Proverbs 12

My husband and I read a Bible verse this morning I wanted to share.

Proverbs 12:9 NASB - Better is he who is lightly esteemed and has a servant than he who honors himself and lacks bread.

ESV - Better to be lowly and have a servant than to play the great man and lack bread.

NIV - Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.

KJV - [He that is] despised, and hath a servant, [is] better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread.

NKJV - Better [is the one] who is slighted but has a servant, Than he who honors himself but lacks bread.

Reading this verse reminded me that I don't need to appear great.  Choosing to spend less allows us to have more and help more than we would otherwise.  Trying to appear great has significant financial consequences we all would hope to avoid!  It was a good reminder for me as I've been on a bit of spending spree (granted, things we have waited a long time for and planned for) and want to be sure I don't get carried away buying things that are 'extra' to improve how the world looks at us.

Katie

Grocery Markdowns

 

I went to Haggen last night to pick up organic carrots and tortillas which were both on sale.  I ended up buying more than I expected mostly due to excellent markdowns! 

 

You can see a few in the photo.  I got two cans of Campbell's Select Harvest soup for $.75 each, eight small cups of applesauce for $.10 each, two cans of green beans for $.25 each, and a can of organic tomato soup for $.79.

 

Then I went to QFC last night to pick up Annie's mac & cheese for $1.00/box because it was hte last day of the sale.  Again I found a markdown bonanza.

Mrs. Cubbison's Stuffing was $.89 per box and it has two packages in each box!  I like the instant stuffing for this one quick dinner the family loves and once in awhile I need a quick dinner.  Nancy's organic yogurt was $1.69 for the plain (only 1 left), and $2.49 for the vanilla.  Both excellent deals.  All those bananas were markdown to $.34/lb and the lunch meat was $1.49.  Pickles for $.89, 4 pack yogurt for $1.19, and cough medicine for $2.49 each after coupon rounded out my shopping trip. 

I've been seriously overspending on groceries and am in the process of making a plan to improve.

Katie

Monday Menu Plan

Oh it's been about six weeks of insanity around here.  Without going into detail I'll just mention headlice, eye infection, hand foot mouth, house guests, car trouble, roadtrip to southern california with 4 kids, two bench seats and no air conditioning,  preserving raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and peaches, and finally, starting our homeschool year. 

This week I really need the menu plan for several reasons:

1) I'm really low on perishable groceries because not using the garage freezer and the inside freezer being filled with fruit instead of meat.  I REFUSE to pay full price for meat so we're making do.

2) My brother is here working on our slow remodel and another man at the table requires a little more planning.

3) Homeschool and church activities all start up this week so a plan will be super helpful.

So here's my plan:

Lunches:
Monday - Shells & Cheese, apples
Tuesday - Grilled cheese
Wednesday - Nachos
Thursday - Nuggets
Friday - Mac & Cheese pie
Saturday - Chicken Salad

Dinners:
Monday - Beef Stroganoff (one package of round steak in the freezer)
Tuesday - Spaghetti (1.5 pounds of ground beef in the freezer)
Wednesday - At Church
Thursday - French Toast & Bacon
Friday - at Bible Study (providing huge pot of chili for potluck)
Saturday - Baked Pasta
Sunday - Chicken/Veggie/Stuffing Casserole (Mom gone)

Here's to a smooth week!

Katie

$5 for $10 at Starbucks

Living Social has a good deal today.  $5 for a printable $10 voucher at Starbucks.  Click here to view it.

Katie

Overgrown Garden

We arrived home from vacation to find a crazy, overgrown garden.  I didn't have time to do all the things I wanted before I left so I kind of expected it. 



Sorry for the poor lighting

The pumpkins are coming along nicely.  The bottom left is a "giant" plant, but we don't really get enough sun for a huge squash so it's an experiment.  Those orange flowers are all standard pumpkins and their vines are running out of the garden and all over the first round of lettuce which you can see to the right of the blooms.

On the far left is the first round of lettuce, then spaghetti squash in a much-too-small space, celery, and the second round on lettuce on the far right.  I've got to give those spaghetti squash some room.  I'll also want to get any good spaghetti squash recipes from you readers because we're set to have a ton!  You can see one at the bottom center. 

Round 2 of the lettuce is bottom center with bell peppers just above it and jalepenos to the right.  At the top is ridiculously overgrown broccoli.  There are also ridiculous amounts of weeds in this picture.

Here are the tomotoes.  Doing well, but not as well as some of my friends' plants.  Also, a ton of weeds here are using up the tomato's sunshine and water I think.  I've got to get on those!

Round 2 of snap peas have been ignored by the rabbits.  Hooray!  They need stakes.

Round 2 of the green beans were eaten by rabbits again despite my attempts to deter with cayenne pepper and human hair.  Those light green leaves you see down the center of the photo are cucumbers.  I need to weed and give those guys room to grow!  I'm going to let them trail into the green bean stalks.

Zucchini and tomatos pulled off.

I'm really going to put some effort into the garden this weekend.  Hopefully I'll have some nice, tidy photos to share early next week!

Katie

Quarter Stuck in Disposal

I have a quarter stuck under one of the blades in my garbage disposal.  I have tried manually turning the blade from the top with my hand, a screwdriver, needle nose pliers, a hammer handle, and a monkey wrench handle (it fit right between the blades).  I have also tried an Allen wrench to loosen the blade from the bottom of the disposal, but it won't budge.  I used the pliers and a slotted screwdriver to try and propel the quarter out from under the blade.  Nothing is working.

Any ideas?

Katie

Produce & Freezer Space

I love this time of year! 

I just reserved 4 boxes of peaches for $15.50 each.  Those usually run about 22 pounds/box so it works out to about $.70/lb. 

I also just reserved 30 pounds of blueberries for $60.  At $2/lb I got the maximum allowed per family!

Yesterday I picked 10 pounds of raspberries at Remlinger Farms for $2/lb, too. 

I am also expecting some "#2" peaches to be available for $8.50/case in 3 weeks but those are never guaranteed.  If I can get those, I'll get another 75 pounds.  Last year we used 125 pounds of peaches by May and I was saving them at the end.  I would absolutely use 175 or even 200 pounds because we use so many peaches in smoothies.

I'm hoping to find a good price on pears and apples, too.  Last year we went through over 100 quarts of applesauce - one of my girls would have pint every morning if I let her.


All this to say I'll be plugging my outside freezer in soon.  My ambitious goal is to have it unplugged for 4 months every summer, but I finally unplugged so late this year (May 15) that I'll be lucky to make it 3 months until August 15, but that's my goal!

Katie

July Update

In July I was really busy at home catching up from not being home in June!

1. We weren't able to save much this month for the emergency fund but we realized that another, smaller emergency fund should really be included in this bigger fund.  I don't know why it took us 4 months of saving to remember this, but we were excited!  Also, DH has been working a lot at his side job this month so we saved some from that.  We're up to 18.2%.

2. I almost managed to only use the dryer twice.  DH used it once early in the month because he wanted his yard work jeans in a hurry.  I used it once to tumble all of the "wrinkle-free" shirts that had been collecting.  I also had to use it to dry cloth diapers when we were leaving town for a week, so that one pushed me up to 3 times.

3. I did remember to keep my thankful list this month, though maybe not as complete as it should have been.  Thank you for my friend, Sarah, who watch the girls for us while I was on a weekend getway.  For the Lord's provision so much extra work this summer for DH and right exactly when we've been home.  For DH who so willing to work extra hours!  For my brother, Dan, who came to work on the basement and his great skill that blesses us so much.  For Aunt Renee who has graciously agreed to sew flower girl dresses when she has so very little time.  For my mom who organizes our annual camping trip.

4. I didn't post everyday on www.ProjectTwentySix.com but I did more than one post on the days I missed to catch up. 

5. I did not freeze a case of peaches.  I'm hoping to do that next month

6. I did completely clean out one basement closet and very nearly got the other finished.

Goals for August:

1. Save for Emergency Fun! 
2. Use dryer only 2 times
3. Freeze peaches (and like can if I can find a good deal!)
4. Post everyday on ProjectTwentySix
5. Keep a thankful list

Katie