Where we started at:
Beginning frame work…
First painting …
Next came doors and a top
Final project…..
And my Favorite part….
Picture Heavy- New Bar/ Buffet
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Monthly Archives: March 2019
Saving on Saturday- DIY cabinet
I have mentioned several times that we have been working in our dinning room to add a bar seating area and new cabinets. We were finally able to finish it this weekend!
I want to be really honest and say that one of the reasons we decided to build it ourselves was the fact, I wanted the drawer to be huge and functional. I am going to share all the picture soon but today, I want to focus on the cost and savings of this upgrade. Which it turned out perfect!
So now on to the savings-
Recycle/ Reused-paint from several years ago when we actually replaced all the cabinets. – door pulls that we salvaged from the cabinets we replaced.
– at least one set of hinges from the old kitchen cabinets.
Gift Cards-
Each month Swagbucks offers the first gift card earned at a 12% or $3 discount. We also used 2 $10 Visa gift cards earned from Swagbucks to pay for items.
Doing It Ourselves-
I did mention that I wanted both the drawer and cabinet to be a specific size as one of the reasons we chose to do this improvement ourselves, it is also a cost saving measure as a cabinet alone is between $75 and $200 depending on the size and things you want included.
Now the cost-
Wood and Framing material from Lowes after gift cards- $64.54
Bar/Counter-top from IKEA -$138.35
Four Chairs from IKEA-$80
TOTAL cost- $282.89
This is a total win in my book as except for the flooring, the kitchen/dining room area finally looks and feels complete. I have lots of storage and can keep things neat and organized!
Random Tuesday Thoughts
- We have spent more money on “unexpected medical cost ” in the past month than in the past 2 years. Matt had an infection under his crown, $17 prescription and $129 dentist bill, Lily had strep throat, $40 co pay and $5 prescription and Kendall has a virus that has kept her out of school for the past 2 days $40 co pay.
- I am becoming more and more frustrated this month as I am tracking every dollar we are spending. We currently have spent $267 in the past 8 days. There is only one day in that time period that has been a no spending day. $99 of that is gas and $40 for a copay. The rest of the list is wants not needs. I am planning to continue until the last week of the month. I am really surprised at the amount of money we are spending and how fast it is leaving my accounts.
- I spent some time this weekend and have planned out most of the square foot garden. We are going to try something different this year, planting/starting most of it from seeds instead of buying plants. I have been collecting seeds at fifty cent a pack over the past several month and will also be using seeds that I have stored for the past couple of years. I am going to over sow the area as well and may have to weed out some plants but this still appears to be cheaper option than purchasing the plants. I do need to buy probably 4-5 bags of soil to add to some of the beds but I have decided against buying the expensive $18 a bag and plan to use gift cards from Swagbucks to purchase at Lowes.
- We have started 2 separate grocery list, one for Costco and one for Aldi/Walmart. I think that I have finally gotten everyone on board with the no grocery shopping until the end of the month. We ended up using French fries last night for the breakfast casserole because we were out of both hash browns and tater tots.
- Hopefully Matt will get the buffet/ bar finished this weekend, we have had a delay in progress due to the weather and another delay due to items not being ready at Lowes.
Monday Menu Post
The focus of the month of March, is to use what we have and keep grocery spending to a bare minimum until the last week of the month. I did go out and check to make sure that we have all the ingredients to complete our meal plan for the month. I am going to only post by the week because we still need some flexibility to change plans as our taste and needs change. We are also using a lot of pre-made meals this month in order to be able to clean out and re-organize the freezer in anticipation of restocking most of the meals.
Breakfast- Saturday– Sausage egg and cheese bagels, Sunday-Matt and Zach; Men’s Breakfast and Sheila and Kendall enjoy a meal out. Lily is at a youth retreat. Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday– Choice of eggs, oatmeal, grits, cereal, or toast.
Lunch–Saturday- Homemade Cheeseburger Pizza Sunday-Grilled Cheese sandwiches Monday– Left-overs for everyone, Tuesday– Soup , Wednesday-Thursday and Friday- uncrustables for the kids. I have a salad for one day and left-overs.
Dinner – Saturday-Left-overs (yes we have cleaned out most of the fridge at this point. Sunday–Instapot Potato Soup Monday-Breakfast casserole Tuesday– Chicken Enchiladas Wednesday–Chicken pot pie Thursday– Pepper Steak Friday- quick tortellini pasta
February in Review
February was a great month, I feel like we have actually figured out our busy schedules and I have begun to enjoy some of the extra time I have in the evenings. Swagbucks was a much better earner this month that I expected. In total we earned $135! We also cashed in and used $4 in Walmart gift cards from Shopkicks.
We did much better sticking to a meal plan for the month. I also have reduced our grocery bill to $175 for the month!
We continue with a huge gas expense and ended up with putting brakes on the red car.
Unfortunately, we did not reduce our overall debt in the month of February but I am planning to write down each dollar spent in March to determine where the extra money is going.
I have continued with completing either Bible study or reading at least 3 times a week!
I did not use the treadmill this month, but I am really surprised at how much walking I actually do each day.
Blogging: I have posted 11 times this month. This is a small increase from January but does not still meet my goal of 15 a month.
PLANS: I have a week of Spring Break at the end of March. The kids will all still have regular school hours so I am planning to get ahead of lots of cooking, get a pedicure and hair color as well. I will also need to make a large grocery trip.