Thursday food 3/04

So I really, really wanted the broccoli I bought yesterday...I have a way of making it that I swear I could eat every day. But I had some tomato and lettuce that I had to use up today, so I had to make the tacos tonight. *sigh* Can't waste food, right? The older kids had a half day today, so lunch was for them, too.

Breakfast: cereal, apple slices, milk

Lunch: Macaroni and cheese with ham and peas, cucumber slices, carrots...husband took sandwiches

Dinner: Tacos made with ground beef, beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, and salsa

Snacks: Almonds, raisins, cereal, apples

Wednesday's food 3/03

I had Girl One home sick from school today, which threw my dinner plans off somewhat. Maybe it was doing all the extra laundry that comes with a sick kid, or maybe it was just being surrounded by sick kid cooties all day, but I just didn't feel like cooking much tonight.

Breakfast: Bagels with cream cheese, oranges

Lunch: PB&J sandwiches, cucumber slices, carrot sticks, grapes for two of us, chicken broth and Vernor's for the sickie, husband took leftovers

Dinner: Pizza Rolls, carrot/celery sticks, apple slices (told you I didn't feel like cooking)

Snacks: raisins, pretzels, cheese

School snacks: banana muffins

The $20 a week grocery budget experiment

Out of necessity I have adopted a $20 a week grocery budget for our family of six. My budget is actually running through the first week of April, so today I withdrew $100 in cash, and put it in my grocery-only wallet.





Included in this budget is all food, plus all "household"...toiletries, paper products, cleaning supplies, etc. I am starting out with both my chest freezer and the one in the fridge FULL. I am well stocked on meat/protein, and have a fairly nice sized stockpile of canned/frozen veggies, fruit, pasta, cereal, etc. I have $16-17 worth of bottles to return (thanks to the Michigan 10 cent deposit!). I will add that to my grocery budget, since paying the deposit in the first place came out of my original grocery budget. Even though this month it's neccessary to keep our grocery spending as low as possible, I am actually oddly excited. I love me a good challenge.

I went shopping this morning for the first time this month (which is why there isn't $100 in the picture above!). I bought:

5 lbs apples $1.99
3 lbs carrots $2.79
1.04 lbs asparagus $1.55
broccoli $1.49

Total = $7.82





I *may* need another gallon of milk on Friday or Saturday, but otherwise, I'm done for the week!


Grocery budget left: $92.18

Swagbucks...if you aren't signed up, why not?

Swagbucks. I cannot say enough good things about this program! Swagbucks is a program where you collect what are called "swagbucks", just by doing the everyday searches you normally do. You just search through their search engine, and you randomally earn swagbucks. If you get people to sign up under your name, you also earn the first 1000 swagbucks *they* earn. The points add up fast. Since I joined, I've earned enough to get $110 in Amazon gift cards and also got my son Microsoft Xbox Live points as a Christmas gift. They have all kinds of prizes you can redeem your swagbucks for...from gift cards to musical instruments to cash! I always cash my points in for the $5 Amazon gift cards...it takes 450 points for one gift card, and the gift cards can just sit in your Amazon account until you want to use them. With no one signed up under me, and only doing a few searches a day, I usually get enough swagbucks to get 1-2 Amazon gift cards a month. I'm planning on holding on to them all for bonus Christmas spending! If you'd like to sign up, please consider signing up under me!

Tuesday's food and our grocery budget

I'm going to write a daily post of what exactly we're eating, and how we're doing on the $20 a week grocery budget. The grocery budget includes all food plus any household needs...toilet paper, soap, shampoo, etc. I'm starting with $100 because I'm also including the first week of April in this month's budget. I also have about $16-17 of bottle returns that will add on to that.(I'm in Michigan, with the 10 cent deposit) This is feeding 6 of us. Me and my husband, a 12 year old girl, a 10 year old boy, a 7 year old boy, and a 4 year old girl. The oldest 3 eat lunch at school, but I *think* they all have enough $ in their accounts for the month. I really should check that. Today I'll also add in what we had yesterday, since yesterday was the first day of the month. I'm also going to keep a running total of our grocery budget.

Monday:

breakfast - cereal and orange juice, plus applesauce for my son to take his meds.
lunch - tuna sandwiches, apples, carrot sticks, milk
dinner - Italian turkey sausage with green peppers and onions over whole wheat pasta and a tossed salad (the sausage will be free after I get my Jennie O rebate back!)
snacks - cheese and crackers, grapes, and popcorn
school snacks for the oldest 3 - granola bars and fruit roll ups

Tuesday:

breakfast - oatmeal and orange juice
lunch - leftover sausage, peppers, and onions, husband also took leftovers to work
dinner - grilled chicken breast, roasted broccoli and carrots, rice pilaf
snacks - apples, granola bars
school snacks - banana muffins I made over the weekend

Grocery budget: $100

My March Budget...putting it all out there

We have been hit with a $2500 car repair bill this month, so this will be a complete no-spend month. The car will be sitting at the shop until we have the money, which will probably still be a couple of weeks. We have expenses coming up in April that I'd still like to have the money set aside for beforehand, without having to dip into the bonus my husband will be getting on April 9. My goal is to pay all we need to pay this month, plus have the extra we'll need for the first half of April...our 10 year old son is going to Italy with my brother, and I'd like to have all his spending money set aside on top of everything else. He leaves April 13, so we'll have the bonus in time, but I'd really like to have it way before that. We also will be spending the weekend before that in Chicago, which is where he's leaving from, so I'd like to also have the money for that, too. So here is the nitty gritty:

Income:
$2800 - my husband is paid twice more this month
$1004 - state tax refund
$877 - money back from our health savings account for dental work and glasses we got last month
$343 - balance in checking
$644 - balance in savings

$5668 - total in for the month

Expenses:
$2500 - estimate for car repair
$155 - motorcycle payment
$35 - credit card payment
$65 - Direct TV
$25 - flute payment
$700 - April mortgage
$207 - prescriptions
$99 - trash bill (6 month payment)
$488 - car insurance (6 month payment)
$211 - car registration and license renewal
$300 - gas (the dead car left us with the gas guzzling Durango for my husband's commute)
$130 - gas (house, our heat is gas)
$85 - electric
$75 - phone/internet

$5075 - total out

That leaves us $593 for everything else. I have given myself a $20 weekly grocery/household budget. I have both freezers full and a fairly nice stockpile, so this should be do-able. I'm counting it as $100, because I'm also including the first week of April in this budget. That takes us down to $493 for 5 weeks of incidentals...on paper it looks ok, as long as we stick to our no spend vow. However, this has to include Easter baskets, a school carnival, and a promise we made to the kids...my husband is taking the boys to a movie on Friday afternoon, and I'm taking my oldest daughter to the salon for her haircut. My son will also need some new shorts and a pair of shoes before his trip. It will be tight, but I think we'll make it. I also will obviously not have all I need for Chicago/Italy, but I'm going through all the clothes and stuff in the house and doing some long overdue listing on ebay and craigslist. I'll chronicle our daily journey on our month of being broke, including our daily menus. Cross your fingers nothing else comes up!

I have NOT disappeared off the face of the earth!

February turned into one of *those* months. Boy One came down with the flu, then Girl One, then Boy Two, then Girl One again. I managed to break a molar and had to get that taken out, and while he was in there, the Dentist decided to get rid of my last two wisdom teeth. The boys also started wrestling two nights a week, my birthday and Valentine's Day were both thrown in there, and I've continued to help my mother in law out with my father in law, who is very ill. I just haven't had the time to sit down! This month is not shaping up to be much better...we just found out yesterday that it will be costing us just under $2500 to get our car repaired. My husband works half an hour away, so 5 days a week I'm without a car. It will probably be another two weeks before we can afford to get the car back. I will be writing a whole other post on that situation later today, along with our budget plan for the month. It will definately be a challenge...this will most definately be a no-spend month, and I'm only going to have a $20 a week food/hba/paper product budget for the entire month. I'll be tracking what I spend, and how we're eating daily on here, to help me stay on track!

Overwhelmed

I've made it my goal to get rid of 10 things each and every day. I chose this number because it gives me no excuse to not do it. In this house, I should be able to find 10 things right in front of me. As I'm doing this though, it looks like I haven't even made a dent. I got rid of 5 trash bags FULL of clothes and we still have too many. We just have too much. Too many clothes, too many toys, too many electronics *coughHusbandcough*...just too much everything. I look around and just get overwhelmed. I know what I need to do, but as I get overwhelmed, I just don't know where to start. I don't know what to do with it all. I need to fight the whole "but what if I need it someday" mentality, which does not come easy to my frugal, cheap self. I need to remember less is more. We will have more space, more time, and more peace in a less cluttered, simpler house. I'm not very good at holding myself accountable. I'm very good at making excuses and saying "I'll do it tomorrow". I'm also pretty good at believing my own excuses. I'm hoping by "putting it all out there" on this blog, it will make me accountable. I'm going to start posting pictures tomorrow. See how easy that "tomorrow" just rolled off my tongue? My camera is dead though, and the battery charger is in my husband's briefcase. I think that's a pretty excuse. I am, however, going to now get up off my butt and get rid of 10 things.

I have been inspired

A couple of weeks ago I finally decided on a New Year's Resolution. I have actually done quite well with it, getting rid of more than my plan of 10 things a day. I would love to be able to say I'm making huge progress, but I started with the easiest, most obvious things and am not quite as proud of myself as I could be. I've been purging closets and dressers, and have taken 5 trash bags filled with clothes to Goodwill. I *am* proud that they actually have made it to Goodwill, and I'm also proud that I only set aside a few things to sell on eBay. I still have to list them, of course, so we'll see how long this pile of clothes sits next to my desk. My guess is that they will become next year's New Year's Resolution. *sigh* It's a start though, right?

I have a every day must read blog that has truly inspired me, A Slob Comes Clean. I am hoping she'll continue to inspire me every day. Maybe I'll even become as brave as she is and post pictures! If you haven't checked out her blog, do so. She's fantastically honest. Through her blog, I've discovered a decluttering challenge over at The Finer Things In Life which I think I'm finally determined enough to join. I'll keep you updated on my progress!

Meal Plan for the week 2/01 - 2/07

I still have quite a bit of food left in my freezers, so I'm working again this week on clearing some of it out. This should make my shopping light again this week, only needing fresh produce and milk!

Monday - Maple/soy glazed pork roast, mashed potatoes, corn

Tuesday - Chicken quesadillas with carrot and celery sticks

Wednesday - Hamburgers, oven fries, green salad

Thursday - Spaghetti, garlic bread, green salad

Friday - Thanksgiving dinner! Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce

Saturday - leftovers

Sunday - We'll be gone to the family cousin's January birthday party. There are 9 kids on husband's side of the family, and 4 of them were born in January! One of them is mine, so I will be bringing one of the birthday cakes, and *something* else...haven't decided what yet!

Lunches again will be sandwiches, soup, and leftovers.

Breakfasts will be oatmeal, eggs, cereal, fruit, muffins.

I'm linking this up to Menu Plan Monday over at orgjunkie.com. Go there to find more great menu ideas!