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.

Right now, we have an abundance of vegetables coming from our garden, far more than we can easily consume. Bell peppers. Onions. Tomatoes. Broccoli. Green beans. They’re all coming in at once.

Naturally, that means we’re eating these vegetables a lot. They serve as side dishes in many of our meals and, when we think up an idea, they also serve as the main course for a meal or two.

Here, we’re doing something very simple with the vegetables. We simply cut up some vegetables from the garden, cook them over high heat with a bit of water, add some rice noodles and a bit of sauce, and we suddenly have a wonderful simple meal.

What You Need
All you really need are rice noodles (dry ones are fine), some sauce that you like (soy sauce is fine, or you can try teriyaki sauce or countless other sauces), and some vegetables from your garden. That’s really all you need!

The Night Before (or Early That Day)
The biggest step in this entire process is simply chopping up all of the vegetables. In this, we used a bell pepper, some green beans, some broccoli, and half of an onion.

Almost any vegetable that’s fresh from your garden would work. I’d use tomatoes, potatoes, peas – almost anything that would come out of our garden would be fine in this.

Don’t worry about amounts too much, either. I try to have two parts overall vegetables to one part rice noodles by precooked weight, but you can really do whatever you’d like. You’ll find that the noodles (if anything) expand during this and the vegetables definitely shrink, so it will seem like there are as many noodles as vegetables when you’re done (if not more noodles).

Preparing the Meal
About half an hour before you’re going to add them, put the dry rice noodles you have in a bowl of water. This will make them perfect for cooking.

If you have wet rice noodles (some stores sell them), just wait until you’re ready to add them.

When you’re ready to cook, simply add a bit of water to a large pot, turn the heat up high until the water is boiling then throw in your vegetables. I suggest putting them in in order of toughness, with the toughest vegetables first. Wait a minute or two, then add the next vegetable. In our case, I started with the onions and peppers together, waited about three minutes, added the beans, waited another three minutes, then added the broccoli. Keep stirring throughout this so it doesn’t burn to the bottom, and add a bit of water occasionally to keep deglazing the bottom of the pan (the flavor is delicious).

Wait until the vegetables are just a little bit less tender than you’d like (by taste-testing, of course), then add the rice noodles and the sauce you wish to use. Keep stirring for roughly seven more minutes, then remove it from the heat and serve.

Delicious, incredibly simple, and pretty inexpensive! It’s a home run for us!

Optional Ingredients
This dish is so incredibly flexible. You can pretty much add any garden vegetable you wish to the mix. You can add pretty much any sauce to the mix that you’d like, too. Amounts are pretty flexible, too, though I try to stick to about two parts pre-cooked vegetables to one part noodles. Just try whatever you have on hand and whatever sounds good to you.

Saving Pennies or Dollars is a new semi-regular series on The Simple Dollar, inspired by a great discussion on The Simple Dollar’s Facebook page concerning frugal tactics that might not really save that much money. I’m going to take some of the scenarios described by the readers there and try to break down the numbers to see if the savings is really worth the time invested.

Darrin said, Being a one car family. I could really use some number crunching on this one. The bus ride is an hour long each way, at $4 a day. The car ride is 22 minutes on streets, not the highway. We were car-free before the kids came along and a scooter + a van until the scooter died. I’m not loving the idea of a second vehicle but I’m not sure if we’re just putting too many miles on the car or the kids when we drive to my husband to work or wasting time if he uses the bus.

There are really two questions here: one about money and one about time. Let’s look at the money first.

Let’s say you buy a fuel-efficient car for commuting. Some assumption:
1. It’s a late model used – let’s say you pay $10,000 for it. You expect that you’re going to get 100,000 miles out of this car.
2. You’re going to have to pay some amount for car insurance – let’s say $75 per month.
3. Your car can get about 35 miles per gallon, so let’s say you’re getting a day’s commute off of a gallon of gas (at $3.50 per gallon).
4. You’re also going to have to pay an average of $100 for maintenance every 5,000 miles, so let’s total that to $2,000.
5. You’re commuting 20 times a month with 40 miles per commute – 800 miles per month.
6. You’ll also have some number of major repairs along the way. Let’s total them at $3,000.

This are back-of-the-envelope assumptions based on the situation you describe. This means that you’re going to get about 10 years of commuting out of this car.

So, your total cost for all of those commutes over ten years is:
1. $10,000 for the cost of the car.
2. $9,000 for the insurance.
3. $8,400 for gas.
4. $2,000 for maintenance.
5. $3,000 for major repairs.

Thus, your total cost over those ten years for the car is $32,400.

Now, what about the bus? You’re commuting 20 times a month for $4 per commute. That’s only $9,600 for 10 years worth of commuting.

Using these assumptions, you save $22,800 over those ten years by using the bus.

Obviously, you can quibble with the individual assumptions quite a bit here, but the math is pretty clear: unless something very strange is going on, riding public transportation will be far cheaper than owning a vehicle.

Now, what about the time issue? On a given day, you’re riding the bus for two hours versus driving for 44 minutes. This means that each day you commute, you’re losing one hour and sixteen minutes to the commute if you take the bus. Let’s round this to 1.25 hours.

At twenty commutes a month over ten years, that’s 3,000 hours. That’s a savings of $7.60 per hour spent on the bus beyond the driving commute.

So, what’s your time worth? That’s really a question you need to ask for yourself. What value can you get out of your time on the bus? What value can you get out of your time at home for another 40 minutes in the morning and 40 minutes in the evening? Is the difference there worth about $10 per day?

If I were in your shoes, I’d be riding the bus. I could absolutely find things of worth to do on the bus commute each day, whether it’s reading something of worth or doing some extra work on my laptop.

This is definitely all about the dollars, not about the cents.

One of the big tricks of shopping successfully at a warehouse store (I use Sam’s Club because it’s the only one reasonably close to me) is knowing when to buy something in the bulk sizes available there. It’s not always the best move.

For example, our local Sam’s Club often carries these giant 24 packs of sandwich buns. I’ve learned the hard way that if I buy one of these packs for just my family, we’re either eating nothing but sandwiches for several meals in the near future or they’re going to either get very hard or moldy. On the other hand, if I’m having guests over, is it worth it to buy one of these?

The same thought process repeats itself over and over again as I shop there. Am I going to be able to use all of this before it goes bad?

Flour. Lemon juice. Carrots. Watermelon. Pretzels. Brown sugar. Broccoli. Cherries. The list goes on and on. (Of course, there are the things you can pretty much store forever, like laundry detergent or dishwashing detergent or toilet paper or paper towels.)

To put it simply, if you’re not careful, your cart can quickly fill up at a warehouse club. Warehouse clubs are full of products that you use at a very good price point per unit. A cup of detergent at the warehouse club is almost always cheaper than a cup of detergent at the local grocery store.

Similarly, if you’re not careful, the stuff you buy at a warehouse club can go bad before you use it, wasting your time, your space, and especially your money. Take a pound of grapes. The price per pound at a warehouse club is less than it is at your local grocery store. The problem is that at the warehouse club, you have to buy five pounds of grapes to get that per-unit price. If you don’t use those grapes, then the leftover grapes go to waste and you end up wasting money.

It’s a balancing act, and it’s one that requires you to be in touch with what you actually need, not what you think you need or that you merely want.

Here are some tactics I use for shopping at a warehouse club.

First, I tend to buy the vast majority of my non-perishable items there. Trash bags, paper towels, toilet paper, shampoo, soap, razor blades, light bulbs – these things are almost always far cheaper at a warehouse club than at a grocery store. The only drawback is that you do have to have a place to store this stuff. We store much of our excess in the garage.

For my perishable food items, I rely entirely on my grocery list. Of course, this grocery list is based on a meal plan that accounts for the number of guests we intend to have at each meal throughout the week.

To make it simple, If we’re using the same item multiple times during the week or we’re having a number of guests, then I will buy perishable food items at a warehouse club. Otherwise, I just won’t buy it there. An item is not a bargain if you end up having to throw half of it away because it’s stale, rotten, or otherwise unusable.

My usual shopping plan for the week involves making a “warehouse club” list and making a “regular” list. Items that I’m sure I’ll be able to thoroughly use if I buy in bulk go on the “warehouse club” list. Everything else goes on the “regular” list.

I don’t even take the “regular” list into the warehouse club. Inevitably, if I do, I wind up buying something in bulk that I shouldn’t be buying in bulk. When I buy something in bulk that I shouldn’t be buying in bulk, I often end up wasting the excess and losing money.

To put it simply, I make the bulk-buying decision on each item before I ever go to the store. This way, I’m never caught in the trap of convincing myself to buy something in bulk that will go to waste. This keeps money in my pocket and space in my cupboard.

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. Foreign country move
2. Is car replacement necessary?
3. Cell phone discount question
4. Collection sell-off
5. Car buying question with debt
6. Challenging home buying question
7. Hobbies and marriage
8. Helping mother-in-law
9. Books for economics
10. How children alter free time

Who are the ten closest friends you’ve ever had in your life?

Are you still in touch with these people?

Why not? Why not get in touch with them today? Why not break down the barriers in your life and tell them that they were truly important to you?

Q1: Foreign country move
My husband and I are contemplating a move to Honduras around February of next year. We are working on paying off our debt, and will have about $8500 left to pay off in February. We will also have a savings of about $3000. We are planning to sell our cars before we move, which will give us about $8000. I would like to have a large fund for emergencies and such while we are gone, as we will be living on a tight $1100/mo and won’t be able to pay for any doctor/hospital visits that come up. I could use the $11k to pay off debt and still have $2500 left for Honduras, or I could use the money to pay $300/mo while we are gone and $7400 left for emergencies or expenses when we come back to the States. This would also put our debt down to $4900.

Which option do you think is better? With the uncertainties of moving to a foreign country, would it be better to have no debt or to save money for the unexpected?
- Rachel

It would depend heavily on my knowledge of the country I was moving to and my confidence in being able to navigate the culture there effectively.

Are one of you originally from Honduras? Do you have a strong social network there? Are you familiar with the culture and the language there?

The less certain I was about the culture I was moving to and the social network I would have when I went there, the more important I would consider having an emergency fund to be.

Q2: Is car replacement necessary?
My question is one that many of your readers have asked before. But I believe mine has a unique twist to it. My question is – Should I buy a new (second hand) car? I currently own a 2002 BMW 325i bought second hand from a friend. I’ve had this car for four years now. The car looks brand new but has 150K+ miles on it. The car runs fine, except for one major flaw – there is a leak in the head gasket that causes the car to go through oil faster than normal. I’ve shown it to a few mechanics and have got quotes for $1000-$1500 to fix it. All of them have told me that I can drive the car without worries as long as I regularly fill it with oil. I really only use the car to buy groceries and perhaps go somewhere over the weekends. My car insurance minus collision is around $650 a year. I’ve been using the car with this problem for over a year now and the only money I’ve spent on it was to get 4 new tires last month ($450). It gives out a white non-smelly smoke every once in a while but other than that it looks brand new. So my question was, should I sell this car (perhaps get ~$2500 off it) and look for a new one? I have a well paying job and am currently debt free. I am single, 29 years old and am saving up to buy my own house before the end of next year. I can afford to buy a new (second hand) car for ~$10,000 but I feel for my needs, that is useless. I *do need* the car for groceries though.
- Chris

Given that it’s such a low-use car, I probably wouldn’t replace it. I’d just keep a container of oil in the trunk and fill it when it needs filled.

If this were a high-use car with a wide variety of essential functions, I would lean toward replacing it. However, in your own words, the one function you really need it for is groceries, which is something that can typically wait a day or two if necessary.

From what you describe, a replacement car doesn’t add enough value to your life to be worth the expense.

Q3: Cell phone discount question
My husband qualifies for a 23% discount off of our cell phone bill through his work. When we went to the carrier to apply it, however, they said that only the primary account holder can apply a discount to the account. I am the primary account holder, and I don’t qualify for a discount through my work. Naturally, we asked if we could just switch and let him be the primary (After all, we are married!) They said in order to do this, we would be charged a “transfer service fee” of $18 per line (totalling $36) and it would essentially start a new account with the carrier. Our cell phone bill is only $100.89 a month, so we would be saving approximately $23.20 a month. Would it be worth it to pay $36 for the discount? We are struggling financially right now and every dollar matters. $36 seems like an awful lot to change the account holder, but the $23 extra a month would really be helpful.
- Christine

Yes. You should do this, absolutely, without hesitation.

You will repay the initial payment in a month and a half. Everything after that is pure savings. You will have $23.20 a month that you didn’t have.

If this door is open to you, it’s a spectacular investment, one that you should jump on immediately.

Q4: Collection sell-off
I have a large collection of baseball cards. Many of them are from the late 1980s and early 1990s, but I also have a nearly complete set of 1968 Topps cards, many individual cards from the 1950s and 1960s, and a few cards from the 1930s. I don’t watch baseball much any more and my connection to these cards is basically gone. I would like to sell them but I don’t know where to start.
- Thomas

I’ll be frank: virtually all baseball cards from the late 1980s and early 1990s are worth more as kindling than as baseball cards. There are a few exceptions, like the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr., but those exceptions are few and far between.

The vintage ones, on the other hand, have held their value quite nicely. However, vintage baseball cards have really moved into an era of professional grading, where a handful of companies certify the condition of cards and package them in sealed containers that state that condition.

If I were you, I’d ask around your social network for a trusted card appraiser and find out if it’s worth it for you to get your vintage (pre-1970) cards professionally graded.

Q5: Car buying question with debt
I have bad credit. Always have. I am making an attempt to improve it and could use your advise on a price of the puzzle. I am debt free except for my student loans, which I’m paying monthly, and only have one credit card, which I pay off fully each month. My question is about my car. It probably won’t last more than another year. I have about $5000 in savings but not really contributing to it right now because on a very tight budget. When it is time to buy a car, should I take out a loan (if I can get one), buy a car, and use the savings to make payments to improve my credit score or just pay cash for a car out right? I would like to buy a house in the next few years, that’s why I’m interested in improving my score.
- Dave

If you have a credit card that you’re paying off every month, your credit is already solid. Any slight benefit you might get from a car loan is not worth the interest you’d have to pay on it.

It’s always a good thing to have something establishing good credit for you because it does affect things like your insurance rates. However, a single credit card with a regularly paid off balance will take care of establishing pretty good credit for you.

I would just pay cash for that replacement car.

Q6: Challenging home buying question
My husband and I were recently married in October 2010. Before we were even engaged, we started working with a financial planner to get our money in order. We knew that in the next 10 years, we wanted to get married, buy a house, and start a family. That was a few years ago, but our goals are the same. We rented an apartment in the town adjacent to our hometown and were happy there, though it was a bit tough to pay rent and utilities and try to sock money away for a down payment at the same time. We’ve done some job flip-flopping in the past few years, but now we’re holding steady: he’s a firefighter and owns a small landscaping company and I work in marketing at a small environmental services company in our area, supplementing with some occasional freelance writing/marketing work.

Then, we more or less hit the lottery. A historic house in our hometown was in need of resident caretakers, and we were approached to take on the role. Basically, “earn our keep” by maintaining the property and organizing all the rentals and in return don’t have to pay rent or utilities, just the landline. It’s a 3-year lease. We’re thrilled, because it affords us an amazing opportunity to save like mad for a down payment on a home a few years down the line. We’ve started putting away $2,000 per month for that, effectively paying ourselves rent.

Today, I got an email from a real estate agent I do some work for with a few listings. One was in our hometown, in the neighborhood we both grew up in, for only $129,900. For where we live just north of Boston, that is a STEAL. The house needs a lot of work, though, and was described as a “complete rehab, likely tear-down.” We want to rehab it. I started poking around, doing a little research, and found that there’s an FHA loan called a 203k that provides for a fixer-upper property. From what I understand, you itemize all the renovations required and get an estimate for them and bundle that in with the cost of the home. The red flag is that the septic system may not pass inspection and could have to be repaired/replaced. After a little more digging, I found that Massachusetts has a septic system repair assistance loan that we’d likely qualify for based on our income that would run at 5%. The agent who sent me the email mentioned septic repair/replacement can run $15,000-$25,000.

It’s worth noting that we would not break our lease to purchase this house. Our idea is to buy it and start the renovations once we have a little more built up in our savings, with the intention of moving in in about 3 years. We’d be making mortgage payments while we were living in our historic property rent-free and taking care of the renovations without having to worry about living in the middle of them. We’d also try to do a lot of DIY– we’re both handy and so are our families.

My question is two-fold: one, is it advisable to buy the house even though we don’t plan on living in it for a few years (we can afford it), and two, have you heard of a 203k loan / what are the odds of being eligible for the 203k and assistance loans at the same time? Would reducing the amount of the 203k loan based on receiving the septic assistance loan help us at all? Or hurt us?
- Carrie

A 203(k) loan is just as you described it. It’s a loan program for home repairs. The assistance loan that you describe is a program I’m unfamiliar with, but from what I could find, it seems to be fairly similar to a 203(k) loan – a loan program for a specific type of home repair.

If I were you, I would make sure exactly what you were borrowing for before worrying about borrowing money. Will you need the septic loan at all? If so, can it be bundled into the 203(k)? Will it prevent you from getting the house at all?

You seem excited. The best move to make is to sit down and look at your situation one piece at a time. I would probably start by finding a credit union that you trust that handles these loans and talking to a loan counselor there.

Q7: Hobbies and marriage
My wife is an avid player of World of Warcraft. I play a little bit, but it is her main hobby. I am frustrated sometimes because it takes up many of her evenings but I have a difficult time making it clear to her how really frustrated I am. I don’t like sitting around doing nothing while she’s in a raid. What can I do?
- Donny

To an extent, you need to accept that your wife has a hobby she’s passionate about. That’s a good and healthy thing for her to an extent.

The issue arises when that hobby begins to interfere with relationships, which it seems to be doing here. This should not be a choice between you and World of Warcraft, as that will simply create resentment. Instead, it should be in the form that a healthy life includes all things in moderation.

My wife and I have some different hobbies and we engage in them in the evenings. Sometimes this means we do our own thing, sometimes we do things together. In either case, though, we make sure that there is some time for each other doing something we have in common.

Q8: Helping mother-in-law
About 2 years ago, my dad (in and out of employment, constantly late on all bills, had a bankruptcy years back) was able to refinance his mortgage with the HAMP program. He had a terrible ARM that adjusted every few months, and the HAMP helped him save significantly on the mortgage payment.

Based on that success, I suggested my mother in law apply for HAMP. My mother in law (who works her butt off 7 days a week, 12 hour days from 4:30am, has never been late on any of her payments, has perfect credit, etc) was declined for HAMP. The bank offered her a refinance (or adjustment, not sure) that lowered her Interest Rate from 6.75 to 5.75 (about 6 months ago) but it was not enough. With my dad’s HAMP adjustment, they lowered monthly payments to 33% of monthly income. My mom in law’s right now is more around 60%.

The bank also told her that she would not have to pay ANYTHING and that the refi was free, but after it processed she saw her principle amount owed on the mortgage raise 3k. There was a language barrier there (she speaks mostly spanish) so I guess there was a miscommunication)

My mother in law is STRUGGLING working so much to pay the mortgage. Even her Doctor said she needs to cut back hours (down to a normal 40 hrs per week) because of her health, but thats impossible because the majority of her money is made in overtime (time + 1/2) hours.

She currently rents a furnished room to her brother (I believe $125-$150 per week) to help supplement, but she still works the terrible amount of hours. My wife and I have suggested she redo her basement as an income property as many people do in her neighborhood (it’s 1/2 finished now and has a full bath, no kitchen). But that is hard because of the up front cost of renovation (I’m guessing around $10-$20k), but that may be offset by a rise in home equity. My guess is she would be able to get at least $1000 per month for the income property, and there is a strong market for renters where she lives.

Any ideas how we can help her? I don’t know much about mortgages and refinancing. Can she try to refinance her mortgage again to take advantage of the the 4%-ish rates that are around now. Would she have to shop around to another bank? Would the refinance cost (another 3k) be worth it? Should we really try to get the income property done, even if it means taking out an additional loan? Any insight would be appreciated.
- Ronald

The first thing I would do is attempt to appeal the declined HAMP application. Examine the notice that she received declining her application and seek out how to appeal it.

You should get involved as your speaking skills are much stronger than hers. It is much easier for a bank or a program to decline someone who can’t protest.

If this doesn’t work, I would suggest visiting her bank. If they won’t offer her a fixed rate loan, I would suggest visiting a competing bank for a refinance. A refinance out of an adjustable rate is well worth it, and if she can drop her interest rate by 3%, it will make a world of difference to her.

Q9: Books for economics
I’m trying to gain a basic understanding of how the economy of the United States works. Do you have any book recommendations?
- Kevin

Probably the best single volume for a beginner on economics today is Naked Economics by Wheelan and Malkiel. It’s very easy to read and spells out the big ideas in economics very well.

The problem with a lot of economics books is that they’re tied heavily to the viewpoints of the author and inevitably end up prescribing political solutions. Although there are a lot of great books you can follow up Naked Economics with, be very wary of viewpoints from the author.

Naked Economics isn’t perfect, but it’s a great starting point and much less biased than many other starting books on economics.

Q10: How children alter free time
My husband and I are thinking about trying to have a baby. I have heard a lot of accounts about how having a baby will change your life and you’ll not really have free time any more. I understand that you’ll have to stay home with the baby a lot but my husband and I don’t go out anyway. I don’t understand what will really change when we have a baby.
- Angie

We felt the same way as you did. Trust me – it does change your life.

The biggest impact is that sleep is no longer a reliable thing for several months (at least). The baby’s cries will wake you both up, even if you don’t recall it the next morning. These wakings will happen every hour or two at first and gradually slow down to two or three times a night. In other words, good sleep will become a thing of the past for a while.

You’re also going to have a tiny living person there with you. This person will need your help with everything. Eating and drinking. Pooping and peeing (get used to it). Entertainment and stimulation. Hugging and cuddling and love. This takes time – a lot of it. Most of the time, it’ll be just one of you involved in this, but unless you want other marital issues to arise, you’ll have to balance who’s on “baby duty.” This will drastically reduce the time you have to do things together – and even if you did have that time, you’d be dead tired from the lack of sleep.

This all sounds horrible, but it’s worth it.

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.