Originally posted on Facebook - Financial planning Tip Jan 3, 2015 - 002 Limits!

Coming to the close of the year, on the spur of the moment, I bought several types of dried peas which I now plan to cook.

Now this purchase was not planned, based on the last check of my cash flow, so there I am, trying to revisit the use of the funds since this was a purchase which was excluded from the budget.

The options are: try to make a dip, soup for several days (healthy eating) package some of the soup to eat when I do not feel like cooking, peas and rice combo next week and then back to soup!

Midway through that period, I will redeem my Massy points for some vouchers and splurge on something to make the meal more exciting, or I will pull out the pastelles or cornmeal cakes which I have placed in the deep freeze and use them!

There is a limit as to how economical one can be at any point in time!

Update Jan 3, 2018: I bought 2 types of peas in Dec 2017, which were: Black eyed peas and split peas and they were in 1/2 lb packs.. Also I bought some bow ties pasta, tuna with corn, which taste really great with beet and carrots.. Salad dressing is optional or extra chicken or turkey or ham.

Originally Posted on Facebook -Financial Planning Tip Jan 11, 2016 -001 Same Food Different Day.

Many of us have used that expression to describe different situations at varying times in our life.

However this week, I am using it with lots of glee as today I got about 5 fairly large potatoes for approximately TT$5.00 at one grocery during lunch.

Then this evening in an attempt to continue eating as much peas as possible, I stopped off at another grocery for Lentils at TT$4.99 a pound for another type of soup (some of the channa soup is still in the deep freeze btw). And I gave in and bought TT$11.35 in minced beef. Now many of you may wonder what is the big deal!

Well, with a little bit of seasoning, (red sauce) and some butter, I have potatoes filled with minced beef and mashed potatoes which will be lunch for at least two days if they last!

While the cost of the meal may be a bit far fetched as I am not counting the cost of purchasing a packet of this and that which I added to either the beef or the potatoes I am really happy that I can produce something that I cooked that will not break my budget.

Also on both occasions, the grocery stores were within walking distance of where I was or where I was going and visiting them did not add to my transportation bill.

My only regret at this time, is that there are no vegetable peels to add to my plants to fertilise them as that is one of the reasons behind eating vegetable soup

Originally posted on Facebook - Financial Planning Tip Jan 16, 2016 - 001 Better Late than Never

For many of us, Saturday is our day to get something to eat from a restaurant or a nearby Food Court.

After all, there are so many things to do that it is better to have something healthy to eat, than to go hungry and for some persons it may be the splurge day.

Last night, I made a meal which was designed to last until lunch time today. I made something that was a bit extravagant for me, in terms of preparation, effort and output,

Also the meal would fit quite nicely into a Sunday lunch, so I was having my "special" food early.
Tomorrow I am making soup which will be my "fast food" for a few days of next week. I can pair the soup with a sandwich and have it at any time of the day.

That way I won't be tempted to spend as much as I normally would and I would put the money into raw materials which would offer variety and choices.

Thus I can try my hand at a bake or a quick bread and keep my baking skills honed.

What is the financial gain for me? Well I am deferring my use of cash, hopefully until bonus points come my way or I come up with another choice as to what I will be eating.

Originally posted on Facebook - August 1, 2017 - 001 Unrecorded Income

I've been looking at parts of our yard where we have green banana trees and where mangoes fall and I have been wondering about our unrecorded income, our yields and our movement of assets on the property...

Sometimes we give away mangoes, green bananas and we keep no record of it. If I were dealing with things from the view of keeping proper records, I would definitely keep a record of either the weight of the green bananas, they are really big in this harvest or the number of mangoes which were given away and to whom...

So on a small scale, the "gifts" may not account for much and while they are unrecorded and the monetary value is not assigned, they impact on the quality of life of our neighbours and others..

Other aspects of home care for which records may need to be maintained relates to:

The creation of mulch,

The movement of soil (loaded with mulch) from one area to another..

For example in one area we have about 3 bird pepper trees which are fairly large and are in dire need of some care... Today, while passing an area where some green fig trees had been left to decompose I noted the looseness of the soil, the color and decided to scrape some of the "top soil" from the ground and place it on one or two of the pepper trees in an effort to nourish the bird pepper trees. They sprung up during our tenure, btw. 

We have never given much thought to the creation of mulch as we leave the fallen trees to decompose and nourish the trees which are in existence and we move on..

So while I deal with my guilt over being a terrible recording person and I start thinking about what type of software would tell me what I need to track with respect to yard management, I will leave you all with a link to Wiki on Gross Domestic Income where the concept is documented..  Here is the link to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_income.

Originally posted on Facebook - Changes to a name

In the field of work, some persons have professional names and personal names which they use as the occasion fits and as their world changes...

One example of the above occurs when a single female joins the world of work, she may be known by her maiden name and after marrying , she may:

Add her husband's name to her surname via a hyphen or

Drop her surname and use her husband's surname as hers.

Sometimes she may do neither and may continue to be known by her maiden name.

Given that I have a professional life and a personal life and I wish to develop both, I will having a professional name and a personal name...

Thus persons with whom I have attended school, will know me by my professional name and there are persons who will know me by my personal name...

I will be developing one more Facebook page, however given that there may not be much FB content in the personal page, I will leave the name of that page to be a mystery for now....

I will continue to post on this page as I enjoy most of what I read and share such as the weather, so there will be some info from time to time.

Take care...

Originally posted on Facebook - Learning Tip 2017- 07- 27 -002 - Emergency Funds

As mentioned in "Learning Tip 2017- 07- 27 -001", I have taken a few career breaks during my work life and used the time to develop either skills or knowledge. One of the cross overs which happened was the use of planning in gardening:

Close to a year before I was to take one of my career breaks, due to some changes in the home, some freeing up of space in the home and the garden, with the intention of providing food for the family or to support the home in some way, I started planting...

This skill, along with grace from God, a good yield from the cassava allowed me to package the extras from the harvest and store them in the "freezer" section of the refrigerator...
These packets of cassava, can be likened to emergency funds or emergency rations in several ways...

1 We purchase canned foods for our "emergency bag" for use or for holding during the wet season when hurricanes are expected... Some of these are used or some are held for the duration of the storm...

In using my planning skills, the packets of frozen cassava now form part of my emergency rations as they can be taken down and boiled should there be a need for food... One of the benefits of cooking cassava is that it can be warmed in water over and over and eaten as needed.

2 Knowing that there are different needs for "emergency funds" at times and at short notice, I may not be able to meet all of these needs, going forward I will be relying on the produce of a variety of plants to supplement my funds and form part of my emergency funding... There will be:

Cassava which, God willing can be harvested on a rotation basis. Also given the weather, it can be planted out of season and yield either branches in abundance or crops... Sometimes, there may not be any grass to place around the soil which would act as mulch. Then you may have to become resourceful and use the peels from the cassava around the new plants.

Melongene, which when planted near to the cassava, tends to yield produce after the cassava, is a good late producer.. This late yield may be due to the freeing up of the resources after the cassava has yielded as the banana peels are now applied in a concentrated manner to those plants....

Beans... This may be one of those plants, which can be used as one of the essential elements in a Joint Venture. Ventures may be entered into with persons with wire fences. These persons can rent out their fence for a share of the crop and or increase their share in the venture due to the provision of peels, time and care of the crop.. This year, due to some flux, I have several young bean plants as I "sprouted" the seeds, rather than rely on them to be carried forward. With one working fence, I am now in need of partners as I cannot see myself selling the seeds, knowing the possible produce which may be obtained.... :)

Bodi - The yield on Bodi, may not be as quick or bountiful as the yield of beans, however it can provide a change in your menu and or your income as you may wish to sell the produce. The earnings may be reinvested or saved in the Gardening fund, rather than the Emergency Fund.

Ochro - The output on ochro can be bountiful and the produce can be sold as persons may not use all that they harvest.

Pimentos - These plants can be bountiful. One of the benefits of harvesting pimentos and using them is that the seeds can be replanted... This plant, also can be grown out of season, thus you can have a year round supply of these crops.

So if there are persons with fences, who are willing to enter into a Joint Venture, please check me out via FB post or message. Btw, my mother has pimento plants and she would be willing to enter into a Joint Venture....

Originally posted on Facebook: Learning Tip 2017 -07-27 - 001

Having taken career breaks at several times in my work life for various reasons and having used the break period to develop myself by either :

Learning about an industry or the performance of a company or

By learning through practice about some area of interest, I decided to share some information on the outcome of learning on one of the areas, which remained with me, which is gardening or growing crops for consumption. Here is some information on one of the areas of learning which remained with me or which I was able to grasp as a result of my skill and or knowledge in another area:

Skill development - This can take some time in some areas while in others we may achieve results almost without challenges or difficulty.

Also skill development may happen or not. This may also be due to known or unforeseen circumstances and/or understanding of the impact of same.

A good example of the above is growing tomatoes versus growing cassava...

One of the main differences in growing cassava and tomatoes is the use of water as a medium to stimulate growth...

Cassava, on top of the soil or in close proximity to the (ground) surface can absorb a fair amount of water, especially in the dry season.

One of the things which a person who lives in rocky places or a place with stones in the soil, who grows cassava can tell you is that it can be hard work when harvest time comes..

There are soils which can absorb the water and which will not yield the produce easily.

One of the ways to work with this type of soil is to place the cassava stalk on top of the earth, place dried bushes on top of it and to water it daily in the evening...

Of course this is a good fire prevention tool as the soil will be damp in the evening and you will get a good night's sleep after the exertion of lifting the buckets of water and carrying them to the area to be watered and from the coolness of the earth which surrounds the place of habitation.

Tomatoes, on the other hand, may need a traditional approach to master or to obtain crops and may require food for thought..