Miscellaneous Monday

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Sheila

Our menu plan is very simple for this week. Leftovers for Monday and Wednesday and Pulled Pork on Tuesday. I want to try and clean out as much of the refrigerator as possible before our trip.
I am working hard to achieve a good work/life balance. I am finding it impossible. Work is crazy busy and the kids are crazy busy as well.
I am really looking forward to this trip just to have some down time without feeling rushed or like I should be doing something else.
The weather is starting and predicted to start warming up, I still do not have a plan for the square foot garden so I need to get this down on paper soon.
The heat is back on in our house. I am hoping that once we leave on Thursday, that will be the end of the heat for the year.
I have given myself a goal to earn $200 from Swagbucks by December of this year. I am so close to cashing out my first $25 that it is tempting to purchase an item that is 100% back but I don’t want to spend any money. So I will patiently or not so patient wait till closer to the end of the month to achieve this.
Zach is continuing to make huge improvement in soccer. He was able to score 2 goals this weekend and made 2 stops as goalie.
Lily has found her backhand spring at cheerleading! It is so nice to watch her tumble!

Saving on Saturday-04/09/2016

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Sheila

Today has definitely been a day about saving, really more about saving time than money but they both are pretty important around here. First a little of the background, one of the ways that I have been trying to control our budget and spending this year is with grocery purchases. We have only spent $1250 for the first three months of the year, I focused on using the items that we had on hand and we were able to clean out and reorganize a lot of our freezer space. In March, we used up all of our ground beef, so we need to start replenishing our supplies. On Thursday, Matt and I managed to make a huge grocery trip which included our local “meat market”. Now back to today, we need to “process” the thirty pounds of ground beef we have purchased. I decided that since the weather outside was cold and windy, I would prefer to spend the day in the kitchen. I am very pleased with the results. Total time spent was approximately 7 hours, but this includes lunch and snacks for the kids as well as clean up and a couple of breaks. We were able to make the following:

3- cheeseburger pies (This are a quick and easy dinner to reheat)
4- Baked Ziti- We are sharing one with our friends for lunch tomorrow and another is already on our summer beach list. The other two will be easy Sunday lunches for this summer.
4 sets of Salisbury steaks- (a little bit more work than the cheeseburger pies but can turn out a dinner in 30 minutes).
20 one pound bags of pre-cooked ground beef. This is one of the easy ways to plan ahead and can be used in everything from spaghetti to Hamburger Helper.
Breakfast casserole for Sunday morning
Mexican rice and sausage dip for snacks and dinner today.

We will need to purchase chicken for delivery in June but otherwise we should be stocked up for the summer.

Did you save today?

The Back Splash

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Sheila

I am super excited because we were able to finish the back splash in one Saturday! I knew it would make a huge difference but I am still surprised at how great it looks.

Just a reminder of what we started with…

Our friends used a mat to complete their kitchen remodel and we decided to copy it was awesome. We first cut and place the double sided sticky mat to the wall.

Next we laid out the tile and cut to fit around things. We started on the bottom and worked our way up.

It took about 4 hours this morning to get all the tile in place.

After Zach’s soccer game, in which he scored his first goal! Our friend came over to help with the gout. I am still amazed and LOVE the way it all turned out.

We will be working on the finishing touches and I will share tomorrow a couple more of the custom features we have included.

March in Review

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Sheila

I can honestly say I am not sure about how I feel about this month as a whole. I am excited because we have made huge gains in our kitchen remodel. I plan to share this during the next free days. We are also at a point which means we will be stopping progress most likely until next January, unless something big and exciting happens. March was stressful to say the least, so here is a look at my monthly goals.

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 13, which is even less than last month and I know that most post this month have been pictures. I am going to get better and more consistent!

2.Weight Loss– 175#. Struggling with time for this.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Goal Met. So proud to say that I am continuing with this goal and it is becoming more and more important each day.

1/3 personal goals met. It would appear I am in need of a time make-over.

Financial-

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Goal Met- The only category that did not get funded for March was clothing. Today, I have received 3 bags of clothing for the kids. God’s provides!

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. SUCCESS- Total spending for the month is $237.14! I did use my earnings from my Costco American Express this month to help but I am still tracking well below budget for the year. I made a list of the meats that we have remaining and a menu for the month of April. We will need to purchase meat for the next several months but we still should be able to maintain the budget!

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- Fail. Another car repair just a week prior to the ultimate car death forced us over budget yet again

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. This has been a really expensive month and we have struggled to keep up. I was able to complete a transfer of some money to a no interest account this month which will reduce our overall debit and allow for quicker repayment. Matt does have a couple of potential jobs so hopefully April will find us in a better financial position.

What I Did This Weekend3/27/2016

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Sheila

I can honestly say I am as tired as I ever remember being. I am going to share 3 photos that should explain at least part. Once we get things cleaned up I will get better pictures to share.

Friday night

Saturday

Sunday

Okay so I am sharing this picture to show the new dishwasher and what Matt accomplished on Friday… Excuse the mess

Saving on Saturday 3/19/2016

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Sheila

The weather has been warm and sunny the last week. This has made Saving a little bit easier for us. We decided to turn off the heat and air around 2 weeks ago and managed a solid 10 days without the use of either until today. I am hopefully that we can again turn it off next weekend. My goal is always to go an entire month without use either which will reduce our electric bill by approximately $100 for the month.

The warmer weather has also got me thinking about our garden. I purchased some new netting and some lawn fabric to use. The netting is specific to square foot garden but is also much cheaper than wire so I am hoping that it will last for several years. I am also trying something new this year. We still have sweet potatoes from our harvest in the fall, so I am trying to start a new crop from the ones we have. The kids enjoying helping with this project. I am not sure if this will give us enough but I am thinking that once I see it working I may start a second batch as well to equal the amount we planted last year.

I read last month that you could grow romaine lettuce using a similar water method. The red cup you see is out second head we have attempted. Last week, Zach and I planted the first one in the garden.

I realize that we may not be able to have a continual harvest and most like will only get a few extra leaves from this but as I have said before, every little bit helps.

Other areas of saving is our grocery budget, so far we have managed to spend $125 out of pocket for the month of March in addition to less than $1000 for the entire year so far. This has been the best and most controlled my grocery budget has ever been. I will admit that monthly meal planning helps but we also are buying on a rotating schedule. Our March spending should remain well below $200 however I will need to purchase meat in April so the budget will again be higher.

Finally, I am attempting to save money by using Swagbucks. My goal for each month is to earn one $25 gift card.

What are your saving secrets?

5 Things Friday-3/18/2016

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Sheila

Amanda purchased a new to her car yesterday, so we should be able to stick to our gas budget for the next several months. Which means paying off the tires on my van and for the last couple repairs on her car that finally died.
I splurged today and got a new color and haircut. I can’t post a picture because my allergies are going haywire and my eyes are swollen.
Matt has made some progress on the kitchen this week, hopefully he will be able to finish up plumbing and we will have our new dishwasher next Friday. My plan is to wait and post pictures once the dishwasher is completely in place. I am also optimistic that with the purchase of the dishwasher and new upper cabinets, we will stop spending for the summer.
I will be travelling to Raleigh tomorrow alone for a workshop on correct documentation. I am sad to be missing Zach’s soccer game but not sad to miss sitting in the rain to watch it.
We will be starting gardening in the next couple of weeks. I have been growing lettuce from scraps and plan to start sweet potatoes from our leftovers on Sunday.

5 Things Friday

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Sheila

1. On top of our already busy schedule, Zach started spring soccer this week. That means at least 2 practices and one game a week.

2. Over the past month, the car that Amanda drove has started to fall apart. The car had 282,000 miles but after $500 in repairs it finally died yesterday. Today, we received $150 for the scrap value.

3.In good news, the weather has turned warm quickly. We turned off our heat and based on the forecast for the next week, we should be able to keep it off for a couple of weeks. I will be amazed if we are able to not turn it back on but every penny counts and our electric bill jumped almost $100 for the month of February.

4. We have made absolutely no progress in the kitchen this week. I am hopefully to get some painting done tomorrow night but that is even doubtful.

5. The one area of our budget that I have managed to keep great control of is our groceries. I am continuing to cut the grocery budget this month by using a “credit” from American Express. I was able to purchase all the items on my list for less than $50 using this credit.

Kitchen Progress-03/03/2016

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Sheila

This week has been about painting and cleaning. I am so excited because it appears that we once again have a functional kitchen. This is most like the last time this month that a visual difference will be seen. Next up is installing the cabinets and working on moving plumbing. But this week huge changes have occurred. The play room/dinning room is finished except for painting of the cabinets that have been relocated.

This is the “old front door” which now is a closet. I LOVE the gray color!

Looking from our bedroom door, we have the keyboard and kids television.

View from standing in the door of kitchen, you can see where the wall was.

View from door from Living room.

We also were able to hang pictures

If you want to see just how far our progress has come check out these post:

February in Review

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Sheila

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 14. Stress, stress and busy are my reasons.

2.Weight Loss– 175#. I managed to lose 8 of the pounds that I gained between Disney and Christmas so I guess this is a start.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Goal Met. I have made huge strides this month and plan to continue.

Small steps of improvement mean really long term change.

Financial-

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail-even with our income tax return. February has been a most expensive month

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. SUCCES- Total spending for the month is $509! So I am at this point spending 50% less than I budgeted. I really thing is an area that I am going to be able to control much better this year. Part of the reason is monthly menu planning.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- Fail. We had to purchase tires for my van and a small repair to the car.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. Our overall debt increased by $800 this month.

Not exactly the wonderful report I had hope to give but I am being honest.

Teens Tots and Everything In Between

Life, Love and Coupons

Category Archives: Goals