House Project Update

I am having trouble uploading my eight month pictures so I decided to post what we found that will solve some big issues we have been having with the house. We were at a standstill with these projects until we went to Costco yesterday. As we left with our usual purchases a nice woman handed us their May Specials booklet. Usually there isn't anything we are interested in but Brian found three things.

1) Kitchen:

As with most people we have very little counter space and storage. We also have this wonderful Kitchen Aid mixer that we have not been able to use because we have no where to keep it once it is out of the box. If we could empty one of the cabinets we can keep the mixer in there on a rolling drawer which will allow for easy access and easy storage. The rolling draw will hold the mixer and when we want to use it we will pull it out and the mixer will end up at the same level as the counter. Easy access, easy storage. The issue? Clearing out the cabinet.  We have played with several options to remedy this problem. The first idea was pot racks so we can take the frying pans out of one of the cabinets and then move everything over. Given our budget and available space for a pot rack, this unfortunately worked. We thought of finding a table that could be on wheels. The top would be butchers block and the bottom of the table would have shelves so it would as a portable island as needed. That idea is not fitting our budget either.

The first object he found was this:

It is normally around $85 which was in our original budget but was on sale for around $65. It is the perfect height. Will hold all of our frying pans, lids and will help clear things off our counter and will create more space in the pantry. It will look great in the space and not take up too much room. The only real downside is that it will go where the trash can goes so I have to move a picture and find a new home for the trash can. We cannot wait for this to arrive!

2) The second issue we have been having is fitting everything we need in the garage. We have a two car garage and it fits two cars and not much more. Due to Brian's awesome packing abilities we have been able to fit several other things but it is a mess and we are definitely not using the space wisely. Thanks to all of our past projects we have paint cans on the floor, brooms and shop vacs, dirt, etc that could be stored easier. We have had the idea to get a shelving rack for awhile but they are just so expensive. A shelving rack will save room, provide more storage and provide easier access to the items we need to keep in the garage!. I may be able to take a few things out of the laundry room and store them in the garage as well! There are other things we want to do in the garage but shelving rack will get us a lot closer.

and guess what Costco had!

This was normally $220 which is still a good price for the size and weight capacity that we found but we got it for $180. It has 5 shelves that can each hold 600lbs (I don't know if we have enough to get 600 lbs total but we wont have to worry about things being too heavy) and is 60" W, 24" D and 77" H with the casters. It fits perfectly where we want to put it and I will have an easier time getting in and out of the garage.




We have already purchased the above two items. The sale paper said it started May 1st but when I went online to confirm measurements and things we noticed that the sale actually started early. Once we confirmed that those two items were what we hoped they would be we went ahead and ordered them. We didn't want Costco to sell out of them.




3) The third item we have been discussing getting is an attic fan. I know when we were up north our attic fan helped keep the house cool a lot and that was up north where we didn't have the heat we do down here. Our attic gets really hot and while the door to the attic has weather sealing/proofing I really think the upstairs A/C would have an easier time keeping the upstairs cool if we had the attic fan. A/C having an easy time hopefully means less in our electric bill. Brian is on board. We haven't done it yet because Brian wanted to do some research on how much electricity the attic fan would use to see if it would make a difference. If it costs $5 to run the attic fan in electricity and it is only going to save us $5...maybe it wouldn't be worth it. Plus how much the fan itself costs and how much it would be to install it. We liked the idea but we had a lot of research to do before we jumped in.











Well Brian found a solar paneled Attic Fan in the Costco flyer! It does have some electrical parts but it will only cost $2 a year for that aspect. There is a 30% tax credit for it as well!. Because it is solar paneled it is on the roof and we do not need to get anything approved by the HOA or anything like that and the description says that people can install it themselves! We obviously won't but that just proves how easy it is to set up, no electricians needed! It also has a remote which will allow it to still run on cloudy days or at night which is great. It is high wind resistant, it will even help in the cold, wet winter. (yes we are not supposed to get snow but it does rain and we have had snow and it will be fine with snow).

We haven't purchased it yet because we do have to have to find out how much it will cost to install as we aren't doing it ourselves. We have a call in to the manufacturer to see what their certified people will charge and we have asked another friend who may be able to do it to see what he would charge. If the installation quote is what we are expecting then we will go ahead and purchase it.! It is $350 before the sale and $300 after the sale. Well within what Brian and I were thinking. Brian was budgeting $500 for the fan and installation so as long as installation is $200 or less, which it should be, we will be golden.

Another great thing about the sale? Shipping is free! I will post before and after pictures of all the projects once we get there.

What have I been up too...

Not much I am afraid

The invisible fence is in so we are ready for Benjamin and Bailey (my parents dogs which I call mine) when they come down with the move.

This weekend we are having the trim put in above the blinds, the new doors we bought for the pantry put in and the back splash as well. I will of course post pictures of the finished product.

Work is going well. I am in production which surprised me and my manager. We both thought there would be more notice but things have changed as they typically do. It is okay though because I did very well in my first month of being in production. My manager is not worried at all. I did a little better then I was hoping for but not as well as I would have hoped. We have to meet 100% to keep our jobs (not immediately, there are steps in place to help you make production but if you ignore the suggestions and don't do what you are supposed to the quickest way to lose the job is by not making production) but if we make 120% production for the year we get a bonus. I have been hoping to get the 120% average so I can get the bonus. This month I got 125% without trying terribly hard. I have from the beginning tried to organize my time like I would if I were on production so the transition would be easier to working on production and maybe it wouldn't be too hard for me to meet production. Well it worked! I would have liked it to be a little higher then 125% because there is little wiggle room for the following months in case things slow down and I have trouble finding things to keep me occupied. But I think it is a great start for my first month and I will continue doing what I am doing and will look for more work to help boost my numbers.

Also with work, overtime is back! I am rejuvenated from my break with overtime and have been staying late doing correspondence. I am getting much faster (which will help my production) and enjoy doing it. There is overtime this Saturday which I am doing as well. Weekends have been tough because we haven't had much to do. This is the first weekend where we really have any real plans so we have been watching a lot of tv. Since I do have Monday off and I am not really necessary for the projects at home we thought it would be good if I did the overtime.

Brian and I are re-thinking what to do with the money I have saved for the extra mortgage payment. Brian is now thinking about wanting to use it to pay down one of his student loans. All the overtime I currently earn is being divided. Half of it will go towards house projects and the other half is going to his student loans. While making an extra mortgage payment each year would lower the interest on the house greatly Brian is thinking it might be better off paying off a student loan and then playing catch up on the house later. The student loan is at a higher interest rate then the house and having that paid off would free up money each month. I like our current system. Taxes/half of my overtime/bonus's/etc going towards student loans and having an extra mortgage payment for the house but I dont know if I am being type A, stubborn and not liking change or if my idea is more sound. Brian is wanting to put all the money we dont spend on house projects/bills to go towards paying off the loan. Nothing we need to make an immediate decision on, just something we are discussing.

Brian is still obsessed with the bunny in our yard. He is so cute about it!

I am back at the gym and while I am sore, I am enjoying being back. I had a nice "break" but it is nice to be back in more rigid, structured classes again.

Really the biggest thing is waiting for Mommy and Daddy to move down!

Very Very busy Saturday

I have already posted the pictures from the lot visit but that was just a small piece of the day.

Our first goal was to start packing and really start going through our things and decide what we are keeping, what we are giving away and what we are trashing. When Brian and I moved in we just packed everything up and brought it over so I am seeing a lot of his stuff for the first time. We got the third bedroom done except for books and we got half the closet done in the computer room and then it was time to go to the house. We did manage to get half a bag for good will. I also packed up all the spring clothes I could find and put them in a suit case. We did not get as much done as I hoped we would but we will continue next Saturday.

Then we went to the house and out to eat at El Cerro our favorite Mexican restaurant. Cheap, easy, good, filling. Always good.

After that we dropped Al and Dave off and I grabbed the grocery list and we went off to Lowe's. Brian had found a sale on our refrigerator and we were going to ask questions about it. There was a sale and the sale prices were amazing but the sales themselves ended much sooner then we thought.

This is the fridge we wanted:

Samsung 28cu ft French Door, Energy Star, Item #330637

 It is normally $2999. When we originally found it it was on sale for $2500 and that became our dream/in a perfect world choice. Brian started looking for sales. And Lowe's is having their sneak peak Black Friday sale going on so instead of $2999 plus taxes and fees, the refrigerator was $1890 including all taxes and fees. We saved easily $1000 on that one piece of equipment. This is all what he was expecting except the sale ended this Monday and Brian swore online it said it lasted to the 28th. Sears had the same price and Best Buy had the fridge for $50 more. So we got the fridge at Lowes because of their customer service in dealing with our rental refrigerator issues. I don't see how we could have passed it up since it ended up costing less then some of the other lower cost refrigerators we were looking at after you take taxes into consideration. We were planning on waiting a week but since the sale is over Monday didn't really have that option.

We also went looking to find our washer and dryer. Not necessarily to buy but to pick them out so Brian could watch the sales on those either. We found the ones we wanted and they had gone up in price and not on sale. However the sales lady showed us another set by the same manufacturer and actually the step up from the set we thought we wanted.

This is the washer:

Samsung 3.9 cu ft stack-able front load, energy star, platinum Item #: 346658

This is the dryer:

Samsung, 7.4 cu ft, stack-able, gas, platinum, Item #: 346654

Our house is plumbed for gas and Brian wanted platinum so that is why we are getting these. The washer is normally $1399 and the dryer is normally $1369 plus taxes and fees. With the sale and taxes BOTH of these were $1726. That is almost buy one get one and so we now have our washer and dryer. Again not sure how we could pass these two up since we got such a great price on them and we got a washer/dryer set that is better then what we had picked out for our dream/perfect world set.

We did chose to extend the warranty for 4 years as it was only about $90 per appliance and you would pay that for any service call and we know that Lowes stands by their warranties. We also had to add on a water line, something to connect the gas dryer to the wall, and the stacking kit but those only added up to about $75 if that. Our total was $3992.00 and we saved about $2400 when it is all said and done. Because we saved that much on these appliances it means that I can get my bedroom set a bit sooner then before.

Lowe's is also able to hold it without a delivery date which is great since we don't know when we will close and may not know until the week/day before. Also if the price goes down in 30 days they will price match. The Christmas sales are never as good as Black Friday so while we don't expect the price to go down even more if it were to happen it would be within Black Friday which is less then 30 days away.

After Lowes we went to the grocery store. I have been trying really hard to pick cheap recipes. We are watching a new cooking show called Money Saving Meals with Sandra Lee and I am trying to use her recipes. She makes one meal and it usually ends up costing around $20 for 4 people from that one meal and then uses the left overs to make another meal. I don't know if it is helping us. I am starting to think that unless we just eat ramen and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we are not going to get our grocery bill any lower.

We then came home, put groceries away and went to game night. One of my friends from work has a game night on the second Saturday of each month and Brian and I were invited to go along. At the time we were supposed to leave we were exhausted and really feeling the need to pack more but I insisted on going as my friend was really looking forward to us being there. We ended up staying until 11pm. We started one game at 9pm and it was supposed to be a 30-45 minute game but since we played it wrong it took a lot longer. We both had fun, found a game that we are actually interested in buying and will try and make it again next week. My friend had to bail early but we found a cute couple who we played games with.

Then it was home for bed!

Monthly Menu: October

You know how I said some of the food we got at Costco would last to November? Wrong!

September was, as I thought, a very expensive food month. Part of the problem is bringing Brian but that is for another post. Worst part of September being so expensive? The food wasn't that good. Most of it was just okay but we didnt find any new favorites. If we had loved the recipes it wouldnt hurt so bad but most of the recipes left us disappointing which is making us feel it wasnt worth it.

So in trying to even it out with Octobers menu...you will notice it is quite scarce. I refuse to buy any more meat and picked cheap recipes that we only needed a few things for. There is fend a lot through the menu and I do expect us to switch up meals based on how many left overs we have. We already ordered out (I didnt want to Brian refused to let me cook) yesterday because the kitchen is such a mess.

October 2011 Menu

Saturday, October 1^st: Lamb with Turnips

Sunday, October 2^nd: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, October 3^rd: Curry Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday, October 4^th: Apple Stuffed Pork chops

Wednesday, October 5^th: Fend

Thursday, October 6^th: Garlic Lemon Mahi Mahi

Friday, October 7^th: Meatball subs

Saturday, October 8^th: Out

Sunday, October 9^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, October 10^th: Pork Wellington

Tuesday, October 11^th: Tuna Melts

Wednesday, October 12^th: Fend

Thursday, October 13^th: Fend

Friday, October 14^th: Sausage hoagies

Saturday, October 15^th: Out

Sunday, October 16^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, October 17^th: Salmon Cakes

Tuesday, October 18^th: Pork Chops

Wednesday, October 19^th: Fend

Thursday, October 20^th: Fend

Friday, October 21^st: Pesto Pasta

Saturday, October 22^nd: Out

Sunday, October 23^rd: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, October 24^th: Spaghetti Carbonara

Tuesday, October 25^th: Fend

Wednesday, October 26^th: Fend

Thursday, October 27^th: Chicken Parmesan (frozen ones in freezer)

Friday, October 28^th: Mac and Cheese

Saturday, October 29^th: Out

Sunday, October 30^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday,October 31^st: Tortellini

The House and projects :)

We have a meeting with the Banker Man on Thursday at 6:30 unless I hear otherwise but Brian and I are pretty sure that we need double the amount for the down payment/closing costs rather then the figure we had anticipated. As I have mentioned, we have the money but we were ear marking it for buying a refrigerator, washer/dryer, tile, paint, etc.

Brian and I came up with a list of wants and needs and put how much we were willing to save for them. We don't really want to settle with this house so if it takes us a while to save up, so be it. I am warming up to the idea of not getting everything right when we move in, it will give us something to work towards and projects to do and post about :)

Here is our list of needs/wants and the order which we need/want/think we should do them in:

Need	Want
- Refrigerator ($2500)	- Tile master bath
- Washer ($800-$1000)	- Paint master room and bath ($600)
- Dryer (gas) ($800-$1000)	- Master ceiling fan ($150)
	- Tile guest bath
	- Paint guest rooms ($600)
	- Tile utility room
	- Ceiling fan upstairs ($150)
	- Tile upstairs bath
	- Paint upstairs bath/room ($600)
	- Blinds/Curtains/Rods (master, living, upstairs, guest) ($100 per window)
	- Ceiling fan guest rooms ($150)
	- Dishwasher upgrade ($800)
	- Paint kitchen/living room ($600)
	- Grill (gas)
	- Bedroom set ($3,000?)
	- Queen mattress set ($800)

Our current goal is to save about $4500 for the refrigerator and washer dryer. We found a refrigerator that we want and a couple washer/dryers and they fall within $800-$1000 price range. Again, we would like to buy quality products that we wont have to or want to replace in the near future. If we can't we will buy what we can within the amount we have saved up as we need those items but I am hopeful that we can save up the money.

After that our first push is the Master. We are trying to go room by room mostly and the Master is first because it will be our room, one of the most used in the beginning, and we plan to sleep/use one of the guest rooms as our bedrooms to make it easier for painting and tiling. Guest bath is before guest rooms as we believe guests will use the guest bath more often then the guest rooms :)

and yes my beloved bedroom set is on the bottom of the list....Maybe soon but unless something unexpected happens, it will stay at the bottom of the list. Maybe one day Brian and I can sleep in a big boy/girl bed (we have been sleeping in a double bed for the past 4 years...we'd both like a Queen)

Busy Saturday :)

We have had a very busy and productive Saturday and it is only 1pm!

We had to be up at 8 because we got free breakfast at Chik Fil-A. Well our entrees were free and we chose to get hash browns and drinks on the side so we ended up paying a total of $6 for the both of us.

Before breakfast I managed to finish stuffing the Save the Date cards and get them out in the mail. So people should be on the look out for those. I was only 4 days late :)

After breakfast we went to the bank to deposit the rest of the house down payment (did I mention we decided to buy the house? well we did :) ) and went to meet the house sales lady. We are meeting with the bank on Monday and if everything goes well we will finalize the banks paper work then and finalize house paperwork on Wednesday. We should know if everything went through and when the house will be finished by the 19th.

After that we went to Walmart. We were going to Walmart because I wanted a new hot/cold water bottle and groceries and I didn't want to have to stop at two stores. Well....I couldn't find a water bottle that could do both hot and cold water and the larger coffee cup/mug/thermos was only 24 ounces and I need a bigger one then that because I can't just refill it whenever I want. Brian asked why I couldn't just bring two and well, A) I shouldn't have to, B) more for me to carry and drop and C) more likely that it could spill at my desk and get all over the place. I think we are going to look on Amazon for it. The Walmart trip ended up costing about $50 dollars or so but this trip did contain pantry items that we had run out of. I only mention it so I can look up and see how much this month has cost in food.

We have also gone through the most recent Food Network Magazine and of course Brian has found about 10 more recipes I apparently have to make for him. I love the magazine but our recipes of "must try" is getting out of hand.

Brian is going to go play his game for the rest of the day and I will watch Ally McBeal and knit which I haven't gotten to do a lot this week. I should be able to finish the current square and get a good start on another one before tomorrow.

It is only day 6.....

of August and we have done HORRIBLY on the grocery budget. I blame it not having a printer and having to copy everything by hand.

I have so far forgotten eggs, butter, zucchini and half and half so I have had to go back and get those. Actually I got the eggs and butter this morning. I was purposely waiting on the zucchini so it doesn't go bad and didnt realize I didn't have half and half until I started cooking dinner and went to grab it.

I think what happened with the half and half is that what I did have went bad and I threw it out. Brian is currently running to the store and grabbing more.

Here is hoping these are the ONLY things I have forgotten for this month. Without going to Costco this is becoming our most expensive month and I swear we had a lot of this stuff already at home. Do not understand. :-\

August's Grocery List

Here is August's grocery list....it actually shouldn't be that bad...

August's Grocery List 2011

English Muffins

Sub Rolls

Crusty Bread

Dish Detergent

Tomato Paste

Molasses

Potatoes

Frozen Peas

Frozen Carrots

16 ounce bag of frozen hash browns

Garlic

Capers

Red Onion

4 Onion

3 red peppers

Tomatoes

Provolone

2 Cheddar cheese

Parmesan Cheese

6 ounces Gruyere

Manwich

Chili

1 16 ounce can of whole kernel corn

1 15 ounce can creamed corn

Tuna

Bacon

Heavy Cream

Half and Half

Butter

Sour cream

Eggs

Pasta Sauce

Steak Sauce

Augusts' Menu

Well we did end up having to go back to the store for a few things in July. I can't remember exactly what but it brought us technically a few dollars over June's meals cost.

Here is August's menu. I really tried to use things we already had in the house. In one of July's trips to get what we forgot we ended up buying two pizzas and getting a box of ready made cookies, a box of perogi's, a box of cheesy garlic bread and a Tyson Anytizer for free. We have already eaten one pizza, the cookies and the cheesy bread.  We have also run out of my breakfast food and I have decided that even getting it at Costco..it is just too expensive so I am going to try to find cheaper options. Hopefully my efforts will work even though we have to restock some pantry items.

August 2011 Menu

Monday, August 1^st: Shephards Pie

Tuesday, August 2^nd: Stove Top Chicken

Wednesday, August 3^rd: Fend

Thursday. August 4^th: Chicken Dijon

Friday, August 5^th: Emeril's Tuna Melts

Saturday, August 6^th: Out

Sunday, August 7^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, August 8^th: Mexican Lasagna

Tuesday, August 9^th: Pizza

Wednesday, August 10^th: Fend

Thursday, August 11^th: Perogi's

Friday, August 12^th: Zucchini/Sausage Lasagna

Saturday, August 13^th: Out

Sunday, August 14^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, August 15^th: Spaghetti Carbonara

Tuesday, August 16^th: Meatloaf

Wednesday, August 17^th: Fend

Thursday, August 18^th: Mahi Mahi

Friday, August 19^th: Spanish Chicken with Rice (4 breasts)

Saturday, August 20^th: Out

Sunday, August 21^st: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, August 22^nd: Slow Cooker Potato and Double Corn Chowder

Tuesday, August 23^rd: Oven Honey Chicken

Wednesday, August 24^th: Fend

Thursday, August 25^th: Salmon Cakes

Friday, August 26^th: Meatball Subs

Saturday, August 27^th: Out

Sunday, August 28^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC Fend

Monday, August 29^th: Cheeseburgers

Tuesday, August 30^th: Tuna Helper Casserole

Wednesday, August 31^st: Fend

I will post the corresponding grocery list tomorrow hopefully. After it is officially August I will post how July's menu went. As always, if you want any recipes let me know though I don't there are any new ones here....

A quick food update ...

before I jet off to work.

We are going to hit it even this month comparing it to June. Remember when I said we were $30 under what what we spent on June (not counting Costco as we don't know which month to include it in)? Well of course I forgot a few things on the list, one thing on the list wasn't at the store we went too and we had friends over and needed to pick up stuff for mashed potatoes so we have spent the $30 that we had "saved" and are now even with June. Still not too bad of a start.

In the next couple of days I will be planning August's schedule. Can you believe it is almost August already????

July's Grocery List

Brian and I are debating on whether we should include Costco in July's food budget or June's food budget. We technically BOUGHT it in June but all that food was for July.... But if it counts for June our total would be about $350 if it counts in July the total is $330. Brian has been budgeting $400 for meals so we are doing pretty well.

We do eat out each Saturday (once a week is a big change for us) and SOMETIMES on Sundays but both those times it is for lunch which of course keeps cost down. On average it is less then $30 for both of us tax and tip included (some days more, some less). I guess we could cut that out (we have enough left overs to feed us for both those days) but that is the one thing we do each week that is fun. We don't go to the movies, or shopping (last Saturday was the first in years for me and Brian outside of him getting work clothes) or anything like that. We want to save money but we don't want to be hermits when we don't have too.

Anyway, of course we couldn't/can't get everything at Costco so that did involve Food Lion. We had to split it up into two trips. One trip for the first week and the second trip for the last three weeks. We couldn't get a whole month right after going to Costco.

I accidentally threw out the first weeks receipt and the months grocery list so I will be sparing you with what we actually bought but I think we did well.

The first trio we only spent about $40 dollars (that $40 didn't even come out of our pocket, we had a $25 Visa gift card and I had $13 in cash from cab tips). The second trip we spent $112. We did get a few things extra like Ice cream and 2 pizza's (we got 4 things free if we bought two frozen pizza's that we could use when we have game night), a box of energy drinks for Brian (his version of coffee) but even with that our total is $152 which is about $30 dollars less then last months. And saving $30 is saving $30 and we didn't have any coupons this time!

Hopefully August turns out to be the same or better! I think part of why July was less then June is that we had more things left over from June to use in July that we didn't have to buy. I am thinking about getting the Sunday paper so I can get the coupons. I am not going to become a Extreme Couponer but I usually can use some of the coupons out of the paper which would take care of the cost of the Sunday paper and save us a little more as well. Plus I could get more organized. I do still end up buying things that we already have. Like Rosemary this trip. We now have three rosemary's because I keep looking, can't find it and put it on the list. I think one of our Christmas List items this year is a new spice rack to help organize them because we have more spices then we have room for.

Update on June Meals

Here is what the menu ended up being for June. As with everything, life happens and schedules changed so things got shifted. This is going to be boring for you all but I think it is important for me to keep record of this.

June's Meal List

Thursday, June 9^th: Out

Friday, June 10^th: BLT

Saturday, June 11^th: Chicken Dijon

Sunday, June 12^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC fend

Monday, June 13^th: Mexican Lasagna

Tuesday, June 14^th: Dixie

Wednesday, June 15^th: Sausage and Zucchini

Thursday, June 16^th:  Tuna w/ lime and pepper crust

Friday, June 17^th:  Spaghettie Carbonara

Saturday, June 18^th: Out

Sunday, June 19^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC fend

Monday, June 20^th: Greek Style Chicken Skillet Recipe

Tuesday, June 21^st: Chicken with Gnocchi

Wednesday, June 22^nd: Fend

Thursday, June 23^rd: Emeril's tuna melts

Friday, June 24^th: Shephards Pie

Saturday, June 25^th: Poppy Seed Chicken

Sunday, June 26^th: RAH @ Caroline's, BMC fend

Monday, June 27^th: Slow-Cooked Brisket in Onion Gravy

Tuesday, June 28^th:  Fend

Wednesday, June 29^th: Brisket Slippy Joes

Thursday, June 30^th:  Spaghetti

On the Saturday's we ate dinner here it was because we ate lunch out. I did have to add a meal completely (Spaghetti). On top of the $187 we paid originally I paid another $10 to replace a few things that had gone bad or I had forgotten.

I am so far thinking this plan is a success. We are not eating out as much, I am enjoying cooking more, we appear to be saving money (this month is the real test), and the kitchen is being kept clean easier.

Revamping our Habits: July's Menu

The month of June went well and as soon as June officially ends I will post about that in more detail. I have planned out July's menu. July is tough as we needed to go to Costco. We don't have to go to Costco every month it is more like 2 months and with this trip, hopefully more like every 3 months. We save in the long run a lot of money shopping at Costco but it is a lot of money up front.

So without further delay, the menu:

Friday, July 1^st: Chicken Paprikas and oven rice, use thighs

Saturday, July 2^nd: Out

Sunday, July 3^rd: Fend, RAH @ Carolines

Monday, July 4^th: Chicken Parmesan, use breasts

Tuesday, July 5^th: Mom's Penne Rigate, double Mom's tomato sauce recipe and freeze half

Wednesday, July 6^th: Fend

Thursday, July 7^th: Garlic Lemon Mahi Mahi

Friday, July 8^th: Curry Chicken Pot Pie, use breasts

Saturday, July 9^th: Out

Sunday, July 10^th: Fend, RAH @ Carolines

Monday, July 11^th: Oven Honey Chicken, use breasts

Tuesday, July 12^th: Mom's Chicken Sausage Tortellini, use breasts

Wednesday, July 13^th: Fend

Thursday, July 14^th: Mom's Mac and Cheese, buy real milk

Friday, July 15^th: Garlic Roast Chicken with Rosemary and lemon, use thighs

Saturday, July 16^th: Out

Sunday, July 17^th:Fend, RAH @ Carolines

Monday, July 18^th: Slow Cooker, upside down chicken pot pie, use thighs

Tuesday, July 19^th: Ravioli with creamy tomato sauce

Wednesday, July 20^th: Fend

Thursday, July 21^st: BMC's Curry Chicken, use breasts

Friday, July 22^nd: Chicken Bog, use breasts

Saturday, July 23^rd: Out

Sunday, July 24^th:Fend, RAH @ Carolines

Monday, July 25^th: Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette (use thighs)

Tuesday, July 26^th: BMC's Mahi Mahi recipe

Wednesday, July 27^th: Fend

Thursday, July 28^th: Mom's Tetrazzini

Friday, July 29^th: BMC Pizza

Saturday, July 30^th: Out

Sunday, July 31^st:Fend, RAH @ Carolines

We eat a lot of chicken....

Our grocery list:

Produce:

6 onions

Celery

Garlic

Lemon

Carrots

Mushrooms

Aisles:

Lemon Juice

Curry for curry chicken

White rice

Dijon Mustard

Spices:

Dried Basil

Rosemary

Paprika

Yeast

Canned:

4 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes

1 jar chicken gravy

Spaghetti Sauce

Baking:

Canola oil

Breadcrumbs

2 8 inch cake pans

Flour

Dairy:

Sour Cream

Butter

4 cups Mozzarella

Parmesan Cheese

2 cups cheddar cheese

2 ½ cups milk

Ricotta cheese

Whipping Cream

Frozen:

Puff Pastry

Tortellini

Spinach Ravioli

We spent about $178 at Costco already. We went in with 5 things on the menu and ended up with more but the "extra's" are things we could use and give us more variety. 

Costco list:

1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Each package has 6 pouches with 2 breasts per pouch. (planned)

1 package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Each package has 6 pouches with 5 thighs per pouch. (planned)

Tide-180 wash box (planned)

1 package of ground turkey. Each package has 4 2lb containers of ground turkey. (planned)

1 package of paper towels. Each package has 12 paper towels. (planned)

1 package of Mahi Mahi. It has 3 lbs of fish..we are hoping that it is an even number of fillets.

1 package of sausage. Each package has 3 sleeves of 8 sausages.

1 package of Nutri Grain Bars. Each package has 1 box of each: Blueberry, strawberry and apple

1 package of pasta. a total of 6 boxes, 2 boxes each of Penne, Shells, and Rotini

1 package of rolls. These rolls usually come in a pan and you have to make a whole pan to eat 2, these come in a bag where you can pull out as many as you want and put the rest back.

1 package of my breakfast sandwiches. This includes 12 sandwiches

1 package of Lipton tea. This includes 3 large boxes of tea. We use this for sweet tea.

It will be interesting on when we will need to go to Costco again and what we will need to buy again. I know we wont need Tide, tea or pasta for awhile. Depending on when we go to Costco we may not need paper towels. We will go back to Costco when we run out of meat and at that time refill what wont last another month. I will also update how much the grocery list will cost. This month I have about $13 cash to go towards it from cab rides and we found a $25 Visa gift card so that will help lower the "out of checking account" expense since we had to hit Costco this month.

Update on Meal Plan experiment

It hasn't been long enough to know whether we are saving any money but I am noticing a few new things.

1) I am a lot less stressed about dinner. It gets a little wobbly when we have friends come over all of a sudden and I have either planned a meal for 2 people (i.e. no leftovers) or a meal that our guests may not like. Brian and I tend to be a bit more..adventurous? Fancy? in our cooking and our friends not so much (which is totally fine). I can find out that a friend is coming over for dinner that day so a tweak and move around in the meals can be a bit tough in that sense.

However, that situation is a lot better then what we were facing. We were facing, at first, not knowing what we were going to do for dinner. We would start asking "what are we doing for dinner" at about 4 pm or so, start looking for what we could put together with what we had and all of a sudden it is 8pm and we have come up with nothing. We weren't being all that smart with how we decided what we were going to get at the grocery store. We started out in the beginning just writing a list of things as we ran out. That was fine except that lead to us having some of the ingredients for one meal but not everything. It also lead to us not having enough food with left overs or eating the same thing over and over again.

We finally got sick of that and so I tried to create weekly menu's. That worked..and it didn't work. Towards the beginning of that experiment I was picking recipes that we had been collecting but never tried. That was really yummy but got expensive depending on the recipe. I won't call that a failure as some of our favorite repeat recipes are from that time frame. I then figured out that the issue wasn't trying new recipes but that the recipes were of things where we had nothing already in the house to make them except for maybe spices. So we started trying to pick recipes by what we had in the house so that when we did go to the grocery store we were getting the small things rather then EVERYTHING for 5 recipes. We would still find a random recipe that included ingredients we didn't have and make it but it wasn't an every recipe or even once a week thing. Another struggle with this technique is that, at the time, Brian's and my schedules kept changing so recipes kept getting bumped. And at the very end I was making recipes that made too many leftovers. I say this worked because we did find some great recipes and figured out we were on the right path and it didn't work because we couldn't stick to it and our process needed tweaking some more.

Now we are trying this. So far so good. We are still having to tweak what meal gets eaten when but so far everything is evening itself out. I don't have to wonder what we are doing for dinner or if we even have enough ingredients to make a meal for that night with enough for left overs.

2) Because that stress is not there, I am enjoying cooking more. Because I enjoy cooking more, Brian is not doing much cooking. The dishes are being done a lot faster and easier. And we are so far, having just the right amount of left overs. It is no longer a chore which is very nice.

Hopefully this system makes sense monetarily wise as well. I am realizing that in terms of produce, we will need to do that every 2 weeks. The first shopping trip with include the meats, dry items, dairy and half the produce and then 2 weeks later I will get the rest of the produce for the month. My zucchini got wet and so two of them were so bad that I couldn't save them. Oh well, live and learn right? :)

Extreme Couponing

There is a new show called Extreme Couponing on TLC. Caroline and I have a sick obsession with it and sometimes Brian will watch it. I won't watch it when it first airs or even record it but I do find myself watching it when I am off.

That being said, I am not a fan of the show. I think couponing can be a useful tool when shopping. I am not against couponing at all. I grew up with my mom couponing but the extremes these people go to is just wrong. Most of the stories start out like "My husband/wife lost his job and now we can't afford our lifestyle, what are we going to do?". I get that feeling and don't fault them for going to couponing but they have made a healthy, smart way to stretch a dollar into something that I find is just wrong on every level.

Why?

1) They have become hoarders. Their beloved stockpile becomes SO large that they have to turn their garage into a grocery store while storing the rest under kids beds, in bathroom closets, any space they can.  That is not healthy

2) They are obsessed with their stockpile. Their stockpile seems to become SO important that nothing else matters...not the husband or kids.

3) They are greedy. They don't need ALL that stuff! One person got 75 mustards when NO ONE in her family liked mustard just because she got such a good deal. One person had a stockpile of Diapers and Cat food when she didnt have a cat or baby. They also get rain checks when the store only has 50 of a product when they wanted 75.

4) I believe you should pay for what you purchase. Sure getting something for free is a nice treat and I don't believe you should ever pay more then you should for something but ringing up a grocery bill for $2000+ and only paying $180 is just wrong. The grocery store should and deserves to make a profit. The manufacturers do not Double/Triple coupons. The store does that out of their pocket books. They can afford to lose a dollar or two, not $1000+. If they don't make a profit they will close and people lose their jobs. The proper tax isn't being collected which isnt good for the current economy and governments are going to have to raise taxes elsewhere because they are not getting it here and no one likes taxes going up.

5) They never get anything healthy and I never see them getting anything to actually make a meal outside of spaghetti with jarred sauce. They get 75 jars of mustard, 100 packs of Ramen type noodles, 100 cans of dog food, 50 candy bars, 50 boxes of fake cereal, 50 boxes of pasta, 50 boxes of Ragu/Prego, 50 things of toiletries, etc. My numbers are just examples and I guessed low for a lot of the families. Where are the meals? What are they actually eating? Sure they saved 98% of the bill but if they only have $50 a week to spend on groceries and you've spent it with your couponing, how are they eating? Where is the meat? The vegetables? Heck, the lunchables? The Hamburger helpers? I do not get it.

6) These people are selfish on multiple levels. They go grocery shopping at 6am and empty the shelves so if anyone else wanted that product, oh well. They get mad at the store because the registers can only scan 1000 items in one transaction because no one dreamed people would "buy" like they are. They get mad at a store because a store has policies in place that are made clear so if the couponers had really done their homework like they say they do, they would know that.

7) Couponing is not as cheap as they try to make it seem like. There is overhead. Your time is worth money. Some people spend between 50-70 hours a week planning, clipping, organizing and prepping for the next trip to the store. Some of these people are Stay at Home Parents but others are working a full time out of home job on top of this. Your children deserve your time. If you are waiting for them to be in bed, you need your sleep too! Plus coupon mailers intend for one mailer per household. If you buy more newspapers you get more mailers but you are spending $X more to get the extra papers which lowers your savings. Plus if you use online coupons, you have to print them out. Paper and ink, especially ink, gets expensive. Those expenses get taken out of your savings. Some people use clipping services as a way to cut down on time, that costs money which lessens their savings. Some people go dumpster diving (literally) for them or beg hotels for extra Sunday papers. Yes technically you are not spending money doing that, but again your time and dignity is worth something as well. People have actually gotten separate home insurance policies to cover their stockpile and that takes money away from their savings. I think if these people really looked at the cost of everything they would find that they really weren't saving that much for all the the time and trouble it takes.

8) You create a stockpile of a certain item so you don't have to buy that item for X long. Like you buy enough shampoo to last six months and you don't shop for that item again for maybe 5 1/2 months (so you don't technically run out). These people make a stockpile and keep buying the items in their stockpile. Some people have enough toiletries to last them 10 years and they keep buying! I think I might feel A LOT better about the show if they got everything for almost free but then never went back for more until they actually got close to running out. 

I would also feel better if they were giving the majority, heck any, of it to a charity. I have seen one person on the show do this. I can definitely understand the obsession/addiction they have and if they used it to help others in need like giving it to soup kitchens, sending it over to the Military personnel in care packages, donating to schools to help feed the kids who come to school without food, it would make some more sense to me.

This show makes Caroline, Brian and I sick though it has been a good source tension release for Brian and I as we vent about how wrong this is. I am fascinated by it but horrified that this is going to cause more people to go to that extreme and I am worried about the side affects. I have already noticed updated fine print policies highlighted in red on coupons.

First grocery trip under new Food Plan

I had a lot of toiletry/pantry items I needed to add to my list but I did have a fair amount of coupons. Don't worry...I am not going to go to "Extreme Couponing" extreme (I actually believe that you should pay for things you buy and that it is more wasteful to have a stock pile that extreme) but I could be a bit better about it.

This is what we ended up buying (I have pointed out which things I had coupons for):

Meat:
5 lbs beef brisket
2 packages Ball Park hot dogs-coupon
Produce:
6 large onions
Garlic
Limes
2 green peppers
1 Jalepeno pepper
4 zucchini
Frozen Peas
Carrots
Potatoes
Red Onions
Acorn Squash
Dairy:
Butter
Ricotta cheese-Sorrento (coupon)
Fresh Mozzarrella-Sorrento (coupon)
Sour cream
Half and Half
Provolone
Feta Cheese
Parm Cheese
1 package Breakstone cottage cheese-coupon
4 yogurts
Dried:
Lasagna noodles
Hamburger buns- Ballpark (coupon)
1 box Fiber One-coupon
Ritz crackers
1 box of Couscous
Baking:

Brown sugar

Duncan Hines Brownies-see coupon

Canned:

Tomato soup

Prego

Toiletries:

Neosporin-coupon

Bandaid brand-coupon

Energizer batteries-coupon

Venus Razor-coupon

Venus refills- coupon

2 Oral B toothbrushes-see coupon

Charmin toilet paper-coupon

2 Head and Shoulders-coupon

2 Pantene shampoo-coupon

Q-tips-coupon

Condiments:

Gulden's mustard-coupon

Juice:

2 V8 Splash- coupon

If you follow VERY closely you will notice I took out tomatoes and crusty bread. I also need to pick up a can of cream of chicken soup for one of my recipes. I thought I had enough but when I was putting the food away this morning I realized I didn't. We didn't get the crusty bread or tomatoes because Brian didn't think they would last long enough. So we will need to go back to the store for those 3 three things. We did get a lot of produce so I may be moving dishes around in case some of the produce doesn't look like it will last as long as expected. 

Our total was $178.83. I saved $31.91 in coupons and $11.97 with my Food Lion MVP card. I was very excited because some of the stuff I was going to buy with my coupons happened to be on sale with Food Lion! I know real couponers plan that out...but I don't have time for that so it was a nice surprise. So in total I saved $43.94!! And as I said before, a lot of what was on our list that wasn't produce/dairy/meet was pantry/toiletry items that we don't buy all the time so for the next few months we will not need to purchase those items. 

I can't wait until we start seeing results on whether this system is working or not...I believe it should.

Revamping our habits: June's menu

Regardless of what we do with the house Brian and I should try to get better with our grocery shopping and restaurant activities. We are definitely better then when I last spoke of revamping it and I do believe we are better at it then a lot of people....but we could do better.

Last time we revamped it we were going to plan meals for the week and my schedule and Brian's schedule was not the same which made it hard. The change I have been waiting for (I can/will go into more details in a week or so) has come through and a side effect is that Brian's and my schedule aren't so drastically different anymore. Because of this I am going to try planning meals a month in advance. I think another issue we have is there are very few meals we make again. There are meals that we love but just get lost in our list of recipes. I am going to try and rotate recipes more often.

I am going to start with June as we are still in the beginning months and almost use it as a practice round. I think this will also help us keep track of everything we spend on groceries as well. My current goal is to eat out once a week and see how that goes. We can always cut back but I don't want to make life hell by counting dollars if we don't need to. Also, if I can keep up with this and it works some months I can just copy another month's menu which will save time.

June's Meal List

Thursday, June 9^th: BLT's

Friday, June 10^th: Mom's Chicken Dijon

Saturday, June 11^th: Out for dinner

Sunday, June 12^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC fend

Monday, June 13^th: Mexican Lasagna

Tuesday, June 14^th: Sausage and zucchini lasagna

Wednesday, June 15^th: Fend

Thursday, June 16^th: Chicken w/Gnocchi

Friday, June 17^th: Tuna w/ lime pepper crust

Saturday, June 18^th: Out

Sunday, June 19^th: RAH @ Carolines, BMC fend

Monday, June 20^th: Spaghetti Carbonara

Tuesday, June 21^st: Greek Style Chicken Skillet Recipe

Wednesday, June 22^nd: Fend

Thursday, June 23^rd: Emeril's tuna melts

Friday, June 24^th: Shephards Pie

Saturday, June 25^th: Out

Sunday, June 26^th: RAH @ Caroline's, BMC fend

Monday, June 27^th: Poppy seed chicken

Tuesday, June 28^th: Slow-cooked Brisket in Onion Gravy

Wednesday, June 29^th: Fend

Thursday, June 30^th: Brisket sloppy joes

So this months grocery list based on those recipes is:

5 lbs beef brisket
6 large onions
Garlic
Butter
4 zucchini
Ricotta cheese
Fresh Mozzarrella
Lasagna noodles
Prego
Limes
2 green pepper
1 jalepeno pepper
Brown sugar
Hamburger buns
Sour cream
ritz crackers
Frozen peas
Carrots
Potatoes
Red onion
Tomatoes
Provalone
Crusty bread
Tomato soup
1 box of couscous
Feta cheese
Half and half
Parmesan cheese
Acorn squash

Now I just have to get my coupons organized. Let me know if there are any recipes you want me to post :)