Each week, I’ll present a low-cost meal (or a meal that demonstrates a lot of options for cutting costs) that my family eats for dinner and enjoys. Many of the recipes will be vegan or vegetarian, with options to add other ingredients for non-vegetarians.

This week, I’m going to take two previous food articles (chicken, broccoli, and mozzarella calzones and fried rice with artichoke hearts) and smash them together, creating my single favorite meal I’ve found since going vegan. Seriously. I’ve enjoyed these calzones more than anything else I’ve tried.

So, yes, along the way, I’ll be pulling elements from both of the previous posts and combining them into a new one.

Here’s what I’m talking about when I’m talking about a calzone:

What You Need
For the calzone crust itself, you’ll need roughly 1 1/2 cups flour, 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 2/3 teaspoon yeast, 1/3 teaspoon salt, and 2/3 cup water per calzone that you intend to make. These will make very large calzones, so don’t be afraid to divide the recipe in half if you want small ones. Generally, a single calzone will make two meals for me.

You’ll also need the ingredients. In the one I’m preparing, you’ll need some pizza sauce (a 50/50 mix of tomato paste and tomato sauce with some seasonings will also work), sliced black olives, 1/4 onion diced, about a cup of thinly chopped spinach, and 1/2 cup or so of cooked artichoke hearts.

Cooked artichoke hearts? They’re the remnants from the fried rice with artichoke hearts meal prepared last week.

As with last week, the cost of everything save the artichoke hearts is really low. I recommend waiting until artichokes are on sale before making this dish.

The Night Before (or Early That Day)
The first step, of course, is to cook the artichoke hearts. It’s pretty simple to do.

Rather than just repeating the procedure from last week’s post, though, I’ll just point you back to the original article.

Cooking artichoke hearts is quite simple, but you can purchase canned ones if you don’t want to go to that effort.

Preparing the Meal
First, you’ll have to make the dough. The ingredients for this part are listed above.

Take the water and heat it until it’s warm (but not hot) to the touch, then add the yeast and stir. Let the water sit for fifteen minutes. The surface of the water will have a few bubbles on it, which is perfect – the yeast is active and working.

While the water is sitting, mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl (the flour and the salt). When the water is ready, add the liquid ingredients (the yeast water and the olive oil) and mix them thoroughly until you have a dough ball that’s not sticky to the touch, but holds together well and is soft and pliable.

If it’s really sticky, add more flour and mix for a bit longer. If it’s dry, add a bit more water and mix for a bit longer.

Once the dough is finished, let it sit covered in a warm place for two or three hours to rise.

When the dough is rising, get your other ingredients ready: the sauce, the artichoke hearts, the onion, the black olives, and the spinach.

When cutting up the spinach, what I usually do is take three or four leaves, cut the stems off, and make a stack of them. Then, I roll the stack up until it looks like a tube, then I slice the tube about every quarter inch. This leaves me with a bunch of spinach strips, which are perfect for this.

When the dough is finished, just spread it out into a circle, then add toppings to half of the circle, like so.

Fold the empty half over the topping-covered half, press down the seams, cut a few tiny slices in the top of the calzone for venting, put the calzone on a baking sheet (I usually put some parchment paper underneath it), and bake it in the oven at 400 F for 18 minutes.

You’ll have yourself a wonderful calzone.

This is, without much of a doubt, my favorite dish I’ve enjoyed over the last several months. It’s just delicious.

Optional Ingredients
Obviously, when making a calzone, you can use any pizza topping as an ingredient. I’ve had all kinds over the years, from a bratwurst-and-sauerkraut calzone to a ham-and-pineapple calzone. Anything that you would put on a pizza works here!

Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking a great deal about the goals I’ve set for 2011. For a quick reminder, here they are:

Goal #1: Get fit, which basically meant meeting a few fitness metrics

Goal #2: Play music, which meant being able to successfully play four pieces on the piano

Goal #3: Read 100 unread books, which meant largely clearing out my to-be-read list

I’ve had the most success so far with the third goal, far and away. It is the reason for that success – and the failure on the other goals – that left me thinking. Why that goal?

This morning, it hit me, out of the blue. When I put the revelation in context with the other goals I’ve previously accomplished and failed with in my life, it makes complete sense.

I succeed at goals where the goal itself is a process toward some further end. I fail when the goal is merely that further end.

Let me break it down and explain what I mean.

With the third goal, reading 100 unread books, the real thing I hope to accomplish is to become more well-read. The reading list I put up there is diverse, and by reading all of that stuff and absorbing it to the best of my ability, I’ll likely become a more well-rounded person.

However, becoming well-read is not the goal I set for myself. The goal I set for myself directly sets down the process for becoming well-read. Simply by accomplishing the goal of reading 100 books, I will have naturally become more well-read in the process.

Thus, I’m left with a goal that explains what I need to do right on the surface. Read. Read what? These 100 books I have listed here. I can go right down that list, knocking off book after book. There’s no question or deliberation about what to do. I just simply follow that goal.

The other two goals have failed because they don’t make it clear what I need to do. They both sound noble on the surface – get into shape and learn to play the piano – but they don’t immediately translate into some sort of action.

A successful goal, at least from my perspective, is one where it’s immediately clear from the goal itself what needs to be done and by doing what’s suggested, you’re pushing forward strongly on some value in your life.

So, let’s recast those two goals a bit, shall we?

The first goal is to get into shape. Being in shape is the outgrowth of following a routine exercise regimen. After talking to a trainer, we set up something of a plan for exercising every other day (with a day in between for rest) that hits cardio each time and a certain muscle group every four sessions.

If I were to actually do those sessions, being in shape would be a natural outgrowth. So, my goal should actually be go to the gym every other day. If I actually just accomplish that very simple thing, then the personal change I want – being in better shape – is a natural result.

The second goal is to play four pieces on the piano. Again, being able to play these pieces is the outgrowth of practicing them. Simply put, all I really need to do to be able to play these pieces is to simply practice each day.

If I set my goal to be the straightforward practice the piano for thirty minutes each day instead of the less clear and more lofty one I have in place, then actually playing the pieces I want to play will be the natural result of the steps.

I can even improve the third one. If the change I want to affect in myself is to be more well-read, reading that list of books will accomplish that. However, it still doesn’t point toward a simple action. How about spend an hour each day reading something challenging? I exceed that most days, but this gives the right idea. It pushes me constantly toward the change I want to bring about in my own life.

All of us have big changes we want to make in our lives. Success in making that happen comes often from the little steps along the way. Focus on those little steps for a while without worrying about the big goal. Spend your time just dribbling the ball instead of wanting to be the next Allen Iverson. Spend two hours on your side business each day instead of talking big about building a major enterprise.

Do the little steps right and your destination will sneak up on you.

Right now, as I look at AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report, the nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is $3.53. Just one month ago, it was $3.12 per gallon, a $0.41 jump.

I’m lucky – I work at home. My wife is at least somewhat lucky – she commutes in a fully-paid-for car that gets 45 miles to the gallon. The rising price of gas isn’t crunching us much at all.

Yet.

Of course, I’d also have to be blind not to see some of my Facebook friends already talking about how it’s a struggle for them to hit the gas pump once a week and have to drop an additional $10 to fill their tank that they barely have. Examples of such comments (often tongue-in-cheek, of course):

Move over Weight Watchers, there is a new way to lose weight. It’s the “I can’t afford to buy groceries to feed myself because I just filled my gas tank” diet. And its companion plan – “I’ll Be Walking Soon – So I’ll Really Peel Off the Weight”!

Just filled up my gas tank. Just emptied my wallet.

Gas in the tank or food on the table? I’ll fill up, but it’ll be beans and rice for a week!

While these folks are taking the rise in gas prices lightly (for now), there’s certainly a real worry underneath all of these statements. How will I make ends meet if the price of gas continues to rise?

Yes, it’s easy to say that such a concern is the result of fragile finances. If your apple cart is upset by a small rise in gas prices, the logic might go, then you’ve not been making reasonable financial choices.

The reality of it is that many people are in that very situation. They’re not making much income – or they’re unemployed. Their debt load is heavy enough that the income they do make is gobbled down by debt payments. They have a larger family than their income can really handle.

It’s not just the dollars you pay at the pump, either. Rising gas prices mean it’s more expensive to ship things across the country, which means that the price you pay for everything at the grocery store goes up because the cost of getting it to the grocery store goes up.

What can you do if you find yourself in a situation where rising gas prices make you nervous about making ends meet over the next month or two?

First, buckle down when it comes to frugality. There are countless little steps you can take to shave your spending, both active (making better choices, like choosing not to drink alcohol and drink water instead) and passive (permanent money-saving measures, like installing a programmable thermostat). I find that the active ones are more exciting but harder to sustain, while the passive ones are less thrilling but always stay in place, so try doing as many as you can of both kinds.

Second, don’t immediately spend that savings. If you make some good spending moves over the next month, you’ll probably start to see the proceeds from that in your checking account (or, at the very least, find yourself able to deal with rising gas prices). Don’t give into the temptation to spend it after being “good” all month. That’s completely self-defeating.

Instead, put that money into a savings account and forget about it (for now). It’s now your emergency fund. It’s the money you turn to when the chips are down. It helps bail you out when the transmission fails in your car. It’s how you put food on the table when you’re laid off. It’s what you turn to when you need a down payment on a replacement for your current car or a deposit on a new apartment.

I usually encourage people to build up $1,000 in their emergency fund. For many, this seems like an almost insurmountable task. But if you can shave just a few dollars a day from your spending on average, you’ll get there. If you can trim your monthly energy bill by $30, cut your monthly food spending by $20, cut down on your frivolous impulse buys by $20 per month, and trim your spending on gas by $10 a month by driving more thoughtfully, you’re saving $1,000 in a year.

Even better, if gas continues to go up, then you’ve got $80 or so a month of extra breathing room in your monthly budget.

Having stable personal finances isn’t simply for the rich or for the lucky or for the “good people.” Anyone can do this stuff if they choose to. You do not have to be caught in a situation where the whims of the oil market make it difficult for you to put food on the table. It’s your choice.

What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Regular or Roth IRA?
2. Setting long-term goals
3. “Free” texting and phone service
4. Saving for a laptop
5. Paying for taxes
6. Buy or rent?
7. Are protective sleeves worthwhile?
8. Reading 100 books
9. Small business questions
10. Homemade dish washing detergent

About a week and a half ago, I suggested that the best resolution to the protests in Wisconsin would be to have both sides sit down at a table and come up with a reasonable compromise, but I also suggested that wouldn’t happen because there are too many political points to score by not negotiating.

Of course, almost as soon as I sent that out, I got emails from both lefties and righties complaining about what I suggested, decrying the other side as not playing fair and standing up for false ideas.

I figure that if both people on the left and people on the right disagree with me, I must be saying something sensible.

Q1: Regular or Roth IRA?
I am a 23-year-old, recent college graduate who was lucky enough to graduate debt-free from a good school. Thanks to great in-school work experience, the longest I’ve ever been unemployed has been about one month, and that was when I quit my job to move across the country and out of my parents’ house. I only make about $27k a year, plus a small bonus, at a job I love—though I’m hoping this will increase (at least a bit) when I renew my contract this summer. I no longer have a car, and my work helps pay for my transportation pass. I still use the small, local credit union from my home state for my checking and savings account (there’s a credit union close to where I live now at which I’m able to deposit checks, so I have so far no incentive to switch banks as the interest rate is better than others I’ve looked into, and the checking is free). I have $10k in a savings account, and to this I add a 10% contribution from every paycheck. I have two credit cards that I pay off in full every billing period. I try to limit the amount of money I spend on superfluous things without depriving myself unnecessarily, and am definitely living within my means.

I have a few questions. The first is that my previous job had a state-employee retirement benefit program that I was enrolled in, and since I’ve moved out of state I have yet to move the money I accrued while I was there. I was told that I only have to call them and ask for it to be rolled over into an IRA, but I’ve read on your site about the Roth IRA, and I understand the difference but have no concept of what would be better for myself. I also don’t even know where to begin in terms of finding a company to do it through, especially since I don’t know how long I will be staying in this state. My current job does not have a retirement benefit program. If I were to do this, would I pick a company to set up the Roth/IRA account through, then call to roll over the money? How does one choose a company? Should I be contributing to this account, once I start it? I’m not sure how much money I could be able to contribute on a regular basis, unless I started putting some/all of the 10% I’m currently giving to savings to this account.
- Kendall

For reference’s sake, the big difference between a regular IRA and a Roth IRA is whether or not the money is pre-tax (a regular IRA) or post-tax (a Roth IRA). In a regular IRA, you contribute money out of your income before income taxes are collected (meaning the amount of your income that you need to pay income taxes on right now is lowered), but when you actually take out the money when you’re older, you’ll have to pay the income taxes then. With a Roth IRA, the reverse is true – you pay into that account with money you’ve already paid income taxes on, but when you withdraw from it (with a few small restrictions), you don’t have to pay income taxes on what you withdraw.

So, which is better? By default, I usually point to a Roth being better, because my opinion is that it’s inevitable for taxes to go up from where they’re at right now. The exception to that, of course, would be if you have an enormous income right now – but, in that case, you’d be ineligible for a Roth IRA anyway. Simply put, if you’re eligible for a Roth, I’d use that.

As for picking a company for your Roth, you really need to research that. I’ll just say that Vanguard hosts my own Roth IRA, and I’ve been happy with them. To handle rollovers, you’d want to contact your new brokerage.

Kendall had a follow-up question.

Q2: Setting long-term goals
Additionally, I know you make a big point about having long-term goals for one’s money, but I’m not quite sure what mine are. I would like to be able to travel, but I don’t envision any big trips in my near future. This is mostly because my boyfriend still lives in the state I moved away from, and almost all of my vacation time/extra monthly income goes to planning and paying for trips to visit him. He is currently in school, and we plan to eventually find a way to be together once he is finished (most likely, he will move here), but that is over a year away. Other things I am thinking about for the next few years are possibly going to graduate school (I am browsing programs, but am not looking to apply for another year or more, or when I’m completely confident about my choice in programs), and getting married and having children (at the very minimum, two or more years away). I’m not sure what to do in terms of working towards these goals, because none of them feel very defined. It also seems as though I have enough money to begin investing at least a little bit, but I am not very interested in financial dealings and am not sure what kind of investments I would feel comfortable with making and maintaining. If I did something of the investing sort, I’d prefer for it to be something I don’t have to spend much time thinking about. Would something like a CD be worth it? What are the options? I saw a recent review you did for a book about “passive investing,” and I was planning to look into reading that. Alternatively, is there anything that I’m not thinking about that I should be?
- Kendall

I would suggest that you sit down and make a detailed picture of what you would like your life to look like in, say, five years. Think about what your life would look like if you succeeded in all of the little things you’d need to do to get you there (within some level of reality, of course). Make that picture detailed. What are you doing with your time? Where would you live? Where would you work? Who would you be with? Would you be married? Would you have kids? Would you have a car?

Make that sketch, then figure out what needs to be done to get there. Once you have that plan in place, start throwing your resources into that plan. Your time. Your money. Your energy.

Even if your path changes a little and you end up aiming for something else, the effort you’ve put in will still likely be a positive one, because most of those efforts are done in an effort to improve yourself. You’ve learned how to spend less. You’ve learned how to set goals. You’ve probably built up some useful experiences and a better resume. Those are all good things.

Q3: “Free” texting and phone service
I am writing you this because I recently saw that there are several ways of using a phone for calling and texting without being on a monthly payment plan, and I thought it would be nice if more people would know about it. You have the means of letting them know this and I don’t remember reading something about this on your blog.

My understanding is that you have to have Wi-Fi access for the applications to work, but other than that, you’re good to go, you can call and text and all that and I believe you don’t have to pay anything. It seems to be a pretty cool idea and maybe some people will save money using these kinds of applications.
- Florin

Yes, these apps exist, but they have tons of drawbacks.

Such applications require you to already have a data plan for your cell phone to use them. Without such a data plan, you simply can’t use them.

Depending on the specific app, there’s going to be some sort of drawback. The one you mention, Textfree, requires you to install apps on your phone to earn calling minutes. The vast majority of the apps are paid apps. Unless you have truly unlimited data, you might end up paying more for the free app than you would pay for the minutes you earn by downloading it.

Yes, if you have a device that runs iOS or Android that also works via wireless, you can use these apps without having a cell plan. However, you’re then in a situation where it only works when you’re around wireless access. At which point, why not just use Skype?

The situation where these apps are a big winner seem pretty narrow to me.

Q4: Saving for a laptop
I’m a 26 year old student and have a part-time job which pays me 6,50€ (~$9,10) per hour. My bachelor thesis is coming up in April and I’m thinking about buying a new laptop for research and writting. Right now, my Girlfriend shares her Laptop with me but I got the impression that I won’t be able to work in peace with hers, because she comes bumping in and wants to use it for useless things like checking facebook. We could make an agreement on which we agree who can use it when but doesn’t fit my needs when I’m researching and writting. That takes a lot of time and I’m not very good at sitting down doing such things, so I think I need my own laptop so I can work when ever I want to. You said more than once on your blog that you recommend buying used products but when it comes to electronic devices I disagree with you because you never know what you get and more importantly you might end up with no warranty.

I’m working a lot to pay my rent and bills – added up: 550€ (~$760) – and if things go the right way, I have some money left at the end of the month. So, I’m thinking on saving it to buy a new laptop. But for over two years I’m in need for money every month for rent and bills. What would you advise?
- Oliver

You’re right that you need a laptop. However, for your use case, you don’t need a very high-powered one. You can easily go low-end if you’re just running a word processing program and a web browser.

I don’t know what the computer market is in your area, but one could easily be found here for $500 or less that would meet the needs you describe quite well.

Don’t overbuy for some imagined situation that overshoots your needs, especially when money is tight.

Q5: Paying for taxes
I am self employed, and this year earned more than I did last year. So the estimated taxes I paid throughout the year came a few thousand dollars short of what I owe. By April 15th, I need to come up with around $3000 for last years tax bill, plus $1000 more for my first quarterly payment. I am trying to save to pay as much as possible, but I know I’m going to come up short.

I know I’m going to have to save a lot more of my income in order to avoid this problem in the future…. It’s difficult having to set aside my own tax money, rather than having an employer do it for me.
- April

My first suggestion to you would be to file for a time extension from the IRS that would allow you until August 15 to file your taxes. You can get the forms for that quite easily.

This would give you additional time to make sure you can cover what you owe to the IRS.

I agree that it’s difficult to set aside tax money. What I usually do is have a tax savings account. Whenever I receive any sort of income, I immediately put half of it into the tax account. At the end of the year, when I do taxes, I have far more than enough in that account to cover all my taxes.

Q6: Buy or rent?
I am 24 years old. I currently live at home rent-free with my parents (thanks, parents!). I’ve been working at my current job for a little over a year and my income from last year was 50,000+. The following is a breakdown of my major bills:
Car loan: $12,175
Student loans: $57,200.38 (a small loan from undergraduate and then the rest are from one year in law school that did not work out)
Credit car debt: $841.72 (this will be paid off at the end of march/april 2011)

This reason I am contacting you is because I am interested in purchasing a home in the city where I currently live (Baltimore, MD). The current asking price for the home is $55,000. It is a four-bedroom home with one bath. It is, however, under short sale. I’ve heard that short sales can take some time depending on the lender and how much time it takes to get a reply. This home is in an area that is being targeted for revitalization, so there are some incentive programs such as forgivable loans and grants that can be used towards this property. I just recently started thinking about purchasing a home because I originally planned on moving out soon. I would like to know if it would be a good idea to try to purchase this home given my current financial situation. Should I buy now or should I rent? Also, I hadn’t originally saved any money towards a down payment for a home, but at the very moment, I would probably have about $1500 to start off with.
- Charlotte

You have debt already that exceeds your annual income. I would not add significantly to that debt unless absolutely necessary.

If I were you, I would rent. I’d use every extra dime of income to get rid of the debts I already had, and then I’d save for a down payment on my home. Yes, this will take a few years, but not going that route is not only far more expensive (because of the additional interest you’ll have to pay on loans because you weren’t paying them down quickly), but it’s also far more risky (because of the situation you’d be in if you lost your job, etc.).

I’d rent for a while until my finances were in better order if I were you. Buying now isn’t worth the risk.

Q7: Are protective sleeves worthwhile?
Based on your recommendation, my wife got me a copy of the card game Dominion for Christmas. Since then, I’ve played it a lot and some of the cards are starting to show some wear. I’m not worried about them completely wearing out, but I’m starting to worry about marked cards. A friend suggested sleeving them – putting all the cards in protective sleeves. Do you think that’s worth it?
- Kevin

I sleeved my own copy of Dominion when I was in your situation. My feeling was that if I was playing the game enough to wear down some of the key cards, that wear would continue, and buying sleeves was less expensive than purchasing a new copy of the game. I used Fantasy Flight Standard Euro sleeves – they’re pricy, but they work well.

However, I only used those sleeves because I got a great discount on a case of them, which enabled me to put a few other card games into sleeves.

If I had not found that great deal, I would have used “penny sleeves”, which are very inexpensive, but flimsy. They do the job of protecting the cards, but the sleeves themselves wear out and split really easily. You’ll be replacing them fairly frequently, but the cost per sleeve is low.

Q8: Reading 100 books
I came across your list of reading 100 books this year. That’s quite a challenge. How has it been going so far?
- Eugene

I’m currently about fourteen books in out of the hundred.

I’ll admit, though, that I’ve had a hard time sticking with the list because of the Kindle my wife gave me for Valentine’s Day. I’ve been reading a number of free downloaded books on the Kindle, some of which are on my list (like The Count of Monte Cristo unabridged), and some of which are not.

I’m not sure whether I’ll get through the full list, but I think I’m reading more books right now than I ever have.

Q9: Small business questions
My husband is in the process of starting his own business (a tutoring company, an LLC) and we have been looking for some resources and guidance about the nitty-gritty business stuff. We’re getting small business accounting software and I picked up a copy of “Small Business for Dummies” but neither of those answer all the questions we have. Do you have any cheap or free resources that we could go to to answer our small business questions? In particular, we’re curious about how we pay ourselves once we start bringing in money. Do we just dip into the kitty or do we have to establish a pay scale/salary? At this point he is the only employee and likely will be for some time in the future. Any guidance you could give would be appreciated.
- Rachel

You named the book I consider to be the best “starter” book on small businesses. I don’t have any specific recommendations beyond that one.

You have to pay yourself from your small business the same way you pay any other employee from that business. If you’re trying to determine how much to pay yourself, start low and keep the money in the business. If you are doing well and need more, give yourself a raise.

If he’s the only employee and you’re trying to figure out what to pay him, it really depends on what your overall budget looks like. What money needs to go into the business for other expenses? What about marketing? What about supplies? You’ll also want to reserve a bit in the business for opportunities.

I don’t know what that looks like, but I don’t think I would exceed 50% of the billable rate that you’re charging customers until you’ve got a firm grip on how the business works.

Q10: Homemade dish washing detergent
i waould like to know how to make my own liquid dish detergent, not for the dishwasher but for hand washing.
- Ted

The single best soap for washing dishes that I’ve found is a little strange, but it works.

Just shred two bars of soap into flakes (using a cheese grating box). Put the flakes slowly into five cups of water, then boil that water on the stove and stir it for a few minutes, slowly. Add one cup of baking soda, 1/4 cup washing soda, and 1/4 cup lemon juice, slowly, stir for another minute, and let it cool. Be aware that when you add the other ingredients, it will foam, so I recommend using a large pot for this.

The stuff you wind up with is pretty thick. Keep it in a container under the sink and when you want to use it, put some of the soap on your sponge, then rub whatever you’re cleaning with the sponge.

Got any questions? Email them to me or leave them in the comments and I’ll attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive hundreds of questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours.

Tony writes in:

About two weeks ago, I lost my job. I was being paid cash to do some maintenance work but the guy hiring me couldn’t afford it. A few days after that I tried to use my credit card to buy groceries and I was over my credit limit. Right now I have $20 in my wallet and that’s all the money I have. I have a five year old kid and we don’t have much food in the cupboard. What do I do? I’m sending this from the library. I hope you’ll answer me soon.

I did send Tony an email as soon as I received his message, but I figured that the information that I had collected for him might be useful to more people than just Tony.

Tony’s immediate problem, obviously, is to make sure that there is actually food on the table for his children. That’s an immediate need, and compared to that, most of his other concerns are secondary. Here are some steps to take to keep food on the table for the moment.

EBT/SNAP SNAP refers to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is the official name of the program often referred to as “food stamps.” Of course, today, such benefits aren’t delivered with paper coupons like they used to – there aren’t paper “food stamps” any more. Instead, they’re delivered by EBT – you essentially get a debit card, which you then use in the checkout line like any other debit card.

This program exists to help people like Tony who are attempting just to keep food on the table during trying financial times. They’ve also gone to great lengths to minimize the “food stamp” social stigma by moving the program to debit cards, so you don’t have to feel self-conscious going into a grocery store and slapping down the old-style paper coupons.

You can actually apply online for SNAP benefits, so it’s pretty straightforward.

Food pantries At the same time, you can also check in on your neighborhood’s food pantry, where people can get food that has been set aside for people in situations like this. Food pantries are a great service, one that I would absolutely use if I were in a situation where I was struggling to get food on the table for my children.

You can find your local food pantry at this useful site.

Local churches and other religious organizations Most local houses of worship have leaders that are always willing to extend a helping hand to people in genuine need. At my own church, for example, the pastor actually has a small fund just for that purpose – to put a $20 bill or a $50 bill in the pocket of someone who really needs a break in life.

If you’re really in this kind of situation, visit a local house of worship and ask for help. As much as organized religion is criticized, it is often a very effective charitable organization on the local level.

Once the problem of having food on the table is addressed, Tony needs to look at secondary concerns, such as housing and preparing to return to the job market.

One quick step to take is to look at the Office of Family Assistance (OFA). This government program offers short-term assistance to individuals who are attempting to return to the workforce, helping them to keep basic bills paid while they seek work. This is helpful for those like Tony who are out of work without unemployment insurance.

You may also want to look for low-cost housing. Don’t be afraid to go to a very minimal situation, such as a one or two-room apartment. The key is to keep the rent as low as possible. You may also want to look into local low income housing programs.

You should also contact your utility providers, explaining your situation and seeing if they have programs available for you. You may want to visit the website of your utility providers before contacting them so you’re aware of the specifics of their programs.

Of course, the big step is to start looking for work. Look for anything and everything. I would suggest starting at entry-level positions with high turnover, such as positions at chain stores and chain restaurants. The key isn’t to find a great job immediately, but simply to find work that brings home an income.

Most important of all, recognize this isn’t the end. You have a child and a future that are well worth fighting for, and if you’re willing to stand up and put in some hard work for that child and that future, you can make many positive things happen. You cannot give up on yourself or on that child of yours. During this process, you’re probably going to get knocked down by life a few times. Don’t succumb to that. Stand up, brush yourself off, and keep fighting. You will find a better tomorrow.

Our family has been walloped by some sort of stomach bug the last few days. Our daughter got it, then I got it, then Sarah got it. The three of us spent most of yesterday in the family room, trying to determine who could move less.

Thankfully, I feel a bit better now, though I’m not sure about the others (they’re still asleep).

Measure What Matters If you’re focused on improving some aspect of your life, there are few better ways to keep yourself moving forward in the short term than measuring your progress. Track your net worth, your weight, your daily walking time, and so on. Watch your positive progress over time and you’ll see real progress happening. (@ free money finance)

Being shy about how much I make The exact details of my income level isn’t something that I feel comfortable sharing, even with my closest friends. We talk about personal finance quite often, but it’s usually in terms of swapping frugality advice or talking about our goals for the future. (@ little miss moneybags)

How Misplaced Financial Priorities Lead to Lame Excuses If you choose to pay off debt before saving for retirement, stand up for that choice. Don’t make excuses about how someone is keeping you from saving for retirement. It’s a choice you made, so stand by it. (@ len penzo)

There is no “best”! The only real metric for success is you. Are you better than you were before? It’s basically impossible to use others as a measuring stick, so there is no such thing as “best.” (@ nicole and maggie)

Succeed By Making A Promise To Yourself In essence, you do these things to raise the stakes with yourself. You’re dragging the goal front and center within yourself. (@ pick the brain)

It’s much easier to keep your spending and personal finances in control if you’ve done what you can to get your personal life under control. The fewer loose ends and anxieties given to you from your personal life, the less stress you find yourself under and the easier it is to both keep your eye on the ball and enjoy the life you have.

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on journals for my three children. In each of them, I’m writing to them as though they were eighteen years old, offering every piece of advice I can think of, while also relating their family histories to them as well as a few general reflections on them when they’re young.

I originally started this project out of a desire for my children to have some real memento of me if I were not around as they enter adulthood. I know many people who yearned to know of parents who passed away too early, and I wanted to do what I could to leave my children some way of remembering me.

What I didn’t anticipate is that the project has actually been incredibly personally fulfilling. I simply feel better about my own life with every page I write, every piece of advice I share, every family story I tell.

In the evenings, instead of watching television or something like that, I just turn on a light, pick up a pen, and work on one of the journals. Not only do I feel better about my children’s future, I feel better about me.

This experience has just reinforced in my own mind what I consider to be the biggest lesson I’ve learned about myself since my financial bottom.

The more settled and under control various aspects of your life are, the easier it is to control other aspects of your life.

When I was at my financial low point, my professional, personal, financial, social, and spiritual lives were all in a shambles. There were loose ends and uncomfortable situations spread throughout all of them.

As I moved on from there, I found that as I exerted more control over one area and got it into shape, those changes went hand in hand with changes in other areas. Good choices in all aspects of my life became easier, and on the whole they resulted in a much better life for myself.

What does this mean for you? It means that something as simple as tying up a few loose ends in other areas of your life can make a difference with your finances by reducing stress.

The question is, what areas can you exert more control over? Here are a few ideas.

Personal Get back in touch with people you’ve lost touch with. Start a journal to record your thoughts. Tell people in your life how much you care for them.

Professional Focus on your key job requirements, not on other things. Take your vacation time – and enjoy it.

Social Disengage from some commitments that just feel like “too much.” Set aside time to talk to the core people in your life – your spouse, your closest friends, your children, your parents.

Physical Start a schedule of regular walking, just to get your juices flowing and improve your health. Start eating healthier foods and drinking water instead of other things.

Financial Stop visiting places where you tend to spend money needlessly. Create a budget. Create a debt repayment plan.

Once you start to get a grip on one aspect of your life, it begins to feel much easier to get a grip on other aspects of your life.

A few days ago, I read Jason Fried’s wonderful article How to Make Money in Six Easy Steps. The article details Fried’s growth as an entrepreneur from a young child to running the successful software firm 37signals.

Fried’s “six easy steps” are as follows:

1. Understanding the buyer is the key to being a strong seller
2. It’s all about passion
3. Charge real money for real products
4. There are different pathways to the same dollar
5. Bootstrapping
6. Practice

This actually turned out to be one of the few articles from the ‘net that I actually print out, because I wanted to jot down some of my own notes on the margins. I realized, after I was finished, that these notes actually made for the backbone of a pretty compelling article in its own right.

So, without further ado, here’s my own “five easy steps for making money.”

1. Practice
This underlines everything that a person can do to make money. The greater your skill, the more money you’ll make by plying that skill. How do you improve your skills? Practice, preferably in a deliberate fashion. Break down what you’re doing into little pieces, and practice those pieces.

For me, that often means doing writing drills. Yep, I do writing drills pretty often. I’ll do little drills like “write a complete story in fifty words or less” or “compress this document as much as possible without losing any meaning” all the time, just for the sake of practice. It’s a skill builder.

I usually don’t find actual writing tasks to be that strong in terms of practicing. Many people assume that if they do the task professionally, they must be good at it. That’s akin to a professional basketball player believing they’ll stay on top if all they do is play games of basketball. The truth is that the best basketball players are constantly doing drills and never leave the gym.

So how do you practice things like selling? The article offers a good suggestion:

Go buy something on Craigslist or eBay. Find something that’s a bit of a commodity, so you know there’s always plenty of supply and demand. An iPod is a good test. Buy it, and then immediately resell it. Then buy it again. Each time, try selling it for more than you paid for it. See how far you can push it. See how much profit you can make off 10 transactions.

Start tweaking the headline. Then start fiddling with the product description. Vary the photographs. Take some pictures of the thing for sale; use other photos with other items, or people, in them. Shoot really high-quality shots, and also post crappy ones from your cell-phone camera. Try every variation you can think of.

I think it’s useful for almost everyone to practice transferable skills – like selling. Written communication is one type of transferable skill, as is public speaking.

If you want to be great, practice.

2. Care
What do I mean by care? You have to want to do the things you’re doing – and want to do them well. If you don’t care about it, you won’t be able to go the extra mile to stand out from the crowd.

This goes hand-in-hand with practice, of course. If you don’t care about the field you’re in, you’re not going to practice and you’re not going to rise to the top. Caring about your performance and what you’re doing is what will bring you to the top, and practice is a key component of that.

Quite often, this is intermingled with the idea of passion. In the end, they both point to the same thing. If you don’t have an emotional involvement and a drive to always move forward in this field, you’re not going to succeed.

3. Know what people want (or need)
You might think that the particular skill you have or the particular item you want to sell is a great thing. The question really is whether or not anyone else thinks that item or skill is a great thing (and thus worth paying for).

Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it with their time, money, or effort. In my case, what I sell is generally paid for with the reader’s time (through ad space sold to banks and financial institutions on my website), though I do sell other items as well (such as my books).

How does it “sell”? People find value in reading what I write, whether it’s because they find it useful for their own personal growth or because they find it entertaining. There’s enough value there that people are willing to pay for it with their time (and occasionally their money).

People want to have a sense of control over their lives. My site attempts to fulfill that want, at least in part.

4. Make something distinctive that people will want (or need)
In order for that “sale” to continue, I have to continue writing worthwhile stuff that’s useful enough or entertaining enough for it to stand out from the crowd of sites that talk about personal finance and other topics. How do I do that? I talk about my own story in depth. I post very regularly so that there’s always fresh content to read. I use conversational language in my writing rather than the drier tones often found in financial writing.

It is those factors that make up the “special sauce” – the distinctive element – of The Simple Dollar. If I didn’t do those things, my site would be one of many personal finance blogs looking for an audience. It’s the distinctive things that makes The Simple Dollar stand out a bit, and I keep them in mind with everything that I do.

What do you have that’s distinctive? Don’t just look at your advantages – quite often, your disadvantages make you distinctive. I’ve seen the work of a blind painter. It’s stunning, but part of that overall picture comes from the disadvantage of the artist. Because he has overcome that disadvantage, it contributes something more to the finished product.

5. Create multiple revenue streams
Regardless of what you’re doing in life, there’s a big benefit to creating multiple income streams. Many people make their life more difficult by focusing only on one income stream – their primary job – and avoid creating more. Then, when that primary stream falls apart through a job loss, they’re in dire straits.

The solution is to find ways to create more than one revenue stream in your life. This requires some sort of investment on your part – money, time, energy, ideas, or some combination of them. The proceeds come in a fairly regular income. Sometimes, this income can be active (like a side business), which requires continuous work for more proceeds. At other times, it’s passive (like an investment), which does not require additional work.

This is going to be a significant theme of The Simple Dollar moving forward. As I write this, I’m working on developing a few additional income streams for the future, and I plan on writing about them once they’re in place.