Weekly Meal Plan and Groceries

I hope y’all had a great weekend. Ours was pretty uneventful which is just fine. I hope everyone is safe after that awful ice storm. Our snow has all melted away thanks to some warmer temperatures, but it has cooled back down now to normal winter temps.

I was late getting my weekly meal plan done this week, but I finally got it done.

Having a weekly meal plan really takes away the stress of what’s for dinner and for me it also keeps my grocery budget in check. I make a grocery list based on my meal plan and go to the store once a week. We started a facebook group for this very purpose. Z Life What’s Cooking Group. It’s also fun to see what other people are eating and to get meal ides and recipes from others which helps with the dinner rotation rut.

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I picked up the needed groceries too.

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The cara cara oranges weren’t on my grocery list, but when I saw them it made me think of a friend so I splurged and bought a bag. Hopefully it will also curb the sweet tooth cravings I’m having and keep me out of the doughnut shop! 😉

I track my grocery expense with the Dave Ramsey “Every Dollar Budget” program. It’s free at his website. To date my grocery expense for January is $75.00 I round up to the next dollar because all change goes into the change jug.

My grocery budget is $300 a month which includes food for us and the dogs, health and beauty, cleaning supplies, everything but alcohol.

Admittedly I am purposefully trying to keep my grocery expenses low by staying out of the stores which in turn keeps impulse purchases in check. Also, keep in mind that we raise or hunt almost all of our meats with the exception of seafood and the chicken I purchase from Polyface Farms. I buy the chickens in a larder of 15 whole chickens at a time and I usually do this twice a year, so I expect sometime around July I’ll be stocking up again. This usually cost between $250 and $300 depending on the weight of the chickens I get. I do have a $50 off punch card that I’ll use with my next purchase that I need to not forget about.

In full disclosure, this is the first year I’ve used the Dave Ramsey “Every Dollar Budget” system and honestly I had become pretty slack in tracking expenses. This year I wanted to get serious about it and I think the Every Dollar system is going to be the trick. Plus it’s free, my favorite price.

I believe this will be a learning experience for me this year to see the actual hard numbers on all of our expenses, but it will show us areas where we can tighten up on for the future. Retirement is getting closer and this will help us get more prepared.

Hope you and yours have a great week.

Till next time,

Lori

Friday’s Frugal Five

We are already almost half way through January. WOW! Time is just flying.

The Frugal Girl is trying a new recipe each week for 2017 and I thought it would be fun to join in. I made curry chicken and vegetables served over jasmine brown rice. It was not our favorite and will not make it back on the menu plan. I’m sure it could’ve been made better, but it was just a bit too sweet and not very spicy like we anticipated it to be.

Friday’s Frugal Five:

While I did stray from the menu plan a bit this week, it did not require a trip to the grocery store as I already had everything on hand. The only purchases I’ve made so far this month were planned. I didn’t plan a no spend January and of course it’s not no spend, but the only other expenses outside of monthly household expenses (groceries, electric, internet) is the physical therapy copay for my finger and a chainsaw for the Z Man.
One of my 2017 goals is to wake up earlier and get my exercise done before leaving for work. So far so good, but I would like (and probably will need) a new pair of tennis shoes before long. For right now I’m using a lightly worn pair I purchased last year for work, I’ll hold off on that purchase for a bit but not too long. Must take good care of the feet. Exercise is a good thing, exercising at home is better and no gym fees is the best.
All the bills are paid for the month. The budget is made out for the next three months and hopefully this will not be a snowy winter and I’ll not miss a lot of work. While I love a good snow day every now and then, I don’t like using my paid vacation time off during the cold winter months.
Meal plan for next week is made, and I’ll pick up any needed groceries tonight. Right now all I need is bananas and kale for my morning smoothies, some peas for a turkey pot pie and some tortillas for enchiladas.
We purchased a chainsaw for the Z Man. We heat our home 100% with wood, wood that the Z Man acquires by finding people who are wanting trees taken down and away. I can’t say that it’s free heat because there is the expense of the chainsaw, oil and gas but it is a lot cheaper than electricity or gas heat. We found a great deal on a chainsaw and it was needed. As hard as that work is, it’s important to have good tools to get the job done.

How about you, what frugal fun have you had this week?

Till next time,

Lori

Friday’s Frugal Five

Gosh, it’s really been a minute since I’ve done a Friday Frugal Five post.

And again, I am not ashamed to admit that I completely stole the Frugal Five from Katy Wolk-Stanley of the amazing website The Non-Consumer Advocate. If you haven’t stopped by her website or facebook group, you really should. Very inspiring, and a group of great people there.

Ok, here it is.

We (for the most part) stuck to our meal plan this week and stayed out of the grocery store, restaurants and drive thru. As a matter of fact I made a return netting me $7 and change. The change went into my change jug.
I increased my 401 contributions and my contingency fund deposits to absorb the raise I got 😉
My bank has a change counter machine that is free to their customers so I cashed out my change jug and deposited that money into the freedom account category that is closest due (taxes!)
I set up my freedom account categories for 2017 and adjusted those deposits accordingly.
I bought nothing this week. I put gas in the car and paid my insurance deductible for my physical therapy appointment, that’s it. (Yes, I’m still in PT for cutting my finger – NOT frugal at all!)

Contingency Fund: A contingency fund is a fund for emergencies or unexpected outflows, mainly economic crises such as a loss of a job or long-term illness or disability. A three to six month fund to cover the cost of living expenses.

Freedom Account: Think of the Freedom Account as a sort of holding bin. You deposit small sums into it each month because you are thinking ahead: You’re anticipating bigger, specific expenses down the road like annual insurance premiums, home repairs, personal property taxes…
(for example if you want to save $1,000 for personal property tax due on January 1st of next year and you get paid twice a month you would make 24 deposits of $41.67 into the contingency fund account to accrue the $1,000 you will need by then)

If you are familiar with Mary Hunt and Debt Proof Living, then you are more than likely familiar with the contingency fund and freedom account terms.

What frugal fun did you have this week?

Till next time,

Lori

2017 Resolutions

It’s almost that time of year again. A time of reflection and a time of new beginning. A new slate, a new piece of fresh, clean, crisp, bright white paper to start writing on using your best pen and best handwriting. Can you smell the freshness of it?

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the changes I’d like to implement in my life for 2017 and my thoughts keep leaning toward peace, forgiveness, pleasure and beauty.

Those thoughts leave me interested in learning to let go of everything that I have no control over. And, if I really break that down further I have to ask myself, what do I really have control over? Nothing.

So in realizing that in truth, I have control over nothing, except for my actions or perhaps my reactions, this is what I’ve come up with.

2017 RESOLUTIONS

#1 PEACE AND FORGIVENESS

Letting go of………

the hurt feelings
the regrets
the wish I had done this or that back then
the I wasn’t treated right
the I wish I hadn’t done that
the I did the best I could
the I’m not good enough

#2 PLEASURE

There is a reason the days of the past are called the “good old days” and I’m sure that I’ve never seen “I wish I had worked one more day” engraved on a headstone.

For a long time now I’ve been trying to be uber conservative and frugal and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, until it becomes extreme and you realize that your happiness isn’t being considered in that frugal conservative process.

Now, I’m not saying I’m going to start spending money willy nilly or not continue to make mindful frugal decisions. As a matter of fact I intend to become even more detailed in tracking our finances and expenses because retirement is a year closer and we need to be ready.

What I’m saying is I want to find a balance. I’m not going to quickly pass on the fun, the events or opportunities for pleasure simply because I don’t want to spend the money. I’m not going to make money the ultimate reason for doing or not doing….

#3 BEAUTY

I’m going to plant the flowers even though we can’t eat them
I’m going to buy the great pair of shoes because I just love them
I’m going to buy the red lipstick
I’m going to get my hair done
I’m going to do my Yoga
I’m going to wear out those new exercise shoes
I’m going to eat the chocolate cake and the ice cream
I’m going to dress myself in my style, not just for my comfort
I’m going to give thought to my wants to understand why I want…..

While I was succesful in 2016 with quitting smoking and quitting a 20 year use of Prilosec, which I am extremely happy about. 2016 was still a bit of a crappy year. I’m not going to whine about it, because nobody likes a whiner. I’m just going to say that I had a lot of illness and injury and even battled with a bit of depression. With all of that, I lost sight of what is most important to me.

I am loved by the most amazing Man and I am completely head over heals in love with him. He is the love of my life and all he wants is for me to be happy. It took us a long time to find each other and I don’t intend to waste one more single minute on anything less important and EVERYTHING is less important than my husband.

What about you, do you have any resolutions you want to share. I’d love to hear about them.

Lori