It’s insane how much we have been spending for a family of 2 adults & 1 child for household, diapers and groceries. So far this month, we have spent $432.18. We have roughly $70 left in the budget for January. This spending doesn’t include pet supplies.
Yesterday, I did a LOT of stocking up – we had eaten down our freezer stash in December. So we needed to stock up on meats, fruits & veggies, diapers and basics.
I am meal planning my booty off. With a 2 year old who demands dinner the second we walk into the door on a work night, I use meals I made & froze or easy meals during the week. So that is what I am concentrating on. These meals will take us well into February.
This weekend, I am making lots of meals for the freezer. We will also grill some chicken for snacks/lunches for the week (we are doing Weight Watchers & trying to eat healthier).
I plan on making Korean Spicy Pork Loin Saturday night. Leftovers will also be frozen and I am going to try to make a healthy 2 ingredient bread recipe – I am going to make garlic sticks and pizza crust. Wish me luck!
Once all of this is cooked – we will have a freezer full of:

3 Family meal servings of meatloaf muffins
2 Family meal servings of Taco Meat
2 Family meal servings of Sloppy Joe
2 Family meal servings of honey sesame chicken
2 Family meal servings of barbecue chicken
1 Family meal serving of Korean Spicy Pork
4 Family meal servings of Potstickers (premade frozen)
1 Family meal serving of fajita chicken
2 Family meal servings of Turkey meatballs

On days I work remote, I cook a hot meal – so that will be when I do a balsamic honey pork chop and some pretzel crusted Dijon chicken. We also have turkey meatballs in the freezer (precooked) and will use that with pasta one night.

Each week, I will meal plan out of what we have to work with, and there will always be room to switch things around.

This week:
Sat 1/20: Korean Spicy Pork Loin (leftovers will go in the freezer), brown rice & veggies
Sun 1/21: Beef taco salad
Mon 1/22: Fajita Chicken & peppers
Tues 1/23: (husband’s late night): Fend for yourself – (ends up being potstickers a lot of the time)
Wed 1/24: Turkey Meatballs & pasta
Thurs 1/25: Balsamic Pork Chops
Fri 1/26: Sloppy Joe & pasta

Monday: Sesame Chicken & Brown Rice
Tuesday: Dinner for Breakfast (egg muffins & potatoes)
Wednesday: Turkey Meatballs
Thursday: Barbecue Shredded Chicken
Friday: barbecue pork chops
*can be switched around as needed


Breakfasts: Egg Muffins & potatoes obrien, fruit
Lunches: Chicken Breast sandwiches and small salad (all pre-packed)

Sunday, I took Fridge and Pantry inventory, did some grocery shopping & did a meal plan. My husband & I are both doing Weight Watchers – which I don’t find to be any more expensive really – BUT I do have more convenience foods – like natural apple sauce cups & no sugar added peach and pear cups for grab & go fruits. And of course, we have the 2 year old to feed. She’s going through a picky stage.

I use Aldi as much as possible for meats, staples & fruits/veggies. Then Walmart for the most part. Sometimes based on ads, I hit up other places.
This weekend, I spent $54.56 at Walmart & $55.62 at Aldi. We did a lot of stocking up too.

The Meal Plan for Dinners:

Sunday: Turkey Meatballs and pasta
Monday: Buffalo Shake N Bake chicken. My husband had jalapeno potatoes as a side and I put mine on a salad. The little one was hungry early, so I fed her a meatloaf muffin from the freezer.
Tuesday: (Husband’s late night at work) So we usually fend for ourselves. I am thinking leftovers from the freezer
Wednesday: Apple & onion pork chops & brown rice
Thursday: Shredded Barbecue Chicken from the freezer
Friday: Sloppy Joes
Saturday: Hubby has plans to watch football, so I am making a Chipotle Salmon Burger and the little one will have a chicken patty and pasta.
Sunday: chicken tacos

In addition, I worked remote today, so didn’t prep any meals for breakfasts or lunches yesterday like normal. This is really important since after almost a year since the announcement that our work is closing later in 2018, the cafeteria on site closed as of 1/1. So I already packed lunches most of the time, but now I have even bigger reason to J

So tonight, after making dinner, I prepped a few salads – some regular veggie only and a few with baked chicken, salad, celery, hot sauce & light blue cheese dressing. These will be my lunches.

Then I made egg muffins with a little light cheese, bacon pieces, onions, peppers, eggs + egg whites and light milk - they came out super fluffy!

I also cooked some frozen potatoes o’brien, added some extra onions and portioned them out for breakfast.

Snacks are packed – turkey pepperoni, applesauce, pears, banana.

I also have a bunch of aluminum water bottles that I reuse – I fill them in the beginning of the week for grab & go.

Saturday: Chili & cornbread
Sunday: Out of town (Atlantic City)
Monday: Make due from the fridge
Tuesday: Pasta & meatballs
Wednesday: Honey Balsamic Pork Chops
THursday: Shake N Bake Chicken

Lunches: prepped a bunch of egg salad and prepared grab & go portions of nuts, applesauce and cornbread muffins.

Breakfasts: rice chex and milk (for me), my daughter gets breakfast & lunch at daycare and my hubs sometimes packs and sometimes doesn't, using his fun money to eat out. He handles that himself though.

Although its Tuesday, thought I'd put up my meal plan for the week.

Sunday: Chicken Patties with mozzerella, pasta & sauce
and peas

Monday: Baked Barbeque Chicken and corn

Tuesday: Meatball sandwiches with mozzerella

Wednesday: Baked Potato Bar

Thursday: Honey Balsamic Pork Chops and Rice

Friday: Steak and Blue Cheese Salad

This week, my meal planning was non-existant, but we were working with a lot of freezer stuff & leftovers, so it works out.

Monday - We had leftovers
Tuesday - I made do as it was my husband's late night at work
Wednesday - Hubby made pork chops & fries
Tonight (Thurs) - I am going to dinner with a friend, so probably hubby is getting take out for our daughter & him.
Friday - We both have a happy hour with friends and my daughter is being watched by my parents.

The point of me saying this - is I am trying new recipes. The last week of meal planning, I tried a fabulous recipe for honey balsamic pork chops. SUPER yummy.

However, we are looking for new ideas. Asking anyone in the community to feel free to share ideas and/or recipes! Thanks in advance

We have done very well with not over spending with 'entertainment', but for sanity, we have left the house a bunch for lunches out, etc.

To help combat us doing that too often, I am back to meal planning! I also am working on a freezer meal plan to help with going back to work the first week of November!

This week:

Saturday:

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, sausage & milk
Lunch: salad for me, sandwich for hubby
Dinner: Sandwich for me (feeling lazy) and leftover tortellini for the husband

Sunday:

Breakfast: of multiple options: sausage, bacon, eggs, etc or just cereal

Lunch: Sandwiches and salad

Dinner: Tacos

Will be working on a plan for the upcoming week!

Used up a big part of our grocery budget this week to do some freezer meals & meal planning.

Saturday, I did some shopping and then made meatloaf muffins, meatballs, hamburger patties, breakfast potatoes and froze them. I then put together an Apple, Pear & Pork freezer meal for the freezer too; Since there's 2 of us, I split the recipe into 2 freezer meals. I also bagged the meatloaf & meatballs into single servings.

Then I made a pasta salad for lunch & took a freezer inventory to help with meal planning.

Today, I made some stuff for work breakfasts (hard boiled eggs), snacks (cucumber & tomato salad) & lunches. My husband grilled some chicken & I prepped salads for chicken Caesar salads for the week (lunches).

Friday (Husband home only): Leftover Sloppy joe & peas

Saturday: Breakfast - hashbrown potatoes
Saturday: Lunch - pasta salad
Saturday: Dinner - Out

Sunday: Brunch - Out
Sunday: Dinner - Creamy Spicy Sausage & Tomato Pasta

Monday: Breakfast - yogurt, hard boiled egg
Monday: Lunch - Creamy Caesar Salad
Monday: Snack - Cucumber & tomato salad
Monday: Dinner - Apple, Pear & Pork crockpot meal

Tuesday: same breakfast, lunch & snack
Tuesday: Dinner - leftover pasta from Sunday

Wednesday: Breakfast/lunch: TBD
Wednesday: Dinner - Meatball subs

Thursday: Dinner - Leftovers

Friday: Dinner - out

After this week, we will still have a freezer full of:

-4 servings of Meatloaf muffins
-1 Crockpot Apple, Pear, Pork meal
-5 uncooked hamburger patties
-4 servings of cooked beef with onion
-1 Crockpot BBQ chicken
-1 cooked sesame chicken
-1 sloppy joe meal
-12 servings meatballs
-potatoes O'Brien
-blueberry muffins (5 packs of 2)
-grilled chicken
-3 spicy turkey sausages

I just opened a checking account to accompany the joint household account that I have at a bank with my husband. My first direct deposit went in yesterday & I guess that they were running a special, because they gave me a 'Direct Deposit Bonus' of $75! That money goes to the Christmas Fund!

Anyway, DH went to the grocery store & I went to the Farmer's market after work. We are pretty much set for the week! I forgot to get an ingredient for sloppy joe, but will pick that up tomorrow.

Last night, we had random stuff from the kitchen. This morning, I made scrambled eggs and hash browns.

We did have lunch out with a friend, but lunch was on him as we'd done him a favor. Yummy!

When we came home, I took pork chops out of the fridge, threw chicken in the crockpot and made shredded barbeque chicken, made a side of pasta salad and made meatloaf muffins.

DH grilled the pork chops for dinner & I made baked potatoes. He also grilled chicken to be used for salads for work lunches.

I packaged the muffins into 3rds. 1 pack went in the fridge & 2 into the freezer. I split the BBQ chicken in half - half to fridge & half to freezer.

The Pasta salad is going to a friend's for lunch at their house. We are going to meet their new daughter!

We now have easy to make/put together meals for the week!

I put in 15.5 hours of Overtime last week. In addition, we decorated for Christmas, I did a lot of cleaning/organizing and a lot of socializing.

I am completely happy to have the opportunity for OT, but I am just mentally exhausted! So yesterday, I did pretty much nothing.

I went to make sesame honey chicken for dinner (SO easy) but the honey had turned hard! I was about to scrap that, but my DFH and I googled (honey doesn't really go bad) and put the bottle in some warm water and the honey became liquid again. So we used it. Yay google & frugality!

Tonight, I have a friend coming over for dinner. I am making sloppy joes and between last night & tonight's meals, I will be golden for food for the next few days. We have such busy schedules that the leftovers will go all week.

That's certainly something!

I went to my step-niece's cheerleading this morning, ran some errands then came home & have been fighting a migraine all day. In the fits of energy that I had today, I did few fun things.

I am using one of the two closets in the spare bedroom for the storage of gifts, wrapping paper, ect. I didn't want to just leave them on the floor or the shelf, so yesterday, I brought home 2 printer paper boxes from work (free). They are ugly though, so I bought a sturdy gift wrap from the dollar store ($1) the other day.



Today, I wrapped them up & made them pretty. There is plenty of paper leftover AND the inner core of the wrapping paper roll is craft paper, which I will be using to 'wrap' my coaster gifts with. Well worth the dollar & now that I know that the inner part is usable paper too, I am buying another roll or 2 a I plan on making a couple more of these. Double win!





I also took inventory of the freezer, pantry & fridge. I am going to work on a meal plan tomorrow.

Other than these 2 projects, I have been napping, watching tv and going through emails.

Went grocery shopping this morning. I hit up Acme, the farmer's market & Walmart and got some good deals.

Acme:
1 pound pasta - $0.25 (after coupon)
Red Wine Vinegar - $2.19
Ranch Mix - $0.69
4 Pack Acme dressing mix - 1.89
2 bags Lettuce - $5.00
TOTAL OOP: $10.02

Farmer's Market:
3 cucumbers - $1.00
4 tomatoes - $1.76
Celery - $1.29
5 pound potatoes - $2.49
TOTAL OOP: $6.54

Walmart::
25fl oz - $6.48
Ketchup - $2.68
3 cans tuna - $2.46
1 Pound bag mini pretzels - $1.48
10 mini bags microwave popcorn - $2.98
FF Cottage cheese - $2.68
Light Sour Cream - $1.58
Dozen Eggs - $1.88

Today's lunch was a quick pasta salad. Tonight will be Sunday Dinner at the boyfriend's. Its not my week to cook, so dinner is free AND I get to have tacos for dinner

Meals/Work snacks for this week:
Hard boiled eggs
Oatmeal
Cottage Cheese
Apple
Celery & low fat ranch dip
Pretzels
Salad with tuna
Pasta salad
Meatloaf muffins
Sloppy joe
Spaghetti
Chicken
Taco salad

My December Lunch Challenge Goal is to pack breakfast, lunch & snacks for all but 3 days between 12/5 and 12/31

Today was a no spender (yay). I packed food for work, went looking for a Halloween costume (no luck yet), went to kickboxing to find out that my training session was cancelled. The guy rescheduled the session and gave me 2 more classes for free. Great customer service!

I have several financial goals for this week:

-Budget out entertainment spending between now & the 31st.
-Stick to grocery budget
-Eat in as much as possible
-Finalize Medical Plan choices
-Make new monthly budget
-Put up more items on Craigslist
-Finish most of Christmas shopping
-Start figuring budget for sister's wedding & 2 other weddings I will be attending in 2012 plus another one I will be attending in 2013.

The air has been off, windows open & although its cool in evenings - no heat is needed yet (WOOHOO)

The trip to Oktoberfest in Munich & to Amsterdam was phenominal. Came in under 'budget', but unfortunately some of the trip still went on a card. This was a splurge that I financially shouldn't have done, but mentally/emotionally, I needed.

I am home now & back to living frugally. I did buy fast food dinner on the way home from the airport Friday night.

Saturday, I had lunch with my parents at Olive Garden ($10) and completed some grocery shopping (approx $27).

Today, I went to the Farmer's Market and spent about $17 on TONS of fresh produce. I went to an Arbonne party at my sister's house (free food) and may buy 1 item at 50% off ($9.00). I will make the purchase tomorrow. And for going to the party, I received a set of make up brushes (which is actually needed).

As for the trip, I did come home with some toiletries. I found the complimentary body wash & shampoos in the (CLEAN/EMPTY) trash can in the hotel room - so I took them. All brand new, no reason to toss!

I am eating at home today, catching up on DVR'd shows & enjoying getting the house in order.

My roommate is moving out today & the new roommate is moving in Thursday-ish. She already gave me the deposit money & will provide the rent on her move in date.

I have goals for this week: $20 in entertainment money & I plan on packing breakfast/lunch/snacks for each work day this week. NO uncessary spending!

I plan on getting pictures uploaded tonight - expect some fun ones!

I'm having a great weekend. I didn't get much of my To-Do list done, BUT I did get lots of Me time & much needed rest.

Friday, I fixed a coworker's WorkAtHome access. Only took me a few minutes & I got a beer out of the deal Afterwards, I was able to come home & enjoy some dvds from the library and shows on the dvr while decluttering my kitchen.

Saturday, I did some grocery shopping & was able to score some good deals. I took an inventory of the pantry, freezer & fridge and made a meal plan.

Sat night, my BF came over & we watched the Original Fright Night and I made dinner. Used up frozen breaded chicken patties,pasta sauce from & a 1/2 box of macaroni noodles from the pantry & some mozzerella, green beans & salad from the fridge.

This morning, I made breakfast from stuff in the fridge & pantry. I have been doing some organizing & cleaning, prepped food to pack to work this week, and am resting before going to my boyfriend's house for our weekly True Blood Dinner with our friends.

Hope everyone had as good a weekend as I did

I had an appointment with a rheumatologist today. I was hoping that she could finally give me a definitive answer as to what is wrong with me. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to do that. But she was able to tell me definitively some of the things it's not. She also is sending me for a huge blood workup and an MRI of my neck & head. She also wants me to see a neurologist. So at least I have my next step.

Not to get into much detail, but I am having enough medical issues to affect my day to day living. Which is frustrating, especially since I don't know the cause. In the mean time, I am dealing with the day to day symptoms of my 'mystery disease' and am focusing on the things that I CAN control right now. Which is healthy eating, finances, exercise & organization

I have packed my breakfasts, lunches & snacks all days of the Month but 2 times. So no more buying lunches! I was also provided free lunch twice! So the lunch challenge is going strong!

I have yet to get back into exercise, but I have been doing stretching a few days a week. I am hoping to feel well enough to go to the gym and put in 20 minutes on a treadmill or bike. I plan to start back slow!

Money-wise, there hasn't been a lot of spending. mostly grocery shopping and dinner out with a friend one day. Tuesday is payday, so I have the budget already set up for that.

I already made a meal plan for the week, all of which is Weight Watchers friendly.

Each day, its a given that I will have at least 2 servings of dairy - milk, yogurt, or cottage cheese. I try to get 5 servings of fruits & veggies in a day (sometimes more!). I stick to whole grains when possible.

So here is my Meal Plan:

Saturday
Breakfast: Chocolate milk, banana
Lunch: Pasta salad with tons of veggies & turkey pepperoni
Snack: veggies & dip; pretzels; asian pear
Dinner: Turkey BLT
Snack: Chocolate milk

Sunday
Breakfast: 2 Hard boiled eggs, chocolate milk
Snack: Veggies & hummus
Lunch: Salad with tuna
Snacks: apple, banana
Dinner: Breakfast for dinner- whole grain waffles, sugar free syrup, promise light, turkey bacon & breakfast potatoes

Monday
Breakfast: cottage cheese, blueberry muffin, banana
Snack: veggies & dip
Lunch: Pasta salad with turkey pepperoni
Snack: yogurt
Dinner: Loaded baked potato with cheese, bacon bits & ground turkey

Tuesday
Breakfast: yogurt, 2 hard boiled eggs
Snack: banana, veggies & hummus
Lunch: Salad with tuna
Snack: apple
Dinner: Penne pasta with spinach cheesy tomato sauce


Wednesday
Breakfast: yogurt & cottage cheese
Snack: veggies & dip, animal crackers
Lunch: Salad with turkey pepperoni
Snack: banana and/or apple
Dinner: Meatloaf muffin, baked fries

Thursday
Breakfast: cottage cheese, blueberry muffin & chocolate milk
Snack: 2 hard boiled eggs, veggies & hummus
Lunch: salad, meatloaf muffin
Snack: banana and/or apple
Dinner: Chicken taco wrap

Friday
Breakfast: yogurt, banana
Snack: veggies & dip; pretzels
Lunch: Salad with bacon & pasta
Snack: apple
Dinner: Turkey BLT

I have plenty of grab & go snacks as needed - almonds, animal crackers, all bran crackers, granola bars. I am trying to keep processed foods to a minimum, so they will be used sparingly and fruits & veggies will be my go to snack!

And as someone who is dealing with a daily illness, I have found that I need to prepare as much on the weekend because I am too tired during the week to do much. So many of my meals are easy to pre-make or are quick to make in the evening!

I am trying to get back to my 5 Things List. Tomorrow's 5 Things will be.

1. Attend Weight Watchers meeting
2. Attempt some type of work out
3. Grocery shop
4. Clean out car
5. Laundry

Took the day off to rest up since I haven't been feeling good. I have laid around, watched movies on the dvr & did my taxes.

I'm getting much more than I expected due to a couple of changes this year. I will be getting a total of $1672 back between federal & state.

I am putting $397.76 to my efund to bring it up to $1200.00.

$300 is being set aside as the goal of my weight loss. I have to get the weight off & keep it off as it accelerates my medical problem. So my big goal is that when I get to my goal weight, I will buy new clothes!

$261.78 will go to payoff CC # 1
$712.46 will go to cc # 2.

I will be snowballing the min pay to cc # 1 ($15) to cc # 2 when it completes.

Today's food. I slept in, so not much of a breakfast was needed.

Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs
Lunch: salad with pasta & croutons
Snack: airpopped popcorn
Dinner: undecided... but it will be made at home

Edited to add: My dinner was yummy. I wasn't feeling up to making a real dinner, so I popped a potato in the microwave to cook. I heated up some previously browned grown beef (2oz), threw in 2 tbsp Hormel bacon pieces, 2 tbsp of promise light & 2 tbsp of fat free sour cream for a big loaded baked potato. It was yummy, and although having the promise light & sour cream was a bit of a splurge, it was all completely within my Weight Watcher's plan! Gotta love it

I"ve been good about packing breakfast & lunch for work all this week. The only outlier was going to lunch with my parents on Wednesday. But since I had taken a half day off work (only worked til 11:30), I'm not counting that, since I wasn't actually at work for lunch

Wednesday Spending:
$30.00 specialist copay (paid with HSA card)
$10.00 lunch with parents

Thursday Spending:
$4.00 kitchen items from dollar store (sandwich bags, plastic wrap, ect)
$105 medical necessity not covered by HSA/Insurance. UGH. I actually got a deal on this - because the 1 I bought from a local store in November was $75 and I was able to buy 2 for $105 plus free shipping & a free care kit. This purchase should last me about 6 months

Friday Spending - Not sure yet. I will be paying a library fine, approx $0.50. I was thinking about renting a Redbox movie, but it will depend if I find anything good at the library first. Dinner will be at home & I am staying in.

Tomorrow, I might be taking my nephew to see a hockey game. Cost; $10/ticket.

I am SO Ready for the weekend. My roommate has been complaining that his room is cold. It IS colder than my room, but its the front room & I Think the wind just hits it. I sealed the vents so that no heat escaped before getting to the room. I put plastic over the window that he thinks the air is coming in from. I haven't talked to him today, but hopefully he found it to be warmer last night. If not, weatherproofing that room will be part of my weekend plans

I packed my breakfast, lunch & drinks for work today. 1 down, 20 to go! lol

I made a mealplan for the week.

Breakfasts will consist of one or more of the following: yogurt, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs and animal crackers.

Snacks are animal crackers, popcorn, veggies & dip or pretzels & drip

Lunches:
Monday - salad with tuna
Tuesday - peanut butter & crackers
Wednesday - salad with tuna & pasta
Thursday - salad with pasta
Friday - tuna sandwich
Saturday - tuna sandwich
Sunday - pasta salad

Dinners:
Monday - Baked potato & salad
Tuesday - Sloppy joe over egg noodles
Wednesday - meatloaf muffins & baked fries
Thursday - Pasta with meat sauce
Friday - pasta with meat sauce
Saturday - to be determined
Sunday - to be determined

I also have an entertainment plan for this pay period. I have a strict budget of $40.00 to last me until January 15th.

Monday 1/3 - no money spent except for gas and poss groceries
Tuesday 1/4 - $5.00 - 1 beer out with friends at the pub
Wednesday 1/5 - no spender
Thursday 1/6 - $5.00 - book club at restaurant. Will eat dinner before I go & just have a beer there
Friday 1/7 - Nephew spending the night and watching library movies
Saturday 1/8 - Up in the air. Likely to be taking tree to be recycled & deep cleaning the house
Sunday 1/9 - Up in the air.

Next Monday 1/10 -
Next Tuesday 1/11 - $10.00 pub night
Next Wednesday 1/12 - Dinner with friends $10.00
Next Thursday 1/13 -
Next Friday 1/14 - Horror movie night with friends (FREE)

And lastly, today's 5 Things are:

1. Confirming referral for doctors procedure this month (DONE)
2. Get gas (DONE)
3. Compile Price list of items donated to GoodWill in 2010 (SKIPPED)
4. Pack food for Tuesday and Wednesday (DONE)
5. Make eye doctor appointment (DONE)

I have turned the lights off for the trick or treaters. I have a LOT of candy left. It was a very small turnout compared to last year. I will have to find some way to get rid of the rest of it.

I am starting back on Weight Watchers for the 80-billionth time tomorrow. I am unable to workout, but I can still do the meal plan. it'll just be tougher because working out meant I could splurge a little more food-wise.

I have already pre-packed my food for work tomorrow. I am upstairs & getting ready for bed in a minute. I LOVE coming upstairs to a completely clean room & made bed. I am going to try to keep this up.

The weather warmed up in the afternoon, but got chillier again at night. I have made it all the way through the month of October without turning on the heat. We will have to see how it is going forward. The house is a little chilly and any more drop in temp & I will definitely want the heat on

Tomorrow, I will be posting November goals and will be working hard to stick to them. I can already share that I am doing another Lunch Challenge. I get so easily distracted from packing my lunch The threat of layoff will definitely be a motivator.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Well, I survived my vacation from work, but had a wealth of health problems. The doctor still does not have a diagnosis for me, which is frustrating. Where is Dr. House when I need him? lol

This week was not too spendy, but today was. Yesterday was payday. I spent $20.00 on a copay to the doctor.

Today, I am having a great day health-wise, so its just a great day in general. I woke up this morning paid my loan at the bank ($98), went to another bank to meet the other members of the Homeowners Association and transfer ownership of the HOA account.

The HOA's bank is next to the Farmer's market, so I stopped there for veggies & fruit. ($15.76)

I stopped & grabbed gas ($30.44)

Afterward, I went to lunch with my folks and they paid. I gave my nephew a Halloween card with some money in it ($5.00).

We then went to my nephew's ball game & froze our butts off. The ball league was having a sale on a bunch of their stuff and there were some 2009 t shirts they were giving away for free. I took 2 in my size and intend to use them as workout or housecleaning clothes. (Yay free!)

After the game, I stopped at the library & picked up some new books. Then headed to the Dollar Tree Plus which no longer has stuff only $1.00. I got a 30 piece set of plastic containers for food storage for $5.00, a 5 pack of toothbrushes, hand soap & dish soap. ($8.00)

Now I am home and am working on a meal plan for the week. With my current health, it is really important to plan for the days when I'm too tired to cook, but still be able to remain healthy.

In unhappy news, I heard from a very reliable source that my work is looking to lay off around a third of the departments in the next 2 weeks. Its pretty scary. I really need the health insurance as well as the income. So I hope I make it through this.

Cash Budget Balances to last until the 15th:

Entertainment: $55.00
Groceries: $64.24
Cat litter: $10


And another Heat update - its still off

Still doing very well on the lunch challange. Which is good, because money is somewhat tight. I am off work all next week and although I'm not taking a real vacation, I have several fun things going on. And they cost money.

So I will update with my spending plan/goals for my vacation later. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a good friday!

I"m off to get my tuna sandwich from the work fridge. Yummy lunch

I picked up some groceries and veggies and am working a meal plan for the week. I am planning on taking breakfast, lunch & snacks to work.

I am prepacking portioned out pretzels, animal crackers, and pb crackers. I made a big bowl of pasta salad that can be taken to work easily. I have apples & bananas. There is NO reason for me to spend anything on food at all.

I meal plan, but switch meals based on what sounds good that night. But here are my meals for the week.

1. Shake N Bake chicken & potatoes
2. Pasta with spinach & ground turkey
3. Meatloaf muffin & potatoes
4. Pasta salad
5. Pasta with spinach & ground turkey
6. Sloppy joe
7. Meatloaf & veggies

I have a tight budget for the weekend. I'm going to a girls only product party Friday night. I have $20 and a bottle of wine (recycled gift). I will buy 1 small item to support my friend, but thats it. Afterwards, I'm staying behind and we (my friend, her daughter & I are watching a horror movie).

Saturday & Sunday, I have absolutely NO plans. My goals are:

1. Walk or hit the gym each day (FREE)
2. Finish painting the downstairs bath - have to paint the ceiling (FREE - have all the supplies)
3. Put up toilet paper & towel racks as well as mirror in downstairs bath (FREE - already purchased)
3. Replant some basil plants from medium to larger pots (FREE- reusing pots, using leftover soil)
4. Clean the house (FREE)
5. Grocery shop - Budgeted
6. Hit Barnes & Noble - still have not spent my gift card & I want to pick up the new Janet Evanovich book if its out (FREE with bday gift card)
7. Watch movies from library (FREE)
8. Read books from library (FREE)
9. Make a few new recipes (FREE-ish)
10. Organize all the junk in my bedroom closet (FREE)

Packed 100% today. So far, I've only bought something once & that wasnt even a full lunch, but will count as my one freebie day of the month.

In fact, tomorrow, I'm getting a free lunch from work, a casual day & probably a couple of goodies. Its employee fair day!

I takled to my roommate about what happened. She said that it wasn't a big deal. I explained that the cats don't normally bite. It even turns out it was the one that I didnt expect to have done it at all.

Tonight is her first full night in the house & things are going smoothly. We're chilling in the living room, playing on the internet and just hanging out. I am feeling pretty positive!

Lunch Challange is going strong, there were 5 workdays this month so far, and I have packed breakfast, lunch & snacks 100% of the time. No money has been spent on lunch at work! And believe me my meals haven't been lacking compared to what the cafeteria at my work serves.

As always, meal plans are subject to change! lol - and they ALWAYS do!

Mon:
Lunch: Salad with Tuna
Dinner: sloppy joe over pasta

Tuesday:
Lunch: Salad, meatloaf muffin
Dinner: Chicken & potatoes

Wednesday:
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Meatloaf & veggies

Thursday:
Lunch: Salad w/ tuna
Dinner: Pasta & veggies

Friday:
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Chicken and veggies

Hello All! Hope you're enjoying the holiday weekend! I just wanted to reissue an invite to join me in a lunch challange for June.

You can make your own rules -

-How many days in June do you want to pack breakfast/lunch?
-Do you want to add a dollar amount that you can use to supplement what you bring?

For me, I plan on packing my lunch 21 of the 22 work days in June. I also am planning NO spending on additional items.

MonkeyMama is planning to pack 16 out of 20 work days

CrazyLibLady is planning to pack nearly every day
with $2/day for extras

Scottish Girl is planning 16 days

Ima Saver is going to try to eat lunch at home every day.

Dmontngrey packs 99% of the time already - that's something for me to aspire to

My meal plan for this week (and it is subject to change)

Sunday (going to a bbq)
Lunch: Salad w/ tuna at home; food at bbq
Dinner: Pasta with meat sauce

Monday (off work)
Lunch: salad; tuna sandwich
Dinner: shake n bake chicken; potatoes

Tuesday
Lunch: salad, meatloaf muffin
Dinner: Pasta salad

Wednesday
Lunch: Pasta salad
Dinner: Chicken & potatoes

Thursday
Lunch: Salad w/ tuna
Dinner: Sloppy joe over pasta

Friday
Lunch: Salad
Dinner: Meatloaf, green beans

Saturday
Lunch: Salad w/ some type of protein
Dinner: Pasta with meat sauce

Of the 3 of us doing the work lunch challange, one backed out halfway through the month and my other coworker is doing better than me! And thats becuase I didn't pack enough & ended up getting an extra snack or soda on 2 occasions. Still within the parameters of the challange, but I really wanted to do better.

So next month, I'm doing another challange. Is anyone interested in joining in? I'm sure some of you already do this pretty regularly, but its something I struggle with and I find it kinda fun to challange myself.

Here are the rules:

1. You can set any rules for yourself, just try to pack food a majority of the time. If you want $1/day for extras or to have 4 freebie days, thats cool. The goal is to save some money!

2. This is just for fun, so if you fall off the wagon... just get back on track if you want

So for me, for June: There are 22 work days. I plan on packing breakfast, lunch & snax 21 of them, with NO spending at all on additional items.

Please comment if you'd like to join me and each week we can update how we did. I know this is a bit early, since Jun doesnt start til next Tues, but that just gives us time to plan our meals!

Well, I'm doing 'ok' with my tight budget this pay period. I don't have my budget in front of me at work, but I have about $35 left in my entertainment budget. I have a work happy hour tonight (Estimated $10) and another Friday, which I'm thinking of skipping out on.

This weekend, I currently have NO plans. Other than a baseball game for my nephew which will be free.

I am hoping to entertainm myself this weekend with some books/movies from the library, planting, cleaning, organizing and going to the gym.

I never made a meal plan for the week, but I'm doing great with packing food for work! I've spent $1.10 this week on soft pretzels only & its been 4 days since I've had any caffine/soda.

I have plenty of food in the freezer: Meatloaf muffins, sloppy joe, ground meat cooked with onion (For pastas or over baked potatoes) and chicken breasts.

On my financial or frugal to-do list for this week/weekend
1. List 5 items on craigslist
2. Take pictures of spare room & put ad on Craigslist
3. Make a financial backuplist (account information, ect)
4. Give self mani/pedi
5. Start planning 6/1 budget

Payday is tomorrow & I've already made my $0 based budget. Outside my normal montly bills, I have variable spending in the following catagories:

$45.00 gas
$129.50 groceries (need a good stock-up)
$50.13 entertainment
$26.00 Communion gift
$8.00 misc cheer up gift for a friend

Its going to be a tight month and I'm going to have to get creative with my entertainment. This budget takes me through to the end of the month.

I have 2 work happy hours, 1 friends happy hour, 3 or 4 of my nephew's ballgames, a wine tasting and a movie to fit into that entertainment budget. Should be fun! Luckily the baseball games are free. That helps.

Tomorrow is Friday - I've already packed breakfast & lunch. After work, I will be hitting the library, the dollar store & the grocery store. Then home for an evening in.

Saturday, I'm going to my nephew's ball game, then driving 2 hours to a Communion party, driving 2 hours back home and going to a housewarming. I already have a gift for that.

Sunday will be for the gym ($0), the farmer's market, the other grocery store & cleaning.

I have Monday off work and will be cleaning & organizing the house, hitting the gym and heading to my nephew's ball game that night.

I am hoping to list a few items on Craigslist this weekend as well. Any extra income will be welcome!

Other updates:
Heat went back off at hte house this morning.
Lunch challange is still going strong
Still looking for the roommate