My attempt at frugality

So as I mentioned before, a group of my friends is doing a challenge this month. We are trying to eat out of our pantries without buying much more. The idea is to use up what you already have on hand, which will both save money and cause you to waste less food.

I began this challenge by pulling everything out of my pantry, taking inventory and organizing everything. Then I went online, visited several awesome blogs to get frugal ideas and recipes and made a menu for the entire month. So far, I've tried some awesome recipes and fell in love with several blogs in the process. A few of my favorite new recipes all came from Mommy's Kitchen, a blog started by Tina, who is a mom after my own heart! She is passing her love of cooking down to her kids and in the mean time making GREAT family friendly food! Another great blog to check out is Life as a Mom. You can check out details of the challenge my friends and I are doing there.

An unexpected bonus of printing out a 31 entree menu is that I can show the list to my husband and he can choose what he wants me to make! While I did come up with the menu items, I don't have to make the final decision every single day on my own any more. Ahhh, such sweet relief!

Last night I made my final run to the grocery store for the month (I hope!). So far this month, I have spent less than $200 on groceries for the entire month! Our average grocery bill is about $600 a month, not counting eating out. I really hope to keep this up for the entire year. I know most months I will spend more than $200 because I won't have my pantry stocked like I did this month. But with the help of my friends and a few frugal bloggers, I should have my budget in a healthy place for 2010!

Welcome to 2010!

Wow, already a new year. A new decade. A fresh start, right? Isn't that how we are all supposed to view the "new year?" Time to find that resolution - now is the time to eat healthy, get fit, organize your house, save money, basically be a better person. Right? Right. And really, I guess this is as good a time as any to really sit and focus on what your life is. What direction are you going? Is it a good path? Will it lead you to where you want to be in the end?

This year, more than others I've been trying to gain some insight into what my real life goals are. Probably my number one goal - to be a good representative of Christ. Of his mission here. I wonder if other people see Christ in me, if they see goodness, faithfulness, love.

Another area I have thought about is my family. Am I the best wife I could be? 2009 kind of sucked in my marriage, if I'm being honest. I have to own up to my part in that. And I'm sure my mothering could sure use some work, too. Was I too harsh, not stern enough? Did I show my children that I love them every single day?

The third area I want to focus on in 2010 is my body. If you listen to the old adage that says your body is a temple... youch. I'm not very respectful of that temple! I want to get healthy this year - slow, small changes will add up to big success in this area, I think.

And the final area of my life filled with resolutions - money. UGH Wouldn't everyone rather just spend money on all the fun stuff without regard to their mortgage, electric or water bill or health costs? I sure would! Instead, I'm taking part in a challenge this month with some friends. This month we are going to "eat out of our pantries" and REALLY cut down on our grocery bills. I love a good challenge, so this should start the year off right for me. I am going to adopt the envelope system for groceries, gas and eating out/entertainment. The weekly budget will be put in the envelopes, and when the cash is gone, it's gone! This will lead to greater savings and less stress for me!

Ok, and one last goal. To blog. Seriously - the amount of time between my blog posts is ridiculous. I'll set this as a bookmark on my new computer and will blog at least once a week. Could be about the boys, the MOFIA, budgeting/couponing, crafts - who knows. But I'll be here!

Been a while!

Wow, it's been a along time since I've blogged. I have to blame Facebook! I spend way too much time on there. lol

The boys are all doing great - C1 is playing tee ball on two different teams now, and is almost done with Kindergarten! C2 is so excited to go to school next year, but I'd really like to just keep him home with me!!! C3 is growing way too fast! He's already trying to use the potty - he's only 16 months old. I wish he'd slow down and just be my baby for a while longer!

Things with the hubby are going great right now. We had a big rough patch, but we are both working hard at making time for each other and it's been great. He even went to church with us last week without me even saying a word. It was Mother's Day, though so that might have had something to do with it. I'm just so happy he was there! I hope this means that he'll be more involved with the church in the future!

More Tee Ball!

This is C2's first year to play tee ball. He's pretty excited about it and loves to catch! He gets kind of upset if someone else gets to the ball first, so he's learning to pay attention and run as fast as he can. Sometimes it turns into a dog pile and the coach has to pick each player up and get to the bottom to see who has the ball. It's a lot of fun to watch him play!

Tee ball time!

C1 had his first tee ball game of the season yesterday. He did a great job and had a lot of fun!

He got to play catcher in the first inning - everyone wanted to because of the extra gear!

This is his first hit of the game - see where people are looking? It was a GREAT hit!
This is his first run of the game - you can see Daddy right behind him helping to coach.

Muddy Buddies

After most of the snow melted yesterday C1 and C2 enjoyed some time in the mud. Daddy was NOT so happy about this.

You can see that C1 was very proud of his muddiness!

Late March Snow

We ended up getting 7-8 inches at our house. C1 and C2 LOVED it! C3 loved it only when he was in our arms. lol