“Most Important Things” To-Do List

It comes of no surprise that I am a list person. I love daily lists, I love weekly lists, I love meal planning lists, house cleaning lists, shopping lists for each store that I shop, I love lists. I should really get a bumper sticker that just says I LOVE LISTS. Not only do they help me to organize my time but there is great satisfaction in crossing something that I have accomplished off my lists.
Our very wise Associate Pastor, Father Michael, said in a homily recently that how we spend our time ought to reflect our values. When this life is over how are we going to explain how we spent our time? We are all given the same amount of time in a day, but it is interesting how differently we each spend it.

Most of my lists have action-type tasks on them like “clean under couches” or “return library books” but lately I been thinking about that time management homily and I think my lists could be an opportunity to prioritize my time so that I do get to truly the most important things in life that so often get pushed aside for the action-type tasks. So I am sitting here making my daily list here while I write this post:

Find all library books around house
Pick up library book on hold & return found ones
Read more about Moses with Carter (Exodus)
Write a note to grandmother & have Vivian help w/ picture
Play ball with Dillon
Print out rosary to start saying decade of the rosary with kids with our bedtime prayers
Complete daily household chore list
Contact star wars guy to set date for Carter’s birthday party
Call St Augustine’s again and St Malachi’s regarding baked goods
Bake breakfast muffins for freezing

In looking at my list, it is obvious that the most important things are totally doable and do not take up that much time at all. Lucky for me I am used to sticking to referencing lists throughout the day and crossing items off so I shouldn’t have much trouble. A master list of “Most Important Things” will be helpful. Each day I make up my daily task list I can be sure to incorporate a few of the items on the Most Important Things list. One new organizational scheme always spurs more for me. I love it. I am also picturing a new family meeting where we include the kids in prioritizing our “Most Important Things” list so we all understand what truly is “Most Important” in our family and ensure that we spend our time accordingly.

Happy list crossing off to those daily to-do list people out there today.

A Spontaneous Leftover Day!

Each week I schedule a leftover day. It prevents us from getting burned out on the same food two days in a row and is quite fun to have a completely bizarre variety of food in one meal. I need not tell you that it keeps the grocery budget down as an added bonus. In the event we do not have leftovers (which rarely happens), I’ll throw something together that I have on hand or if we have minimal leftovers that don’t quite make up a meal then I’ll supplement it with something. Last night it was obvious that our fridge needed a leftover day. Somehow I missed a leftover day last week so our leftovers were bursting. Another bonus about the monthly menu planning is that there is no guessing as to how old something in the fridge is. As I switch up the menu I will mark it up so I always know when we had what when I go to clean out the fridge. No fear of eating mysteriously aged food and no risk of wasting food that is only a few days old just because we can’t quite remember when we had that particular meal last.

I especially like an unscheduled spontaneous leftover day because it is a day that I normally would have to cook but didn’t have to. It also means that I can shift everything on the menu forward a day which makes us ahead on the meal planning game because the longer it takes to use up the food we have the happier our budget is.

Another Happy Day at the Bread Outlet

I took out my last 2 loaves of bread from the freezer today so I made a quick bread store run. I was welcomed into the store with a sign that read, "Buy 2, Get 1 Free." yea! I got 12 loaves and 3 for a friend. Happy Bread Outlet Day!

I must confess something. I miscalculated my bread savings in the "Bread Outlet Stores Rock" post because the Pepperidge Farm outlet store charges $1.89 per loaf not the $1.29 I quoted. However, all is not lost because a friend of mine just priced a loaf of Pepperidge Farms at Giant Eagle at $3.69. So if I exclusively shopped at the Pepperidge Farm outlet store rather than the farther away Schwebel's outlet (.89/loaf) at 1.89 per loaf, 365 loaves a year gives me a minimum savings of $657 annually. You can get bread on sale at the grocery occasionally (my friend got hers on sale for $3.29) but that can not outdo the bread outlet's 'buy 2 get 1 free' sale or the frequent 20% sales they hold. So thankfullythe more accurate numbers still conclude that Bread Outlet Stores Rock!

Family Ministry

I have tried to express my thoughts on the family as ministry in several drafts so hopefully this final draft will get my point across, but please bear with me.

I am sure that I am not alone in the world being a SAHM with small children who would love nothing more than to do some good in the world but feel it impossible under our current circumstances. I know lots of SAHMs that do wonderful things to serve others outside their homes and I am constantly in awe of them. To be able to volunteer at a homeless shelter or feed a meal to the homeless or to donate money to a worthy cause are all wonderful ways to give of yourself. I find it frustrating not to be able to do much of anything beyond save a couple box tops for our school or to donate our clothing when it has gone through the last child. I don’t have family around to watch my kids so that I can feed the hungry to or do anything that very young children can not accompany me to. My husband’s work schedule is all over the place and totally unpredictable so I can not rely on him on any day of the week to commit myself to anything. My predicament is nothing unusual.

I have learned, with the help of a couple different mothers groups at my church, that my family is my ministry right now and that is ok. Doing laundry, cooking meals, cleaning up the 100th meal my adorable 1 year old has thrown across the room and certainly teaching my children about God is my ministry to my family.

It stands to reason then that all mothers with their little home ministries can expand their ministry by sharing ideas and helpful tips about their motherly duties. Some of us are better at some things than others. I happen to enjoy the home organization, meal planning and budgeting areas of family life and enjoy sharing ideas that work for my family. I seek advice from friends that are more gifted than I am in areas like laundry, gardening, child rearing and spiritual life.

Being able to expand my family ministry to other families is one of the main reasons I share my systems, recipes and other things with you. The way I do things are rarely unique but I enjoy these aspects of my family ministry and I hope that there are some moms that might find some of my ideas helpful as I am always looking for helpful tips for my family duties. I’m sure there are friends who think I am over-obsessed with these simple household things but it means more than just meal planning and such to me. It’s the only ministry I can do for right now and that is ok. So for those kind friends who have complimented my blog and thought that I should charge for it (I doubt anyone would pay but it’s a sweet thing to say), please accept my little blog of ideas as my ministry to you just as you all minister to me.

Peace be with you.

Minimalist Preferences = True Frugal Life

Since entering this little blogging world I have spent a little time searching for other blogs that talk about frugal family life or money saving tips and such. This is one of my favorite topics so I am just sure that I will find some good ideas somewhere on-line. One theme seems to run through most all of the blogs that I have previewed thus far, how to spend less on stuff. I hate stuff. I don’t want stuff. I also despise shopping for stuff. So aside from buying necessites like deodorant, toothpaste, toilet paper and soap and such I do not give a rats arse if Walgreens has 20 deals right now on unnecessary things like anti-aging cream, which I don’t believe work, or disinfectant kitchen counter spray. Grocery savings coupons and tips usually include 50 cents off some RiceARoni mix or something similar. No, that is not saving. What would really be saving is buying bulk plain rice and adding your own herbs purchased at a country store at a deep discount. It would be cheaper AND healthier since the cheap version would contain less sodium and preservatives and who knows what other un-pronounceable ingredients. Instead of buying anti-aging cream I would prefer to read about how vegetable shortening or something that most households have on hand might be proven to have anti-aging effects when applied topically or how a mixture of distilled vinegar and water disinfects the same as expensive kitchen counter cleaners. Do you get what I’m saying? The way I like to save money is by truly NOT buying stuff vs. spending less on stuff. Making something out of nothing should be more appreciated than spending less on stuff for the sheer genious of it. I suppose this is why I like Amy Dacyczyn’s The Complete Tightwad Gazette so much. I believe the Gazette is out of print now but there are many money saving tips in there that a minimalist like me can appreciate. My hopes is to share money saving tips on this blog that involve a little more time perhaps and possibly a little more work but a lot less money and a lot less stuff.

I am certain that there are blogs out there that would appeal to my minimalist frugal preferences and when I find them I will be sure to add them to my blog list.

The Halloween Candy Gnome

We have a Halloween tradition in our house that has been passed to us through a very clever friend of ours. We have modified the tradition just a bit but basically this is how we handle the overabundance of Halloween candy that our kids try to stuff in their little bodies. On the night of trick-or-treating, the kids may gorge themselves on their candy until the grotesque display makes my husband want to vomit and he calls it quits for the night. The kids go to bed all sugared up and with queezy tummies. The next day they may have candy treats 2-4 at a time a few times throughout the day. After dinner they may choose one piece of candy per years old that they are. They may eat those pieces of candy whenever they wish. The remaining candy is left out for the Candy Gnome. The Candy Gnome will visit any house that has clearly left candy out for him. We leave ours in our front entry hall in our trick-or-treat bags. He takes the candy that is left out for him and delivers it to all the girls and boys who did not get any trick-or-treat candy such as children in hospitals or those who have circumstances where they can not trick-or-treat. The Candy Gnome leaves a small thank you gift. Last year the kids got “head flashlights” that strap around their heads. They had loads of fun in the basement with those. This year the Candy Gnome was not able to shop without children so if he doesn’t get out to shop today then he’ll have to choose something from the Christmas stash. Right now it’s looking like it will be bank calculator jars for the 4 year old and 6 year old and a threesome pack of balls for the 1 year old.

Happy Halloween!

My favorite Day of the Month!

Today was it. It’s not my favorite day of the month just because it is pay day, although that helps, but it’s really more what pay day triggers for me that makes me happy. Today is:

1) Pay day which means budget allocation day & bill paying day (which used to be my LEAST favorite day before I budgeted)
2) The beginning of my two day monthly grocery shopping
3) Monthly grocery shopping means huge Sam’s shopping trip where I “play the game”

I won the game today by the way. I add everything up in my head as I go through Sam’s Club and have the kids help me remember numbers as we get distracted. The bigger the number and the closer I am to the total at check out the giddier I get. I often do a mid-month Sam’s Club run but it’s the first on of the month that is always a pricey run because I get all of my grocery items that will last throughout the month in one trip. For this trip I was really out of a lot of meats and I have committed to a shrimp dish for my Freezer Friends group so it was a big number. Being the dork that I am I really like to tell the cashier my estimate before the total is rung up. Today I said $332 and it came up at $329 and change and she said, “you won!”
My poor husband has to hear about this for a couple days at least. Now if I had guessed $329 he would be hearing about it for at least a week so he should be ok with just a couple days. He tries to be a good sport but really he just rolls his eyes and by the 10th time I tell him how superbly wonderful his wife is at budgeting and totaling groceries and such he’s had it and must ask me, “how much longer are you going to go on about it this time?”

So anyway, I also hit Walmart today and tomorrow hopefully I’ll hit Aldi’s and then Giant Eagle (compare to Stop & Shop, Piggly Wiggly or Krogers). I keep a price book which I will share at some point where I have compared prices of various items that I purchase on a regular basis. In general I have found that I get the most for my money buying bulk at Sam’s (even better than sale prices at Giant Eagle) and then the best bargains are found at Aldi’s and then Giant Eagle (especially with coupons which I am trying to be better at). So I shop the stores in that order, generally. So whatever I did not find at Sam’s will be bought at Aldi’s and whatever I don’t find at Aldi’s I get at Giant Eagle. That leaves me with nothing but produce runs at a much smaller local store, Heinen’s, which has wonderful produce and a great lunch meat that we like in our house ($5.99/lb or $4.99 on sale), milk runs at Aldi’s ($2.39-$2.69/gallon whole milk), and the bread outlet twice a month ($1.29 loaf or $1.03 on sale). Trader Joes is right by my gym and there are a few things I get there exclusively. It is easy for me to stop in at Trader Joes after the gym but it isn’t a regular monthly stop. It sounds like a lot of trips but I swear to you it isn’t. Before I monthly meal planned I felt like I was always running to the main store, Giant Eagle, and I was paying more than necessary if I had consolidated my trips to other stores and I would swear about the produce quality regularly.

My budget/”envelope system” has been in place for nearly a year and a half now and it feels so good to deposit little bits of money into my pretend envelopes and see goals get nearer and nearer each pay period. Budgeting the money for what we really need it for truly is a better feeling than going out and replacing our broken DVD player without having saved for it first or having a new sweater. I am a simple nerdy budget person and I love it! So happy budget day to any budgeters out there.

Damn the woman who gave me this recipe!

Ok, not really Barb. But the next time I freak out over how yummy something is and demand the recipe, if it is not made of just healthy veggies or something alike, then don't give me the recipe.

Hi, My name is Jenn, I am a sugar addict and my latest serious sugar doses have come from pumpkin cookies with browned butter frosting. Ahhhhhhhhh. Today was my THIRD double batch of these in 2 weeks. At least it is a whole foods recipe (except the white flour, hmm, maybe whole wheat flour would work and I could call them "healthy" -- ha, too much sugar) and involves a vegetable, right?





Here it is, be careful with this recipe and remember what my grandma Pat always said, "a moment on the lips, forever on the hips." It doesn't stop me though. Oh, sorry I must have scanned this in from my recipe book at some point, it's all crooked and what-not but I'm too tired to re-scan it pretty.

Healthy(ish) Quick Breakfast Ideas

Ok, so I'm looking for some, got any? We have children that do not eat eggs. My husband and I eat eggs every day. I'm hoping that one day our egg habit will rub off on the kids. Until then I will continue to occassionally put egg on their breakfast plate in the hopes it enters their bodies. If it's never on their plate then it has NO chance, right? So here are some of our regular breakfast entrees that I think are somewhat healthy, minus the syrup we put on the pancakes:

1) Pumpkin Pancakes http://www.marthastewart.com/article/pumpkin-pancakes?autonomy_kw=pumpkin%20pancake&rsc=image_1
2) Oatmeal Pancakes http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Pancakes-II/Detail.aspx
3) "Muscle Pancakes" - loaded with protein http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Pancake/Detail.aspx
4) Breakfast smoothies - blended frozen bananas, frozen berries, yogurt, OJ & protein powder
5) Banana slices with peanut butter on top
6) Turkey Sausages
7) Granola cereal (homemade, any recipe will do it - nuts & craisins/raisins)
8) Popsicles made out of leftover smoothies frozen in popsicle molds
9) French toast (at least I get eggs in them this way)
10) Oatmeal with a sprinkle of brown sugar & raisins or mashed banana & splash of milk
11) Bran muffins w/ raisins or blueberries http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Low-Fat-Blueberry-Bran-Muffins/Detail.aspx

Lately I've really been at a loss for breakfast so I'm looking to branch out. I'll let you know what I come up with. My preference is to stay away from cold cereals. You can choose a healthy cereal but they are just so expensive.

Why I Refuse to Do “Kid Friendly Meals”

I see this terminology used all the time, even on foodie blogs. I can understand and appreciate that the short people who live in my house have immature taste buds. However, I refuse to make mac-n-cheese, hot dogs or PBJs for dinner just because they might prefer blandness over the “foodie” preferences of their mother. This refusal actually has little to do with my desire for yummy food, instead it has to do with more with my theory of parenting. Now raise your right hand and place your left hand over your heart and repeat after me, “I believe that a nutritious diet filled with variety of whole foods and flavors is what is best for my children.” I truly believe it is our duty as parents to feed our children healthy food that is within our capabilities and budgetary constraints. If we are smart and not lazy then our capabilities are nearly endless so really there is no excuse, right? Now no one can ONLY give their children HEALTHY food. To not indulge a sweet tooth or whatever craving here and there would mean overindulgence whenever one could get away with it But if the core of a child’s diet is healthy and they are continuously exposed to new healthy flavorful foods, then shouldn’t these individuals grow into strong healthy adults with good eating habits? This is my hope.

In our house supplying kids with healthy food is a basic requirement to raising kids. It is as important as providing them with shelter, clothing, opportunity for physical activity and love. It does not make us good parents, it just means that we meet their basic needs.

Ok, so assuming that we all agree that providing a child with a healthy diet is important, I haven’t necessarily said why I will not do Kid Friendly Meals because I can hear someone reading this saying, “kid friendly meals can be healthy.” I agree. My kids generally do get Kid Friendly Meals for breakfast and lunch because the foods that my husband and I eat for those meals happen to be kid friendly. For one meal each day I think it is important that they are exposed to flavorful and healthy foods that are often new to them and sometimes even to us. I want them to know that mommy and daddy enjoy trying new foods too. It’s not only healthy, it is fun so we enjoy doing it. In my father’s house when I was growing up it was equivalent to swearing if you said, “I don’t like it” before trying it. To this day I can not stand hearing anyone say that when they haven’t even tried a food. It’s a terrible terrible habit to get into that some people carry into adulthood. To give a healthy food no chance to ever nourish your body based upon looks, smells or one disliked ingredient is a crime. If we do not expose our kids to normal non-kid friendly meals then how will they learn to eat healthy?

I don’t get the Kid Friendly Meal approach to feeding a kid. Why waste away 3 opportunities a day to expose them to a variety of healthy foods? The more often you expose a child to something that you want them to learn the quicker they will master it. So why slow down this food acceptance process by filling them up with buttered noodles 3 days a week till they are 12. I don’t have a 12 year old but I bet it is much more difficult to get a 12 year old who has eaten “Kid Friendly Meals” for half his life to try Moo Shoo Pork than it is a 4 year old who has been trying new Non-Kid Friendly Meals every day since she starting eating solid food.