Showing posts with label Being Frugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Being Frugal. Show all posts

Thursday, June 3, 2010

bringing back the LOVE LIST!!!!!!!!!

Six things to be SO thankful for in the Sixth month of the year:

1. My amazing husband, Tuesday night was amazing, Farmers Market, Boba, Doughnuts, Holding hands, Home made Pizza, candlelight dinner, Italy Puzzle. Wednesday afternoon I came home to these:
This morning as I was making our whole wheat french toast, drizzled in organic maple syrup, strawberries and organic powdered sugar :) My husband came into the kitchen and said, " I appreciate you, thank you for making my breakfast."
:D I AM BLESSED!!!!!!!!

2. My family. My dad sent me a text the other day that said this, " Rach, my heart is SO full of love for you!" while talking on the phone with me this morning and said, " You are so great at appreciating the little moments in life, don't loose that."
My sister, is about 7 days away from her last day of her 4th year of teaching. I'm SO proud of her... she's great.


3. Three months till we hike half dome!!!! I CANNOT wait to get to the top of that rock again!


4. Three weeks till we leave on our vacation!!!!! We'll be headed to Washington, Idaho, and my favorite, Montana!

5. My first sale on ETSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to my dear friend who made a custom order, I was asked to be free and create, and i did :) Thanks for the artistic freedom Justine. It was a joy and blessing!!! I created her a Noah Head Band titled, " My heart is stitched to yours." Made in honor of her soon to be born son Noah.
It's going off to Tahoe in the mail today!!!
I'll take ANY custom orders in my shop! Mother Daughter head band sets, baby head bands... etc.
"My Heart is stitched to yours" Hair Band

The expectant Momma :)

6. They rock.... they're currently taking over my pandora. encouraging my head band creativity

Monday, March 2, 2009

Meal Prep/ planning on a budget 101

Step One: Make Lovely charts that lay out precisely what meals you are planning for each week and where and what you need for those meals to happen.

Step Two: Hunker down with a nice piece of paper ( I make a list for the store and a calendar of the week I'm planning for) and a stack of cookbooks from your book shelf.




Step Three: Find fun healthy, happy meals that satisfy the needs of your family and budget.

Step Four: SHOP, bring only cash and set aside an amount of Money every week for those things you need, be frugal, you really get creative when you need to. The amount we go by is $100 a month for every person, hence our home= 2 people= $200 a month for food= $50 a week. Easy, trust me... I make wonderful things with that amount you can too.
Trick is, STOP BUYING PROCESSED FOODS! Make it yourself, you can do it, I PROMISE!
Step Five: Make it one of your goals in the week to make everything you planned on making, I understand life happens and things don't always go as they planned, ie: I planned on making Chinese Chicken Salad Saturday night and my hubs and I ended up eating artichokes and french fries instead. just depends... but every other night this week except Friday and Saturday, I made what was on my list. It's really important to stick with it! It's rewarding!!!!! And fun!!!!

Step Six: This little trick I've learned is a GREAT way to get in your veggies and fruits during the day, before a meal while you're cooking, set out a few bowls on the table, olives, grapes, cut apples, orange slices, come over, we've got a TREE full that need harvesting, bananas, carrots and ranch, pickles, etc. It helps you and your loved ones get the fruit and veggies they need, and helps them fill up on the good stuff, which meals they'll eat less during the meal, and you'll have more left overs for lunches.



hint: Lunches are rarely made in our home, it's a rare thing, maybe once a week, we just take leftovers. Live with it, you don't want to waste right? Even if you don't want to eat it, just do it.
hint: each meal should cost somewhere within these ranges:
Dinner: $2 per person per meal
Lunch: $2 per person per meal
Breakfast: 75 cents or less per person per meal.
it isn't THAT hard planning out how much meals cost, ask me, I'll help you.

Another thing is that this $50 a week does NOT include household items, toilet paper, paper towels, make up, soaps, shampoo and conditioner. There is another budget for that, about $35 a month on those things, so about $85 total. I do use the home made laundry soap and dish washing soap, this saves LOADS of cash.
Here I go, I'm going to walk you through what I'm planning for this week:
March 2-8
Monday: Italian Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, green beans, foccia, & banana pudding pie

We're having company tonight, but I'm still going to try and stay in budget as far as this meal goes:
From the Jessica Seinfeld Deceptively Delicious cookbook:

The idea behind her cookbook is that you're hiding pureed veggies in all the recipes from the book. We've tried a few, but I just adore this idea, my husband hasn't LOVED all of them, but for the most part, they've been enjoyed by both of us.



Tuesday: Chicken and Sausage Paella
{Since we were invited over to my mother in laws Friday for pizza, I didn't get to make this recipe, but I have all the ingredients for it!}


Wednesday: Sloppy Joes
{I'm going to try yet another meal from Jessica Seinfeld's recipe book, I'll also try and make it today, my day off, and put it in the fridge for Wednesday.}


Thursday: Tuna Cassarole
{bible study night, I'll most likey make this thursday morning, throw it in the fridge till I can cook it when I get home from work thursday around 5:30pm}

Friday: Chicken Corn Chowder

Saturday: Dinner with Suzanne and Martha, we're making ravioli

Sunday: Left- overs