How To: Cook Dried Black Beans

Since we moved into our new house I've been trying to stay on a budget and save as much money as possible...let me rephrase that...I've been trying to save as much money on the essentials so that I can buy more non-essentials (like more white dishes for my collection). Charles seemed unimpressed when I explained this intuitive logic to him last night as I was cooking up an entire pound of dried black beans. Although the process is long (about 13 hours), the actual work involved is very minimal and most of that time is just spent waiting.

I researched how to cook dried beans and there are quite a few different ways to cook them, but I chose the method that I thought would be the easiest, even though it was the longest. This method is perfect as long as you don't need the beans until the next day. (If you need to cook them quickly everything I read said pressure cookers are the way to go as far as ease and taste.)

Step 1: Soak 1lb of dried black beans in 10 cups of water for 8 hours or overnight (I just soaked them in the crock pot so there would be less dishes to wash)

Step 2: Drain and Rinse beans, discarding any split open beans

Step 3: Cover beans with fresh, clean water in crock pot (so that the water covers the beans by about 2 inches)

Step 4: Bake on high 5 hours, then check to see if tender, if not, keep baking and check every hour until they are tender

Step 5: Drain, rinse and divide up beans into freezer-safe containers and freeze for later use. They can be


I estimate that by using dried beans instead of canned beans I saved about $10. Not too shabby! I bought the dried black beans in the bulk section at Whole Foods so that helped a little too with the price. Now I'm off to Home Goods to find something for $10 =)

New Home: Custom Look on a Budget

I'm not a big fan of the whole "builder grade" look, but I have a "builder grade" budget, and we are trying to put the bulk of our money towards the framework of the house (like the overall square footage) and things that will be hard to change later (like upgraded insulation in the exterior walls, roughed in bonus room above the garage), so I've had to get a little creative to be able to afford my dream finishes. Here are a couple ways you can save on finishes if you are building or remodeling

Buy your own finishes:
My builder is awesome. Yes, I know I say that almost every post, but he really is. Any finish I decide I want to "upgrade" (which has been almost all of them), he gives me the amount of credit or allowance that's in the total house quote for purchasing it myself. While I usually end up spending more than the builder grade option would be, I'm definitely saving money on the upgraded price I would have to pay if I just told the builder to go get it. The advantage to this is that I can shop for deals, watch for sales (like my hardwood floors purchased from Lumber Liquidators by my builder when I alerted him the ones I wanted were on sale) and get exactly what I want. Below are some of the finishes I have actually purchased online (I heart Amazon and Overstock and their free/low shipping costs!) My builder is still installing the finishes, but I had so much fun doing the actual shopping for them! I'm not sure how my parents are feeling about their "already-full-of-our-moving-stuff-garage" being piled even higher with this stuff (and I'm not quite sure if the shower will fit in there when it's delivered tomorrow...), but I love the deliveries! It feels like Christmas when the FedEx truck shows up...I don't even mind them ringing the doorbell during Isabelle's nap time...

Not only do I shop online sales but I also look at stores for sales and the best way to remember the price and look of all the different items you like? Take pics with your phone! I always take a picture of the item so I remember what it looks like, followed by a picture of the price tag with dimensions listed. This way I can show Charles and get his opinion, and compare prices/styles wherever I am.

Invest some "Sweat Equity":

If you have the time (and skills) you can do some of the smaller things yourself to save money...painting all our own trim saved us 2K...I could have saved another 2K by painting all the walls myself but that is a huge job and by the time I figured in the price of paint, materials and time I wasn't really saving that much. We are also tiling all the bathrooms and master shower ourselves, assembling and installing kitchen cabinets and painting the half bath walls (b/c it's so tiny and will take me 30 min to do since there will be nothing in there I need to tape and I'm only painting the top half of the wall) and installing the bead-board in the half bath. Next month is definitely going to be busy for us, but I think we are doing just enough sweat equity to save money but not overwhelm us (I will let you know if I regret that statement or not in August...)

Only about 2 more weeks, and I have to have paint colors finalized. Yikes! I'm still undecided on the guest room/bath and Isabelle's room so I'd better decide soon...I really hate painting so I want to make sure the colors I pick are ones I will want for a long time. This week the roof is being shingled and by the end of next week the sheetrockers should be ready to start. Not much longer till we can actually see the inside start to come together!