One Mama's Journey

I made a hat!!

2012-01-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

I recently got a bunch of yarn from my late grandmother's things and have been crocheting again. As of yesterday the most I knew how to do was a blanket or scarf. I taught myself how to read patterns a few days ago and this morning started working on making a hat. I have never made a hat before in my life, I had no clue how to make a circle much less make something to fit my big ole head. I am proud to say I made it in ONE attempt and it FITS! I was SO EXCITED I was jumping up and down when I went to show DH So here is my hat with the matching scarf

Gonna get my rocking body back!

2012-01-13T14:04:00.001-08:00

One of my goals for 2012 is to finally get rid of this baby weight I have been carrying around since the twins were born, and then added to when I got pregnant with our 5th six months later. I have been going back and forth with myself as to how I was actually going to do this. What "program" was I going to follow, could I do it alone? I have decided that NO I can NOT do it alone! I was still debating with myself when a friend on facebook announced she was starting a challenge using the slim in 6 program by beachbody.com Well I am always in for some encouragement and a little good natured competition so I jumped on board!

My goal is to drop down into the 100's while doing the 6 week program. I think if I can get into the 100's again it will be tremendous momentum to keep going. So here I am letting you all know the plan so that I have even more accountability. I will be posting the beginning photo's when I start the program as well as update pictures every 30days through out. I will also be adding a weight loss ticker to my blog so at anytime you all can see how I am doing *gasp!*

The challenge starts on February 5th and I am super excited to get rolling!

How "Old fashioned" are you?

2012-01-09T05:05:00.000-08:00

One of the boards I participate in has a thread going right now asking what "old fashioned" skills do you have. Which got me to thinking what skills do I have that others may see as being old fashioned.

Lets see I can:
*crochet
*hand quilt
*crosstitch
*sew (with and without a machine)
*bake from scratch
*Make any type of dairy product (cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, etc.)
*garden
*water bath can fruit and veg
*Pressure can
*dry herbs
*Do just about anything with livestock (tail doc, castrate, vaccinate, sheer, trim hooves, tag, etc.)
*Operate any form of tractor and attachment (Bailer, batwing, etc.)
*Clean out a barn
*climb a silo without killing myself

Skills I am looking to learn:
*making soap
*knitting

Wow when you list all of your skills out you seem like a accomplished person! I plan on learning to knit once I get some of my current projects done (more in upcoming post about my current projects.). And I have big plans for learning to make soap! Can we say Christmas presents for next year?!

What about you all? What "old fashioned" skills do YOU have????

The twins turn 2!

2012-01-08T13:38:00.001-08:00

How Bulk shopping saves us a bundle

2012-01-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

You know when ever I talk to people about the fact that we do our shopping in bulk we get a lot of the same responses.

"Does it really save you money?"
"I just don't have the money to do that"
"Where would I put it all!"
"I don't have the time!"

So I thought I would share my responses with you all.

"Does it really save you money?" Why yes it does! Part of it is that we have a super sized family compared to the "normal" American family. When you have more than 2 children stuff just gets eaten faster! I could buy 4 boxes of cereal at $4 a pop or 1 giant box for $6...you do the math! Even if you don't have a super sized family buying in bulk is still feasible. We buy he giant cans of tomatoes, you know the ones that look like they are supposed to be used in school cafeterias? Well even with 7 mouths to feed I can't use a entire can of those suckers! I instead package it down into 1c. servings and drop them in the freezer. One 14.5 can of crushed tomatoes is about $1 on sale, One ginormous can of crushed tomatoes is $3. I can typically get 20 one cup portions out of the huge can. That is a HUGE savings!

Another way it saves us money is that buy buying in bulk we typically end up with a little more than we needed. I can get a great deal on 7lb packages of ground beef for example but if I only need 6lbs for that month I freeze the extra pound for later. After 2-3 mths of this type of stockpiling you find you have enough in your freezer and pantry to allow you to skip grocery shopping for several weeks! It is a wonderful feeling to realize "Hey I don't have to go to the grocery store this month!"

"I just don't have the money to do that" We didn't start out with any more in the grocery budget than we normally used. I just decided to use it differently. I decided instead of spending it 4 times a month I would spend it once. I found my local costco, made a detailed list of what we needed for that month and went to town! Over time we were able to adjust our budget so that all of our months grocery budget came out of the first paycheck of the month giving me even more wiggle room. You know what we have found though? We spend LESS buying in bulk, about $200 a month less!

"Where would I put it all!" As I stated in a previous post we don't live in a McMansion, far far from it! We have a small chest freezer, a pantry, and a cabinet in our hallway for over flow. That is it! We found that by going to once a month shopping we tend to buy more whole foods instead of processed foods. Flour instead of french bread, popcorn instead of cookies, etc.

"I don't have the time!" I have found it doesn't take me any longer to pic up a 25lb bag of flour than it does to pick up a 5lb bag. A little harder on my back maybe but not on my schedule. Actually I find it SAVES me time because I do one major shop a month then a quick dash in every other week for milk and fruit instead of 4 major shopping trips.

Exploring new options

2012-01-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of underspending the grocery budget is getting to decide how to invest the savings. Due to our once a month shopping we had some surplus in our freezer that has allowed us to not have to grocery shop for 2 weeks out of this month. (More on how this happened in a later post)

This means we have about $210 left in our grocery budget with no where to go. There are several options for what to do with this extra money:

1. Send it to our current savings goal (my Roth)
2. Invest in stockpiling meat and non perishables
3. Investing in Community supported Agriculture (CSA)in our area

We have decided to invest part of the money in a local CSA. By paying $100 now for a membership to a local organic farm I guarantee myself discounted organic produce through March. Not only do I get discounted organic produce but I get to choose exactly what I want via the internet, the price of the vegetables comes out of the $100 I sent them, and if I don't feel like going to the farm to pick it up they will mail it to me! Even better any money I have not used up by the beginning of April will be sent back to me! You really can't get a better deal than that!

Come this spring we will also be buying into the CSA's meat program as well. We will be buying several organic free range chickens and having them slaughtered for us in June, giving us a surplus of chicken to go in our freezer. Now if I can find a place that offers the option of buying a half a cow we will be set!

As we have found with bulk shopping sometimes spending a little upfront can give you big savings later on.

Are children expensive?

2011-12-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

You know when ever we visit our family we hear a lot of "2 is all we could afford" which got me to thinking. If more than 2 children are to much of a financial burden for many why is it that we don't find them to be all that expensive?

Lets see how it breaks down...

Food: Well yes the more children you have the more they eat. But since I cover that in several posts on here we won't go thought all the details, but it IS possible to feed a large family economically if you are willing to give it the extra effort.

Clothing: You know just because I have 5 children doesn't mean I have to buy 5 sets of clothing all the time. Actually I only have to buy clothes for 2 of my children, my oldest daughter and my oldest son. The rest of the kiddlets wear hand me downs.

Shelter: Yes many people think they need to have a huge house when they have many children but we are not in that camp. We have a modest 4 bedroom house and we are doing just fine. Bunk beds are a mama's best friend!

Toys and Entertainment: You know this is where I think the majority of people get into trouble. If I constantly bought toys and other random junk for my children we would go broke quickly! My children only get gifts on their birthday's and Christmas. I don't think they are neglected in the least, actually I think it teachs some pretty valuable lessons about what is and what is not a necessity. We also treat our children to cheap/free extracirricular activities as well which I think makes them more appreciated. We feel that children who are in several activities at once (football, dance, etc.) are over extended and fail to see the joy in the activity anymore.

I am sitting here trying to think of what else about having children causes a financial burden on a family and honestly I can't think of any more! I do however see how people can find children to be a HUGE responsiblity and how that responsiblity can be very overwhelming for many. Raising a larger than average family isn't for everyone but it is a HUGE blessing and I would't give back any of my little kiddlets :D

Tips on cutting the grocery budget

2011-12-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

So over the years I feel like I have read every single thing ever written on the subject of cutting the grocery bill. I was trying to think of all the tips today and thought I would write them all down to help myself (and anyone else who is curious) remember them all.

*Once a month shopping
*Buy in bulk
*Shop sales flyers
*Coupon on items you will use
*Grow you own fruit/veg
*Can/freeze your home grown produce
*Menu plan
*Join a CSA
* Cut out paper products (papertowels, etc.)
*Make your own cleaning products

I am already planning our garden for this spring and researching local CSA's

Our frugal Christmas

2011-12-30T08:46:00.000-08:00

Every year I say that we are going to have a frugal Christmas and then every year we go over board due to poor planning. This year we stuck to our guns!

Gift's for extended family:

***Pillow cases personalized by my kids ($12 total)***
~Grandma
~Grandpa
~Nana

***Handmade "Faith, Love, Hope" Sign ($15)***
~My Brother and SIL

***$10 Game Stop GC ($20 total)***
~11yr old nephews

***Crayon Roll and Coloring Book ($20 total)***
~Niece
~Nephew

Total for extended family: $67 plus shipping (man does that add up fast!)

Gifts for my kids:
*Blank books (made with yarn and printer paper)
*Stockings (made by me out of their old receiving blankets)
*Art Box (filled with lots of arts and crafts supplies) ($20)
*Purses for the twins (made from scraps of material I already have)
*Crayon rolls for the older two ($20 total)
*Plus tons of stuff from the Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles

Gifts for each other:
*$50 limit per person

We had a wonderful Christmas :D

One chicken Three meals

2011-12-30T08:45:00.001-08:00

You know I read a lot of frugal blogs and books in the search for how to save every penny I can around here. Over time I have read several different large family blogs that have all claimed to be able to use ONE chicken for THREE meals. Now for a long time I have sat there and looked at that statement in wonder. How in the world is one tiny little chicken supposed to feed 7 people three times? Well we finally managed it and I thought I would share how we did it

Day one:
Roast chicken with green beans and Mac and cheese
*** After eating the chicken put the bones, cooking juices, and skin in a crock pot fill with water and cook on low all night, and put the leftover chicken in the fridge **

Day Two:
Chicken and Dumplings with a salad
***Use the chicken stock you made over night for the soup, use two cups of stock and flour to make the dumplings. Add in any leftover dark meat from the chicken***

Day three:
Chicken with peppers and Rice
*** Any leftover white meat from the chicken served "stirfry" style with peppers and onions over rice, there are so many veggies and rice no one notices if there isn't a ton of chicken***

That is how *we* did it. How about you???

January's grocery list

2011-12-30T08:43:00.000-08:00

Here we go again.....

10lbs chicken breasts
12 lbs ground beef
3 lbs cheddar cheese
1 pckt. Italian dressing
1 cream cheese
2 pks frozen broccoli
8 oz cheese wiz
Fried onion's (Frenches)
Parmesan cheese
2 salsa's
4lbs Mozzarella
green chili's
8oz sour cream
diced olives
dry black beans
1 BIG can diced tomatoes (costco)
cumin
chili
sage
rosemary
lime juice
lemon juice
Tortilla chips
onions
cabbage
Hot sauce
celery
carrots
14oz saurkraut
15oz Garbanzo beans
salad mix
Garlic Pwd
Onion Pwd
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons juice
2 boxes yogurt

Week one Perishables:
Cilantro
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

Week 2:
Lettuce
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

Week 3:
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

Week 4:
Zucchini
2 gallons Milk
2 gallons Juice
2 eggs

January's Menu

2011-12-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

I have been working up January's menu today and think I have it done.

All meals are in the order they will be served:

Spaghetti and Bread
Layered Dinner Casserole and Bread
Mexican Chicken with corn and Rice (crock pot)
Leftovers
Tortilla Soup with Salad and bread
Pizza and Salad
Taco's and Spanish Rice
Roast with green beans and rice
Black bean chili with rice
Hamburgers with homemade fries and corn
Spaghetti and bread
Creamy Chicken with green beans and rice (crock pot)
Sheppard's Pie with bread
Leftovers
Cheeseburger Pie with corn and bread
Taco's with Spanish rice
Stone soup with green beans and rice
Leftovers
Crunchy Chicken Parmesan with green beans and bread
Pizza and Salad
Spaghetti and Bread
Vegetable Chowder with bread
Taco's with Spanish rice
Broccoli, rice, chicken casserole with green beans
Fall off the bone beef with mixed veg and rice (crock pot)
leftovers
Spaghetti and bread
Chicken chili verde with corn and rice (crock pot)
Minestrone soup with rice
Pizza and salad
leftovers

As you can tell by this menu we are trying to cut back on our meat so there are several soups and vegetarian meals (isn't Dh going to LOVE that!). We are also attempting to provide a "filler" with every meal (rice, bread, beans).

December's cooking projects

2011-12-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

Part of simplifying my monthly meal planning was to also do as much work ahead of time so that meal time was easier on all of us. With that in mind I tried to do as much prep work in advance as I could. Here is the list of the prep work I got done in December:

*25 Sausage biscuits, from scratch, in the freezer
* 4 spaghetti sauces in the freezer
* Pizza sauce, from scratch, in the freezer
* Pizza rolls assembled and in the freezer
* 4 batches of Cinnamon rolls assembled and in the freezer
* Pizza crusts baked and in the freezer

Once A Month Shopping ~December's Grocery List~

2011-12-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

Once the menu was planned it was time to get the grocery list done!

11 lbs ground beef
2 roasts
2 whole chickens
2lbs Chicken
4 packages of pepperoni
2 LARGE cans of tomato Sauce (the #10 cans from costco)
Basil
Oregano
Garlic Pwder
5lbs Carrots
10lbs frozen mixed veg
3c. Pearled barley
4pk Tortilla's
5lbs Mozzarella
3pk Hamburger buns
1 box lasagna noodles
2 BIG boxes of Pancake/Biscuit mix (Costco size)
2 Bottles Syrup
3 Large jars applesauce
1 Oats
3 dz eggs
3pk hot dogs
2 cases soy milk
50lbs flour
Cinnamon
4 OJ Concentrates
Sausage (enough for 31 patties)
8 boxes Graham crackers
Goldfish (BIG Box)
1 big bag chocolate chips
Veg oil
4lbs bacon

Week 1 Perishables (actually will be week 2 since week one is he first week when I do the shopping):
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Milk
Fruit

Week 2 Perishables:
Milk
Fruit
3 dz eggs

Week 3 Perishables:
Cottage Cheese
Ricotta
3 dz eggs
lettuce
tomatoes
milk
fruit

Week 4 Perishables:
milk
fruit
3dz eggs

Month meal planning

2011-12-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

When looking to simplify our lives the first thing I looked at was our grocery shopping. Meal planning each week and then doing weekly grocery shopping was taking up way to much of my time and was leaving my entire family crabby. In a attempt to simplify the process we decided to try monthly meal planning and then doing one large shopping trip per month (with a few small shops for dairy and fruit thorughout the month).

As I prepared for my first once a month shopping trip I worked up a menu for the month of December. One that has cheap, big, simple, healthy meals that when able can be turned into a meal for the second day as well

December's meals (all meals are in the order they were served):

1 Spaghetti
2 Pot Roast
3 Beef and Barley soup (leftovers from day 2)
4 Beef and Barley soup
5 Roast chicken
6 Chicken noodle soup (leftovers from day 5)
7 Mexican Casserole
8 Pizza rolls
9 Taco's
10 Leftovers
11 Sloppy Joes
12 Spaghetti
13 Chicken and rice
14 Pizza
15 Leftovers
16 Roast chicken
17 Chicken noodle soup (leftovers from day 16)
18 Lasagna
19 Hamburgers
20 Taco's
21 Pot roast
22 Beef and barley soup (leftovers from day 21)
23 Beef and barley soup
24 Leftovers
25 Chicken and rice
26 Pizza rolls
27 Mexican Casserole
28 Sloppy Joes
29 Pizza
30 Spaghetti
31 Leftovers

There you go a whole month planned out!

There was also muffins, pancakes, baked oatmeal, scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast. And Leftovers, PB&J sandwiches, lunch meat sandwiches, and hot dogs for lunch. Plus as much fresh baked bread as my family could eat.

I'm back and ready to go!

2011-12-30T07:17:00.000-08:00

Eight months ago we welcomed our 5th child to our family and I freely admit it threw our family for a organizational loop. Just when we were starting to get our lives back in order we received orders to move from Hawaii to New Jersey. As you can imagine moving a family of seven (5 of whom are 7yrs or under) halfway across the world took a bit of time and patience. We are finally settled in the our new house in New Jersey and our lives are back on track, well as much as they can be under the circumstances!

Since our lives have taken such a dramatic turn lately it is only reasonable that our blog would as well. Our upcoming posts will be centered around simplifying our lives, finding the balance between family time and the structured running of a large family, becoming more self sufficient, my feeble attempts at crafting, and of course balancing the budget.

I have missed you all and hope that our blog is a help to someone out there :D

2011-07-23T21:32:00.001-07:00

Create your own free picture collage

I'm baaaaack!

2011-07-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well kinda sorta back :)

Since my last post we have welcomed our 5th blessing and as you can imagine we are a little busy over here!

I have lots of ideas for projects and posts to come in the future when I have a little more time :)

Just wanted to let you all know I am still alive and leave you with a picture of our newest little addition.

End of month grocery breakdown.

2011-03-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

This week unfortunately we went over our budgeted amount for groceries. We over spent this month by $80.45. When we take into account that we did some freezer shopping this month (total of $53.44) if this had been a normal month without putting anything in the freezer for the future we would have overspent by $27.01. I am not happy about it BUT we have had a new diet development over here this week. I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes which means I have to limit my carb intake. This means that along with looking at the prices of things I also have to look at the carb count. So we spent a little more to get the lower carb item that I can eat without causing any health issues.

Grocery Breakdown
Breakfast:
$17.05

Lunch:
$25.82

Dinner:
$4.36

Household:
$28.60

Junk/Snack foods:
$14.93

Baking:
$4.51

Dairy:
$14.10

Fruit:
$19.13

Total with surcharge: $140.80
Total Coupons used: $13.00
Total out of pocket: $127.80

Getting ready for baby #5!

2011-03-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by the ticker over on the right we are expecting to add a new little one to our family in a few weeks! It is super exciting but has also been challenge since we are expecting our first little boy! We knew we didn't want to break the bank this time since getting ready for twins from scratch a year ago was such a financial drain. So we got creative and tried to get everything we needed for our new little man for the least amount of $$$ possible. At a certain point it became a challenge, and you know how I like challenges!

So here we go!

First up we have every budgets downfall; diapers. There is no way around it you are going to have to diaper your little one. I personally choose to cloth diaper my little ones. It is cheaper in the long run, better for the environment, and better for the babies bottom. This time around we will be using our newborn covers and prefolds in the beginning again, but we also knew we were going to need more diapers for him as he grows since I am also diapering the twins still. So we decided to go ahead and get the bigger diapers while they were on sale. We went with BumGenius 4.0's. They are adjustable for 7-35lbs meaning you buy the diaper ONCE and use it till potty training....really there isn't a better deal out there! Total spent : $196 with shipping.

Next up in our preparation for baby is meal prep. While nursing a baby those first few weeks there really isn't time to do a whole lot of cooking. You are tired and have your hands full with your new little bundle of joy. To counter act the urge to just get fast food or blow the grocery budget on convenience foods I decided to prepare a months worth of dinners and baked goods before hand. I know that sounds daunting in your third trimester but I have a a simple approach. I simply double a recipe that I am already making and then add one to the freezer. Simple. I don't have the exact amounts spent on the freezer meals right now since I am still cooking, but the amount will balance out of our May grocery budget so in reality the total cost is $0.

When sleep deprived and trying to make things easier for yourself digging around in a large chest freezer trying to figure out what you have on hand isn't my idea of fun any more than cooking is! To make my life easier I decided to keep a running log of what meals were in my freezer at any given moment. Since I am the worlds worst for losing any thing written on a piece of paper under the best of circumstances I knew it would be a bad idea when sleep deprived. To solve the this problem I decided to keep a running total of the meals on my white board. Now anyone can simply take a quick look at the board and see what we have available. Another plus is that it is simple to just wipe out a number and add the new amount when you use up a item. Total spent: $0

Next up we have the dreaded nursery. It is the drain of every budget. The crib, dresser, clothes, etc. It adds up FAST! Since we already had older children this was a piece of cake for me. Instead of buying a third crib that would only be needed for a few months till the twins go to a toddler bed we decided to use our co-sleeper for as long as possible. It also seemed silly to me to buy a dresser for a few months so we decided to use a plastic storage container with drawers from the playroom as our makeshift dresser. It works great and will be usable for years. The swing we already had from the twins, and I decided to just use a office chair that was not being used at the present for a place to sit and nurse the baby. It rocks just as well as a rocker, if we decide we need a rocker I can always move the one from the twins room that isn't being used. Now on to the costly items...clothes. There was no way around this one we needed boy clothes. With four older sisters I was up a creek on hand-me-downs. Where to find cheap boy clothes? A consignment store, thrift store, neighbors, etc are all options. I was very lucky when I joined my local mothers of multiples group that they have a 100% free clothing swap every 3 months. I took in all the clothes the twins had outgrown and traded them for a one years supply of boy clothes. This is a even better deal when you take into account that all the little girl clothes I traded I got for free from the swap when I was pregnant with the twins. Total for the nursery: $0

Lastly we have the carseat. When pregnant with the twins my mother was kind enough to buy us two matching girly carseats. They were adorable and I loved them, but pink isn't really a color I wanted for a little boy's carseat. Buying a new carseat wasn't an option either, those suckers are expensive!

Instead of buying a brand new carseat I decided to try and find a boy cover to go on one of the carseats we already had. I was lucky and found a WAHM who sold carseat covers on eBay for a reasonable amount. I was able to get this really cute one for $30.

I just couldn't resist the idea of a carseat cover that couldn't blow off in bad weather when I saw one online. It is a brilliant idea! I though know the limits of my sewing abilities and was not willing to give this one a try. Luckily my good friend is a wiz with the sewing machine and was able to make it for me for $35 with shipping. I am in love with it!

So there you go 100% prepared for baby #5 with only a total outlay of $261!

I am pretty happy with that total since we are having a new gender. Now to just get this little one here safe and sound so we can start enjoying the fruits of our labor!

Grocery Breakdown 3/22

2011-03-22T14:14:00.001-07:00

This week we are continuing with our freezer cooking and making some progress! So far we have 11 dinners in the freezer for after the baby comes as well as 5 dozen soy muffins for the twins! More about all that prep in a later post, now though I need to get my grocery totals in for this week.

Receipt Totals
Breakfast:
$6.28

Lunch:
$3.50

Dinner:
$36.44

Junk food/Snacks:
$13.51

Baking:
$10.93

Freezer Meals:
$23.26

Household:
$4.88

Total with Surcharge: $102.63
Total Coupons used: $0.50
Total out of pocket: $102.13

My goal for this month was to bring in our grocery budget at $500. So far we have spent $452.65 leaving us with a remaining balance of $47.35 for the rest of the month. Considering there are only 3 days left in the month after this weeks groceries are used up before we get paid again we should be good to go.

Week #3 Grocery Breakdown

2011-03-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

This weeks grocery shopping was done a little different. Since I am due to have my 5th baby in a few weeks it is time to start stocking our freezer with meals to hold us over for the first few weeks. I am really not a fan of fast food but cooking in the first few weeks with a new baby is almost impossible, especially when you have 4 older children to take care of. To solve this problem I try and make as many complete meals as possible before hand and store them in the freezer. As you can imagine when 8mths pregnant I am not all that over the moon about standing in the kitchen to cook for hours at a time either!

The easiest way to solve this problem is to just make double batches of what you are already cooking for dinner, adding one new meal to the freezer every night. So with this in mind you will see this weeks breakdown contains a new line item: "Freezer Meals" this will include 2 spaghetti dinners (will cook the pasta the night of), 1 taco dinner (taco meat frozen with shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, green onions, and tortillas), 1 pizza (homemade dough, shredded cheese, pizza sauce, pepperoni), 1 Poppy Seed Chicken casserole, 1 Minestrone Soup, and 1 chili dinner. So at the end of this week I should have 6 dinners in the freezer for once the baby comes. My goal is 15-30 meals by the middle of April.

Grocery Breakdown
Breakfast:
$6.16

Lunch:
$3.18

Dinner:
$23.37

Junk food:
$7.88

Baking:
$8.80

Dairy:
$9.02

Freezer Meals:
$30.18

Household:
$22.97

Total with surcharge: $117.64
Total Coupons Used: $15.75
Total Out of Pocket: 101.89

March Grocery Totals

2011-03-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

This month I am going to be doing the grocery break down a little different. Honestly I am a bit busy right now and don't really have the time to sit down and type out what we are having for dinner each week, but I do need to keep myself accountable so I will be listing the amount spent. So here we go....The first two weeks of this month were done without WIC so the totals are for 100% of the food we eat as a family of 6.

Week One
Breakfast:
$3.75

Lunch:
$5.13

Dinner:
$23.17

Dairy:
$33.65

Snacks:
$9.18

Baking:
$13.63

Household:
$18.34

Total Coupons used: $7.65
Total out of pocket: $102.37

Week Two
Breakfast:
$7.82

Lunch:
$14.55

Dinner:
$62.35 (ouch!)

Snacks:
$16.09

Dairy:
$35.96

Baking:
$9.81

Total Coupons used: $9.40
Total out of pocket: $146.26

Total Budgeted for March: $500
Total spent: $248.63
Total Remaining: $251.37

I bake everyday.

2011-02-26T18:56:00.001-08:00

Every.single.day.

I don't particularly like baking.....okay I am going to be honest with you I hate it. I am 7 mths pregnant and spending that time in the kitchen baking leaves me with swollen legs, aching feet, and the overwhelming urge to take a nap. So why am I in the kitchen everyday baking up a storm? Because my kids like to eat, they are odd that way, and my youngest two can't have any processed baked goods due to their allergy to milk protein.

For a while we tried just reading the labels on things and buying baked goods that didn't have milk on the label. The result? One of them ended up head to toe hives and the other one ended up with such a bad digestive reaction her bottom was bleeding. Come to find out companies only have to list a ingredient if it is more than a certain % of the ingredients. So a product can have milk in it and not have it on the label. What a crock!

The result is that all the baked goods for the twins have to be made at home. You would think a dozen muffins would last a while right? Wrong, these kids can go through a dozen muffins in one day. One of these days I am going to get smart and make up 5 dozen at a time, but right now I am just too tired to spend that kind of time on my feet.

Anyways I thought I would share some of my kids favorite treats. Yes, they are all dairy free but you can change any listing of soy milk to regular milk. I am not crazy about the banana oat drops and the kids have yet to try them so I will hold off on sharing that recipe.

Here we have a picture of today's baking results:

Apple Muffins, Apple & Blueberry "wheat thins", and Banana Oat Drops.

Apple Muffins

***This recipe can be for any type of sweet muffin you like, just change the puree used. We have made this using applesauce, bananas, apples and carrots, etc. Just make sure you keep the amount the same***

1 1/2c Flour

3/4c. Sugar

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1tsp. Baking Soda

1/2tsp Salt

1 1/2c applesauce

1 egg

1/3c Vegetable Oil

1/4c Plain Soy milk

1 tsp Lemon juice

*Heat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients and pour into muffin pan. Bake 25-30 min.

Homemade "Wheat thins"

***You can make these any flavor you want by changing the plain oatmeal to a flavored one. I used Apple & Blueberry granola and they were a big hit***

3c. uncooked oatmeal

2c. unbleached white flour (or 1c. white and 1c. wheat)

1c. Wheat germ

3Tbsp. sugar

1tsp. Salt

3/4c Vegetable oil

1 c. water

*Heat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together and roll out on to two cookie sheets. Cut into squares or diamonds using a pizza cutter. Bake for 15min.

Fruity Puree Cookies

***Again you can make these using any fruit puree you want, also I didn't have soy flour so I just replaced it with a equal amount of wheat flour and they worked out great***

3/4c Brown Sugar

3/4c Vegetable oil

1c. Applesauce

1/2tsp salt

1tsp Vanilla

1/2c. Oat bran

1/2c. Wheat Germ

1 1/2c. Wheat flour

1/2c. Soy flour

*Heat oven to 350. Combine sugar and oil and mix till smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and chill for 30min. Make into little balls and place on a greased cookie sheet, flatten slightly with a fork. Bake 12-14 min.

Frugal websites

2011-02-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

I know most of the people reading my blog are doing so to get ideas for living more frugally. To help each of you with finding some more frugal ideas or motivation I thought I would post some of my favorite websites and forums. Each has tons of great ideas and motivation to keep going.

Websites:
Eat at Home Cooks Amazing site for simple eat at home meals, how to freeze meals, cooking in bulk, etc.
Frugal Families Seriously a little bit of everything. Frugal holidays, pet care, cleaning, organizing, cooking, etc.
Down to Earth A lovely lady who does just about everything from scratch and lives pretty much totally self sufficiently on her farm.
Hillbilly Housewife lots of info on eating cheaply but with your health in mind.
Life. On a Budget Blog dedicated to living on one income successfully.
Money Saving Mom Site dedicated to helping you find deals and stretch your income.
Owl Haven A mom of 10 talks about how she makes the most of her grocery budget.

Forums:
Down to Earth A forum from the same site as above. Dedicated to the pursuit of living simply.
Living Like No One Else A forum dedicated to people following Dave Ramsey's financial advice. Tons of financial help and advice.

So there you go a list of sites that give me my inspiration to keep going and find the next frugal challenge!

The time it takes to coupon.

2011-02-21T15:21:00.000-08:00

Many people I know have told me that they just don't have the time to coupon. It takes to long to look through all the websites, print the coupons, cut them out, and organize them. Plus then there are the newspapers to buy and go through, then more clipping and organizing. I personally do not buy any newspapers, I can get better inserts for free at my local commissary so I will be talking only about the time it takes to do printable coupons.

My kiddos take a 2-3 hour nap every day, those that are too old for a nap have "quiet time". I normally use this time to bake muffins for the next day or catch-up on my vacuuming (one of my little ones is terrified of the vacuum). One day a week however I use this time to do my couponing. Today decided to track how long it took me to get everything done from start to finish.

It took me 2 hours to go through all my websites and get everything printed out, clipped, and organized into my coupon binder. Granted I did take a few timeouts to resettle a little one who didn't want to nap and check my facebook messages. Plus this week I took the time to add up the amounts from the coupons I clipped so I could give you the total. I would say on a day when I have no distractions I could get it all done in a hour and a half, but who are we kidding I am a mother of 4 children 6yrs and under, my life is rarely distraction free.

So this week I printed and organized coupons totaling $67.30 that would be $33.65 per hour. I don't know about you but I think my time is worth $33.65 a hour! Now that is just printing the coupons I will use: the granola bars, yogurts, toilet paper, crackers, etc that we actually use on a weekly basis. Added to those coupons are the ones that we may use: laundry soap, medicine, cleaning supplies, etc. that are normally cheaper when buying a alternate brand. You never know though when something is going to go on sale and be cheaper with a coupon than the product you normally buy without a coupon.

I need to get a picture of my new coupon binder up. I outgrew my previous coupon organizer and had to go to a three ring binder to keep everything organized. My binder is not quite as detailed as The Krazy Coupon Ladies (check out her day 5 for coupon virgins to get her details on her binder), but it works for me.

February's Grocery Totals

2011-02-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

It is that time once again where we total up how we did on our grocery budget. This month we used quite a bit less in coupons, but we also bought less groceries total this month.

Total spent on groceries: $200.20
Amount budgeted: $250
Total Remaining: $49.80

Coupons Used: $10.45

Now is also the time of the month when we decide what our next challenge is going to be. What will we challenge ourselves to do in March? I think March will be a savings account challenge.....

March's goal: $500 extra into our savings account for our upcoming overseas move.

My Grandmother's Potato Soup Recipe

2011-02-20T20:55:00.000-08:00

I am a strong believer that we can learn a great deal from our ancestors. Both of my Grandmothers lived through tough times and as a result learned a great deal. They both passed down some really frugal yet wonderful tasting recipes that they learned through out their lives. Who would I be not to take their knowledge and apply it to my life? My paternal grandmother raised 7 children, 6 of whom were growing boys, on a single seasonal income. She has a recipe for Potato Soup that is super cheap and I find to be the ultimate comfort food. My mother began making this soup when she married my father but being a true southerner she added my maternal grandmother's recipe for cornbread. Add the two together and you get a super filling dinner that costs next to nothing.

Potato Soup
Bring a pot of water up to a boil and add as many cubed bite size chunks of potatoes as your family will eat. Once the potatoes start to get tender add in 1/2 a stick of butter, 2-3 cups of milk (depends on the size of your pot, you want the water to turn white) and some salt and pepper. Continue boiling until the potatoes are tender.

Corn Bread
1 1/4c All purpose Flour
3/4c. Corn meal
1c Milk
1 egg
1/2tsp Salt

Combine all ingredients and bake at 400 for 25min.

I know not the most nutritious dinner in the world but it is hot, filling, and yummy! I find myself craving this dinner any time the weather gets cold or I am starting to get sick. I guess this is my version of Chicken Noodle Soup for colds.

Meal planning and Grocery Breakdown 2/19 - 3/2

2011-02-19T13:41:00.001-08:00

This week is a little different around here. My husband's father is not doing well so he flew home to be with his family. Leaving me one less mouth to feed till he comes home. Also since he is gone I am able to make cheaper meals that he is not crazy about (he hates soups) and make them last for 2 days instead of one. We had a total of $83.41 left of our reduced grocery budget this month. This week we spent $34.51 leaving us with a total of $48.90 for the rest of this month. We *should be* done with our grocery shopping for this month though!

Meal Plan
Breakfast:
*French toast sticks
*Vegan muffins
*Waffles
*Pancakes
*Biscuits and scrambled eggs

Lunch:
*Leftovers
*PB&J Sandwiches
*Turkey Sandwiches
*Ham Sandwiches

Dinner:
*Chicken Pot Pie with Spinach Salad
*Chicken with tomatoes and Basil
*Chicken and Egg Drop Soup
*Chicken Fajitas
*Sour Cream and Enchilada Casserole
*Turkey Taco Salad

Grocery Breakdown
Breakfast:
$2.50

Lunch:
$1.75

Dinner:
$7.16

Snacks:
$11.76

Baking Supplies:
$11.27

Household:
$1.29

Total with Surcharge: $38.26
Total Coupons used: $3.75
Total Out of Pocket:$34.51

Meal Plan and Grocery breakdown week of Feb 14th

2011-02-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

We are still trying to operate on a bare bones grocery budget and so far so good. You will notice that this weeks grocery bill was kept low by using the stockpiled chicken that I got on sale last week. We have $84.31 left out of our original $250 budgeted amount.

Meal Plan:

Breakfast
*Waffles
*Pancakes
*Cereal
*Scrambled eggs and biscuits
*French toast sticks

Lunch:
*Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches
*Turkey Sandwiches
*Ham Sandwiches
*Grilled Cheese
*Leftovers

Dinner:
*Greek Fish Bake
*Chicken Potpie
*Chicken Teriyaki with rice
*White Chicken Chili
*Chicken with tomatoes and basil, green beans, and potatoes

Grocery Breakdown:

Breakfast:
$5

Lunch:
$7.99

Dinner:
$7.65

Snacks/Junk food:
$16.32

Dairy:
$1.69

Household:
$2.49

Total with surcharge: $43.17
Total Coupons used: $5.20
Total out of pocket: $37.97

The best homemade pizza EVER!

2011-02-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

I have been trying out tons recipes over the years to try and find the right homemade pizza recipe. Either the crust was to thin and breakable or the sauce was to runny. Nothing seemed to work out right. Last night though we hit on the perfect pizza! If you like a thick and chewy crust this is the recipe for you!

Pizza Crust:
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
4 cups hot water
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil, plus 1 to 2 Tbsp for the pans
5 to 7 cups of all-purpose four
1/2 cup cornmeal

*In a large bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and water; let stand for 5 min to allow the yeast time to start working. If it is active it should start to foam.
* Add 1/4 cup oil, 4 cups flour, and cornmeal; stir. When the mixture gets too heavy to mix effectively with a wooden spoon, sprinkle about 1 cup flour onto a clean counter and oil your hands. Turn dough out onto the counter and begin kneading. Continue to knead adding more flour as long as the dough feels sticky.
*Rinse out your bowl and lightly oil. Place dough in center and cover with a clean cloth. Allow to rise for 20 to 30 min.
*Preheat oven to 550. Oil 2 pans. Using oiled fingers press dough gently out across pan. Spread desired toppings on crust and bake 10 to 15 min.

****I only wanted to make one pizza so I put the second dough ball into a freezer bag and froze. To defrost just leave it on the counter for a few hours and you are good to go. It works just as well if it has been frozen or not.****

Pizza Sauce:
8oz can of tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and use to cover one pizza crust.

Grocery Challenge Progress

2011-02-12T11:04:00.001-08:00

We set a goal this month of cutting our grocery bill in half and only spending $250 for the entire month. So far we are doing pretty well. Stocking up on a extra 8lbs of chicken breasts while they were on sale sure isn't going to hurt! We also got our WIC checks changed over so the twins are now getting the soy milk they need so that will no longer be coming out of our budget. I also did a inventory of our chest freezer and we have 10 loafs of bread, and 9 boxes of waffles/pancakes all which were bought last month on sale, thus lowering our Breakfast and Lunch categories.

Our progress this month:

2/3: $30 for Soy milk (before the WIC change over)
2/7: $94.78 Groceries as listed in post below
2/10: $2.94 for WIC shopping (went over $0.94 on my WIC fruit and veg check and gave a $2 tip to the bagger)

Total left: $122.28

Our goal is to not go to the grocery store until the 14th when we get paid again. As you can see by our meal plan below I only worked out 6 dinners to get us through the 7 days till pay day. My plan was that the 7th day would be a leftover clean out dinner. It is pretty simple you serve all the odds and ends of leftovers at one meal. Everyone gets a different meal, your fridge gets some space, and your budget gets a little breathing room!

Meal Plan and Grocery list, week of Feb. 7th

2011-02-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

I am a little behind in posting this weeks meal plan and grocery budget (oops!). This weeks grocery bill was done without WIC so our Dairy and Fruit and Veg categories are higher than normal. Also they had a killer sale on chicken breasts so I added a stockpiling category to this weeks budget.

Meal Plan

Breakfast:
*Waffles
*Pancakes
*French toast sticks
*Biscuits and scrambled eggs

Lunch
*Turkey Sandwiches
*Tuna Sandwiches
*Leftovers
*Grilled Cheese

Dinner
*Spaghetti and Romain Salad
*Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans
*Homemade Pizza
*Chicken Fajitas with Fried rice
*Chicken and Spinach Quesadillas
*Meatball subs and green beans

Grocery Breakdown:

Breakfast:
$0

Lunch:
$6.56

Dinner:
$24.90

Snacks/Junk food:
$14.06

Dairy:
$17.09

Fruit and Veg:
$9.68

Stocking up:
$15.78

Household:
$3.65

Total with Surcharge: $96.28
Coupons used: $1.50 (We were having printer issues this week)
Total out of pocket: $94.78

This months progress.

2011-02-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

This month we had some pretty lofty goals.

1.) Pay off the van loan and be officially DEBT FREE!

2.) Add enough to our savings account to fill our travel fund halfway.

Good news is we PAID OFF OUR VAN! So exciting! I have never been so excited to see a $0.00 balance in my life! I don't think it will really feel real until I have the title in my hand and the loan is gone from my banking page. Also we were able to fill our savings account past halfway! As you can see from our progress chart we are getting pretty close to filling up our travel fund! It will be so nice to accomplish a PCS without encountering any new debt along the way. Can't wait till our next paycheck when I get to color in some new lines :)

Creamy Mexican Pasta

2011-02-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

A few days ago we tried another new recipe, Creamy Mexican Pasta. It was super yummy! Super simple to put together with cream cheese, salsa, chicken, some milk and chicken stock. The kids were SUPER excited to have macaroni for dinner and even hubby ate this twice in one day :)

As you know this week I am doing reviews of my new cookbook. So far we have like 3 out of 4! I think we would have liked the Jazzy Ramen more if we had used a different type of noodle. Something with a little bit of a bite would have been nice with all the soft veggies, I may try it next time with a spiral cut pasta instead. The chicken tortilla soup was incredible. I didn't get a pic of it but man was it good! Tonight I am making Chicken Fajitas and fried rice, I will be using the fajita seasoning recipe and the fried rice recipe out of my new cookbook. I am really hoping they are both hits :)

Attempting some new cheap meals

2011-02-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

This week I am attempting some new recipes that are supposed to help you feed your family well on a budget. I started by finally reading a cookbook I have had in my pantry for over a year! I got this book "Family Feasts for $75 a week" back in November 2009. Needless to say I got a little busy soon after buying it since the twins were born in January 2010. The first half of the book is a breakdown of the authors methods for saving money. Since I have been working on cutting back my grocery bill for so long there really wasn't much there I didn't already know, but I could see how it would be helpful for someone just starting the road to cutting their grocery bill. My favorite section of the book was the chapter on making your own Sauces, mixes, dressings, etc. I am sure I will be looking through there more to pull out seasoning mixes to try! There were several recipes inside that I thought would be fun to try for our dinners this week. So far I have made a few of the recipes and thought I would share my experiences.

The first recipe I decided to work on was Pizza roll ups. Basically a Cinnamon roll made with pizza fillings instead of sugar and butter. We used cream cheese, tomato paste, mozzarella cheese, peperoni and seasonings. As you can see my homemade pizza dough rose very well! No need to worry my yeast wasn't fresh! For my personal taste the tomato paste was a little pasty. Next time I think I will either thin it out a little with some water or try a spaghetti or pizza sauce. The kiddos were not too sure of the rolls, my oldest was game and ate most of hers since she could see the peperoni, my 4yr old on the other hand was not too sure and didn't eat any. I personally liked them and had some for leftovers today. Hubby seemed to like them as well and even though I thought I had a ton leftover the container is almost empty.

Next up we have Jazzy Ramen. Now I am not a fan of Ramen, honestly I have not had Ramen since I was in college. I have never though of Ramen as being a healthy option so I don't cook with them. This recipe had a ton of veggies in it so I was willing to give it a try. In this recipe we had: carrots, onions, cabbage, and broccoli. It used 3 Ramen packets but only one of the seasoning packets mixed with some corn starch, soy sauce, and ginger. I made a vegetarian version for myself and the kiddos and added some ham to my husbands. I think I cooked to noodles for too long, they were kind of mushy and the texture just didn't work for me. I would be willing to try it again cooking the noodles for 2min instead of 3.... As for the leftover test no one was willing to eat the leftovers the next day.

So far we are one for two. Tonight is Creamy Mexican Pasta with Chicken....we shall see...

Making your own baby food.

2011-02-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, well really toddler food since my youngest are 13mths. I am not a big fan of those little jars of cut up carrots, apples, and "meat sticks" that they sell in the grocery store. The prices are just nuts when you compare it to 'real' food.

Take one of those little jars of chunked up carrots. At the commissary one of those little jars will run you $0.80 now that isn't unreasonable in itself but if you walk over to the produce department you will see you can get a whole pound of carrots for $0.80! Do you know how many of those little jars you would have to buy to make a pound of carrots? It gets even worse if you look at the 5lb bags of carrots... $0.78 a pound! How hard is it to peel, wash, and chunk up your own carrots? Yes you have to cook them to what I call smoosh consistency but really that time is all hands free. Set the carrots to steam set the timer and walk away. If you have a half an hour you can process up the whole 5lb bag of carrots, separate them into several freezer bags and freeze them. When you run out of carrots in the fridge just pull a baggie from the freezer and let it defrost in the fridge overnight or drop them in some boiling water for a few seconds and they are ready to go. This works great for all types of veggies and your little ones will get tons more variety and nutrients than if you only served them the little carrot chunks! Some options include broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans, peas, squash, etc.

Don't get me started on "meat sticks" I am sorry but meat is not supposed to come in stick form! I shudder to think what is in those overly processed sticks. I am adamant that my girls get protein at every single meal. I would go broke real quick buying all those little jars of "meat". My solution is to throw several frozen chicken breasts in my crock pot and cook on high for 6 hours. I then shred the meat and stick it in the fridge. Done! Another option is beans. Beans are cheap, easy, full of protein, and perfectly mushy. Again the crock pot is my friend. I soak the beans over night and then toss them in the crock pot on low for 10hours (smaller beans get done faster). Just like with the carrots and other veggies you can portion them out between baggies and freeze any that will not get used in a week. They are the perfect finger food. Eggs are also a great option. I like to scramble up a dozen eggs at the beginning of the week and then dole them out for breakfast in the mornings. Easy peasy! Also great options are turkey burgers, beef burgers, ham, shredded turkey, etc.

Fruit I do a little different. For things like apples that are hard and need some softening I like to saute them in a little bit of 100% fruit juice just like you were making applesauce, just stopping them before they turn into mush. I personally don't freeze fruit it never quite turns out the same consistency as it went in.

My girls are also allergic to milk in all shapes and forms so if I want to serve the girls any type of baked goods it has to be made from scratch by me with soy products. Again the freezer is my friend :)

January's Results and February's Goal

2011-01-31T13:48:00.000-08:00

So not sure if I listed our January's goal or not I think I may have been distracted ;) So here we go....

January's Goal: Find a extra $200 to put in our savings account. (Found money being money either from selling items or squeezed from other categories).

Results: $302 extra!

Also added up all the coupons we used this month:
Coupons used: $47!

{Happy dance!}

February's Goal: Cut our grocery budget from $500 to $250 for the month of February.

I figure since the first week of February's groceries were covered by January's pay thanks to the way our paychecks fell leaving only 3 weeks to cover we should be able to do it. Gonna be tight but that is the point of a challenge ;)

Attempting to satisfy pregnancy cravings without breaking the bank.

2011-01-30T16:49:00.000-08:00

One thing I have learned through 8 pregnancies is that I LOVE FAST FOOD when knocked up! On a normal basis I can take or leave fast food no problem. Actually I usually like to cook and eat at home most of the time, but when pregnant that goes out the window. I want fried foods, cheese, and tons of butter! So in a attempt to satisfy my cravings and still leave some money in the grocery budget for the other people in the household I decided to try and make my own fast food.

First off we have fried Mozzarella balls. I want fried cheese BAD! So I attempted to make them myself. It really was pretty simple. Chunk up some mozzarella, dip it in flour, coat with egg, then into the bread crumbs, back to the egg, re-coat in more bread crumbs and then freeze for at least 20 min. Once frozen deep fry in vegetable oil till they turn golden brown. In a attempt to be more frugal I used one egg and equal parts water, homemade bread crumbs, and drained on a kitchen towel instead of a paper towel. Those little golden gems turned out wonderfully, and no I didn't share! Next up is my craving for Pizza Hut's Cheese Sticks. I have tried every recipe out there to try and recreate these Cheese Sticks and nothing came close. I finally stumbled on the perfect cheese sticks the other day. I make up several batches of this homemade bread each week. I got the idea of cutting the bread in half lengthwise, melting some butter, mixing in some garlic salt and brushing over the bread (OK maybe dumping the butter on is a more accurate term!). Then top with some shredded mozzarella and bake till the cheese is golden. I served it with some spaghetti sauce and I was in heaven. Seriously I could eat this every single night for dinner no problem!

Going to War.

2011-01-30T16:09:00.000-08:00

Okay not really but that is how I feel when I am getting my grocery stuff together. It has come to be quite the pile of stuff! I thought I would break down my process for anyone who is interested.

First I go through our pantry and freezer to see what we have on hand. Next I make a list of meals that I can make with those ingredients or by only adding one or two items. Then I go through my recipe binder or cookbooks to decide on the rest of the meals. My rule of thumb on this front is I only pick a recipe if I am already buying one of the items or only have to get 2-3 new items for the recipe. Take this week for example I found a recipe I wanted to try and the only thing I was missing was cabbage so I put cabbage on my list, then I found another recipe that used cabbage and I only needed 2 more items to make the second recipe so I added that one as well.

Next step for me is to go through my WIC folder and pull out the checks I need to use this week, marking off any items on my grocery list that I am getting through WIC. Making a second list on the right hand side of the page for the WIC items.

Third step is to go through my coupon binder and pull out any coupons for items listed on the left hand side of my list. I have no brand loyalty I will buy any brand if it is cheaper. I then make a list on the bottom half of the right hand side of all my coupons that I will be looking to use that day, making sure to list amounts and sizes.

Here is a picture of my grocery prep procedure:

And here we have a picture of this weeks grocery list:I bring my coupon binder, my WIC folder, and my list with me every time I go to the store. I then hit up the coupon shelf at the beginning of the store and grab 5-6 of the free coupon inserts. By the time I get to my cart and get situated I feel like a Olympic event is about to start, lol. I also bring my calculator with me and keep a running total of my grocery bill as I go through the store. I know I probably look like a crazy lady but I would rather have a running total and be prepared when I get to the checkout than get a nasty shock when they start ringing items up. I would rather decide while going down the isle if I can afford that second box of pasta than have to put it back while at the register because I don't have enough money to buy it. And there you have my war strategy!

Meal Plan/Grocery Breakdown Jan 30th-Feb 5th

2011-01-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

Even though the majority of this weeks groceries are going to be for February since we have not received February's pay yet we will be counting this in the January Budget. This week our budget is running a little tight since it makes 5 weeks worth of groceries so we have tightened our belt and cut out all junk food and non necessary items. I wish this type of grocery shopping was sustainable but my husband is going to want his sodas back :)

I also had a first at the grocery store today, I actually got something for FREE! I know many people have said over and over again how combining coupons with sales can get you items for free but I have never been that lucky. The lowest I had ever got down to was $0.10 for a item, which I am not complaining about! Today I needed Soy Sauce so I went to the store with my $1 off coupon only to find they were having a sale. The 10oz soy sauces were marked at $0.89 each. I double checked my coupon to make sure it didn't have a minimum amount of ounces and since it didn't I snapped that sucker up. I was standing there smiling to myself when I realized I had another coupon in my binder (which I always take with me now cause you never know when you are going to find a deal!). So I got 20oz of Soy Sauce and actually MADE $0.22! My husband things I am crazy for being so excited but I mean come on I was going to buy it anyways and they paid me to take it out of the store :D

Meal Plan:
Breakfast (served with milk):
*Waffles
*Pancakes
*Egg Biscuits

Lunch (served with Fruit and milk):
*Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
*Ham Sandwiches
*Tuna Sandwiches
*Grilled Ham/Turkey Sandwiches
*Leftovers

Dinner:
*Tilapia with homemade Tarter Sauce and Salad
*Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and Salad
*Chicken Fajitas with Fried rice
*Pizza Rolls
*Jazzy Ramen
*Mexican Bow tie pasta
*Chicken tortilla soup

Grocery Breakdown:
Breakfast:
$0

Lunch:
$7.64

Dinner:
$29.51

Snacks:
$3.50

Dairy:
$10.17

Fruit and Veg:
$6.73

Household:
$2.14

Total with Surcharge: $62.67
Total Coupons Used: $6.40
Total out of pocket:$56.27

Coupons....

2011-01-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

This was my first month getting back into the world of couponing and I have to say I am having more and more success as the month goes on. I have long heard that you have to coupon for months before you start to see the massive success so often shared by others and I am finding that to be true. You need time to build up your coupon stockpile but once you have a fair amount it gets a lot easier to save money. By watching for sales and stocking up using your coupons you can save a fortune.

The first step in couponing is to save up and organize your coupons. In the past I was forever getting irritated because I would bring only the coupons I was planning on using and would then get to the store to find a great deal that I had a coupon for but the coupons were at home! *growl* My solution was to carry all my coupons with me to the store, but I needed a way to organize them and keep them all together. And here it is....a coupon holder with a pretty laminated fabric on the outside. It fits perfectly in my purse and keeps everything together. The front pouch is great for storing my calculator, ID, and money. So I don't even need my purse if I don't want it :)

Total Coupons used in January: $40

Bargin Shopping and the Twins!

2011-01-22T16:18:00.001-08:00

Everyone knows that twins are expensive, after all you need 2 of everything at the same time. Our newest growth spurt has led to the need of 2 new convertible car seats, preferably for as little cash as possible. While browsing this weeks Target flyer I found they had their Costco Convertible car seats marked down to $37 each! I was sold right there! But wait it didn't stop there on the same page there were toddler cups buy two get one free, I was SO there!

Being the ever frugal mama I first made a stop at the NEX to get a price comparison after all even if the car seats were marked for the same price they would have been cheaper at the NEX since we don't pay sales tax at base stores. I browsed through the baby isle (after first checking the prices over in the Health and Beauty isle, after all I am always after a deal) and about had a heart attack at the prices of their convertible car seats! $189 for ONE! Um...no. So off to Target I went. Sure enough there were the car seats for $37 I threw 2 in my cart and was off to find the toddler cups! Final breakdown I saved $39.97 off of the normal prices at Target and $294 by not buying the cheapest car seat at the NEX :)

Meal Plan and Grocery Breakdown Jan 22nd

2011-01-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

Last weeks Meal plan was sort of hit or miss thanks to having company. There were several nights when my husband and his company were not here to eat so many things lasted longer as leftovers than normal so you will be seeing some repeats from last week as we get things used.

Breakfast ( Served with fruit and milk):
*Waffles
*Pancakes
*French Toast Sticks
*Cinnamon Rolls
*Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits

Lunch (all served with fruit and milk):
*Tuna Sandwiches
*Turkey Sandwiches
*Ham Sandwiches
*Leftovers
*Frozen Pizza

Dinner:
*Honey Rosemary Chicken with broccoli
*Chicken and Egg Drop Soup
*Jalapeno Burgers and Fries (plain burgers for the little ones)
*Spaghetti
*Fried Shrimp, Spinach salad, and baked potatoes
*Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies
*Nacho chips

Grocery Receipt Breakdown
Breakfast:
$36.40

Lunch:
$17.64

Snacks:
$7.96

Dinner:
$38.58

Milk (Twins Soy Milk):
$10.17

Household:
$18.27

Junk food:
$5.25

Total before Coupons with surcharge: $141.53
Total coupons: $19.74
Total out of pocket: $121.79

Cleaning out the Closets!

2011-01-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

With a upcoming overseas move we are in the process of cleaning out all of our closets and selling anything that can be sold. In the past I would have simply donated all the junk and gotten on with my life. Now that I am determined to pay off our debt and save up a large chunk of money for our move selling it all is the way to go. So far this month we have made $130 with another $45 in stuff that needs to be mailed off as soon as I can get it all in the correct sized boxes and to the post office. In the past I wouldn't have bothered just because it is a pain in the rear to go through it all and get it all to the post office....it is still a pain but man am I having fun watching the total go up and up. Granted the total is going up slooowly usually $5 at a time but as you can see it IS going up.

So far we have listed items on ebay and craigslist with a good amount of success. We have also listed our baby clothes the twins have outgrown on a website I am a member of devoted to mom's of many young siblings as well as on facebook. Not the normal places you would think of to sell things but it is working. Also for all of my books, old VHS tapes (really who has any of these anymore?!), and DVD Box sets that we no longer want we have sold them to different websites that buy these type of things from you. No listing items and waiting to see if it sells just type in the IBC code and you know right away if they want it and how much they are willing to pay for it. Some of the sites for this type of service that I like a lot are: www.abundatrade.com and www.cash4books.net both of which are simple to use and pay you via paypal when they receive your box!

My goal was to make a extra $200 this month for our snowball and it looks like we may just make it!

1 Year of Swagbucks

2011-01-16T21:01:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of swagbucks! The program is super simple to use and really adds up quickly. You simply install their search bar and use it every time you do a Internet search, for every couple of searches you earn swagbucks. Once you have a certain amount saved up you can trade them in for prizes. Since it has been 1 year since I signed up for the program I decided to go back and check and see how much I have earned. I was pretty surprised I have earned $55 in Amazon gift cards! The best part is that I didn't have to do ANYTHING different than I normally would just use their toolbar! Today I traded in a few $5 gift cards I had saved up from the last few months and "bought" myself a few new books for my Kindle! I am a pretty happy person today :)

If you have not already checked out Swagbucks you should definitely Click here to give it a shot!

Meal Plan for week of January 16th

2011-01-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

I tend to meal plan from Sunday to Saturday since I grocery shop on Saturdays so here is this coming weeks meal plan and grocery breakdown :)

Breakfasts:
*Waffles
*Pancakes
*Cereal
*Scrambled Eggs
*Homemade Breakfast Burritos
*Milk

Lunches:
*Sandwiches (Turkey, Ham, or PB&J)
*Leftovers
*Fruit
*Milk

Dinner:
*BBQ Brisket and Pasta Salad
*Baked Shell Casserole
*Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
*Honey Rosemary Chicken with Broccoli
*Chicken, Rice and Egg Drop Soup
*Leftovers

Grocery Breakdown:

Breakfast:
$13.82

Lunch:
$5.95

Dinner:
$58.09

Dairy:
$16.85

Snacks/Junk Food:
$14.04

Household:
$20.43

Total (with Surcharge): $135.61
Coupons: $10.40
Total out of pocket: $125.21
**Fruit/Skim milk/etc. Covered by WIC**

Dinner costs were high this week because of having a extra mouth to feed due to having company staying with us. My goal was to have enough leftover from dinners to cover lunches as well. We shall see!!

Mini Blog Vacation

2011-01-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

I am going to be taking a week off of blogging to spend time with my mother who is visiting. So far we have been to a Luau and are now off to the do some more sightseeing. I will be back in a week hopefully with lots more savings ideas! :D

Today's Haul

2011-01-06T14:17:00.001-08:00

I spent today's nap time going from store to store to get the best deals based on our local flyers. Here is today's haul:

Here is the breakdown....

Target

$1 bread (white or wheat) I bought 9 loafs today to add to the 5 loafs I bought at the beginning of the sale. Making my haul 14 loafs at about $15 with tax. That is a savings of about $18. We go through about 1 loaf every 2 days so while I would like for this stockpile to last a while it should get us through till next month :) The nice lady at the checkout was a little in shock that I was buying so much bread. I explained that I will keep it in our freezer till it is needed, even then I think she thought I was nuts, lol!

NEX

24 double rolls of Charmin for $10 each. I bought 2 packs (48 rolls) for $20. That is $0.42 per roll while the next cheapest brand is $0.50 per roll. That gives me a savings of $4.00 total. Not huge but we are now set on Toilet paper for the rest of the month....maybe for Feb as well not totally sure how much TP we go through in a month.

VO5 Shampoo and Conditioner 2/$1.25. I bought 8 bottles for a total of $5. They are normally $0.75 each so I saved $2.00. Four bottles of shampoo and conditioner should last my kiddlets at least 6 months, so we are set there for a while.

Total Savings: $24

Not bad for a hour of my life....will be interesting to see what is on sale next week ;)

1/5 Meal Plan

2011-01-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Breakfast:
*Pancakes
*Milk

Lunch:
*Left over pizza
*Juice

Snack:
*Clementines
*String Cheese
*Juice

Dinner:
*Smokey Black Beans and Rice soup
*Homemade bread

1/4 Meal plan

2011-01-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day back at school and for me has been a draining day. My plan was to bake some more bread today but I am just soooo tired, hopefully I can get it mixed up and in the fridge before bed so that I can bake it up in the morning...gotta love refigerator doughs!

Breakfast:

*Confetti Pancakes

*milk

***Thank you hubby for getting the kids fed this morning so I could sleep in a little***

Lunch:

* Turkey Sandwiches

*Banana's dipped in Peanut butter

*Juice

Snack:
*String cheese

*Whole wheat bread

*Juice

Dinner:
*Homemade pizza (with carrots snuck in the sauce, shhh don't tell!)

Meal Plan Monday 1/3/11

2011-01-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

You know I often wonder when people post their budgets what they are actually eating for that amount of money so I thought it would be interesting to keep a log here :) (OK maybe it is only interesting to me so feel free to skip this post if I am boring you, lol). So here is today's meal plan....

Breakfast:

*Confetti pancakes

*Milk

Lunch:

*Sandwiches (peanut butter, or Turkey)

*Yogurt

*Milk

Snack:

*Apples with Peanut butter
*Water

Dinner:

*Fried chicken on Romaine with homemade Blue cheese dressing

*Homemade bread

*Milk

You know what I see?? We go through a lot of milk in a day. I need to go through and cut out milk from one meal a day I think. The kids don't need that much milk and it sure would help the budget!

Staying motivated.

2011-01-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

You know how when you have a large goal it is so easy to get discouraged or fall off the wagon. There is just so much time and effort needed to get there and it is so easy to slip after a while. I think most of us know this is especially true with things like weight loss and money. To help keep my husband and I a motivated to save, save, save we have put up a motivational chart. The chart is lined and with each $200 we put into savings we color another line in. We taped it to our fridge and I have to admit it sounds silly but it really is motivating, I really want to color in those lines! Man I sound like my 6 year old now ;)

You can get your own right here!

My first ever endeavor into shopping by flyers!

2011-01-03T16:33:00.001-08:00

Well today was my first ever endeavor into shopping based of flyer sales. I have to admit I was a little nervous that I would get in there and get sucked into the dreaded consumer trap of "I have to have this unrelated item NOW" mentality, after all isn't that why they do the flyers to start with? To get you in the store so you buy more STUFF! For my first attempt I thought I would go small Target is having a bread sale this week and since that is the only thing on my list I figured it would be pretty easy to check out. Plus all my kiddos and my hubby were down for naps so who was going to miss me if I slipped out for a few minutes ;) I managed to walk directly to the bread section averting my eyes from all the pretty sparkly things I passed on my way to the very back center of the store. Once there low and behold there were signs for $1 bread I was in the right section and had read the flyer correctly....only one problem....there was no bread on the shelves! Ok I take that back there were 3 loafs on one of the 5 shelves, plus 2 more shoved in the wrong place making my haul 5 loafs of bread. Not quite the number I was looking for BUT the sale does run through the end of the week so I have a few more days to go back and grab some more.

Total paid out (with my impulse chocolate bar purchase, I broke after all!) was $6.48 with tax.....price at the commissary before surcharge would have been $11.70 so in all I saved $5.22. Not exactly big bucks but it does all add up especially if I can get 5 more loafs and save $6.47 (without the dreaded candy bar, lol!). That would give me a months bread for $10.46 instead of $23.40. {Insert me doing a happy dance here!}

Paying for Resolutions 1 and 2....

2011-01-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

So as I stated in my last post I have several resolutions going right now. My first two have to do with $$$ so I figured I would group them together for this post, after all I need to save some money to be able to pay for those resolutions so they might as well be together.

So first things first if I want to be able to save $10,000 and pay off $4,900 in debt all by June on $25,000 a year take home pay with soon to be 5 children as a stay at home mom I am going to need to be creative to say the least! So I thought I would catalog my endeavors so that I am better able to see if they are successful or not.

First item of business is the grocery budget, after all isn't that where most of us could probably cut? My budget for this month is $400 for 6 people....my method of attack? Well that would be coupons and cheap from scratch cooking :) Here is this weeks breakdown...

Meat: $11.29
Breakfast: $17.64
Lunch & Snacks: $ 22.62
Dairy Items: $30.76
Vegetables: $4.65
Dinner: $6.45
Fruit: $12.17
Cleaning and Paper Products: $16.34

Surcharge: $6.07
Total: $127.99
Coupons: -$8.05
Total out of pocket: $119.94

Total came out a little higher than I would have liked but Dairy should be less next week when the next months WIC comes in to play.

The next method of attack is trying to find great deals in the local flyers...this week I found some good deals in the NEX flyer and in the Target flyer. This weeks attempts at finding great deals:

Target:
*$1 Market Pantry Bread (Commissary bread is $2.36 per loaf)

NEX:
*Palmolive 3/$3
*VO5 Shampoo and Conditioner 2/$1.75
*Pepsi Family 3/$10 (commissary cases are $4.64 each)
*Charmin, 24 double rolls $10 (Commissaries cheapest is 9 rolls/4.99)

I will let you all know how this goes I am thinking there will be some bumps in the road while trying to find and get these deals.

Next thing I am looking for is to increase my coupon usage. So first things first is to find more coupons. I have several websites that I like to use and have gotten some great coupons for things I use quite a bit so that helps a bunch.
Coupon websites:
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/global/Category.asp?c=175237
http://coupons2.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=HSPNCF4GHK42U
http://coupons.redplum.com/offers/default.aspx?Id=KrazyCouponLadyBlog&DefaultZipCode
http://www.grocerycouponnetwork.com/
http://www.afullcup.com/coupons/printables
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/print-coupons/
http://www.couponmom.com/printable-grocery-coupons-242

Next place I looked was in the Sunday paper...honestly don't think it was worth the $2. I did find some coupons but not enough to cover the cost of the paper, the flyers were nice but I could get them online for free. Don't think the paper will be happening next week! Live and learn ;)

New Year New Resolutions!

2011-01-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

So it seems everyone makes New Years resolutions and I thought I would follow the masses and give it a shot myself. I am not usually a New Years resolution type of person but with some major goals in place for this year this seems like the right time of the year to rededicate myself to fulfilling them. Since we will be moving to Japan in 6mths I think I will make my resolutions for 6mths at a time to make everything simpler to understand.

So here it goes!

*Save up $10,000 for our PCS and COT leave coming up in June
*Pay off our van ($4,900) by June
*Clean out all closets and get them organized
*Sell anything removed from closets and add to our snowball.

Obviously each of these resolutions will have several steps involved to complete them and will be the subject of several posts in the future. I am hoping that by keeping myself accountable here I will be able to keep my momentum going and fulfill these pretty lofty goals :)

Cheap and Easy meals

2010-07-31T16:21:00.001-07:00

Several of my friends have commented in the last week about how I am able to make cheap and easy meals. One couldn't believe how little we spend at the grocery store while another wanted to know how I am able to make quick meals around babies schedules and soccer practice. Since there has been so much talk about this subject in my life this week I thought I would share some of my menu plan for this week.

Day 1: Spaghetti with Meat sauce and Garlic bread.

Ground Turkey: $2.75
Spaghetti Sauce: $1.49
Garlic Bread: $2.30

Total: $6.54

Day 2: BBQ Brisket with Veggies

Brisket: $9.30
BBQ Sauce: $0.89
Veggies: Free (WIC)

Total: $10.19

Day 3: Fajitas with Salsa Rice

Tortillas: $3.80
Chicken: $3.76
Bell Peppers: $1.44
Onions: Pantry
Fajita Seasoning: Pantry
Rice: Pantry
Salsa: Pantry

Total: $9.00

Day 4: Meatball Sammys

Sub Sandwich bread: $3.29
Meatballs:$2.29
Mozzarella Cheese: Free (WIC)

Total: $5.58

Day 5: Pizza with Salad

Pizza: $3.25
Salad: $2.00

Total: $5.25

Day 6: Meatloaf with Mixed Veggies and Potatoes

Ground turkey: $2.75
Meatloaf Seasoning: $0.50
Mixed Veggies: Free (WIC)
Potatoes: $0.96

Total: $4.21

Day 7: Taco Soup

Ground turkey: $2.75
Beans: Free (WIC)
Frozen Corn: Free (WIC)
Tomatoes with Green Chilies: Pantry
Taco seasoning: $0.50
Ranch Dressing Mix: $1.11

Total: $4.36

So there you go this weeks dinners cost $45.13 which for the most part is pretty average for us for a week. Add into that our lunch costs for bread ($2.43 x 3 loafs =$7.29) and lunch meat/peanut butter ($5.98) plus random fruit ($8.43). Plus the kids waffles for breakfast ($1.75 x 5 boxes= $8.75). Adding all the numbers up and you get a weekly grocery total of $75.58

Now this is $75.58 for the essential groceries, my hubby does like to add in some chips, sodas, and other random junk food as well :) This gives us a total of about $85 a week.

2 Week Grocery Challenge

2010-07-29T01:35:00.000-07:00

We did it! We made it two whole weeks with out grocery shopping :)

We still had 1 loaf of bread, 2 gallons of milk, and 1 jar of peanut butter left over from our bulk shopping trip two weeks ago. Since we are going to be having company sometime in the next few days I went ahead and did the grocery shopping for the next two weeks today. Two hundred dollars later and we are all stocked up for two more weeks. We spent a little more this time around since we needed to stock-up on meat as well.

Can we stick to this shopping challenge for this two week period while having guests?? We shall see :)

Twice a month shopping Update

2010-07-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

So I promised to keep you all updated on how our twice a month shopping project was going. I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seats patiently waiting so here you go!

So far so good. I have only ran out of 1 thing so far and that was the tortillas needed to make Mexican lasagna. I know it is possible to make homemade tortillas and so that is on my list for this weeks projects. Just need to find a good whole wheat recipe.....

There has been one downside to only shopping once every two weeks....I thought I had been robbed! lol! Ok maybe not THAT dramatic but I did start to call my bank and report fraud on my bank account before I realized what was going on. See I had to go shopping last night for the rest of Hailey's school supplies as well as a birthday gift for a little girl my kids are friends with. When I got home I looked at my bank balance online to just double check the numbers. That is when I saw that the last charge on my card had been for $175 That got my attention pretty fast. Who has been using my card!! Then I looked at the date and it was from LAST week when I did the grocery shopping! I hadn't used the card in 7 days and that is VERY unusual over here. I have to say I am pretty happy about not using the card in 7 days I am just going to have to start looking at the dates on the statements instead of just assuming they have been within the last day or so like I have done in the past.

As for the grocery situation we are doing fine. Still plenty of everything and I wasn't greeted with the normal Saturday morning chant of "there is nothing in this house to eat"...I must say it was really nice to wake up to well fed people who didn't have any complaints ;) Now this coming Saturday might be another situation entirely, I think I got enough to last through to Sunday but we shall see. If not at least I will know what to change for the next trip.

I think I am hooked on this only shopping twice a month thing....it is very relaxing :)

Insulin Resistance Sucks

2010-07-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) after having Sara Beth and then having trouble conceiving again. Once I lost some weight though I was able to get my hormone levels under control and was able to conceive the twins. While pregnant with the twins I developed Insulin Resistance thanks to the PCOS. I had to go on a special diet and was no longer able to eat sugar, refined carbs (white bread, white pasta, etc), as well as having to eat protein anytime I wanted to eat a complex carb. The hope was that after the twins were born my body would start to recognize the insulin again and everything would go back to normal. Yeah, didn't happen.

I have spent the last 6 mths eating as a *normal* person would. At first it was simply a matter of survival, I ate what didn't eat me first just to stay alive in those long first weeks. Then it became habit, after all I felt fine and I no longer had little people inside of me counting on me to maintain my blood sugar levels.

During the last week though I have started to feel *off* again. It is hard to describe to someone who hasn't felt it. It is like drinking a half a bottle of wine in 5min. Your head starts to swim, you get uncoordinated, and it is like you are trying to think through a fog. I knew something was wrong but I was in denial. Yesterday though I had to admit something was really off and tested my blood sugar....yeah I was through the roof.

I made a decision right then that I have to get this under control for ME not because I have little people inside me counting on me. The risks of allowing this to continue are huge. I could develop full blown diabetes, heart problems, etc.

So here we are on day 1 of returning to a low GI diet....I don't want to especially since we have a birthday party to go to in a few hours and I would LOVE to have some cake! On a good note though this should help me feel SO much better as well as lose some of this baby weight that has been refusing to budge.

Twice a month grocery shopping.

2010-07-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

I have blogged before about trying twice a week shopping, but was always hindered by the lack of freezer space. Now that I have my new chest freezer I am giving it a try again! I went to the store on Saturday and *think* I got everything we need for two weeks. My shopping cart was literally overflowing and I looked like a crazy lady trying to maneuver it through the store. Half the time I just gave up and left it parked at the end of aisles while I ran down to get something, it was just to much trouble to push! I don't know if I will ever be able to do once a month shopping just because I won't be able to get two overflowing shopping carts through the store! :)

So here is my partial grocery list for these coming two weeks....
6 Boxes of strudels for Hubby
10 Boxes of waffles for the kiddlets
6 Boxes of cereal
4 cases of Sprites
6 loafs of bread
3 Jars of Peanut butter
2 Packs of Toilet Paper
5 gallons of milk
4 Bags of chips
Plus all the odds and ends needed for dinners

Grand total came to $180.

I normally spend $120-150 per week on groceries so this is a MAJOR improvement. I was walking down the aisle with my little calculator adding everything up as I went to make sure I didn't go over $300, looks like I didn't need to worry ;)

I told my hubby when I had him add his wants to the grocery list that I refused to go back to the store for two weeks and to make sure he got the amounts he felt he needed. So now to stick to my word and not go back.

I will let you all know how it goes as the weeks progress :)

Raising a child with PDD-NOS

2010-07-18T03:05:00.000-07:00

I have blogged before about my special needs daughter. She has had a rough road over her short life at age 3 she was classified as *severely delayed* in ALL the categories of development. After many years of therapy and anxiety she is now classified as *high functioning*. I have been reading a book about raising children with high functioning autism and it has really made me think about the way my daughter sees the world. I think to get a real view of what her life now is like you have to take a step back to the beginning.....

Hailey was born in May of 2004, she was our honeymoon souvenir and although she came into our new marriage fairly quickly she was very much wanted and planned for. While we wanted her desperately my pregnancy with her was horrible. I was extremely sick, to the point of not being able to work, drive, or even sit up straight without being sick. After 8 mths of morning sickness I finally started to feel better, only to deliver her two weeks later at 38 weeks. After a quick and easy labor and delivery there she was, a screaming healthy little girl. But wait I am told she isn't the right color and I am not going to be allowed to hold her, she has to go right to the nursery for observation. I did finally get to hold her for literally a minute before she was whisked away. I did not see my child again for 12 hours. They tell me she didn't suffer any damage from being the "wrong color" but I have my doubts knowing what I know now.

Fast forward a few weeks and we come to find out that the bouncing baby girl that I have brought home from the hospital has colic, no wait make that a allergy to her formula. Once we found out that we were literally poisoning our child with a formula she was allergic to and switched her to a hypo-allergenic one things got mildly better. She stopped screaming non-stop for hours, stopped projectile vomiting every where, and she could poop like a normal child for the first time. But it didn't solve everything she still didn't sleep, she still hated to be touched, and forget about making eye contact and "talking" to us. She wasn't what society sees as a "normal" child. As a first time mother though I didn't see these things as being warning signs, after all I had never done this before I didn't know what a "normal" child was supposed to be doing.

At 18 mths I started to notice that something wasn't right. The few words she had developed were gone, she didn't make eye contact, and she never responded when spoken to not even when we said her name. Following many sleepless nights where I wrestled with my ego I finally called for a appointment to get her evaluated for a delay. They tested her and everything came back at the low end of normal. We were given the option of starting therapy if we wanted but it wasn't necessary after all she was still young and all children develop at different rates. I left that appointment feeling like a over reactive mother.

At 2 1/2 years old I knew in my gut that something was terribly wrong. She still had no functional words, she still didn't know her own name, and the world would disintegrate if we changed her routine even by a small amount. She was extremely anxious in public and couldn't stand to be touched by anyone, even me. The major warning sign to me was that while she couldn't ask for a glass of milk she could repeat line by line a whole cartoon. This phenomenon is called echolalia, where children can repeat everything they hear but can not use the words functionally, and is very common in children with autism. I made the call again and this time the evaluators came to my house and worked with Hailey. I could tell by the looks on their faces that there was something really wrong with my child. When I received the report I understood, my daughter was determined to be severely delayed in every category of development. Talk about a soul wrenching report to read. As a first time parent I am sure you can understand how I felt. I just knew that I had in some way *broken* my child. The evaluator later told me that her case was so serious that he didn't know how the first evaluator missed it. Great thanks for that!

Hailey started undergoing in home therapy the very next week and continued to do so every week until she turned 3 years old. At this point she was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental delay - Not otherwise Specified). At that point she had to start attending a special needs preschool 3 times a week and then a main stream preschool the rest of the week so that she could learn from her "normal" peers. She has been in therapy for over a year with no improvement when one day on the way home from her special needs preschool she said quite clearly "Mama I can't reach". Let me tell you I almost wreaked the car! She had finally spoken functional speech! It was not all downhill from there but it was the first hurtle.

After many many more therapy sessions we received wonderful news our child no longer qualified for special needs sessions anymore. While this was a wonderful evaluation and what we had been working towards for years it was also very scary for me as a parent. While in a special needs situation my child was normal, and actually most of the time my child was above normal because she was high functioning. But in a mainstream classroom she was going to be anything but normal. Things that other children take for granted can cause my child to have soul shattering anxiety. Who would cater to her anxiety and help her through situations that caused her to panic? Who would go over and over and over the specific directions so that she would understand? The list goes on and on....my child may not need a special needs class anymore but she wasn't ready for a mainstream one either. She was caught somewhere in the middle and I knew she was either going to suffer a extreme setback or she was going to grow in a way that could only happen my forcing her to learn more coping mechanisms. What was I to do? Send her to kindergarten of course, what else could I do?

When dealing with a child with PDD-NOS there are certain coping mechanisms that you as a parent learn. One that I learned really quickly was that if we were going to change her routine we had to tell her about it WELL in advance. For weeks we talked about going to kindergarten, right down to the smallest detail. Then we did several dry runs where she got to experience the school without ever leaving my side. Finally it came time for her first day. I walked through the whole morning routine with her and settled her at her desk. I told her I loved her and walked away. This wasn't her first time away from me and in a classroom, but this was her first time in a new classroom and that is always a situation that can cause a extreme melt down. I am told that those first few weeks she was in her shell, she didn't speak to anyone, didn't play with the other children, didn't make eye contact, and wouldn't answer any questions. Eventually she started get used to her new routine and began to interact with the teacher and the other children. One thing though continued to haunt her for months. The toilet at the school was outside the classroom and was extremely loud. Seriously it made ME flinch and I didn't have sensory issues to deal with. Hailey would sob at night not to make her got back to school the next day because of that toilet. Eventually after going through dry run after dry run the teacher and I finally got her to the point of being able to use the bathroom without sobbing and having nightmares at night. While she was able to function in the mainstream kindergarten many of her issues are still there. She still can not stand to be touched (she has actually never hugged me in her entire life), loud noises and crowded situations cause her to panic, new situations have to be explained to her in detail, she still has major textural issues when eating, and directions have to be extremely specific.

When it came time for the end of the year review I waited on pins and needles. What would the teacher say? Was she ready for first grade? Had she improved enough academically to progress? Was it possible for her to actually thrive in a mainstream classroom? When the day came I was not surprised that the teacher recommended holding her back based on the fact that she was not able to read all 20 of the sight words. After talking with other parents who home schooled their children I came to the conclusion that reading and sight words is more developmentally appropriate for a 6 yr old. So after much discussion we decided to push her through to first grade this fall. Can she do it? Can she keep up in first grade? I honestly don't know, but then I didn't know if she could handle kindergarten and she did it with flying colors.

My child will always be different, she will always be quirky and special, but she will also always be my child and I wouldn't trade a moment of our past. Yes it was hard and yes it was painful but it was our history and it has made us both the people we are today. Many of our family members have expressed surprise that we chose to have more children after seeing her issues, after all she was not a easy child. I say how can you look at that sweet face and not want more children just like her?

My Husband Doesn't Get Me.

2010-07-16T02:56:00.000-07:00

Seriously he doesn't get me at all! Not that I can say I blame him I don't really understand his hobbies either. You know that old saying "opposites attract" well we prove that true. Tonight I am playing with my new toy, a pressure canner, and my husband thinks I have lost my mind. Seems that since I am canning beans he thinks I have gone off the deep end ;) I on the other hand am feeling very self sufficient and productive. Once I was sure I wasn't going to blow myself up it became quite fun! So here is my new toy in action :)
I decided to start with kidney beans since I had a ton of them from WIC and I am so not a fan of remembering to soak and cook beans before use. I have not tried them yet but if they turn out like they should I will be ecstatic :)

And here is the poor guy...doesn't he just look tortured? :)

Cloth Diaper Maintenance

2010-07-16T02:14:00.000-07:00

Cloth diapers are a very economical choice for many people, especially for those with multiple children in diapers at one time. While cloth diapers are over all pretty much exactly the same to use as disposable diapers there are some things that are different. One thing that is very different is the usage of diaper rash creams. There are very few that are safe for use with cloth diapers this is not usually a issue, you find a cream that works well and you stick with it for the length of time your child is in diapers. There are however times when you must use a different cream, one that is not safe for use with cloth. What to do then?

My youngest two children developed a pretty bad case of diarrhea a few weeks ago which resulted in a bacterial and yeast infection on their little butts. After several different Dr appointments and even more prescription creams they are finally doing better and almost healed. The problem is that even with a disposable diaper liner there was still some contamination on the diapers resulting in non-absorbent diapers. Now while cloth diapers are economical to use, they become some what less economical when you have to replace your entire stash. Stripping the diapers on the other hand is a great way to make your diapers like new for very little money and some elbow grease.

The first step in the process is to get some REALLY hot water in the kitchen sink. My water heater was not able to get the water as hot as I needed thanks to solar power so I boiled some water and added to the sink with a few Tablespoons of dish soap. Add the diapers to the mix and let soak till the water cools enough for you to be able to put your hands in the water.
Once the water is cool enough for you to put your hands in you will notice the water has turned cloudy. That is all the *stuff* that was accumulated in the fabric. In my case diaper rash creams...

Once you can handle the diapers you take a nail brush and more dish washing liquid and scrub, scrub, scrub. Once all the diapers are done toss them into the washing machine on hot with 1 more Tablespoon of dish washing liquid. Send the diapers through as normal being sure to check during the rinse cycle for bubbles if you see bubbles like in the picture below you need to keep up the rinses. It took me 4 rinse cycles to get clear water.

And there you go you now have stripped diapers :) I am very happy to say that my diapers are now as absorbent as the day I bought them....the Velcro on the other hand....well that is another post ;)

Freezers and loans :)

2010-05-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

I have very exciting news to announce. In my ever continuing attempt to cut our grocery bill we have finally taken the plunge and bought a chest freezer! Now I know this isn't exactly stop the presses type of news but it is pretty exciting for me! I have wanted a chest freezer for years but had convinced myself that we couldn't afford to get one. For the last few months I have been socking away $40 towards my freezer fund. This month we finally took the plunge and bought it! We got a great deal thanks to the aafes website. I have cleared out a spot for it and re-organized my stockpile in preparation for its delivery...now to just wait on pins and needles for it to get here. Once it arrives I am going to attempt twice a month grocery shopping once again. I found when we did the twice a month grocery shopping in the past that it saved us a ton of money, the only problem was that we didn't have enough freezer space for all the meat and such. Our problem should definitely be solved now! I will be sure to keep you all updated on our progress!

On another front we are down to our last debt, our car loan. I am proud to announce that in the last 3 months we have managed to pay $3,700 towards the principle! Talk about debt snowballing that is practically a debt snowman! Makes me ill to think that in the past all of that money would have been slipping through our fingers every month with nothing to show for it. If we are able to keep up the intensity and have no major Murphy moments in the near future we should have it paid off by the first of the year....2011 is looking like a good year to me! Then it is on to saving for a house :) Our major goal is to have at least 50% down on a house when hubby retires from the military in 15 years. That will also be the time when our children start leaving for college so hopefully we will be able to buy a smaller house than we would need now saving us even more money ;)

I have been slacking.....

2010-05-19T19:07:00.001-07:00

Not in real life but here on my blog ;) Gotta get my booty back into posting since it helps to keep me honest with my debt/frugal progress.

Quick family update....

Sara Beth has become quite the little dare devil! There is nothing this child fears :) Here we have her riding her first horse:

Hailey just turned 6 and we had a wonderful party for her at the beach on base. I was able to rent out the entire private beach with a personal lifeguard for $125. My mother ended up paying for the beach (Thanks again mom!) so my only out of pocket expenses were for the food...$20 on fruit alone! But at least it all got eaten so there was no waste :) My poor $15 cake completely melted in the heat...it was quite comical!

My little girls are all grown up! Well at least they think they are :) They are now 4mths old and are getting big...Emma 10lbs 6oz, Lacy 8lbs 13oz! They are finally sleeping through the night, well most nights, and are getting ready to start solids soon. Not looking forward to the hit my grocery budget is about to take but getting excited about taking this next step with them. Lacy is now rolling over and getting quite mobile while Emma is still content to be a little bump on a log. The are both laughing now which makes life so much more fun over here!

Here we have Lacy:

And here is Emma:

Ok there is a quick family update. I promise to get a post up soon about how we are doing on our financial/frugal journey, I can say though that we are making some great progress :)

My little ones :)

2010-04-12T22:05:00.001-07:00

The twins are now 3mths old :) That is Emma on the left and Lacy on the right.

Simple Moments

2010-04-12T17:35:00.000-07:00

There are so many simple moments through out our childrens lives that we as parents never really pay attention to. When raising a special needs child those moments no longer exist, there are no more simple moments every moment is compicated and unexpected. The things that are old hat to most children become anxiety filled tests of perserverence for the special needs child. Everything from flushing the toilet to going out in public causes tears and major drama.

My oldest daughter has PDD-NOS a type of autism...do you know how many years it took me to be able to say that statement without crying? How many sleepless nights I spent trying to figure out how to solve her latest anxiety inducing incident? It honestly took me 6mths of constant work to get her to simply step into a public bathroom stall alone let alone go potty and flush the toilet on her own that took several more months and several relapses all while her peers had long ago mastered the skill.

Today though we had a rare moment, a moment where she was able to experience what normal childhood should be. Today my daughter ran off ahead of me with her friend, shared a chocolate bar and giggled as they ran in the grass. For most of you this would be a moment of annoyance that they had run off, or that they were going to ruin their dinner but for me it was a huge milestone.

My child who has been glued to my side in a panic while in public actually ran off without me with only a few fearful looks thrown over her shoulder every now and then to make sure I was still following. My child who can not eat 90% of foods because the texture makes her vomit shared food with her friend. My child who couldn't stand the texture of grass for the longest time was running in the grass.

Now it may have been a simple moment for most other children but to us it was a very rare moment in time where she was able to glimpse a normal childhood. I as a mother can only hope that this is the beginning of some independence and self reliance while at the same time struggling with the thought that my child who has needed me more than most may actually be growing up. *sniff*

SwagBucks

2010-04-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I am always on the lookout for things to do from home that earn me a little money. I have tried all the survey, product review, and other gimmicky things out there and none of them work. They all take forever and at the most all you receive for your time is $0.50 now really my time is worth MUCH more than $0.50! So when I read about swagbucks on another blog I was sceptical to say the least but it was a blog I trust so I decided to give it a try. It was simple to use I just downloaded the toolbar and used it for my searches instead of google...that is it no surveys no e-mails to read just do your regular searches and every so often you win swag bucks :) Now once you get so many swagbucks saved up you can go to their store and buy things with them. So far since using the toolbar I have gotten $20 worth of amazon.com gift certificates! Now no it isn't a lot but it is $20 I didn't have before and it was $20 that I didn't have to do anything for :) You all should definitely check it out if you have not already :)

New Quilt Project

2010-04-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

I am happy to say that I am almost finished piecing Hailey's quilt :) I picked out the Fabric with her taste in mind and it has almost been my downfall since she is constantly trying to steal my squares because she thinks they are so pretty. Here she is proudly showing it off....
I just got the batting today so I should be able to start quilting it this week :)

Cloth Wipes

2010-04-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Amazingly enough when you are diapering two babies you need twice as many wipes...shocking I know :) I didn't realize this fact until I started running out of wipes constantly though! I blame it on lack of sleep, lol.

Thinking that it would just be easiest to buy some cloth wipes I started looking at prices and was shocked at how much they are! They charged $1.25 per wipe, for 12 wipes that would have been $15 and that was without shipping charges. I decided to make my own wipes using some 100% cotton hand towels I was able to find on base for $1.99 each. I bought two towels and was able to make 12 wipes for $0.33 per wipe. All it took was breaking out my sewing machine and doing a simple zig-zag stitch around the edge to prevent unraveling. From start to finish it took me about an hour but then I kept getting up to start/restart the diapers in the wash so it probably actually took me half that time.

Now some of you may be wondering where the wipes I have came from to begin with. Years ago when I started cloth diapering Sara Beth I knew nothing about cloth wipes and decided to buy one of those cloth wipes starter kits....yeah huge waste of money! I bought it thinking I needed the cloth wipes solution to put in the wipes box...um...I don't think I used it more than twice. I actually found the still full bottle in a closet the other day when I was looking for something else. For us plain old water works just fine and is much more cost efficient especially when you go through two boxes of cloth wipes a day.

While we are talking about cloth diaper accessories I thought I would also let you all know about my favorite cloth diaper safe diaper rash cream. Northern Essence has a wonderful all natural diaper rash cream. I actually am still using the same cream I bought for Sara Beth on the twins. This stuff lasts forever, smells great, and works wonders on little butts.

Pre-folds versus Bumgenius 3.0's

2010-03-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

So the twins are growing at an astonishing rate lately and have begun to outgrow their prefolds. While researching which diaper style to go with next I decided to go with the Bumgenius 3.0's since I was able to find some really good deals for used lots on eBay. We tried our first Bumgenius 3.0's last night and I am ready to give my review ;)

Bumgenius 3.0 Pocket Diapers

Pro's:

By having the wet insert stay in the outer waterproof shell of the diaper there is no wet insert to touch.
No need for a snappi which while easy to use is sharp and I do end up stabbing myself with it at least once a day.
No leaks even though the girls slept for 6 hours straight in it. Since the insert was so thin I was expecting it to leak but not a drop got out.
No tucking in around the legs or back to make sure there wasn't any wicking, just put it on and go.
Thin and not bulky at all. I was expecting it to be bulky on Lacy who is only 6lbs. A diaper that is meant for 7-35lbs just seems like it would be bulky on the newborn setting but it really wasn't thanks to the pocket design.

Cons:

The Velcro was crazy tight it took major muscle to get the tab off of the washing setting to use. Not a big deal if you know this BEFORE you have it on the baby!
Diapers have to be stuffed when removed from the dryer...just one more little time drain in the day.
You can not reuse the cover and have to have a new cover for each diaper change during the day.

Pre-Folds

Pro's:

Slim fitting on the baby
Drys very quickly
Cheap, at $1.00 per pre-fold there isn't a cheaper diaper out there
Very absorbent
Easy to use and takes no extra steps once dried
You can reuse the covers multiple times, sometimes one cover all day.

Con's:

You have to touch the wet pre-fold to remove it from the cover. Not a big deal during the day but at night that sucker gets REALLY wet :(
You have to use a snappi which is easy but sharp and my fingers are usually a victim at least once a day
You have to tuck the pre-fold in to the cover around the legs and back, not a big deal but a already screaming baby doesn't enjoy being manhandled to get the back tucked.

So what is my final verdict?? Honestly I am indifferent at this point, there are pro's and con's of each system and I am not in love with one over the other. Both function equally well and serve the purpose they were bought for. We will be moving to the Bumgenius once the twins out grow their pre-folds and I honestly can say I am excited to be DONE buying diapers FOREVER! :)

I hate TV

2010-03-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Since becoming a parent I have developed a love hate relationship with my TV. Yes it is nice to have something besides myself keep the kids occupied when I need to be doing something non child friendly but the negative aspects are about to outweigh the positives in my household. As it stands the kids are only allowed to watch PBS on live TV and a few recorded shows off of the other channels. I really like PBS as everything they show is educational my problem is with the commercials. Even with PBS there are commercials for this or that....I feel like I am raising materialistic children and it is starting to get to me. Every commercial that comes on I hear "I want that..." "I want this.." "I can't live without that...." .

I just wish there was a way to edit out the commercials! Wouldn't that be wonderful :) Not that it is going to happen the people who pay for said commercials would put the kibosh on anything that prevents their product from being shown but it is nice to dream :) I am trying to teach my children that there are other things in life than plastic stuff I just wish that the world wasn't working against me!

Pantry Challenge Update

2010-03-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

So we are halfway through March and we are doing pretty well on our pantry challenge! So far we have spent $139 leaving us $161 for the rest of the month :)

It is truly amazing the difference you can make in your grocery bill simply by paying attention to what you have and not buying unnecessary items on a whim. Take last month for example I sent my husband to the store to get the items he couldn't live without for the month. He came home with $130 worth of pure junk....soft drinks, deli sliced cheese, toaster strudels, etc. The man couldn't find a bargain if he was locked in a room with it! When he told me how much he spent I about had a heart attack! Fast forward to this month and I sent him on the same shopping trip after having a talk with him about brand name items. This month he came home with an equal amount of junk but this time he spent $26...much better!

Our pantry is doing pretty well....I am going to need to get some more meat next week but other than that I think we are sitting pretty :) There are several items in my pantry that I am trying to figure out how to use such as cans of salmon (thanks WIC) and TONS of beans. I have managed to use up the majority of our surplus of 5 DOZEN eggs so at least I am making headway on one stockpile.

Whole Wheat Pancakes -Pantry Recipe-

2010-03-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows my children knows that we go through a obscene amount of frozen chocolate chip pancakes! Two boxes a week at least and that is being conservative :(

This month we are doing a pantry challenge so no more buying frozen pancakes and lets face it my kids are not going to suddenly start eating oatmeal. So that left homemade pancakes but as a mother of 4 children under 6yrs old I don't have the time to make pancakes from scratch in the mornings. That leaves making my own frozen pancakes. In an attempt to trick my children in to eating healthier I made whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes :) and then froze them individually. They are just as simple to thaw in a toaster and taste wonderful :)

Whole Wheat Pancakes

4c. Whole wheat flour

8tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Salt

4tsp Sugar

4 eggs

4c. Milk

8T Vegetable Oil

Mix all ingredients and make as normal but before you flip for the first time sprinkle with chocolate chips :)

Here they are all done....One batch makes about 40 pancakes.

Then once they are all done place them on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen place in a freezer bag and thaw in the toaster when ready to eat.

Of course I couldn't help myself I had to do a cost analysis on homemade frozen pancakes versus store bought.

Homemade: $3.65 for 40

Store Bought: $12 for 40

That is a savings of $25 for one month in our house or $300 for a year!

2mth check-up

2010-03-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

My little girls are now 2 mths old! Hard to believe it has already been 2 mths :) They had their check-up this morning and are growing well.

Emma 7lbs 10oz (was 4lbs 15oz at birth)

Lacy 6lbs (was 3lbs 14oz at birth)

They are both small for 2mth old babies but they are growing well and Emma is almost on the growth curve :)

Lacy on the left and Emma on the right

March Grocery Challenge

2010-03-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

For the month of March I am challenging myself to do a pantry challenge. A pantry challenge is simply put a attempt to eat solely out of your pantry only buying fresh items as needed. Our pantry has become a little to stocked as of lately and if I try to get one more thing in my freezer it may explode! lol! S0 for me this is a great way to get everything cleaned out, learn some new recipes, and save some money.

For this month I am giving myself $300 instead of the usual $500 for groceries and toiletries.

3/5 Commissary $56
3/9 Commissary $27

$217 Left :)

The pre-fold Cloth diaper results

2010-03-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

As those who have kept up with my blog know I decided to go with pre-folds and covers this time around instead of the All-in-one diapers that we used in the past. Since we only needed to buy diapers for the first 6mths then we are going to be able to use the AIO's that we already purchased for our older children we wanted the cheapest solution for the interim. I had never used pre-folds before and it was quite the learning curve :) First off we had to wait until the girls were 2 mths old to even try them since the girls were to small to wear them in the beginning. Once they were big enough to wear them it took me several attempts to get the correct folding technique down so that they fit the covers, didn't leak, and didn't have any wicking. Once we got the folding down everything got much easier :)

Pro's
*Cheap to purchase
*Easy to dry
*Very soft and absorbent

Con's
* You have to handle the wet insert to remove it unlike a AIO where you don't touch the inside
* You have to manhandle the baby to make sure everything is tucked into the cover at the legs and back.

Would I buy them again? Yep they are easy to use and don't take much more time to put on than an AIO would. I have some pics of Lacy wearing her first cloth diaper that I will have to put up soon.

2009 results and 2010 goals

2010-02-23T01:13:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has read my blog knows that I am a supporter of simplifying our lives and steering away from this consumer driven madness we have found ourselves in. Do we really need all this stuff?? There are so many new and improved gadgets out there that if we upgraded every time a new option came available we would find ourselves in a never ending buying spiral, and sadly that is what has happened to many people. We as a society are so worried about keeping up with our neighbors that we don't stop and think what we really want and need.... It has been a year since we started this path to simplicity and while we do not in any way shape or form have it all figured out I thought I would share our success with you all.

In 2009 we were able to pay off:
Credit Cards: $12,000
Part of Student Loan : $6,000
TOTAL DEBT PAID: $18,000!!!

In 2010 we have paid off:
Rest of Student Loan: $2,500

As you can see we are well on our way to financial independence and I couldn't be happier with our results. How did we do it??? Simple we stopped buying STUFF! I am not talking about the basics our children still get clothing when they out grow something, we still buy plenty of food for our family (a little to much if the bathroom scale is any indication!), we go out as a family and enjoy ourselves. When I say stuff I mean the random junk that you don't need to survive or be happy the stuff that ends up in the closet collecting dust a month after you bought it. When we first looked at our spending habits a year ago I was shocked to see that we spent over $500 a month on stuff and I honestly couldn't tell you what we bought! By giving each other a allowance of $100 a month Bry and I are still able to buy the things we feel we need (outside of the necessities) while not breaking the bank. Once we started seeing that debt start to drop dramatically it was a feeling we couldn't explain and we were more than willing to find other ways to cut expenses so that we could watch it fall even faster :) Right now our debt payment is $1,245 a month and we as a family are not feeling the least bit pinched at that amount. We still have plenty to live on and are so much happier learning to live a more simple life :)

Our Goal for 2010 is to pay off our Van and be completely debt free!!! With our current debt repayment plan we should be debt free by February 2011 but of course we are going to work our butts off not to go into another new year with debt. We could pay it off a whole lot sooner but we are planning a trip home in June for my brothers wedding and as well all know people and relationships need to come before the almighty dollar so we will gladly add a few months to our debt repayment in order to pay cash to go home and see my baby brother walk down the aisle :)

2010 Goals:
*Pay off Van loan ($15,000)
*Attend Brothers wedding paying 100% cash ($5,000)

What about you all what are your goals for 2010 and how did you do in 2009?

How does your garden grow.....

2010-02-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

OK so maybe I am the only one gardening right now but I would love to hear about your plans for your garden once the mainland starts to thaw!

So far my tomatoes are about hip high and had to be staked, still no blooms but I am expecting them any day now :)

My cucumbers have about 4 leaves each and are about 3in high, can't wait for them to hit a growth spurt. I am not sure how they are going to do since they are in a corner of the yard that doesn't get much sun, but my yard is so small that there really wasn't much choice for the location.

My bell peppers are doing well and some of them have actually started to bloom, one seems to be doing better than the others and is double the size....not sure what is going on there maybe it is getting more sun than the others???

Onions are starting to sprout and are looking good :)

Carrots are sprouting and about an inch tall :)

Strawberries are about 4in high and one is blooming, these are a total pain since they will not really start producing till next year but I still have to keep them alive this year :)

My herb garden is still waiting to sprout, we shall see how it does once the little guys are up. There is dill, coriander, rosemary, creeping thyme, Italian parsley, and chives in there and I am looking forward to seeing them all start growing!

I still have more to do but I am having to work with just an hour or two on the weekends when Bry can take care of the twins. I am going to put in 2 more beds, one will have zucchini and squash in the back and cabbage and lettuce in the front and the other will be for potatoes.

I recently read a great book called The Backyard Homestead and it is a wonderful resource. The premise of the book is that you can grow all the food you need on a 1/2 an acre with sections of the book dedicated to smaller gardens. Now my backyard is WAY smaller than even the 1/8 an acre option in the book but it is still a good resource, although I skipped the sections on raising chickens, rabbits, and cattle....not quite ready for THAT! lol! It lists every fruit, vegetable, and edible/medicinal herb going into detail on how to grow it, how to preserve it, and then how to use it :) I learned quite a bit about things such as drying herbs (who knew you could do it in the microwave?!) and how to make flavored oils....seriously you should check it out!

I will get some pics up soon :)

Busy Busy Busy....how do you manage?

2010-02-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

We are all busy...we all have things that have to be done and only so much time to do said tasks, but how do you do it? I thought I was busy before the twins arrived...man was I delusional! Now if I have time to go to the bathroom alone I think I have it made :) As I type this I have a million tasks that need to be completed around the house but I also have a fussy baby who needs her momma so I am sitting on the couch with a baby on my chest staring at me and making cute faces (good thing I learned to type without looking at the keyboard along time ago!). I though since I was bolted to the couch I would list some of my tricks I have learned over the last few weeks for getting it all done when it seems like you are in constant demand.

Let me start by saying that my twins were to small to breastfeed the normal way so we are pumping and bottle feeding the milk so that affects how I budget my time. It takes 2min to warm the water in the microwave for the bottles of milk per feeding then another 3-4min per bottle for the milk to reach the proper temperature. So every 3 hours I have 8-10 min of available time to either stare into space or do something productive.

Per 10min available time I can:
* Put dinner in the crockpot. I obviously do this at the 8am feeding and it is a lifesaver by the end of the day! Even if the actual dinner isn't crockpot appropriate there is always some part of the dinner that is. Take tonight's dinner for example I am making a chicken pot pie, now this isn't a crockpot meal but I was able to use my crockpot to cook the chicken breasts so that they will be done when I am ready to assemble everything. (simply put the frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot in the morning with a little chicken stock and cook on low all day).
*Hand wash anything that can't go in the dishwasher (11am feeding)
*Gather up the laundry (2pm feeding)
*Start the dishwasher (5pm feeding)
*Clean up after dinner mess (8pm feeding)
*Start the laundry (11pm feeding)
*Fold a load of laundry (2am feeding)
*Empty the dishwasher (5am feeding)

There you go my daily ritual to keep up with my housework and still be able to take care of my kiddos.

I also have to pump after each feeding (takes 20min) and use this time to do things that I have to be stationary for such as online banking, returning calls, making up my meal plans for the week, writing out my grocery lists, etc.

What about you all? What are your tricks for saving time and getting everything done when there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day?

Birth Announcement

2010-02-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

Thought I would share the twins birth announcement with you all :)

I can't wait to actually get them so I can mail them out to everyone....just to cute!!!

Our twins are here :)

2010-01-19T00:12:00.001-08:00

We were induced on the 6th due to Lacy's growth restriction. We were able to have a natural delivery thanks to both babies being head down at the time of induction. Emma was born head first at 3:33am on the 7th, Lacy did a back flip and came out as a Frank Breech at 3:36am. Both babies are healthy and home with their big sisters :)

Emma 4lbs 15oz

Lacy 3lbs 14oz

35 weeks...

2010-01-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

Thought I should probably update my belly pic....this is at 35 weeks :)And here is one where I am looking slightly better...this one is 32 weeks on our way to hubby's Christmas Party :)
As of our last growth scan at 33 weeks Baby A (Emma) was 4lbs 3oz and Baby B (Lacy) was 3lbs 9oz. We are having another growth scan on 1/6 to check-up on Lacy and maybe having an induction that day depending on how she is growing! I am excited and terrified at the same time, lol! I am VERY ready to have my little ones here in my arms but more than a little anxious about caring for 2 such small newborns!

This weeks Growth Scan!

2009-11-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our monthly growth scan and we got some good news.

Emma: 2lbs 15oz ....She had the hiccups the entire time and we could actually see her hair moving in the fluid :)

Lacy: 2lbs 11oz...she was curled up in a tight little ball and kicked every time they tried to mess with her....guess she is like her mama don't mess with her while she is sleeping lol!

Lacy is still in the similar range with her sister which is very good. Because of her cord placement there is some worry that we could develop TTTS (twin to twin transfusion syndrome)...basically one baby gets all the blood flow leaving the other twin to suffer. Since Lacy is holding her own though and keeping the difference to 4 oz each time she seems to be 100% healthy and doing well. They will continue to watch them with another growth scan in 4 weeks and bi-weekly ultrasounds to check the fluid levels (one of the first signs of a problem is if one baby develops more fluid than the other).

Here is the 29 week belly pic....

Twins Preperation

2009-11-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

So we are trying to get everything prepared for the twins arrival in a few weeks and thought I would update you all on the preparations. We have almost everything we need for the twins arrival although we are still missing a few of the large items. The second crib, the second mattress, and the stroller are all still needed and I hope to be able to get them in December so we can have everything set up for the twins arrival in early January. We will also be moving in 2 weeks to a new larger house so we should be able to get it all set up before these little ones arrive.

Here are the swings we got off of Craigslist for a whopping $50 each (retail $150-200).This is the bedding Grandma got for the twins :) I will get a picture of the actual nursery up as soon as we get it all set up. We also got sage letters with ivory ribbons to spell out their names above there cribs :)And a picture of the new car seats we got for the new little ones...I couldn't resist getting matching ones in pink!

Last Thursday was my Mom's of Multiples meeting where we had a clothing swap. I was able to get a HUGE bag of baby clothes for FREE! Everything from preemie to 6-9 mths and the best part was that since it was from other twin mommies everything I got matched...they are adorable! I know I said I wasn't going to be one of "those" moms that would only dress there little ones in matching outfits and I won't do it all the time but they were such cute little outfits that I couldn't help myself!

Projects, Projects and more Projects

2009-11-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

I am feeling very accomplished right now :) I have actually managed to get quite a few projects accomplished in the last few days, some Christmas related some just projects I have been neglecting.

Number one I am 90% done with all the homemade Christmas gifts I am making for our extended family. I would post pics and tell you all about them but then it would ruin the surprise for my family who read my blog....I do promise though after Christmas I will tell you all about what I made and a breakdown of how much it all cost (cause what is the point of a homemade Christmas if it breaks the bank in the process!?)

All our Christmas cards are addressed and the snowmen picture frames are all put together I will get some pics of them up once I get the energy to actually get up and find my camera ;P

Plus I am totally caught up on our scrapbooks! That is a major one for me since I still hadn't put in the pics from LAST CHRISTMAS! lol! I knew if I didn't get them done before the babies came it just wouldn't get done so I am very happy that I got them all caught up :)

I still need to finish the Christmas gifts for the men in my family and then get everything packed and shipped and then I should be caught up on all the projects that needed to be done before the babies come! It is getting close people!!!

Meal Planning.....

2009-10-27T14:29:00.001-07:00

So I admit I am usually a pretty organized person but since having children some things have just fallen by the wayside. A year ago when we started this journey I was shocked to see that we were spending $1,100 a month on groceries for just the 4 of us! Oh my! We have since been able to get it down to $500 and it has pretty much stuck there ever since. One of the things that has helped me a great deal with lowering our grocery budget was to meal plan for the month. Now that sounds easy enough but when you have tons of cookbooks and a recipe box FULL of recipes it is a little overwhelming...I mean where do you start? We always ended up having the same old thing week after week and let me tell you it was getting really old! I just didn't have the time to sit down and pull out all those recipes and search for something to make...who does?? So I came up with the binder idea.

I spent one whole afternoon going through every cookbook I had, all my recipe cards, and all those pages from magazines that we all tear out with the intention of cooking whatever it is but never do. Then I copied all the recipes out of the cookbooks, organized all the recipes based on type (Baking, main meal, side dish, condiments, etc.) and put them into page protectors and used dividers to separate them. Then I went through all the main meals and wrote them all out in pencil on a piece of plain paper, then slid that into the front of the binder. There you go a master list of everything your family loves all in one place and easy to find! When it is time to make up the meal plan for the week I just look at the cover of my binder and pick what I want to make and the recipes are right there at my finger tips. Plus is a meal turns out to not be as good as we thought it would (mainly magazine recipes) they are easy to remove and simply erase from the list.

By going through everything I have found recipes he loved that I haven't made since we were newlyweds! DH and I are both much happier with this arrangement! :)

New pregnancy Pics

2009-10-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here are the much nagged for new pics ;P

This is my belly shot at 24 weeks.....yes I know I am really starting to pop!

Here we have Baby B's (Lacy) face. She is looking directly into the "camera"

Here is Baby A's (Emma) face...again she is looking directly into the "camera".

And this is the funniest one. That is Lacy curled up into a tight little ball. You see that blob on top of her head and arm? That would be Emma's butt. Poor little thing her sister is already making her defend herself! lol :)

Emma: 1lb 10oz
Lacy: 1lb 6oz

Garden update

2009-10-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

I really have been busy with tons of projects I just haven't had the time or the energy leftover afterwards to get pics loaded here....but today I seem to be at loose ends with nothing to do so here I am :)

The garden is doing well I guess...it is hard since everything has to be in pots thanks to the African Snail attacks. I don't know why they will not bother anything on the patio but if I put it in the ground they attack like you wouldn't believe!

Lets see...

These are my tomato seedlings...yeah they are small but hey they are growing! lol :) There are 5 that sprouted and I am sure that will be plenty of tomatoes for us so I am happy with that. The half of the egg carton to the front of the pics is the bell pepper seeds I planted....what you don't see anything?? Well that would be because they never came up, still got to try that one again and figure out what I did wrong on that one.

And over we have our watermelon plants...the three pots to the left on the ground are the watermelons. They look pretty pathetic in this pic but they are actually growing really well. They have already bloomed so it will be interesting to see if I can keep them alive long enough to get some watermelons from them. Now just in my defence I didn't mean to start so many watermelon plants...I mean you saw what happened with the bell peppers! But they all came up and then they all thrived so I couldn't kill them! Looks like I am going to have watermelon coming out of my ears if all those blooms turn in to actual melons! Over on the right you see our Basil and flat leaf parsley. They are both doing great and growing like crazy :) Oh and that little pot on the shelf is Thyme...it is doing pretty pathetically but then I don't really use much thyme so I am not worried about it.

And lastly here is my Cilantro. It was doing really well then I tried it in full sun.....yeah it REALLY didn't like that! Back in the full shade and it is growing really well again.

OK that is a tour of my entire patio garden. Other than the bell peppers everything is growing well and doing what I want at the present moment.

Would like to get some onions in there as well but as you can see from the pics it is pretty full out there at the moment and I have no idea where I would put them.

Dinner Prices

2009-10-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

So for a long time I have been reading blogs about frugal cooking and how to stretch a buck when it comes to dinner. I have often wondered how much these frugal dinners REALLY cost and how much of a savings you get from applying their principles. So being the ever "quirky" person that I am I sat down with my grocery receipts tonight and worked out exactly how much tonight's dinner cost.....

Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Romaine Salad:
$5.76 Whole Chicken
$1.02 Potatoes
$0.37 Butter
$0 Romaine (WIC)
$0 Condensed milk (WIC)

Total: $7.15

Not bad for a family of 4 :)

Now as you know one of the basic principles of frugal cooking is to stack recipes so that you use the leftovers from one meal in a totally different meal the next night. Using the leftovers from tonight's dinner I will be making a casserole for tomorrow nights dinner....

Chicken and Rice Casserole with potato cakes:
$0.84 Frozen Veggies
$1.39 Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
$0.50 Rice
$0.94 Cheddar Cheese
$0 Chicken (leftovers)
$0 Potatoes (leftovers)

Total: $3.67

Again REALLY not bad for a family of 4 especially since this meal will also serve as lunch for the next day.

Plus I have the bones and skin from the chicken cooking in the crockpot right now to make chicken stock....so I am also getting 4+ cups of chicken stock for "free".

Thanks to the Happy Housewife for both these recipes and teaching me how to cook a whole chicken in my crockpot. It was yummy and I will defiantly be doing it again!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

2009-10-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

Today is pregnancy and infant loss remembrance day. I know I will be lighting my 3 candles tonight.

Disposables, AIO's, or Pre-folds? What is cheaper???

2009-10-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

I had always used disposables without thought to cloth diapering. I think the yuck factor and just plain uneducation on that matter worked against me on this topic. But when my youngest was about 12mths I discovered the world of AIO's (all in ones) and pocket diapers and I was sold! I love my AIO's and set out this time to cloth diaper the twins. Being the ever frugal person I am though I couldn't in good faith buy a bunch of AIO's without first doing the price comparison for all the different options out there.

So you lovely people are now going to be privy to my research :)

*Price breakdown for first 3 mths (changing the babies every 2 hours when fed)
DISPOSABLES: $254.40 (cheapest diaper brand made)
AIO's: $480 (birth to potty training)
PREFOLDS: $167.40 (diaper covers and Indian prefolds)

*Price breakdown for 3-6mths (changing babies every 4 hours when fed)
DISPOSABLES: $192.
AIO's: $0
PREFOLDS: $47.70

*Price breakdown for 6-9mths (changing babies every 4 hours when fed)
DISPOSABLES: $192.
AIO's: $0
PREFOLDS: $137.4

*Price breakdown for 9-12mths (changing babies every 4 hours when fed)
DISPOSABLES: $217.
AIO's: $0
PREFOLDS: $0

At 12 mths I could use the AIO's I already have so we shall stop the comparison here.

Totals:
DISOSABLES: $855.40
AIO's: $480.
PREFOLDS: $352.50

So you can see that disposables are almost double the amount of the AIO's while prefolds are the cheapest option. We shall be buying the prefolds this time around and learning all over again the quirks of cloth diapering :) For these comparisons I used www.cottonbabies.com for the prefold information and the local commissary for the disposable prices. For more info on the debate between cloth diapers and disposables please check out this site.

***Disclaimer: These numbers are based on diapering twins, and based on disposable pricing in my area. Prices will differ based on where you live so you will need to do your own comparison to see what works best for YOUR family***

Having twins on a budget...

2009-10-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

Sounds like an oxymoron right? How can a person buy 2 of everything and not spend a complete fortune? Even more difficult in our situation since we got rid of everything under 9mths when we moved this last time. But it is possible and we are managing to do it so far.

First off I am playing a game with myself to see how much "stuff" I can get used. So far I have not bought anything new for the twins and am very proud of myself. Thanks to craigslist.com I have gotten 2 like new swings for $50 each (retail $200 each!) and three trash bags full of 0-3mth clothes :)

For a grand total of: $220 for everything so far.

Could I have done better well sure but concidering what I could have spent I think that is a pretty decent number considering we now have almost everything we need for the twins for the first 3mths.

We are missing some big ticket items:
*2 infant car seats ($120 for both). We could do without these and just use the convertible car seats we already have but I am going for convenience over thrift on this one. These will be bought new since you should never buy a used car seat unless you know the seller since you can not be sure it wasn't in an accident.
*Double Stroller ($98). Again we could use the double umbrella stroller we already have but I am going for one that the car seats will snap into for convenience. Also will probably be bought used unless I get lucky and stubble over one in the next few months.
*Cloth diapers. ($????) Not sure of the price on these since I am still doing some price comparisons on AIO's and pre-folds...another post to follow on this topic.
* 2 Bouncy seats ($30 for both) I have seen several of these listed on craigslist for $15 each. When I have the time to deal with arranging meetings and pick-ups I will be getting these used.

And that is it folks not to bad of a list! We will of course need to get clothes from 3-9 mths but I am not to worried about that at this time. I will continue to look on craigslist and see what comes available. It is so cool that you can get a whole trash bag FULL of like new clothes for $15! A frugal Mommy's dream come true!

20 week baby pics :)

2009-10-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

As you can see things are moving right along over here! Lot of pics from my last big ultrasound :) Baby A was 14 oz and Baby B was 13 oz. Both are growing like little weeds and getting VERY active in there! This ultrasound confirmed that they are indeed identical girls, daddy is still dealing with being the only man in the house with 5 women.

Here is Baby A in profile....so cute!

And Baby B....again SO CUTE!

And then one of my favorite shots....4 little feet :)

Pregnancy Update

2009-08-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

As you can see I had my first appointment in the twins clinic this morning and we got to have our first in depth ultrasound! Below is baby A waving at you :) and over on the left is baby B's butt! Lol, hopefully at my 20 week ultrasound they will give me some pictures of BOTH babies :) The Dr could only find one placenta so they are IDENTICAL and one baby was kind enough to let us see her "hoohaa" and they are GIRLS! I am over the moon right now! I was REALLY hoping for 2 little girls and I got my wish. Hubby and mother-in-law are not so thrilled but happy none the less, they were both hoping for boys. Both twins are the same size with the same amount of amniotic fluid (really important when dealing with identical twins) and are both healthy :) They are a little concerned about my blood pressure being high so I have to record it at home for a week and then go back in on Wednesday for a follow up appointment. Other than that we are as healthy as can be and the little ones are growing well! And here is my 16 week belly pic.....

Hubby got a new job!

2009-08-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know my family I thought I would pass on the news that my Hubby got a new job in the Air Force, he is now the Commanders Assistant. He is still a Com/Nav specialist and will continue to be one in the future this is just a temporary position until our next PCS. I love it because he is at a desk all day now and very easy to find if I need him (very important when you are pregnant with twins and terrified of pre-term labor) he loves it because it is a change from the same thing he has been doing day after day for 5 years. Just thought I would share :)

What to do with all those bulk items?

2009-08-03T13:51:00.001-07:00

I wondered this very thing when I was wandering down the huge isles at the bulk store. Where would I put all those tomatoes? How in the world was I going to find room for that huge container of ziploc bags? After all we live in military housing and the room available for storage is very limited especially in the kitchen. At the time I told myself well it is to good of a deal to pass on I will figure it out when I get home. Yeah, that can of 100oz of tomatoes doesn't get any smaller once you get it home! Now we use a lot of tomatoes but there was no way I could use this much tomato product in the 5 days it would take it to go bad once opened. My solution? To freeze it of course....but how?

I needed an option that wasn't going to use all my Tupperware and that wasn't going to take up my whole freezer. Plus I had all those Ziploc bags just sitting there....OK you know where I am going with this. I put one cup of tomato's in a sandwich bag and then layer the sandwich bags into a freezer bag lay flat in the freezer for 24hours till set and then "file" them standing up in the back of my freezer. Takes up very little space, the sandwich bags were really cheap and I can reuse the more expensive freezer bag as many times as I need to.

All well and good but what about all of those Ziploc bags, the 25lbs of flour, the huge container of animal crackers....the list goes on and on. There really wasn't any room in my pantry for all of these items but I needed them close to the kitchen for the ease of cooking or refilling containers. My solution was to buy a freestanding garage shelving unit and install it in my laundry room in an unused nook that was intended for a free standing freezer....Great vertical usage of space and since it is free standing I can take it with us every time we move with little drama.

Starting a Price Book

2009-08-03T13:04:00.001-07:00

I have been toying with the idea of starting a price book over the last few days. Although it wasn't till a friend commented on my last entry about how hard it was to know what the prices of items where at 2 different stores that I really started thinking about how to put one together. A price book for those who don't haunt the frugal websites like I do is a book in which the normal prices of an item as well as the units are listed for all suppliers.

Take that can of green beans for example say it is normally $0.50 a can and I have this listed in my little book, then one day I see it has gone down to $0.40 but I don't buy because I know from my little book that the prices always go down even further at Thanksgiving and sure enough I am able to buy that can for $0.20! Now that is quite a savings that I wouldn't have gotten if I didn't have a price comparison book,

The same philosophy holds true for comparing competing stores prices, although it gets trickier when dealing with very different sizes of containers. Say I know that a can of diced tomatoes is $0.99 for 14.5oz at one store but $2.78 for 102oz at another store. Now just doing the rough math on this one it is clear where the better deal lays but what about those items that are right on the line? Say a 5lb bag of flour for $1.99 or the 25lb bag for $8.73. That one is a little harder to do in your head. Although if I had the normal prices of each type of flour recorded in my little book there could also be a cutoff column. A column that shows when the price of the 25lb bag is too high versus the 5lb bag. Say that 25lb bag of flour went up to $9.99 and the 5lb bag stayed the same? Well then I would know that it is not a good deal and time to walk away from that particular bulk purchase.

All of this gets very confusing and I am in no way saying it is fool proof, there are times when you know you are going to goof and spend a little more because you though you had a good deal. Luckily though I am talking goofs in the $0.72 range like the lemonade from the last post and not $5.00 goofs like I would have if I tried to buy my produce or dairy at a bulk store. Those things I have done some comparison shopping on in the past and know that the commissary is always cheaper on those items. The commissary in my opinion is almost always cheaper except in the situation of the HUGE containers of items that would normally have to be pared down into the smaller containers. In this case you are saving money only because the company selling them has to spend a lot less to package and handle the large containers over the smaller ones. It is only these products that I will even consider buying at a large box store such as Sam's.

Another example on the commissary versus Sam's.....The other day while at Sam's I took a look at their laundry soap. Amazingly it was the exact same size and brand that I buy on base except it was marked $20. while I am able to buy it on base for $11. Now that is why you have to know the base prices at each store!

Another great resource if shopping on base is www.militarylife.com once you register for the site you can see ALL the sales current sales at your local commissary without ever leaving your house! So if you know the base price of an item at the bulk store and the base price at the commissary but see that the commissary price is cheaper that week (again before you leave for your shopping trip) you can compare and see if the bulk purchase is still cheaper! Very cool! There is also a option for the commissary specials that are only on sale for a certain time frame, such as the buy 5 for $5 and such, again another great resource.

All of this takes a great deal of patience to work through and even more to keep it going. After all wouldn't it just be so much easier just to go to one store and get everything you need and say that was the best price you were able to get? Well yeah that is easier and I have been doing that for years, the problem is that my grocery bill was getting out of control. I am talking $1,000 a month! That is outrageous! Now with checking the prices and doing one bulk shopping trip a month I am down to $500 a month. That is a huge savings but I still think I could be doing better after all I hear many a tail of a family of 14 living off of $400 a month! Now I may not be THAT frugal or be that inventive when it comes to the shopping trips but I certainly think that if they can do it for 14 I should be able to spend the same amount with 4 people! Especially important since we have twins on the way and money is getting ready to become even tighter, better to tighten my belt now and put the extra money into savings than have to figure all this out with 2 newborns and no money!

Sam's Club vs Commisary...where is the biggest savings?

2009-08-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have read countless books and websites about how to cut your grocery budget and in many of these books they say that box stores like Sam's Club are a good buy for some things but to watch out because at times the price per unit is cheaper at a regular grocery store. Being the ever "quirky" wife that I am (Hubby's words not mine) I decided to actually sit down and do a unit per unit comparison on the things I normally buy at Sam's versus the prices at the Commissary. Now when I am walking down the isles at Sam's I do a rough comparison in my head at the prices and "knew"I was getting a good deal on these items but having never done the actual math I was a little nervous at seeing the actual numbers.

Today's trip to Sam's I bought:

102oz of Whole tomatoes
111oz of Canned Kidney beans
34qt of powdered Lemonade
192oz of Apple Juice
102.5oz of diced tomatoes
12lbs of Baking Soda
25lb of Bread Flour

Not everything I bought but those are the things on the list that I chose to do a comparison on. So after my trip to Sam's I went to the commissary to continue my shopping as I usually do but this time I wrote down the units and the cost of these items if bought there. Then using simple math I was able to calculate the savings/loss per item at Sam's Club.

Whole Tomatoes: $3.68 Saved
Canned Kidney Beans: $1.97 Saved
Powdered Lemonade: $0.72 LOST
Apple Juice: $0.83 Saved
Diced Tomatoes: $4.21 Saved
Baking Soda: $1.70 Saved
Bread Flour: $1.22 Saved

Now as you can see the cost per unit of the tomato products was a HUGE savings while some things like the apple juice were only so-so....and then there was the lemonade that was actually a loss. The lemonade actually surprised me quite a bit I really thought I was getting a deal there, just goes to show you that you really do have to read the units based on the prices. All in all this trip to Sam's saved me $12.89. Will I be shopping there again in the future you bet your bottom I will especially for the tomato products, though I think I will leave the lemonade to the lovely people over at the commissary!