New name, new stuff

I mentioned on Twitter the other day that I just made myself a new goal.

Blog everyday, even if it's just to say HI!

I neglected this blog for a while because with life changes comes blog changes. I started a new blog. This one was more personal. It was about my new life as a truckers wife. A truckers wife with 3 kids at home trying to used to their daddy being gone for 6 weeks at a time. Compelling stuff I tell ya.

My life suddenly went from organized couponer with a rock solid budget to a frazzled wife trying to keep it together in my day to day life. My life, in essence, took a complete 180.

I considered abandoning this blog and just keeping my other one since I wasn't really doing any heavy duty shopping. Chris was always the one to go get the papers on Sunday while I cooked breakfast. Sunday afternoons were spent playing with the kids while I matched, clipped and sorted the coupons. Now I just get a paper if I remember or I'll print out the occasional coupon from online.

I don't have a budget anymore. I don't know from one week to the other how much Chris will make. I actually just reinstalled some budgeting software last night in hopes to at least track where our money is going. We essentially have two households here. One at home and one on the road. Keeping track of expenses takes time and I have just been too lazy busy to do it.

The thought of putting my personal rant of being a truckers wife kinda worried me.

I ranted.

I complained.

I said thing I wouldn't normally say on my serious, budgeting blog.

I needed to get things off my chest and without anyone to talk to, the blog was my catch all.

I started thinking that maybe I should just start a new blog. A random, catchall blog that really had no meaning.

But after realizing how much work it would be to start all over much consideration, I decided to keep this blog and just transfer my other blog posts here. Hence the new look and name.

This will now be my place to share my real life. Both sides of me that were once separated online.

I may come across as negative. I really don't care. When your life does a back flip and suddenly your husband is gone for 6 weeks at a time and you have 3 kids to take care of on a wage so low that it would make your head spin, THEN you will see why I am the way I am.

I don't love the situation we are in at the moment, but aren't in this for the moment. We are in this for the long run. It will get better, but right now, I am just keeping it real.

And sometimes, real... sucks big time.

Long time coming

I did something today that I have needed to do for quite sometime.

I joined Weight Watchers Online.

Online, because I don't have the nerve yet to go to an actual class AND because with Chris being gone, online will be easier.

I am...

• nervous
• excited
• happy
• overwhelmed

... all wrapped up into a little package.

It's been a long time since I have been on a diet. The last time being in 2004 when I stared the Atkins low-carb diet. I dropped 75 lbs in 6 mths and then met my husband. I gained it all back plus some within a year.

I was so mad at myself. How could I let myself go again like that?

Then I got pregnant. Then I got pregnant AGAIN.

Which brings me to now.

My "baby" is now 3 and I can no longer blame my weight on "having just given birth".

I am anxiously awaiting a new scale that I ordered online from Wal-Mart. Chris went to the store to pick it up tonight and it was about $20 MORE than the price online. What a rip off! I ended up ordering the scale instead with free shipping and it will be here next week.

I officially started my diet tonight. I will officially weigh in next week.

I will take all the prayers I can get with this journey. I NEED to lose weight. I need to lose it for my husband, my children, and my family. But most importantly I need to lose it for myself.

Housing wants/needs

I try to cut costs wherever and whenever I can and one of the biggest cost cutting undertakings has been with our utilities.

When we moved to this place last year, we had a very specific list of things we were looking for.

1. More space (duh)
2. Windows that were not in direct sunlight
3. Tile floors
4. Newer HVAC system
5. Newer appliances

Well we got more space but it was more expensive each month for the rent. No biggie since it only about $50 more a month then what we were paying, BUT water was included in the rent. Score! That completely offset the higher rent.

The way that our building is situated, none of our windows get direct light. This was a huge deciding factor in us getting this unit. Our old place had windows all along the front of the unit which faced west. The sun came through the windows for about 8 hours during the summer. The house never got cool. NEVER.

Tile floors was a must. I absolutely despise vacuuming. It's loud and I don't like the way it smells. I know... it's weird. Anyway, tile floors stay cool in the hot summer months and if our feet are cooler, then our bodies are cooler and we can leave the thermostat at a higher temperature.

The newer HVAC was also a must. Our old place had an ancient HVAC unit. It was so loud we had to turn it off just to be able to watch the TV. Talk about annoying. It was inefficient and expensive to run.

Newer appliances was a want, not a necessity, however I really REALLY wanted newer appliances. We lucked out with this place. This was the model condo for the community so the appliances had never been used. Newer appliances also equals lower utility costs so it was a win-win for us.

Nearly everything on our list was geared toward saving money in the long run. I can honestly say, it has paid off.

When we moved in we replaced all the bulbs with CFL bulbs and plugged all of our electronics into power strips/surge protectors. Every night I turn off the switches (if they have even been turn on). Lights stay off for the majority of the day. We are lucky enough to have 2 big sliding glass doors that let in a LOT of light. Our electricity bill has been slashed in half since moving here.

Also, when we renewed our leased for another year, the manager gave us the option to renew for 14 months. If we chose that option, we would get a discount of nearly $100 a month!! We absolutely jumped on that offer.

Now not everything here is rainbows and unicorns. There is the occasional ogre that pops it ugly head in here. There are definitely new items that we have added to the list that will be for our new place. Land being one of them. Being in a condo community has it's ups and downs. The biggest down for us has been dogs. People love their dogs here but don't like picking up their poo. And the dogs especially LOVE our back yard.

Signed,
Doesn't like dog poo

Are you a canner?

I have only canned once in my life and it was this past spring. I made strawberry jam. It was/is delicious.

Like, the best jam ever. Never mind that it has about 6 cups of sugar and lots and lots of strawberries.

I am pretty sure the reason is was so good was because I made it.
Me.
In my tiny kitchen. 

OK, yes it was the delicious strawberries and sugar that made it good but who cares. Not me. I won't be buying the stuff at the store again.

Homemade jam is so much better. Aaaaand I know what is it in.

Have you ever noticed how hard store brand jams and jellies are to spread? I guess I never noticed until I made my own. They spread without ripping the fresh bread to shreds.

I bought a bunch of green beans at the store over the summer while they were cheap and I had ever intention of canning them.

I ended up throwing them away.

All 10,000 lbs of them.

Actually only about 8 lbs but still... that was like 6 bucks worth of beans that I could had made into food for my family.

The reason I didn't can them was because I don't have a canner. I wanted to purchase one but then realized I would need an expensive one since we have a glass top stove. I can't use those cheap ones on glass top stove.

Who knew? Apparently not me.

I could have improvised with a large stock pot like I did for making the jam, but my pots just weren't tall enough to fit jars and still have them covered with enough water to ensure proper sealing.

Fast-forward to today and low and behold I found a place in our city that will help you can food!

Here is a little exerpt from their website.

... the Canning Center provides an institutional kitchen environment.  All equipment necessary for canning is provided onsite.  Users provide their own ingredients. 

... The client list includes Duval County residents, boaters, various churches, people on restricted diets, non-profit organizations within the city, the 4-H School Enrichment Program and other governmental agencies.

It's not free, but if a large group of people got together to make food for their families to share, it would totally be worth it. Like a co-op type thing.

The canning center provides ALL the equipment to can. All you have to do is bring the ingredients and jars. How easy is that??!!

They also occasionally have workshops that teach people how to can soups.

Depending on whether or not I break down and buy an expensive canner, I may just give this place a try. Our kitchen is small tiny and it was a little cramped while I was canning the jam.

It would be a nice change to actually cook in an industrial sized kitchen!

I may never want to go back to my little tiny kitchen. (when I say tiny, I mean it. I have less than 3 ft of counter-top space.)

Signed,

Hopelessly needs a bigger kitchen and flat bottomed canner

On the lookout

So even though I don't post our weekly grocery budget anymore, I am still pinching pennies. I really am. Probably even more now that Chris has gone back on the road.

• When he is home, we spend more money.
• We make more trips to the grocery store.
• We eat more expensive food.
• I cook more, and by more I mean quantity.
• That boy can eat y'all!

I am always on the lookout for good, frugal recipes. And by good, I mean AWESOME.

It's no secret I am addicted to pizza. It's really a love hate relationship. I love it, but I hate to pay for it.

I have been making my own pizza for as long as I can remember and I have YET to find a crust recipe that I am head over heals in love with. (think Papa John's or Mellow Mushroom crust)

That crispy outside, chewy inside and perfectly un-soggy-when-it's-loaded-with-sauce-and-toppings dough is what I am after.

Where is this elusive pizza dough recipe. Believe me when I tell you this. I have tried no less than 20 dough recipes. They are pretty much all the same and pretty much all disappoint. They are either too think and bready or too thin and crackery.

Bready and crackery. Now those are some words to make you sound REALLY smart. Geez.

Anyway...

I need a recipe. I really GOOD recipe for pizza dough. I just can't bring my penny pinching self to order pizza. I *almost* did it last night. It was gonna cost nearly $25.00!!

I'm sorry but $25.00 for pizza? Really? I can feed 30 people for less than $25.00. Heck I made an entire Thanksgiving spread last year for less than that.

I think I'll take my cry for help hunt to Twitter. I'm sure I'll get some good answers there!

Laundry tip

I have been so excited to blog about my recent laundry discovery only to find out that the company does not recommend using this particular product on clothes. Go figure.

But I'm gonna tall y'all anyway!

I love for my whites to be REALLY white. When they start looking dingy, they get used as dust rags or sleep shirts. Whites should be BRIGHT!! My kids however think spaghetti and chocolate milk look best on white shirts... and we all know what fun getting those stains out can be.

I don't like my clothes to smell like bleach. It's just not appealing to me. I couldn't find a way to get those stubborn stains out without making the whole load smell like bleach. Bleh.

That's when I had the *brilliant* (please note the sarcasm) idea of using Clorox Clean-up with Bleach spray. Yeah. the kind you are supposed to use in the bathrooms. It works SO good! I just spray on the item of clothing that needs it, wait about 5 minutes and then throw it into the wash with everything else. TA - DAH!

Bright whites and the whole load doesn't smell of bleach.

Menu Plan Monday

Summer is here and I couldn't be happier! I tend to let things slide in the summer and that includes dinner time. We usually eat later during the summer since the days are so much longer. This year however, I am determined NOT to eat dinner past 7:00 pm. I like to have my free time in the evenings and that means the kids still need to go to bed at a decent hour.

8:30 during school and no later than 9:30 during the summer, although it's usually a LOT sooner than that. I like to keep things as normal as possible. I'm not one of those parents that lets their kids stay up super late on the weekends and summer vacation. I would go crazy! With Chris being gone so much, the only break I get is when they are sleeping so I LOVE night time. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids!!! But I do enjoy a little alone time too. It's only natural.

For this reason I will be starting back up with my menu planning. It's such a big help to me.

Monday - Beans (slow cooker) and rice with rolls or cornbread

Tuesday - Pot roast, baked potatoes, green beans, leftover rolls

Wednesday - Creamed chicken (double batch) over rice, broccoli

Thursday - Homemade hamburger helper, green beans or salad

Friday - Chicken shepherds pie, sauteed spinach, bread

Saturday - Homemade pizza

Sunday - Pigs in a blanket, sandwiches or leftovers

So there ya have it. Nothing special but hopefully will keep us on schedule this week. Looking for more ideas? Check out orgjunkie.com for LOTS of other menu ideas.

When will just being me be good enough?

Warning : RANT ahead

Do you ever feel inadequate? I mean really inadequate. I’m not even sure that is the right word I am trying to get across.

I have had a job ever since I was 15. That is until I became a stay at home mom almost 4 years ago.

And since then, being a mom doesn’t seem to be a good enough job for some people in my family.

People will ask me when will I go back to school and get an education? When am I going to go get a “real” job? When will I get tired of just sitting around all day doing nothing? When are you going to do something with your life?

So I ask you this, when did being a mother become an inadequate job?

I work my butt off 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and on top of that my husband is away for about 90% of the time. And for what? To be told what I am doing is not good enough?

Um. No.

Remember back in the day when being a mother and being home with your children was expected of you? How did we go from that to where we are today? Why isn’t being a mother considered a successful career?

I have always felt like I couldn’t measure up to certain people in my family. Like whatever I did was never good enough. When will just being me be good enough?

I never knew what I wanted “to be” when I grew up. All I ever wanted to do is be a mom and try to raise happy healthy kids. I am doing exactly what I wanted to do my whole life yet that isn’t good enough for some people.

This is something that my husband and I prayed over, thought a long time about and agreed to. We have made LOTS of sacrifices so I can stay home with the kids. We live VERY modestly just to be able to afford our monthly expenses. We are teased and made fun of because of the way we live. I buy in bulk so I don’t have to go shopping every week. I have a pantry full of food and personal hygiene items but for some reason, that is funny or weird to some people. Maybe they don’t mean it the way it comes across, but it hurts still the same.

So to end this completely random rant, I may or may not go back to school. It’s my decision. I will try not to let others bother me about our way of life. It’s their problem, not ours. At least we are drowning in a sea of debt. We actually have none.

Science Fair and Open Houses

It’s science fair time at Caitlin’s school so she has been working on it for about 4 weeks now.
She decided to do an experiment on which soil will basil grow best in. We used red clay, dirt from the backyard and potting soil. Of course she knew which one would do best but what she didn’t know was just how much the different soil would affect the plants.

Take a look. Here’s all 3 together.

What a difference huh?

She started the seeds in those little soil pellets and then transplanted them to the different soils. We were so careful to make sure the experiment was accurate, that we even rinsed off the pellet soil before planting them in their respective soils.


Here’s the outcome of the red clay

Here’s the outcome of the dirt.

And here’s the outcome of the fertilized soil.

So like I said all in all it took about 4 weeks. 2.5 weeks to start the seeds and get them big enough to plant and then in the different soil for about a week and a half. We had no idea that the red clay would just kill the plant so I think that was the biggest surprise of the whole experiment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We also attended an open house on Tuesday night. It was at an awesome Christian school here in town. We actually a little out of town. Actually is ALLLLL the way across town from us. At least 30 mins to get there. All interstate. Traffic. Boring.
That is gonna be the deciding factor I think. There are lots of other schools that are closer to us, but they don’t offer all the extra resource classes that this school does.
Since I absolutely do NOT want her attended public school next year, we have to consider funding. That means work for me. But not work as in office work. I’m gonna set up my Etsy again and start selling dresses, bows, skirts and anything else I can possibly make. It’s gonna be a BUSY summer for me!

Totally and utterly random

Do you ever just run out of stuff to say? I have sat here looking at this cursor blinking for over an hour.

Thinking of what to say...

I don't know what direction to take with this blog. A lot has changed over the year.

I do still pinch pennies, but it's in a totally different way.

I rarely clip coupons anymore.

I shop once, maybe twice a month, if at all.

I have such a good stockpile of food here, I only need to purchase milk, eggs and cheese.

and you know what... I love it!

With Chris being gone 5 to 6 weeks at a time, I don't get any alone time without the kids. I know that sounds like I am trying to pawn my kids off on someone, but taking kids to the grocery store is NOT my idea of fun.

2 buggies + 3 kids = no fun for mom. ( At least for me)

I am now going against everything I once did. My rules were no shopping on the weekends, don't buy it if I don't have a coupon, only buy if on sale, etc.

I ONLY shop on the weekends now. It's just easier to have Caitlin helping me and since she is in public school now, she isn't free during the week.

I don't even buy Sunday papers anymore. I used to buy at least 5. Too time consuming now for me.

I do still try to buy only if on sale, but I now buy what my kids will eat and if it's not on sale, oh well. Some thing else will get cut from the list.

I need to get back into the habit of menu planning. That really helped me out when I was doing it, especially on the weeks that Chris leaves. My brain turns to mush for about a week after he leaves. Just trying to get back into the swing of things wears me out. I mope around for a few days feeling sorry for myself and crying up a storm. But then I usually snap out of it and realize I have been feeding my children pure junk and I had better get my tail in gear and get with it!

My get with it day was yesterday and today.

Yesterday : Cleaned my kitchen. It was a mess. My hands are now a mess from all the dish washing! Also get meat from the freezer for this week.

Today : Caitlin was sick so she stayed home from school and helped me clean up a little and we started her science fair project. I made crock pot red beans and rice, 2 loaves of buttermilk bread, browned 6 lbs of ground beef, made a pot of tea, went to the bank, CVS to buy milk, swept, cleaned all the dishes from today and am now relaxing.

My neighbors were out walking their dog this afternoon and stopped to chat for a minute. They noticed our garden on the back porch. We live in a condo so there isn't room for an outside garden so we had to improvise.

We have big pots for our veggies this year and I couldn't be more excited!

We planted straight neck squash, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, heirloom tomatoes (in our topsy turvy), yellow tomatoes, basil, cilantro, culantro, and rosemary. I still have to plant the parsley. They couldn't believe we had all that growing on the back porch!

Back porch = screen lanai to y'all city folk. :)

I mentioned that a few weeks ago I bought a flat of strawberries from the farm stand and made strawberry jam. I offered them a jar and they were more than happy to take it. Y'all it's so good! So sweet and yummy! I also gave them a loaf of the buttermilk bread.

Gosh well, this post rambled on about nothing....

Sorry for being so random. My mind is just getting out of the mushy stage 'ya know!

So if you made it to the end.... here is a picture of the little ones pretending to be birds. The magnolia leaves are of course the wings. :)

Easy Breakfast Casserole

I have been on the lookout for a super easy breakfast casserole FOREVER. I have looked everywhere and couldn't find one that fit my family's tastes just right. This recipe is a collection of a couple different ones, just changed up a bit to suit our tastes.

This one is a winner!

Before we get to the recipe, let me just apologize for the pictures.

1. I am a terrible photographer.
2. I have a terrible camera. (these were taken before I got the new one)
   
3. I am a terrible photographer.
4. I have terrible lighting.
5. I am a terrible photographer.

Easy Breakfast Casserole

1 lb bulk sausage, cooked, crumbled and drained (I use Publix brand since it doesn't have MSG)

6 or 7 eggs - depending on your love of eggs. I use 7.

5 or 6 Frozen hash brown patties - depending on the size of your pan and patties

1 cup of shredded cheese (shred your own, it's MUCH cheaper)

1/3 block of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup each of cream and milk

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9 x 13 with nonstick spray. Really lay it on, eggs stick! Or you could use crisco and just grease it like you would a loaf pan.

Lay the hash brown patties down first in a single layer and then cover with about 3/4 cup of cheese. Then layer on the cooked and drained sausage.

 Whisk your cream cheese until smooth. I usually add the cream at this point. It helps the cream cheese get smooth. Add your eggs, milk and seasonings and whisk until blended. Just season the eggs like you would if you were making scrambled eggs.

Pour the egg mixture over the patties, cheese and sausage and top with remaining cheese.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until set.

Let stand for a few minutes before cutting into... or if you are like me, dig right in!

Enjoy!

Remember how I said this was inspired by some other recipes?? Here they are.

I got the concept of this casserole from here. Let me just tell you... this is an AWESOME website.

Oh.

My.

Word. Talk about yummy Southern food.

The egg mixture was inspired by these. They are so good! We make them with sausage and ham as well. With and without the biscuits too!

Saving money at the pump

Do y'all know about this.

Does anyone else even have Winn Dixie around? They must be a southern grocery chain.

Anyway... they have a customer reward card that you scan just like any other store. You get the discounts at the store but get this, you also get a $.05 reduction per gallon of gas for every $50 you buy in groceries.

You need groceries.

You need gas.

You need to reduce the price of gas.

I needed to use up my discount before I lost it. I had 'til the 30th.  (You have to use it or lose it in a certain amount of time)

Wanna know how much I saved at the pump yesterday?

$0.75 per gallon. I know!

And for those not living near here, our gas is $2.73 per gallon. For regular unleaded! Crazy right?

I paid $1.98.

I was actually excited to pay for it. Well sort of...

:)

Check our more money saving ideas at Life as a Mom. She has great money saving tips and ideas!

Penny Pinching Tips: Utilities

Ever since Chris has been out of work we have been thinking of way to cut back on expenses. One of our biggest (I'm sure yours too) was utilities. Fortunately for us, we don't have to pay water or sewer. That charge is included with our rent. We do however, have to pay for electric. And boy it can be a doozie!

To cut back on electric, we first unplugged. Simple yet effective. Everything that wasn't being used was unplugged.

Second, we switched to compact fluorescent bulbs. It's hard to tell just how much this is saving us since we made a few changes at once. But I can tell you this, it HAS made a difference.

Another thing we do is use less lights. We have HUGE light fixtures in the bathrooms. They each have 3 light bulbs. There is no reason to use 3 light bulbs to brush your teeth! We unscrew 2 of the bulbs just enough so the bulbs aren't on. Again, I can't tell you an exact amount we save, but it is significant.

By just doing those 3 things, we have shaved over $50 off our monthly electric bill. I actually look forward to see our bill each month just to see how much we have saved from last years bill.

Extras: Such as cable and phone.

We haven't had cable in over 3 years. We don't watch that much TV and paying at least $70 a month for cable we don't watch is really quite silly. We kept our phone and internet since I used to have an online store. I payed for those charges from the income I made selling bows. Since I no longer sell bows, I needed to cut that bill down some.

First thing we did was get rid of the phone service. We invested in a MagicJack. It costs $40 and includes a year of service. Great deal!

We kept the DSL service through the phone company for a while but it was more expensive since we didn't have phone service. $47.00 plus tax is pretty hefty for internet service. So when our local cable company was offering cable internet for $25 + free limited basic cable, we jumped on it! Limited basic cable is basically what we can get with our digital converter boxes, but with a few local channels thrown in.

I actually like our over the air digital service better! The picture is better and there is more educational programming for the kids. I just think of the cable as a bonus to the internet.

I am loving our cable internet. It so much faster, more reliable and CHEAPER! It's a win, win.... win situation.

What are some things you are doing to cut back? I'd love to hear it!

Getting back into the swing of things

I have been a total slacker in terms of menu planning and organizing my coupons. It all started when Chris quit his job and started attending CDL school. After he finished school, he was home. Every. Single. Day.

Morning, noon and night. And I loved it. Loved every second of it.

BUT... I got lazy. VERY lazy. There were 2 of us here to handle things. I didn't have to worry about stuff as much since he was here.

So I have decided I am gonna make a plan. A good plan. A plan *I* can stick to.

I am also determined to get this blog going again. I should will have free time in the evenings to get it going again.

When we decided Chris would go on the road driving a truck, we also decided that Caitlin, our oldest would go back to public school. I know... I cringed too. We have been homeschooling her for over 2 years and WOW.. what a difference it made. I'm going to toot my own horn, but she blended right in to the class and is not lost at all! She is exactly where she needs to be. I couldn't be happier. She has a great teacher and has already made lots of new friends. She loves it!

I need to get breakfast items made up and put in the freezer so it's easier in the morning for her to have a hot breakfast. I also want my dinners planned so I'm not scrambling in the afternoons trying to figure out what's for dinner.

Y'all should see my stack of coupons! I have about 10 weeks worth of coupons that have not even been sorted!! Oh did I mention we buy at at least 4 papers. So that's 10 weeks worth of coupons times 4 papers. I really have my work cut out for me.

Good thing I have the time now.

Penny Pinching Tip: Save on Spices

So before my blog got lost in cyberspace (read: I deleted it accidentally) I had a post about saving money while buying spices.

I know everyone buys spices and flavorings in those little bottles with the red lids, or the massive bottle from the warehouse clubs, but I have an even better idea!

Look down the ethnic food aisles in your grocery stores!

Go ahead... I'll wait...

Back?

OK, good. Did you see them? You know... the el cheapo spices? Aren't they GREAT?

I will never buy "red lid" bay leaves again!

Check this out. These little babies are about 4 bucks at my store... and for 0.12 ounces. Ouch!

2 aisles over in the ethnic food isle sat this little gem.

Aaaaaand for the whopping price of 69 cents for a .25 ounce baggie! Talk about a great deal!

We use a LOT of bay leaves in our cooking. I love the flavor and until I can get fresh leaves, I will buy the cheaper brand.

I also picked up some sesame seeds while I was there.

These are about 4 bucks at my store as well. This is the 1 ounce container.

Hanging right beside the bay leaves were these.

This bag is a 1.5 ounce bag for... get this.... 59 cents!

Now don't get me wrong, I will still buy the big name spices. But I will ALWAYS use a coupon and try to get to the store that doubles. I have gotten plenty of FREE spices by doing this... and you can too!

Weekly totals - August to current

Oh I really hope this works… I finally sat down and updated my grocery spreadsheet. It has taken me all day to put these receipts in order and tallied.

I am far to lazy to put them in week by week so I am hoping you can see the portion of my spreadsheet I copied.

Here are the totals for all the weeks I have missed.

Week Ending	Spent	Savings	Total Value	% Saved
8/15	$132	$61	$193	32%
8/22	$318	$66	$384	17%
8/29	$13	$35	$48	74%
9/5	$40	$29	$69	42%
9/12	$291	$58	$348	17%
9/19	$95	$135	$230	59%
9/26	$29	$58	$88	66%
10/3	$129	$77	$206	37%
10/10	$88	$10	$98	10%
10/17	$11	$64	$75	85%
10/24	$241	$387	$628	62%
10/31	$47	$78	$125	62%
11/7	$122	$33	$155	21%
11/14	$17	$85	$103	83%

So there ya have it. Not too bad overall. For the year, our % saved is 49%. I am very happy with that since this does include our toiletries, diapers and paper products and all of our bulk buying at places like Sam’s and BJ’s.

I still got it!

We quit getting multiple Sunday papers a while back and boy howdy did it make a difference! I spent more of everything. More time shopping, more money and more headaches. We are back to buying at least 4 papers just for the coupons. We recycle the rest of the paper. I wish I could just buy the coupons. I have tried the coupon clipping services but I am not the organized. I like to have the coupon in hand just in case I need it right then. Who has time to order then wait for the coupon to come??

When we take the papers to the recycle center, there are ALWAYS stacks of coupons that someone dropped off. Why in the world would people just throw away coupons is beyond me. Chris usually tries to get the coupons but sometimes they are already expired. Oh well… every little bit helps!

I have been trying to get to Publix for almost a week now and just now finally got to go last night. My buggy (does anyone still say buggy or is it just me??) was packed! They had some awesome deals! Combine awesome deals with high value coupons and you have a very happy mommy!

Oh and our Publix does NOT double coupons.

Does anyone else’s Publix not do that??

I walked out of there with nearly $200 worth of groceries and paper goods for a little over $80. I was so excited. I got everything on my list plus some.

I was getting a little discouraged lately about my savings… or lack thereof.

Needless to say, I still got it!

I thought I lost it, but it’s been found!

We won’t be getting just one Sunday paper anymore. Been there, done that!

Cha cha changes...

…well not yet, but there are some BIG changes on the back burner at our house.

1. Chris’s job.
2. Caitlin’s schooling.
3. Housing.
4. Schooling for me.

We are definitely in for some big life changes soon. I think the most difficult thing for me to do in all this is let go. Letting go is hard for me. I mean REALLY hard. I am a total control freak to say the least. Letting go and putting this in God’s hands has proven difficult for me to do. I am trying and I think I am getting better at it everyday.

Week ending 8/1/09

August already!! This year is FLYING by. It’s already time for school again.

This week we took advantage of a little BST shopping at Walmart. I always check out their book and magazine section up front because they have some really good homeschooling books there. I found 10 books for the girls. (I only bought 9. Yes, I left one there so I didn’t appear greedy, lol). All of them were on clearance for $1.00 each! They are from the makers of Hooked on Phonics and are write-on/wipe-off books. 3 of them even have CD’s to follow along with! Great buy there.

Total for the week

Shelf Price $66.00
Price Paid $25.00
Amount Saved $41.00

That is a savings of 62%

A little bread, some news, and free museums

Yesterday was a busy day! I made 2 batches of bread. Not sure what happened to the first batch, but the bread dried out really quickly. Not that it wasn’t good, just a little dry. Butter to the rescue!

The 2nd batch I made was for yummy pigs in a blanket. We just love them. I made 32 total, kept about 12 in the fridge and froze the others. They don’t stay long in our house so putting them in the freezer really isn’t necessary, just a habit really. Caitlin wanted them for breakfast so I made up some scrambled eggs and we ate pigs in a blanket with them. Perfect breakfast. :)

I made *the* best bread the other day. It’s a honey, oatmeal wheat bread. And it’s delicious! If I can remember later, I’ll post the recipe and a picture.

We got some good news yesterday! Chris was able to go speak with a lady he used to work on a project with. He was asking her about the different projects going on and if any of them were hiring. She told him, anywhere he wants to go, she can send him! Such good news!!

Chris has the weekend off and since this is the first weekend of the month, it’s free for us to get into our local science museum. I have been wanting to go here for years but just never got around to it. It looks like tons of fun and can’t wait to take the girls. They will have a BLAST!

Off to shape my bread and think of what in the world I can fix for dinner. You would think that ground beef would be easy, but I need something NEW!