Category Archives: Goals

Menu Planning

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I mentioned in yesterday post that I am attempting to participate in two separate but very related challenges this month, No Spend January and Eat from the Pantry. Today I want to share the most important thing that will help us achieve both of these planning. This is actually a two part process, first is making food ahead of time and the second is planning and using the meals.

Part of the time I spent for my three day weekend is cooking ahead. On Saturday, we made 6 batches of pork fried rice using left over BBQ from Christmas.  We ate one of these for dinner on Saturday. On Sunday, we made taco rice and cheeseburger pies. On Monday, we made Salisbury steaks and mashed potatoes. We were able to use pull out raw hamburger from our freezer. Which was very helpful due to the fact we are receiving the cow I purchased in December this week.

The final step in this process is Menu Planning. There is a slight increase in the need for this with attempting to eat out of our pantry.  Here is our plan…

Breakfast–   Saturday- grits, eggs and  bacon . Sunday- Donuts  Monday-Baked Oatmeal  Tuesday-  fried bologna and eggs Wednesday- choices. Thursday-  Choices Friday- Choices.  Saturday- Pancakes Choices include : leftovers, eggs, grits, French toast,, toast or cereal.

Lunch- Zach and Kendall have chicken and stars soup, chicken nuggets, ham and cheese roll up, homemade lunchable and chips w/salsa. I am taking left-overs this week.

Dinner-  Saturday- Lunch- left overs  Dinner- Pork Fried Rice and egg roll.
Sunday- Lunch- Shrimp Gumbo in crockpot (kielbasa and shrimp, both from freezer) Dinner-  left-overs
Monday- Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and fruit
Tuesday- Steaks and salad
Wednesday-  Chicken cacciatore (found in freezer) and pasta
Thursday- Broccoli and cheese soup in crockpot
Friday- Leftovers or pizza.

I did have to make a quick trip to CVS this week for a total of $14.45 out of our grocery budget.

 

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

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I have not had time over the past several days to go back and review the goals I had set for 2016.  I know that I did not meet any of the goals on a consistent basis. I am sad but realistically I know that goals are just that something to aspire to achieve. I am often remained of our wedding verse Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”   Our goals and God’s plans are not always the same and it is my firm belief that his plans are always much better in the end than my goals. None of the goals that I established were bad but that were just not achievable for 2016.  I will share that 2016 was the hardest and leanest year of our marriage on a financial level. I have been able to look back and identify some of the problems so that should help the coming year.  With all that written out, I am officially closing the door on 2016 and looking ahead to 2017.  I am still unsure if I am going to make goals for 2017 as I really get discouraged when I have to write “failed” each month but I also like the accountability that it provides. So for now, I am going to share on what I have been up to and how that affects my plans/goals for 2017.

Christmas 2015 made it very evident that we need to come up with some major changes in our kitchen in order for us to host our family and friend in an enjoyable environment. In January, we started the kitchen remodel which included the old kitchen and living room which was being used as a playroom. We spent 5 month removing a walk and reworking most of the area. We stop due to money and energy. This past weekend we have started working again. We used our “dining room’ on Christmas Day and it worked well but I still wanted to make some changes.  First we moved our smallest refrigerator to the building and pulled down the cabinets from around the second one. We are planning to build a custom buffet over the next couple of months for housing all the electronic/internet cable connect and also providing some additional storage space. I will try to share pictures as things start to progress.

We purchased a cow in December and are expecting to pick up the meat this week. I was able to clean out our chest freezer so that the meat will be easy to deal with upfront.

We are going to work diligently this year to regain our financial ground, two years ago we were debit free except for our mortgage, I want to get closer to that point again. One of the bright spots in the area of finances in December has been our “extra earnings” via swagbucks and MPlaces.  We have cashed out for over $300 in gift cards during December.  I am reading in several different places that January is typically a slow earning month so I am going to celebrate December success but also remember that small steps are still progress. I have decided to participate in several challenges in January in order to hopefully jump start our year. The first is a pantry challenge, we are planning to limit our grocery spending to less than $100 for the month. I have been doing some cleaning over the past couple of day and this should not be a problem. The second challenge goes along with the first and is a no spend month. We will be attending two cheer competition this month but otherwise no unnecessary spending.   Who else is hoping to achieve good things in 2017?

 

Final 5 Things Friday for 2016

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  1. Today was my final paycheck of the year. It was nice to sit down and pay out the bills. I also spent some time looking at the budget in addition to trying to get a good idea of where we are financially and where we need to head in the next year.  I am planning to share more on this later this weekend.
  2. We have been able to “earn” around $325 this month between apps on our phone and swagbucks. I realize that December is probably a big month but hope to earn at least $200 a month between Matt and myself.
  3. I get to enjoy a 3 day weekend, for me this is rare, in fact I think that this will not occur again until next Christmas.  We also don’t have any plans to travel, so I have made a list of things I want to accomplish this weekend.
    1. Put away all the Christmas decorations- snow village will stay up until MLK day in January.
    2. Help to build platform for trampoline and get it bolted in place. We also need to come up with a plan to get rid of the old one.
    3. Move the small refrigerator to the building and help remove the cabinets hang above it. This is in anticipation of beginning the next stage in our kitchen remodel which is to build a new buffet and officially make a dining room.
    4. Re-organize the closet in the shower room in hope of starting my “major project of the year.”
  4. I have decided that I need to sort through and get an organizational system going for all the kids pictures, art work and certificates. I have books for pictures of Haley and Amanda but realized yesterday that I have over 10 years of pictures in drawers and cabinets that really need to be addressed. I honestly know this will be a MAJOR undertaking but am going to set it as a goal for the year so I will at least need to address it once a month.
  5. We spent the entire day shopping yesterday, it was loads of fun but exhausting. I really am having a hard time staying focus today so hopefully some extra sleep will help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Thoughts- 12/26/2016

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  • We really enjoyed Christmas yesterday, everyone was together at my parents on Christmas eve and then again for lunch at my house. We spent a couple of hours outside assembling the new trampoline.
  • I don’t have a menu plan for this week, first we want to finish up most of the left-overs and second I am just being lazy. Today for lunch I brought out the two cheese balls from last night and added ham salad on crackers. The kids were excited to eat desert since we have enough for several more days.
  • Matt and I both had to work today so I am planning to leave the Christmas decorations up until next weekend. I should have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off and may have half a day on Friday as well.
  • The new dining room would out great and everyone was able to eat in the same room/area. I have decided I want to move around a couple of thing in addition to building a custom buffet on the wall closest to the kitchen.
  • We have a water leak out front which means that we need to dig up the front yard yet again, 4 time this year, and replace the line that brings water into the house.
  • Santa’s delivered a trampoline that was 2 foot wider than our old one so that we are now going to have to add boards to the platform before attaching it.
  • I need to spend some time updating the blog especially the blog roll as now at least half of the bloggers I followed have stopped or moved on. My goal is to get it done this week.
  • I should get at least one post if not two this week for the year in review, but now I am going to go watch the kids outside and do my nails.

5 Things Friday- Christmas Edition

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  1. With my ever changing crazy schedule at work, I ended up having a half day off on Monday and another half day off today. I did enjoy the extra time with the kids today!
  2. I am actually head of schedule with our preparation for Christmas Day. I should only have a few hours of work tomorrow and then be able to enjoy the entire day off Sunday! Here is a list of my original plan, I have been able to go ahead and prepare all three of the casseroles today. I let each of the little kids help with one so it took twice as long but really was nice to spend extra time with them.
  3. The insurance company has already settled with me in regards to my fender bender last Friday. I am have really amazed and happy with how smooth it has been. After discussion with Matt, we are not going to have the van repaired, instead that money will go to pay on our planned Disney World trip.
  4. December has been an awesome month for extra money coming in. So far we have cashed in $200 for Swagbucks and at least 50 via Mplaces.
  5. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE

Bargain Brag

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I always say that saving money is a life style, so today I want to share a few of the ways we are saving and/or earning money this month.

img_1989I had decided several months ago that I wanted to have the kids with matching Christmas clothes this year. In November, Kmart offered a sale on the dresses the girls are wearing. I was able to purchase the dresses for $8 each. Before ordering, I did check to make sure we had both girls a long shrug or sweater to wear with these as they are short sleeves. Their tights were purchased on a 40% off sale in addition to 5 coupon from e The Children’s Place for a total of $5. The most expensive part of the girls outfits were their shoes. We did find them on sale but still spent around $45 for both pair. Total for both girls outfits were $60- the average cost of one dress. Zach has had his red tie for several years now so all I needed to purchase for him was a black shirt. I found it at Walmart for $8.  I really do love dressing all three for less than $100.

Our biggest expense is by far groceries. For this reason, we definitely try to use all the food we have and not waste or let any go bad. Last Saturday, we spent baking Christmas goodies in addition to make a 7-layer salad, deviled eggs and Mandarin Orange salad. We have used these as our sides for Saturday lunch, Monday dinner and plan to use again on Friday. Today, we had what the kids call a “leftover buffet” pick what you want to eat from the leftovers and enjoy.  Matt and Lily have been able to make wraps and nachos at lunch with some leftovers as well. The tomatoes, we harvested from the garden are finally ripe.  I decided to go ahead and cook these for use in soups later on.  Finally, we purchased a bunch of bananas last Thursday, that are now really ripe. The kids decided that we would use them in a smoothie in the morning for breakfast.

Saving money means know what items you need in addition to recognizing the best deal on an item. The best example of this, is our purchase of razors from Amazon. Matt has a “favorite” razor that when it goes on sale I grab. He also is open to trying others as well. We did try the dollar shave club but simply were not impressed and after doing the math, it really is cheap for me to buy razors at CVS. Last night I noticed that Amazon had his favorite razor refills on sale. We grabbed a year supply for $20. This was definitely a case of know a good price and grabbing it.

 

November In Review

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A day late again but at least I am being consistent.

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. But there is some good news, I posted seventeen times in the month of November. Improvement is a good and positive thing.

2.Weight Loss– 175#. Did not gain anything, got on the treadmill a couple of time. Still a fail but not a total lost eitehr

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. This continues to be a challenge for me. I need to find a time to set for this but so far not happening.

Personal goals are a failure for the sixth month straight. I do feel much better about my lack of progress this month. I am working to met goals, slow and steady wins the race.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail. No change in this category. I will admit we have acquire debit this year so now we focus on getting back on an even footing.

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $550. Goal Met. We spent $460 in the month of November on groceries. We did commit to purchase an entire cow for our freezer in December. I am not sure how to handle this expense. In the past, I have always counted in the month it was purchased. This time I am not sure if I should do that or spread it out over the first six month of the year?  Decisions Decisions, Decisions.

4. Gas: Spend $300 a month- Goal Met!  Actually under budget at $210 for the month. The price of gas remains around $2 a gallon so this has helped our overall expense. I am very anxious to see how we end at the end of the year as far as a monthly average goes.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. This will definitely be a focus and goal for next year.

6. Money Making Apps- I am adding this for monthly reporting. This is becoming a game to me!  We collected $175 in gift cards and purchased another $60 of items that were free including shipping.

Success in three of six areas is going to be considered a success!  We hope to keep up the steady stream in December. I will say that most if not all of our shopping is complete so I don’t expect this to be an expensive month at all!

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.

5 Financial Things Friday 11/04/2016

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1. My goal for the month was to spend $50 or less on groceries. I am already going to admit defeat with this. We realized Thursday morning that we are completely out of dog food. I know that I could always purchase a small 10 pound bag to last for the month of November but it will cost close to the same 25# pound at Costco. We did make a Costco trip and managed to spend $100. I am hopeful and actually fully expect that we should not “need” any more groceries until December.

2. I was able to cash out for a $25 gift card to CVS on Swagbucks yesterday. This will be my grocery money for the rest of the month. I do not count this in the budget because this is free money.

3. Because of yet another problem with the gas pipeline, gas in our area has jumped again and shortages are expected. The price difference between my town and Costco was 14 cent. We braved it today and actually drove the van until it read 0 MILES TO EMPTY, to fill up at Costco we saved around $3 this way.

4. We were at Costco at lunch time today and since I am not really a fan of hot dogs nor pizza, I picked up a rotisserie chicken to eat for lunch. Zach and Lily ate some with me at lunch. We brought the rest of the chicken home and made an awesome chicken salad. Finally with the skin and bones, I made chicken stock in the crock pot. I was actually able to use 2 crock pots for this and should have about 100 cups of stock!

5. The crazy weather has allowed our garden to continue producing a small amount. We are still harvesting basil, oregano, dill, tomatoes, jalapeños and green peppers. I hope that we will reduce the initial cost next year because we our dill and mint plants will reproduce themselves.

October In Review

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I wanted to make sure I got the pictures from Halloween posted so this is a day late, but better late than never. First how I did in October then a look ahead

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. October was a difficult month for me. One week I really just wanted to find somewhere and hide. That did not work so 16 post it.

2.Weight Loss– 175#. I totally gave up on this goal in October. I am planning to get back on track in November.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. This continues to be a challenge for me. I need to find a time to set for this but so far not happening.

Personal goals are a failure for the fifth month straight. I will admit that October was the worst month for me emotionally.  It was not a single event that sent me in a downward spiral but I can say that I know I need to slow climb back up!

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail. We have been able to meet all expenses but this is a huge struggle. I did receive a small pay raise in October so hopefully this will help in addition to some income that Matt is generating.

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $550. I changed this goal in June and have failed to meet it every month. However I am under my original $700 for the month ending at $649.59. I am planning on a low/no spending November .I can say it is successful for day 1.

4. Gas: Spend $300 a month- Fail ! Again I may have changed this goal too early as well We spent $323 this month including tags and inspection for the truck. I will reconsider both Gas and Groceries in December. I know my lesson no changing goals mid year.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. I am meeting bare minimal payments on everything but really was hoping to begin to get control and reduce this number.

6. Money Making Apps- I am adding this for monthly reporting. Matt and I both are trying to see how much we can earn doing small things. This month has been very successful.  Total of $170 for the month. Extra money is awesome and helping to work our way back to a budget.

Goal wise this month is another failure but I am not surprised. I made changes mid-year without waiting, so now I am going to wait to try again. I am hoping that we can dramatically reduce our spending for groceries in both November and December.