This is a test to see if I can post from my phone yet. Heather won the Pottery Barn knock-off lamp when the sisters divided their room. We just bought her nightstand tonight on Craigslist. We hope to furnish our new house mostly by buying and selling on craigslist.
Whew! I had a few days of technical difficulties. It started when my old computer crashed and the new one didn’t like my blog program. My techy updated the blog and just like that–I can post again. Hooray :).
Yesterday I was blessed to be a feature over at Learnvest. You can read the article here. You might be surprised to read there that we were guest “stars” on the new TLC reality TV series Extreme Cheapskates. I didn’t mention it before for several reasons. The producer kept me out of the loop about when it would air and made me promise not to talk about it until he said it was okay. The first I knew it had aired was when a sweet viewer sent me a note of “I saw you…” I assumed I missed my chance to let you know so you could watch it. But they keep playing that episode over and over and over. In fact it aired again just yesterday, so I’m guessing, if you get TLC, it’s not to late to catch it.
As a disclaimer: I don’t have cable and have never seen the episode–Some people have loved it, my extended family was completely embarrassed by it; and one friend said, “Let me put it this way: You looked pretty, but the show wasn’t.” So whatever it is, just know that they can take little clips out of context and make the whole thing mean something different. For example the clip on the show’s webpage shows my 4 year old son folding washcloths. One is all brown and he holds it up and says, “This one looks dirty.” I said, “It’s fine.” That washcloth was brown because it had been scorched in the microwave (huh? long story) so I knew it was perfectly clean and fine to use…but the way they edited the clip it made me feel a little gross about the whole thing.
My biggest disappointment was that they didn’t mention this website at all on the show so most of the viewers will miss out on all the extra ideas and help they could get to save money. But I have gotten several other media opportunities because of the show that will help to spread the word.
I’m having a great time at the new house. The previous owners left quite a bit of stuff. I’ve been cleaning up some of it and selling it on craigslist to help pay for the renovations. Some of it is just trash, like the original bath rug with the backing that turned to dust. And some of it I can hit with a touch of spraypaint and make like new :).
Above is the brown return air vent from Heidi’s new aqua and white bedroom. A rusty vent fan cover from the boy’s bathroom, a 3/4″ steel conduit pipe ($3) that I hacksawed to fit the window in my office, and wooden finials and mounting brackets that held a smaller curtain bar in the master bedroom.
Add the last bits of white primer and spraypaint from the garage….
Total out of pocket cost: $3. Money saved: $50. Smile.
The fabric should arrive today for my office curtains and Heidi’s room will be carpeted this week!!!! I can’t wait to see it all come together.
Did you know that when the government calculates the rate of inflation commodities like food and gasoline aren’t included? According to this site inflation rates for 2011 were 3%. My food and gasoline went up a lot higher than that.
Take the lowly graham cracker for example. When I first wrote the Grocery Shrink ebook, I was able to buy a 16 oz box at Aldi for $.99 ($.06 per oz). Now the box only holds 14.4 oz and costs $1.49 ($.10 per oz). The price of graham crackers has gone up 60% since then. Thankfully graham crackers aren’t essential and I can choose to not buy them…but nearly all foods have risen in price in a similar fashion. By shopping the Grocery Shrink way–we don’t feel these prices as keenly as someone else might, but I’m starting to feel it more and more. Sale prices are still dropping, but store limits (you can only buy 2 at that price) are squeezing my ability to maximize the dollar like I used to.
I’m still working with a $50 per person per month food budget. Since I have a large family that gives me $400 to play with for the month. Sticking to that budget is getting a lot harder to do. And I’ve been thinking about it…a lot. Some of my children are very young. While my 6 year old out eats me on a regular basis my 4 year old and 9 month old don’t.
I think some new budget recommendation are in order, at least until food prices come back in line with inflation. And yes, they can. Food prices fluctuate madly while inflation prices rise more steadily. So until further notice, my budget recommendations are:
$100 per male adult (or child age 12 and over) per month
$75 per female adult (or child age 12 and over) per month
$50 per child (age 11 to age 2) per month
$30 per child (age conception to 2) per month (Even if a child is still in the womb or breastfeeding, mom needs to up her nutrition during this time–and may need to take advantage of more convenience items.)
For my family, our new grocery budget would be $480/month. We can’t afford that right now, so I’m still going with my $400 budget, but as soon as our circumstances change, I’ll be asking for that raise :). If you can afford to take your raise now….go for it!
It’s that time again. Time to plan your supper’s so you don’t have to think about it the rest of the month. To make it easier for you, here’s a cute little printable menu. Click on the picture below to download a printable pdf.
I love to eat cookie dough. I’m not afraid of raw eggs, but if you are–just leave them out of your favorite recipe and you’ll have edible dough. The drawback is there’s tons of calories in the form of fat and sugar and very little protein or vitamins.
I recently became aware of sugar free recipes for cookie dough meant to be eaten raw that includes protein powder. Several of them called for grinding dates into a paste–but dates aren’t currently in my pantry. So I tried this variation made with pumpkin puree instead. It had good flavor but tasted pretty “light” not rich and creamy like real cookie dough.
Here’s the recipe as pictured above:
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 scoop Bluebonnet French Vanilla Protein powder (Sold at amazon this is just whey and stevia.)
1 packet purevia, stevia sweetener
2 Tablespoons quick oats
2 Tablespoons coconut flour
2 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips
Combine all except the chocolate chips. Stir until the coconut flour absorbs the moisture and the mixture forms a light and airy dough. Fold in teh chocolate chips. Form into 8 balls. 2 balls = 149 calories; 12 g carbs (3 fiber); 10 g protein; 7 g fat
I’ve got PB2 (powdered peanut butter with the oils pressed out) in my amazon shopping cart. I’d like to try this recipe again substituting PB2 for the peanut butter and part of the oats. I’m trying to get the overall calories down and protein up while also making the balls slightly denser to taste more like real cookie dough. So far these little balls are a tasty treat..but can they get better?
Slowly things are turning into a routine. I’m still in a huge mess (I’ll show you my office after the squash.) This house is ginormous, no disputing that, but I’m lacking shelves, cabinets, organizing stuff etc. So things are just sitting on the floors and hanging out in places. The blessing is there’s still plenty of room to walk around, lol. But I’m haunting pinterest and ikea.com for ideas of how to put everything away in an organized manner. I can’t wait until IKEA decides Kansas City is a worthy market to bring a store. I think they are losing millions each year by NOT having an IKEA here. Can you hear me, IKEA? Please come to Kansas City.
So I’m serious about my next round of Fit Yummy Mummy. Above is a delicious lunch that I had this week. It’s 1 cup of baked spaghetti squash, with 3 oz of ground beef–seasoned like Italian sausage and sauteed peppers and onions. It was even better the next day when I added steamed lamb’s quarter to the mix and topped with a touch of parmesan. Can you imagine how pretty it was with that pop of green? And so tasty too.
I’ve got some serious sugar cravings to overcome. I had beat that horse once and then indulged over Christmas. The sugar came at me like a snowball rolling down a moutain. At first I just took a “taste” then before long was stuffing my face with handfuls of cookies and chocolates. I ended up gaining 4 lbs between New Years and the start of FYM’s new contest, sigh.
But I can pick up and start over. I know what I need to do to feel fantastic about myself, have energy, and overcome my sugar addiction. And Holly’s workouts are so short yet so effective I can fit them in.
I’ll be sharing some more of my recipes like an update on Italian Eggplant Bake; chocolate chip cookie dough protein balls; and a green smoothie that’s tasty enough to actually drink. (I’ve had some doozies, lol.)
Here’s a scary picture of my office (Have to have a before so there’s motivation to work on the after.) And now you know why my blog is so quiet. I’ve been busy making a mess of my life, lol.
I can imagine the paneling painted white (except that there is water damage ripples on the roof that the brown hides very well); and darling Amy Butler or Heather Bailey print curtains at the window. A pottery barn work table in the middle and Ikea shelves stacked with gorgeous fabric all around. I’ve counted the cost though and it will have to wait until my children and hubby have their rooms done.
In another post, I’ll show you my inspiration rooms.
So, did I lose all my dear readers by being quiet so long? If you are still there will you write a comment and let me know? If you have an organizing link or tip that you could share I’d be so thankful.
Whew, I didn’t realize how much I used the internet until it was gone. I have so much catching up to do including putting in the photos that my app dropped from my two previous posts. I’m determined to get that to work properly–it would save so much time.
I wanted to give you a quick heads up that the Fit Yummy Mummy transformation challenge starts on Monday. It lasts 12 weeks and is the perfect motivation and plan to reach fitness goals! Registration opened today and ends Monday at noon, so don’t think about it too long. If you buy your ebook set (link on the left) today and activated your free month of Club FYM, you can try out the challenge for free :). If you do join up come find me, my username is AngelaC. I’ve been without internet for 2 weeks so my FYM journal has been quiet–that’s about to change!
One of the benefits of a challenge with Club FYM is the extra coaching from Holly. She sends out daily homework assignments that don’t take very long to do but keep us on track. I learn so much from doing these challenges and it helps me stick to my goals. Prizes make it even more fun. I hope to see you there.
We closed on our new house Tuesday and I’ve been over there yesterday and today cleaning. I’m so thankful for good friends and family who are helping us. There’s so much to be done before it’s move in ready.
I hope to have pictures for you soon, but for now it’s all I can do to get the basics done. I’m so glad my in-laws are coming down tomorrow to help and bring fried chicken :). And my mom is watching the kiddoes who aren’t in school. Whew!
If you see a slow spot in the blog, you’ll know that I’m up to my elbows in soapy water or holding a paint roller :).
And if you know of anyone who would love a cute 4 bedroom house completely updated inside with granite countertops, new cabinets, hardwood floors, and a wrap around porch, let me know. I have one for sale :).
It’s time to make your menu plan for December! What a fun month for planning! I’m starting the Holiday Hottie Contest with Fit Yummy Mummy on the 6th. So for 21 days my menu will reflect my goals for that contest. The challenge is to keep it festive and supportive at the same time–while still keeping the intensity of the meal prep low.
Here’s a pdf menu planning sheet for you for December: December 2011 menu