In The Refiner's Fire

Well, we've done it! We spent $50.04 on groceries in January! Whoo hoo! Only 4 cents over my goal of $50 for the month! I'm excited about that! Yes, I can do this! We didn't put much into savings (only $30) because the camera's been down at John's work which has meant unscheduled time off (at least he had plenty of time to study!) and a very low paycheck. We have "bare bones" budget and a "regular" budget and his last paycheck was about $100 below the "bare bones" version. Being able to just eliminate the $80 I had budgeted for groceries and planned to put into savings was nice. It meant I didn't have to 'tweak' things as much and borrow from here or there to make ends meet. Yes, it meant that that $80 didn't get put into savings either, but at least we didn't have a stretch and scrimp to get to balanced. It's actually a little embarrassing because even though my 'stockpile' isn't very large...

This is the last week of the Eating from the Pantry Challenge! Though, I've decided to extend it to February as well just to get rid of all the "stuff" I have lurking in my house - we have so much and it feels good to be able to tuck a little extra aside each month to boost the savings/debt repayment funds! Love that! So, I spent the last of my $50 on Saturday and will start over again this weekend. What are we eating this week? Here goes: Sunday, January 24th: Brunch: Baked Eggs, Sausage, Blueberry Muffins, Orange Wedges Dinner: Baked Salmon, Couscous, Steamed Green Beans, Apple-Orange-Banana Salad Monday, January 25th: Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Bananas, Carrot Sicks Dinner: Scalloped Potatoes with Ham, Lettuce Salad, Apple-Orange-Banana Salad Tuesday, January 26th: Dinner: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, Homemade Rolls, Orange Wedges Wednesday, January 27th: Dinner: Pulled BBQ Beef Sandwiches on Homemade Rolls, Homemade Vinegar Coleslaw, Ora...

I almost forgot to update you all on my Pantry Challenge experience! Saturday was the end of my first official "week". My goal for the month of January is to spend $50 total for groceries - saving us $$130 for the month. So far we've spent $3.56 and $10.66 for a total of $14.22, which is pretty much right on track. This week is going to be harder. Why? Because we're going to have to buy 2 gallons of milk again, and it's not on sale this week. Thus, about half of our budget of $12.50 for the week will go to milk. I also need to buy flour, eggs, and fruit. It will be tight to get as much fruit as we usually eat, but I think we can do it. Chicken is on sale this week and I'm really tempted to buy one package or maybe two. We'll see. Potatoes are on huge sale, and I'd love to buy some too, but again it depends on how much I spend on everything else. I'm finding that I have enough long-term type stuff that I might just bump our budget up to $20 f...

Homemade Pizza, Breadsticks, Salad, and Fruit Since I accepted Crystal and FishMama's Pantry challenge, I started my menu plan this week on January 1. Weird for me? Yes. It works anyway. :) I did splurge and buy John crab legs for dinner last night since it was his birthday but since that comes out of our 'gifts' budget, I officially haven't spent any of my $50 monthly allotment yet. I do need to stop and buy a gallon of milk tomorrow but everything else can wait until our usual Saturday errands run. So, here's the menus: January 1 to January 9, 2010. January 1, Friday: Brunch: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, Oranges, Grapefruit and Grapes Dinner: Snacky dinner (fruit, crackers, etc.) for the kids, Out for the parents January 2, Saturday: Brunch: Out for all (Bible Study) Dinner: Macaroni and Cheese with Sliced Apples for the kids, Leftover for the parents January 3, Sunday: Brunch: Waffles with Strawberries and Raspberries Dinner: Crab Legs, Baked...

Uff da! Mom and I inventoried my deep freeze downstairs and I inventoried my pantry, kitchen cupboards, and my fridge/freezer. Nothing really exciting, surprising or shocking except the Tupperware container full of rhubarb sauce with a sticker on it from 1995 that I inherited from my Aunt when she moved west. I think I stuck it in the freezer so that it wouldn't stink up my garbage until it was taken outside. And it got buried. More than once. (Note: my Aunt moved west in 2005, so she'd had it in HER freezer for 10 years first - I was just playing copycat! :) ) Possible Challenges? 26 10oz steaks from our 1/4 cow. What on earth was I thinking when I got that many? 7 sticks of unsalted butter, supposedly for baking, but I'm not sure. 4 1/2 lbs of Chicken Leg Quarters that need to be used somehow. 1 ham bone that I'd saved to make split pea with ham soup for my folks but didn't this time around (John doesn't like that so I can't make it for us) and I sho...

I was pleasantly surprised when I read Money Saving Mom this morning! I had been planning on doing an eating from the pantry month in January, so this fits right in with what Crystal is doing with Fish Mama from Life as Mom. I guess a lot of us have the same idea here this year and I'm excited to be able to join in! So, what are my rules for my family? I don't have many... The biggie: $50 for the whole month! Yes, folks, that's $12.50 each week! How? I went through my cupboards, fridge/freezer combo and pantry tonight and will go through the deep freeze tomorrow AM with the help of my Mom (who leaves for home on Wednesday). I have a list of what we have and will be planning meals from that. I have a preliminary plan for the whole month outlined and hope to have it completely filled out by January 1 so we can jump right in. I'm planning to buy milk, a bag of salad greens and fresh fruit each week. I'll also need to buy some fresh veggies occasionally and might...