My 10 Favorite Books Read in 2011

Looking for books to put on your reading list? These are my top picks out of the books I read last year. All of these titles are nonfiction, which is generally all I read, even though I'm reading The Hobbit right now. I've listed the books in the order in which I read them.

1. Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America's Cheapest Family, by Steve and Annette Economides
This is a great book on saving money since the entire book is dedicated to one category. Some books do not provide much detail because they try to cover too many different aspects, however this is a good, exhaustive resource on saving money on food. Read my full review here.

2. Unplanned, by Abby Johnson
Abby Johnson started working at Planned Parenthood as a volunteer in college and worked her way up in the organization to becoming the director of a clinic. This is the story of why she was passionate about Planned Parenthood and why she is now passionately pro life. While written with a pro life bias, this book gave me a better understanding of both sides.
 
3. Committed: A Love Story, by Elizabeth Gilbert
In this sequel of sorts to the popular Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Glibert tries to make peace with the idea of marriage after finding herself "sentenced to wed" after her Brazilian boyfriend gets in trouble with Homeland Security. Although this may seem like an odd choice for a happy newlywed, I enjoyed Gilbert's look at the idea of marriage throughout history and across cultures, even though sometimes I wanted to yell at her as I listened to the audiobook.
 
4. The Other 8 Hours, by Robert Pagliarini
If you work full time and need help managing your time, this is the book to read, whether you want to start a side business or just spend more time with your family. Read my full review here.

5. Organized Simplicity, by Tsh Oxenreider
Even though I'm not ranking this list, I can safely say this was the best book I read last year. I checked it out twice from the library, and when the Kindle version was free last month, I downloaded it on my phone and started reading it again. I was inspired to declutter and organize and think about what really matters.

6. Eat This, Not That! 2012
I had no idea how many unhealthy foods are masquerading as healthy ones, and vice versa. No one has time to read the labels on every box of crackers or the nutrition facts on every dish at every restaurant, but this book gives a good overview. Read more of what I learned here.

7. Evolving in Monkey Town, by Rachel Held Evans
Rachel Held Evans grew up thinking she had all the answers about her Christian faith, but than she began asking questions. I don't entirely agree that faith needs to evolve to fit the postmodern world, but I still appreciate how though-provoking this book is, which is why it's in my top ten. 

8. In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
This was another book that challenged my thinking, this time in the area of nutrition. How is it that with all of this nutrition "advice" of the last few decades we don't seem to be getting healthier? A lot of the information in this book seems like common sense, but clearly it's not so common anymore.

9. Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman's Guide to Finding Contentment, by Linda Dillow
I was expecting this to be about dealing with anxiety (a struggle for me), but the broader "finding contentment" of the subtitle is really what it's about. The different chapters focus on finding contentment with your circumstances, yourself, your role, etc. Linda Dillow gives practical advice and encouragement, not just a "pray and get over it" kind of message.

10. The Money Saving Mom's Budget, by Crystal Paine
While I wouldn't call this book life changing for me, I learned a lot about saving money and goal setting, even after reading MoneySavingMom.com for quite a while. Read my full review here.

What are some of the best books you've ready lately? Any books you look forward to reading this year?


Shared at Top Ten Tuesday at Oh Amanda.

First World Problems We Encountered While Moving

Oh, the first world problems. When you consider that one-sixth of the world's population does not have access to safe drinking water, can we really look at our own lives and say we have a lot of  problems? Of course it's natural to get used to luxuries we've had our entire lives, but it's important to keep things in perspective and remember that they are just that: luxuries. I'm not the first to write a Top Ten Tuesday post of first world problems (here's a good one), but to remind myself how good I have it, I wanted to make a list of the "problems" we faced after moving into a house at the beginning of this month. 

1. Our garage isn't big enough to easily park both cars in it.
2. The water company doesn't have online bill pay. We have to mail a check.
3. Since we only have one extra bedroom, my desk has to go in the living room.
4. It took two weeks to get internet hooked up.
5. We discovered our refrigerator was blowing hot air, so for the five days until a new one was delivered, we had to eat what was in our pantry or get fast food.
6. The living room had so many boxes the first couple days that we had to go through a maze to get to our table.
7. I didn't buy enough shelf liner for all my kitchen cabinets, so I had to go back to Meijer for more.
8. The cable outlet is on the opposite side of the living room from our TV.
9. It costs more to have the newspaper delivered here, so I canceled my subscription. Now I have to go to a store to buy a Sunday paper. (Edit: Just hours after writing this, the paper company sent me an e-mail saying they "want me back" and offering the rate I was previously paying.)
10. The landlord didn't give us a remote to open the garage door automatically.

I think we'll make it through...


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10 Things to Do Before Kids

"So when are you having kids?"

I was really amazed when people started asking that only a few months into my marriage. With women 10 years older than I am becoming first time moms and with my parents having me (their first) more than 7 years into their marriage, I was just not expecting to be asked that question so soon. What's the big hurry? While we would certainly consider a child a blessing at any time in our marriage, I see no reason why we need to have a baby right now. I'm happy just enjoying our marriage for a while.

A recent post on Weddingbee from the "After I do" series featured several married ladies' answers to the question, "What is something you wish you did before you had your baby, or something you plan to do before you have a baby? What is something you did before baby that you’re so thankful you did?"

I thought it was a good question to consider. Is there anything I could do now that I won't be able to do once kids come along? Is there anything I need to do before I become pregnant to improve my pregnancy experience or my child's life? Honestly, I can't think of anything I need to do, but there are a few things I probably should do or would like to do. This is a list of ideas, not necessarily goals or suggestions.

Figure out being a family of two
After a year of marriage, we're still working on how to function as a family unit and how to communicate with each other. I don't expect us to ever completely master that, but I'd like to feel at least a little less clueless before we add anyone else to the mix.

Go on a relaxing vacation
I'm not talking anything exotic here (we honeymooned in Cincinnati, after all). We just have a tendency to want to do this, this, this, and this when we go on trips. I want to go somewhere and not have an agenda for once. I'm thinking a nice cabin with a jacuzzi tub.

Start buying organic food and stop buying as much processed food
I can't see us ever buying organic food exclusively, but I'd like to at least buy the dirty dozen organically (an idea I got from the baby bucket list of Erika from Newlyweds on a Budget ). I want to start making my own granola bars, and maybe even crackers.

Get a second dog
This one probably sounds crazy if you aren't a dog person (which I used to not be). But Nathan really wants a second dog, and lately I've been thinking having a dog that will actually run with me would be awesome. Nathan met with a trainer last week about Nenya's anxiety and confidence issues, and she actually suggested getting a second dog once Nenya has become a little more socialized. If we're going to have two dogs when we have kids, it's best that we have both of them trained well before we have kids.

Get in the habit of regular exercise
I want to be able to exercise while pregnant, which means I'd better start exercising before becoming pregnant. This needs to happen sooner than later.

Move somewhere with a washer/dryer and fenced-in yard

This one is not optional. I am not going to haul a bunch of clothes and a baby out to the car to do laundry, especially since we'll have a lot of extra laundry. I also don't want to have to go outside with the baby and the dogs, especially if we get a second dog!

Read and Research
I want to read up on the facts on things like pregnancy and childbirth. What foods should I avoid? Home birth or hospital birth? I like to plan ahead. So far on my reading list are What to Expect Before You're Expecting and Get Ready to Get Pregnant.

Have a better community
We don't have much of a community here right now. Both sets of parents are an hour away, which is nice, but we can't really use them as a last minute baby sitter. We don't have many friends here either. Becoming first time parents when we're this isolated is a little scary.

Do some freelance design work
Although I will most likely continue to work full-time after our first child is born, I'd like to at least explore the possibility of working from home. I could use the extra work to build up my portfolio no matter what direction my career takes.

Continue putting all my income towards student loans and savings
Unless it takes us a long time to get pregnant, it's unlikely that we'll have all the grad school loans paid off before we have a baby, but I want to pay as much as possible.

How about you? Is there anything you'd like to do before you have kids, or that you wish you had done before kids?


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10 Small Ways I'm Cutting Costs

Now that we're currently living on just my income, we need to identify areas where we can cut back on our spending. It's a great opportunity to refocus on what necessities really are and how we can save money on those things we do have to buy.

These are a few small actions I've taken (or plan on taking) to help us live on as little as possible. Even if this season of one income is very short, some of these changes will hopefully become permanent and help us reach our financial goals.

1. Not getting my hair cut

This may sound extreme to some, but for me it was an easy decision to make. I've only been getting regular haircuts for the past year, so going without one for a while won't bother me. Of course I'm hoping Nathan will find a new job before I'm due for a haircut anyway.

2. Stepping up my couponing game.

I have no desire to look through recycle bins for coupons, but I need to make better use of the ones I have. I've gotten a little lazy lately and let some good ones expire.

3. Buying cheaper razors

I'm normally not a brand loyal person, but I've been using Schick Quatro razors for years. I decided to switch to two-blade razors that were 75% cheaper. This has turned out to be a painful decision (literally), but I think I can handle it for a while.

4. Only grocery shopping every two weeks

It's too early to know if this change will actually save us money, but I think it will. If nothing else, I'll be spending less time shopping and less money on gas than I was when I shopped once a week.

5. Temporarily stopping HSA contributions

Right now, part of each of my paychecks goes directly into our Health Savings Account. If the unemployment continues for another month or so, I'll stop making that contribution. We already have enough money between out HSA and emergency fund to cover our out of pocket maximum.

6. Only buying 1% milk

For a year I've been buying skim for me and 1% for Nathan. I finally decided that I'm not going to become obese from drinking 1% milk, so I've stopped buying skim. With the two of us sharing one gallon, we're much less likely to waste any because it's gone bad. The extra refrigerator space is a nice bonus too.

7. Severely limited eating out

I know some people seem to think you should never eat out, but it's nice to be able to go out for dinner as a couple or have lunch with coworkers at least a couple times a month. I don't think we'll be able to completely give it up, but we're going to have a very small number in this budget category. Thankfully, I have several unused Groupons we can use for a date.

8. Not buying new makeup

I've run out of both my foundation and mineral veil, so I'm looking very natural right now.

9. Shopping for a lower car and renter's insurance.

We're spending a huge chunk of our income on insurance. The company Nathan chose several years ago had the best rate at the time, but now that he's added another driver, a second car, and renter's insurance to his policy, it's time to look again.

10. Deleting all daily deal e-mails immediately

Groupons are great for saving money on restaurants, entertainment, and even clothing, but when you don't have a budget for these categories, it's brutal looking at all the deals you have to pass up. Heartsy was really rough. It's better to just delete the e-mails before I can read what they're offering.


What small or big changes have you made to save money?


More Top Ten Tuesday from Oh Amanda.
More Frugal Friday on Life as Mom.

10 Easy Main Dishes for the Beginner Cook

I like cooking. I like the money that I save by not buying fast food for dinner. I like knowing what's in my food. But what I don't like, at least at this point in my life, are complicated recipes. The key word for these recipes is easy. These aren't healthy, whole foods recipes by any means - one uses cream of chicken soup, and one uses Pillsbury crescents. But all of them  have five ingredients or fewer, at least the way I prepare them, and don't require a lot of work.

Here are 10 favorites from my limited cooking repertoire. I've listed the ingredients I use for each recipe, and the recipe names link to the directions for them.

: : 1 : :

Basil Pork Chops

Pork chops
Brown sugar
Dried basil
Olive oil

The recipe calls for boneless pork chops, but I use bone-in.

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 : : 2 : :

Upside Down Pizza Casserole

 Lean ground beef

Italian-style tomato sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
10-ounce package  refrigerated biscuits

 : : 3 : :

Tuna Macaroni

1 box macaroni and cheese
1 can light tuna, packed in water
1 can cream of chicken soup

 My favorite version of tuna noodle casserole is actually not a casserole, and not the version pictured. All I do is make a box of Annie's Mac & Cheese, then mix in the soup and tuna. No baking required! We sprinkle chow mein noodles on the individual servings.

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: : 4 : :

Parmesan Chicken 

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Seasoned bread crumbs
Grated Parmesan cheese
Dried basil
Egg

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: : 5 : :

Salmon Patties

 Canned salmon

Egg
Sseasoned dry bread crumbs
Olive oil

 

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: : 6 : :

Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll-Ups

  Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls

Thinly sliced ham
Sliced cheddar cheese

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: : 7 : :

Chicken and Rice Dinner

 Boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Minute^® White Rice

Cream of chicken soup

Water

Oil

  : : 8 : :

Cod au Gratin

 Cod fillets
Margarine or butter
All-purpose flour
Milk
Shredded Cheddar cheese

It tastes better than it looks in the photo! 

I make this with 12 oz. of pollock and scale the other ingredients in half.

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: : 9 : :

Dump and Go Cheesy Chicken

Boneless chicken breasts
Cream of Cheddar cheese soup
Milk
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder

  : : 10 : :

Turkey Meatballs 

 Ground turkey

Egg
  Italian seasoned bread crumbs

I pour barbecue sauce over mine before baking and serve over rice. 


What are your favorite easy recipes?

10 Things I Learned on Our Florida Trip

 

Nathan and I took a trip to Pensacola, Florida, last month. Nathan graduated from Pensacola Christian College, and he was excited to finally be able to show me where he spent five years of his life. With one day of driving, three days there, and another day driving back, it was somewhat exhausting, but it was nice to be able to relax a little. Here are 10 things I learned on our first post-honeymoon trip together.

 

1. Pensacola Christian College feels very little like Ball State University.

I was aware that Nathan and I attended very different colleges, but being at PCC in person gave me a better picture of those differences. Although I had no problem putting on a skirt to comply with the PCC dress code, it felt kind of unnatural since I wore jeans 90% of the time I was in college. "I feel like we're going to church!" I told Nathan as I got in the car. Really, we kind of were; we attended chapel along with all of the students Friday morning. And, even as a married man, Nathan felt a little uncomfortable when his wife kissed him on a campus where even hand holding is forbidden.

2. Nathan and I can spend 13 hours in the car without getting mad at each other.

This was good to know. I wouldn't say we enjoyed every minute of our ridiculously long trip, but I couldn't have asked for better company.

3. Nathan was a very memorable student.

Five years after graduating, his professors still remembered him. I've only been out of college two years, and I doubt very many of my professors would remember my name.

4. Alabama dirt is RED.

This photo doesn't begin to do it justice. When Nathan told me about the red dirt, I was expecting it to look like the clay tennis courts at the French Open. But some of it was a bright red, almost like the radioactive Fiesta Ware.

5. Florida isn't always warm.

Okay, I kind of knew that before, but it still surprised me how cold it was at the beach. Even though there were still plenty of girls in bikinis, I kept my coat on part of the time.


 

6. Bar soap is BAD for my wedding ring.

Normally I don't have a problem using motel soap for a few days, but now that I know what it does to my wedding band, I may have to bring liquid soap the next time we go on vacation. The soap was caked in behind the diamonds of my ring, and even a cleaning at Jared didn't get it out. (Once I brought it to the attention of the sales associate, she said she had some tricks up her sleeve and was able to get it out.)
  

7. Nathan is a driving beast.

He drove two-thirds of the way to Florida and two-thirds of the way home. I even had coffee on the way back to try to wake myself up to drive again, but all he needed was a four hour break in the middle.

8. Alabama has some crazy roadkill.

In addition to the aforementioned armadillos, I saw a few coyotes and some animals I couldn't identify...mink? Weasel? Dingo?

 

9. Groupons aren't always amazing deals.

I signed up to receive the daily Groupon emails for Pensacola a few months before our trip, and I bought a Groupon for Surf Burger, a restaurant on Pensacola Beach. It was a really good lunch with a fabulous view, but with all the gas we burned up driving around for 30 minutes to find parking, it wasn't as great of a deal as I had hoped.

10. I still hate grits. 

It's been at least 15 years since I last tried grits, so I kept an open mind. I just don't like them, and I don't know why. However, fried okra is quite tasty.

10 Wedding Tips

There was some talk on Weddingbee recently about wedding regrets. I don't like regrets. While there's something to be said for learning from past mistakes, focusing on what you wish you had or hadn't done gets you nowhere. I'm happy with my life, and I feel that every decision I've made, good and bad, has gotten me where I am today. I'd rather not talk about wedding regrets or even think about them. However, I would like to share 10 wedding tips that I learned from my experience.


1. Remember that you're preparing for a marriage, not just a wedding.
This might seem like an obvious one, but in the rush of planning, I constantly had to slow down and remind myself why I was doing all this work. You're entering into a covenant; that's kind of a big deal. Take the time to discuss things like how you'll handle finances, child rearing, your fiance's expectations for marriage, etc. either through premarital counseling or just through discussions with each other. You'll still have a lot of learning to do after tying the knot no matter what, but I felt like our relationship grew quite a bit during our engagement.

2. Only plan a wedding in 6 months if you're willing to make sacrifices.
We had limited options in certain areas. I didn't have time to order a dress from any place other than David's Bridal, and we had to pick a venue within the first few weeks of planning. But by getting married when we did, Nathan wasn't in class during our honeymoon, and I was able to move out of my apartment the month my lease was up. It was the best choice for us, and I definitely don't regret getting married when we did.

3. Don't be ashamed of going on an inexpensive honeymoon.
Nathan gave this an "Amen!" when I read him my list - it's the biggest one for him. Do I hate the "oh" reaction I get when I tell people we went to Cincinnati for our honeymoon? A little bit, yes. But do I wish we had spent more money? Not at all! There's no need to go to some tropical paradise to begin your marriage. I really hate the term "mini moon" and the implication that spending only a few days away is somehow not worthy of being called a honeymoon.

4. Never look at Style Me Pretty.
Okay, you can look at it, but real weddings don't look like that, at least not where I come from. I've never even seen a croquembouche. I was reading several wedding blogs when I first started planning, but Weddingbee was the only one I kept reading the last couple months of our engagement. And even some of the posts on Weddingbee can make you feel like you aren't spending enough time or money on your wedding.

5. Expect your fiancé to have opinions.
Some grooms might have a "yes dear" attitude on everything, but mine dreamed about his wedding when he was younger and didn't want me making decisions without his input. He was flexible for the most part though and decided he liked some of my dreams, like having an outdoor wedding.

6. Carefully calculate the cost savings of any DIY projects.
While I loved our cupcake tower, the supplies and ingredients ended up costing over $100. I don't know that putting in all that extra time and effort was worth the small amount of money we saved.

7. Try to say hi to all of your wedding guests.
I kind of felt like a jerk at my wedding because all these people came from miles and miles away just to see our wedding, and then I hardly even had the time to talk to them. I'm glad Nathan and I dismissed all our guests from the ceremony personally so we could at least give them a hug and thank them for coming.

8. If you're having an outdoor wedding on a hot and humid day, don't expect your hairstyle to hold up.
My hair was curled three times before the ceremony, and by the end of the reception it was wavy at best (it's naturally pin straight). I think the hairspray evaporated the instant I walked outside. Looking at the photos, I don't think it looks bad, just more natural than glamorous, which is fitting for me anyway.

9. Expect multiple things to go wrong.
Having heard that "something will go wrong," I was fully expecting a minor disaster of some sort and even wondered what that thing would be. In our case, a lot of things went wrong. But you know what? I didn't care. I was completely happy that day. As long as you don't expect to have a perfect day, you'll be fine.

10. Let people help you.
If there's an item on your to-do list that you don't need to complete personally, assign it to someone early in the planning process. People would tell me "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help!" While I appreciated this, I had difficulty coming up with tasks that others could handle for me, particularly since no one lived in town. Also, let people ask questions about your wedding - you never know how they might be able to help. A coworker asked where I was getting my hair done, which I thought was an odd question, but a few weeks later she happened to get a coupon for the salon that saved me $25!

 Bonus tip: While people might not see your feet during the ceremony, your 
shoes will be visible in photos like this! It might not hurt to have some pretty 
shoes for photos if you aren't wearing them the entire day.

What are your top wedding planning tips?