Carry On Packing

Before I get started on the particulars of my vacation, I thought I'd talk a little bit about the choice I made to only pack a carry on. I am so glad I did this! I always knew where my luggage was (which was good when I didn't have a very long layover), it prevented me from over packing, and it made going through customs much easier.

I looked at a lot of people's tricks to packing a carry on for a certain number of days, and I was able to pack for a 6 day trip, with an extra outfit I didn't even wear! I had 6 shirts, two skirts, a pair of tennis shoes, pajamas, a pair of jeans, underthings, a straightener, hair things, and make-up (remember that your plane outfit will give you at least another pair of pants and another pair of shoes). By the time I had it all packed up, I still had enough extra room for souvenirs. The trick to packing only in a carry on is rolling the clothes. I only took the bare necessities in both clothes and make-up. Also, since you are allowed two carry-ons (a suitcase and a personal item), it's easier enough to put in the things you're going to want during your trip in your personal item. I took a back pack, and packed an empty purse in it, along with my phone, books, passport, itinerary, journal, and wallet. This I could just put under my seat on the plane and get into it.

I also take a purse with a strap long enough to cross over my body. It may not be the most attractive purse, but I like having my hands free, and not have to worry about keeping track of my purse while I'm wandering around.

So, I'm not an expert at packing and traveling, but those are just a few tips I've been learning about.

No Spend Month in Review

So, as some of you know, I decided that September was going to be my "no spend month"--to revive some of my spendings after a vacation and a work-clothes shopping spree.

I felt like the world was working against me. TWO of my favorite clothing websites had huge sales this month (one was up to 70% off!!); Amazon kept sending me e-mails about this on sale, or that, culminating in a ginormous sale on ALL of the David Tennant Doctor Who DVDs--WHAT?!? (That resulted me in sending an e-mail to my parents with a "hint hint". Hey, there's a holiday coming up in a couple months where people buy each other presents.) Anyway, it was very difficult to not spend this month!

Part of what this "no spend month" taught me was that there are just situations when you should spend. I know that sounds weird, but here are a few examples from this month:

I was able to go to the State Fair for free because I was demonstrating lace-making with some people from my class. So, I got in free (SCORE!), but when I told people that this was the first time I had ever gone to a fair before, I felt like everyone was telling me to get a funnel cake. I didn't even know what a funnel cake was, but at least one person said, "Funnel cakes are the best part of the fair." So I decided to get one. No, I didn't need it, it wasn't essential, but it was part of the experience (and it was delicious).

The second example was when I went out with a friend to a singles' dance. We left early (it was . . . kind of lame) and she asked if I wanted to get ice cream or something. We ended up going to Sonic and getting drinks. And it was nice because we just sat in the car for a little bit and talked. I could have said no, but sometimes paying $1.50 for a lemonberry slush is worth it (and seriously? it was $1.50).

Near the beginning of the month I thought, "Wow, wouldn't it be cool if I didn't use my credit card at all this month?" Which, it really would have been, but let's get real here. How do you pay for gas? Card. How do you pay for a birthday gift? Card. What do you do if you don't have cash on you? Use a card. And, honestly, I just don't carry cash around with me that much. I use my card like cash.

I also came up with a monthly budget plan, which is in a way good and in another bad. It makes me feel more poor than I usually do. :(

Anyway, here's how I did it (all moneys blanked out of course--I don't want the interwebs knowing all that!):

I did just notice I forgot to put something on. Guess I'll have to go fix that! Anyway, it's pretty straightforward. All the things I spend money on in a month, all the things I want to save up for, and the things that fluctuate on my spending.

I'm feeling all grown up.

I think people might be interested in knowing what I'm going to spend money on in October, now that I can. Well, Perry needs a new set of tires, and some filters. I do get a new pair of shoes (my reward), but instead of getting new new ones, I'm going to be replacing my favorite pair that broke last month. Sad. And . . . I think I'll buy a the new Rick Riordan book that comes out on Monday. Because I want it. I'm also looking for longer skirts to wear to work now that the weather is getting colder, and maybe some fun tights to help keep my legs warm.

It's hard being all grown up.

Playing Around in InDesign

Last night I decided I wanted to play around in InDesign a little bit and create a quote block that I could print out on nice paper and frame. You've probably seen those quote blocks that have each line a different size and they are justified to make a perfect square. 

So I got into InDesign and I started playing around with fonts, font size, kearning, etc. But I couldn't figure out how to make it look right. Well, this meant bringing out the big guns (ie, Daddy) to teach me how to do it. 

I had the right idea, but he taught me a few more things I needed to use to make this:

This is an 8 1/2" by 8 1/2" (or 51 picas by 51 picas). The quote font is aquaduct, and the signature is from a free Jane Austen font I found on the internet. I found the silhouette by typing in "Jane Austen silhouette" on google images and downloading the highest quality one.

First, make sure you have a hard return at the end of every line. I decided what words I wanted to really stand out (gentleman, lady, pleasure, stupid) and made sure they were on their own lines. I also but two spaces between each word on a line. Then for each line, you play with the font size until every just fits on the line without a word, or part of a word, being forced off. Next, you use the horizontal scale. This will stretch out your words a bit. I really can't think of any rhyme or reason to this, I just did it until it looked right (a professional typographer might have a problem with me saying that. :) ). Then it's time for the vertical scale. This will stretch your words upward. After you do that with every line, play with the leading--this is very necessary. Before I fixed the leading the lines were very far apart.

This creates such a fun little quote block, and once you know how to do it, it really doesn't take a lot of time! I'm even thinking of making this for wedding gifts, etc. You just get some scrapbook paper, print this out on one sheet, glue that on another sheet, and frame it!

Week 3: Cooking on a Budget

I'm not going to complain too much here because my parents' food budget is way more than my personal budget, but it is a little difficult to shop on someone else's budget. So, this week (besides the new recipe on Wednesday) was basically trying to make a menu on what we had since it was the week before payday. Fortunately, I'm amazing and was able to stay under budget even with all the stuff we had to get for this week's new recipe! The good thing is that I am used to making do with whatever I have/can afford (college taught me that at least!), so I didn't find it that difficult.

This is what I've learned about shopping on a budget (I rarely coupon, because that takes too much effort):

Shop the ads--I am still learning to do this better but plan your menu around what's on sale, keeping in mind that just because it's on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it. If you aren't going to eat it, you are wasting money for all it's on sale. Also, watch out for traps. I worked in a grocery for 4 years to pay my way through school and I can't tell you how many times we had a sale that was "3 for 5" and people thought you had to buy three to get the sale price. About 90% of the time, this is not true. It's a marketing ploy to get you to buy more.

Buy store brand, (or the cheaper brand)--Everyone has brand loyalties, I get this. I don't buy cheese unless it is Tillamook (I . . . don't buy cheese much). But when you are shopping on a budget, sometimes you should just buy the cheaper brand. I love Western Family because it's cheap and most things are pretty similar to brand name items, though there are some Western Family items I will never buy. And this week at the store I was buying enchilada sauce and put the brand we usually get in the cart before noticing that a different brand was much cheaper. Back went the usual brand! It's almost like a bonus when the brands you like are on sale, like how my favorite pasta brand was on sale this week.

One last thing . . . when I was in school, there were times when I would go over my food budget because there was an awesome sale going on. Usually pasta and chicken. But if you know that you use something a lot and it's on sale, don't be afraid to buy some. It's going to save you money in the long run.

Sunday

For Sunday dinner we had grilled pork chops (grilled by Dad the Grill Master; and already in the freezer), steak cut fries (we had half a bag in the freezer), and the World's Best Applesauce (Mom's homemade and canned applesauce). No money spent on this meal!

Monday

Monday was Chinese New Year!! Go dragons! (I was born in the year of the dragon. They're cool.) We decided to celebrate with half a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies (already had), some dumplings that were in the freezer (unfortunately, they seemed a little old--they fell apart when I was boiling them), and ham fried rice (we had all the ingredients). Again, no money spent on this meal!

Ham Fried Rice

1/2 cup ham, cubed

1 stalk celery, cut diagonally (oops, I didn't do this! haha)

1 1/2 cup pre-cooked rice

1 green onion

1 beaten egg

soy sauce

Heat wok (or pan, we don't have a wok) to medium with 1 tablespoon oil. When heated, fry ham, celery, and onions. Saute until tender. Add scrambled egg. When cooked, stir in. Add rice and mix well. Let cook for a couple of minutes. Add soy sauce to taste.

Tuesday

Just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you can't have fancy food! For Tuesday's dinner we had salmon, rice, and peas. And all it cost was 33 cents! We already had the salmon in the freezer (they come in individual packets and we bought a bunch when they were on sale for 10 for 10), as well as the peas, and then we used Rice a Roni Chicken flavor (the only flavor we had, haha). I mixed dried rosemary, garlic, and olive oil to put on top of the fish as well as a slice of lemon (there was probably too much rosemary). It was the lemon that cost 33 cents (again, on sale).

Wednesday

New recipe tonight and oh my gosh, it's a keeper! Tonight was Chicken Enchilada Pasta and it was very yummy! I was recommended this recipe by a friend who I'm pretty sure found it on pinterest. It's super easy to make (I already had the chicken cooked and shredded from a recipe I made last week), smells great while it's cooking, and tastes just as good as it smells! Even though I had no idea what it tasted like I have been craving this for about two weeks and it was as good as I imagined it being. The only disappointment was that my avocado wasn't ripe. :( We ate orange slices to make it a meal. It was the most expensive meal, but almost everything we bought was on sale or store brand.

Thursday

For our crock pot meal this week we had potato bar. Just poke the potatoes with a fork a couple of times, wrap in foil and stick in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. To shakes things up a little bit, after I poked the potatoes, I put them in a bag with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and coated them. Then just put your favorite toppings on. Potato bar is a full meal as itself, but we did have a clementine each. As for cheapness, we already had everything for this meal. The potatoes were small, so I cooked all five and we ate them all (like, they were really, really tiny).

Friday

For Friday's dinner I raided the freezer. Mom had made some taco soup before the Experiment started, so I got that out, heated it up, and made a salad. Just popped some cheese, sour cream (we ate a lot of sour cream this week--and it's not over yet), cheese, and tortilla chips on top!

Saturday

For tomorrow I'm making one of the ultimate comfort foods (I haven't been feeling 100% the past three days, so I need it): Hamburger Stroganoff. This recipe is from Mom's home ec days. If 13 year olds can make, anyone can make it. We're going to have peas and a salad with it.

Hamburger Stroganoff

1 lb hamburger

dried onion

1 can cream of mushroom

1 can cream of chicken (to halve this recipe, just use cream of mushroom)

1 can evaporated milk

1 cup sour cream

Cook hamburger with onion. Add everything else and let thicken. Put on top of egg noodles (my personal favorite), rice, potatoes, toast, or biscuits.