almost tender, and any veggies (I like to add additional onion, celery, carrot, green pepper, etc - whatever I have that I don't want to spoil in the fridge), let those cook a couple of more minutes then dice up what ever meat you had leftover (yes, you can do this with meatloaf and meatballs, and even taco meat, just run a bit of hot water over them to rinse old sauce/seasoning off.).  Add the cooked meat and cooked leftover veggies toward the end.  Stir until all is hot and potatoes are completely done.

At this point, you can do several things:  1) serve as a dry hash, 2) make a little gravy in the pan with it ( or add some cream of whatever soup you want)  and serve it over old homemade bread (soaks up gravy), or 3) top it with cheese and serve.

There are a few things to keep in mind when doing this:
1) match your flavors well - leftover taco meat does better for a soutwestern style hash, so go with those flavors; same for meatballs and italian, meatloaf chunks (minus the tomato topping) do well in a swiss style hash, etc, etc.
2) experiment and write down what you did and how your family reacted
3)  this same concept can be applied to making it a hamburger/chicken helper style meal, your meat and veggies additives are just already done for you.

Let me know if you come up with any 'rock star' dishes

Clothesline Questions Answered

Here are a few of my most common clothesline questions answered for you:

#1 - How much does it cost to dry a load of clothing in the dryer for 1 hour?

Ok, this one takes some calculation, but here we go: 

The average electric clothes dryer burns 6000 watts per hour of use (check yours for a more accurate figure).  Our cost per kwh (kilowatt hour) for electricity from October to May is 8.928 cent per kwh (7.227 base rate + 1.701 fuel charge), From June through September the base rate is 8.330 making the total 10.031per kwh.  So, the 6000 watt per hour dryer is burning 6kwh.   In the summer, that equals 60.186 cent per hour and in the winter that is 53.568 cent per hour.  Now, let's assume your family only creates 1 load of laundry per week.  That equals $4.21302 per week in summer and $3.74976 in winter.  That is $205.18 per year!

Of course that is only if your family creates 7 loads of laundry per week, and if each load only runs for 1 hour.  You will have to adjust your calculation based on your family's use to figure out the cost. 

There are a couple of things that figure doesn't include.  For instance, in the summer, the heat from the dryer makes you house hotter so that your AC has to work harder.  In the winter, the extra heat from the dryer is helpful, so it costs a couple of cent less. Another thing - How many of you turn the dryer on "for just a couple of minutes" to de-wrinkle your already dry clothes?    that 'just a minute' is usually about 20 minutes and repeates itself because most of us don't even get the clothes out then, so we do it all over again.


#2 - I don't like the stiff feeling clothes get on the clothesline.

First of all, be thankful that you did not live 60 years ago when no one had a dryer.  Secondly, that stiff feeling goes away after about 5 minutes of wear.

There are a couple of practical solutions to this problem.  One is to take clothes off the line when they are just slightly below dry (very slightly below) and put them in the dryer for 5 minutes (set a timer so you don't forget), and your clothes will not feel line dried at all.  Another option is  to add some fabric softener to your load.  My husband likes Gain and so we use it - of course I only use half the recommended amount, but it still does the trick.

#3 - How much does it cost to put up a clothesline?

Mine was about $25, but I also went ahead and got the green line that is a piece of wire coverend in green plastic.  It is heavy duty and has no problem holding up my laundry.  The cotton line dry rots and breaks after a couple of months

All in all, lines cost as much as you want to put into them.

#4 - That's a lot of work.

Hogwash.  It takes between 5-10 minutes to hang a load of laundry on the line, and 2 to take it down.

#5 - But how about those new 'high efficiency dryers' that don't use as much electricity?

Look at the price tag, they cost a lot more.  There is no way they save money.

#6 - I don't have the time, I have 6 children.

If you have 6 children, then you have children old enough to train how to help you.  A 6 year old can help with the laundry.  My 4 year old is able to help with laundry somewhat.

#7 - I work full-time so it doesn't fit into my schedule.

I have always found this reason to be interesting.  Partly because I have heard it from people who are 'out shopping', or always doing leisure activities.  Take horseback riding for example.  If you have time to care for and ride one of those creatures, then you most certainly have time to hang your clothes out.  Of course if you're in debt and have horses, send me an email so we can discuss how to prioritize and the difference between wants and needs.  Same thing with golf, going to a weight watchers meeting, reading trash novels, sitting on your bum in the sun doing nothing, etc.

#8 - It's not good for your clothes.

Air drying is best for your clothes.  It's the hanging part that some clothing can't tolerate, so there will be some things best to lay flat to dry.  But that is the case whether you use a line or the dryer - there will always be things too delicate for a dryer.  Another thing is that a high heat dryer actually wears your clothes out faster becuase it shrinks fabrics and pulls at the stiches.

#9 - What do you do about all the lint

Lint is not a big problem with line drying becuase there is no heat and tumbling around creating lint to begin with.  The little bit of lint created can easily be removed with a 3 inch pull of duct tape.  I have only had to resort to this maybe 3 times, ever.

#10 - I don't want to

Now this is an honest response.  No excuses, no nothing.  Just an honest "I don't want to".  Okay, so keep looking around and find another way to save money, there are plenty of options out there.

But if you find yourself in debt still or getting worse, send me an email so we can talk.

Really? Another 14%!?!?!?!?

I received a letter in the mail a few days ago from the power company.  They are raising our rates another 14%.  Now, the letter states that they haven't raised our rates in years, but 2 years ago, instead of 'raising rates', they tacked on an 18% fuel charge to our tab.  Same thing to me because my bill still goes up regardless.  Nickel and dime, nickel and dime us to death.

Anyway, now I have to come up with a 14% deduction on our other bills to make up the difference - I'm gonna have to think on it, but the first three items I have the most influence over are power useage, food cost and gas consumption.  Boy, I have some work to do!

Budget Billing

I don't know if this one actually saves you money so much as making how much you need available for bills each month more predictable.  Dominion North Carolina Power offers a service called budget billing, which means they average your past 12 power bills and just bill you that same amount every month.  This way, you don't have those large upswings in summer and winter.  I just started it this month, so I'll let you know how I like it.  It was easy to sign up for, right on my account page on the website.  They do reevaluate their average every 4-6months, so it's not a free for all for leaving all the lights on either;)