Menu Plan Monday

So here is the menu plan for this week:

Monday: Sandwiches, Chips (Basketball practice)

Tueday: Dinner at a Friend's house

Wenesday: Waffles, Sausage, Eggs

Thursday: Soup and Grilled Cheese

Friday: Red Beans and Rice, Cornbread

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Pot Roast, Carrots, Potatoes, Rolls

For more menu Ideas go here.

2008 Spending Challenge

I did forget about one thing that helps us keep the budget straight. I use a live checkbook that I created in Excell. My husband is really bad about keeping receipts and I am bad about writing things down at the store so I have found that this really works for me. Here is a picture of what it looks like.

It is kind of hard to see, but it works just like a real checkbook, enter expenditures and deposits. I have bill listed on the right that I check off as they clear the bank. And the best part is that I don't have to worry that I added or subtracted wrong. I have a worksheet for each month and I can plan what week to pay what bill.

2008 Budget Challenge

Crystal over at Money Saving Mom has posted a Challenge to get into Financial Shape for 2008. She first asks us to post our budget. The following is what I budget for monthly; however alot of times the bills come in a little less.

Monthly Household Bills
Tithing 10% gross
ATT 80
Cable/Internet 60
Power 170
Child Support 210
Child Care 180
Water 60
Garbage 20
Auto Insurance 100
House Insurance 40
Mortgage 625
Car Payment 310
Scholastics 20
Food/Gas 400

Total: $2,275


Credit Card Payments
CitiBank 75
Geico 15
Visa 15
Wamu 28
Nelnet 50 (Student Loan)
Discover 15
Capital One 15
Mastercard 27

Total: $240

While we do have eight active CC debt (Yikes) Most of them are only a few hundred dollars. And the bottom two are at 0%. We are currently snowballing on the Citibank because this has the highest interest rate. After that we will knock out some of the other cards. Any extra money is going to our CC debt and within 4-5 months I expect to only owe on two cards.

Some major steps we are taking is a two month spending freeze on anything not necessary. We are also looking to trade in our vehicle for another that would cut our payments in half. We foolishly got a vehicle that was too expensive and more that I wanted for monthly payments. We can afford it - but it is more than I wanted to. We told the salesman what price range we were looking at - he showed us a van that he was sure was in that price range. We liked it alot and said ok. When the papers were drawn up it was a few thousand more than he told us. Because we wanted it so badly we agreed and walked out. It only took a few weeks for me to kick myself in the hiney. I will not be fooled again. (I hope)

We are hoping to get things set to where one day I might be able to stay home. I keep working out plans but the main thing that kills it is that we would lose the insurance that I have through my work and my husbands workplace it too outragous to even consider. Hopefully an option will present itself when the time is right.

Coolest Christmas Gift Ever

So this year I kept bugging Steve for what he wanted for Christmas. I kept telling him that if he didn't tell me what he wanted that he was going to get nothing. I told him that all I wanted was a nice set of pajamas. I needed some warmer ones. Well I finally gave up on him telling me so I got him a nice short sleeved button up shirt and a kitchen timer. (And it doesn't even work...we have to see if new batteries will help) Anywho... a few weeks before Christmas I caught a pretty bad cold so Steve gave me my pajamas early. They were nice flannel pjs. White with lt blue and pink snowflakes and I think dots on them. They were so GOOD. It warmed me up. So it gets to Christmas Eve and Steve is in the kitchen wrapping my presents while I am being a good little girl and not peeking and keeping the kids entertained in the living room. And out comes one package, then two, then three, then four, then five. Yikes I was thinking especially since two were oddly shaped. One kind of resembled the sports ball in a box. And one was a square package about two feet long. All I could think was what the heck did he buy? Then this voice came from the kitchen..."Do you want one of your gift now? I can't wrap it." Well what in the world?? Sure I said. I am not shy about getting gifts. He comes around the corner with a blue robe, make that a fabulously soft robe. He said he didn't know how to wrap the robe. Personally, I think he was just tired of wrapping, besides the fact that he admits to being a bad wrapper.

Well Christmas Eve came and I opened pajamas #2, Christmas day and I opened pajamas #3, boy am I set on pajamas now. The next gift I as I was opening I first thought was a lunch bag, but then I realized it was a camera bag. Yes! I have needed a camera bag for quite a while. The next one was....................

Already messed up on the "no spending"

Only three days into our personal challenge and we spent money, now of course it was for a really good thing. We have needed a couch since we first got married. I had an old run-down falling apart sofa and he had a lumpy-bumpy futon. Well we got rid of the sofa and have had to sit on the futon for almost two years. Steve's friend has a sofa that he was trying to sell for $100. He offered to let Steve have it for $50. The deal was that if we spent any money towards anything except food/gas that we would "lose" our $50 each that we were trying to earn towards our wanted items.

We agreed that it was worth giving up our $50 each to have a nice sofa. Hopefully this no spending will get easier.

Celery going bad

I am so glad that Tammy is holding a ask a question day. I am looking for tips to deal with celery. Everytime I buy some to use in a recipe, they go bad so fast. What can I do to make them last longer??? Thanks.

Green Onion Leftovers

I find that when I buy green onions that most of it goes bad before I can use it all. The last time I got some I decided to try to dehydrate them in my oven. I sliced all of the green onions up, chopping the white parts in half to help them seperate. I put them on my silcone mat on a cookie sheet turned my oven on warm (170) and left to door slightly ajar to try to get the temp down to 150 or so. Check on them after a while and stir with a spatula. When dried I stored them in a ziploc bag in the spice cabinet. This is what works for me now for more ideas go check out Rock in my Dryer.