Monthly Archives: August 2023

August in Review

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August is sort of a sad month. I have to end my summer break and head back to work. This year we decided to add some last-minute fun and headed to Florida to visit Haley and David for a 5-day trip. It was just what we needed!  September is a month of change with football and pool closing and the ending of the summer garden.

Groceries- Budget = $975.   $775.74   Goal met! My freezers are full! We have lots and lots of prepared food!   I am going to change this goal for September until December to $475 a month to help reduce our overall debit. I will also be buying only items we need but buying a re-stocking amount.

Auto/ Gas. Goal -= $600.  Goal not Met!  We have spent $651.19 this month. This was mainly our trip to Florida. No regrets. I am expecting that this amount be reduced by half to $300 a month with Matt’s driving cut down my more than half. However, I will not change the official goal until December.

Blogging- 15 post per month.  12 post this month.  Trying to live in the moment and enjoy more than posting. I am better in August but need to step up my game!

Exercise-  5 days of exercise makes this an ok month.  I am going to try and continue walking one day a week.

Summer Goals- These were established in June so this will be a good way to keep up with where I am at.  I will say that we ended up cleaning and organizing both Matt’s building and the dinning room closet.  I did not meet all these goals but I am proud of what I accomplished!

  1. Get 100 dinner meals and an assortment of other food items prepared for simple cook and eat meals.   Goal reached! Now to enjoy the hard work.
  2. Organize the office and shred any paperwork that is no longer current and relevant.  I need to go through and shred the items in the top drawer but otherwise this is almost complete. Still have one more drawer to shred!
  3. Redo our master spreadsheet.   No progress
  4. Organize and delete pictures from my phone in order to free up space.- Goal met! Next I need to work on my photo books.
  5. Earn a $50 gift card from Fetch.  I am almost 75% there!  This is taking a long long time. I am going to continue to save for this $50 goal!

I have a few things on my to do list for September but will share as they happen!

Tuesday Thoughts

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For the last two years, I have wanted to and attempted to complete the “Every Bit Counts Challenge.”  The reason that the challenge is so hard for me is that I have to return to work in August.  This year, I decided to change it up and attempt to put up 31 items during the month of August. Well I made an excellent effort but failed with only 19 items.  I am going to list anyway just so I have a record.

  1. 21 quarts of pears
  2. 5 quarts of Beef stew
  3. 4 quarts of chicken stock
  4. 2 jars of spaghetti sauce
  5. 2 meals of Chicken enchiladas
  6. 8 pints of salsa
  7. 4 Southern ground beef casseroles
  8. 8 pints of Salsa
  9. Sour dough bread
  10. Sour dough bagels
  11. 6 jars of spaghetti sauce
  12. 3 jars of spaghetti sauce (total of 26 for summer).
  13. Dried basil and cantaloupe seeds.
  14. shredded zuchnni
  15. Salsa batch for fresh eating
  16. Bread and Butter Pickles
  17. Peach Pie filing
  18. 3 frozen lunches
  19. pint of frozen blueberries.

 

I am very hopefully to be able to purchase tomatoes for Enchilada sauce and diced tomatoes but if not we have lots of food to eat through for the winter!

My next goal/ challenge is also food related. I wanted to reduce our grocery spending to $475 a month until December. I am going to see how this works. I have worked alot this summer to prepare food in advance so I am going to enjoy no working so hard for dinner!

 

Monday Menu Planning

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This should be our least busy week of the fall.  But I want to continue to get and stay in a routine!  We did end up spending around an hour yesterday prepping lunch for everyone this week.  I am hoping this also becomes part of the routine.

Breakfast- Saturday- Matt cooked sausage patties, links and bacon. I added some eggs.  Sunday-breakfast casserole. This was good and I am considering make breakfast on Sundays a casserole to make things easier.  Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, waffles, French toast sticks, bagels, sausage English muffins and I also have breakfast burritos, breakfast hot pockets. I am finding my own you should too!

Lunch- Saturday-Sandwiches .  Sunday La Caretas Monday-salad   Tuesday- salad    Wednesday-pasta salad Thursday –left-overs.  Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday-Salads to go, pasta salad, macaroni salad, and chips and salsa. Sunday baked potatoes.  Monday-Pork Fried Rice and eggrolls. This did leave enough for several days of leftovers.  Tuesday-Hamburgers and FF. Wednesday- Chicken sausage alfredo pasta.  Thursday- Mexican rice and cheese quesadillas.    Friday- Out to eat for Zach’s birthday.

Summer Goals

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Today was my last day of summer break.  I actually used a sick day today because Zach had dental work done this morning.  After today, I am working full time at the schools.  I established these goals in June.  I am actually impressed and pleased with everything that we got accomplished this summer.

  1. Get 100 dinner meals and an assortment of other food items prepared for simple cook and eat meals.   I have 87 “homemade meals” in addition to cans of supper and several other items that we can combine for dinner. GOAL MET!
  2. Organize the office and shred any paperwork that is no longer current and relevant.  I need to go through and shred the items in the top drawer but otherwise this is almost complete.  I did not get to work on this but I am very pleased with where we are!
  3. Redo our master spreadsheet.   No progress. Not Met!
  4. Organize and delete pictures from my phone in order to free up space.- Actually finished up this today. My phone is down to 350 pictures, I now need to order photo books from the ipad.
  5. Earn a $50 gift card from Fetch.  I am almost 75% there!  Sitting at 30000 points so not met.

Monday Menu Planning

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The summer of flying by the seat of my pants is done!  I did learn a couple of things, first my kids are eating alot these days. I am talking 3 full meals a day. Second, my kids don’t really like sandwiches or cereal……

But I am really glad to get back into a routine and have a plan.

Breakfast- Saturday- bacon, toast and eggs Sunday-egg over grits    Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, waffles, French toast sticks, bagels, sausage English muffins and I also have breakfast burritos, breakfast hot pockets. I am finding my own you should too!  This week the kids are also helping to cook!

Lunch- Saturday-Chicken Enchiladas.  Sunday Mella Mushroom. Monday-eat out  Tuesday- salad    Wednesday-pasta salad Thursday – salad   Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday-Chicken nuggets Sunday Steaks and baked potatoes.  Monday-No peek pork chops, sautéed green beans and zucchini. (Kendall helped) Tuesday-Beanie Winnies (ZACH) Wednesday- Cheeseburger Pizza (Kendall)  Thursday- Pork Fried Rice and egg rolls   Friday- Grilled chicken (Matt)

5 Things Friday

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  1. Today is my first day back at work from Spring Break!  I survived and really enjoyed my first day!
  2. I really enjoyed my birthday escape trip to Florida, we visited and stayed with Haley and David. We played cards several nights and even played BINGO on Sunday!
  3. On Friday of last week, we traveled an hour and half to Orlando to go to a Walmart near Disney. I really enjoyed this store but no one else did. We spent the rest of the day at Disney Springs.  Lunch was at “Earl of Sandwich” This is still my favorite place to eat at Disney Springs.
  4. Saturday we adventured out and found a perfect beach to spend a day. “Golden Sands Beach”  They had a grill and place to eat as well as easy access to the beach!  We also went to the inlet but it was not a good fit for us!
  5. Only Kendall and Zach went with us as Lily had to work. It was a different but fun trip that was just the escape I needed.

Monday Musing

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  • Technically I have 11 days left until I return to work. However, with our quick Florida trip to see Haley, I have 5 days at home.  I am in get everything done mood!
  • Today, I was able to make and can another 8 pints of salsa. I checked and we may need another 4 pints to make sure we can make it an entire year. But this is an awesome start!
  • I also found a recipe that I can make up and place in the freezer for the days that I just don’t have enough time and or brain width to cook. I will be making 4 bags of these tomorrow.
  • I decided that I needed a day of rest yesterday so that is exactly what I did. No cooking and no canning or baking.
  • We made our first loaf of zucchini bread today and it is AWESOME!   We are starting to get a couple of zucchini at a time from the garden. I have discovered that zucchini is a vegetable that can be planted for a fall harvest.  Our plants have been struggling all year and finally look healthy and alive so I am hopeful that we will continue to get a couple of zucchini each week until the end of October?  Who knows.
  • Cucumbers are another vegetable that I can get a second harvest from. I will be planting another round when we get back from Florida.
  • We had been watering the garden every day since our return from the beach on July 15th until last Sunday, July 30th.  One of our barrels was even empty from rain water. We have had some massive storms that past week and now one rain barrel is full and the other is 80% full.

Saving on Saturday

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Sometime you save money by doing the big things.  This past week Matt painted our living room.   This room has been this color for at least 19 years. The total cost was less than $50 for paint and supplies.

Before

After

I love the new color and it make the space brighter and bigger!

 

Other times it is the small things that help you save money. For example. I purchased cans of Diced tomatoes on sale for 75 cent.  This week we turned those into pizza sauce and marinara sauce which was delicious and easy!

Del Monte Diced Tomatoes Basil, Garlic And Oregano, 14.5-Ounce (Pack Of 8) - image 1 of 3