Super Saturday? Maybe.

So it's been a while since ya'll have heard from me, my house has been sick--countinually. First everyone had this bad cold that turned into upper respiratory infections. Then we all got better, thank GOD, and then we went to a fast food play place to go play and the next day starting with the 2 year old boy we all got the flu. It's been a week everyone but my DH has caught the flu, my DH came to bed last night and said "oh no, I really don't feel good." About 20 minutes later he was in the bathroom loosing his dinner. I feel so bad for him, I can't do anything to help him other then keep the kids from bugging him. There is a ton of stuff I wanted to do today, so I am left frustrated and confused as to if I should bother. GRR!!! Well either way here is my list:

Clip, toss, organize coupons (I have a small laundry basket full-it's needs to be used for laundry)
Meijer Shopping (now I get to take all 3 with me!!)
Clean my Office (I have been avoiding this all month)
Freezer Inventory (I really don't know what's in there anymore, and I need to make room)
Freezer Cooking Plan's (which is why I need to make room) Breakfast's/Chicken/Beef
Blog about my day!!

My Husband Rocks Friday... a day late!!

My house is full of germs!! We have all had colds/upper respitory infections for two weeks. Well Thursday night my 2 year old DS got the flu!! It is now Saturday morning and we know the 4 year old DD has it and the baby might also have it. Well Friday before my husband went to work knowing I was going to have a rough day taking care of all three kids while one is very sick and needy, he went to the store to get me batteries for the baby's swing. The baby loves his swing he sleeps in it most of the day, without the swing he insists on being held 24/7 and with two other kids that is difficult plus one being sick. My sweet husband knew I was going to have a rough day and he also wasn't feeling good, but wanted to try to make my day a little easier went to the store and god batteries for me so I wouldn't have to suffer a crying baby all day (or drag out all three kids) My husband Rocks for thinking of all the little things to help me!!! He loves me so much, and is a very big help as a husband I am ever so blessed!!

Menu Planning Monday

We had to skip last week because we have all been sick--we are still all sick. However I ended up eating out 3 times in the past week and we can't have that it's not healthy but it's also NOT in the budget.

Lunches
Monday: Grilled Cheese
Tuesday: PBJ
Wednesday: Mini Pizza's (on bagels with sauce and cheese)
Thursday: Fruit and Cheese
Friday: hot dogs and brocoli
Saturday: leftovers

Dinners
Monday: Steak, Salad, and sweet potato
Tuesday: Spagehetti Parmesan, bread, and salad
Wednesday: Pizza Roll (from macombmoneysavers.com site)
Thursday: Sausage in cresent's with mac and cheese
Friday: soup
Saturday: popcorn chicken and fries

Now I am sure if you read over my menu your thinking, and she was complaining about out to eat not being healthy?? But you know what nothing here is fried, everything is baked. So we still aren't eating the best but for us-for my family this is a vast improvement.

Freezer Cooking!!

I am so excited to say that that I am freezer cooking!! I tried freezer cooking two years ago and it turned out really bad so I gave up on it. Well for several reason's our budget is very tight, stress on the very. Our family normally eats out several times a week, and we just can't afford it anymore. Plus I'm sure you already know from the presvous statement, our health isn't great and sadly that means we are teaching these habbits to our children-which we don't want to do. So I decided I really needed to give freezer cooking another try since I also can't afford to buy a million freezer meals from the store (which is fine cuz they are not healthy either.) Earlier this week I made 3 chicken pot pie's- one was for dinner and the other two are now in the freezer. Tonight I made six pounds of meat into 30 mini meatloaf's, individual portion size's that way they can be taken out and microwaved as needed. Next up I plan to make chicken, I bought 15lb's of chicken yesturday (and still have 5 in the freezer) I am trying to decide what I should make with all this chicken. Share any idea's if you have them. I'll post when I do the chicken and I'll also post as I use the frozen meals to let ya'll know how they turned out.

My Husband Rocks Friday!!

My Husband Rocks Friday is a chance for me to share with the world yet another reason why my husband rocks! We (like most of the US right now) have been buried in snow this past week and all sick also, my lovely husband has not complained about having to go to work in this terrible weather or that he's been sick and miserable like the rest of us. He has even shoveled the drive way numerous times, and cleared off my mini van each morning in case I have to take the kids somewhere (ya know school, doctors, grocery store). And that is why my husband Rocks!!

Goals!!

I am wonderful at setting goals, that being said I am terrible at follow through. Blame it on my A.D.D. (I do!) but I still have a lot of work to do to get myself where I want to be. I pray often for God to help me become a better Christian, wife, and mother: and God has helped me!! I can tell you I am a different person today then I was two years ago when I had my second child. Back then I wouldn't have cared that the laundry was slowly taking over the house, or that the dishes were starting to lean like that big tower in Italy, and when my daughter drew on the table I probably would have left it there for at least a week before bothering with cleaning it up. Well all that tell's you I am a terrible housekeeper- and boy am I just that much "better" at being organized. So I have been putting a few systems in order to get my house in shape.

1) Do the dishes every morning
2) Bring in mail and toss out junk mail immediately
3) Giant dry erase calendar in my kitchen that I keep all info on
4) Menu Planning

I really want/need to get more cleanliness and organization into my home so here are my goals for the day/week/month:
Today:
Fold and put away the three baskets of laundry hanging around the house
Wash all towels/bibs/rugs
Fold and put away all towels/bibs/rugs
Fold and put away all socks (giant basket full)

This Week (today til next Friday):
OAMC chicken -pot pie and cheesy rice casserole
Make Valentine projects with Kid's
-Necklace's
-Heart crayons
-Flower Bouquet
-Valentine's Cards
Post coupons for trade on AFC along with ISO list

This Month (Feb):
Organize/clean/de-clutter Scrapbook rm/office
Go through all kitchen cupboards and eliminate unused/wanted items
clean out bedroom closet
clip and organize all coupons

Org Junkie's 28 day Challenge

I am excited to say I am joining in on Org Junkie's 28 day challenge I will be cleaning out my scrapbook room/office. IT is such a mess that at this point there is a small path to the door to my DH's office (my "room" is the large hallway to DH's office, it's a 12ft by 6ft room) As soon as I find my camera (yep that's right it's lost in the room) I will take a picture of it and post it up here. The great part about this challenge isn't just that you get to join in a group and report back as to how good you did, it's not just that you get to see just how bad other people's rooms are (okay maybe it's just me that likes that part lol) but Org Junkie will also be rewarding prize's to those with the best before and after pics, ya know if this was just on the before pic I think I could win!! Good luck to all the ladies joining up in the challenge I wish you all luck.

730/365 Challenge

The Challenge: Get 2 items a day out of your house (2 x 365=730) this is an average you can work on once a day week or month whatever works for you the purpose of this challenge is to get some of the extra junk out of your house!!

So here is my January update
6 kids plates (not BPA free so they are out!)
4 picture frames
9 clothing
1 bath mat (we took it out of the tub well over a year ago)

So I've only tossed 20 items but being that this is an average i know I can make up for the 11 items I am missing later, more so I am going to challenge myself to get 100 items out of my house this month!!! BTW when I say toss this could be actually int he garbage, to a friend/relative, or to local thrift store. Check out amysfinerthings.com for more about the 730/365 challenge.

New ATM Cards means FREE REDBOX!!!

I am so very excited since DH and I just switched over to a new bank, which means we just got new visa/debit cards. Now we will get to start all over again with all the Redbox codes that are available, because Redbox doesn't track the person it tracks the cards so you can use these free codes on each card. Check out Spectacular Savings she has all the codes listed.

Menu Plan Monday

Here is my menu plan for the week Saturday I am hoping to get some extra meals made on Saturday so I don't have to cook every night or eat store bought freezer food so much.

Monday: Taco's
Tuesday: Chicken Potpie
Wednesday: Soup
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Tyson Anytizer's with fries
Saturday: Chicken and Rice Casserole (make a couple so I can freeze some for later)
Sunday: Not sure either eat out or something in the crockpot.

For Hundred's of great menu plan's head over to Orgjunkie.com for her weekly roundup of menu plans.

Stockpiling

Rules for Stockpiling:
Some may seem obvious but it took me a while to catch follow through with them

1) Only buy what you will use, if you hate blueberry poptarts it doesn't matter that they were .02 a box, you wasted two cents a box on something you won't eat.
2) Only buy what you can use before the expiration date, free/cheap pasta is awesome but most people don't go through 200 boxes of it before it expires.
3) Rotate your items, this is so they don't go bad
4) When/if you discover you have more than you can use but already have the item give to friends/family or donate some place.
5) You don't use it donate it, or give to family or friends. Often times stores will have deals that you can get free items or even make money off of buying certain things (such as CVS) but you have no use for them, do not stockpile these items as fast as they come into your house get them out of your house!!
6) Organization is key, you need to know what you have and be able to find it. This will stop you from having to go to the store and pay full price for spaghetti sauce because you couldn't find a jar in your stockpile.
7) Keep list's, keep a list of items that you regularly use and keep a list of your stockpile

Those are all i can think of for now, if I think of more I'll edit and add them.

My Price Points: this is the most I will pay for items

Shampoo $1/bottle
Toilet Paper .25cents a roll (up to .28 for Charmin)
Paper Towel .50 cents a roll (but I really hate to go over .30)
Cereal $1/box
Fruit Snacks .50/box
Toothpaste $1/tube (can usually find free)
Toothbrush $1/each (can usually get for less or free)
Diapers .17 per diaper
Pasta sauce $1/jar (this is for brand name stuff)
Pasta .25/box
Meat $2/lb (unless we are talking steak)
Popcorn $1/box
Milk $2 gallon
Macaroni and Cheese .50/box (Kraft brand)
Rice $1/bag
Frozen Veggies .25/bag (steamers)
Crescent rolls .50/tube

The three best things that I have learned from couponing/stockpiling
1) Organization is Key!! Without this all is lost
2) Menu Plan-this makes the most of the stockpile, keeps grocery bill low, stops you from feeling lost at dinner time or from wasting money on going out to eat.
3) The value of a Dollar!!

Let us Pray for Haiti

When I was little (and clearly still learning about God) in the car on a drive someplace with my Aunt we passed a car accident- right then without thinking she interrupted our conversation and started praying for the people in the car accident and those involved in helping. I asked what she was doing and why, and she said that she was praying for God to be with all those people and help them. I didn't get it then but I get it now as an adult.

Let us all take time out of our day today, and for the next few days to pray for all these people -those that were in the earthquake and the people that are helping them (rescuer's, dr's, police officers etc.)

Where to find coupons??

There are tons of great places to find coupons first (and my personal favorite) is the Sunday newspaper. Next up is all the great printable sites (I will list several at the bottom) but then there are in store coupons these come in many different shapes some can be peelie's that you find on a product, sometimes Q's can be found inside products, blinkie's are coupons found inside those machines at the store that blink, Q's can also be found in booklets that are by products or being handed out at stores-so always check what just look like annoying advertisement or recipee's often it will have recipie's for the product (which can be great too!) but at the end of the booklet there can be a handful of coupons and/or even rebates for buying those products. Recently I got a booklet that was with all the crackers in the main isle of meijer I beleive it was called "Jingle the hoildays" it had some cute ideas for recipie's in it and coupons and a rebate at the end. The rebate was $10 rebate when you buy (wyb) 10 products, well I got a coupon online for $2/2 ritz crackers so I got five of them bought ten box's @ $2.37 a box only $1.37 a box with coupon and once I get the rebate back I will have only spent $.37 cents a box (full size boxes) for ritz crackers. I was very excited as we go through a lot of these in our house, my kids think they are cookies :D Another great way to get coupons is to email (or post mail) a company to let them know what you think of their product for ex. Heinz ketchup I emailed to let them know that my family loves their ketchup, I've even had to stop my child from putting it on french toast and that we go through a bottle a month and thanked the company for making such a great product. If you have problems with a product you can also call the company if you prefer not to write. Sometimes you will get coupons and sometimes you won't but I would say that it is well worth your time to do this. I almost forgot about another type of coupons they are called Cat's (short for catalina, the name of the machine that spits them out) they come out of the little machine at the register at the time you check out these coupons can be for money off your next order or coupons towards products you bought but of a different brand. For example at meijer when I buy enfamil formula I usually get a coupon for BOGO (buy one get one free) or $8 off any can of similac formula. I obviously won't be swapping my kid's formula left and right due to coupons, but usually I can find another mom on afullcup.com and swap her coupons with mine for the type of formula we use.

Internet Coupons
www.smartsource.com
www.coupons.com
www.couponbug.com
www.redplum.com
Bricks Coupons I love this one lots of little tiny words add up to some big savings
Betty Crocker
Box Tops for Education
Pillsbury
Also there is a site called my points (if you want to sign up please lmk I'll email you my link to get credit) you can print coupons (usually the same ones from coupons.com) however when you print and use 10 a month you get 25 points, and points add up to gift cards to a lot of different places like CVS, Target, and there is also a bunch of restaurants on the list. So I like printing from here too just so I get the points.

www.shortcuts.com This site you register with but are able to add coupons to your Kroger Card

www.meijermealbox.com this site will allow you to print coupons that are meijer store coupons meaning you can use it with a manufacture coupon to get a maximum amount of savings, most of the coupons on this site usually go together with sales. Once you get to the site look to the right at the box that says meal box then click on the specials tab and then below that click on coupons.

Couponing and Savings Tracker

I learned the art of couponing two years ago, I am really just starting to "get" how the whole system works and it has taken a long time. Not to say that I am an expert, because I don't think that I am. My Aunt told me about a website called thecouponproject and on the site there is a savings tracker that you can download (this was made and designed by the owner/operator of thecouponproject) at first this Excel program was very confusing to me, not just because I am not familiar with excel but also because I wasn't sure how to read my receipts and how all the savings was calculated on the receipt. First of all I went back to thecouponproject to see what she has been up to latly and I noticed that she now added a better explanation of how to use it. Sadly this is after I spent a couple hours today figuring it all out by myself lol.

Here are my directions:
Meijer: I use the terms which are found at the top of the receipt under Savings Today.
Shelf cost = promotions+coupons+discounts+total (what you actually paid)
Coupons = Promotions (which are meijer coupons)+Coupons
Discounts = non-coupon savings

Kroger: Your savings will be found at the bottom of the receipt, once again using the wording on the receipt.
Shelf cost = coupons+discounts+total (what you actually paid)
Coupons = MFG CPN savings
Discounts= STR CPN & KRO PLUS savings

If I will be using a receipt for a rebate I enter the amount under rebate, and at the end under comments I enter what rebate was for (i.e. Kraft, Nabisco, etc.) Also if I am going to be mailing away for something (coupons or items) I enter this info in at the end under comments. If you enter all the information correct the total should tally what you actually paid without you having to try to alter it. Also I will be adding Catalina's, Extra Care Bucks, and Register Rewards at the end under comments so that I can also track these "extra" savings, because I will be curious what my saving's from just those are however year long when spent they will be counted as coupons.

So far this year, ALL Twelve Days!! My total savings has been $427.69, 129.94 alone of just coupon savings!! I have only spent $205 total out of pocket (oop) For me this covers food, diapers, paper products, cleaning supplies, essentially anything that you would "normally" buy at the grocery store is what I include with my savings tracker. I may actually open another file under the savings tracker for all the other stuff that we buy out to eat, clothing, other house hold purchase's just to keep track of what we save there but also (possiblly more importantly) to see how much we spend on all these items.

Pre-Cut Mats

I have wanted to do silhouette pictures of my kids for all the parents and grandparents for Christmas this year but i had no idea how to make this an affordable idea considering you need either photo frames, or canvas's which are also expensive I mean even when you buy dollar store frames times three kids times 8 gifts well that is just more then I can afford to spend (DH has been out of work for six months so gifts really need to be well thought out this year.) But I just found this website Pre Cut Mats and they have lots of different size's and prices to go with them lol they seem to be very fair priced. So I could be making these gifts for as little as .95 cents each maybe even less because that price would include a backing and bag which I might not need.

Menu Planning Monday

Normally for this I would do a week's worth of meals but since I am having baby Jacob in 11 days!!! (I am very excited to see baby #3) plus the holiday and family plans I will be making a month long meal plan.

1- Sausage in Crescents with mac and cheese
2- Soup
3- Mini meatloaf with french fries and corn (making 3X normal for freezer)
4- Cheesy Chicken in Rice &veggies (make 3X normal sauce for freezer)
5- Turkey Dinner (will make pot pie's, and casserole's with leftovers for freezer)
6- EAT OUT
7- Taco's
8- Turkey pot pie
9- Chicken Alfredo
10- Freezer Food
11- Up to Daddy-Baby Jacob's Birthday
12- Mini meatloaf, corn, and fries (all will be in freezer)
13- Sandwiches
14- Soup
15- Spaghetti, salad/veggies, and bread
16- BBQ Chicken
17- Calizone's/Pastie's
18- Steak, salad, veggies, potatoes, and bread (my birthday dinner!!)
19- Sausage in Crescents
20- Sandwiches
21- Taco's
22- Cheesy Chicken and Rice (sauce in freezer)
23- Soup
24- Make your own pizza night (tradition started last year!!)
25- Ham dinner with cheesy potatoes, veggies, and bread
26- Turkey Casserole (from freezer)
27- Scalloped potatoes and Ham
28- Eat Out/leftovers
29- Freezer Food
30- Mini meatloaf, fries, and corn (all in freezer)
31- Appetizer Dinner (lots of fun snack foods)

There are several things/meals that I want to make extra of for the freezer this month but on top of all that I have some Christmas Baking that I would like to get done also:

Chex Mix (3 batches)
Surgar Cookie Cutouts (for parties and kids decorating, make TONS)
Breads (sesame seed, cranberry, Cinnamon, banana nut,)
Choc. Chip/Brownie Muffins
Hershey Kiss Cookies

So very much to do!!

Nesting drive's people like me insane, because I have a mental will to do something and physically unable to (since the baby is on my nerve in my back and my pelvic bone!!) However thanks to Hubby I do have the crib set up in my room and his dresser, his idea and boy was it a good one. I have a mile long to do list (including a honey do list) that I just really want to get done and I don't have the energy.

Since being pregnant and having the baby on the nerve in my back certain things in my house have been lacking in cleanliness such as the kitchin floor (which appears to have a gray tint to it that doesn't belong there) and my bathrooms-the tub, floor, sinks, and mirrors- nothing really gets clean enough in these areas right now and I am praying I get the energy up to do so before I have the baby.
I need my husband to attach/put up the door on Johnathans room, yes we have lived here an entire year and we still do not have his door attached we just drag it back and forth to open and close it which is killing my back/pelvic bone. I also need/want him to replace the bathroom floor (or cover with carpet), put caulk around the kitchen sink and bathtub, fix the hole in my bathroom wall, and let me rest too lol. He does let me rest a lot, thank god for him being home to help this pregnancy has been very difficult. But I get frustrated when he does fix/work on things and I can't rest and have the kids all by myself. Which is truly kinda funny when you consider that as soon as he gets another job he will be back to work and I will have to do it by myself without whinning!!! I will pray for God to help me with this.
Also before the baby comes (december 10th) I would like to finish decorating for Christmas, have all Christmas shopping done and wrapped, and also have about 10-15 meals in the freezer for the nights that I do not want to cook.

Working on it....

My husband has been out of work for six months now, two days before he lost his job I thought I might just be pregnant and I was right. We are now six months down the road, thank God for unemployment benifits, state health and food benifits, and loving people whom have blessed us!! My husband's unemployment will be up by the end of the month and I've been worried, God willing he will get an extension and/or a job. We've been living well off of our stockpile and grocery money and up til now I've not thought too much on where more will come from when needed. Two years ago I learned how to coupon, mass coupon-- as in make a stockpile in your house couponing!! This was and still is such a blessing to us, however it has come with some drawbacks, such as not always buying things that we "needed" or might not even use (16 jars of salsa for .30 cents is great, but not if only one person in the house eats it!!) I would like to develop a stockpile that is full time usable as in if something happens I don't have to go to the grocery store for a month unless I want to. I need/want to save money for the future to make sure that we can pay our bills-house payment, electric, gas, phone, and maybe have enough left to keep up tv and internet. I am having a really really hard time becoming a good and happy housewife. (I very much look up to the happyhousewife) I would love to be as good as her some day, which at least gives me a goal right? lol. I often feel very disappointed when DH doesn't appreciate something that I do or want to do, or if he has doubts. This also usually makes me feel very angry towards him, which is not a behavior that I am proud to admit. So I've been doing research and trying to come up with a viable plan for shopping my pantry til it's full and so I will use all these items before they go bad. I currently have a menu plan of 20 meals which was so very, very hard for me to come up with. I fight picky eaters that do not like veggies with my liking veggies and wanting my family to eat healthy. I have choosen these 20 (and very similar ingredients) meals and plan to try some new things that my family will enjoy and God willing be able to add more variety to our meal plan. So for now I am working on a pantry grocery list, and organizing my self and our home. Here are my goals

Goals:
1) menu plan and follow thru!!
2) pantry shop for useful items only
3) try new meals and add more to menu plan
4) organize kids birthday party's
5) organize mom2mom fundraiser for church
6) find other mom friends (maybe join MOPS)
7) plan Christmas
8) make Christmas presents list--and plan out how to complete
9) organize boys room
10) clean house!!

15 meals my whole family will Eat??!!

This is the challenge handed out by the happy house wife so I am interested and decided to join in. Now I know that often you see menu plans on my blog, but that doesn't mean I always go by it manly because my whole family does always eat all of it... so here are my 15 meals:

1) Spaghetti
2) Chicken Alfredo
3) BBQ Chicken
4) Steak
5) Turkey Dinner
6) Crock Pot Pizza
7) Taco's
8) Sausage and Rice
9) Chicken Pot Pie
10) Monstocholli
11) Kick'n Chicken (same thing as chicken alfredo but with a spice added)
12) Fajitas
13) Breaded Chicken and Fries
14) Meatloaf Volcanoes (these are made in a cupcake pan as mini meatloaf with cheese in the middle)
15) Calizone


However my issue is usually that these meals don't all seem very healthy and I am not sure how to change them up into something more healthy. also there is a lot of ground meat which is something that they all eat but I will not....