Weight Loss

My frugal life is still on the playing field, but I have came to a point in  my life that I need to concentrate on also getting healthy. As I start this journey I will be find frugal ways to make this work, and when I find good ones I will post them here for all the people out there who want to loose weight, but feel that they can not do it because of a limited budget.

I have splurged a little, we have a elite gym membership, which covers all of us. We pay 48 extra a month to get three people into the gym. Which I think in the end this is going to work for us. I know its a bit of an extra cost, but we feel it will be justified in the health care savings we will have.

We have cut meat out almost completely. This has cut our food cost down by half. I will post a shopping list once I get it all tried out and down.

Daughter's Friend From School Lesson

Almost every weekend since school started back my daughter's friend Racheal has spend the night with us. Last night we had Rayanna call her and tell her to make sure she brings good tennis shoes because we were thinking about going hiking on Saturday, if the weather is ok for it. She had on these very small slip on sandle flats and she thought that should be enough, she had no idea what hiking was. So after my daughter explained it to her, and my husband forced her to go back into her house and getting a good pair of shoes to hike in (he did this by refusing to pull out of her driveway until she did so), they explained what it was to her on the way back to our house.

This seemingly small thing made me realize how little parents get out and do things like this with their children. We tend to take it for granted in our house because we try to be active as often as we can.

I am going to be cooking vegetarian chicken sandwiches for dinner on Sunday, with a side choice of french fries or asparagus, and she did not know what the later was either. The more she comes over the more I realize her family eats out a lot and when they do have stuff at home its store packaged heat in the microwave chicken nuggets. I cook or prepare all three of our meals at home from scratch most of the time. I do have a few fillers, like instant oatmeal and grits, and stuff for sandwiches sometimes, but I try to always provide healthy things in their lunches as well, such as fruit. I don't think she had been prepared breakfast, especially on a school morning, like I do before coming here.

My daughter loves that I do these things for her, and so does most of her friends. I am so happy to be able to give her this, and I think anyone out there should do the same at least sometimes, I know some can't do it everyday. It's also a great way to save money and spend time with your family.

Food Cost Lowerd

I have chosen to go Vegetarian for health reasons. I am obese and I know it. I have struggled with this for years, and most days there really seems to be no end in sight. I get motivated and get moving to loose the weight,and I do good for a week, sometimes a month, but always fall by the way side. I took meat out of my diet so that I could cut out a lot of the bad fats and calories I knew I was consuming.

The best part about this is that I am getting healthier of course,but my food bill has went down a lot. I use to spend about 150-200 a week on food. I cut out processed food and now make most things from scratch, and my food bill has now went down to about 60 a week. We eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit, I make seasoned rice, and tonight I am going to make bean tacos.

So my Frugal Tip for today is to try to eat at least two meals a week without meat and see how much your food bill will go down. 

Stay At Home One Year Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was our one year wedding anniversary. It still feels strange that I ever got married, I swore for years this was something that I just was not going to do. I have seen way to many broken marriages that led to broken lives, I wanted no part of it. Then again that is a whole different post.

We had a wonderful day together. My husband took a paid day off from work, so he even got to make money spending time with me. We opted for staying in. I know that most people want a huge deal to be made out of things like this, but we just curled up on the couch and watched Netflix all day, we had a nice home cooked breakfast and lunch. Then when dinner rolled around my husband, daughter, and myself all worked to get a nice protein packed dinner made.

While the day was mainly about my husband and myself, we also took a few moments to reflect on the fact that in a way it was my husband and daughters anniversary as well. They have been step-father and daughter for a year today as well.

We do hope to one day have enough extra money to go out and maybe have a nice romantic dinner to celebrate the day, but in the end I think the cheap stay at home anniversary was something that meant more to me in the end.

Life's Hard Lessons

I am not down to a family of three instead of four.

About a year ago I let my cousin move in with me. She is young and just turned 21. I wanted to give her a chance to get out of the small town she was from and make something of herself. Her situation was not that great living with her parents, so this seemed like it would be a great benefit to everyone involved. I would have someone to help get my daughter off the bus, at the time someone had to be there or they would take her back to school, and it would give her a great way to network.

In the end it did not matter that I wanted to help her, she did not seem to want the help and spent most of that year laying around  my house, and did not attempt to improve her situation at all. I have to admit that in the end I may have been part of the problem, but I felt used. She did not pay rent, did not have to pay for her food or other needs, and all she did in return was act like she was entitled to everything that was handed to her.

Our budget has gotten a bit bigger, but we are still living within our means, and am even started to better come out ahead each pay check. School has restarted so that has helped a lot.

Ebay

I have been trying to find ways to come up with some extra money, and one of the things I have been doing is selling stuff on eBay. I have never tried to do this before, but I am finding that I am getting a bit addicted to it. Its fun to watch and see which one of my Auctions is doing well and we like to guess on how many bidders we will get or how much it will go through. Its also been a great way to get rid of some of our old PC games from like the 90s. I think this is something I am going to stick with.

Summer Fun

With summer finally here and the weather being warm and general awesome, we have been find great ways to relax and find fun on a slim budget.  We have found a Civil War park not far from our house to hike at. We can take a picnic lunch and make a day of it. Also there is a park not far from the house that has great play stations and a small creek that runs next to it that is perfect for wading in. These have been our biggest source of fun in the sun.

We are taking our food as much as possible and here is one of our new favorite recipes

Chop Chop Salad

Ingredients

• 1 romaine lettuce heart
• 4 to 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until crisp, cooled, and chopped
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

• 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Salad Dressing (we suggest Ranch or Blue Cheese--see above)

Instructions

1. Chop the lettuce heart into 1- to 2-inch pieces. Combine it with the bacon, other vegetables, and nuts in a large bowl and toss the mixture well.
   
2. Keep the salad chilled until serving time. Then toss it again with enough dressing to lightly coat the vegetables, and season it with salt and pepper. Serves 6.
   
   
   
   
    

 

Blog Changes

With summer break now upon us, I am going to go to posting a weekly blog instead of a daily blog. I will still do my best to put all the things into this one blog that everyone has come to expect, so there will be a recipe, DIY project, food waste, and any other tid bits that come along during the week.

I want to spend the few weeks I have with  my daughter helping her get ready for middle school, and just generally spending the time with her. I also need to set aside some time to getting ready to go back to school myself. I still have a few things left to do for that.

Food Waste Friday and Last Week Of School

Well, one good thing about being short on cash is that I have had to watch just what we had and how it got used. This week I have had to use everything that I have had without buying much extra so it has lead to me not really having any waste this week. I have made meals to feed four for under ten dollars a day. I have had tea and lots of other great drinks that we usually don't get just so I can have a break from water. This week has been a bit awesome for testing all my new and useful frugal skills.

This has also been the last week of school, and its funny to see my daughter so happy about it, when at the first of the school year she could not wait to get back into school. She loves seeing summer come, but at the same time I think she gets more bored by the year. There is not any other kids her age that live anywhere near us, so she is at the whim of being able to have friends over or spend the night with friends during the summer. I am curious to see how this year goes since she is getting older and such.

Frugal Fail

In life we really try to live within our means, better yet we try to live below our means. My family and I live pay check to pay check and they only come every two weeks. It gets hard,  but for the most part we make do and have a very happy unstressed life. However this weekend our spending went a little over bored.

This weekend was the first weekend my husband and I have had totally alone for about six months now. We got very lazy and really just wanted to sit at home and relax with no worries of cooking or cleaning up. Well that let to eating out two meals over the weekend, and now we are well over budget. We also had to make a five hour drive to drop and pick up our little ones. So the extra gas price already cut into our budget the eating out demolished it. While all the bills are paid, we will not be eating very fancy this week.

Veggie Stuffed Bell Peppers

Veggie Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:

    4 bell peppers (we used green, yellow, & red)
    1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
    1/2 cup shredded mexican cheese blend
    1 cup salsa
    1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
    1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilis
    1 teaspoon chili powder
    1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
    1/4 cup hot sauce (cholula or franks)
    optional: 1/2 cup frozen corn

Method:

    Wash each bell pepper well and then carefully cut the tops off each bell pepper. Remove the seeds and membrane from the pepper while leaving the pepper whole.
    In a large mixing bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients: black beans, cheese, salsa, rice, green chilis, chili powder, cumin, hot sauce, and corn (if using).
    With a spoon, fill each bell pepper to the brim with the black bean mixture. Place each filled bell pepper into a medium to large sized crock pot and cover. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Serve with hot sauce, salsa, sour cream or your favorite garnish. (I think some Black Bean & Corn Salad would be really yummy as a side dish)

Homemade Leg Wax

 Being frugal does not always mean  you have to give up anything, actually in the end the more frugal I live, the more I get. I use to wax all the time, but then just could not afford it anymore. I found this recipe a while back and it works great.





Homemade Leg Wax

(This is the same as the stuff you can buy in the store.)
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. water

Mix ingredients in a saucepan and boil for 8-15 minutes, or until mixture reaches 250° (soft ball stage). Then pour it into a container and let it cool down. Keep refrigerated. Heat in the microwave just until warm. Be careful not to make it too hot so that you don’t burn yourself. Test on your hand first. Lightly powder the area you wish to wax. Pull skin taut and spread wax on using a tongue depressor or popsicle stick. Place a 3×5 piece of cotton cloth* over the area to remove hair. Pull off quickly against the grain of the hair. Cloths may be re-used simply by washing in hot water.

Family Fun Weekend

This weekend we really paid a lot of attention to spending time together outside. We took my daughter hiking at a state park called Cloudland Canyon. It was great even though we somehow got on one of the hardest trails they had. We spend about two hours walking around the woods seeing what all nature had to offer. My daughter loved getting to try out her new bathing suit, but was a bit sad when we did not find a place for her to swim.

Food Waste Friday

I am so proud of myself this week. I planed out just what everyone was eating, and did not waste much of anything. I did have to throw out an apply earlier in the week because my daughter only ate half of the one I sent to school with her, and I had a few mushrooms go bad because the zip lock bag they were in did not get closed all the way. I am so happy that I took the time to plan everything out, breakfast, lunch, and dinner this week. It made the whole week easier.

Thoughs of School

I have been highly considering going back to school. I have held a job down since I was fourteen, and while I do enjoy being at home more with my family, I am starting to go stir crazy. I tend to combat this type of feeling by reading, a lot. I have been reading Psychology books and I find it all fascinating. I want more.

I have always had a nack for this, and the more I learn the more I want to know. It seems that everyone in my family is on board for this, except for a few fears from my daughter. She is worried that things will go back to the way they were when I was working. She loves having all the extra time, and she has loved me not being so stressed out. I think that in the end, as long as I make sure there is enough time in the day for her, that she will come around a bit more. I can take morning classes, and should be able to be home before she gets off the school bus. I can do homework between her doing homework and her spending time with my husband, then I can do the bulk of my studies while she is sleeping.

I think this will not only help my stir crazy, but in the end it could really help my writing, and help me better deal with life in general. I love the idea and the more I think about it the more I want it.

Do you think that going back to school is to much of a burden on a family, or is there hope it can work without taking time away from your child or children?

Spicy Pepper Noodles

1 package of posta noodles
1 cut up smoked sausage
Peppercorn to taste
Black Pepper to taste
White Pepper to taste
Chili Powder to taste
Crushed red peppers to taste
Ground Red Cayenne Pepper to taste
1/2 onion chopped
Mushrooms
I also use a spicy sauce that I pick up from the store. I use a spicy steak sauce


Boil and cook pepper noodles, Add spicy and all other ingredients to frying pan while noddles cook. Once noddles are done, mix everything together and add sauce. Cook for another 5 minuets.


I did not put the exact amount of the spices because I know that everyone tolerance to this is different. My family has a high tolerance because we cook everything spicy. You can also add other types of vegetables like bell peppers, beans, or even corn. I usually add peppers and call it a one stop meal.

Mother's Day Weekend

I got lucky for the second weekend in a row, my daughter's father once again did not come and get her when he was suppose to, and I got to have her for the whole weekend. We had a bit of an electronic shut down this weekend. This is the first time I have been on the computer since Friday.

Our plans for the weekend got rained out, so we are going to attempt them again next weekend, but we did get a lot of family time in. A trip to the used book store we all loved resulted in everyone getting something new, and I found a lot of psychology books that I have been needing to read. My daughter found her a new journal that she loves, and my husband found him a new game that he loves.

All in all this was a great weekend, and I am glad that I got to spend it all together.

Sunday gave me great omelets made by my cousin who has been living with us and who seems like a daughter in so many ways. My daughter got me a card about not monkeying around on Mother's Day, but then later she apologized because that was just something she could not do. I also got a dozen of Tulips from them as well. Our night and day ended with a spicy recipe that I will be sharing later in the week, and a silent film.

Food Waste Friday

Another week has come and gone and it is time to clean out the bad food once again. Last week I did really well, not so much this week though. I had to throw out some old hot dogs that had been stuffed in one of my bottom shelves and forgotten about. The package was about half way full, and each one was covered in slim. It was so gross. I also lost a forgotten onion. It to had went the way of the slim. I said goodbye to some salad dressing and egg whites that had well reached there expiration date.

I have to admit I am a little worried about next week. It seems that everyone in my house wanted different types of fruit when we went shopping, so now I have strawberries, grapes, blueberries, oranges, and apples and I just don't know if they will get eaten before then go bad. I plan on using some of them in nightly meals, like last night I made Mexican Stuffed Veggie Peppers and we have Mexican Fruit Salad on the side. We also baked a Peach Pie, which proved to be very good. With some luck and planning I should be able to save and use all of the fruit.

Food Shopping

I do the bulk of my shopping on two different days of the week. Thursdays are usually spent buying food, and Mondays are usually spent buying everything else. Both of these use to be done on the same day, until I noticed that I would not plan or stick to a plan, but instead I would just go to the closest store and buy everything all at once. This made my shopping bill way over what it could have been.

Now I stick to about three different stores, two for food and one for other stuff. I plan ahead on the day before I go. I look through the flyers and compare what is on sale with what coupons I have printed over the week or clipped from the paper. I now only spend about 300 a month to feed four, and less then 100 on other household items that last the whole month. I do not however buy everything all at once.

I plan out each meal and give us a few choices for snacks throughout the day. We tend to limit our

soda intake and we drink a lot of flavored water and tea.

All of this has been one of the biggest things that have saved me money. I am not an extreme coupon person by any means, but I have went to the store and walked about with more stuff then I paid for. Last week I had a trip to CVS where I spent 11 and got 30 worth. I like those days, and do try to make sure I get that at least once a week. I also stay away from Wal Mart, and can sometimes go months without even seeing the place, it is usually just reserved for gas because of the 3 cents off with a gift card. I just keep my gas budget placed on a gift card and most of the time can get gas cheaper that way.

I am still learning new ways to save money and cut cost and would love to hear how others do this.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

 I just recently learned that my husband grew up with some type of bread each night with dinner. So I have been trying new things to give him something from his childhood. While these come close to the biscuits you can get from Red Lobster, they are a bit different, but just as good.


Biscuits:
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
4 Tbsp cold butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Butter Glaze:
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease or line one cookie sheet with parchment; set aside.

Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter (I just used 2 forks). Don't worry about mixing too thoroughly; there will be small chunks of butter in the mix about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and garlic powder. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

Drop 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto the lightly greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes in preheated oven or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

While the biscuits are baking, melt butter is a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in garlic powder and dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Sprinkle a little kosher salt on the freshly coated biscuits. Makes one dozen.

Weekend Suprise

My daughter's father gets her the 1st, 2nd, and 4th weekend of each month, which in turns only leaves me one weekend a month on average. I love when I get to have her for an extra weekend. So I was super happy when last Thursday he called and said that he would not be able to make the 2 and a half hour drive down to get her. That unplanned extra weekend was great.

On Saturday we went to our friends collage graduation. I am so proud of him, it was a long road, but in the end I think it was good for him to take a little time off, that way he could get back into the game with his head in it.

Sunday was left all to us, and we spend the whole day together. It was nice to have the whole family together for the whole day. I know that her spending time with her dad is important, but sometimes it seems that all we get to do is be the involved school parents, so extra fun time is awesome.

Food Waste Friday

Today I am so happy to say that I somehow managed to have no food waste at all. I have had such a hectic week, but somehow managed to use up everything that I knew was going to go bad this week. I had a red onion that I baked in a little bit of butter and made a spring salad out of with cucumbers and tomato, sent the yogurt that was almost bad to lunch with my husband, and my daughter ate the last of the muffins for breakfast yesterday. I also got creative with some peppers and added them to homemade hamburger helper. The fruit went fast this week, everyone seemed to be in a huge fruit mood, I think it is the season.

Missed Post and Oversleeping

I am not sure why my post from yesterday is not showing up, I want to say sorry to all my readers for that.

This morning is proving to be a busy one. My alarm clock at some point last night decided to stop working, and by chance I woke up in time to get my daughter off to school on time. In the hurry to get going, I made her a fast breakfast of blueberry breakfast cookies. She loved them, and has requested that we have them more often. I always try to keep something really fast and easy ready for breakfast just in case something like this happens.

What are some ideas that you have to keep things running smoothly when behind?

Cooking Fun For The Whole Family.

 This was a huge hit at my house last night. It was easy and very fun to make. I made up regular meatball sauce and added noodles and broccoli and cheese for the side. Easy and was done within 20 minuets.


Meatball Bubble Biscuits

1 can Pillsbury golden layers biscuits - each pulled into 2 layers
10 frozen fully cooked italian style meatballs - thawed and cut in half
2 sticks string cheese - cut each into 10 pieces
1 T. parm cheese
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 c. marinara sauce

Heat oven to 375. Separate biscuits into 2 layers. Place 1 meatball half and one piece of cheese into each biscuit, wrap dough around it and seal edges. Place seam side down into 9 inch round cake pan. Sprinkle with parm cheese, garlic pwd. and italian seasoning. Bake 18-20 min or until golden brown. Serve warm with warm sauce.

Date Day With My Husband

My husband has a hard job of sorts, so most days when he gets home all he wants to do is eat dinner and then relax in front of the tv, play a video game, or read a book. A while back we ruled out it being practical to have a weekly date night, instead opting for a monthly date day.

Most Saturdays my daughter is at her father's house, these are great times for us to do this. We budget for it before hand so that it does not cost us to much. On these date days we usually spend between 20 to 40 dollars, but never more then that unless it is a special occasion.

Last Saturday we went to my favorite used book store, and with the store credit we have for trading in old books and video games, I got 9 new books and spent about 9 dollars in the process. We also walked around the mall looking at stuff, but mainly we spent the day talking. The two of us will look for any excuse we can find to have have a conversation. The best part about this fact is that my daughter is starting to do the same thing. She no longer wants to eat dinner watching something, instead, she wants to sit and talk with us.

My date day got me to thinking, in this day and age when so many are so busy and time has become just as valuable as money, what are some frugal things  you do to keep your relationship fresh and on track?

Food Waste Friday

I, like everyone else, follow a few blogs on the subject of being frugal. One of my favorites does a food waste blog each Friday, and I have decided to take the challenge and do the same myself. So from now on each Friday you will hear about my wasted food for the week, and hopefully keep me on track to keep that under control.

Our biggest food waste is bread. I have a little basket that I keep my bread in, and sometimes my daughter or husband will think the current open bread is to stale and will open the new one I just bought. They then will place the old bread at the bottom, where it sometimes gets hidden under all the other stuff, and it will go unnoticed until it is green. I try to not let this happen, because I do make my own breadcrumbs out of the old bread. This week I am very proud to report that they did open a new loaf, no one eats the end slices, and they placed the old bread on top of the shelf so that I could see. No bread wasted this week. 

I did have to throw out one onion and some fruit that got tucked behind everything and forgotten. Also one thing of yogurt.

All in all this has been a good week, and I think I might have everyone on bored to help cut back on the food waste. 

Easy Dinner Idea (Tuna Casserole)

I must admit that I did not have a blog planed for today. I am not sure why, and somehow had thought that I had one written out and ready to go. I found out how wrong I was when I got up at 6am this morning to wake up my husband and daughter for the day, and found that I did not have one saved.

I have tried to come up with something witty and informative to write about, but after a week long headache, and a gross bathroom clean up that had to be done today, I just can't seem to come up with anything. So I will past the recipe I used for last nights dinner.

Tuna Casserole (My daughter calls it tuna yummy)

2 cups rice(cooked)
2 cans drained tuna
1/3 cup chopped mushrooms
1 bag frozen veggies of choice
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of shredded cheese of choice.
Spices of choice

First I cook the rice by bring 4 cups of water to a boil. I add rice and bring back to boil, turn down to low and simmer covered for 10 minuets. I use this time to drain tuna, chop mushrooms and open can of soup. When rice is done I add it all to a casserole dish and mix everything together. Put oven on 350 and cook for 15 minuets. Take out of oven and add cheese and spices of choice. I always add paprika to the top of the cheese. Place back into oven and cook until cheese is slightly browned or melted.

This is really not hard to make at all, and can feed at least four people with these amounts.

Working With A Headache

Today is going by slow and hard. I woke up with a nasty headache. I am very glad that this is an easy week. the only thing I am really doing is keeping up with my online stuff and dealing with family when they get home from school and work. I am lucky that my family understands and does not demand a lot from me when I get like this.

Ants

We have lived in this house for almost two years now, and we have had an ant problem from the start. I think the main reason for this is that the house was empty for a long time before we come along.  We have tried store bought products and finally an exterminator. In the end nothing worked. So I tried my own DIY type of thing and now we have no ants. This is what I did.

Outside of the house: I poured a mixture of equal parts boiling water, lemon juice, and white vinegar on all ant hills I could find.

Inside of the house: I made a mixture of borax and honey.

 I still see a small stray ant, but for the most part the ants are gone. It's great.

 

How I Make My Own Laundry Soap

I have had fun trying to find ways to cut cost while still maintaining some form of normal in my house. Over the course of a month I found that I was spending almost one hundred dollars on laundry stuff alone. This had to change. I sat out and researched ways to cut this cost, and I have found that what works for me is to make my own soap and fabric softer. These are the directions I use to do this.

 Laundry Soap
 4 Cups Boiling Water
 1 cup white vinegar
 2 cups borax
 1/2 cup of cheap shampoo or left over bar soap

I will boil the water, add the vinegar and borax. If I use the shampoo I just add it, if I am using bar soap I will grade it down to a find powder and add it last. Mix and let cool. I also will sometimes add baking wash to it, but alot of the time I can not afford this.

Fabric Softer
2 cups of hair conditioner
3 cups of distilled white vinegar
6 cups boiling water

 Boil the water, add vinegar and conditioner. Stir then pour into container and shake well, let cool and ready to use.

 My daughter loves making these. This had cut my cost down to about 20 dollars a month so far.

Making Extra Money Leads To Family Time

Having just one income for our family of four can sometimes be trying. There is a Kids Expo happening in my town this weekend, and I really wanted to take my daughter to it because one of her favorite teen stars is going to be there. I really didn't think we were going to be able to go, until I got a call from my father in law. His mother, my grandmother in law, had a rental house that needed to be cleaned so a new renter could move in. It was an all day job and I got $100 for it. Along the way, I got to have lunch with my grandmother in law for the first time, actually this was the first time I ever spent any time with her at all other then small hellos at the family get functions. It was nice getting to know what is seen as the head of this family. She plays a huge role in the family, and in my own way I got her stamp if approval, plus I now have the extra money to surprise my daughter with.

Wal Mart

I normally hate this store and do everything in my power to stay away from it. I can never seem to walk in there and spend less then 50 dollars, and most of the items I can actually get cheaper at another discounted store. Today however I went with coupons. I came out with 9 items, 3 of which I did not have coupons for, and only spent 14.77. That breaks down to about 1.60 per item. I am ok with what I got, but not happy about one big thing. I had went out there for a certain reason, but the item I wanted was sold out, so I am worried that I might miss a really great sale that could in the end make me money. I guess I will be wal mart hopping tomorrow.

Dinner For 4

Last night I found myself not feeling very well. Monday's always are hard for me. I have never been a morning person and getting up so early still is not an easy thing for me. I wanted to put something together for dinner that was both easy but still good. So we had dirty rice with hamburger meat, red and yellow peppers and onions, corn on the cop, and a fluffy biscuits. This whole meal cost under $10 and was done in about 20 minuets.

Keep At It

I have this very bad habit of starting projects, like this one, and never seeing them through. I have tons of ideas that I just start and then get distracted by other ideas and projects. This week I am going to work on seeing each one of those ideas through. I have made a list of the top ones that I want to do, and I will do each one in the order on my list, not moving on to the next one until the first one is finished, or if I can do both at the same time. .................................................................................................................................. Today I am going to post my blog, post my frugal tips, then I am going to find new ways to bring in extra money and new ways to save what money I already have. I have a pretty good system going right now, but I know that it can use some more planning and I can do better. .................................................................................................................................. I am also going to work more at taking time out of my day to do something just for me. I need to get back to my writing for personal reasons, and not just writing for work. I am going to slow down a bit and enjoy the things I have now, while not worring as much about the things I don't have

Making Time

I don't get a lot of time to spend with my extended family, mainly because I live so far away from them. Today we all got together at a really nice park, this was the first time I have seen most of them since I was a child. It was nice catching up, and having that feeling of being apart of something bigger, can sometimes be a good thing. I think that from now on I am not going to let distance stop me from staying in touch. There is a lot that can be learned from family, especially the older generation, and I am running out of time to learn from them.

Baking

Yesterday my daughter wanted to make muffins. She did not want to make your average everyday muffins, so she pulled out our cookie pan from Yule and made little people muffins. Baking in our house is something that is new. I use to just buy the products from the Deli or we ate them out of a box, because of this we don't have a lot of decoration type things for it. I really wish I had all the stuff she needed to make her muffins look more like little people, and today when I go to the store I will be getting them.

Making Homemade Hamburgers With My Daughter

The best part of doing everything at home is spending more time with my daughter. She is loving learning how to cook. I have to admit that it surprises me by how little she knows. V's Hamburgers. Hamburger Meat Steak Sauce Barbeque Sauce Seasoning of choice Mix everything together then pat out patties. Cook until desired brownness. Hamburger meat was on sale, 8.50 Steak Sauce 3 cents worth Barbeque Sauce about 3 cents worth For $8.56 we made 10 patties.