Broke Ass September - Week 3

Week 3, Day 1:

 

Monday was Monday… on the plus side I got to Skype my Mum, little brother and sister in law this morning before work for her birthday and then headed off for a massive day at work. 

I forgot to bring my lunch to work, so I ate cereal.

Went straight home after work with a pizza craving and made some dough and heaps of homemade pizzas! There’s lunch for tomorrow sorted. While the dough was mixing in the breadmaker I Skyped England again as it’s was now Mum’s birthday there and managed to catch up with my two nephews as well. 

Josh will be 5 in a month so I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and a Skylanders figure it is… Knockout Terrafin seems to be the one to get, so let’s see how that goes…

Total Spend: $0

Week 3, Day 2:

Enjoyed my mushroom pizza in between the batshittery that was my day at work! Can’t wait until the election is over on the weekend, even if that isn’t the only source of work stress.

Desperately needed some company and a beer so I headed off to knitting not realising I had a migraine brewing. L Had a beer and some fries ($21.50) after eating all of my friends last week. Struggled through 4 rows of the cardi I’m knitting my mother for her birthday (which was Monday) and then staggered to the bus stop to get home.

By the time I got home my neck was very tight and I couldn’t see out of one eye, throbbing and sharp pains in my skull. So I had a short bath to try and relax and was in bed by about 8.30pm!

Total Spend: $21.50

Week 3, Day 3: 

Woke up after a decent night’s sleep only to find that the headache remains. Things are so nuts at work that I can’t even think of staying home, so I’ll head in and see how the day goes.

Made it to work, made it through a hell of a day, and didn’t eat lunch because food made me gag. Lots of cups of tea and one chocolate afghan cookie that a colleagues daughter makes = $2

Went down to the Pharmacy for Panadine ($19.99 for 40 tabs) bought on the flat account and agreed with flatmate to give her half and it be a flat expense = $0

Straight home on the bus to bed.

Total Spend: $2

Week 3, Day 4:

Managed to leave my lunch at home again and due to the headache from hell had no motivation to eat cereal so caved and ate a $5.50 Whopper Jr Stunner Meal (burger, fries, drink & sundae).

A friend was sick and feeling very sorry for herself so I stopped at the supermarket and bought her some treats (free-range chicken soup, Whittaker’s macadamia nut chocolate, Food magazine, cinnamon donuts and flowers!) and then bussed over to her placed for a couple of hours before heading home = $26.13

Also bought a ticket to this awesome event that I haven’t really looked at, but seriously Parrot Dog beer + Dinosaurs = guaranteed awesomeness!!! = $25

But on the upside, I sold a few things on TradeMe and that covered the little extravagances = $61

Total Spend: $56.63 - $61 = -$4.37

Week 3, Day 5: 

Got to work and ate a muesli bar for breakfast.

Did something I had been asked to do in a testing software phase and got rewarded with a Crunchie. Inside the wrapper I won another Crunchie so I’m keeping that for next time I have a sugar craving and no money.

Sold something else on TradeMe so that’s another $20 in the positive! The week is definitely looking up. 

Went and voted at lunchtime today, did an advance vote as today is the 121^st anniversary of the women of New Zealand being able to vote!

On my way back to the office I gave $4 to a homeless person outside my office.

Finished work early and headed to a friends via Moore Wilson’s. Picked up supplies for dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow and for the sausage rolls I’m making for the election night party we are going to tomorrow night = $30.83

Spent the evening making 80 mini sausage rolls from Free Range pork, vege burgers and vegetable soup. I've done another blog post with the recipes so you can take a look if you want.

Total Spend: $34.83 - $20 = -$14.83

Week 3, Day 6:

Nice quiet day. Walked along Lyall Bay beach with my friend once she’d voted, collecting driftwood, shells and interesting rocks for our fish tanks, walking the dogs as well. The rocks ended up WAY too heavy to carry, so we put them under a tree to come back for later.

Did our little bit for the South Coast Clean Up effort and picked up any rubbish we found along the way.

Got back to the house and a nice warm fire and bowls of the lovely vege soup I made from the leftovers from my vege patties last night.

Headed out to grab a change of clothes, some beer (Garage Project BEER = $15.30 plus a bottle of Aro Noir for my friends flatmate who drove us all the way out to Karori = $12) and a trip to the supermarket for my friend to do her weekly shop, picked up ingredients for homemade muesli and for onion dip = $17.94 This is from my grocery budget so won’t count towards today’s total.

Nice night out with a great group of people, sausage rolls went down a treat (and so quick I didn’t even get a photo!) just a pity about the result!

Caught the bus most of the way home and walked the last bit, was lovely and clear and a nice way to end the day.

Total Spend: $27.30

Week 3, Day 7: 

Had the BEST sleep in, wasn’t fully conscious till around 10.30am and woke up to a hot cup of (soy) milky tea and puppy cuddles in bed! SO GREAT…

My friend’s sister had asked if we’d take her niece to the zoo, on a day like today? Sunshine, warm breeze, wild animals and seeing it all through a 4 year olds eyes? Oh what a hardship… not!

Because Miss4 has a Zoo Crew pass, I got in free and my friend volunteers, entry = $0

We saw a lion, lemurs, Meer cats, patted a kangaroo, Tasmanian devils were soooo cute! The giraffe’s teased us by walking between viewing areas in the opposite direction to us and I had a staring competition with a Cheetah! (he won.)

We stopped for an ice-cream and chips = $3.60 for my share and I bought Miss4 a Meer Cat pencil in the gift shop = $4.95. NB: 4 year olds really do ask 'Why?' as much as people joke they do!

Headed home a happy lady to make muesli and soup from the leftovers in the fridge: eggplant, parsnip, carrot and onion.

Total Spend: $8.55

Week 3 Total spend: $78.55 – an average of $11.22 per day!

Recipes from this weekend

Free-range Pork & Fennel Sausage Rolls

1 x pack of puff pastry (5 sheets – 750g)

400-500gm free-range pork mince

2-3 free range pork sausages

Fresh sage

Salt & pepper

Bulb of fennel

1 onion

2 apples

A free-range egg

1 tablespoon of cold water x 2

Remove the skin from the free-range pork sausages and combine with the free-range pork mince in a large bowl. 

Grate the fennel, onion and apples and add to the pork, I use my hands to mix it all evenly.

Finely slice 6-7 sage leaves and add to the mix along with a pinch of salt and pepper, mix to combine.

Lay out your pastry sheets, cutting each in half. Lay the pork mixture down the centre of each side of the sheet, leaving space on either side to wrap and overlap (The pork should be around 2cm wide and 1cm high).

Damping one side of the pastry with water, fold the other side over the mince and lay the water-dampened pastry over this flap. Press gently to seal. Repeat on all of the other sheets, you should end up with 10 long rolls.

I then cut each of the rolls in half, this makes 20 large sausage rolls, in half again creates 40 medium sized sausage rolls and in half again creates 80 bite sized canapes!

Beat the egg and tablespoon of cold water together and glaze the top of your sausage rolls then bake in a 180C over for approx. 20minutes until the top is a lovely golden colour and they are cooked through.

Vege Burger Patties

Olive oil

Salt

1 x med/large potato

1 x med/large kumara or sweet potato

1 x large carrot

A piece of pumpkin or butternut the size of your potato/kumara

3 cloves of Garlic

½ cup of flour or cornflour (gluten free)

1 teaspoon of Cumin

1 x free-range egg

Cup of bread crumbs or Panko crumbs (gluten free)

Method:

Peel the vegetables, you can leave the skin on the pumpkin as it is often easier to remove once cooked. (I usually peel a couple more potatoes, the rest of the piece of pumpkin, another kumara/sweet potato, another carrot and another onion at the same time so I can turn it all into soup the next day).

Toss the whole peeled vegetables in olive oil and some salt to coat. Roast all of the vegetables in the oven at 180C for about 40-50 minutes then add the garlic for a further 10 minutes, turning once or twice during cooking. They should be very tender and browned on the outside.

On a plate, place the plain flour and add a little salt and pepper to season. In a shallow bowl, beat the egg with a tablespoon of cold water until incorporated and the mix is an even pale yellow colour. In another shallow bowl or plate mix the breadcrumbs and cumin. 

Once the vegetables are roasted leave them to cool. The next step is a lot easier and works better if they are cool.

Cut vegetables into small pieces and mash together. (You can use a food processor and pulse to combine) It’s nice for the patties not to be a complete puree and they will hold together better.

Scoop up a large handful of the mix, you are aiming for a patty that is the same size as the burger buns you are using and about 2.5cm/an inch thick. Gently coat the patty in the seasoned flour, dip into the egg mix and then coat in breadcrumbs. I find I need to reshape the patty slightly afterwards! This is a messy job and you are best to wash your hands between patties!

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan to a med-high heat and lay the patties in, give yourself enough room to be able to turn them easily as each side browns. Try not to move them around the pan once they are in. About 5-7mins each side should be enough.

These are great serves with Goats Cheese!

Basic Roast Vegetable Soup

Roast a whole bunch of peeled root veges (carrot, pumpkin, kumara, parsnip, onion, potato etc…) until they are nice and soft and a little caramelised on the outside. (Brushing them with oil and salt before you roast will help).

Puree these in batches after leaving them to cool slightly.

In a large saucepan melt a tablespoon of butter and gently fry 5 sage leaves that have been finely chopped and 2 finely sliced cloves of garlic.

Add the puree to the pot along with a litre of a low salt chicken stock or a stock made from boiling water and miso paste to keep this vegetarian.

Bring to a simmer, don’t let it boil or you’ll end up with mud pools and geysers and a kitchen coated in orange puree :/

If you feel it is too thick then add hot water until the right consistency is achieved, you could add cream or coconut milk to make a cream of vegetable soup if you would like.

Broke Ass September – Week Two

I’m noticing an irritating habit over the past two weeks, the constant litany of ‘I want…’, ‘I need…’ in my internal monologue. I notice it most when I walk by myself.

I enjoy walking down Cuba Street here in Wellington and looking at all the brightly coloured shop displays. Having worked in the fashion industry for years, colour and light and sound are my life blood and Cuba Street has always been one of my favourite people watching places of all time.

Now walking this route to work every weekday has become slightly tortuous. No hot chocolate from Cosmic, no juice from FIX, no stopping at a café for a sandwich (and custard square). No planning what to wear an outfit in the window of S’wonderful or Max, or even Paper Bag Princess.

As a consumer, I am easily influenced. I. Am. Terrible. I see an advert and I’m instantly looking it up or craving and Oreo or the latest Ford Mondeo. I am trying to change my thinking so that it’s more ‘I like that colour’, ‘Wow, great lines’ or that sort of thing instead of a straight out desire to buy.

I have a wedding to go to in a couple of weeks and desperately want a new dress for the event and I just can’t fit it into my budget before then. Thinking hard on the subject I realised that I had heaps of different pieces of fabric and some new patterns I had picked up at Spotlight not long ago. So this week I will be putting my skills and existing bits and pieces together and starting something to wear!

And this week I’ll put more effort into reducing my impulse spending!!

Week 2, Day 1:

I considered having breakfast, but didn’t have the motivation for it! Took a #coffeeselfie for @Megapope’s birthday – except mine was tea of course.

Managed to forget to eat lunch as well! Luckily my flatmate baked a delicious chocolate pie and I had some of that earlier and a peanut slab that a co-worker gave me for doing her a favour.

Decided I’m going straight home after work instead of to birthday drinks at Golding’s so I can eat a proper dinner there and not spend the little money I have left on beer. I’m planning on spending it on a beer at knitting tomorrow as I feel like I haven’t been out and socialised for a while.

Total Spend: $0

Week 2, Day 2:

Refreshed the cereal at work, so actually had breakfast. Lasagne for lunch and some more of the chocolate pie for afternoon tea.

Headed off to knitting at Bin44 after work as I had budgeted enough to buy a beer ($10) and say hi to everyone. Thoroughly enjoyed the pint of Parrot Dog Dead Canary and ate half of my friend Ruben’s hot chips (oops).

Total Spend: $10

Week 2, Day 3: 

PAYDAY! And bonus, we got out yearly increases which isn’t a lot but was back pay from 1^st July. That was (ever so slightly) helpful!

I’m going out to dinner tonight with a friend, we’re going to The Ramen Shop in Newtown. If you haven’t been you need to. The food is amazing and really reasonably priced. It gets crowded, but they do take-away as well. Don’t forget to try their pork buns, like no pork bun you have ever tried… trust me, you’ll thank me later. Soy and Shogyu broth with pickled shitake mushrooms and extra 24hour cooked pork belly = $15, Mikes Ompa (One More Pale Ale) at Bebemos before diner = $10.50.

I’ve also ordered some bits for my fish tank set-up from Pet, I went slightly over my budgeted $25 a fortnight for this as the piece I wanted was $24.75 and shipping was $4.90 or free if I spent $39+. As I got my back pay this week I bought a couple of extra things that I needed and will take the extra out of next fortnight’s budget. Spent a total of $41.18 on 4 items of which $25 was budgeted = $16.18 extra.

On a good note, I managed to stop myself from buying one of the Chocolate Afghan biscuits that a colleague’s daughter sells here at work and those cookies are A-MAZ-ING!! Proud of myself.

Going home from Ramen tonight to bake cupcakes for tomorrow, pretty sure I’ll have to taste test at least one of them.

Total Spend: $41.68

Week 2, Day 4:

SPCA Cupcake day at work today and I spent a while baking last night and made and absolute disaster zone out of my kitchen. I made The Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake and by golly, were they ever! I added a homemade boysenberry jam filling and attempted to pipe my icing (but because I made it too chocolatey it was too firm and the original icing looked a little like… well poop.)

I ended up using the old fashioned knife and hot water to smear icing on the cakes, piling it up roughly and covering it in sprinkles. They were the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever tasted, let alone made even if they looked a little rough! I bought a couple of cupcakes to support the cause = $8.

Today is also our bi-monthly Admin Team get together, which I arranged this time so I have to go. At least we’re having it at The Pub so it is both close to work and inexpensive – they have a $10 lunch menu so between a Thai Beef Salad and a raspberry lemonade I spent $13.50

Feeling like my spending is getting a little advanced so will try to be good over the weekend… pretty sure my daily average is going to creep up quite a bit on last week! I’m setting myself an extras budget of $25 maximum for the weekend (including Friday) and hoping I can stick to it.

Total Spend: $21.50

Week 2, Day 5: 

Today I have eaten chocolate pie and drunk tea. I’m still coughing, like I have been for the last 5 and a half weeks, so I’m going to the doctor this afternoon. While this is an unexpected expense of $61 plus $5 for the prescription, because it is health related I won’t be including it in the spend for today. 

I am really looking forward to my fortnightly massage today, this is at work and $20 for 20 minutes. Massage is about the only thing that helps the muscle spasms that cause my migraines so this is an essential health expense for me as well.

Let’s see if I can get through the rest of today spend free!

Total Spend: $0

Week 2, Day 6:

Well, the doctor decided I probably have Whooping Cough and prescribed me anti-biotics, with a follow up of prednisone if they don’t help so fingers crossed for me please!

Friday went well, but on Saturday although I managed to stop myself buying more things for my fish tank at the Animates sale, we did decide to have an All Blacks get together at a friends and as she and I were hosting we went to the supermarket and put together a snacks platter and all the ingredients for dinner.

I made chicken burgers, free-range chicken thighs marinated in thyme and olive oil, homemade red onion jam, chipotle mayo, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, brie and grilled pineapple, with homemade onion rings. It was delicious, not cheap, but delicious = $28.38 for food + $36 for beer (Spring & Fern Pilsner and IPA for my friend and a few cans of Beer by Garage Project of which I still have some left for drinking through the week instead of buying more) + $10 towards my friends taxi home seeing as she came to us.

Total Spend: $74.38 (ouch!)

Week 2, Day 7: 

Quiet day, originally we were going to head to the Zoo, however the weather was miserable and the friend I was hanging out with wasn’t feeling well so I took her dogs for a walk on the beach (first time walking them by myself and one of them got into a dog fight on the beach off-lead #sigh. Only slightly injured). 

Made lunch from leftovers from dinner last night – a chicken and onion soup with brie on toasted bread – delicious!

Total Spend: $0

Week 2 Total spend: $147.56 – an average of $21.08 per day!