We almost doubled the space we had by adding two new beds to our square foot garden. The front one will be for squash and the middle for sweet potatoes. We saved huge on this project by re-using wood. Most of this wood was from the deck I had replaced ten years ago. I ended up never getting around to burning it. So it has been in the very back of the yard for years. We have gradually pulled out and used most of it! Total cost is $7.00 for the box of screws!
I made a quick trip to CVS, Sunday evening. My initial goal was to grab the free paper towels and a stick of my favorite deodorant breaking even in the process. I was very pleasantly surprised to receive 5 ECB from the beauty club when I scanned my card. So I was able to grab the above items for 7 CENT including tax! I have 2 rolls of paper towel, 2 sticks of Mitcheum deodorant and 2 packs of trident gum! I am really excited as these are truly items that I normally use and the deodorant is one of the few items that I am brand loyal to!
CVS is slowing down on deals lately but it is trips like this that will keep me going back!
I am attempting to feed 5 of us (both the older girls eat only occasionally) on a budget of $600 a month. Let me break this down a little bit further; that is 35 breakfasts, 31 lunches, and 35 dinners a week, or 430 meals a month. Both the girls usually eat at school several times a week but both need a daily snack as well. This amount includes pet care as well as all items except clothing that I purchase to use in the house, paper towel, toilet paper, hair spray, soap, deodorant etc.
Last month, I failed miserable by spending almost double that amount. So one of the things that I will be doing in November to even out the budget for the year is stretching our food. I had originally thought that our chicken purchase would make 50 meals for 5 people or 250 meals. However I have already added at least 10 meals to this number. Here is how:
1. This is simple, depending on the amount of leftovers, I pack a dinner plate or so for me to take to lunch. For example- after 2 dinners of chicken pie, I packed two dinner plates for my lunches.
2. I use leftover chicken to make a different meal. The World’s best chicken was a disappointment alone, so I made chicken salad out of the remaining breast. The girls LOVED this and I know have eaten for lunch at least 2 days and I had a sandwich last night for dinner. Another example is I used the remaining chicken breast from the Café Rio chicken for a pot of chicken and rice soup. I chose this because I had some carrots and onions as well that needed to get eaten. So out of the one bag of chicken, we are currently eating meal number 4.
3. Schedule a left over meal. We had leftovers at least twice last week. One of the meals ended up being a vegetable plate, which the kids thought was a great change.
4. This one is a great lunch suggestion- instead of buying individual size jello or pudding. Buy a box and make it at home. We use re-useable containers and once a week. I will make jello or pudding for the following week. The girls enjoy containers of popcorn, goldfish and nuttella with crackers. By buying in a large size and separating at home, I saved a ton of money!
5. Use coupons to buy some convenience foods for the days you just don’t want to cook. We love pizza and I don’t mind making pizza but on days like today that we have spent busy in the house and outside, come lunch and I don’t want to take time to make the pizza. So we have several frozen pizza in the freezer, we used one of them today instead of running out for pizza or fast food which would have been $10 at best.
If we can control our eating out then our overall budget goes much better. Do you have any suggestion for stretch your food?
Financial goals: I will start by saying that I almost did not post this update because of how poorly we did in this area.
Blogging: Goal: 15 per month I had 14 post in the month of October. The last week was super busy and I just did not get caught up. I guess that is why it is a goal!
Devotions: Goal is 5 a week Goal Met! I am really enjoying my morning time.
Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December by losing around 4 # a month.. Continuing to look at and think about this goal.. Enough said.
I have met one goal this month… Room for lots of improvement! Since I failed on both my blogging and budget in October, I am going to set a goal to post at least one post a week about how we are saving money in November. This will hopefully keep me accountable and focused on saving not spending!