Frugal Momma Challenge: Day #1

a bit of rainy day fun!

Well, I have convinced myself that it is time to step up as my own personal trainer! I am now having a personal challenge this month of June (I know. I couldn't wait to get started!) to see how little money I can spend. Today's total is $1.96. I bought two diet cokes. I know. I shouldn't, but that is my downfall. Maybe this challenge will encourage me to reduce the intake. I am striving to learn other ways to deal with stress than to shop. Mind you, I shop frugally and mostly at Goodwill and Hobby Lobby. But how many miles of yarn do I have by now? If it didn't take so long to measure it, I would. Maybe I'll photograph it as I pack it up. At least it is less than I used to have and at least I am actually finishing things now! 

Back to the frugal challenge. Part of the fun of this will be calculating how much money I save by planning my meals and cooking at home. I have cooked the last three nights! It has felt good. I just wish the dishes didn't have to come with it, but I am going to listen to a book while I deal with the cleanup so it'll be ok. 

I am trying to decide what a good estimate is for how much money I save everytime I cook. I know it varies based on what ingredients I use. But rarely do we get out of a restaurant for less than $40. I think I am going to figure based on $5 a head. I know very few places I can still eat a healthy meal for $5. That will usually come to $30 for us or $35 if Nick is home, too. That should work out about right because I will need to subtract the cost of food from the total saved and I don't want to get really picky about the accounting part of this. I am not going to figure breakfasts because we don't usually eat out then. 

So this week the running total of money saved by cooking at home for three dinners would be: $95. Not bad!

On Monday night I cooked Mexican food for Malachi's birthday. I spent about three hours in the kitchen that night but I cooked everything from scratch except the tortillas and chips. 

I made:

• refried beans from the pintos I had cooked in the crock pot on Sunday
  
• garlic, corn and rotel rice (improvised recipe)
• homemade guacamole
• coffee cake
• and white cheese dip
  

Then Sunday night was leftovers of all that Mexican food! No prep time but warming it up!

Tonight I took the leftover rice and added it to turkey link sausage in a skillet. I also prepared green peas and grilled cheese sandwiches. Everybody seemed to like it fine!

I still have two sinks of dishes to wash, but I am rejoicing in my new challenge. I have pressed my apron until I have the time to make me a new one out of the book A is for Apron that I bought last week on one of those "shop to make me feel better" excursions that I am not doing this month. LOL! I even have a sage green tablecloth on the table and we have been eating on the nice plates! Did I say I am ready to turn this wagon around? I think it is time. I did really well at all this when we lived in Booneville and were homeschooling. I guess I took a bit of a vacation this year. We eat together more than most families I know, but we have been eating out a bit too much for my tastes lately because of the move! 

A Season of Frugality

It is time to grow a bit more in the area of frugality. Way too many soul-soothing stash enhancing purchases going on lately with the stress of the move. At least I recognize what is happening and am willing to try to curb it. Time for some more projects to get finished out of supplies I already have on hand. Time to keep track of where those dollars are going and make sure I am planning ahead for events and needs. New school uniforms are only a few months away now....that is a scary, scary thought!

I have finished more projects lately than I have ever finished before, so that is good. I am finishing my second crocheted bag this week and am able to give some really neat gifts this month. I won't talk too much about them yet because one of my readers is a recipient! So some of this stash enhancement has been for direct use and cotton yarn is NOT cheap. Each bag has over $25 worth of yarn in it! I wasn't able to catch the sales like I wanted to this time around, but I will know from now on that I have to wait for them to be on sale. 

And time to quit going through the drive-thru at Starbucks and out to lunch. Time to get in gear and prepare most of the meals at home. I figure that the hour I spend preparing a meal for my family is an hour that I earn about $40 because we sure can't eat anywhere for much less than that. When I realized that this week, it kind of took my breath away. And the hour that I would spend planning my meals for the week and making out my shopping list (if I actually stuck tighter to it) would be worth even more. All for doing things I know how to do. Making money putting systems that I have already developed into place. Hmmm....

I wonder why it is so hard sometimes to do the things that I know work well for me. Sometimes I just forget what they are. Sometimes I am stressed and just have a hard time getting started. Sometimes I almost sense a bit of self-sabotage going on but I am not sure why that is the case. Why would I not want to succeed at these things? These are the things I have been pondering this week. It has been a week to be reminded that material goods are not going to ever make me feel better. Now the process of working creatively makes me feel a lot better, but the stash enhancement doesn't. Strange balancing act to control. Oh, and that idea of being in control, when will I realize that is such a joke? But still I continue to keep striving to "have it all together" or to "stay on top of things." But here is what is weird, I know I feel a whole lot worse if I am not prepared. If there are no groceries and no plan, it is instant icky. If the house is wrecked inside and out, I hate to be here. So a certain amount of control keeps me sane. But how much is too much? Hmmm......

I have always dreamed of having a buddy that would act as my personal trainer and remind me to get back on track and to get moving in the right direction again. But I have always had to gather the gumption to inspire myself or to turn to online friends and forums that focus on such home and organizational planning. Usually I do pretty well. But a move can knock the rug out from under me even though I know it is coming. I know how to deal with it. I know it will soon be over. But this one seems to be a different kind of challenge for me. I am growing in a different way because I am not allowing myself to think that the majority of the packing and planning are my responsibility. I am learning to work as part of a team called my family. It is a very good thing. But I have to admit, it is a bit unsettling for me, too. But we will all be better off in the end. I just wish moving day would come soon!

Off to finish the i-cord I need to thread through the top of my new bag! Finished the handle last night. Maddie is vying for this bag, but I kind of like it myself! We'll see who ends up with it in the end. I might need to sell it this week! LOL! Then neither one of us would feel bad about the other one not having it! I think I decided it didn't need to be lined. I can save that beautiful fabric for another bag. The way it curves in at the top has me puzzled about how to construct the lining and it is very tightly crocheted. But then it won't have pockets. Another thing to Hmmmm.....