Coupons, a cooking club and a meal plan

A few weeks ago I shared that I was trying to save money by being more conscious of where and how I was spending money. One friend suggested I try couponing. So, I'm giving it a go. It's a bit of a numbers game and I am just getting started, but I used the coupons to help plan out the meal plan for this week. I got 2 newspapers to double my coupons and organized them into categories that worked for me: Baby, Cleaning, Dog, Hair & Body, Mouth, Feminine, OTC, Paper & Plastic, General Food, Fridge & Frozen, Restaurants and Extras. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I'm keeping a running list of recipes that we will be using so I can put all of the coupons for those recipes in the very front to start getting those things together. I'm also planning to try to be more aware of the circulars that jam up my mailbox and may even save a few extras digitally. I use a few different apps on my phone to help with saving money, I'll link them if you don't have them so that you can start saving some money too!!! Where it is applicable, I'll put my referral code next to the link and then you can thank me by joining with my referral code and then let me know what you think of the savings apps too!!! Some of them are super user friendly and that only makes it more awesome!! 

In no particular order....

1. Cartwheel for Target, secret coupons or percentages off for every item you can think of! The more you use it, the more coupons you can have on your barcode at a time!

And a RedCard!

2. Kroger Mobile Coupons; it's like having secret Kroger coupons and the regular mailed circular in your phone! How easy is that? Click on the coupons to add them to your list!

3. Ibotta: (referral Code: azbqrq) Earn rebates for items you purchase all the time!! My total savings since I joined are up to $30.95. Once you join and use my code, you get an extra $2!

4. Receipt Hog, (referral code: clump306) snap pics of your receipts and then you get coins that add up to amazon cash. Spin the wheel to win extra spins or cash credit for your last receipt!!! Once you sign up and use it with the referral code, we each get extra spins!

And now for the meal plan: 

Sunday: Breakfast for dinner; pancakes, bacon, and eggs

Monday: Taco Night!!!

Tuesday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Wednesday: Chicken Alfredo and Broccoli

Thursday: Pizza Night

Friday: Sausages, Macaroni and Cheese, and a yet-to-be-named Green Veggie

Saturday: Leftovers

On our family landing board, I put up the meal plan so that I can stop getting asked by people who read, "what's for dinner?" But, I figured since I need to hold myself accountable to keeping my house a little cleaner, I'd add a chore for each night. If I can stick to this, well, my house might look MUCH better!!!

I'm also working on making my friends join me in a cookbook club! We'll get together periodically, each making something from a new cookbook and get to all share in the work! I'm excited!!! Anyone ever done one?

Got any time saving tips or tricks you'd like to share?

I don't have much time to spare!!!

Making things and teaching...well, myself

Today was an interesting one. 

We just came back from fall break and I forgot to finish all of my planning for when we returned. (I was also late with my meal planning yesterday...)

So today I mapped out this week and then the rest of the 2nd quarter! I then proceeded to write the pretests, reviews, chapter tests, semester exam study guide and the semester exam! Then, I went through my files from last year and figured out what I would be yang again today. I also managed to photocopy the project instructions for this quarter. Not to mention, I got TONS of grades put in the computer! Whew! 

Know what we call this? Progress!!!

So this afternoon I met a mommy friend for a play date. Mostly to hide from my laundry, but also for our kids to play. 

See? 

Wouldn't you want to hide from that?!?

 While at the park, we commiserated over small babies, getting back into working out and trying to lose baby weight. I got some great feedback and shared some of my ideas for the blog. I'm thinking of sharing my breastfeeding tips, writing a workbook/planner of things to do for yourself/kiddo kind of like a book of yearly checklists, and (maybe) sharing some of my more personal tips regarding being married for 14+ years. Some days are great and some days well, they just aren't. 

I have found though that approaching parenting like teaching really helps. One piece of this, I discussed last week when I said that I had gone to the bank and was told to start by setting small goals. Well, guess what? I had a list of to-do's and one of them has already paid off!!

So, don't try and do all your laundry at the same time. But maybe set a goal for a load a day? What great tips do you have for managing it all? 

Shabbat and a Budget

So, I was going to spend this post talking about what Shabbat is, what it means and how special it is to me and my family. Which I will do. But today was also a pretty informative day for me. Up until now, I have not really had a strong ability to mange my money well and surprisingly, I also realized I haven't managed my faith well, either.

Did I pay the bills? For the most part, yes.

But could I really say my money was "working for me"? Oh heck no, I was WORKING hard for it!

So, after my post yesterday, I decided it was time to stop acting like a victim to my money and start acting like the owner of my financial freedom. I looked up budgeting and found these articles through Google. None really connected for me...maybe one will help you.

Since those weren't really sinking in and I am constantly getting emails from my bank about utilizing some of the other services at the bank; I went to the bank today and reviewed my ENTIRE financial status with a bank associate. He was really kind about explaining things to me, showing me how to use different features of the bank's website and (most importantly) demonstrating how to set up a budget.

How does this connect to the celebration of Shabbat?

First let's start with what Shabbat is...

Shabbat, is the Jewish holiday celebrated every friday night at sundown and ending on saturday's at sundown with the Havdalah service. Shabbat is celebrated, generally with others, by sharing bread, wine and lighting shabbat candles. Prayers are said over the wine, the bread and the candles and the evening is spent sharing time and dinner with friends and/or family. Saturday is spent relaxing and rejuvenating the self for the week ahead.

Havdalah, which begins at sundown on Saturday, is the celebration of the end of shabbat and ushers in a new week. The service is spent lighting of a havdalah candle, drinking wine and smelling sweet spices.

Both services are meant to rejuvenate and remind us of our connection to each other, to ourselves and to G-d. Some rabbis suggest setting religious or faith goals for the week. The intention is for you to think about the services, the time spent with others and your actions and interactions. Lately though, much like my financial income and outcome, religiously, I was mostly going through the motions, and not connecting with the core values of my faith, or for that matter, my family.

I could share all sorts of things about what the holidays were, what you needed to participate and what foods were traditionally eaten at the time, but the real meaning for our weekly shabbat, was not sinking in. Writing about the holidays over the last few weeks had started to make me feel more connected.

So, today, after I left the bank, I realized that money management is just like your faith management. The two take energy, practice and faith. You must put forth energy to control what is happening around you; how are you spending your time, your energy, your spirituality and your money? What practices are you participating in to enrich your life? How are you practicing good stewardship of your wallet, your heart, your faith and your family? What faith are you investing in yourself, in your family and in G-d?

I know this may have felt a bit strange. But there is something to be said for taking the time to consider these questions as they apply to your faith and financial practices.

Maybe you won't be financially rich any time soon, but I can promise that you will easily be faithly rich in family, in self and possibly in a different type of relationship with your own spiritual G-d, in whatever form you practice.

 

Consignments!

Growing up, I used to be embarrassed when my mother would take drag me to consignment sales to shop.  It was in no way the "cool" thing to do. It started for mother, I'm sure, to save money. Shopping for 3 girls who were all very picky about their clothes, could not have been easy. But, I became defiant about it when a girl I went to school with recognized an item that had come from her sister. Needless to say, for a fifth grader, that was not a good thing. Especially when she remembered that her mom had "gotten rid" of those clothes months prior.

Now, however, my daughter HELPS me consign! Oh, the things my mother would say if she could see me now!

So, last nite, we set out to get done with round one of the consignment work. This means that we go through the bag of clothes I have filtered out of the babies drawers from the most recent "clean out". A few things will come out of Annie and Jonas's rooms but, mostly these are baby/toddler items. Then we sort them by size and next list them in the computer and tag them. The whole process is time consuming. However, at our house we seem to have a pretty good system and we move rather quickly.

This was our "consignment" station last nite. We use the tags from Office Depot, safety pins on the shoulder and hangers from around the house.

Next, we'll check blankets, towels, bibs, shoes and socks to see what else might be able to find a new home...and then hopefully, make some money!