Fucking Mathers

So as my sweet little Crissy MARIE (I know your middle name) Mathers mentioned yesterday we have developed a little pen pal relationship. It all started when I was pregnant with Codi and she sent me the most thoughtful package with a great little diaper clutch for Codi, chocolate for me and some coloring stuff for Brandon. I returned the favor sending her home baked goodies and from then on we have had a little mail relationship. She usually sends chocolate at just the right time. I returned the favor with some funky trinkets from a favorite store. However this time shes totally in trouble. Shes been harrassing me to read this book for a while now. I have made fun of her proclaiming I had no interest in Vampires. So, taking matters in her own hands I walked out to my doorstep yesterday to find that a certain Miss Mathers had sent me the book. Leaving me no choice but to read it. I picked it up last night at 5pm thinking I would read a chapter and add it to my stack of books. At 10pm last night I was at chapter ten and willing my eyes to stay open. This morning I was on chapter 15 cursing the fact that I had to go to work. I'm told this is a series of books and now I know exactly what I will be buying with the money I've been stashing away every month from BlogHer ads! So Cris, thank you but also FUCK YOU for getting me TOTALLY HOOKED ON A GODDAMN VAMPIRE BOOK!!!!!!!

Mmmm wintery baked apples

Yes I know I'm showing you a picture of a half baked apple. It's because the thing was so damn good I started eating it before I even pulled out my camera. Also I started eating it before it cooled off and OUCH!!!! Anyway if I had some vanilla ice cream you bet your ass I woulda cut this up and put it on there and then poured the scalding hot juice over the top.

Note to self BUY VANILLA ICE CREAM.

Wanna make this...click here.

(Also this meal cost me nothing but the price of the apple I had sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg butter and apple juice all on hand.)

Saving some cash at the store

As I mentioned before I was able to go to the store and buy 7 full days of food for $89.00. A few days later I think I've found more ways to cut it down more. So. Here are all of the things that worked for me.

First. I made a list 2 days before going to the store. I did this so that I could really look at it and make sure I needed what I said I did and also made sure I didn't forget anything.

Second. I put my menu on my list. For instance I knew that one of my breakfast meals was sandwiches (don't ask husband loves sandwiches for breakfast). I also knew I was having tacos for dinner and that salad would be my side dish for at least two nights. SO when I wrote tomatoes, I wrote (tacos, sammies, salad). Then when I was standing in the produce isle I was able to buy exactly what I would need, no more (no waste), and no less (no tempting me to go back to the store).

Third, I listed the items I ALREADY HAD with my menu. For instance under stuffed bell peppers it read:
Stuffed bell peppers
-rice
-sausage
-canned tomatoes
-garlic
-onion

That way I could easily look at it an know that all that meal needed was bell peppers. I can't tell you how many times I get to the store and think I have everything for a meal and get home only to find I did not in fact have any onions. This is why I made the list early. I made the menu, made the list and then checked my kitchen. So far I've been right on target.

Another huge thing I was able to do is know that every meal I made would turn into a left over for lunch. I'm lucky that my husband would prefer a warm left over meal for lunch to a cold sandwich (cuz he likes it for breakfast, dork). It cost me maybe $1.00 more average per meal to double it. 1 pack of any meat makes two meals for him (and even a small portion for Brandon.) The best benefit of this is the time saver. I save SO MUCH TIME in the morning not having to make him a breakfast and lunch. Not to mention there is usually enough for him to share and I can't say that I don't love hearing all his friends swoon over my cooking. The other day one of his friends even told me if he sees something that I made even if it has stuff he hates, he will eat it, just because he knows he will love it! Talk about walking on air for the rest of the day.

After this weekend one of the things I came up with to save even more money is to remember that on Friday and Saturdays meals I don't need left overs. I forget that my husband loves to have ramen or use some of his budgeted SUPER BURRITO money. Sometimes he likes to have frozen pizzas or..well bachelor food you know. So now what I've decided is that I will either make a really good favorite meal on Friday that can double as Saturdays dinner. Or I will make something both nights that will use the same meat but can be done different. For instance one pack of chicken can make grilled chicken and chicken tacos and I've spared the expense of a whole other pack of meat. I learned that this weekend when I had the greatest left over stuffed bell peppers and my husband ate burritos instead. And then Sunday morning when I had awesome chicken left he ate ramen. Luckily today at work he was going to be out of town and not near a microwave so I shredded the chicken and made chicken salad sandwiches.

I also planned breakfasts. I bought stuff to make breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, and of course his beloved turkey and roast beef sandwiches. I think I did pretty good.

One thing I will say is, shopping on a budget takes time. You can't rush to make a list and you can't rush at the store. I only forgot one thing, potatoes. I saw them on the list as side dishes but I totally spaced actually writing them on the other side. Luckily they were cheap and something I could easily run in and grab. I think forgetting only ONE thing my first time was great. I highly recommend taking a little more time to make a list and plan. Plan menus, think ahead for the other meals too. I made sure if we were having tacos that I grabbed some beans for me too. When I picked cheeses I picked cheese that could work with tacos, stuffed bell peppers and breakfast burritos (Monte ray Jack). I also knew I had cheddar that was almost done so I picked a meal using that (cheesy chicken pasta). I also knew this recipe, my chipotle lime chicken and my bell peppers all took green onions. Because I had a list I was able to buy a large enough amount of green onions for all of the recipes. Normally I would have seen green onions, grabbed one bunch, and by mid week I would have run out and found myself at the store grabbing those and BROWSING other isles.

Finally I got some AWESOME tips from y'all in my comments section. Tomorrow morning I plan to post those and link to all of you. I can't believe the great tips you gave! Thanks a bunch!

Opposition and relief

As I mentioned before my husband and I are working on our finances. I also mentioned that I was reading this book. One of the chapters in the book talks about the people around. Dave (the author) says that often people trying to make changes in their lives will meet with violent opposition. These last few weeks as I've slowly told my friends and family that my husband and I are going to be making some drastic financial changes I prepared myself for that. For arguments, looks, laughter and snide comments. I was stunned however when none of this happened. My parents have been amazing. They have been understanding and helpful and UNDERSTANDING. When I'm not all there at work they get it. When I say I can't afford it, they respect it. They gave us this amazing house to live in, helped us remodel it and have gone above and beyond to make this easier on us.

My cousin Lisa spent TWO HOURS at Walmart with me tonight shopping. Actually she sat yesterday with me online as I created a menu, planned a list and calculated the money. She then went with me to the store while I WHINED and bitched and cried about prices and what I couldn't get and WOE IS ME! When we got to the check out instead of ridiculing me for my meager purchases, or teasing me for budget shopping and penny pinching she looked at me and said "I'm really proud of you." I was thrilled.

On a walk with Katie today she talked to me about money. Listened and shared her stories with me and DIDN'T EVEN MAKE FUN OF ME when I said I'm strongly considering giving up my Yukon for a more budget sensible (mini van). Knowning I'm on a budget and that I was going stir crazy she asked me to go on a FREE walk with her. I loved it. It was so nice to go do something that cost nothing and have some really good really honest conversation with a friend and walk away knowing you weren't judged and things won't be said behind your back.

Ginger and I are always frugal which is nice. She totally udnerstands everything I'm going through and has been so great with me. I love knowing I can talk to her 100% honestly.

I was stunned to discover the peopel in my life are so amazing and rad that I experienced ZERO opposition. No negativity, no one telling me I'm crazy, or wrong, or stupid or silly. I'm sure it has something to do with the current economy. Maybe some of them even think I'm being smart right now. No matter what it is, I wanted to tell all those close to me THANK YOU! Thanks for being so open, and accepting of my mess! You're all the very best!

Hunger

A few weeks ago I discovered this great marinated pork at the store. I added a few things, kicked it up some and came up with this recipe.
Click here for the full recipe.

So earlier in the week my cousin Angie mentioned she made stuffed bell peppers. That reminded me that I had some sausage left to use up before the week was over and bell peppers are a super cheap meal. I added the ingredients to the list and it turned out all I needed for this whole meal was mushrooms and bell peppers. I actually had everything else. Want the recipe?
Go here!

PROOF

So I got pissed and attempted to capture him walking with my built in iSight. No it's not the greatest quality and yes THOSE ARE MY BOOBS! But dude NO TIME FOR SHIRT PRESHUS BABY WALKING!!!!!!!!!


Codi walking from wilddreemer on Vimeo.

Goddamit!

I just spent a ton of time filming footage of Codi walking all over the house. However my goddamn new Mac only has the fancy new fire wire while my computer uses the old one. I need to get some kind of converter mabob to make it work. In the mean time I went to the store tonight and guess how much I spent.....

This will last me all the way until NEXT FRIDAY!!!!!
Every single meal!

Meet Dylan!

So! There is nothing like having your friend Katie bring her teeeeeny tinnnny little baby over to realize your kids are now so old they are practically off to college.

Codi was OBSESSED with Dylan (he always is). Only this time he could not stop kissing him. I thought it was just the sweetest thing ever watching him lean over and kiss the little guy. However, Codi hasn't quite learned the pucker so he actually open mouth kisses, which means a few times it totally looked like he was trying to suck on Dylans nose!










Brandon also wanted to kiss the wittle baby. He did a lot of showing off for the little guy and a lot of cuddling too!
























































I am pretty sure this is the cutest thing ever. I on the other hand promise that while Katie went to shower (we were dying her hair), that I did not wrap the baby up in the Moby and squish and kiss him and make faces at my husband that made him say WE ARE NOT HAVING ANOTHER ONE. I was totally calm and disconnected and I didn't hog the baby at all or anything.

















Codi enjoyed poking Dylan in the face to make sure he was still there and NOT sleeping. Since his poking didn't work he finally gave up and just SAT right on top of Dylan! Sigh.











He then wondered if he could get in there with the baby...















WAKE UP BABY PLAY WITH ME!!!!!

Penny pinching

I've never been good with cutting back on expenses. I can save it fine. But following a budget practically kills me. There are two things that are my most major downfalls. My kids and the grocery store. I'm the queen of going to a store with 10 items on my list and coming home with 43 items OR MORE. I also have trouble grabbing something for my boys and justifying it because it's for the kids. A few months back I made a big effort and started making weekly menus. It helped a ton. Seriously it cut my groceries back so much but mostly it cut back on waste. I used to be bad at letting veggies go bad or having too much meat or buying 400000 bottles of creamer and then letting it go bad.

I began making menus. They featured 7 days worth of dinner. However they didn't account for other meals, breakfast, my lunches, Brandon's meals etc. So the list I would go there with would be exactly what I needed for husbands dinners and lunches. I would end up getting there and think, oh well I need bread, and I need crackers for me. Brandon needs......and before you knew it POOF $200.00 vanished to the grocery fairy.

Lately things have gotten kind of tight financially. I am still not ready to talk about it all but I will tell you that last week while browsing around online I came across the envelope system. It was the strangest moment in my life. It was as if clarity had come right down and hit me on the head. This system was totally doable and it involved my favorite things MAKING LISTS AND SORTING THINGS! I immediately set to work reading about it and learning about it. My awesome computer guy also got me this book which I've been slowly reading when I don't have kids trying to eat the pages. I thought and thought and thought about and decided that I can do this.

This week is my first week on the envelope system. I started a whole entire new checking account on my Quicken. I created a budget and suddenly everything is falling into place. I saw where we were going wrong, I saw how quickly a couple weekend meals out could add up to $100.00 and I realized that haphazardly throwing things in the shopping cart was killing me.

I created a new menu this week that includes everyone's lunches dinners and even breakfasts. I based the menu on things I had at home. I have beef, pork sausage, onions, garlic, rice, cheddar cheese and so on. From that I know I can make stuffed bell peppers, breakfast burritos, and meat loaf. Then I looked at my condiments and sides and realized I can create a full week of meals with only minimal purchases. I'm going to try and start using everything I have and create based on that.

I'm also terrified. I've never walked into a store with nothing but cash and a store savings card. I've always known that if I wanted to throw extra specials in the cart it was fine because my debit card would fix it.

Anyway because of this I will be starting a new weekly feature on the Tasty Temptations blog that is dedicated to meals on a budget. Shopping lists, meals under 10.00 and how to find the best prices and create meals around them.

I can't wait to see what this envelope system does for my husband and I AND our checking account. I can't wait to watch my savings grow! Email me if oyu have any great low budget meals, or any awesome money saving tips for the grocery store. I will link you and feature your tips!

Made By Crissy Mathers

My good friend over at Mathers Party of 4 started this cute little website where she makes ridiculously tasty home goods. Daily she teases me with pictures and previews of the things she is making. You can click her button up there to view her new made by blog or an even better idea would be to visit her Etsy shop and order some of this shit. Seriously it's delish! The cinnamon apple stuff will blow your mind and her rubs and spices...WHOAH!

(Etsy store can be viewed by clicking button above or, here)

WARNING: Author of this blog is in no way responsible for any hunger pains you may experience by viewing these blogs. Also not responsible for treat cravings, weight gain or jealous rages caused by seeing the amazing things this girl makes. Author of blog will take responsibility for any misplaced treat orders....

So go, now, shop, eat, and let your mouth be happy!