Vegetarian at heart

If it were up to me, our family would be vegetarians. It's not that I hate meat, but I could take it or leave it. My children prefer vegetables to meat in their meals, and would live on fruits and veggies alone if they could. We went completely vegetarian for a little over one year, but my husband got bored with the tofu and bean concoctions and started craving meat again. I mean, it's not like he would ever join a bacon of the month club or anything, but he does enjoy meat a few times a week - especially if it is cooked on the grill.

The thing I miss the most about banning meat from the kitchen is the ease of cleaning. I feel like my kitchen is much more sanitary when I don't have to worry about cleaning up after raw chicken, pork, or beef that has been prepared there. With meat, you have to be conscious of which utensil was used for what, and did it touch any raw meat, or did anything drip on the counter, etc... It is much easier to clean the cutting board and the knives if they were only used to chop veggies.

Oh well, at least we have two or three vegetarian dinners in our house per week, which is a reasonable compromise between the meat lover and the veggie lovers.

Wine rack delimma

I've been trying to come up with alternate uses for wine racks, since we have this really cool one that hangs from the ceiling, but only one bottle of wine to put in it. We are not big drinkers here, but the rack is very artistic and I would rather put it to some other use than get rid of it.

So far, I've thought of putting other cooking bottles in it, like olive oil and such, but finding bottles big enough to fit is proving difficult. Things like wine racks just look so much better when they are full, so if anyone has any ideas for what I could put in mine, please share them! Thank you.

We're just old-fashioned

My husband and I tend to agree with our grandparent's generation when it comes to certain things like finances, family, and what's important in life. If you talk to someone in their seventies or eighties, their advice will be to steer clear of mortgage lenders when you buy a home. Of course, most people today find it impossible to save up enough money to buy a home, but stay with me. If you do require a mortgage to purchase a home, at least try to pay it off as soon as possible. There are many payment acceleration programs offered, or you can just pay extra toward your principle on your own. The argument against paying off the mortgage tend to involve taxes. Well, I can tell you firsthand that the tax benefits are just a fraction of the amount you pay each year in interest, which you would not be paying at all if it were paid off.

We also believe, like our grandparents, that families should eat as many home cooked meals together as possible with no other distractions. We gave up television two years ago, which promotes reading, artwork projects, and imaginative game playing.

Vacations are viewed as a necessity in our family. Vacations promote bonding and learning for everyone and we believe families should take at least one vacation per year. And you can't use lack of money as an excuse - the togetherness is what counts, whether you are 1,000 miles from home or 100. Kids don't understand distance anyway, they just get bored with really long trips. So find something close to home to explore as a family, keep it simple, and everyone will be happy.

Going back to the classics

In my never-ending quest to save money, we are now popping our popcorn the old fashioned way on the stove. It is cheaper and the popcorn tastes better, although it takes more time and I burned one of my pans beyond repair with a hot oil mishap. Great, so I have spent less on popcorn, but now I have to replace my pan.

Oh well, I need to get some more cookware anyway, since a lot of the non-stick surfaces on my pans are coming off. I worry that we are eating it in the food I cook and I am planning to forgo non-stick cookware from now on. I think stainless steel, cast iron, cast aluminum or Terra Cotta stone cookware would be better and longer lasting.