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September "Always Learning" Edition
 It's somewhat ironic that while the kids want to lie around the house and let their minds turn to jelly, the summer season usually marks periods of intense self-education for yours truly.
Summer 2008 I spent in the kitchen carefully testing and tweaking the flexible recipes for Strategic Eating, The Econovore's Essential Guide. (We never leave a leftover behind!)
Summer 2009 found me cramming on marketing strategies for newly-released The Grocery Garden, How Busy People Can Grow Cheap Food, as well as re-reading every gardening resource I could get my hands on so I could impart the latest, greatest winter vegetable cultivating knowledge in my classes that fall.
This last summer, now that my latest book The Miserly Mind, 12 1/2 Secrets of the Freakishly Frugal released in June, I've been a little bit more eclectic. Some highlights:
A Mind in Prison, by Bruno Manz recounts a young German's experiences during the Weimar Republic, Nazi era, and subsequent Russian blockade. Take-home lesson: People who can grow their own food fare so much better than their neighbors during crisis economies.
Ripe, The Search for the Perfect Tomato, by Arthur Allen is a romp through history with everyone's favorite backyard garden staple. I had no idea so much genetic research, South American adventure, Medieval suspicions, labor struggle, and big business development surrounded a single food crop.
Life choices and their challenges interest me. I read about waiters, the Amish, the effort to save Yiddish from extinction, crime scene forensics, the history of bookmaking.... Moral: The pay may not be great, but if you love what you're doing, you won't care. Second moral: If you don't love what you're doing, resist the temptation to spend your money on diversions, because you'll become trapped.
Now that the kids are back in school, hopefully doing their own learning, the self-education certainly won't stop, but the overlarge TO DO list looms! More about that next month....
We Need Tightwad Engineering Tales!
Tired of having bicycles strewn all over the front porch, the kids and I built our own sturdy wooden bike rack this summer. Since my bike trailer was stolen a few months ago, it's also nice to have a place to lock everything.
It was only a matter of a few hours of measuring and muttering, but it perfectly met a need we'd had. It was also basically free because we made it from scrap wood and screws left over from another project.
Now I'm working on building a removable greenhouse over our largest raised garden bed. Stay tuned...
Have you got a similar tale to tell? Share it with us, and we'll post it on SimpletonSolutions.com!
Lunch Crunch
Kudos to you parents who've trained your kids to pack nutritious lunches for themselves; my kids'll pack something all right, but it looks a lot like five cookies and a carrot stick.
So, the job is still mine, and frankly some mornings I'm uninspired. That's why I keep a little checklist of ideas inside the door to my pantry. It's by no means an exhaustive list, but I often have these kind of foods on hand, so it's useful to see some possibilities without having to rack my brains to fill those empty sacks with something different every day:
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Entree |
Fruit/Veggie |
Carbs (optional) |
Goodies |
Lunch Options
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PB & J sandwich |
Check the garden |
Tortilla chips |
Jello |
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PB balls (recipe on side bar) |
In-season fruit |
Popcorn |
Cookies |
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Lunch meat sandwich |
Carrot sticks |
Pretzels |
Hard candy |
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Tuna sandwich |
Dried fruit |
Tortilla |
Muffin |
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Cheese and crackers |
Frozen fruit |
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Popcorn balls |
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Hard-boiled egg |
Green salad |
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Bread pudding |
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Salami and crackers |
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Rice pudding |
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PB and crackers |
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Leftover homemade pizza |
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Leftover mac & cheese |
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Leftover chicken, turkey |
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Leftover hot dogs |
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Quesadilla |
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GORP |
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Beef jerky |
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Homemade granola bars |
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Seldom does a packed lunch cost more than $.50. But if I don't pack something, then it's $9.00 to feed all three kids at the school cafeterias - ouch. Unfortunately, I'm a lazy type who tends to let monotonous, repetitive, never-ending jobs like this just kind of grind to a slow halt. That's why lists and plans are crucial. The less thought I have to devote to a chore, the more likely I'll be able to keep doing it.
Last Month's Articles
August was a busy month, what with relatives to visit, classes to develop (more on that next month!) and school starting, but here are a couple of links from my Examiner.com column:
Let's Hear It for Crummy Jobs
Amish Wealth
September Book Specials
 How do you approach problems in order to consistently arrive at most timely and cost-effective solutions? How do all those money and time-saving hints and tricks apply to the specific challenges directly in front of us?
The Miserly Mind, 12 1/2 Secrets of the Freakishly Frugal can help. After researching the whys' and wherefores' to Living Large on Less for decades, author Elise Cooke discovered that there is a very specific and finite set of personality traits that successful savers share. By adopting these same quirks, anyone can gain the skills to make the most of their time and money.*
The book retails for $19.95 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders, but of course that's not what Simpleton Skinflint readers have to pay. Order from SimpletonSolutions.com, use promo code MM910 in the box provided, and receive a signed copy of The Miserly Mind for only $12.95. Shipping is fast, and always free!
*Warning: As with all Simpleton Solutions books, this one is very entertaining, and sometimes causes readers to laugh out loud. Don't read it in a library or late at night.
Enjoy the start of a new school year!
Elise Cooke
SimpletonSolutions.com
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