Is it really Monday again? Yikes. This weekend was a busy - albeit productive - one. I think the nesting bug is hitting me. Yesterday I scrubbed the inside of my fridge, organized my kitchen and half bath and revamped the mudroom. And cleaned upstairs. And baked 42 mini cupcakes. There are 17 left.
Jordan almost hung our new storm door. :) Is anyone interested in helping him with that?
Anyway, the weekend is gone and it's Monday!
Here is our schedule for this week:
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - work for me, Jordan will be home with the boys
Wednesday - work for me, softball for Jordan. Nana is coming to babysit!
Thursday - work for me, Jordan will be home with the boys
Friday - nothing. The weather should be beautiful, so I'm thinking grilling out sounds good!
So our meal plan:
Monday - chicken broccoli alfredo. I am trying my hand at homemade alfredo sauce. Pray for me.
Tuesday - I need a crockpot meal, so I am thinking lasagna and homemade bread.
Wednesday - Something simple for my mom. Homemade healthy "chicken nuggets". I will probably make zucchini fries again, because the boys liked them, and I will be breading the chicken breast anyhow. The boys can have some fresh fruit, as well. Lord knows our crisper is full!
Thursday - I'll break tradition a bit and do pizza night on Thursday this week. A couple of whole grain thin crusts - tomato sauce and mozzarella for the boys, buffalo chicken for Jordan. Add some sliced fruit or easy steamed veggies to round it out.
Friday - make Jordan man the grill! A steak for him and chicken breast for the boys and I. Fresh garlic bread, roasted potatoes and steamed carrots.
I batch-cooked some waffles this weekend and froze a bunch, so for easy breakfast options this week we have waffles, toast and cereal. I might try to make some baked oatmeal today, so we can add that in, too. We've also got two pineapples to eat, a bunch of oranges, blueberries, apples and bananas. They always make an appearance on our breakfast table!
Monday, April 30, 2012
End of the Month
Most people in a professional setting get stressed out about the end of the month. It's time to crunch numbers, determine the budget, add up your expenses and see if you met your goals. It's really no different when you are a stay at home mom!
I am ashamed to say that April has been the first month that I have truly tracked my budget. Yes, I've been home with the boys for a year and a half now. Despite quitting my job, our lifestyle and finances haven't really changed. But I have a close friend who is a budget guru and I decided to be more like her! So in my mission to get organized, I created a family binder (more on that later). Included in my binder is my spending sheet and monthly budget sheet. I've been diligent about tracking receipts all month long.
I will give April an A on the budgeting score sheet. If there were such a thing!
For starters, our household income was $146.68 higher than I estimated. I do freelance work from home and can never be quite certain how much I will make. My husband's paychecks are the same each month. So I estimated my income based on an average of the last three months and combined the two. Yay for extra money! Also, we "under spent" in every category!
The second bit of good news is that I managed to stay under our grocery budget. A last-minute trip to the store almost put us over, but alas - I am $2.85 under budget for the month. AND - I had a good trip to the store this morning and paid $10.01 for a steak, a pound of hamburger, milk, wheat bread, cooking cream and bread crumbs. DEAL!
For April's budget, I really was not sure how much to budget for gas. I never really paid much attention to how often we filled our gas tanks, or how much we spent. So... I left that column blank. After tallying it all up, we spent $256.22 on gas this month. (I also realized that my husband and I are awful at pumping gas... we always have a few random cents instead of stopping on a round dollar amount. That bugs me. I'm weird.)
Other Category Updates
Diapers
Budgeted: $30 Spent: $13
Utilities
Budgeted: $232 Spent: $106
Cable
Budgeted: $135 Spent: $131
Easter
Budgeted: $30 Spent: $29.22
All in all, with the underspending, extra income and even with the addition of gasoline as a hefty budget line item, we still had $15 more in our discretionary income than I had accounted for. I budgeted $240.83 more than we needed to cover our expenses. Add in the gas expense, and we are still ahead. I think I'll transfer that extra bit into our savings, or split it between the boys.
On to May!
I am ashamed to say that April has been the first month that I have truly tracked my budget. Yes, I've been home with the boys for a year and a half now. Despite quitting my job, our lifestyle and finances haven't really changed. But I have a close friend who is a budget guru and I decided to be more like her! So in my mission to get organized, I created a family binder (more on that later). Included in my binder is my spending sheet and monthly budget sheet. I've been diligent about tracking receipts all month long.
I will give April an A on the budgeting score sheet. If there were such a thing!
For starters, our household income was $146.68 higher than I estimated. I do freelance work from home and can never be quite certain how much I will make. My husband's paychecks are the same each month. So I estimated my income based on an average of the last three months and combined the two. Yay for extra money! Also, we "under spent" in every category!
The second bit of good news is that I managed to stay under our grocery budget. A last-minute trip to the store almost put us over, but alas - I am $2.85 under budget for the month. AND - I had a good trip to the store this morning and paid $10.01 for a steak, a pound of hamburger, milk, wheat bread, cooking cream and bread crumbs. DEAL!
For April's budget, I really was not sure how much to budget for gas. I never really paid much attention to how often we filled our gas tanks, or how much we spent. So... I left that column blank. After tallying it all up, we spent $256.22 on gas this month. (I also realized that my husband and I are awful at pumping gas... we always have a few random cents instead of stopping on a round dollar amount. That bugs me. I'm weird.)
Other Category Updates
Diapers
Budgeted: $30 Spent: $13
Utilities
Budgeted: $232 Spent: $106
Cable
Budgeted: $135 Spent: $131
Easter
Budgeted: $30 Spent: $29.22
All in all, with the underspending, extra income and even with the addition of gasoline as a hefty budget line item, we still had $15 more in our discretionary income than I had accounted for. I budgeted $240.83 more than we needed to cover our expenses. Add in the gas expense, and we are still ahead. I think I'll transfer that extra bit into our savings, or split it between the boys.
On to May!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Meal Plan Monday
One of the best ways that I have found to simplify my life and keep myself organized is to plan a menu. Now last week, I did not have a menu plan. I am 33 weeks pregnant, I hurt my foot... I guess I just was not motivated enough to create a menu. And without fail - every night I was wondering, "What the heck am I making for dinner?"
Here is our schedule for this week - it's a hectic one.
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - work for me, softball for the hubs. My mom comes to watch the kids.
Wednesday - work for me
Thursday - work for me
Friday - raquetball for hubs
Our meal plan for the week - which I plan to stick to! - is:
Monday - Breakfast for dinner. French toast on homemade bread, eggs, fresh fruit.
Tuesday - Keeping it simple for my mom, so chicken breast nuggets, zucchini "fries", and likely some sliced watermelon. The boys LOVE watermelon!
Wednesday - Pork chops in the crockpot, steamed broccolli, rice and homemade bread.
Thursday - I've got some hamburger to use, so likely some lasagna in the crockpot, with some easy-steam veggies.
Friday - Pizza night! It's become a tradition in our house. I make the dough from scratch in our bread machine, make some sauce and add whatever toppings hubs chooses. The boys and I like ours cheesy. Hubs is more adventurous.
We've got some fresh muffins for quick breakfast on days that Gavin has school, and I made some french vanilla cupcakes as a special treat today. Our crisper is filled to the BRIM with fruits and veggies, so we've got lots of healthy snacks on hand for the week.
Here is our schedule for this week - it's a hectic one.
Monday - nothing
Tuesday - work for me, softball for the hubs. My mom comes to watch the kids.
Wednesday - work for me
Thursday - work for me
Friday - raquetball for hubs
Our meal plan for the week - which I plan to stick to! - is:
Monday - Breakfast for dinner. French toast on homemade bread, eggs, fresh fruit.
Tuesday - Keeping it simple for my mom, so chicken breast nuggets, zucchini "fries", and likely some sliced watermelon. The boys LOVE watermelon!
Wednesday - Pork chops in the crockpot, steamed broccolli, rice and homemade bread.
Thursday - I've got some hamburger to use, so likely some lasagna in the crockpot, with some easy-steam veggies.
Friday - Pizza night! It's become a tradition in our house. I make the dough from scratch in our bread machine, make some sauce and add whatever toppings hubs chooses. The boys and I like ours cheesy. Hubs is more adventurous.
We've got some fresh muffins for quick breakfast on days that Gavin has school, and I made some french vanilla cupcakes as a special treat today. Our crisper is filled to the BRIM with fruits and veggies, so we've got lots of healthy snacks on hand for the week.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Welcome to Our World!
Hey everyone!
Welcome to our story! I'm glad that you found us.
Our Cast of Characters:
This handsome guy is Gavin. He's cruising along to his FOURTH birthday already, and as his mom - I cannot believe it! His favorite foods are broccoli and chocolate ice cream. He likes to play outside and bake and he makes a killer loaf of homemade bread. Gavin also knows everything that there is to know about dinosaurs and snakes of all types.
Next up is Mason! He is 18 months old, with bright blue eyes and out-of-control blonde hair. He loves to sleep, drink orange juice and clean. You can always find him with a broom in one hand and a sippy cup in the other.
And finally... my belly. (Hi toes! I can still see you!) My belly is currently home to our baby girl, Emmy, who is set to make her arrival sometime in June!
We try to keep it simple, but life is never dull in our home. Welcome!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)