Bank of America

Just got off the phone with Bank of America and they called to collect a payment. I gave them the same story I gave to Discover yesterday and the first rep I talked to transferred me to a second rep and she advised I needed to pay my payment or my credit would be ruined. I told her my credit would be trashed in a few months so that was the least of my concerns. I told her I would let her know when I had some money, in a few months, and we would talk about my options to settle my debt because I see that as my only option besides bankruptcy. So I've talked to the first two creditors now.

Yesterday I cooked that beef shoulder roast and it was delicious:

5-6 lb. Beef Shoulder Roast
8 Small Red Potatoes
3 Cups Baby Carrots (bagged and prewashed)
1 Cup Hot Water
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Cloves

Wash potatoes and place in crock pot, place carrots in crock pot and the cup of hot water. Put some small slices in the beef roast and insert small garlic cloves, put salt and pepper on the roast, put it in the crock pot and cover. Turn the crock pot up to high for a couple of hours until you see steam on the top of your cover, do not open crock pot as this will let your heat out. Turn the roast down between low and medium for an additional six hours. This makes a tender beef roast that you can cut with a fork.

Usually I save the juice in the refrigerator and the next day I skim off the fat and make a beef stew with the remaining broth and roast, potatoes and carrots by cubing them up adding about four cups of water and the broth and if you want a little more variety, I add a half a cup of barley and a cup of sliced mushrooms, and a chopped onion. The barley and potato will thicken the stew and I let it cook for about four hours on medium heat in the crock pot and I season to taste with a little basil, oregano, pepper, garlic powder and salt. Serve it with rolls and you will have a hearty meal.

Sunny Sunday

It's a nice sunny winter day here in the North. The snow is melting and it feels like spring. I've gotten calls all weekend from Discover on my answering machine, they are relentless. I love my new "Privacy Corp" caller ID, if it is one of those annoying calls it goes right to the answering machine without even ringing, so if they think they are harassing me with numerous calls all day, they are mistaken, I don't hear a ring.

So what am I doing exciting today? I went through my sales flyer for groceries and went shoppping. I found some great buys one being a Beef Shoulder Roast at $1.99 per pound and I'm going to cook that in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots, then I'll take the leftovers and make a beef stew out of it. I made a huge pot of chili today, it's quick, easy, inexpensive and very healthy for you:

My Secret Chili

1 lb. of ground beef
1 can red kidney beans
1 can white beans
1 can black beans
1 jar of Ragu mushroom & green pepper tomatoe sauce
1 can of diced tomotoes with oregano, basil and garlic
Red Pepper Flakes to taste
1 T. Garlic Salt
1/2 t. of Black Pepper
1 T. Basil
1 T. Oregano
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. Cloves

Fry up the hamburger and drain off the fat, add all the remaining ingredients (draining the beans), let simmer on low for about 30 minutes.
Makes a large pot of chili, serves 8 at least.

First Collection Call

I've been preparing myself for that first collection call. Today I get a recorded message that leaves an 800 number and asks me to call back. So I call the number and hear "Credit Card Services" and it ask me to put my last four digits of my credit card in. I'm not sure which credit card is calling and if it is a collection call or someone calling to get me to open back up my credit card, since I closed them all on January 2nd. I'm not yet 30 days late on any card. I guess I'll just wait and see if they call back. However, my thought is not to really talk much to anyone for the first 60 days and then to send out a letter to the creditors advising them of my situation.

I've been spending a lot of time reading about people and their debt for the last six months and I'm not surprised to see how debt can affect emotions. When you look at the whole scope of things, debt does control most peoples life's. I was very upset when I finally realized I was not going to recover from the housing market crash and that my income would never be the same and there was no way I could continue making credit card payments. I had many sleepless nights, went on depression medication and anxiety medication and etc. Then about six months after I knew where I was heading, I finally made up my mind that this was not a bad thing, this was a good thing. I was finally dealing with my credit cards and I was finally going to be forced to pay them off and no longer use them. I was actually going to be freeing myself from the credit cards and the huge monthly payments I've been paying for the last ten years. I've been living on the edge for at least that time, if not before. It's time to get rid of cards and learn how to manage my money better and I think "everything happens for a reason"; and I needed this lesson in my life.

One of my passions is cooking, so while I'm waiting for my opportunity to settle my debt, I've been looking for ways to save money grocery shopping, yet still feed my family tasty and nutricious meals. The first thing I do on Sunday is take out the Super Market flier and see what the deals for the week are. I look for the two for the price of one specials. I had purchased a small chest freezer so I can freeze foods and use them at a later date. So this weeks special was to buy one package of boneless pork chops and get a second one free and chicken breast was $2.29 a pound for the family package. So I bought the pork chops and the chicken breast. I froze the second package of pork and split the family pack of chicken into two packages with freezer bags and froze the second package. Two of the meals I will prepare this week will be grilled pork and lemon chicken.

Grilled Pork
3-4 pork strips
1 T minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper

Take your pork strips and place them in a bowl, usually four pieces, coat them with olive oil, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, salt and pepper. Place in refrigerator for at least four hours, turning at least once. Then grill them on the barbeque grill until cooked through.
I usually serve these with herbed potatoes - cut red or gold yukon potatoes into bite size cubes, lightly coat a baking dish with olive oil, sprinkle garlic powder, cajun spice, salt and pepper over potatoes, bake at 350 for 20 minutes, turning potatoes after the first ten minutes. Serve wth a side of corn, one can kernel corn and one can creamed corn mixed together.

Stove Top Lemon Chicken
3-4 chicken breast
1 can chicken broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 T lemon pepper
1/2 c. flour
1 egg

Pound out four chicken breast until they are flat, make a mixture of flour and lemon pepper, whip one egg, dip your chicken in the egg and then coat with the flour mixture. Place chicken in a lightly greased fry pan and saute until golden brown. Remove the chicken from the fry pan, pour in one can of chicken broth and 1/4 cup of lemon juice, sprinkle a half a teaspoon of lemon pepper then add two heaping tablespoons of gravy thickener (I like Wonder sauce and gravy). Heat until the mixture thickens and then add your chicken breast back into the sauce. Let simmer for about five minutes then serve over hot rice with a side of green beans.

Both of these meals are under $10.00 and they are delicious.