Menu Plan Monday - June 16th

Wow, I can't believe it's Monday already! Hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day weekend. Ours was fun and relaxing and filled with lots of pizza and ice cream.

Here's our menu for the week. For more meal ideas be sure to visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Breakfast & Lunch: Items already on hand including Amish Baked Oatmeal.

Dinner:

Saturday - Crockpot Tamale Pie

Sunday - Father's Day Dinner Out!

Monday - Veggie Lo Mein

Tuesday - Chicken Salad Sandwiches (adding hard boiled eggs to the recipe) on whole wheat w/organic sweet potato fries

Wednesday - BBQ Turkey Meatballs w/mashed potatoes and steamed veggies

Thursday - Whole Wheat Pasta w/marinara sauce & homemade breadsticks

Friday - Breakfast for Dinner! Homemade waffles, sausage patties & scrambled eggs w/cheddar cheese

Grocery Total: Total Spent: $92.79

For a breakdown of this week's shopping trips click here.

Have a great week everyone!

Super Savings Saturday

My first time joining in on Money Saving Mom's Super Savings Saturday! Please forgive the lack of pictures this week. I didn't think about taking them until AFTER I had put everything away LOL!

I'm beginning to think it's time for us to reevaluate our $75 a week grocery budget. Without a solid food stockpile, I find that I'm spending an additional $20 above our budgeted amount for extra need items during the week. While $90 something a week isn't bad for a family our size (3 adults, 3 kids), I'd still like to keep the grocery budget "trim" if at all possible. I think resuming our stockpiling efforts might help.

But enough about that! My fav deal this week was the 10/$10 Horizon milk sale at Kroger. These are the small shelf stable milk pouches that will be perfect for Ashleigh's lunch box (trying to think ahead LOL!). Using the $1/2 any Horizon Q from the Go Organic for Earth Day booklet, the milk comes out to .50 each! Definitely going back for more before the sale ends.

Total spent: $92.79
Total savings: $57.51

Kroger:

2 Eggland's Best eggs (2.59 - .35/1 Q doubled)
1 KR 16ct hot dog buns (sale 1.99)
3 jars Ragu pasta sauce (sale 1.55 - .50 KR eQ - $1/3 Q)
1 can Del Monte Organic corn (sale 1.19)
1 can Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 lb frozen Shadybrook ground turkey 93/7
2 Armour hot dogs (sale .99)
2 Sargento shredded cheddar cheese (sale 2.34 - $1/2 Q)
1 broccoli bunch (sale 1.00)
10 Horizon shelf stable milk (sale 1.00 - $1/2 Q)

Total oop: $26.01
Total savings: $20.21

Lowes Foods:

2 Scott toilet paper 4pk (sale 2.99 - $1/1 Q)
2 Viva paper towels (sale 2.00 - .35/1 Q doubled)
1 Stoneyfield Organic yogurt (3.69 - $1/1 Q)
1 PAWS cat food (sale 2.50)
1 Smart Balance 50/50 blend (store Q 1.99 - .75/1 Q doubled)
6 Old Orchard apple juice (sale 2.00)
1 Pepsi 2Lt (sale 1.00)
1 Jiffy cornbread mix (FREE w/greenpoints)
3lb bag yellow onions (sale 1.13)
2 Nature's Own whole wheat bread (sale 1.89)

Total oop: $35.05
Total savings: $21.10

Harris Teeter:

HT apple juice (sale 1.79) -- previous week purchase
2 gallons Organic Valley milk (5.99 - $1/1 Q)
1 HT baking powder
1 Lysol toilet cleaner (sale BOGO - .50/1 Q doubled)

Total oop: $17.67
Total savings: $6.20

CVS

2 Huggies Pull Ups (sale 7.99 - $1.50/1 Q)

Total oop: $14.06
Total savings: $10.00

(Will receive $2 back through Caregivers Marketplace rebate for Huggies)

Staying the Course

Joining in on Money Saving Mom's Financial Shape in 2008 Monthly Checkup! Last month I wrote about the beginnings of our Total Money Makeover. May was a really good month for us due in large part to our economic stimulus check, which came at the beginning of the month. We sent our entire stimulus check along with regular payment to our current snowball debt - our van loan. And thanks to an extra pay period in May, we were able to send another sizable snowball to the loan at the end of the month.

We're down to about $2400 left on the van loan. And now with the extra $600 each month we will have with Ashleigh no longer attending preschool (she'll be attending a free summer program at her new elementary school), we should have some really serious snow to sling! We're hoping to be done with the van loan in another two to three months.

That was the good news, now the not so good news. The grocery budget continues to be a challenge. I'm finding that each week we're spending an additional $20 above the weekly $75 budgeted amount. I think a combination of things are contributing to this. The increase in food prices, a change in my cooking style (moving to more from scratch cooking with fresh fruits and veggies) and lack of food stockpile. When we started our budget, I partly suspended my stockpile shopping to focus on getting what was needed to pull meals together for the week. I didn't really have much of a food stockpile to begin with - unless you count mayo and mustard LOL! Thankfully, my HBA stockpile is better stocked due in large part to CVS and Walgreens. I still stock up on freebies when I can, but there isn't much room for stockpiling on a grand scale. So maybe I'm feeling the effects of not being adequately stocked. Dave and I have thrown around the idea of increasing the grocery budget, but I so wanted to make this work by spending less.

Between Me & God - Random Musings

I've been doing alot of thinking and reading lately on a variety of subjects. Mostly frugality, simple living, finding joy in one's life. I've come across so many fascinating and inspiring blogs. It's almost like I've stumbled onto a gold mine. Today I was reading about a story of hospitality and friendship (from Et Tu). While reading, a certain phrase really stood out to me - God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called. It was an "Aha!" moment.

For so long, I've prayed and anguished over not being a stay at home mom. It's what I feel called to do. I didn't understand why God would place this yearning on my heart to mother a large family but not see fit for me to serve them at home. Why do I have to live with one foot in both worlds? How would I ever reach my true calling?

But this morning, I realized my calling isn't necessarily some future event in which through God's grace I will become united with later. It's not out there, it's not when the money is right or when I find the right job. My calling is RIGHT NOW! Where I am right now - as a working wife and mother - is where God has called me to be. I'm releasing the guilt I've felt in the past. I'm releasing the anger over not being able to change my situation. I'm going forth embracing my life as it is and praising God all the while.

It's not giving up on a dream or passively letting life happen to me. It's accepting God's current will for my life. Where he wants me TODAY. The balance between work and home at times seems impossible. Some days my body feels weak and my spirit feels weary. I've begun to start my days by asking for God's grace to help me make it through the day. For Him to create in me the right heart, the right mind and the right spirit. And remind Him that in His word it says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (as if He needs reminding - it's really for me LOL!). So Lord today, help me do the impossible!

Menu Plan Monday - June 9th

Last week's falafels turned out better than I expected. I've never had falafels before, so of course I have no idea what they *should* taste like. The cucumber and yogurt sauce was quite refreshing. Overall mixed review from the family. 2 out of 3 babies did not really care for them LOL!

Here's our menu and grocery totals for the week. Scored some FREE Tennessee Pride ground sausage at Lowes this week! For more meal plan ideas visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Breakfast & Lunch: Items already on hand including homemade waffles and Peanut Butter granola & yogurt.

Dinner:

Saturday - Dinner Out! Making a day trip back home and will pick up BBQ from my fav place on the way back.

Sunday - Tuna Noodle Casserole (using green peas instead of broccoli and french fried onions for topping instead of chips) & garden salad

Monday - Brown Rice Black Bean burritos

Tuesday - Dirty Rice w/steamed corn

Wednesday - Taco Style Lentils & Rice served in warmed hard taco shells with diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sour cream and shredded cheese

Thursday - Feta & Vegetable Rotini Pasta salad w/honey wheat bread

Friday - Breakfast for Dinner! Waffles w/fresh berries, sausage patties and scrambled eggs w/cheddar cheese

Grocery Spending: Total Spent: $71.15

Lowes Foods:

7-1lb rolls TN Pride ground sausage (FREE w/overage - sale .99 - .55/1 Q doubled)

8 jars Beech Nut baby food (sale .45 - 1.50/8 Q)

1 Smart Balance 50/50 blend (store Q 1.99 - .75/1Q doubled)

1 Smart Balance oil

1 LF syrup (sale 1.00)

1 Daisy sour cream 16oz (FREE - store Q .99 - .50/1 Q doubled)

1 LF cream of mushroom

2 Nature's Own whole wheat bread (sale 1.89)

1 container sliced mushrooms (sale 2.00)

1 container raspberries (sale BOGO)

2 LF Colas (sale .80)

jumbo red onion

green bell pepper

Total oop: $19.26

Total savings: $33.84

Harris Teeter:

3 gallons Organic Valley milk (5.99 - 1.50/1 Q)

HT apple juice (sale 1.79 ea)

2 Starkist tuna pouches (sale 1.00 ea)

1 Athenos feta cheese crumbles (sale BOGO)

3 HT paper towels (sale 1.00 ea)

2 packaged garden salads (sale .99 ea)

2 boxes Cheerios (sale 2.00 - $1/2 Q)

cucumber (sale .50 ea)

Total oop: $35.67

Total savings: $16.37

Kroger:

1 Beechnut Oatmeal baby cereal (1.39 - $1/1 Q)

2 Egglands Best eggs (2.59 - .35/1 Q doubled)

1 Domino sugar 5lb (sale 2.39 - .30/1 Q doubled)

2 Kraft shredded Mexican cheese 16oz (sale 2.50 - $1/2 Q)

1 Naturally Preferred honey

1 celery bunch

vidalia onions (sale .99/lb)

Total oop: $16.22

Total savings: $13.04

Target:

2 Huggies Pull-Ups (sale 8.99 - $1.50/1 Q)

Total oop: $0 (paid w/gift card)

Total savings: $4.10

An Extra $10

After my wonderful Wednesday morning excitement, it was time to get down to the dirty business. Putting together my official grocery list within the confines of our budget. Because of some extra grocery spending earlier in the week (juice and diapers), I had about $54 to work with. After several revisions of the list and next week's menu, I was still over by about $10. I fretted and fussed. Looked at my coupons, looked at the sales ads and looked again at my list. I then put it all down and decided to just go to bed.

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I was sitting on the edge of the bed examining my grocery list again for any additional savings. I figured out that I could use my gift card from the Target Gillette razor deal to pick up a pack of diapers for nothing out of pocket. And that breakfast for dinner one day next week would be a very frugal meal. Even better if I made the pancakes from scratch instead of buying the frozen Aunt Jemima pancakes that were on sale. It helped but I was still over.

Dave came into the room and sensed my frustration. I told him all about how I couldn't make it work. How I wasn't really buying any extras for stockpiling just the basics for next week and I still couldn't do it. He sat down on the bed and shared this with me. When he was a store manager, if the drawer was short by $10, he would make all 5 of his employees stay and try and find this $10. Even though it was 8pm, they would recount the money, go through the payments and the reports. Sometimes they found $4, other times they didn't find anything at all. Looking back he realized he was paying 5 people $13 an hour just to find $10. And that's exactly what I was doing. I was expending all my energy and efforts over something as small and insignificant as $10.

I'm starting to realize, I beat myself up over the smallest of things. While I'm striving to be a good steward of our money and live in the spirit of cheerful frugality, I need to realize that sometimes it's okay to spend extra. Especially on something essential like FOOD! I'm not always going to have the lowest grocery budget. I will probably never feed my family on $20 a week. And that's okay. What's more important is being thankful that I have the extra to spend.

The Most Wonderful Day of the Week!

Wednesdays are absolutely my most favorite day of the week. Why, you ask? Because that's when the new sales flyers come out for the week! Seriously, it's like Christmas every week for me. Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods and Food Lion all start their new sales on Wednesdays. And even Kroger, whose sales start on Sundays, puts out a special mid-week flyer.

The first order of the day for me on Wednesdays, is checking my inbox for emails from Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods and Food Lion. You can go to their websites and sign-up to have the sales flyers emailed directly to your inbox. Beats waiting for them to arrive in the mail, which is sometimes one to two days after the sales have already begun. And not only can I view the flyers on-line, I can also generate my own shopping lists.

As I go through the ads, I click on the items I know are good deals (freebies and overage items are definite for the lists), needed items and "wishlist" items, which I may or may not get depending on if there's room left in the budget. I'm also thinking of possible meal ideas for the coming week based on the sales. For instance, Harris Teeter has fresh cucumbers on sale for .50 this week and Athenos feta cheese BOGO. Combined with the free whole wheat rotini and Italian dressing I got a few weeks ago, it has the makings of a great pasta salad.

Next, I start matching up items on my lists with any coupons I have. You get the most savings with your coupons when you match them up with items on sale. I browse couponing boards like Hot Coupon World and Savvy Dollar (NC based deals) for deal discussion. I also check out Sue Stock's Taking Stock blog for her Wednesday's deals, which provides a match-up of sales and coupons in our area. You can also find similar match-ups at Coupon Mom (free) and The Grocery Game (fee based).

Once I've made my lists, I gather up my coupons. Some are already clipped and in my binder. Others are whole inserts that I've dated on the front and placed in a basket in our bedroom (for clipping at some other time - usually when everyone is asleep). And then with my cash grocery envelope in hand, I'm off to do my shopping for the week!

One more important note - budget and use cash! Coupons are great tools for saving money. But it is very possible to overspend on good deals. By using a budget, I really have to discern what deals are going to benefit my family the most. Sometimes I have to walk away from deals, which is really hard! But as a couponer, I've come to learn that I don't have to buy EVERY deal and that sales will come around again. I just hope there's room in the budget when they do! And for cash, well as Dave Ramsey says, it hurts when you have to spend cash! Once the cash grocery envelope is empty, the spending stops!