Category Archives: DITL

5 Things Friday

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  1. I have just completed the busiest work week all year. I worked eight hours over this week. I am very grateful for this extra income but really do miss seeing my kids each night during the week!
  2. The cow we purchased is currently hanging. It did turn out to be larger than expected but I budgeted enough excess that we still should cover the cost without touching our monthly budget. After much thought and discussion, the way to account for this purchase is by dividing the amount over the first 6 months of 2017.  I will take that amount out of each month’s grocery budget and pay toward our credit card debit.  December provides an extra check for me, initially I planned to use to pay down our debit but this was a deal we could not pass up so instead we purchased meat.  Once the final cost for the cow including processing is paid. I will share what amount will be deducted each month from our budget.
  3. I am planning on doing holiday baking tomorrow. I checked out my baking list and hopefully have purchased everything we need for this fun day. We will make another batch of cookies on Christmas Eve for Santa.
  4. I am finished shopping for the month of December. I will continue to watch sales but unless the item is a need and at the lowest available price, I am going to avoid shopping the rest of the month.
  5. All three of the younger kids will be performing this weekend in our church’s Christmas musical. This should make the weekend go by really really quickly.

 

Menu Plan Monday

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As I was putting together this post I realized that I have not posted a menu plan in over a month. We are continuing to plan a month at a time but are pretty flexible with changes if need be. Over the past month and again in December, I am making an effort to clean out the freezer. We are purchasing a cow and need to make space to place the meat. One thing you will notice is that we are eating out several times this week. The reason is simple Lily’s birthday.

Breakfast–   Saturday- Left-overs including hash brown casserole, eggs, grits and gravy. Sunday- Choices.  Monday-Left-overs or choices. Tuesday- Baked Banana oatmeal Wednesday- choices. Thursday- Breakfast burrito bowl Friday- Choices.  Choices include : leftovers, eggs, grits, French toast,, toast or cereal.

Lunch- Zach and Kendall have tomato soup, spaghettios, uncrustables x2 and chicken nuggets. I have salad x 2, sandwhich wrap and leftovers.

Dinner-  Saturday- Lunch- Pizza Hut (used coupons).   Dinner- Outback .
Sunday- Lunch- Baked Potato bar. Dinner- Chill (leftover from lunch and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Monday- Kielbasa and rice
Tuesday-Taco Tuesday
Wednesday-  Grilled Chicken
Thursday- I have a party so leftovers or soup for the rest
Friday- Kids are having pizza at church and Matt will eat at Taco Bell. Not sure what I will end up doing.

American Girl Bistro and Store

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One of our special events included in our quick trip to Atlanta was a trip to the American Girl Store and Bistro. We actually ate deserts at the Bistro. Of course we left our dolls at the hotel but the Bistro had dolls and chairs to share.
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Kendall purchased a dog for her doll along with a hat and hangers. Kendall was able to bring both the tea set for her dog and the borrowed doll home to have another tea party.
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Lily purchased an outfit, cook book and apron/mit set for her doll. She said the chocolate flower pot was the best ever!
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Kendall was the most happy and excited I have seen her in a long time.  She was in heaven, baby dolls, stuffed dog, tea party, ice cream and root beer.  Just enjoy the smile!
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Thanksgiving Thoughts

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There is no doubt in my mind how blessed we are as a society, a country, a family and even personally. I could list a million things that I am thankful for but does that make me any better of a person or blogger. I personally don’t think so. I know I am blessed and I need to use gratitude every day all day and not just one day a year. So instead of a list of things I am thankful for, I am going to tell you some special event and things that are happening in my life.

We are currently in Sandy Springs Georgia which is just outside of Atlanta. Both the older girls have work commitments so it is just Matt, myself and the not so little kids. We spent today with Matt’s sister, her family and Matt’s Dad. The kids had a truely special treat by going to “Legoland” with their two older cousins this morning. They really enjoyed it and I honestly could not be sure who had more fun the big or little kids. The rest of the day was spent enjoying conservation and tine with family that always loved not always close enough to share with.
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I am also extremely grateful for a daily devotional given to me by my sister in law called “Daily Gratitude”. I can’t wait to start getting a daily reminder of who and why I am blessed.

The plans for tomorrow are very vague at this point but I do know that we have “Afternoon Tea ” schedule at the American Girl Bistrow, my girls are so excited and so am I.

Thursday Thoughts

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Many things are going on around here, so are money saving and some are just fun so I thought I would share some .

  • Matt is working on digging holes for our new trees that are scheduled to arrive today. I purchased 6 fruit trees last month. I realize that these may take several (3-5) years to produce but I am so excited to be able to do some eatable landscaping.  We are getting 2 apples and 2 pear trees, so they will cross pollinate, 1 cherry and 1 peach tree.  They are going in our backyard along the property line to create a natural boundary.
  • My goal for the weekend is to get my snow village up and in place. I am so excited to have time to spend on this project this year without feeling rushed. I will refrain from placing other Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving but the snow village can go up now and stay til at least January.
  • We picked up our Zaycon steak order this morning! Both boxes were less than one pound off the promised weight so we have a $15 credit to use on our next order. The steak look amazing! Can’t wait to try them tomorrow night.
  • Menu planning has definitely not gone as planned this week. Last weekend we spent trying to finish up left-overs and made some head way but not enough. We are not eating out just not eating what is scheduled. Today, I am making broccoli-cheese soup and steak will be on Friday. I am betting that Saturday will be left-overs again.
  • No grocery spending this week!
  • The temperature has finally turned to fall and we ended up turning on our heat on Sunday. Our first hard freeze is expected this weekend which means the end of tomatoes and green peppers. I did plant some lettuce and we are getting a small amount from that so I hope that will continue for a few more weeks.

Wordless Wednesday-Family Pictures

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We had family pictures made on Sunday. I am sure I will be posting more as we get them for here is a sneak peek. The other pictures the kids took while getting dressed!

 

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Saving on Saturday-11/05/2016

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  • The weather is continuing to cooperate. We have not used heat or air in 45 days! This may one of the longest streaks ever! I am very hopefully to make it till the 15th of November.
  • I washed and hung out to dry 4 loads of sheets today. That saved at least 4 hours of dryer time. Matt was able to wash and hang out a load of my uniforms earlier in the week as well.
  • Eating left-overs, I am in charge of cooking on the weekend and I usually enjoy cooking at least 3 meals in a two day period.  This weekend, beginning on Friday, we are eating out of the fridge. I will make a pot of soup for lunch tomorrow before our pictures but otherwise this is food that will go to waste if we don’t eat so at least four or meals it is. I did make one change to our rules this time. You can only eat breakfast foods for breakfast.
  • Trimmed and polished our nails at home instead of getting manicures before our family pictures on Sunday. This step alone saved at least $75.
  • Found a local photographer who is willing to travel to my brother’s house. None of my family does well in a crowd but we all LOVE pictures. Over the past several years, we have discovered it is much easier for all of us to hire someone to come take family pictures. I also think in the end it saves money and allows a less stressful time.
  • Combining online deals. Zachary’s sheet have a mysterious hole in them. They are unfortunately the only set of “boy” twin sheet we have. I was able to combine a doorbuster deal at JCPenny’s along with a coupon they set to me. I was able to purchase 2 sets of sheets for his bed, a set of flannel sheets for Lily’s bed, a hoodie for Kendall and 4 shirts for me all for $113. I will receive back $10 in JCPenny Rewards in addition to $7 in Swagbucks.  Sheets are normally expensive so I counting all the clothes as free!
  • Meal planning- we have spent $100 at Costco so far this month and I hope that will be the extend of our grocery spending. In order for this to happen, meal planning is a must. We currently have enough meals planned for the entire month of November!
  • Matt and I both are continuing to make an effort to earn money via apps. Our current goal is to make between $150 and $200 a month. We are on track already for November with $50 this first week.

Saving on Saturday-10/29/2016

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Everyone has heard of  No- Shave November. I am going to attempt a No/Little Spend November for groceries.  I am sharing this to be accountable and also to see if anyone wants to join me.

First lets talk about the reasons, I want to do this type of challenge. One of the bigger struggle with budgeting for me is always the grocery budget. This month we are sitting right at $650. We were extremely over  budget in both September and July. As we look ahead to  the holiday season with extra spending coming in everywhere, I need to find extra money in the budget to use for the holidays. Next is the simple facts,   we have been able to take advantage of several sales and Zaycon has helped to fill our freezers. Therefore, we have on hand lots of items and even are over stocked in others.

I had a wise friend tell me “the best way to not spend money is not to shop.” So I have decided to take that advice to heart, at least for the month of November.  I talked with Matt last week about the idea of not shopping for groceries in the month of November. By planning ahead this allowed us to really look at the pantry and freezers and identify any immediate needs that could ruin a no spend month very quickly.

Now on to the how this is going to work for us. I know that we will need to purchase items like creamer and eggs so I am going to start by pulling out $50 in cash to use for these items. I also want to be able to take advantage of any “Black Friday” deal that CVS may have so my plan is to “earn” a 25 gift card from Swagbucks to use. I should be able to cash out of this card during the first week of November and simply won’t shop at CVS till then. Cash is very hard for me to spend and this way if a true need arises then we will be able to purchase the need but not go overboard. The gift card is free money that is not from the budget so it will be part of the game to see how far I can stretch this card and what real deals, I can take advantage of. Because it is a gift card unlike ECB it can be use to pay tax on the items I purchase.

Final step in this challenge is planning. I have already started working on a list of meals that we can cook this month. One advantage we do have is our scheduled trip to Georgia for Thanksgiving. This will eliminate at least 3 if not 4 days of cooking and eating from home.  Since Matt and I have already talked about this challenge we actually started meal planning last week. I know that in order to save money, I need to make sure that we are not wasting money especially by allowing food to go bad, so the focus this weekend is to finish up leftovers and find new or favorite dishes to cook with the items we have on hand.  Look for lots of menu plans for November.

Five Things Friday-10/28/2016

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  1. This week has been a really hard week for me. I am think that the stress of the last several months in addition to our crazy busy schedule caught up with me. I have been struggling to just keep my head above water and even lost it several times this week. However, I do see light at the end of the tunnel and God continues to provide blessing big and small on a regular basis. I have decide that I am going to stop “trying to catch up” and enjoy the moment. What this did mean for me was that I shredded all the receipts on  my desk that I want to write about. This weekend is not full and should give us all some time to slow down and catch up.
  2. Lily is loving charter school. Even on the days that regular school is out. I am continuing to see progress and hear her working to finish assignments. This is officially the end of the first quarter and I am 100% confident that we made the right decision with NC K-12.
  3. Zach’s last baseball game was Monday of this week. He LOVES baseball which is a huge surprise to me. He is already talking about the spring. He is also growing and will need new cleats and a new uniform. I hope he continue to try different sports, but if baseball is what he loves than guess we will spend more time on the baseball field.
  4. The three little kids all had Dentist appointments on Thursday. We are excited that no one had any cavities. But the even better news is that it was discovered that Kendall had several wires that were continuing to rub against her cheek. She thought this was normal and therefore had not complained. Our orthodontist office was closed and will be closed to Monday morning but the dentist cut the wires. Kendall already is acting much happier and is back to eating regular food.\
  5. The weather here is strange but enjoyable. We were able to turn off the air in mid September and are still not using the heat. Our electric bill for Oct is below $200 and I am hopeful for an even lower bill in November. The other benefit to the weather is that we are still harvesting a few tomatoes and peppers. In fact this is by far the best harvest of pepper that we have ever had. I am so excited to be able to flash freeze and may be able to use for the entire winter! Our first frost is still at least 2 weeks away according to the weather, so I am watering and growing!

5 Things Friday 10-14/2016

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  1. This week was suppose to be a slower week but my work had an quick sudden unexpected increase and so it has turned into a long long busy week.
  2. Kendall’s brace are bothering her. I am sure it is not to the extend of some of the folks I have talked to. She is not a complainer in fact she will often say that her mouth is not hurting but takes every suggestion to heart and tries to make it feel better. I am hopeful that by the end of the weekend she will be back to normal. I am also a bit concerned because today, her face appears to be swollen.
  3. My goal for this weekend is to get the sheets all washed and bed smelling wonderful followed by getting all three of the kids rooms really clean.
  4. The weather continues to be on the mild side so we are harvesting a few tomato and peppers still. We are planning to wait until the first frost to harvest sweet potatoes the longest growing period but it is very tempting to want to grab some now.
  5. Lily is learning to cook, this week she made dinner on Thursday night which was a turkey pot pie. She needs a lot of supervision for the chopping but it turned out wonderful.