February in Review

February is complete!   I would like to say that we enjoyed some of the slowest month of the year but then I would not be correct. I will say we are steadily moving forward!

Groceries- Budget $975/ $450   $1059.04 Goal fail! No reason just we bought food.  I do know that grocery prices have risen 25% but other than that we failed!  We are doing a no spend grocery challenge for the month of March until just before our trip. I am hoping for the best!  I do have some free money to use so that should help!

Auto/ Gas. Goal -= $600.  Goal Met!  We have spent $334.49 this month.  This did not include the tags so the better number is $450.  March will be expensive as well, the car needs an oil change and we need gas.

Blogging- 15 post per month. 8 post this month. Yeap a struggle.

Exercise- I am down to 207 which is 19lbs!   I did manage to walk an hour 3 times this month. I am challenging myself to walk 10 times before our trip!

Earn extra money: a $50 gift card from Fetch.  I am at 49653. Slow as slow!

Monday Menu Planning

Food remains one of our largest expenses of the year. Part of the reason is that all 5 of us eat 3 meals a day from the groceries we purchase. I have failed the pantry challenge for the month of February.  In order to redeem myself and save us a bunch of money, we are going to do a 30 day pantry challenge. I will admit to stacking the odds in our favor as I asked the kids for what they thought they would need and we made a trip to Costco on Saturday.  Our February Amazon subscribe and save arrives on Wednesday so I am staying positive to see how this will work.  So far we have gone two days without going to the grocery store.  I was able to clean out the refrigerator and have a list of 30 something dinner meals so at this point we are off to a good start.

 

Breakfast- Saturday- Bacon, sausage and eggs Sunday- Muffins from Costco Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday   and Friday- find it ( breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal,omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts,and eggs)..
Lunch- Saturday- Left-overs from fridge Everyone found something.   Sunday- Christos  Monday, Tuesday,-Wednesday, Thursday left-overs or sandwiches and  Friday is my day to eat out!

Dinner- Saturday-Costco chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pineapple, peas and corn from the fridge.   Sunday- everyone picked a leftover soup except Kendall who made Tomato soup and will take left-overs for lunch.  Monday- Chicken and broccoli  casserole, already made in the fridge.  Tuesday-  taco bites (made from left-overs from last week)  Wednesday-  Baked Ziti.  Thursday-Gyros  Friday- Kielbasa and rice T

5 Things Friday

  1. Last weekend we spent some time shopping to fulfill some summer needs.  I did not realize that both Kendall and Zach needed new shoes.  I still have a small list of items that are needed but I hope to finish those up this weekend as well. This was expensive but we spent time at Goodwill and Bargains by the Bin before heading to the other stores.  Zach was able to find T-shirts at Belks for around $10 each!
  2. Another good deal last weekend was Shutterfly offered 8×8 books starting at $10.  This is an awesome deal, actually one of my favorites.  I ended up spending a great deal of time, really too much time, finishing up several projects. I ordered a total of 6 books and ended up spending $130 including shipping.  The extra cost came from using Disney themes and extra pages (anything over 20). I do have one additional book I would like to get made and printed. This week Shutterfly is offering unlimited pages so I may see what that cost would be. But this depends on my time.
  3. We are headed to Disney in a short time.  I have set a couple of goals for myself in order not to be the fat mom that slows everyone down. The first is that I spend at least 12 hours on the treadmill at the YMCA.   I did my first hour last night so 11 more to go. I also want Braxton to get used to walking as we are not planning to use a stroller on this trip.  The hope is that we can start family walks on Sundays and Lily would like to do at least one other walk during the week. The problem again is time at home.
  4. I have officially lost weight. In fact, I received a compliment on it last week!   I have lost 16 pounds since December!   I am also down one jean size which is super fun!
  5. We did not even remotely stick to the pantry challenge this month. So I have decided that we will do a strict pantry challenge with the exception of milk and water and soda until our Costco trip prior to leaving.  The challenge will begin March 1st.  We will be going to Costco before then but no other trips will be made unless something is a necessity by my standards.

Menu Planning Monday

I think anyone would consider this month a fail for the pantry challenge. So far we have spent $740. This amount is actually less than my budget so I am totally fine with it. I do suspect that we will have a much lower spend in the month of March.  Small steps make a difference. We are also beginning our busy season with at least 2 kids having something going on in the evenings.  Dinner wil become more of heat and eat or at least that I what I am anticipating.   I did have an extra day off today for President’s Day”  so I cooked a bit.  More details on my shopping and planting hopefully coming tomorrow.  In other food related news, our dishwasher has finally died. We purchased a new one that will be delivered this Friday.  We are currently using as much disposable things as possible and washing dishes every other day.

Breakfast- Saturday-Bacon and mini quiche Sunday- Matt treated to Biscuit King.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday   and Friday- find it (oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs).  We did consume the last of the muffins last week. Matt and I made scrambled eggs that can be used to help in the mornings. My goal is to continuing using what is in the freezer.
Lunch- Saturday-Cracker Barrel   Sunday- Mexican at a local restaurant.  Monday, Tuesday, -Wednesday, Thursday leftovers and Friday is my day to eat out!

Dinner- Saturday-I made a copy cat Chicken gnocchi soup. (I will definitely repeat this one).  Sunday- Left-overs as we can’t see the fridge shelves. Monday- Chicken pie, squash casserole and green beans.   Tuesday- Taco Hashbrown Casserole (new crockpot recipe). .  Wednesday- Pork chops and rice. .  Thursday-Spaghetti   Friday- Steak and mashed potatoes.

Saving on Saturday!

This winter has been extremely mild and wet.  Last weekend, the temperature was around 60 degrees. We took the opportunity to get outside and started working on some areas to grow foods.  I am hoping to be able to can more than I have in the past and I also want to grow more than I have in the past.  I decided that I needed to make a couple of changes for this year.

We removed the large and tall, wire that was on the back of the building. Last year, I attempted to grow cucumbers and had limited success, even with using starts that I had purchased. I decided that I would try something different. We decreased the size to just about my height and moved the wire to a 12 foot bed. The ideas is that I should be able to grow at least 24 cucumber plants along this trellis!   I am going to try to plant one side and then about four weeks later plant along the other side. My goal is to can a years supply of cucumbers and make cucumber relish as well.  Time will tell.

I want to try and grow lufas this year and needed a space so we attached another section of wire to both of the beds. The lufas should grow down and feel the space.

Today 2/17/2024, I planted 50 seeds for spinach. It would be nice to start getting some fresh spinach but also grow enough to freeze for use next winter.  I started 12 broccoli plants inside as well.   I have attempted to overwinter some green pepper plants in the greenhouse but decided to go ahead and order seeds as well. I would love to grow enough peppers not only for fresh eating but to stock the freezer as well. We will be attempting to grow bell peppers, wax peppers (these worked really really well in salsa and some lunchbox peppers as well.

This is totally Matt’s idea but it is a great idea so I wanted to share. This is the bike rake that fits in the Tahoe trailer hitch.  Matt drilled a couple of precise holes in the frame of the trailer and put the hitch in the side. This way it keeps everything off the ground and also prevents the straps from getting broken off.

This week we also headed to Goodwill to try and find some clothes that were needed. We ended up with 7 shirts for $22.   Next stop was Belk’s by shopping the clearance racks we found 4 shirts for Zach for $42.00.

Remember every little bit counts!

Monday Menu Planning

Junk Food Sunday is one of our favorite days of the year. It is also the one time that everyone is allowed to have multiple friends come over.  That in turn means that our grocery bill will be higher. But in the grand scheme of things this is perfectly fine with me. I get to meet the kids’ friends and also observe interaction.  I have made several trips to the store this week. Our current grocery spending is at $660 for the month. This is still below our budget but more than I plan to spend in a pantry challenge.   I am going to try and keep the amount under $700 for February.  At this point, I would like to keep spending lower in March but we will be purchasing several items for our trip so I am not sure where the month will end up.    I am continuing to plan simple (as in less than 30 minutes to prepare dinner.

In better news, the kids all have lots of leftovers and veggies to use for lunches this week!

Breakfast- Saturday- Left-over gravy and biscuits from Friday’s dinner, Sunday- we actually finished the leftovers! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday   and Friday- find it (oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs).  I also added a batch of breakfast burritos that can be eaten.  My other plan is to start bringing out a batch of muffins from the freezer at least one morning a week to get this moving.
Lunch- Saturday- I had crackers and chicken salad and spinach dip.  Everyone found something.   Sunday- Pizza, Monday, Tuesday, -Wednesday, Thursday leftovers and Friday is my day to eat out!

Dinner- Saturday-Chinese from Panda Panda. (We do also have at least 2 days of leftovers from this).   Sunday- Junk Food Sunday. Monday- Left-over veggies and Pigs in a Blanket.  Tuesday- Burrito bowls (meat, rice, beans, cheese and salsa.  Wednesday- Baked Ziti.  Thursday-Southern ground beef casserole from the freezer. This time we are going to add Cornbread to make it more of a meal!   Friday- Tortillas Tomato Soup (new recipe)

Monday Menu Planning

An update on the pantry challenge, this has been a really off week.  I ended up at the grocery store on last Wednesday, the purpose was to stock up on Diet Coke.  While at the store, I ended up picking up 15 pounds of chicken wings for our Super Bowl party.  My spend was $89. On Saturday, we were in Greensboro so we decided to go to Costco. I was very disappointed to find they were out of water   I did go ahead and grab some stuff for the Super Bowl party. My total spend was $285. And on Sunday, I went in Food Lion to grab the waters for the week another $11.49. I will have one more trip this week to finish gathering our snacks but the damage is done!  We are doing much better about food waste which is a positive.

Breakfast- Saturday- Pancakes and sausage. Sunday- I had fried eggs. Monday  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. Tuesday- homemade bagels we found in the freezer.
Lunch- Saturday- Christos, Sunday-Lunch at friends, Monday, Tuesday- leftovers, Wednesday. Thursday and Friday. I have a couple of bowls of chicken stew and I will add some left-overs in. The kids are going to take sandwiches and mac and cheese this week.

Dinner- Saturday-Cook-out , Sunday-Crockpot Cheeseburger Soup (not a repeat) -Monday- Shephard’s pie Tuesday-Chicken Enchiladas   Wednesday- Hamburger casserole from freezer, Thursday Sloppy Joe Cornbread  – Friday- Breakfast bowls or left-overs.

I did start moving some items around in our freezers in the building. I would like to have the chest freezer emptied out before we go to Disney but we shall see. I am already over budget for the month when I add in my subscribe and save. I hope to level out the spending after our Super Bowl party.

January in Review

January should get  year unto itself. I feel like I have been sick the entire month, because I have. We are still doing the pantry challenge.  I will continue to post update on Mondays.   I am hoping for a warm and fun February.

Groceries- Budget $975/ $450 f   $300.33 Goal met! This was more than I wanted to spend but it includes wings for our Super Bowl Party and a stock up on drinks. Unfortunately, February will likely be around the same amount.  My current “goal” is $300 each month until June.  We shall see.

Auto/ Gas. Goal -= $600.  Goal Met!  We have spent $420.75 this month.  In February the tags on the car are due. I am hoping to save $50 by taking to the dealership we purchased at to have the inspection done for FREE!

Blogging- 15 post per month. 12 post this month.  And this has been a struggle. I don’t feel like I have time but I am hoping that when I finally feel better this will be easier!

Exercise- I am down to 207 which is 19lbs!   I did manage to consume my water every day and got to the gym once in the month. Goal for February continue with water and exercise at least one day a week.

Earn extra money: a $50 gift card from Fetch.  I am at 46562. That means I need 6448 more points.  This has become extremely slow but I am going to stay the course and keep working on it.  Other than shopping the sales, I am struggling to find ways to earn any extra money these days!

 

Random Tuesday Thoughts

I am starting to feel better again!   I started with a new and much more fun cold last Thursday. I came home from work on Friday and literally stay in the house spending most of the time in bed until Monday morning.  Today, I have lots of congestion, but no headache and less coughing!

I am going to continue the pantry challenge into both February and March.   The rules are that we only purchase items we are out of.   So far the lack of fresh fruit has been the problem so we did purchase some last week. We are planning a trip to Costco this weekend. I am going to work hard to only purchase our drinks for a month which is 2 cases of water, 1 case of diet cokes and 1 case of Dr. Peppers. Matt is getting his tea on subscribe and save so I am going to omit the case of regular cokes.  We also need flour and rice, bacon and sour cream.   This will not be a cheap trip but my hope is this will help us hold the course.  I have also reviewed and decreased our Subscribe and Save for February as well, I know that this will be $200.  I also need to order more laundry detergent for Lily which is $70.   Along with the Costco Trip I will be doing well to keep the budget at $500 for the month.   I will also be purchasing some fruits and veggies for our Junk Food Sunday.  Again I may end up around $700 for February.   I am going to be ok with it because I am still saving money and rotating the pantry.  I am starting to see a difference in our pantry and freezers so this is all a good thing.

On a positive note, we are currently getting an average of 4 eggs a day which definitely helps with protein intake and grocery expenses

We have started with our busy Spring Season of sports. This week we have both swim and baseball practice. Which means that Friday is the only evening that we will not be running somewhere.  I have been enjoying my easier, cook or heat meals so we will continue with those which will also help with our grocery budget.

It has reached our 60 day mark for our spring Disney Trip!   I was able to get up super early and got all the reservations that I wanted!   I can’t wait!