Thursday, May 27, 2010

Grocery Challenge--update May 27

I think I can...I think I can...I have 10 cents left so I can't spend ANY $$ until next Tuesday (June 1) and I will have met my $150 monthly grocery challenge for May. This includes trips to the mountains and beach where we prepared all but 3 meals with the families with whom we traveled. I do think having to count out my cash made a difference. So I think I'll go for it again in June. I am just as stocked up as at the beginning of May. We are still eating healthy, delicious meals. It just takes a little more preparation and diligence. I still refuse to go all over town chasing a deal (wasting gas in the process) so with the exception of a trip to BiLo while we were at the Y one afternoon, all my shopping was at Harris Teeter and CVS. Did I mention that my grocery budget includes all toiletries, paper products, pull-ups, wipes, cleaning products, etc?
I am stocked up on everything except coffee and dishwasher detergent so I am hoping for a sale.

3 Big Things Going on....

1. I just finished taking a class at Central Piedmont Community College on how to start a non profit. I have been actively involved in my friend Marie's ministry LIFT and suggested to her that she apply for non profit status for the ministry since it is already growing beyond her wildest dreams. Boy, did we learn a lot in the class! We have written and revised our mission and vision statement, composed a business plan for the next full year, learned how to apply for grants, business ID #, 501(c)3 status, etc...it is a bit overwhelming!
2. I committed to Joy McGuire at With Love From Jesus to coordinate the entire Thanksgiving giveaway. This means organizing financial and human resources to make 3500-4000 meals and getting them delivered. We have to research the location and population of the poorest, most destitute in our community. We need a refrigerated truck to store the meals as they are assembled to keep them from spoiling. I need to brainstorm just what it will take to accomplish this undertaking. The past 2 years I have organized volunteers to assemble 100-200 meals. I have to wrap my brain around what it will take to do 40 times that amount...ok now I am almost too tired to go onto #3.
3. I'm in the 75-90% confidence range that I will home school Hannah for first grade. She really wants to do it, I am certified K-12 with a master's in math, I am blessed to be a stay at home mom, and I am really excited about it. When Hannah was in day care for 2 1/2 years, I would say that I paid someone else to teach my child so I could teach other people's children. Why not put that energy and focus into teaching my own children? My friend Teresa said to me, "No one has more interest in her education than you." I just said to Frank last night we are always saying the schools should teach such and thus. If I am the school, I will teach it, right? Due to my Type A personality, I will write out goals and objectives along with action plans to achieve them. I am attending an informational meeting next Tuesday at Growing Scholars.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Super Double Coupons at HT May 19-25

Harris Teeter Super Doubles Confirmed 5/19-5/25


Super Double Coupon Days: Harris Teeter will double all coupons up to $1.98. This is a great time to use those $1.00 and $1.50 off coupons. MANY items will be free. You can go to www.coupons.com to print coupons even if you don't cut them from the Sunday paper.

If any of you don't use your Sunday coupons, I'd love to have them. I cut almost all of the coupons except pet food. I donate a lot of items to With Love From Jesus. I buy things that my family doesn't use if they are less than a dollar or a really good deal.

Happy Shopping to you! I still have over $100 of my $150 for the month in my grocery challenge money.

Think About It Thursday

So here's what I'm thinking about...homeschooling!
I was a middle/high school math and science teacher for 13 years, 6 in public school and 7 at an elite private school. I have always been against homeschooling. On several occasions, both in public and private school, home-schooled children would come to my classes and they were always behind and very un-socialized and never made it more than a few weeks in a regular classroom setting. One boy told his parents in reference to the (wonderful) kids in my 8th grade honors geometry class, "They are a bunch of savages."
On the other end of the spectrum, I had one girl I'll never forget who had been home-schooled by her missionary parents until 11th grade. As part of her studies, she attended public high school her senior year. This girl was awesome! She was placed in all regular classes because the school didn't know how to place her. My friend Chris and I realized quickly that she needed to be in honors classes for several reasons. She asked me to be her mentor for her senior project. I don't think I'll ever forget her.
I've criticized people who home-schooled their kids. I've said I don't think I am qualified to teach my kids everything even though I am certified to teach K-6 all subjects and math/science in upper grades. I have a bachelor's degree in education with emphases in math and science and a master's degree in math education.
I've met home school moms who don't immunize their kids, sleep until noon, work at minimum wage jobs, are uneducated themselves and I have always turned my nose up at them. I have had heated discussions with my neighbor who home-schooled her kids. I've always envisioned these moms as the ones who only eat organic foods, wear organic clothes, use cloth diapers, don't buy toilet paper or Kleenex and instead use rags for those needs.
Lately, however, some people I consider "normal" have chosen to home-school and are having a great experience. The one question about public education that has really gotten me thinking is, "Why do we expect our children to buy into a system that we don't fully buy into ourselves?"
I asked Hannah, my kindergartner, if she would like to be home-schooled and she said yes. She asked me before kindergarten if I would home school her. She has had a great experience in our little country public school so I am not entertaining the idea based on bad experiences.
I am going to purchase a home school curriculum for first grade and do it with Hannah this summer. It will give us an idea of how it would work.
I have to do some research. I have to decide what works for my family. In so many areas of our lives, my family goes against the norm. So for now, homeschooling is something to think about.

Monday, May 10, 2010

$150 monthly grocery challenge update

I am going to pretend that someone actually reads my blog so I will have virtual accountability for sticking to my $150 grocery challenge. Because I am very health conscious, I have to do this without sacrificing quality or nutrition. I make sure that everyone gets fresh fruits and veggies, dairy, lean protein, low fat, high fiber carbohydrates everyday. My husband is (always) on Weight Watchers so we all eat around his meal plan which is very healthy.
I counted out my $150 cash on May 1. So far I have spent $35.24 (an average of $3.91 per day). That is about $1 per person per day. My husband and I used to think an average of $4 per person per meal was pretty good.
Yesterday, I stocked up on split chicken breasts which were $0.88/lb at HT. I bought almost 12 pounds because I had a rebate for $10 back if you purchase $10 in beef, poultry or seafood. It will take 2 months to get the $10 and even if it gets lost in the mail, the chicken was a great deal. I made a splurge for Hannah on Luigi's Italian Ice. It was $3.29 and even with a coupon it was still $2.29. Even though we have tons of adult toothpaste, I shamefully ran out of kids' toothpaste last week and had to pay full price minus a $0.50 coupon=$2.67. Milk is our biggest thing that I can't get a deal on. I only bought 2 gallons last night because I am planning a trip to Costco later in the week. We're getting close to only drinking a gallon every 2 days
I have to say that counting out cash is definitely more painful than swiping my debit card. I know I'm goofy, but I have the time to try this and if I can save our family $400-$500 a month on groceries then it frees up money to do more fun things like our spur-of-the-moment Mother's Day weekend trip to Myrtle Beach.
I am aware that I could work even part time and make much more than I save, but for now my family is happy with me staying home so I am making being a wife, mom, and home economizer my full time job.

Monday Mumblings

Just getting out some mumbles stuck in my head--kind of like Monday morning quarterback except mine are from reading the Sunday paper.

1. Did you see the story of Brittany Lockhart in the paper? She and her brother "graduated" for their mom a couple of weeks ago at the hospital where the mom died a week later. I've followed the story and my heart breaks for them because I've been where they are. My dad died 2 weeks before I graduated from high school and I was left to care for my younger siblings. On the night my dad died, I promised my sister and brother I would take care of them and I did the best I could with the limited resources we had. My head swirls with the desire to help this girl who now has to pay for her mother's funeral and figure out how to educate herself while taking care of her 3 brothers. It is not an easy road, but the life lessons I learned doing it myself are the essence of who I am today.

2. School lunch. I agree it is bad. I ate lunch with my kindergartner at the beginning of the school year. I pack her lunch every day, but on this day we were "lunch tray". The lunch was $6.50 for the 2 of us and it was yuck! I was so disappointed that I spent 6 1/2 % of our monthly dining budget for that awful stuff. School lunch was bad when I was in school. My best friend from childhood told me back then that the hierarchy of food from the government goes like this: military first, prisons second, and schools third. I haven't researched to see if she is right, but I know from when I worked at our county jail the food I served the inmates was definitely better than our school lunches. There is a law in NC that you can't bring in any outside restaurant food to the cafeteria. Of course not! If the cafeteria had to compete even with McDonald's, they would "go out of business". No restaurant could continually serve such horrible fare and stay in business. But as middle class Americans, I don't think the answer is to have the government spend millions of dollars figuring out the problem. I believe that we should just take control of lunch ourselves. Pack our kids' lunches. It's not like lunch is free at school for us and with a little effort, we can easily pack a nutritious lunch for our kids that costs less than the school cafeteria. I have packed Hannah's lunch every day except for the one mentioned above. We have to stop asking the government to do everything for us. There are many things we can do for ourselves. Because for everything they "do" for us, they also "take away" another right. We are slowly giving up all our rights for more "protection". For middle class Americans to take back our country, we have to start depending on ourselves more and on government less.

3. Being frugal. There was an article that said Americans are saving more of their income. During great economic times, the savings rate was negative meaning that as a nation, we were spending more than we made. The rate went up to about 6.5% and is now holding steady at about 3%. It is sad to think of a family only saving 3% of their earnings. To be able to retire and maintain your current lifestyle, you should save at least 10% or have 25 times your annual income saved by the time you retire. Sounds daunting, doesn't it? Worse would be eating canned cat-food! Most Americans are being more frugal, spending less and looking for ways to reduce their outgo. Even as their income is returning from a layoff or job change, most people won't go back to their old ways. I hope that is true. For the middle class, we have to change how we spend or we'll always be the "struggling middle class".

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo the whole month of May

Ok, for the 2 people who actually read my blog. You know that for the past 2 months I have tried to follow Kathy at $30 Weekly Grocery Challenge. She somehow feeds her family of 3 on $30 a week and has been doing so over a year now. My goal has been to spend less than $150 per month. I'd honestly just like to make it one month to prove I can do it. In March, I spent $300 and April was $284. This month I am going to follow the Dave Ramsey advice of using cash. I have counted out $150 in cash and I am determined I can do it.
The past week's deals at HT were mostly for Mexican foods. We'll be celebrating Cinco de Mayo for the whole month of May due to the great deals on tortillas, salsa, cheese, and seasonings. That is fine because I have already found some great ways to get creative.
1. Whole wheat wrap with Tastefully Simple's Vidalia Onion dressing, chicken, onion, sweet peppers, and spring mix. I had some version of this wrap 4 meals in a row. In one version, I used honey mustard dressing and added walnuts and cranberries.
2. Burritos: use a burrito mix, ground beef, 1 cup of water, and a can of fat free re-fried beans to fill a flour tortilla. Top with sour cream, salsa, and Mexican cheese.
3. Cheese quesadillas. Simply put some cheese on a flour tortilla, fold and put in your Foreman grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese is melted. Cut into wedges. Kids love these.
4. Add chicken to #3 and serve with sour cream and salsa.
5. Homemade tortilla chips. Cut corn tortillas into wedges and deep fry in a mix of olive and corn oil. Turn once when they start to float. Drain on paper towels and grind some sea salt on top. Yummy by themselves or with salsa.
6. Salmon and crab wrap: Spread salmon flavored cream cheese on whole wheat tortilla, add spring mix and crab meat.
7. Spinach and salmon wrap: Wilt fresh spinach in olive oil for a few minutes (medium high heat). Prepare one frozen salmon fillet with salmon seasoning and teriyaki sauce. Wrap in whole wheat wrap.
8. Chile Relleno casserole: 2 cans green chiles, 1.5 cups of cheese, 3 eggs, 1/4 cup flour, 5 oz evaporated milk, 1 can tomato sauce. Layer cheese and chiles. Mix eggs, flour & milk and pour over cheese/chile layers. Bake for 30 minutes. Pour tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of cheese on top and bake for 15 minutes longer. Serve with homemade tortilla chips.
9. I am going to try breakfast burritos with chicken to make them healthier.
10. Good old fashioned tacos!

I'll need to make a run to Costco to pick up more spring mix and milk. It is worth the trip to save about a dollar per gallon since we go through so much milk. I just have to stay focused and not get distracted by all the yummy stuff in Costco!