I'm slowly coming back.....

I've been dehydrated now 6 times, I've lost 20 pounds, and I'm 17 weeks now. Wow. Amazing experience. I can honestly say the only way I have made it through the last 13 weeks is that I have been carried through....the only way I can see.

The baby seems to be fine - the doctors only concern is about nutrition. I have to check my ketones daily, and when they're high go to L&D for more iv hydration. The problem is that often even water causes me to vomit, and when I am dehdrated, everything that goes in, if I can get it down, goes right back up. It's an interesting experience. I go back to the doctor in a week - we'll see what he says then!!! :D

I'm getting into something new though - I am doing my best to save $1000 before the baby comes. Now that's only going to come from me spending less out of my cash budget, and selling little things either via garage sale or craigslist. I also am going to see what I can save on bills too - anything less than what we budget allows me to put that extra in savings. I plan on presenting my husband with that $1K right before we have our baby, telling him that it's in part to pay for the delivery. I think he'll LOVE it - it'd be a nice surprise for him.

So what I've done so far today is made a homemade cake for his lunches (deleting the need for prepackaged little debbies) and I had DH string a rope for me from the tree to the swing set for a temporary clothesline and I hung out 3 loads of clothes. In the 95+ degree weather it was a sacrifice, but that alone saved me $1.50 on the electric bill since our dryer typically uses $.50 worth with every load. :)

Also am going to start cloth diapering - anyone have any suggestions there? I'm looking at buying used, and I of course and going with the cheapest method - flats/prefolds with covers. I seriously think this will save tons - maybe not so much now since Ryan only goes through 6-8 diapers a day, but especially with the new little one. I cloth diapered with Ryan for 2 months, but I got caught up in a forum online where a lot of mamas are in the obsession and collecting mode - one mama alone has over $5,000 in just diapers!!!!!! WOW! When you buy the really expensive though beautiful diapers, it's not really saving you money, and that was my peeve last time. Using cheaper options should help this time!

It's time to drag things off the line, so off I go!

I'm FINALLY back!!!

I've been in the hospital, so thats why no blogs in the past little while.

Wendi - I'm getting your shoebox out today, PLEASE forgive me for the delay. I'm soooooo terribly sorry - I feel awful. It's going out. :)

Monica & Carrie - THANK YOU for working with me on this! I appreciate you trusting me.

So the hospital...I've been so very very sick. I never wish this on ANYONE. I've lost over 10% of my body weight in the last few weeks, and I ended up being severely dehydrated and my kidneys almost stopped functioning due to the lack of fluids for so long. My body also had to deal with slight ketosis - it was bad bad bad. No matter what, I'm having to force liquids, no matter how I feel. I've had people in and out of my home, cooking, cleaning, taking care of Ryan, all I while I lay helplessly watching. We have decided this is probably our last baby, as I can't go through this again. I had slight hg with Ryan, I was on zofran until 25 weeks with him. I'm almost 12 now, so hopefully God will see fit to allow me to have a relief sooner than later. The last day or so I've felt decently well, I cooked supper AND ate a tiny plate with my family for the first time in a LONG time. Poor DH, he's been so stressed.

In other news though - all is well. Just had to quickly update before I go unpack the groceries that we desperately were in need of! Last time I went I almost passed out so I've not been going regularly, we've kind of lived strange meals out of the freezer/pantry. :)

Please pray for amy - she has been on the couch for the last few days, unable to eat anything or to even get up without doubling over. The doctor has diagnosed her with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. We're just trying to keep her hydrated for the baby's sake. Please pray. :( She hopes to be back blogging very soon.

Introducing baby T!!!!

Beautiful Beating Heart!!!! - Due 11/19 - Only one baby this time!

I cried when I was laying there watching the little flicker. :)

What hath the Lord done for THEE!!!!

There's an old hymn by the name of my title, and I couldn't help but think of it tonight when DH called from work.



See - he works for Nissan, and through his company we can get an incredible, incredible deal on a car. I in NO way have to have an expensive car - AT ALL, I would be very comfy in something very small and cheap, but our current car even though it's more expensive and nice, it's a bum. Constantly broken. The price of cars right now is insane - and it's just crazy. We have to make payments on this new car, but it's $160 per month at 0% interest, and we're selling our car now and just putting that money in an account that will earn interest, pulling the payment from that money every month. Insurance is only $40 per month as well. Anyway, I don't like the idea of a payment, but we have to agree on this payment to get the deal. anyway - it's a 2008 Nissan Altima!

Anyway, we were really praying that God would work this out if it was his will soon - the car I'm driving just isn't working for us - even though it's only 2 years old and we paid dearly for it. (cash, no debt, just paid more than we should have the night after we had a drunk driver total our other car!) Anyway, they say at his job that these cars since they're deeply discounted take a minimum of 3 months to get it. We are planning on going to church camp in May, and I really prayed that God would work this out before then, knowing that according to his job it wouldn't come in until much later.

Well.........

Tim called a minute ago from work to tell me his letter came today that the car is ready for pickup on April 17th!!!!! That's 8 DAYS, people!!!!!!!!!! 8 days!!!!!

Now what hath the Lord done for THEE!!!! Cause that's a huge huge blessing I Feel - to take 3 months down to 8 days - WOW!!!!!!

In other news, we go tomorrow for my 1st ultrasound with this baby - please keep me in your thoughts. I'm a tad nervous, having lost 3 littles I can't help but kind of cringe inside. :)

Menu Plan Monday - on a tuesday!!!! haha!

I'm late, I know, but pretend its' 24 hours ago, k? :)

Breakfasts

Eggs, Toast

Waffles, Syrup & fruit

Cereal, fruit

Lunches

Subway (my mom provided)

Hot Dog, green beans

leftover bean burritos

homemade lunchables, cheerio mix

out with mama

Dinners

Bean Burritos

Baked Rub Chicken, New Potatoes, Green Beans

Biscuits, Bacon & Gravy

Chicken Stir-fry over Rice

Dinner at Tim's moms house

Grilled Steak, Baked Potatoes, leftover green veggies or salad

Desserts

Amish Friendship bread

Doughnuts

lotsa twinkies and prepkged cakes (my little brother gets them at work from their bread man free!)

OODLES of groceries today!

Publix: $11.68
Shoe Polish: $2.49
12 jello's - $2.99
Caramel Corn Cakes - $1.20
Cough Drops - $.99
Bread - $.01
Flowers - $3.00

Kroger - $43.00
10 lbs Chicken Quarters - $2.49
2 lbs. ground turkey - $1.98
2 pkgs chicken thighs - $2.80
4 cans of tuna @ $.69 - $2.76
Veggie Oil - $2.50
2 liter cola - $.65
Ritz - $2 - $.50 promo = $1.50
Aluminum Foil - $2.50
3 dozen eggs - $5
Gallon of Fruit Punch $2.50 - $.50 promo = $2
vanilla pudding mixes - $.30 for small, $.69 for large - $.99
Frozen stirfry veggies - $1.13
Fritos - $1.50 - $.50 promo = $1
Frozen Waffles (pregnancy craving) 2 @ $1.08 each - $2.16
Sour Cream - $1.16
4 pkgs goldfish - $1 - $.50 promo - $.50 each - $2.00
Pudding Snacks - $.91
2 aussie shampoos - $2.50 each, - $2/2 copuon - $1.50 each - $3
apples & pears - ?
Excedrin - $1 - $3 coupon = $2 overage

Farmer's Market - $7.70
Bananas - ?
Red potatoes (reduced)- $.99
Lettuce (reduced) - $.99
3 red peppers (reduced) - $.99
cuke - $.79
10 lbs. potatoes - $1.99



All in all a pretty good day. I got a lot of meat on clearance - my favorite buy of the day was the chicken for $.249 per lb. :) I did try to buy some Dove Shampoo - things were really busy, I read the coupon as $3 on one, it was actually for 2, so after buying 4 shampoos and losing my coupons I went back and tried to get my money back. I told them I had a coupon and they still gave me full price back. I argued to give them the money overage back, but they refused - so I ended up making $6 on that. NOT my intention, and I feel very guilty with this money, but what do you do? I tried to make it right and the guy told me to forget it - he couldn't get teh coupon to prove, so store policy was to give the full amount. :) Then I got home and PRAISE GOD we had a check for $489 from our home in TN - the overage on the escrow account. What a blessing!!!! Excellent Shopping - Excellent mail day, WOW!!!! Tim slept 16 hours last night - I couldn't BELIEVE it!!!! WOW!!

We had a rather horrible weekend, though - in some ways. Friday night we had to attend a birthday party for a young man in church - he turned 5 and we had a wonderful time. I was sick most of the time, but it was so sweet to see him. At the end of the party though, we got a call that one of our dear pastors was killed in a motorcycle accident. He wasn't our pastor, but the one of a sister congregation. We all fellowshipped together - we still have several campmeetings every year and all the pastors are thought of as OUR pastors, they are so special to us. He is the father of 4 children, the youngest is only 6. That tore us up for the weekend. But...precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Saturday Tim went and helped at one of those campgrounds - it's aroun 2.5 hours away, and coming pu in May we will spend a week there. It's not a typical "church camp" where you ride horses and swim, it's an OLD Fashioned CAMPMEETING - services 3 times a day, meals on the grounds, etc. We have plenty of time to play volleyball, games, or just sit and talk with people who travel all over the world to stay in block dormitories - no air at all, in the middle of an alabama summer!! It's truly the HIGHLIGHT of our summers! Anyway, it needs work close to the time, so our men travel several weekends during april and may to help paint, build and clean. The women go next week and the week directly before the meeting. Cannot wait!

Sunday was church, then home where I fixed lunch and napped for a while. This baby makes me very, very tired for sure!

We are planning on finally notifying the doctor that I am pregnant again this week.

Also, Tim JUST called to let me know that yes, in fact we DID get the car we needed - we're going to be driving a wonderful wonderful car soon!!!! Such a blessing!!!

I am also looking in to buying cloth diapers for the new baby - does anyone have any suggestions on the cheapest and neatest ways? Tim is adamant that it doesn't save money when you factor in electricity and washing costs, so I'm trying to respectfully gather information so that I can prove that it will save money - especially with two in diapers! :) Information would be SO appreciated! Please leave me a comment if you read - I really need the encouragement to keep blogging!! I'll be back with Menus soon!

I am doing much better tonight - it seems that I am terrible until about 2pm, then I get a rush of energy until about 5 and then I'm sick again.

Ryan has his first Dentist appointment in the morning, so we'll see how that goes! I'm a little nervous, but I think we'll just have prayer before we go in and hopefully he'll be fine.

Ryan did fall off the deck tonight - it's 5 feet off the ground and he went right through the slats. I was changing the bulbs in the deck lights and I heard him scream - knowing instantly what had happened I raced to the rails, and he was trying to get up from the mulched flower beds. My poor baby!!! He's completely fine though - a teeny scratch on his forehead is all that shows he fell at all.

I have had lots and lots of thoughts today, but I'm trying to help my mom through a tough situation with my sister. She doesn't know Jesus and is being awful rebellious, so it's really causing shock waves in the family.

My scripture for today was "for he has performed that which is appointed for me - found in Job 23 - all our life is appointed, not a thing happens that God Himself doesn't know about. :)

I am 7 weeks today - further than the last pregnancy when I lost my second set of twins. We're still holding on to God that this baby will make it, and that we will get to kiss his sweet face!!!

I desperately need a bath, so I can't stay long...but I'll do my best to come back with something delightfully frugal tomorrow!

I will try to get a real post up this afternoon - my heavy sickness has returned and I'm spending most of my time curled up on the couch trying not to cry or vomit from the nausea. Please pray that I can overcome this again - and if you have any ideas on dealing with extreme morning sickness and a toddler please leave me a comment!!!!!



Love and prayers,

Amy

Menu Plan Monday!!!

(picture compliments of tonights supper - rice krispy chicken & scalloped potatoes!)

How can it be MPM already!!! Wow!!

Breakfasts:

Cinnamon Rolls, fruit

Canned Biscuits, Country Ham

Cereal, Strawberries

Toast, scrambled cheesy eggs

Lunch:

"sketti"

homemade lunchables (meat & crackers)

hot dogs, chips

chicken nuggets, green beans

mc'ds for mommies & ry's date

Suppers:

Rice Krispy Chicken, Scalloped Potatoes & Green Beans

Taco Soup & Mexican Cornbread

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies w/cheese

Fried Fish (just for DH!) greens, mac n cheese, cornbread

Frito Chili Pie, fruit salad

Roast, potatoes & carrots, leftover green veggies from the week (Sunday's meal)

We're trying not to eat out this week at all but Ryan's date with me. We have a birthday party on Friday that will take care of our supper, so that's why there's only 6 suppers. :)

Let the week begin!!!

Grocery Shopping Part 2!

Grocery Shopping Round 2!

Kroger
2 dozen eggs @ $1.81 each
18 taco shells - $1.89
6 pkgs chicken breasts -
loaf bread - $.99
2 rolls cottonelle - $.99 - $.50 coupons, $.49 total
Orange Juice - $3.85 - OUCH
Decaf Tea Bags - $1.81
6 rolls sausage - $3.69 each, BOGO - $1.84 each
2 pkgs balogna - $.99 each
(all below were in the buy 10 get $5 off)
2 canned breadsticks - $1 - $.50 promo, - $1.00/2 coupons - free
2 pkgs Kraft Cheese - $2.00 - $.50 promo = $1.50 each
2 windex's - $2 - $.50 promo, - $.80 coupon = $.70 each
2 antibacterial windex's - $2 - $.50 promo - BOGO coupon, - $.75 coupons = FREE
Cheezit's - $2 - $.50 promo = $1.50

Total order had $5 off from the promo, and I had another moving $5 coupon. Total ended up
to be $48.09

Publix
2 lbs strawberries - $3.98
Bananas - $.79
Canteloupe - $1.50
Hot Dog Buns - $1.00
Tortilla Chips - $2.29 (didn't know this until afterI paid, or I wouldn't have bought overpriced CHIPS!)
$.01 item for the week was a jumbo roll of Bounty Paper Towels. :)

Total Spent - $10.95

Total spent this week: $70 - which is $8 more than our weekly budget, but I had $10 left over from last week, so it ended up PERFECTLY! I have lots of sausage & chicken to freeze, so it was a stocking week as well. Now all I have to get is a few things from Walmart, but they aren't food items, AND I have a gift card left over anyway. So....I'm good on the budget. YAY! :)

Kroger Run #1 - 3/30/2008









Our Kroger (southeast) has an aweseome sale going on right now!!! I left and spent an hour there this afternoon while DH was napping - little man is with his grandma today.









I got all this:















$11.00 OOP!!!! I saved $73.65 with my store card and coupons!! YAY!

If you bought 10 of any participating item, it took $5 off your order, limit of 3 times. For that sake, Each item was $.50 off after that promotion.

14 grands canned items were $1.00 - $.50 promo - $1/2 coupons - FREE

6 cans of hormel chili - $1.00 - $.50 promo - $.55/3 coupon - $.31 each

Cheetos - $1.50 - $.50 promo = $1.00

Fritos - $1.50 - $.50 promo = $1.00

Cottonelle Toilet paper - 4 rolls x 2 - $.99 (no promo) - $.50 coupon - $.49 each

2 Goldfish Crackers - $1.00 - $.50 promo = $.50 per pkg

Cherrio Mix (ryan's favorite) $1.50 - $1.00 coupon = $.50 per bag



3 muffin mixes = $2.00 - $.50 promo - $1.00 coupon = $.50 per box



2 Scalloped Potatoes - $1.50 - $.50 promo - $.70 coupon = $.30 per box



Then I had a $5 coupon too from moving into the house, so it rocked!!! I saved 87% on these groceries - the best I have ever ever ever done! I am thrilled!!!! EEK!!! I get to go back tomorrow too - That's so cool!!!!

3 days later...

I'm sorry I disappeared for 3 days, it's been crazy around here! Easter Sunday was wonderful, after morning service my grandparents came over for lunch. I fixed a simple meal - Ham, mashed potatoes, pinto beans, green beans, cornbread, apple cake and brownies. After we ate, I had plenty of leftovers so I went and invited our next door neighbors over. They also took plates, and we STILL had plenty! Evening Service ended, and we had our youth from church over for a while - it was very spur of the moment, and they all chose to go get fast food of their choice and then congregated here to hang out together. It was fun. There's a new young man in church, has been here for almost a year. Bless his heart, he's 31, and due to the life he used to live he's not all there mentally. He sat here until 1am with my husband and I, giving his testimony of how he's seen people shot, beaten, done all kinds of drugs, etc. etc. It was utterly heartbreaking. I literally went to bed in TEARS after he was telling us of his father beating him, telling him he was worthless, and no good. How SAD. It made me so thankful that I grew up in a Christian home. It also makes me even more determined to cherish my family and home for sure.

The pregnancy is really hard on me this go around as well. With my first little, I had HG, and I lost lots of weight to start with. Finally around 27 weeks with medication I finally got to the point of functioning. I'm very nauseated with this baby, and so very very tired. I've allowed my self the last few days to do almost nothing, and my house is suffering. Dh even raised his eyebrows yesterday. My MIL was a wonder-woman, and I sometimes think I never will live up to her legacy in his mind. Still, I'm making myself do things and keeping hard candy in my mouth and sipping lots of water.

I wasn't around to post my Tackle-It-Tuesdays or Works for me Wednesdays, but I'll post quickly here.

My Tuesday idea was Ryan's little toy bins. Here's the before:

No, not bad, but it did have a lot of little pieces that he didn't play with, but eventually wound up all over the floor because they were there. Plus there were lots of things there that were from when he was much smaller. Here's the after:

Now for my other big project, I'm embarassed to say this, but I had let my ironing go for 5 whole weeks!!!!! I'm mortified! With moving, I just haven't taken the time. Sadly - it only took 1.5 hours to do it all, and here I've been putting it off, putting it off. I finally said this morning - NO MORE!

See?? Embarassing!!!

And then after a short little time listening to Adventures in Odyssey (yes, I'm a kid at heart still!) I had this:

That makes me so happy!!! Now I have to vow to stay on top of things!!

Supper tonight is as per the menu a rack of ribs (they're slowcooking in the oven now and YUM they smell good!), baked potatoes, corn on the cob (leftover from last year's garden) and yummy pinto beans! Can't WAIT! Although I do have some weird food aversions, usually as I sit down to the meal I've been craving to eat!

I just adore flowers!!!

I stopped by Publix this morning, as I always do, and I went straight for the floral department. See, I have my own blow money each week, and one thing I treat myself to is a little $3.33 bouquet of roses every week from Publix. These go on my kitchen table, and they are the highlight of my shopping day - I just simply adore them.

And today, they were OUT.

*gasp*

What was a girl to do!!!! I noticed a gentleman standing there, and asked him about the 3/10 flowers. He mentioned that there was a cart full of Easter bouquets he was about to mark down. I got these flowers for $2.99, marked down from $10!!! YAY for me! The bouquet was huge, I now have flowers in the living room, kitchen, dining room & bathroom! Such JOY!

Menu Plan Monday!!!-

------



Breakfasts will vary choosing from:

oatmeal, toast

Cheesy Ham & Eggs, toast

fruit & toast

biscuits, bacon or sausage

Lunches will vary, choosing from:

pb & banana sandwiches, pretzels, fruit

homemade lunchables - chunks of lunch meat, cheese & crackers

hamburger & chips, fruit

out one day while visiting grandma

leftovers if wanted

Dinners:

Monday - Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Toast

Tuesday - BBQ roasted Chicken Quarters, Mac 'n' Cheese, fried okra

Wednesday - Chicken Stirfry over Rice

Thursday - Grilled Rack of Ribs, oven potatoes, Pintos, Cornbread

Friday - Tacos or chicken quesadillas, hmade refried beans

Saturday - Leftovers

Baking for the week:

2 loaves bread, one pan of brownies

That wraps up our Menu Plan Monday!!! Feel free to post and check out more MPM's at OrgJunkie's Blog!----

Dinner was great!

Just to prove I don't feed my family undercooked meals, I give you.....dinner.

And it was edible. Just ask my little. ;)

Oh, and a great cooking tip? When you're cooking lasagna, if you're taught to put foil over the top to keep the cheese from browning too quickly, make sure you "tent" it. I didn't, and I now have noodle bits, cheese & meat all along the bottom of my non self-clean oven. 'nuff said. :) Hence the funny shaped noodle in the picture - I'd ripped half of it off when I took the foil off.

One of the biggest budget busters is simply not planning ahead!! Either that or forgetting to use things that you already have! Such is the case in my little home - my mama often got too busy and ended up throwing out whole packages of meat that had sat too long in the fridge. To this day I do get a little tear in my eye if I ever have to throw away Anything!! I have kind of made it my mission to use up use up use up anything!!! I figured it'd be a nice little post to talk about this, as well as ask for your opinions and ideas!

1. Have a scrap pot - either in your fridge or freezer

Often at the end of one of our meals, we have just a dab of beans or carrots or something, not really enough to put back for a whole meal, but just enough to not throw out. Put these in your scrap pail. Now don't just throw everything in there - you want to have an end result you can identify! This is great for a pot of veggie soup at the end of the month - add some of this, some of that and some warm bread and you have a really cheap meal!!

2. Multi-Task!

This will explain the picture at the top! About 2 weeks ago I had the ministers from church over for dinner. I planned a big meal of lasagna, bread, corn & desserts. I've never made lasagna in the 3 years we've been married - only when I was at home, since DH once stated he didn't care for it. However, this time I was at a loss for what to fix, and I had a surplus of hamburger, not to mention that the sauce and fixings were on sale. Well, I overbought cheese, noodles & cottage cheese as well, and after I checked the expiration dates this weekend, had a eureka moment! I had enough left over for another pan of lasagna. Don't worry - after Tim ate my lasagna, he was thrilled and cheerfully said "add that to the meal list!" So today I pulled out the reduced hamburger meat I got on Saturday, made hamburgers from 1/2 the package for lunch, then fried up the rest and ended up with 2 more pans of lasagna! One sat in the fridge for tonight, the other I actually made in the dish, but with foil underneath and around, so that when it's all frozen solid, I can go out and pop it out of the pan (I'd hate to be without that pan for a month or so) and rewrap and label, so that any night I'm feeling puny (since I tend to get very sick with pregnancy) I can pop it out and voila...supper! Do this with lots of things. If you have a meal that you know makes lots of leftovers, plan to not use them, and instead freeze half so that you make 2 meals out of it!

3. Clean your fridge out regularly

When the fridge is so packed and overflowing, you can't really see what you have in there! Too many times good food and some of our money gets lost in Mt.Fridgemore. ACK! Don't allow your hard work to go to waste - organize that fridge! I have a system that works well for us - the top shelf is butter, the water cooler, and leftovers. Second shelf is a tupperware container filled with eggs, the tubs of things like cottage cheese, sour cream, etc. and any meat that needs to thaw (in another tupperware or glad container) and the bottom shelf is for drinks. bottom drawers are for cheeses and veggies/fruits, little middle drawer for lunch meats, hot dogs, bacon, etc. It often does get packed up, but then I just have to rearrange, and reaquaint myself with what I do have so that nothing gets wasted!

4. Plan those meals!!!

I often plan my meals to use up the same package of meat. Like today - normally I don't have such a big lunch, but DH slept in and so I didn't fix breakfast after all. I normally would've maybe had hamburgers tonight, then fried the meat and left it in the fridge for lasagna later this week. With chicken - I buy split chicken breast, cut the breast off for a meal, then boil the bones, using the shredded meat for quesadillas or pot pie on another night. The broth is used too - either that week or frozen for later. Taking 3 minutes today often helps save an hour later on! If you take the time to plan out those meals, it helps! We can't eat a whole pan of cornbread alone on one night, so if we have cornbread on mondays, I plan another meal around thursday with you guessed it - cornbread! Using up leftovers and reducing waste helps the grocery budget a LOT.

That's just a few quick ideas I had - I know they're basic and that most of my visitors will no doubt already know them and most likely will be 10x better at the budget than I, but alas, I have to blog and sometimes blogging involves that which everyone already knows. :)

Share YOUR ideas!

Finished the shopping today! I usually go only once per week, but this past weekend was a little crazy resulting in a few stops.

Publix: $5.40
2 soliel razors - $1 each
2 canteloupes - $1.50 each
fresh flowers (not out of the food budget but from my blow money - $4
2 bottles franks hot sauce - FREE
2 bottles french’s mustard - FREE
Ranch Dressing - $.01

Kroger $27.01
3 gallons milk (this is the cheapest I’ve found in a while so I bought some for the frezzer) $2.99 each
1 gallon OJ - $2.99
6 pkgs steamfresh veggies - $.49 each
cooking spray - $1.54
Bananas - $1.24 for all
3 cans tuna @ $.69 each
2 blocks cheese @ $1.49
honey - $2.00
bread - $.89

I went over my budget - it looks like. However, what I didn’t post was that I did sell something on craigslist, some old curtains of mine - $13 went into the food budget to help stock up on. Therefore, I didn’t go over at all. Since today is MEAL PLAN MONDAY I’ll be back!

Just a few more updates on the envelopes:

Kroger - $6.70 (after tax)
16 cans of veggies @ $.39 per

Walmart - $2.18
2 boxes of honey oats chocolate cereal - $4.36
2 pkgs. hot dogs @ $.68 per - $1.36
Coupons - $4 of cereal coupons made the cereal $.18 per

CVS - $.32
Venus Embrace Razor - purchased with raincheck from last week - $3.99
coupon - $4 coupon
oop: $.32 tax!

Brings my total grocery budget down to…$31.57

We went and looked for flowers and I just couldn’t do it - it was VERY expensive at our local stores. I’m going to wait and see if I can find something better.
Have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Simple Saturdays

We’ve been working in the flower beds this morning - this old house had way too many bushes and lots of ant-filled mulch beds!! Tim hung my flag, and I’m going to hopefully go get a few flowers this afternoon to plant. There’s something about flowers that I just adore - they just seem to scream home to me.

We left and took all the old mulch and some of the bushes to the county landfill. We found a darling farmer’s market on the way home - oh it was wonderful!! I bought a few things - they’ll be at the bottom in my grocery list, as I’m using this to be accountable to what I have spent this week. I saw several ladies from church today as well - it’s so nice to live in a place now where I can run into people I know! Where we lived, no one was very friendly. In the 3 years I was there, the neighbors across the street even and everyone else except our mail carrier and immediate next door neighbors ever spoke to me. I went to the store, everything - nobody even said hello really. I love seeing people I know.

We then ate out for lunch - a local Mexican restaraunt had a $5 off coupon out, and Tim, Ryan & I ate for a mere $5.81. Tim had taco salad, and Ryan and I shared a taco, enchilada & refried beans. Add that to chips and salsa and we are STUFFED! Cheaply stuffed! Our budget for the week is $18.75, and that’s actually more than I’d like to spend, but if we save some each week it allows us to have some of the youth at church over for pizza once in a while.

Anyway, I’m going to end this post with a simple list of what I purchased today, just for records sake!

Foodland - $13.00
loaf of bread - $.89
stocked up on hamburger meat that was clearanced out - $12.11

Publix - $4.90
Soliel razor - $1 (clearanced at $3, had $2/1 coupon)
Cabbage - $.55 (on sale this week for 4lbs/$1)
Pantyhose - $2.99 (Gotta have them, pooh!)

Farmer’s Market - $4.47
10lbs potatoes - $1.99
container of fresh rosemary - $1.49
3 lbs. fresh okra - $.99

I got a new book in the mail today, courtesy of PaperbackSwap! It’s the very best of the Proverbs 31 Ministry book - I can’t wait to crack it open and see what wealth I can read! That, a cuppa sweet tea, and a soft quilt is in my book about as good as it gets!

guarding our homes

Proverbs 4:23 says that we should guard our hearts with all diligence. What is our hearts? Yes, we should guard our salvation, and our spiritual hearts with diligence, but one thing that has been on my mind the last few days is guarding our homes. Our home seems to be the heart of our family - whether it be the physical place we call home or the feeling of home when we’re with our husbands and children. Therefore, I think this is also calling us to guard our homes. I thought this last night as I began thinking about some aquaintances of ours, whom always seem to have strife in the home and family. How did that strife get there? Was it problems left untended? Disagreements left untalked about? What in their lives happened that caused them to get this way? I know from their experience they’re always going, always looking for more, always apart, always rushing here and there. They don’t have the time to simply BE.

Yes, we have tons to do each and every day, but God help me to take the time with my children and dear hubby to simply BE a family. We need those alone times, we need those things. We as mothers have a big part of guarding our hearts, our homes. Let us focus on bringing in good Godly qualities - such as contentment, patience, love, longsuffering, grace & meekness.
May seem strange, but this is what I have thought the last few days. Hopefully it will be understandable. I’m taking off for a while to simply BE

We pull our cash on Friday’s. We follow Dave Ramsey’s practices - cash envelopes, no debt (other than our house right now) and basically living below what we make. This does take a couple hours of planning and writing and strategizing each month, but I think it’s totally worth it. I have had some trouble recently staying within the envelopes, but this month I’m determined to make it work. When we moved we used the one credit card we have to charge all moving expenses - and yes, we paid it off at the end, but it was sooooo easy to buy things that we really didn’t need, and yes, when I sat down and looked at the whopping amounts of money that I spent carelessly I was so upset. Therefore, things are getting tighter around here - my personal conviction is that I can and will do better. Does anyone play the CVS Game?? I’d love to hear from you - I’m hoping to start this week! Do you have to put in some initial start up money at the beginning until you get ECB?? I’m so confused!!
Anyway, I’m going to post our categories here, that’ll help me be accountable. I’m also going to post all the money I spend on the grocery category. The other will just bore you, so I’ll keep that quiet.
Cash Withdrawl
Groceries: $62.50
Entertainment: $18.75
Clothing: $15
Blow Money - $40 ($20 for me, $20 for DH)
Miscellaneous - $25
I’m going to try to spend less in each category and work my way down on these figures. I think we budget too much for blow money, for entertainment, and I’d like to get down to $50 a week on groceries. This is my goal, my mission.

I also wanted to add that God has blessed AGAIN!!!

Lord Willing, there’ll be another little to cuddle in our household this fall!! We’re keeping it a great secret from our families right now, simply because with losing 3 already, we’re waiting till I’m further along and we know things are at least ok before we get their hopes up! Ya’ll can share in my little secret! So far no complications, and in the other pregnancies I’ve bled from the start. Keep me in your prayers!

To eat or not to eat....that is the question!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed….but food is EXPENSIVE these days!!!! WOW!!!
Our Grocery budget is $250.00 - that includes food, toiletries, paper products and all. Now down here in the South where we live, groceries have SKYROCKETED! Eggs are almost $2 per dozen, lettuce is an average of $1.40!! CRAZINESS!! We are meat ‘n’ potatoes people, DH needs meat at every meal, and that can mean high bills unless I plan. I have certain amounts that I refuse to pay above on everything. Meat is bought in bulk when on sale, and we have a deep freezer. That helps SO much!! I get chicken quarters for $.39-$.49 per pound, hamburger for $.89-$.99 and so on. We use everything too, except the bones, lol - which I throw away after I boil them for the extra meat and stock. I get potatoes in bulk too - $8 for 50 pounds. Usually we have a huge garden, and I can like a crazy woman during the summer. This year we’re unable to have our normal garden. We just moved here a few weeks ago and with all the craziness of moving aren’t going to be able to get one ready in time. I’m going to feel LOST. I am going to plant quite a few tomato plants in the flower beds though - that’s the main thing we are almost out of. I canned a ton of salsa and pickles and corn last year, so all I really need to worry about is tomatoes for soups next winter. I think I can handle that.
At any rate, spending less and less on groceries is getting harder and harder to do. I’ve found though that if I pray before I go out, and am organized enough and plan ahead, that I CAN do it, and that God blesses fully while I’m out. Just last week I found some incredible things that I couldn’t believe. Still, it’s sometimes an interesting struggle. I have $3 left this week, and I am completely out of bread and milk. Granted I can make my own bread, but DH prefers store bought. *sigh* He’s still being trained. We used to be able to buy bread in bulk too - $3 for a cart load, and then I froze it. Now though, even the discount stores around here are $1.09 per loaf. I hope to post my grocery lists or what I do purchase, and that will keep me accountable, since we only use cash and we also use envelopes. We shall see!!!

Budgeting...

I am trying my best to really apply myself to living frugally. Not that I really HAVE to, though I believe no matter what kind of money God has blessed you with it does need to be told where to go and what to do. I just believe that God has blessed us with this, so we desperately need to manage it in a way that would be glorifying to God. Excess is SO promoted in this world today. I have family members who never can get enough, and are always wanting more more more. I admit I have had those feelings in the past, but I am trying to learn contentment.
The scripture that gave inspiration to this blog (Ecc. 4:6) really struck home one morning, as I was reflecting over yet another disagreement between me and dear husband, as I had once again spent outside of the budget and was left without for the rest of the week. I realized that if I just applied myself to having a “handful with quietness” instead of “handfuls with vexation” that it would be so much nicer around here. NOT that DH and I have large arguments, but just that the only dissagreements we do have have always been about money. Why not do my part to really make this a Godly and peaceful home!! That’s where the quest of my life started. I haven’t always been such a person - I was a corporate, meeting attending, broke money spending crazy person. Praise God he can change a person. I wouldn’t trade being a mommy now for anything. I want more children, I want to clean, I WANT to be frugal, wow time and God can change someone so much! That’s my journey - that’s my blog, as I focus on being the BEST wife, mama, child of God & steward I can be!!

My first real post!!

I already posted quite a paragraph about who I really am, so you can check that out if you really want to know. :) I’m jumping right in this blogging world - I have so many mamas that I adore reading from, so this is just my effort to journal my thoughts and keep me accountable. My journey has not been that long, as I am a young mama, but a lot has been packed into that journey. I will be doing Meal Plan Mondays, Tackle-It Tuesdays, Works for me Wednesdays, and all the other lovely things that are out there. Join me on my journey!!!