Living on a Budget

  • Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals

    School Lunch!

    The girls are good at helping put together their lunches.  They know that we get a protein, fruit, vegetable, dairy, drink and snack.  Here’s what they had today:

    • Peanut Butter & Homemade Strawberry Jam
    • Fresh Tomatoes
    • Pita Chips
    • Yogurt
    • Applesauce or Yogurt Raisin
    • Cheesestick
    • Bottled Water and Reduced Sugar Juice
    • Sugar Free Cherry Jello
    • Protein Bar or SoyJoy Apple Granola Bar

    Lunch Box Goodies

  • Intentional Living: Weekly Goals

    Last week Jake was traveling the majority of the week for work and we had the girls 7th Birthday Party.  It was neat celebrating, it’s still hard for me to believe that my babies are 7 years old.

    Here is the update on last weeks goals:

    Family Goals

    1. Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday
    2. Read a book to the girls everyday – we had a couple later nights this week
    3. Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this week
    4. Go on our Date Night with the Girls
    5. Celebrate with family and friends at the Girls Birthday Party
    6. Pick up the girls new glasses
    7. Schedule Appointment with Chiropractor

    Personal Goals

    1. Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week
    2. Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday – need to work on this one
    3. Finish reading Everything Romance by Todd Hafer
    4. Read and listen to the next section of  Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).
    5. Finalize Upcoming Travel Plans – got most of the travel itinerary done, just a couple minor details to be worked out

    Home Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned and written by Monday
    3. Spend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house
    4. Dinner ready by 5:30 PM (Monday through Thursday) – with several doctor appointments after school dinner was delayed
    5. Spend time re-organizing and de-cluttering the Master Bedroom & Bathroom – this didn’t get done this week

    Business Goals

    1. Pay all bills that come in the mail this week
    2. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    3. Spend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my desk
    4. Write a Guest Blog Post – working on it
    5. Schedule Meeting with Accountant for Business Taxes

    Ministry Goals

    1. Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requests
    2. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
    3. Email Alms & Legs Ministry Team with the Meeting Notes

    Financial Goals

    1. Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4 – went over a little this week with the girls birthday party, Valentine’s Day & Date Night
    2. Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses – working on it
    3. Complete our personal 2011 taxes – getting closer
    4. Put money aside for upcoming trips – have some of it set aside
    5. Pay for Jake’s College Classes – cash set aside for the first 6 months

    Here are my goals for the upcoming week:

    Family Goals

    1. Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday
    2. Read a book to the girls everyday
    3. Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this week
    4. Go on our Date Night with Jake
    5. Celebrate Valentine’s Day
    6. Celebrate Brina & Karlie’s Birthday
    7. Spend time together as a family

    Personal Goals

    1. Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week
    2. Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday
    3. Finish reading When Work and Family Collide by Andy Stanley
    4. Read and listen to the next section of  Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).
    5. Packing “To Do” List

    Home Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned and written by Monday
    3. Spend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house
    4. Dinner ready by 5:30 PM (Monday through Thursday)
    5. Spend time re-organizing and de-cluttering the downstairs Bookshelves / Desk / Dressers

    Business Goals

    1. Pay all bills that come in the mail this week
    2. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    3. Spend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my desk
    4. Write a Guest Blog Post
    5. Finish 2011 Business Taxes

    Ministry Goals

    1. Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requests
    2. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch

    Financial Goals

    1. Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4
    2. Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses
    3. Complete our personal 2011 taxes
    4. Put money aside for upcoming trips
    5. Put cash aside for 1 year of Jake’s College Classes

    I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us.  I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true.  When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals.  Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick).  Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.

    Why Share My Goals?

    • To keep me accountable
    • To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
    • To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
    • Create healthy habits in my life
    • To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn

    How did you do this week on your goals?  Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.

    The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results

  • Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    Jake was traveling for work most of the week and I had a lot of appointments for myself and the girls but I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to the grocery store.  Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

    Groceries from Ingles, Walgreens, and Save A Lot | RiteAid

    Ingles Groceries:

    • $37.14 at Ingles for 6 containers Fresh Strawberries (marked down to $0.99 on clearance), 3 bags Fresh Oranges (4 pounds each marked down to $0.99 each), 3 limes, 1 box Roarin Twirling Berry Drinks (10 count), 1 box Roarin Twirling Fruit Punch (10 count), 1 box Laura Lynn Oatmeal, 5 packs Kool Aide, 2 packs Wylers, 4 cartons Minute Maid Cherry Limeades, 2 boxes Go-Gurt Strawberry and Blueberry (10 count each), 1 pack Laura Lynn Sliced Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 1 pack English Muffins, 1 large bag Pepperoni, 1 pack Potatoes, 1 small pack Pepperoni and 1 fresh Pineapple.  (All the items were on clearance, marked down or on sale.  I was able to use a couple coupons as well.)

    Walgreen Groceries:

    • $0.00 at Walgreens for 2 cartons of Eggs, a dozen each.  (Used Register Rewards to pay for the eggs).

    Save A Lot | RiteAid Groceries:

    • 20.49 at Save A Lot | RiteAid for 1 bag Granny Smith Apples (3 pounds), 1 bag Red Delicious Apples (3 pounds), 2 bags Carrots, 2 packs KoolAid Drinks (6 count each), 2 bags Cheddar Chex Mix, 1 bag Fresh Spinach (marked down on clearance), 1 fresh Green Pepper, 1 box Frosted Flakes, 1 stalk fresh Celery, 1 can Cinnamon Rolls, 1 box Little Hugs Reduced Sugar Drinks (20 count), and 1 fresh Cucumber

     

    Groceries from Walgreens

    Walgreens Groceries:

    • $0.00 at Walgreens for 1 gallon Milk and 2 cartons of Eggs (They had their eggs marked down to $0.99 each this week and they are still the best price I can find on milk in our area. I used Register Rewards to pay for the milk and eggs today.  We should be stocked up on eggs for a few days.)

    We were able to stock up on some great items this week.  Although we were a  little over we have two celebrations going on this weekend.  The girls Birthday party and Valentine’s Day!

    This week I spent $57.63 on groceries.  I was over on my budgeted amount for the week because of the busy week with traveling, appointments, and upcoming celebrations so thankfully I have a little extra to cover the groceries this week.  I was happy to find fresh eggs and great produce on sale that we can use for several meals.  I hope that next week is better week, back to normal, and we can come under budget!

    It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Recipe: Fresh Garden Salsa

    Fresh yellow and red tomatoes from our garden

    As I was thinking about the upcoming Spring season I realized that it is almost time to start planning for the 2012 garden.  Yikes!  There are so many big events going on with our family between now and garden season, however, I don’t want to wait until the last minute to start planning either.

    I absolutely LOVED having a garden last year.  It was fun to grow, eat, and giveaway the food we had planted in the garden.    Recently, I took a few minutes to go back over my notes, photos, and information from last year’s garden to see which produce did well and what our family ate. During that time I came across my Fresh Garden Salsa recipe and pictures from when I made it in the Fall.   Just looking at the fresh vegetables got me excited about this upcoming year.  I hope the garden does well again because it was a blast giving away produce to family and friends!

    This recipe was created out of the items we had in the fridge and pantry at the time so feel free to alter it to match what you have in your kitchen as well.  My family enjoyed this recipe and ate it but cutting up the fresh vegetables did take a little more time than I originally planned.  The girls pitched in and helped so it made it a fun family event.

    Fresh Garden Salsa:

    • 4 cups fresh Tomatoes (used yellow & red tomatoes)
    • 2 cups fresh Peppers (used red & green peppers)
    • 1/2 cup Banana Peppers
    • 1 small Sweet Yellow Onion
    • 2 cloves of Garlic
    • 2 Jalapeno Peppers
    • 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
    • 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
    • 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
    • 1 freshly squeezed Lemon (or Lime)
    • 1 can Corn
    • 1 can Black Beans

    Wash and dice up all the fresh vegetables.  Mix all the ingredients together and blend lightly.  Refrigerate for 2 hours or more (to allow the flavor to blend together) and serve with any type of corn chip.  If you would like a spicier salsa you can add additional jalapeno peppers or hot sauce to the salsa.

    Fresh Green and Red Peppers from our garden

    Fresh Banana Peppers from our garden

    Mixing up some fresh salsa

    Salsa is ready….now do we have any chips!?

  • Recipe: Quick Orange Julius Smoothie

    Orange Julius Smoothie

    As a kid I used to LOVE it when my parents made Orange Julius for an extra special breakfast or Holiday treat.  I still use the recipe we did as kids occasionally but this a little quicker and healthier version of one of my favorite childhood drinks.

    Orange Julius Smoothie:

    • 1 peeled Orange (or 1 cup freshly squeezed Orange Juice)
    • 1 cup Milk
    • 1 cup Ice

    Blend all the ingredients together and enjoy.

    This is a great breakfast smoothie to get you started in the morning.  The orange provides great vitamin C and the milk is wonderful in calcium and protein.  If you want a creamier smoothie add more milk or yogurt and less ice.  My preference is to use a fresh orange but in a pinch you can use Orange Juice.

  • Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals

    Encouraging our kids to eat healthy lunches

    The best part about making lunch for your kids to take to school or for your husband to take to work is you know exactly what they are eating each day.  There were a few days when the girls would come home from school hungry and cranky, after asking them what they had for lunch I would occassionally get the answer……”yogurt”.  My girls really do like yogurt, unfortunately it is not the most filling nutrition to help you get through the rest of the school day.  Which is just one of the reasons we decided to start making the girls lunches this year.

    Here’s what they have in their lunch boxes:

    • PB&J Sandwich
    • Freshly Sliced Plums
    • Lime or Raspberry Jello (sugar free)
    • Freshly Sliced Summer Squash & Cucumbers
    • Yogurt Cup or Stick
    • Freshly Made Banana Bread
    • Snack – Bag of Peanuts or Biscotti
    • Drink – Gatorade or Reduced Sugar Juice

    After Halloween I picked up the “candy corn” baggies which the girls love!  I was able to get 100 candy corn baggies for $0.25 cents on clearance.  The girls smile when I put in a “fun” bag and it helps me stretch the budget so it’s a win-win for the family!

     

  • Intentional Living: Weekly Goals

    It was a busy week and I got sick (that doesn’t happen very often) so that slowed me down a little bit but I was able to make some headway on my goals.  Thankfully I was able to get some rest and don’t have to postpone too many items.

    Here is the update on last weeks goals:

    Family Goals

    1. Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday
    2. Read a book to the girls everyday – I fell asleep early one night and didn’t wake up until after the girls were in bed so the book didn’t get read
    3. Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this week
    4. Schedule a Date Night with the Girls & Re-Schedule My Date Night with Jake
    5. Finalize the Girls Birthday Party Items – working on it
    6. Set up a dentist appointment for the girls – scheduled and went to the dentist, no cavities!
    7. Pick up the girls new glasses – picking them up this week

    Personal Goals

    1. Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week – with being sick I didn’t get this one done this week hope to get back on track soon
    2. Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday – not every night
    3. Finish reading Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk
    4. Read and listen to the next section of  Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).
    5. Set up an appointment to get updated on shots / vaccinations – went to the doctor and got my shots, wasn’t too excited about this one, but it was necessary for upcoming travel!
    6. Finalize Upcoming Travel Plans – dates set / plane tickets purchased / visa – my visa has arrived and tickets are purchased, waiting on Jake’s visa!

    Home Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned and written by Monday
    3. Spend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house
    4. Dinner ready by 5:30 PM (Monday through Thursday)
    5. Spend time re-organizing and de-cluttering the Master Bedroom & Bathroom – the time I had allotted to do this was taken up with being sick and trying to get better, hope to get this done next week

    Business Goals

    1. Pay all bills that come in the mail this week
    2. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    3. Spend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my desk
    4. Write a Guest Blog Post – deadline was postponed with sickness
    5. Schedule Meeting with Accountant for Business Taxes – scheduling this week

    Ministry Goals

    1. Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requests
    2. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
    3. Email Alms & Legs Ministry Team regarding our upcoming meeting
    4. Put together the Alms & Legs Meeting Agenda

    Financial Goals

    1. Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4
    2. Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses – working on it
    3. Start working on our personal 2011 taxes – we have started the taxes
    4. Put money aside for upcoming trips – putting aside some of the money

    Here are my goals for the upcoming week:

    Family Goals

    1. Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday
    2. Read a book to the girls everyday
    3. Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this week
    4. Go on our Date Night with the Girls
    5. Celebrate with family and friends at the Girls Birthday Party
    6. Pick up the girls new glasses
    7. Schedule Appointment with Chiropractor

    Personal Goals

    1. Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week
    2. Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday
    3. Finish reading Everything Romance by Todd Hafer
    4. Read and listen to the next section of  Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).
    5. Finalize Upcoming Travel Plans

    Home Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned and written by Monday
    3. Spend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house
    4. Dinner ready by 5:30 PM (Monday through Thursday)
    5. Spend time re-organizing and de-cluttering the Master Bedroom & Bathroom

    Business Goals

    1. Pay all bills that come in the mail this week
    2. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    3. Spend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my desk
    4. Write a Guest Blog Post
    5. Schedule Meeting with Accountant for Business Taxes

    Ministry Goals

    1. Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requests
    2. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
    3. Email Alms & Legs Ministry Team with the Meeting Notes

    Financial Goals

    1. Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4
    2. Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses
    3. Complete our personal 2011 taxes
    4. Put money aside for upcoming trips
    5. Pay for Jake’s College Classes

    I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us.  I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true.  When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals.  Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick).  Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.

    Why Share My Goals?

    • To keep me accountable
    • To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
    • To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
    • Create healthy habits in my life
    • To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn

    How did you do this week on your goals?  Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.

    The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results

  • Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    It was a busy week which started with traveling from a conference (we went to Nebraska and Kansas with a brief stop in Texas).   Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

    Groceries from Ingles and Walgreens

    Ingles Groceries:

    • $18.02 at Ingles for 2 loaves Laura Lynn Bread, 3 containers Fresh Strawberries (on clearance for $0.99), 1 bag Bananas (on clearance for $1.49), 1 bag mixed Fresh Fruit (5 pounds oranges, red delicious apples, granny smith apples on clearance for $1.49), 2 containers Fresh Raspberries (on clearance for $0.99), 1 half gallon Pomengranate Tea (on clearance for $0.99), 1 bag Fresh Organic Cucumbers (on clearance for $0.99), and 3 bacon wrapped Steak Filets (they are normally over $9 each regularly but got them on clearance for $1.99). (Everything I bought this week at Ingles was on sale, marked down, or on clearance.  The fresh fruit, veggies, tea and steaks will come in handy with the upcoming Valentine Holiday.   I don’t usually pick up fancy steak even with it on clearance for $1.99 but since Valentines Day is right around the corner and we are going to do a special dinner!)

    Walgreens Groceries:

    • $7.54 at Walgreens for 2 gallons Milk and 2 two liters Mountain Dew (They had their milk marked down to $2.79 each and their Pepsi products marked down to $0.98.  The soda is great for upcoming events).

    I think my body was worn out by the time I got home from the conference that it crashed and I ended up getting sick.  Thankfully after a couple days of rest, extra fluids, and lower activities I was able to bounce back.  I appreciate my husband and kids for stepping up and helping out around the house.  Somehow they managed to stay healthy, yay!  I didn’t have around to doing a regular grocery shopping run until Friday with all the travel and sickness.

    This week I spent $25.56 on groceries.  I was under on my budgeted amount for the week because of the busy week with the conference and traveling so thankfully I have a little extra to use towards groceries another week.  I was happy to find fresh produce and steak on sale for the upcoming Valentine celebration.  I hope that next week is better week, back to normal, and we can come under budget!

    It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Be My Valentine: “I Love Everything You Dew” Love Note

    I LOVE everything you dew!

    A few weeks ago I discovered these cute “pop” love notes from Darling Doodles and have been enjoying adding these love notes to my stash of ones to give to Jake!  🙂  He enjoys drinking Mountain Dew so when it goes on sale I try to get a little for him.  This particular love note was a great one to give to my man!

    When Jake is coming home after being away with work for several days or if he has had a tough day I try to do something special to cheer him up.  I will put the surprises in various visible places throughout the house (his side of the garage, kitchen, his desk, our dresser, on his plate at the table, etc…) where I know he will be.  Although, he never knows when I am doing it or where I will put it he always finds it.  On this particular day he was stressed with a lot on his plate with work, travel arrangements, family and everything else.  I decided it was a good day to put out a special surprise for him to say “I love you”!   The Mountain Dew and sweet note sitting on the dresser downstairs in our family room was the first thing he saw walking into the house and it did bring a smile which made it worth it for me!

    Sometimes taking just a few minutes out of your day to show your spouse you are thinking about them and that you care can make all the difference.  It doesn’t have to take a lot of time, money or effect but the benefits will go a long way.  Doing something special for them could mean packing their lunch for work the next day, laying out their clothes the night before, or even leaving a love note on their pillow.  Investing time and energy into your marriage is always good for the entire family.  How do you cheer your spouse up or make them feel appreciated?

  • New Upromise eCoupons for February 2012

    Upromise has posted their new eCoupons for the month of February 2012. Remember to activate your eCoupons to get additional savings. If you have not yet signed up for Upromise you can get more information regarding on our experience or directly at the Upromise website.

    This month they have 22 coupons you can activate for bonus savings. Once you activate your eCoupons all you have to do is scan your rewards card or purchase the items at the store and the cash will be added to your account. You don’t even have to carry any coupons to get the rewards!

    You can go to their website for more information on the Upromise program, it’s free to join.