Budget Binge

For the month of June I experimented with a "Budget Binge" to see exactly how much money I could save in one month.  Being out in the "big girl world" and paying all those big kid bills can be quite overwhelming and it's not hard to fall behind.  I pride myself on the fact that my parents raised me to save money - so not only have I had the luxury of buying things that I want, but I also have a savings account that would allow me to buy a house at age 24.

Having said all that, I have had several friends ask for budgeting advice.  I am in now way a finance expert - taking the minimum requirement in college, but I do spend at least a few minutes every day budgeting.  From my experience, I allow myself enough in my budget to save money, have a social life and afford bills and the unnecessary clothing and entertainment expenses of a 24 year old ;).

Budget Binge Strategy:

• DO NOT go out to eat.  I bought everything at the grocery store and cooked every meal.  Which was also fun for trying new recipes!
• No shopping, whatsoever.  Do not even go into any store.  The only unecessary "thing" that I bought this month was my dad's father's day present, and birthday presents for my niece and nephew.

It was as simple as that.  I still had the expenses like dog food, dry cleaning, gas, travel expenses to my cousin's wedding, etc and I still SAVED $492.57.  But....

You know how people say to always have an emergency fund?  Listen to them.  Everything was going great with the budget.  And then wham-bam-thank-you-maam, my car won't start.  Yep, that's right - the emergency funds came in handy because it cost about $200 to get that all fixed.  So ladies and gentleman, prepare for the worst and keep an emergency fund.  I've heard that this should be about 1/3 of your annual salary.  That's in case of worse case scenario: lose your job, illness, etc.

Here's a skeleton budget that you can use for yourself, nothing fancy, just the basics!  (Mine is saved in Excel so it's easy to add, subtract, etc.)

	Health/Beauty			Dining Out			Total
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description		Health/Beauty		0
							Dining Out		0
							Car/Gas		0
							Clothing/Other		0
							Enterainment		0
							Gifts/Donations		0
							Groceries		0
							Travel		0
							Bills		0
							Samson		0
	Car/Gas			Clothing			TOTAL		0
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description
	Entertainment			Gifts/Donations
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description
	Groceries			Travel
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description
	0			0
	Bills			Samson
power	$$$			$$$	Description
Rent
Alagasco
water
cable
Gym
Other

Top Chef Challenge #3

This week the "special" ingredient was BACON.  Who doesn't love bacon, okay besides my wacko sister, everyone loves bacon.  I couldn't decide between using either spinach or bacon as this weeks ingredient, and lucky me, I found a recipe that incorporated both.

Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce















Ingredients:
12 oz bag of cheese and/or spinach tortellini
4 oz bacon (about 4 strips)
2 tbs flour
2 C milk
salt and pepper
1/4 tso red pepper flakes (more if ya like it spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped (using scissors makes it so easy)
3/4 C grated mozzarella cheese
3/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
(optional: 2-3 chicken breasts)


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.  I bought a package of tortellini from Costco and only used about half.

Cook back in a medium sized skillet at medium-high heat. 

The recipe didn't call for chicken, but I had some leftover and thought it'd be a good addition.  (it was!)










Reserve 2 tbsp of bacon grease and add garlic to pan and cook about 1 minute. 

Add flour to pan and stirk with a whisk for about 1 minute.  Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, basil, red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a cheese grater to zest lemon.  Cut lemon in half and add 1 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tsps zest to sauce.  Continue to stir until thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini.

Add spinach, bacon, mozzarella and parmasean cheeses to the sauce.  Add sauce to tortellini and gently stir.

Cover 8x8 or 9x9 pan with foil and bake 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes. 

Not going to lie, it was pretty delish - but if you're not expecting the lemon it really gets ya!