On Day 1 I went grocery shopping. I made it home with 3 of my 4 receipts. I think. I know one is for sure gone. It was a little windy. Need I say more? So we're not off to a very good start. But we're off. And I'm even more baffled by any money being put in savings. I just really don't see how that can be happening. But I have the statement to prove it. So I found a spreadsheet that will help keep track of the spending on those receipts I may or may not have kept up with. I think this one is going to work for me. It's spending over long term with setting up a budget as the end goal. That girl is pretty smart. I got it from Simple Organized Living. I also set up a board on Pinterest for everything I find in my search related to finances. I'm afraid I am in for a huge shocker. Last night, I started thinking about where I put my receipts and how much money I had spent. And I only went to four places. Luckily, I can check online to see what my spending … [Read more...]
Why Plan a Menu?
Getting a meal on the table has never been very easy for me. When I worked in BC time (Before Children), my husband did most of the cooking and did a fine job. Frequently, we cooked together and then I always did clean-up. That was the deal and it worked for us at the time. Then while I was on maternity leave, I started cooking dinner on a regular basis and oftentimes, by myself since I would cook and we would eat as soon as he got home from work. I would spend too much time throughout the day trying to figure out what I was going to make for dinner. Most of it would be just think time, but still it consumed a lot of my time. I would decide what to make and then rummage through the refrigerator and pantry only to find I was missing an ingredient. So then I would put the missing ingredient(s) on the grocery list. By the time, I got around to buying the ingredient(s), I had either a) forgotten what recipe I bought them for b) was now missing other ingredient(s) c) … [Read more...]
Making Your Own Laundry Soap
So I'm now starting to experiment with making my own laundry soap. I made my first five gallons about three weeks ago. First, let me start by telling you it passes the most important test...my husband's work clothes. I started looking for a recipe a few months ago. I looked at everything from the Duggar's laundry soap recipes to sorta Amish recipes. I checked out some YouTube in my searching. I even went to the library and got some real books that I could hold in my hands and turn real pages. So what did I find in all my searching? Making your laundry soap is cheap. No matter what recipe, the total cost is a fraction of what I was spending on laundry detergent. All the recipes I found were pretty simple with only a few ingredients. Most of the recipes I found were in bulk. Usually, they made at least five gallons and oftentimes, this was concentrated. … [Read more...]
