The Command Center

I'm about the most forgetful, disorganized person around. Seriously. But if I actually write stuff down, I stand a chance of remembering. I used to write stuff on anything but then it became hard to keep track of where I put it! So, I started using a regular notebook(that I got at Staples for a penny)

WARNING: my handwriting is horrendous!

Current Grocery list

To do list


Recipes I find on the internet


Freezer inventory

Menu Plan




Price list(I'm currently making up a separate price chart on the computer so I write stuff down as I come across them in the store)


Library list on books to check out/recheck

I also write down appointments(usually with weekly to do), bills, and even a list for the order I need to read my library books!

It's not fancy but seems to work for me!

Pantry Challenge-Update

Well, one more week until I do my big grocery shopping trip for the month and we are doing good. Good as in there is still $75 and we are pretty much set for the next week. I'll prob need the extra $ because our freezers are almost bare. I'm hoping I won't! That's ok. Bellies are full, everyone is happy(food wise anyways :P) and I was even able to donate some stuff!

My challenge was not to completely stop shopping(otherwise, we would have never made it!) but to simply reduce. The one thing I didn't accomplish wsa to order from Angel Food. ugh. I'm doing it in Febuary though!

I hope everyone reached their goals too!

Super savings Saturday

I had a few coupons expiring and they were for things we would use, so I made sure to redeem them!

Walmart
1 Tetley tea bags $1.76-$0.50/=$1.26

1 Cold Stone Creamery Hot chocolate $2.48-$1/1=$1.48

1 Noyolk egg noodles $1.68-$0.50/1=$1.18

1 BC Muffin mix $0.78-$0.50/1=$0.28

4 Maxwell House International cafes $2.78-4 $1/1=$1.78 each

1 Blixtex lip balm $0.84-$0.25/1=$0.59

1 Carmex lip balm $1-$0.30/1=$0.70

2 Halls cough drops $1.18 each-$1/2=$0.68 each

1 Gain dish soap $0.97-$0.25=$0.72

1 Blixtex ointment $1.52-$0.55=$0.97(Joseph work outside in all kinds of weather so I have to keep his lips kissably soft :))

1 Bisquick $6.16-$1/1-$5.16

Frugal Tree Storage

We usually store our Christmas tree pieces in trash bags. Before we can ever get them out the door and back to the garage, pieces are already poking through. Needless to say, by the next Christmas, we need new trash bags. Wasted bags...usually 4 or 5. This year when we began tearing down the tree, I remembered I had several dog food bags saved up. I did a post a long time ago about how I reuse these bags. They are tall and fairly strong.

So here's what I did:

And then over the tops(that had the pokey metal parts facing towards the bottom) I placed a plastic grocery bag and taped around it. No more wasted trash bags!

This is posted to Frugal Friday and Works for Me Wednesday

Birthday cake Round-up

My decorating skills are kind of like a 5 year olds, but I try! My older 2 have long outgrowed the kits that the local stores offer for their cakes(and will only stick to ) so it's up to me to come up with something!

For my son's 11th birthday birthday, I decided to make a snake. Ok, for starters, my son is born in the middle of July. This past one, was hot, like over 100 degrees for about a week straight. Cake doesn't do so well in sweltering heat. Neither does frosting! here's the slippery snake before it started to really melt!

Not to be left out, Baby Girl requested a purple princess cake. I swear, these kids will be the death of me on cakes! It turned ok, my construction skills are kind of bad, and the brick mason of the family wouldn't help!

The oldest turns 14 in a month and half, and this time, I didn't give her a choice! This is what I'm going to make. Of course, I'll have to make 2 due to the number of people but it should be cute!

Check out Life As Mom for more great cakes!

Menu Plan Monday

I can't believe January is almost over! I know have less than 2 months to plan my oldest's birthday party! I already know what cake I'm going to make for her and she is going nuts trying to figure out what it is :) She will just have to wonder! This week, my mil is coming in Saturday to celebrate HER birthday(with an Italian Cream cake)

Here's what is on the menu this week:

Breakfasts

Eggs

Cold cereal

oatmeal

all served with fruit

Lunch: find your own

Dinners

Ham, beans, cornbread

Spaghetti with Italian Sausage, salad, bread(we are having this when mil comes in)

Tacos

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans

Pork chops with mushroom gravy, stuffing, carrots

Homemade chicken noodle soup

Italian sauages with fried potatoes and onions

Roast, potatoes, carrots

Round steak, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn

Hot dogs w/chili if wanted, tater tots, salad

Turkey pot pie

Beef stroganoff, bread, green beans

Steak sandwiches, fries, salad

Fish, scalloped potatoes, brussell sprouts

52 weeks of cleaning

You know your house is disarray if you have break something like your desk down into manageable jobs! I finally got tired of something falling everytime I bumped up against the tower(which, btw, is not hooked up) This whole corner is difficult, it's the catchall, my workstation, and storage for papers.

The sad before

All the crudola that is trash(not the flash card, me and Baby Girl were working on them and she sat it down to chase the cat)

The after(the glue did make it back to its normal home)

All that I left there are a couple magazines I need to read(so I can pass them on) and my notebook.

I managed to find my missing library card, and 2 tokens for bus rides(woohoo!)

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie to see what everyone is tackling this week!

Pantry Challenge-Update

Well, we are surviving here with the Pantry Challenge. I didn't make a stock up run to Aldi's this week or hit the sales at Dillons. I did have to make a run to Pricecutter(not my first choice, trust me!) for milk, bread, eggs, coke, mustard, and a few other necessities to the tune of $45 . Here's a break down of all bought:

2 gallons of milk

2 quarts of milk from a local dairy(which one of our dogs broke as soon as we got home ~sigh~)

4 cans of beans

1 can Evaporated milk

2 jugs juice

1 pound of cheese

1 dozen eggs

3 containers of grits

2 12 packs of throwback Mt. Dew

1 loaf bread

1 pound brown rice

4 double boxes of Suddenly Salad clearanced to $1 each(I wish I would have got all they had!)

1 container of mustard

1 chicken wing sauce

1 chip dip

1 pack of pork rinds

1 box snack cakes

1 container ice cream-FREE(Baby Girl got a coupon for her birthday)

1 5" personal cake(all Baby Girl's, see above)

1 ham

4 bags of ribbon candy clearanced to $0.75 each

I think that's it! I want to go on the record to say I hate shopping with my husband...I would have spent $20 less because he had a case of the I wants.(pork rinds, special milk, wing sauce, dip, ham and snack cakes) If one of the kids ask, I can say no. He throws a big fit and I hear about it for days so it's easier on my nerves :)

Plus HE didn't want to go to Walmart so I didn't get HALF the stuff I needed because the store we went to is 25%-40% higher on stuff.

On the menu this week:

Breakfasts: Eggs, cold cereal, oatmeal, and toaster streudal(which have been in the freezer awhile and Im coaxing the kids to eat up, down to 2 boxes now)

Lunches is find your own

Dinners this week:Lasagna with salad and bread, Turkey potpie(using up leftover turkey in the freezer), Sausage with beans and rice and carrots, Beef stroganoff with bread and green beans, Taco soup, Steaks with baked potatoes and broccoli, Ham with pasta salad and carrots.

Hopefully, those will be fill your belly meals!

On another note of using what you have: I when I cleaned out my pantry, I found a bunch of dessert items(cookie mixes, brownies, etc) that Thing 1 is having a good time making. We've been getting a yummy dessert just about every night, made by her! I'm letting her make these because the expiration dates are closing in(I had them stashed in there for "just in case") and I want to get back on track of making most things from scratch. Right now this gives us something sweet, while I build up our staples pile!

Tuesday I need to put in our order for Angel Food(before I forget!) and come up with next weeks menu. My freezer is getting pretty bare, so it's going to be a challenge to keep the grocery trip low! Plus my mil is coming in the 29th to celebrate her birthday. I'm making an Italian Cream cake and spaghetti(which is a good, cheap meal that fills everyone up!)

Frugal Friday

Several national chains of businesses give away freebies on your birthday but don't neglect checking out local businesses too! One of our local groceries has a kid's club. On their birthday, kids 12 and under get a coupon for a free personal cake and a free 1/2 gallon ice cream! Talk about a Happy Birthday! Our crew(well, not Thing 1 anymore) anxiously await this coveted mail every year. Daddy takes the birthday kid down to pick out their goodies. While the ice cream is for sharing(whatever flavor they pick out) , the little cake is their own.

Check out Frugal Fridays for more ideas!

Pantry Challenge-Update

My life would be easier, and my wallet fatter, if I wasn't attached to a carnivore. Seriously, Joseph requires an obscene amount of protein 3 times a day. Don't get me wrong, me and the kids love meat too, but our grocery bill doubles or more when Joseph is around. Last winter, I was feeding me and 3 kids for $60 a week or less. Since he's been home, I spend $120-$150 easily. Yes, that's a week. I do my best to stock up on markdown meat when I find it and actually put it to use, but my vehicle-lacking situation even hinders that.

I went grocery shopping Friday, it was the first time I had been since the Monday before Christmas. I spent a total of $283.96($202.45 at Walmart, with a savings of $10 with coupons, and $81.51 at Aldi's). Up until then, we had been eating from the freezer and pantry and I don't think anyone starved!

I'm hoping to stretch this for 3 weeks. Hoping. I will need milk and some produce, I planned the menu to use up stuff like carrots and mushrooms first, then the heartier veggies later on. Here's my menu for the next 2 weeks. I managed to get the freezer inventoried before grocery shopping, so I know what I have to work with(alot of fish, blech)

I've been experimenting and comparing prices at Aldi's on most things.(it kind of goes along with my goal of making a pricebook). Even a few cents makes a difference!

Another goal of mine this month is to purchase a box of food($41 for the one I want) and a box of veggies($23) from Angel Food Ministries. We've got stuff a time or 2 in the past and honestly, I just keep forgetting to order! That would put a weeks groceries(minus a few things I would have to purchase) for $64.

In doing this, I'm hoping there's enough from the grocery budget to make a trip to Sam's because I'm running out of stuff that I can get cheaper there!

Icing bag in a pinch

A little over a week ago, I was hyperventilating because Baby Girl wanted a Princess cake for her birthday. A purple Princess cake. Oiy! My cake decorating skills fall somewhere around a 5 year old's level and I'm definitely lacking a few fancy supplies. I did really well up until it was time to do some of the little detail work. I have a whole 4 decorator tips and one huge icing bag that is a pain to manuever. The stuff I need to do involved switching colors a few times and just used small amounts on top of that. So, as I was hoping that a fully decorated cake would fall out of the sky, I had an idea. I've used sandwich bags before but the smallest i had on hand were quart size and I didn't want to waste them. So instead, I grabbed the wax paper. I cut out a triangle, folded the end up and then wrapped it around the tip:

I secured it with tape, filled with what I needed and then rolled the top down which help give me some control:

I was able to finish the cake without having to wrestle with the big bag and fuss with having to wash it out after each use!

This is posted to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays and Works for me Wednesday

December/Final 2010 decluttering update

I'm so glad I participated! I didn't make it to 720 things(well, maybe if I had counted every single item!) but I overcame holding on to stuff. It's gone, bye bye, out of the house(and garage!)

At my last update(in September) I still had 173 things to go, here's how the month's shaped up

October:

3 sad items

November:

3 lawn and leaf bags of kids clothes Freecycled

3 Rubbermaid boxes of misc. items dropped off at Salvation Army

6 purses donated

8 mismatched sheets donated

2 pillowcases donated

2 broken shelves trashed

1 box of broken items trashed

December

9 bundles of magazines Freecycled(which was a total of 104 magazines)

8 magazines found a home with my MIL.

4 dead string of lights

Grand total of 49 items(but if i did a total of EVERY magazine that left, it would be144 items)

173-49=124 left(or 29 items left if I counted the magazines)

The bad thing is, you can't really tell, but I know what I did. I also know that this is just a small fraction of what needs to leave the house. ~sigh~ But I'm willing to take on the challenge this year!

Thanks to Amy for starting this! And thanks to Nony for continuing it!

Booking It 2011-The Plan

I really don't plan out my reading...I see a book, I put it on my library hold list, then read it :) I do want to stick with reading one household book a month(finance, cooking, crafting, etc) and continue with this list( I read #'s, 19, 60, and 79 this year), and to read FishMama's assigned list(I already have The Happiness Project from the library).

I do need to have more scheduled reading time. I get distracted with things then I have I have 5 or more books to read ina week. Ugh. THAT is a goal of mine this year(which definitely falls under organization!)

I love Booking It...I picked up a few good books I would have never noticed on my own(like The Help!) from reading everyone link ups! I hope that happens again this year, even if it does put me in a crunch to get them all read!

Happy reading!

Menu Plan Monday

Woowee! It's cold here! I'm glad I did a massive grocery shopping trip Friday so I can hibernate in the house as much as possible(minus a couple already scheduled appointments), we'd have soups and stews simmering every day but the rest of the crew likes a little variety.

Breakfasts:

Eggs

Oatmeal

Cold cereal

all served with fruit

Lunches: Find your own

Dinners:

Chili, cornbread

Chicken fried rice

Lasagna, salad, bread

Turkey pot pie

Sausage and beans with rice, carrots

Cheeseburgers, fries, peaches

Taco soup, bread or biscuits

Beef stroganoff, bread, green beans

Baked chicken, scalloped potatoes, broccoli

Enchiladas, Mexican rice

Tuna Casserole, corn

Steaks, baked potatoes, broccoli with cheese

Corn chowder, biscuits

Pizza, salad

Super savings Saturday

Compared to my actual spending, my coupon saving was minuscule, but every bit helps! It was the beginning of the month and seeing how I haven't been to the store since before Christmas, we were out of everything!(I'll update more on my Pantry Challenge post). Hopefully, my net trip won't cost as much!

Here's what I saved on:

Walmart:

2 strips of Fleishman's yeast @ $1.12 each-2 $0.40/1=$0.82 each

1 Hiland sour cream,16 oz @ $1.82-1 $0.45/1= $1.37

1 40 count Snuggle Dryer sheets @ $1.87- 1 $0.75/1=$1.12

2 Malt o Meal Cereals @ $3.78 each- 1$2/2=$2.78 each

3 Chef Boyardee Ravioli's @ $0.92 each- 1 $0.35/3=$0.80 each

1 Ronzini elbows @ $1.08-$0.50/1=$0.58

5 Maxwell House International Coffees @$2.78 each- 5 $1/1=$1.78 each

1 Farmland roll sausage @ $1.50 each-1 $0.55/1=$0.95

That's it! I saved a whole $10.40(off a $200 grocery trip! Yikes!)

2011 Goals

Well, 2011. Already 4 days in. I set up some goals I would like to accomplish. I refrain from calling them resolutions. Resolutions tend to get forgotten but we all need goals to get us places. Here are mine for the year:

~Keep decluttering. I participated in the declutter challenge from Amy's Finer Things last year and even though I did reach the 730 things, I got rid of a bunch! I have tons more that needs to go and plan on tackling those this year.

~Lower the grocery bill. It has got outrageous! I slacked from coupons and deal finding but need to get back on track! I'm kicking it off by participating in the Pantry Challenge

~Make a price book. Hopefully this will help me find the best deal on everything we use, since a lot of things I never have a coupon for. Every small bit helps!

~Increase food storage/stockpile. Yea, I know. I want to reduce my grocery bill and increase this!

~Find more ways to bring in income. I also slacked on surveys, MyPoints, Swagbucks and more. No longer! I have even been doing some freelance writing, which I hope will increase. I also need to get more motivated on selling Jordan Essentials and items we have around the house!

~Get back into blogging. I'm hoping this can open up doors for income too!

~Work on more school stuff with Baby Girl. She just turned 4 and she has been attending preschool 16 hours week since September. I want to increase what we do at home in order for her to get into a Primary Years Program(affiliated with IB) when she enters Kindergarten.

~Get Joe on board with a budget. He has a regular, steady paying job with a company I really want to get stuff situated financially

~ Put together a household notebook and USE IT! I'm so disorganized. I'm hoping a notebook will help me stay on top of things.

~Stay on top of the home stuff. Yea, I suck at being domestic. sigh.

~ Get into the groove of exercising. I'm overweight and tired of it. I don't want to be rail thin, I was "comfortable" when I was about 6 sizes smaller than what I am now.

~Get a better reading schedule. I get sidetracked with other things and then I have 20 books I have to read in 2 weeks. grr.

~ Make more time for things I want to learn and do. Here's some I want to accomplish this year"

Finish Thing 1's crocheted blanket

Learn breadmaking

Sewing-making simple clothes and stuff for the crew

Soap making-laundry soap and bar soap

Canning

Gardening

Cake decorating

The Pantry Challenge

One of my goals this year is to build my food storage along with reducing our overall amount we spend on groceries each month. Challenging, huh. Especially with the rumor that groceries will INCREASE 20-30 percent. Yikes! Feeding my chow hounds with what I have to spend each month is a difficult task , however, I'm determined to get it under control.

This week, we do have to eat from the freezer. Joseph's check was short almost 20 hours last week, so it's a good opportunity to use what we have in the freezer and start fresh.

Overall, my goals are more cooking from scratch, reducing the amount we spend, and increasing our food storage. I would also like to start a garden this year since Joseph is home to help with it. his will definitely help because we are huge veggie eaters!

Menu Plan Monday

Wow, what a couple of weeks! I FINALLY got a refrigerator(after 5 months of using coolers), the crew spent a few(4) days at my mil's after Christmas, New Years, the crew goes back to school, and Baby Girl turns 4 Monday! we had the party today, and I felt kind of bad because we couldn't do a lunch(Joe's check was short 20 hours, erk!) but everyone seemed happy with just cake and ice cream! This weeks menu are some carryovers and some stuff that we have no choice to use up out of the freezer since all I have the $ for this week is bread, eggs, and milk.

Breakfast

Cold cereal

Oatmeal

Eggs

Toaster Streudel

all served with fruit

Lunches: find your own

Dinners

Country fried steaks, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy

Sloppy joes, mac and cheese, carrots

baked chicken, scalloped potatoes, brussel sprouts

Italian sausages, fried potatoes, cabbage

grilled cheese sandwiches, soup

Fish, rice, peas

Chili, cornbread

Super savings Saturday

I'm still at the mercy of someone taking me to the store, so I did't get to take advantage of the super deep savings. I snatched these up Monday, 4 goodie containers for $3.

I also picked up 10 packs of candy canes for $0.44/box.