Birthday!!!!

Today is my birthday!!! I have had a good day although I would much rather have stayed home in bed today. The donut fairy (my boss Jane) brought in my second favorite food this morning and then I had lunch with a friend at one of our favorite local places.

That is totally an aside to why I was posting. I wanted to throw out there that we had cracker crusted tilapia and parmasean roasted potatoes for dinner last night and the budget has taken no more hits yet. I need to trade for some more milk and use my full punch card to get free bread at the day old store and we should make it out of the month for our current total!

blogging book underway

The storm has kept people away from work today so I am using the time to catch up on some reading. I finished reading Living More with Less which was a great book that I recommend. I am now reading Blog, INC. with the hopes I will be able to figure this format out. My eyes needed a rest from the printed page so I thought I would spend a moment on here.

With all the storms and sick people at my house this week has been a blur so I am putting the menu up from a foggy memory. Sunday evening we had Ham with scrambled eggs and toast after church and naps. Last night I used the left over ham in some navy beans and served that with cornbread. Tonight I am searching my brain for something to do with the leftover beans and or cornbread. It is rainy and cooler so I may make a soup when I get home and incorporate the beans in that.

Acquiring needs with no cash!

I am trying to keep the grocery total for this month at its current total which is requiring me to make use of my trading community. I have been super blessed to be part of a Beg Borrow and Trade community and have made some amazing trades. Some items were not "needed" but still great finds. I have traded small amounts of household items for some great work shoes as well as a Kate Spade purse!!!! This week I did make a trade out of necessity. I listed the veggies we were not going to eat from the co-op and traded them for some milk and toilet paper.

addition to the May total

I had to stop for a gallon of milk on Wednesday night so we need to add $2.78 to the monthly total bringing me to $213.81. Last night we had hamburger pie for dinner which is something my mom used to make when I was a kid. It is easy to throw together and cooks up quick. Wednesday night I made alfredo sauce with ham and peas and served that over a mixture of rotini and penne pasta. Both dinners were a good way to use small bits of stuff left from other recipes.

totals for May thus far

If I have not stated before I try to do all my shopping at the beginning of the month since that is when I get paid, I run in for milk the rest of the month.

Produce co-op: $26.00
Braums for milk and ice cream on a whim: $8.99
Sprouts: $8.74
Albertson's: $48.79
Target: $54.79-$2.88 (picked up item for friend and was paid back) =$51.91
Kroger: $66.60

so my total is over budget for the month::::: $211.03

let's see how close I can keep it to this!

running through my head

I know it is ironic since I am typing this on a blog but the whole read my blog because I have everything together and I am going to tell you step by step how to achieve my level awesomeness bugs me. No one has that perfect of a life....mine is a crazy mess of nonsense on a daily basis and this is really a dumping ground for that. Sure, I am starting the $200 challenge but that is mostly to keep myself honest and accountable. I know I will fail a lot more than I will succeed and I am ok with that.  Enough for this rant. I have the receipts and will post the totals in a separate post.

Off and running!!!

I managed to get my grocery shopping done this weekend along with about 400 other things on the list. I will add up the receipts and post totals here as well as what the menu has looked like this month. There will be some treats since my birthday is this month and a lot of places have sent me coupons for free meals!

May!!!

May is off and running....I have started reading the blogging books with the hopes of working this page out. I also stopped last night and spent under $10 for ice cream and milk. Tonight I stopped and spent less than $10 for bananas and a ham. I portioned the ham out when I came home for 4 meals.
The ham was  obviously the protein for dinner tonight, this was paired with steamed carrots and a cherry crumble. I want to use up stuff from the freezer so if my garden produces later this summer I will have room to put some of the veggies up. The cherries were from some I put up a couple of months ago and the carrots were from 25 pounds I purchased through my co-op and put up a few months ago. Tomorrow the plan is to use up the leftover ham and a little more that I portioned out as well as some potatoes I have from the co-op to make a chowder.