Grocery Shopping on a Budget!

We are all trying to save money, either we don't have enough and are living pay check to pay check, or we want something special like a vacation or a car etc, there are always reasons to try and save money, I love saving money, it means more "fun money" for me and my family! Our grocery budget for the month is and always has been 200$ and we only keep good foods in our house, the odd time we buy junk for a treat, but for the most part it is all great groceries, feeding a family of 3 (plus company) on 50$ a week has it's challenges, but they are fun challenges, so let's get started! You can adjust your budget to your size family too, I know it is so much cheaper to eat junk all the time, and eating right has it's challenges financially, but it is worth it! My shopping list for the month (or bi weekly if you like) starts with the sale flyers, if you don't get the sale flyers where you are they have them on the internet as well and they are super helpful in planning your grocery list! We eat what is on sale, I plan my meals around what is on sale, not the other way around. This way I can buy fresh meat when it is on sale, I buy extra and freeze it individually so it is ready for my meals. If something isn't on sale we will almost never buy it, unless it would be something like potato's which would be necessary for us in a month, I sometimes will go to 4 or 5 stores and hit up the sales at all of them, review the flyers and see where the best deal is offered, this does take a lot of time, but in my case I have more time then money and I would rather invest time in saving money! An example of my shopping list for 2 weeks would look something like this, Grocery List Pork loin 8$ chicken 8$ ½ cup cashews 3$ Harvarti Dofino 200g 4$ coupon makes it 3$ Fresh Express Bagged salad 1$ each x3 = 3$ Water nestle 2$ each x3 = 6$ Juice Safeway Apple Juice 5 for 5$ x 2 = 10$ Juice boxes 4 for 5$ Milk 8$ Eggs 6$ Whipping cream 3$ Fruit for crepes peaches 1.49 per lb 3$ Oranges .97 cents per pound 5$ Gala Apples 3 pound bag 2.97$ Cheese Cracker Barrel 700g 7.94$ Olive Oil 4$ Heart Healthy Margarine 5$ Flour Robin Hood 10 kg 8.99$ total 99.91$ this will give us everything we need to follow our meal plan for the next two weeks, if the total comes to more than 100$ for two weeks I knock stuff off, little extras that we really don't need so I can stick to my budget. The only reason there isn't more listed is cause the items i need on top of these are already in my pantry and cupboards or freezer, from previous sales etc, like if you look at the list you won't see, vegetables or beef (for example) but that is only cause we have lots left over from previous weeks and sales. At the end of our budget we usually take a bit of extra cash and split it between Joe, Kenzie and I, so let's say there was 60$ extra once all bills are paid and everything is taken care of we would take that cash whatever amount it may be and split it between the three of us evenly, this will only work if you also give you kids their own share otherwise you will end up spending "your money" on your kids, cause it is so much fun to shop for kids, and as parents we always put them first, but this money is about you! So for example Joe will take his 20$ and he will spend it on anything he wants, (usually fishing and hunting supplies) or a Big Buck magazine and sometimes junk food :) I love when we do this, this money is just for you, it is not meant to be saved or for anything else but you, and it forces you to spend money on yourself, cause your worth it! For once it's not about what the kids want or need, or even your partner for that fact. So I usually spend the money, on new a new shirt or maybe make up or whatever I want, remember to have all your bills paid first, the last thing you want is the guilt of buying something when you didn't have everything else paid, that shirt won't feel so sweet when you hydro is cut off! LOL! Just kidding! And Kenzie's money is always fun to spend too! If she is in need of some new clothing item this would be a great time to get that, (tights or pants or new socks) or if she has had her eye on a new movie (but now that we have Netflix we don't buy movies, and we don't usually buy toys for her either, she has lots and she gets lots for her birthday and Christmas, kids have too many toys lol!) I might also use her money to buy her something fun like cheese strings, she loves cheese! Sometimes the extra money is larger and we still split it evenly and buy bigger things like, a power tool for Joe, a tablet for Faye and a new toy shelf organizer for Kenzie. I totally encourage all of you to do this, we have so much fun doing this, and after a long 2 weeks of working hard and staying on budget it is nice to reward your self for sticking to the plan! Good luck with your grocery shopping and sticking to your budgets!

Too many toys!

It's that time of year again, your house is overloaded with toys! Toys from Christmas, toys from birthdays, toys, toys, toys! Toys are great they keep our kids entertained while we whip up meals etc. Toys are educational and a lot of fun, but after Christmas we say, enough is enough, every year in January, we look through all of Kenzie's toys, some she has out grown, some i am tired of listening too, LOL! Some would just get better used in new hands! Usually every year we find a person or a day care to donate them too, so not only are you decluttering your house you are bringing joy to another child/family and that is the most important thing, sometimes we forget how blessed we are to have an abundance of toys and others have so little! So pass it on, and yes i realize some of these have been gifts, but as a gift giver yourself wouldn't you rather see the toy in the hands of a child who will play with it? Of course, so pass it on! We have a certain sized box for toys and once that gets overloaded it is time to empty it out, no kid needs this many toys, especially since they only play with a few of them regularly anyway! Get rid of it, you will feel so much better, make it your January goal, clean out the kiddo's toys and pass them on, the warm fuzzy feeling is all worth it! We just accomplished this goal this week, it doesn't take that long and if you keep up with the January tradition it is for the most part under control, my biggest tip is to do this while the kids are asleep, if they see you giving away their toys they might want to keep them and if you are determined you might just let them, on the other hand it is very important to teach your children that they are parting with toys so the toys could go to someone who truly needs them. So here is what we do, once the toys to give away have been chosen away from her prying eyes lol, we put it all it a black bag or box so she cannot see the contents and explain to her that these are her old toys off to find a new home, if she doesn't see them, she won't miss them, you might chose to do this once the toys are already out of the house. There are many great places you can donate toys, a neighbor, a friend, a daycare, a shelter, the list goes on, make sure all toys are gently used and in good working condition. If it is garbage, through it out :) So there you go, you have a better organized toy box, you have donated to a kid in need, so sit down with a hot chocolate/coffee/tea in front of the fire and give yourself a big ol pat on the back, number one Mom right there!

Monthly Meal Plan!

Today I am going to change your world, if you chose to follow the advice i give you, you will forever be happy, this a i promise you! So here it is, if any of you have spent any time on Pinterest you have probably heard rumblings about a monthly meal, plan, I had heard of this many times over yet I never bothered to find out what it really was, but now that i have my whole life has changed for the better, it does take a little time and commitment but trust me it is totally worth it!! Ok so here it goes, a monthly meal plan is just this, take a calendar, i am sure you have a million around the house this time of year, or make a calendar on line like i do and fill out one month worth of meals, remember to leave blank the days you plan to go out, you fill all the days in with all your families favorite meals, and then follow that with a grocery list, a large list of everything you need to make all these meals. Now this will take some time, but trust me it will save you a ton of time, trying to think up what to have for dinner, running to the store on your lunch break for a supper idea or ingredients and running to the store after work, this system is amazing, everyday as soon as we would finish breakfast my hubby would ask, what's for supper, and I would be like "are you kidding me I just figured out what to have for Breakfast!! LOL!" If you like you can plan our exactly what you want to have for breaky lunch and supper, but we only have supper on our meal plan and we always make enough for Joe to take the left overs to work! Never again do you have to worry about what to make for supper cause there it is all planned out for you, we have been doing things this way since October and we would never go back to the old way, we ate alot of last minute meals, none of which are very good for you cause we where in a rush and didn't know what to make, so in our meal plan we try to have healthy meals and a few junky meals, if you don't put them in there, you will end up cheating on your meal plan, so put your fav's in there! Not every meal has to be a healthy one! And the other great part of this plan is that all of the ingredients you need are now in your house from the big grocery list you made and the big shopping trip you will have made, everything is all ready there, this makes the job so much easier and saves you so many trips to the store! And because the items are already in your house for the recipe the chances you will follow your plan are much greater! Try this, give it one month and I promise you will be hooked, this will also save you money, because instead of buying last minute frozen pizza's or whatever you will have a meal planned out already and you won't feel rushed into buying the more expensive boxed foods, here is an example of a montly meal plan, this is our plan for January, MONTH of JANUARY Macaroni and cheese and Hotdogs 1 Spaghetti and Bread Sticks 2 Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese 3 Bacon Cheese Burger taquitos and fries 4 Dauphin Pick up supper 5 Sesame Shrimp and Broccoli 6 Meat loaf with stuffing potatoes and veggies 7 Fondue with Wontons shrimp broccoli mushrooms cauliflower 8 Taco’s with Home made Navajo Fry bread 9 Chicken and Snow pea stir fry 10 Pickerel and home made fries 11 Home Made Pizza 12 Ribs, Brussels Sprouts and potatoes 13 Mustangs game 6pm eat at rink 14 Homemade beef tomato macaroni Soup and buns 15 Lemon garlic Chicken Alfredo 16 Lasagna 17 Chicken Rice Casserole with French Fried onions 18 Dauphin Pick up Supper 19 Perogies and Bacon 20 Slow cooker Chicken Cashew 21 Loaded Baked potato Soup 22 Ham and scalloped Potatoes 23 Teriyaki Chicken and Rice 24 Chili And hame made Bread 25 Pork chops potatoes gravy stuffing veggies 26 Zucchini Pasta 27 Gnocchi Soup 28 Beef and Cheddar Pot Pie 29 Perogies and Bacon 30 Kraft Dinner and Hotdogs 31 Just an example of what you might like, but of course add your own foods, I also keep a folder on my computer of new recipes i would like to try and then when it is time to do up my montlhy meal plan I have some new ideas to add :) Please try this it will change your life and make everything so much easier, it turns out most of the battle of cooking is figuring out what to cook and getting the ingredients, once you have that mastered cooking the meal is sooo much easier! Best of luck!! Let me know how it works for all of you!!! Trust me just do it!!

Now that Christmas is over...

Now that Christmas is over I finally have a chance to write to you all again, it has been a wonderful and blessed 2012, our Christmas Holidays will be remembered with Joy! We had a great time going to all 10 of our Christmas dinners, we also attended a Wedding a Baby Shower and a Birthday party in that 2 week span of Holidays! Our daughter was blessed with many wonderful gifts and so where we! Now that the Holidays are over and we have caught up on our sleep and our relaxing time what shall we do? I usually tend to get a little bummed out when it is all over, it is the best time of the year and we have a long wait before it returns again! So now we need to focus our attention on new things, so here we go, my plan is to take it day by day, focus on the little things that we still have to look forward to! Today we are making Deer Jerky, our first attempt at any kind of Jerky but we are pretty pumped, we are doing up 15 pounds of meat so we have plenty to share with our friends and family, we are also taking this time to enjoy all the nice gifts we got, seeing K enjoy all these new things brings a smile to my face everyday, in a couple days we will head out to do our grocery shopping and pick up some stuff from the bidding wars sites, then we are going straight to the hockey game! With our new coach things are going so well, we might actually win a few more this year, not that it really matters to me whether we win or lose, at least not until we get into the playoffs, if we get into the playoffs lol! Our house is un-decorated and looking back to normal, which is a little sad and bare, it is odd because usually when it is time to un-decorate I am happy to be rid of all the extras and glad to go back to our normal house, but this year I guess I was not ready this year LOL! This week we will try to focus on the positive and remember that there are still plenty of things to look forward too! So if any of you are in the same boat as me, just remember the things that are coming up in your life that you do have to look forward too! Focusing on the positive will keep you from having to endure the "Post Christmas Crash", I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours and I hope your 2013 brings you many blessings! Remember to try and stay positive!