Meal Planning?!?

      I just found out the children where Mark works have a $17 budget for their food each week. That means if a cottage has 3 kids and 2 houseparents they get $85 a week for 5 people.  I don't know about you but we spend about $300 every 2 weeks on groceries.  That is about $600 a month and so about $200 per person a month and $50 a week per person. For a family of 3 that is ridiculous! I decided something needs to be done about our grocery bill.

I have a friend who is a meal planner and said she has learned to cut her grocery bill in half. I have tried and it normally lasts a week :) SO... I have decided to start AGAIN and hopefully this time keep it up. I found out that if you try to eat more natural foods you won't buy a lot of junk food that is actually expensive. I'm not saying I am about to become a health nut because PIZZA and chocolate milk are amazing, but I am saying I have decided to buy plain vanilla yogurt instead of the go-gurt. I am not buying poptarts and granola bars but learning to make most things from scratch. SO... kitchen adventures here I come.

I am trying to go to the grocery on the same day every week and spend NO MORE than $100. By deciding ahead of time what the exact breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack will be for each day I can figure out what I need and stay away from everything else.  I have started planning for next week and plan to go to the grocery on MONDAY because it is Oct. 1! We are going to have leftovers on Sunday nights, Meatfree Mondays, Temptation Tuesdays (the only night we will have desserts), and make an easy recipe on Fridays, like a pizza, hamburgers, breakfast for dinner, or something else that doesn't take much time or thought. :)
 I am also going to try to stick to buying more produce and staying away from the middle aisles because they have the expensive, unhealthy goodies that I love so much....tee-hee.   Here is the weekly planner I am using   and I just printed a big calendar to write notes on and kind of have an idea of what I already made or want to make for the month.

I got a great idea from a fellow blogger on how to organize recipes.  I know I print recipes off of pinterest and I even get the Rachael Ray Magazine and this is great way to declutter everything and actually USE the recipes.  You can find that link

HERE!!!

Thanks Becky Bakes! :)

Well... Off we go to a full Oct. of menu planning! Wish me luck

Hooray--Finally...

Well... It is official! As of tomorrow we will sign our names to about 4000 places and become homeowners. It has taken well over 6 months and some long drawn-out weeks to finally have a place to call ours.  Mark has been working a in Meridian for almost 3 months now and I have had to be at home alone for most weeks.  Having a two-year old all to myself with not even a small break to shower has been (how do I say this nicely) um.... difficult. :) E has been trying to give up napping these past months and I really don't think I am ready.

We will finally be moving into our house in about 3 weeks. Hopefully,  this house was built in 1988. It has had absolutely NOOO updating or anything so that is where I get to jump in. 

We have always lived rent free and so my job as the wife and stay at home mom is to now find extra money to pay for things with and at the same time be able to make our home OURS! We start next week by putting a brand new roof and carpet all throughout and hopefully painting a few rooms :)

Let me just explain, this home was a foreclosed home.  It has NO gutters, the roof is about 15 years old. Almost all the doors have holes in them like someone punched it. It is completely cedar and some siding is rotting.There is a creepy steeple thing haha. The lights (if there are any) are all hanging by wires. The cabinets look like they were from the 70s and the carpet is DISGUSTING and I absolutely LOVE IT!!! :)
We have a guest bedroom and french doors out to the fenced in backyard. In the best school district in Meridian, MS (even though that is not saying much, the schools are awful) We are within a walking distance from a neighbor.  NEVER IN MY LIFE have I been within walking distance of a neighbor.  My son can actually trick-or-treat!  The excitement is completely overwhelming. I will be posting some dos and don'ts of home renovations soon and also some awesome before and afters so GET READY! This is going to be fun a $4 budget ha.

Here is the official picture taken by the inspector.

 

Eason is so excited he calls it, "my house with the steps and my room up the steps and it will have my toys and bed UPSTAIRS".

 

 

 

This is from a corner of the back yard

The drive-way :)

 

THE WORST KITCHEN CABINETS EVER! :) and not to add... but some pretty rough wallpaper also ha.

 

I can't wait to get started on this! I told Mark I have about 30 years to make it just how I want it. WISH US LUCK!