Weekend links

Emma and I were up at 4:45 for a gymnastics meet, but since she placed 1st in her floor exercise and 3rd overall, I would say it was worth it. After 5 straight days of not being able to sleep and then today, I might not recover for awhile though. I have been doing lots of interesting blog reading lately and wanted to share some goodies I have found.

At Kitchen Stewardship Katie has a great article about How to Feed Your Man Real Food. As I work to change our diet and eating habits, I might need some of these tricks. Especially if I try to take away Kevin's licorice.

Jenny at The Zepf Life just paid off her van! Way to go Jenny, I hope to be able to post the same in a year or so.

Autumn at Penny Pinchin Momma inspires me every day to eat a little better. In the past year or so they have switched to cooking almost everything from scratch and eating organic. She even made her own cheese last week. And this year they have vowed to not eat out at all. Wow, I don't think I could do that LOL.

Getting Freedom from Debt has a whole new look and I loved her Tank cake tutorial. My army loving son would go crazy if he saw this. I see a future birthday cake here.

Reducing your Sugar Consumption

I have been trying to pay attention to how many grams of sugar are in items we eat lately. I have found some interesting information. Some yogurts, just because they say "low fat" doesn't mean they have less sugar. In fact many times they have more. Even the "fat free" stuff. Sugar isn't fat - BUT it will turn into fat if you don't work it off.

Today at BJs I was planning on buying some of the Horizon's Organic individual milk containers for Luke to take to school for lunches. The convenience factor was getting to me I guess, but I came to my senses when I looked at the sugar content. In one 6 oz thing of chocolate milk there were 27 grams of sugar. I couldn't believe it. Could they have put more sugar in that thing of milk? Apparently yes, because when I looked at the other option (Vanilla) there were 29 gams of sugar in it. Oh my word, his teachers would not be happy with me, nor his dentist if I did that. I can pour milk into a thermos myself thank you, without the added sugar.

Paying attention to the amount of sugar in things has really helped us make better choices and reduce our sugar consumption. Something else though, is that when I cook from scratch I have been reducing the amount of sugar I add to recipes. So far no one has noticed. Pancakes that will be drenched in syrup? I just quit adding the sugar completely. Banana bread that calls for 1 cup? So far I have cut it to 2/3's of a cup and will do more next time I make it. Reducing our sugar consumption in this way is saving us money and our health. I am on a mission with our health these days and it feels good.

*This post is linked to Life As Mom.

Star Wars Lightsaber Cake

It is cake time at Life as MOM and if you like to make your own cakes, the recipe swap is filled with ideas. I made this Star Wars lightsaber cake in October for Luke's 7th birthday. In the end it really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

I started by using 1 box of cake mix, but I poured the batter into 2 loaf pans to bake. This gave me 2 same sized cakes. I also made a batch of Rice Krispie treats in a 9x13 pan. This way I Emma was able to have some of the cake too. Once everything was cool and I had lined some cardboard with tinfoil, I positioned the cakes at an angle so the blades would cross.

For the blades, I cut the Rice Krispies into 3 long stips. I layed them out on the tinfoil to decide where else I needed to cut to make them cross right. It wasn't hard at all. I used one and a half tubs of white icing. I dyed 1 bowl of red and 1 bowl of blue, because those were the colors Luke wanted. It was pretty easy to ice, I just had to be careful where the colors needed to meet.

Then I took a red tube of icing and drew some decorations on it. I called the boys in and they went to work adding candies they found in the cupboard to make it look more realistic. All in all it wasn't that difficult to make. I think because it is all pretty flat. I have found the taller cakes to be harder to make.

Tips for Having a Cash Christmas

Yep, January is the time you should start thinking about Christmas. At least saving money for it. With the kids getting older and their wants changing constantly, I have found that shopping ahead for them doesn't work the greatest anymore. But I do save money all year in order to pay cash for Christmas. Here are some ideas for where to get that money.

1. Set aside money each paycheck into a separate account for Christmas. (This could be an envelope, but it needs to be separate or it will likely get spent on other things throughout the year.)
   
2. Save your change.
3. Save your rebates.
4. If you sell a toy put the money in the account.
5. Set aside a portion of your tax return.
6. Do you get a third paycheck a couple months of the year? We usually pull money from here as well.
7. If you get any random refund checks, the Christmas fund would be a good place to stash them.

Having money set aside for Christmas all year long allows me to buy an item that I find that would be perfect for someone's gift, but might not have the money otherwise. While I don't shop year round for my kids I do it for other people. Having the cash upfront before starting your shopping will help you make better decisions and be less stressed. We all know that having less stress at holiday time is always a good thing.

*This post is linked to Works for me Wednesdays.

Week 4 of the pantry challenge

Well it is the last week of the challenge and I can't lie and say it went well. If I were to talk about strictly how much I spent, well I failed. I am already over budget and I have to still go shopping tomorrow (out of milk, eggs and low on produce). But if I were to base it on using up items that have been around too long then I did well. Here are some of the things I used up.

whole chicken
ham slices
pork loin
pork chops that had been in there at least a year
numerous canned and boxed goods that I won't be replacing due to our new food choices
fruits that I froze last summer
veggies I bought in September

I also created meals for the freezer out of things we had. I made 15 bean soup and used up several old ingredients. I made meatballs out of a huge package of ground turkey that had been in there for at least 6 months. I made a triple batch of meatloaf out of ground beef bought last summer. So I did meet one of my goals.

I guess lowering my grocery bill just wasn't in the cards this month. But that is OK. I have already accepted it.

Menu for the week.

Sunday - ham slices, brown rice, fried okra, glazed carrots

Monday - meatloaf, crash potatoes, salad

Tuesday - hamburgers, salad

Wednesday - pasta with italian sausage and sweet potatoes, green beans

Thursday - potato soup, focaccia bread

Friday - hot dogs, sweet potato fries, corn

Saturday - turkey sausages, rice pilaf, peas, carrots

Edited to add that I spent $32 at the grocery store getting produce, milk, eggs, yogurt and bread. I also realized that I have numerous conflicts tonight and wondering when I will have time to make dinner. I am trying to decide if I should rearrange the menu or just make pancakes.

*This post is linked to Money Saving Mom.

New Coat for $8.99!

I can't believe I just got this coat for $8.99, brand new! I need a new coat, mine has been destroyed by Ralphie and there are numerous holes that feathers are constantly coming out of. I even have tape over some of the holes on the inside and it just isn't decent anymore. I have had my eye on this coat from LL Bean all winter. Original price $99.99. We earn coupon dollars when we use our credit card (which we pay in full each month) and I had earned some giftcards around Christmas.

The coat was marked down this weekend only for $48.99. I had $40 in giftcards and coupon dollars and I just got the coat for $8.99. yay! I'm so excited I had to share. I am going to keep my old coat for when I am out with Ralphie, and keep this coat nice for other times. Now I don't have to be embarrassed by my coat anymore AND I don't feel guilty buying it either.

Making do

Jessica at Life as Mom has asked what frugal things we are doing lately to live a more frugal life. Which to me means, not spending as much money on things and sending more money to the van loan. So I started thinking about doing without things.

Our desktop computer broke a few weeks ago. This was one of many things that broke that week. This is the computer that I print coupons from and the kids play games on. This is also the computer that we spent $200 on in March to fix things and keep it running. I do not want to pay a couple hundred more for it to limp along for a few more months. It has been hard to transition to using my husband's laptop all the time, but I have done it. The kids are finally realizing that game time on the computer is over (he won't let them on it much). We are making do without getting it fixed.

Some things are essential and must be fixed right away (the well pump that broke the same week for instance) but not everything. Before rushing out and fixing something or replacing something step back and try making do without. Sometimes it works just fine.

Learning New Skills

I want to make my own tortillas. I have never really found one that tasted the greatest and I want to avoid all the preservatives in the store bought ones. I see people online make their own all the time. It looks easy enough and I already make many of our own breads. But since we ran out of the store bought tortillas in September, I have just avoided making any recipes that call for tortillas. I am intimidated for some reason about learning this new skill.

On the one hand I think how hard could be it? Even if it doesn't work, how much are the ingredients worth to try it? Probably under a $1. So what is holding me back? I'm not sure. I do wonder if I will be able to get them flat enough. But that is all. Why oh why can't I just try to make tortillas? Learning new skills is supposed to keep your brain young. I am constantly reading about new things I want to do or try or learn. But as for the doing of them? It doesn't happen so much. Does anyone else struggle with the actual doing of new things?

*Photo courtesy of Flickr - don't they look delicious?

Well, I have failed.

It is only the 20th of January and I have already failed the Pantry Challenge. It isn't that I haven't been eating from the pantry, we have, a lot. But I made the mistake of not trying to lower my grocery budget for the month and that $400 is already spent. I just got back from Wal-Mart where I always get the mentality that "while I'm here I might as well go ahead and get such and such". I hate that store, but yet, I am always drawn back there in an effort to save money. And then I try to use coupons that will expire soon, and I take advantage of the low prices, etc. It didn't help that I was hungry.

Kevin and I want to change the way we eat, avoiding genetically modified foods, HFCS, artificial colors etc. I have been spending a lot of time lately exploring new organic options, finding the best prices on things, reading labels to avoid the artificial stuff, etc. Plus cooking more from scratch. So I have been spending my budget on organic, good for you stuff, including lots of fresh fruits and veggies. An example of this was today I bought 4 lbs of whole wheat cous cous (low price plus $2 coupons about to expire) but that added $9 to my grocery bill. The depressing thing is, I can't keep this up. The only reason I have had the money to get what I have gotten is because we are eating from the pantry this month.

So there you have it. This month has not gone well as far as grocery shopping. We don't really have the money to raise our grocery budget right now, so I guess Kevin and I will have to talk about where we want to compromise on things. I can't wait until summer when we can start having fresh produce from the garden again. I am going to continue my mission of using up items that have been hanging around too long and hopefully I won't need to buy more groceries this month.

Pantry Challenge Week 3

One of my goals for the pantry challenge was to use up the obscure, random items in my freezer that have been hanging around awhile because I either don't know what to do with them or I don't have time to cook them. This weekend, we used up 2 large hunks of meat to help free up some space. Yesterday I made a whole chicken and I cooked broth overnight in the crock-pot. Yum!

Tonight I made a porkloin. It tasted fine, but those things are so fatty, we ended up throwing away all the leftovers. We have another one too. Next time we order a pig, I will have to remember to not get the pork loins, but to have it made into sausage or something.

My snack shelf is looking really bare and I have realized lately how much we rely on cracker type items for snacks. While I don't see myself completely doing away with these items, it is good to realize this and try to substitute homemade items or fruits and veggies whenever I can.

Monday - chicken noodle soup, leftover french bread

Tuesday - tacos, applesauce, corn

Wednesday - spaghetti, salad

Thursday - ham slices, brown rice, glazed carrots, peas

Friday - pizza, green beans

Saturday - some sort of chicken, rice pilaf, veggies

On the agenda to make this week is banana bread, pumpkin muffins, and bagels.

*This post is linked to Life as Mom.

Eating Grass Fed Meat on a Budget

For the past year, we have been eating naturally raised, grass fed beef as well as naturally raised organic pork. We have been able to get this wonderful meat through local farms at good prices. No they can't beat the loss leader $.99 a lb ground beef, but we don't want to eat meat that has been raised in feedlots anymore. We are trying to eat healthier, but my grocery budget hasn't changed. So how have we done it?

We started last March. After doing our taxes, we realized we were getting a small refund from the state of Ohio. It was almost exactly what it would cost to buy a 1/2 a pig. We figured that was a good place to start. Then because I didn't have to buy any pork for awhile, we had extra room in our budget to get some beef. We didn't go to the farmer's market often, I think only 3 times last year, but each time we bought a bulk package of beef from a local Amish farmer. Delicious grass fed beef. The 20 lb packages were 20% off, making all this great beef less than $4 a lb. And we got a lot more than just ground beef.

We still have some of this meat in the freezer (my goal is to use those weird cuts of pork that have been buried since last March this month) and other than ground sausage haven't had to buy any pork or beef since those purchases months ago. Our goal is to do the same thing again. Use our Ohio refund to buy part of a pig and then buy beef packages in bulk over the summer - enough to last all year. All while keeping our monthly grocery budget the same. I am excited about finding local farmers that we can purchase meat directly from. If you are interested in doing something similar, check out Eat Wild - they have a directory for each state so you can see if you could do the same.

*This post is linked to Life as Mom.

The sun is shining!

I had to pull out my sunglasses yesterday when we went for a walk. The sun rarely comes out in January and it has cheered me up tremendously. Temperatures are in the 30's for a few days and it is nice to have a reprieve from the miserable cold.

I have decided to start planning my garden and am trying to figure out what to grow. The days are getting longer all the time and it is nice to eat dinner when it is still light out again. Kevin is taking a bee keeping class tonight as we try to turn our small plot into a suburban homestead. Bee keeping and raising chickens are both something we are seriously considering. We don't even have an acre, but I am confident we could do both even in our small yard. Is anyone else planning their garden already?

Now if only things would stop breaking around here we would have more money in the bank to pursue these things and pay off the van. I am just thankful that Kevin is handy and can usually fix things himself - even if it requires a trip to the hardware store.

I am in the mood to reduce clutter, so I am going to get off the computer and do just that. My closet is the first stop. We will see how many items we can get rid of.

Do you ever feel like you are the only one...

...who doesn't have the latest, greatest, newest whatever on the block, at church, in the blogosphere? Well, me too. The only problem is I am not quite sure how to overcome this? Do I just want too much? Do I feel as if I need too much? Why am I not happy with exactly what I have? What will it take to make me happy?

These are all things I have been asking myself lately. Unfortunately we live in a town where everyone seems to have everything, except us. (yet, I know that isn't entirely true) Sheesh even the 8 year olds have cell phones and all of Michael's friends have Ipod touches. Not that I want one, I don't really listen to music much, but it seems over the top to me. But somehow being surrounded by people who have so much more material things than us, makes me feel as if we aren't providing enough for our kids. Does that make any sense? When we lived in CO and were surrounded by people of the same income/education level as we were, we were perfectly content. So I am trying to figure out how to get back to that.

Now that I think about it more, it isn't that I want things, or that I want my kids to have things. It is more that I want them to be able to DO things. I want my daughter to go as far as she wants with gymnastics without me worrying about how to pay for it. I want my son to be able to play on the travel soccer team, because it would be good for him and he really wants to do it. I want to take my kids to Disney World before they are too old. I want to drive back to Colorado to see our families. I can say "no" without hesitation to my 9 year old that wants a cell phone. I can say "no" to Luke's request for a new toy at the store. But when they want to do something I want to be able to provide that for them.

It is the time of year that gets me down. The sun doesn't come out, it is freezing and gloomy. It seems forever until spring. I can't find the motivation to do anything except wish for warmer weather and the sun. I need to find a way to stay busy and be happier. I am just not sure how to get there. How do other's handle this? Am I the only one that feels like everyone else has more than me? I am sure they have their own struggles. I have never been a materialistic person, why do I suddenly have a case of the I wants? I need a cure! Sorry to lay it all out like this, but I figured if I put my thoughts down on paper and maybe got some input it might help.

Week 2 Pantry Challenge Menu

Week 2 is starting and I still have items that need to be used up. We did well last week, but I still can't see the bottom of my freezer, so I guess with 3 weeks left that is a good thing.

Michael is having an endoscopy with biopsies and probably a throat dilation tomorrow, so I asked him what he wanted for dinner and it is cheese soup. This is his favorite, so even though no one else really likes it , I will take pity on him and serve it with a side of pudding or something for him. His throat will be sore all week, so you might see a lot of mushy stuff on my menu. That or I will cook some separate items for him.

Monday - cheese soup, homemade bread, salad

Tuesday - baked potatoes, corn muffins, peas (we didn't have this last week, because we ended up having leftovers one night)

Wednesday - hotdogs, sweet potato fries, corn

Thursday - turkey noodle soup, homemade bread

Friday - pizza, salad

Saturday - some sort of chicken with veggies or something

Edited to add that I went grocery shopping this morning and picked up the following for $26.

lettuce
tomatoes
carrots
cucumber
2 gallons milk
eggs
5 tomato soup 1 free, the rest a great deal
3 steamfresh green beans (free)
hotdogs b1g1
bologna b1g1
McCormick thyme for $1.29
4 old fashioned oatmeal
AA batteries

*this post is linked to Money Saving Mom

Organic shopping experiment

The more we read about food and how it is processed, the more we want something better. Organic is just one of the options. Growing your own is another option. But we can't be entirely self sufficient, so we do have to purchase some foods. I made a trip to a local organic grocery store today and explored the aisles. I found some interesting things, but was completely shocked at the prices.

$8 for 1 lb of organic strawberries

$6.99 for 5 lbs of King Arthur flour (identical to the flour we bought at Wal-Mart recently for $3.69)

$6.99 a lb for red peppers

Yeah, growing our own will definitely increase this summer. I didn't get a picture, because I was scrambling to get dinner on the table, but here is what I got.

3 lbs of Organic Valley butter for $2 a lb after sale and coupons

Envirokids box of cereal for $2.99, the price sticker was confusing and I thought it was $2, but it was $2 off. I have thought about ordering this cereal in bulk from Amazon when they have sales, but didn't want to do that without trying it first in case the kids don't like it.

Dairy free dark chocolate/raspberry bar for Emma - she rarely gets chocolate as most of it has milk in it, so this was a nice treat - 8 pieces in the bar for $2.79

Crumbled goat cheese $4.59

Key Lime soy yogurt $.99, Emma asked for this and I have a hard time getting calcium in her, so I was happy to get it.

tahini to make hummus

The total was $23.72. I might go back for more butter. I really need to look closer at other stores and their organic selection. I picked up 6 coupon books for various organic foods that I can use at any store, so the trip was a good one, even though it was pricey. Time to explore buying more things in bulk. I would like to find a coop near me, so that is the next thing I will look into.

Low cost ways to stay fit in the winter

Winter has hit us full force the past week or so. 2 feet of snow and counting and it hasn't gotten out of the 20's in weeks. There went my running, right out the window. I keep trying to find my motivation to get out in the cold, but I think it is gone for a few months. I have had to come up with some different ways to stay in running shape, without actually running.

I have been reading some books on running and they all say that core strength is very important. So I have been working my abs - almost every day. I have several videos that I rotate through to keep from getting bored. They were all around $10 each and have been slowly accumulated over the years. Each video has several short workouts on it and I could do a different one every day for a month. Exercise videos can easily be checked out from the library for free if you don't own any.

We have an exercise bike. It is painful to sit on it, but it will hopefully keep my legs in good enough shape that I won't feel like I am dying when I start running again.

I also run up and down the stairs. I started with 10 sets at a time and am working my way up. I figure it is like the stairmaster that I used to do in college - but free. It is hard on my legs but good for the cardiovascular system.

Then there is always the basic things you can do like sit-ups, pushups, etc. Using your own body weight as your resistance can provide a very good workout.

I am curious how many people get out to run in the winter though. And how cold is too cold for you?

*This post is linked to Life as Mom.

Things I wonder about...

• Why every time we get money saved, something comes up that needs that money.
• Why the insurance company will only pay to glue Luke's tooth back together once every 24 months.
• Why I have to wake my kids up all week, but they are up at 6:00 am all weekend.
• Why eating healthy, good, real food costs more money than eating fake, processed foods.
• Why, no matter how much lotion I put on my hands they are still dry and cracked.
  

What do you wonder about?

Free download of The Long Winter

Today only you can get a free download of the audio book The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I love listening to audiobooks with the kids while we are eating. It keeps them from fighting LOL. We also love Laura Ingalls Wilder and have read her books many times. Looking out my window right now, I feel as if I am in the midst of a long winter, but I know it was nothing compared to Laura's time.

Thanks Money Saving Mom for sharing this, I can't wait to listen to this great book again.

Week 1 pantry challenge menu

This weekend I was able to use up a good bit of things that had been languishing on my shelves and in my freezer for some time now. Diced tomatoes, kielbasa, peaches, strawberries, pizza pockets, a muffin mix that expired recently, etc. And that is the point of this challenge right? When I inventoried my freezer, I pulled out several meats that need to be used and brought them upstairs. Today I will make a large batch of meatballs using the 2.5 lb thing of ground turkey and a lb of ground sausage. The meats you see in my menu have all been in my freezer for months and it will be good to finally find a use for them.


Monday - swedish meatballs, pasta, salad

Tuesday - vegetable soup in the crockpot, focaccia bread

Wednesday - pizza, salad

Thursday - baked potatoes, corn muffins, peas

Friday - chicken teriyaki, crash potatoes, green beans

Saturday - pork chops, brown rice, glazed carrots, corn on the cob

I am headed to the grocery store today for veggies, free yogurt and milk. Should be a small trip to supplement what I have on hand. How is everyone else doing on using up what they have in the house? Edited to say I spent just under $20 at the store on produce, eggs, soy milk and yogurt. A good week!

*This post is linked to Life as Mom.

New Year's Goals

I love the start of a new year. Especially when the previous year hasn't been so great. So 2010 is a fresh slate and I can't wait! Every day is getting longer and spring is a day closer every time I wake up. I like setting goals for myself and my family. It gives me something to work towards each year and purpose in many of the things I do. So here they are.

Personal
1. Improve my posture.
2. Keep running. Run a 10K for the first time and possible a 1/2 marathon.
3. Enjoy my kids more. I kicked this one off great with a "ladies night" with Claire tonight.

Financial
1. Track our spending and expenses better.
2. Increase our emergency fund by $1000.
3. Pay off our van. We owe around $15,000 still, but with hard work, I think we can do it. One of the key things that has to happen though, is stuff has to quit breaking and our medical expenses have to stay low. I know that I can't control these things very much, but I can hope.

*This post is linked to The Happy Housewife.