Hotel Room Living

[Rob Base 2.0]

Apr 29, 2017 23:58:50 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Other things I'm glad to have with us:  A box of Ziplock baggies, a pot holder DH's grandma embroidered (perfect to sit under the ice bucket condensation), and a box of Puffs.  Much softer than the wooden-like hotel tissues.

You are washing and re-using these ziplock baggies, aren't you? :-)

[Iggy aka IG]

May 1, 2017 13:06:53 GMT -5 Rob Base 2.0 said:

Apr 29, 2017 23:58:50 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Other things I'm glad to have with us:  A box of Ziplock baggies, a pot holder DH's grandma embroidered (perfect to sit under the ice bucket condensation), and a box of Puffs.  Much softer than the wooden-like hotel tissues.

You are washing and re-using these ziplock baggies, aren't you? :-)

SS taught me well. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Boiled eggs from the deli aren't too bad... Neither is Jack Links AM Breakfast Bacon. 

[zibazinski]

I have visions of housekeeping cleaning your room and wondering wtf with those zip lock baggies drying everywhere!!

[Iggy aka IG]

May 5, 2017 3:50:57 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I have visions of housekeeping cleaning your room and wondering wtf with those zip lock baggies drying everywhere!!

Well, it IS Colorado, and a certain something is legal now...

[Malarky]

May 2, 2017 12:12:04 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Boiled eggs from the deli aren't too bad... Neither is Jack Links AM Breakfast Bacon. 

You should be able to bake potatoes and possibly hard boil your eggs in the crock pot.  At least I can in mine which is ancient.

[countrygirl2]

A small electric pressure cooker would be awesome, I am cooking all kinds of stuff in mine.  Had a stove

top one before, this is just great.  The insert lifts out and is nonstick, does a great job.  Can steam, cook,

sort of bake, make soups, steamed veggies, bbq, lots of things.

[Iggy aka IG]

Thanks for the ideas, guys!

Last week we split a large, pre-packaged salad, and I made a pork tenderloin and beef roast in the crock pot.  The latter I put taco seasoning in and it made 7 soft tacos plus extra meat.  Saturday we had leftover pulled pork sandwiches from the volunteer lunch.  I'd say we had take out three times last week.  It isn't cheap, that's for sure!  But, I tend to split entrees into two meals, so that helps a bit.

I'm going grocery shopping tonight.  On the list is another salad, some tortillas for wraps, Johnsonville sausage (I have a coupon!), shrimp, the soup Tennesseer suggested, pre-cooked bacon and eggs.  I am going to scramble the latter in the microwave.  The hotel offers a fairly decent, free breakfast each morning.  The bagels are good, as is the sausage.  Powdered eggs aren't my thing however. 

It's amazing how many Eating Healthy in Hotel Room and Easy Hotel Room Meals articles are out there. 

ETA:  We calculated 18 more days, unless the appraiser somehow comes through early.

[Tennesseer]

May 8, 2017 10:28:38 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Thanks for the ideas, guys!

Last week we split a large, pre-packaged salad, and I have made a pork tenderloin and beef roast in the crock pot.  The latter I put taco seasoning in and it made 7 soft tacos plus extra meat.  Saturday we had leftover pulled pork sandwiches from the volunteer lunch.  I'd say we had take out three times last week.  It isn't cheap, that's for sure!  But, I tend to split entrees into two meals, so that helps a bit.

I'm going grocery shopping tonight.  On the list is another salad, some tortillas for wraps, Johnsonville sausage (I have a coupon!), shrimp, the soup Tennesseer suggested, pre-cooked bacon and eggs.  I am going to scramble the latter in the microwave.  The hotel offers a fairly decent, free breakfast each morning.  The bagels are good, as is the sausage.  Powdered eggs aren't my thing however. 

It's amazing how many Eating Healthy in Hotel Room and Easy Hotel Room Meals articles are out there. 

ETA:  We calculated 18 more days, unless the appraiser somehow comes through early.

Iggy-the soup: You may or may not find it in your local supermarket. But for sure you will find it at a SuperWalmart. I checked my local stores and could not find the soup again. But I went online and saw that Walmart sold it and sure enough, I went to Walmart and found it. Bought a number of packets(?) of it.

[Iggy aka IG]

May 8, 2017 10:48:57 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

May 8, 2017 10:28:38 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Thanks for the ideas, guys!

Last week we split a large, pre-packaged salad, and I have made a pork tenderloin and beef roast in the crock pot.  The latter I put taco seasoning in and it made 7 soft tacos plus extra meat.  Saturday we had leftover pulled pork sandwiches from the volunteer lunch.  I'd say we had take out three times last week.  It isn't cheap, that's for sure!  But, I tend to split entrees into two meals, so that helps a bit.

I'm going grocery shopping tonight.  On the list is another salad, some tortillas for wraps, Johnsonville sausage (I have a coupon!), shrimp, the soup Tennesseer suggested, pre-cooked bacon and eggs.  I am going to scramble the latter in the microwave.  The hotel offers a fairly decent, free breakfast each morning.  The bagels are good, as is the sausage.  Powdered eggs aren't my thing however. 

It's amazing how many Eating Healthy in Hotel Room and Easy Hotel Room Meals articles are out there. 

ETA:  We calculated 18 more days, unless the appraiser somehow comes through early.

Iggy-the soup: You may or may not find it in your local supermarket. But for sure you will find it at a SuperWalmart. I checked my local stores and could not find the soup again. But I went online and saw that Walmart sold it and sure enough, I went to Walmart and found it. Bought a number of packets(?) of it.

Thanks, Tenn!  I appreciate the time saving tip! 

[Iggy aka IG]

I should add for anyone in this living situation:  Bring stuff to do.  After feeling better from being down w/ my asthma, being stressed and letting our realtor have it for the extra two week hotel stay, I decided to change my mindset about our situation.  Per my request, DH got Yahtzee and several card games out of our camper.  DH brought our DVD player and a few DVDs. Saturday was drunken laundry night.     And I'm almost well enough to indulge in the hotel pool, hot tub and exercise room.  We've got weekend plans for the rest of the month to occupy us when we're not at work.

(Ah, why aren't we staying in our camper you ask?  We considered it for about 10 seconds, and then decided we don't want living in it to ruin our love of camping.  Make sense?)

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Iggy aka IG I remember being young and playing board games with my wife naked. Not sure we ever finished the games. 

[Iggy aka IG]

May 8, 2017 11:32:30 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

Iggy aka IG I remember being young and playing board games with my wife naked. Not sure we ever finished the games. 

[Iggy aka IG]

May 8, 2017 10:28:38 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

<snip>

I'm going grocery shopping tonight.  On the list is another salad, some tortillas for wraps, Johnsonville sausage (I have a coupon!), shrimp, the soup Tennesseer suggested, pre-cooked bacon and eggs.  I am going to scramble the latter in the microwave.  The hotel offers a fairly decent, free breakfast each morning.  The bagels are good, as is the sausage.  Powdered eggs aren't my thing however. 

It's amazing how many Eating Healthy in Hotel Room and Easy Hotel Room Meals articles are out there. 

ETA:  We calculated 18 more days, unless the appraiser somehow comes through early.

Bought a chef salad for DH and I to split for lunches.  I also bought a scampi sauce for the shrimp, the sausage and tortillas.

As Tennesseer suspected, they didn't have the soup at the store, but I'll check out WW.  There was no decently priced pre-cooked bacon, so I passed on that, and I'm not ready to fuss with raw eggs yet.  They make packaged boiled eggs in a 6 pack, so I got more of those.  I also bought various cheeses, deli meat, some mixed nuts, and petite carrots for DH.  I went from playing Tetris in moving boxes to the mini fridge. 

Meals will be diverse again this week, and are listed in the What's For Dinner 2017 thread.

[debthaven]

Iggy I commend you for all this planning, a lot of people would have just said "to heck with it" and eaten out every night, or most nights. Kudos to you!

I have a story, this is in NO way a judgement. On the contrary, your situation just reminded me of this "what not to do" story LOL. I have a friend with 3 sons. One is older, so she and her DH took a lot of vacations with the 2 younger boys. One summer my friend decided they were going to "experience some REALLY fancy hotels". So they did ... but because their hotel budget was so high, they couldn't afford to eat any (or maybe many) meals out. So she's telling me about how they're going to Aldi's and she's packing sandwiches for lunch, and cutting up cheap veggies for salads for dinner ... in a shared room in these fancy 4- and 5-star hotels.

Personally DH and I both thought she was crazy LOL. When we're on vacation (we only go once a year), if we're traveling, we'd rather be in a decent but affordable hotel, ideally have our own room, and go out for either lunch or dinner (but rarely both) most days.

I do know you are NOT on vacation. So again, kudos to you and your DH for your discipline in making this work, and saving all that money!

[Iggy aka IG]

debthaven , thank you so much!  DH and I went through some very tough times (including a BK) during and after the recession.  Being here on this board, and specifically the Smart Spending threads, really helped educate me on certain financial things, and taught me a more frugal way of life.  This December our BK will be (or should be anyway!) off our credit reports.  DH and I learned a lot during that horrific time, and vowed never to look at, or go back to, that situation.  I went years without shopping for new clothes, barely drove anywhere when fuel was $4 a gallon, etc.  I could go on.

Over the years, I have often credited donnafreedman 's Surviving (and thriving) on $12K a Year article.

Fast-fwd 7 years:  We make over 6 figures again, each have health insurance, an IRA and 401K, savings, a very small cc balance, and made some $$ on the house we sold last month.  This reassessed value system is allowing us to buy our dream home later on this month.

Over the past few weeks, when I have given $30+ for two take out meals (that is 1/10th of our usual monthly grocery/HBA budget!), I try realllllly hard not to calculate in my head how many groceries I could have purchased.  

Side note:  I wish we had an Aldi's here. 

[debthaven]

You're doing great!

And remember, you have no utility bills during this time, so you're saving on those too.

[Iggy aka IG]

Thank you!  And, LOL!  Yes, some other online friends pointed out our hotel room is less expensive than our new mortgage...

And, edit to my post above:  Our BK has another 3 years to fall off, since it was a Chapter 7.  Oh well. 

[debthaven]

Times flies, right?! That time will just fly by, especially with the new house.

[Iggy aka IG]

May 9, 2017 15:47:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Times flies, right?! That time will just fly by, especially with the new house.

Thank you for the encouragement. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Followed up with our loan processor and realtor about the appraisal status.  The former said she had sent un-returned messages to them Monday, and escalated a message to a supervisor yesterday. 

[Iggy aka IG]

May 9, 2017 14:11:41 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

May 8, 2017 10:28:38 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

<snip>

I'm going grocery shopping tonight.  On the list is another salad, some tortillas for wraps, Johnsonville sausage (I have a coupon!), shrimp, the soup Tennesseer suggested, pre-cooked bacon and eggs.  I am going to scramble the latter in the microwave.  The hotel offers a fairly decent, free breakfast each morning.  The bagels are good, as is the sausage.  Powdered eggs aren't my thing however. 

It's amazing how many Eating Healthy in Hotel Room and Easy Hotel Room Meals articles are out there. 

ETA:  We calculated 18 more days, unless the appraiser somehow comes through early.

Bought a chef salad for DH and I to split for lunches.  I also bought a scampi sauce for the shrimp, the sausage and tortillas.

As Tennesseer suspected, they didn't have the soup at the store, but I'll check out WW.  There was no decently priced pre-cooked bacon, so I passed on that, and I'm not ready to fuss with raw eggs yet.  They make packaged boiled eggs in a 6 pack, so I got more of those.  I also bought various cheeses, deli meat, some mixed nuts, and petite carrots for DH.  I went from playing Tetris in moving boxes to the mini fridge. 

Meals will be diverse again this week, and are listed in the What's For Dinner 2017 thread.

K, the scampi sauce was borderline gross, and I do not recommend it.  Brand name withheld. 

And, Tennesseer !  They had the Idahoan Steakhouse loaded potato soup at WW this AM!  It was the last pouch of that flavor.  Cannot wait to try it tonight.    I also bought another salad for DH and I to split.

Added for anyone in a hotel living situation:  Bring a small container of dish soap.  The few dishes you *do* bring (a small bowl, your favorite coffee mug, reusable plastic containers for leftovers) can be washed in the bathroom sink.  The interior of our Crock Pot is removable, otherwise someone recommended washing it in the tub.  Be sure and strain any leftover particles out so you don't plug the sink.  And I poured last night's leftover sauce into an empty water bottle and put the lid back on instead of pouring it down the sink.

[Tennesseer]

May 10, 2017 10:27:09 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

May 9, 2017 14:11:41 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Bought a chef salad for DH and I to split for lunches.  I also bought a scampi sauce for the shrimp, the sausage and tortillas.

As Tennesseer suspected, they didn't have the soup at the store, but I'll check out WW.  There was no decently priced pre-cooked bacon, so I passed on that, and I'm not ready to fuss with raw eggs yet.  They make packaged boiled eggs in a 6 pack, so I got more of those.  I also bought various cheeses, deli meat, some mixed nuts, and petite carrots for DH.  I went from playing Tetris in moving boxes to the mini fridge. 

Meals will be diverse again this week, and are listed in the What's For Dinner 2017 thread.

K, the scampi sauce was borderline gross, and I do not recommend it.  Brand name withheld. 

And, Tennesseer!  They had the Idahoan Steakhouse loaded potato soup at WW this AM!  It was the last pouch of that flavor.  Cannot wait to try it tonight.    I also bought another salad for DH and I to split.

Hope you like it!

[NoNamePerson]

I saw some crockpot liners yesterday at target. Came in a box of maybe 10. No recommendation since I haven't tried them but I did give thought to them. I just don't use slow cooker that much so I passed. Hope everything comes together real soon

[Iggy aka IG]

May 10, 2017 10:36:35 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

I saw some crockpot liners yesterday at target. Came in a box of maybe 10. No recommendation since I haven't tried them but I did give thought to them. I just don't use slow cooker that much so I passed. Hope everything comes together real soon

Oh, yeah!  I'd forgotten about those.  Thank you, NNP! 

[Iggy aka IG]

The appraisal has been scheduled for this Friday.  We're just waiting on this.  Getting closer! 

[wvugurl26]

I use the liners for tailgating. Easy clean up. I usually wash it out when I get home but I don't have a big mess sitting up until I can do so. I have some I picked up at Wal-Mart when I forgot mine and a large box from Amazon.

[Iggy aka IG]

Made the soup Tennesseer recommended on page 1 last night!  IDK if it was because I didn't use enough water, but it was really thick and yummy.  DH ate 3 servings!  I warmed water in the coffee maker, whisked the soup and water in a large Rubbermaid container, and microwaved for 5 minutes and let stand for 5.  We topped it off with leftover shredded cheese from last week's soft tacos.

Another tip for hotel dwelling:  On laundry day, use a backpack to hold detergent, softener, etc.  It's also good if you happen to visit the vending machine.     A baggie in a side pocket holds quarters and your room key.

[Tennesseer]

May 11, 2017 10:44:31 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Made the soup Tennesseer recommended on page 1 last night!  IDK if it was because I didn't use enough water, but it was really thick and yummy.  DH ate 3 servings!  I warmed water in the coffee maker, whisked the soup and water in a large Rubbermaid container, and microwaved for 5 minutes and let stand for 5.  We topped it off with leftover shredded cheese from last week's soft tacos.

Another tip for hotel dwelling:  On laundry day, use a backpack to hold detergent, softener, etc.  It's also good if you happen to visit the vending machine.     A baggie in a side pocket holds quarters and your room key.

Glad you liked it. If you used two cups of water then it should have been 'thick'. If there are leftovers, and consumed the following day, it will be on the thin side. That happened to me so I added a bit of instant potatoes to thicken it up. I imagine that is the thickener in the soup in the first place.

[Iggy aka IG]

May 11, 2017 10:48:16 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

May 11, 2017 10:44:31 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Made the soup Tennesseer recommended on page 1 last night!  IDK if it was because I didn't use enough water, but it was really thick and yummy.  DH ate 3 servings!  I warmed water in the coffee maker, whisked the soup and water in a large Rubbermaid container, and microwaved for 5 minutes and let stand for 5.  We topped it off with leftover shredded cheese from last week's soft tacos.

Another tip for hotel dwelling:  On laundry day, use a backpack to hold detergent, softener, etc.  It's also good if you happen to visit the vending machine.     A baggie in a side pocket holds quarters and your room key.

Glad you liked it. If you used two cups of water then it should have been 'thick'. If there are leftovers, and consumed the following day, it will be on the thin side. That happened to me so I added a bit of instant potatoes to thicken it up. I imagine that is the thickener in the soup in the first place.

Not sure?  I didn't bring a measuring cup to the room.  I filled the coffee pot to the "3" line.