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!

 

Monday Menu Planning

I just want to feel better and not sneeze or cough.  I started a second round of being sick on Thursday night. I came home from work on Friday and did not leave until this morning.   We did manage to stay on plan for the most part. I sent Matt to the store on Friday night to strictly pick up fruit. He spent $23.34. We are still under $200 for the month at $194 so I am counting this as a win!

Breakfast- Saturday- Bacon and biscuits.
Sunday- Find your own. I had grits Monday and Tuesday- Sausage Maple syrup muffins (We made a batch on Sunday) Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. Depending on my energy level, I may add a baked Oatmeal in the mix.
Lunch- Saturday- Left-overs Sunday-East Coast Wings Monday, Tuesday- leftovers, Wednesday. Thursday and Friday   – left-overs and grab and go is the plan. We still have 2 completely full shelves of leftovers so we have no problem finding something to eat. The kids also make mac and cheese at least once a weel.

Dinner- Saturday-Matt picked up from Mocksville Family Restaurant., Sunday-Leftovers, I made myself an omelet. . -Monday- Beef tips and gravy, green beans and choice of mashed potatoes or rice. Tuesday-Walking Tacos in a bowl.  Wednesday- .Spaghetti and meatballs Thursday Chicken biscuit and French fries – Friday- Country style steak and gravy with broccoli and choice of mashed potatoes or rice.

I did not even go out to the freezers this week but I will be headed down to bring up more food soon.  I have started to move some food around. Just a couple cans at a time. Seriously thing this challenge could last till June at this rate.   I have concerned actually making this last to June by only restocking what is out of stock. This way I know we will rotate food. I will have to buy some items but I think that in the long run this is a good strategy for the first six months of the year.  I do see a Costco trip in February and I know my subscribe and save is going to double so I may shoot for a $500 budget for the most part.

Monday Menu Planning

The last week has been very busy. I am finally starting to feel much better and get some of my energy back but unfortunately Matt has become ill. We enjoyed a slower than usual weekend. I did use up the butternut squash I grew last summer. It made am OK soup not something anyone wants repeated.  I did stop at the grocery store to stock up on 2 Liters of Diet Coke. My grocery budget sits at $171.40. Which is over my $150 for two months!   I would consider just throwing in the towel but even if I can keep the total less than $300 for 2 months that is a third of what I typically spend in one month. I am starting to see the end of somethings. In fact, I need to clean the shelves in the laundry room, get them reorganized and make a list of what we have. I do know that in March I will be purchasing both flour and rice from Costco. This works out to be a yearly purchase so not a bad thing. This week theme is simple.

Breakfast- Saturday- Breakfast bowls with bacon and sausage. We did use a container out of the freezer of gravy.
Sunday-Biscuit King   Monday- Sausage Maple syrup muffins (these are a huge hit and most likely a repeat).  Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. Depending on my energy level, I may add a baked Oatmeal in the mix.
Lunch- Saturday- Left-overs  Sunday- Gregg’s , Monday, Tuesday- leftovers, Wednesday. Thursday and Friday   – left-overs and grab and go is the plan. We still have 2 completely full shelves of left-overs so we have no problem finding something to eat. The kids also make mac and cheese at least once a weel.

Dinner- Saturday- Roasted Butternut Squash soup, Sunday- Lasagna soup. Everyone liked this recipe but we will use regular pasta next time to speed up the process. -Monday- Teriyaki Chicken in crock pot, rice, pineapple and egg rolls.  Tuesday-Brats and French Fries, Cucumbers slices as well. Wednesday- Left-overs from fridge. Thursday- Eating out due to swim meet. Friday-Last 2 boxes of hamburger Helper!  This is an accomplishment for sure!

I am committed to be transparent about grocery spending hoping that will keep me moving in the right direction. Instead of giving up!

Monday Menu Planning

We have now officially completed 15 days of the longest month of the year!  I am actually starting to be able to move food around. I do need to empty one of the freezers if not two prior to the summer.  My goal again this summer will be to stock the freezers with easy to grab, easy to prepare meals. It has certainly helped this year.  This month I have spent $130.69 on groceries including out subscribe and save. This is a very low amount !  And my goal is to continue. I did order some Listerine and we have picked up sour cream not once but twice!   But let’s celebrate the good things.

Breakfast- Saturday- Sausage links and German baby pancakes!
Sunday-Homemade Bagels and Waffles.  Monday- Carrot soufflé Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, bagels and eggs.
Lunch- Saturday- Meatballs and Lil Smokies in the crockpot   Sunday- Sushi buffet, Monday- The kids and I tried out Freddie’s   Tuesday- leftovers, Wednesday. Thursday and Friday   – left-overs and grab and go is the plan.

Dinner- Saturday- Sour Dough Waffles or left-overs from lunch, Sunday- Taco soup-Monday- Meatloaf, squash casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes and meatloaf.  Tuesday-Baked Ziti from freezer Wednesday- Philly Cheese Steak Casserole (from freezer)  Thursday- Chicken Teriyaki Friday-Panda Panda (local Chinese) on the way to swim meet.

Now to just stick to the plan!

Saving on Saturday

Today the focus was on using what we have!   We headed out really early for Braxton’s ballgame. I did not want to stop and purchase breakfast, so I made a German pancake and a package of sausage links from the freezer.  For lunch, I made meatballs and lil smokies in the crockpot.  And for dinner, I added sour dough waffles.

We also finished taking down all the Christmas decorations. I absolutely LOVED having the curtain rod with ornaments over the kitchen sink. In fact, I liked it so much that I decided that I needed to purchase a curtain to go on the rod.   However, when I found my bag of Valentine’s items, I decided I could use some of these items and hold off buying a curtain. I do love the way it turned out.

I also went ahead and decorated the sign outside again with things we already have! It also turned out as well.

Total spent today was $20 for entrance into the game.

Every little bit counts!

Tuesday Thoughts

  1. I am tired of being sick. I have some form of sickness since Christmas Day. That is 16 straight days of not feeling 10%.  I do feel better but when it hits I am just miserable. Because of the weather delay tomorrow morning (see below) I am debating taking nyquil tonight to try and knock it out!
  2. I had my first remote learning day in two years.  Zach and Kendall were both out of school. Today’s weather has been horrible rain and wind including thunderstorms.  I looked at right after lunch to thisMy green stalk was full of dirt and stands about 6 feet tall with the platform.  I am hoping that nothing is broken.
  3. On of the things that I am trying to accomplish this week is cleaning up my home email. I am un-subscribing to any email that is possible. Unfortunately, a lot of spam my firewall prevents me from reaching. But I am hopeful to reduce the massive amounts of junk email I receive. This will also save me money as currently I am working to not spend any extra for the months of January and February along with the pantry challenge. IF I don’t know about a sale I can not buy what is on sale.
  4. Our washer was repaired yesterday which means I can now finish up the laundry, from the camper. I wanted to get everything clean so that in March all I have to do is load in food and clothing.
  5. I was able to redo our monthly budget. This year’s focus is paying down debit. I want to start actively paying more than I am spending in both groceries and gas. This will take some discipline, but I am ready to conquer it!

Monday Menu Post

I had to make an additional trip to the grocery store this weekend as we were out of both sour cream and cocoa powder.  My total was $15.98 which brings my regular spending to $26 and including Amazon $98.   This is still well within my budget.   I am going to focus on using items in the pantry for this first month. In fact, I have made a list of at least 10 meals that I will be planning to use in January.   We do have two swim meets which means at least one of these we are going to be eating out.

Breakfast- Saturday- Quiche and cinnamon rolls
Sunday- Matt’s breakfast casserole.  Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday   and Friday- find it oatmeal,
omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, bagels and eggs.
Lunch- Saturday-My Dad’s chicken stew using a whole chicken from the freezer.   Sunday- Mexican food from a new restaurant, Monday-
leftovers Tuesday- leftovers, Wednesday. Thursday and Friday   – left-overs and grab and go is the plan.

Dinner- Saturday-More chicken stew Sunday- Sausage and Potato soup-Monday-Baked potatoes- using the rest of our potatoes before they went bad!   Tuesday-Taco pasta from freezer Wednesday- Everyone is grabbing food on the way to the swim meet.  Thursday-Southern ground beef casserole from the freezer.  Friday- Chicken sandwich and French fries on the way to the swim meet.

Saving on Saturday- Pantry Challenge

Each year #threeriverschallenge (a youtube channel I LOVE) host a pantry challenge for the months of January and February.  I usually attempt to participate in January only.  This year I have decided that we will attempt to participate in both January and February.   To be completely honest, we did not start the challenge until January 3rd because of our travels.  I did run to the store on Wednesday 1/3 to grab milk and cream cheese, spending a total of $10.  My goal for the challenge is spend less than $150 over the next two month not including my subscribe and save from Amazon.  I did start to prepare the kids on the way home but to be honest we are so fully stocked right now it will take a good couple of weeks if not a month for anyone to notice that I am not buying new items.

I have gone thru my subscribe and save on Amazon, reducing my scheduled delivery from 25 items to 5 items for a total of $72.97.   I will do this again in February as well.  I am hopeful that we have enough lunch grab and go items to make it but I may need to keep some of those in the subscribe and save.   My plan is to set aside $500 each month for the purchase of a side of beef.  The remaining monies will be used for medical debit from last year.

This past week, I focused on simple easy meals. Wednesday night, I made pepper steak in the crock pot and also made some rice.  Thursday night we had tomato soup and grilled cheese.  We used sour dough bread from the freezer for our sandwiches. Friday was spaghetti and meatballs.

As I was thinking on Friday, I remembered that we have 4 more whole chickens in the chest freezer outside.  I sent Lily down to find one and start it defrosting in a sink of cold water.  I came home and used the instant pot to cook the entire chicken. Last night I separated the meat and bones.  The bones and skin were thrown in a crockpot with water to make a delicious batch of broth.   This morning I started the cut up chicken, 2 onions and 7 cups of potatoes in a huge stock pot on the stove. I am making a batch of my Dad’s chicken stew   this is really a labor of love, as it requires almost 4 hours of cooking. My plan is chicken stew for lunch and dinner. I will also be freezing at least one additional if not two additional meals. I am hopefully for a couple of lunch as well but we will see.

My plan is to discuss the pantry challenge each week in one of two ways. If it is as simple as what we are eating with very little to no spending I will include in Monday menu planning. If something requires a bit of explanation then I will do a separate post likely on Saturday.

Are you participating?