Fabulously Broke ....in the City

Guys actually notice what you wear

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:00:11 PST

Who woulda thunk it?

BF: I wear sweatpants here, but I never used to do that in Europe.

It’s the environment here that makes me dress down.

I don’t have any control over what I wear here.

FB: I don’t believe that. You have a choice in what you wear.

BF: Yeah, but even YOU dress differently in Ontario than you do in Quebec.

You don’t wear sweatpants or sweatshirts there!!

FB: True, but it’s my choice. You said you don’t have control over what you wear.

BF: Okay, what I meant was that the environment influences the way you dress subconsciously or consciously and I cannot control that environment.

FB: Hmm.. good point

Note: I am trying to make an effort, but he doesn’t know that before we went back to Ontario, I didn’t have all my nice things!

I had packed them all away, thinking we were moving.

Now I’m busting them out. Full blast.

What do you think?

Does the environment around you influence the way you dress?

Do you dress differently in different cities or situations?

(Not taking into account what you have to wear to work or special events, those are given)

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Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:14 PST

I made some delicious chicken noodle soup the other day.

Time it took: 4 hours — but a very easy 4 hours

I made my own vegetable stock from scratch before making the soup
I just let the stuff boil & simmer on the stove while I blogged
I have enough portions for at least 6-8 meals

Ingredients

Sorry. I don’t measure anything. I just eyeball how much I think I need.

Adjust as needed.

If you hate leeks, but love celery, put it in.

I personally hate celery, so that never appears in any of my creations.

Vegetable Stock

Leeks —– I used 2
Onions —— I used 2
Tomatoes —– I used 1
Garlic —— I used 5 cloves, sliced
Ginger Slices — I used a good handful, sliced
Italian Parsley —- I used a bunch, plucking off the leaves only
Cooking Salt —- I used a small pinch

Spicy Chicken Soup

Soup Stock (You can just buy it, but I like homemade)
Soy Sauce — A good splash
Bay Leaves — I used 3
Chicken — I used 4 pieces
Carrots — I used a package of carrots (I LOVE them in soup)
Shallots — I used 4 shallots, sliced
Onions — I used 2 onions, sliced
Spicy Pancetta (Italian Bacon) — I used a whole package, about 250 grams

(The spice came from the pancetta and wasn’t over powering or too spicy. No pepper needed.)

Fresh Garnish

Italian Parsley — I just plucked off the leaves
Green Onions (Scallions) — Chopped

Pasta/Noodles

Olive Oil — Just a splash
Cooking Salt — A small pinch
Good quality pasta — (I buy mine from the Italian area in Montreal, and it’s killer.)

FYI: Cooking Salt a.k.a. Salt Rocks a.k.a. Rock Salt

Cooking Salt, or what I call salt rocks are these:

I use them in cooking pasta or to flavour soups with a bit of salt, because it’s a quick way to get a good chunk of salt in there, without making a mess with the tiny grains of table salt.

Just a pinch will do.

1. Making Vegetable Stock

I chopped up all of my vegetables, threw them into a pot with water and a couple of salt rocks.

I let it simmer and boil on low for about an hour and a half.

Just check on it once in a while, stirring a bit to release the flavours.

There’s no need to baby it, it’s soaking in water.

It won’t burn unless you leave it to reduce too long.

It smells incredible, but it tastes kind of bland, because it’s just flavoured water with a bit of salt.

DO NOT ADD MORE SALT.

It’s meant to just have the great, subtle flavours of every vegetable in the water, so that when you cook the chicken in it later, it will be infused with that.

You can add salt later.

2. Start the soup

After your vegetable stock has reduced to your desired amount (this is usually when your veggies look wilted, brown and overcooked/done), you’re ready to start the soup.

Drain out the semi-clear stock from the veggies and put it back into the pot, without the vegetables.

Add the soy sauce, chicken, bay leaves, chopped carrots, and sliced up pancetta bacon in the stock.

Carrots are harder, and take longer to cook, so they should go in at the start.

(Try and cut them in uniform sizes, so they cook evenly.)

I put it on the stove for about an hour and half on medium-low, and it perfumed the entire home.

Near the end, I added the onions & shallots for the last 10 minutes so that they retain a good crunch to them, rather than being mushy.

3. Remove the chicken & peel it off the bone

This is an optional step.

I really hate removing bones or peeling shells from things while I am eating, so I like to de-bone and prepare everything so it’s easily eaten without getting your fingers dirty.

Childhood habit.

So I removed the chicken, let it cool and started peeling the meat off in chunks (it slides right off).

This was what is left in the pot. Still not bad for a soup, because it has pancetta bacon in it for some protein.

4.Cook Pasta

I only have one pot.

So I put the pot back on the boil, and tossed in some pasta with a dash of olive oil, some more cooking salt.

This is the only time you’re ever going to get to flavour the pasta, which is why I add salt, olive oil and sometimes an herb as well.

I find the perfect time for cooking my pasta is 17 minutes and 30 seconds.

Not too mushy, not too al dente.

After it comes to a hard boil, to pour in the pasta, and stir it immediately.

Stir the pasta every couple of minutes, so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot, or to each other.

The olive oil will also help with the pasta to not stick to each other.

5. Finished Product: Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

Put it all together.

Heat up the soup if it got a bit cold while waiting for the pasta (what?! I only have one pot!!) and then add a handful of cooked pasta.

I garnished with Italian parsley and green onions.

This recipe is definitely a keeper.

It was AWESOME.

The vegetable stock was deliciously infused into the chicken, it had all my favourite veggies (onions and carrots) in the final product, and the garnishes added a nice, fresh, green bite and flavour to the soup.

I could even eat the whole thing without the chicken if I wanted, and save the chicken for another dish with rice.

The spicy pancetta is perfect in the soup, or I could just eat it plain without any meat, because the soup is so flavourful.

Bonus: I got 6-8 servings of leftovers!!

BF hates soup, but wanted to eat all my pancetta bacon, chicken, veggies & pasta without the soup.

So I end up eating all of it by myself.

Soup tastes better the next day, anyway.

I portioned out everything so that nothing would get soggy.

Pasta on its own, nice and semi-dry. Chicken on its own, bacon left in the soup with the carrots & onions.

Garnishes, of COURSE, on their own as well (not pictured).

When it comes time to make the soup or to eat it, just put it all together.

Don’t forget to scrape off the layer of fat from the soup when it congeals, so you lower the calorie count.

Then scoop some soup gel into the bowl along with some pasta, put it into the microwave with one or two minutes to heat it up.

Add the chicken last, in the second heating in the microwave for a minute, or else you are going to end up overcooking the chicken.

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Cook at home or Eat out?

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:00:05 PST

Debt Hater was debating between eating at home all the time or eating out. She wanted to know how to figure out a way to see if eating at home was cheaper or not.

For me, it is cheaper to eat at home.

Without a doubt, I spend $200-$250 a month on really good, organic foods, and if I were to eat out all the time, I would have a bigger waist and a smaller wallet, to the tune of $450 a month.

I arrived at $450 as a number because I actually ate out for one day, and had a bowl of Pho for lunch without a breakfast.

I was so full, I didn’t need to eat anything for the rest of the day. So… $15 x 30 days = $450 on average.

No going outside of the $15 tax & tip included zone, which means my food choices would be kind of limited based on price.

For me, eating out is definitely easier.

I could probably make the Pho at home for cheaper if I took the time to do it, but t it takes such a dang long time if you want to get the soup really flavourful and done right.

But if you are trying to find a differential between whether eating out all the time at cheapie places or eating at home is cheaper, try these two methods.

You will NEED to be tracking all your expenses for these methods to work.

Method #1: Track it by the total amount

Try each method for one week.
Try eating at home and buying groceries for the whole week.
The next week, try only eating out for the whole week.
Compare the two totaled amounts.

Notes:

You will probably have leftovers from groceries or eating out, but pretend they don’t exist, as we are looking at the totals, rather than on a per-meal basis.

As not to waste food, I would suggest buying what you think you need for the week, and then eating the food until it’s completely gone, even if it goes over a week (7 days).

If it goes over an entire week, and ends up being 9 days for example, then take the grocery bill, divide it by the 9 days, and multiply it by 7 days to get an approximation for a week.

On the 10th day, start eating out for 7 whole days for whenever you feel hungry.

Eat any leftovers before you buy a new meal.

Method #2: Count by the meals

Try each method for the week, the same as in Method #1
But this time, keep track somewhere of how many meals you ate out of the money you spent
The difference is you are looking at the amounts by the number of meals eaten rather than a single, total weekly amount

Notes:

If you eat at home, and you have leftovers into the next week, that grocery bill counted for those meals.

So if you bought $50 of groceries but you went over 7 days into 9 days, count the meals you ate for those extra days as part of the grocery total, just like above.

Only this time, you would have something like: $50 in groceries = 27 meals (9 days, 3 times a day)

If you eat out, and you have leftovers for another meal, that one receipt counts for two meals.

At the end, you should have a good idea of what you would typically spend eating out or cooking at home for each month.

The problem with NOT tracking it methodically as described above, is that if you eat out today, but cook at home tomorrow, you start mixing the receipts & getting the food amounts confused.

Plus, if you plan on always eating out, would you ever cook at home? And vice versa?

You have to try that kind of lifestyle for a week to see if you could get used to it, or get sick of it.

When I traveled and ate out all the time, I eventually hated it so much, that I finally bought some plain bread and cheese.

A simple, no fuss, no muss meal.

It was all I wanted.

It was what I craved, after eating steaks, and other restaurant-type fare.

Any other tips from readers on how to calculate or figure out which way is cheaper?

Thanks for reading! :D You can contact me here if you want.

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I’m off to see the Taxman…

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:20:30 PST

Just got a notice in the mail from Quebec saying I didn’t pay the $5600+ I owed them in business taxes?

WHAT!?!?!

I saw that money debited from my account. I want to clear that up, and there’s a small discrepancy of around $12.

Grabbed my comfy white blazer sweater and some basics. Am going to try out my new jeans today

Close up of the jewelery.

I don’t have time to fuss through my collection to find a longer necklace that I think would look better with the top.

*sigh*..

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Got an online girlfriend? :)

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:00:18 PST

Maybe you want to take this quick quiz to check a lil’ sumpin’ sumpin’…

Via Ms. Taken

EDIT:

*GASP*!

Check out this real life story of an online girlfriend gone horribly wrong and go through that quiz again

Mad Men Quiz by Elle

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Link Love

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:38:37 PST

This Toronto, ON CN Tower picture is incredible. Mouse over it and watch my beloved home city change!

If you are trying to figure out how to set clothing limits, Revanche has an idea.

I love the allocation-to-categories idea! I always just evaluate as I see the sale and the product, but I need something more concrete.

Want to catch a liar? Look at the legs and feet. Via Psychology Today, by a 25-year FBI veteran.

Subtle clues & changes early on, may help increase altruism in toddlers. Via BPS Research Digest.

Why do I read The Corporette? *sigh*

I hate the matching jacket, but now here’s another beautiful dress I’ll never buy for $448 by Elie Tahari called the “Faith” Dress.

I am such a sucker for obi-belted things.

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Hello Kitty takes a ride… in a Ferrari

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:45 PST

Yes, it’s a real Ferrari, tricked out HK style.

Part of me is torn.

I think it’s cute as hell to have Hello Kitty shaped exhaust pipes (??!?! –Someone please help out a poor car-part-name confused FB here).

But then I think: DAMN that is some tacky ish to be driving a Hello Kitty Ferrari.

Via Hello Kitty Hell.

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Why the hell do guys have to pay for everything? :)

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:00:09 PST

This article from Well-Heeled about a couple that divorced 25 years ago, really annoyed me.

Long story short, they divorced amicably, and signed papers saying they would waive all future rights to alimony from each other.

The husband re-married, and 25 years later, the ex-wife took him to court to get $400/week payments of alimony from his retirement cheque because she had no savings, no retirement fund or health insurance…….and and she WON!

The judge granted the $1600/month alimony. 25 years after they had signed the papers waiving all rights.

Most of the comments on Well-Heeled’s posts said things along the line of:

Why didn’t she get her act together in the 25 years they were separated?

She had more than two decades to save, become frugal, say “I’m on my own now!”

Why did she even think about taking her ex-husband back to court, 25 years later?

In my personal opinion, that’s pretty low. She wanted to milk the only cow she saw available, and she went after the ex-husband as a result. Even though they had parted on good terms.

Why did the judge even GRANT that request?

They waived all rights to any future alimony at the time of their divorce, 25 years ago. WTF?

They were even divorced LONGER than they were married!

Married: 17 years. Divorced: 25 years.

Which brings me to my next question:

Why the hell does it seem that guys always get stuck with having to pay for everything?

I am not saying this is a general rule, but it is a prevailing attitude that I am getting from some of my girlfriends that bothers me.

Some of my girlfriends think that just because they’re girls, they should pay as little as possible.

The guy should take care of them.

He should pay for all dinners out, all trips, treat them to gifts, spoil them with flowers, all in exchange for being with them.

It isn’t even really a question of them making less money than their boyfriends that changes attitudes.

The difference could be negligible, or nonexistent.

I know a dentist who is dating another dentist, and she still feels he should pay for EVERYTHING.

She doesn’t even reach for her wallet when the bill comes at dinner, and she complains if he doesn’t buy her a gift once every other week.

I also have another friend who says “That’s just the way it is“, having lived with her father who paid for everything in the home out of his pay, and her mother who just squirreled her own paycheque away, not forking out a single cent.

They own all the assets together, 50/50, and the parents both own and work at the same family business!!!

And of course, other girls who don’t work at all, and just stay at home sponging off their boyfriends or husbands, who bring home the bacon.

Or you read other posts like this eye-opening one by Retire by 35 talking about pre-emptive lifestyle inflation:

Yesterday on Facebook I was scrolling through a friend’s post and he was being giddy about some new toys that he bought.

He wouldn’t reveal what it was, so a number of his friends started guessing what he bought.

A new camera? No. A new laptop? No. A new car? No.

Nobody was able to guess it and he was really happy about that too. Many posts down his girlfriend chimed in saying that if he got new toys then she wants new ones too.

She started naming off the “stuff” that she wants him to buy her: the new iMac, a new car, a jetski, a house, and other big-ticket items.

She asked him when he would buy it for them.

I know both of them (the boyfriend and girlfriend) and they each make around 40 to 50 thousand a year while living with their parents. Both are older than me. Both travel more, buy more, and eat more extravagently than me.

The girlfriend has been pressuring the boyfriend for marriage and to buy a house for both of them to live in. She wants to start a family.

She wants the white picket fence and 2.5 kids.

She wants the shiny new toys and the hobbies to match.

I don’t believe they have much savings since they complain about being broke.

Lest you think I stayed silent…

I HAVE brought it up to them, stating that I didn’t think the guy always had to be on the hook for everything.

I also stated that 50/50 seems to be the fairest compromise to me, so one doesn’t feel resentful of the other.

But I don’t want to push it, because I’m not their boyfriends.

If he’s happy paying, and she’s happy taking everything, then all the power to them.

But what if he gets annoyed one day and says: “Enough is enough”?

It just isn’t fair..

I don’t think these girls are necessarily stupid for taking their guys’ money.

I think the guy is stupid.

But regardless of who’s taking advantage of who, the bottom line to me, is that it just isn’t fair.

Barring circumstances such as being a SAHM with kids to take care of, a woman should always have control of her own financial destiny.

Being a girl myself, I feel strange, “So why does a guy have to buy and pay for everything for the girl? Why can’t the girl step up and do her own thing?”

And so what if the guy makes more money?

I still pay my half, because he shouldn’t feel punished for making more money.

And vice versa. Trust me, I’ve been there where I was the one paying for everything.

So I cannot imagine that anyone (man or woman) in a relationship who pays more, doesn’t feel the slightest tinge of resentment.

I felt A LOT of it.

So much, that I started resenting the relationship and feeling punished for being in a relationship where I had to fork out way more of my pay just because my partner was not doing his fair share.

So how can it be that a guy would not feel any sort of resentment or regret?

My new attitude as a result was:

If I can’t afford to pay half on a huge loft apartment that he wants, then I tell him that this is what I can afford to pay each month for rent.

We either pick something smaller and within my price range so the percentage stays at 50/50, or he makes a CONSCIOUS, thought-out decision to pay MORE than his fair share, so that he can get the loft he wants.

Simple.

And if the guy has to pay all the food, utilities, eating out, trips, gas bills, etc.. then the girl has no right saying she ran up the credit cards into the red, shopping to cure her boredom of staying at home alone all the time.

GET A JOB!

And the girl, has no right to say that she can only afford to chip in $200 a month, when the bills are $2000 a month, and then goes out to buy a designer purse for $500.

To me, it just isn’t fair.

In my case, the guy bought new gaming systems at $500 a pop, but couldn’t afford to fork over money for food and rent.

Whassup with that?

You definitely MUST have some play money, like $100 a month, but if you can afford a $500 bag each month, you can afford to give $400 more towards the bills.

Edit: To be fair, I feel this way now because…

I’ve been there and done it on the other side of the fence, and I am just trying to shed some light on how a person might feel in that situation.

Male OR female.

As for the situation now, BF and I earn about the same kind of cash.

If we are both working full-time on contracts, we earn around the same amount ($16k – $20k/month)

We may only work for 2 months out of the whole year, as the case was for 2009 (I didn’t work at all, having made the cash last year and BF worked for only 3 months).

But generally speaking, we earn around the same kinds of rates (him of course, getting more contracts and earning more money per hour) when we work.

I guess I am trying to say that I don’t hold it against him that he has more experience, gets more contracts, and gets more money per hour.

He earned it, and deserves it.

Even if I don’t have that kind of money making clout, I just save my money and live off it for the year or two that I need to, because I am forced to manage my own money instead of relying on him to step in and save me.

But I think some girls in the same position might feel resentful of that fact, that they have to really watch their money more, if they earn less.

I should also say that our basic expenses are very low, so we bank a lot of cash when we make it.

With everything included: rent, food, and home stuff, we pay around $800 a month each.

And I am not trying to dispute what works for some couples: 50/50 in our case, and proportionate payments in other cases.

I am trying to point out that SOME women (clearly not all) seem to have an entitlement issues with money from their parents or their boyfriends just because they are women.

Their self-centered attitudes are what I have the real bone to pick with.