Good morning, savvy savers! It’s hard to believe that we are already in August. Can you believe the start of the busy back-to-school push has begun? In fact, this morning was my husband’s first day back to school to start prepping his classroom for the 2016-2017 academic year. The kiddos will start school in our district this Wednesday. By midweek, our house will be silent during the day, except for podcasts, chirping birds, and the snoring of my Shih-Tzu. And would it be terrible of my to admit that I’m looking forward to distraction-free mornings this Fall? Super excited folks, super excited!
And on that note, while I’m a little forlorn to no longer have my family here each day to help me around the house, it will be nice to get things back on schedule this month. So today, with the ideas of scheduling and organization on my mind, I thought I would share with you all my five goals personal goals for the month of August.
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ScrubCloth #CollectiveBias
Growing up, my grandmother never liked to have anything on her kitchen counter tops, so I’m pretty sure that’s where my love of clean counter tops originated. I try to have mine cleared off as much as possible. Sometimes, when I’m in the middle of work project or cooking, things start to pile up. Things get messy. Life happens. Especially when trying to make impromptu snacks and dinners in my kitchen!
If you’re anything like me, there are no scarier times in your home than the 5 o’clock what’s for dinner debate. Thescenario ofof having to decide what to cook can be a daunting task for even the most prepared home chefs. So, you may be asking how to end this dinnertime debate, especially in summer? I have two words for you: Freezer meals!
Yes, small, make ahead meals which help me get out of the kitchen and back to spending more time with my family and friends during the hot summer season. There’s nothing better than being able to provide my family with a hot, nutritious, affordable meal. Now, it goes without saying that I adore freezer cooking meals, with just one exception, the clean-up.
You see as a cook, I am anything but neat. I’m what you could call an all-in, full-contact domestic goddess. A typical afternoon of cooking for me involves grease spatters, crumbs on the floor, and a pile of dishes that far exceeds both sides of my kitchen sink. From the blinds to the baseboards, nothing in my kitchen seems to be exempt from stains and spills.
It’s always a balancing act. Do you cook all the meals your family will enjoy, only to spend the rest of your evening scrubbing saucy, stained lasagna pans? Or cook just enough meals, in hopes of limiting the mess that will inevitably be created.
For me, I choose to go with the creating of meals, and to find better more practical ways of cleaning-up my kitchen. Through several years of trial and error I’ve gotten my new Freezer Cooking Clean-Up routine down to a science, and I’d like to share some of my favorite tips for Freezer Cooking Session Clean-up Success.
Instead of walking over to the trash can or compost bin with handfuls of peelings and scraps, use a bowl on the counter where you work to consolidate all of your cooking waste. This way you can efficiently save time and prevent the mishaps of slipper drippings on your floor.
Make sure cutting boards are clean, dry, and wipes down with kosher salt to help foods slide right off your boards.
For cooking projects where I’m using a lot of canned or boxed goods, I’ll take the recycling bin and set it right by the counter so I can drop everything in at once as I open it.
Pick up anything that falls on the floor immediately. It goes without saying that cleaning up spills immediately will help prevent bigger messes and help prevent kitchen falls and accidents on slippery floors.
As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So for me, I like to prep my freezer cooking sessions starting with a cleared off counter tops, an empty, fresh, soapy dish pan of water, and swept floors.
For me, it’s also important to keep functional, zero-waste cleaning methods by my side during freezer cooking sessions. Recently, my go-to cleaning cloths have been the new Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths. I love that these Scrubbing dish cloths are reusable, sturdy, and fully washable, both by hand and through machine washing.
What first caught my eye about these cleaning cloths are double-sided. One side features awesome, textured, non abrasive fiber scrubbing dots, which gives you non-scratch scrubbing power for all your post-freezer cleaning needs. And who doesn’t need supercharged cleaning when it comes to getting off baked on, oily, gooey messes from dishes, pots, pans, and counters.
The other side of these clothes feature a multi-functional, lint-free cleaning cloth; this side is great for wiping and drying dishes, glasses, counter tops, and appliances, too!
I like that these dish cloths can clean almost anything in my kitchen, even items that I previously would have to soak or scrub including glasses with milk protein deposits or wine deposit film, a particular pet peeve of mine.
No more reaching for a case knife or finger nail to scrub off messes in the kitchen with the Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths. Your manicure touch-ups can be saved for another day.
What’s even better? These cloths go hand-in-hand with our families commitment to zero waste living as they can be used, washed, and easily used again. They help us save money over commercial paper towels and help us create a greener home in the process. An added bonus for me? These cloths air dry in minutes, allowing me to get right back to my kitchen cleaning in no time flat. These new cloths have become a staple in my kitchen!
In fact, a few days before I started my last major Freezer Cooking marathon, I stopped into my local Walmart to pick up a few additional packs of the new Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths, a few needed Freezer Cooking staples, as well as a snack of Good Value Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies and a banana, for good measure. Having originally purchased these cloths in tan, I loved finding out that they are also available in 2-packs in coral and navy, too! I especially liked the cheery orange cloths, which are perfect for summer!
Oh, and I wanted to mention that I was able to find my Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths, not in the dish detergent aisle, but on the cleaning aisle of my local Walmart. Plus, for a limited time savvy savers, be on the lookout for a $1.00 off money saving offer on your next in-store purchase of Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths at Walmart. This offer is right on the package!
And who would have known that you can get a 2-pack of awesome, greener living, reusable, scrubbing dish clothes for the low, low price of only $4.98. At this price you just can’t go wrong!
And with my new dish cloths handy, I created a month’s worth of Italian-style freezer meals this past weekend. I cooked, assembled, and froze Chicken Parmesan, baked spaghetti, and lasagna roll-ups pans. All meals were delicious, and all super simple to make. The best part? They were all created using my recipe for Homemade Italian Pasta Sauce. Here’s how it’s made.
Niki's Organic Italian Sauce Recipe
2016-07-04 13:17:12
Serves 30
This is a recipe I adapted from the sauce a friend of our family made and gave for the holiday's in South Jersey. This sauce can be adapted for both meaty and vegan options, and freezes well also!
1 small onion, diced (can be substituted for turnip roots)
18 cloves
3 teaspoons fresh chopped basil
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
6 tablespoons organic cane sugar
1 small pinch cinnamon
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup fresh grated cheese
Instructions
In a large pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil.
Empty plum tomatoes, canned tomatoes, and tomato paste into a food processor.
Puree for twenty second on low.
Add all ingredients (including any meatballs or sausage you want to add) to pot and simmer for 3 hours on low.
Test seasonings and re-season as needed each half hour.
Stir as needed.
Once sauce is finished cooking, cover with a lid and let sit for one hour.
Notes
Sauce can be stored in a mason jar for up to two weeks in the fridge, canned for up to one year, or frozen for up to six months. Enjoy!
The LadyPrefers2Save https://theladyprefers2save.com/
Now that your sauce is finished, you can turn this base into different pasta meals. Again I made, Baked Spaghetti, Chicken Parmesan, and Lasagna Roll-Ups. Here’s how I used this sauce:
Ingredients (for two trays):
8 cups spaghetti sauce
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In large skillet, cook ground beef until brown. Add sauce to hamburger and bring to temperature. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Boil pasta for 10 minutes. Once cooked, drain your pasta. Mix together spaghetti and meat mixture, pour into pans. Top with cheese and bake for 30 minutes, until cheese is bubbly. Cool for one hour, then wrap in foil and plastic wrap. Freeze for up to six months; serves four per pan.
Ingredients (for two trays):
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoon water
2 cups kosher dried bread crumbs
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan
2 pound spaghetti pasta
Directions:
Create a chicken coating station; place beaten eggs in one bowl, flour in a second bowl, and bread crumbs in another.
Meanwhile, lay a piece of plastic wrap over chicken breasts. Pound the chicken breasts flat with mallet, until 1/2-inch thick. Dredge chicken pieces in all three bowls; egg, then flour, then crumbs. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Boil pasta for 10 minutes. Once cooked, drain your pasta. Cook cutlets in olive oil for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning only once per side. Place cooked pasta in each freezable tray. Ladle the tomato sauce over each chicken piece and sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil. Bake the Chicken Parmesan for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Cool bake for one hour and freeze for up to six months. To reheat, thaw dinner overnight in fridge. Cook at 350 for one hour.
Ingredients (for two trays):
1 box uncooked lasagna noodles (16-20 sheets)
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork sausage
3 cups tomato pasta sauce
2 containers (15 oz each) part-skim ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons fresh basil leaves
2 egg
2 cups mozzarella shredded cheese
Directions:
Cook noodles in salted water. Cook for twenty minutes. Rinse with hot water. Drain well. Meanwhile, in 12-inch skillet, cook beef and sausage over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Stir in 3 cups pasta sauce. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered 10 minutes. Remove from heat. In small bowl, mix ricotta cheese, basil and eggs into a mixture. Spread about 3 tablespoons of mixture over each cooked lasagna noodle from end to end. Spoon about 1/4 cup meat mixture over ricotta mixture on each noodle. Roll up firmly toward unfilled end. Place roll-ups, seam side down, on pan. Cover with sauce and shredded cheese. Cover loosely with foil. Freeze about 30 minutes or until firm. Freeze up to 3 months. To bake 16 lasagna roll-ups, thaw in refrigerator at least 8 hours and bake at 350°F. Bake until hot and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
So savvy savers, that was a lot of work this past weekend! But with the Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths, cleanup took just minutes. Comparing this to the hours spend scrubbing dishes, pans, counters, and floors before, these cloths were a true lifesaver.
I’ve been so inspired by the ease of cleaning this past weekend that I’m already looking for new recipes for my next mega freezer cooking session online. And if you are looking for awesome new family meals ideas, be sure to check out the Scotch-Brite Scrubbing Cloth site for quick, budget-friendly cleaning tips and family meal planning ideas!
I encourage you all to pick-up a pack of Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths, while in-store at your local Walmart, because with Scotch-Brite® Scrubbing Dish Cloths I no longer have to choose between a clean kitchen and the convenience of a freezer full of meals .
So savvy savers! Do you have any great tips for keeping your kitchens cleaned and your counter tops cleared during freezer cooking sessions, I’d love to hear about them below!
It’s hard to believe that we are already in July. So, with half of the year already behind us and we are still eight weeks away from the start of the busy back-to-school push and slide to the holiday season, I thought it would be nice to take this month to slow down and focus on several projects in my life that desperately need attention.
First, I want to re-focus my commitment to my family, and in particular my homemaking capabilities.
For as long as I can remember, I have viewed housework as an unending thankless job. Since transitioning from working in a corporate setting to the domestic sphere, I have frankly had a negative view on many aspects of domestic life. The same chores to do, the same tasks to accomplish, the same issues with family. The same outlook at my home. Mind you, since becoming a minimalist, the lack of clutter in my home (and using the daily Motivated Moms Planner) has helped to brighten my perspective on my home. But I also want to view my role as a homemaker not as a job, but as a calling.
This month I will be focusing on utilizing products already on-hand in my home to create a series of DIY, nature-centered posts each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in July. My goal with this series is to learn to create basic home goods, so that moving forward I have not only learned a valuable new skill-set but will no longer have to purchase these good locally as well.
The schedule will be as follows (per week):
First Aid Products
Hygiene Products
Cooking Products
Beauty Products
I know there will always be dishes to wash, laundry to fold and put away, and clutter to stay on top of every day. But this month I am seeking to find the joy in this daily routine. I am seeking to learn to find joy in the simple blessings of every day life at home, and I hope that I will feel even more blessing and honored to be a homemaker in the coming weeks ahead.
For those who may want to follow along, I will be demonstrating live to Periscope each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this month as well. I’d love for you all to join me live for several awesome, budget-friendly, natural demos!
My second focus for the month will be slightly more simple in nature. I will be participating in a month-long challenge to refuse single-use plastic in July.
Plastic Free July, a growing international movement, aims to raise awareness of the problems that the volumes of single-use disposable plastic create in our lives, in our environments, and for wildlife the world over. Keep in mind the statistic that convicted me to sign up for this challenge: By 2050 its estimated there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans.
As a result, we as a family as signed up! Also, another neat part of this project is that you can sign up for a day, a week or the whole month. The point is just to refuse all single-use plastic. As a family we are seeking to refuse and rid our home of all plastic bags, water bottles, single-use coffee cups, and straws. We hope this will be pretty basic as we are a mason jar loving people, as is!
I will be posting about my experiences with this campaign in July on my Instagram account. For those who may also wish to join, click here for more information.
My third focus this month will be on my gardening. This year, my husband and I have fully utilized our home’s backyard tiered garden layout and have planted a wide range of vegetables and fruits, including tomatoes, various legumes, potato and sweet potato towers, corn, and Autumn ornamental selections such as corn, pumpkins, mini pumpkins, and jack-o-lanterns. We’ve expanded our vegetable selection this year as we reside in Mississippi and are blessed with three full planting seasons each year.
Keep in mind, our garden consists entirely of upcycled, free, natural, holistic, and organic gardening methods. We plan to use this year as a learning venture for our tiered system, and hopefully use this years harvest to learn to pressure can legumes, beans, and low acid foods to put back for the winter.
As well, I will be posting all of my daily gardening challenges, victories, and bounties on my Instagram page for those who would like to follow us on our gardening journey this year.
My fourth goal this month relates to finance. For the month of July, I will be participating in a personal No-Spend Challenge.
The rules are pretty simple:
No spending on anything beyond absolute necessities.
Eat from your pantry & freezer as often as you are able.
And make changes to the way you purchase and consume goods, services, and commodities in your home.
The idea of the challenge is to keep up with your daily activities,, but the main goal is simply to stop spending.
This challenge can be a life changing experience, as you may just be amazed at how your mindset and perspective will change after just a month of seeing how you can enrich your life, without spending more!
There are a few exceptions to the rule as follows:
Unavoidable expenses related to employment, such as gas, are okay.
Unavoidable school related expenses.
Doctors appointments, veterinarian appointments, co-payments, family/pet prescriptions, and therapy sessions are okay.
Do keep existing service and repair appointments that can’t be rescheduled to “Spending” months, such as hair appointments, lawn care services, trash removal, in-home repair services, etc.
Do keep existing tithing and charitable giving.
I will continue to use my envelope saving system to fund app rebates for fresh produce and milk as needed.
And it goes without saying, we will continue paying for monthly insurance, utility payments, banking fees, etc.
This No- Spend month is not just about a decrease in spending, but a challenge to find ways to live well, live better, find new sources of joy, will spending less. This month proved to be a time of being able to a life rich with family, friends, and creative planning, secured by fiscally responsible measures. This month was made all the better by the amount of encouragement and accountability shared by all of my readers, too!
I’m not gonna lie, there will be tough moments, but the rewards far outweigh the issues. During my last no-spend month in December of last year as a family we saved a total of $1,021.34, and this month all funds saved will be allocated to pay for out end-of-year minimalist family holiday needs and expenses.
Some ways I plan to do this is by:
Pantry Organization
Learning Home to “Dine Out At Home”
Rain-Check Shopping for next month’s needed staples and groceries
Learning ways to better clean my home
Selling unneeded items on Facebook Local Groups, Craigslist, and eBay.
All-in-all, I am super excited for this month’s No-Spend Month Challenge! I’ll be posting about my victories and challenges this month on my Youtube channel each Wednesday, for those who would like to follow along!
Well folks, those are my plans for this month! So, do you have any awesome plans this month? Perhaps a vacation, reunion, or the like? I’d love to hear about it below,
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TenaTips #CollectiveBias
“Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.” – Og Mandino
If anyone was to ask me one word to describe my life, without hesitation I would say charmed. I consider myself to be a very fortunate individual and in many ways, “I have a big life,” a life that I never envisioned for myself. I have been able to attend law and graduate school, study the arts, and start a family of my own. I have always prided myself on being able to enjoy the joie de vivre each day.
But for the past year I’ve also led a double life. You see, I’ve dealt with incontinence stemming from pregnancy and delivery as well as PCOS-induced weight gain. These issues caused much of my charmed existence to be placed on hold. And it was this hold on life which prevented me from being a continent person who traveled each weekend and most summers, to a person afraid of spontaneity.
Thankfully, there are products like TENA® incontinence products for women, that have helped me get back into my full swing of life, including travel and dancing. So today, I wanted to share five tips for travel this summer with bladder control leakage:
Researchers have found that the key to living with PCOS is all about managing insulin levels. So, wherever I travel, including quick trips to New Orleans for the weekend, I always make sure to pack my glucose monitors as well. For me, when my blood glucose levels are high, I tend to have more issues with incontinence as well!
For those suffering from bladder leakage, recent studies have shown that Kegel exercises (pelvic floor muscles) help strengthen the muscles that help control the urethra. When these muscles are weak, the result can be urinary incontinence. Kegel exercises are really awesome to help you naturally ease bladder leakage issues.
I’m a planner. I always have been. So, when I know I am heading out the for a family trip or vacation I always make sure to plan an in-case bag. For me, this includes:
A wax-lined bag in case I need to carry food (which may leak), wet bathing suites, or any items which should need to be aired out.
An extra set of keys to our car and home.
Any feminine or emergency items I might need.
A wristlet to hold the above, should I not want to carry a larger bag.
A money organizer which contains gift cards, emergency cash, and insurance cards.
A planner and pen.
Sunglasses.
Two coin pouches; one for tolls and transportation and one that holds bills for tipping while on vacation.
For me, it’s always a good idea to keep my in-case-of-emergency bag close at hand. This is especially true for me when going on trips that involve visiting large bodies of water, such as our family trip earlier this year to Niagara Falls. To say that bladder incontinence products like TENA® are a lifesaver, would be the understatement of the year in that situation!
With TENA® incontinence products in my bag, I was free to enjoy my day of site-seeing, and the only leakage I had to contend with the mists of the falls!
Another good way to help control bladder issues this summer is to avoid foods that trigger urinary incontinence. Some of these foods include: tomato products, caffeinated beverages, chocolates, citrus fruits, alcoholic beverages, artificial sweeteners, processed foods, and onions. A fun summer tip: Prep yourself small, make-ahead meals that help you stay hydrated, fit, and ready for your travels ahead.
Bladder incontinence may be demanding. But what even more demanding is the need to live your life to the fullest each day! This summer, remember to find something each day that makes your heart sing. For me, this was a recent college reunion ball with my husband. It felt awesome to get back into my dancing shoes, with the confidence in knowing that bladder leakage won’t be an issue for me when I use TENA® pads. I was able to focus on being arm candy for my husband without the fear of embarrassing leakage issues. I was able to spend my time simply shining!
My favorite thing about these pads is their Unexpected Leak™ technology, which gives me the confidence in knowing that even perfect evenings are safeguarded when I use TENA® incontinence products. So, if you’re like me and suffer from incontinence and are worried about unexpected leaks during exercise, travel, and summer fun this season, then before you take to the road or gym this summer, just stop by CVS and pick up a package of TENA® liners, pads, or underwear.
What’s even better is that you can shop in-store or online at CVS.com for the full line of TENA® products.
And for all of my savvy saving readers, you can request a rebate on TENA® Pads/Liners/Underwear and Overnight Underwear on the iBotta savings app. So, you can keep living your life to the fullest and on a budget.
So, I hope this list may help those who have bladder leakage dance through life with PCOS-induced bladder leakage. I urge you all be check out TENA® pads and products so you can live your best self this summer, too!
Hello, hello everyone! Happy Meal Plan Monday! This week’s menu will be a continuation of this month’s Minimalist Meal Plan Monday’s.
Here’s a recap for those new to minimalist meal planning. There are the five categories I took into consideration when setting up this month’s minimalist meal plan:
Consistency: The goal of minimalist meal planning is to consistently prepare and present my family with home cooked, healthy meals each day this month.
Cost: Posted meal plans are based on seasonal sales cycles with attention paid to both frugality and minimalist efficiency. This weeks menu reflects our budget of $160.00 monthly for a family of three.
Power Consumption: I wanted to plan meals that do not require vast amounts of energy zapping stove-top and range preparation. A little food for thought: did you know that it costs an average of 18-24 cents an hour to run a gas range, 24-30 cents an hour for an electric range, 16-20 cents an hour for a microwave oven, a mere 3-5 cents an hour to run a toaster oven or convection top. With this in mind, I will be gearing this month’s meal planning to encompass dishes that utilize minimalist power consumption standards. Meals this month will utilize my toaster oven and convection stove top for all my baking and needs.
Streamlining: I was a little apprehensive about whether or not my family will be turned off of the idea of food simplicity. I quickly realized that my family love whatever I cook them, and with this in mind extreme food plan simplicity will give me an extra hour each day to devote to spending time with my family and not in my kitchen. In order to streamline my meal plans, to have a true minimalist food strategy I am going to assign each day of the week with a single meal.
Travel: I wanted meals that could be planned monthly in advanced and shopped for locally (I live in a small town with limited mass shopping or chain retailer options) either weekly or monthly, depending on need. As I shop in reverse, buying groceries on rock bottom pricing and then shop from my pantry, this keeps weekly food costs low. And in terms of monthly shopping as a minimalist, this week was the first week this month I purchased additional groceries which can be seen below:
To create your own minimalist meal plan, think about which dinners are your family’s favorites that don’t take too much effort to prepare.
Consider which do you prefer to cook?
Think comfort meals. Think simple and keep it basic.
When creating your meal calendar this week assign one meal to each day of the week, taking into account school, work, and activity schedules. Leave your least busy days for meals that take the most amount of time to prepare.
Leave one day open each week for creativity in the kitchen, for ethnic, slow-cooked, heavy on the ingredient, new to you from Pinterest meals for weekends or Tuesday and Thursdays when poser usage rates nationally tend to be 20-30% lower on average. Focus on energy, your own and your household power usage as well!
Themes can be your best friend in minimalist cooking plans. Think Meatless Monday’s, Meatball Monday’s, Taco Tuesdays, Tofu Tuesday’s, Stirfry Wednesday’s, and Slow-Cooker Sunday’s!
Adjusting two meals a week to meatless options can help lower your grocery budgets by a quarter each month. This month we will be trying to expand Meatless Monday’s to also be Meatless Thursday’s as well.
This month breakfast, snacks, and lunches will be standardized. We will be having sandwiches for lunch, cereal and smoothies for breakfast. And yes you could do without snacks and increase lunch and breakfast portions, but I find smaller meals several times a day work better for my health, and so that’s how we will be rolling.
So what does this leave me with? My new monthly minimalist meal plan will consist of default meals streamlined around items already on-hand that require less than a half hour to prepare, and cost under $5.00 per meal to create.
Monday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Three bean vegetarian chili, steamed corn, and corn bread.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Taco Tuesday.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Wednesday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Chicken, carrot, broccoli quinoa bake, with Crystal Light lemonade.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Bakes Zucchini, Greek yogurt, and quinoa gyros, with Crystal light lemonade.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Friday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Meatball hoagies, side salad with Greek Yogurt dressing, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Saturday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snacks: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Chicken mole, served with steamed rice, corn, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Sunday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Crockpot cheddar, chicken, and broccoli rice, with green beans and Crystal Light lemonade.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Cost of food shopped from pantry and freezer: $26.45
So that’s all, everyone! I’m hoping that this streamlined plan will leave me feeling anything but restricted. With my family eating well and meal planning becoming more automated, I’m thinking of bringing back Family Game Nights! Incorporating minimalism into my weekly meal planning will help me be a few steps closer to realizing my minimalist dream. That said, if this streamlined plan doesn’t work for my family this month I can always change my plan again!
I’m ready to take back an extra hour from my day, each and every day this month. I’m ready to devote more time on creative endeavors, taking advantage of work opportunities, spending time with my family, and not slaving over a hot stove.
So, that’s what we will be having this week. I’d love to hear what’s on your menu as well!
If you are anything like me, you love a bargain. One of the most basic reasons I love freebies is that by scoring freebies, it helps offset my monthly budget, and the money I save is funneled directly into my families retirement savings account. But as with most things in my savvy saving arsenal, there’s a backstory as well.
For nearly a decade, I lived in the midst of debilitating debt from student loans and medical bills. And it was the sweet little extras of life, the magazine subscriptions, lattes at Starbucks, and pedicures were always just out of reach for me. That was a season of my life, where my husband’s entire teaching salary barely covered our everyday living expenses, and my own paycheck, allocated to paying off this before mentioned debt, often left me with nearly nothing to call my own.
These were the days when splurge day funds, vacations, and black Friday shopping were things I could only read about online. I was a legal clerk, dependent on my newly transitioned to a home office position. This was worsened by the fact that despite graduating from graduate school, my dreams of working towards becoming partner in a law firm, let alone starting my own firm were too far out of my reach. I was depressed. I was constantly angry. My can do attitude of my early twenties was a distant memory.
I lived in the grey area of financial crisis. I earned too much to qualify for any public assistance, including senior daycare, despite being an in-home, unpaid caretaker for my grandmother who at the time suffered from dementia, yet earned too little to be financially secure at night. I vividly remember paychecks were only cents on the dollar were left in my personal checking account, and while my debt was snowballing into completion, my confidence was plummeting to the floor. One paycheck in particular, after paying off one student loan I had a whopping $0.19 left!
These are the times that those are working towards being debt-free try to glaze over, the debilitating feeling of suffocation and depravity. But for me, I reinforce debt-free living in my home, by remembering the days when looking through a magazine in the waiting room of my grandmother’s various medical appointments was the highlight of my week.
My saving grace? My discovery of freebies. The world that only coupon bloggers and freegans dare enter, the land of days upon days of my mailbox being filled to the brim with magazine, samples, cards, coupons, and free high-value store offers. Admittedly, I discovered freebies inadvertently while looking at articles on various debt relief sites, which helped me stay abreast on the latest deals of the day.
At first there was a freebie here and there. And over time as I started to couple freebie deals with blog book review partnerships, hosted parties slots, and product reviews, I began to notice that not only did I find a means to add a few happies to my week, but I was able to help save my family even more our monthly bills than I had simply by could shopping with coupons.
No longer did I have to decide in the grocery store checkout line if I could afford luncheon meat for my family, or the latest issues of Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes and Gardens, I could have it all. Freebies helped my personal budget last longer, and helped me save money on everyday expenses. Freebies gave me something to look forward to. Freebies gave me options. Freebies gave my encouragement in my journey to becoming debt-free.
So, for me freebies literally saved my life.
So, you may be thinking, I’m not in a lean season of life so why should I want freebies? Whether you’re a hardcore coupon collector, a natural bargain hunter, or just looking to save some extra money there are always ways to save more by hunting down freebies online.
So, a decade later I can honestly say that I still love freebies, and in fact still freebie hunt weekly. And a really cool tip I’d like to share is that there are items that I no longer need to pay for as a result of freebie hunting.
So here are a few ideas I’d like to share with you for things you should insist on getting for free:
Free Audio-books: You don’t have to pay for audio books on Amazon. Find a book you like on LibriVox and download it for free. The books are all in the public domain, so there is no worry about piracy. Are there any classic works of literature that you would love to hear on audio-book? Check them out on LibriVox.
Free Music:Spotify.com is a great online service that makes it easy to listen to music by your favorite bands and musicians, and all for free. You can also pay to upgrade to a premium membership that gives you some additional features and abilities to use the site, but for the most part the free version is wonderful enough without having to pay.
Free Meals for Kids: If you’re traveling with your grandchildren or taking them out for dinner, one of the best ways to save money is to find a restaurant where kids eat for free. Check out MyKidsEatFree.com offers a search tool where you can find nearby restaurants where kids eat for free.
Free Anti-Virus: You don’t have to pay big money to protect your home computer from viruses and malware. There are excellent free anti-virus programs online, such as Microsoft Security Essentials (for Windows PCs) will protect your computer from the most common threats at no cost.
Free University Courses: This freebie comes with a caveat. I am an ardent believer that the only things worth going into debt for are your home, health, and your education. By the grace of God, my husband and I have earned five degrees and six certifications. My mother-in-law is a college dean, my sister-in-law earned a masters in nursing education, and my grandmother held a masters in public finance. I do not state this to be braggadocios. Simply to state, we are nerds. We value the time, energy, and cost associated with advanced degrees. Luckily, more and more universities, including some of the most elite private universities in the world, are offering their courses online for free. Although you can’t get course credit, these are a great way to keep your brain sharp and learn some new things while hearing from some of the brightest minds in the world. You can get free courses from Harvard University’s Open Learning Initiative online.
Free Phone Calls: Instead of spending big money on long-distance phone service, you can talk to your loved ones for free with Skype or Google Voice.
Free Stuff: Are you looking for some new furniture, a new bicycle, exercise equipment, or any other odds and ends for your home? Always look with Freecycle, an online organization that helps people give and receive free stuff first. Part of the mission of Freecycle, is related to environmental sustainability – by recycling and reusing and giving away their old stuff, people can keep things from going to the landfill. Go green!
Free Museums: The next time you’re on vacation, or even while you’re in your own city, check to see if there are any free museums where you can enrich your cultural horizons without emptying your pocketbook. National Geographic has a list of 20 great free museums in the U.S.
What are some other fun “freebies” that you enjoy finding? Let us know in the Comments!
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