Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap

 First, I'd like to thank everyone who chimed in with advice on my monthly shopping goals post.  I took the constructive criticism/advice to heart and started thinking more thoroughly about how I did packed lunches and realized that I was, indeed, in a rut, especially when it came to my son.  I did get a big tub of yogurt to split into smaller containers for my daughter's lunches, but my son has had the same bento box lunch box format since preschool, which always consisted of things like Doritos and Cheetos and such.  And I thought of the couple real food items he'd eat and decided to just toss the bento box idea out the window.  This week I've been sending him in with noodles cooked in chicken broth (MILD chicken broth to not make him think I'm pulling anything on him), noodles with Parmesan cheese with beet powder mixed into the Parmesan cheese and white rice.  Sure, I still include baggies of his Doritos and Cheetos, but in much smaller quantities than before.  And it's been wonderful.  He's enjoying the noodles and rice, I'm sneakily getting some desperately needed nutrition into his diet, and most importantly I'm saving money as he's eating less processed foods with his lunch (and I'm cheering as eating less processed foods is always a good thing).  Even my daughter willingly took pasta and Parmesan to school today for her lunch alongside her pudding and yogurt.  So thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Well, when it came to saving money this week things went well!

1.  I went to Fred Meyer earlier in the week to get my Freebie Friday of free bread.  I was praying that the bread would be safe for my son to eat (you'd be surprised how much whole grain anything is contaminated with peanuts) and found to my surprise that the regular whole wheat bread was safe!  So, I gleefully got the bread.  I also found storage bags on clearance for .79 a box in the quart size.  I had a coupon loaded on my card for .50/2 and when it came off at the register it came off numerous times, so I guess it was unlimited use (or at least 3 times anyway), which was great getting the bags that cheap!

I also found some bath sets on clearance for 2.49 a piece.  I bought a Hello Kitty one for my daughter as part of her birthday present and grabbed the other one for her to "earn" with chores later on.  The minion bath set I couldn't pass up as it came with two big bottles of soap (one body wash and one bubble bath).  I have found my daughter loves to go through soap and is even scratching her bar soap down (grrr) so I figured once I add the bubble bath and body wash to her body wash pump bottle it'll refill a 10.00 bottle of body wash without issues.  I also got her some sparkly hair bands (on clearance for 1.00) hoping that she'll finally start letting me braid her hair at night (she's got my baby fine hair that frizzes like nobody's business, lucky little thing).  We'll see how well that works.

I then went to Carrs and was able to score a one pound bag of cinnamon for less than 3.00.  I almost picked up a second one as they have a 2018 expiration on them, but I also realized that I only use so much cinnamon in a given year, so I stopped with the one.

2.  My friend Stephanie then gave me some freebies she's not using that she got playing an instant win game for Fred Meyer and her Freebie Friday coupons as well.  So I was able to get another loaf of bread, a box of microwave popcorn and some yogurt for free (thanks, Stephanie!!!).  I am going to divide up the one loaf of bread into 2 slice portions with wax paper in between and then freeze.  This way I'll be able to pull out two pieces of bread for my son for toast or if someone wants a sandwich, but I won't have to worry about it molding on me, which does happen with whole wheat bread around here sometimes.

3.  Carrs had pasta on sale this week for .69 per box.  I bought 20 pounds as this is as cheap as I've seen it...well for as long as I can remember and we eat pasta a LOT, so it was totally worth stocking up.  I even raided the coin jar and took a quick trip to get eight boxes while my son was in therapy.

4.  Carrs also, it turned out (and I totally missed in the ad) had value packs of pork chops on sale for buy 1 get 3 free this week (seasoned ones).  When I looked at the loin chops and measured how wide they were cut and then compared them to a big pork loin nearby I figured out that basically it was "buy 1 pork loin get 3 free".  So for 22.00 I was able to get a ton of pork, which if I don't like the seasoning I'll wash it off before I put the chops into the freezer.  Easy peazy!

5.  I did well at the thrift store this week.

6.  I mended a few holes in some comforters this week.

7.  Despite picking up extras when it came to groceries this week (including some on sale deli meat to make lunches for my husband next week), by shopping carefully, I still came in under my grocery budget (after fuel for the car even) by 10.00!

8.  By being careful (and freezing my tail off during the day some days) I was able to get my electric bill down by 80.00 this month.  Still not as good as I'd hoped it'd be, but better than it was for sure.

9.  I signed up for a free subscription to Better Homes and Gardens through freebizmags.  Every once in a while they have a subscription anyone can get for free, so I was able to get it.  

And there you are folks.  Some of the ways I saved money this week.  How did you do?

How to Save Pennies (When Pennies is all You Have)

When I did my recent review post for 2015, I got a lot of wonderful wishes for a prosperous new year (thank you to all who did that and the same to you!), some encouragement (once again, thank you) and in the midst of it a couple of cries for help when some people realized that I'd been paying off bills when we have no money to speak of and asking me how I did it as they are in the same type of situation.

I almost didn't write this as it's kind of involved, but if I can help even a few people out there to save money and lead a better quality of life...heck that's why I started this blog, so really it's worth a shot.

I have a couple of things to start off with, though.  One:  I'm not a financial consultant person or anything like that, so please don't assume I am.  I'm merely sharing what works for me in the "saving money" department.   Also, these are things that work for me in my unique environment.  For instance, I don't have credit cards to use to buy things like groceries...the closest I come is my check card, so this system might not work for you if you do.  Also, this is all separate from things that I do myself around here to save money (make do and mend types of things) as those are kind of self evident, but I'll cover a few things here.

Right, now that we got that out of the way, let's get down to brass tacks.

When you have no extra money in your budget and desperately need to save some money, here's what is working for me.

1.  Take a Page From Embezzlers

Woah!  Before you start thinking I'm telling you to break the law or something, hear me out!  I'm not talking about stealing money...well kind of, but it's stealing money from yourself.  Right, now that I've thoroughly confused you, allow me to explain.

A classic embezzler trick is to take small amounts of money out of transactions at, say banks, and then no one will notice that money is missing until they are walking away with millions of dollars.  That is what I'm proposing you do with your bank account.

First, you're going to want an accurate balance on your checking account, so wait until the month's bills are paid, or you have four or five days where you can sit and wait for things to clear and get a good accurate balance of what you have in the bank (if you have everything reconciled in your check book, all the better here).  Start with that balance on a piece of paper, separate from your actual check register.  This is going to be your "working balance sheet".

Now, every single time you do a transaction, say a trip to the store, and the amount is an odd amount, say 54.30, always estimate that amount UP and put that in your working balance sheet.  In this case you'd subtract 55.00 from your balance.  Do this for every transaction you do throughout the month, big or small.  This includes utilities, credit card bills, whatever.

I go even further and try to estimate up to the nearest hundred if it's a large bill.  Like say your mortgage is 1250.00 a month.  I'll round up an amount like that to the nearest hundred.  I do the same to a lesser degree with utilities by estimating to the nearest ten.  Like my phone bill is 112.00 a month right now (plus or minus a few cents).  I round that up to 120.00 and use that as my monthly phone bill cost on my working balance sheet.

Another trick I do is I started getting 1/2 tank of gas whenever I could get away with it, but I'd put the cost of a full tank of gas into my working balance as that's the amount I always have running in my head on what gas would actually cost me.

At the end of the month, take the accurate reconciled balance from your checkbook and subtract your working balance sheet from that.  Record that amount on another page as your "monthly savings".  You can, if you wish, transfer that amount from your checking to your savings, but I don't bother as the interest rates just aren't high enough to bother with right now.  You might be surprised how much you start saving this way, or you might look at it and say, "That's it?" at the end of the month, but trust me, even small amounts start to add up.  Once I get to 50.00 or more in my "savings" right now I immediately throw that as an extra payment on my husband's tooth bill.

This was the only way I could find to save money that I didn't miss said money on a day to day basis.  And it does work...it's just not as clear cut as taking say 10% of your check and putting it into savings or something.

2.  Consolidate Your Expenses

 This one works if you track your expenses at all and if you don't I definitely suggest that you do. It can hurt when you first start doing it, but it really does give you a better picture of where your money is going.

When I decided that I needed to start saving money STAT and that we had no money to save, I came up with the system described in number one and than I tried to think of ways to cut expenses back as well.  I started to look at our budget and thought hard about how I could make some more cuts somewhere and then decided that, "Household Expenses", "Meals and Entertainment", "Clothing", "Thrift Store and Yard Sale" and "Grocery" could all be put together under just "Grocery"  if I was really creative in my budgeting, and I mean really creative.   I then kept my grocery budget exactly the same, but started to put more strain on it with the other categories, thus saving me about 50.00 a month between  all of the other categories getting erased.  As a result of this my 150.00 a week grocery budget started to encompass a whole lot more stuff and I ended up having to get a lot more creative in my choices to make it stretch.  I've managed pretty well overall.

I've found that when you consolidate expenses this way it does work, but it does require you to get really creative to make it work.  Even if you just consolidate "gas" into with your grocery budget, you'll save yourself money, so look over your budget and see what you can do to make your pennies stretch that much further.

3.  Pinch the Pennies Until The Copper Melts in Your Palm

I know anyone who comes to this blog knows this trick, but here's some of the things I started doing to make sure that my pennies stretched as far as I could make them go on top of what I talk about from day to day on the blog.

One big lesson to learn is that if something is on clearance or reduced that does NOT mean that it's a good deal.  You might be proud of yourself for getting meat 50% off at the store, but if you looked at the price per lb and realize that you just paid 6.00 per lb for those steaks you might feel a bit differently about things.  Especially if you'd looked at the weekly ad and realized that those same steaks were on sale for 4.99 lb if you'd taken the time to look (and yes, this is based on a real live incident with a friend of mine who felt really stupid when I told her about the sale).  So, always pay attention to the little things.  Just wanted to pass that lesson along :).

So here's a few ways I have been pinching pennies this last year:

1.  I only buy meat if it is below 2.00 per lb, OR in the case of more expensive meats I must get it for below 3.00 per lb on reduced price or below 5.00 for a package of meat (preferably the less than 5.00 route as I can get beef ribs and things decently cheap from time to time).  I have to stick to this resolution until further notice, but the cost of pork has gone up significantly the last bit (3.99 to 6.99 lb for pork???  Ouch!!!) so...we will eventually grow feathers around here eventually I'm thinking.

Also, don't discount processed foods.  They do have their place.  I have started to order things like Beef a Roni and tamales (obviously from my shopping goals for this month) because I find that beef is so expensive that once I include the cost of the other items to make said dish, it's just easier to order it in a can form.  Will we be eating these things every day?  Heck no.  But, they are good to have and it gives you a bit of variety in your diet.

2.  I have started to try and do one meatless meal a week, or close to a meatless meal (I'll use bouillon or something to help flavor things so I can't call it "meatless", but close enough).  I have found pasta is an excellent help in stretching the food budget.  It's filling, it's cheap, requires few condiments to make it different and everyone in my family enjoys it.

3.  Try to cook so there aren't any leftovers.  If there are leftovers, either freeze them before they go bad or make sure you pack them for lunches and things so that they get used.  Nothing makes me cry more than wasting food.  Honestly, I'm pretty sure I gave myself mild food poisoning a couple of times this last year eating things in the fridge that were past their prime because I didn't want to waste food.  Now I really try to catch things before they are more than a few days old, just to be safe.

4.  Only do laundry or dishes when there is a full load.  I know that neatness lovers out there are flinching at the thought of dirty dishes being in your sinks right now, but it does help to save money and water consumption on top of that if you just wait and do it when you HAVE to versus when you want to.  This one won't be for everyone, but I do it...it's usually not a problem for me, though, with my family *laugh*.

5.  Simplified the cleaners.  I used to buy whatever dish soap was on sale, but then I discovered that my local bulk store sold gallon sized things of dish soap for commercial restaurants and stuff cheap, so I just bought one of those and am refilling my dish soap bottles as I run low.  It really has saved me a lot of money.

I use vinegar for a lot of different cleaning chores now a days (it works just as well as Windex and is a LOT cheaper to buy if you get it at the bulk stores) and soap and water does wonders as a cleaning solution.  The only cleaners I have bought recently was Resolve carpet cleaning foam for my stairs (stomach flu badness that wasn't coming up without it), Clorox wipes (this just recently to sterilize the bathroom after my son used it for a few weeks to kill the stomach bugs) and some toilet bowl cleaner (because getting rust and calcium deposits off the inside of the toilet sucks without it and I wanted to sterilize the toilet too from...well you get it).  I buy sponges for .69 a piece at my local bulk store (they sell them individually and in bulk packages, but I found the individual ones were actually cheaper, so I go that route) and I'm ready to rock.

6.  I'm using a lot less paper products around here.  The Prudent Homemaker turned me onto POM toilet paper, which luckily my local bulk store carries and I have to admit I was a bit skeptical that it would work as well as toilet paper I was buying from Amazon, but I was wrong and that stuff lasts FOREVER compared to the Cottonelle I was using.  I'm super happy with that as toilet paper isn't cheap!

With paper towels I make a point to keep dish towels handy and if we are using napkins they are cloth.  It has definitely helped to cut down paper consumption around here.  And double bonus when I had to clean up things that I DIDN'T want to clean up with dish towels when my son was sick I had the paper towels to use.  

Now will those things help you to save money?  Well, in a round a bout fashion by cutting your expenses you will have more money to save, which is a good thing.

4.  Evaluate Needs Vs. Wants

This one is tough, really tough.  We, as human beings, tend to have unlimited wants.  No matter how much we get we want more.  And curbing that tendency can be really hard.

To survive you need few things.  Clothes on your back, brand doesn't matter.  Food on your table.  A roof over your head with utilities turned on (preferably) and your family healthy.  A car, or two that run and are legal (in our case we do need two cars).   Past that it's all frosting on the cake.   So, if you go through that list and then look at what's left do you need any of that stuff?  Think about it.

We got rid of cable when my daughter was maybe six months old.  We haven't missed it at all in the near decade since we dropped it.  The majority of our movies come from thrift stores, are .01 movies from Amazon, or pawn shops.  And that keeps us more than a little entertained :).

I have a TracFone, not a smart phone, and I wouldn't have that if I didn't need the schools to be able to get a hold of me during the day in case something happens with the kids (I do love the multiple alarms I can set on it, though, I have to admit).  Don't get me wrong.  Smart phones are cool and all, but I know for a fact that I don't need one at all.

Just look at what you spend money on and think about things is all I'm saying.  You might find that there's a lot more "wants" than "needs" on that list and maybe you can cut some of those things out to help save you some pennies.  I do this constantly in my day to day life anymore and it really has helped me to better evaluate what I'm spending my pennies on.  For instance, I saw a box of reduced Christmas crackers on clearance for like 1.25.  Pasta is on sale cheap this week, so after a bit of thought I passed the crackers by to get two boxes of pasta to feed my family more efficiently. 

So there you are folks.  My "system" if there is such a thing.  I really hope it might help some of you out.  Yes, there are other things I do (coupons, sitting in the dark, blah blah blah), but I am hoping that I might have inspired you a bit to think outside of the budgeting box a bit and hopefully give you some ideas on how you can save a few pennies.  Remember, "A penny saved is a penny earned" or in my case it goes, "a penny saved is a penny saved!".

Good luck in all your money saving endeavors!!!

Thrifty Thursday: Thrift Store Finds

This is a week where money being tight like it was I figured there was no way I'd be spending extra money on anything.  But, hey I was wrong.  Sure, I didn't have much money to spend, but I didn't NEED much money to get things I needed this week.  Win, win as far as I'm concerned!

We stopped in at our favorite thrift store last week, mainly to get out of the house, and I ended up talking to one of the gals who worked there as I was perusing the sale racks.  She told me about a 4 for 1.00 sale that was going to be kicking off and that I should come back.  And you better believe I did!

My wardrobe suffers from wear and tear.  My son flings food on me on a semi-regular basis, I get Vaseline on me as I'm trying to rub Vaseline into children's eczema, etc,  so I knew when I started running into more and more stains that weren't coming out and more than a few of my shirts that are, geez, 10 to 12 years old are really starting to show some holes, that I would need to replace them soon.  I found myself borrowing my husband's t-shirts more and more to sleep in because my wardrobe was getting so slim in pickings, so when I found out about .25 clothing I went in when the kids were in school and really combed the racks.

I also found three polo shirts that my husband can use for work shirts while I was there, two of which still had tags on them.  All of the clothing I picked up above cost me 5.00, including a blue tag (that was the tag for the .25 sale) percale sheet with daisies on it.  It was so pretty I had to get it, but it's a top sheet so I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it (the tag said fitted when I grabbed it).  I'm thinking a tablecloth, but we'll see :).

While my  husband and I were at the used store we went looking around to see what we could find that was on our "want" list or on our "need" lists.  I'd had frames on my "need" list for the kid's school pictures but hadn't had any luck before the holidays, so I was happy to find two frames I could use for their pictures for .50 each.  They were even black already, so I won't need to paint them.  Bonus!  I found a Veggie Tales Christmas tape and Christmas things were 75% off, so I was able to get it for .10.  I then got an egg cutter for .50, a Dumbo tape for .50 (this is going in with my daughter's birthday gifts next month) and my husband found a Tupperware condiment tray!!!  I'd found a couple at Value Village over the last couple of years, but they were always at least 10.00 and I couldn't justify spending that on one, but this one was 1.50 and totally within my budget!

I also managed to find a gallon sized vintage storage jar in with the Christmas things.  I was thrilled to find it at 75% off as I'd admired it before but at full price (6.00 and some change) I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.  But for 1.00 and some change?  Yeah, I would definitely take that :).  The jar was missing any rubber seal it might have once had, but that was okay by me because I looked at it and immediately figured that I could condense my three smaller button jars into that one jar.  And I was right!  And seriously, once you turn the jar around during the non-Christmas season?  No one would know that it was a Christmas jar.

So, there you are folks.  My cool finds for this week.  Not bad for under 10.00.  How about you?  Find anything cool this week?

2015: A Year in Review

I was on the phone with my step-mom New Years Eve.  The conversation went something like this...

Me *talking about 2015, only half kidding*:  "I'm seriously considering burning the calendar in effigy.  You know, as a kind of closure.  This year has been terrible and I want to make sure it's over."

My step-mom:  "Now hold on.  Wouldn't it be more productive to reflect on the good that happened this year.  I know there was some.  Think about all the good that has happened with regards to the kids.  Your daughter has grown more independent and has caught up in school.  Your son has finally started to get means to communicate and is getting more of the right kind of help.  See, there are two good things right there.  Think about it."

You know, I'm darn lucky to have wise people, like my step-mom, in my life.  They really help to hammer home a better perspective on things.

So, after our conversation I sat down, pulled out a pad of paper and a pen (other people still use those right?) and made a list of at least one thing per month I was grateful for.  I won't break it down by month, but I'll share those twelve things as I review the year.  So, be prepared to be bored as I "thrill" you with the details of my year in review *cue dramatic music*!

2015 Financial Review:

The Pros: 

• Phone bill was figured out and adjusted with a new plan, saving us at least 12.00 per month and we have better internet as a side benefit of doing so.
• Food budget was adjusted down by 50.00 per week and was able to beat that budget numerous times throughout the year.
• Paid off last "official" credit card (Care Credit, since it's specialty credit, I don't count as a credit card, but as  a health expense) saving us 157.00 a month.
• Replaced most light bulbs with LED's, cutting energy consumption and saving us money.
• Despite not making much money, by being frugal and me being stubborn to the point of stupidity, we were able to pay 12,000.00 off of our dental bills.

The Cons:

• Despite paying 12,000.00 in dental bills off, we have another 11,000.00 to go, part of which has to be paid by April and the other part has to be paid off by December to avoid financial deep hurting (and this is coming from me here).
• Between dental bills, electric heat with the really cold weather we had through November and December and our mortgage going up due to our home owners insurance increasing (due to adding so much credit after making so little the year before my husband's credit score that the insurance goes by, tanked) our monthly bills have increased by 600.00 per month (that hurts REALLY bad to even write it), 500.00 of which is permanent until dental bills get paid off.
• Due to sporadic employment and pay our savings is gone and tax return for 2016 is still uncertain in amounts...anyway it's been a stressful year in the bill department.

Financial Goals for 2016 will come in another post, but yeah, that's the majority of 2015 in a nutshell.

So, now onto the good points of 2015!

1.  While we acquired a lot of debt for dental bills, my husband finally got his teeth fixed, which was 10 years overdue.  He's much happier being able to chew food without pain and actually smiles again where before he would hide his mouth because all of his teeth were broken and awful looking.  And he lost the lisp he'd acquired from his top teeth being broken and worn down so much.

Also, with the dental bills, we had to pay for braces for my daughter, but her cross bite is getting fixed so she can chew food properly, which has helped her stomach a bit as well as she's chewing her food more thoroughly.  Her cross bite is actually adjusting much better than they had thought it would, as well, so she might be out of braces quicker than they had scheduled.  And she's actually been really good about being responsible for taking care of her mouth and her braces, which has been nice to see.

2.  I am grateful I was able to get our phone bill adjusted and was able to get unlimited long distance.  It's been really nice to be able to pick up the phone to call my mom or my step-mom and not have a mental meter going in my head on how much the conversation would cost me.

3.  While we had nuisance sicknesses last year, there was, once my husband got his dental work taken care of, not a lot of need to go to the doctor's for things, which I am grateful for as I know a lot of others are not so lucky.

4.  I am grateful the garden did so well last year especially the tomato plants.  It was wonderful having so many tomatoes.

5.  While I had to use some creativity in figuring out how to pad out stores in some areas, I stepped up to the challenge and got it done.  Double benefit was that I found wildflower jelly is actually really tasty!  I also found that the more you have to do the more you find you can do.  The year tested my limitations, my creativity, sometimes my sanity, but I persevered.  And it changed me.  For the better, I think.

6.  I am grateful I started to mess around with embroidery more and came to find a real love of it once I threw out the patterns and started to "color outside the lines".

7.  I am grateful for finding so many great sales at the thrift stores last year as they really helped to save money in both our everyday lives (such as used clothing) and for special occasion things (making gifts, etc).

8.  I am grateful for the free dresser my husband fixed up for me.  It's nice having my clothing put away in wood, versus plastic Rubbermaid, again.

9.  I found a real soul deep love and gratitude for my mom and step-mom this year.  My step-mom's conversations and pinata boxes really brightened my life and my mom helping where she could and her conversations really helped to shore me up as well.

10.  I am grateful my children have changed in good ways this year.  My daughter continues to grow and mature and my son has made a lot of progress this year.  My daughter has come to realize that material things are not the most important thing in this world and that spending time with family can be just as fulfilling as a new toy or something, which I consider to be a big lesson to learn in today's materialistic society.

11.  I am grateful for friends who have helped us out by giving us hams (thanks, Davina) or giving us freebies they aren't using (thanks, Stephanie) or just offering to help (thanks Shannon, Megan and countless others).  Even when you are broke, just an offer of support from a friend can make you feel rich.

12.  While I lost my grandmother last year I am grateful that she is now on the other side reunited with her husband who she missed so very very much.

And as a bonus bit of gratitude I am very grateful that I started this blog.  It has allowed me to connect with so many great people.  Thank you for reading, everyone!

So, there you are folks.  My "2015 Year in Review".  I pray I didn't bore you too much, but I felt it necessary to put some positive feelings about it to start off the new year right :).

And by the way, I didn't burn the calendar.  I threw it away like a normal person.  With a much better attitude about the entire year.

Menu Plan Monday: Menu for week of 1/4/16

 Ha!  First time this year that I tried to type the previous year in.  Only about fifteen bazillion more times to go and I'll have writing the new year down pat *laugh*.

I have a head ache today.  I talked to my pediatrician who also has an autistic son and we chatted about assisted technology and what it would take to get some for my son.  Turns out to get it through his independent speech therapist we need DDS (disability) eligibility verification through the state to get a grant to pay for said technology.  Well I just got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago that our DDS eligibility had lapsed (it renews every three years, but they didn't give me a head's up beforehand) and I would have to reapply for it.  Last time it took four months to get that eligibility and that was before the Affordable Care Act got passed and everything got horribly bogged down.  After I get THAT then I have to get the necessary paperwork in place through my pediatrician and our speech therapist to get said device and that could take up to six more months and that is IF we can get approved for said device, which the last time I went through this crap I was trying to get my son an I-PAD.  Two years later of getting excuse letters about running out of funds and such I went and used my son's PFD one year to just get him the IPAD.  So, basically, I have two choices here.  I could go forth with the DDS eligibility and then submit grant paperwork and sit on my hands for who knows HOW long until the grant goes through to get it or I could just take 300.00 out of our tax return this year and put the app on the back up device I ordered from Amazon and just use that as his primary device for communication.  The latter is probably what I'm going with, but that also means that 300.00 is now gone from our tax return on top of my husband's tooth bill.  Ugh.

Anyway, combine that with occupational therapy issues (scheduling and what not) and my head hurts.  The life of a parent is never simple.

This week's menu plan is going to be kind of all over the place as I'm cleaning out my fridge and freezer a bit and trying not to spend much on any satellite items that might need to be picked up at the store.

Menu for Week of 1/4/16

Monday:  Chicken nuggets, french fries (found a bag buried in the back of the freezer.  Once you dipped them in BBQ sauce you'd never know).
Tuesday:  French Toast, bacon (use old bacon from freezer and stale bread in fridge)
Wednesday:  Baked fish, rice (use slightly freezer burned fish in freezer), green beans
Thursday:   Baked chicken, buttered pasta, peaches
Friday:  Pizza
Saturday:  Turkey Alfredo (use turkey pieces from freezer)
Sunday:   Meatloaf (use ground pork and turkey in freezer), mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

Desserts:  Jello and whipped topping, leftover birthday cake w/ chocolate frosting (on kid's cake anyway), chocolate pudding.

To Bake:  Chocolate Chip Muffins, bread.  Baking day:  Tuesday.

Monthly Goals: January 2016

 Well, looking over my monthly goals for last month I managed to accomplish most of them.  The only two I was shy of was doing was embroidery projects, which weren't pressing, and fixing my husband's boots, which I'm still trying to logic out how to rebuild soles of shoes and file down some nails that are sticking through the current soles of the shoes from the heels.  I'll figure it out, I'm sure as I have time.

It's January.  A new year stretches before us.  In my case, one of my main goals for this year is to get more organized and try my darndest to stretch my budgeting skills to the max in the hopes that we'll be able to pay off bills on time before financial burdens become worse. 

I'm also hoping to get more organized in my home life by once again following a menu plan and this year I hope to add a cleaning schedule to that list as well.

I am also praying for good fortune this year.  So, here's hoping the Good Lord is on board with that prayer.

So, let's get onto this month's goals.

Paperwork Goals:

1. File for Alaska State PFD's (I already did this one).
2.  If W-2's come in quickly, get taxes done.  File for insurance for the year through the Market Place.

Sewing Goals:

1.  Make Spring themed table runner.
2.  Make Spring themed table cloth (I have an idea to make a kind of fake out table cloth.  More on that one later).
3.  Make and embroider some napkins for fun (I'll get to this eventually *laugh*).

Garden Goals (yes, I have a couple):

1.  Measure garden, create "floor plan".
2.  Take inventory of seeds.  Figure out what seeds might need to be ordered before Spring.

General Goals:

1.  Spend more quality time with husband.
2.  Figure out budget and financial goals for 2016. 
3.  Review budget and finances for 2015 to figure out what can be improved.
4.  Finalize cleaning schedule for year and give it a shot.
5.  Finalize yearly goals.
6.  Start to organize son's paperwork, box it and file it by year.
7.  Reorganize pantry.  Condense boxes of home canned goods and find places to stick empty jars in pantry if possible.
8.  Reorganize hallway closet.  Deep clean it and try to fit all linens in the closet.

So, there you are.  My goals for the month.  You up to anything this month.

Shopping Goals: January 2016

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.  If you order things through these links I will get a small commission for the sale of the item.  You won't be charged any extra for ordering through these links, it will just give me credit for the sale.  If you order through these links, thank you.

January is a good month to pick up Christmas clearance items (I know, stater of the obvious am I).  I have found in the past that if you are looking for satellite Christmas items (like some piece to a Christmas village for instance) you can find a lot of things 90% off this time of year just because the stores are desperate to get rid of their Christmas items to make way for Valentine's Day merchandise. 

The last like three years I have found toy clearance to be utterly disappointing.  Target used to be my go-to spot to look for after Christmas clearance, but then they started cutting back their inventory more and more and they take forever to get anything up to even 75% off  and by that time what little they had that was kind of okay is gone.  Wal-Mart toy clearance markdowns up here, in my experience, is now a joke.  We're talking like 10% mark downs on toy clearance.  Wal-Mart will still have toy clearance up here into March or even April.  Fred Meyer is kind of scattershot.   Some years they have great clearance and sometimes it is just non-existent.

Kind of makes me glad that I just started making gifts for all the kids.

Now, there are some things on Christmas clearance that I do keep my eye out for.  Christmas shaped crackers (in the shape of snowflakes, etc.) can sometimes be found decently cheap this time of year.  I stockpile Ziploc coupons in preparation of the Christmas themed throw away plastic containers going on clearance and the Christmas themed Ziploc bags.  Christmas candy has a good shelf life and can be saved for snacking throughout the year or even for Halloween candy, depending on what it is.  Giant Hershey kisses or chocolate bars can be used for baking or candy making later in the year and if you don't have allergies to worry about chocolate melting discs and other candy making supplies can sometimes be found for next to nothing this time of year.  Sparkling cider or grape juice are good things to watch for on clearance as well.  It's still juice and can be used in jello salads, in cooking and baking or can be drank (of course).  

This year, like last year for me, unless I find those things REALLY cheap, I am going to be passing on them due to lack of funds.  I am praying that a few of the local stores might have some abundance of meat that they didn't go through due to lack of interest.  I've found really good cuts of beef super cheap in years past and great deals on pork roasts and ham.  I would not be able to afford much, but any little bit of beef or pork that I can put into the freezer is not a bad thing right now.

My mom sent me a gift card for my birthday.  I'm going to be using it to it's fullest extent to buy some things for the pantry and also toward some things for my "sewing pantry". 

Shopping Goals:  January 2016

Amazon.com (this is where the majority of my shopping is going to be done this month)

Food Items:

• Chock Full O' Nuts Coffee  Best coffee I've found and super cheap on Amazon.
• Chef Boyardee Whole Grain Beefaroni, 15-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12)  My husband likes raviolli and is willing to try this in a warmer for lunches at work instead of going out to eat for his lunch, which I'm hoping it works (along with other things of course) to help us save some money.
• Royal Gelatin, Sugar Free, Orange, 0.32-Ounce (Pack of 12)  I actually got this a bit cheaper yet (a bit over 3.00), but it's still cheap jello.
• Hormel Beef Tamales, In Chili Sauce, 15-Ounce Units (Pack of 12)  These will be used to pad out Mexican food nights.  I love to put these along side enchiladas when I'm sick as well.  Tamales go for well over 2.00 per can at the store, so to me it's worth it to buy them in bulk.  Once again, I was able to get these cheaper by ordering 5 things on my Subscribe and Save (I ordered two orders of the coffee, which is enough to last me a month) and also by seeing it a BIT cheaper one night, so I was able to get the 12 cans for little over 15.00.

Non-Food Items:

• KLOUD City White 70-Yards Length 1/4" Width Braided Elastic Cord, Elastic Band, Elastic Rope, Bungee, Black Heavy Stretch Knit Elastic Spool 
• Knitted elastic 1" 50 yards - White

I was reading on various blogs about an outfit called WAWAK and how you could get bulk sewing items, such as elastic really cheap.  And you can.  If you don't live in Alaska anyway.  What they wanted for shipping nearly gave me a heart attack.  So, I went on Amazon and found out that you can get sewing supplies CHEAP and in bulk too.  And they ship here the way they normally ship, so it's awesome!

I'm hoping to get some bulk zippers and such later in the year, but for now having enough elastic that I don't have to worry about buying the small packets from Jo-Ann's for a long while is definitely worth it.

Regular Stores:

• Cat Litter
• Water Softening Salt
• Pasta (we are eating this quite a bit and my son has also been eating it as part of his feeding therapy, so we're running lower than I had planned on)
• School foods (I'm running low on things like squeeze yogurt and things for the kids, so I'll be looking for sales on those items) 

Jo-Ann Fabrics:

• 2 yards of faux leather for further repairs to the loveseat

The loveseat is starting to shred out on the back cushions, so I'm going to need to repair it before it gets worse.   I will be looking for a good coupon to stack with my 10.00 off 30.00 coupon from my Jo-Ann calendar (the fabric I need is like 28.00 per yard regular price...ouch!) to get the fabric as cheap as I possibly can.  This goal is also based on whether we have ANY extra disposable income this month.  So far, it's not looking good, but we shall see.

So, there you are folks.  My shopping goals for the month.  How about you?