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Pics and content by The Krazy Coupon Lady 

Setting My Goals 10/25

The only mission today is going to be having fun!

Get cake for cake walk
Sophea's school carnival
Trunk or Treat at Travis's work
Sophea's Halloween party at a friend's house

What's going on in Mitchell today?  For anyone reading locally!

LB Williams School Carnival: 11:30-2
Firesteel Trick or Treat: 1:30-3
Mall Crawl: 3-5
Middle School Trunk or Treat: 4-6
DWU Museum Crafts & Treats: 6-8

Frugal Each Day 10/24

Frugal Each Day keeps my job away!  Still keeping heads above water without going back to work and THAT is a good thing.  Keeping it in mind today is especially important because it's spending planning day!  Today felt like it was full of frugal accomplishments.

This morning I have already checked the account and paid bills.  That is a really good feeling!  Filled my tank of gas and Travis will after work.  There will be enough left over to get groceries for the week and put money in Hannah's lunch account!  It's one of those pay days where everything falls in line.  YAY.

Sent packed lunch with Sophea.  She is always so happy to help me pack her lunch.  And not only does it save us money but it gives Sophea more time to eat at school.  No need for her to waste part of her lunch standing in line.  She can go straight to the table and eat.  Plus if she has any of her fruit or veggies left she eats them after school on the way to pick Hannah up.  That might be her favorite part of packing her lunch!

Babysat the squishy little baby today.  Get paid for the week today.

Made my own coffee at home.

Listed 3 things on Mitchell Area Trading post

Ali made pancakes for lunch from the home made pancake mix.

Added home made oatmeal packets to the grocery list for next week. 

Found idea for make your own oatmeal packets on The Yummy Life Blog

Cleaned/Air dried grapes and put them in the freezer in freezer bags.  Frozen grapes make an awesome addition to school lunch bags!

Meal plan for the week (below copied and pasted from Make Life Beautiful).  Creative Kitchen is when I take time in the morning to look at our leftovers and ingredients we have that haven't been used to make a meal using what we have.  Things in orange are recipes I need to look over for making the grocery list.

 

• Friday - Fried Potatoes and Hot Dogs
• Saturday - Chicken & Veggie Crock Pot Soup
• Sunday - Creative Kitchen
• Monday - Breakfast - Apple Cheesecake Quesadillas
•              - after school snack - Caramel Apple Crisp Bites
•              - Dinner - Swedish Meatballs
• Tuesday - Creative Kitchen
• Wednesday - after school snack - rolls (find new recipe) & Pumpkin Butter for challenge 
•                    - dinner- Brittany's Chicken Bake - Chicken bake I made last night!
• Thursday - Creative Kitchen
• Friday -  Rose Ann's Warm Lentil Salad
• Saturday - Creative Kitchen
• Sunday - Brats, fried potatoes, steam veg
• Frugal Make: Instant Oatmeal Packets & Laundry Detergent

Made grocery list and included couponing finds from the grocery stores.

• 10 inch flour tortillas
• Brown Sugar
• Butter
• Graham crackers
• Soda for hubby
• ramen noodles
• Cream cheese
• mocha creamer
• diced tomatoes
• chicken stuffing
• mozz cheese
• chicken breasts
• turkey sausage links
• celery
• lentils
• salad greens

Then for ad shopping

• .99/lb pears
• .99/lb apples
• 10/$8 spaghetti sauce

Gratitude Journal 10/24

I want to end each day by being grateful for the wonderful things of  the day.  Here are 7 of them!

Pirates.  Sophea was just SO excited and happy to go to school today in her pirate costume.  She's got a cross between the "Ahoy" and the "Hi-ya" going on so I think we need some lessons in pirate lingo.

Saturday Plans & Slumber Parties.  Once the kiddos get home from school this afternoon the fun starts.  The little ones did really well this week and slept in their beds every night.  We are celebrating tonight by having a slumber party where they get to stay up late, eat snacks, and watch movies.  Hopefully that will mean a sleep in morning for me.  Then it's off to Sophea's school carnival and trunk or treating at my husband's work.  The evening will end for Sophea with a party at her new school friend's house!  What a wonderful day.

Heated Home.  Chilly morning this morning and I was so glad to wake up warm and snuggly!

Neighborhood Friends.  Sophea and Clara had so much fun last night playing until after dark with the neighbor girls jumping in leaves that Hannah piled up for them.  Everything we do is better if we get to do it with them and they are almost daily companions.

Meal Plan.  It's so nice to know that we will have food on the table every night this week and that I won't have to struggle to think something up last minute.  Groceries will be able to be purchased in advance to avoid any additional trips to the store

Groceries and Gas.  I'm always very grateful when the bills have been paid and the balance remains for the gas and groceries we need to take care of our family that week.   What a blessing.

Positivity.  I've just been blessed with positivity the last couple days.  I've just woken with joy and anticipation for the day and some really great motivation that has lasted all day.  What more could you ask for?

What are you grateful for today?

Vinegar Orange Cleaner

Homemade Vinegar Orange Cleaner     

I love the idea of using fewer chemicals and you KNOW I love not buying things I can make at home cheaper.  Vinegar has always been a go to natural cleaner but if you'd like to add some great degreasing to your cleaner and a fresh citrus scent then citrus fruit peelings are a great addition.  Not to mention finding a use for those citrus peelings other than just throwing them away!

Homemade Orange Cleaner

• White Vinegar
• citrus peels (orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, or a combination)

Place peels in vinegar. I cut mine small and put them right in the original vinegar bottle. Let this sit around for 6 weeks or so. When you remember to shake it, shake it. This releases oil from the peels and makes it more a more potent grease cutter.  I always have one to use, one to soak.  So as soon as I open a new vinegar I start another.  It doesn't hurt anything if you start using it early or let it sit long, the more soaking time it has the better though.

Strain out the citrus when you think it’s “done”.  I use cheesecloth or if you don't have that onhand just a thin kitchen towel.  This will help filter out the little white bits and keep the from clogging your spray bottle. 

Refill an old spray bottle half and half with water.  I've picked up a couple cool spray bottles on estate sales but I used to just use an old cleaner bottle that I had from before I made my own and wrote on it in sharpie!   It's really the only spray that I use now other than glass cleaner. It really works for everything (sometimes in combination with a bit of baking soda sprinkled on heavily soiled surfaces or for brightening up).

It use the full strength for dusting and it leaves a fabulous shine without the residue.

1/3 cup per gallon is great for mopping or to a sink of baked on pans for soaking.

 The only thing it won’t work for is windows or glass.

Do you have any great home made cleaner recipes to share?

Tracking Spending

Picture Credit Duke Univeristy PA

The most important job I have is the care of my children and I take that very seriously.  I have worked outside of the home throughout the years and it just never went well for us.  Having made the decision to stay at home means being creative with our resources and making the most of what we have.  There is NO way to do that without knowing where every single penny is going.  Even having a sounds budget and tracking all of our spending doesn't keep us from having financial stress, but if we didn't we would be in some major hot water! 

Sometimes the truth can hurt
When Travis and I were married we had some yucky debt stacked up in the form of old hospital bills and some other things so I started tracking our spending to see where our money was going.  I was sure that I was thrifty because we weren't going out buying big things and using credit.  I was totally appalled and surprised at what I found.  I discovered that we were spending WAY more than I thought on food each month, the grocery bill was fairly normal....  it was the incidentals like trips through the drive through, my yummy coffee drinks, and stopping at the store to pick up snacks that was really killing us! And that was on top of the other ridiculous ways we were wasting our money. It was depressing.
We really needed to change things, and FAST. Tracking our spending made me take a hard look at what was necessary and what was just frivolous and added no real value to our lives. I saw it as a call to action. My grandfather recommended the Dave Ramsey plan and we went for it with gusto!  We were able to pay off our debt and get a clean slate.  A while after the debt was paid we slowly got away from doing the Dave Ramsey plan but it has been my intention ever since to keep a record of every penny that comes in and every penny that goes out.  And when I stray from tracking?  You guessed it!  I get myself in trouble.  Ever. Single.  Time!
How to track your spending
 You may think you’re only spending X number of dollars on your hobbies, groceries or whatever, but are you? Track your spending and you’ll know for sure. Here’s how:

• Commit to it — Before you get started, you need to commit to it. Because if you don’t, it won't work. Tracking your spending can be an eye-opening experience, but it’s one that won’t work without the full cooperation of your family members. In other words, don’t do it halfheartedly. Remember, you have to want it.
• Keep receipts — You’re probably going to hate what I’m saying, but you really need to keep receipts for all of your purchases until you can get them marked down in your tracking log. This can be quite a hassle, especially if you’re not used to doing it. However, it’s an essential part of the process.  Everyone needs to hand in any receipts that come in so they can be marked down
• Track your spending online — In addition to keeping track of all those receipts, you’ll also need to keep track of your online spending. This can include bills that are paid online, online shopping, and even credit- and debit-card transactions. The goal is to get a clear picture of all of your spending, so it’s important to include every single transaction you make during the entire 30 days.
• Add everything up — Once you’ve gathered your receipts and online transactions in one place, it’s time to tally them up. It's important to mark what money was spent on when logging.  This way when you look back you can see where your little leaks and landslide overspendings are happening.  I have an online spending tracking that is easy to mark everything down in but I used to keep a paper copy where I had different highlight color for different types of expenditures which was really helpful for starting out.  At the end of each month I would tally up each different color.  It became a personal mission to make those columns shrink. 
• Be honest with yourself — If you track your spending for the full 30 days and are shocked by the results, try not to make excuses for your behavior. Remember why you started tracking your expenses in the first place and try to learn something from it. If you don’t, you’re just resigning yourself to the life you’ve been living up to now. Remember that we can't consistently do the same things and expect a different outcome.  If you want better, plan for better and work for better.

Spending tracking is important for financial health because you can’t change what you don't recognize. You can’t tackle a problem that you don’t even understand. If the goal is being thrifty and living within your means then spending tracking may be the single most important part of your journey. Because when you see your own spending on paper — in black and white — you can no longer blame the kids or your busy schedule. You can’t complain that you “just need a raise,” or point to high taxes, the government, or anything else as the source of your woes.  And no amount of coupons can make up for money going out the door and not even knowing where it's going.
We often create our own prison cells, either out of habit or because we fail to plan. And that’s why tracking your spending is a crucial piece of the puzzle: It forces you to come face to face with the biggest threat to your financial future.

 It's time to get POSITIVE!  It's time to get STARTED!  And it's time to get THRIFTY!

Have you ever tracked your spending? Did it change your life?

Setting My Goals 10/24

Friday!  First day of the weekend rush and always an exciting day.  We have a lot to do and a slumber party to look forward to.  Fridays are the nights I set aside for being a night owl for the whole family since there is no reason to get up early on Saturday mornings typically.

Sophea Pirate Dress Up Day
Pack Sophea's lunch for school
Organize toys in family room
Library with Ali and Clara
Get cake for school carnival
Cleaning Game at Make Life Beautiful
Big girls going to their dad's
Get costumes ready for trunk or treat tomorrow
Slumber party with the kiddos