i'm back!

This has officially been one of the busiest summers of my life. First off, starting a new job means that you're just busy busy busy playing catch up / pretending you know what you're doing. And that is for me, just exhausting.

On top of that though, Chris and I bought a new house! I know, I know, it certainly goes against the theme of the blog. But, after being given our notice by our current landlord (he needs the space - we were well behaved!) we decided to look into it.

check out the happy new home owners!

For us it came down to location - where to buy that wouldn't be too much house (and mortgage) for us, but would have a good resale potential should anything go wrong.

We found that in a small-ish 900sq foot townhouse in liberty village here in Toronto. The best part is we got it for a price we were very comfortable with and we can take our time making it our own over the next couple of years before we move on. Prepare yourselves for even more DIY and thrifty alternatives as we are even more dedicated to saving money - funny how a mortgage does that to you!

clean mexican night

i love Chipotle bowls - they are so delicious, but eating out is bad for two reasons with my changed lifestyle. 1) the bowls aren't clean - while delicious they are a "cheat night" event. 2) i shouldn't be eating out and spending that money - not when i can recreate something really quite similar at home.

and so, we put together mexican night! i recreated the Chipotle bowls, while my boyfriend created a burrito from the same ingredients.

Ingredients

- 1/2 an onion, chopped

- 1 red pepper, chopped

- 1lb stewing beef

- 1 tbsp cumin

- 1 tbsp chili powder

- 1 tbsp onion powder

- 4-5 garlic cloves

- 1 can black beans 

- 1 cup brown rice

- 1/2 cup chopped spinach

- Greek yogurt, salsa (no sugar added) and shredded (light) cheese for toppings

Recipe

- Heat up the olive oil, and fry the onion and red peppers until the onions start to brown and the red peppers soften

- Add the beef and spices to the onion and pepper mix

- Cook for about 5 more minutes, until the beef is cooked

At that point assemble the bowl or burrito, depending on what you'd like. And add your toppings.

it was a really nice break from the usual dinners of salmon or chicken and a healthier alternative to what i would have eaten out! let me know how it turns out for you. 

bye bye bar cart

ok, so i wasn't lying before when i said i had ignited a love affair with kijiji. and, after this morning, it has only got stronger. why you ask? and what could this possibly have to do with becoming debt free?

well, i love to vintage shop - spending a weekend antiquing is my idea of a good time, but i don't have the money or space to keep it all right now. so, i've opened an etsy store to resell my finds. check out Orange Cats Vintage.

as you'll see, i love brass pieces, i think they just add so much character and charm to a room. and my biggest sale to date was a recently purchased brass bar cart, that i cleaned up a little and resold for double what i paid for it! it's really interesting how when staged and with a little dusting how much better a product looks and how much more someone is willing to pay for it. it helps people to imagine what the piece could look like in their home.

the money i make from reselling these pieces will go to the debt, and make me that much closer to paying it off in its entirety.

here is the piece, once i had cleaned it up a little - the problem was saying goodbye in the end!

saving a BUNCH of money

alright, so bad pun should probably be ignored. but, the lesson is still a good one. i love flowers, especially tulips, and while they may be seen as an unnecessary expense, they make me happy and fighting your way out of debt can't be all sacrifices!

so, enter my solution - split up a bouquet to make several bouquets for a couple rooms in your house. i buy my flowers at Costco, and for $10 was able to fill four vases and brighten up two rooms.

you could probably add them to more rooms - but as you'll notice all flowers have to be up high where the little kitties won't eat them at my house!

in the kitchen, i filled three different size vases and they sit in the windowsill where they get great light and generally last at a minimum one week. what i especially love about this look is using old milk bottles gives the arrangements some character and a nice vintage feel.

for the bathroom, i used a vase i got for christmas which i wasn't convinced on when i opened it, but honestly couldn't love it any better at this point. the four individual flowers in their own vases really makes the bouquet fell larger than it is, and adds a nice bright touch to the washroom.

it's important to remember to keep some treats in your life - flowers once every two weeks, will not stop me from being out of debt by the end of the year, and they make me smile every time i see them!

sunday night dinner party

this evening, we invited my parents down for sunday dinner. tradition has to date dictated that we would go there and stay for a nice roast on sunday. well, time to shake tradition.

the immediate question was what to serve, that was both reasonably priced, but also clean and healthy. the answers came quite easily - and as always thanks to Pinterest.

for our afternoon snack, as we watched the golf, we pulled together what we already had in the house - this was the norm of what you would expect - leftover quinoa salad, veggies and hummus, and less expected, but most impressive, little tuna cucumber sandwiches. this appetizer is so simple, and delicious that everyone can't help but be impressed!

the main dish was more complicated - a Chicken Tetrazzini recipe from Clean Eating Magazine. I have copied the recipe below, with my few tweaks, but you can find the original here.

INGREDIENTS:
Olive oil cooking spray
3 cups whole-wheat pasta (rigatoni, penne, sedani)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 cup finely diced sweet onion
1 medium carrot, peeled, halved length-wise and thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup low-fat greek yogurt
2 tbsp parsley
1 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated (about 1/3 cup), divided
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 chicken breasts, torn into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup roughly chopped raw almonds, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly mist an 11-cup (2.6 L) casserole dish with cooking spray; set aside.
• Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions, drain, rinse under cold running water and drain again; set aside.   
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add mushrooms, onion and carrot and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add salt and continue to cook, stirring, until mushrooms are golden brown and carrot has softened, about 4 minutes. Add broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer gently until carrot is tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer three-quarters of broth and half of vegetable mixture to a blender and purée until smooth. (NOTE: Be sure to cover lid of blender with a kitchen towel and hold it securely while blending to avoid any hot mixture or steam from escaping.) Add greek yogurt, parsley, half of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and lemon juice and pulse blender until mixed. Return puréed mixture to skillet and toss with pasta and chicken. Transfer mixture to prepared casserole dish, and sprinkle remaining half of Parmigiano-Reggiano and almonds, if desired, over top. Bake until sauce is bubbling and top is golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

i was REALLY impressed with this recipe - it tasted great, and we were able to pre-assemble before our guests arrive meaning we could actually enjoy their company when they were with us.

our dessert was a bit of a Pinterest inspired adventure. i'm always seeing posts for baked peaches and they look so good. i combined a few of those recipes for what i ended up making - and i couldn't help but wish we had made enough for seconds!

INGREDIENTS:

2 Medium sized, ripe peaches

1 tbsp honey, per half

1 tbsp of cinnamon for toping

1/4 cup of roughly chopped pecans

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees
• Cut the peaches in two, remove the pit
• Drizzle each with the honey, then sprinkle with cinnamon and pecans
• Cook for 10 minutes, until the peaches are soft

overall, the dinner party was a success and done on a budget! let me know if you try any of the recipes and how they work for you.

millionnaire on the couch

Long time no post, and truly no reason for that at all. At the beginning of this week, I started a new job. I now work from home, and while i'd be lying to say it's an easy transition, it certainly is revealing its benefits quite quickly. And, couldn't be more in line with my debt free in a year plan.

First of all, there is no such thing as forgetting your lunch at home, no reason to go out and buy lunch, and even better no trips to Starbucks. Take for example, the delicious yogurt parfait i made this week - a complete replica of what I was buying from Starbucks for $4.

It's easy and simple:

1/2 TBSP of Honey

Layer with 1/2 cup of 0% Greek Yogurt

Finally, top with 1/4 cup of Sugar Free granola

But, the biggest way I'm saving money, is by selling some of the old stuff I have, the stuff that has been doing nothing but gathering dust for the past 6 months. After having such good luck finding awesome stuff on Kijiji, that I'm trying the other way around.

So far I've had some bites, but in all fairness am only a couple hours in! Old nail polishes, an old mirror, and even my old Hunger Games hard cover Trliogy. 

Stay tuned for how it goes! Slow and steady on the way to millionnaire, not just debt free.

Getting my nails did

While manicures aren't a significant expense for me, they are a nice treat that I could easily recreate at home. And so, I did.

Step one, I went to the drugstore to buys more reasonably priced bottle of polish. I wanted a light grey, and Kit had the perfect colour. Only problem being Teresa's only one left and it had a broken lid. But, being in budget mode I asked to see if I could beta discount, and easily saved another 20%!

The manicure itself was easy to do as everything else I already owned from years of stocking stuffers.  And the manicure looks just like a professional one!