January 21 - 27
Sunday:
Yesterday Herb made chopped up some chicken and added chopped vegetables. He used it to fry up some chicken patties yesterday. Today he used half of it for a stir-fry and I used the other half to make chicken and potato hand pies. I typically make these with puff pastry. Unfortunately, the package of puff pastry that I had in the fridge had gone moldy. (Shucks, I hate wasting food, especially puff pastry, ugh!). Fortunately, I had some crescent rolls in the fridge. Three packages of crescent rolls had rolled to the back of the fridge during the holidays and I just happened to find them earlier today so I put them to good use making those hand pies. I served those with the last of the frozen broccoli.
Maceo finished up opening weekend of the performance of Titus Andronicus and Herb got a bit of free entertainment watching the performance. We all accessed some free entertainment by streaming the AFC and NFC championship games.
Being organized, knowing what you have and where to find it when you need it, is key to saving money. Using your resources wisely is key to financial fitness. With that thought in mind I am striving to get the house more organized this week, beginning with organizing the food. Today I cleaned and organized my food storage pantry and the carb drawer (bread, tortillas and crackers all get stashed here). I made a list of items that will need to be added to the pantry in February and made note of items that I have a lot of (oh my word, I have soooo many crackers of all types and, fortunately, plenty of flour and sugar and other baking supplies) that should be used in February's menus. I have lots of corn flakes and peanut butter that were gifted to me by a friend and I want to make something like these cookies or these ones with the chocolate because I have plenty of chocolate as well (which makes me very happy). I also have a lot of white chocolate chips so I want to make these cookies. I also have stuff to make rice krispie treats. Maybe I will make these in heart shapes for Valentine's Day. So, I guess we're good on desserts!
Monday:
I worked an hour and a half for the theatre while Maceo had his acting class, a bit of a reciprocal relationship.
Most of my day was spent cleaning out the fridge and inventorying it while, simultaneously, preparing for our trip to the VA hospital tomorrow. I found two cans of biscuits pushed toward the back of the fridge. I used those to make biscuits and gravy and sausage for breakfast. Additionally, I made deviled eggs and pasta salad for the trip tomorrow. I had a bit of tri-color rotini in the pantry that I cooked up. To that I added little odds and ends from the fridge - the remainder of a jar of artichoke hearts, last little bits of salami and pepperoni and specialty cheeses from the holidays. I finished it off with some dressing. I also baked up the last of the frozen bread dough making two loaves of bread, one for Herb and I and the other for the boys. Additionally, I found two little bits of cookie dough, snickerdoodles and sugar cookies, and baked them up. I packed up some sugar cookies and a bit of leftover frosting for Herb and I. I left the remainder of the cookies for the boys. I also put some butter, honey, and peanut butter in the picnic hamper alongside the homemade bread. I think I have put together a feast for Herb and I to eat tomorrow using just what we had on hand. Here is the menu: pasta salad, deviled eggs, homemade bread that can be made into a sandwich if desired (peanut butter, honey and jam) or eaten buttered, bread and butter pickles, a grapefruit and almonds, and sugar cookies. A feast, I tell you!
Tuesday:
Herb and I made our trip to the VA hospital. We spent money on fuel and two treats (gum for him, sour straws for me). We took our lunch and drinks and that worked very well. Herb concurred - I packed a feast! Bishop spent his money on cheapo pizza for him and his brothers for lunch and Maceo walked to the store to buy it. Herb had some pork marinating while we were gone and immediately cooked it and some mac and cheese for dinner. All that and we have leftover bread and pasta salad and cookies and such. Nice!
Wednesday:
We had a little money come in and after paying bills I did splurge just a little bit. Bishop and I had lunch with our science group at a buffet and I bought pizza for the boys. Herb bought some groceries and made red beans and rice - a nice frugal meal. I caught Herb getting ready to throw out the white bean soup so that he could use the storage container. I stopped him so that I could put it in the freezer. I did just that and put some other items from the fridge into the freezer. Into the freezer went two meals of white bean soup, one meal of white bean with tomato and kale soup, one batch of meat sauce for a future lasagna, and one meal of red beans and rice. Another meal of red beans of rice was also put in the fridge. When I went to the store to get freezer bags I saw that the brownie and cake mixes were on sale for 88 cents each. I bought a couple of boxes of brownies and some cake mixes; I now have enough cake mixes in my food storage pantry for all the family birthdays. I think I might go back and pick up several more so that they are available for potlucks or other holiday goodies. I didn't get anything in the way of organization done today as I was really quite exhausted after science group. (I think that I am still fighting crud.) I did take a good look in the freezer while I put the food in there but I do need to officially clean it out. Thus far this week I have organized the food storage pantry, the bread drawer and the fridge. Not bad.
Thursday:
The boys and I spent the day checking out the hottest new attraction in our area, Wonders of Wildlife. For the boys and I to visit this attraction it would typically cost us $120. They offered a homeschool day with special pricing so we jumped on it. It only cost us $44 and was totally worth it. We did go out to eat for lunch. I didn't originally intend on paying for lunch out but we ran into some friends who had their house burn down a couple of days ago. They had gone to WOW homeschool day for a bit of a distraction and I thought that there was tremendous value in taking them out to eat and visiting with them. No regrets!
Friday:
All of the food storage areas have been organized and the freezer has been inventoried! I am always amazed at just how much food I have in my little freezer. We definitely have enough for a month of dinner and some breakfasts and lunches. I think I will try to make a list of possible meals for each and post it in a readily accessible place. I hope that it will inspire my husband to use what we have on hand rather than heading to the grocery store first thing in the morning. He loves to do this. I'm asleep and he heads to the store spending roughly $23 each time. I did do some shopping at Aldi today and will do a little more next pay period, mostly for eggs and cheese and fruits and veggies and such. I will also need to determine the Super Bowl menu and the Valentine's menu. After coming home from shopping I noted that no one had made lunch yet so I made a quick pasta with meat sauce and it went over really well. I used the remainder of pizza sauce that was in the fridge as part of my sauce. I normally wouldn't do that but we were out of pepperoni (the must-have ingredient around here) so I figured I might as well get it used up. For dinner, I had the remaining pasta salad leftover from the lunch that I packed for our trip to the VA hospital. There is also a pot of posole on the stove that came out of the freezer. Maceo is getting ready to perform some Shakespeare and I am now debating whether I have the energy to go enjoy some free entertainment. If I don't go I will spend the evening getting some laundry done. The food stuffs might be organized but there is still more to organize and clothing definitely needs sorted through.
Saturday:
Bishop and I spent the day at a boy scout's merit badge university. For a mere $5 Bishop and I both received seven hours of instruction on Nuclear Science. It was an amazing class; we both learned so much! I also bought Bishop lunch at the event for $6 he got two hot dogs, a bag of chips, a couple of cookies, and a beverage. He gave me one hot dog and half a bag of chips for my lunch. It was a great day for us and all the money we spent at the merit badge university goes towards a high adventure trip for another scout troop. Win-win!
And, with that the week ends.
52-Week Challenge: As I previously deposited money for all four weeks of January the balance remains $47.
Learning Jar O' Change: To the previously balance of $65.80 I added $2.11 for a new balance of $67.91.
Yesterday Herb made chopped up some chicken and added chopped vegetables. He used it to fry up some chicken patties yesterday. Today he used half of it for a stir-fry and I used the other half to make chicken and potato hand pies. I typically make these with puff pastry. Unfortunately, the package of puff pastry that I had in the fridge had gone moldy. (Shucks, I hate wasting food, especially puff pastry, ugh!). Fortunately, I had some crescent rolls in the fridge. Three packages of crescent rolls had rolled to the back of the fridge during the holidays and I just happened to find them earlier today so I put them to good use making those hand pies. I served those with the last of the frozen broccoli.
Maceo finished up opening weekend of the performance of Titus Andronicus and Herb got a bit of free entertainment watching the performance. We all accessed some free entertainment by streaming the AFC and NFC championship games.
Being organized, knowing what you have and where to find it when you need it, is key to saving money. Using your resources wisely is key to financial fitness. With that thought in mind I am striving to get the house more organized this week, beginning with organizing the food. Today I cleaned and organized my food storage pantry and the carb drawer (bread, tortillas and crackers all get stashed here). I made a list of items that will need to be added to the pantry in February and made note of items that I have a lot of (oh my word, I have soooo many crackers of all types and, fortunately, plenty of flour and sugar and other baking supplies) that should be used in February's menus. I have lots of corn flakes and peanut butter that were gifted to me by a friend and I want to make something like these cookies or these ones with the chocolate because I have plenty of chocolate as well (which makes me very happy). I also have a lot of white chocolate chips so I want to make these cookies. I also have stuff to make rice krispie treats. Maybe I will make these in heart shapes for Valentine's Day. So, I guess we're good on desserts!
Monday:
I worked an hour and a half for the theatre while Maceo had his acting class, a bit of a reciprocal relationship.
Most of my day was spent cleaning out the fridge and inventorying it while, simultaneously, preparing for our trip to the VA hospital tomorrow. I found two cans of biscuits pushed toward the back of the fridge. I used those to make biscuits and gravy and sausage for breakfast. Additionally, I made deviled eggs and pasta salad for the trip tomorrow. I had a bit of tri-color rotini in the pantry that I cooked up. To that I added little odds and ends from the fridge - the remainder of a jar of artichoke hearts, last little bits of salami and pepperoni and specialty cheeses from the holidays. I finished it off with some dressing. I also baked up the last of the frozen bread dough making two loaves of bread, one for Herb and I and the other for the boys. Additionally, I found two little bits of cookie dough, snickerdoodles and sugar cookies, and baked them up. I packed up some sugar cookies and a bit of leftover frosting for Herb and I. I left the remainder of the cookies for the boys. I also put some butter, honey, and peanut butter in the picnic hamper alongside the homemade bread. I think I have put together a feast for Herb and I to eat tomorrow using just what we had on hand. Here is the menu: pasta salad, deviled eggs, homemade bread that can be made into a sandwich if desired (peanut butter, honey and jam) or eaten buttered, bread and butter pickles, a grapefruit and almonds, and sugar cookies. A feast, I tell you!
Tuesday:
Herb and I made our trip to the VA hospital. We spent money on fuel and two treats (gum for him, sour straws for me). We took our lunch and drinks and that worked very well. Herb concurred - I packed a feast! Bishop spent his money on cheapo pizza for him and his brothers for lunch and Maceo walked to the store to buy it. Herb had some pork marinating while we were gone and immediately cooked it and some mac and cheese for dinner. All that and we have leftover bread and pasta salad and cookies and such. Nice!
Wednesday:
We had a little money come in and after paying bills I did splurge just a little bit. Bishop and I had lunch with our science group at a buffet and I bought pizza for the boys. Herb bought some groceries and made red beans and rice - a nice frugal meal. I caught Herb getting ready to throw out the white bean soup so that he could use the storage container. I stopped him so that I could put it in the freezer. I did just that and put some other items from the fridge into the freezer. Into the freezer went two meals of white bean soup, one meal of white bean with tomato and kale soup, one batch of meat sauce for a future lasagna, and one meal of red beans and rice. Another meal of red beans of rice was also put in the fridge. When I went to the store to get freezer bags I saw that the brownie and cake mixes were on sale for 88 cents each. I bought a couple of boxes of brownies and some cake mixes; I now have enough cake mixes in my food storage pantry for all the family birthdays. I think I might go back and pick up several more so that they are available for potlucks or other holiday goodies. I didn't get anything in the way of organization done today as I was really quite exhausted after science group. (I think that I am still fighting crud.) I did take a good look in the freezer while I put the food in there but I do need to officially clean it out. Thus far this week I have organized the food storage pantry, the bread drawer and the fridge. Not bad.
Thursday:
The boys and I spent the day checking out the hottest new attraction in our area, Wonders of Wildlife. For the boys and I to visit this attraction it would typically cost us $120. They offered a homeschool day with special pricing so we jumped on it. It only cost us $44 and was totally worth it. We did go out to eat for lunch. I didn't originally intend on paying for lunch out but we ran into some friends who had their house burn down a couple of days ago. They had gone to WOW homeschool day for a bit of a distraction and I thought that there was tremendous value in taking them out to eat and visiting with them. No regrets!
Friday:
All of the food storage areas have been organized and the freezer has been inventoried! I am always amazed at just how much food I have in my little freezer. We definitely have enough for a month of dinner and some breakfasts and lunches. I think I will try to make a list of possible meals for each and post it in a readily accessible place. I hope that it will inspire my husband to use what we have on hand rather than heading to the grocery store first thing in the morning. He loves to do this. I'm asleep and he heads to the store spending roughly $23 each time. I did do some shopping at Aldi today and will do a little more next pay period, mostly for eggs and cheese and fruits and veggies and such. I will also need to determine the Super Bowl menu and the Valentine's menu. After coming home from shopping I noted that no one had made lunch yet so I made a quick pasta with meat sauce and it went over really well. I used the remainder of pizza sauce that was in the fridge as part of my sauce. I normally wouldn't do that but we were out of pepperoni (the must-have ingredient around here) so I figured I might as well get it used up. For dinner, I had the remaining pasta salad leftover from the lunch that I packed for our trip to the VA hospital. There is also a pot of posole on the stove that came out of the freezer. Maceo is getting ready to perform some Shakespeare and I am now debating whether I have the energy to go enjoy some free entertainment. If I don't go I will spend the evening getting some laundry done. The food stuffs might be organized but there is still more to organize and clothing definitely needs sorted through.
Saturday:
Bishop and I spent the day at a boy scout's merit badge university. For a mere $5 Bishop and I both received seven hours of instruction on Nuclear Science. It was an amazing class; we both learned so much! I also bought Bishop lunch at the event for $6 he got two hot dogs, a bag of chips, a couple of cookies, and a beverage. He gave me one hot dog and half a bag of chips for my lunch. It was a great day for us and all the money we spent at the merit badge university goes towards a high adventure trip for another scout troop. Win-win!
And, with that the week ends.
52-Week Challenge: As I previously deposited money for all four weeks of January the balance remains $47.
Learning Jar O' Change: To the previously balance of $65.80 I added $2.11 for a new balance of $67.91.
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