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A big part of my keeping to a budget has been menu planning. Each week I take a look at what’s in the cupboard and decide what to make for dinner each evening. Breakfast is every man for himself and lunch is dependent on whether the husband is home or not. Planning dinners has allowed me to shop sales and make sure the food we buy gets used and not thrown away. Plus I love to find recipes and then ignore them when I cook, the menu plan gives me a starting point. So let’s see what’s on for this week…
I am not even attempting a menu plan this week. We move on Wednesday and I’ve spent the past six days packing boxes. I hate packing the kitchen so I don’t even want to spend any mental time there right now. Our meals will come from the freezer and cupboard, be simple, easy and use no more than two pans, a spoon or a spatula as everything else is packed.
We are using a system that is somewhat based on $80/week for grocery and non-edible and the $50 a week budget. Each week we calculate how much we spent overall and I announce if we are under or over budget.
eating out – $49.42
grocery – $7.99
grocery non-edible – $5.42
Apparently sending the husband and Toddler L away for a few days is all my budget needs. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for feeding my family.
A big part of my keeping to a budget has been menu planning. Each week I take a look at what’s in the cupboard and decide what to make for dinner each evening. Breakfast is every man for himself and lunch is dependent on whether the husband is home or not. Planning dinners has allowed me to shop sales and make sure the food we buy gets used and not thrown away. Plus I love to find recipes and then ignore them when I cook, the menu plan gives me a starting point. So let’s see what’s on for this week…
Saturday – meatloaf, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries
Sunday – HOHO
Monday – leftovers
Tuesday – WOHO (the husband and toddler are gone for a couple of days. I’ll be eating down the cupboards.)
Wednesday – WOHO (I could make a mini pizza because it’s Wednesday but I can’t plan when it’s just me.)
Thursday – WOHO
Friday – beans n’ biscuits
We are using a system that is somewhat based on $80/week for grocery and non-edible and the $50 a week budget. Each week we calculate how much we spent overall and I announce if we are under or over budget.
eating out – $98.91
grocery – $67.58
grocery non-edible – $12.58
We are still eating down our stores so the grocery budget has been scaled back. In fact, I haven’t been to the grocery store in weeks. The husband has been going to pick up the essentials. That’s why the grocery total is as high as it is. Milk and produce may be expensive but its the ice cream that really puts us over the top.
A big part of my keeping to a budget has been menu planning. Each week I take a look at what’s in the cupboard and decide what to make for dinner each evening. Breakfast is every man for himself and lunch is dependent on whether the husband is home or not. Planning dinners has allowed me to shop sales and make sure the food we buy gets used and not thrown away. Plus I love to find recipes and then ignore them when I cook, the menu plan gives me a starting point. So let’s see what’s on for this week…
Saturday – OUT
Sunday – banana pancakes
Monday – spaghetti
Tuesday – black beans and biscuits
Wednesday – pizza
Thursday – garden burgers
Friday – tuna casserole
We are using a system that is somewhat based on $80/week for grocery and non-edible and the $50 a week budget. Each week we calculate how much we spent overall and I announce if we are under or over budget.
eating out – $114.39
grocery – $29.64
grocery non-edible – $0
Your votes were headed and the weakly accounts are here to stay. After being waylayed by travel and poor health menus are again being planned and spending is being counted. Last weeks spending is more a result of the latter although the fact that there was some sort of eating out almost every day would beg to differ. Luckily we have been eating down our pantry so groceries were limited to the bare basics. I’m hoping we can keep the same spending this week, without the abundant eating out of course.
I was so encouraged by the spirit of this post about reusable bags, in part because it touched on my love of all things inherited. Lucky for me, Tara[ "tar" (the road stuff) - "uh"], aka The Organic Sister, is way cool and allowed me to share her words with you. Check out her story, I’m incredibly envious of her family’s up and coming adventure.
. . .
These canvas shopping bags are about 20 years old. They belonged to my mom; proof we’ve been living green before I even knew what it meant.
The average reusable bag has the lifespan of over seven hundred disposable plastic bags.
I love the fact they have lasted so long! Canvas shopping bags are the best; their durability is obvious. I’ve seen some reusable bags that were poorly made and had holes or broken handles within a year.
The red is even still bright!
Using canvas bags can save an average of 425 plastic bags per person, annually!
Our “vintage” bags (as the store clerk calls them) only recently broke a couple straps. We load them up pretty heavily and the stress started to show in two of the 8 bags’ handles.
Their canvas material makes them easy to repair: I just overlapped the two halfs of the broken handle by a few inches, and machine-sewed vertically and horizontally until it felt good and secure. Nothing fancy and it shortened the handles a bit but it extended their use at least another decade!
An estimated one million birds and 100,000 turtles and other sea animals die of starvation each year after ingesting discarded plastic bags which block their digestive tracks.
Other than some day owning family heirloom bags, want some more interesting reasons to switch to reusable bags? Click here:
. . .
Yeah, hey, hey
When somethings dark, let me shed a little light on it
When somethings cold, let me put a little fire on it
If somethings old, I wanna put a bit of shine on it
When somethings gone, I wanna fight to get it back again
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fight to get it back again
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When somethings broke, I wanna put a bit of fixin on it
When somethings bored, I wanna put a little exciting on it
If somethings low, I wanna put a little high on it
When somethings lost, I wanna fight to get it back again
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fight to get it back again
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When signals cross, I wanna put a little straight on it
If there’s no love, I wanna try to love again
I’ll say your prayers, I’ll take your side
I’ll find us a way to make light
I’ll dig your grave, we’ll dance and sing
What’s saved could be one last lifetime
Hey, hey, hey
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, fight to get it back again
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Fight to get it back again, yeah, yeah, yeah
Fight to get it back again, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
A new favorite song of mine, fitting no?
If you’re not already saving money at Target plan to start soon. Along with smaller stores such as Whole Foods and Sprouts Farmer’s Market, Target will be giving a 5¢ credit for each reusable bag shoppers bring with them.
USAToday had the full story…
The Target program, which will roll out on Nov. 1 at all 1,700 Target stores nationwide, could save billions of plastic bags. The chain posts upwards of 1.5 billion transactions annually — most ending up in more than one bag.
A pilot test in 100 Target stores earlier this year resulted in a hefty 58% reduction in plastic bags used, says Shawn Gensch, vice president of marketing. “The best-case scenario is that we’ll have 100% success and every consumer will use a reusable bag.”
I’ve been using my own bags at Target for a while, now I just get paid for doing it. What’s not to like.
A big part of my keeping to a budget has been menu planning. Each week I take a look at what’s in the cupboard and decide what to make for dinner each evening. Breakfast is every man for himself and lunch is dependent on whether the husband is home or not. Planning dinners has allowed me to shop sales and make sure the food we buy gets used and not thrown away. Plus I love to find recipes and then ignore them when I cook, the menu plan gives me a starting point. So let’s see what’s on for this week…
Saturday – salmon was on the menu but got left in the freezer so we ended up eating out on our way home from the fair
Sunday – pancakes
Monday – I’m looking for a recipe for the salmon filets I didn’t use on Saturday
Tuesday – black beans and rice
Wednesday – pizza
Thursday – baked pasta
Friday – the husband and I are out, Grandma will be running the kitchen
We are using a system that is somewhat based on $80/week for grocery and non-edible and the $50 a week budget. Each week we calculate how much we spent overall and I announce if we are under or over budget.
eating out – $174.50
grocery – $54.10
grocery non-edible – $6.53
Not pretty, but not as bad as it could have been. All of this eating out was because of our travels so there’s not much we could change there. Now we’re home and back to some semblance of a budget. I hope.
A big part of my keeping to a budget has been menu planning. Each week I take a look at what’s in the cupboard and decide what to make for dinner each evening. Breakfast is every man for himself and lunch is dependent on whether the husband is home or not. Planning dinners has allowed me to shop sales and make sure the food we buy gets used and not thrown away. Plus I love to find recipes and then ignore them when I cook, the menu plan gives me a starting point. So let’s see what’s on for this week…
Saturday – clean-out-the-fridge scramble
Sunday – HOHO
No menu plan for the rest as we leave for Portland on Monday. Gone all week. Looking forward to a week of no cooking. Or at least no real cooking, hotel room lunches don’t count.
We are using a system that is somewhat based on $80/week for grocery and non-edible and the $50 a week budget. Each week we calculate how much we spent overall and I announce if we are under or over budget.
eating out – $125.01
grocery – $117.37
grocery non-edible – $14.57
We had a very active week. Which equaled a lot of eating out apparently. So what were all the groceries? I did not create a shopping list and am paying the price. Literally.
Eco-me has created some really great packaging for all natural household cleaners. So all natural in fact you already have them in your house. And some of you are probably already using them to clean with. (Oil, vinegar, water and baking soda.) There’s even a DIY kit so they sell you the great packaging and you provide your own ingredients. Minus the secret mix of essential oils. I’m just not sure a mix of tea tree, lavender, lemongrass and rosemary are worth the cost of packaging and shipping the packaging.
If these products help some people kick the toxic habit then I’m all for it. (Apparently they work really well, but you probably knew that.) I just hope I can have a brainstorm idea to make money selling people what they already own.
Do you use essential oils in your cleaning? (I’m collecting recipes so I don’t have to buy the packaging.)
via Design Mom
Ugh, I just had to go to The Gap to make an exchange of some gifted items. So hard to see all the new cool sweaters and scarves. My true weakness. Walking past the window of Anne Taylor didn’t help my weak knees.
A big part of my keeping to a budget has been menu planning. Each week I take a look at what’s in the cupboard and decide what to make for dinner each evening. Breakfast is every man for himself and lunch is dependent on whether the husband is home or not. Planning dinners has allowed me to shop sales and make sure the food we buy gets used and not thrown away. Plus I love to find recipes and then ignore them when I cook, the menu plan gives me a starting point. So let’s see what’s on for this week…
Saturday – broccoli brown rice casserole
Sunday – we’ll be at Lampost Pizza – not having a TV means going out when certain teams are playing a certain game called football
Monday – brats, sauteed carrots
Tuesday – tuna casserole
Wednesday – pizza
Thursday – garbanzo beans and ? (I’ve never cooked with garbanzos, I’m not even a huge fan, but I’m trying to change both of those things)
Friday – creamy tomato gnocchi
We are using a system that is somewhat based on $80/week for grocery and non-edible and the $50 a week budget. Each week we calculate how much we spent overall and I announce if we are under or over budget.
Shopping in the cupboard and freezer has really helped again this week. I can only hope to see more weeks like this one at any time in the future.
eating out – $39.74
grocery – $35.46
grocery non-edible – $1.2o
Wow, I’m loving those numbers.
WHAT’S BEEN SAID