food waste friday

I'm participating in The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday today! Take a look and see how good, or not so good, you think we did...



The lettuce is actually leftover from February 28. It was still nice and fresh at the beginning of this week and I hoped to use it, but never did. The sausage patty found its way to the back of the fridge and was overlooked all week. The yogurt I'm really bummed about! I had a coupon for a FREE yogurt and got this one. I started to eat it this morning and realized that expired on 3/1/10! (When I bought it, it was already past it's expiration date!). I hate when that happens!!! Sometimes, I forget to double check the expiration dates when I'm taking stuff off the shelf. And with dairy, I hate taking chances -- especially when it's 12 days after the date.

I have LOTS of stale bread that I'm donating to the birds. I need to "google" uses for stale bread so that I can put it to use in the future. (Didn't take a picture of the bread since someone's going to be eating it!)

And, last night we made a made dash to eat leftovers. I'd forgotten we had leftover spaghetti and leftover tacos. So, the kids ate that and I made just enough chili pie for my husband and I. And we didn't have any leftovers from that. And we kinda thru out (fed to the dog)a hamburger patty from Sunday night.

So, next week I hope to do much better. We managed to keep it to a minimum, but I'd love to have a week where we have ZERO waste!

lent update

I mentioned in an earlier post that for Lent, I gave up eating at restaurants and fast-food joints (drive-thrus included). Well...it's has been so much easier doing this than I ever imagined. I admit though that I did have a slip up yesterday. I was out running errands. It was 15 minutes until the kids would be home from school. I hadn't had lunch. I was STARVING. I knew that I had to get something to eat before the kiddos hit the door or I would be a huge grouch. Blimpie was right there and on the way home. I stopped. I cheated.

But other than that, for 17 days now I've prepped 3 meals each day for myself and usually everyone else in my family. (My kids sometimes buy a school lunch instead of taking their lunch kits) And yes, I do know that lent started more than 17 days ago, but we were on vacation when it began and so we began our Lenten Journey the day we got back home.

Things I'm learning...

It's amazing how much we've used fast food due to lack of planning. A trip through the drive-thru on a Saturday afternoon easily costs our family $25. It doesn't take long to sit down and plan out a menu. My children are (finally!) good eaters and so it's pretty easy to think of things that the whole family will enjoy. On nights where I know we have practices or meetings, I have been using the crock pot. On Saturdays when we are running home in between games, I make sure we have leftovers that can be reheated or have things to make a good sandwich. And don't get me wrong, there are often times that chicken nuggets and french fries get thrown into the oven for a quick meal.

I'm learning that it is not that difficult to prep meals at home and avoid eating out. It takes some planning, but it saves so much money and it is so much healthier.

What about you? How often do you cook and eat at home? How many times each week do you eat at a restaurant?

1/4 way thru March...

...and my cash is dwindling! This is Month Two of being on the Cash/Envelope system. February was great -- only 28 days and I was out of town for a week! This month...not quite so easy. It's March 8th and I've got $4 left in my entertainment account. About $42 went towards wine/beer for a get-together this past weekend, and $30 went towards a babysitter that I needed last night in order to attend a banquet.

I give myself a $300 cushion each month. $200 of it is already gone! I received a bill for $200 from our golf club that I wasn't expecting (annual range ball fee). I'm glad we have our cushion...that's what it is there for, but man...that only leaves $100 for unexpected things.

Groceries -- I have $264 left. To save $$ in this area, I'm going to forgo my Grocery Game this week. I will need a few things for this week's menu, but as far as stockpiling, I think I'll take the week off. I hate doing this...what if I miss a great deal? But, $264 needs to last 23 more days!!

I think by doing so well in February I loosened the reins a bit. I need to continue working our plan that I spent so much time making!

special family fun fund

Rolled coins, ebay sales, garage sale profits...where should the money go? This question came up over the weekend when we put a few things in my neighbor's garage sale and also listed some items on ebay. My boys asked if they could have some of the money from what sold. I told them I'd think about it.

My thought is to give them a couple of dollars once them items sell. I think this will give them some immediate gratification and some positive reinforcement to look around their rooms and see what they have that they don't use anymore. Things that we could get out of the house and sell.

But, I think that it also would be very rewarding to SAVE some or most of the money that we get and put it towards doing something fun as a family. Something extra fun!

In our family budget, we have a line item for Recreation/Entertainment. If we wanted to go to the movies, to a museum, or another special outing, this is where we'd get the money. But, what if we want to go on a weekend trip? Then we'd have to save a few months from the Entertainment/Rec area. I've decided to start a new fund - the SPECIAL FAMILY FUN fund and will deposit money into it that we get from our ebay and garage sale profits. We also have a jar where we deposit loose change at the end of the day. I'll put the loose change we collect towards the fund as well.

I'm starting out the fund with $52. We rolled a bunch of coins several weeks ago and this is the amount that we rolled. I'm going to take it to the bank this week to exchange it for real cash and get the new envelope/fund officially started!

It'll be fun to see how much the fund grows and to decide as a family how we want to spend it!

what's for supper?

I'm spending part of the day making up my grocery list and shopping sales and coupons with The Grocery Game. I'm doing this as I procrastinate cleaning that craft room! I still have that on my list of Things to Do this Week!

Here's what we'll be eating this week. Hubby is out of town Monday-Thursday which explains lots of the kid-friendly food!

Tonight - Hamburgers & Hotdogs
Monday - Banquet for me to go to & Chicken nuggets, Fries, Fruit for the kids
Tuesday - Spaghetti and Meatballs with fruit
Wednesday - Tacos, rice & beans
Thursday - Frito Chili Pie
Friday - Jambalaya
Saturday - Pork Ribs, Beans & another veggie
Sunday - Steak and Veggies

ebay sales

On a whim, I decided to try selling some things on e-bay. My neighbor next to me is having a Garage Sale and I took over a few things to have included in it. I have some ski clothes the boys have outgrown and I struggled with putting them in the Garage Sale or not. I decided to post them on e-bay and see what happened. I had only 3 things, but all 3 are really good brands and all are (because we live in the south) barely worn.

This morning when I checked e-mails I got a note that not only had I sold the ski jacket, but I'd already been paid for it! I was ecstatic! The jacket (which my wonderful parents purchased for my nephew and was a hand-me-down to my kids) was originally $150+...but free to me. I sold it for $30. The boys asked me if they could each have a couple of dollars from the sale. I told them I thought the best thing would be to save it and put it into a SPECIAL FAMILY FUN fund. I have a feeling that come fall, we'll be ready to head to the mountains for a long weekend, and it would be so nice to have money, outside of the normal budget, set aside for us to spend and have some great quality time together.

I still have a pair of snow boots and ski pants to sell. We'll see how they do and if I can add to my new fund. I'll have to add a sidebar to the blog for it! :)

food waste friday

I love participating in The Frugal Girl's "Food Waste Friday". I have certainly become more aware of using up the food that I buy and make so that there is nothing to show on Fridays! There were two things that we were able to use up at the last minute! I had some baked beans left over from Hamburger night on Sunday. They were still good last night and we at them with our pork and mashed potatoes instead of the peas that I'd planned. I have 1/2 a bell pepper (from Monday's pasta night) and decided that I could chop and saute it for tonight's personal pizzas. I can guarantee that had I not been participating in Food Waste Fridays, that those 2 things would've gone in the trash without a second thought! And I know that a couple of servings of beans and 1/2 a bell pepper don't add up to much...maybe $2...BUT, it's real money and real savings by using it and not throwing it away.

Here's my waste for today. If I was DESPERATE, I could make a pretty gross sandwich out of it. ha, ha!

organizing and procrastinating

I'm still working on that craft room. I need to spend 2 or 3 15-20 minute increments in there. I know it won't take me long, but it's such a mess and I am procrastinating BIG TIME! I spent 20 minutes in there yesterday and at least feel like I can walk in the room.

While I'm procrastinating, I AM tackling another organizing project that was on my list for this week. The cabinet above my dishwasher. I had no idea how cluttered it was until I started working on it. What I thought would be a project that I could knock out in 15 minutes, turned out to be a project that took me a couple of hours.

before:

I had SEVERAL things in there that didn't belong in such "prime real estate". For instance, I had my weather radio in there (has been moved to the utility room next to the flash lights), I had lots of rolled coins also being stored in the cabinet. I have a Phone Numbers notebook that houses phone numbers (duh!) and take-out menus. The only problem is that it's housing take-out menus from another state and phone numbers for things like a dog trainer (for a dog who is no longer alive). That notebook became a project within the cabinet project and added about 30 minutes to the time. So...I finished it all this morning and have it in pretty nice shape. I even had some extra space on the top shelf (you'll notice I moved some shelving around) and added a couple of decorative pottery pieces.

and after:

menu and things to do...

It's taken a while for me to sit down and map out my goals for this month, along with what we're eating this week. Here goes...

This week's menu
Last night - French toast, sausage, biscuits, fruit, cinnamon rolls
Tonight - soup and sandwiches
Thursday - Picante pork chops, mashed potatoes, peas
Friday - homemade personal pizzas
Saturday - Sloppy Joes...steak for me and hubby
Sunday - burgers and hotdogs

Things to Do!
I did pretty good with my February goals. The only things I DIDN'T tackle were renewing my passport, opening new accounts for the kids, and downloading pictures to a memory stick. I also need to move organizing the coat closet, cabinet above dishwasher and thinking of my bucket list to March.

For March, my goals are the above things I didn't get done in February along with a few other things. I think I'll do better by looking at my goals and breaking them down my the week instead of listing them for the month. I'll try that for March and see if I'm able to accomplish more.

Here are my things to do this week...since it's already Wednesday, it's going to be a shorter list.

Finish organizing/cleaning my craft room
clean out the cabinet above the dishwasher
clean out/organize the coat closet
Decide which pictures/artwork to frame
Hang frames on wall

this week's grocery game

Today I did my stockpiling grocery trip and spent $82.36. I SAVED 52%...$87.86!

What all did I get?

3 boxes cereal

6 boxes of granola bars

2 boxes of snack bars

4 boxes mac & cheese

2 boxes rice

2 spaghetti sauces & 1 pizza sauce

3 12-packs of Diet Coke

4 cookie mixes & 2 brownie mixes

2 loaves of bread & 1 pack buns

2 vegetable oils

milk and 2 apple juices

24 cans of vegetables

deodorant (free!)

2 spray butters

pretzles

taco shells, guacamole & beans

toilet paper (12 rolls)

Warm Delite Brownie (free!)

and...

a big, juicy steak!

I will post my menu under a separate post, but I think I have the groceries that I need for tonight thru Friday. I'll have to double check, but hopefully I'll only need to pick up some things for Saturday and Sunday meals.

this week's project

Are words necessary? This is what I'm working on this week. My craft room...15-20 minute increments...a "steady plodding" project...

fully funded emergency fund

It took some time, but we've done it! We have saved 6 months expenses for emergencies. Following the Dave Ramsey plan, we continue to make strides towards financial freedom. We became debt-free (except for the house) on 2/28/09. With the check we received from our income tax return, we were able to top off our emergency fund on 2/28/10! It took a year of "steady plodding", but we got there! This year our focus is on Baby Step 4 and to get our retirement savings up to 15%. We have it in our budget to set aside 15%...it's just a matter of sticking to the budget so that it all balances out. My goal is to routinely be saving 15% by May.

So - the update has been made to the side bar and I'm updating my profile to show that we're on Baby Step 4!

february recap

One reason I love February is because it's a short month and easy to stick to the budget. This is our 2nd month with the budget and it's getting easier to plan ahead and stick to the plan.

We went over in a few areas, but still stayed within the overall spending limit.

The grocery budget seems to be a biggie with everyone and we all try to figure how to save in this area. Right? Well, this month with groceries we did great! Spent $426.19 (our goal is $600/month, but since I went over $700 in January, I cut back for February). Spent $426.19 and Saved $281.70 (40%) using coupons and watching sales.

Roadtrip - Spent more than I expected at $690...had budgeted $450.

For March - My goal is to tuck away $1000 for our summer trip and an additional 9%ish towards retirement savings. Since the weather is turning nicer, I've got some golf play added into the budget along with some Easter shirts, shoes for my little one and Easter dress for me. Even though our grocery budget is set at $600/month, I'm challenging myself to $550. OH...and I'm at a $0 budget for restaurants because that's what I gave up for Lent.

CASH update. February was our first month on the cash/envelope system. We've tried it before but always give up after doing it a month. It really worked and I'm going to do it again for March.

February was a good month and looking at other blogger reports, it looks like it was good for others as well. I'm looking forward to having March as another good month!