September Financial Report

 The first thing I can say about September is that it felt good to once again see money coming in in a significant way. The longer work hours are a blessing in this way although I am STILL getting used to having a lot less free time for myself.

In short all of the bills got paid this month, I was able to spend quite a bit on restocking the freezer while grocery shopping, I had some maintenance/repair work done on the SUV, and I was able to get not only some items on my list of home improvement/decorating but also a few replacement items for old clothing that I could not use any longer. In addition I paid back a small loan ($200) from oldest son to help college age daughter with two unforeseen expenses in the text book department.

At a total expenditure of $439.77 I am $89.77 over my budgeted amount for food of $350. I am not going to beat myself up about this since I was way under that amount during the summer months. It will all even up by the end of the year.

I did spend a large amount $211.54 on household goods. This included cleaning/paper/health & beauty as well as home improvement items however.

I filled up the SUV this month to the tune of $187.71 so I came in $13.71 under budget there.

$89.32 was spent on maintenance/repair this month. This amount is going to way higher in October when I put four new tires on the SUV. It has to be done though and I am sticking amounts for this away from paychecks in September.

$34.99 was spent in total on work clothing for myself. Son's Homecoming clothes will come out of the October budget.
And I did spend a completely unnecessary $120 on Pampered Chef. Since it will be several months if not a year before another party comes along I figure this balances out to about $12 a month. :-)

Update: I hit that sale at Kohl's and got youngest son a nice cherry red dress shirt and a matching red/black/gray Jerry Garcia tie both on sale, total cost $45 and some change for his Homecoming Dance (date is wearing a black dress with cherry red shoes),with his black suit he will cut a dashing figure. I also picked up three pairs of cotton twill slacks for myself for work. I am upgrading my look since I not only work in the kitchen all day I am now working aftercare and hence meeting and greeting parents when they pick up the kids. I need to look a little nicer than the jeans and cotton tshirts from Target I have been sporting under my apron. The t-shirts I bought yesterday at Target are the 'dressy' kind in a nice fabric with a dressier look to them. Paired with "boyfriend" cardigans and these twill pants my look will still be practical for cooking but also nicer for being 'front of the house' so to speak.

Saturday Shopping

Yesterday I got out and did some serious shopping for both work and home. I went to a local craft store and spent $35.53. Of that only $9.74 was personal. I picked up some suction cup hooks, some fall pot holders, and a ceramic turkey decoration for home. The remainder I spent for work and will be reimbursed. I picked up some assorted plastic animals for aftercare and some fall decorations for the cafeteria. My next stop was Target where I spent about $75. $25 of this was on sponges for the school cafeteria and another $6 was for mesh bags to wash the aftercare legos in. The rest $44, was on work clothes for myself ( I got four t-shirts, two long sleeved, two short sleeved), a bag of goldfish crackers, and a container of white cheddar seasoning for popcorn.
After GF returned home from his half day of work we went out to BJ's. I spent $63.15. I brought home a case of Arizona green teas that I will take into work for my own use, a large bottle of Mrs Dash seasoning for the cafeteria for $4.99 that I will be reimbursed for, a pumpkin scented jar candle, a pumpkin themed candle topper, a pumpkin spice car air freshener, a dozen apple cider donuts, and a case of Hershey bars that I will hand out at Halloween.
Our final stop was Home Depot where I spent $110. 17 on home improvement items. I picked up 7 new glass globes for my dining room chandelier and the two wall sconces by the living room fireplace. The two globes originally in the living room both got broken and three out of the five dining room globes were severely cracked. This light fixture is 20 years old so I didn't feel too bad having to purchase new globes for it. I also purchased a new hanging light for my front porch ceiling. The current light is almost 30 years old and looking pretty rough. I am still plugging along at a curb appeal update on the exterior of the house and this is something I've been planning on doing. Adult son will switch out the fixtures. (My plan also includes a small 3 foot high white picket fence in front of the walkway leading to the porch as well as new shutters on both the first floor and second floor windows facing the road). I purchased a can of 'gap filler' for adult son to use in closing up a smallish hole we noticed at the top of the foundation at the back of the house. We suspect this is how our  re-occurring mice issue begins. And I picked up a 3x5 foot red area rug for under the kitchen table. The floor of the 'nook' area where the table is only has a crawlspace area beneath it instead of basement and it gets quite cold in the fall and winter months. The rug will help keep our feet warm when we sit there.
I still have a couple of small items I intend to purchase today. The local Kohls is having a sale and I have a 10% off coupon for use this weekend that I will utilize. I intend to get a new fall tablecloth for the kitchen table, a dress shirt and tie for youngest son to wear to the Homecoming Dance, and hopefully a polar fleece leaf themed throw blanket for the living room love seat to match the one I purchased last year for the couch.
An expense end to the month but since it was mostly for household items we needed and work clothes to replace old shirts I had to recreate into cleaning rags I can't complain too much. I am just thankful that I am back to work and can get these things taken care of. And I will be getting back about $61.75 of what I spent from work.

Bonus Day

Friday was a teacher in service at the school I work at which meant a bonus day off for me! There was no question of doing anything like sleeping in since youngest son still had to get to school so Mom still had to wake him up and get him there. I had a plan though and it worked out well. After returning from taking son to school I got to work myself on October dinner menus.
Once those were complete I turned to cleaning house. Three hours of work and I had the main floor totally cleaned, the box fans stowed away in the basement for next year's warm weather season, and a few items of fall decorating out (table linens, pot holders, kitchen towels). I had to run out for some fabric cleaner for the couches and stop by oldest son's house to drop off a few things to him. Once I was back home I cleaned both couches in the living room with the fabric cleaner. Then I packed up and headed out to GF's house for the weekend. Football and watching youngest son march rounded out what was a terrific day for me. Since the staff is required to do four of these in service days this school year I look forward to next month's bonus day!

October Dinner Menus

 My favorite month of the year is upon us. I love everything about October, the crisp weather, the beautiful fall colors of the leaves on the trees, the taste of locally grown apples, pumpkins and Halloween, and three of my favorite people, my middle stepdaughter H, my oldest son R, and my college age daughter L, all have birthdays this month.
Truly this month is my favorite for menu planning as well. As I mentioned previously I have developed an October menu plan that alternates slow cooking, quick cooking, and weekend meals that yield planned overs. I have also gone heavily with fall themed food ideas, soups, stews, and harvest ingredients like apples, pumpkin, and corn. I am alternating family favorites with some new recipes from my collection of fall themed Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks. New recipes I am trying are in bold, recipes yielding planned overs are underlined, and recipes using planned overs are in italics. Four Fridays are football/marching band nights and one Saturday we are going out to dinner so I did not plan menus for those nights.

Slow cooker Pork Tenderloin, vanilla glazed sweet potatoes, green beans

Horseradish encrusted tilapia, hash browns, broccoli with garlic and herbs

Pork stir fry, steamed rice

Mom's baked pork chops, Au gratin potatoes, Harvard beets

Herb crusted eye of round roast, mashed potatoes, candied carrots

Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas, spanish rice, refried beans

French Dip Sandwiches, Oven fries

Garam Masala Salmon, basmati rice, cucumber salad

"Libby" soup (this is Vegetable soup, I was making this when I went into labor with daughter and it is now known as Libby soup), Hawaiian rolls

Roast chicken with stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce

Shrimp Orzo skillet, salad

Chicken and Noodles, garlic toast

Pumpkin-Sausage Penne, Autumn salad

Mom's Macaroni and cheese, green salad with green goddess dressing

Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad

Garlic Pot Roast, egg noodles, peas

Creamy butternut squash soup, Ham and cheese panini

Skillet lasagna, garlic toast, salad

Herb Garden Chicken, steamed rice, California blend veggies

Beef and Potato casserole, capri blend veggies

Tuna and Sun Dried tomato penne, salad

Apple Glazed Pork Roast, mashed potatoes, green beans

Bacon Corn Chowder, buttermilk biscuits

Country style Ham Au Gratin, spinach salad

Pork and Gravy Stew, crescent rolls

Pumpkin Waffles, hash browns, maple sausages

Dinners The rest of the work week

  I got off to a terrific start with making dinners this week with the slub glub meal. Things went a bit down hill after that. Tuesday night I ended up home alone and decided it would just make sense to reheat some leftover slub glub and go with that.
Wednesday I ended up having to stay late up near work so that I'd be available to give college age daughter a ride home from campus. She'd spent her afternoon volunteering at a local homeless shelter with a group from her school and they weren't getting back until early evening. This left me with an hour to kill. When GF heard I'd be hanging around work that late he picked up Popeye's chicken and we had a nice 'picnic' in my car in the work parking lot. I'm still wondering what the ladies coming to church choir practice thought was going on with us. LOL.
And then last night we once again took advantage of youngest son's work discount. Since I was collecting him from work on the way home from my job I had him order a pizza for dinner. It had been a long week and the $12 we spent was well worth it.
Tuesday starts a new month and I think I have a good plan for meals in place. Alternating slow cooker cooking with quick meals that need little planning during the week and then longer meals that yield planned overs for weeknight use on the weekends.
I am hopeful that I will get a handle on this whole late dinner thing this month.

Quick and Easy and Fast

I decided to go off the menu plans last night and make an old favorite, we call this meal 'slub glub', but it is also referred to as beefaroni, johnny marzetti, or american chop suey.
I stuck a package of ground meat in the fridge before leaving for work to defrost. Once home I quickly browned this off in a large skillet while cooking the elbow macaroni. I added paprika, onion, garlic and salt and pepper to the ground beef. A can of Aldi diced tomatoes and two cans of Hunt's tomato sauce were heated with the ground beef. Cooked elbow macaroni was stirred in at the end. Frozen green beans were steamed int he microwave.  Dinner was ready 25 minutes after I reached home!

Automobile Maintenance

While I was inside baking and having a good old time in the kitchen, GF was out in the garage doing some much needed maintenance on my vehicle.
$70 later and I had an oil change and new rear brake pads. It sure is nice to have someone who can do these things for me. The same services at a garage would be quite a bit more expensive. Next weekend it will be four new tires and all new wiper blades and I will be all set for winter weather.

An Apple A Day

 

While having a divinely domestic Sunday together GF and I grabbed some breakfast at a cute little diner run by a guy GF is friends with and then headed to a local farmer's market. They had several different varieties of locally grown apples on display and I spotted a type I'd never heard of before: The Crimson Crisp. They were giving out samples and after trying this one I knew it was going to be a new favorite. As you can see from the above photo they are a vibrant red in color. When  you bite into them they are firm, crunchy, juicy, and oh so tart. Almost tart enough to make your mouth pucker. Heavenly. These had to be the apples that tempted Adam. They put me in mind of the now nowhere to be found Baldwin apple that my mother always chose for baking. We went home with 18 of these beauties.

Of course my thoughts went directly to what I could create with these luscious lovelies. The first thing of course was to eat two of them. GF loves apples but they don't always love him. The test of whether these would be a good eating apple for him was on. Two hours later and no tummy troubles means we will be buying more. I have already googled the variety and where they are grown in Ohio and found a local orchard that has them. Next Sunday we are taking a little 20 mile ride and getting as many as we can carry.

The next thing I did was to decide what I was going to bake. I'd made a Fall Harvest cake at work on Friday that did not come out. I'd forgotten how hot those ovens run and my poor cake was incinerated on the bottom (hence the Ambrosia salad for the reunion) and I wanted to make another of these. Done. Fifteen minutes later it was in the bundt pan and in the oven.

 

But those red little gems were still calling my name. I peek into GF's pantry and an apple pie was  under way.  I stuck the shortening in the refrigerator to chill along with a bottle of water for the crust. I took 8 of these apples, peeled, cored and sliced them thin, tossed them with cinnamon, sugar, and flour and set aside. Once my shortening and water were very cold I put together the bottom crust and filled the pie dish with the prepared apples.

 

I quickly assembled the dough for the top crust and pulled out the pie crust decorator tool that was in GF's baking cupboard and made a decorative pie top. A sprinkle of sugar over the top crust and this baby was ready for the oven.

 

It is now resting on the counter cooling down so that we can enjoy this after dinner.

 

A week full of dinners

I am STILL getting used to the extended work hours but this week I made a concerted effort to get dinner on the table without going through a drive through window first. That kind of nonsense makes no sense to the health of my wallet or our bodies. Last Sunday I pulled out the GF's crockpot and threw in some kielbasa and sauerkraut and let it simmer while we went about our day.

 

On Monday I got up a few minutes early and put together a beef stew in my own crockpot ready for when we finally arrived home for dinner:

 

 

Tuesday was a quick and easy dinner of cheddar bratwurst, buttered egg noodles and peas. Wednesday was even easier, I combined the leftover stew, noodles, and peas into one dish and called it beef and veggies with noodles (so creative right? LOL) and youngest son and I finished this off.

Thursday was the staff meeting night and college age daughter and I ate at the meeting and then I picked up fast food at Wendy's for youngest son. Adult son took care of his own meal.

Friday was football/marching band night and we had our usual Booster Hot Dog for dinner. And yesterday was my family reunion. It is a potluck dinner and I made an Ambrosia Salad.

Today's dinner is per request of GF: Baked Pork chops with pineapple rum sauce, scalloped potatoes and corn.

This week will follow the last pretty closely in that I plan on using the crockpot, quick meals, and planned overs to get us through.

This week in finances

It is time for my weekly financial update. I had good week once Sunday was done. A Pampered Chef party where I spent a bit too much was my downfall there.
 I  spent some time this week on the phone with Direct Tv discussing an issue with my bill. Last month when I noticed a steep increase in the bill I phoned and managed to get what I thought was a pretty good discount, bringing the bill back down to what it was previously. Because the GF had signed up for the service and used my account as a referral I also knew I'd be getting an additional $10 discount for the next 10 months. So when I took a look at the statement and the bill was once again $24 more I got on the phone. My first attempt to understand this was unsuccessful, the customer service rep I got was very confusing and just kept repeating the same thing over and over (Yes M'am you got those discounts last month this is why your bill is this amount. No if I got discounts the bill would  be the lesser amount not the original higher amount. Yes M'am you got those discounts last month that is why your bill is this amount. ) until I wanted to scream, just as I was about to ask to speak to an account specialist the call got dropped. I decided to let it rest for a couple of days while I cooled off. My next call began just as confusingly. The customer service rep explained that because I'd called after the statement was generated the discounts didn't apply to last month's bill. Although I have direct debit and THEY took out the discounted amount they were now adding that amount to this month's bill because the discounts weren't supposed to start until this month. You see once the statement is generated the amount due cannot be changed but their own direct debit system automatically takes out the lower amount because it has been entered into the system. So since you have no way of knowing if your bill is increasing without receiving a statement and the statement cannot be changed once it is generated even though they will work with you on discounts they still get to screw you once a year. And she could do nothing to help me.  Understand? I politely asked to speak to an account specialist who immediately removed the additional amount on my bill, lowering it to the same amount as last month and once I enquired about the referral discount also added that as well when she saw that it hadn't automatically been added to my account. I then asked if because my statement had been generated with this higher amount and can never be changed would I have the same issue next month with them debiting the lower amount than the statement reads. Now she assured me that it would not. It remains to be seen. It sure pays to read your statements carefully even with direct debit payment.
As for what I spent in cash here is how it breaks down:

Sunday: $18.65 for gas for the SUV; $120 for Pampered Chef items.
Monday :$0
Tuesday: $0
Wednesday: $0
Thursday: $8 for Wendy's for younger son's dinner (college age dd and I had a staff meeting after our aftercare jobs and dinner was provided; adult son worked late and bought his own dinner out)
Friday: $0
Saturday: $17 on ingredients for large Ambrosia Salad I took to Family Reunion picnic

The September Financial Picture 9/1-9/14

 It has been a couple of weeks since I did a financial accountability report. There isn't a whole lot to say except that we continue to be as frugal as possible around here. I am determined to stay on this track despite the additional income we have right now. Building up the savings account with specific goals in mind in first priority (new tires, enough money to live on next summer if I don't find a summer job , a nice emergency fund) with repairs/maintenance to the house and car being second. And I've challenged myself to have more zero dollar days (days where no money is going out for any reason) than days when I spend within the month.

So this is how the financial picture looks so far this month:

9/1: $0

9/2: $0

9/3: paid Direct TV bill, mortgage, car payment, insurances (car & work)

9/4: $59.77 at BJ's wholesale club..bought laundry detergent, fabric softener, yogurt and  milk.

9/5:$0

9/6: $0

9/7:..earned money doing cleaning job..$12 for ingredients needed for dish to take to anniversary party next day; also used cash from cleaning job

9/8$ $48.64 on gas for SUV paid in cash from cleaning job

9/9:$0 ( youngest son treated us to pizza)

9/10:$ 1.39 on Popeye's for dinner

9/11: $0

9/12: $0

9/13: paid utility bills (electric, natural gas, internet): I also deposited half the money needed for 4 new tires on SUV into the savings

9/14: $ 46.54 on gas for SUV; $384 on groceries; $ 11.76 on a kitchen tool; $77.01 total on household cleaner/papergoods/health & beauty items; $10 on clothing

I think this was a pretty good two week period, half the days were zero dollar days with no money going out.

September Grocery Shopping

 With my first full paycheck following a long dry spell over the summer came the opportunity to do some serious restocking of the pantry shelves. Before heading to the stores I spent some time reviewing what we still have on hand. Our dry goods are pretty well stocked, we needed a few items here and there but mostly what we needed to restock was the freezer. We also needed a few fresh produce and dairy items. I took a look at what remains of my September menu plan and made a list then hit the road. I was apprehensive about shopping on a Saturday but with the new job hours I don't have much choice. I got out early and was surprised at how smoothly it went.

My first stop was Gordon Food Service Marketplace (GFS). I deal with GFS on a daily basis in my job and enjoy the top quality products they have available. I went there with the sole purpose of purchasing frozen vegetables, K-cups, and Veggie chips. Once I looked at their sale ad though I quickly made an adjustment and decided to stock up on pastas. They had 2 pound bags of Primo Gusto pastas on sale for $2.99 each. I bought one bag each of linguine, fettucine, farfalle, and penne. I also bought a 2 lb. bag of La Choy frozen stir fry veggies, a 2 lb. bag of mixed veggies, a 2.5 lb. bag of frozen peas, and a 2 lb. bag of frozen cut green beans, a jar of beef base, the large bag of Veggie chips I wanted as well as a large bag of crushed Oreo cookies pieces (I have a recipe in mind for these), a 3 box package of Nantucket blend K-cups, a box of Darjeeling tea, a box of Orange tea, and a box of Cranberry Apple tea, a 2 lb. bag of mixed dried beans for soup, and a #40 scoop for making cookies at the GF's house. I spent a grand total of $93.41 for all of the above (the scoop, $10.99 + 77¢ tax comes out of the household budget under kitchen tools,$81.65 from food budget ).

Next I headed out for BJ's Wholesale Club.   I knew before I even reached the doors this was going to be expensive. I needed a few nonfood household items I was totally out of, dishwasher detergent and paper towels, and another we were going to need desperately if we ran out, toilet paper. I like to buy all of these in bulk so that we have the supply around for a while. We aren't big users of paper towels but it is handy to have them when needed. I got all three of these items as well as a lovely fall colored shirt with long sleeves off the $10 bargain table in addition to my food items. I am slowly adding to my work/social occasion wardrobe. Quite a number of my practical t-shirts are showing signs of wear and tear and with working the aftercare I can't hide behind an apron like I can in my cafeteria position. I need to be presentable to the parents when they pick up their children, so I need to step up my game, clothes-wise. This shirt is the first step towards this.
I also purchased food, focusing mainly on restocking and replacing items we were totally out of. I brought home a 3 jar package of applesauce (mainly for bread baking), a 48 oz. box of cheezits (we were totally out of snacks & kids were complaining, lol), a large bag of bbq chips for GF (his favorite and I like to treat him when I can), 2 bags of chips for kids at home, 10 lbs. sugar, 2 lbs. pecans, a 2 pack of Smart Balance, a 6 pack of Uncle Ben's white and wild rice, a 2 pack of mozzarella & sun dried tomato chicken sausages, a bag of fresh sauerkraut, a case of Chobani fruit flavored greek yogurts (college age daughter has decided she likes these after all so there goes my private yogurt stash, lol), a 3 pack of Johnsonville Maple breakfast sausages, a 4 pack of ham steaks, a large canister of brown gravy mix, a 1 lb bag of shaved mozzarella-romano cheese blend for salads, a large pot roast, a 3lb. package of ground beef (broke down into 3  1 lb. packages as home for freezer), a super large pork loin (cut into chops, a roast, and cubes), a large eye of round (cut into a roast, 4 steaks, and cubes for stew), and a four box combo of Barilla Plus pasta (spaghetti & angel hair). My grand total for all of the above was $248.06 ($10 from clothing budget, $49.41 from household nonfood budget, $188.55 from food budget)
My final stop was Aldi.  I came home with a dozen eggs, 4 slim jims (treats for the kids), 2 containers of their Fit & Active whipped topping (to use in a dessert I am taking to a family reunion picnic next weekend), 3 cans mandarin oranges, 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce, 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 1 can pineapple chunks, 1 bag mini marshmallows (also for the dessert), 1 box pierogies, 1 bottle each of 100% grape juice, 100% cranberry juice, 100% apple juice, cranberry-pomegranate juice, tomato juice, and ruby red grapefruit juice, 2 bottles steak sauce, 1 jar coffee creamer, 1 jar Miracle Whip, 2 cans crescent rolls, 1 box multigrain 'cheerios', 1 bag sweet potato chips, 8 pck of Reese peanut butter cups (a treat for college age daughter on her first full week of working aftercare), 2 bags baby carrots, one bunch celery, 1 block NY sharp cheddar, 1 value pack frozen salmon fillets, 1 value pack frozen tilapia fillets, 1 bag frozen mussels in tomato-garlic sauce, 3 lbs. frozen BLSL chicken breasts, 1 jar honey, 1 bottle Pumpkin spice syrup, 1 bottle Apple butter syrup (both of these were seasonal items that I thought we'd try), 2 boxes granola bars (college age daughter requested these for packing in her backpack), 1 bag shredded mild cheddar, 2 packages kielbasa, 1 bag string cheese, 2 packages cheddar brats, 1 roll breakfast sausage, 1 pint lowfat cottage cheese, 2 packages pudding cups, 1 2 pack romaine lettuce, and one tub of pretzels. Total cost $113.89 all from the food budget.
I spent $384 and some change on food. About $34 over budget. However I was extremely under budget all summer so it will balance out at year's end. I still need some more fresh produce but will get to the farmer's market later in the month.
I also ran two other small errands. I stopped by Lowe's to purchase another box of Damp Rid bags for my basement (I love these, they smell good and they are really solving my basement dampness issue) and to Target for carpet deodorizer and air freshener and the latest issue of Living Simply magazine. I chose the Glade fall scent of Pumpkin Spice for the air freshener and purchased two small candles in the same scent. Lowe's was $9.17 and Target was $18.01
All in all it was a satisfying shopping day.

May I vent?

 I find I really need to take a quick moment to vent about something that seems to be a habit with my internet service provider. Once again they have moved my billing date without notifying me. For the second time in a year. Why? No one in customer service could say. Personally I think it is a scheme to collect late charges from customers who regularly pay on time.
While paying the three utility bills I still had due I got quite the surprise when I went to the TWC website to pay my internet bill. Not only was the bill DOUBLE the normal monthly fee, it was double PLUS $10. I reviewed my payments, double checked to make sure they'd actually removed last month's payment from my checking account (they had), and then got on the phone. I was incensed to learn they'd changed my billing date so I owed for two months worth of internet. And not only that they charged me a late fee of $10 because the bill I thought was current was now overdue.
It was a very unsatisfactory conversation when they refused to remove the late fee and could not give me any explanation for the changes in billing dates. Needless to say I informed them that their sketchy practices were going to mean I am now on the hunt for a new internet provider and that in a very short time they would be losing a customer. I don't mind being charged if I make an error or can't pay on time but this kind of lousy customer service just irritates me. And to make it worse I still have not received the e-bill that should have been sent to me with this new amount, AND when I went to my account page it still only said my balance due was the normal monthly charge. Nothing about a change in billing dates, and only when I went to pay the bill did the larger amount then show up. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Eat, Sleep, Work

  I am still trying to get used to the new longer work hours schedule and to do so without whining. After all three of my aftercare colleagues carry the same schedule that I do and have families to care for as well. But to be honest last night was the first night I didn't feel completely wiped out when I arrived home. My planned schedule for the evenings went totally out the window as well. But there is good news too.
Last weekend was busy, I worked my twice monthly cleaning job then spent a nice afternoon and evening with the GF. Sunday we had an anniversary party to attend that was really fun.
Monday it was back to work but I got some excellent news. My aftercare boss offered my college age daughter a job with the program as well. So L started working with us on Tuesday. She also surprised me by cleaning the whole house Monday before I arrived home. We celebrated her new job and the clean house with a pizza, purchased by youngest son H from his place of employment using his 50% discount. So we continued to be frugal as well.
Tuesday night was hectic. After arriving  home to find youngest son unexpectedly called into work and adult son working both jobs I decided it wasn't worth the little amount of energy I had left to cook. College age daughter L had already been dropped off at her BF's house so I took advantage of the little bit of cash in the wallet and the drive through at Popeye's chicken to pick up their $1.39 2 piece chicken special. I paired it with cottage cheese and a big glass of ice water since we broke record heat levels here that day.
Wednesday night GF came by to pick up an extra washer we had in our basement for his sister. Her machine died and she really did not have funds to replace it. I was happy, happy, happy to gift this machine to her and to free up the space it was using. Daughter K also stopped by to borrow my sewing machine. She is starting a reusable shopping bag project at her house. It was nice to have a short visit with the grandsons. Even after hours spent with 5 year olds. LOL. No cooking Wednesday night since GF thought he'd surprise me with chicken since it continued to be beastly  hot. More Popeyes for dinner. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd just eaten this the night before.
Thursday I finally had a bit of energy after work. I dropped L at the BF's house and then went home and did a load of laundry and put together a pot of Pasta Carbonara with peas as a side dish. When youngest son H came home from his job the two of us enjoyed a nice meal together. There was enough for adult son J to have once he finally reached  home as well. And the heat finally broke and we had a wild storm blow through here. I think my renewed energy is directly related to the temperatures.
I must do better meal wise next week. All this 'fast' food is not good for the wallet or the waistline. And we will be eating out ("Booster hot dogs") again tonight at the football game.
Today is pay day!! I have already paid the three utility bills that were due online, transferred money into savings towards the big tire purchase, and began to create a grocery shopping list. I will shop tomorrow and I plan on stocking up on some items that got really low while we went through a lean August and half of September. My plan for this weekend since our only social obligation is the Friday night football game to watch H march in the band is to get my shopping done and create October menus as well as choosing ahead of time what exactly I will cook during the week next week.
And of course since there is no rest for the wicked I also have some work to do for my cafeteria job as well at home. I need to get October lunch packets labeled and assembled and ready to go in the backpack mail this week.
But my biggest plan is to sleep, rest, relax, and get myself refreshed for the coming week!

A tale of three Lamb Chops

  Last month when doing the shopping I purchased a marked down package of three lamb shoulder chops. Not a cut I normally buy but they were a steal. I had settled on Moroccan Glazed lamb chops for dinner on Tuesday, I pulled out the package and stuck them in the refrigerator to defrost while at work. A quick check with the kids and I figured on just the sons being home.
As it turned out both sons were gone at dinner time so it was just me. I scraped the Moroccan glaze idea and simply seasoned these with Penzey's Greek Seasoning.  Then I lit the grill and tossed on the chops. Meanwhile I quickly prepared some white and wild rice pilaf and steamed some peas in the microwave. Dinner was ready in under 20 minutes.
I found myself with two leftover chops which I bagged up and stuck in the refrigerator.
Wednesday night found me going out after work with a long time friend to an in and out Pampered Chef sale. Once I reached home at 8:30 pm there were no kidlets at home and I was mighty hungry. I grabbed one of the lamb chops, added some pressed garlic and rosemary to both sides and gave it a quick heat up in the microwave (since I'd cooked them to medium rare the night before I knew it could stand the microwave without turning into shoe leather) after cooking up a small portion of egg noodles which I doctored with butter and parmesan cheese. Sliced tomatoes on the side and I was eating dinner by 8:45.
Thursday night I knew youngest son would be working and college age daughter had let me know she was once again going to be studying late at the BF's house. Adult son J works his second part time job (which he has had since high school) on Thursdays so I was once again alone. I have to confess I was a bit tired of lamb and seriously considered using youngest son's 50% off pizza discount from his job but with the high price of lamb in general and the low bottom line in my check book I couldn't bring myself to leave that lamb chop linger in the refrigerator and risk having to toss it out and spend the little money in my wallet ($7) on eating out. Instead I cubed up the lamb, made a quick curry sauce, steamed some basmati rice, threw in the leftover peas from Tuesday night and voila, lamb curry! Another meal in 20 minutes.
I never once suspected I'd get three night's dinners out of that small package of on sale lamb chops.

Scheduling

  It has become obvious to me that I am going to have to sit down this weekend and make myself some type of schedule for after work activities during the weekdays.  This week, although a short one, I find myself dragging myself home, making some type of dinner, cleaning up from dinner, then collapsing in a chair. Not good. None of my chores at home are getting done and with weekends being spent with GF no time there to do anything either. Routine is one of the things I thrive on and I need to get myself into a groove. I am hopeful that by the end of September this plan I've devised will be second nature.

Mondays: laundry in washer, dinner, clean kitchen, move laundry to dryer, dust, swiffer and vaccum the living room and dining room areas,settle on next night's dinner menu & do prep or put stuff in fridge to defrost 

Tuesdays: dinner & clean up, swiffer and sweep upstairs hallway & steps, clean bathroom,settle on next night's dinner menu & do prep or put stuff in fridge to defrost 

Wednesdays:dinner & cleanup, this is the free night to putz around etc. run errands or go to the library or bake, settle on next night's dinner menu & do prep or put stuff in fridge to defrost

Thursdays:  laundry, dinner & cleanup, do any outside work that needs to be done or special stuff I want to do, make sure house is tidy for weekend

Fridays: Football night (well actually Marching Band since youngest son is a drummer) , once football season is over Fridays will be spent with GF as our date night

August: How did it measure up financially?

I decided to combine my weekly financial report with my monthly summary. We had yet another extremely frugal week. I credit this to both long work hours and short amounts of money in the bank.
Here is how this week's expenditures stacked up :

Sun 8/25: $50 for my youngest grandson's Christening gift

Mon 8/26: $24.99 gas for the SUV / $26.98 school supplies for youngest son H

Tue 8/27: $0

Wed 8/28: $0

Thurs 8/29: $0

Fri 8/30: $0

Sat 8/31: $40.68 for gas for SUV for upcoming week/ $23 on assorted stuff at the fair (pug t-shirt, maple beef jerky, maple sugar candy)

The only expenditure that wasn't something I needed was the fair stuff.  I did receive  a paycheck this Friday but since it was for the few hours I worked the previous week it was very small. Along with what is in the checking it will help towards the first round of bill paying in September.

As for how August finances ended up I am very pleased. All the bills were paid on time, electric costs were kept to an acceptable level even with some A/C usage by adult son J. Groceries were kept well within the strict budget I had set for myself. Youngest daughter's college tuition (after financial aide) paid in full.  And I had a little money for strictly fun items (books, pictures for house, a movie).

Groceries: $100.93 out of the $125 I allotted myself; plus $10 on oat and rye flours= $110.93 still under budget
Gas: $57.81 due to GF's generosity in filling up the SUV several times.
School supplies: $26.98
Entertainment: $5 on a movie
Household budget: $ 5.22 on cleaning/health & beauty/paper goods ; $22 on bread pan/bread keeper/bread bags at Lehman's; $15 on framed artwork for walls $42.22 out of $75 budget
Books: $ 27 on a cookbook, a memoir, and a set of children's classics
Clothing: $11 on two blouses from thrift store I can wear to work!
Gifts: $50

Determined to carry on with this frugality (if not at such an austere level as in August) in September!