Spend Less Eat More

At one point in our marriage we only $75 to our name. I had to take back gifts I had gotten for valentine's day in order to pay tithe. It was a huge wake up call, and a moment in my life where I finally admitted "I'm the problem" and why we had no money. I had been in charge of our finances for the first six years of marriage, and since I'm the "spender" in the relationship, obviously it didn't make sense for me to have access to all our funds and try to make it all work at the same time. Finally I told my husband, he needed to come along side me because I had a problem that left us nearly bankrupt every January. We've been working at it for a year and I can tell you some things get easier.  We started the envelope system from Dave Ramsey and that seemed to help a little. Only, I still had my debit card for whatever I felt we needed beyond the cash in our envelopes. BIG MISTAKE!! I have decided that because one of my goals this year (as every year) is to manage our money better, why not just blog about it? It will help me stay on track and accountable for what we are spending.  I will only be doing our groceries for now, because that is the biggest deal breaker for me.  In other words that's where I spend the most money and can't seem to ever stay on budget!

Since moving we have had to change our budget completely and live on next to nothing to get by until we get our taxes back, which is what we end up doing at the end of every year anyway. But this year was different because we had a new house and new bills, and we didn't know what our budget was going to be.  So right now, our budget is set up for cash in our food and gas envelopes and the rest is designated for bills. 

I am going to start by giving you my menu plan and grocery list, with prices, for the two weeks we have till we get paid again, so you can see just how much we can get by with and still be within our budget. It's a stretch some weeks, but because I want to manage our money better this year, I want you to help me stay accountable!!

It took a while, but God has worked on my heart and I have not worried about money and where we are going to get food from, since giving up our finances to HIM a year ago. It has completely changed my way of thinking, and how we spend our money, and doing the envelope system it's made it easier to come together with my husband and work on it together!! So let's get started. We just got paid today and I am in desperate need of groceries.  I pack for Kyron's lunch and we have leftovers every night for lunch the next day, and for Mark to take to work.

Let me tell you a little bit about HOW I do my meal planning for two weeks.  I mostly shop at ALDI, if you have never experienced this amazing store, I dare you to try it for a week!  or a MONTH :) It will change your life, and your shopping experience.  Make sure you take some Thirty-One Bags with you, since you have to bag your own groceries!  The Large utility tote and fresh market thermal are my bags of choice!  So anyway, they are cheap and have pretty much everything I need and are actually selling a lot of name brand things  and they just came out with an organic line, which is super cool!!  So after we get paid, or usually before, I make my list of meals I want to have for the next week or two.  Then I write down all the ingredients I will need to make them happen.  THEN, (here's where the magic happens) I head over to www.pocketyourdollars.com where they give you the shopping lists for many stores in your area.  All the sales and deals running for the week show up first so if you find a better deal at a different store you can go there. I shop according to what is on sale for that week, usually it's fruit, so I just buy the fruit that is on sale instead of whatever I want.  Many times I'll get what I want, but I will wait till it goes on sale to buy it too.  So it depends on the mood.  Besides the specials and deals, they have everything else in the store at there regular price, so I start looking down my list and writing down the prices I find for the items I have.  Even before I go to the store I have a pretty good idea of what I'll be spending when I go according to the items on my list, which makes it a heck of a lot easier if you ask me.  So if it's below my budget I'm good, even though, prices may vary by stores.  But if I'm over, which I have never been, I would need to tweak the system and take a few things off till I was comfortable with the amount.  I still bring my phone and calculate my items so I know the running total, in case some prices are different and my total is higher, I want to make sure that it's still not over my budgeted amount for the two weeks.  So That's how I do it! It's quite simple and takes a little time out of my week. But worth it.

Here are my meals for the next two weeks:

Broccoli Cheese soup
Chicken/vegetable fried rice
Creamy Broccoli and Shrimp Alfredo
Skinny Baked Mac and Cheese with Broccoli
Cheddar Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta
Tortellini and Spinach Soup
Chicken Taco Soup
Baked Potatoes (topped with broccoli and cheese)
Quesadillas (we are just doing chicken and cheese)
Potato soup (If I have left over potatoes)

I don't know if you sense a trend, but we like broccoli...and cheese...and soup! LOL.  Here are some tips I've learned when making a menu plan to have healthy food and make them last longer.

-Have at least one soup on the menu, usually I double it and it can take up two three days to finish.  Or you can freeze it for another week when you are short on meals or don't have that much money left :)

-Have at least one meal be vegetarian.  Don't get me wrong we like meat! But I haven't bought ground beef for about six months, and chicken everything is what I like personally.  Otherwise, pasta dishes, and potatoes are always good. 

-Take a look in your pantry and see what you have on hand, many times you can make a meal with what you already have or you just need to get one or two things.  This will also cause you to not buy something you already have at home :) If you ever feel like you would have no idea what to make, click on this LINK and it will take you to a site where you can list the things you have and it will give you suggestions!  Super cool. 

-I get most of my meals off Pinterest and you can follow me if you click on the link in my pages to the left or if you would just like a specific board, here is the link to my "yummy board" and my "soup board". I also have side dishes and appetizers, snacks and lunches.  There are a ton of other food related ones, but I'm here to talk about dinners mostly! 

So here is the shopping list!!

Produce:
Apples 2.99
Blueberries 1.29
Mangos (2) .49
Pineapple 1.29
Potatoes 1.99
(normally I would get more fruit, like bananas, and oranges, but these were the fruits that were on sale)

Frozen/refrigerated:
Broccoli (5) 1.09
Veggies 1.09
Shrimp 4.99
Cheese (5) 1.79
Chicken (2) 5.62 and 6.08
Mozzarella 1.79
Eggs 1.69
Sour Cream 1.29
Cream cheese 1.29
Yogurt (tub) 1.99
Yogurt singles (2) .85 (I wanted to try these)
Tortellini 1.99
Spinach 1.49

Snack/lunches:
Applesauce (2) 1.99
Fruit snacks 1.39
Animal crackers 1.79
Teddy grahams 2.49
Belvita 2.49
(I do not buy a lot of "snacky" things like chips and what not, it's usually fruit we snack on, and before you go thinking that Kyron only eats fruit snacks and applesauce for lunch, he does have a sandwich and fruit too)

Pantry:
Tortilla chips 1.19
Cream of Chicken .59
Chicken broth .69
Penne (2) .89
Bacon 1.49
Angel Hair .89
Taco Shells .99
Bread (2) .99
Canned corn .49
Brown rice 1.49
Evaporated milk .79
Veggie broth 1.89

Personal: (non grocery items)
Kleenex 1.19
Sandwich bags 1.99

So if I got it all down and didn't miss anything, it should add up to $84.78 :) Which is under budget so if somehow we run out of food or I forgot something in my recipes then we have extra to work with.  As I said earlier we are only working with a small amount to budget so if we need toilet paper and diapers it has to come out of the food envelope until we can get our taxes back and redo our budget again.  So for now, we are making it work.  And it's nice to be able to only go to ONE store to get everything I need, because we all know how it is getting the kids in and out of those carts with their boots on during rush hour or nap time.  I strive to not be "that mom" but trust me, there are days you don't want to run into me at the grocery store!! LOL

Well there it is!!  It feels good to write it down and proclaim it to the world, so now you need to expect me to stick to this and come back and read every two weeks!!  Especially if you want to know what this momma is cooking in the kitchen :) If you have any tips or ideas, or sites where you have found a good system I would love to hear them!! Thanks

THIS is another great blog I have got some great tips from and it has helped to go through each step and apply it!