Monthly Archives: March 2016

March in Review

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I can honestly say I am not sure about how I feel about this month as a whole. I am excited because we have made huge gains in our kitchen remodel. I plan to share this during the next free days.  We are also at a point which means we will be stopping progress most likely until next January, unless something big and exciting happens. March was stressful to say the least, so here is a look at my monthly goals.

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 13, which is even less than last month and I know that most post this month have been pictures. I am going to get better and more consistent!

2.Weight Loss– 175#.  Struggling with time for this.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Goal Met.  So proud to say that I am continuing with this goal and it is becoming more and more important each day.

1/3 personal goals met. It would appear I am in need of a time make-over.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Goal Met- The only category that did not get funded for March was clothing. Today, I have received 3 bags of clothing for the kids. God’s provides!

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. SUCCESS- Total spending for the month is $237.14! I did use my earnings from my Costco American Express this month to help but I am still tracking well below budget for the year. I made a list of the meats that we have remaining and a menu for the month of April. We will need to purchase meat for the next several months but we still should be able to maintain the budget!

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- Fail. Another car repair just a week prior to the ultimate car death forced us over budget yet again

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. This has been a really expensive month and we have struggled to keep up. I was able to complete a transfer of some money to a no interest account this month which will reduce our overall debit and allow for quicker repayment. Matt does have a couple of potential jobs so hopefully April will find us in a better financial position.

What I Did This Weekend3/27/2016

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I can honestly say I am as tired as I ever remember being. I am going to share 3 photos that should explain at least part. Once we get things cleaned up I will get better pictures to share.

Friday night

Friday night

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Saturday

Sunday

Sunday

Okay so I am sharing this picture to show the new dishwasher and what Matt accomplished on Friday… Excuse the mess

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Monday Menu Post 3/21/2016

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I can’t decide if I was excited or fearful when started pulling out food of the freezers for the next couple of weeks.  We did realize, we only have 1pound of uncooked ground beef.  Fortunately, we still have plenty of pork and quite a bit of chicken left. April will mean that we will need to buy meat to give us a good variety again. We did have to make a couple of changes in our monthly plan for this week but we should still be able to maintain the lower than normal grocery budget for March. I was excited to have time yesterday to re-stock some of our breakfast foods in addition to continuing to use items out of the freezers.

Breakfast–  Saturday-Matt was in charge, bacon biscuits, Sunday- Breakfast burritos with leftovers for the week. Monday- Apple muffins or Banana oatmeal cookies, these will also be leftovers. Thursday morning- Strawberries and cream baked oatmeal.  Other days choices will include toast, grits, leftovers French toast pop-tarts or grits,

Lunch-I was able to get the kids lunches packed for the three days they will be attending school this week. I have some soup that will be my main lunch meal this week.

Dinner-  Saturday- Lunch- Matt was in charge again.   Dinner- Shrimp Alfredo
Sunday- Lunch- Taco Soup.  Dinner- Grilled cheese sandwiches
Monday- Rice Creole
Tuesday-Grilled Chicken, green beans and squash casserole
Wednesday- Eating out for Haley’s Birthday
Thursday- Slow cooker beef and broccoli
Friday- Left-overs

The kids are out of school starting on Friday for an entire weeks so meals should get interesting!

Saving on Saturday 3/19/2016

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sosThe weather has been warm and sunny the last week. This has made Saving a little bit easier for us. We decided to turn off the heat and air around 2 weeks ago and managed a solid 10 days without the use of either until today. I am hopefully that we can again turn it off next weekend. My goal is always to go an entire month without use either which will reduce our electric bill by approximately $100 for the month.

The warmer weather has also got me thinking about our garden. I purchased some new netting and some lawn fabric to use. The netting is specific to square foot garden but is also much cheaper than wire so I am hoping that it will last for several years. I am also trying something new this year. We still have sweet potatoes from our harvest in the fall, so I am trying to start a new crop from the ones we have. The kids enjoying helping with this project. I am not sure if this will give us enough but I am thinking that once I see it working I may start a second batch as well to equal the amount we planted last year.

imageI read last month that you could grow romaine lettuce using a similar water method. The red cup you see is out second head we have attempted. Last week, Zach and I planted the first one in the garden.

imageI realize that we may not be able to have a continual harvest and most like will only get a few extra leaves from this but as I have said before, every little bit helps.

Other areas of saving is our grocery budget, so far we have managed to spend $125 out of pocket for the month of March in addition to less than $1000 for the entire year so far.   This has been the best and most controlled my grocery budget has ever been. I will admit that monthly meal planning helps but we also are buying on a rotating schedule. Our March spending should remain well below $200 however I will need to purchase meat in April so the budget will again be higher.

Finally, I am attempting to save money by using Swagbucks. My goal for each month is to earn one $25 gift card.

What are your saving secrets?

5 Things Friday-3/18/2016

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  1. Amanda purchased a new to her car yesterday, so we should be able to stick to our gas budget for the next several months. Which means paying off the tires on my van and for the last couple repairs on her car that finally died.
  2. I splurged today and got a new color and haircut. I can’t post a picture because my allergies are going haywire and my eyes are swollen.
  3. Matt has made some progress on the kitchen this week, hopefully he will be able to finish up plumbing and we will have our new dishwasher next Friday. My plan is to wait and post pictures once the dishwasher is completely in place. I am also optimistic that with the purchase of the dishwasher and new upper cabinets, we will stop spending for the summer.
  4. I will be travelling to Raleigh tomorrow alone for a workshop on correct documentation. I am sad to be missing Zach’s soccer game but not sad to miss sitting in the rain to watch it.
  5. We will be starting gardening in the next couple of weeks. I have been growing lettuce from scraps and plan to start sweet potatoes from our leftovers on Sunday.

Lily and Kendall Mime Team

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Both Lily and Kendall have been working since Christmas as part of the mime team at church.  The other girls are in middle school, so I am extremely proud of both Lily and Kendall for learning the song. This performance was part of a “Youth Lead Worship Night.” Here is the link if you do not see the video below, Mime team