Food

I am on a mission to SAVE on groceries. As our second largest expense (first being mortgage -and at one time we did spend equal amounts on mortgage and food!) it’s the one obvious place to cut back. Again.

So first I discovered shopping at Sam’s Club actually costs a lot of money. We’d drop 500 dollars every time we set foot in that store. To help that problem we began ordering online with their click & pull feature. If you place an order by 5pm you can pick it up the next day. You can pull right up front curbside, run in to claim and pay for your order and they have your basket(s) all ready for you! This is genius. It’s fast and if you have a zillion kids, or even one, you don’t have to take them shopping! I have a 14 year old that stays in the car with the younger kids and one of my sons goes into help me with the carts. This is the perfect shopping solution.

Now for the money saving part…when I order this way we spend on average 300-350 dollars instead of $500! That saves money. I can only order what is featured online (plenty of great things) and I know exactly how much it will be before I ever check out. You can save your lists for future ordering too, making it fast!

For the past month I have been using things up around here. If that meant crackers and peanut butter for lunch for 2 days this week so be it. We used up tons of stuff! I was so proud of myself. Leftover Mexican rice from dinner 2 nights ago became lunch with corn chips. I’m usually good about coming up with meals from leftovers but this month it wasn’t done out of the desire to use things up or make a quick meal because I forgot to thaw something…it was done with a WE HAVE TO DO THIS attitude or we’ll starve LOL. I have to have that mindset sometimes or I'll just go shopping. So I stayed away from any store, no matter what.

I’m hoping with the money we saved we’ll be able to buy a whole hog for our freezer. We are quickly running out of beef and a hog will help give some variety and stretch our beef.

I’m really looking forward to raising our own turkey’s this year but I need a money plan to make that happen. We need fence and shelter. I wish I could raise them with the chickens. I see people doing that online but I’ve always been told it’s a no, no. (Turkeys are susceptible to life threatening diseases that chickens are immune to. )
Mostly I’m discovering saving money on food is lowering your food portions and expectations. LOL. I am very picky and very "healthy."  Channges I've had to make over the past few months that I rarely buy organic of now : peanut butter, crackers, chicken. Those were huge changes for me. But, until we get some bills paid off and my hubby's car that's just life.

Oh I also miss buying sugar free pasta sauce and organic yogurt. On the plus side all the frozen veggies I buy at Sam's now is GMO free which makes me happy. GMO free corn = awesome!


Our last order.....

2 Dole® Blueberries - 64 oz. - 817663 2 No $7.8 $15.6


2 Totino's® Pepperoni Pizza Rolls® - 2/34.6oz Bags - 364964 2 No $8.98 $17.96

Horizon Organic Reduced Fat Milk w/DHA - 3/64oz - 17905 1 No $10.58 $10.58

Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter - 2 jars - 40 oz. each - 49573 1 No $6.49 $6.49

Dole® Sliced Strawberries - 80 oz. bag - 775841 1 No $8.28 $8.28

Brown Cow Greek Yogurt - Variety Pack - 12/53 oz - 987403 1 No $10.68 $10.68

Seedless Cucumbers - 3 ct. - 810937 1 No $3.98 $3.98

Farmland Hickory Smoked Bacon - 3/1 lb. pks - 33755 1 No $8.98 $8.98

Heinz Tomato Ketchup - 3/ 44 oz. - 281710 1 No $5.98 $5.98

Hellmann's® Real Mayonnaise - 64 oz. jar - 61167 1 No $6.15 $6.15

2 WindStone Farms® Seedless Blackberry Jam - 2/18 oz. - 476342 2 No $4.98 $9.96

Member's Mark® Salted Butter Quarters- 4/1 lb. - 907581 1 No $7.98 $7.98

José Olé® Chicken&Cheese Chimichangas-18ct - 137075 1 No $11.48 $11.48

2 Frozen Boneless Skinless Breasts - 6lb bag - 65525 2 No $13.48 $26.96

Flav-R-Pac® Whole Kernel Corn - 5 lb. bag - 452328 1 No $4.98 $4.98

FLAV-R-PAC® Broccoli Florets - 4lb bag - 216444 1 No $4.98 $4.98

Newman's Special Blend - Keurig K-Cups - 80 ct. - 728126 1 No $33.88 $33.88

Nabisco® Ritz Crackers - 4/12 oz. packs - 684362 1 No $5.94 $5.94

Ore-Ida Tater Tots 8lb. - 78016 1 No $6.62 $6.62

Yoplait® Original Yogurt Multi Pack-18/6oz. cups - 201472 1 No $7.22 $7.22

Pedigree® Adult Dry Dog Food - 52 lb. - 994976 1 No $23.84 $23.84

Kellogg's® Raisin Bran Crunch® - 43.3oz - 906053 1 No $6.58 $6.58

Quaker® Life® Cereal Variety Pack- 62 oz. - 680184 1 No $6.28 $6.28

Macaroni Grill® Meat Lasagna - 2/40 oz. trays - 230743 1 No $12.98 $12.98

Prego® Heart Smart™ Traditional - 2/67oz - 32754 1 No $6.49 $6.49

Baker's & Chef™ Wide Egg Noodles - 5 lbs. - 622386 1 No $5.98 $5.98

Earthbound Farm® Organic Mini Carrots - 3 lbs. - 351278 1 No $3.98 $3.98

Treasures from the Sea® Parmesan Tilapia - 40oz - 81405 1 No $11.98 $11.98

Bakers & Chefs™ Shredded Mild Cheddar - 5lbs - 63910 1 No $11.86 $11.86

2 Sister Schubert's Dinner Yeast Rolls - 30ct - 796504 2 No $5.88 $11.76
 
Total with tax $332.72

A snowy day

The snow out my window is a white blanket of sweet luster. It makes me happy to see how bright it is outside. The bare gray tress and skies of Missouri make me loathe winter more than the cold does. But the snow, well snow is pure and elegant. It’s pretty and soft. It’s romantic and cinematic. Snow makes winter palatable.


I have been making myself complete tasks and go to things lately. I’m very much a homebody. I’m a hermit. In general I can stay home most of the time, but the winter…well it’s ridiculous. I never want to leave. I could never leave and be so happy about it. You may hear me say that I should get out of the house or that it will be good for me to get out of the house, but you will rarely hear me say that I have to get out of the house. So I’m making myself get some things done and I’m making myself get out of the house for other things besides homeschool events and grocery shopping. Even though I often find it easy to get myself motivated to get out of the house for homeschool things I still had to make myself sign up for this session of a homeschool co-op. I also enjoy that it’s called the spring session even though it’s still the dead of winter. This means spring is going to unfold during the period in which we are enrolled. This means spring is in sight.

So I had to go to a Mother blessing this last week. I say had to like it was a chore, it was not! It was just a 100% priority type of thing. It was amazing beauty and fun. Then this week I’m bowling with the kids and I have on Saturday a women’s retreat to attend. This for me is being BUSY. LOL. But I’m making myself do these things. It’s good for me and when I do things for me I feel good. But I do have to MAKE myself.

The kids are painting in the kitchen and sound really obnoxious, which is ruining my peaceful snow mood! I must go to play a game with Layla now and ponder on what dinner might be. Oh and lunch…. Hummm.

Oh I haven’t even let the chickens out yet today, they probably don’t want out in the snow anyway. Fun for me is a walk in the snow to collect eggs. I love my life. It might be boring to some, but I really just love it.

A new WHAT?

It's JANUARY? January!? Serious? I haven't posted since last year. Shameful.

Can I gush about HIM then? Everett turned 3 months old recently. Oh I love him more than the moon. More than the nights glorious starry sky. I love him like a Mama bear loves her cub. He is sunshine on a rainy day. He is SO.MUCH.FUN.

Below is a recent picture of our next three youngest, Penelope 4, Layla 6 and Sebastian 2

I've tried to blog. I think I even have a draft saved from December. I need to write. I need to make time.

So Christmas was divine family time. I am one of those people that throws on a big Christmas production. Gifts, gifts and more gifts. I look at it this way: Some people go on vacations, I throw big Christmases for the kids. But we've had lots of fun games and toys to play. We are having the MOST fun with Sum Swamp, Zingo, and Pandabo ( I found it for cheap -but I've seen it everywhere for 24.99. Don't pay that much!! Amazon has it for $39.99 definitely don't pay that much!)

These have been some of the funnest (educational! unschooling!) games we've bought ---and we have millions of games in this house.

I've got a million projects going. It's so crazy. My goal in the new year is to finish them. Every time I get one done (or partially done) I start 3 more. Then while starting those three I find 4 more I want to start. And this continues an endless pattern.

The word for this year...I hadn't thought of one until this very moment... it is:

completion

So tomorrow our homechool activity will be for every one to find a special word and we will print it up or write it and the kids can decorate it, write companion words or goals to go with it or draw pictures around it and make it *theirs* then we can talk about how we can each make our word come to life!