January Expenses: 1/27-1/31& The Month in Review

Today being the last week of January I am doing my weekly expenditures a bit early since I also want to do a review of the month.
This week's expenses:

1/27: $103 for cell phone bill; $50 for my portion of the expenses for upcoming 50th Anniversary party for oldest sister and brotherinlaw; $21.96 for ice cream for birthday party

1/28:$0

1/29: $46 for gas for SUV

1/30: $0

1/31: I anticipate spending $0 today. It is dinner date night but I will be cooking a special meal at GF's house this week for us.


All in all I am satisfied with how things have gone moneywise this month and really happy with how I managed to stay within the pantry challenge grocerywise. All the bills have been paid in full and with my taxes done and filed I am looking forward to paying off that personal loan and being able to put the amount I spent monthly for that into my savings  in February.

 Outside of the regular bills I spent:
 Gas: $130 (thanks to GF who used a gift card to fill up my SUV one weekend since he'd done a lot of driving in it..monthly budget: $180)
Pets: $6 (monthly budget $20 since middle son is responsible for dog food and I am responsible for cat food /litter)
Assorted Household items (apron, lamp, baskets,travel mug,boot holder, nightlight): $71.84 (monthly budget $50..I was over)
Cleaning/health & beauty/paper goods: $83.03 (monthly budget of $100)
Leisure and Entertainment (includes bowling, dining out, crochet supplies, .): $107.34 (budget is $110 mostly for bowling)
Birthday party expenses including gift: $117.52  (expensive but I only do parties for my two youngest and since this was a joint party for my nephew it ended up being quite a bit less money than an individual party would be if I'd had the expense of main food and paper goods).
Special events: $50

The Pantry Challenge: Here is my original blog about the challenge with the specific goals I wanted to acheive:
http://www.aroundakitchentable.blogspot.com/2012/12/pantry-challenge-and-menu-making.html
Goal 1: Eating down the freezer/pantry: We did this very well although we still have quite a bit of stuff so I think I may be able to extend this in a minimal way into February. We do need to restock meat and poultry.
Goal 2: Keeping under $150 for grocery expenses: I spent: $146.11
Goal 3: Less waste..although I was forced to toss out a few leftovers the kids declined to eat and which got stuck at the back of the fridge and forgot about I did not have to throw away perfectly good food I'd purchased and never used before it went bad. Keeping fresh produce and dairy purchases to a minimum each week has helped tremendously here. There is still room for improvement. I need to keep a closer eye on the leftover situation and get things in the freezer that the kids won't eat up right away.

My favorite power breakfast

On weekends I cook a breakfast, usually bacon, or ham, or sausage with either an egg dish or pancakes, french toast, or waffles but during the work week I like to keep it simple and quick and healthy. Sometimes this means greek style yogurt with fruit or a granola bar. But during the winter more often than not this means my favorite oatmeal blend.

I take old fashioned oats , a dash of coffee creamer, a teaspoon of Truvia, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a small amount of sliced almonds and a bit of dried cranberries and combine them in a bowl.

Add water and pop it into the microwave for two and a half minutes.

Give it a good stir with a spoon and enjoy!

 

A wonderful surprise and February's grocery list

Last night I had a wonderful suprise. GF had taken his car in for some needed maintenance and I had to drive him from one side of Cleveland to the other from his workplace to pick up his car. We decided to pick up my teens and all go out to dinner (even though he'd just treated us on Monday to dinner out to celebrate youngest son's birthday) and since my state income tax refund had hit my account (a nice surprise but not the one in the subject line) I volunteered to treat us all. We settled on Pizzaz a local small inexpensive pizza and pasta joint near us. When the check arrived I got the most wonderful surprise, my 18 year old daughter picked it up and said she 'had this one'. She's been working her first job for a couple of months now and wanted to do something nice for us. What a kid!!
Now that I have my menu plans in place for February I have reviewed the contents of my deep freezer and pantry shelves and sat down and made a shopping list, divided into the stores I plan on going to. It is going to be a full shopping trip this time. We used up quite a bit of stores during last month's pantry challenge but surprisingly we still have a lot on hand.

Here's the list as it stands so far:
Gordon Food Service:
pasta ( egg noodles, bowties, penne,seashells)
assorted frozen veggies (peas, green beans, broccoli)
chicken soup base
au jus base
eggrolls
BJ's Wholesale Club:
ground beef/meatloaf mix
whole pork loin
pork tenderloin
roasting chicken
short ribs
london broil
dried cranberries
milk
Aldi:
eggs
chips
oatmeal
sour cream
cottage cheese
yogurt
cheeses
canned creamed corn
canned diced tomatoes
steak sauce
coffee creamer
dried cherries
elbow macaroni
spaghetti
boneless skinless chicken breasts
chicken strips
potatoes
celery
carrots
mushrooms
onions
salad items
fruit (apples? oranges? grapefruit?)

Nonfood Items:
trash bags
storage bags
toothpaste
shampoo
fabric softener
cleanser
carpet deodorizer
toilet paper
paper towels

February Menus

  I have finally finished up my menu plans for February. We have several special events coming up for which I do not need to have a dinner plan in place. We have one wedding, one 50th anniversary party, a Super Bowl party, and a Night at the Races fundraiser all in February. I am sure we will also attend at least one Fish Fry at my school but I made up dinner menus for all Fridays just in case we decide not to. Even after doing the Pantry Challenge this month I still have quite a bit of meat and fish in the deep freezer and a lot of canned goods on the shelves. I took this into account when coming up with these menus. I will do a shopping list based on the menus as well as taking a look at what needs restocking in the pantry and what we need to have on hand for breakfast and weekend lunches.
New recipes that I am going to try out are in bold. Recipes using planned over ingredients have an * next to them.

February Dinner Menus:

1. Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad

2. Apple brined pork chops, twice baked potatoes, carrots

3. Super Bowl Party

4. Chicken and Corn Chowder, sweet potato biscuits

5. Asian Broiled Salmon, Coconut Rice, peas

6. Herbed Eye of Round, white and wild rice, country style Brussels sprouts

7: Dinner Date Night: Apple Cinnamon Pork Tenderloin, oven roasted parmesan potatoes, salad

8. Casserole of Beef and Potatoes*, glazed carrots

9: Anniversary Party

10.  Roasted Chicken,   au gratin potatoes, Harvard Beets

11.  Minestrone Soup, Italian herb rolls

12. Chicken Creole, white rice, salad

13. Mom’s Baked Macaroni & Cheese, broccoli with lemon and herbs

14: Valentine’s Day: Dinner Date Night

15.  Penne Pasta with Tuna and Sun Dried Tomatoes

16. Wedding

17. Hawaiian style short ribs, steamed white rice, green beans

18: Pasta Au Pistou, salad, garlic bread

19 Horseradish encrusted tilapia, baked potatoes, broccoli

20: Chicken and Wild Rice soup* homemade Hawaiian rolls

21 Dinner Date Night: Chicken Scallopini Italiano, garlic parmesan orzo, salad

22 Tuna Noodle Casserole, green beans almondine

23: Night at the Races raffle

24: Herb Roasted Loin of Pork with Potatoes, roasted carrots and parsnips

25 Crab cakes, noodles Romanov, broccoli with garlic and herbs

26 Pork fried rice*, eggrolls

27 Philly Steak stuffed peppers, homemade fries

28 Dinner Date Night: Coffee rubbed London broil, scalloped potatoes, green beans

Financial week in review: 1/20-1/26

It was another expensive week although I did have some extra expenses I also did manage to finish both my federal and state income tax forms and efile the state and have my federal ready to go on the 30th. Healthy returns in both cases means I can meet a couple of financial goals I have set for myself.
Here are this week's expenditures:
1/20: $0

1/21: $20 for bowling; $14.49 at Alesci's (a small Italian import store) for white balsamic vinegar, pizza dough, white pizza dough sauce, rotini salad; $30.84 at local craft store for crocheting supplies for a pashmina project

1/22: $28.53 on Amazon for birthday gift for my nephew

1/23: $0

1/24: $ 20.50 for chinese food

1/25: $0

1/26: $34.56 at BJs for birthday party supplies (two large bags romaine lettuce, large container grape tomatoes) and laundry detergent
$18.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond for Keurig coffee and an eco-friendly travel cup so I can drink coffee on the way to work
$44.87 at Target for gift bag, tissue paper, birthday card, bow, Estroven nighttime, and soda pop for the birthday party

Total Expenses this week: $212.78; only $14.49 from my regular food budget though since the birthday party supplies fall into the 'party' category and the $20.50 for chinese come under dining out.

What a week....

This has been one long cold week. Monday was a school holiday that I'd originally planned on spending doing all things domestic. A death in the extended family put an end to those plans. Life happens and the morning was spent saying our farewells. Dinner was Chicken Paprikash soup made from Sunday's roasted chicken and totally off the menu plans.  Temperatures dropped into the single digits and snow hit us hard overnight and Tuesday became a Snow Day! I did a few of the domestic things I had planned, baking a batch of Coconut Crisp cookies, catching up laundry, and having lunch with my oldest son and his wife since they were both home as well. At it was bowling night  as well and I decided to ignore my menu again and do a homemade white pizza for dinner, simple and quick and it used up the rest of a container of grape tomatoes that were starting to look wrinkled. Wednesday temps were still frigid and we woke up here to a lot of falling snow. However schools were in session so off to school for the kids and off to work for me. A two hour long white knuckle commute as it turned out. Scary but when I finally reached my destination it was to find that they had no snow and the sun was shining. Just us folks along Lake Erie who got blessed this time.
A change in routine on Wednesday and the GF and I had dinner date night and went out to dinner for a change.
Last night was totally off the menu plans yet again (I see a pattern developing here) and sons and I indulged in some of our favorite Chinese takeout, getting the family dinner and spending $20.50 from my entertainment budget.
Temperatures are slowing inching their way up the thermometer and we should top out at a balmy 19!! And it is back on the menu plan finally with dinner being Pomegranate glazed Cornish game hens, white and wild rice pilaf, and garlicky green beans.

Weekend Happenings

Although we are anticipating a blast of arctic air out of Canada in the next couple of days we had a lovely spring like day yesterday with highs in the mid 50s. 
It was a nice quiet Saturday (i.e. no social obligations), a few chores got done, gentleman friend took us out  to Chipotle for lunch, we ran some errands and since it was getting late we picked up an already roasted chicken for dinner.  I love to roast my own chicken (usually way bigger than the done ones and far less expensive too) but these are a nice convenient option and far healthier than fast food would be.
Scrounging around in GF's pantry cupboard and fridge I came up with 3/4 of a bag of kluski noodles (that I cooked and buttered then seasoned with salt and pepper) and the fixins for 'Hawaiian' coleslaw for sides.
The coleslaw is simply a mixture of shredded cabbage and carrots, Marzetti light slaw dressing  and a well drained can of crushed pineapple .

A really nice dinner if I say so myself and a evening spent talking and watching a little tv together.

I do a cooked breakfast on Sunday mornings and GF had some organic bacon in the freezer which I popped into the electric skillet and cooked up. He also had several slices of a loaf of bread that needed to be used before it was too late so I whipped up some beaten egg & milk with a pinch of sugar and cinnamon in it and made french toast to go along with the bacon. Coffee rounded out the meal.
Once breakfast was out of the way I took the remains of the roast chicken, added onion, garlic, celery, carrots, parsley and a bit of marjoram and put it in the slow cooker covering it all with water.
It will cook on high until the evening. GF had a death in the family so we will be heading to the wake at the funeral home this afternoon and then plan on joining other family members for an early dinner out somewhere.
The stock I am making will be put into the fridge where after tomorrow's funeral service I will skim off the fat bring it to a boil, add more carrots and egg noodles and serve it for a late lunch. GF will also have the leftovers for one of his weeknight meals.

Financial Week in Review 1/13-1/19

.This week not quite as frugal as last week. We needed some cleaning supplies, the SUV needed feeding, I picked up a couple of useful household items, we needed fresh produce, and I returned to my weekly bowling league on Tuesday. In addition I paid all of the remaining monthly bills with the exception of my cell phone bill (I am on a family plan with an older sister and I pay her...this will get done next weekend).

Sunday: $39 to fill up the SUV with gas (although I did buy gas at the cheapest station around here at $3.10 a gallon); $30.91 at BJ's for Smart balance spread,furniture polish, and dishwasher detergent; $26.14 at Target for Murphy's Oil soap, Lysol kitchen cleaner, & a heart patterned apron to wear for work next month (I also used a $25 gift card I got for Christmas to get two more throw pillows for the living room and a set of 3 heart shaped springform pans). $9.99 at Bed, Bath and Beyond for a boot/shoe holder for by the side door (this will cut down on the number of times I need to mop the kitchen floor since we can remove boots/shoes and stick them in the holder to dry out).
Total out of pocket expenditures for my expensive Sunday: $106.04 (totally paid for from my twice monthly cleaning job with cash leftover for weekly bowling expense and trip to the Farmer's Market).

Monday: $0

Tuesday: Bowling $36 (this was for two weeks, even though the sub bowled last week I still had to pay) Farmer's Market: $28.02

Wednesday: $0

Thursday: $0

Friday: Electric bill :$104.95 (and still an estimated amount even after I complained to customer service, I will be braving the weather and reading my own meter from now on)
 Internet bill: $47.07 (seems like everytime I turn around this bill has been increased with some fee, I shopped around but to change would mean an initial outlay of $150 to purchase a modem. We are already on the 'slowest' plan there is with Time Warner. I will be keeping an eye out for deals that would mean a significant savings even with a modem purchase, so far nothing has appeared).
Loan Payment : $170.15. I requested a payout amount since I finished my taxes yesterday and have a healthy return due to me. Once those funds are in my account I will pay off this loan and pay an entire year of my property taxes which actually decreased this year! The additional $170 I will then have from not having this obligation will go into the savings account.

Saturday: $0

Total expenditures:
Gas: $39
Food: $34.02 ($5.99 for smart balance plus Farmer's Market run)..total food expenditure this month is around $101...very happy with that!
Household items (health/beauty/cleaning/papergoods): $61.05
Bowling: $36
Monthly bills: $322.17

Even with all that I had 4 'free' days with no expenditures at all!!

Looking forward to the next week I anticipate spending $103.00 on my cell phone (a ridiculous amount given the number of better plans but I'm stuck in the contract until December when changes will be made), about $25 on a birthday gift for one of my nephews, $50 to youngest daughter as my half of the cost of her trip to DC with church youth group,  $50 to youngest son for his birthday gift (he is saving for driver's ed), another $70 to purchase salad ingredients, ice cream and pop as my contibution to the joint nephew/youngest son birthday party next week, and I have to give middle sister my portion of the costs for surprise 50th anniversary party for oldest sister in February since total bill needs to be paid by Feb. 1st :$75 (since gentleman friend insisted on paying for both our meals plus youngest son and daughter's meals...sis and I are splitting the anniversary couple's costs and I am picking up the cost for another daughter who is going through a very tough financial period).  I do clean next weekend though so that cash will easily cover the birthday party expenses and most of the cost of anniversary party. Once again that twice a month cleaning gig is such a blessing.



           

Off the Menu plan: Quiche

Yesterday was one of those super busy days that happen once in a while. Not only  did I put in a full day at work I had almost three hours of work to do at  home so that next month's lunch packets would be ready to go home today in the backpack mail. In addition both the teens were gone, daughter to work, son to a band rehearsal for an upcoming concert, and middle son was working late. Nothing appealed to me on my menu plan either. After debating my options I settled on making a small  crustless quiche (also known as a timbale) and chose caramelized onions and spinach for fillings. Thanks to blogger for continuing to not let me upload photos from my computer so I will do the best I can here with some generic internet ones.

In a medium skillet I sauteed two sweet onions in some smart balance until they were a nice caramel color. I got out my small stoneware baker from Pampered Chef and added the onions.
 . In a medium sized bowl I beat 6 eggs with about 1/4 cup of milk, added a pinch of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of chervil, and a grinding of black pepper. Then I shredded a block of New York sharp cheddar I'd bought at Aldi and ran some hot water over a cup of frozen spinach to defrost it quickly. Both of these items I added to the egg mixture. I poured the entire thing over the onions and mixed it well.
I baked the 'quiche' in a pan filled with hot water in a 350 oven for 45 minutes until it was set and cooked through.
It was quite delicious and enough dinner for myself and middle son who reheated the leftovers!

Farmer's Market and Soup's On!

Today is going to be a busy day and I have to head back out to my bowling league tonight  so I combined two of my favorite cooking styles together to make dinner prep easier; I dragged out my crockpot, reviewed my menu plans, and decided on soup for dinner. Tonight it is going to be Mediterranean Lentil Soup which I will serve with homemade Honey Wheat rolls.
After dropping my youngest daughter at the high school (son is down with what may be the flu) I returned home to get that soup in the crockpot and eat my daily bowl of oatmeal before heading out to my own job.
On my way home from work I stopped at the Farmer's Market for a few things. I am doing the pantry challenge as much as possible but we were just about out of fresh produce and I needed to restock. I spent $28.02 and bought a small bunch of fresh parsley, a small bunch of fresh basil (both needed for the vinaigrette added at the end of the soup's cooking time), an 8 lb bag of navel oranges, a bunch of bananas, 6 turnips, a cabbage, a large eggplant (needed for a new soup recipe I'm trying next week), three red bell peppers, a bunch of celery, 2 lbs. carrots, 1 lb. baby carrots, a container of sun dried tomatoes, and a jar of locally produced cherry jam. Next weekend I will need to pick up laundry detergent and fabric softener as well as items needed for my youngest son's birthday party but this should complete all the regular food shopping I need to do this month. Along with the soup I'd planned on some homemade honey wheat rolls but had 8 Italian dinner rolls leftover from lunch service that I could not reheat and use again so I brought them home to have with the soup!
 Mediterranean Lentil Soup (Easy Home Cooking cookbooklet)
2 tbl. oil
1 large onion, diced
1 stalk celery, chopped (we like more celery so I used three)
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used 2 14.5 oz cans)
1 1/2 cup dried lentils (soaked for 1 hour, drained and rinsed, I never do this step)
1 tbl. tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
6 cups beef broth
(I add some freshly ground pepper as well)
In a medium skillet heat oil, add celery, onion, garlic and cook for 5 minutes to soften them up. Add to a slow cooker along with tomatoes, lentil, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves and beef broth. Set crockpot to low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. OR you can skip the veggie sauteing and the soaking of the lentils and cook on low 8 1/2 hours or on high 4 1/2 hours until the lentils are tender. I usually do the 8 1/2 s on low.
Vinaigrette:
3/4 cup packed fresh basil
2 tbl. chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbl. red wine vinegar ( I prefer to use a white balsamic in my soup)
Combine vinaigrette ingredients in a blender or food processor (I use my little bullet) until smooth. Stir into soup just before serving.

Sunday Eats

With my adult middle son and youngest daughter both working and youngest son spending time with the girlfriend it was a nice Sunday with the just the gentleman friend. Instead of going out to breakfast which we used to do at least three times a month I made us a traditional cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.
 My estimate of the cost of this meal for two people was $3.56 ( 6 eggs bought at $1.09 per dozen, one package of organic bacon, $3.33 and four slices of bread bought at $1.39 for a 12 slice loaf), I didn't count the cost of the pot of coffee we shared since if we'd gone out coffee is included in the breakfast price at the little local diner we enjoy. We still saved more than half the cost of eating out since this same meal plus tip for two of us at the diner runs just under $10.
We ran errands (BJs, Target, gas station) and did eat lunch out, my gentleman friend picked up the tab for two apple pecan chicken salads and drinks at Wendy's.

I've been doing a big meat meal each Sunday this month but since it was only the two of us for dinner my gentleman friend suggested I make the two steaks from his freezer so I grabbed those as well as a box of scalloped potatoes he had on hand and salad fixins from his fridge and put together a nice meal for the two of us.
A little bit of tv watching and then it was time to grab youngest daughter from her job and head home.

Financial Week in Review

It is time for my financial week in review and this was a good one!

Sunday: $0 (our expected trip to BJs cost me nothing since I forgot to pick up milk for home and I used a gift card in conjuction with fuel perks earned at a local store to fill up my SUV with gas for the week)

Monday: BJs $32.93 for milk, ice cream, produce

Tuesday: $0

Wednesday: $0

Thursday: $0

Friday: $0 (my adult middle son actually deposited money into my account for his car insurance and the directv bill which we have agreed he will pay each month instead of rent)

Saturday: $0 (and I earned money through my twice a month cleaning gig yesterday!)

All in all this week turned out to have been mighty frugal.

Planned overs: Corned Beef Hash

Having a small amount of corned beef from Monday night's dinner lingering in the refrigerator and realizing it was just myself and youngest son for dinner I decided tonight was the perfect time to dig out one of my favorite cookbooks, The Plan Ahead Cookbook: 300 Delictable Ways to Use Leftovers by Ceil  Dyer and make corned beef hash.

My first step was to heat a mixture of smart balance and oil in my large fry pan and saute some chopped onions   I chopped up the leftover corned beef , add this and a bag of frozen hash browns, some beef broth, worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper and let the hash cook about 10 minutes until it was good and crispy on one side. I served the hash with a simple side of pickles. Simple and filling.

Single Supper

Yesterday was another one of those evenings when I found myself alone at dinner time. Middle son was working his part time job immediately after his full time job, youngest daughter also was working, and youngest son was invited to join the girlfriend at her home for dinner (and brought home a container of blueberry muffins her mom baked for him, they are such nice folks).
I wasn't really in the mood for a full meal and having both salad ingredients and the makings of pizza bagels on hand I went ahead and made myself a pizza bagel with pepperoni and a salad. A few months ago I would've run out and grabbed something from Wendy's or eaten at the bowling alley since Tuesday is my normal bowling night. It felt good to just put together a quick and simple supper for myself and not spend any extra cash doing it.

Small Shopping and last night's dinner

Yesterday was my first day back to work from a two week vacation and I  have to confess I was more than ready to get back in the saddle. Wanting to be more organized this year (a goal I have set for myself) I made a list of things to accomplish after the workday. On my list were a stop at the farmer's market and a run to BJs for the organic milk I intended to buy Saturday but never did.  I found out however as I pulled into their parking lot that the farmer's market is closed until January 14th, the owners taking a two week vacation themselves. So off to BJ's I went. I figured I could get the produce I wanted there just as easily. I spent a grand total of $32.93 and came home with a gallon of organic 1% milk (and was pleasantly surprised to see the price had dropped to $6.49 from $7), a half gallon of Breyer's Vanilla ice cream, 1/2gallon of organic orange-peach-mango juice, 2 lbs lemons, 5lbs. sweet onions, 8 lbs. red grapefruit and 5 lbs. clementines. Lots of vitamin rich citrus products to help me fight the lingering cold!
Dinner was a minor change from my menu plan. I'd intended to do a new recipe for a curried vegetable soup from yet another new Gooseberry Patch cookbook I was gifted with at Christmas but with the market closed and no eggplant to be found at BJs I will push this back a couple of weeks. Instead I reviewed my menu plans and chose to get a corned beef from Aldi out of the freezer and cook that instead. Not having any cabbage in the house for the side dish I had planned on I went ahead and just did simple buttered egg noodles and then a fresh salad. I had romaine lettuce, carrots and grape tomatoes all on hand and needing to use up the lettuce before it went bad I opted for this.

Sunday Supper: Roast Beef

Yesterday was one of my favorite types of Sundays, a long, slow, lazy kind of day with not a lot of things needing to be accomplished beyond laundry and making sure meals were prepared. My gentleman friend and I even found time to take a Sunday drive together, one of our favorite hobbies, just meandering along the back roads with good music on the radio and good conversation.
Dinners this month are going to be 'big meat' meals, with planned overs used for at least one or two more meals during the week. Yesterday we had a roast beef. I browned an eye of round roast on the stove,


seasoned it with McCormack's Montreal seasoning blend and parsley and put it in the crockpot on low.

Dinner was at the gentleman friend's house and he had a box of au gratin potatoes tucked in the pantry that he requested with the roast. I also wanted to try a new to us recipe that I'd come across on pinterest for roasted mushrooms with balsamic vinegar, garlic, oil, butter, and parsley.   These were our side dishes.  The planned over roast will make a nice meal for the gentleman friend tonight as well as the basis for the stroganoff I have planned for Dinner Date Night this week!

Financial week in review: Expenditures

Stealing a really good idea to review weekly what I have spent each day from my friend Carol at CT on a budget!
Here is what my week looked like:

Sunday: $0
Monday: $0 ( I spent the evening at the Casino with my gentleman friend and his brother and sisterinlaw but he insisted on picking up the tab not only for dinner but even for my slot machine play! What a guy!! So I came home with the money I was allowing myself for this treat still in my purse)
Tuesday: $45 for gas to fill my SUV, $6 for dog treats at Petco, $7.99 at Office Max for a 2013 dayplanner for my purse and a spiral notebook to use for inventory purposes at home.
Wednesday: $47.86 at craft store for baskets, lamp, and nightlite; $99.96 directly debited for DirectTV ( a definite indulgence but one my middle son pays for so I will be getting a deposit from him to cover this when he gets paid, my out of pocket on this will ultimately be $0)
Thursday : $0
Friday: $622 Mortgage; $524 car loan; $131 car insurance (both mine and middle son's since two teens don't drive yet.$67 homeowner's insurance, $110 natural gas bill (not bad since it covers heat, hot water, and stove)
Saturday: I plan on spending $7 for a gallon of organic milk at BJ's today. I prefer to pay the extra for organic for three reasons 1. No hormones or antibiotics 2. We use only a gallon a month these days on average since teens refuse to eat cold cereal or drink much milk so I can afford the extra for organic and 3. This milk lasts on average about forever. Seriously. I have to yet to have any go bad on me no matter how far past the date on it.

Total weekly expenditures before bill paying: $113.85
Total Bill paying expenditures:$1553.96

* Just a footnote to add that I never made it to BJs on Saturday and didn't spend the expected $7 for milk. My new expenditure total for the week excluding bill paying is now $ 99.85

Frugal Friday

Yesterday was quite the rollercoaster. I started out feeling really good about my financial picture. I've cut down on expenses, have a plan in place, and am meeting my goals more or less. I spent a good couple of days getting some necessary chores around the house done  and holiday decorations packed away. While I indulged in a small amount of expenditure for some storage and lighting items I felt my budget could afford that. I had money in the bank for the big bills that were due and Friday was payday but when I went to check my bank account my direct deposit was no where to be found.  A couple of phone calls to the bank and then to work and I was handed the bad news. Work lost my time card so I wasn't getting paid. I verbally gave the office manager my hours for the last time period but she said the best she could do was add these hours to my next paycheck. <sigh>  This means waiting two more weeks. <sigh> On the upside I still had money in the bank to cover the big bills that were due (mortgage, car payments, insurances, tv, and gas bills), I have plenty of food in the house, my car was just filled on Wednesday, I have a small amount in the bank after bill paying, and I can look forward to earning some cash next week at my cleaning job and my middle son will be paying in his rent/insurance money to me next Friday. I spent about five minutes boohooing to myself before I decided things could be a lot bleaker and at least when I do get paid in two weeks it will be a nice sum of money. Things like my light bill, my internet bill, and my loan payment aren't due until then anyway. I was just planning on getting them out of the way early. So unless we have a major disaster (knock on wood) we will be ok. My gentleman friend was nice enough to say that if any disasters occur I can turn to him. It is nice to be offered the safety net but I am determined to be able to stand on my own two feet.
I brushed myself off and paid those bills then finished undecorating the Christmas tree and getting ready for it to be hauled out to the tree lawn. Then I made myself a nice frugal breakfast, using the planned over rice from Thursday's night dinner and adding a small amount of sugar, milk, and cinnamon I popped it all in the microwave to warm up and voila I had my mom's breakfast rice!
On a happier note I had dinner plans well in hand intending to try out a new recipe from a new Gooseberry Patch cookbook I received for Christmas,  for Hobo Stew. Dinner turned out to be just myself and my gentleman friend at his house. And I am happy to say it was a hit. I tweaked the recipe by adding some Italian seasoning to the meatball portion and a can of corn to the  whole thing to make it a bit heartier . My gentleman friend and I agreed that this is a keeper!

Hobo Stew
Jessica Minor, Lawrence KS
Gooseberry Patch's Slow Cooking All Year Round
1 lb. ground beef
1 1/2 t salt, divided
1/2 t pepper, divided
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 c. ketchup
1 c. water
1 T. vinegar
1/2 t. dried basil
(I added one can corn, drained and 1 tsp. Italian seasoning)
In a bowl combine ground beef, half the salt and pepper (and Italian seasoning) and mix well. Shape into one inch balls and in a skillet over medium heat brown on all sides ( I put mine on a baking sheet and into a 350 oven for 20 minutes to brown); drain. Place potatoes, carrots, onion (and corn) in a slow cooker; top with meatballs. In a small bowl combine ketchup, water, vinegar, basil and remaining salt and pepper and pour over meatballs. Cover and cook on high setting for 4-5 hours, until meatballs are cooked through and vegetables are tender. Serves 6 ( we got four helpings and two more leftover for lunch).

Table for one!

Last night was one of those dinner situations that crop up occasionally around here where the plan goes by the wayside. Generally Thursday's are dinner date night and the kids do a make your own night. This week though because the holiday was on a Tuesday my gentleman friend and I chose to skip our regular Thursday night together. After all we'll be together at the weekend anyway.
Just as I was contemplating getting the pork cubes I'd planned on using out of the freezer for the kids and I my two teens called to ask if it was ok if they each had dinner with their respective boyfriend/girlfriend. I saw no reason to say no, I knew both sets of parents will make sure homework is completed and the kids returned at a reasonable hour for a school night.
That left my middle son who told me not to worry about dinner for him, he thought he'd grab something out with friends.
Well ok. Table for one it is. Digging around in the freezer I came up with one lonely eye of round steak, I grabbed some jasmine rice from the cupboard and the fresh spinach, grape tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella from the fridge. I put together a salad using the spinach, tomatoes and cheese and topped it with Garlic Expressions dressing. I steamed the rice with a little smart balance and since I was making rice anyway I doubled the amount and put the remainder in the fridge for a special breakfast treat for the morning. I seasoned the steak with Montreal steak blend and cooked it in the stove top grill pan.
Delicious and made totally from ingredients on hand!

A new broom

Intending to use the last remaining days of my vacation wisely I chose to dedicate today to cleaning the house and doing laundry. I began by tossing the couch slipcovers into the washer. I am also laundering all of the polar fleece throw blankets as well as catching up the laundry in the hamper. I will be hanging up as much clothing as possible on hangers from the basement ceiling and using the dryer for the blankets, towels, and slipcovers only. My next assignment was cleaning out the refrigerator in preparation for January shopping. I am ashamed to say I had to toss out more things than I care to. We really need to tighten up in this area.
One of my favorite books is Home Comforts:The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendolson  and in this book she advocates cleaning 'wet' areas first and then dry ones. Keeping this in mind I began with the kitchen. A good number of years ago I worked for a house cleaning service (I am one of those rare people who actually enjoy cleaning) and followed a speed cleaning regimen that began with picking the area  to the immediate left of the entrance to a room,working top to bottom and in a clockwise fashion. I cleaned counters, cabinet fronts, appliances, windowsills, and door frames following this method. Then using a swiffer mop I dusted down the walls and caught up a couple of cobwebs near the ceiling, then I swept and mopped my floor (once a month I do a knees on the floor scrubbing but this was done just before the holidays). Kitchen done. I followed the same system cleaning our one working bathroom and then made my way into the upstairs hallway, staircase, living and dining rooms. The 'dry' areas.
Bedrooms are taken care of by the individual whose room it is and since mine is the unheated attic space of our house and our current temperature is hovering just below 20 degrees I declared it clean enough. I love the fresh smelling cleanliness of my home and the feeling that it is all ready for the coming year.
I was about halfway done when my teen daughter arrived home from school (she is on a half day schedule for her senior year) and after chatting a bit we decided on homemade pizza bagels for lunch. I had a bag of plain bagels that I topped with jarred pizza sauce, dabs of fresh mozzarella, some chopped fresh spinach and a few slices of pepperoni. Placed these on a baking sheet and popped them into the oven for about 15 minutes. Fresh clementine slices and hot tea rounded out our meal.