February & March Wrap-up

I have to admit that as I begin to write this I am feeling a little down. Our financial journey is filled with evidence of God's faithfulness and I know, in my heart of hearts, that He is leading us through a difficult time. Sometimes it's a little hard to keep perspective!

February & March were full of blessings. I actually kept a list this time, but as ever, I'm sure I forgot some. A friend gave us a really nice crib mattress, 10 days spent away from home with family helped the grocery budget, my cousin treated me and the girls to lunch, I got to have pizza twice in February (a huge treat), the girls received a fun toy from an aunt for no occasion, a friend gave us diapers, we set up Eve's new bed which was a gift from a friend, I got formula samples from four friends and coupons from ladies in my MOPS group, my grandma gave us a whole bunch of Easter decorations, a friend gave me a $3 cash coupon for a grocery store she doesn't often visit, a friend volunteered to babysit so DH & I could have a date, I got 16 days of free diapers and a $150 VISA gift card for participating in a diaper study, I got a $25 grocery credit for a transferred prescription, a friend bought me couple of cute tops she found for a bargain price, and finally, we were able to eat out twice as a family through mystery shopping. Isn't all that stuff amazing?! We have wonderful people in our lives and God is good!

My goals for February were mostly accomplished. I was able to spend close to $20 each week on groceries and I used up lots of my freezer and pantry stockpile. I wanted to blog 3 times per week and I think I managed that for the most part. I also wanted to keep having consistent Bible study and I think I've managed that for the most part as well. I did file the business taxes, I did file the personal taxes, and I did use cloth diapers much more including times away from home.

In April I want to:
1. Use the clothesline 25% of the time - about 15 loads of laundry
2. Take DD#3 and DD#4 for portraits, take all four girls for portraits
3. Keep blogging consistently
4. Empty the garage freezer completely (super-challenging but I'm going to try!)
5. Keep up Bible study even though the one I've been involved in at church has ended.
6. Sell at least 3 things to help with the goal of paying off student loan debt.
7. Finish a tax return for a friend.
8. Finally send Christmas cards - Ha!

We have two big expenses this month including an airline ticket to my aunt's wedding that costs $400 and a plumbing repair at our rental property that we anticipate will be $500. These big costs translate into negative cash flow for us. To help mitigate that I agreed to use only $40/week for my household allowance this month. That's gas, groceries, coffee, outings with kids, stamps, thrift stores, etc. Pretty much I'll be buying very few groceries, some gas, and that's it. I already had to dip into the money I had set aside for bulk-buying groceries so I hope I'm more successful in weeks to come than I was this first week!

Wish me luck and/or say a prayer for me.

Katie

January Wrap-Up & February Goals

January is always a hard month for me. Everything seems in turmoil emotionally, financially, and in our home. I expect to feel a little off with holiday letdown and I know there will be tension as we scramble to cover holiday expenses. We have several "big" bills in December and January that always seem harder to manage (car tabs, car insurance premium, annual January trip to visit in-laws, AAA) just because of the time of year. The kids are adjusting back into 'normal' routines after weeks of sugar-highs, excitement, and trips out of town.

This January was a rough one, but I survived. I have been feeling more myself the last week or so, and am so happy to be mostly past the January yucks!

There were many blessings and things to be thankful for in January including:
- free baby formula from three friends and my young aunt who has a baby.
- a financial gift from a friend that went straight to the student loan
- a great trip to visit family in Southern California
- airline tickets for the same cost as driving to California so we were spared the difficult 22 hour drive each way with our 4 small children
- several friends and family who remembered our anniversary (I so admire and appreciate people who remember wedding anniversaries! I wish I was better at it.)
- my childless brother and sister-in-law volunteered to watch all our kids all day long so DH and I could celebrate our anniversary at Disneyland.

Goals for January included a more detailed budget, closing the business books, groceries at $140, blog at least 3 times a week, and have more consistent Bible study. I did pretty well, but not great with these. I did make a more detailed budget, but then tossed it out as DH and I are trying something new - more on that next week. I did close the business books and had much more consistent Bible study. I did not stay under $140 for groceries, but spent $187, and I did not post 3 times per week on this blog. I did post more than November and December, but that's not saying much.

Goals for February include:
- Pantry Challenge 2011! Full month of meals planned out & $20/week on perishable groceries only. Use mostly food from pantry and freezer.
- Blog more consistently - 3 times per week
- Keep up consistent Bible study
- File business taxes
- File personal taxes
- Use cloth diapers more (like when we're away from home for the morning)

I still haven't sent Christmas cards so it looks like they'll be Valentine letters, but I still hope to get them out.

Katie

November & December Wrap-Up

I have been putting off this post because of the negative things I have to reveal, but there were many positives as well and reasons to rejoice in the Lord. I might as well just get it over with, first bad, then good.

The goals for November included:

• Pull garden out
• Clean & vaccum both cars - inspired by something I read that suggested taking care of your cars will help you feel better about their age and ugliness.
• Groceries $200 - this will be a challenge because of Thanksgiving and because I already committed $60 for bulk food purchases with a friend.
• Make the budget work to include lots of things that have come up for November without using DH's raise which we've committed to the timeshare debt.
• Get Christmas cards and baby announcements completely finished before Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the rest of my holiday season.

The disappointing news is that I didn't accomplish a single one of these goals in November or December.

• The garden is still in, the pumpkins were never picked and now sit as frozen lumps in the backyard. I have to remember to toss them in theyard waste bin before they turn to disgusting mush.
• The cars have not been cleaned or vaccumed. They still feel old and ugly - but they're paid for!
• I completely blew the grocery budget in both November and December. I spent a combined $788 dollars those months. I bought 5 - 20+ pound turkeys, 2 hams & 60 pounds of boneless, skinless, chicken breast. I also bought a dozen boxes of stuffing, 25 pounds of kidney beans, 25 pounds of black beans and about 20 cans of creamy cooking soups. And a bunch of other stuff. It was major stockup season with all the awesome sales and I justified the spending.
• Clearly, I didn't stick to the budget. I also didn't make it work with the unexpected expenses. These included: Over $200 for camping next summer, a studen't loan payment almost doubled, our water bill that comes every 8 weeks happened to fall two months in a row, and Nutcracker tickets that were more expensive than I had planned for. Including the extra grocery money we had to dip into our savings - which is always a disappointment.
• I also didn't send Christmas cards. In fact I still have 'New Year Letter' on the agenda. I hope to get those rolling over the weekend.

Now for the good news! And praise God for good news!

• We paid off the timeshare! DH had some stock hanging around and did a little research last summer resulting in the decision to sell in the fall. We actually dipped a little futher into savings to pull this off, but with the unexpected increase in the student loan payment we thought it made sense to eliminate the timeshare payment so that cash is free to cover the increase plus pay extra. Now the plan is to replenish the savings and then start paying off the student loan. We are committed to using DH's fall raise and the old timeshare payment to speed this process.
• My microwave stopped working properly in November and a good friend gave me an almost new one she had in her garage. Not only does it make my kitchen life easier, but it's a significant upgrade in looks than the old model.
• We were anonymously given some grocery gift cards totalling $200. They arrived last week and we were so blessed to find them in our mailbox!
• Our family and friends were generous in their Christmas giving as well. The girls had many, many packages to open. One of our favorites was from a great-aunt whose husband passed away a couple years ago. Apparently he had started collecting the state quarters thinking of his grand-nieces and his wife finished for him and sent the collections to our daughters. I thought it was a wonderful way to honor his memory and give the girls something connected to him.
• There is always more and I never remember it all, but we are so blessed all the time and so thakful for our wonderful, supportive community.

Going into January I am trying to be more realistic about the budget. I am going to make my spreadsheets much more detailed so I can more efficiently track a whole year's worth of expenses so that in 2012 I can budget better so (for example) I don't get surprised by a $200 camping reservation, the car tabs, or the fees for website hosting and domain names (DH has many).

Goals for this month:

• Get a more detailed budget set up
• Close DH's business books for 2010
• Groceries $140 (to try and make up for crazy Nov/Dec)
• Blog 3 times a week
• Consistent Bible study - 5 times each week

Wish me luck! And FYI - It'll be time for a pantry/freezer challenge in February so start thinking about if you want to join me in that project!

Katie

October Wrap-Up & November Goals

October was a busy month! We had DD1's birthday, a 12 day road trip to Disneyland, and a 4 day trip to visit Grandma in Oregon, too.

October was also full of blessings with continued meals to help out after Phoebe's arrival, much appreciated baby gifts and visits with several friends who we don't get to see often enough!

We had some especially cool stuff happen related to Disneyland. First, my aunt made the girls beautiful princess dresses that were a huge improvement on the mass-produced princess costumes. Next, my cousin Rebecca gave the big girls each a visit to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for their birthdays (DD1's was right before our trip & DD2's is this week). Finally, we were given a coupon book by a stranger as we entered Disneyland about 8PM on our first day there. She said, "This is our last day and we can't use these." Perhaps she chose us because we were a sight with four little kids strapped into their double strollers. When we checked out the coupons the next morning we found a coupon for a free adult character meal and $75 in vouchers for food in the park! DH had been particularly grumpy about our planned meal at Ariel's Grotto ($$$) and we thanked God for providing in this completely unexpected way. It was so much we were able to share the blessing with our family members who also came to Ariel's Grotto!

Goals for October included:

• Use the clothesline at least once - Didn't manage it, even with these last couple of beautiful days.
• Start pulling out the garden - Again, didn't get to it. I will need about half a bale of hay in the next couple of weeks though. Anyone know where I can get one and/or does anyone want to share?
• We planned $200 for groceries this month - I did it!
• Pay another bit of Timeshare off - We got another 6%. The extra 'found' money this month was from babysitting, a paid focus group, a small amount of interest that has accumulated in various savings accounts, and DH got a raise that we are applying straight to this debt.
• Get DD1's homeschool rolling again - Check. We did school 4 days last week and are on track this week, too. An unexpected surprise is that DD2 wants to be a part of things, too, so we got her started on a workbook.
• At least one Resourceful Gifting post - I also did this.
  

New Goals for November:

• Pull garden out
• Clean & vaccum both cars - inspired by something I read that suggested taking care of your cars will help you feel better about their age and ugliness.
• Groceries $200 - this will be a challenge because of Thanksgiving and because I already committed $60 for bulk food purchases with a friend.
• Make the budget work to include lots of things that have come up for November without using DH's raise which we've committed to the timeshare debt.
• Get Christmas cards and baby announcements completely finished before Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the rest of my holiday season.

Katie

September Wrap-up - Totally late!

Here we are on October 23rd & I'm very tardy in filling you in on my September goals!

• I hoped to pay down the timeshare a bit more. We did make a small payment, but it was only 3% of the total payoff. That's 43% all together in 3 months though which is still pretty great. It was all 'found money' including babysitting pay, a 'cash back' rebate from our credit card (used to buy plane tickets several months ago, paid off immediately), and grocery rebate check.
• I hoped to keep up with the Resourceful Gifting posts, but that didn't happen.
• $160 for groceries ended up $201.25 after we adjusted mid-month to $200.
• I am caught up on laundry (amazing!) but am not using the clothesline. I am recovered enough to carry it, but it's been cold and my time has been consumed.
• I did have a quick recovery, but I did too much too fast and had to slow it down a couple of times. I'm 100% now, physically, but we haven't found our new 'normal' yet.

Goals for October (or the last week of it anyway!):

• Use the clothesline at least once - small, but hopefully manageable if these nice afternoons linger.
• Start pulling out the garden - I have two weekends to accomplish this one.
• We planned $200 for groceries this month.
• Pay another bit of Timeshare off. Again it'll have to be "found money" so I'm going to start searching!
• Get Eve's homeschool rolling again. We've really been hit or miss since Phoebe's arrival.
• At least one Resourceful Gifting post.

Wish me luck!

Katie

June Wrap-Up & July Goals

I'm a bit tardy with the monthly summary. DH and I didn't have a chance to sit down and talk about about goals until this weekend.

Just in case you missed it our huge praise this month is for DHs job going to full-time. After a year of surviving on 3/4 salary we are back to normal. Keep in mind 'normal' for us is still pretty darn frugal but we are just so excited that all our bills are covered with DHs salary again.

We are continually amazed at God's provision. Even as God was engineering Ed's return to full-time work, He worked through many people to bless our family. We received several generous gift cards in June, a friend made me some beautiful earrings, another friend gave us a bike for one of our DDs, we had several instances of babysitting help, I was given many hand-me-downs and new things to prepare for DD #4, and there were lots of other wonderful blessings that I can't remember right this second with my pregnant memory. *sigh*

We have been looking at our budget and trying to decide which of the many things we have been putting off should get financial priority. For July we settled on new tires for the Suburban. We could wait a couple more months, but we thought it would be wisest to buy the tires when I have the Suburban in Oregon later this month so we can avoid about $70 sales tax. This is not a special trip to buy tires! I already planned to have the Suburban there since I have to haul a bunch of stuff home that won't fit in the Toyota.

My goals for June included:

• $200 on groceries (to include a Costco trip). I spent $228.51 which is close enough!
• List one thing on ebay or Craig's List. Uh . . . Nope. But I do think I'll manage some this month because a) we are reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and every time we ready it we end up selling a bunch of stuff, b) listing fees on Ebay are free for up to 100 items until July 12th, and c) I am coming across lots to get rid of as the Spring Cleaning progresses
• Finish the Spring Cleaning. Rats - I would love to have this done. I did get the kitchen chairs scrubbed and the ceiling fan cleaned which were both 'biggies' I had been avoiding.
• Use the dryer just 5 times. I did this one! Unless my mom used the dryer more than twice when she was here, which is entirely possible. She can be sneaky. Anyway - even with our terrible weather in June I managed to keep the dryer usage to five loads.
• Post about spring cleaning, chickens, and how I grocery shop. I got the How I grocery shop series finished, but no chicken posts and more spring cleaning to come.

Goals for July:

• Groceries under $200. We have a camping trip the first week of August I'll be preparing for and I am running low on all my meat except pork chops. I want to have enough budget to stock up if I find a good price.
• Finish the Spring Cleaning. This is becoming Summer Cleaning so I'd better just wrap it up. I think I've made the mistake of organizing as I clean so it's taking much longer than I hoped.
• List 5 things on Ebay or Craig's List. Yep - back to five.
• Use my dryer less than 5 times (again)
• Post about chickens, stringing a clothesline, and start a series on gift giving.

I don't feel like I have any "new" goals this month, but I'll just give myself a break and try to maintain for the two remaining months of my pregnancy.

Katie

May Wrap-Up & June Goals

Here we are at the end of May. These monthly updates come much too soon for me as I never manage to accomplish all the tasks before me, but I did OK this month.



First a huge Hallelujah! for DH's temporary job as a Census worker. The hours are flexible, the pay is good, and DH has been enjoying the work. The paychecks filled "the gap" in May and we were able to pay everything on time and the credit card remains with a $0 balance. We also received a grocery gift card and had our food all paid for the first week of May which were both a huge help.

My goal was $100 for groceries, but I spent $147. This was a conscious decision to do some bulk buying instead of just "survival" buying as I have been for several months. For example, when pasta was $.75/box at Fred Meyer I bought ten boxes knowing I would use five for my freezer meal swap in June. I also found markdown pie crusts for $.99 and decided to buy enough for another freezer meal swap. Chicken Pot Pie is so ridiculously easy and delicious if the crusts are already made. I also bought a case of organic macaroni & cheese at Champion Foods because they were $.83/each. Usually I would only buy a few boxes at a time. So this bulk buying increased the grocery bill a bit, but overall I feel pretty good about $147, especially considering how full the pantry is and how prepared I feel for the freezer meal swaps coming up.

I didn't sell anything on ebay, but I did sell a book on half.com. I started to look a few things up on ebay this month, but I think many of the 'potential' ebay items will just end up in the garage sale pile.

I also got a good start on the Spring Cleaning, but it has been slow going. This rainy, cloudy weather is a major downer for me and I haven't been very motivated to work on any of my projects. I'm so looking forwad to a sunnier and more productive June!

I only used the dryer ONE TIME in May. We were out of town the first week of the month. We had a beautiful week the 2nd week of May and I was able to get all the laundry caught up (including bedding) which was excellent! We had one super-sunny morning the next week which allowed me to dry four loads of laundry before the afternoon rain started and those clothes have tided us over through about 10 days of rain. I used the dryer once this week because one of my kiddos wet the bed and I didn't have time or cooperating weather to dry the thick, waterproof mattress pad. But just that once the whole month is pretty good. Unfortunately I have full laundry hampers, a full diaper pail, and waning supplies of clothing in dresser drawers. I'm hoping for at least one solid day of sun this week!

When we get our electric bill for this month I'll be sure to post about the impact using the clothesline intead of the dryer has made.

I still plan to post about chickens and a series on how I grocery shop - so look for those in June. I did finally post about making your own bread, cloth wipes, and the big deal with drugstores.

Goals for June:

• $200 Groceries - This includes a trip to Costco
• Sell 1 thing on ebay - I'm lowering my goal so it's more achievable. =^)
• Finish the Spring Cleaning
• Blog posts about chickens, spring cleaning, & how I grocery shop
• Again, use the dryer less than 5 times.

Thanks for reading and taking an interest in our survival!

Katie

April Wrap-Up

I am realizing with these end-of-month updates that I am not great at sticking with the goals I set. I am OK with this, and I recognize that's part of my personality. So I guess I want those of you readers who are more focused than I am to know that I am fully aware that I don't usually meet the goals. I use more of that "aim for the moon and you'll land among the stars" approach.

For example, this month I spent $119 on groceries. My goal was $100, but $119 is pretty awesome, and I never would have kept it that low if I hadn't been aiming at $100.

Another goal was to list 5 things on ebay . . . hm.

We did receive our tax refund just this week so we were able to cover some all those expenses we used our credit card for in March. We were also able to pay the property taxes on time - Yahoo!

I had several posts I wanted to get on this blog as well and those are finished or nearly so in most cases. You'll see posts about drugstore deals, cloth wipes, making your own bread and how I grocery shop in May. I did manage to post about putting together your own freezer meal swap, so that's one off the list anyway.

I am proud to report that I did get the freezer defrosted! My inside freezer absorbed those few items that still needed a home, and I was able to organize those shelves, too. I have a meat drawer, a shelf for pre-made dinners, a frozen veggies & fruit shelf, and a misc. shelf. I made a list of what's on each shelf and used a magnet to stick it to the outside door so nothing gets "lost."
Here's what my freezer looked like after we emptied out lots of ice:

Here is what it looked like when all the ice melted. We only found one thing buried in the ice: a very welcome container of 4 cups of diced tomato.

I am hoping to leave this freezer unplugged for several months to save energy. I'll have to use it again when the garden starts producing. I read that the refrigerator and clothes dryer are the biggest users of engery in an average household, so I'm hoping having this old tank unplugged and using the clothesline will make a big difference this summer.

Goals for May:

• $100 on groceries again - we'll be gone for a full week and now that the freezer is low I'll focus on the pantry - I hope.
• List 5 things on ebay - I really ought to be able to do this, I just never make it a priority
• Spring Cleaning
• Blog posts regarding: Cloth wipes, making your own bread, drugstore deals, hopefully one about keeping chickens, and at least start a series on how I grocery shop.
• Use the dryer less than 5 times.

I'll keep you posted!

Katie

March Wrap-up and April Aspirations

I started March with a lot of anxiety and uncertainty about how we would manage the bills. Praise the Lord I am feeling much better and have been able to lean on Him more instead of trying to manage all the financial struggles with my own solutions.

We were able to pay all the bills this month, but we did have to put some things on the credit card for the first time in a long time. We are hoping our tax refund will arrive before the payment is due so we won't have to carry a balance. If you don't carry consumer debt you probably understand how painful using the credit card is for DH and I. We are trusting God that this is a very temporary way to stay afloat.



I had a couple of goals for March. One was to keep the grocery spending to $100. I totally failed at this and ended up spending $145.56. This was even with some grocery gifts and a gift of a PCC gift card. I'll do better in April. Another goal was to list 5 things on ebay. I also didn't manage this one, but I did list and sell one thing which is a big chore for me so I won't chalk this up to total failure. I also managed to repost many books on half.com that have been out in our garage since a water issue in our basement last November. This is a potential way to bring in a little income, so it balances out the non-ebay listing a little bit more.

For April I will keep the same goals of $100 for groceries and listing 5 things on ebay. I will be spending a week at my parents' house so that will alleviate some of the grocery burden. I'll plan to spend approximately $25/week so I don't run out of budget halfway through the month like I did in March. I also think listing 5 things on ebay is reasonable for one month so I'll try it again.

The pantry/freezer challenge continues to progress and I am hopeful I'll be able to defrost the freezer completely in April and use some of my pantry space for my craft supplies that have been stored in the garage since the water problem in November.

Here's what the pantry & freezer look like today:




Here's what they looked like in November before a huge Thanksgiving basket from church:




We definitely need to increase our income for April as we have property taxes due on our rental property at the end of the month. We have saved some for this but haven't been able to save for the last two months. Again, if the tax refund comes we'll be able to pay this without difficulty, but it could be a mad scramble. DH has been interviewing for some other part-time work so we're hoping something happens there to produce a paycheck soon. =^) I also should be more motivated to put stuff on ebay just in case we need that extra cash sooner rather than later.

I also want to express our deep appreciation for the gifts of food, cash, needed items, and gift cards that we've been blessed with this month. We also very much appreciate the kind words of encouragement and support our friends & family have offered as we try to stay afloat and wait on the Lord's direction. It is humbling to be on the receiving end of all of this, but we rejoice that God is meeting our needs and that He is able to use so many in the church body in the process.

Katie

February Update

Hi friends,

Sorry to be away so long. We ended up being out of town for 10 days and then when I got home it was a busy week kicking off my new cleaning schedule. I'll write more about that later if I can figure out how to post excel files. Anyway, with all the cleaning I didn't make time for this blog. I'll try to be better!

My goal for February was to continue using food I had on hand and keep my grocery budget under $75. I didn't quite make it - I ended up around $85, but that included some gift card usage. In cash I only spent $62.90. Overall still good.



I am down to 20 boxes of cereal, 5 boxes of crackers and 9 cake/brownie mixes. That still sounds like a lot, but I am also out of lots of things I use frequently like chicken, macaroni & cheese, & croutons.

Speaking of croutons - I am still planning to try out making my own, but I have to find some time, a great recipe, and some old bread. =^)

Goals for March: Keep the grocery bill under $100. Sell 5 things on ebay to help the budget. Be more encouraging to DH about our finances instead of feeling so sorry for myself! Sheesh!

Also, I tried the pumpkin puree and it Did Not turn out. I would have posted pictures, but as you may remember our camera died. It probably didn't help that I was using old pumpkins from our fall garden. They were green in November when I pulled them all out, and over the next 8 weeks or so they slowly ripened. I thought I'd give them a try after a few more orange weeks, but they were pretty soft inside when I cut into them. I baked them in the microwave (like the directions I found on the internet said to) but they just kinda collapsed & it would have been difficult to remove the skins in that condition. It was also late and we were leaving for the 22 hour drive the next morning so I just bagged it. I'll try again in the fall with a new crop of pumpkins.

January Pantry Challenge Results!

OK - so I got the January budget closed & am happy to report that we spent only $61.25 on groceries the whole month of January. This includes groceries while we were at Disneyland. Yahoo! While I didn't stay under the goal of $60, I feel pretty good about $61.25.

A big thanks to our friends who met up with us in Southern California and provided lots of food for the days they were with us.

One of the best things of the Pantry Challenge has been using up old stuff. I don't know if I should admit some of this . . .



- I'll start with the worst one. I found an old lasagna in the freezer dated March 2009. Mom has always told me meat is fine in the freezer for a year, but most freezer meal cookbooks say 3 months. I went with Mom on this one & it was fine.

- A friend gave me some expired things from her pantry knowing that I don't mind using things a little past date. I will take things the food bank won't. Is that a little sad? Anyway, on our Disneyland trip I was able to use a "just-add-chicken" pasta dinner mix dated August 2009. It was like, gourmet or something, and wow it was good. I don't know how those mixes even expire. It's dry pasta and an envelope of spices.

- I was very, very pleased to use up several boxes of crackers, granola bars, & nutrigrain bars. These were getting close to, at, or just past their dates and we used them all up as part of lunches and snacks at Disneyland. We weren't able to use up some Pop-Tarts with January expireation though. Oh well. Sugary snacks I guess for a couple days in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure the kids won't be disappointed that Mom is too frugal to toss out junk food, even when she gets it for free.

I am also pleased to see some room in my garage freezer! I am hoping to empty and defrost it completely by June so it's ready to stock up with garden produce this summer!

The hardest part of the Pantry Challenge is that I don't have any chicken. And I can't really buy any. If I find it on sale I'm only allowed to buy five pounds which is normally a less than two week supply. I'm making a cheesy chicken casserole this week that I will be making without chicken. I plan to add more veggies for bulk, but I am sure I'l miss the chicken. I'll post my menu plan tomorrow. I don't have it all worked out yet.

I want to say a BIG thank you to my mom who brought us a cooler full of meat when she visited a few weeks back. While it didn't include chicken we are well stocked on round steak, ground round, pork chops, and bacon. She also tossed in 4 pounds of cheese. Is that awesome of what?! We are so blessed.

I am hoping that next week will be a kitchen week for me with lots of money-saving food prep and I'm hoping to get advice from you guys. Some topics: Making your own baby food, making your own croutons, making your own pumpkin puree. I've never done any of these & I'm looking forward to all of them!

Katie