Cooking Club

Last night we had cooking club for our Enrichment Activity. I always love cooking club because we get new recipes to try out, they show us how to make them, and we get to taste test them. This month they did it a little different though. We learned about taxes, coupons, and wheat. The coupon part I love because I am really enjoying getting the best deals I can with coupons and anytime someone wants to teach me something a little new or show me the way they do it I am all game. The taxes part I thought was going to be boring, but they actually gave me a lot to think about and talk about with Joe. They told us that if you get back more than you pay in taxes then you need to change the way you claim on your tax returns (something people have been telling us forever, but we really like using it as a savings account of sorts) and you can still take the money that would have gone towards taxes on your paycheck and have it put directly into a savings account. They said that way it would be earning you interest (even thought it might not be much) and not the government. They also talked about what to spend tax returns on. They discussed how important it is to pay off credit card debt, and then with any money left over put it towards a three-month savings. They said after those two things then payoff cars and student loans and if you have anything left after that go ahead and buy a TV or whatever. It is a lot to think about. The last topic was wheat and how good it is for you and they even gave us a few recipes and we got to taste test some things. I guess I will have to stop dragging my feet about the whole wheat thing and start using it more. It just isn't my favorite thing to eat. I am much more partial to the white flour taste of things as opposed to the healthy wheat taste. Overall it was a very informative evening. After Cooking Club I even went with my friend Sally Smith to get some FREE french fries from Jack in the Box. Emily even came with us and thought she was pretty hot stuff because Madison was home in bed.