Cutting Back!

I know the cost of everything is going up. We feel this mostly in our gas & grocery budget.



Jon and I have been discussing different avenues for saving on gas. The only real solution is to drive less. We considered trading cars getting a motorcycle, but those ideas only add to our debt and we really want to stick to our plan to pay everything off including the house in less than 7 years....SO a new car or motorcycle are out for now. We plan on combining trips out, no more Sunday afternoon drives (yes we do this regularly for 2-4 hours), & JON may even take on a side job to off set gas but keep us on our plan. Jon always does whatever we need...I am so thankful for him.



The next item on the list is our grocery budget. We currently spend $580 every month for a family of 5. We have one in diapers still ... hopefully not for long!! The $580 covers everything Costco visits and anything that comes from Walmart for the month. I usually do well at keeping us at budget, but we never have extra. I am going to start in May keeping a side note of my budget and what I have spent, and really watch what I am buying. I am also going to make it my goal to cut our budget by $50 in the month of May. I am not sure where this will come from with the cost of everything going up, but I am determined to save money. Maybe I should invest in more into bulk buying at Costco. We will see and I will keep y'all posted!



We have made some progress in the month of April. We paid off a credit card, saved our EMG fund, started a car fund envelope, and paid another card down $100 extra dollars. We are proud of our progress and hope that since we will be spending more time at home and not on the road MAYBE we can save a little more next month.



Have a great week!!!

Something Fun for TUESDAY

I do not usually read emails that are forwarded from a group, or friends that forward to 27 people. BUT this time I did and this is really cute and works for me so try it out!!

YOUR AGE BY EATING OUT

Don't tell me your age;

you probably would tell a falsehood anyway-but your waiter may know!

YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!

It takes less than a minute. Work this out as you read.

Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!

This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat. (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758...

If you haven't, add 1757.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

The first digit of this was your original number. (i.e., How many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.)

The next two numbers are YOUR AGE ! ------ (Oh YES, it is!)

It worked out for me! Let me know if it works out for you...

Menu Planning Monday

• Monday - Chicken Enchiladas


• Tuesday - Chicken Caesar Pitas

On Tuesday's meal I am winging it. I love Chili's CCP so I have decided to try to make my own. I bought the pita bread and I plan to cook some chicken chop it up and mix with lettuce & dressing. I will let you all know if it even comes close. Keep your fingers crossed!

• Wednesday - Hot Dogs & French Fries


• Thursday - Breakfast - Pancakes, Sausage, Eggs & Biscuits (I know double bread :OP )
  
• Friday - Homemade Pizza Night

• Saturday - Easy Chicken Parmesan

Saturday's meal comes from http://www.kraftcanada.com/ and is truely the easiest Chicken Parm I have ever made and it taste wonderful! Hubby & Kids all wanted seconds. So this is now a staple for us! Visit their site for other quick and yummy recipes!

• Sunday - Ham Steaks, Twice Baked Potatoes, & Homemade Mac-N-Cheese

I hope everyone has a great week!!

Favorite Biscuit Recipe

This is my favorite Biscuit Recipe. My daughter LU got the recipe from a cook book in her cooking class at school. It is similar to Red Lobsters Garlic Bay Biscuits.

2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cups milk
1/2 - 1 cup cheese (I put about a cup in the recipe only calls for 1/2 but we like them cheesy)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 t. garlic

Mix Bisquick, cheese, and milk together. Spoon on to baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 min @ 450. Then melt butter & garlic in microwave and brush over biscuits. Yum!

This is supper simple and a new favorite for our family!! I will post pictures if I can remember to take them before we eat them all :O0

Have a great weekend!

Our Homeschool Classroom

This is our homeschool classroom / dining room. When we first started to homeschool I set up this nice little classroom downstairs away from the rest of the main flow of the home so that it would be quiet and we could think. Both ALI & I agree that we do not like quiet and we do not like to be OUT of the main flow of things so we started homeschooling in the dining room. We have our kitchen directly beside us for a quick snack and the living room and JA's room so that he can sit with us or play and not be too far out of reach.

I needed a white board to white on and our dining room just did not allow for one, so I found out that my mirror will double as a white board. From the pictures it looks hard to read but you can really read the material well in person. Sorry for the bad pictures I just could not find the correct angle. JA as you can see often joins us at the table with his crayons to do school like his big sister ALI.

Thanks for taking a peak inside our homeschool classroom. Where do you guys have homeschool?

Monday Meanderings

Oh my Monday :O)
Yawn stretch!! I am not ready for the week yet.

Must DO's this week:

• Have yardsale - (Rained out 2nd week in a row)


• Mail Ebay stuff


• Do a little warm weather clothing shopping.


• Order California Achievement Test for ALI for the Week of 6/2/08


• Organize Linen Closet


• Clean laundry room


• Paint JA's room this weekend while kids are @ Grandma's house


• List JON's motorcycle stuff on Ebay

Menu Planning Monday:

• Monday - Salmon


• Tuesday - Spaghetti


• Wednesday - Taco Casserole


• Thursday - Baked Penne Pasta


• Friday - Homemade Pizza

Y'all have a blessed week!!

Friday WOO WHO

Update on our quest to save money: JON sold a TV we had for our yard sale (hopefully we will have this weekend if it does not rain) at work for $20. We made a total of $106 on Ebay before our fees and should net around $90 this is minus our fees for the auctions and the new item fees for the items I just listed and the fees paypal charges for payments. So we have started.

In addition to saving money I would like to save time, so this weekend I am planning to do a little cooking and freezing. I am cooking muffins, pancakes, & peanut butter cookies. This will help with the breakfast rush and provide everyone a better breakfast than cereal & pop tarts. I am also thinking of cooking all my hamburger meat for taco casserole & spaghetti and freezing it for later in the week. This will save me time on food prep. I know so many out there cook once a month or twice a month and just pull out what you need, but I am getting started on this type of thinking and we have several staples that my family eats regularly so I may join you in rank before to long who knows.

This week I have accomplished planning out the end of our homeschool year & decided on which standardized test I will give to ALI at the end of the year. Right now ordering puts us to take the test the first week in JUNE ... bummer.... but at least it is not that far off.

I have already started planning my Christmas list....yes I know Christmas...but if I want to be frugal this year I have to start now. I think there will be lots of homemade items for all :O)

Homemade really is best!!! And our list is LONG....with both families we have to budget for about 20+ gifts, and that is only family. I am starting now so that if anything needs to be made that is not food I can plan and buy materials so that when summer has arrived and the kids have nothing to do I can pull out the Christmas stuff and we can get started. :O)

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I did not have much time for blogging this week but I vow to do better next week. For now I am off to enjoy the outdoors with ALI & JA before it rains.

Menu Planning Monday

MENU:

• Monday - Easy Chicken Parmesan


• Tuesday - Taco's


• Wednesday - Chicken Nuggets & Fries


• Thursday - Chicken & Potato Bake


• Friday - Homemade Pizza's


• Saturday - Alfredo Pesto Pasta


• Sunday - Chicken Pot Pie

I know lots of chicken this week, but chicken is my favorite!!

Have a great week!!

Monday Meanderings

Bible Studies - Virtuous Woman - Vicki Courtney

Homeschooling Stuff - Well we are back to school this week as usual. After Spring Break no one wanted to move :O) We are finally starting out Little House in the Classroom series today and ALI & I are both excited. I figured it up and we only have 33 days left to reach our 180 days that Georgia mandates that we have so we are almost done on our 1st half year of homeschool and I am already planning the next.

MUST DO'S:

• Yard Sale this Saturday (We were rained out this past weekend).


• List items on Ebay
  
• Finish planning the rest of our homeschool year.
  
• Fax attendance form to school board THIS WEEK!!
  

Y'all have a great week!!!

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!

Today started out awful. Our computer that my husband uses for a side job died. We just had it repaired in November because it died then. So now we have to decide to sink another $500 + into it or buy a new one. Either way this is going to impact our budget. I know that when you get on a plan to get out of debt, life will move in and test you. Have no fear we are not going to charge it. That might be the easiest thing to do, but we are committed. Tonight will be an EMG budget meeting. Kids will be hiding in their rooms :O) Luckily we have a yard sale planned for Saturday and some items listed on EBay so those should both produce some cash flow. We will see!!

Anywhoo .... enough with the complaints today is grocery shopping Friday. That's why I have the picture of the empty grocery cart, which is how our pantry looks now, but we will have groceries soon. Trips are planned to both Costco & Walmart. Coupons are ready!!! Truly I enjoy grocery shopping, so I am off.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I will post about the yard sale Saturday if I have time!

Easy Pizza Dough Recipe

I love to make homemade pizza with my family. Everyone can help pick the toppings or the amount of sauce/cheese they want on the pizza. Jennifer over @ Homekeeping Heart has the best recipe I have seen. Check her blog out here : http://www.xanga.com/homekeepingheart/640469284/ideas-for-your-pizza-night.html

Recipe :

1 pk Yeast

1/4 tsp sugar

3/4 cup warm water

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast & sugar in warm water. Allow it to rest for 8 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine flour & salt. After 8 minutes pour the yeast mixture over the flour mixture and mix well. (I also add about 1/2 tsp of garlic powder to the salt & flour for my family's taste.. you can play with the recipe and see what you can create).

Turn dough onto floured surface & knead for about 2 minutes.

Makes 12 inch circle.

Bake @ 500 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

The dough cooks up perfectly ever time. My family enjoys pizza night and we now have a set pizza dough recipe. The picture above is our peperoni extra extra cheese pizza before it is cooked. I keep meaning to take the after pictures but we gobble it down so fast that I always forget. HUGE THANKS & HUGS to JENNIFER - Please y'all visit her site.

Wordless Wednesday

When a 2 year old is quiet for 5 minutes...You know you are in for trouble. That's why GOD made them so cute!

Have a great Wednesday!

Tightwad Tuesday - FOLLOW UP

Follow up to my post below. I have made laundry soap from scratch!


What you need:

16 cups of water
1 bar of soap (I used Ivory)

1 cup baking soda
1 1/2 cups Borax

DIRECTIONS:
Finely grate the bar of soap.
Then bring the 16 cups of water to a boil. Add in soap and whisk constantly until dissolved.



Remove from heat add in baking soda & borax and whisk until dissolved. Let it cool and whisk occasionally over the next 24-48 hours. It will turn into a gel consistency. I have read that it is ok to use before reaching a gel consistency, and I hope it is because I started using it right away :O)

Final product can be placed in any type of storage container with a lid. I would suggest air tight. Makes the entire house smell clean :O). A big thanks again to Lea @ Farmhouse Blessings.

Have a great day!

Tightwad Tuesday

I am having a great week, and I hope everyone out there is also!!

I am always on the search to assist my DH JON in our quest to get out of debt. This week I decided I would try to make my own laundry detergent. I have read so many success stories from other bloggers sites that I think I can do it also. My recipe that I am using comes from: Lea @ Farmhouse Blessings ... http://farmhouseblessings.blogspot.com/2008/03/frugal-friday-homemade-laundry-soap.html I do understand that this will not make us rich, but every little bit helps. I currently spend $10-$12 every 2 weeks on laundry detergent.

So my first test will be the expense part. I have purchased Borax 4 lbs @ $3.34, Ivory soap 3 for $.87, a throw-a-way whisk for $1.00, and baking soda for $1.00. My running total is only $6.21 and looking at the measurements I will make several batches before having to re-stock my items. I will be starting this morning and will post pictures later today showing how it went.



Have a great day!