Groceries

Bert's birthday dinner (cube steak) took almost 1/3rd of my grocery budget for the week. I think that meal will go into my very rare meals to make category! I did not plan well for him being home for the weekend. My cooking changes when he's home since there are some meals I make that are cheap that he doesn't prefer. I guess I'm gonna have to re-train him to like certain foods.
So, this morning I headed to Publix with my $22. I bought everything I will need to make it til Thursday.
Sun-
Lunch-Pocket pies (thanks ma for the recipe) made from leftovers. The kids loved 'em.
Dinner-mini burgers, potato salad & cantalope
Mon-
breakfast-oatmeal
Lunch-grilled cheese/cantalope
Dinner-beans & cornbread
Tue-Same!
Wed-
breakfast-oatmeal
lunch-biscuits and gravy
dinner-spaghetti/veggies/bread
Not very exciting, but meals nevertheless. Plus, I only spent cash in hand)
Did you notice the ticker changed on the right side? I realized that in order to purchase our property, I needed to get these last little bills over with. I am excited that we are almost finished with Sallie. My goal is by mid-summer:) I think having beans and cornbread a couple of days are worth paying it off early!

Days behind

I know, I've not posted in a couple of days. I have made several entries, but none of them have made it out of my brain, through my fingers, and onto this blog. So here I go, trying to catch up.
Grocery shopping was fun, as always. I don't have an exact $$ that I spent this week, although I know I will be at my limit when I'm thru. I used only cash yesterday (atm card was in pocket of jeans at home) at Publix so I was very careful, but I was shy a couple of items on my list. I went back today to get stuff for the boys tomorrow, they're going to the races (GO M&M car) and they're carrying a lunch with them. Last night I made my favorite pulled pork, baked potatoes, cheesy brocolli and garlic toast last night for dinner. Of course, it was a LOT less expensive than going out, and less hassle also! Grand total for it all? About $20 and I had left over pork packed away in the freezer for another meal (yummy!). I'm not much of a pork eater, however, I could eat this every day. And the big plus was there was no complaining around the dinner table waiting for food to arrive. I'm almost hooked on eating at home (HAHA!!!).
Meals for the rest of the week?
Sat-tacos
Sun-lasagna
Mon-Roasted Chicken
Tues- Junk on stuff (leftovers resurrected)
Wed-Hot dogs

On Track

some of my sick kids:(
Well, it's Sunday morning and I slept most of the night. Now, this might not sound too exciting, but since Monday, either I or my children have been sick. We've spent every night up with one or more. All are still coughing around here, but hopefully the worst is over.
Dad and the big kids went to get our frivolous purchase this morning. My eldest is the most excited. He can't wait to hook up his Wii and give it a go. We will be extra sure that everyone uses the wrist band and tightens it down. Shelby accidentally thru hers at the wall the other day bowling. Her wrist is so little that the wrist band that came with the 2nd remote is too large for her hand and she slipped out of it. It was very funny (she didn't think so) when it slipped off her hand and at the wall. However, I'm sure no one will be laughing if it hits super tv:)

My food budget is going well so far this week. I might even have a little bit to put away. We've been using food out of the freezer before I buy anything else. We did buy Sonny's on Friday(brought it home) but we've been able to span it over several meals, so it wasn't too bad price wise. It is a hard habit to break, eating out regularly. Tonight we are having a ready to eat meal -- Chicken Voila. I got it on sale at Publix (B1g1 4.99) and used 2 coupons on it (printable at http://www.coupons.com/) and am making rolls courtesy of Pillsbury. If I fix dessert (walnut brownies) and iced tea, dinner will be about $6.50. Not too shabby for a family of 6 (reg fam of 4.5 or 1.44 ea). Guess I can't eat out anywhere for that! I used all my play money already, so I guess I will be staying home until Friday. How fast my pocket money goes away!!!!

1st day results:)

OK, my first day was mediocre. I went out (my first mistake) by myself. I had to get wet wipes and milk from CVS. Of course, I didn't just go there. Most all my purchases were in the budget, EXCEPT for lunch. I love Sonny's. Eating out is probably my worst habit of all. However, as I'm eating my lunch in the parking lot (I didn't feel like getting out of the car), I realized that my pulled pork is just as good! So I got to figurin' just what a meal identical to Sonny's would cost if I had been smart and made it at home. Eating out w/family---$45 w/tip. Cooking at home---about $15 for entire family. Not to mention, less stress around the "Little Diner" table which my kids love to visit. While still an expensive meal for home, a considerable difference to eating out. And except for pulling the pork, the meal is very easy to fix (Yeah, crockpot!)
I'm currently working on my food budget. I did decent this last time( I shopped for 2 1/2 weeks for 240 which included $40 in diapers), and probably would have had enough to last all thru this week, but I made some errors, mostly due to not freezing some of my meats immediately. If I had, then the chicken and the remainder of pot roast would have been good for this week to eat off of. So my goal is to use my shopping money that I set aside for this week and use it for the next several weeks. If I have any left that will go to our newly formed savings fund.
Can't we all use a little help with our budget? Check out http://www.angelfoodministries.com/. For any of you that are not familiar with this there is enough food in each box to feed a family of 4 for about a week, all for $30, there are no restrictions based on your income. Each month's menu is different than the previous month and consists of both fresh and frozen items with an average retail value of approximately $60. Keep checking back as I put together a couple of menu ideas to help stretch our food budget with the help of Febuary's Angel Food box.

Dinner Ahead!

My kids just got up from the breakfast table (blueberry pancakes, yummy), and already they are asking about dinner. Being the scatterbrain that I am, I love Donna Young Printables. They're FREE, easy to use, and they keep me in line. Some days of homeschooling rob me of what little brain cells I have left, and I the thought of dinner makes me grumpy. However, when my menu board is up I just have to see what I'm fixing and I get get my act together for the day. I put it in a page protector and use a dry erase marker. It has reduced our eating out ALOT---We were going out at least 7-10 meals a week. Blows that budget I created. And since we are eating home more, I get to make some of the more expensive meals that I love but didn't buy because of the cost. My kids are little enough at this point they love to eat at the "Little Diner" (our dining room). I light candles, bring out the fancy napkins, and put some great background music on. I do have to clean up, but usually everybody helps.