Free $5 gift card to Babies R US

Check out this post at Moneysavingmom.com to see how to get a free gift card. Yeah, cheap/free diapers!

In my Mailbox

Today was a fun day to check the mail. I found a coupon for a free packet of tuna, a free coupon for Digiorno's 200 calorie pizza, and a sample of bounce. Also, I got a new issue of Ready Made magazine which I get for free. Always fun when my mail is saving me money.

Menu Monday

I have a lot of food in my fridge so I'm hoping to not go shopping this week and use a lot of what I have.

Mon- Taco Salad
Tues- Baked chicken, carrots, baked potatoes
Wed- House church (pumpkin cheesecake)
Thurs- Stirfry
Fri-Leftovers
Sat- Potato soup
Sun- Youth

Weight Watching Monday

Well, it has officially been two weeks on weight watchers. I'm finding it pretty easy at this point as far as diet goes. I am missing baking a bit, but I'm finding good times to bake for others or to get creative when I miss things. I think I'm learning to tweak a lot of what I already make to make it healthier. I'm making strides toward working out more. This week I lost an additional 6 lbs. Bringing my total to 10lbs. I bought a new scale that I think is more accurate. It says I've lost 12lbs, but I think my starting weight may have been a bit heavy so I'm pretty sure 10 is a more accurate amount.

LBS lost-10
LBS to go- 40

Goals update-eating from the pantry

Ok so this was not a good month to start a diet and attempt to eat from my pantry. Produce alone has ran my grocery budget up quite a bit. I have upped my budget to $250 for the time being. With Levi on formula now and Dan and I eating a lot more fresh produce I needed a little wiggle room. I think once I figure out how to cook within weight watchers points and get an idea of what works for us I will attempt to bring our budget back down. But Formula is already going to run us quite a bit. So this was a flop, but I do want to do a month out of my pantry once I get used to what I can eat.

Goals update- losing weight

Well, I am coming to the end of week two of weight watchers. It really has not been very difficult. I am sticking to the diet and working out at least two times a week. I'm hoping to get to 3 times a week, but due to Dan working a lot and a very busy schedule I haven't gotten to the Y as much as I would have liked. However, in week one I am down 4 lbs. It isn't as much as I was hoping, but it is a start. I know I didn't get here over night so I won't go back over night either. I will try to keep an update weekly of where I am at.

LBs lost:4
LBs to go: 46

Free salad

Meijer has so many freebies this week. I love me some freebies! One another I wanted to mention is Dole salad. Here's how it works


Dole salads are 10 for $10 this week.
Meijer mealbox has $1 off one coupon making them free. It is just that easy.
Plus, you can print as many coupons as you want, but you may have to do several transactions. Check your stores coupon policy.

I have step by step instructions on how to use Meijer mealbox here if you need it.

Free cottage cheese

Last night I went to Meijer to get some freebies. One of the best deals was these cottage doubles. Here's how to get them free with out a coupon.

Buy 5 at $1 each= $5 out of pocket
Get a $5 off your next order coupon.
Buy 5 more and use your coupon. You only pay tax $0 where we live.
Then you get another coupon so you can continue to roll this deal as many times as you like.
Make sure you do seperate transactions for this to work.
I did this last night so I know it worked at my Meijer.

PS- these are only 3 pts for weight watchers!

ENJOY!

Really cheap healthy choice meals

Here's the scoop on getting some really inexpensive frozen meals. Kroger has an online coupon that you load on your card for $5/5 healthy choice meals. There is also a printable on healthy choice website for $5/5 meals. Most Krogers should let you use these together making for free or really cheap lunches. Especially if you are like me and doing weight watchers these are very handy.

Living on less...

I love a deal! In case you didn't know I love snagging something at an extra low price. Now is that time of year. Semi annual sales are everywhere! Bath and body works, yankee candle, Victoria Secret the list goes on. I have seen so many good deals on line it is killing me. But I am working hard to ask myself the question "do I really need it?". It may be a good deal, but where does it fit in my already full house.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for stockpiling at the lowest price. However, I have found myself buying so much because it is a good deal that I struggle to use it all. My kids have so many clothes already. They have so many toys. We as a family have so much. I'm trying to stay focused on how blessed we already are. And trying not to focus on what we don't have.

I'm starting to get more organized. I'm by no means there yet, but before I add too much more "stuff" I need to deal with what we already have.

I love a freebie!

Stop over here for a code to get a free photo calendar. I know a few grandparents who would be happy about this. :)

Menu plan

Okay, So I started this month with the goal of eating out of our pantry, but I didn't realize we were somewhat low on chicken...so, I upped my budget to $100 this month. Since Meijer has chicken $1.79/lb I felt like i should take advantage.

This is going to be an interesting and creative month for me. First we are eating from our pantry. Second, Dan and I both started weight watchers today. Third, I am cutting out all red dye from my kids. I'm finding that this hasn't been too hard since I cook a lot. The big thing that it is in for us is fruit snacks. So, my menu plan has a lot of factor competing against each other.

The dinners are what I focus on. The other meals are merely suggestions. :)

Monday-BBQ chicken, baked potato, green beans, salad
Tues-Sausage and Potatoes, salad
Wed- Lasagna (House church)
Thurs. Potato soup
Fri- Salad bar
Sat- left overs
Sun- youth group.

Breakfast
Cereal (x2)
Eggs (x3)
oatmeal
Smoothies

Lunch
Salad, baked potato (x4)
soup
left overs(x2)

Snacks
Banana bread
veggies and dip
cheese cubes
crackers
100 calorie packs

Getting organized.

In a constant effort to figure out what works best for us in the space we have Dan and I worked on organizing this past week. Our major goal was to tackle the garage and some of the problem areas. We started by organizing clothes into bins with the appropriate sizes. This was a task seeing as how we have a lot of kids clothes and I haven't done a good job of getting them where they go when they are not in use.

Once that was done my big goal was food storage. I know I did this not too long ago, but I was running out of room. So I asked Dan to get a new large shelf for me and then I made the small shelf a place to keep kid stuff.

This should be much more functional for us now. It keeps all the food, cleaning, and paper products in one area. Plus, I freed up quite a bit of space in our toy storage by moving the stuff I didn't want them playing with on their own out to the garage. This shelf is for games, puzzles, crafts, and playdough. All things I will plan to use at the table.

Also, by moving puzzles out of the closets it is helping me to organize the boys rooms a little better. Their closet isn't finished, but it is getting there.

Quiet time...

Today is a big day for our house. With the fresh start of a new year we are implementing a few new things to our day. One of the things I'm starting is quiet time. This will be a 1/2 hour every day when each child sits in their room and has quiet play on their own. During that time I will spend individual time with the boy who isn't in quiet time.

Today went well. The boys were excited to start something new. I was able to play board games with Isaac and Play dough with Asher. All while Levi napped. It was really a good time. I'm hoping to be consistent with it.

I used a drawer we had in our garage and filled it with two Melissa and Doug lace and tracer kits. Two busy books the boys got for Christmas. Tag Jr. system and Leapster, a few puzzles and a travel game. I'm hoping that this will transition us well into home school.

Yet another blog

Something I've noticed this year is how funny and frustrating my kids are. They say things that I want to remember, but I always forget to write them down. Or I will struggle with something some one is doing, but not realize when it is over and I forget to celebrate that we have made it through. So this year I have started a blog about my boys. I plan to write in it at least once a week or whenever I can to update the adorable stuff they do. If you want to check it out feel free. Here is the link. :)

Healthy choice coupons

This is a great coupon for $5 off 5 healthy choice frozen meals. This could help with some weight loss goals possibly.

This year I am setting some lofty goals. I'm hoping that these are attainable goals, but there are several things that by 2011 I'd like to see. Here are just a few of my ideas. I want to continue to share where we are at through the year. I feel like if I post it out there for all to see it may give me more motivation to make it happen.

KIDS:
1. Don't get pregnant- Ok, this may seem funny, but really I need to not have a baby this year. God ultimately makes that call, but Dan and I will be doing our parts to not have another little one at any point in 2010. I've realized that if we can get Levi to where Isaac is or at least potty trained before we have another one it would be so much more enjoyable. Plus, many of my other goals hinge on this one. So it is a big one for me.

2. Potty train Asher- I'm really hoping this can happen before June. I've learned with Isaac that it takes time and it will come. I have more patience this time around, but it will be very helpful to have one less in diapers.

3. Start home schooling Kindergarten with Isaac (Sept) I want to start this year so I can do it as a test run. If it doesn't work then I send him as a five year old and we move on with life. I'm so excited to start.


HOME:
1. Get organized- One thing I have learned about myself is that I am more productive in an organized environment. I want to have my garage organized and make sure there is a home for everything. While our home is enough for the time being space is tight and i must learn how to make the best use of the space we have.

2. Chore charts- I want to have a list of chores for each member of the family. Even Asher can help. I want to know what I need to do in order to keep my home looking the way I want it. We want a large family and we need to start now to teach our children how to pitch in.

3. Clear clutter- My plan for this is to start craigslisting anything I know we don't need or use. I plan to clean out clothes as Levi grows out of them and sell them. We have way too many toys for the space we have so those will also be sorted through. We have recently bought some paint and shelves so I'm hoping to get some of the money we spent to organize by decluttering. Also, if we plan on homeschooling I want to have my materials well organized.

4. Sell and Buy a new home-One of the big things we want to accomplish is to sell our current home and buy something with more room that fits our needs. We are praying that God will provide the perfect buyers for our home. That this house will be a blessing to others, and that we may be able to find a home more suitable to our family. We are looking for something with at least 4 bedrooms, a full basement, an area to use specifically for school, an area for guests, large area to have House Church or host other things, and a yard that our kids can really play in. I know God is so much bigger than our dreams and so we will continue to pray that he knows our needs and has a plan for us. Until then I want to strive to use the resources we have been given to make this home the best it can be for our family.

5. Make my home a haven- This is a life long goal that I want to continue to pursue. So much of this has to do with my attitude. I want our home to be a refuge from the rest of the world. A place where my husband and children want to be. A place where above all God is glorified. This is a continuous journey. Learning how to make my home welcoming, peaceful, and fun will take a lot of time and learning. I want to strive to make it a place people want to be.

 

PERSONAL:

1.Lose weight- My ultimate goal is to lose 50lbs. I have a friend who will be my accountability partner, which is huge for me. I have gained quite a bit with babies and not had time to lose it in between. So this is a huge goal, but I want to be healthy and that is my ultimate goal. However, looking cute in a swim suit couldn't hurt. Plan for this is just your basic eating healthy (lots less sugar for me) working out at least 3 times a week. I'm planning on weighing in every Monday and posting if I have lost and how far I have to go.

2. Time with the Lord- I'm still trying to figure out what this looks like as a mom. I am working toward memorizing a verse a week. Also, just making some alone time with my Jesus every day. Even if it is locking myself in the bathroom for five minutes. This is an area I'd love to know how other moms make it happen.

3. Time management- My biggest struggle is bedtime. I never get to bed before midnight. So I want to figure out how to accomplish all I need to in a day and then have time in the evening to relax with my husband and still got to bed before 11.

 

FINANCIAL:

Live on less- In every way I want to cut back how we are living. Find more creative ways to spend less on clothes, food, entertainment, and unneeded stuff. I really think if we cut out some of the excess we will get more out of what we have. I don't know exactly what this will look like yet, but I'm really looking forward to figuring it out.

Save for a down payment on our new house- When we bought our current house we did a 0% loan and so now we are hoping to not only put down the equity from this house plus some money from savings. This means building up our savings past our emergency fund.

Pay off our van- We don't have very far to go for this. Hopefully we can have it paid off by the end of this year. Once this is gone we will have no debt outside of our mortgage.

Grocery- Maintain our $200 monthly budget.

Save for several big purchases.- We have several things we want that we have to take the time to save specifically for. One of them is a new TV.

 

I know these are a lot of lofty goals, but I'm really hoping that this year will be a good year for us. I know God is in control and all of these goals can only be accomplished through him. So welcome 2010.