September Menus: The Long and the Short of It

I am taking full advantage of having the long weekend starting out with putting together my menus for September before we are off to have a fun day at the Great Geauga County Fair .
 It has been a good number of years since I have worked such long hours and the work week of 10 1/2 days has me pretty exhausted by the time I need to deal with dinner and chores around the house. I know that this situation will improve with time. I know myself and once I've settled into a routine these hours won't be such a big deal. But for now I'm relying on organization skills and a strict schedule. And gel inserts for my shoes because boy my feet are hurting. LOL. On the upside the tops of my feet are rocking an amazing farmer's tan from playground duty.
So I have my menus all set. During the work week I chose either quick cooking (under 30 minutes) or slow cooker ideas with quick sides. I have a new Fall Gooseberry Patch cookbook, Hometown Harvest, and I am trying a new recipe out of it as well as a couple new recipes from Pampered Chef's 29 Minutes to Dinner, volume 1. We have an anniversary party and a family reunion coming up this month as well as football/marching band each Friday night so I did not plan menus for those days. I will make a dish to share for both the party and the reunion but I have not decided on what at this time.  I won't be able to get to the grocery store until after I get my first full paycheck on the 13th( shopping on a Saturday is going to be interesting since I have not done that in about 30 years).  The first half of the month's menus are based on things still in the pantry and freezer. I will have to buy milk this weekend but that is the only thing we really need immediately. I also moved a few recipe ideas from August (the roast turkey I never made & some planned over ideas) to the beginning of September as well. Recipes using planned overs have are in bold, new recipes I am trying have an *, main dishes using items already on hand are in italics.

Roast Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn

Moroccan Lamb chops, couscous, peas

Turkey Burritos, Spanish rice

Spaghetti with marinara sauce, garlic toast, salad

Turkey ala King, steamed rice, green beans

Vermont Maple Chicken, white and wild rice, Brussels sprouts

Pumpkin pancakes with homemade cinnamon syrup, bacon

Beef stew with country vegetables, homemade Hawaiian rolls

Shrimp orzo skillet, salad

Broiled pork chops, baked potatoes, Harvard beets

Herb encrusted Eye of round, mashed potatoes, carrots

Ham Steak and Apple skillet, Scottish skillet potatoes, green beans

Pan Fried Polenta with Vegetable Marinara sauce*, garlic toast

Beef stroganoff over egg noodles, broccoli with garlic and herbs

Garam Masala salmon*, basmati rice, cucumber salad

Cranberry Pork Roast*, winter roasted vegetables

Sausage and Apple supper, spaetzle, green beans

Chicken Piccata, creamy parmesan rice, broccoli

Horseradish encrusted tilapia, mashed sweet potatoes, peas

Gremolata steaks*, noodles romanoff, capri blend veggies

Tuna and Sun Dried Tomato Penne, garlic toast

Hawaiian Short Ribs, jasmine rice, salad

Tomato-basil chicken sausages with carmelized onions and peppers, Parmesan oven fries

Getting a Grip on Dinner

 The new working hours have required a tweak to my dinner preparation routines. I no longer have time to do a lot of prep when I get home from work so I have depended on the crockpot and quick cooking ideas so far.
On Monday I used my crockpot, seasoning and putting a brisket on a bed of sliced onion and worcestershire sauce and programming the cooker so that it would be done when I reached home. A couple of quick sides and we ate about 30 minutes after I reached home.
Tuesday my college age daughter L took some chicken breasts out of the freezer to defrost for me. I seasoned these up with some Penzey's Bicentennial Rub and then grilled them. White and wild rice and corn were quickly put together.
Last night I went with an idea from my menu plans, taking planned over brisket and combining it with cooked egg noodles and brown gravy to make beef and noodles. Daughter M stopped by with a couple of summer squash from her garden so I sliced and sauteed these in garlic butter for a side. Once again dinner in under 30 minutes.
Tonight is dinner date night and Friday is the first high school football game of the school year. Youngest son H is in the band so this will be a weekly event here. GF and I will eat at the game as we did last year. GF has agreed to join a Thursday night bowling league so beginning next week I will be at home making dinner.
I think I am slowly getting a grip on this new schedule. Over the weekend I will grab a pile of slow cooker and quick cooking cookbooks and put together menus for September!

Restructuring my budget

 I got some very good news on Monday at work. Not only was I approved for a longer day doing my cafeteria job I was also hired on as an aftercare assistant. This means working 7:45 a.m. until 6:15-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Long hours but with my youngest son being a high school senior and our death benefits ending when he graduates I needed to be organized, look ahead, and get a job to help make up that upcoming deficit in income. I am thrilled to have found something that will still allow me some evening hours at home as well as free weekends. And no commute from my school job anywhere else. The drawback is no income in the summer months but I will be saving towards that and also keeping an eye out for summer employment. I will continue with my twice monthly cleaning job as well.
I have decided to begin saving as if I didn't have the benefit income still coming in. I will take my combined salary from both school jobs and figure out what it would be if spread over 12 months putting the extra in the savings. This will easily give us what we need to live on next summer. I also hope to put a bit more in towards building up my savings account for a rainy day fund.
My SUV is going to need new tires. GF says this really cannot wait until the end of October when I will have that money saved up. He has offered to pay for them and let me pay him back when I have the funds. I've agreed to that since he is insistent that the tires need replacing immediately.
Our day to day operations will continue to be austere through September. I really need to get that tire money all set. I hate borrowing but appreciate his offer to do this, I am determined to pay him back a.s.a.p. I will continue to 'shop' in my pantry but by mid September when my first full paycheck will roll in I will need to restock the freezer. Cash in hand from my cleaning job will fill the SUV and get some fresh produce. I will continue to hang laundry either outside or in the basement as long as the weather holds.
These measures should see us through.

Catching up and Financial review 8/18-8/24

It has been a busy week. I worked both my school job and my cleaning job on Thursday in order to have money to take a little weekend trip. On Friday after work I headed up to northwest Pennsylvania to visit with an old friend who has a summer home there. We had a wonderful evening and she came back home with me on Saturday. On Sunday my youngest grandson was baptized and then GF and I took my friend back to her summer house and drove home all in one day. It was exhausting but so very worth it.
Financially this has been a good week:
Sunday 8/18: $0
Monday 8/19: $0
Tuesday 8/20:$12.63 at the Farmer's Market
Wednesday 8/21: $0
Thursday 8/22:$0
Friday 8/23:$ 32.63 on gas for SUV
Saturday 8/24:$0

Not Your Normal Ratatouille

It was our last day before students arrived and as the last two have been it was a shortened day. A tech seminar, some paperwork, and making sure my food and milk deliveries were safely stowed away and it was time to come home.
In keeping with my austere August theme before I left the house this morning I had a breakfast of greek yogurt and coffee then washed a load of laundry and got it out on the clothesline, emptied the dishwasher, started another load of laundry in the washer, and decided on what was going to be for dinner. Having the veggies for grilled ratatouille on hand from my farmer's market trip on Monday I settled on that. When I arrived home I had a lunch of carrot sticks and hummus and a bread and butter sandwich on homemade bread. I'd been fighting a headache all morning and didn't feel like much more than that. After lunch I hung out the second load of laundry and helped teen son sign up for the ACTs. Then I sat down with a cool towel and relaxed for a couple of hours to try to get rid of the headache.
Once I started feeling better it was time to prep for dinner. This is a different way to prepare the vegetable stew that I quite enjoy. I peeled and cut up eggplant, cut up zucchini, an onion, a red bell pepper, and a large tomato. Then I mixed up a marinade of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and basil. I put the marinade and the veggies in a large bowl,gave them a good toss, covered and let sit for about an hour.

 

I like to serve this over linguine so I started a big pot of water and got the veggies out on the preheated grill in a grill pan:

 

Once the pasta was cooked and drained I dressed it with a bit of smart balance spread and some balsamic vinegar:

 

I tossed the grilled vegetables with the marinade before serving it on a bed of linguine. Yum.

 

 

 

$15

I made the trek into work this morning expecting my food delivery to be waiting for me to put it away and the office to be open. Well no one in the office which was locked up tight. So much for putting menus in teacher mailboxes and picking up whatever lunch packets came back. Down into the kitchen and no food. <sigh> I got on the phone with customer service and discovered for whatever reason we are farther down the delivery list than we were last year. I explained that this was ok for today but once school was in session we need to have the slot we had last year so that deliveries can be safely made when there are no students outside in the way. Of course the customer service rep couldn't tell me when the food would arrive. I wasn't going to sit there all day waiting so I hunted down the maintenance guys and they agreed to keep an eye out for the truck and to direct the delivery man where to roll the perishables and I left the walk in cooler/freezer unlocked and ready.
I really need to find my rep's business card and speak to him about this situation.
So since I was off work early and really needed to get my hair trimmed (last haircut my stylist left it too long and it is after only two weeks looking shaggy) I called my daughter K who has a natural gift for this kind of thing. She said to swing by and she'd give me a trim and I could get some cuddle time in with the grandsons. I did so and my hair looks great. I think I may work out a deal with K to do my hair all the time.
Needing some fresh produce to get through the remainder of the month I also swung by the farmer's market. I had $15 in my wallet and was determined to get what I needed for what I had in cash.
$12.63 later I came home with everything on my list:

10 pounds of russet potatoes (with a reminder to myself to buy these at Aldi where they are far cheaper) $3.99, one head of cabbage (.39¢ per pound), two Ohio grown tomatoes ($1.39 per pound), two Ohio grown zucchini ($1.29 per pound), one large eggplant ($1.29 per pound), and two red bell peppers ($1.19 per pound).

 

And I have just enough cash to pick up a can of fabric/upholstery cleaner I need!

Easing back into work mode

  Yesterday morning was my first day back to work. I didn't have to work an entire day and actually had less paperwork to get done than I expected to have. I did have a meeting with the business manager and there is going to be an exciting change to my job. Instead of having an assistant I am getting more hours and will be doing everything myself. My previous assistant quit suddenly last week after getting another job offer. The business manager and I agreed that if I feel too overwhelmed she will start to look for an assistant but if I can handle it all the change will stay. Personally I did both jobs last year several times when the assistant didn't come in or left early or came in late. I'm pretty confident with the extra time I can get this done. AND this means a much needed injection of income into the bank!!
Also another part-time job with the aftercare group is up for grabs. The pay rate is darned good (better than the rate of pay at Aldi where I dropped off an application on Sunday) and the hours are good too (4 per day M-F so no weekend hours which also makes it more attractive than Aldi). Other pluses are that the job begins shortly after my regular one ends AND I don't have to spend money on gas to get there. I'm already there!  I checked with the business manager to see if she'd have a problem with me going for this position and she did not so I emailed the director and am waiting to hear back. The drawback to this is that once again it is only during the school year. It will mean an overhaul to the household budget and a strict savings plan. But that shouldn't be a problem and I always have the option to picking up a 'summer' job.
We shall see what happens and in the meantime I am keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed!
I was only in to work until noon so I came home and did some minor chores as well as watched a couple shows I'd dvr'd from Sunday night.
Dinner was only myself and adult son J. When a package of two eye round steaks slipped out of the deep freezer and hit my foot I knew what the two of us were having. :-)  Grilled steaks and corn. Simple, quick, and delicious!

Sunday Supper: Pork and Noodles

  Once again on the subject of using things up before I head back home I pulled out the bag of leftover cooked pork roast from Thursday's dinner

 and reviewed my menu plans for the month. I knew GF didn't have any noodles on hand but he did have pork gravy mix. He needed to run an errand and agreed we'd stop at the local Aldi and he would purchase not only egg noodles but also mushrooms for the planned pork and noodles. 
After getting the water on for the noodles I melted some smart balance in a skillet, added the sliced mushrooms and some chopped onion to sauté:

In a small saucepan I put together three cups of pork gravy with a healthy helping of black pepper:

Once the gravy thickened up I added it to the mushrooms and threw in a nice helping of shredded up pork roast:

 

I drained the egg noodles:

 

Then in the large pan I cooked the noodles in I added in the pork and gravy mixture and gave it a good stir. Along with some canned green beans from GF's pantry this was dinner:

GF told me it was an excellent meal. That makes me happy, happy, happy.

 

Use it up Sunday

  This being the last day  of GF's vacation week and my summer break it was a day to transition back into 'work' routine for us. I spent the greater part of my time this week at GF's house with the kids going back and forth. Since I will be going back to my own home I took a look at the odds and ends in GF's refrigerator and pantry. He is not a cook but is happy to eat any planned overs I leave behind for him. There were a few things I knew he wouldn't touch so I thought about ways to use these up.
We had a container of leftover slub glub from Friday nights' dinner.

  This became today's lunch for GF while I finished off an open container of cottage cheese. GF can't stand the stuff so I knew he'd never eat it.

We also had some bananas whose shelf life was in question. 

These I turned into banana nut muffins.

 

I also caught up the laundry and knowing I would need  to take lunches with me to work this week I baked a large loaf of bread using my new 2 pound loaf pan!

 

 

 

Financial Roundup: Week of 8/11-8/17

  Well this week turned out to be a very inexpensive one for me. To be completely honest this is because GF was on vacation and he paid for all of our events. We did do a couple of things that were totally free (zoo, water park) due to memberships but most of the fun stuff meant money spent in some way.  As for my expenses I paid the electric bill this week and had some money come into my account from adult son (his car insurance & direct tv payments plus extra for the electric bill towards the A/C he runs in his room). I am back to work tomorrow and am really looking forward to that first paycheck on the 30th even though it will only be for 4 days.
Here is how the stay-cation week broke down for me:

Sunday 8/11: $0...GF filled up my SUV since we decided we'd be using this vehicle most of the week, lunch and dinner at his house

Monday 8/12: $0..spent day at GF's house, ate lunch & dinner at his house

Tuesday 8/13: $0 trip to zoo with membership, GF paid for lunch; paid electric bill ($86.25)

Wednesday8/14: $55 and some odd change at Lehman's Hardware, $15 at thrift store, $15 at 'antique' mall on our Amish country day trip, GF paid for gas, lunch and dinner out

Thursday 8/15: $0 ...took another one tank ride, GF paid for lunch, dinner at his house

Friday 8/16: $0 took youngest son on college tour GF paid for lunch, dinner at his house

Saturday 8/17:$0 went to water park using membership and packed a lunch; went to festival and GF bought dinner

What has been for dinner...

  This being our stay-cation week not a lot of cooking has been going on at home. We've eaten lunch out just about every day and dinner out twice. I have done some cooking however. Monday we actually had lunch at home due to the Direct TV installer being here. It was grilled cheese sandwiches.
As for dinners this week:

Sunday we had Grilled pork chops, grilled rosemary baby red potatoes, corn on the cob
Tuesday I made Arroz Con Pollo ( chicken and rice) from planned over cooked chicken & homemade chicken stock I'd frozen. This is a one dish meal so no sides,  dessert was slices of watermelon.
Thursday I did a crockpot pork roast with stuffing and more corn on the cob.
Last night was what we call slub-glub. Most people call it Johnny Marzetti or 'goulash'. I took out hamburger patties from the freezer and after they defrosted I chopped them up, browned these in a skillet while cooking elbow macaroni, added chopped onion, garlic, paprika, the cooked macaroni and two cans of tomato sauce. Green beans on the side and dinner was ready.

Today we plan on a trip to the Water Park since it warmed up enough to do this. We will be packing lunches. Dinner will be eaten at the big Feast of the Assumption festival in Cleveland's Little Italy area. I am very much looking forward to this!

One Little Phone call....

  can make a big difference! While checking email last night I noticed that my Direct TV statement had arrived. Even though I have direct debit on this bill I still like to read over the details each month. I knew the teens had 'rented' a movie so the bill should be $4 higher than normal. Imagine my surprise when the bill was $15 higher. I looked it over carefully and quickly determined that one of the 'credits' that was normally applied each month was missing.
A quick phone call to the customer service department was made. I explained to the rep that I was surprised to see an increase in my bill and that if this was indeed the new amount I was going to have to seriously consider switching providers if they could not work with me to lower that number. At that amount it was going to be very difficult if not impossible to continue on with them. And I have noticed several other satellite companies with extremely tempting new customer offers. She was very apologetic about not having any promotions that would be able to lower my bill but suggested I talk to someone in customer retention. I agreed.
The customer retention rep had no trouble with lowering my bill (I'm thinking that this is standard, the first person tries to get the customer to accept the higher amount but when they threaten to leave passes them on to someone who actually helps them). He not only restored the $10 a month credit (for direct debit payment) I was receiving and he also "found" me a $7 a month credit promotion with 3 free months of Starz as well. Now we aren't big movie watchers on TV but even after I cancel the Starz (which I will do before the $39.99 monthly charge kicks in) I will continue to receive the $7 a month credit. I didn't mention this to the rep but after the first month GF has Direct TV as a new customer I will also begin receiving another $10 a month credit for referring him to their company so my bill will go down even more! We really enjoy TV viewing and this is our main form of entertainment through out the year but it is also necessary to be firm about how much of my annual budget gets spent on this.
There was a time I would have just accepted the increase in my bill and adjusted my budget accordingly but now I've gotten smarter about this. Most TV companies will work with the customer to lower their charges in order to keep them. There is a lot of competition out there for our TV watching dollars and this is something we can all take advantage of if we are willing to make one little phone call.

Our One Tank Trip in Ohio

 As previously reported this is our 'stay-cation' week with the GF being on vacation from work all week and this being my last week of break before returning to work. We have packed the week full. Monday GF had to make a few pickups for work even though he is on vacation and I spent the day waiting and watching the satellite tv installer working at GF's house. Tuesday even though the weather was chilly and damp in the morning we took youngest son and went to the zoo. We were there for 7 hours and except for 30 minutes spent eating lunch walking the entire time ! GF hadn't been to the zoo since he was a child so it was quite an experience for him to see how awesome it has become.  Wednesday was our one tank trip day! We headed off for central Ohio with our goal to visit Lehman's hardware (www.lehmans.com) and a local thrift store a customer of GFs had told him about. It is a nice hour drive to Lehman's and while it felt more like October than August it was sunny and the ride was pleasant. We spent 3 hours at Lehman's. The place is enormous and we had lunch in their café (I had Amish Vegetable soup, GF had a hot dog with cheese and bacon on it). This store has just about anything and everything non electric that you can imagine. GF was amazed that they will even bend wrought iron to your specifications. He spent some time talking pellet stoves with a salesman while I browsed the wood burning stoves . I particularly liked all of the antiques that decorate the store. I did spend a little money, $55.62 and came home with some bread supplies, a 2 pound loaf pan (to replace one that got ruined), a bag of oat flour, some reusable bread storage bags, a clay bread keeper for my bread box (helps bread stay soft and fresh longer), and a couple of books, one of which is a cookbook (imagine that) of recipes from the 20s, 30s, and 40s and the other an autobiographical account of a couple's life on a Vermont farm in the 1930s. I look forward to reading both.

 

Our next stop was a short ride from Lehman's a local thrift store. It was an interesting place with not only 'regular' clothing but also 'plain' clothing for the Amish, household goods, books etc. I spent $15 and came home with a couple of blouses I can wear for work and 8 of a 10 book set of anthologies of children's literature that I had as a child. At 50¢ a book I was excited to pick these up for my grandchildren's future pleasure!

 We then headed farther south on some hilly, windy two lane country roads that took us within touching distance of many Amish farms. We enjoyed the peace of the surroundings as we proceeded at a leisurely pace many times behind Amish buggies and wagons. I particularly enjoyed the site of laundry drying on the clotheslines and children playing in the yards. We really didn't have much of a goal with this ride and when we came upon a local cheese house we stopped in at Heini's Cheese Chalet (www.heinis.com). You can watch them make cheese (sadly they weren't making any that day), buy all kinds of food products and browse their gift shop. GF bought some swiss, Amish butter cheese, teriyaki smoked meat sticks, trail bologna, and caraway swiss cheese. Some other tourists were talking about a local Amish antique mall about 20 minutes from there so we made that our next stop. http://www.amishfarmvillage.com/shoping/berlin_antique_mall.php More two lane country roads got us there. I spent another $15 and was really excited to pick up two framed Currier and Ives prints similar to four unframed ones I inherited from my parents. This really inspires me to frame the ones I have and get them all hung up on the living room wall. I also picked up another cookbook.

 

GF is a big fan of Andreas furniture (http://www.andreasfurniture.com/) and wanted to do a bit of browsing since we really weren't that far away so we took yet another nice ride over there. After browsing a bit we stopped at Beachy's Country Chalet Restaurant (http://www.allmenus.com/oh/sugar-creek/141160-beachys-country-chalet/menu/) for dinner, choosing the Amish family style option with fried chicken. The food was fabulous. Since we'd had such fun driving the back roads once we got down to central Ohio we decided to consult a map and take all back roads back home to GF's house. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

 

 

Final Week of Summer break and a staycation week!

  I am going into this final week of break with the intention of making this last week fun and frugal. As he generally does GF has also taken this week of vacation from his job so we can enjoy together.
Today has been one of those gentle Sundays where we basically  just enjoy being together. We still have college age daughter and friend with us but they are doing their own thing (movie watching, bike riding etc.). GF and I got out of the house and took a nice little ride to a small picturesque community near us called Chagrin Falls.  Falls. My family has a little history in this town, my parents first home after they married was here, my dad's father and brother lived and worked here, as did one of my dad's cousins. It still  has an old fashioned small town Main street area and a beautiful walkway along the side of the Chagrin river falls.  My daughter K had told me about the local farmer's market that is here on Sundays so GF and I thought we'd give it a try. All the vendors were local and all the food/flowers etc. sold were grown right here in northeast Ohio. GF bought peaches, sweet corn, tomatoes and a cantaloupe. I purchased a pint of enormous blackberries.
Our next stop wasn't as homey but more frugal, BJ's wholesale club. GF needed some essentials, milk, eggs, smart balance, new red potatoes, a pork loin, bananas, and some chips and salsa. Our final stop was the local grocery store where GF got bread, a red bell pepper, Arizona ice teas, beer, bacon, lettuce, peanut butter,  Miracle Whip, a small watermelon, plums, grapes, & string cheese and I bought 5 lbs. of bread flour for his house.  Lunch when we reached home was BLTs and grapes.
The GF and I sat down and reviewed how he could save some money each month on his tv costs. He currently has Time Warner cable and can't even watch CBS due to their dispute. He is pretty fed up with how much money this has cost him each month anyway. I suggested he check out Direct TV which I have. He reviewed their special offers, chose one, used my account as a referral, went with direct debit billing and saved himself $20 off the introductory price each month for two years as well as saving me $10 off my bill each month for the next year!
He is currently doing some 'work' out in the garage which is going to yield some money tomorrow that will be our fun money for the rest of the vacation week.
Dinner tonight is going to be totally off the menu plans but incorporate several things we bought today. I cut up the pork loin ($18.67) into 10 chops and a small roast and put most of this in his tiny freezer. I kept out 6 thick cut pork chops and I will season these simply with some McCormack Smokehouse Maple rub and grill them. Alongside the chops I will use my grill pan (from the chicken last week) and grill the new potatoes that I will toss in oil, sea salt, pepper and rosemary. The last side will be corn on the cob.
I spent a few quiet and peaceful minutes on the back patio in the shade in a cushioned rocker shucking the sweet corn we purchased this morning (while doing so I got see an enormous doe standing in the trees behind GF's yard). This corn was so fresh it was sticky from the juices as I shucked it. My mouth is watering just thinking about how good this is going to be with dinner.
Our evening plan is to load those girls into the car and take a leisurely country drive ending with some frozen yogurt at the brand new Menchies that just opened up near GF's house. A couple hours with the History channel (Mountain Men and IRT) will close our day.
Plans this week include GF doing a bit of business tomorrow that will pay off in money to spend the rest of the week while I wait at his house for Direct TV to come and get him all installed. I still cannot believe they had a slot open for tomorrow.
Tuesday weather permitting is our zoo day using my membership and packing a lunch.
Wednesday GF and I are having a 'just us' day taking a one tank trip down to Holmes county's Amish area and visiting the famous Lehman's Hardware.
Thursday going to the Water Park with kids as well as oldest son and DIL.
Friday we are joining youngest son's girlfriend and her mom on a campus tour of Cleveland State University. Youngest son H is wasting no time in looking at colleges since he will be a senior this year.
The vacation will wind down with the final festival of the year next Saturday (the big Feast of the Assumption Festival in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood) and a quiet Sunday spent at home preparing to go back to work.

Financial Roundup: 8/4-8/10

By posting and being accountable for my spending this week I have managed to stick to my frugal goals for the month of August. Very little money went out the door this week. I anticipate the same for the coming week since GF is on vacation. I generally bring food with me for weekends but since we will be together the entire week he has done some spending today on food. But that will be another posting.
As for myself:

 8/4: $0

 8/5: did the grocery shopping, spent $88.32 on food and $5.22 on household items.

8/6: $5 on movies, saw The Wolverine

8/7: $0

8/8: $0

8/9: $0

8/10: $0

I can easily get used to these $0 days. I have one last week of summer break left and then it is back to work. However I won't see a paycheck (and it will be a short one) until the end of the month. Adult son has yet to pay in for his insurance and the tv. I will remind him this week since I will need to have gas to get to and from work the remainder of the month. Most of the money I earned on the 9th will go to pay my cell phone bill (4 months left on this contract and then it will be time to change) and we still have the electric bill to pay.

Austere Weekend: Days 9 & 10

  We rolled into the weekend and my GF began what is going to be a budget friendly 'staycation'. Lots of plans for this week, most of them at no or very little cost! I actually earned money on Friday, doing my bi weekly cleaning job at GF's company that morning, then relaxed for a couple of hours that afternood before picking up college age daughter and a friend of hers to come and stay with us over the weekend. GF treated us all to dinner out at Chili's and GF and I were budget minded and got the $10 steak dinner special.
Saturday GF rans some errands (oil change, haircut, bank) while I baked two 9x13 pans of brownies (one plain, one with walnuts) for a graduation/birthday party for GF's youngest nephew we were attending that evening. We also had a 21st birthday party for one of my nieces so once his errands were run we took the girls and went to Target for cards then GF treated us to Chipotle for lunch. We had a very nice time at both parties. And since we'd used my vehicle all weekend and plan on using it quite a bit this coming week GF filled it up once again!

Roll on Austerity August: Day 8: A new look

  Continuing to keep a tight rein on finances as I went through day 8 of August. I had received a mandatory notice from my water company that they were installing a new meter reading system and needed access to my inside meter (we already have an outside meter that they read remotely) so yesterday was the day I scheduled for that visit. No charge to me for this so that is good.
While 'waiting' for the meter company to arrive I cleaned house. Gave the kitchen, dining room, living room, stairs, upstairs hallway and bathroom a good deep clean. I also decided to do a little rearranging in the kitchen. My kitchen is small, small , small but wide with an attached table 'nook' area. The far end of the nook is a bow window, the wall to the left of the window has my pot rack on it with pots hanging from it, and the wall to the right of the window has some pictures etc. In the right hand corner by the window I have a small 'French door' wood pantry cabinet on which my tv sits. In the lefthand corner is the large bin of dog food.
I have a vintage enamel kitchen table with four spindle back wood chairs (this picture taken before I got the cabinet).

The area is so crowded you can't get four people seated comfortably there. After pondering the situation awhile I decided to eliminate two of the chairs. I have a vintage wood drop leaf table on my front porch with flowerpots on it, I relocated the two wooden chairs outside next to the table. It makes a cute 'country' tableau. Inside I moved around the table. It has two leaves that slide out and I decided to slide one of them back under the table creating a slightly smaller, more square shape. I centered this in front of the window and put the chairs to either side. I brought out a cotton red checked tablecloth for the table and centered a painted wooden tray in the center of the table. Vintage printed cushions on the wooden chairs that had been lingering in my linen closet completed the look. I'd like to relocate the dog food to the basement to free up a little more room in this area but with the recent flooding I am reluctant to do this. Now this doesn't sound like a big change but it sure did create the illusion of more space and it look inviting and cozy. This will be a pleasant place to sit and watch tv or be on the laptop once cooler weather arrives.
Keeping along with the frugal theme of my day breakfast was coffee and yogurt. Lunch was a grilled cheese sandwich on home baked bread and koolaide. Once the meter company left I gathered my things together and headed out to the GF's house to let out his dog and then to his place of business. We had major league baseball tickets and were joining friends for the game. Dollar Dog Night meant dinner was $1 hot dogs at the game!

Austerity August Days 6 & 7

  Days 6 & 7 are going well. Yesterday was $5 movie day and youngest son H and his girlfriend M joined me for The Wolverine. I love me some Hugh Jackman so this was worth every single penny of the $5 I spent. And the movie wasn't bad either.
Breakfast was fruited yogurt and coffee and lunch was leftover butter crumb noodles and broccoli from Monday's dinner. In addition to going to the movies I weeded the brick patio out back and cut back the ivy growing along its sides,  baked a loaf of bread, hung laundry on the clothesline, helped college age daughter with her first textbook order, and let the kids treat me to a pizza dinner. Youngest son H works at a local pizza place and gets a 50% discount and college daughter was so delighted by the price of her books that she offered to go halves with him on buying dinner. Pepperoni pizza and cheesy bread it was. Yummy.

This morning I spent a couple of hours working on lunch packets for school that needed to be assembled and taken in for mailing. It was nice to see my principal and it feels good to have gotten some work done in preparation for the coming school year. I also sent in my first food order via the computer at home.
I did a load of laundry but the storms moving through our area this morning meant I hung everything up either on hangers or over a saw horse that is in the basement to dry. Breakfast was toast made with home baked bread and coffee, lunch was a PBJ on home baked bread and koolaide. I had a pleasant afternoon while it rained watching a dvd of Red I checked out from the library. I also discovered while surfing the guide that my satellite tv provider has changed how one watches On Demand programming. Good to know since sometimes I forget to dvr a show I'd like to see. And it is included in the package I have at no extra charge.
It appears that dinner is just going to be myself and possibly adult son J. Youngest son H took our zoo membership and went with his girlfriend there and college age daughter is once again having dinner with the boyfriend and his family.
I am thinking I am going to be putting together some homemade marinara sauce with baby bella mushrooms and serving it over penne pasta for dinner. 
This evening's plans are to watch the baseball game on tv while reading a library book. Multitasking!

Another special gift

I was the delighted recipient of yet another very special gift yesterday, August 6th,  when my eldest stepdaughter J delivered her very first child. Welcome to the world Miss Josephine Grace (Josie). She is absolutely beautiful and I know her grandpa is smiling down from heaven on her and her mom. Miss Josie made her appearance in time to help her oldest cousin Miss S celebrate her 14th birthday. Birthday buddies!! We are all so very blessed.

Austerity August: Day 5

  Day 5 went well. As reported I grocery shopped and stayed well within my budget.

Other than that I spent no additional money. I spent a delightful half hour watching grandson J have his swim lesson and highly enjoyed his company and his chatter while doing some necessary shopping. I also had a very pleasant lunch out, treated by my  daughter ( J's mommy) and an old high school friend of hers I haven't seen in ages.

I got the reward of watching my youngest son H being so responsible with his money at the bank, making sure he put 25% of his paycheck in his savings account (without any reminder from Mom), even though it was an odd amount of money, lol. And he made me smile when he complimented the homemade bread too!!

I brought home the chicken carcass from yesterday's dinner and have it in my slow cooker making a rich and delicious stock for the freezer. Update: Here is what I got from my chicken, enough chicken for two dinners and several containers of stock:

Breakfast was just coffee, I needed to get on the road early to pick up grandson.

Lunch was my free Chipotle.

Dinner is about to be tilapia picata (slightly different than the recipe I had in mind on the menu plan), parmesan noodles, and steamed broccoli. It looks like I will be dining alone. H is eating at the mall with his girlfriend, college daughter L is eating at boyfriend's house, and adult son J is working late.

I plan to spend my evening watching some tv and/or finishing up yet another library book! And before bed I am trying out an idea for baking bread. I am mixing up the bread and then putting the covered bowl in the refrigerator for the dough to rise overnight. In the morning I hope to bring it to room temperature, punch it down and finish it off. If this works I will follow this plan when I go back to work.

August Grocery shopping & a product review

 Well today was grocery shopping day. I set myself an August budget of $125 and I went through a large portion of that today. I had hoped to spend under $100 and met that goal, spending $88.32 ::happy dance:: I also have a $75 dollar household nonfood budget but knew I only needed two items and so could keep that this month to under $20. I spent $5.22!
I had my little grandson J along with me for a couple of stops and then my youngest son H went along for the Aldi run. Speaking of youngest son H I was pleasantly surprised when he told me he prefers the homemade bread over store bought even though he isn't very good at slicing it. LOL.  I told him from now on I'll slice the entire loaf before wrapping it up.

J and I made our first stop at GFS. I spent $15.47 and brought home a 25 lb. sack of bread flour ($8.99), a 2.5 lb. bag frozen peas ($3.49..these have gone up in price since last month), and a 2.5 lb. bag frozen peas and carrots ($2.99...wondering why if the peas have carrots along for the ride they are cheaper..do carrots lower the property value?).

Our next quickie stop was at BJ's wholesale club. I spent $16.28 and picked up a 12 pck. carton of Chobani fruit yogurt at $11.79. They also carry Oikos at the same price but I quickly discovered the difference. Oikos is only 5.25 ounces and Chobani is 6 ounces..Oikos was the same exact price for 12 as the Chobani ..making the Oikos 18¢ per ounce and the Chobani 16¢ per ounce. My decision was made. Aldi also carries greek fruit yogurt and I have tried that since it is slightly less money per 6 oz. container. However the Aldi yogurt left a strange chalky feel in my mouth that was not at all pleasant. Made me wonder if it had been bulked up with some type of dry milk powder. Since I generally have a yogurt every morning for breakfast while working and I will be back to work shortly I opted for the Chobani.
I also purchased a 5 lb. bag of vidalia onions for $4.49.

J and I made a side trip to his swim lessons and once they were over we stopped at a local 'full service' grocery store, Giant Eagle. I normally wouldn't shop there but they had bottled water on sale ($2.79 for a 12 pck of 8 oz bottles) that I want for trips to the zoo and waterpark as well as the koolaide packets I wanted (flavors not found at Aldi 10 packets = $2.00) and the carpet deodorizer I needed (also on sale for $2.79). I spent $7.48 plus tax. $4.79 from the food budget, $2.79 from the nonfood household budget.

After meeting up with J's mom and having lunch (her treat since I watched J all morning while she was at a doctor appointment with the new baby) I picked up youngest son H and after he took care of some banking we were off to Aldi.
I spent a total of $51.52; $49.09 on food (plus tax on 2 items) and $1.99 (plus tax) on nonfood household items when I purchased a box of gallon sized ziplock bags (for storing bread).
Foodwise I came home with:
Sundae Cones ($1.99)
Ice cream bars ($1.99)
Creamsicle bars ($1.99)
a half gallon of vanilla bean ice cream ($2.69)
64 oz. apple juice ($1.39)
64 oz. 100% grape juice ($2.69)
64 oz. 100% mixed berry juice ($2.49)
2 lb. elbow macaroni ($1.69)
64 oz. 100% cranberry juice ($2.69)
54. oz. ruby red grapefruit juice cocktail ($1.89) (now a taxable item in Ohio)
1 bunch celery ($1.49)
1 pint light sour cream ($.1.29)
1 pint blueberries (89¢)
3 lbs. bananas ($1.14)
1 quart lowfat cottage cheese ($2.29)
2 pcks. hard salami ($2.79 each)
1 gallon Arizona green tea ($2.69) (also taxable)
1 dozen eggs ($1.19)
4 lbs. sugar ($2.09) I do better at the wholesale club..will remember this for next time
1 container old fashioned oats ($2.29)
And then we bought the month's worth of junk food. This is all we will buy and when it is gone it is gone.
1 bag cheese puffs (99¢)
1 bag Tortilla chips ($1.79)
1 bag nacho cheese 'doritos' ($1.19)
1 bag ranch 'doritos' ($1.19)
1 bag bbq chips ($1.49)

Austerity August Day 4 & Beer Can Chicken

Having another $0 day here!! Spent the greatest portion of the day doing laundry for the GF and washing his kitchen/laundry room floor in exchange for a full tank of gas in the SUV. Bartering!! I am also deep into a murder mystery that I am highly enjoying.
Breakfast was coffee and the giant cinnamon rolls GF bought at the fair yesterday. He had to go into work for a few hours this morning and then help out a brother with something so I've been hanging out with the dog and finishing up my end of the barter bargain as well as watching the Indians on tv and reading.
Lunch was leftover spaetzle and cabbage from Friday night's dinner .
I have dinner all prepped for the two of us. Keeping my goal of using up what is on hand I brought along a roasting chicken from my house and Beer Can chicken is what's for dinner.
 Last year I purchased a grill roasting pan/beer can chicken set from Pampered Chef.   I've used the grill pan part numerous times but this will be my first time using the 'beer can' insert. I am seasoning up the roasting chicken with McCormack's Applewood seasoning blend that GF has in the cupboard. I plan on loosening the skin of the chicken and slipping half the seasoning under the skin. The rest will be dusted over the outside of the bird and in the cavity. GF doesn't have any beer in cans on hand but I saved an empty pop can and will pour in some bottled beer from the fridge.
The can goes into the insert and the seasoned chicken goes over the whole thing. I will cook this using indirect heat (GF's gas grill has an infrared heater on the back of it just for this type of cooking) the chicken will 'roast' for about 1-1 1/4 hours.
GF has boxed au gratin potatoes and canned corn in the cupboard which I will make to go along with the chicken.
Dessert is defrosting on the counter, a cherry strudel from the freezer. And our after dinner plan is to go for a short Sunday night drive, listening to some good music, talking, and just enjoying being together.

Financial Roundup: 7/28-8/3

  Here is the financial picture for the last week of July/first week of August.
I cleaned at both my regular bi-monthly office cleaning job and my bi monthly house cleaning job , the income from both of these plus a small amount out of savings paid for daughter's fall tuition that wasn't covered by  her excellent financial aide package.  I transferred the remaining money for summer costs from my savings into my checking and paid mortgage, car payment, insurances, and utilities (except for electric which isn't due till mid month and cell phone which will be paid with money from upcoming cleaning ).
Other than these expected and mandatory expenses here is how the week went:

7/28: $0

7/29: $0

7/30:$ 5 on movies; $12 on haircut for youngest son

7/31:$65 on eating out to celebrate youngest daughter's acceptance into school and her tuition being paid. This was an outing we'd planned ahead of time.

8/1: $0

8/2: $28 on haircut (includes tip) for myself

8/3: $0

Even with the eating out expenditure I am extremely happy with this week. Four days out of seven were ZERO dollar days. The haircuts were necessary expenses. While not necessary the eating out and the movies were entertainment expenses that I'd already counted on. The movie money and half the dinner money came from cash in my wallet instead of money in my checking, leaving that money for bills, groceries, and gas. I did very little driving so did not need to fuel up the SUV this week. All this bolsters up my belief that I can definitely get through August on an extremely slim budget.